FFXI's Golden Age?

[Budonez]

Assaults were glitched, but it was the only content that had an appeal after the first 2 days. The shitty drop rate (spend months to find the loot you see in the .dat) is why there was threads going on for a while.

I'm not saying it was terrible content compared to what we often get, or a bad expansion, but the novelty wore off pretty fast for me.

When they got around to fixing assaults and introduced salvage, that is when the game hit a high note for me.
I was able to play with the same group of 6-7 players and obtain the best gear in the game, it was an extremely fun experience.
Older players will disagree and say that TAU made it too easy for idiots to exp, that may be true, but it allowed players to obtain 75s a lot faster.

[Silenka]

DEFINITELY CoP era, I think most of the people who don't vote for that period simply weren't playing at that point.

I started playing with the release of the Vana'diel collection including CoP. Even though I was new, looking back, I can tell that was the time that FFXI was the busiest, the best and the most interesting. CoP was challenging and keeping people coming back for more and the game had hit a point where it was still accelerating at high speed rather than dwindling and (excuse the term) dying like it is now.

[Sanoske]

I joined in 2003, but didnt play that much until the middle of 2004.

2003-2006 was awesome because it was the awesome feeling that you get in a good MMO. Good friends, good times, there were still things that everyone was exploring and having fun with. I still remember running from Bastok to Sandy as a lvl 12 WAR with 2 RL friends who had joined with me, freaked out when we finally got there. Being my first MMO, that was the feeling that got me hooked. It changed as I learned more about the game, but for a long time there was still new stuff to be done and PLENTY of people to do it with. 04-06 are the years I look back on most fondly, but I definitely had good times during my brief endgame stints in 07 and 08.

2007-2008 was fun because I was filthy rich and could do pretty much anything I wanted. Could've easily done a relic if I hadn't sold half my gil everytime I amassed a good amount.

In 2009 it's either already have lots of gil to play with, devote ~4hr/day to a HNMLS in a dying game, or sit around with your thumb in your ass.

I'm gonna miss ballin out, but I'm looking forward to being part of a huge noobish mass when FFXIV comes out.

[Kaylia]

When they got around to fixing assaults and introduced salvage, that is when the game hit a high note for me.
I was able to play with the same group of 6-7 players and obtain the best gear in the game, it was an extremely fun experience.
Older players will disagree and say that TAU made it too easy for idiots to exp, that may be true, but it allowed players to obtain 75s a lot faster.

Salvage on its own is great content (aside a few thing like the lack of hints for certain nms, the "no chest at start", and retarded drop rate on certain pieces), and is probably the best event all around. I had a lot of fun farming it with friends.

Xp boost was nice, but sincerely, i think it should be applied everywhere in the game. We should be able to pick any lv75 xp camp and get 20k/h, not just collibri/mamool.

Anyway, I'm complaining that ToA because in the end, all I'm doing there is grinding. I wanted to get another 100 hours of explorations and progress, not 3 hours of walking with sneak/invi to see everything.

[Vuitton]

old fag here, joined at NA release. voted for CoP era. I loved everything there was about CoP. I still remember the euphoric moment when I gained sea access and another euphoric moment when I killed promathia (did it for 2 different characters.) I think I got a little euphoric after completing every BCNM for CoP actually. Especially for pre-nerf promyvions and airship battles.

Also, I changed servers when CoP was initially released, so it was like a fresh new beginning for me.

I also think the fish botting / rusty caps era is a golden moment for me, as I was one of those bots in Rabao! rofl

ToAU was alright. I enjoyed it but it was never comparable to CoP in terms of fun and challenge. Same for WotG.

[Shassira]

My personal best age was just at the middle of CoP to its end, mainly because like many here, it was my first experience on an MMO. The feeling of acomplishment just from traveling was simply amazing ^^ My first time to reach Mhaura was a highlight and there were many others later on.

But personal views aside, I do think the game's golden age came with ToAU. Someone up there was explaining it very well and I felt exactly what he/she described: Just before ToAU was released it felt the game was reaching its death and ToAU came out and pulled the game from its cold hands. Just like it is today, although this time we won't have a ToAU to save it.

[The_OG_Nelta]

03' here.

Sam/rng
And mpking gil sellers at phantom worm with bst.
Nuff said'

[BRP]

Videogames don't have "golden ages," Videogame scenes do though. FFXI's scene has never been worth looking into to save for exactly a handful of people at a time over several periods of time. It certainly has never spiked or fallen sharply.

[Iku]

FFXI was at golden age when BG still maintains a Big Kills list. I missed the list.

[Mugmug]

FFXI was at golden age when BG still maintains a Big Kills list. I missed the list.

Yeah, that was pretty sweet.

The best time for myself was when CoP had launched. I loved fighting Vrtra, Tiamat, and Jorm for the first time. The missions were challenging and quite fun.

ToAU was good also, but it doesn't hold as many good memories.

If only I could go back in time, I'd totally play again.

[Shinryuu]

I don't understand why you switched accounts...

and why were you a 57 rng?

Well I simply was a 57 RNG, my highest job. Nhaha quit, RL friend made his character on my original account, and I leveled Nhaha's MNK rather than my old RNG (the account that was occupied by my RL friend a lot by then).

[Despain]

Personally, I think ToAU saved this game.

Its got a plethora of events you can do, and they're all extremely fun, and can be really easy.

Honestly without the implementation of level sync and ToAU, this game would have died a long time ago.

[Mizango]

The day I left Faildemonium.

[Despain]

For me, the golden age was the months before ToAU's release. That was when I started, and when several of my RL friends started as well. We all played and leveled up together for quite some time.

Wow you haven't been playing for that long o.o

I imagined when I first met you @charby that you've been playing for as long as I had. I've been playing this game since NA release D:

[Despain]

The day I left Faildemonium.

For the record, this is my 3rd? time leaving Pandemonium for Remora I think. I ALWAYS end up going back though. Don't think so this time though, cause Pandemonium endgame is really fucking depressing.

[Mizango]

For the record, this is my 3rd? time leaving Pandemonium for Remora I think. I ALWAYS end up going back though. Don't think so this time though, cause Pandemonium endgame is really fucking depressing.

lol

[SephYuyX]

Since I was short with my other responce, ill be a bit more detailed.

Been playing since JP PC release in Nov '02, then NA Beta, and then NA PC. Ive seen manya changes, lots of good, lots of bad. Been on Rag the whole time, and ive seen many people come and go, as well. Ive seen things man, ive seen things.

XI was pretty crazy before RoZ/NA, lots of balance issues and glitches galore. The RoZ era was my most favorite, gameplay wise it was the best XI saw. CoP brought lots of people, and lots of new strat, this is where XI peeked though, it was the golden age as far as players go. By the time ToAU came out people were too pissed off for no reason, while ToAU brought lots of nice new things, it made a mockery of the game we knew. WoTG did nothing to the game really. And now the only people left are lifers or people just trying to kill some time.

If I could keep the events of ToAU, but keep the game style of RoZ, the attitude of CoP era, while keeping MPK possible, that would be the best time in my opinion.

[Mayareira]

By the time ToAU came out people were too pissed off for no reason,

Serious game balance issues.
A market completely dominated by RMT.
Collapsed economy.
RMT linkshells camping everything that makes money, including Fafnir, Sky gods and King Behemoth. Later on they moved to the sea.
Rapidly declining population, alternative-less jobs and balance problems were making level grind worse than it already was.
Lack of content end game, Dynamis Limbus kings sky dynamis limbus kings sky.
Nothing interesting other than level grind and missions pre-75.
Inventory related problems.
Certain areas that could be considered as a main end game content like Ru'hmet and Palace look extremely dull and horribly designed.
Sea mechanics(somewhat fixed later on) were poorly designed as well.

They had every reason to be pissed off. Cancer had to be cured back in 2006.

One more CoP-ish small, cityless expansion without anything "new" would be the final nail to the coffin.

[Rentwokay]

I was in the PS2 Beta and am a longtime Final Fantasy fan, and I chose the Chains of Promathia era.

That expansion pack was what linked this game to the franchise. It had a great storyline, excellent locations, a strong party focus, and made a lot of changes that enhanced the way the game played without changing how it felt.

All that changed with Treasures of Aht Urghan and the launch of "easy mode" Final Fantasy XI. I love Assault, Salvage, Campaign, Fields of Valor, and all that... but the difficulty nerfs were like saying, "Ok, guys, you can now use Gameshark. Go nuts."

Truthfully, I would be happy with everything that happened after Chains of Promathia was completed... except for Colibri and how they made mages useless, turned BRDs into demigods, and made EXPing more difficult for everybody except the flavors of the month. Colibri camps are taken? I guess you're doing something else for the next four hours.

For me, it was like starting up my copy of Burnout Paradise to see they'd added go-karts, monsters, and red turtle shells.

[RakEx]

Definately during CoP age or before. While the CoP missions didnt really do it for me in the beginning, the new NM's and Jorm,Tia.. and that other one haha were really fun to fail at. At least a few times. Seemed like no one was ever going to take them down for a while there.

I also agree that ToAU was the beginning of the end. The new HNMS were terrible. All killed within the first week of release basically with some garbage drops for the most part. The only thing i enjoyed about it was the new zones. The rest was just easy mode.