FFXI's Golden Age?

[Red Demon Taoist]

I think of a golden age as when the game was most populated and prosperous.

Hence right before WoW went live and 75% of the playerbase disappeared overnight.

[Kaylia]

^ this

They should make things like jormy, ash dragon, shit like that worth 20k xp... give us a reason to go kill it!

People takes 2 hours to climb the hill, so make that 60k xp for the 3h you will waste climbing this shitty mountain.

I agree the xp (and meriting) system need a huge overhaul. There is hundred of solutions that would make players xp on something else than collibri and mamool, but SE doesn't care.

[FailureMidgard]

People takes 2 hours to climb the hill, so make that 60k xp for the 3h you will waste climbing this shitty mountain.

I agree the xp (and meriting) system need a huge overhaul. There is hundred of solutions that would make players xp on something else than collibri and mamool, but SE doesn't care.

Retards take 2 hours. People take 20 minutes.

[Spira]

I could do it in 10.

For me the golden era of FFXI would be somewhere between after the end of CoP missions (Sept 05ish) to the beginning of ToAU (mid 06)..

To me, this was the period in FFXI when the game truly felt alive. It stretches to end CoP era because I think most people who played were genuinely hyped up by the prospects that ToAU brought to the game. Up to this point, additions to the game in CoP were mainly difficult, rigid and limiting, and ToAU seemed to promise flexibility and freedom (which it did to some extent). And new jobs, which was the first the job would see in 3 whole years.

When ToAU released, the game really felt fully alive again. I'd not feel the game this alive since NA release - but it was a different feeling because unlike at NA release when we didn't know the game that well to begin with, ToAU opened with us experiencing new things that would take us by surprise and kind of reinvent the wheel as far as knowing what to expect was concerned. It was like a jaded-turned into newborn wanderlust feel.

ToAU offered a lot of convenience to players which was nice, and I feel it was the necessary component in FFXI that bridged it from its old-school MMORPG design into the new generation of (post-WoW) casual friendly MMORPGs. It certainly attracted a new crowd of FFXI players, which added to the crowded/lively feel of the game.

And back then most people were still doing new things and catching up on older events.. so it was livelier. WotG could never capture the magic of CoP or ToAU releases, because it doesn't feel new, it feels retro; it aimed to decentralized the game's 'player capital', but didn't offer good alternatives, and the player base had just matured so much in that period of time. What WotG needed to revive the game wasn't just what it offered, which was ok, but an overwhelming load of progressive new content that people would take time to clear. It never came.

[Kaylia]

Retards take 2 hours. People take 20 minutes.

Thanks for the clarification, I did not know.

[Ropeydonkey]

COP! Def the best

[Mifaco]

FFXI's very brief golden age was a time where that Mazurka+ instrument actually boosted movement speed up to Flee speeds.

Ah, memories.

[Cesaria]

For me personally I'd say EU release/CoP era. I didn't play prior to that - started with EU release and was one of the initial batch of non-import EUs to hit 75. Yes, the game was hard, slow going and a grind-fest then - but I just dislike immensely how the game changed with the arrival of TOAU and those infernal pink birds.

CoP in terms of storyline and variety of the BC fights is by far my favourite set of missions (and I've done pretty much all the storyline related content in the game) - in terms of epicness WOTG is coming close, but taking forever for things to be released with the alternating nation quest/main storyline/slow updates issues.

It just for me is when I had the most fun in-game... I enjoyed Bibiki parties, I enjoyed when RDM was an enfeebler and not a curebot with a sexier hat, I enjoyed skillchains and magic bursts (pretty shiny light followed by big kaboom) and I didn't actually mind seeking for exp parties - shove flag up, go watch TV, come back, exp. Perhaps it was the shiny and new factor - I don't know, no doubt there were elements of that - but for me that was the best times in-game.

For me - level sync took repetitiveness in exp to a new art form - now the crab-fest but in different locations was replaced with 4-5 exp camps from 37-75, mainly involving pink birds. Yes I've levelled jobs since it came out - but whereas before there was the element of going to new locations, seeing places, now I find colibri fatigue sets in around level 68ish and I have to take extended breaks for sanity's sake. I'll forgive TOAU one thing though - it did bring Corsair and pirates always pwn.

Then again - I took BST to 75 so I guess optimal exp/hr isn't a massive concern of mine sometimes!

[Max™]

The golden age was prior to the MPK/Bst nerf.

To some people the massive trains at garlaige/CN/kazham/yhoator, and the constant threat of MPK was an annoyance.

To me, it made me want to level Bst and become a hitman.

In those days a Bst could literally point at you and say "Hey... you're probably fucked, gl!"... and they were right.

[Dooom]

I didn't actually mind seeking for exp parties - shove flag up, go watch TV, come back, exp.

I don't really understand this. How can you be playing if you're actually afk? If I want to party, I don't want to be forced to doing something outside the game while waiting. But then, that's why I ended up levelling bard as my first job.

Anyway. I don't think FFXI has had a golden age. Things like level sync and FoV and campaign made the game so much more playable for me, but by that time people had a good grasp of mechanics and how the game works, so almost all the mystery was gone. Whereas in the earlier days, the game wasn't so playable, but it was made up for by the thrill of discovery.

Probably worth noting that I started in summer 2005, and it took me almost two years to get a job to 75. As such, I think my experiences are very different to most people on BG.

[Spider-Dan]

I enjoyed when RDM was an enfeebler and not a curebot with a sexier hat,[...]

This timeframe never actually existed. RDM went directly from dispeller/juicebox to haste/curebot.

[FailureMidgard]

I don't really understand this. How can you be playing if you're actually afk? If I want to party, I don't want to be forced to doing something outside the game while waiting. But then, that's why I ended up levelling bard as my first job.

The golden age of FFXI is obviously the age where people spent as little time as possible on the game, and as much time as possible AFK watching TV. Isn't that how'd you define the golden age of any game?! cmon!

[Mayareira]

It was wonderful actually. The uncertainty...mystery...suspense of the eternal question, "Will I be able to get an invite today?".

Jokes aside, the implementations of level sync and new party mechanics has got to be the most important additions made to the game. Back in so called "peak" ages I had to devote hours just for seeking, or forming a party to get 5k/hr. Many people couldn't bother with that anymore and ended up quitting the game for good.

Now, even during short breaks its entirely possible to form an ideal party(healer, cor, brd dd's) and get a reasonable amount of XP. Getting to camps, forming the party etc. are all more convenient.

About old party roles...the only thing I remember about Red Mages was that they didn't even bother hasting jobs other than NIN, bitched when they were asked to refresh and generally, they were gimp as hell. They weren't any better than they are today. Excluding good ones of course, a Red Mage with good cycles would end up in alla's great players thread.

[Siniroth]

This timeframe never actually existed. RDM went directly from dispeller/juicebox to haste/curebot.

._. I got invited as an enfeebler/backup curer for a party that lasted 4 hours in garlaige once, it was badass, I got 5 levels out of it

[pohibaba]

I'd say the point where the hardest monsters in the game got put on farm status. Having epic two hour battles with Tiamat is what made me want to keep playing this game. Simply killing things to get gear was never what I wanted to do; I wanted to have a war against a monster that seemed unkillable where a wipe at any point was possible. So I voted the beginning of the CoP era.

[Kerberoz]

I'd say the point where the hardest monsters in the game got put on farm status. Having epic two hour battles with Tiamat is what made me want to keep playing this game. Simply killing things to get gear was never what I wanted to do; I wanted to have a war against a monster that seemed unkillable where a wipe at any point was possible. So I voted the beginning of the CoP era.

This. There was really no "hard" mode post-CoP. It just goes from easymode farming to insanemode AV/PW. No challenges unless you handicap yourself. Repeating the same events every week just to get more gear to do those events 0.001% faster.

[Guyverarmor]

I agree with the posts above as well. I remember when I first did Kirin with my first HNM LS Avail. 2hr fight when you were kitting with a lolBloodtank and a whm while rest of the group takes the adds...knowing you may wipe honestly makes the game 100 times more interesting.

[Tsuko_Asura]

Retards take 2 hours. People take 20 minutes.

Alternatively, you could just be as awesome as I am and bring Jormungand down the mountain.

[FailureMidgard]

Alternatively, you could just be as awesome as I am and bring Jormungand down the mountain.

I hear true pros bring Genbu to the Hall of Gods zoneline in sky, though I've never seen it!

[Max™]

Alternatively, you could just be as awesome as I am and bring Jormungand down the mountain.

I need to see pics of this which I must have missed.