I won a gift card for Best Buy at work so I picked up FFXI for my decrepit PC. Where should I go and what should I see during my free month? Any regular events?

Jeuno! (At least I think that's the name of the main city, back then...)

Return it for a WoW game card.

_________________
Hope is the new black.

I really don't know why I ask you comedians anything. =)

No, hehe wasn't trying to be funny. I just don't know of anyone in the continental US that still plays FFXI lol.

Givin prolly does.

Givin is busy leveling his 10000th WoW Character, he has no time for FFXI...

_________________

I'm not looking to play with anyone in particular - my chaotic schedule has shown me that trying to make a regular attendance with anything or anyone is pointless for the forseeable future - but I did want opinions on what is entertaining within the game. I do enjoy the difference with the combat system. =)

Valkum Dunes.

You must do the S.O.B. quests.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS GET TO THE LEVEL WHEN YOU CAN RIDE A CHOCOBO AND CRANK THE SPEAKERS

I've done the first one, where you find a rarab tail - there are others? Do you have a link?

Those onion quests were hilarious.

Kohlo-Lakolo

I think some of the other S.O.B. members may start some of the quests, but you should be able to find them all from there. If you just go back and talk to him again he should give you the next quest if you don't want to read the spoilers.

I never finished the series of quests. We went to kill some spelunking cactii once and they never dropped the item we needed.

Having a lot of fun, despite the language barrier. Finally figured out how to work the translator function. I play Horseradish (mainly) and Syuni (just to keep the tradition) on Lakshmi, if anyone wants to drop a line.

So, this is the best $0.00 I've ever spent. The game is large, the populace is helpful for the most part, and for obssessives like me, I can re-job and repeat areas ad nasueum. I do wish the help-paper was more robust. It took me til now to figure out how to use the translator and learn that you can change jobs before you get the ability to subjob.

I still think this is one of the best MMOs of the last 5 years WoW included. Though it was the WORST launch here in the US. Like Vanguard they lost their entire player base after 3 months of promising pie and ice cream and then dishing up heaping plates of steaming shit.

The fact that your main can be your alt as well is just genius.

I would still be playing FFXI to this day if there had been north american servers. Samurai Galka owns.

The fun novelty wears off about quifim.

Or the 3,000,000 mobs you have to farm for your first airship pass, while competing with china farmers and chest jappers. Farming coffer keys for hours on end, only to watch a level 75 walk in and jap the chest out from under you.

Good luck getting level break groups. Unless you've hooked up with a linkshell, getting a pug for this is near impossible.

For the time I played, it was one of the most amazing mmorpg experiences I ever had. But it wasn't because of the game. It was because of friends. As a game, it is the single greatest time sink ever created for gaming. The amount of hurdles you have to jump through is astounding.

Worst EXP system in history. If you and your friends are so much as 10 exp off, and somenoe levels before everyone else, EVERYONE has their exp goes to shit. One persons fuck up, wiping your group can cause you 12 hours of good constant exp time. Having to micro manage exp between friends is dumb. "Oh you leveled, suck dude, now you have to die over and over so your 350 exp chains don't get nerfed to 75 exp ones."

That is not fun. That is work. It isn't playing at a different level, it's just stupid game mechanics.

Oh yeah, and fuck japanese/north american mixed servers. It's oil and water. People are still living to this day off the fortunes they made at the NA launch because they gouged their own market.

Yes. Exactly. I had reached a level where it was "You Japan? No? No American Group >_<"

That and that every dungeon I went to was camped no deeper than the zoneline because mixed in with the regular mobs was a super deathgod goblin who would not only own your group but the 5 nearby. Stupid .

Givin put it way better than I could, as he was a good deal farther than I ever got.

Exactly, I ended up paying like 500 gil for those awesome red gloves that dropped off one of the bird bosses in that one bird spiral. Also had to pay a shit load of gil for one of the samurai swords =/. Only because every time my linkshell would hunt for coffins in that bird place, we would check the bosses and none of them would be up.

Then ended up paying all of my money for that necklace that dropped off an undead mob in a tunnel that was always camped by 5+ Bots. Lets not forget fighting bots for your artifact coffin for your AF Chest piece.

Lol. So wrong, and yet so true.

I just ordered FFXI for the 360 /gasp

I wonder if they put the 360 users with everyone else...

The XBox, PS2, and PC players can all play together, yes. I dunno if the 360 will be any different.

Are you still playing? Ill try and play on your server when the game arrives. Its coming UPS I believe so should be here in a few days.

Free time ran out, I am seriously contemplating reupping tho.

I have found a very helpful community on Lakshmi - send a Message to Spectre if you choose to go there and say you're a friend of Horseradish.

Yeah it does. FFXI is the only game thus far that operates a single common world. 360 is no exception to their rule

I know someone who bought a 360 so he could stop playing on his crappy laptop/ps2 and he said it looks awesome in comparison.

as I understood it at one time, there is one special 360 server that you can optionally play on for maybe voice chat?? dunno for sure though.

i too think FFXI is one of the best MMORPGS out there, except for the exp problems that they had/have ( though there is now a hat system in place if you invite friends you can be their level but only with one other person) and the fact that you cannot jump or walk over the smallest bumps in the landscape.

what sup xeus?

Holy moly is that a Gemino?

_________________
--Rosepedal

Nah, Gemino is just a myth, like Bigfoot.

Hi rose and doon :p

Bumping this for research purposes.

Doubt anybody here still plays, and I refuse to go to killing ifrit to research since its an AIDS infested shithole.

I had heard they put in BCNM type encounters for the level break quests similar to the Maat fight.

I also heard that no drop versions of the more popular items went in also to curb farming of them. Like emperors hairpin and leaping boots. Also heard that Lord of Onzozo doesn't drop his epeen anymore and that got moved to a BCNM loot table.

Did they go through with making 2 handed weapons worth a shit?

ANY exp changes made? Solo, party whatever. INterested in just a description.

I know they are releasing a new expansion soon. What are world populations like now? THey took away the world pass bullshit also did they not?

Sorry to not have an answer for you Givin but I was just curious is this game made any better by having a controller instead of a keyboard? Like the 360 version with the messenger key pad addon? I played this game for a bit but wasn't having all that much fun because the battle system seemed boring.

If you have experience with any console FF games, it's similar. It makes menu flipping easier.

I never used my mouse playing this. 100% keyboard. I did try it with a gamepad I have that has identical button configurations to a PS2/3 controller and it was smoothe enough. I do prefer being able to instantly hit macros via ctrl/alt 1-0 tho instead of flipping through them. Gamepad was totally mapable tho.

A short answer would be no. It overall does not make combat any easier, nor any more difficult.

Taruarmy should make a comeback.

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

I'm the last one in Taruarmy that even resembles playing anything.

I've contemplated trying to pick something up again now that school has settled into a routine, or at least go search for another group of people playing anything with the same goals of progression I have.

After WoW I thought about hanging it up for good. What I wanted out of the game, and what the majority of people you find to recruit want do not mix well, honestly what was the point in playing.

Dunno about the first question. Second question happened when I still played. Yeah they did do it. Can't say it stopped gil farmers, and the economy was never quite the same as it was when FFXI first came out for the US, but it was improving. Dunno about the rest of that either. I stopped playing shortly after that Treasures of Aht Urhgan came out. I doubt they'd change much about exping, they did lengthen the time for exp chains considerably a while back, but considering it's an asian grindfest MMO that doesn't say much. They did remove world passes, and you can choose your server now. I can't comment on server population, though last time I went for a visit I noticed Japanese hardly use the translator in their LFG comments anymore. I took it was a sign that NA population was in decline. Didn't stick around long enough to find out though I couldn't get a party on my 42 white mage.

I just talked to someone who recently went back. The economy is COMPLETELY fixed now. It's even better than when FFXI first came out. *Everything* that came from Notorious Monsters is now rare/ex and from BCNMs. Kraken Club/Haste belt is now BCNM60, etc. Scorpion harness which was still worth about 1 million pre-gilsellers is now 250k. That's dirt cheap. The items still drop from the NMs I believe, but no one camps them anymore, since they're rare/ex and can be gotten from BCs. They're moving HNM/Sky items to a Dynamis type event as well.

They made 2-handers do significantly more damage now as well. Dragoons were improved somehow.

That is so hard to believe, no matter how much I want to.

The Rare/Ex thing I can believe, but man the economy completely fixing itself is just amazing.

Are they moving Aspid, Nidhogg, King Behemoth items to the Dynamis type event as well? Also is Koenig still the best you can get as a Paladin? If so that's still fucking retarded, but atleast they might be moving it to somewhere more accessible.

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

I can only imagine the game if they used instancing in more than just BCNMs/Dynamis. I always wondered why Sky/Sea wasn't.

No shit, if they are just now thinking of this crap, they should have hired one of us 3 years ago when we were screaming that it was needed so badly.

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

Most likely, since those are HNM's. They added some melee gear/accessories in Limbus, another instance type thing from Chains of Promathia. Talked to another person who played until a few months ago. He says VIT is actually useless now, it's all about +enmity and haste. PLD/NIN, NIN/DRK, and PLD/RDM are what people tank with nowadays. So Koenig sucks basically.

What a rollercoaster. After reading that last line, my interest in how the game has played out since I quit went from happy to super sad.

Pld/Nin Pld/Rdm <No Thanks>

Haha...yeah. It's a different game really. They use haste so they can spam agro gaining stuff faster since they don't have Provoke. It's better, but I imagine PLD/NIN is expensive as hell needing all those ninja tools to grind exp.

NIN/DRK? What the fuck?

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

So do they just rely on +eminity gear and hit spam with ninja inate haste? Man no way I could do that shit. Flash/Provoke Cure II spam worked well enough, why would someone pound their balls on a rock and run them over a cheese grater by subbing ninja with paladin?

Not only do you have to have the most expensive gear, but you have to have a stupid amount of components for shadows/slows/para ninjitsu.

I guess people can still make a living selling crystals and BCNM 40 farms are a thing of the past, especially when the 60s are such loot monsters. Or are the 60s the other type of orb. I forgot.

God, what a yo-yo of a game. I love it, i hate it, i am interested. go to hell. Ok maybe its not so bad. What the fuck this shit sucks. Square loves to toy with peoples emotions.

So torn, do i love it, or hate it? I want to know what love is. And I want you to show me.

Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope.

Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, love is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and fewer would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose, against statistically long odds.

_________________

I just read a thread over on Fires of Heaven about a longer "Return to Vanadal" promo running, Sept 25th to like next year or some shit.

ANd you get some dumb ring that gives you an exp bonus, 10 charges.

While thats great and all, I cant shake that [THIS FUCKING SHIT SHOULD NOT EVER BE OFFERED BECAUSE DELETING CHARACTERS BECAUSE YOU CANCEL AN ACCOUNT IS FUCKING STUPID AND THERE IS ZERO RHYME OR REASON AS TO WHY YOU DO BUISNESS THAT WAY. FUCK YOU, YOU MONEY GRUBBING KINGDOM HEARTS RUINING FAGGOT COCKSUCKERS GOD DAMMIT I HATE YOU

Also read about the AH crash in prices. Japs must be shitting their pants because white devils wont pay 26 million for their Scorpion Harness +1s anymore.

While I took advantage of them deleting characters a few days ago by getting my old character name on a new account (threw all my FFXI related crap because I was sure I was never going to come back until a few days ago when a few friends got the itch...), it does sucks balls, and it is really dumb. Also, not only do they delete characters, they also apparently delete play online accounts, so you have to re-buy the game.

We got a team of 5 right now, and we will try to schedule a few days a week to play a few hours. So, it should be fun for a while.

The PlayOnline thing I read is due to them still doing a billing check on it, even tho PlayOnline is free they still have to validate with a 0.00 charge to the credit card.

The funny thing I heard was, their new MMORPG coming out will also go through PlayOnline.

Yeah, stacking +enmity is what tanks do now. I think they spam whichever ninja tools cause hate. I really don't remember anything a ninja did besides utsusemi. Paladins still have Flash too, and with RDM passive fast cast. Cure/blind/kurayami/flash is what my friend says, all cause more hate than provoke over time.

I reactivated last night because my cousin was looking for something to play together. WoW is great and all but it's really missing that group experience. Going to start over, even though my character is still there. Gonna try a race other than Elvaan in the process since my cousin doesn't have his original account information. Looks like they have made lots of improvements so we'll see how it goes. I'll probably never do the endgame thing again though since WoW does that a hell of a lot better.

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

We were talking about building a team bro 2 last night, saying if we had a dedicated team that could play every day without fail it would be one of the most fun gaming experiences ever.

But man, no way. It would be the best gaming experience ever, but the amount of planning seems staggering. Every day I'm torn as of late.

The end game content in WoW I'm torn on also. While I haven't been past Kael, I feel like "I've been there" from watching the Curse BT video honestly, as well as reading about encounters. All the characters I care about are well enough off that they could start with a slight head start in WotLK.

I have full BT stuff and we only raid 2 days a week now, so I think messing around in FFXI will be fun. It's just me and my cousin so far but we'll probably end up sitting around Jeuno for a year and get bored and cancel lol. I think I'm gonna do DRG or SAM. Apparently DRG is a lot better than it used to be, so we'll see.

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

Like Givin, I'd only play under ideal conditions...most of which are a little too unrealistic at this point in time.

Plus I'd have to buy a new copy of the game (and expansions) as my account was banned for some rather questionable activities...that and its been so long I wouldn't even know what job I'd want to play.

_________________

Oh shits level 11. Got my hands on my friends 75 whm he never plays and have commenced operation get my subjob and advanced jobs asap. But raids and work is keeping me from leveling as fast as I would like!

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired

25 dragoon now. Time flies when powerleveling yourself and friends. Will go up to 30 probably and then start the real grouping.

edit: Oh and finished our Kazham keys last night! Serious pain in the ass but that should help a bit!

_________________
Avelle <Risen>
80 Mage
Ner'zhul Server (Fuck Illidan)
Avelle 75 PLD/DRG/DRK/BRD
Midgardsormr - Active again
Elidrin 75 Paladin
Midgardsormr - Retired
Elidrin 65 Ranger
Lanys T'Vyl - Retired