Dominion A Little Ridiculous?

yea it's always been that way kinda. exping is always easy. just took time to get it. they just sped up that process. prolly because they are raising the levelcap every 3 months! instead of not having ever risen it for 9 years or h/e many years its been out lol

as for dominion.. its stupid easy.. fast paced and really worth while.. but yea the seal rewards are kinda wetoded. just its better then nothing. cant complain!

but the game really is no challenge at all. except for NMs.

I think it's fair to say that this quote from Jaerik in an FFXIV thread applies to this discussion:
I'm leaning towards the opinion that the bolded section is essentially what Abyssea was supposed to do to FFXI.

Ya, thats about right Anye... and to Jaerik - I LOVED THE DUNES!.. but seriously dominion is awesome, as is abyssea, its fun *** ^^

I did my first Dominion Abyssea party today. I leveled from 85 to 90 with capped exp in about three hours (give or take). I have to say, I was shocked that they gave me the extra 4200 exp every 5 mobs. Like was said before in this thread, leveling used to mean something... and I'd like to say thats true. However, I don't think I ever really enjoyed leveling. It was just a roadblock preventing me from doing what I wanted that was actually fun. It did give me a goal and I was proud the day Maat handed over his cap to me. To me, that was my greatest accomplishment in the game. Abyssea just shat all over it, though. :/

I'm glad exp is so easy to obtain now. I would rather get with a group of friends and take down mobs and fight stuff that is actually fun. Not spam colibri after colibri for days.

I'm interested in seeing what the future of XI holds though. Will the Abyssea's continue? Or will they release a new expansion and we have to go back to debating over minimal increases for maximum efficiency...

I get that that people are unwilling, or at least less likely, to spend days playing like they used to. That's cool. And the quote of Jaerik's makes a lot of sense. But at the same time, I don't really see a lot of fun EXCEPT for the effort put in to something. I mean, the storylines - even in "the old days" - was never really all that great. It's the process that made them better. I mean, cruising through CoP in a week for that? "Meh" at best. And the new "content" isn't all that much of a story, either. So you're left with your individual experiences.

And I don't know about anyone else, but, "Man, waiting 2 minutes for that 5 minute fight where we almost didn't get every possible drop was epic! I will always remember this!" doesn't really sound like it's gonna fly with me. If everyone (or most everyone) always succeeds, then success is the new mediocrity.

That being said, I am cruising along at my own pace, things challenge me, and I am having fun. I have to admit, though, people with almost no idea what they're doing, acting like them having Razed Ruins makes them the ***is a little trying.

Neither I nor anyone I've exp'ed with has ever gotten more than one seal per game day. We could spam one every 3 minutes and still never get 2 in one day but the moment the day flipped, people start getting seals again. Yes, it's slightly random, because you won't always get one and it can sometimes take a few tries for it to put out but I'm kinda doubting that this is true.

Imagine leveling from 75 to 99 the way we xp'd from 1-75 before abyssea. I dont think this game would live long enough to see us get to 99 lol. It did suck at first when I thought about it. I use to be proud of having 5 max merited jobs, and now people who have played less then me turn around and have 10.

Took me almost 2 years to do CoP and people are doing it in 4 days. When I look at the big picture though all that matters is my personal game experiences. I bet my memories of the 2 years it took to do cop are better then the 4 days it took the new guys to do it.

At the end of the day im glad I can go aby 2-3 hours a day get all my jobs to 90 and still have time to do other events. If anything, magian trials have been my only real complaint since all these changes have started, since some of them actually do pull me away from xping and other group activities.

Mac Donald vs french cuisine.

Leveling was never really fun unless you always had a BRD and such in your party, or were one of the few capable of 30k+/hr at Colibri merit camps. It was long, tedious, and even at 75 with the need for merits it drained alot of your playtime.

Now, leveling is faster. Alot faster. To the point where people are free to do other things, other events, missions, work on Trials of Magian, etc. I prefer it. Gives me alot more time to work on the things listed above, as well as time to help out friends with misc. things that come up. Do I get nostalgic for the old days of partying, skillchains, etc? Of course, that's how I and many people in this game played it back then and it was fun. Doesn't mean it's not a major time sink to get 6k-10k/hr when the tnl is 50k+

lol... what exactly did lvling(the old way) mean?

Sitting for several hours at a camp getting 4k-10k an hour, depending on your party setup and the gear of your party + camp activity, in my experience I averaged at like 6k before ToAU. Setting up skillchains at certain % so the BLM could Magic Burst a Ancient Magic to finish off the mob normally.

6k pre toau was almost unheard of! Lvling back then sucked major ***!

There is nothing else to do but ashittea anymore.

Before abyssea a huge amount of people had capped merits, several level 75 jobs etc, so leveling was a pretty small amount of their playtime. Ever since 2007 most of my playtime was events (dynamis, limbus, salvage, einherjar, znms, assaults) and farming (some bcnms, enms). I never exped.

So hmm I don't see anything that changed unless your goal is to have 20 jobs with capped merits on each (which serves no purpose since 4 jobs don't suck, as confirmed by the recent change that the "new & awesome team" made).

I can't believe you find interesting the fact of stopping the xp process to replace it by the magian grind bullcrap either.

In the end we got a level cap increase that is not a level cap increase since it takes no time to reach it... You can see it as a delevel of every mobs instead ...

Do you ever stop bitching over a game you don't play Pimpchan?

i dont miss... trying to get at least 10k an hour exp... i really dont. lol SE said. Hey they figured out a way to get fast EXP through smn burn. lets just find a way that everyone can get fast exp. abyssea!

Why are ppl bitching about the exp? its not like you have to do abyssea. And befor you complain no one does low lv partys do a /sea all invite bet you can easly make a party of willing ppl in about any zone.

Pretty much if you dont like abyssea dont do it lol.

Only problem i have with the new fov's is.. it's ummm.. too fast >.<

Can't get any skill ups :\

85~90 and capped in about 200 mobs. good luck keeping your skills capped at 90 lol

I'm actually happy to take a little slower exp and get some time to beat on a few mobs.

Get more cruor that way too (hey probably need a primeval brew to solo shinryu >_>)


The fov's are pretty win for subjobs though.

funny think is my ls can cap exp and gain time in new area.640 plus 4.2k per 5 mobs. i went from 81 to 90 in 4 hours with ops. plus got 4 seals.

I started in Dec of 2003, when I got it for Christmas. I remember how hard the game seemed. Many games I have played in the RPG involve solo play(Console games). I fell in love with the story line and strategy. All the jobs lvs I have up to 75 have been earned the old school hard way. But, now...I have come in contact with to many newer players who have capped lv jobs with mission gear or af3+1 who have know idea how to play their jobs, or how party dynamics work.

I am just no sure how I feel about things any more!

FFXI is fun, Abyssea is fun, what's not fun is seeing ppl go from lvl 30 to 90 in a couple days and having no skill whatsoever in their job. When it comes to fighting the New NMs and the really epic gear drops, what makes that person worthy of obtaining it over someone who has actually spent the time to "learn" their job?

"I got RDM to lvl 90 in 2 days, I deserve an Augur's Jaseran.."

"I've been playing RDM since 2004, I deserve an Augur's Jaseran."

Which one is more worthy? Should there even be an argument over it? When is skill more important than numbers? Does skill even matter anymore? With the increased rate at which we can obtain lvls, and then the ability to use Atmas that increase stats beyond what was typically possible, it makes even the noobiest of noobs a contender.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is I don't understand what SE planned on happening when they created Abyssea. Instant Gratification for more pleased players, or making something epic for a Rewarding Gaming Experience? If I want instant gratification, I'll play WoW. I chose FFXI because it was more challenging, and wasn't full of 12 yr olds who know how to toss a fireball at rabbits.

This.
After years of grinding jobs to 75, I remember spending evenings levelling my first job giving an average of 1 level per evening. When SE released the information that the cap would be lifted I almost quit the game because I was so happy when I had my jobs (nin blm drk) at 75 and never to exp again, I couldnt bear grinding again. abyssea parties were good, still long term things and occasionally (when half the alliance went afk) not as fast as ppl on the forums like to say. even less as most of the hardcore players had their jobs up already and parties were full of less geared, less motivated and overall more afk casual ppl. (I consider myself casual too, its just the fact that the exp slows down in an alliance of casuals vs alliance of hardcore 24/7 progamers)
now with dominion I can say wow game is awesome I dont mind levelling anymore. getting the occasional seal, doing magian trials meanwhile on the mobs, capping skills solo/duo/trio, getting large exp in alliances, you can join short time, can do one op can play for hours, its all possible and rewarding now.
the game did get far more enjoyable, no discussion about that. more enjoyable, less hardcore, less elitist. after all its a game and its meant to be fun isnt it?

edit:
and btw, exping NEVER was a challenge, not back in 2005, not in bibiki bay, not in toau areas nor anywhere. so if talking about challenges, exp parties are the wrong spot. the only purpose besides getting exp was getting to know your job, its potency and limitations.

They had to feed the frustrated 75 gimpass that couldn't build a party of 2-6 to get their merits/exp. Honestly I don't really see the point of increasing the merit point limit. If it had be done at 80 ... ok, but at 90, really, when everyone has probably already merited all their jobs for months. It would have been brighter to release new merits at 90. In the end we will get level 99 and be unable to use abyssea to get the merits due to 10 level difference. I don't really see the point of increasing level caps either when you purposely make it possible to get the last level in a few hours. No more goals= dead game.

I agree that Exp wasn't the challenging part, but you got it right when you say it was to get to know your job, it's potency, and limitations. Having a RDM that has no clue to dispel, or sleep, or even freakin' REFRESH makes doing anything other than exp, doomed to fail. Without knowing how to do your job, you're making a lot of hard work to collect pop items/key items completely pointless because when it comes to fighting the Big Boss, you're putting everything in jeopardy by not knowing wtf you're doing.

And not to just pick on RDMs.. but I do tend to be overly critical of them xD

Obviously a "huge amount" of people didn't have capped merits, or I wouldn't see people grinding to 10-20 merits constantly in Abyssea. If everyone was capped they'd leave as soon as they're staple 75 jobs hit the new cap, which is not the case for many.

And what's wrong with Trials of the Magian? How is it any different doing ridiculous salvage grinding for low droprate items, dynamis for ***that dropped so randomly, etc etc. It's a grind yes, but at the very least it's a timesink that will most definitely yield a reward after a set amount of kills, which is alot different than doing some of the other events where'd you can spend time doing it and not get your intended reward sometimes, all based on luck.

Those old events are still there, alot of the gear is still viable, and they are easier to lowman. Maybe if people stopped doing them, it's not all just cause of the gear(although I'll admit it partly is). It's because alot of those events like dynamis are a *** bore for so many years that many never want to return, and being able to go into Abyssea casually and get ***done without some ridiculous lockout is actually fun.

I hope SE does to FOV what they have going with those unlimited Dominion pages.

Dominion is a lot ridiculous and I love it. Dicking around last night I went into altepa and did sand sweepers on my mnk/war with 3 atmas active solo.

I finished 6 dominion pages in 36 minutes. Somewhere between 30 and 35k exp solo in 36 minutes. Absolutely in love lol....

I had capped merits @75 but I got them like the week before Abyssea came out. I didn't know anyone else that had 5+ jobs with capped merits..I had 7 jobs to 75 and around 650 merits. In my eyes it was a huge accomplishment but now merits mean nothing. The only thing I use merits for right now is when I wanna tweek something on a job.

I do agree that the game feels a little boring outside of Abyssea but I don't see a problem with that if done correctly you never have to leave abyssea and basically everything can be duo'd or lowmanned. Which imo is awesome. I've have WAY WAY more to do since Abyssea came out then before with the 75 cap.

Revisiting older stuff is fun to imo..Nyzul can be done with 4 very easily, Salvage with 3, Assaults with 3. Sure the rewards may not be as good anymore but it's still fun. Hell lowmanning old HNM is even fun..go kill Khim or Cerb with 4 and tell me its not a little fun. 5 or 6 man dynamis is even fun and even better now with improved drops.

Get off your *** and do something..it doesn't always have to be all about Abyssea, the same content we all enjoyed at 75 is still fun now, but for different reasons.

I hope so too..would be amazing.