Old Ffxi

If SE made a new server that was as if abyssea and newer expansions never existed.
You would have to start a new character, no world transfers, market would obviously be empty until stocked, hours of grinding to *ding (but everyone would be lower levels, so LFG wouldn't be as long), camping NMs for hours for that level 7 piece of gear that is a solid piece for the next 30 something levels.

All the goods and bads of ffxi that make it difficult for you to play other MMOs... If this existed would you resub? Would you start from day 1?

I think mostly people are just looking for a little bit more out of their MMO than auto-attack and power creep. I abandoned the idea of ever going back to FFXI when I started seeing the "Item Level" stuff and all the new complex stats involved in making builds. I knew that to even get close to the skill ceiling would require the use of third party tools. (Spellcast and Gearswap for example)

In all my years on FFXI I never even used the windower, it wasn't until DT sets became commonplace that I started to feel that my aversion to Third Party tools would finally be a crippling liability.

Old FFXI was more a game for the high school teenager with a summer vacation to waste and get fat over (True story lulz), it's cool that the game has evolved to meet the needs of those who've stuck it out this long but I personally wouldn't sign up again if it went back to 2003 mode.

No

You can pretty much full time certain gear sets and be lazy and still beat content... You most certainly don't need GS/SC.

I realized awhile ago FFXI was never really about the gameplay for me. It was about the friends I made along the way and the lessons it taught me as I grew.

No, there's no reason in going back anymore. The point is FFXI evolved in an attempt to accommodate changes in the player base, just like I changed thanks to the people I've met while playing the game.

Sure I still slap on those nostalgia goggles every now and then, wondering what it would be like if the game had stayed the same but in the end I understand that change was needed and if they hadn't of done some of the drastic(and sometimes incredibly stupid) things they did I probably would have gotten bored with the game far sooner and missed out on a lot of friends/lessons.

Honestly, when people bring this up and vainly cling onto "Old FFXI was best" I feel bad for them for clinging onto a past that quite simply isn't coming back.

Besides, people who want the old gameplay back. You do realize you're demanding things like 20hr+ nm spawns, HNMLS drama and what was the real menace of RMTs?

No.

While there are most definitely aspects of old school FFXI I miss, there would be far more about the game I would miss reverting to the way it was.

Yeah, old school FFXI lol.


moments like this took the game to a whole other level of fun.

Having 20+ hour respawn time isn't that big of a deal, add 10+ HNMs for the HNMLSes to jump around to and you have an NM every few hours. Gathering together at the camps, looking at all the other HNMLS new gear, rushing to a NM someone in your LS found, watching a noob LS claim and wipe. Probably my most nostalgic moments in FFXI.

Don't think I'd go back, I still really enjoy modern XI. One old element of the game I really loved to experience was camping relevant lotto pop NMs. Stuff like Ose, Charybdis, pre-RA/EX Mee Deggi the Punisher/Valkurm Emperor/Leaping Lizzy/Lord of Onzozo, and Sozu Sarberry too(even though that's still relevant, though not heavily camped.)

I just loved the feeling you get as the PH is about to pop and you're like "is this gonna be it?? is this gonna be it??" as your heart pumps, "…no just [[PH name here]]" and that repeats every 5/10/15 min, whatever the PH repop time was, with nerve wracking anticipation right before each pop.. and when you FINALLY see the NM pop, your heart races, your stomach drops, and you get chills as you rush to claim it, everything you had been working on for hours is finally at it's climax, Mee Deggi is in the horizon!

claimbots/RMT is more of what killed most of that off though a lot moreso than modern XI :/

The primary era of FFXI was that of a life lesson, adventuring and gathering, meeting friends in Jeuno to go out with for crazy adventures in West Ronfaure, or the level 1 run to Jeuno from Bastok, trying not to be killed by goblin ambushers and butchers in Valkurm Dunes.

Once you've reached the point of learning the life lessons that were taught (which is funny, because you can learn them anywhere, any time, day or not, MMO or IRL), it becomes redundant, and insulting, to give in to the worst parts of nostalgia, and to forget those who helped you get where you are, your achievements, and the character building moments, that tested your inner most personality, which was hidden, even from you.

Long gone are the days of old, which have repeatedly ushered in new eras, new friends, and new life lessons to be learned in the ever expanding world of Vana'diel. While many of us yearn for past glory, thankfully, many of us are well aware that future days of glory still resound in our hearts.

In Short: No.

Well, that wasn't the response I expected.. Lol
I'm actually kinda doing this old ffxi thing. I camped LL the other day and went 1/7. Someone helped me get a sub job, AH completely empty because no one crafts/has all mats available to do so.

I'm probably living in the past, but I love it.

I've recently delvled a few 99s back down to 75, switched from PC to Xbox 360, remade all macros to the vanilla format, and believe me, I have 100% fallen back in love with FFXI lol. Getting to try all the NM solos I missed out on for whatever reason, honestly it has really opened the doors to a whole other part of the game for me.

Definitely not for everyone, it's brought me oodles of enjoyment.

been investing in 75 gear and doing some of the 75 capped ENMs solo, been a blast so far. I personally wouldn't go as far as de-level any of my jobs to 75 so that's commitment :D I have, however, thought of leveling a job on my dualbox to 75 and abusing Level Sync for soloing, so I will be able to experience things outside of ENMs.

what sucks about Level Sync though is that stuff doesn't scale to their older versions :/ for instance, 99 Gjallarhorn doesn't give any bonus to songs when synced at 75, woulda been cool if SE had scaled upgraded RME's and 109 & 119 AFs/Relics to revert to their former stats under sync :(

I miss old XI, mainly EXP parties and the experiences I had with that.

I've been watching your uploads pretty regularly. Keep em coming!

I'm not personally interested in playing in this style, but it is nostalgic to watch. Reminds me of enjoying doing similar things back in the day. Then afterwards I go back to enjoying current content.

Sorry double post but in the current game environment this comment kind of confounds me. I joined a shout for a job point party drk DRG DRG brd brd whm, roaming in who gates. Reminded me a ton of old meripo PTs. If you miss exp parties why not make one?

While I had loads of fun with the old XI, saying that I miss it and want it back is stretching it.

Looking back at the old days I spent most time in game waiting, waiting for a party invitation, waiting for a NM to spawn, waiting for a linkshell event to start, waiting for the ??? to respawn, waiting for the daily/weekly quests, battles and raids to reset.
A lot of waiting.

Back then I didn't mind it very much, I had a lot of hours per day to spend in the game and pulling all-nighters wasn't a big deal.
Things I can't do anymore now.

I remember my first run to Jeuno, drawn by rumors of some place called "Qufim" where apparently you could get 1kHR on worms. Sign me up for expedited XP as WAR22/BLM12.

But that's the kind of stuff that only happens your first time... even if they reset all progress to 0 and rolled the servers back 2003 style, we'd still know way more then what FFXI players knew at that time. You'd see lvl20 gear swapping and everything.

My first run to Jeuno was at lvl 14, set my HP without even thinking about it. Consequently ended up dying repeatedly trying to get back home, ended up finally getting a 40ish RNG to escort me back to a crag zone. Seeing that RNG destroy a tiger in jugner definitely stuck with me.

I would. I miss the difficulty and the satisfaction you get when you finally get that drop or finally beat that mission.

I can't describe the joy I got from finally beating CoP before all the nerfs and the level cap restriction lifted. I felt like I really accomplished something. Like it was résumé worthy lol.

But with Wildstar around the corner I am excited. Raids are difficult. And in that game if you die it's your own fault. Not a healers. Since you know when and what to avoid. There's this amazing stun mechanic that takes more than one person to stun an attack that will wipe the group that it takes real concentration and coordination from anywhere from 3~13 people all hitting their stun at the right time to stun and interrupt the attack from going through. It's amazing. Combat is fresh and active. Art style is amazing. And the music is some of the best I have heard in recent years. It truly is going to be the best MMO of this generation.

For me, the best thing about old FFXI was the unknown. Having a relic meant something. Back in the day if you got a relic, you were a celebrity the next day with a mystique about you as if you had some mystical powers. Another thing was being new with so much unknown, you hear of zones like Hall of the Gods and the like.

I've seen too much to go back to that.

I don't miss the game the way it was(although I disagree with some recent changes), rather what really was different was me. Being new and amazed at every new thing I discovered, exploring and taking tons of screenshots cause I thought I was witnessing the most incredible thing ever. That's what's not there anymore, and it's not something you can get back in a game you've played for 10 years.
Once the adventure is over all there is left is chasing gear or moving onto another game.

Yeah like many others have said I dont have the time to put into the old ffxi. I used to go to bed late on a friday night due to some event then get up at 6am to run dyna with my JP ls then do einherjar with them at 12pm..... screw that. Never really bothered with the HNMs as I never really had enough time to commit to it. Used to do 4-5 hours of sky in the evening trying to get the damn pop items and well we used to have some nights, im sure a lot of you had this, where we would get nothing. Then I used to help the lowbies on the ls I was in through prommies and rest of CoP.

The best way to get that feeling of old ffxi is to find a new mmo to play. Dont read anything online just fumble around in the darkness. die, get screwed, die more, find no friendly people and die again. hopefully it wont be a modern mmo where it is easy and you cant die... then its just a waste.

Who did speak about rmt?

Hell no, people just look back at it with rose colored glasses.

When I think Old FFXI I think of seeking for a party for Hours and HOURS on end, only to have it be a crap party that made like 2k XP then disbanded. Unless you were a healing job of course.

Spending months and months in Sky to just get a Genbu shield. Being in Dynamis about 8 hours a week and if I was LUCKY get one piece of armor a month.

Spending a Hours gathering a party and getting to CoP Burning Circles for missions, just to wipe the first try and have half the people rage quit cause they lost 5k XP, ect.

Camping Kings for for 20+ hours a week, just to loose half the claims cause the other LS's had better claim bots then us, ect, and taking about 2 1/2 years to get my E-Body.

So no, I do not miss it. I don't regret playing it, but I guess i'm just not that much of a sadist anymore

Good times! It took me a year to get my Ridill and a year and a half to get my Dalmatica back then.

I'm not really oldschool, but I had a somewhat authentic oldschool experience with a group of people in 2010, where our main goal was to beat the Shadow Lord. We made sure not to overlevel or overgear, and the fight was quite a struggle. Before the fight, we had done the old 6-person parties in Valkurm, AU, colibris, Yuhtunga Jungle, etc. Good times.

However, there's a lot of great additions that have been made to the game that I also wouldn't want to be without. I think I'd have enjoyed the game even more with trust NPCs (+ partying with people at the same time, which they'll be adding later) being able to mess around in Monstrosity, and working on RoE. There's honestly way too many things people take for granted when they put on nostalgia goggles.

In any case, memories are great and all, but you can't truly recreate or relive them. Learn to embrace making new memories.

You are supposed to have an under leveled subjob for Qufim not over leveled one!

I love reading threads like this, reminds me of my 10 years in FFXI.