The Real Problem With FFXI

If the others are bringing their A game, it quite often can be a little struggle keeping interest. However if you have some B/C games mixed in, a lack of proper buffs or something, it can mix it up. Ideally if everyone were bringing their A game, you could go clubbin' but for most content it's too restricting to be engaged in combat and try to keep casts up, personally. Granted, for me: about 75% of that is improper setup for engaged play.

That's true lol, i actually went through most of Zi'tah (i think all but rabbit and fairies) not actually doing anything because mobs dies too fast that no one actually get damaged enough to need healing, then when next mob is popped their HP/MP get recovered to full

Yeah, zi'tah it's pretty much: buff and afk, remove a debuff here/there if needed for any competent group, even half of ru'aun.

Really there's only a couple Aeonic fights that I can think of that would be interesting: a drawn out Schah, and I'd have to look up the others to recall.

Try no-mew Erinys :D

At the beginning of the month I would agree with you. But like any job, RDM takes a ton of practice. And it all comes down to having a good enfeeble rotation and knowing what to use. Sleeps aren't even necessary this month if you use bind and gravity to your advantage. But that strategy talk is besides the point: RDM is not actually a "difficult" job to play when it comes to a singular role like enfeebling, it just requires on the fly reaction to a lot of situations. It's everything ELSE you add to whatever RDM has on it's plate that can make it challenging (healing, keeping everyone buffed, keeping your own buffs up so you don't run low on mp etc). The job is very gear and set heavy, so your success depends on how good you have built up your support sets and how familiar you are with using it.

I used to think RDM was a very difficult job to play well because I would always see ones who could do EVERYTHING at once without flinching, but most groups don't really require that out of their RDM. If they do, is best reserved for good players.

Oh yeah. F that. SMN all the things!

That reminds me, I need more alex...

I still want to see this done. No tp stealing erinys. (non conduit)

Gunslingers/Inquisition does it for long time now. (HINT: it's ALL about the WHM)

I just leave them logged in. Park em in mog house and it barely uses any resources on your PC

At some point no matter how much Subtle blow, it's going to put up that stupid shield (forever?) and it's untouchable(?) Still dying to know what the devs intended.

I don't multi box because I literally can barely afford (In my mind, justify) one account with some $1 mules. I have geared several of my mules for actual play with REMA and am doing another, from scratch, missions, everything, without the aid of an already i119 box player to walk them through. I spend a few hrs some nights, no hrs some nights, 6 or 7 sometimes (rarely). But with all the HPs and Survival Guides, XP/CP rings and campaigns, Gov/FoV/ROE...etc, it is nowhere CLOSE to as time consuming as it once was to take a character from nothing to 99 with gear. Can be done in a week, that is without trying too hard or spending every night online.

Those who still seem to think making a REMA is some kind of accomplishment that is all-time consuming, I just don't get. it's not THAT bad, mythic being the most time consuming due to Ichor/Tokens. I do about anything I want with one character and trusts and the things I can't solo, I ask a couple friends to help and they are always willing if they have the time.

I would multi-box if I could, to be honest. I don't feel the need to split profits with things such as Vagary with anyone unless I want to and honestly, people are pretty unreliable over all in an 18 year old game. New/returning players tend to want everything overnight, then often disappear in a month or so after you help them for hours, so I'm over them. I will play alone most the time or with the few people remaining I like.

I'd have to consult the records to see if we ever pulled it off, my memory isn't the best :D

I know we've done some different strats from time-time, varying based on # of people, etc. Only Aeonic run I tried to run fell apart near the end. I allowed too many to join without proper vetting and didn't look up proper strats for HELMs, was still an interesting experience, and I recall we mastered fighting Schah, short of getting that damn shield down...

I said this in the other thread but right now FFXI heavily encourages 4/6 of the party slots to be the same jobs. This leaves only 2 slots for every other job in the game. There is a reason the mules are always WHM/BRD/GEO/COR. Three of those jobs are considered "boring" by the community.

Ultimately this has caused a slow death to community of FFXI.

I guess I demand a bit more from BRD/GEOs, hehe.

Buffs sometimes need to be adjusted/reapplied on the fly, they should be picking up any slack in debuffing, healing, etc. I have no idea how any support player can really AFK in a 6-man or low-man setting.

Not coincidentally, these are also areas where automated support mules tend to fail miserably.

As someone who doesn't play his RDM enough, but still is proud that it was his first job and one he takes seriously, I'd agree. But not for the reasons you state regarding this month. When you add in a natural "resist sleep" trait to the mobs that increases in strength as you increase difficulty, it can drive even the most perfectly geared RDM batshit.

Also, this month encouraged changing Tier 2 merits for most "serious RDMs". A lot will have merits involving enspell damage due to how powerful Crocea C is, and their natural gear/food is often enough these days- not enfeebling duration (esp with all the gear out there now to increase this). But someone who has maxxed that (or swaps to it for this month) has a huge advantage over even the most perfectly geared RDM out there- a natural resist trait doesn't give a ***about that murgleis,etc.

Regarding your last bit of "mindless DDs"- I think the issue is that we often suggest to new players to play the "boring jobs"- GEO, WHM, BRD- vs the flashy DDs and hybrid jobs (ie COR, super high-end BRDs,etc) because they're easier to get to a functional level. This gives those jobs a stigma from day one- they're the brainless jobs, the "put anyone on 'em, if they got the gear its ok", so the standard of play for those jobs is very minimal.

Its often our way into that group who can allow us to properly gear up- level/cp/gear a support job, get your foot in the door. Then advance to the more "serious" jobs- tanks, DDs, hybrids. They're more gear dependent than skill is the real truth- meaning a good player who can join an EGLS and succeed on WHM is probably the kind of person who's gonna tweak jobs over weeks and months to produce those amazing DD builds because when they do level a DD/tank/etc, they've already got 75% of the gear.

But that initial stigma dies hard. I'd love to see more amazing GEOs who embrace the variety they gain by simply changing subjobs, and taking advantage of that subjob to its max. Or the BRD with impeccable enfeebling sets, not just seeking to sing a few songs then try to DPS. But when we as existing players are constantly advising those least knowledgeable in the game to play certain jobs, its no wonder the quality of play in those jobs is so limited, and people are always trying to run from them.

...but I use AOL as my ISP and only have 100 hours of internet time per month.

Yeah, I originally made my mule so my LS-mates could play a wider variety of jobs, but ended up keeping her around because not controlling simultaneous accounts feels really weird now, like I have a lot of extra time all of a sudden between actions.

As an avid dualboxer, I try to share the side benefits with as many friends and strangers as possible. But even then, I still feel like multiboxing is a "bad" for the community.

Are you up to a two-party alliance yet? It seems like you pick up mules like cat ladies pick up strays, lol.

Multi-boxing an alliance is the real endgame.

If people are bored on brd or geo then they aren't doing the job correctly.

WHM I could see, depending on scenario.

I can see geo adjusting buffs on the fly having values, brd not so much though. What else can you adjust? Different elemental carols on tank based on NM phase? It doesn't seem very much worth it. There is a reason why BRD is often a DD hybrid. Mostly because buffing time is fairly low.

As far as debuffs/healing goes, healer can do those. As long as your best player is on CC/healer slot, brd can sing and afk and make 0 difference outside of extra dagger DPS. Hence I think geo and BRD has lowest weight in a party. Once you put the best player on healer/CC role, most of the important aspects like debuffs are automatically covered.

Now if BRD and GEO is main healing, that would be way more fun IMO.

I'll bite. Which of these jobs do you think isn't boring? I know I already have my opinion of the one that isn't boring. Hint. Nobody says "rolls only", "songs only", or "bubbles only" about playing it ever.

we did this, with 12, built 1 party pld cor cor geo brd whm, with my gimpy AF mules.

Pld pops and super tanks all the adds in the tank party, MNK in 2nd party super zerged it down.

1/1

hint number 2, it's all about that terrain.

Protectra, shellra, bar spells only. Got a RDM doncha? I mean jeeze.

My honest hope is that they 'buff' support / mage jobs. Something to make your party say 'holy S#IT, that was awesome'. COR can buff to the 9's and still destroy things in most content. Give an incentive for people to WANT to play those jobs, that's the real problem. Unlock the potential outside of buffing / debuffing & cures.

hope you realize I was being sarcastic. Besides I forgot Auspice.

My three characters have helped gear up a handful of friends that have returned. I can cover most of the crucial jobs like tank/healer/buffer while they play the job they want to their heart's content. When my LS needs to fill the ranks, I got it. We need room for a real player, I boot one of my alts. Sure they give me a lot of flexibility but they help my online buddies too. I feel bad the nights I can't get on and they have a low showing.

I know folks from your server get all mad when others call it out, but it sounds like Asura people problems. When I hear about the stuff that goes down there, it sounds like a completely different game than the one I'm playing and the people I interact with. Maybe you need a change of scenery. Out before they start calling me a small town inbred slack jawed yokel.

It's not just an "Asura problem". I don't know how people playing by themselves with multiple accounts really harms anybody else's gameplay. You can block people advertising their merc services if you find it to be too spammy. You get out of the game what you put in so if I want to spend my subscription time logging in 55 characters for their free daily items / monthly items to sell for gil VS spending the same time dinking around farming up Alexandrite slowly, it's my prerogative.



Edit: I bet you never expected to be seeing Bobby Brown on an 18 year old video game's forums on September 3rd, 2020 during a global pandemic, but here we are.