How Far FFXI has come....Follow

From some of the things I've heard, Red Mages use to be a common tank before Refresh was added. Makes a little sense. They have lots of MP to cure themselves and lots of spells to get aggro.

Another things that changed was that you couldn't sell single items at the AH without unstacking them. That was real annoying.

Great thread! It was really fun to read that list and be able to remember quite a few of the things on there (I started playing FFXI in 6/03). It's so easy to forget how much has changed.

Also..

DRG could not dismiss wyvern without losing their 2 hour ability. The timer would not reset with the Dismiss command. They had to check to see if timer was up before using Dismiss or else they'd lose their wyvern. Far as I know, however, they still lose wyvern if they jump on a chocobo.

chocobos were always in the game since JP beta.

O_O!! Wow ..just wow FFXI has come a long way. Good job SE :3
Of course it's hard to see how something works until you see it in action.



/em falls over and twitches



I glad I never logged into a world where Taru's did not dance ; ;

To be fair about that, the scroll listed itself as usable by RDM73. However, RDM was removed from using the scroll in the same patch that raised the level cap to 75. So RDM were never actually able to use it. It might as well been WHM-only.

I don't remember the old /sit pose of mithra.. it was so long ago :/

Very impressive. Excellent job researching and compiling your information. Just starting the game a year ago, it's hard to imagine how far it's come along. I'm definitely happy with the updates they made to WHM and RDM (although there are times when I wish you could still overwrite Sneak by recasting it lol). And as for the post regarding BLM -ga spells and how there used to be no damage reduction for hitting multiple mobs, I only have one thing to say.../em drools.

It's funny how RDMs went from being one of the weakest jobs in the game to the strongest :P

no this guy asked this question...


I replied that they were in since japanese beta

In the US beta you could ride Chocobo's in Garlaige.

Excellent list, rate up!

Great post.

I'm interested in the history of the game, of how it changed over time.I've been reading FFXI forums since Jan 2003.It's very neat to think how the world changes, how it expands, how some monsters disappear (there once was a Banshee Bunny) and how the very nature of the Jobs can change (the change to SMN in April 2004 was probably among the most notable post-NA release changes for any Job).

Someone said on another thread that Fei'Yin was not accessible when the game was originally released. Is this true? I see that Rank 5 was the original cap for the missions. When in 2002 were the final missions unlocked to allow players to go to Zvahl? I know most of what zones belong with what expansion or the original game, but does anyone know if Toraimarai & Bostaunieux were in the game before April 2003 and if so, what were they like?

Can anyone who has been with the game near the beginning provide a concise list of nerfs over the years. I'm aware of Dec 2003's THF nerf (SATA/yokodama) and the pentathrust (pentaspam) nerf in April 2004, but what about earlier ones? I mean, like Monk nerf in x month or season in y year or so on. Has there been any Job that hasn't been nerfed? I think its interesting that the tipping point for balancing all 15 Jobs didn't seem to come until 2004, that it took that long to reach equilibrium and strengthen some jobs and nerf others.

I'm also curious when in 2002 some of the original HNMs- Behemoth, Serket, Roc, Simurgh, etc were implemented.

What was the place to level before Kazham was implemented? And was the "road most taken" for levelling always the same, or did it change... and was it always there or did it develop months into the game?

Here's an interesting question to the original importers- how did the Japanese perceive BST before the NA release? How was BST perceived by NA players in NA Beta, before the infamous Brady Guide? And what were the most popular jobs among the JP before NA release (e.g. did they see DRK as "kewl", like the NAs did)?

Sorry to ask so many questions and ask for such specific details (I have a curious mind). When was access to Tu'Lia implemented? I know the ZM8 boss atop Delkfutt was implemented with the 7/03 update, and the final Zilart boss was made accessible in the 10/03 update, but was there a time Tu'Lia was accessible but the Ark Angels & final boss weren't accessible (much like Al'Taieu now, where there's not much to do there other than fight the UFO Jellyfish and get one small thing).

And please, if any posters want to provide some of the things they remembered about the game early on, feel free to post, especially since this is a thread about memories of the Vana'diel that was and a compare/contrast between then and now.

This is a good thread, it's too bad these threads aren't that common.