In business all products have a life cycle. My theory is that Social Linkshells (unless formed under unique circumstances) have the same.
Introduction
A shell is created by some friends and they use it to chat back and forth. Goofing around leveling core jobs maybe getting a few ranks one's and two's together. More than likely all are from the same nation.
Growth
Invites to the LS really take off and members begin to level their characters. People that are fun to be around and party with receive invites and they have friends that want to join so they get invited too. Killing the Dragon is fun and people are on all the time to chat and joke around. Cliques may start to form as a result of who helps who or what job levels are the same as people may be in a 'static' and not even know it. People in the LS really start to come together as a family to provide help and be there for each other.
Maturity
In the early parts of this stage people become separated by levels as those with the time have really leveled quickly whether its on adv. jobs or not. The players with the higher levels have had to find their own parties for various genkai and AF help. Once they reach an even higher level it is time for them to help players within the LS do their AF and genkais and they do.
Some recruiting continues but not as much, as most people they are now meeting are in LS's themselves and/or 'nubs' are not getting invited because they wouldn't share the same interest as the LS.
Decline
The 'Higher Levels' from before have reached upper 60's and low 70's to the point where they are attracted to HNMLS's. Mages go first and Melee second. They are between the two shells as long as they can but ultimately the time commitment and newfound gil keep them on the HNM shell longer than they can be in the Social shell. Soon they are doing activities in the HNM shell such as Zilarts/Gods.
The 'Lower Levels' are still making their way up but no longer find they have the 'Higher Levels' to help them. They inturn must now find AF or higher rank assistance on their own or with each other.
New leadership emerges as the old leadership is now doing sky farming/dynamis/gods/hnm's. The new leadership attempts to keep everyone happy but ultimately cannot as an exodus of most of the higher levels added to the fact that recruiting stopped sometime ago means that the numbers have dwindled. Players begin leaving in their 'cliques' dropping the shell altogether until one clique remains as the last remnants of what used to be a flourishing linkshell.
Has this been anyone elses experience?
I have played for a little over a year and watched this happen to my poor social LS. It used to be great fun full of great people. Often times 25+ were on sometimes 40+ on the weekends. Now as I and others have left to do 'End-Game' activites the poor social LS has ground to 1-2 groups of friends that still stay with it. Maybe 5-6 on at a time never anymore than 10.
Seeing the LS saddens me and while Kirin can be exhilarating sometimes I long for an impromptu marching up Delkfutts tower when we were all around level 40.
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I've found that the "decline" period can also begin due to political and egocentric in-fighting among members. A highly segregated sense of community can form... very "us and them"... also known as cliques. People stop helping others if they're not in their "clique", even though they're in the same LS... people start to feel left out, become disenchanted and leave the LS... the clique members rarely even notice or care.
I've noticed this more in the larger LSs, especially those that have too many sack carriers and have no real quality control over who is brought in. People are continually brought in. The leader loses control over it and usually just stops trying.
In my experience, once a LS hits that point I don't hang around.. in 3 instances, the LS broke up only a few weeks after I left... not because I left.. but because of the reason I left..it was basically falling apart.
I've noticed this more in the larger LSs, especially those that have too many sack carriers and have no real quality control over who is brought in. People are continually brought in. The leader loses control over it and usually just stops trying.
In my experience, once a LS hits that point I don't hang around.. in 3 instances, the LS broke up only a few weeks after I left... not because I left.. but because of the reason I left..it was basically falling apart.
Yeha I've seen it, If I can dig up an old thread I wrote I'll e-mail it to you. Its basically all about what you said, a little different perhaps.
good post
good post
I think the OP pretty much nailed it on the head. My experience with my 2 LS is very similar to what he described.
1st LS:
I joined not long after starting the game and we were all newbies. I think our highest level at the time wasn't even 30 yet. We did a lot of things together and learned a lot from each other. A few members however started to shoot up in levels together and formed their own little clique. Geting help from them was near impossible, and the leader started inviting all kinds of random people into the shell. It died pretty quickly after that
Current LS:
When I joined at level 40 most members were in their 40's and 50's. We did AF, Genkai, and some even leveled together. People were always happy to do things together because we all needed it.
Now most members are 65+ and they have started to distance themselves a bit from everyone else. There is a definite clique atmosphere and it seems everytime I turn around there are new members. There has been fighting over various Missions whatnot and there was a good sized defection recently. I love this shell and the people in it but I feel that it is going downhill, mainly because we don't work together anymore for the good of the shell.
The people that got ahead are just pushing forward and not looking back. I mean most members haven't finished Promyvians yet and the leaders are doing nothing to resolve this. I have been put in charge of organizing runs but due to my limited playtime and weird hours it has been very difficult thus far.
I hope we can buck the trend because I really don't wanna start over with a new LS.
1st LS:
I joined not long after starting the game and we were all newbies. I think our highest level at the time wasn't even 30 yet. We did a lot of things together and learned a lot from each other. A few members however started to shoot up in levels together and formed their own little clique. Geting help from them was near impossible, and the leader started inviting all kinds of random people into the shell. It died pretty quickly after that
Current LS:
When I joined at level 40 most members were in their 40's and 50's. We did AF, Genkai, and some even leveled together. People were always happy to do things together because we all needed it.
Now most members are 65+ and they have started to distance themselves a bit from everyone else. There is a definite clique atmosphere and it seems everytime I turn around there are new members. There has been fighting over various Missions whatnot and there was a good sized defection recently. I love this shell and the people in it but I feel that it is going downhill, mainly because we don't work together anymore for the good of the shell.
The people that got ahead are just pushing forward and not looking back. I mean most members haven't finished Promyvians yet and the leaders are doing nothing to resolve this. I have been put in charge of organizing runs but due to my limited playtime and weird hours it has been very difficult thus far.
I hope we can buck the trend because I really don't wanna start over with a new LS.
Yep, that's exactly what my LS is going through. I joined at the maturity stage, but it's in the decline stage now. It's very sad to see it dwindling so much, but I guess it's inevitible ; ;
Ours declined rather fast because of several things. Immaturity that involved a player that was acting stupid to a LS member and decided to leave the shell. The shell whose co-founder was a RL friend of this person, that was also RL friends with several other members. Many other immature folks left because of petty reasons.
Then came another situation involving idealistic views by a sackholder (who apparently had influential ties for reasons that I will never understand) being pushed in a communist fassion. "Don't do ZM for 1 week for the sake of the shell". Which there really was no problems with the shell at the time. At least none that would be affected by ZM missions. In fact, that would have actually strengthened it by doing it. Since the problems that were there already involved those who wanted Sky for the most part. Since those of us that did it, needed Sky to lv with. And also, many of those of us that did it/wanted it were sackholders or those of strong ties with the LS. Said person that wanted us all to wait is/was too low to have a use for Sky btw.
The one who organized the ZM run had to the ideal one "ok" on waiting. But went ahead anyway because the opportunity was available. So anyway, we finish all the missions up to Sky easily. Everyone that did it is happy at that point. "Castro" finds out and gets mad and decides to leave the shell for a while (which turned out to be pretty much permanent) for reason of "lying" type of things. There were no consequences prior to that afterall. I figure there was some jealousy there as well, but unmentioned. What was pretty hypocritical of "Castro" though was that his leaving caused a major decline in LS members. Apparently, "sides" became an issue for some. Since this member (who is an influence for whatever reasons) leaves, the shell leader (who also had influential ties and even helped with the ZM run) decided to leave to avoid the "sides" issue.
So long story short, LS is kinda dead for the most part nowdays. And the thing that cut the life support was ideals. They're good things to have no doubt, but only to those who know better than the push it upon others for no GOOD reason. It's like religion (not trying to start a war here, just saying my story for you to think about only). I know some friends that hate religions where people try to push others to join (which is rampant for much of christianity). My personal view about that is that for most religions, they believe that if you don't follow their beliefs, you're gonna go to hell (or wherever it is for that religion). So in response to that, "**** you". Also ideals are no good when used as a cover for what you're really trying to say. Things go awry especially for that reason.
Edited, Wed May 25 08:25:23 2005 by Welsper
Then came another situation involving idealistic views by a sackholder (who apparently had influential ties for reasons that I will never understand) being pushed in a communist fassion. "Don't do ZM for 1 week for the sake of the shell". Which there really was no problems with the shell at the time. At least none that would be affected by ZM missions. In fact, that would have actually strengthened it by doing it. Since the problems that were there already involved those who wanted Sky for the most part. Since those of us that did it, needed Sky to lv with. And also, many of those of us that did it/wanted it were sackholders or those of strong ties with the LS. Said person that wanted us all to wait is/was too low to have a use for Sky btw.
The one who organized the ZM run had to the ideal one "ok" on waiting. But went ahead anyway because the opportunity was available. So anyway, we finish all the missions up to Sky easily. Everyone that did it is happy at that point. "Castro" finds out and gets mad and decides to leave the shell for a while (which turned out to be pretty much permanent) for reason of "lying" type of things. There were no consequences prior to that afterall. I figure there was some jealousy there as well, but unmentioned. What was pretty hypocritical of "Castro" though was that his leaving caused a major decline in LS members. Apparently, "sides" became an issue for some. Since this member (who is an influence for whatever reasons) leaves, the shell leader (who also had influential ties and even helped with the ZM run) decided to leave to avoid the "sides" issue.
So long story short, LS is kinda dead for the most part nowdays. And the thing that cut the life support was ideals. They're good things to have no doubt, but only to those who know better than the push it upon others for no GOOD reason. It's like religion (not trying to start a war here, just saying my story for you to think about only). I know some friends that hate religions where people try to push others to join (which is rampant for much of christianity). My personal view about that is that for most religions, they believe that if you don't follow their beliefs, you're gonna go to hell (or wherever it is for that religion). So in response to that, "**** you". Also ideals are no good when used as a cover for what you're really trying to say. Things go awry especially for that reason.
Edited, Wed May 25 08:25:23 2005 by Welsper
Happens all the time.
My very first LS disappeared because the other members all left for WoW. Now I hear they are trickling back.
I popped in and out of more LS than I can remember before becoming a part of a "mature" LS. Yes it was and stayed mature the whole time I was with it, but the owner never showed up over the time period I was in. Then the two sackholders eventually left (retired from the game). (I still have that pearl = Elysium)
Next came a brand new LS that I gladly joined from players I met. Well, although it grew, it was never as mature as I hoped. Now the owner retired, but LS is still active but quiet.
The latest LS I joined is not too bad. Quiet and civilized. However, due to RL commiments, I have not been able to spend much time on line.
In any case, somethings I do not let go of. Case in point: I still have 2 sacks and 3 linkpearls.
Kiptaru
My very first LS disappeared because the other members all left for WoW. Now I hear they are trickling back.
I popped in and out of more LS than I can remember before becoming a part of a "mature" LS. Yes it was and stayed mature the whole time I was with it, but the owner never showed up over the time period I was in. Then the two sackholders eventually left (retired from the game). (I still have that pearl = Elysium)
Next came a brand new LS that I gladly joined from players I met. Well, although it grew, it was never as mature as I hoped. Now the owner retired, but LS is still active but quiet.
The latest LS I joined is not too bad. Quiet and civilized. However, due to RL commiments, I have not been able to spend much time on line.
In any case, somethings I do not let go of. Case in point: I still have 2 sacks and 3 linkpearls.
Kiptaru
There's one thing that can kill anyone's LS at any point in this cycle: mass quitting. Everyone in my LS except for 2 or 3 people quit to play WoW. It was a small LS, but it was still a fatal blow.
I won't have a reason to play if my LS and the people in it fade away like that. So yeah..../cry
I could see that happening.
I am lucky enough in that my LS recruits low and high level players and half of recruits tend to stay which makes up for the one or two that quit the game every few months.
Plus there are a core of us who have been through now 3 LS changes and we are rather close. Even the ones that have gotten a HNMLS, still spend most of their time in my LS to socialize.
Also, politics can cause some issues and probably the cause of a majority of LS's ending.
Oh...and another advantage to my shell is the leader has been away from the game for months now. So no one ever gets kicked out. ^^
I am lucky enough in that my LS recruits low and high level players and half of recruits tend to stay which makes up for the one or two that quit the game every few months.
Plus there are a core of us who have been through now 3 LS changes and we are rather close. Even the ones that have gotten a HNMLS, still spend most of their time in my LS to socialize.
Also, politics can cause some issues and probably the cause of a majority of LS's ending.
Oh...and another advantage to my shell is the leader has been away from the game for months now. So no one ever gets kicked out. ^^
The OP described the life Cycle of an LS perfectly. I am a Sac-holder in my LS, which has been around since early February of 2004. It has been through this life cycle twice so far.
Last summer our LS was 50-60 strong with 25 people minimum on all the time. Then some fighting went on and a group of original members left, then some people left for WOW. Before you knew it, I would be the only person in the shell somedays.
So, then a few members and I went on a low level recruiting craze and got a lot of good players in the shell that are still with us today.
Right now our LS is in the Growth stage for the third time. Things are looking up!! I think the key is to recruit new players, players who have never had a shell, that way they become dedicated to the LS. That's what happened to me and many others in my LS
Last summer our LS was 50-60 strong with 25 people minimum on all the time. Then some fighting went on and a group of original members left, then some people left for WOW. Before you knew it, I would be the only person in the shell somedays.
So, then a few members and I went on a low level recruiting craze and got a lot of good players in the shell that are still with us today.
Right now our LS is in the Growth stage for the third time. Things are looking up!! I think the key is to recruit new players, players who have never had a shell, that way they become dedicated to the LS. That's what happened to me and many others in my LS
The LS cycle sounds about right to me, however I haven't had alot of experience w/ large LS's.
I can speak from my own experience though.
My wife and I started playing about a year ago. We never made our own LS, but quickly found a small one that had a group that is really close. We've all played together for months. Unfortunately, there is a small split in the LS because 3 of us play on UK time and the rest are in the US. Naturally the 3 of us formed a semi-static and have a set time that we play every night. We offer help to new folks occasionally, but if you've been on the LS for 5 minutes, don't expect the entire LS to drop their 40+ party to help you kill the windy dragon. Most people tend to get aggrivated if we tell them we can help and then offer to set up a time/day and will drop off.
Another thing that tends to happen is the LS leader will organize events and then half of the people that signed up, won't even show, or will drop out half way through (Promy's). This can really upset a close LS and people will tend to remember.
WoW is probably a big cause of it though. I had my arm twisted to try it this week, and I was surprised at how much I actually like the game. I love FFXI, but sitting in Jeuno for 2 hours (when I've only got 3 or 4 to play) starts to really suck after a few nights in a row. It's probably most likely due to the time zones...if we were in the states I doubt it would be much of a problem. So now we just log in for an hour to try to find a party on weeknights and if we don't have luck, we'll switch to WoW. Saturday's and Sunday's are dedicated FFXI days :)
I can speak from my own experience though.
My wife and I started playing about a year ago. We never made our own LS, but quickly found a small one that had a group that is really close. We've all played together for months. Unfortunately, there is a small split in the LS because 3 of us play on UK time and the rest are in the US. Naturally the 3 of us formed a semi-static and have a set time that we play every night. We offer help to new folks occasionally, but if you've been on the LS for 5 minutes, don't expect the entire LS to drop their 40+ party to help you kill the windy dragon. Most people tend to get aggrivated if we tell them we can help and then offer to set up a time/day and will drop off.
Another thing that tends to happen is the LS leader will organize events and then half of the people that signed up, won't even show, or will drop out half way through (Promy's). This can really upset a close LS and people will tend to remember.
WoW is probably a big cause of it though. I had my arm twisted to try it this week, and I was surprised at how much I actually like the game. I love FFXI, but sitting in Jeuno for 2 hours (when I've only got 3 or 4 to play) starts to really suck after a few nights in a row. It's probably most likely due to the time zones...if we were in the states I doubt it would be much of a problem. So now we just log in for an hour to try to find a party on weeknights and if we don't have luck, we'll switch to WoW. Saturday's and Sunday's are dedicated FFXI days :)
The OP did have it almost perfectly.
The thing is though that you can prevent the lifecycle from ending. You can do a few things: First you can continue to recruit new people as old ones leave if you want to keep your LS as a social/low/mid level LS. As people go up in levels it is only natural for them to want to do things with other people their level. There is a lot of end game content in FFXI and leveling to 75 is much more fun when you have something to look forward to once you get there.
Second you can change the culture of your LS to meet your members needs. Instead of having them all run off to HNMLS's you can consider doing things together as your own little mini HNMLS; after all that's how all the HNMLS's are born anyway.
I've always found it better to keep quiet when members start arguing, if things get out of hand I will often make an attempt in LS chat to stop it, if thta doesn't work I will send a tell. Most people in my LS are rational and logical about things, so we've never really had a lot of problems with in-fighting. Of course being an HNMLS we are also very picky about who we allow to join. Being an LS leader is not as easy as some people might think; it's about making sure other people are happy and having a good time (sometimes at the expense of your own fun) and being a fair and reasonable leader. Communication is the key to success in life and in FFXI. :)
The thing is though that you can prevent the lifecycle from ending. You can do a few things: First you can continue to recruit new people as old ones leave if you want to keep your LS as a social/low/mid level LS. As people go up in levels it is only natural for them to want to do things with other people their level. There is a lot of end game content in FFXI and leveling to 75 is much more fun when you have something to look forward to once you get there.
Second you can change the culture of your LS to meet your members needs. Instead of having them all run off to HNMLS's you can consider doing things together as your own little mini HNMLS; after all that's how all the HNMLS's are born anyway.
I've always found it better to keep quiet when members start arguing, if things get out of hand I will often make an attempt in LS chat to stop it, if thta doesn't work I will send a tell. Most people in my LS are rational and logical about things, so we've never really had a lot of problems with in-fighting. Of course being an HNMLS we are also very picky about who we allow to join. Being an LS leader is not as easy as some people might think; it's about making sure other people are happy and having a good time (sometimes at the expense of your own fun) and being a fair and reasonable leader. Communication is the key to success in life and in FFXI. :)
You forgot Rebirth after Decline period :p
However not all the linkshell can come back up after Decline.
However not all the linkshell can come back up after Decline.
I guess our LS falls under those 'special circumstances', namely the fact that most of the members, or at least the core group, all knew each other from previous games and online friendships prior to playing FFXI.
Several static parties emerged within the linkshell, ensuring that, generally, no one got left behind.
Sure, a few people have left to join other games, and other friends made in game have come to join, and a small handful of members do double-duty with another LS (HNM), but it's a delight to open he LS window and see a long list of level 75 rank 10 people that you've spent the last year and a half playing and growing with.
Several static parties emerged within the linkshell, ensuring that, generally, no one got left behind.
Sure, a few people have left to join other games, and other friends made in game have come to join, and a small handful of members do double-duty with another LS (HNM), but it's a delight to open he LS window and see a long list of level 75 rank 10 people that you've spent the last year and a half playing and growing with.
This is probably the most poignant post I've ever seen on this entire board.
{You can have this} Rate up!
I've experienced this with 2 Linkshells before and am therefore averse to 'social' shells and am more geared toward shell's which encourage group participation in events which strengthen the linkshell community through common shared experiences.
{You can have this} Rate up!
I've experienced this with 2 Linkshells before and am therefore averse to 'social' shells and am more geared toward shell's which encourage group participation in events which strengthen the linkshell community through common shared experiences.
My LS is also a "special" LS as it is a BST specific shell. We have had some problems recently and have had the first signs of a few "cracks". Before this though, the shell was not only social, but very productive and is growing stronger by the day. Almost everyone in the shell is willing to drop what they are doing at any given moment to help/do a mission/kill a NM/do group activities/whatever.
We have a constant influx of new people joining and people leaving. New BST join and can't handle the job, don't like the shell for whatever reason and simply stop coming to the shell, but it makes the shell "self-weeding" and we don't have to kick many people. We also have an open recruitment and 90% of the members are sack holders. The BSt that can handle the job and find benefit to the LS stay and are very, very loyal.
I think the major reason we are successful is that we are self sufficient as a shell. We don't need a certain combo of jobs to accomplish something. We have taken many jobs other than BST to get their AF, missions, or whatever if their BST is too low. This makes this player loyal to the shell because we have helped them alot.
I was in a shell prior that did the exact thing as the OP though, so I feel your pain and understand how it can happen.
We have a constant influx of new people joining and people leaving. New BST join and can't handle the job, don't like the shell for whatever reason and simply stop coming to the shell, but it makes the shell "self-weeding" and we don't have to kick many people. We also have an open recruitment and 90% of the members are sack holders. The BSt that can handle the job and find benefit to the LS stay and are very, very loyal.
I think the major reason we are successful is that we are self sufficient as a shell. We don't need a certain combo of jobs to accomplish something. We have taken many jobs other than BST to get their AF, missions, or whatever if their BST is too low. This makes this player loyal to the shell because we have helped them alot.
I was in a shell prior that did the exact thing as the OP though, so I feel your pain and understand how it can happen.
thank you for posting this. it makes me feel less crazy.
i've been leading a shell for about a year now and this is very much how i've experienced things. my shell is currently going through the uneasy transition from midgame, AF focused shell to whatever comes after that as you look toward sky.
getting AF for everyone was so easy because, aside from worrying about who got what, it gave the shell a common focus.
now we are at a point where the individual goals come into play a little more. some people want 70 asap, some want sky, some people want to go back and do more CoP, some want to take a craft to a high level. there's millions of gil worth of gear to farm. and now there's expensive gear to camp. there's expensive items to quest. the rank missions split into different nations so finding full parties to complete the BCNM's can be a difficult. some people managed to put together statics, others didn't. it becomes more and more of a challenge to balance the wants and needs and schedule of the shell as we approach 65+.
i hope my shell makes it endgame. i really do. but as i get further into this, i realize that whether we will be together endgame is almost entirely dependent upon our commitment to one and another.
Edited, Wed May 25 18:46:27 2005 by dawnimitsu
i've been leading a shell for about a year now and this is very much how i've experienced things. my shell is currently going through the uneasy transition from midgame, AF focused shell to whatever comes after that as you look toward sky.
getting AF for everyone was so easy because, aside from worrying about who got what, it gave the shell a common focus.
now we are at a point where the individual goals come into play a little more. some people want 70 asap, some want sky, some people want to go back and do more CoP, some want to take a craft to a high level. there's millions of gil worth of gear to farm. and now there's expensive gear to camp. there's expensive items to quest. the rank missions split into different nations so finding full parties to complete the BCNM's can be a difficult. some people managed to put together statics, others didn't. it becomes more and more of a challenge to balance the wants and needs and schedule of the shell as we approach 65+.
i hope my shell makes it endgame. i really do. but as i get further into this, i realize that whether we will be together endgame is almost entirely dependent upon our commitment to one and another.
Edited, Wed May 25 18:46:27 2005 by dawnimitsu
I dont think my Linkshell (Im the leader) has really gone through any of this ^^:
We started as a Linkshell with a leader that was almost never on, somehow we grew to about 20 people. Then after about two months of not seeing that leader (and having an issue with immaturity) I decided to create the Linkshell, Oathkeepers
(www.Oathkeepers.tk ^_-). We re reaching our one year aniversary in October. I have noticed that we have gone through 3 recruitment and bigger (currently at about 40 members total). Most members from the orignal linkshell have stayed.
If anyone on Seraph would like a pearl to Oathkeepers, send me (Deadlymonkey) a /tell ^^;
We started as a Linkshell with a leader that was almost never on, somehow we grew to about 20 people. Then after about two months of not seeing that leader (and having an issue with immaturity) I decided to create the Linkshell, Oathkeepers
(www.Oathkeepers.tk ^_-). We re reaching our one year aniversary in October. I have noticed that we have gone through 3 recruitment and bigger (currently at about 40 members total). Most members from the orignal linkshell have stayed.
If anyone on Seraph would like a pearl to Oathkeepers, send me (Deadlymonkey) a /tell ^^;
Lemme see.
My first linkshell, I was randomly traded by someone while in the clothcraft guild, still in the 'exploring town' stage of development. I was a wide eyed, ready newbie, and I thought this would be one of those crafting linkshells the almighty brady games strategy guide mentioned. I figured it out eventually, along with what the mysterious letters "TNL" meant, surpising though it was that didn't mean TP. Anyways...
I left for a while, and found the owner had moved on, and so had everyone else, in turn. I had an incident that lead to a huge decrease in in-game self-esteem, so I was quiet for the next long, long levels. I got a linkshell in valkrum dunes, but I felt uncomfortable, because I was the only person below the then godly level of fourty. _(._.)_
Anyways, let's call that linkshell "B". I left it, but it comes into play later.
I end up sitting all alone in an empty linkshell, until I finally toss the pearl to hold the last silk in my stack, and ashamed of my lack of linkshell, put up a bazaar to hide the gaping hole of no-pearl.
So I'm leveling my subjob in Tah{tab key} canyon and I'm offered a linkshell.
This is the best linkshell I have EVER had. It was never quiet, with Cless offering trivia about cartoons, and the swearing of us as we collectively hunted silk. Once, I decided to visit boneyard gulley, and the WHOLE linkshell came with me, spur of the moment. Exp meant nothing, one of us volunteered to see what antlions aggroed to! We make it to boneyard gulley, found there was nothing there, and not skipping a beat, we got our highest WHM to teleport us to mea, and went on to bibiki.
That linkshell merged, and... er... the collective swearing... turned into the collective swear jar, and, long story short, we almost all left because we swore like sailors. oo;
So, I've never seen the decline of a LS, always been away, or it merged, so... yeah. Short history of the world by Uschi. Thank you for listening.
My first linkshell, I was randomly traded by someone while in the clothcraft guild, still in the 'exploring town' stage of development. I was a wide eyed, ready newbie, and I thought this would be one of those crafting linkshells the almighty brady games strategy guide mentioned. I figured it out eventually, along with what the mysterious letters "TNL" meant, surpising though it was that didn't mean TP. Anyways...
I left for a while, and found the owner had moved on, and so had everyone else, in turn. I had an incident that lead to a huge decrease in in-game self-esteem, so I was quiet for the next long, long levels. I got a linkshell in valkrum dunes, but I felt uncomfortable, because I was the only person below the then godly level of fourty. _(._.)_
Anyways, let's call that linkshell "B". I left it, but it comes into play later.
I end up sitting all alone in an empty linkshell, until I finally toss the pearl to hold the last silk in my stack, and ashamed of my lack of linkshell, put up a bazaar to hide the gaping hole of no-pearl.
So I'm leveling my subjob in Tah{tab key} canyon and I'm offered a linkshell.
This is the best linkshell I have EVER had. It was never quiet, with Cless offering trivia about cartoons, and the swearing of us as we collectively hunted silk. Once, I decided to visit boneyard gulley, and the WHOLE linkshell came with me, spur of the moment. Exp meant nothing, one of us volunteered to see what antlions aggroed to! We make it to boneyard gulley, found there was nothing there, and not skipping a beat, we got our highest WHM to teleport us to mea, and went on to bibiki.
That linkshell merged, and... er... the collective swearing... turned into the collective swear jar, and, long story short, we almost all left because we swore like sailors. oo;
So, I've never seen the decline of a LS, always been away, or it merged, so... yeah. Short history of the world by Uschi. Thank you for listening.
Lets see... My experiences with linkshells...
The very first one I received was after I had met someone in West Ronfraure. Some guy ran up to both of us and handed us a pearl. Happy to finally receive a Linkshell (around what... level 10 WAR maybe?) I strapped it on and had a great ol' time meeting some people, doing a few missions, or just goofing around exploring.
Members left, members fought, eventually everyone I enjoyed talking to left the shell. Any time I would check there was maybe 2 or 3 of us on, but not really anyone I wanted to converse with. This Linkshell basically didn't have a maturity stage as no one really hit the high-levels, it just disolved into nothingness.
Around level 40 PLD, I had met a couple of people in Crawler's Nest who were in the same Linkshell. After partying with them a few times, I found that they were great players and asked how one would go about getting a pearl to their LS. A few minutes later, I receive a pearl.
This is the LS I am in now. We've always been small, tight-knit and we don't let just anyone in. Just a few people who all try to do whats best for the linkshell and help everyone out, whenever we can. We've had our share of ups and downs, fights with members, etc, but we've still managed to hold together. We as a linkshell, with most of us into our 70s decided that if we were to do any HNM/dynamis/sky events, it would only be if each and everyone of our members can be in the same HNMLS when they are ready, and sure enough, thats how its turned out.
So now, this linkshell which was started by the collective gil of some level 7 characters who now have made it to level 75, continues to survive. The only way I can see my LS failing is if some of the members decide to quit the game, since we are a small linkshell as it is. We all enjoy eachothers company and we all know if something needs to get done, we can rely on eachother to help.
The very first one I received was after I had met someone in West Ronfraure. Some guy ran up to both of us and handed us a pearl. Happy to finally receive a Linkshell (around what... level 10 WAR maybe?) I strapped it on and had a great ol' time meeting some people, doing a few missions, or just goofing around exploring.
Members left, members fought, eventually everyone I enjoyed talking to left the shell. Any time I would check there was maybe 2 or 3 of us on, but not really anyone I wanted to converse with. This Linkshell basically didn't have a maturity stage as no one really hit the high-levels, it just disolved into nothingness.
Around level 40 PLD, I had met a couple of people in Crawler's Nest who were in the same Linkshell. After partying with them a few times, I found that they were great players and asked how one would go about getting a pearl to their LS. A few minutes later, I receive a pearl.
This is the LS I am in now. We've always been small, tight-knit and we don't let just anyone in. Just a few people who all try to do whats best for the linkshell and help everyone out, whenever we can. We've had our share of ups and downs, fights with members, etc, but we've still managed to hold together. We as a linkshell, with most of us into our 70s decided that if we were to do any HNM/dynamis/sky events, it would only be if each and everyone of our members can be in the same HNMLS when they are ready, and sure enough, thats how its turned out.
So now, this linkshell which was started by the collective gil of some level 7 characters who now have made it to level 75, continues to survive. The only way I can see my LS failing is if some of the members decide to quit the game, since we are a small linkshell as it is. We all enjoy eachothers company and we all know if something needs to get done, we can rely on eachother to help.
Scholar
19 posts
Sounds like a couple of the LSes I have been a part of. But instead of everyone switching to HNM LSes, the decline was because everyone started quitting. We had been a close group before, and when the LS leader quit to go to WoW, almost everyone went with her. But I wasn't interested in WoW. I still loved my FFXI. ; ;
I wandered around lonely for a couple months, but in the end, I did find a LS that I love, so this story has a happy ending.^^
I wandered around lonely for a couple months, but in the end, I did find a LS that I love, so this story has a happy ending.^^
10 posts
yeah same stuff happen to my shell. i joined in march 2004. we had maybe 6 members sub lvl 50. we got excited when our member list had a scroll bar. after i joind some of my friends joined and we did genkai and the AFs together. after we got bored with AF we added some more friednly people and started zilart missions.
at this point the leader was bored and joined an HNMls but eventually he came back to us and we split more of the leadership duties and lead the ls into sky together. we prepared for genbu out first god. took him down and rolled through the rest of the gods while recruiting more people.
eventually we took down kirin. we went from AFs together to Kirin. we thought it was an accmplishment indeed. then wow came out, we lost some core members. people i still really miss to this day. we tried getting new members, but it just wasnt the same.
farming god triggers n hopes of gearing up new members who were kind of strangers just wasnt as fun as gearing up our friends. eventually steam cleaner broke, we couldnt fight kirin anymore. we started in fighting about recruitment, more people quit for wow, members split off into spinoff ls's, and i lost my will to keep it together without my friends there. and thats that.
i still miss our trigger hunts and mad laps around ruaun gardens taking down every god in a night. my happiest time though was the AF period to right before we took down kirin. we were so close and everything was such a challenge, and the ls always met that challenge together
we lasted exactly a year
they were good times. now i just craft, basically ls-less. cant get myself to apply to any other HNMls as i dont care for gear that much and strangers whining about loot is annoying...
life cycle of a ls indeed
social pearl
genkai pearl
AF pearl
Zilaart mission pearl
Sky God pearl
continue as HNM ls or break up
i guess we cant stay innocent forever. props to those who do
at this point the leader was bored and joined an HNMls but eventually he came back to us and we split more of the leadership duties and lead the ls into sky together. we prepared for genbu out first god. took him down and rolled through the rest of the gods while recruiting more people.
eventually we took down kirin. we went from AFs together to Kirin. we thought it was an accmplishment indeed. then wow came out, we lost some core members. people i still really miss to this day. we tried getting new members, but it just wasnt the same.
farming god triggers n hopes of gearing up new members who were kind of strangers just wasnt as fun as gearing up our friends. eventually steam cleaner broke, we couldnt fight kirin anymore. we started in fighting about recruitment, more people quit for wow, members split off into spinoff ls's, and i lost my will to keep it together without my friends there. and thats that.
i still miss our trigger hunts and mad laps around ruaun gardens taking down every god in a night. my happiest time though was the AF period to right before we took down kirin. we were so close and everything was such a challenge, and the ls always met that challenge together
we lasted exactly a year
they were good times. now i just craft, basically ls-less. cant get myself to apply to any other HNMls as i dont care for gear that much and strangers whining about loot is annoying...
life cycle of a ls indeed
social pearl
genkai pearl
AF pearl
Zilaart mission pearl
Sky God pearl
continue as HNM ls or break up
i guess we cant stay innocent forever. props to those who do
From my experience I would say that exclusivist cliques are the main killers of social LS. The fisrt shell I ever joined grew slowly but then as the leader started to loose interest in the game the shell was merged with another and the new leader's RL friends and static party members would only help each other and treat the new commers as second class citizens.
As I got tired of the BS is joined another shell, buts just as I did so it broke as two groups of friends made deferent spin off shells. I spent time in one of the spinoff shells as well as a new shell that I had been given. But then people started leaving both for the HNM shells and it became clear they wouldn't last.
At this point I was invited by a friend into a fairly large LS that was going HNM. I encountered several friends there, but just I joined it merger with others shells to form an HNMLS that would become infamous on our server (Pandy). Again established cliques and higher level players would ignore others but also HNMLS specific problems like pop days and steal/mpk incidents reared their ugly head. After a few turbulent weeks it crashed and burned as a sea of insults and backstabbing ended in one of the sacholders booting every non sacholder in a few minutes.
This was definitely a sad time. I had about 5 pearls on me and each one was either empty or had one/two people on it. Luckyly the original shell that merged was remade and now many months later we are stronger than ever.
However recent incidents on my server (the rise and fall of as many as 4 HNMLS in a couple of months) has prompted me to wonder about what the HNMLS lifecycle is. It seems shell reputation, drops and competition begin to play a much larger role. Also unlike chat shells, when HNMLS die its with a bang rather than a wimper XD
As I got tired of the BS is joined another shell, buts just as I did so it broke as two groups of friends made deferent spin off shells. I spent time in one of the spinoff shells as well as a new shell that I had been given. But then people started leaving both for the HNM shells and it became clear they wouldn't last.
At this point I was invited by a friend into a fairly large LS that was going HNM. I encountered several friends there, but just I joined it merger with others shells to form an HNMLS that would become infamous on our server (Pandy). Again established cliques and higher level players would ignore others but also HNMLS specific problems like pop days and steal/mpk incidents reared their ugly head. After a few turbulent weeks it crashed and burned as a sea of insults and backstabbing ended in one of the sacholders booting every non sacholder in a few minutes.
This was definitely a sad time. I had about 5 pearls on me and each one was either empty or had one/two people on it. Luckyly the original shell that merged was remade and now many months later we are stronger than ever.
However recent incidents on my server (the rise and fall of as many as 4 HNMLS in a couple of months) has prompted me to wonder about what the HNMLS lifecycle is. It seems shell reputation, drops and competition begin to play a much larger role. Also unlike chat shells, when HNMLS die its with a bang rather than a wimper XD
My social linkshell has been going for about...2 years now I think. We still have a few of the founding members (many have hit 75 but still hang around). Most of us knew each other before FFXI though.
I joined the linkshell I'm currently in maybe a month or two ago, and the highest level is in the low 60's I think. A lot of the people in the 50's have started leveling other jobs, like WHM for the THFs that plan on soloing coffers and such (Sneak/Invis for free), and other stuff just to break the monotony.
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