FFXI and MeFollow

Well, going through my mind right now, is the thought that has probably crossed everyone's mind that has played this game for more than a couple of months: What am I still doing in Vana'diel?

I'm not making this post, to be another one of those "This game sucks" posts, but just to post my feelings about my recent play, and hopefully receive some good feedback.

A little background. I started the game as a Tarutaru Black Mage, from San D'oria. Back right around Halloween last year, I remember holding the game in my hands, unable to play, because I had read about "World passes" and the fact that if you wanted to play together with your friends, somebody has to buy you a worldpass to join their server. So my little brother was the first to install the game. Anxiously, my fianc�, now my wife, my best friend, and myself, waited for him to collect enough gil to buy us one. After the first day of him playing, we check up on him, and ask "so how much is a worldpass, and how much gil do you have?" He replies with, well, they are about 1000gil, and I collected 90 gil today, and got level 3. We all fainted. "Was it really this hard?!?" It took him about 4 days to gather 500 gil, and an hour of shouting to find one very nice player, to loan him 500 gil to buy a world pass so we could all join up.

After we were all in, we wanted to play together right away, this was an MMORPG after all. We were told however, that it isn't worth partying until level 10. So, over the next month, we all struggled on our own to reach level 10, and then joined our first group. The rest is history.

In the beginning, everything is new to you, journeying to distant places, meeting others from accross the globe, making barely enough gil to afford the Willow Wand, etc. I remember how exciting it was, for all of us to make our first trip from San D'oria, to Windurst, because we were anxious to see what it was like. We took the boat, and nearly died in Buburimu Penninsula, from the higher level goblins. After that, the hour long walk to Jueno, was a very exciting moment.

Soon afterwards, our schedules changed a bit. I got a new job, and I could no longer play in the afternoons (work 2-12). my wife worked as a teacher, from 7-3, and our other friend had a pretty random schedule. we found our times to party together getting fewer. Regardless, my brother and I, having more time online together, ended up doing things such as crafting, and fishing, that we enjoyed. A few months later, my brother and I found boredom in waiting for the other two, so we took up side jobs. We started with combos such as Paladin and Samurai, Summoner and thief, Ninja and Ninja, and then Summoner and Ranger. We changed our minds a few times (and I was getting tired of literally throwing my gil at ninja), and finally settled on a new static with RDM, SMN, RNG. This was the party we played with in the mornings, and weekends were for our original group. Well, the four of us struggled up to level 43, and then my wife, and friend quit.

So that left us, with a lot of wasted time we could've spent leveling our 43 jobs. We pushed on, with our new redmage friend, and made it to 38. It was taking so long to form groups at that point, because less were on (stop at 37 for subs) and JP's nowadays STILL refuse invites from me, even though we've proved our selves many times over (its always funny to search and see them either still seeking, or a few levels behind, because of their own arrogance). So, fed up with taking 2+ hours to make parties, then playing for another two, we switch, yet again, to a trio of beastmasters. The first 5 levels were fun, hacking through gobs, orcs, and such, but then this morning, it was a pain to get to level 8(is with all jobs).

With all of this said, I guess my main question is, what are we working towards? What are you afforded above level 43 to keep you interested in the game? I hear nothing but horror stories about Genkai, and the oodles of experience needed to gain a single level. I want to experience high level play on at least one of my jobs, possibly do HNM, or dynamis.

So, what have you higher levels experienced? How much time is really needed to camp a HNM, and how much time does it take to do a round through dynamis. As I see another schedule change in the near future (gotta love promotions) I want to know if I'm even going to have the time, to sit there and do all of that. I would hate to quit, because i would miss friends in my Linkshells, and I wouldn't have these forums to browse at work, and my FFXI websites i've been working on.

If you read my entire post, I just wanted to thank you in advance and any advice or support you can offer, is appreciated.

Hmmm...
Random thoughts:

1. Genkai 1 and 2 aren't THAT bad. As far as I am concerned, it is a nice change of pace from the constant grinding through levels.

2. You will NEVER gain that same sense of wonder you experienced when you first started. Maybe a new MMORPG will do it for you, or you may have small bursts of it when you see places like Promyvion, but there is something special about your first few weeks in a new game.

3. The best thing you can do when you start to feel burnt out is take a week, or even a month, off. When you come back you will either be really excited about playing, or you will decide it is better not to play any more.

4. Helping people out (quests, missions, etc) is ALWAYS a great way to spend your time. Just make sure that you are not doing it expecting something back later.

5. My current goal is level 60 with full AF (I am currently 57 with all but 2 pieces). When I get there I am going to take a break. I don't plan on doing G3 or XPing for a while. I may craft, farm, help people or do some quests, but a break sounds like 'just what the doctor ordered'.

6. FFXI is a game... you are supposed to be having fun. When that stops happening, do what you need to do to make your free time fun again (which may even mean quiting).

7. If you want to go adventuring, look me up in game ^^ I always love going to see new places or trying a new quest, etc.

First of all...nice post Chipotle, you never disappoint me =P

It's hard for me to answer your questions because I am only a lvl 50 myself, but just don't give up dude. If it means only playing 1-2 hours a day that's ok. As long as you try the best you can, you can succeed. I'm only usually on 3-4 hours a day until every other weekend and I plan to get Goldsmithing to 90. It'll take me a while, but I don't lose hope.

The people that fail are the ones who think negatively. Panicking because you have a tight schedule will only get you nowhere.

I really don't mind if you consider leaving FFXI. If you think it's the best thing for you to do, it's cool. (We'd all miss you though ^_^)

Eep! G2G! Good luck Chip, hope things work out!

I'm not sure if this is an option...but you could get to the 60's as a BLM/SMN, then you can get a Fenrir PT I think. My friend told me 60+ can contribute to Avatar PT's. If you're lucky enough, you might get 5 nice lvl 70+'s to help you at your current LVL. I wouldn't count on it thought ^_^;

Eeeeh, on second thought...Fenrir is 5 levels higher than others, so you might not be able to get it until your a high enough level to contribute to the PT.

Chipolte

I find it best to have 3/4 jobs.

For me I list the mine below:

1. My BLM you level whenever I want, no static, no waiting, meet random(good and bad) people.

2. My WHM in a static. I won't level outside of it.

3. My Bard also in a static

4. My BST in a dou, but we live on diffrent sides of the world so we pick a time/level range to meet up.

Not sure if you do any of the group missions, Take off the /shout filter (if you have it on) and do some of the Eco Warrior, Garrison, Promethias, Other missions etc. Great way to meet people try some new things etc.

Eco warrior/promethia is a BLAST. (specially as BLM) Just do a them for fun, if you die or succeed, its still all about Manafont NUKE :P

Not sure if you Aerial Armor for your SMN, But Mana Burn Party would be FUN!!!

Edited, Thu Oct 21 15:46:59 2004 by Fng

Chipotle, your my hero man.
I first meet you here on the forums over a crafting discussion about cooking I believe. I hadn't even got the game yet, as I'm a PS2 player, but I had been planning my actions for the game months in advance. I had some concerns over the server I landed on as the economies of each server have many differences. You told me that you would get me a World Pass for Titan if I decided that Titan sounded right for me. After alot of thought I gave you an email telling you that I would in fact enjoy and appreciate the World Pass if you could get it for me. You gave me the pass and I was a member of the Titan Server.
I leveled my RDM soloing in Windurst so I could get the starting ring for my Tarutaru. Once I hit level 14 or something soloing I ran into your brother in Windurst Woods. He gave me a linkpearl and I became apart of your group.
You've helped me all the way. I don't think I had been in one party without you or Twig in one of my parties all the way up to 30.
I've always been into crafting more than leveling and my goals in crafting are getting nearer and nearer.

Don't Go Chipotle!!
(But if you do decide to go you will definitely be missed)

If you want something to do you can focus your money onto a craft and get it into the 60+ area and pass me up on something =0)
The important thing to do is to set a goal and work towards it the best of your abilities. Check up on your goal every now and then and make sure your moving forwards on it.

As soon as your promotion starts to take the affect on your schedule you'll be able to play at night and hang out with me again. Hopefully by then I'll either be at your lvl 43 area and you can join our static or you can join our static with your lvl 37 job. Either way, good times will be had by all.

/salute Chipotle

Thanks for the replys guys, I want to try and get a promyvion group together this weekend. Its fun to do, and can be done with 6 good people. I'll go as summoner to rip appart the BCNM boss (astral flow )

Hope to see you all on soon.

Chipolte, Count me in for Prom-(any of them) I have done Dem. Some of my LS friends still need to do it so I could scrounge up a decent pt to form an alliance with.