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Final Fantasy XI 2014 |OT| Kumhau, The Blackthorne Coven, and the Mog Wardrobe.

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Welcome to the new Final Fantasy XI 2014 Community Thread!

The new expansion "Seekers of Adoulin" has been out for a year, and pioneers new and old have made their way to the sacred city in search of adventure. This of course means it's time to revamp the community thread yet again!

I run a social linkshell on Sylph called IHOP (http://ihop.guildwork.com/). Please contact Pancakesandsx, Seigyoku, Aurellius, or Talym for a pearl if you happen to be on the server. Alternatively, if you're planning to start, do it on Sylph. For returning players, here's the server transfer information*
*Please note that the actual server transfer cost is incorrect on this page. It should be 18$ not 25$. Everything else is correct.

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Player Directory

Since figuring out who is who between the various usernames everyone has can be confusing, I made a handy google doc to keep track. If you decide to join us, add yourself to the doc!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsK-qSOSLMrJdDJZTzRtb1ZBSzNMYlBfVzdnT1FNbFE#gid=0

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Information for New and Returning Players:

Recent Version Update Trailers:
May 2014
February 2014
December 2013

Version Update History.

Many of you will be playing FFXI for the first time, or will be returning after so long it’s like a brand new game anyway. Here are a few things you should know.

Official Website:
-The Official FFXI Website is a handy source of news and info about the latest updates (which are now monthly).

New Player Tutorial:
-Several years ago a Turtorial was added. If you’re new to the game I suggest you follow it. It’s got some useful stuff that might give you a little more direction.

Returning Player Guide:
-BG has a returning player guide that explains a bunch of the changes I've also explained below in more detail.

Primer.jpg

Adventuring Primer:
-The Adventuring Primer contains some basic explanations of new content and what you should look into first if you're a new or returning player. Start here if you're overwhelmed by the community sites like BG etc.

Records%20of%20Eminence.jpg

Records of Eminence:
-There’s a brand new super important section in the quest log. Check this out to see what it’s all about. Especially check out the Tutorial quests!

Quests:
-There are a TON of quests.
-Quest are a needed component to get fame in many cities. This stat affects your ability to flag quests (including inventory expanions quests), vendor prices, so even the smallest quest is often worth doing.
-The game won't tell you when you get quests, you can check your log, but there is no other indicator for when something counts as a quest besides some fanfare when you complete one
-Once something hits your log, try looking it up if it’s not immediately clear what to do. The game is very critical reading oriented, and admittedly sometimes just obtuse, but that’s part of the charm right?

Missions.jpg

Missions:
-The main storyline of the game is played out in the missions.
-These are like really important quests, and are acquired from the gate guards in your starting town. There are also expansion missions, which are usually triggered by entering relevant areas once certain conditions have been met.
-Access to certain areas of the game, and many forms of endgame content are locked behind missions.

Leveling.jpg

Leveling:
-Several major systems have been introduced to aid leveling over the years. Fields of Valor:
-Give bonus xp and a currency called tabs which can be used to get buffs and warp around.
Grounds of Valor
-Same as FoV but these have a bonus for chaining them together and only exist in dungeons.
Records of Eminence
-Accessible at any time from the quest log.
-Can set up to 15 at any time.
-Give a currency called sparks which is useful for purchasing low and high level gear from the npcs, as well as items for special endgame armor.

Trust.jpg

The Trust Initiative:
-NPC characters from the storyline which you can use to adventure solo.
-Progressing through missions and special story quests gets you access to more.
-Sometimes they get given away via events like login campaigns and such. Watch the official website for details.
-BG keeps track of all the currently and previously available trusts Limit Break every 5 levels up until 99. These need only be done once, but certain jobs have special ones that are part of a larger questline, so you may want to do those too for fun!
-Remember, while you can level to cap very quickly in Abyssea, that doesn’t mean you’re automatically ready for all the level cap content. It’s not a race to the top, and you’ll only have a bad experience if you try and rush to do content that’s beyond your means.

Abyssea.jpg

Abyssea:
-Get the initial quests for this started as soon as you hit 30
-Beginning the first few quests allows you to accumulate stones required for access
-There is no upper limit on these, so start right away so running out isn’t an issue when you need them!
-Abyssea Guide

Voidwatch.jpg

Voidwatch:
-Start this as soon as you hit 75
-Talking to the npcs in each city gets you a fast way between a lot of far away places
-Advancing through the tiers gets you more warps
-This also operates on stones that accumulate at a slower rate than Abyssea. Start this asap so you can have them when you need them, even if you don’t plan to do anything with this for a long time.
-While this event is no longer very popular, it is possible to advance through the content with 6-12 people due to the strength of new equipment if you properly prepare. You can even solo a good amount by using “displacers" purchased with gil.
-Voidwatch Guide

Monstrosity.jpg

Monstrosity:
-A new system that allows you to play as a monster and battle level restricted players for unique accessories.

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Moogles.jpg

Other Notable Events, Changes, and Adjustments:

-Limit Breaks are now soloable

Old Endgame Changes:
-Dynamis, Limbus, Salvage, Assaults, Meeble Burrows are now able to be entered solo.
-Dynamis, Limbus, and Einherjar can be entered once per day.
-The costs associated with these events has been significantly reduced.
-Kings are now popped with items obtained from KSNM99

QoL.jpg

Quality of life adjustments:
-The ability to teleport between Outposts in vanilla XI using a new book.
-The ability to teleport between Home points, and the addition of home points to almost every battlefield entrance.
-The ability to purchase previously quest-only maps.
-The ability to access mog house storage from any mog house.
-Additional storage has been added including the mog wardrobe, which you can equip (and macro) from. Yes, you can now have 160 pieces of usable gear.
-25% increased base movement speed.

-Garlaige Citadel banishing gates, Quicksand Caves weighted doors, The Eldieme Necropolis doors, and the Halvung doors may now be opened with one person by completing a quest.

Acquiring these items:
-Eldieme Necropolis - Complete the quest offered by Churano-Shurano in Windurst Waters (F-8).
-Halvung -Trade a "Moblin Oil" item to the ??? target in Halvung [1] (J-8).
-Garlaige Citadel - Obtain the "pouch of weighted stones" key item from the ??? target in Garlaige Citadel (G-8) and examining each of the three gates.
-Quicksand Caves - Complete the quest offered by Lokpix in Eastern Altepa Desert at (G-7).

-The Sacrarium also has a method for opening the door solo now.
---Trading a sealion crest key and coral crest key to Quelveuiat in Tavnazian Safehold (I-10) will provide the player with a Temple Knight key. While in possession of this key, players will be able to open the door by themselves by examining either the large keyhole or small keyhole in Sacrarium (H-7).
* Players must first complete the quest "A Hard Day's Knight" to utilize this new method.

Fighting.jpg

Combat Adjustments:
-The entire enmity system was overhauled and it’s a lot easier to tank effectively.
-Defence has been adjusted to actually matter and monster level correction has been altered or removed.
-Every single weaponskill underwent a damage calculation change in the latest version update. The result is we’re much more powerful, and magical ws are useful again.

Hard%20Mode%20Missions.jpg

Hard-mode mission battlefields:
-Difficult versions of classic previously unrepeatable mission fights, ie, Ark Angels, Tenzen, Ouryu Cometh, etc.
-Most are six-man, but the new Divine Might is 18-man.
-Cost of entry is paid in merits. (Yes, merits.) Even more are coming in future updates!
-Full list of battlefields and drops located here

Synthesis.jpg

Synthesis Adjustments:
-A synthesis menu option has been added.
-A command /lastsynth has been added to repeat your last synthesis attempt. Great for crafting consumables.
-Crafting kits have been added for levels 1-50 for every craft.
-Kit + Crystal = item, but you can't HQ with them. They are intended for use in skilling up.

-You can follow the latest news about updates and adjustments on the Official Forum

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Seekers.jpg

What’s new in Adoulin?


New Jobs:

Rungeo.jpg

Geomancer
Rune Fencer

New Events and Systems:

Reives%20and%20Coalitions.jpg

Coalitions & Coalition Assignments - The bulk of the new content revolves around the Coalitions of Adoulin, and the tasks they present. Rank up in each coalition to access tasks with greater rewards.
Reives - The new ad-hoc battle event in which both monsters and obstacles are fought to clear the way and make the harsh Ulbukan terrain easier to traverse.

Skirmish.jpg

Skirmish - A 6-man battle event. Entry is gained by collecting pieces of simulacrum from Coalition tasks, monsters, HELM, and Reives. Powerful weapons can be found in this event. (Can now be entered solo.)

Mog%20Garden%20II.jpg

Mog Garden - A new way to acquire items previously only available via gardening, harvesting, excavating, logging, mining, and fishing.

Kumhau.jpg

Delve - New high level battle system featuring notorious monsters with interesting damage gimmicks under a 45 minute time limit.

Incursion.jpg

Incursion - High level content where you invade the velk stronghold in Cirdas Caverns and work to clear a series of bosses. Each full set of clears opens a new difficulty level. No known cap.

Quests.jpg

New Quests:
Quest and Coalition Assignment Tracker

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is this game free to play yet?
-No, deal with it.

So since SoA isn’t available for the PS2, does that mean PS2 support was dropped?
- SoA was released for the PS2 in Japan only. (Fun Fact - no PS2 version was EVER released in Europe.) The PS2 lives on. And even if they did drop it tomorrow, it won’t magically cause the game to upgrade.

Hey, I used to play this! Can I get my old character back?
-Yes, using the Character Reactivation Service

How long will it take me to solo the main story?
-If you were to do every main mission from all the expansions, it would probably take you roughly as long as playing a standard single player FF for the first time. Don't burn yourself out though, there's a whole world to take in. The side quests can be just as, if not more rewarding than the main storylines. Some jobs will have an easier time of soloing some missions than others, so it's good to have options as well.

What makes this game so good anyway?
-Here's an awesome post by loona and an article he linked from massively that give you an idea why this sticks so hard with people.

How do I get access to the Mog Satchel?
-Get the security token for about 10 bucks, or get the software token for your smartphone (it’s free, don’t lose your reset code!). The software token didn't work initially but it does now.
http://www.square-enix.com/na/account/otp/token.html

Trailers and Media

Final Fantasy XI Treasures of Aht Urghan Trailer
Final Fantasy XI Wings of the Goddess Trailer
Final Fantasy XI Ultimate Collection Abyssea Edition Trailer

Final Fantasy XI Seekers of Adoulin Vanafest Trailer
Final Fantasy XI Seekers of Adoulin Pre-Release Trailer
Final Fantasy XI Seekers of Adoulin Launch Trailer

A Little FFXI Story
Knockin at Heaven's Door - Spoiler warning: This one has some adoulin cutscenes in it.
The Prince of Ephramad - TOAU spoilers.
Future Fabulous - WOTG spoilers.
Norio Wakamoto Promotional Videos
Scenery Video
Crystallize: Final Fantasy XI 10th Anniversary

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Where to Buy
Steam
Amazon Download (Ultimate)
Amazon Download (Expansion Only)
Gamersgate

There is also an Xbox 360 version, but the pc version is really the way to go if you have the option.

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Other Links:
Official Forum
Blue Gartr Forum
Windower - 3rd party tool that adds things like recast timers and other useful features. Windower 4 is the preferred version to use as it auto updates and includes access to all plugins and addons.

There are several very useful community sites which make it easier to manage (and be a part of) group content, and track your progress in game.

FFXIAH - Auction house tracker, also tracks progress
Guildwork - MMO social networking site, incredibly useful
Linkshell Community - SE's Official LS community site

Thanks to Seigyoku for help with the thread and Aeana for help with the images!
 
This is currently on sale on steam for 13.59.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/230330/


For a taste of what the new monthly updates look like, here's the update notes from June:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/42614-Jun-17-2014-(JST)-Version-Update

Some highlights include:
-Mythic weaponskill quests for geo and run.
-Visible HELM nodes.
-Mog garden expansion.
-Complete weaponskill overhaul.
-Additional merit point categories and raising caps.
-Can now use trusts in a party.
-Enormous crafting adjustments have begun including special "kits" for skilling up to 50, and a command to repeat your last synth.
-Official means of displaying party info like tp and mp that was previously not displayed without windower. It's bluuuuuue.
 

Toth

Member
Major points to also make:

The game now gets MONTHLY updates, major love from SE

The game is VERY solo friendly now

You can now make your own party with 3 NPCs with their own, rather effective AIs

Said NPCs are all characters from the storylines!
 

Husker86

Member
Every single time I run into this kind of thread my nostalgia kicks my ass...I probably won't reactivate ever again, but I can't say that with 100% certainty.
 
As long as you don't want to do Adoulin content or the new battlefields.

Well yeah, you're never going to be able to effectively do the newest high level party content alone. There's still 10 years worth of stuff you can do solo though, including multiple expansions worth of storylines and anything that used to be endgame back at 75.

Don't forget you need to be 1 of certain jobs and some need special gear requirements or else you won't be invited by most groups.

There's flexibility in party setups if you have the right people. I've done AA's with melee setups before. There's a reason people ask for what they do though. If you're standing there swinging and missing all day, and getting one shotted without any shadows, everyone is going to have a bad time.

The path of least resistance is always going to be favored. You can learn to set up an effective alternative party with people willing to do so, or you can work on one of the jobs popular for the content you want to do if you want to get into shouts where people are picky.

There's a lot of options gear wise now for most jobs. Lot's of people ask for the stars but only expect clouds. Even among those who have specialty items like 3-song harps, etc, you find that a lot of them have no idea how to use them. So a shitty 3 song bard isn't going to do much better than a good cor or a good geo in practice. You'd be surprised with how flexible things really are.
 

Himi

Banned
Shame I lost my BRD/WHM in full AF due to the inactivity deletion. Was never eligible for the welcome back stuff when they first started for some reason.
 

Mr. RPG

Member
sigh I want to come back so badly, but I know the game isn't what it used to be...

I miss valkurm dune parties. :(
 
Shame I lost my BRD/WHM in full AF due to the inactivity deletion. Was never eligible for the welcome back stuff when they first started for some reason.

AF1? Easily re-obtainable. Once you're of the appropriate level you can do it in an evening or 2 barring any roadblocks forcing you to wait. Leveling won't be as daunting as it was in the past.
 

ZetaEpyon

Member
sigh I want to come back so badly, but I know the game isn't what it used to be...

I miss valkurm dune parties. :(

Whether that's a good thing or bad thing probably depends on what exactly you miss about them.
If it was more about standing around assembling a group of random people and grinding for hours in one spot, well, yeah that's kind of gone by the wayside.

If it's about leveling up with a small group, that's still totally viable for low levels, if you want to. (And way more effective than it was back in the day.) We've done Fields/Grounds of Valor stuff with 5-6 people in IHOP on occasion, which is probably the most reasonable analogue. You can stretch it pretty far from the "Valkurm model" with exp alliances and stuff, but that sort of thing isn't that common anymore afaik.


Don't forget you need to be 1 of certain jobs and some need special gear requirements or else you won't be invited by most groups.

There's flexibility in party setups if you have the right people. I've done AA's with melee setups before. There's a reason people ask for what they do though. If you're standing there swinging and missing all day, and getting one shotted without any shadows, everyone is going to have a bad time.

The path of least resistance is always going to be favored. You can learn to set up an effective alternative party with people willing to do so, or you can work on one of the jobs popular for the content you want to do if you want to get into shouts where people are picky.

I have to think that the reduced battlefield entry costs combined with the weaponskill and other mechanics overhauls could help people be a little more willing to experiment with "non-standard" setups, too.
 

Holykael1

Banned
I found this for 1 euro with 4 expansions in a retail store, it's the 2008 edition. Gonna be playing this over the summer for a month at least.
I played WoW for 5 years but I have no clue if FF XI is anything like it. How do raids and dungeons work in this game? Sorry for the ignorance but getting into an MMO is always very overwhelming :p
 

Toth

Member
Don't forget you need to be 1 of certain jobs and some need special gear requirements or else you won't be invited by most groups.

Any job can do well in any event (okay...maybe now AA Elvaan but there are ways of working around that). Even if Delve requires certain 'setups', you can now easily farm beads (100% drops now!) to make any run a much easier affair, with more job flexibility.
 

Toth

Member
I found this for 1 euro with 4 expansions in a retail store, it's the 2008 edition. Gonna be playing this over the summer for a month at least.
I played WoW for 5 years but I have no clue if FF XI is anything like it. How do raids and dungeons work in this game? Sorry for the ignorance but getting into an MMO is always very overwhelming :p

Most raids (Delve) are 45 minutes tops. Skirmishes can now be done solo but it is easy to get 6 people for it. Legion takes 30 as well as Nyzul Isle. Salvage remains the only lengthy system at 90 minutes. All battlefields top out at 30 minutes but rarely last that long, unless you do the D or VD setting..

edit:
....Has PUP gotten any better?

For reference, I stopped playing right after the release of SoA.

It was never bad! But to answer your question, very much so. We now have food to increase the accuracy and attack of yourself and your maton, Raging Fist now owns at 3000 TP, and they are improving all automaton weaponskills next month to be more in line with Sharpshooter's Armor Shatterer.
 

elyetis

Member
It was never bad! But to answer your question, very much so. We now have food to increase the accuracy and attack of yourself and your maton, Raging Fist now owns at 3000 TP, and they are improving all automaton weaponskills next month to be more in line with Sharpshooter's Armor Shatterer.
Now I want to resub... what have you done.
 
.....Has PUP gotten any better?

For reference, I stopped playing right after the release of SoA.

http://cdn.guildwork.net/albums/images/53ab418522c392587883cc5b.jpg

Best solo job. Harder to make it work in a party setup, but they have been adding food that makes it more viable.

http://www.ffxiah.com/item/6258/shiromochi

I found this for 1 euro with 4 expansions in a retail store, it's the 2008 edition. Gonna be playing this over the summer for a month at least.
I played WoW for 5 years but I have no clue if FF XI is anything like it. How do raids and dungeons work in this game? Sorry for the ignorance but getting into an MMO is always very overwhelming :p

FFXI is completely different in structure from WoW. You don't quest in a single area till you're done then move on. Combat is a lot less positional (though there are positional elements) and more focused on timing of ability use in response to or in anticipation of monster actions. Storyline is front and center from the beginning, and all major quests have accompanying cutscenes involving your character. While the beginning of the game isn't as directed as you'd expect, once you get into the swing of it, you'll find that the main plotlines are easily on par with those of the other mainline games.
 

Holykael1

Banned
Most raids (Delve) are 45 minutes tops. Skirmishes can now be done solo but it is easy to get 6 people for it. Legion takes 30 as well as Nyzul Isle. Salvage remains the only lengthy system at 90 minutes. All battlefields top out at 30 minutes but rarely last that long, unless you do the D or VD setting..

That is chinese to me but I guess it's pointless. I'll have to play the game and learn from there. All those terms!
I'll hop onto the server where you guys play, should be fun :p
Any recommendations on starting classes or jobs or whatever they are called?
Is all the content pre Seekers of Adoulin soloable? I don't have Seekers of Adoulin.

FFXI is completely different in structure from WoW. You don't quest in a single area till you're done then move on. Combat is a lot less positional (though there are positional elements) and more focused on timing of ability use in response to or in anticipation of monster actions. Storyline is front and center from the beginning, and all major quests have accompanying cutscenes involving your character. While the beginning of the game isn't as directed as you'd expect, once you get into the swing of it, you'll find that the main plotlines are easily on par with those of the other mainline games.

Hmm that's interesting. It should be a completely new experience for me then.
 
Reading some of the reviews of the latest expansion on Amazon make it sound like FFXI is getting closer to a single player game. I've always wanted to do the COP storyline and I have an old 75 character. How much of the game's story is now soloable?
 

Toth

Member
That is chinese to me but I guess it's pointless. I'll have to play the game and learn from there. All those terms!
I'll hop onto the server where you guys play, should be fun :p
Any recommendations on starting classes or jobs or whatever they are called?
Is all the content pre Seekers of Adoulin soloable? I don't have Seekers of Adoulin.



Hmm that's interesting. It should be a completely new experience for me then.

Haha, no problem let me translate:

Delve: You enter the zone and have 45 minutes to kill 5 NMs (Notorious Monsters) plus a Mega Boss. You can use Beads receiving from killing one of the NMs in the corresponding outside zones (up to 3) to eliminate the NM from that zone. Each zone has a specific buff the mobs get periodically (ie attack up, haste, paralyzing attacks). The challenge is that killing all NMs and the mega bosses give you large amount of 'plasm' you can spend to buy equipment dropped in the zone and items needed to upgrade the weapon and armor's augments. You also have to spend time finding the NMs and eliminating lesser fodder mobs.

Skirmish: You have 30-45 minutes to either kill a certain number of mobs or guard a tent from monster waves. If you complete the first objective, you can try for the second, which usually rewards upgradable weapons or items to buy armor.

Nyzul Isle: You have 30 minutes to climb 100 floors and beat a mega boss. Each floor has an objective (kill certain mobs, kill all, light lamps in order) and upon winning, you can be warped 3-11 floors upward.

Salvage: You enter zones naked, kill mobs to unlock slots and abilities, and work your way to the mega bosses, killing NMs for items needed for armor upgrades.

High Level Battlefields: You have 30 minutes to kill a boss (or bosses) from the main storyline, upgraded for level 99 players. You can select the difficulty of the fights and higher difficulties mean more treasures and more of the items needed to upgrade artifact (the class FF armors) and relic armors to i109 and i119 levels (make them uber).

Legion: You have 30 minutes to kill waves of 3 mega bosses from different areas. You kill them, a new wave spawns, you kill again. The higher the waves, the more legion points you get and the better the drops.
 

Mr. RPG

Member
Whether that's a good thing or bad thing probably depends on what exactly you miss about them.
If it was more about standing around assembling a group of random people and grinding for hours in one spot, well, yeah that's kind of gone by the wayside.

If it's about leveling up with a small group, that's still totally viable for low levels, if you want to. (And way more effective than it was back in the day.) We've done Fields/Grounds of Valor stuff with 5-6 people in IHOP on occasion, which is probably the most reasonable analogue. You can stretch it pretty far from the "Valkurm model" with exp alliances and stuff, but that sort of thing isn't that common anymore afaik.



I have to think that the reduced battlefield entry costs combined with the weaponskill and other mechanics overhauls could help people be a little more willing to experiment with "non-standard" setups, too.

I have no idea what those are. How is leveling done nowadays?
 

Stimpack

Member
Oh, man, didn't expect to see this again. I'm kind of disappointed, as I expected maybe something had happened since SoA. I spent so many hours playing FFXI back in the day. I ended up getting back into it a couple of years ago, but things had changed so drastically. In some ways it was for the better, but in a lot of ways it just kind of got worse. Are there still people who just sit there mooching off of exp parties while contributing nothing?
 

Khrno

Member
Lack of pictures on the OP sadness me.

So what's the strongest popped/instanced NM in the game right now? And the strongest world HNM, if that's still a thing.
 
FFXI aka Lifestream Devourer aka Wont Let Me Step Away From the PC. i miss you.

i miss Pancakes, Seigy, and that badass Red Mage who didnt really say much. bearded guy. shit he was so cool. #beardgang. you guys are amazingly friendly and got me through a lot. thanks!!
 

Loona

Member
Any recommendations on starting classes or jobs or whatever they are called?

You start out accessing the 6 jobs from FF1: warrior, monk, thief, and white, black and red mage. Everything else is unlocked via quests you can access at level 30.

A goid rule of thumb is, if you like melee, start out with one of the melee classes, likewise for magey stuff - such an initial job can later be a subjob for a job you unlock later, for example.

There are plenty of shared skills between jobs, so starting with something with a few common skills (or spells, for mages) helps. Evasion is likely the one skill every job shares, but some are better at it than others.

Is all the content pre Seekers of Adoulin soloable? I don't have Seekers of Adoulin.

I'm not 100% sure about all story content, but I soloed Wing of the Goddess, the last major expansion prior to SoA (not counting the minis or Abyssea), a few months ago.

Also handy, and I don't think it was mentioned - the waypoint warps are another really convenient aspect of the current FFXI for those working on older content - a quest in Jeuno, the hub city, eventually lets you warp directly to several dungeons, which speeds up stuff like AF quests a fair deal.


Other than fix a few typos, pancakesandsex should probably edit the OP to mention ffxidb.com - I find it invaluable to know if any item drops off a mob, and if so, which and where - really daved me a lot of time compared to innacuracies in the wiki.
 

dark_chris

Member
I was thinking about coming back to do XI and finish the story modes for the expansions i have yet to even finish, including the main story. I left the game around when Treasures was released. Im a level 50 Samurai and have yet to do the Maat level increase quest to go further. I want to permanently close the book on XI by finishing up the main stories plus expansions I was on.

How much easier is it to level up? Where would i go to level up fast to the max? I'm the kind of guy that moves at a fast pace once I get it.
Is the Shadow Lord solo able? can you bring trust NPCs into the battle? I ask cause its a personal thing of wanting to finally beat the Shadow Lord. lol.
 

Riposte

Member
-The entire enmity system was overhauled and it’s a lot easier to tank effectively.
-Defence has been adjusted to actually matter and monster level correction has been altered or removed.
-Every single weaponskill underwent a damage calculation change in the latest version update. The result is we’re much more powerful, and magical ws are useful again.

I don't like sound of the first one, but the other two sound cool.

Also reading these changes, this game is so alien to me now.

EDIT: Is PvP still dead? For awhile it was fun doing cap 60 ballista with Japanese players on Midgard (which doesn't even exist anymore).
 

Boss Mog

Member
Reading some of the reviews of the latest expansion on Amazon make it sound like FFXI is getting closer to a single player game. I've always wanted to do the COP storyline and I have an old 75 character. How much of the game's story is now soloable?

With Lv.115-119 gear any Story battles are soloable except some of the ones in Seekers of Adoulin.
 

Boss Mog

Member
Any word on if they're gonna let you reforge Empyrean armor? To me Empyrean armor was by far the best looking JSE so it's kind of sad that only Artifact and Relic can be reforged currently.
 
Would have loved these trust NPC's back when I was playing, they could have come in handy trying to get that scroll for MNK so I could do my limit break battle.
 

Enthus

Member
Bought this today in the Steam sale. I'll eventually get around to messing with it, but it not being tracked by Steam and not having the overlay kind of sucks.
 

ZetaEpyon

Member
I have no idea what those are. How is leveling done nowadays?

Fields/Grounds of Valor are little repeatable mini-quests that you pick up from books that are found in zones. The goal is to kill a certain number of specific mobs in the area, and then you are rewarded with exp, gil, and tabs, which you can use for temporary buffs. So for example, I could take Page 2 from the Grounds Tome in King Ranperre's Tomb, and the objective is 4 stone eaters and 2 wind bats, with a recommended level (for me) of 5-11. When I defeated those mobs, I'd get 420-840 exp in addition to the exp I already got directly from killing them.

Are there still people who just sit there mooching off of exp parties while contributing nothing?
In Abyssea? Yeah probably, but there's plenty of other ways to get good exp now too.

Reading some of the reviews of the latest expansion on Amazon make it sound like FFXI is getting closer to a single player game. I've always wanted to do the COP storyline and I have an old 75 character. How much of the game's story is now soloable?

As has been mentioned, all story except Adoulin is probably soloable now. CoP certainly is, without question. In addition to just being much more powerful, they've also simplified some things that required multiple people before (gates in Garliage, Eldieme, etc) and reduced or eliminated the number of JP midnight waits in most of the missions.

How much easier is it to level up? Where would i go to level up fast to the max? I'm the kind of guy that moves at a fast pace once I get it.
Is the Shadow Lord solo able? can you bring trust NPCs into the battle? I ask cause its a personal thing of wanting to finally beat the Shadow Lord. lol.
Exp rate isn't even comparable to the last time you played. I've sat in Abyssea before gaining exp at a rate of 250,000xp/hr. It's not the most exciting or rewarding way to level, but it's fast. Other ways are probably comparable, with other advantages. Shadow Lord has been soloable for a long time. Gotta remember that Shadow Lord was the boss when the level cap was 50. We now have effective levels up to 119.

Would have loved these trust NPC's back when I was playing, they could have come in handy trying to get that scroll for MNK so I could do my limit break battle.

Yeah, trust NPCs are great. The job testimonies that you're talking about are also much easier to get - they adjusted the drop rate quite some time back, and we're also just a lot more powerful than the mobs that drop them now.
 
Reading some of the reviews of the latest expansion on Amazon make it sound like FFXI is getting closer to a single player game. I've always wanted to do the COP storyline and I have an old 75 character. How much of the game's story is now soloable?

Everything but the new expansion.

I don't like sound of the first one, but the other two sound cool.

Also reading these changes, this game is so alien to me now.

EDIT: Is PvP still dead? For awhile it was fun doing cap 60 ballista with Japanese players on Midgard (which doesn't even exist anymore).

By "easier" I mean tanking is actually possible, versus the VW era when tanking wasn't even a thing that could happen because DD's capped hate instantly. PvP is still dead, though there was a roving band of folks trying to get people to server transfer for ballista for a while. Should have just used the test server.
 

Riposte

Member
Everything but the new expansion.



By "easier" I mean tanking is actually possible, versus the VW era when tanking wasn't even a thing that could happen because DD's capped hate instantly. PvP is still dead, though there was a roving band of folks trying to get people to server transfer for ballista for a while. Should have just used the test server.

Oh right, I forgot about the level cap rise completely! Yeah, that did break tanking didn't it?
 

Varna

Member
This game still a technical mess?

I tried playing this game last year on this PC which is still high end... somehow the game ran so incredibly bad. Far worse then a much lesser PC I played the game on for years.
 
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