Is this game worth getting?

[Tiffane]

Hey everyone... i just quit World of Warcraft and was looking to switch over to Final Fantasy XI and I was just curious what everyone's opinion is on the game and what some of the pro's and con's are

if i do end up coming to FF most likely going with a Mithra

[Camu]

In my opinion, as an ex FFXI player who left it for WoW, the game is worth getting if you have LOTS of time to dump into it.

Pro:
Very solid group system
Can switch classes and not be stuck with a single class
Good story line
Can use more than one "guild" at a time
Mithra's

Con:
Things take a LONG time to do
Some classes spend alot more time looking for a group than others
Have to spend tons of time just to make money
Galka's

All this is just my opinion though. If you are looking for something to dump alot of time into, then FFXI is an amazing game.

[JediKitsune]

You know... I can't see many people here listing off a lot of cons of the game, considering pretty much all of us are fans of it...

I guess problems would be...

Everything seems to be a timesink
Everything costs gil... and lots of it
Everyone hates rangers and dragoons now?

[ScarlettPheonix]

Phe's Top 10 Reasons why she Loves FFXI

10. Its Final Fantasy!- From Kweh! to Kupo! this game has all things FF

9. Can be any one of 15 jobs- Bored with healing everyone? Sword (or axe) arm tired of mindless swinging? Just go home or find a friendly rat with wings and change jobs^^

8. Exploring- whether you prefer a sandy beach to perfect your tan, dark enclosed spaces for spelunking or haunted ruins created by a long dead race, Vana'diel is the place to explore. Maps optional but recommended.

7. Subjobs- What? Need to heal but really like black magic? No problem. Give yourself the added boost and flexibility needed to thrive in this challenging world by adding white magic to your spell list by subbing WHM

6. Parties- Bored with the solo stuff? Well, put up your party look for members flag (!) and faster than you can say Kupo you'll have 5 new people to fight and die next too.

5. Storyline- FFXI offers many storylines ranging from the "oh no I lost my hat!" variety to big "You're our only hope" story arcs in all of the main cities.

4. CHOCOS!- and you can ride them! From level 20 on you will be able to rent a chocobo and ride the Konstacht Firaga Chocobo Express just about anywhere you want.

3. New people- You get to meet new people from all over the world. Meet freinds, create ls and have get all social. You can get married to your ff sweetie as well

2. Two Hour Ability- Every 2 hours you can make yourself even more uber than before by using your job's unique 2HR ability. Limited Duration only.

1. Mithra!- Mithra are blessed with all things good: good looks, good stats for melee jobs, good stats for mage jobs. We're just that good

Phe's Top 10 Reasons Why FFXI can Suck

10. Powerlevelers- Whether its for hire or simply help out a friend who wants to fast track to the higher levels, power-levelers prevent or delay new players from learning their jobs.

9. Cheating- SE does what it can but botting, hacks, and rmt happens. For more information go visit the Allakazham FFXI Main Forums.

8. OOH SHINEYS! ME WANT SHINEYS!- The overwhelming social demand to have the best and brightest toy, errrr weapon or armor from the Auction House. This urge leads some to scorn and even drop you from a party because you don't have the most expensive pc of equipment for your job at your level.

7. Set in stone-ites- This is a certain breed of people who only want certain jobs for a party, will only accept certain job/subjob combinations and are generally prone to make hasty descisions about someones ability to benefit their group.

6. Skaters- This group is found in all the races. They are people who level the most popular job so that they can hit 75 quickly. They care about only themselves. They will sit back in a party and let everyone else work to stay alive while they mindlessly smash they're "nuke" macros.

5. "SE "nerfed" you so you suck" mentality- Dragoons and Rangers have both been victimized by this. Both jobs when played well are excellent damage dealers who can be amazing assets to your party.

4. MPKing- When someone brings a monster(s) over to where you are partying and then warps, dies or zones out of the area so the monster then attacks you and yours. Highly illegal, against the TOS 9 ways to sunday, and a big problem in the game.

3. Gimped players- Opposite of #8. These people neglect their job. They lack spells that they should have (within 5-10 lvls of first being able to cast it), wear obsolete equipment and outgrown armor to events or even to level in. Show up at an exp party with a severly neglected sub-job that is more than one or two lvls behind. They're so lazy that their moogle probably died from neglect.

2. Cute and deadly- Sure that fluffy bunny, walking onion, and huggable looking goblin look cute and adorable. Remember~ "In vana'diel, there's always a bunny that can kick your ass"

1. Tough times- There will be times when nothing goes right...bad parties, fights with ls mates, getting your pretty tail kicked by a fluffly rabbit and then hit on by a horny taru and it seems like it happens day after day. You will get frusterated with this game. Take a break. Take an extended break if you have too. When you come back, even if the economy is trashed and gilsellers run rampant, it'll be better than it was when you left on your "vacation."

There you go^^

Hope it helps and welcome to FFXI and MithraPride!

[Eviticus]

Dragoon's will hopefully get some of their stigma washed away come this new patch. As of right now my classes are as follows.

Drg 50, Thf 37, War 37, Sam 29, Rdm 13, Whm 15, Blm 21, Mnk 18, Nin 14, Brd 15, Pld 15, Bst 5, Rng 4, Drk 7.

And I have roughly 55 days of playtime, bare minimum of muling on my main. I've been playing a year and a half, kinda short attention span though. Do you have time and patince? If you do, this can be a highly rewarding game.

[Yukira]

I pretty much agree with previous statements.

Pro:
- Mithras! :3
- You can try each and every job with single character. Theoretically you could have all jobs at maximum level.
- It truly is a 'Final Fantasy' -game, although it may not seem much so in the beginning.
- There is a huge amount of things to do in-game. Quests, missions, leveling, exploring, hunting, crafting, chatting with people from all around the world.....etc.
- Updates are made continuously to keep the game balanced, fix found bugs, organize seasonal special events and of course add new stuff!
- Tech/GM -support is (at least in my experience) capable and friendly.


Con:
- Gilsellers etc. have ruined the game economy and continue to do so, even though they are banned from the game whenever found. Everything is extremely expensive in-game and the situation gets worse every single day.
- Many things require hours and hours of continuous playtime to complete. Prepare for long sessions if you want to accomplish anything major.
- Soloing is extremely difficult; many of the encounters are impossible to accomplish without a party or high-level help.
- Getting into a party can be difficult sometimes - this depends very much on your choice of job & somewhat on your choice of subjob.

[Onira]

It's a good game, and definately worth playing, but it is far from perfect.

Pro's:
-great party system
-great, ever expanding storyline that remains interesting
-constant events all year round for special occasions thanks to SE
-great flexibility with main job/sub job combinations
-good amount of difficulty, the game can become quite challenging at times, especially level cap battles
-great areas, that seem alive, with lush beautiful forests, and dark frightening dungeons, its all there

Con's:
-too many time sinks, some things take needless amounts of time to accomplish
-gilsellers, but it happens to all MMO's eventually
-elitest complex, people are obssessed with gear instead of playing ability
-greed, people dont seem to want to help anymore without getting something in return
-great economy gone bad, the auction house system is a good idea, really, but thanks to its reliance on people, its now a center of inflation.

Really, if you're willing to put some time into it, the game holds strong even now, and I must say, the story is quite good, especially when it extends into the expansion packs, Im really enjoying the Zilart storyline.

[Losfuin]

-great economy gone bad, the auction house system is a good idea, really, but thanks to its reliance on people, its now a center of inflation.

TBH, I'm finding this more something to work around, and even with, than a big problem. There's *always* a way to exploit the AH, and while it may not be for mega-big gils, people's reliance on the AH can give you a big step-up if you're clever.

TBH, I think most of the cons to the game are those inherent in any MMORPG, with the huge time-demand being the biggest that can be identified as being to do with FFXI rather than the game genre itself.

[Tiffane]

I know someone who plays FFXI and I have seen how messed up the AH economy is sometimes on certain servers, below is an example of how good FFXI economy is compared to WoW:

WoW: items that can be found easily or crafted are sold for around 1000 gold (gold being highest amount of currency) {example: a stack (10) of mithral which is easily obtainable is sold for 1500 gold- big ripoff- because of this the economy is all messed up and I have yet to see Blizzard do anything to fix it or rebalance it

FFXI: yes the economy is overpriced on some servers but on the server my friend plays on (don't remember which server though) a majority of the items seemed a reasonable price for what it was

Also, thank you everyone for your opinions on the game

[Kateevia]

Get it, it's fun
/nod
Nuff said!

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Things unmentioned or overlooked above.

1, This game is DEEP. After two years I am STILL learning new things about the way the world functions. The most common thing people who left FFXI for WoW and returned say; "OK, I beat WoW in X days and got boored." The most common thing people say who leave FFXI is "This game is too hard and takes too much time."

2, The more fouled up a server's economy is, the BETTER it is for the new player. Silk Thread, a BIG Gil low level drop was 600 Gil when I started two years ago, 4 - 5K now. But a full set of L 7 Leather Armor is still under 1500 Gil from the shop and under 4K at the AH. I started a new character on Migard this summer and was AMAZED at how easy has become to dress well at low levels.

3, Yeah the juvinile and horny can be anyoing, but thankfully they are few and far between. a simple /em flexes her claws cures a LOT of problems. The easiest ways to stop the jerks is to tell them 1, you are a guy; 2, you are engaged; 3, you are 14 years old; 4, you are a devout Christian; 5, all of the above. Getting hit on or sexualy harrassed in parties hasn't happened to me in FOREVER. But if it does, being a dedicated mage, I can tell the party leader to slap the fool down or I warp the next time my tail gets pulled. And for Melee kitties, there are items that will warp the non magicaly inclined.

[Tiffane]

I beat WoW in about 6 months (from December 3, 2004 to December 3, 2005) - half the time was getting to 60 and the other half was end game raids and stuff- everything in WoW is preety much giving to ya

My friend let me try out FFXI on his character and one of the first things i noticed was that you had to work for a lot of things

I need a game that is challenging yet fun and right now FFXI is it

[Losfuin]

FFXI: yes the economy is overpriced on some servers but on the server my friend plays on (don't remember which server though) a majority of the items seemed a reasonable price for what it was

on allakhazham, I remember reading a thread looking into inflation in a bit more detail than "OMG prices R 2 high!!!11", which showed that, for a lot of popular items, prices were roughly the same, if not lower. I remember the poster using Leaping/Bounding Boots as an example, and how many fire crystals you'd need to sell to purchase a pair, and found that, even though the price was higher, you still needed to sell as many crystals to buy the boots.
And, yes, the economy is awesome for new players. The people who complain are those looking to have the best of everything right away. My job levels aren't very high, but I was able to make close to half a million gil this weekend, without doing anything strenous. I couldn't *possibly* spend all that much money right now... and I'm a goldsmither/weaver!

I need a game that is challenging yet fun and right now FFXI is it

Absolutely. When in the market for MMORPGs, I wanted the same things, and FFXI has provided them in abundance. I always know that there's lots of things to do, and there's always something i can find that I'm in the mood for. they normally involve me making money, too

[Ambrey]

I'll make my statement short and to the point. If you want a good, challenging game then FFXI is your game, but you will be required to play well with others as teamwork is necissary and the ability to solo is quite limited. Also this game takes a lot of time but is very fun and has good storylines. The job system makes it all worth while as well, better to be able to switch jobs whenever you feel than to be stuck on the same job through the entire game like WoW. At least, thats my 2 gil worth...

[JediKitsune]

One of the worst things about joining the game now is trying to earn all of those big ticket items the "intended" way, via camping the NM or questing or whatever. NMs are the big problem if you ask me, that and the fact that many of the drops people want are worth large sums of oney. What this means is that a majority of the people camping a certain NM (Marbolger i sa good example, the NM that drops the marbolger vine, which is needed for the quest to earn the Brown Belt, a HIGHLY recommended piece of equipment for a Lv40 MNK) don't want the item to use, they want it to sell. This leads to people monopolizing the NMs and using highly illegal tactics such as MPK and 3rd party programs. This, of course, makes things suck highly for anyone who doesn't have days and days to try and camp for some items.

[Yukira]

The people who complain are those looking to have the best of everything right away. My job levels aren't very high, but I was able to make close to half a million gil this weekend, without doing anything strenous. I couldn't *possibly* spend all that much money right now... and I'm a goldsmither/weaver!

I don't think it's weird in any way if people are disgusted by these insane prices, and for you information: it has nothing to do with 'wanting the best of everything right away'. It's just common logic. Some stuff is good and cheap as it should be, some stuff is expensive and rare, again, as it should be. But some stuff is so insanely priced that you absolutely must know the best tricks available to have any chance of acquiring those amounts of money.

[Kessa]

WOW Scarlett Pheonix O.O

That is the most comprensive description of FFXI I have ever read. I dont think there is anything that I dont agree with. AWSOME.

I played Wow for about 30 minutes, and I will never play it again. It pissed me off to no end when my lvl 3 elvan warrior was killed by a lvl 50 orc. Just Because. Stupid PvP v.v

[Tiffane]

Ah yes, that last post about 30 min in WoW brings up another good point, the PVP in that game is so un-balanced, some people (horde) will litterally go to the alliance starting points and kill all the new players who spawn- the guards are unable to do anything- nothing has been yet to have been done about it

with Final Fantasy XI i am not sure how the PVP works

[Losfuin]

Some stuff is good and cheap as it should be, some stuff is expensive and rare, again, as it should be. But some stuff is so insanely priced that you absolutely must know the best tricks available to have any chance of acquiring those amounts of money.

Which, IMHO, is how it should be. The game isn't set-up so everyone can have all the best equipment, which is why I don't think it's too much of an issue. That you must know the best tricks of playing the economy in order to afford the best items is, IMHO, reasonably fair. I know sometimes things can be a little daft - such as the price of a HQ Scorpion Harness jumping several million in a matter of days - but, generally, I think it works OK.

Maybe I should have re-phrased my last post, anyway; complaining is fair enough, but I was thinking more of those people who *whine*, if you understand the difference I'm trying to get at. They're the kind of people who'll post on the Alla main page saying "I'm going to WoW, FFXI suxors because I have to do this, this, and this."

[Naru Fugihara]

And, yes, the economy is awesome for new players. The people who complain are those looking to have the best of everything right away. My job levels aren't very high, but I was able to make close to half a million gil this weekend, without doing anything strenous. I couldn't *possibly* spend all that much money right now... and I'm a goldsmither/weaver!

I'm a 35 WHM and one of the nicest pieces of equipment for my job at this lvl that will also last me to probably 75 is the Holy Phial (Neck, DEF:3, MP+6, MND+3, LVL:26). Now it's an NM drop from a Quadav in Beaudix but I'm still not good enough to solo in that area without dieing let alone camping an NM so I decided I'd try and buy it.

When I turned lvl 26 I looked to see how much it was and in Jeuno on Gilgamesh it was about 50k. Sadly I suck at making lots of gil so it took me till a couple of days ago to finally get it (after I've gone up to 35 and done lots of harvesting/farming over a couple of months) and come to find that the price has be jacked up from 50k to 80k.

I knew just who to blame for the 30k rise was Gilsellers *wishes could lead an army to hunt down and annilate all Gilsellers on Gilgamesh and make them NOT want to come back to that server*.

Another thing I hate about Gilsellers is that when I can/do finally wanna camp an NM it would have to take an act of the gods in order for me to grab the NM before everyone else AND get the drop.

Now I've got a question for you: How did you make that much gil without that much trouble in that short of a time? Please I wanna know.

One of the worst things about joining the game now is trying to earn all of those big ticket items the "intended" way, via camping the NM or questing or whatever. NMs are the big problem if you ask me, that and the fact that many of the drops people want are worth large sums of oney. What this means is that a majority of the people camping a certain NM (Marbolger i sa good example, the NM that drops the marbolger vine, which is needed for the quest to earn the Brown Belt, a HIGHLY recommended piece of equipment for a Lv40 MNK) don't want the item to use, they want it to sell. This leads to people monopolizing the NMs and using highly illegal tactics such as MPK and 3rd party programs. This, of course, makes things suck highly for anyone who doesn't have days and days to try and camp for some items.

I totally agree you with you Kitsune, in my honest opinnion SE should make to to where NMs that drop items needed for quests should only be visible to those who have the quests active for about 2 mins then will be visible to everyone else. Or something like that to make it to where those who NEED the item get first dibs on the NM while those who only WANT the item get last pick.

I've only been nearly MPKed once and I wasn't even the target. It happened in the Dunes and I was either my WHM or BLM. A guy comes out of no where with a train of Lizards and warps away thus all of them going to the one he was targeting, but he didn't plan on the hate spilling over and killing nearly the whole pt though I ran like crazy when I saw we weren't gonna survive.

[Sugami]

Sorry I couldn't be bothered with reading everyone's post on here

Think you guys have way overestimated people's thoughts on "nerfed jobs", I generally don't think people think that DRG and RNG suck. They might think they're not as good as used to be but still good and definately have their uses in a party.

Back to the topic, if you have lots of free time spare then this is the game for you. Also means you'll have less of a life

[Yukira]

Yeah, please tell some of the tricks to acquire gil faster....my best method so far has been hunting crawlers in East Sarutabaruta for silk threads (40k/stack), which is getting a bit old now that my SAM is lvl 44 and collecting money for even a single piece of normal equipment (around 50k-100k) takes way too many hours of hunting...

Another method for me has been offering Teleport-services, but that does not pay much especially since I only have MEA, HOLLA & DEM and my WHM is only lvl 37. Leveling WHM has proven to be bit of an annoyance since ppl keep asking me, how come I don't have 'Erase' yet....

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Yeah, please tell some of the tricks to acquire gil faster....

I make 10 - 50 K a day off those who do not know how to shop and the lazy.

There are many items that sell for more at the AH than at the shops. All the spells L 1 - 10 in every starting city, 2 Handed swords and Kunai in Jeuno. Heck, early in my Miguard carrer I was buying 2 - 3 Bronze swords each day from Ryan in Port Windurst ~ 350 each and getting 2K for them at the AH.

10 to 30 mins each day. No, I will never acquire millions this way, but I don't spend hours camping NMs either.

[Cyndari]

Pros:
- Mithras :3
- New Friends
- Good Story
- Easy ability to switch jobs

Cons:
- How much of a pain in the ass is it to get gil
- The prices of items
- The expectations of jobs by others
- All of the spam in lower jeuno

[Losfuin]

10 to 30 mins each day. No, I will never acquire millions this way, but I don't spend hours camping NMs either.

Exactly. There is no real way to make millions of gil quickly. I'm able to make gil because I've spent time investing in crafting, getting to know my markets, and - to some extent - tagging onto the activity cycles of others. I've got a fair idea of what times are good to go farming, harvesting, to seek parties etc. I can't tell you what items etc. to go farming as different servers have different economies - silk thread goes for somewhere between 50-60k at any given moment on Phoenix - but crafting consumables doesn't normally require high skill levels, and almost always sells at a profit. Sometimes, though, all you need is a little - or a lot of - patience.

[Onira]

with Final Fantasy XI i am not sure how the PVP works

PVP in FFXI is actually a game called Ballista. It happens at specific times, in it's own little alternate version of an area, so it isn't affected by the outside. It's not that complicated and can be quite fun. You basically try and open gates on things called Rooks, which act as your goal, so you can throw Petra in them and score points. To open the Rook you have to defeat someone on the other team. It's pretty fun, and like everything in the game encourages team work.

[ScarlettPheonix]

WOW Scarlett Pheonix O.O

That is the most comprensive description of FFXI I have ever read. I dont think there is anything that I dont agree with. AWSOME.

I played Wow for about 30 minutes, and I will never play it again. It pissed me off to no end when my lvl 3 elvan warrior was killed by a lvl 50 orc. Just Because. Stupid PvP v.v

Glad you liked it

I wrote it while waiting to help someone do the DRG NM fight. I love fighting that thing Can't wait to take my wyrven out after the next update^^

Sorry to hear about your WoW experience. Some people, like my brother, actually like that WoW has PvP set up like it is....
But then he also likes the fact that WoW has no "cat-girls"

[Kintrra]

But then he also likes the fact that WoW has no "cat-girls"

How can you not like Mithra!!!!! BLASPHEMY!!!

[Tiffane]

WoW PVP half the time I did it, was unbalenced (it was 15 v 15) - i am alliance and there was 15 alliance and 10 horde- game ended in about 5 min- so sick of it

I know someone who was a team leader for the Carbuncle server team and after watching him play the Ballista i noticed it was in some ways better than that of WoW... (WoW pvp is another reason i left)

[ScarlettPheonix]

How can you not like Mithra!!!!! BLASPHEMY!!!

lol his (almost) exact words were:

BRO: I chose WoW for the better PvP set up and that there weren't any "cat-girls"

ME: .....

BRO: Although the night elves come pretty close

ME: ?! Excuse me...I'm much better looking than a night elf, brat.

BRO: Oh, oops sorry sis.