Quick question about the game's current status Follow

With all the different ways of transportation they've added in the past few years, getting too and from xp spots typically isn't that bad unless you're going to some really out of the way spot. Trusts really can help make solo levelling faster, though I've only used them for meriting purposes myself. I think it would depend on your level and job. An hour should be fine to get to camp, call out trusts and grind for a while before using a warp ring to go back to town.

I'd suggest having a minimum of 2 hours available to attempt to do anything endgame related like Dynamis or Salvage.

You will have to do some work to unlock all of the transportation options and collecting trusts and unfortunately some trusts are seasonal and only available during special events so you may be disappointed that your favorite NPCs aren't available.

Ah that should have been my other question @Zafire
So you still need to level the specific event or activity's "preferred" job ? I now remember that was another thing that really annoyed me, having to always play jobs that I didn't enjoy if I wanted to do X or Y content. Since my main jobs are DRG, PUP, and RDM, I assume that limits my choices quite a bit then huh?

Hmmmm, well maybe I should look into FFXI in the summer when I have a bit more time. I was hoping that the job preferences would have ended by now. That has always been one of the big issues I had with the game. Hopefully they find a way to eliminate that in the future. It sounds to me like I should probably wait until I have a bit more time to play XI. It's really to bad because I wanted to transfer to a new server and start with a fresh new community of players.

Just out of curiosity, what role does DRG and or PUP play in end game IF ANY at all?

After having returned (for the last time ever) I can't honestly endorse the game any longer, unless you don't mind the following:

1. Playing solo for 95% of your gaming experience, and this includes everything from missions to quests to battlefields of varying degrees. Part of this is great, since trusts now alleviate the need to form any group to actually net some xp/merits/cp when you're strapped for time. The other part isn't, since the solo play is due to a lot of the servers having an average population of 500 people on at any given time. Technically speaking, if you don't mind skipping about 10% of the current endgame content and a small handful of missions, you can play solo the entire time.

2. Playing a job that will fit into the extremely narrow mindset of the current playerbase. This means even if you hate the job, you'll be forced into it if you want to do anything in the current meta endgame. (i.e. SAM, MNK, RNG, BRD, PLD are the biggest offenders). Even trying to form your own group with your beloved BLM, THF, etc. is pointless half the time, as people won't join unless you have the cookie-cutter setup. It's by far and large the biggest reason I won't be returning. I should not be forced to level and play something I didn't like 10 years ago, and still don't like today. Anyone who says that things aren't this way, is living in a bubble.

3. Dealing with the unreal plethora of bots/multiboxers/RMTs plaguing the servers. They don't even try to conceal themselves any longer, and run rampant throughout the world. I personally have no real issue with multiboxers as long as they're legitimate players, and due to the current population of servers, it's basically needed in some cases where you can't find a group. (See #1, 2) But, man, the bots.

4. No one talks outside of a PUG or LS from what i've witnessed the past three months. Part of this is due to #1 and #3. Try striking up a random conversation with someone and you'll be more surprised if you GET a response than vice versa.

5. The game has become more Inventory Management Online as of late, even more so than it used to be pre-Adoulin. Even with the Porter Moogles, multitude of inventory blocks at your Mog House and being able to stack stuff, there is never enough room. I spend about 50% of my playtime doing nothing but selling and sorting, which leads me to #6.

6. Good luck making money on anything but ancient currency, alexandrite and armor upgrades for iLvl stuff. Everything else sells glacially or at such a ridculously low price it's better to NPC it and save yourself the AH slot and listing fee. What few items endgame that are selling are only HQ versions and priced beyond the reach of anyone who doesn't farm Dynamis, Salvage or High-tier battlefields every single day.

I still love many aspects of the game, but this time around I'd have to agree with the naysayers and pronounce it's definitely not worth returning to given the array of other options available in the current MMO market.

I'm not playing anymore but it was incredibly easy even with just Sparks gear to net around 90-100K an hour during Gain EXP windows as a BLU mage and a Subduction setup. Low mana, nigh-instant cast, recast is faster than the game allows, and 1.5K-3.0K damage depending on gear and zero diminishing returns on how many mobs you pull (like BLM). I usually did a circuit in the bottom half of Cirdas Caverns in a circle loop that took just under 5 minutes (buff timers) and could dump 45K in sparks twice easily within an hour and usually ended up doing so 6-7 times if I did the entire Gain EXP window.

If nothing else BLU's pretty much king for solo farming Sparks. Even starting off getting 50K an hour should be easy during Gain EXP and around half that on off hours.

Edited, Jan 30th 2015 11:01pm by Viertel

Edited, Jan 30th 2015 11:02pm by Viertel

What kind of gear do you need in order to pull this off though? Last I remember I came back a week or two last year and the best gear I have as of now is basic sparks armor. I don't know just how much I could get done if I were to come back with this gear. Heck, I have no idea where to start gearing up. Further, If I came back I would likely try to change servers to a higher population one like Shiva. I would first have to get to know some people in that server.

I returned recently but only to have something to play now and then when i get the MMO urge.
I mostly play solo, finishing missions and killing stuff.
In my opinion the game is only worth playing at this point if you either
1) Want to replay your old favorite game solo or
2)Want to form/join one of the few NA linkshells and spend hours potentially playing as a job you dont like to gear the one you do

Its still possible to have fun with this game if you like to play solo and dont care about endgame. Im working on finishing the Abyssea missions right now, its much easier with ilvl gear.
But yeah, populations on my server range from 400-700 and it does feel pretty empty.
I just dont think your description fits FFXI, i mean you did say in your original post that you wanted to come back to FFXI but only if they implemented the stuff FFXIV has that you like. They havent really gone in that direction, if anything its much harder to participate in XI's endgame now unless you have a group of friends/good linkshell.

XIV you can slowly make progress, que for missions, and still be able to form your own group with a healthy server population.
XI you can make some progress but endgame is limited due to the low server population and, most importantly, who you know that can get you in.




Edited, Jan 31st 2015 9:12pm by aadrenry

Thank you so much! Awesome in depth info here. I think I will return next month (As soon as my FFXIV sub ends) and stay until the FFXIV expa comes out. There is one final issue that is concerning me though, I have been reading here and on the official forums that there is some kind of exploit happening in the game. Is this exploit with something called "Salvage"? I noticed a major post about it here, as well as a few that mention it in the official forums. Does this exploit have a negative impact on the game economy, community, or on my ability to progress / enjoy the game? Is any action being taken to address this exploit by the GMs, heck does the game still have that kind of support to deal with exploits / bots ?


Thanks so much to everyone who has replied. I hope to hear back from you all soon. Great info!

thank you for the great info. I have always played games fairly and detest people who take advantage of a system like this. When I used to play this game I probably reported one or two bots a day. I'm a big proponent of equal opportunity so I've always had an issue with people who buy gill or exploit the system. I hope that when I return the problems are not so bad that I cannot stomach it. If Anyone on Shiva server care to comment on the situation in that realm I would welcome it. Thanks again for the great response.

I timed myself on Ninja. I could kill something in Abyssea for 600EXP every 8 seconds from point of engaging to time of death, and crit for 500 nearly every single time (Maybe 90%?). Problem was, I was waiting for respawns and running from mob to mob took more time than 8 seconds.

I think I capped out at 50k from basically nothing during a "Gain 5000 experience" sparks campaign in a tad over two hours. Then again, it took me a little while to build up to 600exp, too. I went for Ruby first, if that counts.

The whole BLU system you mentioned sounds promising. For an average joe like me though that's the best I could do XD.

You get a Copper Voucher the first time you complete an objective of that type (i.e. Gain EXP, Beasts, Vermin, etc.) within a Japanese midnight. You also get I think, ironically, 1,500 EXP and 300 sparks. For every subsequent completion you just get the EXP and sparks. The ONLY bad thing about Gain EXP is every time you complete it the counter goes to zero (i.e. you only need 20 EXP to finish it out, kill something for 500 wastes 480) but when BLU AoE grinding in Cirdas even on none campaign weekends you're looking at 1K+ on most mobs past the 4th chain anyway it isn't that huge of a deal.

During those special windows where it flashes across your screen you can complete that objective as much as you want within the timed window ( 3 hours ).