An FFXI debacle
So,
So,
So,
I've had a pretty awesome week all around. Work, Life, Games, everything is going really well! I worry about the inevitable road block but it isn't going to come from me this time. I'm going to need to get a part time job I think, to fill the gaps between the end of the semester and New Years. I could probably work a hell of a lot somewhere. I guess i'll see about temp work or something.
So, let's talk about Final Fantasy 11. So, when I quit the game I sold my equips, money, character, and game discs. I didn't want to go back because I was using it as a crutch to get through an awful time in my life. Such is the way of the virtual world I suppose; what if it does represent a more entertaining alternative than real life?
Ok, so, being that I always felt bad for abandoning Damon, Forrest, Nile and even Joe, I took an offer from Forrest to go back to playing FFXI with a friend of their's character. He was TaruTaru, and the same model as me, just different color hair.
It's strange being another person's character but it's been awesome now that I moved to a server with Forrest and Nile where my old character isn't known. The other thing that is strange is that my experience and knowledge of the game is far greater than my character's stats and abilities or equipment. I'll have to do a lot of quests and things over again to get myself back to where I was.
Being that it had almost been 3 or 4 years since I had played the job Objection had leveled, I was exceedingly worried about not being good at the job. I knew how it would work but I was worried my attention to detail had diminished and my skill had decreased.
But, I had a plan! I would begin by camping a lot of mobs on my own, then I would install an expansion and start working my way up to the spot where all of the people at the highest level did things. So, Wednesday was the day that all of that happened. I installed and went about refamiliarizing myself with an almost completely unfamiliar part of the game. I have to say that it's exciting getting back into the game now that there is so much more of the game to play. I had grown bored with the other aspects of it.
It's strange; very strange, to have to reacclimate myself to a world I was so familiar with. Stranger still, and the reason for this entry, is the extreme differences I see between servers.
On Bismarck,
I grew up with the rest of the North American players on a server that had been dominated by the Japanese. By the time we were in our upper 60's, the Japanese legends had sort of started disappearing. I remember one of the first high level clothcrafters in the game, Kid. I first saw this god amongst players as a level 30 guy. I remember checking him and he immediately change gear so I couldn't look at his gear. His bazaar comment always said, 'DO NOT CHECK ME, EVER'.
But, such things do not last. After a time, all of us had surpassed our japanese competitors and we began to take over the camps. All new content we finished before them; all new monsters we went and killed. We took over everything for a good long time. And then, that too began to diminish. We had become those legendary characters. And we too, began to disappear.
On Asura
There are almost 0 Japanese players. i know they're there, i've made friends with some of them and i've made a point to remember what shells they're in and what they do. it's fun tracking people to see what time they devote to what. I think i've always enjoyed that part of the game; stalking through the search function.
On this server, it seems as though all of the old shells that came around the time IRON, ArchDominus, and the Lunarians did, also are disappearing. I remember LordWafik's shell, but that's about it. It seems like the legendary shells on Asura were either too ubiquitous to really notice or they were so mediocre as to never really be noticed. I have to say that of the shells i've seen, I would like to see them fight fafnir. I've been thinking of heading down there just to watch. I wonder how many times i'd get checked!?
The strangest thing about Asura is the acronym PST. I had never seen it before but it seems like Japanese and English use it alot. Please Send Tell (PST) is used instead of the Bismarck Traditional /tell (Name).
The other thing too is the amazing amount of completely english search comments. Instead of @2k (WORLD): O
(GEAR) (GEAR) (SUB) (SUB) it's 'I'm at 2k and I ususally sub this job. I don't have thse things. Invite!)
The server seems dominated by young players too impatient to create a successful and meaningful shell. And the shouts, dear god. Most of the players on Bismarck I knew would help each other out. Instead of standing and shouting for hours on end about wanting to do a quest, you'd go through Flists to see what people needed done and if they could help. I suppose that still exists to a degree on Asura but watching the chat log grow ever longer with shouts in the space of a few seconds is aggravating. I think it's almost time to shut off my ability to watch them.
The Game in General
Back when i was playing, certain jobs and the people that leveled those jobs were a joke. Dark Knight, Dragoons, and unless you were completely rolling in money, Samurai. Most shells would use 1 or 2 Samurai and Dark Knights to go after things. Armies of Summoners were the norm. but, then Square decided to beef up 2-handed weapons and these guys who were a joke with bad gear, bad attitudes, and little talent, suddenly have a means with which to be good and through no fault of their own. Just doing experience points in the new areas, i've seen so many Dragoons and Dark Knights who die getting to camp do insane damage just because they happen to have a 2-handed weapon.
It's a shame to see focused and amazing parties replaced with half-assed 'good because the makers decided to make something in the game amazing' parties. I used to be able to do xp parties on my own without needing any type of refresh. Haste and Regen were always enough. But now you have these DRK/DRG or DRG/SAM or some combination of the 3 that don't and won't sub sam that take so much damage i've been forced to expend some untold amount of healing before the second monster we fight even dies.
But, it's still fun. I like the Aht Uhrgan stuff i've seen. Ghost Pirates and Salvage seems to be really fun. I guess we'll sit back and see what happens with everything.
Oh leon, you poor soul:
So,
So,
I've had a pretty awesome week all around. Work, Life, Games, everything is going really well! I worry about the inevitable road block but it isn't going to come from me this time. I'm going to need to get a part time job I think, to fill the gaps between the end of the semester and New Years. I could probably work a hell of a lot somewhere. I guess i'll see about temp work or something.
So, let's talk about Final Fantasy 11. So, when I quit the game I sold my equips, money, character, and game discs. I didn't want to go back because I was using it as a crutch to get through an awful time in my life. Such is the way of the virtual world I suppose; what if it does represent a more entertaining alternative than real life?
Ok, so, being that I always felt bad for abandoning Damon, Forrest, Nile and even Joe, I took an offer from Forrest to go back to playing FFXI with a friend of their's character. He was TaruTaru, and the same model as me, just different color hair.
It's strange being another person's character but it's been awesome now that I moved to a server with Forrest and Nile where my old character isn't known. The other thing that is strange is that my experience and knowledge of the game is far greater than my character's stats and abilities or equipment. I'll have to do a lot of quests and things over again to get myself back to where I was.
Being that it had almost been 3 or 4 years since I had played the job Objection had leveled, I was exceedingly worried about not being good at the job. I knew how it would work but I was worried my attention to detail had diminished and my skill had decreased.
But, I had a plan! I would begin by camping a lot of mobs on my own, then I would install an expansion and start working my way up to the spot where all of the people at the highest level did things. So, Wednesday was the day that all of that happened. I installed and went about refamiliarizing myself with an almost completely unfamiliar part of the game. I have to say that it's exciting getting back into the game now that there is so much more of the game to play. I had grown bored with the other aspects of it.
It's strange; very strange, to have to reacclimate myself to a world I was so familiar with. Stranger still, and the reason for this entry, is the extreme differences I see between servers.
On Bismarck,
I grew up with the rest of the North American players on a server that had been dominated by the Japanese. By the time we were in our upper 60's, the Japanese legends had sort of started disappearing. I remember one of the first high level clothcrafters in the game, Kid. I first saw this god amongst players as a level 30 guy. I remember checking him and he immediately change gear so I couldn't look at his gear. His bazaar comment always said, 'DO NOT CHECK ME, EVER'.
But, such things do not last. After a time, all of us had surpassed our japanese competitors and we began to take over the camps. All new content we finished before them; all new monsters we went and killed. We took over everything for a good long time. And then, that too began to diminish. We had become those legendary characters. And we too, began to disappear.
On Asura
There are almost 0 Japanese players. i know they're there, i've made friends with some of them and i've made a point to remember what shells they're in and what they do. it's fun tracking people to see what time they devote to what. I think i've always enjoyed that part of the game; stalking through the search function.
On this server, it seems as though all of the old shells that came around the time IRON, ArchDominus, and the Lunarians did, also are disappearing. I remember LordWafik's shell, but that's about it. It seems like the legendary shells on Asura were either too ubiquitous to really notice or they were so mediocre as to never really be noticed. I have to say that of the shells i've seen, I would like to see them fight fafnir. I've been thinking of heading down there just to watch. I wonder how many times i'd get checked!?
The strangest thing about Asura is the acronym PST. I had never seen it before but it seems like Japanese and English use it alot. Please Send Tell (PST) is used instead of the Bismarck Traditional /tell (Name).
The other thing too is the amazing amount of completely english search comments. Instead of @2k (WORLD): O
(GEAR) (GEAR) (SUB) (SUB) it's 'I'm at 2k and I ususally sub this job. I don't have thse things. Invite!)
The server seems dominated by young players too impatient to create a successful and meaningful shell. And the shouts, dear god. Most of the players on Bismarck I knew would help each other out. Instead of standing and shouting for hours on end about wanting to do a quest, you'd go through Flists to see what people needed done and if they could help. I suppose that still exists to a degree on Asura but watching the chat log grow ever longer with shouts in the space of a few seconds is aggravating. I think it's almost time to shut off my ability to watch them.
The Game in General
Back when i was playing, certain jobs and the people that leveled those jobs were a joke. Dark Knight, Dragoons, and unless you were completely rolling in money, Samurai. Most shells would use 1 or 2 Samurai and Dark Knights to go after things. Armies of Summoners were the norm. but, then Square decided to beef up 2-handed weapons and these guys who were a joke with bad gear, bad attitudes, and little talent, suddenly have a means with which to be good and through no fault of their own. Just doing experience points in the new areas, i've seen so many Dragoons and Dark Knights who die getting to camp do insane damage just because they happen to have a 2-handed weapon.
It's a shame to see focused and amazing parties replaced with half-assed 'good because the makers decided to make something in the game amazing' parties. I used to be able to do xp parties on my own without needing any type of refresh. Haste and Regen were always enough. But now you have these DRK/DRG or DRG/SAM or some combination of the 3 that don't and won't sub sam that take so much damage i've been forced to expend some untold amount of healing before the second monster we fight even dies.
But, it's still fun. I like the Aht Uhrgan stuff i've seen. Ghost Pirates and Salvage seems to be really fun. I guess we'll sit back and see what happens with everything.
Oh leon, you poor soul: