List of Missed Features from FFXIFollow

I'd like to first state that I do love this game, it looks very promising and I'm definitely not being pessimistic about it at all with this post. I also realize that FFXI and FFXIV are two different games and that this is not FFXI version 2.0, although I think its fairly obvious that there are several glaring similarities between the two games, so some comparison is definitely warranted...

This is just a list of some of the features I really enjoyed from FFXI that I wish were included in this game, if you're one of those people that's sick of all of the FFXI nostalgia that's been going around then I encourage you to hit your back button right now and read no more before complaining about it in a response. Although I'd be interested in hearing what others think about this.

The following are in no particular order:

1. Difficulty/Sense of Danger- This doesnt mean I'm for keeping ALL of the areas of difficulty that FFXI had, such as the waiting in Jeuno in LFG for 4 hours just to get an exp party that falls apart before it ever really begins, or any of the other plethora of time sinks that FFXI was known for but I do kind of wish that leveling was at least a little more difficult and took more time. The world also felt a lot more dangerous (granted we haven't seen much yet) and I don't think anyone can forget the sense of danger they first felt while trying to find their camp spot in Valkrum Dunes, and tbh that sense of danger never really went away as you progressed through the game you were constantly in areas where you couldn't handle mobs solo. I fear this game might be too easy in trying to cater to all of the kids who's MMO experience is WoW and are coming over with a sense of entitlement expecting everything to be fed to them on a silver spoon, though I cant blame SE for making smart business decisions if that's where the market has gone.

2.Sneak/Invis/Aggro- Certain mobs could aggro either based upon sight, sound, the use of magic, or other things, so you constantly had to be aware of what type of mobs you were running by and what made them aggro. I really miss not having sneak and invis in this game... it was fun and also intense trying to get by mobs before it wore off or getting to a safe spot to re-cast on yourself before continuing on.

3. Number of abilities- It's about the same right now for melee classes, except maybe melee have even more in this game than FFXI but the list of spells for other classes has shrunk immensely. Many classes such as RDM had a plethora of spells, some were really useful and some were flavor/quality of life spells such as the aforementioned sneak/invis. Also, I miss the incentive to use all of those spells while out of combat just to get skill ups which we can't get anymore. I realize spell/ability list will grow with expansions and such but I hope they add core and flavor abilities. As a level 20 guardian I only need about 3 abilities and that's it.

4. Airship/Ferry Mechanics- I really miss how in FFXI you could wait for the ferry or airship with a group of people and not be the only one taking it in an instanced custscene. It added a realness to the world and a greater sense of immersion. Having to wait for the airship and then spend the time traveling on it rather than just having all the lands connected via a custscene in which you're the only one who is a part of it was much better in my opinion. I will greatly miss the ferry, it was a blast fishing on it and then having the random sea horror or pirate attacks that could wipe everyone if they didnt huddle down below the deck. I also miss the size of the airship/ferry, because they seem so much smaller in this game.

5. The Way Jobs Worked- I miss being able to be a DRG or a RDM or w/e who fishes instead of having to completely change to be a fisherman. It was great going to dangerous areas and fishing, then when you got attacked you could kill it as the job that you are, or aid parties who are leveling near you and who are a lower level and in need of help. I want to be able to be a DRG while fishing. I also just flat out miss the job/subjob system. I feel like right now since every class can use abilities from every other class that everything is just too homogonized, and the way leveling is nobody is going to have a real identity since alot of people will have pretty much every class/job to 50. Its kind of odd being a marauder who can cure. And the difference between a LNC and DRG for example is what... 5 abilities?

6. Crafting Synthesis Wobble lol- Definitely miss the crafting animations when you were synthing something and it started wobbling back and forth and you had a million gil hanging in the balance after taking into account the direction you were facing, the time of day, the phase of the moon, and everything else and not knowing what was going to happen next. Besides, FF crafting is synthesizing with crystals, I didnt expect "real" crafting animations like bringing out a sewing table and what-not.

7.Fishing- I just miss the involvement of fishing, i felt it added to the immersion more-so than now where you just hit a button once something bites the hook. I realize there are those of you who would prefer XIV's style of fishing in regards to this and thats ok, this is just my opinion. And as I touched on in #5 it was sweet going somewhere on your powerful job to fish rather than being a fisherman who cant really fight but has to stealth around.

8. NOTORIOUS MONSTERS- Mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn I can't believe they took this out. This was one of the coolest things in that game... being able to hunt named monsters that only spawned every now and then in certain areas and dropped rare items that you could either use or sell for a ton on the AH. Camping them was pretty cool... and competing with other players to tag them... I absolutely loved that because when you finally saw the thing spawn it was such an exhilarating rush. How do we have a hunting log in this game with no NMs to hunt. One of the biggest buzzkills for me right now! I hope they add them in the future somehow... I have dreams of killing Leaping Lizzy outside of Bastok to this day!

9.Caves- Cant forget this... many zones had cave areas that added to the whole sense of danger thing because they were either difficult to navigate or contained mobs that you generally wanted to avoid. It was also easy to get lost in some zones such as that one jungle place where we all killed mandragoras... the place below the area where you go to fight Ifrit (cant remember the name).

10. Community- This isn't something that can be changed, just something that will be missed.... FFXI had a great community.

11. Skillchains/Magic Bursts- Thought it was pretty cool having to know what kinds of mobs you're fighting, what they're weak to, and then seeing what class combos you got so that you could find a skillchain you were capable of doing and then executing them.

Again, dont flame me too hard! I know these arent the same games, this is just a list of things I loved about that game that I wish were included in this one but I will still be playing this one and I do have high hopes for it. Definitely giving it the chance to become my MMO for the next few years at least, we'll see what happens! If anyone has any other things they miss please post them because I probably forgot a lot about that game it's been so long.

Edit: added caves

Edited, Aug 19th 2013 5:50pm by Phoenix904

Edited, Aug 19th 2013 5:51pm by Phoenix904

Edited, Aug 19th 2013 6:09pm by Phoenix904

Edited, Aug 19th 2013 7:00pm by Phoenix904

#1 - It's ok to increase the difficulty but don't put stupid road blocks like those in FFXI (lost xp/down level if killed)
#2 - I'm open to this as long as I don't have to spend too much time farming gil to buy these items.
#3 - I'm sure SE will add more abilities in the future. I DO NOT want to see the skill up thing from FFXI. It's a total waste of time to skill up the weapon skills.
#4 - No I don't want to spent 15 mins waiting for the airship to arrive and then spend another 10 mins riding it. Another time sink put in by SE.
#5 - Like to see more jobs like SAM and BLU
#6/#7 - Didn't spent much time doing crafting in FFXI
#8 - I don't care because i don;t spend time camping NM. Don;t see why anyone would want to spend hours and hours waiting for a NM with < 10% drop rate. On top of that were always people complaining XXX stole my YYY NM or XXX claimed the drop. It is just a game and I don't want to hear people whining and complaining.

Well said... I was going to break is post apart like this... but I was being lazy so I just waited for you to write it then I could quote it and still sound as smart as you.

In reply to your #5 you obviously spend from 30-50 learning all the different ways to jump.
#8 I do kinda miss NM's. Enjoyed camping them to a degree. Same time I don't mind so much that they're gone. I had horrid RNG luck after all. #4 I'd have liked to see the XI system back but with shorter time between flights and travel time.
#6 Prefer the new crafting system. Makes you feel like you're actually taking part a bit more instead of just floating a crystal and praying to whatever deity you thought would take the time to help you out.
#7 I'm enjoying fishing; which surprised me. Liking it more than I did XI's.
#3 Liking having more to do on my melee jobs now. XI all I did was pop buffs on CD ctrl + 4 to change into my WS gear, WS and then change back with just that one press.

And ***** proper numerical order.

Going to respond to each of these in turn.

1. Difficulty/Sense of Danger- - explore some. There are dangerous areas, the higher level you go, however, the fewer these will become. However, there are areas even level 50's will have a sense of danger traveling alone.


2.Sneak/Invis/Aggro- Sneak/Inviz will not be implemented in the game aside from gathering crafts. However, there are enemies in this game that agro via sight and sound. To avoid growing them you will have to know which they are and avoid them accordingly.

3. Number of abilities- - if you're not using your full kit, with RARE exceptions such as the 20% slow shared between Feint and Haymaker on Dragoon's kit, you're not playing your class right. I can't stress this enough, you're hurting your own and your party's performance when you don't push yourself, and it will matter as the levels go up.

4. Airship/Ferry Mechanics- I agree with this to an extent. There should be zones based off of travel. Given the accessibility of the Aetherite system, there's no real reason to delay out people from traveling on airships or sea vessels. I hope they reassess this long term.

5. The Way Jobs Worked- I'll be blunt. I don't. Not in the least.

Just to break it down for you:

The difference between Summoner (Job A, for Arcanist.) and and Scholar (Job B for Arcanist.)

Summoner:
3 Different pets than form Arcanist or Scholar - the third having it's own entirely different ability set. (The other two have stronger versions of Emerald and Topaz Carbuncles respectively.)
Different Base Stats (Stronger base Int)
5 Job Specific focused on Damage Dealing

Scholar:
Entirely Different stat Emphasis (MND focused over INT focused)
2 Different pets with entirely unique, healing/support orientated skill sets.
5 Job Specific healing - orientated abilities.

The difference between Class and Job is the difference between a generalize set, and a specific role. Each class can access any classes's shared skillset. Jobs can only equip from specific sub-classes. (2 each) Arcanist being unique that their skill set for both share Conjurer and Thaumaturge. The Classes themselves lend well to solo-type play, but do not, due to the lack of a fully flushed ability set post 30, lend themselves efficiently to a party situation, with few exceptions. A Dragoon will always, always, out preform a Lancer in Damage. Shield Oath alone makes Paladin a vastly superior tank to Gladiator, and so on.

As far as Gathering and Crafting classes, it feels appropriate with the tone not only of the game, but the atmosphere of the entire world. Even in XI, serious fishers had their own fishing set, and so on.

I just can't disagree more with this stance.


6. Crafting Synthesis Wobble lol- Can't agree here either. I feel it adds more to the experience of each craft, evne gathering

7.Fishing- Interactivity I can get behind. However, you can walk to the area you fish as your job, swap to your fishing gear, and then fish. You don't have to sneak around to the pond if you don't want to. When you're fishing, it makes sense that you can't just gear swap and take out an opponent that's blindsided you. You have to get to safety, put on your gear, and THEN go to town.

8. NOTORIOUS MONSTERS- - Notorious monsters are in the game. They're just Fates. No more monopolizing NMs. No more stealing Leaping Lizzy from the six others camping it because you have a higher latency or are using a bot to claim. You work together instead of against your fellow adventurers: this change is vastly overdue. If you want to encounter rare monsters on chance there are always the hidden FATES that aren't marked on the maps, and the Wanted Bounties in Guild/Grand Company Leves.

9.Caves- Can't stress this enough - go exploring. There are areas that will take your breath away - and you might get lost a bit too. >.>

10. Community- You loved or hated the FFXI community depending on what side of what argument you were on. Friends I have there I will cherish for the rest of my life. But I will never want to encourage the same sort of cavernous and hostile player-base divide as I saw in FFXI. Some of the most underhanded tactics I have ever seen in MMOs came from that game - exploits and schemes that rival even some of EVE's massive intrigues - some of which never even came to light publicly.

The good I take away from FFXI was the simple moments, the moments of friendship and tomfoolery. Get into the more serious side of FFXI and there's a blackened history there I would never want anything to do with.


In the end, it's up to each individual to decide what they'll miss and what they wont. I don't necessarily agree with everything here but I won't hold it against you. What I will recommend is that you approach FFXIV with an open heart and embrace the changes. They are entirely different beast and will likely get you to miss things about this game whenever you decide to try out or move on to other games.

There is much about FFXI I miss, and a lot I do not. I do not regret my time there in the least, but I am happy to have moved on as well.

Appreciate your response, as well as everyone else's. Alot of the things here are just a matter of opinion so its always ok for people to agree to disagree thats cool, Im not pushing my preferences on anyone else, just simply stating things I enjoyed. In regards to your response about the number of abilities... I havent started my DRG yet, but that will be the class I play as it was my main in XI. The point was just that it seems to me alot of classes have a very small skill/spell set in comparison to most MMOs, even if you hated the FFXI system of skill ups and the fact that some classes had useless abilities. I still wish there were more abilities that were also useable, having more doesnt necessarily mean that the added ones have to be useless.

BTW I didnt know about the FATE system taking over NMs, thank you for pointing that out. However I gotta ask... is there the potential to get rare items from them that are both useable and sellable?

Dual wielding and using different weapon types on the same job.
I know each FFXI job had its A grade weapon type which makes the two games pretty similar in that you specialize in a single weapon, but it was just nice to have the option of trying different things.

Keep in mind that I'm one of the few who would be happy if there was an xp loss for dying so that you really felt a sense of terror when you were in dangerous areas and really didnt want to die. :D

I understand the NM nostalgia but won't miss it. 1 D. Ring, 2 E. Bodies, 2-3 Ridills per server per YEAR?! 1 claim in 2 weeks on Leaping Lizzy?! Yea, no thanks on repeating that. FATE NMs are soooo much better.

Am man I definitely miss the airship concept from FFXI, could say I was seriously disappointed when I saw the lil flying fisherman boat in FF14.
I think because I was expecting something huge

I think the concern here is that mobs reset after a certain distance + the sprint factor. I dont think anything will be just like XI, as far as being in fear of 90% of the mobs out there. It was fun for the masochistic few of us, who thrived weaving a path through them successfully. Unfortunately for the greater masses this is nothing but an aggravating obstacle... i dont know if its attention deficit, latency issues, retardedness, or all of the above. For whatever contingent factors it may be, id rather keep this aspect out of ARR as much as possible.

My thoughts exactly. I remember my heart racing after running half a mile and looking back to see that the gob train is STILL on me lol, loved that man it was like the same thing that makes certain movies so good, they stir up lively emotions.

The thing that kinda bugged me was not being able to close map with the O button if you opened it via 'triangle' and then moved. IMO, all windows should be closed via one button.

Snk/Vis would have been nice but it was manageable...