Ex-Final Fantasy XI Player Seeking An Immersive MMO!

[wonderlust]

About 5 years ago, I lived in...played Final Fantasy XI. I want to find a current MMO with the same thrills, but not the downsides. All these years later, I still remember the places I went with the same fondness as long-ago travel.

What I loved about it was the incredible immersiveness it provided, the emotions heightened by the wonderful music, the strong sense of place, and the remarkably inventive environments. I played in a "static group" of friends I met in the game, and we leveled together and only together. Some of us eventually met in real life, despite living across the country. I loved being the best Redmage/Blackmage at my level, and acquiring a reputation for it. I loved the excitement of traveling through dangerous places, holding my breath until the goblins turned away. I loved falling in love with my paladins, or anyone offering me a rescue when I needed it. I loved being godly when I reached high levels. I loved being one of the few true women playing, and possibly the oldest on the server.

What I hated was the endless fishing and tedious crafting. It was really hard to make a living and I'd fish for days on end, just to pay for spells. I also hated leveling my other characters (without my static group), when I'd have to wait for hours to find a pickup group, usually then derailed by one or more members having to eat dinner with their parents, or just disconnecting without explanation. I hated having to spend hours a day on forums in order to learn the intricacies of my class.

My son plays WOW, but it seems so cartoon-y! I can't imagine getting the same emotional impact as I did in FFXI. Guild Wars emphasizes PvP, something I'd probably not like, FFXI having been entirely PvE. I'd be interested in a good SF MMO, but I'm not into shooter games. I've enjoyed Oblivion on my PC which is not an MMO, and doesn't have the sheer imagination that FFXI had.

Are there any ex-FFXI players who have found a satisfying MMO?

[Illuminatiprimus]

As an ex-WOW player I'd say that yes it's cartoony, but it's still very immersive. There's lore coming out of its ears, the zones are completely distinct from one another and there's a whole world of them to see. It's less good on the social side, I found it hard to mesh with a good guild/base of players, but then possibly that's because I didn't have the time/inclination to play all that much or during fixed periods. I've never done a high instance raid in my life (and probably never will either).

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I'd be interested in a good SF MMO, but I'm not into shooter games.

Get on an EVE trial. It's not a FPS and there's lots of stuff to do besides PvP.

[essell]

Originally Posted by Lute Skywatcher

Get on an EVE trial. It's not a FPS and there's lots of stuff to do besides PvP.

How does one go about getting a trial?

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by essell

How does one go about getting a trial?

It's in the top right corner of the official site. Alternatively, here's a direct link.

[wonderlust]

I'm not really interested in shooting ships out of the sky. As far as an sf MMO goes, I think I'd rather explore an alien environment a la adventure games, but in rpg terms.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Perhaps this will be of help: every known MMO in existence or in the works.

Oh, and there's a rumor that Cryptic is working on a Star Trek MMO.

[Illuminatiprimus]

Originally Posted by Lute Skywatcher

Oh, and there's a rumor that Cryptic is working on a Star Trek MMO.

And it's going to suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

[Geek Mecha]

I haven't yet. WoW fills the "must play an MMORPG" void, but I suspect nothing will match what FFXI did for me. FFXI was my first MMO and likely will be the game to which I compare every online game I ever play.

Originally Posted by wonderlust

What I loved about it was the incredible immersiveness it provided, the emotions heightened by the wonderful music, the strong sense of place, and the remarkably inventive environments. I played in a "static group" of friends I met in the game, and we leveled together and only together. Some of us eventually met in real life, despite living across the country. I loved being the best Redmage/Blackmage at my level, and acquiring a reputation for it.

WoW will disappoint you. I have been playing WoW for almost two years now, and although I have two high-level characters and have done almost everything you can do in the game, I never felt like I was immersed in a single, immense world. I always felt I was going from one level-appropriate zone to another.

There is very little music in this game. I have the FFXI soundtrack on my iPod; when I hear the Bastok or Selbina music, I remember what it was like to be there, my first impressions of the place, the feel that the music sets for the zone. There is no similar experience in WoW, and the game is poorer for it, IMO.

In WoW you don't have to group like you do in FFXI, and as a result it's harder to build a reputation as anything. I too met a bunch of people, including my SO, in FFXI; we get together yearly and have BBQs. I can't imagine doing the same in WoW. Until you do end-game raids with 20+ people, it's unlikely that you will even play with 20+ different people.

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I loved the excitement of traveling through dangerous places, holding my breath until the goblins turned away.

Or casting Sneak to get past undead. WoW doesn't have sense-specific detection methods. Mobs will attack you if they detect you, period, and they will eventually give up the chase. No more yelling, "Zone!" and traffic jams in Crawler's Nest. There is still a feeling of danger out there, but you're far less likely to die from it, and even if you do, the penalty for dying does not include losing experience points, so it's not a big deal.

Originally Posted by wonderlust

What I hated was the endless fishing and tedious crafting. It was really hard to make a living and I'd fish for days on end, just to pay for spells. I also hated leveling my other characters (without my static group), when I'd have to wait for hours to find a pickup group, usually then derailed by one or more members having to eat dinner with their parents, or just disconnecting without explanation. I hated having to spend hours a day on forums in order to learn the intricacies of my class.

You won't need to endure any of the pains of groups or staticking, because chances are you won't be doing that. I don't know anyone in WoW who did anything other than solo or duo.

WoW's crafting system is stupefyingly easy compared to FFXI's. In WoW crafting, you don't lose materials if your synths fail, because your synths cannot fail. You also can't HQ them. Skillups come much, much faster. It's mind-blowingly easy to craft in WoW. Hell, there's even a Create All button that lets you make as many of an item as you have the materials for it. No crystals needed.

Money is easier to make in WoW; in lvls 60-70 it practically falls out of the sky. You can accumulate respectable gold selling crap drops.

I like the difficulty that FFXI had, and frankly, I miss it. My guild is almost entirely FFXI refugees, and although we were decent at FFXI, we're less so in WoW. The game, for the most part, is incredibly easy and a lot more forgiving, and this has allowed us to develop bad habits. I used to dabble in lvl 70 5-man instances in WoW with FFXI friends, but I stopped after I saw them doing dumb things I never thought they would do-- tank mobs without pulling them aside and without regard for patrolling mobs, attacking mobs the tank wasn't fighting and therefore had no hate on, attacking when our healer was out of mana, etc. We've wiped many times-- too many, and needlessly, IMO. It's hard to stay in parties like that, even if it is your friends.

My SO and I tried Vanguard (what a shame, it had great potential) and are looking at Age of Conan, which is still in beta. I took part in a technical beta a couple weeks ago and it seemed pretty fun. There were some server-side lag issues, but otherwise I enjoyed myself.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by Illuminatiprimus

And it's going to suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Depends on which part of the universe they'll use. TOS? TNG/DS9? And what would they do with Betazoids?

[Gukumatz]

Well, we can discount Tabula Rasa, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Hellgate: London straight off the bat.

No immersiveness factor in any of them, period. (Well, some in Vanguard, but only if you can tolerate purely masochistic levels of pain to get to them)

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures looks like it will be good. City of Heroes/Villains is good, and a lot of fun to play. Immersiveness factor? Not huge, but definitely there. Huxley looks like it might be a bit of fun, but not really a big, deep Mass Effect-esque backstory to explore.

Have you tried Lord of the Rings: Online?

[wonderlust]

I had hopes for Tabula Rasa. I hated Lord of the Rings, and never watched the movies. Is LotR good enough as a game to not require such movie viewing?

AudreyK, you know what I'm talking about. I'm curious: why did you quit FFXI and go to WOW? If I start WOW, does your guild accept newbs?

Are there any other women who've played FFXI?!

[Geek Mecha]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

AudreyK, you know what I'm talking about. I'm curious: why did you quit FFXI and go to WOW? If I start WOW, does your guild accept newbs?

I quit FFXI because I didn't like the way people started expecting black mages to play. It was all about the expansion zone, which was not conducive to skillchaining/BLM magic bursts. People formed parties with mostly melee jobs and let loose with weaponskills whenever they had 100% TP. Hate bounced back and forth. There was no longer any party dynamic. BLMs became healers/debuffers and rarely nuked. It was fast and felt undisciplined, and I hated it. I hated the competition over mobs. I hated playing like a white mage, useful only because I had Erase and Cure IV. The mad xp I got was little consolation.

There were other factors like friends quitting, and others going to endgame linkshells. I had no desire to do endgame, so there was little left for me after a while. I started soloing THF and RNG, but it wasn't really playing the game as it was meant to be played.

I started WoW because my then-roommate Gozu Tashoya had been playing it. He had a rogue and would tell me about all the nasty rogue things he would do. It sounded fun, and at that point, a highly-soloable game was very appealing. It's like the anti-FFXI, which is both good and bad.

My guild happily accepts noobs. We're a small guild and it's often quiet in chat, but we've been playing WoW for a couple years now and we'll help out people who need it. Let me know if you wind up giving WoW a whirl.

[wonderlust]

Oh, that's sad to hear about ffxi. I stopped playing when the only expansion was Zilart. So much of the fun was the coordination of a great team, and as redmage, I really held the whole thing together. I can't imagine having as much fun when everyone is essentially playing solo in a group.

Do static groups form in WOW? Not guilds, but a party of 5 or whatever, who play at pre-arranged times to level together, who work together like clockwork, each member highly skilled.

[Geek Mecha]

Do static groups form in WOW? Not guilds, but a party of 5 or whatever, who play at pre-arranged times to level together, who work together like clockwork, each member highly skilled.

I have no idea; I'm leaning toward no. WoW is very soloable, and I imagine most people solo their way to cap. I duoed with a FFXI friend from 20 to 70. It's not like FFXI where you need to party to level. In two years, I don't think I've ever seen a party of 5 players at a camp, pulling mobs, like you do in FFXI.

Also, the party dynamic you find in FFXI doesn't exist in WoW. There are the equivalent of weaponskills, but no skillchains and no magic bursts. Parties can find a rhythm and go smoothly or poorly just like in FFXI, but it's just not the same.

[wonderlust]

Thanks for the info, AudreyK. I guess I'll just sit tight until Aion: Tower of Eternity comes out next year.