Final Fantasy XI Then...

[Tobal]

Well i think rare and i are helping you with the samurai quest tree part(and later the bomb part too), there lvl.59 G.Katana that has insane damage and +3 STR, which would be useful when combined with the SAM/NIN GMU G.Katana at lvl60 i'll have damage and Acc covered, i would like a crack at after we kill the tree, so make sure you have spoken to both followers to get the 2 key items(women at the bottom of centre steps, and the guy left of her in a corner with pots) and buy a single hatchet.

But it a dammed rare drop, AK and a RNG i was talking to yesterday day say its a super rare drop from it, but other than get a 12 man alliance of 70+ people to fight the lvl 75 NM in the Tree its the only way....

[talizker]

Yes, I have the Oriental Steel and the Sacred Sprig along with a Hatchet. Looking foward to tonight and am happy to tag along (and help if I can) with anything anyone else wants to do...

[Mr Pump]

Ok, question should I get this??????

Well more to the point, I've just brought a shiny new graphics card to play HL2 which now means I can play many other newish PC games and I think maybe its about time I gave another MMORPG a go.

So really I have some simple questions, firstly how much does this currently cost a month in english pounds?
Is the community good for someone who is going to be a complete newbie?
Will I still have time for my other passion xbox live or will I have to spend that much time infront of my computer that my girlfriend will leave me.
I'm not really into the whole mock medievel, style of RPG. Generally found the idea of talking to a load of dwarfs all talking in thous and thences generally annoying so everquest never really appealled. On the other hand loved the FF console games as to my Western eyes they where a bit more quirky so how does this measure up.
Really just need a little help and advice as I'm a online FPS fan looking for something new with some more longevity to get my teeth into. Cheers

[Soi]

LOL @ Mr Pump. Step away from the MMORPG.

[Mr Pump]

Sorry, have a secret soft spot for turn based combat. Thats why I occasionally just stands still in halo, I'm just waiting for my turn, or trying to sommon bahamut.

[Soi]

The thing is, I know a bit of me would love to get really into one; but I "just say no" to something that potentially time consuming.

[Mr Pump]

Possibly thinking the samething, thought I would as the professionals.

[mikewl]

Mr Pump.

I will detail roughly how my time has been spent on the game since joining on the US launch over a year ago.

I chose the red mage job for starters.

It took a while before actually enjoying the game, getting killed repeatedly it took me a long time to get to lvl 10, lvl 75 is the maximum lvl in the game. It got to the point lvl 10 onwards that it seemed to take an evening to gain 1 lvl, at lvl 18 you can get a sub-job, which is best to keep lvled to at least half of your main job, me being a noob I chose the warrior job as a sub job for red mage, this means lvling a 2nd job which means more time needed.

At around lvl 11 onwards you might start getting party invites, this is where the game grabbed me, it was real great fun partying with a small group, this is when you start to get an idea of how the game works, having a suitable party setup etc, working as a team, can be great fun.

Anyways, getting to lvl 30 red mage took me a few months time at which point you can do advanced job quests such as Paladin, Bard, Samurai and Ninja, I chose to start the Bard job.

So after a few months time I started a completely new job, had put in about 20 days 24 hours x 20, 480 hours total play time.

Fast forward to now.

Nearly 70 days playtime, which totals 1680 hours of playtime and I am currently a level 58 Bard, 29 White Mage, and a few other jobs leveled.

Must remember that alot of the time the game is on and your not always doing much, sometimes just talking on it, or just leaving it on while doing other stuff, there have even been times when I decided to have a 10 minute rest and just woke up the next day with it all still running so the total hours should not be compared to other RPG's total time.

I know there are some who dont put anywhere near the time I do into the game and still enjoy it and progress but there are times when you really do have to put the time in to get far.

Basically enjoyment can be had from the game without putting huge hours into it.

But for me I never played any games this much before, but this game got me hooked and I put as much time into it as I can, no way did I expect to have been playing it as much as I am before getting it, so beware it is an addictive game.

Just the other night I tried to obtain an important piece of equipment, organizing alliances of 16 people, and doing many lengthy quests for others keeping me up untill about 8am in the morning, in the end I didnt even get what I wanted from it at all.

I would reccommend not getting this game, I would reccommend to myself that I stop playing this game, but thats unlikely.

But I will say this, when the game is good its by far the best gaming moments ive ever had and has to be honest made other new releases such as Half-Life 2, Halo 2, GTA :SA and many more seem like a waste of time and money, its never long before they get put to the side and im back on FFXI.

I think in a way the game is like a drug, but harder to give up.

Many of us have thought about quitting but the idea of me cancelling my Character in the game is very hard to do, just thinking about the time put into it, I just cant quit untill I have had all the fun there is to have had in it.

Anyways, hope that gives you an idea of what to expect and how it might take up your time if you do decide to get it.

[mikewl]

Its my AF3 3rd try tonight.

If anyone lvl 50+ for Mages or 56+ for Tank or DD can help I will start organizing the alliance when I get home from work about 5-6pm. as usual I expect it to take a while to get enough help for it, and expect the usual PLD's and other Bards trying to get in on the action too, so a few fights might be needed in the same area.

I will also try and get some high lvl help, we Need a high lvl Ninja and plenty of DD's, I will offer a reward for them if needed.

When we fought the NM before it dropped our lvl 50-58 PLD's within moments and because the alliance lacked DD's we simply could not do enough damage and gradually all dropped. I think its a case of kill it quick or be killed.

I know a fair amount of others that if online will likely help out, mostly rdm's and pld's.

[talizker]

Just my $0.02 Mr Pump... I've never been a big big fan of RPG, Strategy, Adventure style games, I generally like FPS, Racing Games, Soccer games etc. Saying that, have always been a fan of Final Fantasy games but never put the time in to finish any of them (/shame). I bought FFXI in September and it is easliy the best game I have ever played (and i've been playing games for 22+ years) - 11 odd days in just over 3 months. I've just past level 30 with my Red Mage and last night with the help of some of the guys opened my first advanced job - Samurai. I have definately played it a lot more than I thought I would and so far all my other recent game purchases (GTA:SA, Halo 2, Half Life 2, MGS:SE etc) are sat in a pile waiting to be played. I don't think you need to put huge amounts of time in to enjoy the Vana'diel experience but it's likely that if you do like it, it will suck you in and you will play it alot...

Just a quick 'thank you' to Wedge, Tobal and Ces for helping me last night with the Samurai quest. Everything went smooth and by the book Anytime I can help you guys out just let me know...

[Tobal]

i'll be around 6-7pm onwards, and run to jeuno.

[Mr Pump]

Cheers for the honest advice, may quite possibly go on the first post christmas paycheck shopping list. Might have to make sure I finish SanAndreas first.

[Bayan]

Make Sure We Get Your A World Pass And A Linkshell Once Your On Seraph

[Vanicent]

Rare and I had a ton of fun last night/this morning. We'd agreed to do a skill up party in the Horutoto Ruins underneath Sarutabaruta. I would skill up a great sword, and Rare would skill up his marksmanship with a gun.

Now, I have to say that Humes do look pretty cool with guns:



And




However, sorry Rare, I think Elvaans with guns look much cooler:



It was a fun skill up party though, we both gained at least 30 skill levels with our respective weapons. Since we both started off having no skill at all with these weapons, it was a good night.

Anyway, enough ranting from me, I hope you all have a great Christmas!!

[C']

Just a quick MERRY CHRISTMAS!(!!11!11!oneexclamationmark) to the whole LS. I'm just a poor Ninja so the only present I can give, is pictures

Firstly, me and Wedge in Kuftal tunnel after he helped me get the last few EXP points needed for lvl60.



And, my milestone. FUL NIN AF. Been a long, difficult road but, boy do i look cool ^_^



WORD! So proud of my Exocets.



And like Van said, we spent Christmas Eve exploring Horutoto Ruins whilst skilling up Great Sword (him) and Marksmanship (me) from 0. The number of 'this door is firmly shut' messages proved infuriating but we did eventually find a really cool area in Inner Horutoto Ruins that provided a good range of skill monsters and an area to explore. All told, was a brilliant evening and I'm telling you, you haven't played this game until you've shot a goblin... in the face

Anyway a few pics from it.

Vanicent poses



Various fighting pics.







And finally...



BANG!!!!! 8)