There are some great points in here I think. Â Both from Leggerless, and in replies. Â Calling FFXI efficient...well, in any form of that word, it is hard to grasp. Â Calling FFXIV efficient, sure, in some ways, certainly in the ways of communication, if possibly in the ways of grouping as well. Â Everything in FFXI was tough, it was a more traditional MMO, like that of the some of the original bigger MMOs, and as such, during the time, with the technology available, it was as high quality as it could be without being state of the art, which I think meant further limitations in some cases.
Mentioning that, XI was a great game for developing friendships, hard earned and meant for keeps, because of the rough nature of finding people that you liked, that would actively play and connect all the time, and that were willing to jump through the hoops immediately presented, to then jump through further hoops with harder content and participating with those who maybe needed some teaching. Â As I said, this meant strong bonds between players, you had to have them, not necessarily for efficiency, but to truly play the content and have fun, you really needed those people or you would often just plain fail. Â This also forced some out of their "hardcore" player shells, into accepting more diverse group of party member jobs (though of course, later in content, there was a definite disparity between some jobs and active available play for those "weaker" jobs), because it was simply more rare to find dedicated players because of the mettle of the content versus the player ability.
In FFXIV, perhaps things are too easy? Â WoW...well...is prone to trolls, and the very swampfolk of the internet, crawling out from under their cesspool, slime layered rocks, and joining parties to be bad examples of the human race whenever permitted. Â I have seen, in the past, some of my good friends turn on each other over job changes and respecs, because the nature of WoW, allows for these types of interactions and players to thrive among one another, in easy alliances that fall apart and are made again, filled with trollish nonsense, and good play, but with little enjoyment taken from it, other than the gloating of "OPness" in skill to anyone who will listen. Â That is the nature of basement dwelling folk (Not Hobbits or Hufflepuffs, because my god were those predictions wrong) Â of the nerd world that is gaming, who don't leave their house, and die of heart attack from too much redbull and doritos, they just aren't meant to be good people, and they bring others down with them.
FFXIV, is not like that, but we do get some of that culture here. Â We get to skim that culture, while skimming the casual player culture too, both which bring a lot of negative to the table, but make things much easier in regard to playing the game. Â I would venture that most RPers (at least on RPC), with the exception of some vocal few, do not have the mindset of raiders, and are rather more casual than anything. Â Stated above, that sounds okay, but has plenty of negatives, including but not limited to: Easy gathering but equally easy drama and breakup due to ease of those pairings, less knowledgeable players on all fronts who don't contribute as much to the content that the "higher tier" casual players would like to be a part of, and the "whatever I want, because I paid mindset" which has a whole list of negative things that come with it.
You can sort of tell my distaste of the "casual" player mindset. Â You did pay, indeed, good on you, but some of us would at times like to pay you not to play equally. Â We would like you to learn the bare minimum of what it takes to get the loot and glamour you want, so that we don't have to carry your every single time unwillingly, and without prior knowledge of needing to do so coming in to a party. Â "Bu-buh-but I paid though!", yes, once again I would like to congratulate you on doing the bare minimum to be in the game, now would you kindly not enter the DF and find someone who willingly wants to take you to get things to make you look good while your /say and /em interactions take up part of the screen however small at all times of the day. Â See that, that is how I feel at times. Â If you know me well, I am not totally unreasonable, I am not totally rude or a jerk to every person I meet, but I am not untruthful in these matters either, I get these feelings, and I am not afraid to express them, just as those who "I paid!" me, get to wear that as some sort of badge. Â As Warren said...these things do happen, the negative sticks out in your mind after a while, and it builds up until you explode, and if you are a decent person you try not to let that happen in random parties with all the frustration that brings already. Â But it does happen, and on those rare occasions that person isn't out to be a troll, but rather is fed up with wanting to enjoy something but getting brought down at every (seemingly every mind you) turn.
Anyways, that all got away from me, but as I said, some of Leggerless's remarks did hit home, but not for efficiency, but rather for a complicated situation made both easier and more complex due to FFXIV's unique position in gaming at the moment. Â Not sure how to fix it, or if it will ever change, but there you have it. Â All you can say is good luck to it, and hope for the best when you log on to play instead of RP on some days.
~Momo
Mentioning that, XI was a great game for developing friendships, hard earned and meant for keeps, because of the rough nature of finding people that you liked, that would actively play and connect all the time, and that were willing to jump through the hoops immediately presented, to then jump through further hoops with harder content and participating with those who maybe needed some teaching. Â As I said, this meant strong bonds between players, you had to have them, not necessarily for efficiency, but to truly play the content and have fun, you really needed those people or you would often just plain fail. Â This also forced some out of their "hardcore" player shells, into accepting more diverse group of party member jobs (though of course, later in content, there was a definite disparity between some jobs and active available play for those "weaker" jobs), because it was simply more rare to find dedicated players because of the mettle of the content versus the player ability.
In FFXIV, perhaps things are too easy? Â WoW...well...is prone to trolls, and the very swampfolk of the internet, crawling out from under their cesspool, slime layered rocks, and joining parties to be bad examples of the human race whenever permitted. Â I have seen, in the past, some of my good friends turn on each other over job changes and respecs, because the nature of WoW, allows for these types of interactions and players to thrive among one another, in easy alliances that fall apart and are made again, filled with trollish nonsense, and good play, but with little enjoyment taken from it, other than the gloating of "OPness" in skill to anyone who will listen. Â That is the nature of basement dwelling folk (Not Hobbits or Hufflepuffs, because my god were those predictions wrong) Â of the nerd world that is gaming, who don't leave their house, and die of heart attack from too much redbull and doritos, they just aren't meant to be good people, and they bring others down with them.
FFXIV, is not like that, but we do get some of that culture here. Â We get to skim that culture, while skimming the casual player culture too, both which bring a lot of negative to the table, but make things much easier in regard to playing the game. Â I would venture that most RPers (at least on RPC), with the exception of some vocal few, do not have the mindset of raiders, and are rather more casual than anything. Â Stated above, that sounds okay, but has plenty of negatives, including but not limited to: Easy gathering but equally easy drama and breakup due to ease of those pairings, less knowledgeable players on all fronts who don't contribute as much to the content that the "higher tier" casual players would like to be a part of, and the "whatever I want, because I paid mindset" which has a whole list of negative things that come with it.
You can sort of tell my distaste of the "casual" player mindset. Â You did pay, indeed, good on you, but some of us would at times like to pay you not to play equally. Â We would like you to learn the bare minimum of what it takes to get the loot and glamour you want, so that we don't have to carry your every single time unwillingly, and without prior knowledge of needing to do so coming in to a party. Â "Bu-buh-but I paid though!", yes, once again I would like to congratulate you on doing the bare minimum to be in the game, now would you kindly not enter the DF and find someone who willingly wants to take you to get things to make you look good while your /say and /em interactions take up part of the screen however small at all times of the day. Â See that, that is how I feel at times. Â If you know me well, I am not totally unreasonable, I am not totally rude or a jerk to every person I meet, but I am not untruthful in these matters either, I get these feelings, and I am not afraid to express them, just as those who "I paid!" me, get to wear that as some sort of badge. Â As Warren said...these things do happen, the negative sticks out in your mind after a while, and it builds up until you explode, and if you are a decent person you try not to let that happen in random parties with all the frustration that brings already. Â But it does happen, and on those rare occasions that person isn't out to be a troll, but rather is fed up with wanting to enjoy something but getting brought down at every (seemingly every mind you) turn.
Anyways, that all got away from me, but as I said, some of Leggerless's remarks did hit home, but not for efficiency, but rather for a complicated situation made both easier and more complex due to FFXIV's unique position in gaming at the moment. Â Not sure how to fix it, or if it will ever change, but there you have it. Â All you can say is good luck to it, and hope for the best when you log on to play instead of RP on some days.
~Momo