Boss Man
Member
The thing is, you can have both. FFXI's more demanding approach is actually "fun" in the same way that Demon's Souls is fun - rewarding. I love that I can log into FFXIV for a couple of hours and get things done by myself because that is what my schedule allows at this time in my life. I couldn't really play old school FFXI anymore. But I can still play FFXIV exactly the same way if they added NMs like Leaping Lizzy across the zones to drop special gear. I don't need to get Leaping Boots.I'd say Leaping Lizzy was probably one of the lowest points in my life. Two weeks of "I'm gonna be self sufficient and well geared!" watching out for that thing.
It took like two or three years after I quit that game before my heart wouldn't drop at seeing the text anywhere. People always ask me "Why are you so calm and patient all the time? Are you on Ritalin or something?" And I'm, like, "No, I played and sucked at FFXI."
Definitely a fan of ARR's elements of "doing stuff" and "good design" and "fun" over FFXI's.
Without some kind of capability for 'elite' status anywhere in the game the longevity will be in question. I also camped Leaping Lizzy a ton, in fact before they made the boots unsellable I farmed it to fund my "Sniper Rings" for DRK back when those rings were considered extremely expensive. I put in a lot of work to give my character a boost, and it felt good. You have to have that in MMOs.
We're in beta, and I've only gotten to level 16, so I might not know the full story yet. But I am not aware of a single thing in the game that not everyone is expected to get at some point. There should be tiers of power at every level, and you should be able to make your character better than others' by level 20 and especially at cap.
It's funny you mention how seeing the text Leaping Lizzy made your heart drop for so long lol. It did the same thing to me for years and years after spending so much timing camping him with Widescan. ...but I like that. I want to be able to have that feeling of excitement in this game too.
edit: Materia is the only thing I can think of right now that sets anything apart.