Working as Intended

So, yeah. Dual-Boxing. What's up with that, y'all?

I never even really considered the option until a friend sent me a message going, "So, yeah. My [FFXI] account's been inactive for a while, so here, you can have it, wanka!" and that was that. At first I was just going to completely ignore its existence, possibly leaving it to grow up and develop an affection complex before murdering a man in an alleyway while screaming daddy, but then I thought it might be an interesting time to see what it would be like essentially starting Final Fantasy XI from scratch again, given all the new content added since when I started about, geez, five or six years ago?

Actually, I've tried restarting previously and the results, if you read that series of particular rants way back when, did not fare especially well. My issue is that the low levels were, especially in this day and age, a slow, grinding slog that offered little variety and even less explanation to new-comers about how the game's mechanics worked. Now, outside of a full-frontal lobotomy or watching Revenge of the Fallen again, I can't make all knowledge in my noggin' just will itself into imploding, so I cannot see what a new-newcomer would get from the game, but this is as good as any other way!

Except not at all, but shut up.

Of course, before one can properly start, I had to decide what race/class I was going to play as. This is a very difficult, and I'm sure to the outsider's perspective, somewhat amusing moment to observe, because I'm the least decisive person on the planet when it comes to character creating. I'll spend hours pondering which is the best option/look for what, why I think that's a good idea, why I think that I think that's a good idea. Then, finally, when I've gotten everything just the way I imagine it to be, I immediately throw it out the window and just choose at seemingly random.

Through some weird machinations on behalf of my brain, I arrived at leveling a Hume Female in Windurst to become a Summoner. Windurst because I want to see the world from a non-Bastokan point-of-view, and San d'Oria is full of bagpipe-blasting dhalmel-fuckers just not my cup of tea. Hume Female because I apparently forgot Tarutaru Male was an option until I was far enough into leveling to somewhat regret my decision, but not want to start leveling all over again. And, finally, Summoner because it's a classic FF-staple, I love the Avatars, and Summoner was actually the job I thought I was originally going to level, before I got sidetracked by Samurai. Also known as the job that's the polar goddamn opposite of Summoner.

Like I said, I'm very indecisive.

But, before I go any further, I should probably explain what dual-boxing is for the unfamiliar out there. It's pretty much an MMO term (though people do occasionally do it with other genres of gaming) where you have two instances of a game running at the same time, and you control two characters at, more or less, the same time to boot. As for why people like to do that, it's generally because MMOs, especially these days, are very small group centric, so being able to do most of that content either by yourself (though that sort of eliminates the whole MMO aspect, but whatever), or by filling up a missing/desired gap in the party line-up, can make progress a heck of a lot easier. Though another popular reason is that people just enjoy multi-tasking, and this is about as multi-tasktastic as you can reasonably get.

As long as you're not running like 36 instances of the game. That's taking it a bit too far, methinks.

Anyway, with all that crap done and done now, it's time to finally venture into the actual game itself.






The first thing I immediately noticed when starting up, after being on a mostly-spiffy high level character all these years, is that my Inventory space sucks. With FFXI allowing you to swap and level up classes on the same character, once you reach that 70-80 Inventory sweet spot (now 140-160 with Mog Sacks) you just kind of take it for granted, until you're slapped back down to 30 slots like the pathetic peasant-woman you are. Though, all things considered, that was my one major gripe with starting again, so, heck, the game's doing something right.

I mentioned I was starting a new character to a few friends, to which most replied "You know you're going to have to redo storyline missions, numbnuts?" But this actually is what interests me the most. The majority of people play FFXI, and every MMOs really, for the Endgame content. The killing of all-powerful bosses, the DORPS for the best gear, the drama that usually accompanies it. While I do enjoy that stuff to a certain degree, I enjoy being a gigantic loser much more and exploring the world of XI, watching the many cutscenes that populate it, and the fun that comes from completing story-arcs and seeing where they may lead. While my other character certainly aint no slouch in the gear department, it completely plays second fiddle to me. If not third. That being said, while being a unique little snowflake is all well and good, you're not exactly impressing anybody by walking into a 75-90+ party dressed up in full Artifact Armour.

I'm looking at you, Dancers and Dragoons.

Also, for all my warbling about dual-boxing, this entry features very little of it. When I last played the low-levels, new character or otherwise, Fields of Valor and Treasure Caskets had just been introduced. While they've still got their issues (especially those farking Gold Chests and their completely unreasonable seething hatred of me guessing the code correctly!) the ability to now repeat Fields of Valor quests whenever you want and the massive (2-3 times, in general) boosting of EXP gain has made the low levels actually pretty enjoyable, in that relaxing and methodical sort of way. In aint World of Warcraft, to be sure, but I enjoyed myself plenty.

That said, the low levels now come with a really big detriment to newcomers.

Since you'll be flying through the 1-10, and possibly even 11-20, levels so darn quickly these days (without any outside assistance on a Red Mage or any EXP boosting ring, I got Lv.10 in about an hour and a half) you will not be gaining very much Gil. During the aforementioned leveling stint, I gained roughly 30-40,000 Gil, which certainly isn't anything to slouch at, but the average cost of a level 20-21 gear set is about 60,000 gil these days. For players who have been around for a long time, this is downright trivial, but for newcomers, I imagine trying to get that extra 20,000 while not slowing your leveling down to an absolute crawl will be very difficult. Especially without knowledge of where the best low-level money making spots are.






If I'm glad one aspect of Final Fantasy XI hasn't changed, it's that duoing with a friend is still a lot of fun. Beforehand, like as written above, I was constantly thinking about the game's mechanics and how they should change or be further examined. Until I starting duoing, and all of my concerns with the game just flew out the window strapped to a jetpack of fun. While certainly still repetitive, the levels came and went quickly enough to not make me feel bogged down by them, and, really, it's an MMO, so I guess the brain has to learn to adjust to various amounts of repetition. However, with a lot of single player titles now entering the "MMO MECHANICS LOL" stage, FFXI actually feels very refreshing in comparison.

Especially when comparing to retarded "go fetch me x of y items" in any non-MMO title.

Like you, Red Dead Goddamn Redemption!

Anywho, I've yet to start the Windurst storyline, for some reason which I'm sure felt completely legitimate at the time, but now I can't remember and I feel like a complete bell-end for not doing it. I think it had something to do with my wanting to unlock Summoner quick-smart or some such. Whatever it was, it apparently made me feel like doing the following cardinal XI sins:

1) Not getting my subjob immediately at 18. (I got it at 21).
2) Not being properly equipped (I was using the Hume starting gear until like level 20 >>)
3) Underleveled subjob (31.RDM/13.WHM, hooray!)

While I wouldn't be caught dead trying to pull any of this shit in a 6-man party, it honestly didn't concern me at all while I was leveling either by myself or with a good friend. I imagine most non-XI players are sitting here scratching their heads over why I feel this is such a big deal, and I'll tell ya why. It's for the exact same reason I know a lot of XI players read the above and either started getting very angry, or just rolled their eyes and shook their head.

Final Fantasy XI, especially in the old days, was a massively social game. You couldn't get anything done, not even levels, without a decent party backing you up. As a result, a certain mindset eventually emerged from the proverbial ocean like something from a horror movie. People did not want some "OMG I DOES UNIQUE IT'S MY $12.95 A MONTH SO I'M GOING TO PLAY/DRESS HOW I WANT TO MOTHER" idiot prancing about in their party and potentially either slowing down or completely fucking up their EXP, and thus, time spent in the game. It was all about efficiency. If you weren't efficient, you were out.

Not that that's a bad thing, since I don't think even the most patient of people want a night practically ruined because some idiot wasted a perfectly good party slot by not being able to follow simple instructions or even hit the goddamn monsters they're supposed to be fighting. However, a very unfortunate side-effect came of this, and for a distressingly long time FFXI was swamped in a wave of elitism. Even if you weren't in their party, or even if you were playing solo, some people just had to tell you that you weren't being 100% efficient and should just quit the game right the fuck now.

That mentality is all but gone these days. Either, or perhaps a mix of the game being very much more 2-3 person centric, or because they stopped giving a shit. Either way, good riddance. Though pondering the mentality of it, and occasionally being guilty of acting that way myself, it does make me wonder if the new/derpy players have had it right the entire time. They're not being 'efficient' or worrying about the latest gear stats or e-peen. They're just enjoying themselves and the wacky virtual world they now find themselves in. While, of course, one's own enjoyment shouldn't come at the detriment of others, it's an interesting thing to ponder. And, I have to admit, I'm actually enjoying leveling/duoing in the low levels now a hell of a lot more than doing Abyssea or any of the high-level, non-storyline stuff.

Anyway, that was quite the tangent there. Now, where were we?






Oh, right!

While Fields of Valor and Treasure Caskets certainly aint new to FFXI, Grounds of Valor is. You see, it's different from Fields, because it has the word 'ground' in it's name. This is very important. Also, it helps that Grounds of Valor kicks so much more arse than its outdoors counterpart. Mostly because you can get big stat boosts after completing a Page (Kill X amount of Y) and your EXP actually increases the more you stay there. For example, I started leveling in the Maze of Shakrami as a trio and getting roughly 600 EXP a page. By the end, I was getting 1,600. That's damn near half a level at that stage for about 5 minutes of killing.

Most impressive indeed.

The only downside is that unless you're level synced (a game mechanic where you can set your level to match a lower-level party member) you are going to blitz through Shakrami and the loads of awesome EXP it will bestow upon you in about... two hours. Which will get you from Lv.22 to something like Lv.34+.

Which makes it faster than most ways of playing World of Warcraft, and crazy awesome.

Unfortunately, since Grounds of Valor has only just been introduced, it's not featured in a lot of areas as of the time writing this. So you'll get so used to blindingly awesome EXP, and then you'll have move on to slower, but still neato, areas for awhile. Well, unless you find a new class/party member to sync to. It's not uncommon these days to see someone stay in Shakrami until they're something like Lv.70+. Outrageous!

Also, no dual-boxing down here, since it wasn't needed. Boy, I sure am glad I chose a relevant title for this post!

Although I think the rate of EXP started to warp our fragile little minds.








Sadly the rest of the people in Shakrami didn't care for our little mental episode. Bunch of uppity twispnogglers!

But, yes, all-in-all I have to say that I'm really enjoying leveling up a new character, if only for the refreshing new perspective and potential for nifty moments in the future. I'm not sure how far I'll be taking Little Miss Summoner, but I just unlocked the job earlier today, so I'm positive there will be a Part 2 to this silly experiment I'm running right now. Hopefully it will feature actual dual-boxing at some point. Oh, the horror!

I'm not sure if I'd consider XI's somewhat revamped lower-levels to be newbie-friendly quite yet, but I'll be going through them again in a sec', so we'll have to see! Oh, and I might get around to starting the Windurst storyline now, as friends have been screaming at me while I write this about how I should totally get my sorry little arse around to it, since it's meant to be just the bee's knees.

Anyway, if you'll excuse me now, this Summoner won't level itself!

Well, it could, but I imagine a GM would have a few choice words and subsequent banhammer for me about that.














Also, for no reason what-so-ever, have a picture of a baby chocobo~!




Awwwwwwwwwwwwww~ <3