Working as Intended

Again, despite the title, this entry has little to do with the methods of dual-boxing and more to do with me ranting and guffawing about that wacky Final Fantasy that is XI. I should probably change the title to Random Asshole Talks About Dated MMO, but it just doesn't have that pop to it, y'know?

While I certainly don't regret the time I've spent doing this, and the fun that has come out of it, I can probably safely say that I'm not going to continue the crazy adventures on my Hume, because... well, quite frankly, while Square-Enix has done a lot to alleviate the horror of leveling in this game (especially compared to when I first did it some 5-6 years ago), it still sucks. My apologies to any fans and friends of crabs, worms and bats, but your leveling system just isn't that interesting, personally.

My concerns aren't with how low it takes to level now, since that actually has been drastically reduced, but with the entire idea behind why levels still exist in a game such as this. It's no secret that a lot of MMOs create borderline ridiculous level grinds just to hide the fact that they don't have that much content awaiting the player once they're all said and done with, but FFXI has a good nine years of content backing it up. And unlike most MMOs, practically all of the content is at Endgame. Which means that while the established players never run out of things to traverse forth and do, it means there's a good 74 levels of complete jack-shit for newbies to slog through.

Or more, if you count the increase in level-cap opening up more content for less fanatic players.

I should probably point out how this isn't a problem FFXI suffers from alone, and, in its defense, this leveling system was all the rage back when the game was first created. It is just with the arrival of the new development team speeding up the leveling process I have begun to wonder why even keep it at all anymore? Even with the advent of Fields/Grounds of Valor, Abyssea and the massive EXP boost, leveling in FFXI is quite possibly the most tedious exercise one can do outside of trying to develop a way to write up your tax returns while simultaneously drawing a graph showcasing the mating patterns of the local sea-sponge over the past decade.

Point is, stupid example aside, leveling aint fun. I think I've stated that enough. Well, at least I bloody well hope so.






So, stop me if this sounds crazy. Well, you can't, because by the time you read this sentence I'll have already posted it, but shut up, that's not the point! Okay, so, stop me if this sounds crazy, but why don't we just get rid of the levels? The only thing they're doing these days is pointlessly slowing people down from doing the content actually worth playing the game for. The big problem with the idea, I suppose, would be that you'd be left with zones with absolutely nothing to do... which, well, most of XI's zones aren't used these days anyway, but this would still be a big hurdle to overcome. Although, really, all Square-Enix would have to do to fix this would be to take the man-power and resources they'd normally use to make an Expansion Pack (which they haven't done since 2007, so I doubt we'd be getting one anytime soon anyway) and use it to pack the 'now pointless' zones with new missions, storylines and/or systems where you have to kill monsters/NMs to get points for armour/gil, like they already do in Abyssea. And technically Conquest and all that too.

Hell, you wouldn't even really have to pack them full of content either to get away with it in FFXI. Bibiki Bay - Purgonorgo Isle exists pretty much entirely for two cutscenes. Oh, and an NM that drops an item of dubious quality. Of course, the more content the better, but it's not like the bar has been set especially high for this sort of thing.

The other issue that might arise would be how would new players learn their job if they're already at 'Endgame' levels? Which is gonna lead me to saying something I'm sure will tick off a lot of XI players, but what the hell. Honestly, outside of a few mage-oriented jobs, the classes and mechanics of FFXI are not terribly hard to grasp, especially if you're a melee class. Or, at the very least, not hard enough to grasp that it requires damn near 75-90+ levels of tedium to learn how to play the stupid thing. A series of tutorial missions to ease players into the job would do just fine. Or, heck, make it so characters just starting out only have the basic spells/abilities, and then let them unlock abilities by doing quests, akin to Trials of the Magians... Except muuuuuch less tedious. That way new players could ease themselves into their job, and that would create easy content for older zones. Done and done!

As for how to ease players into this hypothetical crazy world of no levels, again, creating a series of tutorial quests that introduces the new concepts would really help out. But after that? Remove the Coffer bullshit from the old job quests, and let the newcomers unlock their Artifact Armour. At Endgame levels most, if not all, of it is far from optimal, so it'd make for great newbie gear. After that, let them do the nation missions (maybe adjust the level/difficulty of the mobs in it) and then let them go on their way. Vana'diel's a gigantic place full of god only knows how many years of content for them to do, so let them actually do it!

Hell, if done right (like rescaling the rewards granted), eliminating the concept of levels could bring back content that absolutely nobody does anymore. Garrison being a good example. Or perhaps even ye olde PvP, like Ballista.

Also, you wouldn't have to level your fucking subjobs. That alone is practically worth giving this idea a look, methinks.

Oh! Or skill-up weapons/magic for days on end.

Yeah, this is sounding better and better by the moment.






As for how this possibly completely batshit bonkers idea came about? Well, as playing a new character, you really do see just how daunting a lot of the leveling process is in this game. Like, for example, if I wanted to level something like Corsair up to 90+, I'd have to level something I'm never even going to use for Corsair up to 30 first, since its subjobs are Ninja and Ranger. When I hit 30, I'd then go and unlock Ninja, Ranger and Corsair, but I can't even play Corsair until NIN and RNG are up to 49. By that point, for the average player, a month has gone by. A month where they haven't even been able to play the job they want to because they've been too busy leveling up the 'prerequisite' jobs that they most likely aren't interested in, because they didn't bloody pick them for their main in the first place!

Puppetmaster's another good one. I was actually looking forward to playing this job, until I realized I've have to first level WAR to 49 (but that's not that bad, since it's a class you can play from the start), which would require me leveling MNK to 22. After that I'd have to unlock DNC and level it up to 49, but to do that decently I'd have to unlock NIN and level it to 22, and then 49 anyway since it's one of those 'required' subjobs everyone expects you to have leveled. Then I'd have to unlock SCH if I wanted to sleep-nuke on my PUP, and level that to 49. Then, and only then, could I safely take PUP to 90-99 without major hurdles. Well, except getting the harder automaton parts, but that's another story, and would be made easier with no levels anyway, because then those who needed the parts could just do the high-level activities that give 'em out.

Anyway, my point is that that's a whole lot of crap you have to go through just to play the job you want to. While, again, leveling has certainly been made faster and easier in the past half-year, the entire concept of leveling in FFXI is still mind-bogglingly boring. Hell, most players-- myself included --actively do something away from the game (watch a movie, TV show, listen to music, chat, ect) while leveling just to distract themselves from it. And here I was thinking a video game should be about it actually being enjoyable. Silly me~!

This is, of course, all just hypothetical bullcrap right now, but the idea of a level-free FFXI I think is, at the very least, something interesting to ponder about. While I'm sure the older players would get all up in a tizzy over how the new players have it so much easier these days, the truth is that's been happening for years now.

The other argument would be that new players at that stage would fuck everything up, since they'd have no idea how to play the game, and would therefor somehow interfere with the older, most progressed, crowd. Abyssea as it stands today has already made that point worryingly apparent. Find an Abyssea party at level 30, which a lot of people do, leech in it for a few hours and you'll be at 90, and probably have no idea how to play your job. So, instead, with no levels, you could do the tutorial shtick I mentioned above and slowly introduce players to their role, so they'd be much better/informed at it than the average Abyssea-leecher is today with the level system in.

Though, all this being said, I'd probably drop dead from shock if Square-Enix even remotely considered anything like it.

Oh well. A man can dream, though.

A man can dream...