Post by Iyouboushi on May 27, 2007 21:51:09 GMT -6
Well, the game has sucked me back in. In case you missed it the first time around, this thread chronicles my adventures through Vana'diel the first time I played on the Asura server. This thread will be about our adventures on the Quetzalcoatl server. This thread also assumes you've read the first one and know the basics and/or have played the game yourself.
So, a very brief recap. Last time I played, there were 4000+ people on at any given time. Gil sellers dominated the best farming points and NMs. Square-Enix wasn't doing anything to fix the problem. Fast forward two years. The gil sellers are GONE and the population of this server is roughly 2000 at any given time (so about half).
What does this mean?
It means the game feels EMPTY. I started in Bastok, just as I did last time. Well, apparently 99% of the population on this server started in Sandy and Windurst, because Bastok (and the surrounding areas, including the mines) is a freakin' ghost town. This is both good and bad.
It's good because you can find monsters to fight anywhere you go. It's not like last time where we had to fight for the right to claim a monster. It also means that Bee Hill (for lack of a better name, the hill we fought bees on in Gustaberg) is deserted and is free for anyone to farm bees (which you know I love doing). The mines are also completely empty, so with a bunch of pickaxes and a little time, you could clean house.
However, it's not ALL good. In fact, in some ways it's worse than it was when it was over-crowded. Take the auction house, for example. Those who have played and/or read my last post know that the auction house is the main source of obtaining items. Players put the items up, other players buy them. Now, imagine when there's no players TO put items up and you have the current situation. Most of the items I want/need for my character are...well.. not available in the auction house to buy. And I'm not talking about high-level equipment here; quite on the contrary, I'm talking about levels 1, 5, and 10 equipment and weapons. The fact that Bastok is practically deserted also means that when I put stuff up to sell, it takes forever and a day to actually sell (unless it's ores; I've found that ores still sell pretty quick).
It's also bad that there's fewer people because when I'm off trying to level up, there's way more aggroing monsters around than there would normally have been last time. Whereas in the past there'd people players around to keep them in check, this time there's no such thing and they can run free range. Trying to fight a quadav? Well, hope you can take on five of his bestest buddies, because that's what you're gonna have to do.
Hopefully it won't be as bad once Scott and I party up together. We should be able to handle the links better, and I pray that we're able to find the equipment necessary. I have a feeling, though, I'm going to have to somehow find a way to get some gil and spend all my time synthing to get my crafting levels up in order to make the equipment myself. That or be 5+ levels behind on equipment.
Oh, something else that's new in the game: exp rings. I was able to go from level 1 to 7 in an hour thanks to an exp ring that doubled all the XP I got. No longer does it take forever and a day to level. If you're willing to use up the ring (it has a limited number of uses), you could zip through the levels fairly quick. This, too, is good and bad. But I'll save that for another post.
In short: I'm hooked on FFXI again. It's fun, but empty.
So, a very brief recap. Last time I played, there were 4000+ people on at any given time. Gil sellers dominated the best farming points and NMs. Square-Enix wasn't doing anything to fix the problem. Fast forward two years. The gil sellers are GONE and the population of this server is roughly 2000 at any given time (so about half).
What does this mean?
It means the game feels EMPTY. I started in Bastok, just as I did last time. Well, apparently 99% of the population on this server started in Sandy and Windurst, because Bastok (and the surrounding areas, including the mines) is a freakin' ghost town. This is both good and bad.
It's good because you can find monsters to fight anywhere you go. It's not like last time where we had to fight for the right to claim a monster. It also means that Bee Hill (for lack of a better name, the hill we fought bees on in Gustaberg) is deserted and is free for anyone to farm bees (which you know I love doing). The mines are also completely empty, so with a bunch of pickaxes and a little time, you could clean house.
However, it's not ALL good. In fact, in some ways it's worse than it was when it was over-crowded. Take the auction house, for example. Those who have played and/or read my last post know that the auction house is the main source of obtaining items. Players put the items up, other players buy them. Now, imagine when there's no players TO put items up and you have the current situation. Most of the items I want/need for my character are...well.. not available in the auction house to buy. And I'm not talking about high-level equipment here; quite on the contrary, I'm talking about levels 1, 5, and 10 equipment and weapons. The fact that Bastok is practically deserted also means that when I put stuff up to sell, it takes forever and a day to actually sell (unless it's ores; I've found that ores still sell pretty quick).
It's also bad that there's fewer people because when I'm off trying to level up, there's way more aggroing monsters around than there would normally have been last time. Whereas in the past there'd people players around to keep them in check, this time there's no such thing and they can run free range. Trying to fight a quadav? Well, hope you can take on five of his bestest buddies, because that's what you're gonna have to do.
Hopefully it won't be as bad once Scott and I party up together. We should be able to handle the links better, and I pray that we're able to find the equipment necessary. I have a feeling, though, I'm going to have to somehow find a way to get some gil and spend all my time synthing to get my crafting levels up in order to make the equipment myself. That or be 5+ levels behind on equipment.
Oh, something else that's new in the game: exp rings. I was able to go from level 1 to 7 in an hour thanks to an exp ring that doubled all the XP I got. No longer does it take forever and a day to level. If you're willing to use up the ring (it has a limited number of uses), you could zip through the levels fairly quick. This, too, is good and bad. But I'll save that for another post.
In short: I'm hooked on FFXI again. It's fun, but empty.