@DS: About the last boat comment...you could always pick up fishing and fish while you're on the boat. Boats sometimes get attacked too, so there's always the option to fight the monsters off (usually not possible at lower levels though). Plus, once you hit rank 4 (or maybe 5, can't remember), you get to ride in airships and they have a much shorter wait and take only 3 minutes to ride.

Are you serious?  You're suggesting that people take up fishing to make it suck less that you have to watch a person sit on a boat?  I can't imagine the feeling of sitting and watching my character sit on a sailing ship, my bank account slowly being drained of its assetts while I wait for the game to give me permission to play it.  I don't understand why MMOs don't let you teleport between regions instantly or pilot your own vehicles.

I enjoyed this game a lot, but all the people here have valid points. To be honest my highest level classes are bards (never once had an issue getting a party) and Beast Master (recomended, can solo shit no problem). If you play this game I'm really gonna recommend playing as that, as it lets you play the game at your own pace, doing what you want. Most people just grind the fuck out of this game, leveling as fast as possible and grinding items and weapons. I was more focused on quests and missions (got rank 10 bastok and rank 9 sandoria, when most people just cared about rank 5). I dunno I really enjoyed this game, but then again it was my first MMORPG, so I might be biased. Feel free to ask me for more information. This is already getting too jumbled. Oh well.

Are you serious?  You're suggesting that people take up fishing to make it suck less that you have to watch a person sit on a boat?  I can't imagine the feeling of sitting and watching my character sit on a sailing ship, my bank account slowly being drained of its assetts while I wait for the game to give me permission to play it.  I don't understand why MMOs don't let you teleport between regions instantly or pilot your own vehicles.

Actually, you can teleport to just about any region in the game instantly, once you've done the proper quest most of which can be done with no more then sneak/invis and knowing how to avoid aggressive monsters.

I would be playing it if I hadn't forgetten my PlayOnline ID.  It's fucking stupid you need two Usernames.

He was referring to solo-ing.

And I always thought the monster difficulty was retarded.  I didn't play long enough to discover the intricate nuances (I say this lightly) of how the game is balanced;  all I cared about was the fact that I got owned by a bunny with a green name instead of the normal blue named bunnies or whatever color they associate with "slightly tougher" monsters.

Solo'ing is basically running around and fighting monsters slightly weaker than you.  Monsters your level, regardless of your equipment (because equipment is stupidly restricted to your level) do enough damage to force you to heal after fighting them which makes the reward worthless.  Monsters weaker than you give out shitty experience so you end up fighting more of them and wasting your time.

I had nearly 5 level 75's and the game never got old for me. ​  I actually liked partying, because bad parties just made it that much more awesome when you got a good one where everyone knew what they were doing.

The game does get a lot better as you advance, I felt like quitting many times the first 40ish levels (the first time around) because the low-level areas are swarmed with new people, and PvE in this game actually requires some degree of understanding of game mechanics (skill?). I had to get WoW and force myself to get addicted to it because FF11 was completely eating all my time. It is a huge time sink, but it's very enjoyable once you get into it.

I'm trying to build up a new character, and I just cannot do it, so I'm gonna cancel.  Everyone's at endgame now so there are like nine people in the Dunes on my server, usually.  People who play know that Valkurm Dunes is usually packed.  Like I said, everyone's at endgame, so you open up the server search list and all you see is:

75WHM/37BLM
75RNG/37NIN
75WAR/37PLD
...

Ad infinitum.  The game is in its death throes; no one who gives a damn about MMOs plays it because they were already on to the next big thing years ago, and anyone who was hooked because it was their first MMO has probably moved on to WoW because it's more user and solo-friendly.  They have cool jobs now (Scholar, Blue Mage come to mind) but it's all too little, too late.

Edit:  Oh yeah, as a Black Mage I enjoyed the shit out of Magic Burst and wish the general concept was something applied more to MMOs.  Also, apparently the game had a pretty good story, but no one bothered with it.

That's not a new MMO, that's a tech demo they did for the Xbox360 version of FF11 a long time ago. For some reason, it has little to do with anything FFXI-related, but I clearly remember seeing that trailer in the official site linked to the Xbox360 version.

I'm trying to build up a new character, and I just cannot do it, so I'm gonna cancel.  Everyone's at endgame now so there are like nine people in the Dunes on my server, usually.  People who play know that Valkurm Dunes is usually packed.  Like I said, everyone's at endgame, so you open up the server search list and all you see is:

75WHM/37BLM
75RNG/37NIN
75WAR/37PLD
...

i think you should try another server then. while not as pack as it was in the old days i still find plenty of people to party with(and i'm leveling DRK right now(also i play mostly at midnight when all the japanese players are on)) and its not just people trying to level the new expansion jobs.  So i usually just solo until i get an invite.
Speaking of soloing, BST sub is you best friend for soloing since its Charm skill actually works beyond the level 37 sub limit(if you have 75 bst, subing it will allow charm to work as if your main job was bst) and dancer is damn good with melee classes, basicly making you unkillable and removing the need to rest, at the cost of killing enemies a bit slower(since you mostly likely won't be using any weapon skills).  And of course there's the Adventuring Fellow NPC who you can make DD, Heal or Tank for you.

As for the new SE MMO, the mentioned last November that they haven't even decided weather or not the game will be FF related, so any official trailers(and the actual game) are probably still far off.  And yes, even SE isn't stupid enough to ignore the new ideas other MMO's have come up with(even if it will piss of their hardcore fan base).

EDIT: I just remembered something that I thought sounded really awesome and I think many people may be interested in around here(what with this supposably being a game making site). One of the other thing mention in November was that the creators are looking into adding the ability for players to create their own dungeons in the game, though at this point they are only looking to see if it will be possible so and may not even be in and if it is, it probably won't show up till this time next year(I'm still hyped though).

Okay, well if you don't like fishing, then turn on the TV or do something else. You aren't forced to watch your character while they're on the boat.

My criticism was that the subscriber pays a monthly fee so that he can wait for an opportunity to play.  Watching TV for half an hour does *not* make this any better.

Yeah, I noticed this as well when I went back the 2nd time. Made the experience much worse because the first time around, I could get through Valkurm in two or three days. The 2nd time, it took much longer, even playing as a WHM or BLM.

I've heard rumors that Square has started a new MMO. Anybody know if this is true?

EDIT: Just searched youtube and found a vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtZvn5c4e4

Hopefully they'll get it right and fix up all the flaws XI had.

holy crap that is the worst video ever. a bunch of locations and the most lossy sound I've heard since Kazaa became illegal.

Square is pretty much dropping the White Engine for all next gen games except for FFXIII.  They licensed the Unreal Engine so they can spend more time focused on gameplay.  Square also published another MMORPG that was a critical failure, Fantasy Earth.  Granted they didn't develop it, but it was pretty much an instant failure.

I dissagree with most ppls
i enjoyed FFXI! I liked it mainly for the fact that it does not cut into ppls social life like WoW does. I played WoW at my friends house for a day and i got WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too hooked. In the end, FFXI is a basic MMORPG at best but luckily for you it would not hypnotize you into playing it 24/7 like WoW

I DID play it, until i needed space for my computer so i am going to buy the 360 version soon, which i hear is much nicer than the PC(Graphic-Wise)

it hypnotized you? so your blaming the game for MAKING you play it way too much because it hypnotizes you, when really it was your own lack of self control? so how does ff11 counter this, by being less fun or something?