Let's see...
Expansion Rush
Unlike the initial release of WotG, these mini-expansions had less of a "let's explore and see what we can find" feel and more of a HNM camping feel to get drops from various mobs... Right after the mini-expansions are released, there will be many people out there voking mobs just to get their drops necessary to progress in the expansion content to get it over with as soon as possible.
Not my idea of fun sitting around in a dungeon on a 16-minute respawn timer to try to get claim on level 5 mobs.
Plus, there's the little annoyance of item inflation due to the items needed for the expansion... Earth Crystals are now 2k each... which is kinda funny since a stack of Earth Crystals also sells for the same amount.
However, there is the annoyingly fine balance between going too early and having to deal with unnecessary bottlenecks and competition, and going too late when everyone else has finished the expansion and does not want to touch it EVER again. There's also the issue of people figuring out too much about the expansion and starting to limit themselves (4x SAM, 2x WHM onry!) on strategies to pull off the win if you wait too long.
I dunno... just thinking about ASA is already making me feel like I don't want to touch it with a 10' pole. I guess I'll probably end up doing it sometime in the near future if I can gather a team of people who want to do it... right now, just about everyone I know is holding off.
WotG content
This is an annoying one... at least for me... It's been a few months since Vanh & I completed the content that they had out at the time... I don't even remember what's happening plot wise... erm... Lilisette fought off one of the Cait Siths I think... I can't even remember where I am in the Bastok mission-quest, though at least I know I'm up-to-date on Sandy/Windy.
I think the worst part about this is that even if I wanted to proceed, I wouldn't know who to invite or where everyone is. Because of the way the missions are structured, you pretty much have to go back and help many people through the various parts of the different nations... At least I have a slight advantage where I have significant progress in all 3 nation storylines so I *should* be able to help out whoever is out there... but I know many people are still far behind. i.e.: Tasya & Karou are only just past the Battle of Jeuno.
I don't even know where to start gathering people for this one. At least for ASA, we're at a common starting ground.
New shinies/content
Well, lots of shinies in this update... I dunno, some new modifiable armor/weapon system that's better than the Fey Weapons (supposedly... have to see), as well as tons of new NMs out there in almost every zone for you to camp and get new items.
This is a weird one for me. Normally, I'd be excited to hear about new items and want to go out there and think of the possibilities. This time, however, it's really pushing the wrong buttons on me.
For starters: Some of the items are simply dropped from random NMs that roam the zones... back to the original conditions of camping NMs. Even with short repop times, I just hate this method of obtaining items as it's a simple (aka lazy programmers) random pop, random drop % method designed to keep people addicted to it rather than something more logically laid out with a tangible possibility of reward at the end. Maybe that's why I like the Limbus Ancient Beastcoins and Einherjar Ichor methods that aren't random...
What did bug me the most, however, is how some items in this update completely blow away other items. Yes, I know it's hard to balance the reward system so that you'd encourage people to go take part in these new events instead of simply going to the older systems, but... some moderation? I found a nice pair of feet equip that completely blows away Enkidu's Leggings for DNC... Really puts a damper on the former achievement of completing the Enkidu's set, and now I guess I'll be a "gimp" Dancer unless I get these boots?
Ya, I know equipment doesn't determine performance... but it does help. It just annoys me mildly... I should probably stop thinking about DNC equipment and just fool around on it too. I mean, that's how I treat my other jobs... I don't really have good gear, nor do I put that much effort into them but I still have fun xD
Speaking of fun...
... I'm getting really burnt out on some parts of the game... specifically, Limbus & ZNMs where we've been at it for a while, at the point where we're almost throwing stuff away... I guess doing the same thing week after week is taking it's toll. I'd really like to take a step away from Limbus at least... ZNMs still has a little bit of variety in it, especially when people try different things like Rooks tanking the whole charmed alliance for fun!
For other events...
- Kinda burnt out on gil farming at the moment... especially discouraged since even though I've finally made enough to buy a Roundel Earring, I can't find one anywhere on the server to buy... oh well, at least I have enough gil to buy almost anything I want at the moment
- Einherjar - Even though the timing is wrong on this event for my RL stuff, it's still one of the few events I enjoy since every time you get a surprise for the mobs, and have to change tactics on the fly.
- Dynamis - Definitely routine... I'm still not burnt out on this, partially cos I get to rotate around various jobs as I feel like, and with our recent attendance problems, I'm... ironically, feeling a little more excited to see what we can pull off with fewer people. Being the sole PLD for a dynamis run adds to the excitement, at least for me... and the need to focus
- Sea - Still not routine for me... I've been mainly SCH & PLD for the main fights here, though I've come BLU as well for some interesting applications in stunning, nuking and self-SCing. I still haven't experienced all the fights in all roles yet, and tanking JoL is still pretty fun to me xD
- Exp - So... I guess... erm... the older jobs all felt like this to me... There's nothing between level 60 and 75 for DRG. It's the same thing no matter what. No new job abilities, WS's, or even anything from different subjobs. I'm starting to get bored of exping already (bad sign) especially since I ran out of Hulu shows to watch while exping!
Ironically, the only thing I'm really looking forward to right now is finishing DRG up and bringing it to events for a change of role and pace. Kinda like how I wanted to bring PLD to everything after I finished leveling it for some freshness... hopefully I'll stay interested in the game long enough to get there ~.~
Other stuff
Some other fun stuff that isn't directly FFXI-related...
- JP-onry attitude continues in FFXIV - So... if you buy FFXIII, you can get a "campaign code" that will give you a "limited in-game item" for FFXIV... IF and ONLY IF you're buying the Japan version... and... who knows, might not work with any account other than JP. XIV isn't even in beta yet and they're already showing preference over there.
- Facebook is now a rock-solid alibi! - Make sure you use Facebook to get your story straight! Twitter isn't reliable as a "get out of jail free" card.
- Just about everyone in AlphaPrime is playing Modern Warfare 2 :o
- I have a crazy high backlog of games -.-;
Let's see... not counting the 1TB of anime sitting on a USB HDD, I have... just off the top of my head:
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Armored Core: For Answer
- Resident Evil 5
- Final Fantasy: Dissidia
- LittleBigPlanet
- Modern Warfare 2
unopened... and...
- Star Ocean 4
- Super Smash Bros.
- Fallout 3
- Mirror's Edge
uncompleted...
and... more in my backlog. At least I recently finished Halo: ODST so that's one off my list...
/sigh... there just aren't enough days in a week.
7 comments:
I guess it goes without saying, that I was losing/lost interest even knowing that the update was coming. Endgame events like dynamis and limbus started to feel more like chores than fun. Going back to your previous post, it felt very much like the rat race idea D: At time X you attend event Y for approximately Z amount of time. Sounds very much like work to me... You're on a set schedule and are expected to be there. It's why I cut back on events, after the novelty of them wore out.
Wonder if I'll miss out on my chance to get WotG content and ASA stuff done. It's like you said about that too early vs too late. I'll fall under the latter category probably. I don't see myself coming back within this year D:
I hope it works out for you whatever you decide!
Mmmm... not sure... at the rate I'm going at the moment, you'll probably have someone to do the content with if you decide to come back next year. I'm just wondering how long before I start deleveling from not bothering to go rebuffer xD
Currently playing Resistance (1!), decided to take advantage of Amazon's $20 credit for MW2, have Super Mario Bros Wii coming next week too, and want to pick up Brutal Legend soon too. Not to mention Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out next week which is supposed to be good :o
Pretty easy to buffer doing FoV (or level up in my case XD). But I get the feeling that you have your Slacks +1 on.
Wow, never played R1. That's going old school. I skipped directly to R2. Amazon $20 credit for MW2... but I thought you bought the hardened version... so you have two copies? X.x; Had to use up a Toy R Us gift card, so I got Super Mario Bros Wii on order too, but I'll be using my $20 credit on Assassin's Creed 2.
hee... I didn't open MW2 yet, so I returned it to Fry's... my MW2 form Amazon should be arriving Tuesday.
Probably have more games next week to pick up... at least the $20 coupons are good until Feb!
Whee... worked through a good portion of my backlog of games... basically, threw it on, played for at least an hour... and if I found that I wasn't having fun, I'd put it down and move on... so far Armored Core is on my "may play again later" list.
Though... two more games coming in this week, and might be picking up more in the near future, so... that's bad ~.~ Also pre-ordered a bunch of other games too that aren't coming out till 2010 @.@;
Mmm.. DRG68 now... Two weeks till December... I want to push this to 75 so I can start using it in events and sell the lowbie gear for it, so I might be focusing on that for a while.
Haven't touched new content other then getting the initial cutscenes for ASA. Already seeing shouts in Whitegate for 4x SAM, 2x WHM just as expected.
I see what you mean now when you say FFXI is the cheapest entertainment there is compared to buying new games @.@; The caveat to that is, it's the cheapest for *you*, who goes on game buying sprees for games that don't even get played X.x;
Ok maybe not. Probably is cheaper for anyone, but if someone doesn't have any interest in the game, then is it worth it? New game is always fun! D:
true true... and it's only cheaper for me because I don't go out to the movies and out for expensive dinners as often... My gaming budget is barely affected since I still buy the games xD
Mmmm... MW2 (which I'll open) arriving today, Super Mario Bros Wii on Thursday... Assassins Creed 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 came out today too...
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