Please read all of this before you comment, flame, rate down, or anything else.
Recently, having lunch with a friend, we were discussing these online RPG's. Mainly dealing with FFXI and another MMORPG that I will not name as I do not wish to sound like I'm trying to convert anyone. Neither of us had played what the other was, but we were throwing out all the pro's and con's of our game that we can think of.
When we were done, I started thinking...
I have played FFXI for the past year, and I think I have done very well for myself. However, lately it seems like any time I want to get into an EXP party, there is always at least one complete moron that ruins the entire night for everyone.
So then, I decided to take time away from leveling to do some quests. Now with 190 quests completed, I am completely bored, and have little to show for all my work.
So I then decided to try to organize either promyvion or zilart mission parties. Unfortunatly, this has been met with arrogance, stupidity, and impatience from all but a few people that would actually take time to help.
At this point, I have found myself at the point where I can say I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't. So last night, I decided fine, I'll please the crowd and level my ranger. Five levels into it, I said wait, wtf. I'm wasting my time leveling a job, just so I can get into a decent promyvion party, only because the majority of people are to stubborn to admit that any job class can do this well as long as it is a balanced party. Yes, I said it, ANY JOB. This includes DRG, DRK, THF, and ALL others.
So the conversation I had with my friend got me thinking more and more. There are alot of the same downfalls like stupid people, people that sell whatever thier money system is on that game online, and so forth, however, it seemed to be a little bit more thought threw then what Square-Enix had put together.
Don't Get my wrong, I love the final fantasy series. I have played all the console games straight through at least twice. But come on, fighting crabs for 60+ levels is really boring especially when they all look the same. Several zones are very similar looking. There just seems to be a severe lack of creativity and imagination in this game. It is not difficult to come up with new and unique things to keep players interested. Changing the color once in a while doesn't make it new.
And finally, the people of FFXI. There are alot of really nice people out there. However, this part is aimed towards the ****** elitists that set goals and standards that average people that do not make the game thier life cannot meet. This is a GAME. It is meant for FUN. These people do not understand this concept, and it ruins the game for alot of people.
These are the same people that jack prices up to ungodly amounts, basically ******** over people that they will eventually interact with in some fashion. Any time someone asks me why I don't have some specific item, meanwhile, they are decked out in over 15 million in gear, eating the most expensive food, and bragging about all sorts of things I tell them I do not have it, because it's probably chumps like him that made it impossible for me to get it.
Being an "elite" player by means of skill, hard work, and personal accomplishment is fine. Being an "elite" player by being greedy, selfish, a complete ****, and many other things only makes you a bigger ****** then you previously were.
I've decided at this point that since there is no such thing as hapiness in this game that I am going to take a week or so off, come back and give it to the end of February, and possibly change online games perminantly. At this point, alot of you who read this will have already made up your mind about me and will say good riddance. If you have talked to me in game, and gotten to know me even in the slightest, you would find this to be a shock.
What this boils down to is, everyone needs to look at how they play this game. There are alot of people leaving not because of the difficulty of the game, or the fact that there was limited creativity put into the game, but the people that play it. Granted, even new MMORPG's are doomed to this fate sooner or later, I prefer at this point to try something new.