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The FFXI system
nomadian
Member Posts: 3,490
FFXI has a kind of job system whereby people can basically change their classes without having to start a new character. Seems a useful system being able to keep one name and being able to switch at a whim to which job you want to play. A superior system to having seperate characters, or do both have their benefits?
Comments
The only disadvantage that comes in my experience playing FFXI is the need for a mule. FFXI, while having improved on this greatly over the years, still has issues with limited bank and carrying capacities which can turn quite restrictive when you need to keep multiple sets of armor for different jobs, on top of special armor you may want for specific in game purposes.
That being said, I prefer FFXI's solution, I can still roll up an additional character if I want to try a new race, but in the meantime, I can try out whatever jobs I want and still be identified as my main...I get frustrated when I've got a guild in an mmorpg and everybody has 5 alts just for different jobs...I find it becomes irritating to keep straight who is who for the most part. I also appreciate that in FFXI's method, you don't then have to relog just to change jobs (although you do have to get to a mog house, which generally means still leaving whatever area you were in).
What happens when you start a new job? Do you have to go to the starting areas and that to level it up and gain gear for it?
yes all your job start a level 1, lets says you level warrior to 19 and you decide to level black mage, you go to your mog house and change job (black mage level 1), now you're gonna have to level it as well.
Presumably gaining gear for the character as well under the new job?
Yes but if you wanna go back to the other job you still have the 19 lvl one. Meanwhile when you start a second job and so one you get to pick a secondary job and use half the capabilities of your old one. Em AI Rite ?
And this brings up one drawback of the system. If you do not enjoy replaying the game, you are screwed because having that sub-job is pretty much a necessity at higher levels. So everyone will have to level up one-and-a-half times at minimum.
Well they also did it so people had to pay for additional character slots, freaking rip off. I can't believe I bought that game.
Well, you don't need a mule unless you are trying to exploit the markets.
Heh confusing or what. If it is how I understand where people are using one name while playing different jobs that can be levelled up I do like that system. Although what was last said has confused me now if this is in fact the case.
You have it right, nomadian, but here is the part you may not know: You only get one character slot with your subscription. One slot on one server. Period.
If you want additional character slots, you have to pay another $1 per month for each.
The having to buy FFXI again when you stop subscribing seemed like the stupidest thing I read about that game, that I don't know is true.
You don't have to buy the game again. You can suspend your account and come back later. They threaten to delete your characters if you stay away for more than 3 months, but I don't know if that actually happens -- other games threaten that too and never follow through.
Oh right okay. Don't know why a couple of people have said they needed to buy the game again. Never mind.
Heh i prefer the system where there is no classes at all.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
I'm not really fond of the job changing system of FFXI, and I personally never used it.
- Racial restrictions. If you want to have the best black mage, you're going to have to roll a tarutaru. If you want to be a Paladin, and you rolled a tarutaru, tough luck. you're going to be one gimped Paladin. No matter what you do, you will NEVER be as good as a taru taru blackmage if you roll a race other then taru taru. You will NEVER be as good as an Elvaan or Galka Paladin if you roll another race.
- Economy. Its hard to get weapons and armor for just one job, let alone two jobs. its possible, but its much harder then just focusing on one job
- If you change jobs, you start all the way at level 1. If I start at level 1, I might as well create a new character and roll a race that is actually has the correct stats for the job I want to play as.
Imo, the job changing aspect of FFXI is just a cheap excuse from Square enix to charge an additional dollar each month for an extra character. Want a 3rd character? 2$ a month extra. Some say that SOE is money hungry, other claim Blizzard is the worst money hungry company, but none of them have anything on Square enix.
the free job change system would have worked if the races were more balanced, And if the economy was less demanding. I think it would be great in a game like WoW. WoW's races are much more balanced, and the economy isn't that difficult.
you're exaggerating the racial differences in the game, the longer you play the game the more you realize they matter less and less.
taru blackmages aren't always the best, in certain situations they die to AOE a lot more frequently than other races. and the damage and MP differences are minimal at max level.
there's really only one instance where race matters now and it's for Taru Paladins on one very specific mob where even with the best equipment a little bad luck can mess up the entire fight. besides that it's not even a factor to most people, no guild recruits based on race (except for the RP guilds which there are slim to none of).
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as for rerolling, it's a serious bad idea if you don't have to do it. there are a lot of flags that characters need to obtain to reach certain levels or reach certain areas. reobtaining those flags is a real pain that should be best avoided if possible. also some classes/jobs share very rare equipment (that can't be sold or traded), obtaining two is nearly impossible and being able to share for more than one job is a really good feature.
It is obvious Gamingloading have never played FFXI, racial trait does not restrict anything because the differences are balance out. Galka could still be as good as tarutaru blackmage because their HP is more now, which allow them to live longer. The stats differences only varies 1-2 point which really doesn't do much. It will allow you to deal 20-30 dmg more but what's the point, galka does live longer then a tarutaru blackmage in the end.
Leveling with the changejob system is simply amazing, it will avoid you to go muling armor to another character, and also the subjob system is design to be able to allow main job to tap into the potential ability of the subjob.
Let's say for example:
I leveled corsair to 66, then i level ranger to 38. I could subjob it into 66/33 cor/rng, which allow me use the ability i get from ranger @33 which is 2 accurcy bonus trait and job ability barrage + sharpshot. I would of course do alot more dmg then a 66 corsair alone.
Now let's say i leveled whm to 30 and ninja to 40 as well, i could change at ANYTIME to cor/nin for shadow or cor/whm as SUPPORT.
Beside, if you are releveling a class, it would be alot easier consider if YOUR CLASS IS 75, you get MERIT sysetm which allow points you earn from limit giving stats + whatever bonus to whatever class you play, you could be a level 20 again with +3 int on blm from using merit.
So player like Gamingloading, Don't talk before you even know the game, because you know absolutely nothing.
If you love talking about how good wow is, one thing WOW could never beat FFI is that gears are never obsolete in this game, Most people at 75 might even still use AF armor and gear from old expansion could still be very useful because many gear give trait and ability bonus rather then just stats. Even leveling wise, FFXI is alot faster then wow ever could be, because minus the looking for group time, if i could get a party whenever i log in, i could do one level every 1 hour per level from 1-40 and 2 hour per level from 40-60 and 3-4hour per level from 60-75. Much better then doing 5-10 hour per wow level from 60-70 and you will know that 70-80 will need 10+ hour per level maybe even 20 hour from 79-80.
none
I actually liked the significant race disparities of FFXI. It's refreshing to know that the differences aren't just cosmetic.
I disagree with those who said race doesn't matter. That's a flat out lie. If you roll a Taru BLM, you will unquestionably be more efficient, statistically, then even the best geared Galka BLM. Gear can correct this, as well as merits, and of course there's also the player's inherent abilities, but it's misleading to say race has no bearing in the game. Also, just because you can fix the disparities, it doesn't mean you should fix them. Granted, trillions of gil is out of the economy now, but back when I played, if I wanted to compensate for my deficiencies (I played a Galka) it was often extraordinarily expensive or time-consuming to do so.
As wrongfeifong stated, I absolutely adored the job change system, solely because of the merit system. Nothing made my day like capping out my first job to 75 (MNK) and then going back and leveling SAM with TP and + STR merits. It's nice to be rewarded for playing through the game a second time, at least that was they way I looked at it. Also, since you knew who you were playing with, the only reason to re-roll was if you earned a bad reputation. I liked being able to form a party, and upon seeing a name, immediately being able to go "Hey, that guy really sucked last time we grouped, I don't want him in my party".
I also liked the concept of the subjob, however, I think SE made it a bit too cookie cutter for my enjoyment. With most jobs, there were 1-3 valid/acceptable subjob combinations to use in an exp. party, and maybe 5-6 viable ones in general. I hope that, should there ever be a "new" Final Fantasy Online that there will be more utility and benefits to subbing in different subjob combinations.
Waiting for something fresh to arrive on the MMO scene...
There are a lot of linkshells and groups who will not accept Tarutaru members of any kind. The fragility of the little buggers seems to outweigh any advantage their INT might give. Having played one for a few months immediately after the US release, I must say those people have a point. When I returned to the game after a long break, I rolled a Hume.
Well, I like the FFXI system for jobs it is one of the things that I wish other popular games would incorporate. The other system they did well with was the group dynamic. Skill chains and weapons skills. They force players to interact together as a group, rather than randomly spamming abilities in que like other MMo's. The game does have its down falls but I miss these two concepts and would like to see them incorporated in future games.
Sorry, I have never seen a linkshell/guild discriminate against a character because of race. However; they do discriminate because the character doesn't have enough jobs levelled to 75. End game linkshell/guilds like to see a character with diversity. But you are right in one aspect if you had a 75 black mage taru, and a 75 paladin taru, you would more than likely be asked to bring your black mage to the end game raids.
1 dollar extra- its not that much
Only bad side I saw of it was many of my friends would be playing in some lowbie alt job due to grouping difficulties with their main job.
I have played FFXI. This is fact and is not up for debate. And yes, racial trait does change.
So Galka is as good as a tarutaru black mage because their HP is more? geez, I wonder what a black mage needs more, more damage & MP or more HP. If you think HP is just as important as magic damage, then you would make one lousy mage. Mages are the damage dealers, not the damage takers. Besides, the difference is more then 1 - 2 points. the difference in stats becomes bigger as you level up. And yes, in some cases the difference is big enough to get rejected in a group. nobody takes a galka mage when they can get a tarutaru mage.
There was nothing wrong with a Tarutaru PLD. They made pretty good tanks with their healing aggro and larger mana pool.