Yeah, there are definitely better MMO's out there. I play Lord of the Rings Online and I think it is absolutely fantastic. It is easily the best MMO I have ever played.
FFXI is definitely one of the more grind-tastic MMOs out there. I felt the tedium setting in before even reaching the double digits level-wise. There are a few quests and such, but it's nowhere near the quest system used in newer MMOs. While they still have a grind, I prefer it being broken up into smaller different types of grinds.
FFXI is also very unfriendly to folks who like to solo. From what I hear, you pretty much need a group to do anything once you get a ways into it. And it's not uncommon to have to wait for hours to get a group together. While I like the FF type art direction somewhat, and appreciate having a more open ended FF unlike their single player games, FFXI was just far too much of a plodding grindfest. There are much better MMOs out there: WoW, LOTRO, and upcoming games that will hopefully be great like Warhammer Online and Age of Conan.
I like it, but thats prolly because Ive got 3-4 real life friends to group with each night. Its easily the best story in an MMO though it is revealed to you very slowly......very slowly.
FFXI is more of a time sink than any other mmo. It's partly because you can't do anything on your own. If you want to play you have to wait for a party and finding a party takes so long and its so frustrating. I spent 6 months in the vakrum dunes. It would take 5 hours to find a party. 5 hours, thats not even an exaggeration which is the sad part. The party would get going and we would be killing basically flies and bunny rabbits. Same thing I had been killing for the past 17 levels. Ever see a cute little bunny rabbit completely slaughter 5 grown men? So we would get going for a good 30 mins to an hour then someone would die, we would wipe ,or somebody has to log off. Just because one person leaves this opens the door for everyone else before you know it the whole party disbands and you are sitting out by the entrance waiting for someone else to come along. There was a good 5 minutes downtime in between kills too. Thats all you did was grind. Yet something like grinding you can't even do by yourself. If I died I would basically lose a level. By the end of the week I would be back to where I started at the beginning of the week. So anyways, if you are a masochist ,you are going to love this game.
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