Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

And, IMO, its very fun playing FFXII style. The major problem is that the amount of work to set your "gambits" is exponentially higher than the original one.

I just see it as a decay, people aren't teaming up like before and you rarely ever see shouts to team up. I think its a poison that has spread through the community, in my opinion. This game wasn't mean for everyone to be multi-boxing and hoarding Gil/items etc for themselves. Kinda erodes at the principal this game was founded on. I blame SE of course, not the players themselves. If they kept steady content coming in, less people would have quit and less people would rely on multi boxing as a result. It was a big domino effect.

I started dual boxing many years ago purely with a blm so I could recall and retrace all my linkshell/friends and shouts needing it, all at the same time. The independence was great and even my first dynamis was alone dual boxing etc

Wasted the 500k entry and got ***drops but the way the game allowed me to play alone easier with two chars was very nice, being as non-social as I am.

I was able to happily give free raises/retraces/recalls for years, definitely wouldn’t call that feature as eroding the game. Markets just change is all.

The more time that passes, the more our minds will view the past with rose-tinted glasses.

The things you mention really aren't relevant to the point I was making. It's eroding because nobody is teaming up, only wanna-be mercs and people selling things 24/7, the majority of multi-boxers aren't as generous as you I guess. I had been doing it since before most people started this game, and when it was considered taboo.

It's really main stream now but you can easily see the effects its had. Although I can't say whether or not the game is considered profitable atm, due to all the multi-boxing. It's kinda funny too how so many people complained about the 12.95 price tag for literally years and now we have countless people throwing 100+ a month for the game.

I feel like you could do a case study on this, as the game has aged and people become more anti-social and just want to complete their mini projects or gain Gil for various reasons. You see a lot more "pay to win" tactics being used these days, especially people loading up their accounts with 16 characters to use for various means. May also be a reflection of the gaming market as a whole, given that people are used to that fast progress and consuming things as fast as they can.

It’s the exact same energy, I multiboxed back then to accomplish my goals alone.

People have freedom to play a game however they want and now we are a point where a large amount of people play the game in a different way than the originally intended mainstream manner.

I see complaining about that change as either immature/naivety-filled or nostalgia focused, that’s why I defaulted to rose tinted glasses bias in this case.

Don’t forget SE made the active decision to let you mail stuff to your mules in 11, even doubling down and letting you mail rare ex stuff too

For 14 they made a hard turn and took that feature out completely.
So their approach to their community has changed a great deal over the years I think, not just the community behaviour too.

You're free to your opinion of course, but I think you're completely missing the point. Someone complaining that an MMO, which by design is community focused, is becoming more and more anti-social as a result of multi-boxing. You say its immaturity(wat) or nostalgia focused, but it really isn't.

People can do whatever they want anywhere, but that doesn't mean it comes without consequences. Anyone who plays XI atm can see the consequences of that being played out in front of them. Just a random thought that came in my head, anytime I see someone who has like 6 characters all popping an item at once, just makes me roll my eyes. Not sure why, just wanted to type it out.

Put another way, it comes down to our default impulses when uncontrolled.

So if we saw someone eating 20 Big Macs until they threw up, or drinking 20 shots until they threw up, or making 20 snap judgements about the people around them etc

You have your right to go buy 20 Big Macs, and you have your right to judge all the people around you for anything you want etc

Important we don’t confuse that base impulse (of eating or drinking or judging) being uncontrolled, with anything other than what it is, especially if someone is predisposed to one of these mindsets.

I would point out that while the first sentence is true, the second isnt necessarily the reason of the first one.

The second is tool. People uses a tool based on their subjective logic and decides if they use it or not.

The first statement is very true but true for everything nowaday. The internet brought many communities together, and then all those cultures get mixed in one single tribe with a common pattern of thinking and acting.

And unfortunelly, the big tribe resulting of the "globalization" is toxic, hostile, biased, aggressive, etc. I dont need to enumarate the characteristic. Anyone can quickly notice them in any forum.

Thus, we get to FFXI. People are more anti-social? Yes, because this is our time. "Socializating" has higher cost than other time because youre constantly being judge by community based on your thoughts, even on your physical characteristics, sexual preferences, etc. AND if you dont fit the global community, you gonna be easily "cancelled".

Multiboxing allows people to play FFXI without taking the burden that the current "socialization" bring together.

We can discuss for hours, years if thats healthy or not. But saying people are anti-social because of multiboxing is ignoring whats going on in the world.

Evidently, FFXI allows its players to enjoy it however they see fit. You can take it as hardcore as to raise multiple characters to a degree they can participate in endgame with simultaneously, you can do it with just one or two side characters, or you don't have to do it at all. You don't even need to participate in end-game content if you don't want to.

I'd argue part of the reason it's lasted as long as it has is because the game can accommodate players anywhere along the casual-to-hardcore spectrum with its modern QOL improvements.

I don't think it's necessarily due the lack of content. It can be hard to differentiate the symptoms from the causes when it comes to multiboxing, but I would say that it was an inevitable result of the game design.

As someone who has always played mostly vanilla FFXI (I have used Windower and Guildwork for graphical improvements and achievements), I knew that I was never going to be as optimized as someone who was using scripts. While gear swapping in combat is an interesting game mechanic that adds a lot of layers, it also creates an logistical nightmare for anyone who wants to compete at the top level in a completely legitimate manner. There are some notable players who have managed to do just that, but the easy road is just too enticing when you can program a bot that plays better than most people with minimal effort.

I would think that the cooperative atmosphere in FFXI would be completely different if botting and multiboxing were sub-optimal or extremely difficult. Then again, the game might not even exist now without all that sub money from multiboxers, so it is what is is.

As for XIV, while there is some minor degree of botting (most often in regards to crafting and/or RMT activity), the game is designed in such a way that it is just not feasible or necessary for the average player to do it. It provides barriers to botting while XI provides incentives.

3 Long time XI friends randomly get into a convo about a tv show called Ted Lasso and how good it is. I force myself to watch all of season 1. I tried. Its a bunch of cliche' bullox drivel that maybe I would have appreciated when I was 11. I am just tired of being that guy that is never satisfied, always walks out of the movies disappointed.

Forever alone... how did I get so incapable of enjoying and appreciating the *** others do?

Whats wrong with me Q.Q

Wait: The Closer was awesome btw lol./

Either you are having unnecessary expectations. Or its just not your type of thing.

Also, sometimes you need to drop your guard when watching something. If you start watching something already thinking “i need to like” or “i doubt i will like it”, it just will make it harder to enjoy.

Like when youre young and visit the hoes and feel like you need to be a porn star, try 69 different position, reach the climz dozens of times when actually…. You just couldnt get ready for it.

Happens

You just said it. Its ***.

Either your standards aren't low enough or, being Irish, not enough alcohol. Alcohol really helps in lowering standards.

You might also just have a bias towards overruling others choices and snowflake biased mindset etc that can cause an overreaction pulling away from mainstream anything on principle

So that makes all media consumption a bit more complicated

Depression.
... or it might just be your sense of taste poor.

wow apparently the goku figure I bought at NYC comic con is worth like almost 200 dollars, I see how ppl be making money off this lol.

Huh, Romero's Day of the Dead is now a TV series.

S.O is in a lot of pain so I brought home 50 mg thc gummies before starting my 17 hr shift tonight lol, has never had before.

Godspeed, wifey.

When someone posts a vine

The thing about multi-boxing in FFXI is that people have been doing it for years for jobs like WHM, BRD, COR etc.

Jobs viewed as indispensable, due to their healing/buffs etc. Which in the eras prior to Abyssea were notorious for essentially being, "slave" jobs.

Basically, no one else in the LS was motivated to level them, so the people who had them at level got stuck playing them at every event, with no real way to get off them. People seeing that, didn't level those jobs, specifically in fear of being forced onto them by leaders.

I'm sure almost everyone who played endgame during the 75 era up into the Abyssea era has stories about people they know who either quit LSes, quit the game, or threw away gear/levels for a job like BRD, COR, WHM, or any other supportive/required by the content type job.

So multi-boxing one of those jobs was the start of the slippery slope for most people, whether they had friends or not. Gets you the buff slave you want so your numbers are always big without forcing people onto the same job over and over again.

After Trusts hit, multi-boxing lost all negative connotation for most people, since it's more work to multi-box than it is to setup decent Trusts and engage(though multi-boxing is superior in almost every conceivable way since there's no wipe nucleus/total control).

With less eyes on the game, there's less people to judge, more reason to multi, and the fact you gotta pay more money definitely makes it justified.

What I think is most sad about it is that most of the goals people set for themselves is to make a REMA of some sort, but the only people to show it off to are on forum more often than on game. Or it's REMA #2~17 and it's just not impressive anymore, but this sort of treadmill is all that ya know, so keep on trucking till your inventory is so bloated that you have to make the next REMA for your WHM mule and turn your main into the WHM mule.

Kinda weird. Course, what do I know? I didn't even finish Heavy Metal on my Ukon lol. I guess I've never been able to fully divorce myself from the fact that those types of weapons used to take the work of dozens of people just to get the weapon for a single person, but the single person hardly ever shared that sort of glory with the group as the focus. Just started singing their own praises.

I mean, now and even before Trusts, it got better. You could make'em mostly alone, even without multi-box, but I guess I'm just saying my mind never changed(though I did really enjoy the Ukon until iLvl with my buds who basically dragged me through the process of making it).

As long as the multi-boxers are having fun themselves, then our opinions need not apply. I'd probably get myself a pocket RDM if I could afford to multi-box. Dat Dia III dem debuffs, yo!

Gonna continue rambling in 'nother post, me thinks.

As far as multi-boxing affecting socialization... ehh... it basically let the less social people shut themselves away from social interaction they didn't want, anyway. If they were a social person, then they'd just use their boxes for their friends.

My ex used to use her Whm box so that we could effectively trio(technically a duo) Salvage II with loads more safety than just me on RDM and her on BLU. She also used to use it in Neo Nyzul when our second SCH couldn't make it. She had a whole character sheet for her pocket WHM, whole backstory, drew art of him like he was an actual separate person. Probably the most attention anyone's ever given their cure mule.

Though FFXIV takes measures to prevent multi-boxing, it's not impossible, just a lot more difficult given the nature of gameplay. But FFXIV is so different that it's bred an anti-social atmosphere with its own systems, anyway.

There's entire threads on the XIV OF about how, "MMORPG just means Massive Multiplayer. It doesn't mean you have to be/make friends. I do everything by myself as much as possible. Just here for the RPG part." Basically, lotta people who play it already have the mindset that it's just a game with lots of players, where you can go when you want to people watch/be in a crowd without actually being in one. Silly if you ask me. I've always enjoyed the social aspect of MMOs, but it's the way things trend these days. Since internet communication is so advanced now, that's no longer a novelty/draw for people, I guess.

But why with another persona?

I have too, and I really miss it tbh. I feel weird with the state of online games atm, especially XI. Although I don't have the time I used to for playing, it feels very different. Just looking around seeing everyone 6 boxing and barely any shouts going on or activity, just weird I guess.

As far as XIV, you can most certainly multi-box it. The bots and such that are available for XIV are far more advanced than XI ones, the publicly available ones at least. A lot of people have 4 characters in XIV and run a bot to do dungeons etc alone, its not as main stream in discussions because the anti-bot crowd is strong in XIV like it used to be in XI, but its most certainly easy. The bots run paths and do dailies etc, dungeons anything you can think of.

Because I can! :D

You get tank and heal bots in roulettes sometimes. You can always tell because their pathing is very bad, as is their "play." Heal bots are the easiest to spot. They're set to auto follow the tank and spam healing. If anyone other than the tank takes damage, then they AOE heal after a certain HP threshold. Usually always with the same spells, whether it's MP/healing efficient or not. They also never speak, and you can mess up their pathing by using Return and junk.

People are anti-bot in FFXIV, but botting doesn't affect people very much at all. None of the Extremes or Savage raids really get botted, and even if they could be, they still won't be able to be done by bots first because the mechanics have to be learnt to be programmed into the bot. There's a huge swathe of the playerbase that would rather play with them too, as long as they're sanctioned. Trusts in XIV are bots, and they're pretty bad, but they do add to the characterization of the official characters, so they inspire memes and things. Huge chunk of the players want them to be available for everything already because they hate the, "Social pressure and expectation" of them in dungeons.

It'll always be more impactful in a game like XI, because there's so much open competition/timegates per character/claiming etc. But too much of it in anything, and you might as well be playing a single player game and not an MMO. Just my take.