[ZenithXI] A Level 75 Progression Server

Taking the time to make a robust web interface and DAT editing tools before launching is smart. I still stand by my earlier comments that there's not indication of substantial progress and I can't imagine anyone is too excited reading it. But, maybe in a year or two they'll hit their stride.

Hello everyone. Quick update on the server.

The latest episode of the server podcast has been posted. Work on the server continues to make headway and I'm excited for the day Zenith launches.

Hey everyone. The server is still on track to launch later this year.

A couple of announcements went out today if you're interested in some of the progress.

• The food rebalance teaser

• Episode 4 of the server podcast

I'd be glad to hear from you if helping build this server sounds like something you'd enjoy. Don't hesitate to reach out.

Zerooooo.....

Both of those reddit posts are clearly AI slop. Given the focus on and appearance of web features, I'm guessing the website is too. Gonna have to revise my earlier assessment downward.

Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.

Would you mind sharing where you think we could improve?

are you the new radial?

mentally ill ffxiah poster that seemingly doesn't play the game...

From my perception, you're not really doing anything to make the server better. Food changes are surface-level, and whether or not you think they're well-considered they are something that could be perceived as minutes of work. Horizon launched with a whole ton of dat mods and custom content. Phoenix is chasing the most accurate era experience and presenting with a high degree of technical expertise and has many long-term contributors involved.

If your server is just trying to thrive on community engagement, doing your posts with AI is a horrible look. If your technical advancements just boil down to asking claude to add features to your website, that's not going to set you apart either. It's been a year since your initial post and the skepticism about the level of progress that would be made. Sell me on what's been done in that year.

(Or don't, like I said, I'm not a player. I'm just a skeptic.)

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I think you've raised some fair points. Zenith isn't a flashy project and I don’t think pretending otherwise would help. A lot of the work isn't in adding something new. It's in making smaller design decisions that all work together.

Food balance is a good example. Since the server will eventually include recipes from later expansions, it made sense to evaluate food as a whole. Most of the work wasn't changing the values themselves. I evaluated each food, its recipe and how those adjustments fit into the rest of the game.

Armor is next and follows the same philosophy. I've been trying to make sure each decision reinforces the others instead of making isolated changes. That way new expansions build on what came before instead of replacing it overnight.

My hope is that players feel the result more than they notice any single change. I'm less interested in building around custom content. The goal is to preserve what made the 75 Era special without losing sight of the decade and a half of development that followed.

I don't think Zenith has matched the visible output of some of the larger projects over the past year. That's fair. Instead what we have done is spend a lot of time researching, auditing and refining different parts of the server so they all work together. That includes things like item sendability, HELM, treasure chests, job balance, research using archived Japanese resources and a number of smaller things that most players will probably never notice. The goal has been to account for where the server is headed instead of only where it begins.

You're still talking in vague generalities to avoid what you've actually added. Players don't want to hear self-aggrandizement about how much consideration you put into the decisions. They want to know what concrete progress is being made and what they can expect in the future.

Spending an entire year revising foods only to culminate in a relatively boring ~30 item teaser doesn't get people excited. If you work on all armor at that pace, maybe in 8 years you'll have a game with slightly different armor and balance than the original.. but there's no guarantee anyone even wants that.

Who's the target audience? If you care about player numbers, that needs to be at the forefront of your design methodology.

I can understand where you're coming from. I think we're looking at the project from different perspectives. Those decisions matter, even when much of the work behind them isn't immediately visible.

You're right, it isn't apparent from the outside and I could have done a better job showing that. Behind the scenes, every drop, piece of food, HELM result and nearly all armor and weapons have been evaluated as part of a long-term progression plan rather than as isolated changes. That takes a tremendous amount of time but it's not being done for its own sake. Everything we're doing now has to continue making sense when the server reaches Abyssea and beyond.

One thing I should clarify is the timeline. It didn't take a year just to revise food. The food revisions have been finished for months. The armor revisions are complete and currently being implemented, with weapons being the final step.

Zenith isn't for everyone and that's okay. It's for players who want a progression server that stays capped at 75 but reaches Abyssea and Adoulin without leaning heavily into custom content.

I think you're still missing what Thorny is saying.

He's not asking you to explain your design philosophy again. Everyone already understands the philosophy. He's asking for tangible evidence of progress.

He's looking for specifics, for example:

- What major systems have been completed?
- What technical challenges have been solved?
- What's left before launch?

An update on food is great, but it doesn't tell us why the server isn't playable today. From the outside, it just looks like balance changes that only exist in your head at the moment. People are trying to understand what the actual blockers are and how they're being overcome.

Don't care for private servers, but they keep on getting plugged here. It's annoying because most players on this forum are on retail and don't want to know.

It is delusional to expect anyone to care for another private server, and even more so when it has shown so little progress. There's nothing concrete. Only that... "We have thought hard and considered things", but who cares?

How about making something completely different? So many of these private servers leech off of nostalgia. The whole "75 Era is when the game was best" BS. Other people have already done this type of private server to death.

There's so much about the 75 era I don't miss. It was about the players and the struggle everyone went through to achieve anything. It was a brutal game to play, but it was a product of its time. Such a massive ask in 2026. And for anyone who wants that... there's already better options.

ngl I would love a level 99 just before SoA era Private server
Hate that everyone just wanks over 75 cap

That time period had so much relevant and available content, much of which isn't implemented in LSB at this point so would unlikely to appear on a server for a while.

hate to be that guy but..

has it occurred to you that it's not on LSB because no one actually cares about that era?

the reason 75 cap private servers are the only ones that are relevant is because that's what people who want to play private servers care about. this is not rocket science

Should just go to the SE office and beg them for a classic server, but with a subscription lol.

arent they basically "somewhat" doing this for free via perma lvl 75 cap trial?
i understand it likely wont have access to cop/toau/etcetcetc but it would still be base/im assuming zilart

I absolutely hate this mindset, because you *** don't know what you *** want.

Do you want EXPLICITLY 75? So you wanna cut things off mid way into WotG? Before that? What QoL things do you want. What QoL things do you NOT want. What balance do you want?

Every single one of you has a different *** answer. The number of private servers that are "It's 75 BUT LIKE THIS" that have a handful of people in it is absurd. You don't know what you *** want, in addition to the fact that the codebase for XI has gone through over a decade of progress since 75 and if you think you can just roll that ***back and it'll run just fine you're *** stupid and I hate you.

As a programmer I absolutely hate people who have no *** clue how software development works but think that you can just roll ***back and it'll work perfectly. Makes me so *** mad.

You know what? *** it.

Double post because you all need to watch this video because it EXPLICITLY explains why "Classic" anything is an awful idea that ends up creating the most toxic environments imaginable.

Frak me someone delete this thread ffs.

Someone delete this subforum.

Then don't click the link that has the private server in it's name. You obviously cared enough to click it and then cared enough to comment. And tbh I use to say the same thing. "Would never touch a PS" then I finished my Prime Scythe, Beat all Oddy V25's then they announced maint mode. I got bored and stopped Some friends twisted my arm to try horizon so I said alright I'll *** about with it.

The fun and joy of bumping in to people I haven't seen or spoken to in 15+ years when they would see my character and name and ask. Are you so and so from Alexander? Seen more than I thought. Not only that but a bunch of good friends that I still talk to that quit retail more than 10 years ago that came back to play Horizon. So I'm having a great time playing with those friends because the main thing that made XI great and where it excelled was how it basically forced an in-game community and how you had to meet people and get along with them to do content. I've made a lot of new friends. Peak hours atm is still more than 2k players, Multi-boxing is NOT allowed and they do check to prevent people from doing so. They are actively banning bots and Multi-boxers. So it's a very active server and honestly I believe more active than the big retail servers like Asura. I know a lot on break from Horizon due to it being a CoP/Zilart only server for 3 years but ToAU has been promised for awhile and we finally got a date next month so I imagine a lot of people on break will be back and I expect the server to hit 3k+ at peak next month.

I use to think "I remember 75 era sucked and would not want to go back since it takes quite awhile to level a job" but you know what I also forgot that was part of the charm. You're not going to hit max level in a couple hours. And no, Master levels is not the same feeling since everyone just bots everything and doesn't actually want to level properly. The most fun I had in retail in the last few years was Oddy. I thought that was a great concept and fun challenge. But other than Oddy retail has felt like nothing but a cookie clicker game. Teleport where you need and then just spam the same WS over and over again even hitting max damage at 99,999 isn't even an achievement. Most jobs get Naegling and spam savage blade (Yeah I know that's not everything but it's the majority). Even if you wanted to play BLM you're better meleeing than trying to nuke. (Again certain oddy fights made this different). While there is a lot in the game to do. Majority is abandoned because it's pointless to do. Sortie/Oddy/Omen daily, Ambu monthly and then work on REMA weapons. That's like 1% of the game and the other 99% of the world abandoned.

I had a couple friends come back and make new characters on retail and they were going around the world levelling with trusts and camping NM's and they found the world dead. They were shocked when they would actually see someone in the open world. I saw the limbus updates and got a little excited to come back but after seeing it. It's just the same ***as always. The upgraded gear just added to the gear you would use anyways, nothing really changed. Any piece you weren't using. You still weren't going to use. Dumping BIS items for all jobs like murky ring and alabasta earring. The content itself doesn't actually look interesting.

Now on top of that do I think Zenith will be successful. I highly doubt it. I hope so for their sake but this is my honest opinion. HorizonXI has already got hold of the majority of the PS community and has been going strong for over 3 years and with ToAU announced for next month and annual content updates it's going to bring back more as I said earlier, Phoenix is coming out in September with a lot of experienced PS devs from previous servers some that did some amazing work like Shuu (who is also behind the amazing XIUI addon). for those that want a more era like setting and while I feel the team behind Phoenix is more competent than Horizon. There is a running joke that the majority of people going to phoenix will be those that were banned for botting/cheating and no longer welcome to play on Horizon which is just going to dilute the honest player base. So while I feel like Phoenix is the next best option after Horizon I just don't think it will hit the same peak/feeling as Horizon or even be close. Unless Horizon really *** up with the ToAU release next month (Which is possible). So expecting a PS I haven't even heard of really until a day ago. No one I know in the PS community even talks about it. It's all either Horizon or Phoenix atm. I just find it very hard to see Zenith hitting high numbers for a player base which has always been the downfall or many private servers.

But I honestly wish the Zenith team all the luck on their project. As long as they enjoy what they are doing then that's all that matters.

This thread is getting derailed 5 ways from Sunday and will be moderated soon but since we're on the topic...

The criticisms of FFXI (I can't believe we even have to call it "retail"...it's FFXI. The only version of FFXI) are hollow and nobody ever bothers to apply those criticisms to their PS either.

There's a lot of content in FFXI but all you really do is Ambu, Sortie, Ody, Limbus, REMA, and Dynamis? OK, how much content is there to do on Horizon?

All you do is spam the same WS? OK sure. How many different WS are you using in your EXP party on Horizon? Is it...the same one over and over again? As far as I remember it, in "the 75 era" there was one WS which did more damage than all the others, and you used that WS every time. Sometimes you make a SC (with exactly 1 WS per person), which is basically always one of like 2 SCs, and spam that SC over and over again.

Another thing I find funny in this post is about how you've found all your friends on Horizon and are playing with them. What an amazing service Horizon is providing, what ever would you do if it didn't exist? Oh...you'd see them on FFXI instead, because instead of playing that fake *** version of the game, your friends would be playing the real game. Your anecdotes are direct evidence of the harm these servers cause. They suck life out from FFXI and ruin the opportunity for people to connect on FFXI by drawing players away. They take money away from SE and actively kill the game.

Their broken, buggy mess of TOAU has been "just on the horizon" for as long as PS have been around, and yet none of them have it functional.

Ah yeah, I forgot, we're missing the "charm" of standing around, attacking once every 4 seconds, missing, and then WSing once every 60 seconds. Using a single job ability every 5 minutes is so engaging. We've forgotten the "fun" of taking a knee after every single mob and not casting any spells for 3 minutes while you watch your MP slowly tick up, 15 at a time. Oh, that we could go back to that thrilling experience.

Try not to fall asleep.

God that video looks miserable. Doesn't help that the modded graphics make it look like a facebook game that lags to hell and back whenever a bard sings.

Are they playing in 15 fps? It looks choppy as heck.

Yea i think they mentioned that somewhere. It's a waste of time trying to relive something as toxic as the 75 era was, I love my QoL changes and wouldn't go back to that not even for free.

They are playing a version of the game over 15 years old with none of the improvements SE has added since.

@maletaru: Well unfortunately for you there is a private server community and to simplify and clarify which one someone is talking about they coined the terms retail and PS. Both are FFXI, one is official one isn't simple as.

What content is there to do. Well levelling itself is content, Skilling up is content, Story missions and traversing the world is content. Every NM has their non rare/ex variant so NM's are always competed for because you can sell them, Story missions actually take time/planning and effort to accomplish. Endgame content like Limbus/Sky/Sea/dynamis/. ENMs, BCNMs, KSNMs, forming parties to break weapons, Custom content like HENM's. Shouts to exp are always happening, There is actually a community playing the game and not just existing.

to answer your WS question while there is some form of Strongest WS that people prioritise over others. Ofcourse there is but it is still vastly more variant than retail. Every job just isn't meleeing to spam Savage blade or black halo. each jobs are actually using their weapons they were suppose to. DRKs using Scythe and GS's, DRGs are using Polearms, WARs are using GA's or axes, THFs using their Daggers etc.

I played retail for 20+ years non stop. I always defended it and was always stubborn to even try to play a PS like you are now. But once I quit retail because I had done everything in the game including a stage 5 prime weapon 2 ish years ago and they announced maint mode. Lack of community even now I bet there are more active real players on Horizon than there are on the most congested server on retail because of all the multi-boxing/botting that happens.

It's not for everyone and I was very much in the same mindset as you. But once I actually dove into a PS I got to experience the feeling that I fell in love with this game in the first place it's something that's been missing from retail for ages. The world feels full of life. No matter what zone you go to you will bump into people doing something. It doesn't feel abandoned or full of bots like retail does. I don't like that either. I wish retail was able to do better with that and I feel like they tried but just didn't do enough.

If you don't like it. That's fine, if you do like it that too is fine since SE didn't want to do it themselves. Others had to. It's like OSRS there is a reason it is vastly more popular and successful than RS3. Just because RS3 was the more upto date version of runescape doesn't mean anything if what made the game special isn't there anymore and unfortunately only after playing on a PS I realised that hasn't been there for retail XI in a long time. I was just too stubborn to give PS's a chance and it wasn't until I did I realised this.