Final Fantasy XI

So say I start playing this game again and I max out my main and sub class what's left to do? Are there high end groupable dungeons or quests for loot, and if so how many and what are they like? Same with raids... how many are available, how often do guilds raid, and what are the fights like? How many people are allowed on raid, what jobs are most important, and what jobs are the least important? Are these new classes like Blue Mages and Puppetmasters viable in the endgame?

Yes, just take my word for it when I say it's ginormus. There is so much endgame content, you possibly won't be able to do all of it or have anything else to do if you attempt to do them all at once. All of it varies on how many can participate, lets just say it can go from 18 - 64 depending on which one you do.

BLU and PUP are old now, the new ones are DNC and SCH now. Anyway, PUP would have difficulty in certain endgame aspects because their puppet is prone to dying, like a DRG's wyvern. Couldn't honestly say what is the least important. Why does that matter anyway? You level the job you like, if you have endgame linkshells that only want certain jobs, well, I wouldn't join them anyway.

Originally posted by Eliago

So say I start playing this game again and I max out my main and sub class what's left to do? Are there high end groupable dungeons or quests for loot, and if so how many and what are they like? Same with raids... how many are available, how often do guilds raid, and what are the fights like? How many people are allowed on raid, what jobs are most important, and what jobs are the least important? Are these new classes like Blue Mages and Puppetmasters viable in the endgame?

You need at least 3 month to max out 1 job. assuming you have to level multiple sub job to 37 as well.

then you can worry about endgame.

The end game is FFXI is vast, you got many things to do. Most people who played 5 years may even never finish some of the contents...

I played 2 years in total with 3 75 and 3 level 60s. I can say i barely touched 10% of the content (i am rank 10 in 2 city)

Originally posted by Eliago

So say I start playing this game again and I max out my main and sub class what's left to do? Are there high end groupable dungeons or quests for loot, and if so how many and what are they like? Same with raids... how many are available, how often do guilds raid, and what are the fights like? How many people are allowed on raid, what jobs are most important, and what jobs are the least important? Are these new classes like Blue Mages and Puppetmasters viable in the endgame?

There is Assaults, Nyzul Isle, Campaign, Besieged, NM's, Sky, Sea, Dynamis, Salvage, Einherjar, ZNM's, Meriting and HNM's.  I may have missed something.  Also, a good bit of missions you need to be 75. 

Originally posted by wrongfeifong

The end game is FFXI is vast, you got many things to do. Most people who played 5 years may even never finish some of the contents..

He speaks the truth. 

I know quite a few people playing since the NA release who still haven't done too much endgame. That's people who have been playing since 2003.

Plus, even by the time you reach all this content, they will have released even more most likely.

Originally posted by Satimasu

Yes, just take my word for it when I say it's ginormus. There is so much endgame content, you possibly won't be able to do all of it or have anything else to do if you attempt to do them all at once. All of it varies on how many can participate, lets just say it can go from 18 - 64 depending on which one you do.

 

BLU and PUP are old now, the new ones are DNC and SCH now. Anyway, PUP would have difficulty in certain endgame aspects because their puppet is prone to dying, like a DRG's wyvern. Couldn't honestly say what is the least important. Why does that matter anyway? You level the job you like, if you have endgame linkshells that only want certain jobs, well, I wouldn't join them anyway.

Yeah, I haven't played for years so pretty much all the new jobs past Summoner kinda mesh together for me. 

Reason I'm asking is that I've played MMORPGs since the release of EverQuest; I played FFXI for a few months but for some reason I didn't really like it and went back to DAOC and EQ. Now that those games have died, WoW has gotten old, and pretty much every other MMORPG that's been released since has been a huge disappoint, FFXI is looking intriguing again, but I don't want to put a lot of tim in to just get bored again. I tend to play MMOs to complete as much endgame content as my tie allows (had just beated Vashj before I quit WoW a few months ago). I'm curious of the raids are like oldschool EQ/DAOC (contended super powerful npcs) or WoW (instanced content that are more events with gimmicks you have to learn).

I'm also curious about how some jobs are viable, since one of the reasons I didn't enjoy the game the first time was due to choosing a job that made me have to wait hours to find a group, if I could even find one.

They're more like WoW instances but require a lot more work to figure out.

FFXI wasn't built for people to quickly get to the highest level. They made a lot of pre-highest level missions and quests so people wouldn't have to worry about grinding and seeking for hours on end to party.

However, seasoned MMORPG players had own set of ideas on what you are supposed to do in order to become successful in a MMORPG-- reaching the highest level possible is #1 on that list. Players get frustrated when they can't get what they want.
So for the past 3-4 years, Square Enix has been making the journey to 75 easier, which is why it would take 3 months for a daily casual player to reach LV75.

But once you get LV75, you're not going to be doing endgame right off the bat. The main endgame events like Sky, Sea, and Limbus, requires you to damn near complete a huge set of missions. This is why people have been playing since 2003 but still do not have access to 4 year old content.

The first three expansions are what introduced "end game" into FFXI.

HNMs were always there.
Rise of Zilart brought us Sky and Dynamis(where you fight your way through a city)
Chains of Promethia brought us Sea.
Treasures of Aht Urhgan brought us a bunch of WoW-like instances where you get kool gear and an easy route to LV75.

Theres also a bunch of other endgame stuff to do.

FFXI is a unique game, but I think they're dumbing down the content to "fit in".

Some missions are mean, i can tell you that. For example, the 5-1 Skeleton BCNM that is pretty hard, but it is easy if you got the right group.

Maat battles are ALWAYS MEAN to support class. Its hell for BRD and RDM. Was super hard for WHM, but it gotten easier now.

Corsair battle is...simply awesome and frickin hard. Rely on luck so much.

Some BCNM are pretty hard like corsair's AF hat is one.

and getting your AF is always a problem.

COP's missions are always tough

and i still haven't beat the last Mission of RoZ because the boss is too damn hard. (especially my class is complete useless... level 75 COR..my brd/whm on the other account.)

 The different between FFXI to other games is really ...you need a brain to play it. You have to risk de-level (losing 10% experience on death)

and monster aggro left and right. You are given proper way to avoid monsters but you also need to know their property well (damn true sight imps and lamia)

this isn't like WoW, most of the endgame is doable with 6 man group OR a 64 man group (which is easy to get) or a 18 man group (for sky)

Originally posted by reloxer

FFXI is a unique game, but I think they're dumbing down the content to "fit in".

I dunno... I don't think they're trying to "fit in". FFXI is still nowhere near the level of a WoW or similar post-WoW MMO in terms of being designed for "mass consumption". It's still a very niche game. Personally, that's a good thing, IMHO. I think MMOs serve the players better and can deliver a better quality experience when they're focused on a certain niche, and not trying to be everything to everyone. This is what SE has done with FFXI and, while it's not boasting millions of players, it does have a very healthy,  very loyal and mostly very satisfied population of ~500k players.

I think that because there's so much more high-end content - easily more than getting 1-75 on even several jobs would account fo