I've been doing some research on the game to get the feel again via the forums here. Thinking about giving it another shot on X360.  Now to my question/scenario.

I am a college student ... and could probably only find about 2 hours every other day during weekdays and maybe 3 hours a day on weekends.  Is that enough time to get anything done in this game and/or have fun in that allotted time?  Does it make any sense to play this game with such time restrictions?

And, if yes to the above proposition, considering my time restraints would it make any sense to get the expansion pack bundle to try and save a few bucks in the future (if i get into full-swing) or should I just get the original/regular version?

Last question (if yes to 1st question): If anyone knows, can I use any USB keyboard for the X360 to type or do I have to buy a specific one?

FFXI group system is what intrigues me the most.  I've played practically every mainstream MMO and then some at some point of time since Everquest.  I'm tired of being able to solo everything (especially in recent developments like Tabula Rasa) and I like the idea of developing relationships with the community as well as other players and becoming interdependent. 

Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to reading everyone's input.

Will you be starting fresh, or using your old  character?  (If the latter, what level is that character?)

If you are starting anew, it will be a LONG time before you are able to find anyone to group with, and therefore a LONG time before you are able to have fun, according to your own standards.

Starting anew.

Even if you are starting over fresh, there will be people to group with.  I've never had any trouble finding others within level range on my server(Bahamut).  There always seems to be new players if not  just old players leveling new jobs. 

2-3 hours might be tough though.  Seeing as you are restarting, you will most likely be traveling everywhere on foot which can easily kill a half hour to fourty-five minutes right there.  Then there's time spent looking for a party and then time to just get the party organized.   If you like the game enough I'm sure you could make it work.

And yeah, grab up the expansions.  Even if you don't get to the actual content for awhile, a lot of the expansion areas are used for XP parties.

hmm...appreciate the responses thus far.  I welcome as many responses and opinions as possible.

Another question:

Do you initially have to supply credit-card information when signing up to play just to access the 30 day free-trial?

Thanks.

if your talking about the $2.00 Starter Pack then yes....the starter pack is prety just the regular game without any of the expansion packs at all if you don't cancel the trial before the 30 day period it will continue charging you with a regular subscription but only with the regular FFXI

Couple things but first, yeah, you have to supply credit card upon signing up no matter what route you decide to take.

As to the questions at hand about the getting anything done.  You can.  Will you do it quickly? No. There are going to be times that you wont find a party period within that time frame.  Also, generally, parties themselves last a couples hours or more (my longest is 14) so you'll start to get a bit of a reputation for not sticking around long. 

All told, if the max you're going to have on a given day is 2 hours, i'd say you should pass.  Like previously stated. If you find a party immediately upon signing on and flag up that you're LFP it takes 30-45 minutes to even get to the camp sometimes.  Then after about 5 minutes of strategy, you start taking on some of the easy ones to get into the rhythm of the party.  This can take about 25 minutes.  Then, you reach the point where the party starts to get rolling.  However, you're now halfway done with your time alloted. And that's if you decide to just log out wherever you are.  So you basically get an hour of partying. You can MAYBE get a level like this really early on. Late on the game it's going to take you weeks just to get a level.

Another thing is, there are times you will need to do missions. There are some missions that can take 3+ hours just to complete. Let along finding people to help.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like you have the time to commit to the game and I'm afraid you will not like it due to this.  Also, i've left out the fact that you will need to farm if you plan on buying anything in game. And camping NM's is out of the question too.

Just being brutaly honest, No.

You need at least 5-6 hours some nights devoted to farming or what have you. Camping land gods is also a wonderful event where you will sit around for about 3-4 hours not seeing what you came for only to have someone else get it before you lol. Not trying to offend if thats what this might do, but if you are looking for a 2-3 hour a day game try WoW or Tabula rasa. I enjoyed playing Tabula rasa this past semester because I really didn't have the time to put into endgame in the FFXI world. WoW isn't a bad game it caters to that crowd of people who are probably in the same position you are of "I dont really have the time". Maybe give them both a try and see if you find something that truely suits your needs. But to be honest if you can only devote so little time to a hugely demanding game like FF it wont be worth it and wont be much fun.

Thanks for the responses.  You guys are probably right.  I'm kind of dissapointed though cuz FFXI looks and seems like a really great game.  Maybe it's something I can get into over summer or something.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dont want to commit that time, I just don't have the time right now.

WOW isnt really my cup of tea.  I've played it on and off for 3 months at a time a few times (9 months all together i suppose) and just got tired of it.  I feel like WOW's been kind of overdone, to me anyway.  Tabula Rasa isn't in-depth enough for me.  Go to outpost, get quests, run and gun till you visit all waypoints then report bak.  Gets extremely repetitive imo.  Also u dont even need groups in Tabula Rasa which irritates the hell out of me (hence why im so interested in FFXI).  TaRasa has no community really either and no commradery (however u spell it).

Best game for me was SWG (optimally pre-cu of course/could tolerate CU but not NGE) could join in and meet up with some people and go run missions for credits together easily and check up on house and maybe farm for some items or get in and do the Corvette for a couple hours.  SWG in its current state is not tolerable at this point.  Damn shame.  Curse SOE and whoever was responsible and whoever let it happen.

Not really sure where else to go at this time besides wait for maybe AOC and SG: Worlds. 

BTW, what are NM's?

NM's are Notorius Monsters - Basically, special monsters that are fought during quests/missions or for better treasure.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Category:Notorious_Monsters

As you can see from this list, there are an awful lot of them!

Shame you dont really have the time to commit as it's a good social game imo.

Demo, you seem to be in the exact same situation as me, although I used to play FFXI when I was in High School, but then I quit when WoW came out. As you can probably see by my signature, I have spent a lot of time on it over the past 3 years, off and on of course.

I started College last August and I got back into WoW. However, I hate the distance I feel from the community. Everything is solo, solo, solo! Even if you do manage to get a group, they stick together for the 5 minutes needed to kill 1 mob and then they are gone as quickly as they came.

I also have about 2 hours on weekdays to play in between classes (sometimes maybe up to 5 hours, sometimes 0), although on Saturdays and Sundays I will have a little bit more time, maybe 5-7 each day.

Do I want to play FFXI? Of course I do. The forced-grouping is unlike any other MMO right now. Do I have the time? Eh, I'm not sure. There is a lot of downtime involved, like camping and farming, but on the flipside, that would all be done solo, so it's at your own pace.

This thread has been very helpful... I'm still going to think it through though, but if you do decide to play Demo, feel free to message me and maybe we could try it out together (assuming our schedules aren't the exact opposite of each other!).

Edit: One thing I do know from back when I used to play (again, this may have all changed) is that up to about level 30 (and consequently, back to level 30, if you level 2 jobs) you do not have to farm that much. Sure, you wont have the best equipment, but it's pretty much just leveling up on your way to 30. After level 30 I don't have much experience, as I got to 30 on one job, then got my sub-class to 25 on another job and then WoW came out.

I'm in the same predicament. I've been looking for a good social game to hold me till WAR's release..

Sick of WoW and DAoC.. I've always wanted to play FFXI and even L2 but they are both too time consuming and unfriendly to beginners..

Gonna try the free trial I got with FFXI and see how that goes... if anyone wants to join me, or has characters I would love some help/company!

Originally posted by Aenect

I'm in the same predicament. I've been looking for a good social game to hold me till WAR's release..

Sick of WoW and DAoC.. I've always wanted to play FFXI and even L2 but they are both too time consuming and unfriendly to beginners..

Gonna try the free trial I got with FFXI and see how that goes... if anyone wants to join me, or has characters I would love some help/company!

Hey! I posted right above you and to follow up I did register for at least a month for now. I'm on Pandemonium so if you want to join a low level WHM (I play very casually) then check it out! I'd love to have a grouping buddy :P. Send me a message on here or just post in this thread if you do! My name is Xyphon, so if you join Pandy, send me a tell/friend request!

Okay, great!

I just joined Bahamut today but I'm only level 4.. I will gladly switch over and play with ya though, as I would like a grouping buddy too..

I made a white mage as well but I could make a warrior or something that might be a good team.

I'll be on "Aenect" on your server.

Originally posted by Aenect

Okay, great!

 

I just joined Bahamut today but I'm only level 4.. I will gladly switch over and play with ya though, as I would like a grouping buddy too..

 

I made a white mage as well but I could make a warrior or something that might be a good team.

 

I'll be on "Aenect" on your server.

 

Actually, a couple people from these forums also started up on Pandemonium yesterday and they both sent me a message. So far it looks like we have a WHM (me), and a WAR and a MNK (assuming everyone continues playing). You might see them post here sometime. Anyways, make whatever job you want and come join in!

Send Xyphon a message if you come on over!

Originally posted by demo3210

 

I am a college student ... and could probably only find about 2 hours every other day during weekdays and maybe 3 hours a day on weekends.  Is that enough time to get anything done in this game and/or have fun in that allotted time?  Does it make any sense to play this game with such time restrictions?

 

Well in my experience I would say no. I had about the same time available to play. I really liked this game and wanted to enjoy it. However I lasted only about 2 months. This game needs serious time to really get things done. I flipped flopped around many games since my time was limited. I have ended up in two, of course WoW. With that time restriction in about two years of play I have 4 level 70s and tons of lower lever alts. Since my time is limited only my main 70 has some raid gear and experience but I do not feel left behind with my limited time. I also play LoTRO, plays a lot like WoW and I have one level 50 since release and a couple alts. I wish I had time for the deeper games but WoW, LoTRO, EQ2 and COH/COV are good fun games that you can feel you are not in other players dust with limited play time. Oh I am not a college student, I am a college art professor.

I'd say "no". There are some enormous timesinks which are hard to avoid. You can do that, by skipping content .

Also forced grouping for almost anything means that you have to spend time in game just to get and keep some friends.  Having no friends sucks in FFXI.

emmm no no enough time.....havent played this game in along time but i used to play 5-6 hours a day.... :)

It's possible, but not recommended. The pace will be slower than usual is all. If you don't mind a slow pace, you'll be okay.

Hmm... I'm kind of surprised so many of the recent posters have said "no." Any game is possible to be played casually, you just have to realize it will be at a slower pace. Sure, you can get max level in WoW playing casually MUCH faster than in FFXI, but does that mean you are not having as much fun? Not necessarily. MMORPGs shouldn't be about the rush to the "finish" line... MMORPGs are not supposed to end, so why rush as fast as you can through the early parts of the game just to sit on the "endgame?" Doesn't make sense to me.

This game CAN be played casually, and you CAN have fun playing it casually - I am so far, although I am by no means in a position to tell everyone my case will be the same as yours since I'm only level 8 at the moment. You just have to realize you wont rush through the levels. Is that such a bad thing? I honestly don't think it is... but people seem to have different opinions about that.