It's been about 1.5 years since i left FFXI, and I still haven't been able to find a decent replacement.  Has anyone who liked FFXI prior to the level cap increase found a game smiliar or that they liked?  I've tried so many and they are all stupid easy and dumb quest grinds.  Some of the things i miss about ffxi and I'd like in a new mmo:

One character - in ffxi we were able to level any job on the same character

Challenging - Seemed like there was always someway to push the limits of your gear and ability by doing stuff solo or low manning it.

party xp instead of quest grind - questing is the biggest grind and i f'ing hate it.  I'd rather party for xp and be able to see ourselves get better at our jobs and earn xp faster and faster as we start to work together.

I think you guys that enjoyed FFXI before abyssea know what I'm after, and I'm wondering if anyone has found it.  doesn't matter if it's F2P or P2P or even a different language.

No luck for me but going to try FFXIV and see how the free 30 days go.

FFXIV looks like it will be a solid game after v2.0 arrives.  As it is now though it's not worth a sub to me.

no luck for me over here either. I left FFXI when they announced the new level caps etc. But FFXI is still to this day my favorite MMO that I have played. I played for about 5-6 solid yrs. I played FFXIV as well but the game still needs a lot of work. They said they are going to start charging this week or something which I think is a bad move since the game isn't complete yet. I did a few betas for Star Wars The Old Republic but it really just felt like another WoW clone.  I think eventually I will go back to FFXI, but who knows when.

Question : I know they reduced the price to FFXIV. Was there any price reduction for FFXI? If there is, it will probably make me want to come back sooner than later lol

My love hate relationship with FFXI continues to this day. I love the game, always will. I appreciate it's desire to make skill a bit part of it. But the reasons why I'm not playing anymore are as follows:

• Game is too easy now.
• Game is too dependant on 3rd party software.
• Too easy to cheat via 3rd party software.
• Abysea is too cut-throat for me, I like it but the players are very nasty in there.
• I can't find any pleasure in the game anymore, everything I liked has been watered down to nothing.

I'm playing Istaria and having a great time.

It's a true old-school style MMORPG, from the same overall mold as FFXI and other offerings of the 2nd generation of MMORPGs.  

It gets a lot of flack because it's had a rough history, isn't as popular as other MMOs and, yes, does look a bit dated. That said, it's a very large game with lots to do and plenty of options in how you can play it. I think because of its history, that it's a more "under the radar" type MMO and that it's not as popular a MMO as others are, folks don't really look too deeply into it. I think many of them would be surprised at what they find if they did. It's a remarkly expansive and deep game.

Here are some features to be found in Istaria that are similar to what FFXI offers (or offered, as it's a very different game post-Abyssea than it was pre-Abyssea):

1. Ability to play any job (called schools in Istaria) on the same Biped character. I specify Biped because you can also play as a dragon, which has an entirely different playstyle and means of progression (but I'll get to that). On offer in terms of Schools, you have 27 total, which are broken down into 3 categories:

- 4 "Basic" Schools: These are your options as a brand-new character, similar to being able to choose from your 6 starting jobs in XI. In Istaria, these are Warrior, Cleric, Mage and Scout. 

- 17 Prestige Schools. These are the equivalent of FFXI's Advanced Jobs and have to be unlocked. These are Battle Mage, Berserker, Blood Mage, Chaos Warrior, Conjurer, Crossbowman, Elemental Archer, Guardian, Healer, Knight of Creation, Paladin, Ranger, Reaver, Shaman, Sorcerer, Spearman and Wizard.

- 3 "Hybrid" Schools. These are considered "quasi-Prestige" schools in that they're not quite as "advanced" (so to speak) as a Prestige School, but are more specialized than the 4 Basic Schools. These are Monk, Spiritist and Druid. 

Monk deserves special mention here as it is potentially 4 Schools in one. In the Monk School, you have 4 disciplines you can choose to follow, as an Ice Disciple, Flame Disciple, Spirit Disciple or Storm Disciple. Each brings a different 'flavor" to how the Monk is played.

The means of unlocking them isn't the same as in XI. In Istaria, each Prestige School is unlocked by meeting certain prerequisites in at least 1 or 2 other schools (a certain skill level in relevant skills). In addition to enhancing each other based on what ones you've trained in, you can think of Schools almost as "building blocks". Basic and Hybrid Schools are often the "component parts" to unlock a Prestige School combining the flavor of both.

For example, to unlock the Ranger School, you must have a Bow skill of at least 150 (level 15 in a related school) and Nature skill of at least 200 (level 20 in a related school).  However, there's a further requirement in that you must have Healing to at least 100 in order to unlock Druid, which requires you to play a healing School, such as Cleric. So you can see how the Schools sort of build on each other. In this case, you can guess that Rangers are archers with a series of nature-based skills, including offensive, defensive and healing. 

And that's just the Advenure classes for the Biped path of the game.

I haven't even touched on the crafting side which is quite involved as well.

And then there's the "other" approach to playing Istaria, and what it's usually most known for... Playing as a Dragon. Dragons have an entirely different progression path from Bipeds which, while not as diverse as the Biped path, certainly come with their own benefits, perks and flourishes. 

2. Another aspect Istaria shares with FFXI is the difficulty. Istaria is an unforgiving game. The mobs are *not* to be taken lightly as, even though some are weaker, to be sure.. there are some that will absolutely rip your face off if you're not careful.  

3. Death Penalty. You don't lose xp for dying in Istaria. What you do get is a "Death Point". Death Points are basically counted against your character and result in the reduction of your character's strength and stats. The more Death Points you stack, the worse the penalty. The ways to get rid of DPs are by either waiting it out (which could take hours), or by eating foods. Foods will decrease the penalty duration by up to a few hours. Typically eating a "full meal" (appetizer, meal and dessert) will do the trick to get rid of at least one. Suffice to say, it's enough to make the world feel dangerous and instill a healthy respect and fear of many of the game's creatures.

Honestly.. I could go on for pages about the similarities between Istaria and FFXI... but also the differences, which there are plenty. 

Is it a perfect game? No, not at all. It has its share of flaws, to be sure. However, for me right now, it's definitely providing a lot of entertainment and a good "old-school fashion" sense of adventure. 

If you want to look into it yourself as a possible alternative to FFXI, here are a few links to check it out.

http://istaria.com/ - Official site, of course :)

http://istaria.wikia.com - a great resource for the game where you can learn more about what I've covered, and then some.

http://sharpnetwork.net/sharpnetwork/istaria/ - another resource/info site that gets into some real specific info that is handy when playing the game. 

If you decide to give it a try, and you roll on Chaos, look me up in-game... My character is Shanree. Send me a /tell and let me know who you are and I'll do what I can to give you a good welcome. Bear in mind, though, that I'm still pretty new back to the game (played it years ago when it was still Horizons and so am pretty much a newbie at this point lol), so I'm not going to have a lot of info that you might have questions for. There is a New Player channel, however, where people will typically answer questions you may have.

Anyway! I'd best cut this off here, else someone think I'm trying to pimp for Istaria or something. I simply feel that for someone looking for a similar "old-school" feel similar to what FFXI gave (but that doesn't feel exactly like XI), this is a really good option that has mostly flown under people's radars.