It’s really been as long as 7 months since I last posted? Wow.
Well, there’s really not too much to say about my adventaruing, since I haven’t been. My time in FFXI started dwindling over the summer due to RL and other crap, and once September hit, I just didn’t have the time. Between work, our cat becoming ill with kidney failure (and eventually passing away in November, we miss you Ryo-cat!), more work, and more work, I just couldn’t find the time to log in. Then my hard drive crapped out on me, and I never got around to reinstalling FFXI on it.
Another big reason I didn’t have the time for FFXI was my husband. I’m not saying he’s to blame, but he’s a gamer as well, and couldn’t ever get into FFXI, so we never really gamed together. Last year around this time, he got me into the Old Timer’s Guild, which is a superguild spanning many different games (WAR, WoW, LOTRO, DDO, many others), and got me hooked on Lord of the Rings Online. All through the year, I split my time playing LOTRO with the hubby, and FFXI with my friends in KnightsBrigade, and when the crap hit the fan towards the end of the summer, I increasingly felt that the time I spent with him was much more important. We’re both huge LOTR fans (our wedding bands are actually copies of the One Ring, but with a much more lovely inscription in Sindarin inscribed on them), and it’s a great game that fit into my casual playstyle much better than FFXI ever could, but more on that later on.
So yes, I’ve been playing another game. *sigh* The other man, as it were. I kinda just… disappeared from FFXI. That’s just how it went down, and there’s not really any good explanation or excuse. My friends in KB didn’t know where I’d gone off to, and for that, I’m very sorry.
Now that I’ve played another MMO in a much more dedicated way over the last few months, it’s hard to not draw comparisons between the two. LOTRO is definitely geared towards a more mature audience, and is rich in story due to its being based on the books, not the movies. The graphics are gorgeous, and you can log in, and get right to whatever it is you want to do. Endgame in LOTRO consists of raids, ranging from small 6-man instances to full on 24-man battles. The key though, is that none of them really last longer than 3 hours. (Helegrod, a 24-man, can sometimes take longer depending on if you’re going for the end dragon boss, but you can also progress through the raid using locks, which save your group’s progress, meaning you can do part of it, then go back another day and finish it.) You don’t have to spend a whole day up in Sky farming items to pop the gods, and then have to contend with another group. It’s all instanced, no competition, and is much more conducive to casual play.
FFXI is still beautiful, but the graphics are definitely dated. It’s much harder to log on and get to doing what you want, since you usually have to travel across the world, find a group, or other things. Endgame stuff… well, I think we all know how much time it takes. On my WHM, I can’t go out and just kill things for xp or gil like I can with my Minstrel (healer-class) in LOTRO. The differences between the two games are night and day.
The one thing though that is constant between the two are the people. OTG is an awesome group of people to game with, and KnightsBrigade is equally awesome. In fact, the main motivator for me to reinstall FFXI and log in tonight for the first time in months is because of KB. I miss them greatly. They’re the reason why I’ll keep paying the monthly fee to log on, even though I may not do anything while I’m there.
Even though the two games are vastly different, it really comes down to the people. MMOs are social games, and anyone who says otherwise needs to have their head checked. If you don’t have a good group of people to play with, why bother?
This all reminds me of that often posted YouTube video… which I leave you with. It’s all about the people, and the friendships. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way, and am lucky enough to come back to my friends in FFXI. So, Tahki, Bennigan, Beldin, Xenogelion, Nebion, Nashiym, Lorelai, Obaseki… this one’s for you! <3
