As some of you know, I decided to take a break from the many stresses of FFXI and enjoy the much more stress free World of Warcraft. I can say I have had quite a blast with the game.
My main reasons for leaving FFXI was simply that it was no longer fun. This was mainly because of my belief that SE seemed 100% intent on making sure Thief was a ****** job. I thought this was at first just me whining, but after reading the expansion info I have realized I was correct.
With all other jobs besides Dragoon receiving fairly interesting upgrades, I had thought that the thief one would be interesting as well. My heart sank as I read their "upgrades" for our class.
Quote:
Perfect Dodge now causes the thief to be stronger if the attack is launched from behind the opponent. Also, thieves will no longer be able to steal only money and items from monsters.
This proved to me that quite frankly SE has no idea what a thief's end game role is. If they wanted to fix the job, they would have gave us either a stronger version of Treasure Hunter, a stronger version of hide or a stronger version of sneak attack. Instead, we get a very useless two hour being turned into an even more useless two hour. Think about it the only end game use for Perfect Dodge are for an extra 30 seconds of holding hate to allow the rest of the group to get recuperated. The "new feature" of Perfect Dodge cannot help a thief in solo play, as the mobs back will never be facing him during a solo fight. It will also be useless in end game ls runs, because no matter how strong the upgrade is, our SATAWS will still be much weaker than a Dark Knight's. Also, if the mob is kited or if hate is bounced around between tanks, there is the possiblity of blowing your "perfect dodge". That's a mistake that takes two hours to recover from.
So, it is for sure now that I have left FFXI with no intent on ever coming back. I am very upset with SE's complete disregard for some jobs in the end game and I simply don't have the time to waste being useless. I know you're saying, "why not just level another job?".
Because I love the "assassin" type class. I have ever since I've started playing RPGs. And I have to say, the FFXI thief is the worst attempt at the assassin class I have ever seen (the best was Matthew from Fire Emblem... perfect balance in that guy's composition). Although the WoW Rogue has some issues, it is currently much more enjoyable to play and much more rewarding. Simply put, I love playing assassin classes and FFXI's sucks.
Another reason I am permenantly leaving FFXI is the time constraints. Even the expansion still seems to require massive amounts of time to get even the slightest thing accomplished, which I do not have time for. I have been playing WoW for almost 2 months now, and I am 6 levels away from the level cap. I play for close to 30 minutes to an hour a day, and do some raids and instances at night. My gear is becoming fairly decent, and I am having a blast. Since WoW doesn't take up so much time, I am also forming a social life (gasp!). I have many more friends than what I did when I took a break from FFXI, I am doing fairly well in College and my dreams of becoming a physician are coming closer and closer with the passing of each day. This summer I will even be starting an internship with a local hospital! So as you can see, I simply no longer have the time FFXI needs.
Don't think me bitter over leaving FFXI. I love the game very much, as it helped me get through one of the harder times of my life. I can honestly say I'd be a completely different person without FFXI (a much more sad and depressed one, for sure). I have made several very good friends through my almost two year play time, and I've also made my share of enemies as well. I will miss all of you, friend and foe alike.
I'd like to close this final paragraph of my exceptionally long post with a farewell to my linkshell. They were amazing to me, and some of the best friends I've had in a long while.
It has been a pleasure, Shiva.