Destroying a Masterpiece.

Ahh yes, it's finally here, it has finally come. One day away till the long anticipated release of Final Fantasy XIV is finally here. But before we begin our journey in the land of Eorzea, I'd like to take a look back at the land that came before Eorzea, the land I call home, the land of Vana Diel. You'll have to forgive my negativity in this post. I'm sure the fanboys will rage pretty hard at it, but I'm going to give you a unbiased factual run down of what has happened in the 8 years of Final Fantasy XI online and hopefully give you a clue about what to look out for, how your outlook should be playing and what you might can expect in Eorzea and from Square Enix themselves.

I remember thinking nothing of it. I had just built a brand new gaming PC. I had needed a new PC and figured "Why not, I'll go all out and maybe play a few games while I'm at it". I did indeed buy a few games, some FPS games, some odd games in which I don't even remember, but all of them got pretty boring quite quickly. I was never really much of a gamer and the only previous games I really spent a lot of time on were RPG games and the Super Mario/Sonic the hedgehog games years before. But it was all about gaming. There was the PS2, the Gamecube and the Xbox. Everyone was into video games so I gave it a try as well but wasn't very interested.

After the few games I ended up trying and getting bored with I was walking around the electronics store late one night, they were about to close. I was there for something completely unrelated but decided to walk through the video game section for the hell of it, that's when I spotted it. There was several stacks of it and it had just came out a week or two prior. "Final Fantasy XI online". I thought to myself "Maybe I'll give this one last game a shot. It's a RPG after all and I love those! It looks like there's some kind of online multiplayer mode to!". I had no idea what I was in store for.

I remember installing the game, getting all my info set up and setting foot in the land of Vana Diel. I was in this big enormous kingdom and it was quite confusing. I had just exited a great cut scene with some wonderful looking characters who set me off on my journey. At first, it was very difficult to get the hang of things, but something about the game just drew me in. It was such a vivid world, so beautiful and amazing, unlike any other I had seen before in any other video game. I got up to level 10 and decided to do some exploring, I wanted to see all there was to see of Vana Diel. I spent several days carefully traveling to as many corners of Vana Diel as I could find, including the three main nations and the duchy of Jeuno (with a lot of deaths mixed in to).

Once my journey concluded I was having reservations and wondering if it was worth the time I was spending, the learning curve was still a bit steep as well and I was getting frustrated trying to figure things out, so I quit... I quit for about 2 weeks that is, and the entire time I couldn't stop thinking about that amazing world of Vana Diel. The stories there must be to experience, the adventures to be had, the lands for me to discover... I decided to give it another go and my journey began. I spent as much effort as I could researching things. There wasn't any good data base sites up just yet and even Allakazham only had people posting experiences they had, so I did my best to look up any information I could find. I discovered that at level 10 (which is how it was for a long long time, before level sync, job adjustments, and Fields of Valor) that you needed to go to Valkurm dunes to level up past that. I had been through there on my way to bastok and eventually found my way back... That's when things really began to change.



I discovered my very first experience points party. It was 6 of us and we were all equally excited to be in the land of Vana Diel. We partied for what seemed like hours, around many other parties who were all killing the lizards (which were killing us as well from time to time). It was crowded, there were people all around talking, shouting, killing and adventuring. It had such a lively feel to it. There were people from all around the world playing, adventuring together. I remember this went on for days and days and each day we'd see often find the same people we had met back there in the dunes. We chatted it up and had a great time waiting around with so many other people till one by one we would get party invites, some times together.

It was the most incredible thing, fighting these lizards in this desert wasteland with all these people. As time went on we finally had to make the Trek to Qufim Island which was equally as amazing. I remember the first time I arrived there it being so crowded, so packed, so full of life and it was night time, during an Aurora Borealis. I met more new people and we all had such a great time leveling together. None of us really knew what we were in for, we were just moving forward.

Eventually, I got up to level 24 and found out it was time... Time to go to Kazham! This is where you leveled all the way from 24 to 30 and God only knows where I'd go after that, but that was the next step so go there I must. I found a group of people farming the Kazham Keys who asked if I needed them to. They agreed to help me and even invited me to my very first linkshell. It wasn't big, but it had some amazing, quality people in it that I ended up befriending for many many years. I remember we tried all night long to figure out just what dropped the keys and where. It took us till the next day to eventually get them and head to Kazham, after many laughs and after a journey that took us all over Vana Diel once again, this time to even more new areas I had never seen. Through caves, to deserts, to wastelands, to beautiful forests and more, it was so amazing.

Finally, after much adventuring I made it to the Kazham! A Lush tropical paradise with hordes of adventurers standing all around the place looking for experience points parties. Partying in the jungle felt so lively as well, so amazing, so wonderful! It was great, and before I knew it I was level 30! It was finally time to go unlock the job I had set my heart on, Paladin. I wanted to be the knight in shinning armor and all that jazz so it made perfect sense. After several days, many deaths and much deciphering I finally was able to unlock Paladin. I grinded away through the levels once again to level 30 and began my journey to 75...

Much time passed and I discovered many new areas, met many new people and went on many incredible adventures through quests and missions. Everything had so much heart and soul, there were so many people, it was so lively and active and the only boundaries Vana Diel seemed to have was limited only to my own Imagination. I was always so excited to experience new things, meet new people, obtain new goals. Finally after much hard work, I eventually reached level 75 Paladin. I was sporting my full Purple Plate Armor as well, like any pro would do in THAT day and time.



I had so many adventures along the way, conquered the shadow lord himself, found a mysterious floating island in the sky and even began to help a strange and mysterious young girl on her own journey to unlocking the secrets of her past and the land of Tavnazia. It was so incredible, so lively, there was so much to do and so much fun to be had... But all of it began to change... Thanks to two words no one would ever forget...

End Game.

I remember my first invite into a End Game Linkshell. I had no idea what was going on or how it worked. I had to say goodbye to my long time social linkshell to pursue grander horizons. I began camping tough monsters and doing things such as Sky Farming, but within this was introduced something I had not experienced so far in the game, Drama... Yep, Drama. Everyone would argue, about who got what, who went as what, when where and why. People began this pursuit for power and spoils and let greed take over their heart, although it wasn't long before I fell victim to it myself.

By this point we all knew that once we had beat the missions, important quests, and leveled up that we had done all there was to do (or so was at the time) and that it was time to delve into End Game. At that point, I decided I would pry myself from End Game and finish all the missions I possibly could, perhaps I would even level another job to 75? I heard people had started doing this. Two 75 jobs?! That was pretty hardcore at the time. But I did it. I got my second job to 75 and beat all the missions including the newly released Chains of Promathia finale. At this point I knew it was time, time to get involved in end game...

Suddenly, the adventures, the random experience points parties, the amazing quests and missions began thinning out. More were added as time went on, but it was all becoming about end game. However, I decided I would try to do my best, to become the best I could and to have the best attitude I could. I joined a linkshell and began grinding away in End Game. It was incredibly difficult, not many people save for a few were particularly friendly and I was mostly looked down upon since I had spent more time completing all the missions and getting a second job to 75 instead of getting amazing spoils for my job(s) to make me more elite.

It seemed like everything I did was wrong, I constantly got yelled at and even when I made it a point not to start drama and to be as friendly as possible any little thing, any little mistake, any question could spark it like a wildfire. I spent months and months, hours and hours and hours a day saving up my "points" so I could eventually get something good, so I could eventually get passed the three month trial (which I did) and finally have enough points for some good loot for my character. Sadly, the loot distribution in FFXI was left up to the players and the loot itself was extremely rare and hard to come by. In the early days, large "HNM linkshells" or "HNMLS" would form up with a small core who would take advantage of members, put them on trial, and when the trial was over kick them just to get more.

At the time, no one could really see what was happening, including myself, but after many months of hard work I was finally kicked. I was kicked simply because the leader thought I was a "inadequate" member, or so I was told. I felt terrible and couldn't play for weeks. I felt like not only was I complete failure, not only did I lose months and months of work for absolutely nothing, but I failed my team. This happened several times, joining HNM linkshells trying to be good for them, trying to get passed the hurdles but every time failing. Until one day...

Some one approached me, who was much like I was. They kept getting kicked out of groups (like many people were at the time) for no good reason, they kept having to try and rejoin linkshells so they decided that we should team up and make our own. It was a risky maneuver but I figured "What do I have to lose?". I accepted the challenge and we began building up our empire. Finally, I began to get some loot. I put the strategies I had learned to good use and tried to be the best leader I possibly could. We did many different events, from Sky to Sea, from Dynamis to Limbus, and everything inbetween. Everything was beginning to look much better and brighter until one day... Me and my partner who had built up this mighty empire together had a disagreement on a new rule. It was a rule we had agreed on to keep things fair from day one, but they wanted to change it. I simply expressed that I was not for it but before I knew it this partner and several of the other "officers" decided it would be better to simply kick me out and make up a story behind what happened.

Suddenly I was kicked out on the cold street, once again, this time with random rumors being spread about me. Many of my friends defended me and there was much more drama than I had ever wanted to see. All of this, for pixels? All of this, for in game items? But why? I was so confused, I was so devastated and because of it I decided to quit once more for a few months. I eventually came back and things calmed down, although various people who wanted to get in good with this now very powerful shell decided to give me a hard time from time to time. The leader (my ex-partner) would even send people on missions just to make things hard on me. Until one day...

Eventually it became known what had happened and that I wasn't the bad guy the rumors talked about after all. But people were so greedy and filled with envy, desire and dishonesty that they didn't really care. Luckily this person was more or less forced to quit the game because of it though and finally the battle had ended. I found myself leveling up various jobs and enjoying the new expansion which was just released. "Treasures of Aht Urghan".

It was amazing and finally I had new adventures, missions, and quests to experience once again. I remember how there was so many thousands and thousands of people everywhere, crowding the boats to be the first to get to Aht Urghan. People rushing to see who could unlock Puppetmaster, Blue Mage and Corsair. People rushing to see what the new missions and quests held before them. It was so incredible, so exciting. I was in a small social linkshell at the time with some of my old friends once again and we were having such a grand time! There was so many stories, so many adventures, so many amazing things to experience once again.

But soon enough, I found myself in End Game once again... Things began to get slightly better, but there was still so much drama, so much manipulation, so many people who were being put through the same sort of things I had gone through. I continued to work, day and night as many hours as my life would possibly allow to get new gear, new loot, new spoils, earning points fair in square, earning items fair in square, and going through several different HNM linkshells. Some times I was screwed over, as were the masses and some times I would finally get a good piece of loot I earned with my own blood sweat and tears. The sad thing is, not everyone was as diligent as I was.

This lack of in game point systems and the ability for a group of leaders to control and manipulate large communities of people (guilds/HNM linkshells) was a major turn off to many people. People began feeling like they would never accomplish their goals, and most didn't, so it began... The decline of FFXI... It had passed it's prime and was on a slow decline even though no one saw it for quite some time. More and more of my friends would quit every day, every week, every month. Slowly people began to trickle out but I persevered. I wanted to be the best I could be, to have the ultimate gear, to be elite and great.

After many years of hard work I had finally achieved most of my goals, at the sacrifice of much of my real life and after much needless drama. I had done all there was to do, I had defeated some of the toughest foes and reached the pinnacle of who I could become. Things began to slow down even more and I took pleasure in leading some very successful end game groups. But eventually, even though a very small percentage but SOME HNM linkshells out there were able to make their members happy and not completely screw them over, people still quit. It just required too much time, the loot systems were just too random (thanks to Square Enix's design on them) and people would leave, more and more every day, most always on a good note. It broke my heart seeing my members saying things like "I just don't have the time in my life anymore" "I just got married and cannot devote this kind of time anymore" "I'm going to college" "I've got a new job" "It's time to live my real life now" and one by one they began to leave.

I eventually obtained my ultimate goal with some close friends of mine and helped as many of them as I could obtain their goals, before eventually so many people had quit that we could not continue doing events. Events were monopolized by the same 2-5 (or so...) HNM Linkshells on every server, the rest of us simply stuck to random events, some times acting as mercenaries or guests to the big HNM linkshells. We found random things to do, new content to play through, new jobs to level. It had slowed down considerably. The bustling metropolis of Vana Diel had become all but a small town. But those of us who remained loved it so. Sadly, it would seem the developers did not and were only trying to maximize their profits. We would not see this till much later on though.

Years went by and everyone was getting bored. You either did events with the few big HNM Linkshells or you did random little things with yourself and close friends/small social linkshells. Compare it to Midgar, and then the small little towns scattered across the world in Final Fantasy 7. Eventually we got word that a new expansion was on the way. We were extremely excited, finally we could explore new lands once again, experience new missions, quests, adventures and journeys. We didn't know much about it for awhile, other than a small teaser trailer and the name of what it would be... "Wings of the Goddess". We had no idea at the time just what was happening.

Turns out as time went on we found that it was a "time traveling" expansion. You go back in time to relive the "Great War" of Vana Diel which took place in the past, 20 years prior to the day and time you currently play in. A time where the beastmen were on a full out attack with the 4 main nations of Vana Diel, a time where the nation only talked about in lore -Tavnazia- where the most important parts of the war (according to game lore) and where even the opening cut scene for FFXI took place. This might actually be fun, right? Not exactly...

Wings of the Goddess brought us a first, something we'd never seen before... Reskinned zones. For those of you who don't know, in FFXI a reskinned zone (which there are many of now) is where they take a normal zone, let's say Jugner Forest for example and change a few very minor things. They change the brightness of the sky slightly, the contrast of a few things, and add in a few new objects here and there. But essentially the same exact zone, just a technically "different" area. To these areas they added some new quests and missions but they felt quite bland, they didn't have the feel of missions and expansions before. The missions were broken up into four categories, the three nations and the main storyline. It made things overly complicated and the missions themselves were overly complicated. Not to mention, they went no where fast and most importantly? The expansion itself only brought a few of them.

A few would be added, in each update, to take us a little bit further. Finding people in a diminishing population who were on your mission, in your nation, began to become a challenge, more and more as time went on. The cut scenes you would get eventually after completing these various missions were quite good at first although they didn't make a lot of sense and had a feeling of lacklusterness. We all looked forward though, to hopefully at the end being able to go to Tavnazia. Tavnazia was the main stage where the biggest battle of Vana Diels crystal war took place. The battle that changed the entire outcome of the war itself. Maybe we would even get to meet the famous hydra corps who created the great Relic Armor we see in modern day Vana Diel. this expansion might not be so bad after all, right? Sadly...

These things never came. It was just more very shallow, easily thought up cut scenes that lead to a lot of nothing. Square Enix finally came out and told us (the community who they were terrible at communicating with for many years) that these things would not be added. The entire expansion felt like a rip off and even to this day not all of the missions are complete. The expansion did bring one great thing though, Campaign. Something that really allowed people to enjoy the game more on their own time and participate in a large scale event with other players without having to commit to a specific HNM linkshell. It was great fun... "Was" being the keyword. That would eventually change, which I'll explain coming up here in just a bit.

As time went on, people eventually began getting bored of Wings of the Goddess as well. Years had passed and they wanted new expansions, new places to go, things to do, adventures to be had and more. They wanted a TRUE expansion, one like Rise of the Zilart, one like Chains of Promathia, one like Treasures of Aht Urghan, which led us to exciting new areas. We waited patiently and finally we thought the day had come, but they threw us a curve ball.

"Mini Expansions" or "Add on Scenarios". What was this? No one really knew, but eventually we found out. Three "mini" expansions would be released over the course of the next year, although they came with no new areas, and were basically just one long quest. At the end of the quest, was a difficult fight, and for completing it you got a incredible piece of armor. One gave you the head, one gave the legs, one gave the body. They were quite shallow and you could tell not a lot of effort had been put into them, but even so people seemed to enjoy them more than most of Wings of the Goddess content aside from Campaign.

People did them, time went on, people were still bored, more people quite but still from time to time there was new blood joining and many of us remained vigilant. We stayed true to Vana Diel and did all it had to offer, even if they had taken the originality out of some of the greatest zones we had such fond memories in and "reskinned" them.

But as time went on we did continue hoping that one day we would finally feel and experience the adventure once again. That is, until the beginning of the end. This is where the fanboys will rage hard at me. You see, it all came with a announcement... "We are raising the level cap". The level cap had been 75 for seven years... SEVEN YEARS... Square Enix had been asked the question prior and laughed at it more or less. They told us the game had simply been built for a level 75 cap and that adding more levels would throw the entire world out of balance. It just wasn't feasible in Vana Diel. If you mentioned or suggested it on forums you got laughed at, flamed and exiled. But out of no where, this is what they planned to do. The level cap would be raised to level 99 and three more "mini" expansions would be added.

What I and many others didn't know was what was in store for us at this point, so I shall tell you. As soon as the first cap increase hit from level 75>80 many things were added. New weapons were added yet... They were all obtained from the same quest. A moogle who popped out of no where and for no good reason told you he had magic powers to make you a incredible weapon. There was no cut scene or story to go along with it, he just told you to go kill X_amount of X_monster X_many-times. Suddenly weapons we had spent years to obtain, millions upon millions of gil, were now obsolete. This wasn't all though, much of our armor became obsolete as well.

The trophies that so few yet so many of us eventually obtained were suddenly obsolete. Second rate. Gimp. Those expensive weapons were now second rate and almost worthless, as was so much of the armor as well. The things so many of us worked so hard for so many years for had become obsolete. The only way to get new weapons now were these new "moogle weapons" or new notorious monsters within the first add on Scenario.

These three scenarios were called Visions of Abyssea, Scars of Abyssea and Heroes of Abyssea, released in that order. They were, sadly, reskins of even MORE zones. They had no stories whatsoever to them much like the magic moogle weapons and even the new limit break quest was simply a moogle telling you to go fetch some items (no amazing story like the previous maat story and finale before it). In fact, it was almost like a joke. The reskinned zones didn't even have as many alterations as the ones in Wings of the Goddess. They simply had some differently colored monsters, a couple of unique looking monsters and random NPC's that claimed you were in some bizzaro world which was under attack and that you had to help them kill the random weird monsters traveling around it. Ohh yeah, and the sky is red...

Me and many others began to lose our will to play. Suddenly there was so much more yet so LITTLE to actually do. We were no longer on top and the things we had worked years for were obsolete. But it's not just armor and weapons Abyssea killed, nor was it just the victimized reskinned zones with no proper storyline behind them. No, experience points parties themselves were made obsolete. You could get a ton, a TON more experience points off the monsters in Abyssea than you could previously. It took much less skill and teamwork cooperation as well. A lot of people began to get lazy, because instead of cooperating in a 6 person party you now went with a 18 person alliance. There was really no reason to do a experience points party anymore from 75 to 80... Or wait... From 70 to 80... Wait no, even lower? 60 to 80? Sadly you can actually enter at level 30... Although you won't be much use fighting till around 70 but there's a loophole you see...

You can be a "chest" opener. To get increased items, experience points and time limits in Abyssea monsters you are "EXP'ing" off of drop these chests and you have to "unlock them" which consists of taking out some little keys that can be bought or doing a simple guessing game on each one. Basically, all you had to do was stand there and open chests while the rest of the alliance fought away. Normally, it would take people months and months, some times up to a year to get a level 75 job, but now? As fast as experience points came in Abyssea? You could get from 30>80 doing nothing but opening chests, with no armor on, standing there doing a lot of nothing, within about 8 hours.

Finally the next expansion was added, Scars of Abyssea. With this, even more Armor and Weapons from previous days was made obsolete. A new kind of armor dubbed "AF3" or Empyrean Armor was added. This armor made pretty much all the rest obsolete. Not only that, but one piece in particular (the feet) and the seals to upgrade all of them were incredibly frustrating to obtain.

This is the point we are at today. The world of Vana Diel has been reduced to one giant experiment and one terribly lazy effort on Square Enix's part. For years lore was added to Vana Diel, lore behind other lands we were to explore, the far east, the far west, the north, the island of Tshya, and many other areas. There was so much left to do, so many more adventures to be had, Vana Diel was so huge and we had only seen so little of it. But instead, we get our worlds turned upside down, we get our progress we worked hard for made into nothing and more and more people quit by the day. There are forums you can go to that are overflowing with Fanboys. Fanboys are people who will back up Square Enix no matter WHAT they do. Make excuses for them, and deny the reality of the situation and all costs. But reality is what it is and what I've said about what is happened is indeed a fact no matter what outlook you want to take on it.

Some time back Square Enix announced they were developing "Final Fantasy XIV online" and this is when a great many more people quit, to anticipate and wait on the new upcoming title and say goodbye to Vana Diel forever. Most people had already been so frustrated with Vana Diel as it was and as time went on more and more pathetic excuses for content were added by Square Enix.

I miss Vana Diel... I miss it very much. I miss the world I've called home for around seven years now. I miss the adventures, the people and the fun times, and even with all the flaws that could have been corrected I still miss all the great times I had. I hate seeing Square Enix do what they are doing, which is giving up on the world of Vana Diel, adding just enough to attempt to keep the remaining subscribers subscribed. I want so bad to explore more far off lands, I wish so bad that the work I spent years on was for nothing and I wish so bad the amazing, beautiful and complex world of Vana Diel was not going by the way side simply for a new shiny.

People often ask me why I have a negative approach to Square Enix and this is why. After all they put me through, after all I went through to be a loyal subscriber, customer, and adventurer, the world I care so much for is slowly crumbling at my feet and it breaks my heart to see it happen. This is why I have such little faith in them going into FFXIV and why I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

I love Vana Diel. In the past 7 years of my life I've had to travel all over the world and never stay any one place long, but there was one place I always knew I could call home, and that was Vana Diel. A land of great beauty, mystery, adventures and the greatest stories I'll never forget. I know many people will just see this as complaining, I know it may just come off as rambling but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I've never experienced anything so amazing, any adventure so wonderful and any story that touched my heart like Final Fantasy XI did. May God have mercy on it's soul.