Not sure if anyone even remembers me, though. I tried to help people in the LS out when I got the chance but I don't think I contributed very often to LS conversations. Maybe I did occasionally when I was drunk? I don't remember. Anyway, I've been running out of things to do lately, and with the abnormal amount of free time I have, that's never good. I've been thinking about reactivating, but the expensive monthly fee + worries of ending up at the same place I was previously stop me from doing so.

I stuck around before hoping people in the LS would eventually catch up and/or I'd form a few meaningful relationships at some point so I'd have more interesting things to do. Due to the amount of long breaks I took, I found myself in a weird place. I was always either behind everyone or ahead of everyone. I could never find anything substantial to do in this game with anyone else because they had either already done those things or weren't ready to do them. I guess it didn't help that I was on a server full of people that I didn't know.

Attempting to change that was usually a depressing experience. I found that most people I met were blatantly selfish, stupid, ungrateful… unpleasant to be around. In an attempt to alleviate my growing distaste for the game and what it had seemingly become, I made another account so I would eventually be able to do most things on my own. I also tried to join linkshells comprised of mostly lower level players (Retrospect being the most recent one). In general these players aren't quite as unpleasant as the ones who have been playing the game constantly for years are.

I also joined in the hopes that those players would eventually catch up to me so I wouldn't be in that odd place I mentioned before where I was either behind or ahead of everyone. I always enjoyed helping with lower level stuff as well, despite how many times I've done every quest in this game that was worth doing.

I figured this plan of mine was win/win all-around, but every time I found myself in the same place. I found myself depressed with spending my days on what had become such an empty experience. Even if I found people that had the potential to change that, they would always disappear before long. My short time in Retrospect was just another one of those times for me. I spent a certain amount of months with that linkshell equipped, mostly not talking to or doing anything with anyone.

I spent most of my time duoing things in abyssea or sea that no one cared about anymore, all while not talking or interacting with anyone. Any time I did find myself doing things with other people, it usually ate at my will to continue playing the game. Everyone was generally the same. Every experience with those people was - for the most part - the same. Nothing I did with them ever led or amounted to anything positive.

Eventually, the will to continue playing once again left me entirely, and I deactivated my accounts. I don't think I mentioned that I was going to, but obviously there wasn't any reason to do so, since I probably didn't make enough of an impression for anyone to notice that I was gone. Having said that, I don't know how I could expect anyone to remember me, but I don't have anywhere else I could go to ask about the state of the game now. Maybe a few people will at least remember the name or my avatar or something.

Anyway, I ended up sort of venting there. That's not really what I came here to do. It's true that I lost the will to play the game, but as always, my negative feelings for the game have mostly disappeared and instead been replaced with a desperation to find something to do with my free time. In all these years, I've never been able to find anything that can eat time like this game can.

So, assuming anyone even bothered to read this far…

How's the LS doing these days? What are you guys up to? How is the game as a whole? What's changed? Is it worth re-activating or do you think I will just lose the will to play even faster than I previously have? Should I just buy Borderlands 2 instead and be satisfied with spending my time on that? Haha. I'm pretty much at a loss right now so I figured I would see how FFXI and my last linkshell are doing. Maybe I'll head back in for another round if it's sounding ok.

Thanks for reading.

Greetings Ice T!

Your experience in FFXI is a common one. In an LS there are always going to be players that are more advanced and players that are less accomplished. Lately we've been closing that gap. Our LS has a static Dynamis that we do on Sundays, and on most nights there are players running/joining Abyssea parties, farming seals, or killing NMs. Several LS members come out to these events. We would like this to continue and to grow. Most of our members have level 99 jobs, but many also level alts, and work on older material (CoP, ZM, etc.) that enhance the experience of the game. Retrospect is a diverse group of individuals and it is mainly a social linkshell, but we have been doing endgame content as well as discovering new and interesting areas - e.g. some of us discovered and unlocked Sky the other day!

The server population has decreased over the last few months. I cannot promise that your experience will be different if you reactivate your account. That decision is completely up to you. However, if you do, Retrospect is here, and I encourage you to socialize, attend events, help players, receive help and grow with us.

Best,
Ashbery

Hah, majority at 99? Crazy. When I was playing, people were still regularly working on the early limit breaks… and that was only a few months ago. Anyway, I appreciate the response. Nothing has changed for me in the last couple days so I'm just going to re-activate. Hopefully I didn't miss too much of that endgame stuff. I'd like to do some of that as well, but I guess more than likely I'll mostly be duoing stuff on my own again. Regardless, if anyone wants to do something fun, hit me up. I'll be on starting tonight or tomorrow if everything goes smoothly. Peace.

So glad I didn't buy borderlands 2 instead ugh
you should hang with us more ashbery it's fun