Well, I know at the very least Ash and Pez have complained about my absence lately. Reason I gave them was lack of things I want to do. I guess that's still the main issue but it's more complicated now. In the past, my main focus was gearing Siani since it was doable/realistic. After that, once I had a mage capable of keeping me alive, I wanted to finally gear MNK properly since it was the only damage job I've ever really liked. It was versatile, powerful, and it functioned in a way that fit my playstyle. Despite how well I thought the job fit me, I never had the opportunity to get it geared, even though I had it at cap for years and years.

Now that I finally have both the ability and the help needed (mainly Pez) to gear it, it turns out SE pretty much shit on the job and it's only going to get worse. I'm sure most of you guys know how SE changed the attack/defense formulas in the last update. It sucks for everyone, yeah, but the job that was affected the most by this change was MNK. In the past you could use Counterstance and get away with it on most things (not RNG mobs in dynamis). To some people this might seem overpowered/broken, but in my mind it turned an otherwise mediocre DD into a versatile powerhouse.

With the changes to attack/defense, using Counterstance is now an extremely dangerous prospect. Well, I forgot the exact numbers, but you take a LOT more damage now with it up. Way too much for it to be sustainable on tougher mobs and, even on weaker mobs, it's going to be a pain for any healer to deal with. It's just not worth it anymore. While MNK might still be able to tank some things, this change essentially turns it back into a mediocre DD, and strips it of its versatility.

Then there's the rumored incoming relic/empyrean nerfs… if what I've heard is true, Verethragna is going to become a lot less desireable at some point. Fortunately, I'm only 14 chloris buds into it, but what's the point in taking it to 90 if all of that work is going to go to waste when they eventually nerf the weapons? If I can't tank and I can't at the very least keep up with other DD using Verethragna, what's the point? So, needless to say, I've lost a lot of the interest I originally had in MNK and Icet the character as a whole.

NIN is a weak, unstable job that is unfit for purpose. The concept is cool, but instead of buffing its strengths so it could shine, SE has only nerfed it at every opportunity. Every other melee job… while many still possess strength in certain areas, they all still have too many weaknesses. No job is as well-rounded as MNK previously was. Instead of buffing other jobs and making them all well-rounded, SE just makes them weaker. Mob strength vs player strength is already extremely broken. With tougher mobs in the game, people just lock them in whatever way is available to them and zerg as fast as possible… what the fuck is that. How is that fun… How is that interesting at all?

Hate to break it to anyone that believes otherwise, but nothing in this game is truly challenging. The difficulty and the challenge is all artificial. It's like in some other games, where harder difficulty just means the enemies have absurd amounts of HP and do an absurd amount of damage to you. So lame. Not creative at all, and not fun either. To be honest, I despise this game in its current state.

The expansion didn't change that at all. Reives are dumb as hell. The fact that, as a mage, you can't even heal safely, and are almost always forced to be in range of stupid shit like butterfly AOEs (silence + all kinds of other fun debuffs) is ridiculous. It also makes the weaknesses of many classes even more obvious. A lot of jobs will just get shit on in reives, or they have minimal practical use in general.

Sorry, I've heard people complaining plenty of times about other people complaining about the game. I hate it too. If you don't enjoy it, why play it? Well, the issue is that I do enjoy the company of many people that still play the game. Doing things with Retrospect people and helping them is fun to me. What's not fun to me is dealing with artificial difficulty in a game and playing weak classes.

Fortunately, there are still classes that are powerful… they're just not melee classes. WHM and BRD, for example, are still extremely powerful and useful. That's why it would be ideal for me to phase Icet out and just use Siani. I like playing support/healing classes anyway. The issue there though is that we're seeing more people show interest in these classes and less people playing tanks/strong DDs. Me playing WHM or BRD might not make a whole lot of sense at this point.

I'm ok playing a weak class. It's not ideal for me but, like I've said before, the class I play isn't the most important thing to me. If there comes a time where I become useless as a NIN, though, what was the point in building it up even further? Kannagi is already a weak weapon. 90'ing a weak weapon for such a weak job isn't an appealing prospect, especially when the weapon might be getting nerfed too. Nerfing a weapon like Kannagi, lol… good lord. The way SE maintains this game absolutely baffles me.

idk what I'm trying to say here. Maybe just really explain my absence and potentially my future absence. Thinking about the future of this game is depressing to me right now. I'm not hopeful. Then again, Pez would probably say I never am anyway. I guess I'm not. To be honest, this kind of thing is way more fun to me right now.

ICE!!!

Shut your mouth and play!!! Just kidding dude. Hey, I understand breaks are sometimes necessary. However, FFXI is much more fun when you're around…just saying.

Best,
Ash

Take a break. It hopefully won't take you 3 years of being away to come back like myself, but I had allot of these feelings toward the end of my 09 run.

I had 'too little' to accomplish and what I could do didn't really change my character meaningfully.

Let the expansion work its kinks out. I think it feels more like final fantasy xi when I was still on Midgardsormr. Fun. Challenging. Rewarding. I recommend Ni No Kuni, Shogun 2, Terraria and Torchlight 1&2. You can play other games to cleanse the palette.

Depressing as ever Ice. You would be right in saying you are not hopeful for this game and always so negative! Cut that shit out man, but seriously come back when/if you become ready. Everyone misses you.

Ice! First off:

Me playing WHM or BRD might not make a whole lot of sense at this point.

Wrong, just wrong. You are the most knowledgeable and I'm willing to bet best equipped WHM in our shell. Don't worry about what other people want to main; you are already in a position to be the main healer, so if you want the title take it! :D

Second, if you are upset/annoyed with the game, you deserve to take time off :) We all need a break from time to time! Just don't be a stranger, or I'll cry and piss everyone off in mumble if you leave me permanently <3

Ice, you are the kindest person I know and I am extremely grateful for all of your help. I understand needing a break, and I understand where you're going with this. I have felt disenchanted myself. Just don't be a complete stranger kk ~huggles~

rofl i did not expect responses like this, but thank you regardless. i don't see myself abandoning the game for a time quite yet, since the expansion just came out and there are things i want to finish. also, like i said, i enjoy doing things with you guys and i don't want to just leave that all in the dust so to speak. if it weren't for that i would have stopped playing ages ago… taken one of my 6-12 month breaks again.

all of that said, though, it's still pretty difficult to log on - especially when i don't know if i'll even be able to do anything. i'm more than willing to get on if people have something to do and say something about it in advance. if i see people on mumble, i'll get on and see if anything's happening (no one's ever on when i look though lol).

and yo pug you are right playing other games is good and it's really the only way i can stay sane at this point. i've been wanting to play ni no kuni but i just can't justify paying like $60 for a game these days. doubt it will drop any time soon either. real shame. i have played some torchlight 2 with friends though and that's pretty cool.

oh and as far as whm goes the only thing i'm really confident in is my gear. 100% sure my gear is better than 95%+ of the WHMs playing this game, including the stupid assholes that have all those shiny voidwalker pieces. if only siani could have those…

i am not the best healer though. that's why i have expressed interest in gearing other WHMs, like you, Sofia, and Etaine. You guys are good; you just don't have the gear that you need.

but yeah like i said, i don't see myself taking a break quite yet. if these feelings persist though it might end up happening. like, there's no way i can justify spending the amount i do for two characters if nothing is happening. as long as you guys are playing though and you have things you want to do i'll probably stick around. it's tough though sometimes with this game lol

i have no intention of disappearing like some people do. i hate that. if i decide to take a break, i will tell you guys and keep in touch if that's what you want.

anyway, if anyone has something in mind that they want to do leave a message on the front page. i'm sure you guys have noticed but i'm always checking that shit.