User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by linaaa) Date: 2009-12-27 21:39 Subject: Linaaa FFXI 2009: The big screenshot post. Security: Public

Since I don't make a lot of time free anymore to post the occasional ffxi screens, here's a collection of pictures on what I've done in ffxi past year. Enjoy.~

( To the pictures on my LJ. (Beware! Bandwidth intensive!!!) )

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by sovereignffxi) Date: 2009-12-26 05:20 Subject: How much would we really know about FFXI... Security: Public

without the use of 3rd party programs such as Windower or the application of what is called "reverse engineering"?

First off, I just wanted to be clear that I am not attempting to begin an argument about the ethics behind windower, botting, parsing, or any other third party program available for use when concerning FFXI. I would appreciate if this topic was discussed in it's appropriate threads, as there are already multiples of them on this forum.

But with recent discussion as it is, this topic came to mind and I wanted to see what other people thought about it.

I ask again: How much would we really know about the workings of FFXI without the development and applicable use of third party programs to reverse engineer?

I ask this because I realize that without these things, many of the in-game testing that has been done and more importantly, the information those tests have provided to the community, would not be available without the original practice of reverse engineering.

For those interested, Article 2, Section 4 of the FINAL FANTASY XI Software License Agreement specifically prohibits the practice of reverse engineering. See for yourself at http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/FINAL_FANTASY_XI_Software_License_Agreement

The reason this question interests me is because of how many players have benefited from these works. Windower plugins such as Distance and TParty taught the community a great deal when it came to Area of Effect, and (in the case of TParty) when certain mobs would ready specific abilities at direct HP percentages. This information directly lead to the formation of commonly accepted battle strategies. 3rd party parsing software was able to prove differences between equipment setups, showing what would be best for certain actions and situations. One of the games most famous reverse engineers was Kaeko's enmity testing, a project that taught players how the enmity system worked and could be used to create advantages during battle.

I am fully aware there are more examples than what I just listed above. I just wanted to be clear that works and testing such as those above have directly led to the quality of information found in widely used resources such as FFXIclopedia, something used even by players condemning 3rd party programs and ToS breaches.

The introduction of said information has undoubtedly made the general player community more knowledgeable overall, and thus created better players. Even those who do not directly benefit from the use of these programs have indirectly benefited from the information these programs and tests have given to the community. If these things had never become available or were never tested, how good do you think we'd really be at playing this game? I'm not saying it would be impossible to figure these things out on your own, but the amount of time and effort involved would have been drastically increased, stacked on top of incredible amounts of trial and error failures. That being said, I feel the information provided to the player community by the use of 3rd party tools and the application of reverse engineering has completely changed the way we play the game and allowed us as players to become more successful during events and battles.

Thoughts?

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by messy_bettie) Date: 2009-12-22 12:19 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public Mood: chipper Music: Lily Allen

So, one day when I was about 16, my mother and I were driving by a local duck pond that she used to take my sister and I to when we were little. The pond was currently covered in ice seeing that it was winter and all. Conversation is as follows:

Mom: Krystie, you're smart. Can I ask you something?
Me: Uh, sure.
Mom: Where do the geese go? You know, in winter?
Me: Seriously?
Mom: Yeah! Do they like, tunnel under the water and hibernate?
Me: ... Mom. They fucking fly south for winter. It's called migration.
(After about five full minutes of silence and my mother looking like she's taking a Calculus exam...)
Mom: OH YEAH! Don't tell your sister I just asked you that.

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by chelonianmobile) Date: 2009-12-19 12:59 Subject: Well, at least she knows SOME rules of the road ... Security: Public

My mother has a friend who is a police officer. Let's call her Betty. She has a daughter who we'll call Deirdre. Deirdre is learning to drive, and Betty was helping her practice, sitting in the car with her while she drove around in a deserted area, drilling her on roadsigns and suchlike.

Suddenly, a very drunk man stepped out in front of the car, bounced off the bumper, and collapsed in the road. Deirdre, however, did not stop the car. Betty yelled at her that she had to stop the car, it's illegal to leave the scene of an accident especially when there's a police officer in the car, etc ...

"I can't stop here, there's a double yellow line!"

(Luckily Betty did persuade her that stopping was ever-so-slightly more important, they went back and checked on the guy, and he wasn't hurt, because they'd been going slowly and possibly because his drunkenness dulled any pain.)

EDIT: In case people don't know, we're in the UK, where a double yellow line down the side of the road means you aren't allowed to stop your car there. So it does make a kind of sense, but ...

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by copperhamster) Date: 2009-12-23 00:05 Subject: Ultimate edition on sale. Security: Public

You can get the Final Fantasy Online Ultimate collection on Steam (steampowered.com) for $11.

That's everything, including the three add-on scenarios (which by themselves are currently like $10 each iirc)

Also it's steam so that means no more having to track down your cd/dvd to install it. On the other hand, Final Fantasy is a BIG game (~10 GB) on windows, so installation could take a while depending on the connection speed you have. On the gripping hand, some people can't stand Steam, as it has some DRM and stuff, and relies on the Valve servers to enable your logins. (I know mmo games you can generally bypass steam once the game's installed, but not sure about FFXI).

I actually know about 4 ppl interested in joining me and my buddy Gel, but I'm on Odin, where none may trespass. (they burned out on Aion already. that took all of what, 2 months?)

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by citizenbleys) Date: 2009-12-21 07:46 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

I haven't been playing much (read: more than one blm solo exp session per month) for the past year. Do people still level in camps past Yhoator Jungle anymore? Every invite I've had from levels 38-52 on my drg has been Qufim or the jungles except for one wonderful, glorious party on Colibri in ERon(S).

A lot has changed in the last year, apparently. Anyone remember skillchains? Skillup parties? People in Jeuno who aren't either bots or just passing through? Social linkshells? People doing nation missions? Promyvions? Being able to get anything done by /shout groups instead of linkshells? I miss these things.

Speaking of linkshells, both of mine disbanded while I was a non-player. I recall a time when having no shell would quite quickly get you invited to a social shell, but since those apparently don't exist anymore, people assume that lack of a shell means you've been kicked out of an endgame shell for a good reason and are therefore the antichrist.

What the hell has happened to the game I used to love?

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by sovereignffxi) Date: 2009-12-20 15:06 Subject: 45 second Kirin zerg - Ethereal LS, Diabolos Security: Public

Ethereal Linkshell of Diabolos zergs in 45 seconds from pop to kill.

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by sethimothy) Date: 2009-12-19 12:47 Subject: Strange Apparatus Woes Security: Public

I was tying up some loose ends on quests in The Eldieme Necropolis, when I decided I'd also use the Strange Apparatus there. So I go through all the legwork to drop down to Mark D on the map, which is apparently the only way to fall down into that specific area... and land into an area that, apparently, only leads way back to the very start! What gives? I'm really agitated about this; there's GOT to be something I'm missing here.

Also, for that scroll of Teleport-Mea quest "Acting in Good Faith" does anyone here know how often the question marks (???) move? Because I checked all four god-awful areas in what could only be described as an epic misadventure of incompetence and frustration, and... they weren't in any of the four areas they're supposed to be. Which means that it moved in the two hours it took me to explore them all. Now I know why I never finished this "easy" quest.

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by ericavdg) Date: 2009-12-12 13:49 Subject: What do you do with someone too dumb to be a bag boy? Security: Public

My daughter has sewing class for two hours every Saturday morning. I make use of the time by going to the nearest Safeway and doing at least part of the weekly grocery shopping. Today, soda was on sale, so I filled my cart with that and a few other things we needed and checked out. There was a guy bagging the groceries, so the checker handed my reusable shopping bags to him. We proceeded with the checkout, me staring blankly at the tabloid headlines while she scanned and then telling her how many of each kind of soda I had. Then I was busy paying. The soda went in the cart. Then the bags went in the cart, with all the groceries in disposable plastic bags inside the reusable bags.

Me: Why did you put the stuff in plastic bags? That's why I gave you reusable bags.

Bag boy: So your bags won't get dirty.

Me: That's stupid! There's nothing here that could get the bags dirty. Besides, they're washable. Why did you waste the plastic bags?

Bag boy: It's an extra service!

Me: It's stupid! The whole point of reusable bags is not to waste plastic bags!

Bag boy: (Duh expression)

I felt like punching the idiot in the mouth, but that would have upset the perfect ratio he had going between IQ points and teeth. The manager was busy actually checking out groceries, so I asked the clerk to pass on to him what had happened and how angry I was at the waste. I doubt it will do any good; this bag boy has obviously overreached the limit of his capabilities.

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by axoaxonic) Date: 2009-12-11 14:25 Subject: two kids (separately) stick tongues to frozen poles (pics, video) Security: Public

http://www.ktvb.com/community/blogs/maggie-omara/Boise-boy-who-stuck-his-tongue-to-the-pole-makes-national-news-78873887.html

'[Reporter] met up with 10-year-old Sam Nicholson after he was rescued by Boise firefighters. He was stuck for several minutes before the firefighters used a glass of water to free him from the pole. Fortunately, his tongue is A-OKAY. No damage to report!

'Amazingly, the same thing happened to a girl in Spokane yesterday!'

News is always so much better with exclamation marks.

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by dextradawn) Date: 2009-12-09 23:37 Subject: My sister is special. Security: Public

My sister Beth is a 23 year old walking ball of WTF. I love her dearly, but even she can't deny some of the insanely stupid things that come out of her mouth.

( I give you Beth, in three acts: )

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by morgaath) Date: 2009-12-09 20:38 Subject: It isn't easy being Green...when you are this stupid Security: Public

I emailed a file to a customer. They need to print 50 copies of it for an upcoming event.
I got a reply asking me to fax it to them because their company is currently trying to cut down on the amount of printing they do... It's for the environment. I can't help but wonder if they have a fax/printer/scanner so they can print out the fax, scan it, and then print 50 copies all with the same machine.

It's not the only stupid 'Green' excuse I get at work. I have a customer who has me print and FedEx them materials as their company is trying to cut down on printing as part of their 'Green Initiative'. So this person thinks transporting them by truck and jet plane halfway across the US, is better for the environment then me sending an email.

User: mock_the_stupid (posted by bloodfyr) Date: 2009-12-09 19:22 Subject: Stupid people make me angry Security: Public

Some of you may remember this entry. A couple of people asked for a followup, so this is it. Plus more stupid.

The Academic Dean finished reviewing the papers this week, and they were handed back to us today in Lab. They had us line up alphabetically, and one by one, we were called into the TA's office. He went over our grade, why we got it (a legitmate reason like, "I didn't think you fully answered the question here" or for stupid reasons like, "You cheated, dumbass."). Everyone who cheated on it received a letter from the Dean placed into their permanent file (no idea of the consequences of it, but I imagine that they look at that stuff when deciding scholarships and whatnot). The papers were also graded based on the relavance to the class in their arguments. Since the link that was passed around by people had NOTHING to do with our class, most people got Zeros.

We're watching another video in lecture tomorrow, meaning that there's going to be one last precis due next week. You'd think that the people in my class would learn their lesson after this debacle, right?

Yeahhh...no.

While lined up outside of the TA's office, someone mentioned that someone else had found information on the video online and posted it to the very same chatroom monitored by the TAs and the professor and because of that, there was no real need to actually go to the lecture and watch the video. Soon people in line were passing email addresses around, trying to get the person to send them that link. Oh...and people are talking about the link in the chatroom right now too.

EDIT - I should add that in the days since this entry was originally submitted, we had the video in class. Because the TAs knew that people were watching the video online with no plans to come to class, the precis was changed into an in-class assignment that you could only turn in IN class.

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by maryadavies) Date: 2009-12-17 15:01 Subject: A request for everyone here. Security: Public

If you didn't know, I'm a member mod on the RPGamer board.

They've been doing a Year of Final Fantasy; they're sorta skipping FFXI, but. I've gotten permission to do something so we won't be ignored completely. Next month, they're doing FF10. Alongside that, I'm going to post a FF11 spoiler thread. I'll post it here when it's up...

I'm gonna be sticking to the windy storyline (summary only) but if anyone else would like to come help, please do. Only thing I ask; read the board rules and follow them, please!. I don't want to have to remove a bunch of too big sigs, for example. RPGamer runs a very tight ship, board wise; no trolls allowed, pretty strict sig pic limit, etc. I'd rather not have to hexa strike anyone from here. ^^ (The spoiler tag rule will be relaxed for that thread and only that thread since it will be clearly marked "SPOILER!" but other than that, I will enforce the rules.)

Keep your eyes peeled; I'll have it up in a couple weeks. ^^

[Edit] since the guy who commented said "we're not welcome"..Au contrare. The goal was to get though as many Final Fantasy games as possible before FF14 came out. FF11 got cut for time reasons, and possibly since it's a MMO. Also there's at least 5 RPGamer staffers (not counting this little member mod, who isn't a true staffer) INCLUDING the webmaster, Firemyst, who have played or do play FFXI. Not welcome my butt. ^^

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by caligogreywings) Date: 2009-12-17 05:39 Subject: Well thanks SE (FFXIV beta) Security: Public

I just got my FFXIV closed beta invitation in my email box. Ok, actually it's an invitation to apply for the beta. I figured, why not give it a shot. I'm not leaving FFXI until it's quite dead, but I'm a sucker for MMOs, really.


Anyone else get theirs? I'm hoping my husband gets one too, that way at least one of us might have a chance at getting it.

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by maryadavies) Date: 2009-12-15 16:39 Subject: Guess who made gamefaqs? Security: Public Mood: proud

Neko did. :)
Text version on gamefaqs -- Shadowneko's Newbie guide

I might suggest neko put that on FFXI Wiki too; but it's been a fight since the PS2 version of FFXI came out to get this on GameFaqs. Go Neko!

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by maccom) Date: 2009-12-15 15:09 Subject: SAM tp gear...with random brd question! Security: Public

I recently won the lot on Shura pants and I'm wondering if I should be full-timing them? I don't have Byakko Haidate because 1. he's cheap and likes to horde them and 2. I've been letting the people with melee jobs as main lot ahead of me. Instead, I've been using Shinimusha pants to get my 6-hit and Dusk Gloves in the place of Hachiman Kote. If I were to fulltime Shura, I'd switch the Dusk to Hachiman to keep my 6-hit - but is the accuracy I gain worth the Haste I lose?

I'm mostly entertaining the idea because I'm about 40 accuracy under capping @ birds (and Hachiman is cheaper than Dusk + Shinimusha...).


Also, for the bards: Korin Obi > Gleeman's Belt on lightsday/light weather for Lullaby? It seems like it should be, but the only proof I can find is from people that say "Yes, it is, just because," which is a rather frustrating answer when wiki's page about it says the bonus doesn't apply to magic accuracy.

User: ffxiljcommunity (posted by ryushichick) Date: 2009-12-15 12:05 Subject: Merry Christmas, from DL. Security: Public Mood: ecstatic

( :D )