Comment from Teg
Time May 7, 2009 at 10:36 pm

8. I have a mithra mule for just this purpose lol.
9. Parsed both. Anywhere in Aht urghan WS spam is by far best xp/hr. Old skool areas about the same.
12. If you can’t handle being a healer, then don’t be a healer. I can main heal 5 DDs as Cor/Dnc at Colibri camp. I don’t see how you all have such a hard time. We xp for xp not for fun, usually :p
Bonus: Eel, Eelsauce?, rice = Awesome.

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Teg Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

As a follow up to 12. Try Cor/Dnc instead of Cor/Whm, DD & Healing with no mp burdens.

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Malacite Reply:
May 10th, 2009 at 2:47 am

1) I was in a Japanese Einherjar shell once, and it wasn’t too bad. However, I found it difficult to follow the instructions plus it was running very late for me as I live on the East Coast. However, I’m always willing to give things a shot with the Japanese players and I like to practice what little Japanese I know ^^;

2) The problem with party replacements isn’t always necessarily the fault of the person who invited them! Sometimes you just end up getting weird people, or a few people will get tired etc… as a general rule I ask in the auto-translate “everyone” “time remaining?” before looking for a rep.

3) It depends on the difficulty of the event for me. I’ll only shelve out the cash for meds if they’re absolutely needed as the point of BC’s is to profit. But then some people are just cheap and won’t buy them regardless.

4) I can see how that would be annoying, and it happens on both ends actually. I blame the translator itself personally, as it could use some more basic phrases. When in doubt I’ll ask if anyone can speak Japanese or whatever language we need.

5)A lot of NA players do Campaign from what I’ve seen. However, since the nerf participation has dropped dramatically. I still can’t fathom why SE did it, they basically killed all incentive to go on the offensive which is going to make ANNMs harder to do. Leveling is such a pain most days anyway, I really miss being able to go AFK in Eldieme and read a book while my character hits the walls for EXP. Too much of the game gives you such a little reward for your time invested.

6)Optical Hat hands-down. That thing is ugly as hell but great stats. My personal favorite set for looks would be the Hachiryu and Valor sets.

7)There’s nothing I go out of my way to get for looks, but when in town I love to parade around in my Saotome set. I also like wearing my Kingdom Signet Staff, Fancy Spectacles, Kingdom Aketon and Sprinter’s Shoes for that all red black & gold look.

Definitely.

9) Personally I miss skillchain + MB. I can still remember way back when not knowing how to skillchain resulted in an automatic kick from the party.

10) A lot of players either don’t know how or just don’t bother. Generally I’ll only add my camp location when I’m soloing on BST or BLM so people know not to disturb me.

11) Good point. It’s never really come up for me, but I do often end up dropping a surprise on people at the last minute because of the way my family is. There are some things in life you just can’t control.

12)I think if SE would just reduce the number of limit points needed for a merit (1000 would be lovely but 5000 is more likely) it wouldn’t be nearly so stressful. Most players have multiple 75’s now which just makes meriting a chore as well which is why we typically RDM + BRD + 4x DD. No one enjoys meriting (at least on Seraph) and we all just want to be done with it ASAP. Making it more laxed would help a lot.

13) I love just plain old Salmon on top of my rice with a hot cup of Miso Soup!

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Terraflarex Reply:
May 12th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

1. While I enjoy chatting with Japanese players, I would not join a JPLS because I do not speak enough Japanese to understand a majority of what is being said.

2. I’m not a fan of replacement PTs either, I typically decline replacement party invites.

3. On average, I see more Japanese players bring medicines to events than NAs. I suppose NA players are more frugal about spending gil, but you should always have basic things like echo drops and reraise etc.

4. I personally use auto translate when requested (or use the little Japanese I know) to communicate to Japanese players, but I think many NA players forget because many Japanese players know basic English or perhaps it just seems that way.

5. I play in campaign at times when I want to play solo. The fortification nerf was too harsh, in my opinion.

6. Aurum feet are very good but look terrible, aurum body is pretty good as well but looks bad too. Hachiyru body and legs look great.

7. I think kyudogi looks like a great piece of casual gear.

8. Maybe some players do, lol…..

12. 5 melee 1mage PTs are really not good, I don’t know why so many people think that they are.

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Comment from Cookies
Time May 7, 2009 at 10:41 pm

1. I’d prefer to be in an English speaking social shell but if I could speak some Japanese or the Japanese players could speak some English it would be fine.

2. When replacing members of a party I always choose suitable jobs and notify said replacement if the party plans to disband. This varies depending on the person of course; I’ve had parties where the leader has just disbanded when getting their level – not everyone is like that.

3. If the BC is moderately difficult i’ll always stock up on items but if the items are not necessary i’ll just bring Reraise. I’ve had experiences where JP players haven’t brought items needed for hard BCNMs (like COP missions for instance).

4. I can’t comment for other people but generally when inviting JP players i’ll use a little bit of Japanese from http://shigemo.com/FFXI/nihongo_guide.html to explain the battle planning. If not I use auto-translate.

5. I’ve done a fair bit of campaign and while it isn’t my favourite event it’s decent for gaining experience. I think the nerf to fortifications was a bit harsh really, i’ve stopped going to beastmen owned areas altogether.

6. I think the errant set has some really amazing stats but looks absolutely horrible. The new ZNM sets (Oracle/Aurum) also have some really good stats but they look terrible.

I think my favourite item set for graphics would have to be either Ares or Usukane. I love the models of Duelist’s Chapeau and Dalmatica aswell though.

7. I don’t really obtain gear for looks, i’ll usually only get pieces of gear that i’ll actually use. When i’m in town though (Aht Urghan Whitegate for instance) and not doing anything i’ll wear whatever I have with me that looks the best.

8. No. Those people sound a little pervy.

9. Melee burns are the best by far. The best party setup i’ve had was relic DRK/relic SAM/THF/BRD/BRD/RDM. We were getting approximately 35,000~ limit points per hour.

10. I used to put where I was camping in my search comment but often players would completely ignore it and try to steal my camp. Sometimes if i’m leveling a new job i’ll set a search comment with any relevant information (areas I can exp, tnl, subjobs, if I have food, etc). Other than that I don’t really join exp parties anymore, I prefer Campaign and soloing.

11. I’ll usually tell the party leader 30 minutes before I have to leave. Sometimes though if the party is really bad I prefer to avoid an argument with people so I fake disconnect instead. I’ve had people harass me for leaving their party when it’s bad (i’m talking 3,000 exp per hour).

12. My main job (and the only job I play) is Red Mage. I personally hate slow paced parties when solo healing. I prefer the DDs to sub SAM or WAR depending on the job as it means i’ll be busier.

However, good DDs will utilise Seigan and -physical damage % sets when they have hate. The damage down sets really do make a big difference and show respect to healers. If the DDs are bad and don’t use Seigan and damage sets it can become a headache.

As for the party setup, I refuse to join a party unless it has at least one BRD or COR. If i’m not getting more than 15k per hour it really isn’t worth my time, not to mention it’s a lot harder to keep up MP without Ballads or Evoker’s roll.

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Comment from Adam
Time May 7, 2009 at 10:42 pm

1. I myself am a member of a French social shell, and the main reason I joined it was to improve my language skills. I think that other players share the same view as me, and would relish the chance to be able to converse in a social environment with native speakers. They may not understand every joke, but most humor transcends language.
2.
3. It depends on the player, really. I’m slightly obsessive and carry around Echo Drops, Food, Yagudo Drink, Ether, Reraise Earring, 6 teleport items, Remedies with me at all times. Others don’t bother, sometimes because they can’t afford it, or because they are lazy.
4.
5. Too many people do it now to be honest, it’s difficult to get a monster with only a few people on it. The nerf makes sense, but it makes me sad at the same time, because I’m going to have to actually put some effort into capping my Great Katana Skill.
6. Mahatma slops and Hagun. Look ugly as anything, but the stats are nice. As for best graphics, any of the “Blue” weapons, like Joyeuse or Onimaru, I think they look great. Is there some sort of reference to Japanese culture there for them being blue? Oh, and can’t forget, RDM AF/AF2 ^_^
7. Yes! I hate looking like I’ve bought my gear at a rummage sale, so I have a set of what the NA players call “Town Gear”. Just contains a set that I think looks nice.
8. My Female toons Opaline dress says yes
9. Sadly, weaponskill spam in most situations. Obviously if you’re fighting puddings or skeletons, then SC+MB will win over, but with so many piercing weak/magic resistant monsters at popular camps, WS spam will win.
10. Some do, some don’t. If they don’t, it’s either lazyness or ignorance of how the seacom system works. Those that do use it tend to have search comments for everything.
11. Again, some people do, others don’t, because of laziness or ignorance. Personally I give an approximate time at the start of the party, then a 30 minute, and a 10 minute reminder.
12. A lot of NA players are very fond of crunching the numbers, and while it is harder on the healer, it does result in better XP. I main heal in merit parties quite often, and I don’t mind the extra work so long as it means I can stop meriting and go do something fun faster.

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Comment from Meilin
Time May 7, 2009 at 10:49 pm

1 – None of my English speaking friends show interest in joining a JP shell, but we have 3 JP in our shell trying to further their English. Maybe its the same thinking?

2 – I’ve never had trouble with cycling members. Life happens, I’ll just try to prolong my partying experience.

3 – Sometimes I think NA’s are used to other games where bringing medicines are never even thought of, or they are just too cheap/lazy. Many don’t bring a thing unless told. As a mage, I always keep a stack of Echo drops and a spare RR earring on hand, but Ethers clog up my inventory and tanks are bulky to use (Though, the Mog Satchel is fixing this problem). If you think it would be a good idea to bring meds, tell us.

4 – I’ve never had this happen. If I am with any foreign-language members I always auto translate.

5 – I love campaign. I know my entire linkshell loves campaign. Its good for fixing my buffer or waiting out downtime between parties… the fortification nerf is awful.. Lowering the exp was probably needed, since afk smacking a wall for 2k exp was.. cheating? but.. now it completely sucks.

6 – Errant Gear, OHat.. good stats, horrid looks. Best looks goes to the BST lv.70 JSE

7 – Nation Aketons are pretty nice for running around town with, along with the shiny Tidal Talisman.. I admit, I bought it for the looks. Walking around with Morgenstern (Naja’s mace) makes me feel a little like Naja herself. I’m also doing MMM for that silly Club Hammer now. It looks squeeky!

8 – I have a friend obsessed with dressing his mithra. I guess they really do like dressing their kitties up.

9 – Yes, our windower (3rd party) has a tool that lets us calculate exp/hr. I guess WS spam parties are good for quick exp, since mobs have super low HP/Def.

10 – Its become more of a trend lately to put camps in your search comment when soloing, but not important things when LFG. I guess were just lazy. I’m guilty of not putting camps up in my search too, Sorry!

11 – ….I don’t know o.o;

12 – I hate merit parties when its 5 DDs and me (WHM or RDM)! I usually get asked to leave because I run out of MP trying to cure/haste everyone! Wanting to have a nice, relaxing party is fine, but sometimes alot of us (NA/EU) share the same mentality. A party where people know their jobs is better then a half-assed party. Shutting us down with JP ONLY can sometimes mean no party, and if no JP will invite me solely because I speak English, no party for me. /cry.
—
There are NA players who think they are the one special golden god-child and that the rest of Vana’diel should kiss their all powerful feet, and then there are players like me who really enjoy the game and do what they do well. Finding the good players are out there, and I hope people will look for and invite the good ones so we can all be successful! ^^)v

….I like Tuna sushi (Am I very charismatic? Hehehe..) the best. Its rather plain, just Tuna and rice, but its very delicious to me.

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Comment from Kurai
Time May 7, 2009 at 10:52 pm

1. I don’t have much interest in joining a Japanese linkshell. The cultural exchange would be a great experience but I don’t know the language well enough, and would likely struggle to keep up.

2. The belief is that rather then having to disband a party when someone has to go, replacing them should allow the party to function longer so there’s less downtime for those members when getting experience points. While it doesn’t always work out, which is disappointing to everyone, it can allow for long sessions for experience points/merit points when it does.

3. They’re probably too cheap to. I always try to bring basic medicines and potions. I also make sure to plan out the fight with good party/job setups so most of those items shouldn’t even be necessary.

4. I don’t often make parties using /shout, but they probably do want to get as many possible people into their group so they use the auto-translate function. I don’t know why they wouldn’t use it during the party though. Sounds like they’re just lazy.

5. I used to do a lot of campaign but I don’t have the time to anymore. The fortification nerf to me just means that less people will be doing the offensive campaigns. I rarely see more then a handful of players doing offensive campaigns.

6. The Walahra turban and the Optical Hat have pretty good stats, but they’re really ugly. I really like the Samurai Relic from Dynamis, I think it looks great, shame the stats on most of it is no good though.

7. Sounds to me they’re more interested in your gear for the stats, unless the gear you were wearing, were only show pieces to begin with.

8. Everyone I know, myself included calculate XP/hour for parties. I believe Weaponskill spam (TP Burns) produce the best results. I miss the skillchains and magic bursts, but the timing involved to make them work take too long, and in the amount of time it takes to get a skillchain and magic burst off, you could potentially already move onto the next monster. Though I’m sure this is dependent on what you’re fighting, not to mention it’s rare to find and invite a Black Mage to a merit party now.

9. The person who lost the monster they wanted is probably frustrated and angry, they probably figure that /check is disliked by JP Players and use it over and over. There are bad players regardless of if they’re NA, EU or JP you just happened to run into one. Though if you somehow stole their monster, maybe you deserve it.

10. I always use the search comment as best I can, though I will admit that I don’t always remember to set it when I have a camp. It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when partying. Though for some reason I always make sure my search comment is set when I’m seeking party.

11. Sometimes things happen unexpectedly, I’m the kind of player that tries to let people know 30-60 minutes in advance of when I need to leave for anything.

12. I believe that 4 DDs + 2 Support jobs like COR, RDM or BRD to often be the best. If the party is good, and the players are focused, they should be able to avoid taking damage altogether, thus minimizing the healing required. I suppose the belief with having 5 DDs and a single healer would be that the monster should be dead quickly not requiring any heals whatsoever.

Decent XP is fine, but a lot of players would rather go for Amazing XP reaching upwards of 30k/hour and probably more. Aggressive party setups and mechanics will yield better exp, and while I’m sure the role of the healer my become burdened (Please forgive us) they’ll probably find it worth it with the faster XP gain.

What type of Sushi do you like best?
Unagi roll’s (Freshwater Eel)) and Sake roll’s (Salmon) are my favourite. I’ll try anything though and find most types of Sushi to be agreeable with my tastebuds.

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Kurai Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 12:55 am

Eh, guess my number 9 no longer applies and i need a new number 7.

7. I don’t go out of my way for any specific fashionable pieces except the Dandy Spectacles, I don’t have any goldsmithing or blacksmithing craft skill to get those sunglasses, but I got the Dandy Spectacles from the previous event and I like the way they look. I just idle in whatever gear I have that looks cool.

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Comment from Tykkaru
Time May 7, 2009 at 10:58 pm

Hihi!Here’s my answers to the JP questions!

1. I haven’t had any interests in joining a JP Shell, but I have been in a Dyna shell after being recruited by a JP bilingual player. It was also the only way for me to join dynamis, since I’m EU and played with an US import version of the game.
I think that there’s no harm in letting them join, if they understand the question, that’s their own problem. Perhaps they just want a chance to improve their japanese?

2) I agree that often replacements are ineffective way, if someone is leaving then you should just disband. When I lead, and someone has to lead, I usually ask everyone {Party}{Stay}{Time remaining?} and if everyone can stay for more than 2hours, I usually just replace them with the same functioning job.

3) As a mage, I usually bring a restorative (ethers/elixirs) medicine to Missions, but I wouldn’t be expected to bring any Potions as a melee. I have never been in an instance where bringing restorative medicine would’ve mattered.

4) Pick-up parties for exp/merit/Nyzul Isle PT, I usually assume that the player knows how to play the job well. Pick-up parties for missions/quests I usually will give a quick explanation with Auto-translation and simple English words.

5) I don’t do do campaign…

6) The Redingote looks great on Tarutarus only.
I’m a great fan of the Valhalla Helm on Tarutarus!

7) On my tarutaru: Goblin Coif (from a good friend back on Phoenix) with Shadow Coat, Choral Cuffs, Choral Cannions and Oracle’s Pigaches. That’s my usual City wear.

Mithra tales makes me dizzy…

9) I don’t parse damage, but my friend does. It’s well-known that weapon skill spam gives best exp/time and damage/time

10) I do all those things!

11) I do alert at the start of time. Usually I need to convert the time to JP time if I’m in a JP party… and I always mix up summer time…

12) I can understand that way of thinking, but what annoys me is when I’m invited to a PT in japanese, and I reply, the only response from them is “JP only!”…

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Tykkaru Reply:
May 7th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

Oh, I forgot the bonus question!

I like all kinds of sushi! Usually I diversify as much as possible, the ones I enjoy eating the mosts though are the ones with avocado and the ones with tofu.

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Comment from roxya
Time May 7, 2009 at 11:01 pm

1. I don’t know anyone who can’t understand Japanese that wants to join a Japanese LS. So, no.

2. At least when you’re in ToA, replacements slot right in and the PT doesn’t even skip a beat. Inappropriate jobs being invited is a separate issue to replacements, and it just depends on your leader. In the end, if we want xp, isn’t it better to keep going instead of disbanding?

3. Those kind of people annoy us too, but it isn’t limited to us foreigners.

4. People use the auto-translate too much when it isn’t appropriate — often I see /shouts that don’t make much sense to either EN or JP players. But generally in XP we don’t do much ‘battle planning’ — we know our jobs.

5. I don’t play in NA prime time (I’m EU), but I think it’s more popular for Japanese players. The fortifications nerf was not needed. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was a bigger chance of a defending unit to appear, but you could be waiting 30 minutes and more and never see an enemy.

6. I dislike most of the ToA armour looks, and Royal Redingote is horrible. COR AF2 is sexy.

7. No.

8. lol….. no. I hope not.

9. TP burn all the way.

10. See my answer to #3.

11. See my answer to #10.

12. I’m a RDM. If I can feasibly keep everyone alive, hasted, and apply any enfeebles I should be using, then I don’t care if it’s difficult. Why should 5 other people get less XP just because I want to relax?

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Comment from Tuufless
Time May 7, 2009 at 11:10 pm

I’ll reply here, since it’s accessible:

1. I was personally interested in joining a Japanese linkshell, if only because it allowed me to keep in touch with my Japanese language.

That being said, you are right in saying that even if foreigners did study Japanese, we wouldn’t get all the pop-culture references. However, that applies to any foreign language student that’s trying to take his language skills to everyday conversation.

Now that I am in a Japanese linkshell and I understand most of what’s going on, I get headaches after a while, and will switch into an English linkshell to relax. I assume most Japanese feel the same way too when put into an English environment.

2. Ah, I was wondering when this question would get asked. ^^

I am personally not a fan of “replacement parties,” though I understand why some would do it. To some, they might think why they have to stop the xp party just because one person has to go, so they find someone to replace the leaving member and keep the party going for those that want to stay.

Unfortunately, what happens a lot of the time is that people get tired around roughly the same time, so one person leaving usually leads to a chain of other people leaving as well.

3. From my observation, it’s accepted here that everyone has food and Reraise, while mages have Echo Drops in addition. I generally would not expect anything else, and if I really wanted Hi-Potions, Yagudo Drinks or something else, I’d specifically mention it in party chat before setting off.

4. Interesting point. I wasn’t aware full auto-translate shouts were even effective in recruiting Japanese players!

Sorry I can’t really help out here- personally, if I’m doing a mission and have both English and Japanese players, I explain what’s going on twice- once in English and once again in Japanese.

5. I don’t do campaign, unfortunately, so I can’t comment here either.

6. Ugly: Zenith Mitts! The green gloves are sooo ugly!

Pretty: I personally love seeing all the classic FF costumes, so I love AF. In fact, my first job was WHM just because in my newbie days as a BLM08, a taru WHM rode past me on a chocobo, and I saw his Healer’s Briault, and I thought to myself, “I _must_ have that!” I was so disappointed when I found you couldn’t buy a briault off the AH. T_T

7. My Goldsmithing equipment. In town, I walk around in my Goldsmith’s Apron, Shaded Spectacles and a Vulcan’s Staff. I really wish I could get my hands on a Nomad Moogle cap though. T_T

8. I’m not a Mithra, so I can’t comment. TARUTARU FOR LIFE!

9. I think it’s been quite conclusively shown that weaponskill spam parties bring in the highest xp/hr rates, especially in merit parties. That being said, don’t neglect the power of a skillchain, but skillchains now are things that are done when the opportunity arises, rather than being something you’d plan a party’s strategies around.

10. Yes, this has been frustrating me too. Most of the time though, I’m only really concerned with what camps are taken, so I can figure out where to go, or whether to even start forming a party in the first place.

As for subjobs, it’s rare that I specifically want a certain subjob (although I have been asked to merit as WHM/DRK before) and as for areas, unless the camp is really somewhere that people might not be able to get to (like [S] regions when WotG just came out), I’ve found it a same assumption that people can go to camp, so I don’t bother looking at those in search comments, nor do I see how excluding those comments would affect your party invites.

11. I have no idea- this is not something I practice, although I have been the victim of such things before. If anything, I’d say this is a rather unfair generalization.

12. I agree that the difference in merit parties might just come down to mentality. Personally, if I join a merit party, I want the fastest xp/hr rate, which means I expect to be pushed to my limits, mage or melee. I don’t expect it to be relaxing at all. I am there for merits first and foremost. If I really wanted to relax and get some xp at the same time, I’d party with friends exclusively, where the aim is more on socializing than getting merit points.

That being said, where’d the 5 DD and 1 RDM come from? I’ve never seen that formula around.

B: Salmon! My host family in Japan were laughing at me because I love salmon, but don’t really like tuna. I hear salmon is really cheap while tuna is expensive in Japan, so my host parents were happy, too.

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Comment from razorcat
Time May 7, 2009 at 11:20 pm

1. I would if I could read japanese.
2. I do not like that as well. However replacing PT members is sometimes a necessity in order to keep camps. Its usually a key job (healer, brd or cor) who doesn’t announce “they need to leave” that affects the PT. In my experience, I’ve seen both JPs and NAs that suddenly announce they have to leave.
3. Because NAs falsely believe the fight will be easy.
4. Sometimes tactics are hard to convey using only auto translate.
5. Fortification nerf is good. It gets tiring to see countless people hitting a wall and going AFK (eldieme necropolis). People complain because they want to get something (XP) while doing something easy.
6. No comment. I wish everything looked good on hume male as they did on a mithra.
7. No
8. Mithras are cute and sexy~!
9. Skillchain/MB type parties are limited by MP consumption. TP accumulation is very fast but MP usage cannot keep up with the TP gain. A melee DD can gain 100TP as quick as 30-50s. If there is no WS at 100 TP, then anything over 100TP becomes “wasted” potential damage in the subsequent WS.
The problem with skillchain/MB method is that there is alot of “waiting” involved which lowers damage rate. Waiting for MB, TP becomes “wasted” because not every melee will gain TP at the same rate. Furthermore, some mobs could be killed with just WS usage so people will have to hold TP (again wasted damage potential). Assuming WS does not kill the monster, casting magic for MB consumes MP and a BLM can only do so many MBs before running out of MP.
So essentially the waiting and wasted damage potential a DD has when he is required to hold TP makes skillchain/MB not as good.
10. If people don’t care enough to write a comment, they don’t care enough to get a party invite. Camp location usually should be written when its something good like Nyzul Bird Camp. Any where else people don’t seem to care. What would be a “proper” search comment? How would I convey that have Crit 4/4. STR 5/5. H2H 8/8 etc etc. Do JPs understand crit 4/4 = max critical damage merits?
11. Because people are greedy and don’t consider other people when they want to do something that involves people.
12. 5 dd + healer isn’t that great. 4 dd + healer + brd or cor is better. However sometimes there are no brd or cor seeking which is why people resort to such PT setups. I do agree that SJ choice should reflect what the PT setup is like. However, there are many times that one DD/nin is just much more powerful than the other DDs that they end up being the only tank… ie no other DD can share hate with them. So in actuality, its the DD that is the problem and not the PT setup which makes the PT bad.

13. Hamachi, sake, maguro for nigiri. I sometimes would like to try toro but its always very expensive.

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Comment from jeyman
Time May 7, 2009 at 11:34 pm

>.> you ninja edited a Q in and took one out!

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Elmer the Pointy Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 12:27 am

I took out the extra cranky one. Submitters thought it didn’t represent their overall opinion and was just an angry person venting.

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Comment from Trotsky
Time May 7, 2009 at 11:46 pm

1. I know several people (non-JP, that is) eho are in social JP shells. Got no idea what their reasons for joining were. As for me, it would be probably be a fun thing, but alas, I’m absolute zero at japanese.
2. Whether it’s bad or good thing depends on which side are you on: are you in the party getting replacement or are you the one replacing someone. If latter, then sucks to be you. I usually try to avoid joining parties that have already been going on for god knows how long, although at times when invites are sparce, it may be the only way to get at least a bit of EXP.
3. «Many» is a very vague definition. Competent endgame linkshells require their members to bring items like reraisers, poison potion, etc for events where anything of this stuff may be required. Can’t vouch for any non-JP player out there, of course.
4. If people aren’t using auto-translator, then it’s most likely just a small chit-chat, which is impossible and totally unnecessary to convey using in-game terms. I’m not sure you’d want to read it anyways, NA’s talk is often meaningless and silly (I’m not NA).
5. It’s fun to do every once in a while. A rare activity where you’re not required to participate with a lot of people for a long amount of time. Regarding fortification – no idea, wasn’t paying attention to that.
6. I can’t say that anything of the game’s wardrode looks especially ugly. As for graphics, all the recently added stuff (salvage sets, etc.) looks awesome. Very stylish and detailed.
7. Corsair’s AF – even though some of the parts are completely useless, they just look so damn cool. Aside from that – no, nothing i’d wear solely for looks (festival gear included).
8. Unfortunaly, quite a few grown-up people still haven’t gotten over dressing up dolls. So there you have it.
9. Skillchains/magic bursts are important when fighting some tough foes where every bit of damage counts. In XP party – it’s nice when it happens, but it’s not important at all.
10. Most people are lazy. Sadly, japanese are not exception – while leveling BLM, I often stumbled upon players that didn’t specify which camp they were in. Or did it entirely in japanese, which didn’t help much, obviously.
11. Competent people foresee every possibility and plan their actions accordingly, but, alas, not a lot of people are. And of course there’s laziness, again.
12. Being RDM in countless merit parties myself, I am angered to no end by people who don’t sub NIN and just go all out to brag about their big-ass damage to their mates later on. These jerks are the reason I only merit with friends and LS comrades nowadays.

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Comment from Stun
Time May 7, 2009 at 11:51 pm

1.) I would want to join a social Linkshell that speaks different languages so that I may practice my language. I feel that to learn a language you must also learn pop-culture and references that may be used in normal conversations. But I feel learning the culture and etiquette is more important first before learning pop-references.

2.) I feel that everyone has a different play style concerning “cycling” of members. I am more a type that wants to play a set 2-3 hours. I feel bad when we do a cycling and we get a replacement only to disband.

As for inappropriate jobs, it depends on what is meant as ‘no longer function well’ Getting a melee to replace a mage would be completely inappropriate and shows the lack of leadership, knowledge or insight of leader/players in the group.

3.) I always carry Reraise Hairpin/Earrings on me. A lot of times if I do not prepare for a BCNM unless I know for sure I need to get it done at a certain time/day. Most of the time they are /shout groups that I join last minute and players are impatient to start. Also, I feel that the difficulty for a lot of the BCNM’s do not require potions/vile elixers.

4.) For shouts being used as auto-translate and not being used in party is just lack of etiquette and common sense of the players. When I feel that it will be a mixed JP/EN party, I’ll try to use autotranslate and not be ‘creative’ and use bad translations such as [may][bee].

5.) I Campaign quite often, either to recap jobs at 75 or level jobs that rarely get invites. I did not really know about the Fortification Nerf.

6.) Great stats for its level would be Scorpion Harness, but it looks horrible
I like the way Usukane and Are’s looks. I wish they made Darkknight AF or Relic look more like Kain’s in FFIV.

I think the white coat from ACP looks horrible and Moriggan’s Set looks awful too.

7.) There are many people that wear other equipment for “town” gear to show off. I usually do not bother with this.

8.) I think male players do enjoy to dress up their characters (hence answer to number 7) people with town gear. I play a female character just because I don’t want to watch something not pretty on the screen all day long.

9.) I think with today’s XP parties and the release of TOAU, this made Skillchains and Magic Burst not useful. I do not parse myself, but I think at “older” camps this was best and players who did not know how to Skillchain properly were seen as lacking skill. Nowadays it is common to see players just use their TP as soon as possible, but I feel it creates lack of skill besides the normal sense of using ‘brute force.’ I feel that people are too worried about numbers sometimes and forget to have fun. But at the same time it is frustrating to get lower XP/HR than older camps (I believe on average it used to be around 5k/hr) or negative when TOAU mobs are a lot easier to kill.

10.) I always use search comment and use auto-translate on it. I’ll have something like Level Sync: O and World: O I always forget to put where my camp is unfortunately. I feel that even if I put a seek comment is does not make a difference for some jobs, for example I rarely get invites on my Thf even with comments.

11.) If I know I’m going to be busy and have limited time, I either do not seek for a party or I alert the leader in party chat.

12.) I usually play Corsair or Bard so merit parties for me always pulling or always buffing is a bit boring. The reason I do not want to play a mage is because of the way Merit parties are structured now. I always see people who will bring 5 DD’s 1 RDM and an outside healer now for Merit parties. Or 3 DD’s 1 Bard 1 Corsair 1RDM or 2 DD’s 1Brd 2Cor 1Mage + 1 Outside healer. I think many people are not aware or do not care about the difference in play styles (or just plain disrespectful and think they’re way is the only way). I feel it is more a way to have 5 lazy players and 1 Hard working player in a party (the mage).

13.) I like eating Tuna sushi, not so much in game.

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Comment from Fretion
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:10 am

1) If my Japanese language skills ever get to the point that I can actually understand a good part of what’s being said in party chat when I’m in a Japanese or mixed party, then, yes, I would be very interested in joining a Japanese linkshell. I think it would be beneficial to my learning to get that extra immersion.

2) Personally, I can’t stand parties that get replacements, especially when they expect the person who’s leaving to find the replacement. I also now refuse to accept an invite to a party when they’re already at camp. I’ve been called to be the replacement too many times, only to arrive and have the party disband.

I understand the reasoning, since the NA region covers several time zones, and my preferred logout time 10:30 Eastern, is the same time that many on the West coast are just starting to log in. However, I don’t like it.

I have long sought a group of players to party with who play at the same time as I do.

3) I’ve never kept stuff like that on hand, so if I were invited to go as part of a pickup group, I wouldn’t have them. However, for a planned event, I would have items appropriate for the job I was going as for that B/C or Mission.

4) That happening is just wrong.

5) I haven’t really done Campaigns recently … so I’m not sure what this nerf is. If you’re talking about the no skillups even w/o tags, I think that the fact that you don’t get skillups in Campaign battles is just wrong in the first place. Being able to get skillups, especially on defensive skills, would make Campaign a LOT more attractive to me. As it is now, I avoid Campaign Battles for anything except Merit Points because of the lack of skillups.

6) I think the Optical Hat is one of the ugliest pieces of equipment in the game, and only wear it for the stats. I love the look of the Raven Beret.

7) No.

Yes.

9) No, I don’t. As a matter of fact, I find the super high Exp/hr parties boring, and not fun. I much prefer a party that uses magic bursts, and tries different things. Yeah, sometimes you get really crappy Exp doing that, however I usually have a LOT more FUN in a party that’s way outside the normal party makeup. I play this game to have fun, not grind as much Exp as I can, as quickly as I can, that’s work, not fun.

10) I generally put as much information into my search comments as I can. On the rare occasions where I’m building a party, people with search comments get priority over people LFG w/o comments.

11) I’ve never done this. I have had an emergency come up, but I’ve never been LFG when I didn’t have at least 2 hours to party. However, I feel perfectly justified in leaving if we’ve BEEN at camp for 2 hours or more. I have also left a party that I accepted an invite to, which we then stood around in Jeuno for an hour or more looking for other members.

I have personally noticed, however, that people tend to SAY they’ve got plans, or are busy, when a party doesn’t seem to go perfect right away.

12) This is actually the main reason I normally PREFER a Japanese party. At one point in my FF XI life I ONLY looked for parties on Saturday and Sunday mornings, specifically to be invited to Japanese parties, and it was because I play this game to have FUN! I’m not all that concerned with getting huge numbers for Exp/hr.

Frankly, when I play, I am “looking to sit back, relax, and earn some decent XP” too. I have a stressful job. I play FF XI online to relieve that stress, not add to it. If this game ever becomes stressful like work, I’ll quit.

Favorite Sushi: Spicy Tuna FTW!

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Comment from Calintzpso
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:10 am

1. As a child I’ve always loved the Japanese culture, I wish there was no language barrier. I would like a daily challenge to try working with a JP linkshell, it would help me understand more phrases and words. Diligence is my goal! ^.^

I would have to say the reason many people wish to join a JP linkshell would have to be the experience behind it. At least that is my reason.

Another common conception NA’s have would be a JP linkshell seems more organized then an NA’s linkshell. There is more respect shown to individuals, which I agree. A sense of honor that NA linkshells seem to throw out the door once they turn endgame.

2. Whenever I call for a replacement in a party, I make sure to let the whole party know. I even ask if everyone will be staying for long. If a different job is available, I ask the leader or other members in the party if they know someone who would like to join. In the last ditch effort, I would ask everyone’s opinion of that different job to make sure I do not destroy the party’s future functionality. Even after this is all done, I wait until the replacement is in target range and that my party is finishing a chain to disband.

However I am only a minority in this action. Many people show no respect and could not care. They see this game and everyone in it, as expendable, never caring that there are other people playing with them.

3. My explanation would have to be the generic conservatism that NA’s do. We tend to try and horde our money for some radical dreams like relic, mythic, and other useless trinkets that we most likely will not get on our child allowance. Chuck it up to being Lazy, and a form of living from paycheck to paycheck in our gil income of the game. I can’t remember that last time I actually went out and farmed, I think I’m just living between gil I get from Bahamut fights and Sheep’s in ant lion clothing Bc.

We think in a way of being lucky, or cocky; believe we will be fine without the medicines and potions. I at least bring the basics like echo drops, eye drops, antidotes, poison potions, etc. I don’t always carry Hi-Potions and Elixirs. I do bring reraise and refresh drinks(for my summoner when no red mage, or available refresh from the red mage).

4. We look for any help at all in a auto translate shout. Some of us will try to use it even after the party is formed. But it still comes down to a fact that the Auto Translate system is severely flawed. Some of us do not know the extent in which we can use it, some of us feel limited so we throw it away and hope actions will speak when trying to get the pick up party’s objective done. I really wish Square Enix would give us access to the IME system for NA users. Combined with the Auto Translate function, I might just be able to say what I need to say without feeling limited from the auto translate function.

5. Being what I call a Pet job nut, Nearly every Summoner, Beastmaster, Dragoon and Puppetmaster I know does Campaign. A lot! I myself am nearing a million points, but I keep blowing it on iron ram shields to NPC for gil ;_; Wish Square Enix would add another rank finally.

The recent Nerf has crippled the participation of people. Even if they went away well auto attacking the fortifications, their damage still helped us win, or kept back the beastmen forces advances into other zones. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the regions become beastmen controlled other then one zone outside the cities. Even then that would be the effort of the NPC’s then participants. I agreed with them when they Nerfed the Fortifications, but not this badly. Maybe make the attack points move around the tower(requiring engaging again and hunting down where it moved to) would have worked more then capping the EXP to 20 every 15 minutes.

6. Heres a fun one for kicks.

Hecatomb gear looks nice, but has one horrible part. The bunny necklace on the chest, its Bunny-Tomb gear! Some say its a playboy bunny necklace! Lol.

But seriously,
The recent new expansions gear is a good example of stats and looks.

The Mirke Wardecors body looks nice and has good base stats.
The Nuevo Coselete has good starting stats, but that extra shield has got to go, ugly!
The Royal Redingote good starting stats but those coat tails, eww. Looks like someone wearing it got half sucked into a black hole. Its colors look disgusting as well. I would rather have the Talismans colors then its current color.

7. (Mithra) (Equipment) (Can I have it?) It can be cute to dress up your Mithra in a cute outfit, as well as possibly criminal. Dang my furry Fetish!

8. I tend to notice a nice XP/Hr result when members do not overlap there weapon skills. Skill chaining becomes more of a bonus. To much time is wasted waiting to set up a skill chain. As long as two members do not use weapon skills when the monsters hp is low causing the second one going to only take the last 1%, spamming is fine and effective.

9. Some people can be very hateful. It tends to be a common occurrence in a monster camping environment, I also think this is one of the main causes of conflicts and drama in endgame. They try to be as predigest as they can to discourage any competition. This isn’t just a cross cultural thing, NA’s do this to other NA’s constantly. As long as you know you didn’t do anything wrong, just ignore them. Think of them as bully’s. They want a reaction to thrive on. Don’t give it to them.

10. A lot of these traditions were once upheld, but over time they slowly faded away. I still use my search comment, maybe its because I’m a beastmaster and I hate being disturbed or over camped.

But along with the tradition of setting the comments, I have seen the tradition of upholding it fade too. Even with it up I get people setting up in my camp. It gives me justification to my claim and I say something to them but because the tradition has died, there seems to be no care regardless to what I say or do. So I just move to a new spot. I really wish these things would become a standard again. I’ll keep putting mine up though. Someone is bound to read it and respect it.

11. I would say Poor management of our time. We think we can multi-task but end up messing it up. Sometimes we don’t even know, something just comes up but we don’t want to lose our spot in the party so we work through it. Its never really intentional.

After a party is formed I tend to tell everyone to get your food, drinks, go to the bathroom before we head out. I hate after the first kill, someone needs to use the bathroom scenario.

12. A lot of people feel rejected or insulted when the comment of JP only is said for a party or merit party. I think this is due to the misunderstanding of how you use it. Simular how NA’s use (Sky) and (Sea) for the Zilart and Promathia areas. Its a term that has been coined but still must be explained or taught to others. However these Auto Translate words show a near visual explanation of what we use them for. The problem with the JP only term is that its visual explanation to NA’s seems to be way off, almost insulting.

One way to lower the burden or attitude of people when JP only is used would be to educate the NA population of its correct interpretation. Elmer is going to great lengths to help us with this and we really are thankful for that, but many people still don’t know of Elmer or his website.

Many players are willing to play with JP parties, willing to adjust their play style. It would be a new experience for them. I’m more then willing to sub job Ninja on my Dragoon even thought I hate not having Hasso and Meditate from Samurai sub job. If it gets me a party, I’m happy, even more if it teaches me a new view from being a cookie cutter Dragoon.

If it comes down to using a new term for “Compromise” in JP/EN acceptance parties, we should look towards the Auto Translate function. Otherwise I say we call them “Elmer” Parties! ^.^

For fun, a Search Comment…

Dragoon75/Samurai37
(Sub): NIN SAM WHM RDM WAR
(Area): All (Language): Any
(Party): Elmer

^.^

「あなたの好きな寿司ネタは?」

Hmm. I don’t know the type I like. But I was at a party once with some friends and they had some ordered from a local bar. I took a taste and actually liked it a bit, probably an acquired taste over time. I normally hate seafood really bad, but I had no problem eating it. Wish I got the name of it.

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Comment from BeeMan
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:12 am

6b./7.Otokogimi Yukata ^^ – always keep it with me for in town and/or waiting for party members.
Bonus: Tuna and rice

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Comment from Calintzpso
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:18 am

Post got updated a bit so my questions are out of order I think now heres to correct it.

Remove my original #9, Move my #8 to #9, and #7 to #8.

My #7 answer would be…

Beastmaster, Near full Monster set with Bison Pants. I like looking like a wild man. :p

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Comment from Isiolia
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:19 am

1. As a whole, I don’t believe there’s a lot of interest. Personally, I don’t know anyone who has expressed the desire to be part of a non-English-speaking LS. There are, of course, those obsessed with Japanese culture, or perhaps people just looking for something new. So I can see perhaps a minority that would be interested, for various reasons. As a general trend, not really.

2. It annoys me as well, and I know it annoys a number of other NA players. Actually, a while back, this was part of the reason I started leveling BST.
I find it somewhat situational, like, if we’ve only been at camp for 15-20 minutes then fine. In general, I’d prefer to break as a group though, outside of extreme cases.

3. HP/MP restore items I only think to bring if I know the strategy calls for them, since most of the time they’re unnecessary.
Hard to say, level of preparedness varies. I can’t see why some people don’t have basics like Echo Drops or Antidotes on them either. Prior to the Mog Satchel, I can honestly say I didn’t have the space for too many meds, but I’ve expanded what I carry now due to that.

4. Hard for me to say, since I rarely do /shout groups. My general impression is that people use auto-translate in shouts more than they perhaps need to or should. I agree though, if the shout is in auto-translate, then the leader should be willing to follow-up with organizing strategy using it.

5. I do Campaign occasionally, mostly just to maintain rank. It hasn’t especially appealed to me, though I know players who enjoy it more. We have players who pretty much just XP through it too.
The Fortification nerf was poorly thought out. I can understand the desire to not have AFK XP, but players also need motivation to participate. It wasn’t hurting anything as it was.

6. Optical Hat, Assault Jerkin, and Dusk gear come to mind, to name a few. There are other less extreme pieces that I find to be unattractive as well, such as the model used for the Glamor Jupon.
RDM and PLD relic sets would be some of the best looking gear I think.

7. I don’t have a lot of gear that’s purely for looks. I may use Relic or very situational gear in town though. I do have the event sunglasses as well. I’d probably wear the Tidal Talisman robe if I had one too.

8. As a Manthra, it’s my counterpoint when people point out I’m a male playing a female character. If you’re going to be staring at a character for years, might as well make it an attractive one. That being said, I sometimes find myself wishing that Mithra got more conservative versions of some gear.

9. I usually pay attention to the XP/hr. TP burn setups tend to do the best in my experience.

10. Can be annoying for us too. I think if people got more of the impression that other players were actually reading their comments, they’d be more inclined to set them. As it is, they can often be completely ignored. Admittedly, I don’t set them as often as I perhaps should for things like merit camps or Limbus zones, but for seeking XP or something I will set one.

11. I couldn’t say. If I know I’ll be otherwise occupied, or that I don’t have long to play, I won’t seek for XP/merit.

12. 5xDD and a RDM is a lousy setup for any nationality. The typical preference for NA players is 2x BRD or BRD + COR and a healer, plus three DDs. People may accept less, but given the chance, most will opt for a better supported party.

There’s a recognized difference in the preference for /NIN (particularly) for JP DDs as compared to NA or EU players, who may opt for /WAR or /SAM in effort to output more damage.
Personally, as I have both DD and support jobs, I understand the value of taking little damage. Similarly, very high DD output can simply kill things before they have a chance to do much back.

To me, it’s situational. Depending on what camp you’re headed to, and the jobs/quality of the party members, different tactics may be appropriate. The best XP/hr I’ve gotten, and that I’ve heard of, has been from higher end setups focused on very strong DD output with /WAR, /SAM, dual buffers, and so on. I’ve also done very well with NINs and /NIN though.
Main thing is that you need higher quality players, along with a vacant camp with a lot of mobs to make a high DD output party really shine.

The main issue, as I see it, is that no matter the strategy or mentality, a party needs to work well together. A high output 30k+/hr setup is not 5 DDs mindlessly whacking away while a RDM tries to keep them cured and hasted.

Unfortunately, we have a lot of players who will put together a subpar setup in an effort to get some sort of XP. Could call it selfish. Could call it naive. What we don’t call it is a good party.

Honestly, most of the better NA merit parties are not going to be pickup parties. They’ll be made up mostly, or entirely, of LS members or friends that the leader knows are good.

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Comment from Dense
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:20 am

Overview:
Most of the questions are aimed at thinking that non-Japanese players don’t think ahead about events/merits, or asking why (as a whole) non-Japanese do certain things. For a great majority of the experienced and hardcore endgame players of non-Japanese origin, we have almost the exact same complaints and criticisms. Myself being EU, for instance, I find that the ignorance of the game comes from all sides of the world, NA/EU/JP, and the only thing that makes it more complicated than simply shrugging it all off, is the perception of the language barrier having a large part to do with it. My overall opinion is one of tolerance, and for what it’s worth, the gains of learning more of the Japanese culture among gamers, and American culture among gamers far outweighs the minor inconveniences of having Meripos or pickup event parties fail.

1. Taken in a separate context, I think that joining a Linkshell of a language other than one’s mother-tongue can be both a practice of the language, learning the culture of the people, simple curiosity, or even just as an observational roll. Especially for casual shells, I think it is very interesting to see how different country/language cultures have evolved in the game, and general popularities among them.

2. We don’t like that either. In fact, most of the elite or hardcore players resort to having only parties with people that they know for this reason. Lack of communication in pickup parties is even worse than having incompetent players most of the time.

3. Again, ignorant players exist in all language groups on all servers.

4. You have been tricked, and I’m sorry for that. When starting foreign-language pickup parties, I personally assure that there is one person that can bridge the language gap, and will often have them invite japanese-language natives, in order to make sure we can have basic communication. The auto-translate function is generally a god-send for helping with very broad topics, but finite strategies often require more communication. There are also problems between French-English (that I personally notice, although since the french language group is relatively small, they are much less often than with Japanese-speakers).

6. Great stats/Horrible looks: Adaberk, Dalmy, O-hat, Dune Boots
Best looking equip: Usu-set, King set, anything with the Eastern styling (most of the NIN/MNK/SAM exclusive gear looks great tbh) NIN AF.

9. Obviously, it depends on the party, but almost always (in the current FFXI) allowing Melee to use their best WS is much better than SC/MB. The difference may seem small, but the amount of time wasted waiting for the setup also leads to a larger difference, especially with most elite gearsets being haste-based.

10. This goes back to my overview statement. A lot of players don’t think ahead well, or don’t want to submit to the ease of other groups. Therefore, a lot of mutual respect-aimed actions are not taken.

11. Culturally, I think that the NA players tend to want to play as much as possible around their real-life commitments (this includes LS commitments), and fully intend to stay with the party for longer, however, they are then convinced otherwise, and leave the party looking for a replacement or simply misjudge time due to wanting to get that next level or such before logging off or going to an LS event.

12. The non-Japanese player-base goes through very real trends for merit-parties, and those are largely based on parsed examples of great damage, copied and disseminated throughout the players. There are many great examples of great working parties in the game that net high xp/hr, but I find the non-Japanese playerbase to be much more stubborn in trying to get the party makeup that they want, and then (after not finding the proper pieces) slowly piecing something together in order to get what they feel will suffice. Oftentimes, the key jobs (BRD, COR) will only want to party in certain setups that aid their playstyles, and that also has an effect on party makeup.

BONUS:
uni (am I spelling that right for sea-urchin?) I am still unsure if I love it or hate it, but it is incredibly interesting as a texture, and for me that is the beauty of most sushi.

Thanks for writing the questions for us, this is a very fun exercise

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Comment from Ruuz
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:23 am

2. Even for NA parties this doesn’t always work. It really depends on how long the party has been going. If you have been in party for a few hours, it is probably better to just disband at the same time. Otherwise, people will start disbanding anyways once one person leaves (replacement present or not). I do think it is a good policy to check with party as to what replacement to get or just let leader decide.

3. This is a problem for those of us that DO prepare for BCNMs too. Many newer players complain about how much the items cost, but I find this attitude unacceptable and will remove them from the party if they dont buy required items. It is not 100% NA only, either. When helping someone do Promyvion’s, I told everyone in party to buy Animas (using Auto-translate) and they all said they had them. As we were preparing to entire the spire, the JP RDM said he didnt have them. We still won, but I was annoyed that everyone else was prepared and spent their money except him, and that victory was less assured.

4. I think while we can try to give a general direction to the foreign player, the lack of reference to common tactics in Auto-translate make tactical planning across language very hard. In these cases, I will try to at least give a general overview to the foreign player as to their role using Auto translate and rely on their skill to fill in the gaps.

5. I think a lot of us do campaign. I personally never aim for the Fortification battles and would rather fight the monsters for exp, so I havent noticed the change at all.

6. The new Crystalline Prophecy bodies (especially Mirke) have some of the best stats for certain jobs, but they are so ugly. I still wonder whether they are worth the $10 I paid. As for good looks, I think the Salvage bodies (especially Usukane) have some of the best design in game and just look great.

7. Temple Hose. I really like my orange trunks, even though I would never wear them in a party.

9. Many NA use windower with included plugin expwatch (which shows you current rate of xp gain). As for skillchains, I personally try to coordinate them throughout all levels as waiting a few hits for 600+ damage is well worth it for me. Even though BLM arent commonly invited to normal exp anymore, if I can get a high dmg skillchain going, I will try.

10. I usually write out job, subjobs, runic portals, and level sync minimum level in my search comment. I dont change it to say what camp we are in, though that would be a very good idea for party leaders.

11. I will always make it known if I have a limited time-frame for the party. If I cant expect to party for at least 1 hr, I wont even search. I’m sure that many people just dont think about others when they decide to leave without notice. Dont let a few bad apples turn you off from all NAs.

12. While we also believe that it is important to stay alive, we also feel that JP players seriously overestimate the need for healing. If every DD subs NIN, the RDM can probably just Throw up Haste every 3min and then afk/get snacks/watch tv. We feel that this isnt productive. We view party efficiency as every player pushing the utmost limits of their ability. If the RDM is hurting for mp, it likely means that the DD arent swapping hate around enough or the mobs are taking too long to kill. Also, /WHM is not that efficient. If all it does is save you 120mp every 9-10 minutes, you would be better off /SCH.

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Comment from Taysteewhafuls
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:26 am

1. I don’t have too much of an interest in joining a Japanese linkshell. If the linkshell was only JP members I’d feel as if I was trying to force my way in almost, like an intruder. If I was ever invited I would for sure accept, its always nice to try and break the language barrier, but not at the cost of looking like a bad person.

2. I have personally been on the bad end of this, getting to the party only to have it fall apart one monster later. While the idea of replacing yourself to keep the party going once you have left is nice, it can come at the price of the replacement’s time and the party’s success. I have never had to call a replacement for myself since when I go to party I am ready to play for at least a few hours, but if I ever did I would leave it up to the party to find their 6th player to be sure they get what job they want and if they go through the effort of actually getting a replacement, then they must be interested in continuing. At least I would hope.

4. If I invite with the Auto-Translate, I am going to explain the party plans in Auto-Translate. Whoever has wronged you in the past by not doing this is very thoughtless of others. I apologize for them.

8. I don’t have any equipment that I keep other then the gear I use to play for my Mithra. I don’t think its odd to dress up one’s character, however. I would probably try putting on silly or funny looking equipment if anything, but I have no level 75 job am I am very poor, so I cannot afford to dress myself up.

9. I always calculate XP/hr. I like to know what camps seem to go faster with what party setups. I don’t think that one has a higher result over the other. It matters a lot on what jobs are in the party, but I tend to enjoy Skillchaining, its fun to work with each other to do big damage.

10. This comes as a shock to me actually. I never knew that you wanted this kind of information in my search comment before. I only have one job that is over level 50, so I never thought about putting that in my search comment since its the only job I have. I will be sure to start doing this now though. And of course I want an invite!

11. Things happen and sometimes players have to leave quickly, and that is understandable, but I would never not inform my party that I had a limited amount of time or that I was busy. This just shows how some players are not thoughtful of others. I apologize for them.

12. I know it isn’t easy to explain game concepts to people with such a large language barrier present, but if anyone ever felt I was doing something wrong or that I wasn’t doing something I could to help easy everyone’s work then I would really hope that I would be told about it, I am very open to criticism. If you want me to change my play style to fit your party better, then by all means please tell me what to change! We are all here to have fun, and I would never want to put that at risk in a party over something as silly as my play style.

Bonus: I really like egg sushi (Tamago)!

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Comment from Levish
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:34 am

1. I don’t personally have any intentions but I could see someone that was interested in exploring the JP language / culture wish to expose themselves to a JP Linkshell

2. I personally typically only play for moderate amounts of time and am satisfied with a 2-3 hour party, if it chooses to disband at this point due to someone leaving I’m fine with it. If someone has to leave 30-60 minutes into a fantastic party I can see looking to replace that one member.

3. We tend to look for optimal strategy to maximize return on invested time and maximize the reward, alot of ENM/BC’s have a tendency to frequently be a waste of time / gil so burning 25,000+ gil on meds seems a waste when you can end up with things that you end up on selling to NPC’s anyway.

4. Probably due to players joining being expected to know their role beforehand, most parties the limit of strategics is who is doing the pulling.

5. I haven’t done any at all but I have several jobs around the level where it will start to be beneficial to start. I don’t personally understand the nerf to skilling up on fortifications, in general its a hassle as it is and making it harder for those folks who actually bother to do it on their own seems like a slap in the face.

6. I think the W. Turban and Optical Hat are terrible and Jaridah/Akinji line looks great as does most AF. My biggest gripe is there isn’t more armor that works better than alternatives as a set throughout the levels.

7. Artifact/Relic Armor (more or less all of it)

8. Yes

9. We absolutely calculate xp/hr and either in secret or openly have disdain for non-optimal examples. However (speaking for myself) regardless of with friends or random very nice or funny people xp/hr doesn’t matter at all.

10. the only players that don’t do this are either “princess” jobs like bard / corsair / redmage that get invites regardless or players you don’t want in your party anyway.

11. I do my best to give a 30-60 minute notice whenever possible, if I ever have to leave at the last minute its unfortunate but something very important came up unexpectedly.

12. my personal best XP/hr parties have all been non-skillchain parties by a significant margin.

I can understand wanting to sit back / relax and get some decent xp but unfortunately at merit level when maximizing a out a single job’s relevant merits upgrades can take more experience than leveling that job to 75 in the first place I tend to look for a great XP/hr return.

I’ve played support roles as well as attacker roles. I don’t mind being stressed as a support job if the xp/hr is great (by popular opinion 15,000 xp/hr or more). if a party is going slower than that XP wise its typically not stressful in the slightest.

Attacker roles can potentially be stressful as well when in the quest for high xp/hr

Bonus:
I’m a sushi noob, but I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve tried so far if the place itself was good. Sorry, not enough experience to pronounce a favorite yet.

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Comment from Kari
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:39 am

1) If I understood Japanese I would love to join a Japanese social group. I can talk a little bit with JP players thanks to Auto-Translate and a guide I printed off (Shigemo’s FF11 Guide), but not enough for the full social experience. And comments about random/old TV shows/books/movies/whatever doesn’t bother me, I confuse my own friends with that all the time! XD

2) I’ve often been the victim of this all the time, and it is INCREDIBLY frustrating. Doubly so for me since I’m often in the middle of something (usually crafting) when I get the invite and I drop everything to get there as fast as I can. Thankfully I almost always get told not to come before I get there, but even then it still makes me mad.

As for the inappropriate jobs coming in as replacements, I can’t really answer that because I don’t know what you consider inappropriate. Replacing a BRD with a COR I don’t see as a problem, but replacing a NIN with a PUP can be. If I’m the party leader I try to replace people with jobs of the same kind (support, DD, tank, etc), but sometimes there aren’t any available so I guess other party leaders don’t care and just fill the slot with whatever they can get.

3) I can’t speak for all of us foreigners, but I tend not to bring medicines because I either forget them all the time (I rarely use them outside of missions and BCs so they’re easy for me to accidentally leave them behind).

4) Auto-translate is often used in party shouts because it’s much faster than typing the entire thing out (you just have to press a few keys, TAB, then pick the word/phrase you want.)

5) I do Campaign every now and again, but I haven’t since the end of the year since Maat, crafting, missions/quests, Dynamis, and real life is taking up all of my time.

10) I have no idea why so many people don’t use search comments. I wish they did, it’d make things so much easier. Another thing too, people need to read people’s search comments before inviting people. I don’t know how many times I’ve been invited to level sync parties that are below the limit I put in my comment.

11) If I’m going to be using all of my time for something like crafting or if I’m not going to be on for more than an hour or two I never raise my party flag. I wish others would do that too, there’s nothing more frustrating than having someone come to the party and then suddenly have to leave after 30 minutes.

12) I haven’t started meriting yet so I can’t talk about that aspect of party formation, but I can say this: I have always preferred the balanced party (tank, back-up tank, healer, back-up healer, 2x DD I think is best but if pressed I can go with tank, support, healer, 3x DD) unless the situation requires something else.

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Comment from Avelyn
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:45 am

1. Many NA/EN that have an interest in joining Japanese Social Linkshells generally have two reasons. They’re either a Japanese Language Student looking to practice the language they’re learning, or they’re a fan of Japanese culture. There would be many references to your pop culture that they wouldn’t understand, of course, but the extra practice they get with the language, or the fact that they think that hanging out with Japanese players makes them “cool” is well worth it to them.

2. Many NA/EU parties try to cycle in members to keep the party going as long as possible, if at all because they enjoy partying or just want more experience. If I’m the party leader I try to make sure everyone else in the party can stay for a good amount of time before I try to replace anyone. I’m not having a good time unless the rest of the party, including replacements, are having a good time too. It’s just rude to invite someone to be a replacement to a party and just tell them the party is disbanding when they’re halfway to camp.

If the appropriate job isn’t available for a replacement, sometimes an “inappropriate” job as you put it is invited. Generally many NA/EU players think that any experience is better than no experience at all and would rather proceed a bit more slowly than get nothing out of a party.

Plus sometimes unconventional setups are fun. I’ve tanked in a Blue Mage party before with a Puppetmaster as the main healer.

3. This isn’t a foreign player problem, this is a bad player problem. I’ve had several occasions when partying with JP players where they’ve had no medication either. At minimum I try to carry around a reraise item, several warp items, holy waters, echo drops, poison potions, prism powders, silence oils, remedies, and several varieties of food for a given situation at all times, and on all jobs, for all occasions. Depending on certain events I might bring more of one thing than another.

4. Many foreign players that resort to shouting for pickup parties are generally desperate for certain players. If I can make any recommendation to Japanese players, it’s to avoid joining those parties if at all possible, as many smarter NA/EU players avoid them as well. They generally get filled by players who are known to be rude and have no other option to get a party, improper job setups, or as you describe, the unwillingness to use auto-translate for Japanese players who can’t read English.

5. As a Paladin, and being unwelcome to many merit parties, I tend to campaign very frequently. It’s an enjoyable, casual past-time for me, and the gear from allied notes is a nice bonus. However I don’t agree with the nerf to fortifications. Fighting in many beastmen controlled zones becomes a chore, as there’s no real way to tell from the campaign map when enemy forces are defending the fortification, or if it’s just allied forces attacking it. As such, sometimes even warping to beastmen controlled zones is a waste of time and isn’t worth doing anymore.

The fortification nerf wouldn’t be so bad if SE implemented a way for players to see what forces are currently attacking/defending in a zone on the campaign map, rather than just putting a sword over an area to indicate campaign is currently active.

6. In all honesty I don’t like how most of the ToAU armor looks. It’s too…garish. Hard on the eyes after a while, despite how good the stats are.
I am partial to most of the pre-toau and wotg armor though, I especially like the way Koenig armor looks.

7. I’m currently working on getting a Fourth Division Haube to replace my ugly Sipahi Turban in my weapon skill set of armor. Besides that, I don’t tend to go out of my way to get gear for looks.

I do wear the Moblin Maze Mongers Eyepatch around a lot though.

8. It’s not so much that they’re into mithra fashion, it’s just such players are probably mid-teens going through puberty that get excited over every female-like object they encounter. It’s not so much that they do it for looks, it’s just to make their mithra look “sexy”.

They’ll realize real women are better than polygons soon enough, though they’re a bit harder to “dress up” ;P

9. I don’t really calculate the exp/hr for experience parties because I don’t tend to get invited to merit parties, where exp/hr turns into a bragging fest. Weapon skill spam seems to be the norm now, even pre-toau areas. I miss the days of magic-bursting. It’s always enjoyable to pull off a well coordinated skillchain just to have a black mage really wreck up the target afterwards. Felt nice working as a team like that.

10. When seeking for a party/mission/etc I try to put as much information as I can into it. Jobs, what areas I have access to, etc. Many players don’t do that properly though, and that includes Japanese players.

11. I try to avoid partying unless I know I have enough time. Sometimes emergencies happen where we have to leave the party quickly.

But in many cases players that want to leave suddenly and don’t inform members beforehand just want to ditch the party they’re currently in, and we NA/EU players tend to find them rude as well.

12. Like I mentioned before, I’m not happy with a party unless everyone in my party is happy. I don’t enjoy putting too much stress on a single player because that can lead to the stressed out player becoming burnt out, which can cause problems later down the line.

That said, even many merit parties won’t do five damage dealers and one red mage, they’ll usually have a bard or two for extra support, who can assist with the healing of the group.

13. I’m partial to salmon sushi myself. I’ve never tried fatty tuna though, and have been trying to get my local sushi places to get some in. No luck so far though.

Something I’d like to mention about these questions is many Japanese players seem to be biased against NA/EU players because they perform badly, are rude, or put too much stress on any single player. What many players, NA, EU, and Japanese have to realize is that nobody likes a rude player, whether it’s of the same race, nationality, or otherwise, and that there are rude players in all nationalities.

That said, the best thing I can recommend is to try to stick with partying with friends or linkshell members if at all possible. Pickup groups never fare well in my experience, NA/EU based or otherwise. Because of this, the “good” NA/EU players avoid pickup groups like the plague, and I try to as well.

It’s just more fun not having to deal with rude or bad players.

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Comment from Nemlod
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:55 am

1 – I would only join a Japanese linkshell if I knew Japanese. I feel my inability to communicate on the fly in Japanese would be a detriment to the linkshell as a whole.

2 – Normally I would rather the party fold than seek for replacements. I have encountered some excellent replacements that were more beneficial to the party than the person they replaced, but that is very rare.

3 – I always make sure to have the proper items for missions, BCs, Dynamis, etc… Many NA/EU people do bring the proper items, but those that don’t tend stick out because of the ferocity with which they complain.

4 – If there is a non-English speaking member of the party, I try to include them in conversation by using auto-translate. Sometimes I will try to look up minor words (whether Japanese or any other language) on the internet to make them feel more welcome. I will always use auto-translate to invite, determine camp, battle plans, etc…

5 – Everyone I know does Campaign. The fortification nerf is very frustrating, however I can understand SE not wanting people to engage and then go AFK.

6 – I am not a fan of any of the harness gear sets. I’ve often found that the equipment makes people look like they’re going to go play American football. I always felt that the Ranger AF body has a really nice look to it. The Wyvern Helm is probably my favorite piece.

7 – Not really. I remember the days before toolbags for ninja tools, and quivers for arrows, so I try to keep my inventory minimal.

8 – I do know that there are a lot of people that do obsess about the way their Mithra looks. I appreciate Mithra movements, battle stances, etc…, but that’s as far as my fascination goes.

9 – I used to calculate exp/hour, but now I don’t really care. I miss the days of Skillchains/Magic Bursts, and still try to Skillchain as much as possible. I believe Weapon Skill spam yields the best exp/hour results, however I feel it “dumbed” FFXI down too much.

10 – I always properly fill out my search comment, but I realize that a lot of NA don’t at all. That issue annoys me as well, specifically in lower level parties when someone’s @ is vital.

11 – If I have less than 3 hours available, I will not seek for a party. If I receive a /tell asking to party (without my flag up), I inform the people of my limited availability. I blame laziness for most of the negative aspects players encounter.

12 – I feel that NA people try to build parties based on power/speed, whilst JP people build parties based on efficiency. I hate exping without having fun, so generally I only party with friends so we can laugh and have fun. I work all day, so I don’t want to come home and do more work. I play to have fun and relax.

Bonus – I don’t eat seafood. I generally cook a lot of Austrian and American food.

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Comment from VigiliaAsura
Time May 8, 2009 at 12:55 am

1. It’s not really any different of English-speaking players joining English-speaking linkshells, EU players don’t always get NA references and even within EUs the Brits don’t always understand German references etc. but we still all manage to play together. Funny jokes are funny whatever the language and I find myself often looking up references I don’t immediately understand and broadening my own knowledge of the world around me in the process. As long as you share a language to communicate with you can make yourself understood.
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2. Not all foreigners enjoy parties that cycle members, I personally detest them and try to avoid them. The concept is good but rarely works out for the benefit of everyone since nine times out of ten the leader of the party is a moron who lacks any communication skills to even bother to ask how long everyone is planning to stay. I only do recycling parties with friends and when people ask their friends or people they otherwise know well to join. They’re then less likely to suddenly disband.
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3. Most skilled and knowledgeable players who do make the effort to bring medicines do their missions and BCNMs with LS/friends. Most of the players you get in pickup parties are idiots nobody wants to play with, granted there are exceptions but just few pickup Nyzul runs proves the gimpness of pickup groups. It makes sense really, if you bother to play well you’ll always have friends willing to do these events with you. If you play like crap you need to resort to taking what you can and groups that gather together via /shout sadly fall into that category. I too feel sorry for the few good players who need to sometimes take on pickups to get events done, it’s frustrating as hell.
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4. You just got unlucky and ended up with a group of idiots.
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5. I love campaign, most of my friends and LS mates do it at least occasionally and I’m fuming because of the nerf. Makes it really hard to get campaign XP on a middle level job (50-65ish) now and it’s really annoying when no enemy group shows up to fight.
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6. I think Ares body looks horrible on female characters, the shoulder spikes and padding are way too masculine. Took me a few months to get used to mine, I love the stats but god it’s horrid. Artifact armours have always been my favourite armour sets in the game, they all look distinctive on each job and hark back to old FF games’ jobs used to look. Red mage relic is my favourite set but I’m biased.
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7. Christmas gear during holidays! And I love my Wedding dress set even though I only take it off the mannequin each year for Valentine’s day and me and my husband’s Vana’diel anniversary. I wouldn’t say I went out of my way to get either though.
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8. This one used to slightly creep me out, I’m a girl myself and in the early days of FFXI I used to get taken for a boy all the time when I was trying to dress my character to look pretty and wore my wedding dress more often. Now I just wear useful gear unless it’s an event and nobody’s assumed me to be a bloke in ages. I think some boys like being able to play girly and play with dolls so to speak without having to worry about anyone making fun of them for it and fair enough if they find it fun. It’s really not that much different from all of us in Vana’diel playing make-believe that we’re elvaans or galkas and mighty warriors and mages and whatnot.
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9. I don’t have a parser but lot of the people I regularly XP with do and yes it’s made me a firm believer in TP burn parties. I leveled my first two jobs mostly in old-fashioned skillchain parties and boy it was painful (it was all before Square-Enix dropped the XP required to ding 75 as well). Skillchain parties require a lot more focus and concentration as well which when you want to party for 5-6hrs is a bit much to ask. Feels like a day of work instead of fun playing a game.
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10. There’s no guide anywhere on doing this, it’s mostly common courtesy each player has to learn for themselves. I really wish your Moogle when you start FFXI for the first time would every day tell you things like this and quiz you on them before you can even leave your Mog House. Lot of older players know these rules, I’ve been playing since 2003 and it’s second nature to me to set comment always, but I didn’t know about it the first day either. I was told by a very friendly JP party leader I got in Qufim one day when I asked about his comment. It all comes down to complete chance of who you meet on your way when leveling jobs and if peeps are willing to teach you or not and if you’re asking the right questions along the way.
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11. You just get unlucky really and encounter idiots when people disband without warning and it pisses us off as much as it does you. I’ve had many people disband without warning and it irks me sometimes that many JP parties that I’ve had just suddenly disband altogether without warning. Not even any party chat to try guess what might be happening (I know a few words of Japanese and of course there’s simple phrases like “Time remaining” in auto-translate that many polite players use) but when it ticks to around midnight JST everyone just buggers off. Yeh, you’re all going to bed I bet but even just a simple “Time remaining 10mins” would had been nice for a heads-up, you get rude people on all continents without exceptions.
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12. I completely agree with you, I’m not looking to be stressed either when playing for fun, I’ve not merited on my RDM or BRD in years now and always just go DRG and let the players who enjoy being stressed do the healing and pulling. I wouldn’t call it a cultural difference, it’s a personality difference. Lot of EUs and NAs don’t like stressful parties either.

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Comment from Ukumi
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:21 am

2) I think it’s a mix of “I don’t care about other players as long as I got enough xp for my liking” from party members, and bad party management from leaders.

Sometimes, they see that someone else is leaving in 30 min, they have 1 hour left, and dont think that this means the party will actually need 2 reps in the next hour. And if it’s a central job and nobody else is seeking the rep will get ~30 min of XP, which is quite annoying.
Then, on the other end you got party leaders that wont actually make sure that party members rep themselves with suitable jobs, making the party end.

Either way it does annoy me and I tend to mostly party with friends, where it doesnt mather how long we XP, as long as we’re having fun.

3) I’ll always bring RR with me at least. If it’s a harder mission, such as some CoP BCNM and others, when i’m leader i’ll make sure I have all meds / items and ask the party so they also have appropriate meds, sometimes giving it to them myself (especially if they are friends helping me out).

4) If I know i’ve invited a japanese player i’ll use auto-translate as much as I can. But I guess not everyone is willing to do that, due to either stupidity or plain lazyness.
Tho this goes both ways. I’ve been invited to xp parties / shout evnets as well that was written in auto-translate, where I was the only NA player, and all chat was done in Japanese.

5) I do campaing to recap XP on BLM, and to mess around on Brd/dancer for fun. I dont mind the nerf as I think being able to get free xp hitting a wall was a bad design,but they should fix offensive campaing, making mobs show up faster.

6) O-hat is quite ugly. I really like how Usakane set looks.

7) I like running around in my Grape of doom set (Tarutaru in full drg AF) around town for fun. But I cant say i’ll really go out of my way to get gear only for looks.

9) I do approximativly calculate it for merit parties. I’ve been in a few merits that was getting roughly 18~20k / hour, until another party showed up and ruined the camp, everytime….
Due to the low defense / magic resistance / abilities of the mobs we merit on actually, TP burn is a lot more effective.
That doesnt stop me to actually delay a WS to make a 3 way SC when i’m playing with friends ^^

11) They either: 1) forgot or cant see more than 1 hour ahead, 2) lied because they wanted some quick xp before their event and knew they wouldnt get invited for 45 min. 3) Lie about event cause they dont like the party. Fortunately that’s not everyone’s case.
I always try to advise the leader 45 min in advance and party 30 min in advance when I need to leave. Tho sometimes something unexpected happens, and I usually try to not make a big deal out of someone else leaving like that. It’s just a game after all ^^

12) As Brd and BLMs are my 2 only merits jobs, I’ve never been in such a set up. The oneI’ve seen a lot : 3 DD (mostly /nin), 1 RDM and 2 BRDs. That set up worked pretty good and was pulling infinite chains quite easily, at bird camp, and mamool camp.
I’ve been in a party with 3 DDs/sam in a party, and the only reason it worked well is that all the DDs were actually doing good damage, and sharing hate pretty well, hence seigan / TE was quite enough to not be too much a burden for MP.

b) tuna and salmon are my favorite

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Comment from Omgwtfbbqkitten
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:21 am

#2 – Its important to keep in mind that English-speaking NA and EU players have a wide range of time zones to deal with while JP players don’t deal with this. NA players will sometimes have one person from California, another in Texas, one in North Carolina and then players from the UK and Germany.

So sometimes people might leave or need to be replaced at random. Its the same as JPs, we have work, school and family obligations. I had a Promathia Mission static with two German players (a WHM and BLM). My late morning or early afternoons are their evenings, so I had to be considerate and make sure things happened on-schedule. It was difficult to do, but these German players were exceptional and nice, so I wanted to make sure they got through the missions.

A point of frustration for NA/EU players is that when JPs disband, they really do it all at once, sometimes with no notice at all. I think its actually even more frustrating for EU and Australian players since they play closer to JP peak hours than NAs do.

#3 – I often find the lack-of-preparation from NAs for mission content to be frustrating as an NA myself. I think its just the fact that much of the mission content in FFXI is easy but that Rank Missions, CoPs and the end of ToA are really only where the difficult sets in

I’ve lead Promathia Missions for both of my characters and I’ve had to be pretty strict about it. I’ve set rules about having reraise items, Yagudo Drinks, Hi-potions, Sneak Oils and Prism Powders for each run and there are people I’ve had to dismiss for not following my rules.

I think the lack of preparation is mostly because mission content is much easier now than it was in CoP. Too many Japanese and English-speaking players complained about how hard CoP was and now its all so easy they don’t think to come prepared when there’s the occasionally difficult mission. In this one case, perhaps SE shouldn’t listen to players do much. I like challenging missions and I think making them harder would straighten players out.

#8 – I actually prefer to focus on TP/WS builds for my mithra, but it seems I unintentionally run into these situations where these equipment builds end up making my mithra look cute.

There was my old COR/WHM build for Sky. I didn’t have Pahluwan Khazagand yet, but I had Crimson Finger Gauntlets, Corsair’s Frac, Savage Loincloth and Crimson Cuisses and my Coraair’s Tricorne with other MP gear that I used for god fights. I actually got a lot of unwanted attention from this set, though sometimes it also ended up embarassing other male players as well, which was amusing.

Right now, I have Pah. Khazagand, Cobra Unit Subligar, Dusk Gloves, Dusk Ledelsens with the Tricorne. I’ll stand around in this, but with the exception of the Tricorne its part of my Joyeuse TP build. But I think it looks more like I’m in a biker gang.

Now my RNG continues the trend with my Holy Bolt build. Mirke Wardecors became part of it recently. With Hunter’s Bracce, Seirye’s Kote and Suzaku’s Sune-Ate, she just looks cute.

Full RNG AF was the worst, though, I felt like I should have been selling Girl Scout Cookies or something.

Sushi question – its hard to say if I’ve ever had authentic sushi, though I like Salmon sushi with avacado. A lot of Japanese restaraunts where I live actually aren’t operated by Japanese people at all, but Koreans. Real Japanese restaraunts around here are extremely expensive and you may spend up to $100 on just two people, so we often settle on the less-authentic restaraunts since we can spend less than $10 and still get a good meal out of it.

Sushi in general tends to be expensive even at less-authentic places, so its a rare treat and not something I do every day.

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Omgwtfbbqkitten Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 5:12 am

Clarifying my #8 – I meant Crimson Greaves not the Crimaon Cuisess. The /WHM build used to end up looking pretty flirty.

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Comment from Flairice
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:30 am

1. I think joining a JP shell would be fun as a learning experience, but I’d feel so left out (since I can’t speak the language). Dunno why you’d apply to an LS if you can’t speak their language.

2. I always hate looking for replacements for members because of this. It seems like people just assume that since someone is leaving the party is going to disband soon. Some players just don’t care.

3. My satchel is full of meds and I carry 2-3 forms of reraise. When I ask in my own LS why people don’t have echo drops/reraise they complain about no money. Also, many don’t care to read up about missions and expect someone to tell them if they need to bring something. Those are just lazy players that don’t care.

4. Autotranslate is almost as difficult to have a conversation with as talking english to a JP player. I wonder if some things translate into what I mean or not. For example a party member will say {Water Shot} {Away} {Short Time} and mean rest room brb. I don’t know if a JP player would translate “water shot” as pee break or just see that and be confused.

5. When I did campaign pre-nerf I enjoyed killing actual mobs more than beating mindlessly on a fortificaton. Although I didn’t see a real reason to nerf it especially now since we can’t seem to keep any areas under our control. ;-;

6. Crimson Cuisses look so bad! And so do Errant/Mahatma.
Sometimes I wish I had a Marduk job because the body piece looks so pretty.

7. I used to but it’s so hard to keep them on you all the time because of inventory issues. My favorite is probably the harvest festival yukata.

8. I’m not a Mithra so idk.

9. When I join a party I’m looking for the quickest way to get exp. It’s been known for a while now that TP burning is far better than skillchain/MB so I’ll stick with TP burn pts.

10. I usually make sure to keep a seacom up when I’m being picky about the party I want. (Usually its not wanting to pull or not wanting a level sync) I don’t seacom the areas I have access to anymore since I have full access to everything. Only time I might not put a seacom up is if I only want to play on the job I’m currently seeking on.

11. I give an hour’s notice when I need to leave. I play RDM which is a hard job to find a replacement for, so I like to start looking for one in advance. As I said earlier, some players are just jerks and don’t care.

12. When I merit as RDM, unless we’re at Nyzul birds I have a tough time keeping up. Nyzul birds are easy enough without another healer or refresh unless the DDs are reckless and take alot of damage. Mamools on the other hand require more from me, (Silence, dispel) and tear through DDs alot easier than birds. I do wish that SAMs/DRGs/DRKs would be nicer to their mages and sub something more merit appropriate >.>; Also I like when someone is willing to Provoke the mob. Even if it switches target to another DD, it keeps its focus away from the mages and the puller.

In game, squid sushi. I’ve never had sushi irl. o.o

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Comment from Jiade
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:30 am

1. I play only JP primetime, English LSs are non-existent. I speak sufficient Japanese to make basic conversation and have been in several JP social and nonHNM-events LS. It might be just the particular JP social LSs I was in, the members rarely talk about pop-culture. In terms of general conversation, I wouldn’t talk a lot but if they talk about something that i have questions about I would ask and the JP members are usually happy to explain/respond so it didn’t seem to be an issue. I would also speculate that those who speak enough Japanese to make basic conversation would know some JP pop-culture (maybe not 10 year old TV shows). On occasions I’ve responded in LS to conversation about certain TV shows or singers and JP members seem somewhat surprised/interested that I know about those.

2. It may be due to playing JP primetime and exp-ing mostly with JP parties, I got into the mindset of disliking replacements for parties. I’ve had good NA replacement parties and bad ones, the latter forming the majority of my NA exp party experience. I actually think twice before accepting English invite these days and would rather wait for JP invite during JP primetime. Ultimately it is up to the party leader to control these things and ensure the replacement doesn’t arrive to a disbanding party or inviting appropriate replacement jobs.

3. I think people are too lazy to be bothered to bring medicines, or to farm enough gils to afford buying basic medicine, let alone getting the likes of Vile Elixirs for difficult fights. I fail to understand how mages can go out of their moghouse without echo drops, how my own LS peoples enter mission fights without RR. To me this is unacceptable and I hate doing anything with these sort of players.

4. I get the feeling that some NA parties are simply looking for players to fill up a party, regardless of language spoken, without considering whether it is viable to explain battle plan using auto-translate – as some strategies are difficult to explain using auto-translate. I think this is very irresponsible. If a party invites someone, they need to at least make an effort to communicate plans and strategies. I have also been in NA parties that invite non-NA players and do use the auto-translate to communicate, and to the extent the auto-translate is sufficient, it worked fine and the JP players seem to be ok with it.

5. Australian player here (not NA or EU). I campaign occasionally when I LFG or need to maintain rank. I otherwise don’t bother, it gets so repetitive. Don’t care about fortifications. I find AFKing hitting fortifications is so boring. I much prefer hitting real enemies.

6. Looks horrible: Optical hat, Aurum set, Oracle set.
Best graphics: Scholar AF/Relic, Paladin AF, Corsair AF.

7. My casual equip is usually whatever out of my normal equip that match the best.. you know how some essential equip have clashing colours (eg Zenith with Rdm AF) or incompatible styles.. I remove the offending pieces and wear whatever else in my normal equip that creates a nice outfit. Recently I like running around in Sch AF. Wouldn’t go out my way to buy fancy equip for looks but I choose jobs to level partly based on whether the AF is pretty.

8. I believe all male players like mithras and like dressing up mithra characters.

9. I don’t pay too much attention to xp/hr, as long as the xp rate is reasonably acceptable. When the party is bad it’ll be obvious .. no point counting xp per hour. I believe TP burn generally achieves better xp/hr.

10. No search comment is another pure laziness. They don’t care enough to put enough information to entice an invite.

11. Personally I think it’s just bad etiquette.

12a. Regarding JP only, I don’t see what’s wrong in JP players only wanting to party with other JPs, be it for playstyle or language reason. I don’t even think the term “JP only” is racist or rude. It’s one valid way of expressing the desire to party only with people who speak the same language.

12b. Some NA party leaders invited me, found that I can speak some JP, asked me to use japanese language to recruit other JP players and tell them there are JPs in the party. I wouldn’t be surprised if JP players who accepted NA invites had the same experience. It’s my pet hate to be asked to do this. I wonder if JP players dislike this as well and could be one of the reason they don’t like to join NA parties.

12c. Party makeup: Yes in general 1 healer 5 DD can be taxing on the healer. But 5DD and 1 rdm can work, it depends on a variety of things – such as competence of the healer, whether the DDs only show off their powress without consideration to healing capacity/being able to mitigate damage with JAs, what camp you are at, etc. You can have a crap Rdm with good Brd support who still can’t heal and haste the party properly. No one size fits all answer here. I suppose on average, it’s safer not to have extremes like 5DD 1 healer unless you know who you are partying with.

Bonus: I like egg sushi.

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Comment from Kandi
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:30 am

**(1) I do show interest, as I have joined many JP only shells before. (I also showed a distaste for NA players, around the time PS2 release came out for NA players.)
Now that many NA players who were just awful either (1) Quit FFXI as they found it too hard, or (2) Simply got better, I now primarily have NA LSs.
(but to be clear, my JP is very bad, and my knowledge of current events comes down to Anime and Games primarily, as i never look up normal TV shows, or music, just happen to see it, when i happen to see it.)

**(2)Too many NA players are “desperate” for ANY kind of EXP, even if it means the “fun” of the game is no longer there. Most of these players never make it to Lv75 before they quit the game. Many argue this game isnt about teamwork, but about personal fun, and other ppl dont matter. I try my hardest to let new ppl understand this point of view, but so many newer ppl never get useful help when starting, and either come up with terrible ideas on their own, or follow in the footsteps of RDM melee only, they might see someone else has done.

As for the PT cycle, I have no problem bringing in new people, but I do hate it when they disband w/o notice. As do most NA players (4 out of 6 of the PT at least) And yes, when they disband, most of the time, the replacement isnt warned, and or, they decide to get someone else, w/o telling them, and just let that person go all the way there, before finding out they were replaced.

**(3)I always bring about 40-80 Hi-Potions+3 lol. I always try to see if i can solo some of the CoP missions like this. I highly enjoy the use of items in missions/BCNMs, but most NA players hear constant stories of players who did it w/o items, and to avoid the work for gil farming, they try repeatedly, or hope everyone but them, pays for items, and get a free ride from them.
Just comes down to, ppl want an easy game (while I like the challenge, ONLY in boss fights, but I agree with 70% of the distaste for the games natural challenges)

**(4) I have personally never seen this, but when I use the Translator, I try my best to explain the situation with the translator. but if the mission is too complex, like most of CoP, ill avoid inviting those who cant understand me. But if your role is something that requires almost no planning, lets say something easy liek the shadow lord, and your a WHM, then i dont think its too imperative to go over strategies.

**(5)I do campaign more than I do anything else it seems lol. As for the fort nerf, i highly hate it. SE promised some low Lv content, and Lv10+ to be able to participate, Unless your Lv61 or a healer, you cant do anything to raise your rank, to get the Lv45 and 55 armor… my friends whos highest Lv is 45 or 55~ish, they cant get the rank (but they can get the points) to get these free armors… SE rly screwed alot of players over.

**(6)I like this question, but if i answered it 100% that might take too long lol.
I liek all the seraweed type pants, and the baggy shorts, like BLU PUP THF AF, Homam askar etc. i hate any shorts that turn into short shorts, because its on a female model. and i HATE tights. I cant understand why MMOs require 90% of all leg armor to be tights, or if it is in the game, impossible to get, or complete crap in stats. I like Homam legs, for looks + stats. as for gear with stats i end up using, but hate the graphic to… is subligar, which if funny yes, but honestly do hate subligar.

**(7)I go out of my way for full AF, some Relic, and i went out of my way to get Amir legs, and Pahlawan legs, because i like baggy shorts.

**(8)I’m Mithra, and funny thing, when i started FFXI i HATED mithra, simply because mithra solely exist to get horny guys to buy FFXI. but over time, a mix of outfits and how cool armor looked on them (standing idle) i ended up quiting hume to play mithra. I did work to get Opaline Dress, which fits the question above. I also wish i never picked mithra, as i cant stand how they need to hunch, when in combat. (but too lazy to start over again)

**(9) I dont personally do it, but i keep an eye on my EXP and what time it is, to get a general feel. but based on other ppls results, it all depends on the camp and Lv range. but in most HL PTs most can agree TP burn style works best. ive had very many great SC/MB PTs that made TP burn like EXP, but im never good at making those kinds of PTs myself when im a leader.

**(10)I complain to my friends ALL the friggin time for this. I also make a habbit of telling my friends and others, id never invite them if i see 2 ppl, 1 with a search comment, and 1 w/o a search comment, shows that #1 has more interest in trying, and possibly more likely to work as a team (not always true, more like only 60-70% of the time its like that, as some players just never had the idea cross their mind, hey i should use a search comment.)
as for putting the location of their PT, thats honestly somthing ive NEVER seen a JP or any player do on my server, might eb done, ive just never seen it. but NA players would ignore it, not many players know of many good camps, and with treatment caused during the PS2 release for NA players, its become a norm, to just suck it up, and accept players camping on top of you. Low Lv PT builds, and knowledge isnt cared about too much by NA players, they only care once they get to Lv60+~ish.

**(11) I dont know how to answer this question. Not something thats a real issue for me or others. Nor would i know how to say that in translator lol.

**(12)I agree with this, but as long as it happens occasionally, like 1 out of 10 PTs, or they are really well geared and constantly PT with LS members who do this, they will assume WAR/SAM and SAM/WAR and /WAR /SAM PTs are better than /NIN and such, because they would rather show off (their idea of having fun before the well being of the PT) yes ive had WAR/SAMs and SAM/WARs actually work, but most of the time it doesnt, and i die in seconds, do to cure spamming. i no longer enjoy doing merit PTs because of this atitude. (good thing campaign is around, man i have so many questions, bing this the final one. like why dont JP players let me team up with them in campaign, when im BRD or RDM, and i want to help keep buffs on them, or comment about how some JP players dont like casual players, now i seperate the type of player, casual or not, if they are the type who utilize teamwork, and those who are only out for themselves. do u mind those who work hard, teamwork wise, but are still casual? personally thats my favorite type of player to play with. most NA players hate CoPs difficulty, when in reality, CoP is REALLY easy, except the airship fight (i almost always win it tho) CoP can be easily won with REALLY bad skill and terrible gear, as long as the group uses teamwork, CoP wasnt Stat was difficult, as it was focused to punish those who dont work together. do you feel this is true? (im sure these questions will never be asked lol)(i know NA players love to argue the difficulty of CoP with me, just because they had bad luck/teamwork)

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Kandi Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 9:51 am

as for sushi, I dont get to try very many different types of sushi, as 50% of the time i eat raw sushi i either get something different than what i order, or i get salmonella, which keeps me sick for a week, and then i have a short time fear of eating sushi anytime after that.

but i can only assume its a “fake” type of sushi made by the NA, but i like California Rolls. i also like sushi in rolls. (i forget what thats called)

but i think i like normal Tuna Sushi the most, of out the real stuff.

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Comment from Mathantolous
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:32 am

1) For me the interest in joining a Linkshell outside of a North American LS is more for the learning about another culture, currently however my Japanese is lacking greatly in any form. As a whole however I really see it as a way to try to bridge an understanding of a culture that has a deeper history and doesn’t seem to be as closed off as the main stream American culture(s) can.

2) I’m always hesitant about joining a party as a replacement since I do wonder if anyone else needs to leave or if they want a replacement just long enough to get someone else the last 1000 xp they need to level. On the rare occasion I put together a party my intent is always to go for several hours and if a replacement is needed I hope that the person leaving will either give me ample notice or will have a replacement and inform me when they need to leave. Unfortunately this rarely seems to happen in most of the NA parties and the replacement is always left looking bad as replacing the RNG or THF who pulls with a MNK or WAR who has no Ranged Attack always gets annoying as that person knows why they were asked to pull but does not see a reason to keep the party balance in tack because, and it seems like this is where we seems to get a bad stigma, “I’m leaving the party why do I care if they can still kill mobs, I replaced myself let them figure it out.”

3) I try to bring everything needed for a BC or Mission but when I ask and no one answers I’m never sure what to bring and not having much gil I tend to get the bare minimum which is normally not enough but I try to find out before hand and generally never get an answer until they give the list at the BC, I generally only have this issue at NA ran missions or BCs since I never seem to be invited to anything from other than NA players.

4) I think this is a problem that has three or more thoughts
One: people just not realizing that the thought “well every Japanese person takes English in school” is a bad misconception to have and many of them simply assume it to be true.
Two: some assume that knowing nothing is better than being frusterated by not knowing for sure what was meant using the auto-translator since it is rather lacking and does not always mean exactly what we think it means – i.e. we see [excuse me...] in auto translate and when I first started I did think it was sumimasen but after a while i saw things that said it was more like: Got a sec?
Three: some people are just rude and only wanted a body to fill in for a body and just need them there to die so they can win

5) I was doing campaign when it started and then I stopped playing as often and when I play now I keep meaning to go back into it but never quite get there, I seem to get distracted easily and forget what I had intended to accomplish.

6) For equipment with great stats and horrible looks I think it would come down to a lot of equipment people macro in for Weaponskll, I still use an Optical Hat for WS and it is nice but it really is ugly in my opinion.
The best graphic really can’t say for sure but out of everything I have seen I’m partial to my Valor Surcoat, when I saw it for the first time I just wanted one.

7) I don’t really have any “casual” equipment, I don’t do enough to make money in the game to actually think about getting something for the looks. It might not be what people think I should use but I generally use most of what I have at some point for something.

I really don’t know what is with the Mithra thing, the three friends I started playing with all made Mithra characters and I made a Male Elvaan, to this day other than “dude its a cat girl what is there not to like” I don’t understand it.

9) Personally I don’t calculate the XP/hr of parties I like to get into fast parties but it’s not the main reason for me, I enjoy most parties be them slow or very fast.

10) I try to put what I can in a search comment, I’m almost never party leader so I never think about adding camp location, I try to use [Area] OK in most of my search comments as anywhere is accessible, for jobs I’ve never really figured out the best way to inform everyone of what I can use for a sub.

11) It’s annoying to most of us too, sadly those people never understand how hard it is to deal with the seeking with 30 minutes to party only, If I can’t party for longer than 1 hour I try to not seek for a party as I see it as being unfair to everyone else in the party to have to wait for a replacement almost as soon as we start. However I do understand sometimes things happen but I don’t believe these “things” happen as often as some of the people who do this would like you to believe.

12) I’ve done this once and I did not like it as a DD, I felt uneasy about it and often asked if it would be preferable for me to come back PLD/NIN but was never allowed to do so. I still feel that most NA players don’t quite get the benefit of having, even a little extra, more healing available even if it never gets used nor do they like to see some jobs played in a manner they believe it can’t fulfill. When I see the JP only in search comments I used to think that is was JP players being “elitist” but after playing for several years I began to understand it a bit more – the few JP parties I have been in have been calmer, more fluid, and just plain more fun than most of the NA parties that I have been in. Not to say that I don’t have fun outside of them but statistically they are more fun if I look at number of parties had compared to number of those parties that were fun. Still love my Linkshell parties – when they happen, and I will still gladly party when I’m seeking just stating what I have noticed on this one.

Sushi/ネタ: I know many people say it does not taste the same but I just have never tried it as I can’t get past the fish on it. I don’t care for fish or seafood of any kind, the flavor of seafood as a whole sets off a small gag reflex and the texture when my mother would force me to eat fish made me gag even more so I would make myself feel physically ill when I had to eat fish and have never tried any since that time.

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Comment from Asami
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:37 am

1) I speak Japanese very well and I still have trouble keeping up with some conversations. I think this is a perfectly legitimate concern, however, the EN person may just be so happy to be in an environment where they can learn a little Japanese. So seems worthwhile to them. Even if they are just your token white guy. lol
2)This rotating party stuff drives me crazy too. I think it stems from a freak controlling aspect to some EN personalities. They worry about losing the precious camp.
3)I don’t know what rich circles you hang out in, but tons of my Japanese friends don’t even buy RR items for Einherjar. It all depends on who you’re with, and by that I mean their financial status. Rich and Poor people exist on all continents.
4)I’m sorry you met up with inconsiderate players. Some of us are thoughtful.
5)When I did Campaign I never just sat there hitting a wall. That is lame and boring, I’m glad they changed it.
6)WHM cap is so ugly, sometimes I wished I could use it, but no. I love the detail in the Salvage and Assault equipment.
7)I like the Clothcraft Glasses because they make me look smart(つー｀)
8)They want to look sexy to better confuse, and swindle, unsuspecting men(Get items for free).
9)Weapon Skill spamming is hands down, much more efficient. 25,000Exp per hour doesn’t lie.
10)Just about everyone on my server knows me and how good I am at my job so I have no trouble getting invites without using Search comment.
11)I don’t know. Those people are just inconsiderate. I have had JP players do this as well.
12)Understand that there are many many EN players that feel the same way about most of the accepted strategies taken on by the JP community. For example: I think DDs should use Utsusemi in a meripo, and the COR should sub whm, but I do get a lot of strife for expressing that opinion. There is hope!( ´▽｀)

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Comment from Fodder
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:44 am

1. I would, yes as I am learning Japanese and immersion is immensely helpful in learning a new language. I would say no for most cases though. Conversely I’ve had a number of Japanese players ask to join my shell in the past to better learn English.

2. I try to be selective when bothering with a replacement. If it’s a good party I will look for a good member to come. If the party is not resulting in a high rate of EXP I’d rather disband and form a new one with more skilled players. Inviting a replacement and disbanding is rude and insensitive.

3. It is rare to need them, but if you desire someone to bring them, please do tell them as not all players are knowledgable of what is needed. If they won’t acquire the medicines, remove them from the group and invite someone who lives up to your expectations.

4. That is inconsiderate of those players.

5. Many NA players do Campaign, I know of someone with over a million Allied Notes. I don’t like the Campaign nerf, it was nice to engage a fortification and take a nap sometimes.

6. I’m going to say the lack of visibility of back pieces and ranged weapons is the horrible look. The Nomad Cap is my favorite looking equipment.

7. Nothing comes to mind.

8. Some males do, I don’t.

9. I do track the XP/hr. I ask the leader to replace me in any party that is less than 10k/hr and excuse myself. Many players don’t understand that exp/mob doesn’t matter, it’s exp/hr that counts. WS Spam is far better than SC>MB. No one will party with BLM anymore anyway so SC>MB is relegated to the past.

10. I don’t and I won’t party with people who don’t read mine. When I say {Level Sync}55+ or {East Ronfaure [S]} in my seacom I mean it. I ignore the people who invite me to Garlaige Citadel because they ignore my seacom. I don’t invite people without meaningful seacoms.

11. People that do this are inconsiderate.

12. I try to avoid 5 DDs+healer for the same reasons, but I do try to build 3 strong DD, COR, BRD, RDM merit parties so that the DDs and the healer have more than adequate support. My view is that I would rather spend 3 hours in a fast paced 28k+/hr merit party rather than spending 7-8 hours to get the same amount of merits. With a strong ideally configured party I feel like I had a fun, fast paced party that was a good use of my time. Spending 2-3 times as long for the same merits makes me feel like the party was a failure with the knowledge I could have had a better experience.

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Comment from -IIIIIII-
Time May 8, 2009 at 1:58 am

1. I have would have no use or interest in joining a JP social LS, nor do I know of anyone outside the Japanese language who does.

2. If remaining members are willing to carry on I see no reason to disband. Disbanding a party because one member needs to leave does not seem to be a very good use of time invested. I guess I have the opposite experience, where the replacement is an appropriate class to the job leaving. The replacement is able to carry on with the party, extending experience time by many hours. The action of one member forcing a party to disband is why I have a negative view of JP parties.

3. I think this is a question without merit. I have been in many situations where people don’t bring items. Regardless of nationality. The Japanese players are not above reproach when it comes to being prepared; though they may like to believe they are.

4. I have never seen a party who knows there are non-English speaking members not use the Auto-Translate to convey battle planning & general concerns.

5. I use Campaign Battle extensively to gain experience or acquire Allied Notes. I know of many NA who do as well. I feel the nerf to experience on fortifications was uncalled for. There is no reason I can think of for this adjustment. Unless nation controlled areas need to fall completely for SE to advance the storyline, I think this is another example of the developers being out of touch with the community.

6. The Optical Hat is a prime example of equipment I think looks horrid for the primary jobs it was intended for. Denali, Goliard sets are just re-skins using an ugly color pallet, I don’t care for the vision the art development team took with those. The Salvage sets look very nice, and job appropriate.

7. I don’t do casual.

8. Based off my limited knowledge of Japanese porn. I would think that it would be the Japanese who hold much more interest in dressing up Mithra characters.

9. I would need parser data to answer the question. Maybe Skill chain / Magic burst are not the best, and the Japanese were incorrect in their assumption.

10. I always set a search comment. I think this issue is not nation specific. Some NAs set a search comment, some don’t. Some JPs set a search comment, some don’t. Again an example of the Japanese thinking they are above reproach.

11. Another issue where it appears the Japanese think this is a problem with mainly outsiders. I have been in many situations were Japanese will announce to the party that they need to leave without prior notice, or looking for a replacement. Knowing that NA parties prefer replacement this becomes a negative view of parting with JP. I do not want to disband, and stop my experience just because you need to leave.

12. This question is just something that I’ll have to leave unanswered. It all comes down to play style. The Japanese have a preferred way of gaining merits. The North Americans have a preferred way of gaining merits. I’ll leave it at that. There was also a JP Only comment attached to this question. I’ll just be blunt and say I don’t prefer to team up with Japanese either. The JP Only comment often times just comes across as xenophobic. Funny how the Japanese have a negative view of using the Auto-Translate function. Unless they have something to sell, something to buy, offering some service, or need a teleport somewhere. The Japanese sure can figure out how to Auto-Translate in those situations.

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Comment from Fodder
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:01 am

Meh I missed the bonus question.

Bonus: Masago

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Comment from Shawn
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:05 am

1. Personally, so long as the foreign shell understands that I’m trying to learn the language and is understanding about that, I’d be rather excited to join one – I love learning about other cultures.

2. I don’t mind the “revolving door” style parties so much, until one person suddenly disbands from the party, without finding a replacement and leaving the leader to do double-duty, both battling and finding the replacement. I’ve had the “Sorry, party disbanding” happen to me way too many times as well… not fun, and I can see how it would give a bad impression to foreign players. I try to warn my party leader in advance of when I have to leave, and ask if they want me to find a replacement or not.

3. I haven’t run into anyone, myself included, who doesn’t bring medicine or food to a difficult BCNM. This may just be my specific group of friends, though, I tend not to go to mission BCNMs or difficult orb battles with a pickup group, I find a lot of people don’t bother to prepare properly and not try their hardest for pickup groups.

4. I personally use the Auto-Translate feature (or my EXTREMELY rudimentary Japanese or Spanish skills) to plan out a battle if anyone in the party is foreign. There’s been quite a few times where I’ve been the sole English speaking member in a party, asking the party to please use the Auto-Translator only to be given something along the lines of NA .

5. The nerf to Campaign fortifications was taken way too far, it’s pretty much pointless to go to offensive battles anymore, unless you know for certain there are mobs there. I Campaign almost religiously while seeking party, so it’s affected me quite a bit.

6. I’ve got to go with the classic looks for most of the jobs, anything that fits the job, so most of the AF and Relic armor sets. I also like the designs of the ToAU armor sets, along with the Mirke Wardecors from ACP, those were really well done.

Like everyone else, I think the Optical Hat is one of the most ridiculous looking pieces in the game, but it’s far too useful to refuse getting one. I also don’t much like looking at male characters in subligars, something about looking at a guy (even if it’s just pixels) in a metal thong just seems wrong to me.
7. I don’t really have any “Town Gear”, the closest I get is my set of armor I use for fishing. It’s a relaxing pastime for me, so wearing the Kenpogi set just looks right to me, I guess, even though it’s for my level 75 Samurai.
8. I couldn’t tell, I’ve got a Hume Male character and a Mithra mule that I use for storage and maybe gardening. I don’t know anyone who’s dressed up their Mithra character specifically for looks.
9. I do try and find a rough estimate of XP/hour, just to sate my own curiosity. I actually don’t care for the “efficient” WS spam parties most of the time, I’d rather play the game to have fun. The reason I started leveling Samurai in the first place was to coordinate and take part in the SC/MBs, back before ToAU burn parties became the norm. I found those to be more fun, as they required planning instead of just hitting a macro every few swings, and if done right, you could probably get similar XP/hour to a lower-level burn party or a party with less than ideal conditions.

——-

10. I use the search comments every time I seek for party, and I wish other people would do the same. I haven’t used them to notify another party where we’ve set up camp, just when I’ve soloed on Black Mage. I guess it’s personal preference, and it seems like many players don’t spend a whole lot of time seeking, so they don’t see a proper /seacom as a necessity.

11. Most of the time, I don’t know that I’m going to have to go AFK for a long period of time, so I don’t really have much of a choice. If I do know ahead of time, I try to tell the party that I’ll need to, how long I’ll be gone and to find a replacement if they want to.

12. It seems from a lot of these questions that I play a lot like the Japanese players, partying to relax and have fun, not seeing it as a chore and a grind. I personally hated the RDM, BRD, 4xDD setup when I was leveling RDM as I didn’t have the needed MP to keep up with the parties. I do prefer, however, if I do decide to merit on RDM that the DDs use a job other than NIN as their subjob. It keeps me busier, which relaxes me more than having nothing to do in a party, and also makes the XP go faster. My general rule of thumb: 2handed DD’s should use /SAM for Seigan/Third Eye if they get hate, and 1handed DD’s should use /NIN for Utsusemi. The problem I had was convincing the DD’s that keeping shadows up is a good thing.

Heh, the bonus question is kind of a non-issue for me… I’m badly allergic to seafood, so sushi is out of the question. I’d love to try it one day though!

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Comment from anonymous
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:08 am

1. I’m learning Japanese and it would be nice to belong to a social JP LS to learn more about the living language. But I’ve never asked to join one; it would be awkward for the others in the LS to have a “fly on the wall” who could only occasionally participate in conversations.

2. I’ve been in both types of parties and I *hate* replacement parties. I feel so bad for the replacement when the party breaks up 15 minutes later. If someone decides to leave, I will often say I am leaving too; this usually forces the party to break up immediately instead of looking for a replacement.

3. I don’t do many Missions or BCs, but when I do, I always bring extra medicines and potions and such.

4. I’m sorry if this has happened to you. If I were in one of those parties I would try to use the Auto-Translator myself or use romaji to explain as best as I could.

5. I tried Campaign with my highest-level job, WHM , but I got very poor XPs and Campaign doesn’t allow skill-ups. The changes to Campaign haven’t made it any better for a non-melee WHM. I’ll wait until I’ve leveled up a true melee job (maybe).

6. I have always loved the Noble’s Tunic. I also like the look of the Nashira Manteel Set even though I’ll never be able to get it.

7. Even though I’m not a “melee WHM”, I bought a Holy Breastplate because I liked how it looked. For casual wear, I wear the yukata or bathing suits.

8. I don’t know about male players (I’m female), but I dress up my main character and all of my mules in various “fashions”. I’ll get event clothing for my mules if I like how it looks on them.

9. I don’t have a parser so I don’t know the XP/hr rates, but I’ve always preferred Skillchain/Magic Burst because of its elegance. And it’s fun! I rarely encounter it in pickup-parties, unfortunately.

10. You know, I wonder exactly the same thing! It only takes a minute or 2 to enter the Search Comments. The only problem I see is the Auto-Translator translates a phrase to different lengths in different languages and sometimes the information is cut off when I try to view it.

11. If I have less than 3 hours to play, I will let the party know this when I join. I also remind the party about a half hour before I have to leave. Most players will give the party sufficient warning before leaving, but sometimes there are rude players and sometimes there are emergencies.

12. This question made me cry tears of happiness. Nothing is so frustrating for me as a WHM than to have the NIN tank not able to use Utsusemi, mages over-nuking, melees showing off their “1337 sklz” damage and draining my MP after one battle. What can I write in the Search Comments to get a party where everyone works together and not just show off?

sushi => Salmon (not smoked salmon) is my favorite, followed closely by mackerel and yellowfish.

[PS. I am an American.]

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anonymous Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 3:34 am

Just wanted to clarify my answer to #8.

My main character is a Hume female and my mules are Elvaan (male, female), Mithra, and Tarutaru (female). I dress them all up!

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Comment from Andrew
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:33 am

1. I haven’t heard of this before but I think they just want a linkshell to be apart of. There are different work schedules so some people can only play during JP prime time. They can also just be interested in the Japanese culture and would like to be a part of it.

2. I’m not a big fan of replacements either. When the game just started it wasn’t an issue but now I’m finding it happening all the time. It isn’t very respectful, especially when the person who has to leave does not inform the party till the last second when their replacement arrives. Or even worse, they don’t say anything at all and disbands the party leaving us confused.

3. There are people who are good about this, and there are people who are bad about this. I think the people who don’t bring medicines for events, which I hope is the minority, give all of us a bad name.

4. I’ve never been in that situation but if a person who joins my party tells me with auto-translate that they don’t speak any English I would make sure to go over battle plans with them through auto-translate along with going over the plans with the other group in English.

5. Campaign overall is very casual friendly exp. Sometimes I really get into it, and sometimes I get bored easily. It depends on how intense things get and how many monsters and players are involved. I like how you can play differently than being in a party which let’s you learn about other things your job can do. Also the exp gain is decent with the highest medal.

6. Great stats but horrible looks- Bahamut’s Staff. Best graphics – Summoner Relic Armor.

7. I never really thought about casual looking armor but with the mog satchel that has been newly implemented I think I’ll have more room in my bags to start looking into that lol.

8. We have a joke that has been running for a long time with the NA/EUs which is calling Mithra, “Man”thra lol. I hope that translates well into Japanese.

9. Before ToAU came out skill-chaining and magic bursting was the bread and butter of partying. Black Mages were welcomed in exp parties! These days with the way monsters are designed in the popular exping and meriting spots, weapon skill spamming has become better in faster killing rates which is a shame because it can get boring. Lot’s of monsters being magic resistant, and magic reflection doesn’t help much either. Honestly I would love for SE to update Skill-chaining and Magic Bursting to make it more desirable. Things would be a lot more fun!

10. I find that annoying as well and I still don’t understand why it happens. I put my information up every time I seek although sometimes I think people don’t read my information because they ask me questions with the answers in my comment lol. I’ll invite people who have information up rather than those who don’t.

11. Never have done that. I always keep the party informed. It’s respectful.

12. I agree. Only having 1 person in the party to cure can cause things to get hectic. I’ve been in a few parties with that setting and pretty much all of them have had a death in them. Guess what happens to the exp gain when that happens? I’ve realized that the NA/EU are a lot more aggressive in partying versus JP who are more defensive. Both have their merits but overall I’d prefer to have as little stress as possible while grouping. I’d rather make a little less exp with less stress, than faster exp with more stress. It’s a game I should be having fun, no?

Bonus- The Dragon Roll is my favorite sushi.

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Comment from Shukudai
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:33 am

There are already enough replies, I think there is only one issue to address here:

Make sure to note these replies are coming from people who care more about the game, obviously they visit forums and this site, and that a lot of NA are not represented, the more casual players, such as the one’s who build a PT then go AFK for 25 minutes to cook dinner, or who invite a replacement without asking if the PT continues and such, it’s not only the language barrier, but neither community can completely speak for all it’s members.

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Comment from Meepein
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:43 am

1. I don’t know if there is a lot of interest, but I would guess that the interest is there. Personally, as long as communication is possible, I think it would be fairly interesting to join a JP social shell. But the language barrier would be tough for most people.

2. I really do not like parties with replacement members (even when I am a replacement) unless we are either replacing a completely ineffective member, or it is a party with people from my linkshell, meaning I know it will last a long time. It really sucks to be a replacement and be halfway to the camp to be told to turn around. That happens way too often.

3. Can’t speak for everyone, but for me it was always a question of money and room. Mind you, when I did CoP missions, I got everything I could, enough medicines to punch my way through (in fact, I still have a mule loaded with potions.) In short, if I feel I need to bring meds, I will bring everything appropriate.

4. While I never shout to complete a party, I always do make sure to use Auto Translate unless everyone starts talking English. While I will still chat in English, anything important would be in Auto Translate.

5. I have not done Campaign in a while (lost like 5 medals, oops), but I think it is still pretty popular. The nerf to Fortifications though really hurt it, as it seems no one even touches certain zones anymore.

6. Oh, good one. Good stats but horrid looks: Skadi’s gear. Look at that crap, it’s reskinned pink Leather gear. But, for the most part, has very good stats. Now best looking? Hmm… To be honest, I always loved the Homam gear, particularly the legs. Those shorts look awesome.

7. I don’t really do that all that much, but if I wear casual equipment it is usually stuff like Hecatomb stuff, as I like the overall look of it, especially the cap.

8. Uh, what? I like to make sure my mithra looks good (some pieces look really nice on Mithra), and I am a guy, so I don’t know what that says. >.>

9. WS spam is almost always the best. Mainly cause waiting for 2 other people to do large spike damage can really slow things down. Also, some of the better WS’s (Guillotine, Dancing Edge, etc) have horrid SC properties.

10. Oh, I so agree. I always try to put my camp in my search comment, and when looking for pt I try to put as much info as possible. So many people either do not do that, or do not care.

11. Personally speaking, I try to give warnings out as far ahead as I can (I like to give a 1 hour warning, then 30 minutes, then 10 minutes), but sometimes life or LS events intervene and that gets to be impossible. But, as much as I warn that I have to leave as much as I can.

12. Bad party setups suck. And yeah, 5 melee/1 mage parties are awful. What I like (and what I usually end up seeing) is a 3 melee/2 BRD or COR/1 mage setup, TP burning stuff down and killing quick. But, if the 2 BRD’s or COR’s are not available, then 2 mages can be ok.

As for subbing NIN, I always do that when I am unsure of the party (aka, a pickup group.) If I have no clue who you are, or how good you are, I will sub NIN and take the hit in damage to add to my survivability. However, if I am in a LS party, then I am more comfortable subbing SAM or WAR, as I know the talents of my healers.

BONUS QUESTION!

I love Unagi Rolls, but lately I have fallen in love with Philadelphia Rolls (smoked salmon with cream cheese.) Oh, and I love Yellowtail too.

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Comment from Akisu
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:51 am

1) I think there are many people who appreciate and really enjoy the fact that FFXI is a multi-cultural game. While there would be obvious difficulties in understanding, just being able to practice reading Japanese and having a limited back and forth would be entertaining. And you would be surprised at how much Japanese pop-culture Americans know (especially people in the 15-25 age range).
2) I hate replacement parties and usually refuse to join one. Even if it doesn’t end right away there is a good chance it will end within an hour. It just isn’t worth my time to travel to the camp.
3) The good players do, the poor ones do not. Lack of personal responsibility for the outcome of an activity is common in the younger American society and in my opinion our greatest flaw.
4) You were tricked. If someone knowingly recruits a foreign player to an event and doesn’t take the time to ensure they are comfortable with the strategy then they are a poor leader.
5) Campaign is a wonderful way for less popular jobs to get XP or get an XP buffer on a level 75 job. While I haven’t experienced the fort nerf first hand, it does seem to be quite excessive. They could have just cut it in half instead of by 90%.
6) Optical hat and Republic Subligar both look pretty bad but have good stats. I personally like to run around town in my COR AF hat/body/bottes. Also the Kumokirimaru looks very cool, I like the green tsuka.
7)

9) For a long time players seemed more excited about getting the most xp/kill not the best xp/hour. People would move to new camps too early not realizing 250xp every 3 minutes is worse than 100xp every minute. This “over camping” made skillchain/magic bursting popular because it was the only way to kill a higher level enemy. Now that we know about level correction and its impact on accuracy and attack values, it is easy to see why SC/MB was necessary. When you target an enemy much higher than your party’s level, accuracy and attack values are impacted greatly by the level correction; making the melee damage against a mob very poor. However, the skillchain would reduce magic resists to the point where a BLM could overcome the level correction and seem to do damage a melee could not achieve.
When parsing came about and xp/hour was calculated, it became clear focusing on Very Tough mobs or low Incredibly Tough mobs was more efficient. Do to casting times, MP pools and enmity issues, black magic is less efficient than melee damage. By targeting lower level enemies, melee damage is more efficient and the party became more efficient.

10) If someone doesn’t have a search comment, I usually won’t invite them either. I think taking the effort to put a comment in means they are at least serious about getting XP. If someone doesn’t have a comment, I’m not sure if they are waiting for an invite for an LS event/mission etc. So unless they are on a job I need to make my party function, I won’t ask.
I know some jobs like BRD often don’t have comments because they know they will get invites regardless.
11) This is also one of our biggest frustrations. Unless I have 2.5 hours I don’t even put my flag up.
12) Building a party is always about efficiency. 5DDs and a RDM isn’t efficient. 4DDs, a RDM and a BRD can be efficient. /NIN can be efficient, some times it is a waste of potential.
The bottom line is by using /NIN or a mage sub by default, you are limiting your party’s potential. Being willing to make concessions to make a party more efficient is one thing, but destroying a party’s potential by not even considering another support job unnecessarily reduces your xp/hour. And that isn’t efficient. I hate merit parties, so on the rare occasion I join one, I want it to be as efficient as possible.

Bonus) My current favorite is Yari Ika with a small piece of shiso leaf between the rice and the squid.

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Comment from Panthera
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:53 am

1) I would be more interested if I spoke Japanese. Unfortunately, I do not.
2) This happens when the leader fails to ask how much time everyone has left before getting a replacement, or when party members have less time left than they say they have. I only get a replacement if everyone has 90 minutes or more left to party. Sometimes, if it’s a very good party that works well together, you just don’t want to stop! That’s the reason we do this. I would only get someone if they are the same job type as the one that left and I think it’s going to work.
3) It depends on the mission. Easy missions don’t need this stuff. Hard missions, or BCMs where there’s a zerg strategy you bring medicines. But I always have reraise up at all times, no matter what I’m doing.
4) Sometimes, we’re just chit-chatting and there really is no auto translate for it. If it is battle related, I make a point to use the Auto-translator if I have a JP member. I think there’s the most confusion when there’s a Thief in the party.

5) I only do this when I just need very little exp to get my level, or if there’s an item I want that costs Allied Notes. Nerfing fortification exp means no one will attack them. I don’t think players should be rewarded for railing on something that can’t fight back.

6) Aurum set has good pieces. I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but it looks like someone peed all over the armor. Everyone calls Aurum Sabatons “Pee Boots.”

Ares set looks very intimidating!

7) I have so many items, I don’t’ have room for costumes.

Not mithra, but Tarutarus look cute no matter what they wear. Everyday is Halloween for Tarus.

9) I never party with a black mage unless I can’t find a healer, and then I expect them to heal, not nuke. Black mages hurt exp per hour, and weaponskill spamming is far superior to skillchain/magic burst. I wish that the old way was better, because it requires more skill and team work.

10) Sometimes, there is a “Law of the Jungle” mentality to exp camps. There’s no point in putting up a comment, because many people will just invade the camp anyway. The strongest party wins the camp. That’s why I like MMM. When I’m seeking, I put up a search comment.

11) If I have to go suddenly, it’s because something comes up I did not anticipate. I try to give 20-30 minutes heads up if I can if I have to go.

12) I never party without a bard, ever. And I always sub ninja.
NA players use double bard (or corsair), healer + 3 melee setups as well, however, this requires very strong melees with the best gear possible. It won’t work with weak-average melees. Sometimes, 4 melees, a bard or cor and a red mage is best. But 5 melees is ridiculous, I never do this. Leaders that do this are just desperate for EXP. However, please realize that a party can fail because it is too support heavy and there’s not enough damage. With refresh armor, sanction refresh, and ballad or Evoker’s roll, a good Red Mage should have plenty of MP to solo heal.

I realize that there are bad English leaders and players. But I have met bad JP players as well. However, there are good NA and JP players, and no one has an excuse to be prejudiced. I think that JP can be too conservative sometimes, and NA too reckless and brash, and that a “Happy Medium” exists somewhere inbetween. That’s why it’s imporant that we party together, so that we can find it.

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Comment from Slip
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:56 am

#1.) I’m just beginning to learn Japanese so I’m not at all ready to join a Japanese social linkshell. If I could read the language well though I think it’d be great precisely because there’d be all sorts of references I wouldn’t be likely to learn in other places.

#2.) Cycling party members? I dislike it too. I’ve seen it done smoothly sometimes but it often winds up being unfair to the people who join in late and only get a very short play session before the party disbands.

#3.) I try to always have common medicines like a stack of Echo drops, Prism Powders and so on available no matter what job I’m set to. Special items like Vile Elixir’s I’ll only bring for seriously hard content. A lot of missions, especially early ones like the Rank 3 Dragon fight, just don’t need them so they’d be a waste of money and inventory space.

#4.) Shouting in Auto-translate and then refusing to use it for communicating with the party is the sign of someone who’s {Too Weak}. You’re right to be unhappy with that kind of treatment, especially since it is not hard to communicate at least the basic info on where to go, who’s pulling and what the party is fighting. If a leader can’t manage that then they’re not much a leader.

#5.) I was doing Campaign quite a lot for a while but have switched to leveling lowbie jobs thanks to the Fields of Valor missions. The fortification nerf seems pretty pointless to me, but then so have most of SE’s nerfs.

#6.) Since I’ve been working with low level jobs recently I’ve got give a thumbs down to the male hume RSE gear. Nice stats on it for it’s level but the looks could use some help. On the other end, a lot of the Aht Urghan gear looks nice but my overall favorite set in the game (for looks) is the basic Paladin AF set.

#7.) I actually carry a set of Chocobo Riding gear with me at all times. It’s my “casual” gear because it looks pretty comfortable.

#8.) My only Mithra is a mule who’s still got her starter RSE on so I can’t say it’s been a big thing for me.

#9.) Most of my past level 50 has been done in groups with friends. I did calculate xps/hr in those groups because I wanted to see how well the things we were trying were working. As for which is better Magic Burst or WS parties? I don’t have the hard data myself but my understanding was that WS parties can do a lot better because they are not MP constrained.

#10.) Why don’t people use search comments when they’re looking for party? They’re either uninformed newbies or they’re just stupid. Either way the empty search field is saying something useful about them though, so I always choose people who have their search comments filled out first.

#11.) If you know you’re going to be busy at a certain time there’s no excuse at all for not telling your party about that when you join. People who leave with a minute’s notice when they knew they were going to have to go all along are just being rude.

#12.) I think this issue is something each party needs to work out for itself. A good leader should be able to communicate to the players what sort of merit party they intend to run and what they expect each member to be able to do. Surprising a Red Mage and telling him he’s the parties only healer is bad. There are some Red Mage’s who like that and some who don’t. Talking that out before the party begins will save everyone a lot of grief and unhappiness.

Bonus Question: My favorite sushi is probably Yellow Tail. Nothing fancy, just the slice of yellow tail and some yummy sushi rice to go with it.

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Comment from Mabon
Time May 8, 2009 at 2:57 am

1. I often keep strange playtimes when compared to “average” NA players. So, I can see how this would be appealing to those who log on to find their social shells empty. However, I speak very little Japanese and understand even less. Additionally, my present linkshell has some other night-owls as well as some EU players, so there is very little time, if any, that my shell is empty.

2. I despise players who contact their own replacements without talking to the rest of the party. I prefer to setup a party myself with a well defined start time, a short break in the middle, and an end time. Even if you work all this out beforehand, you still get players who do not respect the rest of the party members. For this reason, I find myself soloing or duoing on pet mobs rather than seeking for random parties, soloing on blm at puddings for merits, or partying with people I know well from linkshell or my friends list.

3. NA players are cheap^^. For some jobs, like black mage for example, it used to be an inventory issue, I would run at 69/70 inventory spaces carrying only echo drops, food, and reraise. With the new mog satchel there is now no excuse to not have these items. I have poison potions, cookies, holy waters, extra food, antidotes, eye drops, elemental obis for everyday, situational gear, a hi-ether tank, and a hi-potion tank in my satchel right now along with another full set of gear for another job.

4.You have to remember that with the auto-translate function you can press one or two letters, hit the tab key, and then select the statement. This is a lot faster than typing out your whole request. A lot of players do this out of convenience. You can communicate in general terms with the auto-translator, but when it comes down to it more specific things require more specific interaction or instruction than the auto-translator can provide.

5. Personally, there was a period when campaign was new and provided something different and I spent most of my free time doing it. Then I got bored with it and stopped for almost a year because it didn’t offer any worthwhile rewards. Now with the introduction of ANNM there is incentive to maintain a steady supply of allied notes, so I find myself doing a lot more campaign battles once again. I was never really one to sit and just midlessly hit fortifications, I’d rather find an active battle to participate in. The nerf had no effect on how I participate in campaign.

6.I remember wearing Republic Subligar for about 40 levels on my monk. Elvaan man thighs are truly a sight to behold…
I really like my Genie Weskit, Dalmatica, and RDM AF2. I like black mage AF2 hat, I need to get that soon! I am currently leveling DRK, so i really like the way my Luisant Haubert looks too. I also feel that the salvage sets are aesthetically pleasing.

7. I am a collector of beastman hats! They look so cute on my tarutaru mule. I think I like the goblin one the best.

8. This is a sure sign of homosexuality! Although, to quote one linkshell member, “If I’m going to be staring at my character for hours on end, I want it to look good!”

9. TP Burn is much faster! It’s also very easy for Black Mage to solo now. Much faster to go and solo at your own pace rather than wait for a party.

10. I use search comments frequently. They aren’t just for experience points or dynamis lots. Use them to sell things, find members for missions, and to notify others of your position. I solo a lot of goblin pets for experience points and I always search an area and check search comments before heading out. {Goblin} {Pet} …. very easy! very helpful! Please check search comments! Also, if you think some one might be at a camp you want, you can always /tell them before you walk all the way out there.

11. Lack of respect for anyone other than yourself.

12. A merit party set up is easy.You get one Red Mage, 1 BRD/NIN, 1 BRD/WHM (1 Bard and one Corsair works just as well), a DD with provoke (Preferably WAR/NIN), and 2 other DDs that use Ninja subjob. This is directed mostly at NA players too, ‘cus JP players seem to get it already. You do not full time Hasso, Souleater, or any other job ability that increases the damage you take to increase your damage dealt. Anyone who does this A) is an asshole or B) has never played a mage job in a merit party. Exp/hr slows down considerably with deaths and/or mages with no MP.

13. In game I really like Bream Sushi, It’s easy to catch in and around Windurst. It also gives the most accuracy. In life, I am partial to spicy tuna maki.

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Comment from Nick
Time May 8, 2009 at 3:22 am

1. There is a very small set of players who want to practice/improve their Japanese and would be interested in joining. Being exposed to pop-culture references and “normal” Japanese chat is one of the best ways to improve, even if they don’t understand at first. Personally, I would send a tell (in Japanese) to find out why they are interested. If they can respond, why not let them join and see how it goes?

2. There is a risk every time you join a pickup party… the best thing to do is ask how long the party will continue for. If you can’t ask in english, {party}{time remaining}? will probably work.

Also, please remember that many players are simply not good party leaders or not concerned with exp/hr, and will invite inappropriate jobs in order to continue… If you don’t like the current party setup, leave! Nobody will feel insulted or angry.

3. I agree that this is very common. Even many top linkshells don’t bring food or medicines to events such as Einherjar or Dynamis. I think the reason is this:

For casual players, they don’t have the money to spend on things such as potions or elixers, or just don’t know that they will need them.

For hardcore players, they use very extensive gear-swaps for casting and weapon skills and TPing… often times, inventory is full with nothing but equipment. There is really no space to carry something that might not be necessary. Hopefully this will change now with mog-satchel.

4. I think using the auto-translate function for inviting players or shouting for help is just a habit. It’s actually quicker to type {party}{do you need it?} than to actually write it out in english… so many leaders will use auto-translator even when inviting english speakers.

5. I feel a lot of people do it to earn xp/limit points solo, but I don’t think anybody cares about “winning”.

6. great stats, bad looks: walahra turban, scorpion harness, gaudy harness/enkidu, igqira weskit, various subligar, all 3 armors from the new expansion

great looks, bad stats: byrnie, most AF/AF2, kyudogi

9. Absolutely we calculate xp/hr. More than that though, many players like to parse to see what % of party damage they do, or what their accuracty % is, or what their average weapon skill is, etc. One of the newest trends, though, is that you see a lot of players on the forums speculating about which weapon or combination of equipment may be best simply by math (using the damage equations posted on community websites, not parsing). There are so many arguments about what you should wear based on math people have done with these equations.

11. Mostly, it’s just a useful excuse to leave the party. For some reason, {I’m busy} or {time for work} became the easy way to leave a party instead of saying “I don’t like this party, I think I’ll leave now”

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Comment from Remilia
Time May 8, 2009 at 3:30 am

Q9 Reply

WS spam that leads to lvl 3 skillchain spam produces the best result, the magicburst that follows are not necessary because merit mobs will probably be close to death when the skillchain procs, any big nukes will be a waste of mp (sorry blms!). In a thf’s point of view a 1200dmg ws + 1200dmg lvl3 sc is always nice on greater colibri :3 .

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Comment from Anon
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:03 am

1. Personally, I have sought out JP Endgame/Event Linkshells due to my own personal schedule, which does not allow me to participate in many LS events such as Sky/Sea/Limbus/Dynamis/ETC. As far as social shells, though I can understand very very simple japanese words (I studied japanese language for 3 years, many years ago), I would be more comfortable in an English speaking LS. Reading Kana (specifically kanji) is too difficult to read and understand for me. By the time I am able to translate it, the conversation is already over! ^^;

2. Party members have varying degrees of time they have available to party. Some as little as an hour, some for many many more. The intent of seeking replacement members is to keep the party going without a large amount of interruption. Oftentimes, I notice a member who intends to leave, take it upon him/herself to find a replacement, rather than letting the party or party leader know. This miscommunication (or lack of communication) can lead to many problems, especially when people do not let others know the amount of time is available. So we run into the problem of a new LFP member reaching the camp, but the party decided to disband because too many people decide to leave all at once, and no one wants to take the initiative to re-form a good working party.

Personally, I will let the party leader know the amount of time I have available if it is less than 90 minutes. just so that they are aware.

3. I don’t know why people are not prepared. It is, likely due to either price/laziness/lack of inventory space. Most should have some form of Reraise, but bringing a large number of potions is typically prohibitive simply because of the amount of space they require. I do think that if there is any need of extra medicines, party leaders should let members know beforehand so that they can prepare appropriately.

4. I have seen this happen as a party member, and I be sure to speak in JP or use auto-translate functions to ensure everyone knows what is going on.

5. I personally do not campaign very much so I do not know how to answer this question. I play primarily Dragoon and campaign rewards (XP and items) are not very appealing to me because I can solo for XP at a faster rate. Though the newly implemented ANNM system has made be begin to change this, so I can participate.

6. Great Stats/looks ugly — Optical Hat
Looks great — Dragoon AF2 Set.

7. I don’t but with the new mog satchels I might consider this since i have more space to accommodate the extra equipment!

8. This is a funny question! I don’t know, but I’m sure players like to have their characters look their best!

9. I think Skillchain >> Magic Burst still works great until TOAU XP camps where the mobs have relatively low HP and die fairly quickly. I think Kuftal Tunnel crabs is one of the few places where even EN players try to Magic Burst with Freeze.

10. That is very smart and I think would be something I’d like to implement, especially camp location. I already use the /seacom for my information when looking for party.

11. I do! though, I have been in parties where EN and JPs do not give appropriate notice that they are leaving. Sometimes JPs (and ENs) give less than a 10 minute warning about their intent to disband. In my opinion this does not give enough time to seek a replacement member.

Here is a question I wanted to ask to JPs and maybe you can implement in your next iteration of talking points:

How do you feel about inappropriate use of the Auto-Translate Function? Often times I see a EN puller (fisherman), use in auto translate {bee} {Ready!}, I would think that such a chat would make little to no sense to a JP player, and I am sure there are many other examples I cannot think of off hand. I do not mean shouts that are of a sexual nature, but feel free to comment on those too if you’d like! w

3.

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Comment from Akashimo
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:12 am

1. It has crossed my mind a few times.

2. It is a regular thing, just bad luck when it breaks down before getting to camp or after joining. I usually avoid being party leader unless I started the party and only disband when its 3 or more people are leaving.

3. I try to if its a real tough one from previous experience. But normally I don’t have the gil to afford it.

4. Haven’t had any experience with that.

5. I’ve stopped campaigning since the nerf. Just not worth it anymore.

6. Nashira body on male characters looks horrible even for macro pieces. Paladin AF legs on mithra doesn’t look all that appealing, yet the relic does. Best looking would be Drg mnk and pld relic on mithra, rdm and homam on hume male.

7. Not that I can remember just for looks, most have stats I want on it as the main reason. Though I avoid subigars on my hume but always have it for my mithra.

8. It is fun and part of the reason why I have a mithra character along with my hume male as shared mains.

9. I think if the party regularly makes a SC and MB or do 1 level 2 SC then close with another level 2 or finish it with light/darkness it would speed up xp/hr than without it. Distortion > Fusion > Light {Yes, Please}

10. Most NAs don’t use it for camp spots unless we’re soloing at a popular spot. As for invites, we generally assume everyone has access to all the norm areas and have the expected subjobs for their mains.

11. Things can be unexpected to happen, real life emergancy or hnm pop. Or they could just want out of what they think is a bad party quickly.

12. As a first whm to 75 and rdm to 75 I agree that it is hard to be a solitary healer. Most of the time I’d rather just avoid pick up parties as those jobs and try not to be a burden with my favorite non-healing jobs. Though some times I can end up worse when I have an urge to be thf/drk at Mamool Ja staging point and SATA Assassin’s Charge Souleater Hide Dancing Edge.

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Comment from Zagen
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:18 am

1. I would be interested if I knew more Japanese than just common anime catch phrases. Honestly I want to learn Japanese but I haven’t made time for it so I wouldn’t feel comfortable joining a Japanese social LS.

2. I used to be of the opinion that replacements were great because they kept the party going longer. As I’ve played more now I’m starting to lean against getting replacements because the party won’t function the same way as it did. Also I’ve noticed lately when we get a replacement even if the party was notified they were coming most of the party loses interest in the party and starts to slack off until the party eventually disbands.

3. People are lazy and cheap but I don’t think Japanese players are exempt from this I’ve had times when I’ve joined Japanese groups and they weren’t prepared. I feel regardless of race there will be those who are lazy and don’t come prepared or forget items for a given event. I myself have been guilty of this a few times although more so because I take an event lighter than I should sometimes.

4. If someone in the party I’m in doesn’t speak English then I will try to explain using auto-translate the plan but I find it hard at times depending on the event and the experience of the player that needs the translation. Usually I can find a way to get around something that maybe confusing. If auto-translate fails then I try to say things using an online translator though I don’t know if that is appreciated or disliked as the translations can be wrong or poorly worked sometimes.

5. I know a few people who do campaign regularly but not many. I used to do campaign a lot before but I found myself losing interest because it became something where I was on my own due to the lag or people just not caring about others.

6. Off the top of my head I think Optical Hat looks weird but not to the point that I just can’t stand staring at it.
I like how Corsair Artifact looks in my opinion its one of the best looking armor sets in the game though I do like pirates.

7. I have little room left in my inventory and mog house on my main character so I don’t bother getting gear for looks alone unless its for my Mithra character since I have more room on that one. I don’t really go out of my way for anything unless its fairly cheap.

8. I have a Mithra character and I find myself dressing her in cute gear while she is in town. I like how Mithra’s look in RDM AF for example and typically wander around in a mix of RDM AF and Relic gear.

9. I used to think Skillchain and Magic Burst parties were the best for EXP/Hour but now I know otherwise. What I still believe is they are better than just Weapon Skill spam parties because they require learning timing and self control where as the latter does not require learning how to time things and self control. While it nets more EXP/Hour it also creates more ignorant players in my opinion.

11. I actually do, in my search comment I will put something like {party} {short time} or the name of the event I have to do later and the time it will start. Unless its an emergency I let the party know ahead of time.

12. I actually agree that 5x DD 1x Healer is a horrible merit party setup I’ve been in two once as a RDM and once as a SCH. Both times I found myself strained for MP and the EXP/Hour was worse than I would get soloing on SCH at least. I prefer 1x Healer, BRD, COR, 3x DD personally with Refresh/Sublimation, Ballad, and Evoker’s Roll I have more than enough MP to cover the healing for the whole party even if the DD are /WAR or /SAM. Getting 200+ chains without having to /heal the whole time to me is as efficient as it gets for merits. Given enough support I feel that a single healer is fine for most merit camps.

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Zagen Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 4:21 am

In number 3 I meant nationality not race… Thinking too much like in-game I guess.

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Comment from Quattre
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:35 am

4. To this I would say the same to Japanese players. Countless times I’ve been invited by someone using the autotranslate function, and when I get in to the party, even if i ask, nobody is willing to use it to tell me what were trying to do. I think when this happens both American, and Japenese players begin to think the other group is doing something stupid because were not talking.

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Comment from Seyrr
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:46 am

1. I’m not very good with other languages, but some of my friends who can speak Japanese like to have a place where they can practice their skills and make new friends. I think one of my friends is in a Japanese shell where some of the members don’t know he’s not Japanese.

——-

2. I hate when that happens. I think it’s because the replacement process takes so long that by the time the new person gets there, everyone else has lost patience and doesn’t want to party any more. Also, sometimes the leader is so desperate to find a sixth person that they’ll invite anyone just to get the party moving again.

In both cases, people don’t want to give up on a party that was going well, but circumstances may make it impossible to keep going.

——-

3. Inventory space is sometimes an issue, but the new Satchels are helping with that. I carry a lot of medicines and supplies in my satchel now. That said, if there are things that are critical (like Anima in Promyvion), I make sure to make space.

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4. I’m sorry that happened. When I play with Japanese players, I try to at least give basic instructions. Auto-Translate is okay, but it’s hard to communicate complex instructions with it. As for conversation, Auto-Translate is even more difficult.

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5. I do Campaign sometimes. I liked getting lots of buffer by going and hitting a wall for a while, so the change made me a little sad. Maybe people will start fighting the monsters now.

——-

6. Assault Jerkin was so ugly. I’m glad not many people wear it any more. Optical Hats also look bad.

For equipment that looks good, I love Kyudogi, and most of the Dynamis sets (I especially love RNG). I also like it when people wear matched sets. I will often change my clothes if a major cutscene is about to happen so that I can look stylish.

There are a lot of good looking hats, aren’t there?

——-

7. I am the only person in my Dynamis group who wants the Hydra Jupon set (the one that gives bonuses to your fellow.) Actually, it seems like most of the gear I go out of my way for these days is at least partly for looks.

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8. I’m gay, but I still like to make my Mithra character look good. I chose Mithra for the stats (wow, I didn’t know much back then), but dressing her up is fun too. I think a lot of players secretly want to dress their characters up to look like the heroes and adventurers they imagine themselves to be. That’s why we play these sorts of games, right?

——-

9. My friends do this, and they say weaponskill spam parties are almost always better for exp rates. Skillchain/Magic Burst seem better for event battles, rather than just grinding through lots and lots of enemies. That said, I often like to save up a little TP and wait for someone else to go, then close a skillchain. It keeps things from getting too boring.

——-

10. I don’t know! It makes me so annoyed. I use Search Comments for all sorts of things – even when I chocobo dig, so others know that the zone will be dug up. I think that if people can’t make the effort to write a clear and useful Search Comment, they’re probably not going to make the effort in other things as well.

——-

11. I know some people feel that if they say “Hey, I only have 45 minutes” at the start, the others might say “We want to go for longer, so we’ll just kick you and get someone else.” In my case, a few times I forgot about appointments until the last minute, and so I had to leave with very little notice.

——-

12. I’ve never actually had a 5 DD + RDM party. Most of the people I know use two supports (RDM, BRD, or COR). It sounds like 5 DDs + RDM is like pushing a car engine to the limit – you can go very fast, but if something goes wrong it’ll all come apart at the worst time. I like something more relaxing, but other people want to get the most out of their time.

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Bonus:

I like salmon the best. But sometimes I will order inari as a dessert (that’s the pouches of tofu, right?) They’re so sweet and just a little tangy. I wish SE would add inari sushi to FFXI.

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Comment from Estya
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:50 am

1. There are those that would be interested, but the language barrier is obviously a problem. My Japanese is not good enough for a casual conversation level, and my pop culture knowledge mostly comes from ニコニコ動画…

2. It’s annoying for me as well. It becomes a waste of time for everyone when that happens. There are those that don’t consider their party relative to what they are planning to hunt. People would rather give up and disband instead of trying to figure out an alternative with what they have available.

3. Bad players won’t prepare properly. It might depend on the perceived difficulty as well. Some are just too cheap to purchase additional items, or will say they don’t have enough room to hold them.

4. Sometimes it’s just a lazy way to not type out whole words. I use it to emphasize locations (or if it’s difficult to spell). What I don’t understand is why emotes and commands are in the Auto-Translate when they are the same in Eng/Jpn versions.

5. Many participate I think. The wall nerf was a necessity, but too extreme as usual. I never liked hitting walls anyway.

6. サブリガきめええ！ I always liked PLD AF, especially when it made I.M. gear look dull and dirty.

7. I have an assortment of hats (Mandragora, beastmen, events, etc). My favorite piece is my Fungus Cap/Hat which was the first NM drop I ever got in the game.

8. I don’t dress my Mithra in a cute way, but I like matching red things with the WHM AF pants.

9. XP per hour is a big consideration for many people. What some people don’t realize is while the WS spam might work at higher levels in Aht Urghan camps, it doesn’t apply to the old traditional camps.

10. Some of it is laziness or people who don’t care. However, with English language we can’t fit as much info as we like in the limited amount of space. 白黒赤 takes up less space (3) than Whm/Blm/Rdm (11). The Auto-Translate adds more space with the { } as well.

11. Those are inconsiderate people. Other than emergencies, there shouldn’t be any excuse. At the very least they should inform the party if they have limited time.

12. The other way of thinking is that by being able to kill the mob faster, less curing will be needed which should be less stress for the healer in the long run. Neither way is necessarily better or worse. There are those types of people who only care about getting the maximum amount of exp as quick and efficiently as possible. Personally, I don’t like level/merit parties anymore and just stick with Campaign whenever I feel like it.

Bonus. 鮭 (salmon) especially the color, but I like finishing with マグロ (tuna)

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Comment from Callisto
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:52 am

5. I’ve always campaigned heavily since WotG came out(kind of a requirement having PLD leveled in order to keep buffer), but a lot of my friends weren’t into campaign previously. However, the addition of ANNM has now sparked a big interest in campaign amongst everyone I know, since Allied Notes are now basically a license to print gil.

As far as the Fortifications nerf, I really, really dislike it and hope they undo it, it gives no incentive for anyone to take down forts, and now it’s impossible to get Campaign Ops such as Splitting Heirs on my server, in order to get items such as Cuchulain’s Mantle we have to resort to people who basically RMT for them by buying them on other servers and server transfer them to ours.

6. Crimson Cuisses are game-changing to me, but outside of my RDM they look absolutely hideous with my PLD and COR gear. Gnadbhod’s Helm also has great stats but looks awful.

As far as good looks, I really like the new Nuevo Coselete, for older items I’ve always been partial to DRK AF.

12. I think there is a misconception about how we support our healers. Rather than supporting them by taking less damage, we support them by giving them large amounts of Refresh and by killing enemies quickly so that they have less opportunity to do damage to the DDs. I don’t think that any(competent) NA will tell you that 5x DD + RDM is optimal, rather 3x DD COR BRD RDM is(or 2x BRD).

As a RDM healing merits I really have never had any issue with keeping up on healing with Evoker’s, Ballad, and Sanction Refresh so long as the DDs are at least properly using Seigan/Third Eye when they pull hate.

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Comment from Sindalf
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:56 am

1. I think many would as long as they could understand the text. If not its more so they are not lonely in their game. Seeing LS chat of all jp when you are a NA is really a calming feeling

2. Depends on the Player some are responsible and get a correct job to replace with to keep the party going. Others do not and just leaving making the party not work. Many JP players on my server do not replace themselves when they have to go making it hard for me to invite them over a NA player. They do just as you say NA players do.

3. Money and Lazy people. Bring whats needed make sure you ask before hand if a person has the correct meds, Thats what i do. If they dont just boot them if the meds are absolutely needed.

4. I help out alot on CoP missions and end up shouting in auto Translate alot so I can fully understand this problem. This is once again lazyness on the players part for not using the auto Translator. Heck Ive even see NA yell at JP players for not understanding even when the JP player is clearing speaking in japanese. It really is sad sometimes. I know when I do it I speak in English first then give out more instructions in Auto Translate to the JP players. NA players should do more 1NA 5JP Missions It can really teach alot about what to say in Auto Translation.

5. All the time since I dont like to wait on a party. Nerf sucks dont like it especially when theres no where else to go.

6. Not the best person to answer this but I would have to go with Aurum set from ZNM.

7. I do not do this because of money and Inventory space issues. I see alot of people wearing Wedding clothes but thats about it.

8. Only met a few males that liked to do this. You see less and less as you get farther into endgame.

9. TP burn is the best for merit parties. However at lower levels with the correct set up and a bard with Threnody + MB can do alot. I rarely saw this being used even back in the old days because players must adjust alot to the situation on whether to store tp for Skillchain/Magic burst or just go own their own. Its alot harder work but with the proper Skillchain you can do almost double the damage you would from just spaming TP skills. Really useful at lower levels.

10. Camps in comments was not used by both JP and NA on my server so I wouldnt know. I dont always add info like TNL because I may be lfg during campaign and it will be inaccurate.

11. Not everyone does this I keep my group updated even if its Me and 5JP players. Thats just bad players that do this. SE gave us the Auto translate so we better use it.

12. Being PLD main I really cant answer this question. 4DDs Bard and 1RDM really works but yes it puts alot of work on the healer. If you want to relax go ahead and do what you want. If you want alot of xp in an intense party go join a TP burn. Each person has their own preference.

13. Dont eat sushi sorry

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Comment from Xia
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:07 am

1. Although I can speak some Japanese, I always assumed that because I have a NA version of the game and can only use romaji it would be difficult for an all JP shell to adapt to reading and responding to me. Basically I would like to meet more JP players, but I don’t want to be a burden or an annoyance. I don’t ever respond to NA shouts for social linkshells because many times they are low level members looking for high level members to give them assistance, when all I’d like to do is chat.

2. I follow my own set of guidelines in this situation. When I need to leave a party I always give at least a 30 minute notice with a reminder at 10 minutes and when it’s time for me to leave. I ask the party if they would like a replacement, and how long they would like to continue. Many times I find that other members are tired as well, so we agree on a time to disband the party, usually after a member gains a level. If the party wants a replacement and someone is available, I will inform the party and wait until they arrive if possible. Otherwise, if the party is bad I will never invite someone else.

3. Usually this is an issue of inventory space; as a Red Mage I carry around many different equipment sets at once and I don’t always have space for lots of additional things. I always carry echo drops and a reraise earring though. When I got my security token I filled up my satchel with lots of foods, warp, and extra medicines so I never forget to bring them. Some players, however, are just being cheap and lazy.

4. Sometimes when discussing battle strategies or camp locations some members of the party may not realize that you are Japanese. However, they might want to discuss a strategy in English first before sharing it with you, so please be patient. If this does not happen I can understand why you would be upset! Good parties should show respect for all languages used in the party and make sure all members understand the battle plan.

5. I stopped participating in Campaign after the recent version update. It seems like I can now go to an area under signet and earn extra exp. through Fields of Valor while breaking a weapon latent or improving my combat skills. It’s difficult to spend your time in the game doing something for little reward when no one else wants to do it either. While it makes the Campaign map more balanced, players began to overcrowd the areas under player control and it makes the experience less fun.

6. I hate the look of the Optical Hat and Assault Jerkin. I like the looks of most jobs in full AF2, but I understand that most people only wear that in town since it’s not always the best equipment available.

7. I always collect any new equipment from seasonal events. When on a low level job I like to use aketons or my crafting apron and glasses.

8. I am a Mithra, and I do like to make myself look good! I like the new swimsuits from last summerfest and I love to wear my PUP AF. I am not a male player, however I think a lot of men like to create Mithra mules for this purpose…how creepy!

9. I think that in general most players like to do weaponskill spam these days. Perhaps on targets like crabs in Qufim it would be more advantageous to use a Skillchain > MB setup, but I feel sad that it has limited uses these days. When I first leveled Puppetmaster I used to SC with my automaton all of the time, but as I got better WS as I leveled up it wasn’t very practical anymore.

10. I like to include useful information such as my subjobs and area access (Runic Portals) in my search comments. Newer players might not know how to set a search comment properly. High level players who don’t are less likely to be chosen for a party since the leader doesn’t know much about them. As for camp location, I try to include it in my comment even if I’m not the leader, although both JP and NA players alike have come and taken my party’s camp without warning, and there’s just no way to stop players who don’t have the courtesy to check.

11. Anyone who is busy in real life should be doing more solo friendly content instead of partying during these times (especially with the new FoV update and Campaign). If a player is standing around doing nothing for a long time, you should consider removing them from the party.

12. Really, most NAs see merit parties as a chore and not an enjoyable experience. One of my jobs is Red Mage, and I feel that melee without Utsusemi can work well enough if the following conditions are met: I have enough Refresh (from a Bard or Cor or both) to be able to help my keep my MP up, the melee can bounce hate correctly, and they have a method of damage reduction (Seigan / Third Eye). It is more work for me as a healer, but as long as the party can work as a team and kill enemies quickly this method can produce good xp. I can say that I do enjoy the more casual style of JP merit parties, and I appreciate your concern for the healers and sense of teamwork. I am willing to adapt my playstyle to either type of party, as long as I can be invited!

Bonus!

If I am ordering a more standard style of sushi, I love tuna, salmon, or crab with spicy mayo. I also like to see if there are any unusual combinations on the menu to try, such as fruit sushi with strawberry and kiwi or crab with avacado and pineapple.

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Comment from [Cerberus]Shalafi
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:27 am

1. I can’t speak Japanese so I stick to English shells, but if I could speak the language I would join; it would be a great way to learn history and culture.

2. I’ve experienced this both joining and leaving a party. I typically tell the party or party leader that I have to go and ask if they will get a replacement or should I. This type of behaviour helps to minimize problems, I dislike those who invite me out and then disband when I get there and I feel very bad when it happens to others.

3. This depends on the difficulty of the BC, but for me specifically mostly because I’m poor

5. Very frustrated with the fortification nerf, has made keeping zones difficult and lessens chance for Beastman Base BC.

7. My favourite piece of equipment is RDM Relic hat. I also like the look of the Usukane set, but sad because I don’t have a job that can utilize as I am all mage. I try to make my character look good with all their equipment, which is hard becuase I’m a Taru.

9. I find WS is generally the best, 25-30k/hr but SMN burns can’t be beat for fun & experience.

10. I guess I’m still old school and haven’t changed the way I do my search comment when LFP since before Level Sync. I guess I should change that now.

11. I’ve never done this and agree it’s pretty rude. I think many people don’t realize their own time contraints or how fast time can go by.

12. My LS as well as personal setups are always 1 BRD, 1 Healer, 1 Haster, 3 DD or 4 BLM 1 BRD, 1 Refresher.

SUSHI: I like sushi pizza, Crispy rice with salmon, onion,tobiko & special sauce; but would have to say my favourite is Spicy Tuna Maki, Tuna with horseradish, wasabi and green onion rolled in rice and seaweed. MMMMMmmmmmm!!!

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Comment from Lefiont
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:32 am

1. I can’t speak for others, but as someone who is attempting to learn Japanese I would be interested in joining a Japanese LS. I think many Americans are interested in and enamored with the Japanese culture. By joining a Japanese LS they get a better understanding of the Japanese culture and uses of the language, a good example of this is recently with the JP Button EN -> JP questions I learned why JP players don’t like /check and have stopped using it.

2. I think it is extremely rude for a party to invite someone and if the party disbands not to let the person who they invited know the party disbanded. Personally, if I can’t find an equivalent job to replace the one that left most times I will disband the party rather than invite another job that is not appropriate. This is usually best for all party members, because if you do invite another job that is not appropriate it results in party death.

3. I’m not sure if this is specific to a particular server, but on my server most players are asked if they have specific items prior to even going to the BC or Mission. Sometimes the player is just not aware a certain item is needed. If the player cannot purchase the items needed they shouldn’t go.

4. This is an extremely rude thing to do. If I invite a JP player I always explain everything as best as I can via the auto-translate option. If english players cannot understand what was said for some reason, then I will elaborate to them specifically. Most of the time, I will look for another JP player to invite so they can communicate with someone else who speaks their language fluently. I think this makes the party more enjoyable for everyone.

5. I know many players on my server that do Campaign and enjoy it greatly. I don’t as much though because it can get boring after a while. I don’t like the nerf to fortifications mostly because sometimes the Campaign enemies are killed quickly and the fortifications are all that is left to fight.

6. I think the brigadine.
I think the Puppetmaster AF, the COR Relic, and the new ACP armor looks the best.

7. I love the Puppetmaster AF. I wear the full AF when wandering around, but wear other gear while in a Party.

8. I am a male player, but I like Tarutaru better than Mithra. I think they are so adoreable!

9. We do calculate XP/hour, but most players think Weapon Skill spamming produces better results. I would love to see more people use Skillchains/Magic bursts. When I DD in a party I try to match my WS to someone in the party to Skillchain, but the party doesn’t pre-plan.

10. I have noticed most English players don’t use search comments either. I would like to see this done more, as it helps narrow down who to invite for parties and events.

11. People should at least let the party or party leader know before accepting an invite that they are or will be busy. I think many people are lacking in common courtesy anymore, and don’t realize that it is not only polite but necessary to do this.

12. I believe this is very true, having leveled RDM and SMN and having to main heal. There is a common misconception that one person can do it all, especially RDM due to refresh and convert.

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Comment from Tramsosmai (Fenrir)
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:54 am

1. I wouldn’t mind joining a JP social linkshell to help improve my Japanese. Even if I didn’t understand everything, it would still be very good practice. Because it’s just a social shell (and not an sky/dynamis/endgame shell, where I could see being more exclusive), I’d let them join. If they get too rude/noisy/demanding (since many of the people who join shout-ls-invites just want someone to help them), just kick them. I think that you should give them a chance to join, and if you find that they’re too disruptive, then kick them. It doesn’t seem fair to me to shout an open invitation then refuse to give someone a pearl.

2. I think that the dynamic of rotating-replacement-parties is a result of timezones. My linkshell has members from the UK, the east and west coast of North America, and everywhere in between. Replacing members instead of giving up lets us keep a camp longer and lets members go to bed when they’re sleepy without feeling guilty. It also means that when someone needs to go, the party doesn’t need to end.

Inviting the wrong jobs as replacements is a seperate issue, and it annoys me, too.

3. I always make sure to have the appropriate meds and items I need for a fight before heading out. I don’t carry those things around with me all the time though- for xp parties I don’t need a whole lot.

4. That’s just rude. I’m sorry you had such a bad experience.

6. Good looks: Tiger Mask/Panther mask, Cobra Unit Subligar, Mandragora Beret… but maybe I have bad taste?

10. I always put up an informative search comment (available subjobs, areas, tnl, how low I’m willing to level sync, etc.) before I put up my flag for lfg. To be honest, I hadn’t thought of putting up my camp location in my search comment while in party. That’s a really good idea! I wish more people used their search comments- it would make it easier to put parties together.

11. I give a warning at one hour/thirty minutes/ten minutes before I need to leave, and ask the leader if he or she would like me to find my own replacement. I hate it when players don’t let you know before they leave.

12. This is a very difficult question to try to answer… but I’ll do my best.

There are definately differences in playstyle between the English-speaking and Japanese-speaking playerbase. However, I don’t think that these differences are any reason to avoid each other or not cooperate.

When I’m in a party, I just want to “sit back, relax and enjoy some decent xp” too. When I’m in a party with a bad player (or a really good player), I don’t care where they’re from- I just try to remember their name so I don’t invite them again. I’ve had some really good and really bad English parties and Japanese parties. I really don’t think that either is all that much better.

So much of this game is all about cooperation and teamwork. It makes me sad that you would think that we’re too different to work together.

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Comment from Heavensword
Time May 8, 2009 at 6:08 am

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1. Some people might, because they understand the language and might be interested in the culture. They might also misunderstad the purpose.
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2. The way I think of this, I also find it very frustrating when a party disbands shortly after a replacement arrives – especially when I am the replacement person. However, as a party member, it feels like a waste of time to disband an entire group when one person is tired. I would rather keep going and get as much exp as possible, replacing a member occasionally. Unfortunately, a risk is that one person may be inconvenienced by a short party.
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3. Some of this could be attributed to inexperience, lack of money (which is laziness or greed), or they simply forgot! Personally, I always bring reraise earrings to events, and on difficult fights I will bring Hi-potions and maybe au laits.
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4. This seems like careless people. If you feel tricked, and they do not use the auto-translate function, drop and look elsewhere. If they are that inconsiderate in the beginning, odds are against the rest of the time.
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5. I used to do a lot of campaign, and it seemed like many other did, too. However, the fortification nerf was uncalled for. Not allowing skill-ups I could see, but when I go to a zone where I will spend the majority of the battle hitting the fort, I don’t bother anymore. It’s a waste of time, and I don’t like to waste time in this game…too many other useful things to be doing.
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6.Enkidu’s Harness set. Awesome stats, but I would never want to wear any of them because they look so horrible… Also, the Optical Hat, and Errant gear. Denali gear is a little strange, but I would still wear some pieces. THF AF & Relic is ugly. {Subligar}{No thanks}

The best-looking equipment: Usukane/Marduk/Ares, Hachiryu (needs a helmet!), NIN, RDM, SCH, DRG, SAM, SMN, DRK AF & Relic
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7.I can’t wait to wear a Saotome Domaru around town, but I would NEVER wear it for a fight. My favorite casual piece is either Koga Chainmail or my new Commodore Frac. Fortunately, they’re both fairly useful.
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8. Some probably do, but I like dressing my wife up in cute outfits more. Playing with her afterwards is much more fun.
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9. I calculate the exp/hr, but since no one ever does SC+MB anymore I can’t compare it. The best party I was in was getting 20k/hr without any experience bonus rings. 10k/hr is a minimum goal for me.
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10.This is something that is a learned courtesy. I always put comments when looking for a party, because I DO want an invite! Why don’t you invite me?
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11.I try to let people know at the beginning, but sometimes my wife gets mad at me (or something much better), or she needs my help, and I have to go suddenly. In these cases, I would try to find a replacement before I leave.
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12.Other comments were made that reflect my attitude towards this. I would much rather have COR BRD Heal DDx3 – or – COR BRDx2 DNC DDx2 than DDx5 + Heal (Heal = RDM, WHM/SCH, or SCH/RDM) any time. Also, when I go to merit as COR, I always /DNC to help heal as well as deal as much damage as I can. Meriting isn’t usually about relaxing for me; I want a lot of exp quickly.

BONUS:

What type of sushi do you like best?

I enjoy a variey of fish, with unagi and avocados. Eel, yellowtail, and spicy tuna are my favorites.

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Comment from Urthdigger
Time May 8, 2009 at 6:10 am

1: I’m not sure… I know I’m not interested in joining one now, but probably would once I learn more Japanese so I can have an excuse to practice it on a regular basis.

2: This actually happens less often than you’d think. Most of the time, when one party member has to go the party leader will ask all the other members how much time they have left before asking for a replacement. This only happens when there’s a lack of communication in the party, typically if the party leader or the person leaving grabs a replacement without telling anyone.

I’d like to take the time to explain why we do a “rotating party”, since I hear JP players don’t do it often. Most of our players tend to be from different timezones, so we don’t always have similar times when we have to go to work, sleep, or other things. Typically when one person has to go, they’re the only person who has to leave. We consider it rude to everyone else to tell them they have to go back to looking for party just because one person has to go. This does sometimes lead to people clinging onto a party longer than they should (The case of having inappropriate jobs since no appropriate ones are seeking), but it usually works out well.

3: I always bring medicines to difficult fights. Maybe not to the Shadow Lord, but definitely to the Dynamis Lord.

4: This situation is mostly due to problems with the auto-translator. As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s hard to do battle planning using it. I think some NA players assume the JP players they invite know a little english and can get some idea of the plan, or that they can just follow along. It’s better than just not saying anything.

5: In the NA community, there are a lot of jobs that are unable to get parties past level 60 due to TP burns. So, I’d say the majority of NA players do campaign… except for BRD, RDM, and SAM. I can understand why they nerfed the fortifications, but I wish they made enemies pop up more often! Enemies are better for xp anyway…

6: Optical Hat. We have a joke about it looking like an orange juicer.

It’s hard to say… a lot of the armor people don’t use often has very nice looks. I love the Pahluwan armor set myself

7: I like my Argent attire for running around town in, but I also find myself using full artifact or relic armor as well. I like job specific armor, that way I look like my job instead of like everyone else. So, I tend to go after pieces of job specific armor, even if it’s not very useful.

8: Possibly. I know a lot of male players play mithra just because they prefer the look. I can’t speak much about it myself though, being a galka…

9: We do tend to parse things a lot over here, and sadly the math tends to prove that spamming works better for most things. We generally only use Skillchains and Magic Burst during events, where we have people save 100% TP for the boss, then do a SC+MB right at the start followed by regular WS spam.

10: Because they’re lazy. People should use it more often, but I think part of the issue is it seems to take more space to write things with our alphabet than with your characters. So most people decide to just put nothing at all rather than run out of room trying to put down all the neccessary information.

11: We like to call those people “assholes”. Nobody considers that polite, even over here. I can’t possibly speak for why they’d do that. If I know I’m going to be busy, I take my party flag down.

12: …the only times I hear of people using 5 DD and 1 RDM is when everyone is using utsusemi, or the two-handed weapon users are using Seigan and Third Eye to mitigate damage. Many people over here joke that they should just remove the subjob system and make people learn Utsusemi: Ichi at level 24, and Utsusemi: Ni at level 74. There are a lot of players over here who care about nothing besides xp/hour, to the point that they’ll do mean and unspirited things to get it. There are people who will kick the lowest parsing member and replace him without a word, people who won’t even set foot outside of Aht Urhgan without two bards, one red mage, and three samurai… we’re not all lazy. Not to say that doing those kinds of elitist gameplay is right however…

I think a lot can be learned for both of us by examining why the other side does what they do in a party. I don’t think everything we do is best, nor do I think everything you do is the best. Just because we don’t have the exact same party setup as JP players do, doesn’t mean we don’t care.

13: I don’t eat a lot of sushi, but I can’t say I’ve come across one I didn’t like. I’d have it more often, but I have to go to stores further away than usual to get it.

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Comment from Xxak
Time May 8, 2009 at 6:16 am

1. While I have no interest in joining a JP oriented LS, it’s more of a time zone constraint than anything else. Even though I only work 6-7 months of the year, i don’t feel it would be fair to not be able to make any kind of scheduled event for an LS during those 6 months, social shell or not.

2. I’m not a fan of revolving door parties myself. More often than not you have one or two people who are clueless, afk, or won’t listen to suggestions. If I join a party that is already at their camp, I assume that I’ll be there for less than an hour, and that the exp/hr will likely be pretty bad. I try to avoid being a replacement as much as possible for that reason.

3. I think there are several reasons why you don’t see many NAs using medicines during events. First, most NA are dirt poor… I would not doubt that 90%+ of the NA playing population runs around with less than a million gil at any one time. Two, they just don’t understand how much easier fights can be made by using the proper medication, at the right time. Three, they think they deserve to win, because they are obviously awesome players, and it was the other guy’s fault.

4. When I accept a non-English speaking player into a pick up group of some type, I assume that they are going to know the basics of their jobs’ role in that particular situation. I’m more concerned with trying to explain, in very simple English, what the NA players need to do. Just because English is their first language, does not mean that they understand simple directions. :\

5. I did enough Campaign when it first came out just to see what it was all about. I have the items I wanted from it, and will do enough to get points for ANNM and to keep my rank Medal at the highest level, but I never saw the point of spending hours on it. Why not do something constructive instead?

6. Worst Looks: Mirke Wardecors. It’s a travesty. No shoulders, low hips, and it makes your gloves completely disappear, even though it has short sleeves.
Best Looking: PLD gear in general. How is it that the ‘Knight In Shining Armor’ gets to be the most bad-ass looking job in the game? I want to level it just to stand around! =P

7. I have an almost fully geared BLM job, so storage space is too precious for me to use on town gear.

8. All Mithra are men until proven otherwise. Since it’s the internet, nothing can ever be proven, and as such, I just don’t care how any Mithra is dressed.

9. Yes, many NAs parse their fights, not only for exp.hr, but for accuracy, DoT, WS damage, spell and ability damage (including things like Counter, SA, TA, Quick Draw, etc.), HP lost, MP used… pretty much everything.

10. I don’t know… just an overall lack of courtesy. Nothing personal, just a poor upbringing. =P

11. See #10. XD

12. The real problem here is that the parties you are getting invited to are ‘average’ NA players, who think that they can take concepts of high-end merit parties and apply it to everything, without understanding why some things work. I think the average, and I mean the ‘real’ average, NA merit party should have 3x DD/nin, a BRD/NIN, a RDM or WHM or SMN, and either a COR/dd or another BRD/WHM. If you can actually get a party of 6 competent players, on a job that is merited, with good gear, it’s very easy to get 25-30k exp/hr without experience rings. DD/war or DD/sam x3, a COR/war or COR/rng with combat merits, a RDM/WHM or WHM/SCH to heal, and a BRD/NIN to pull. The way this works is that *everybody* has to be trying to win the parse… no princess, wah-my MP mages. If you have DDs who can go full out, and use Seigan and 3rd Eye properly, mobs die faster than they can deal damage… MP is conserved through an overwhelming offense.

It seems to me (and us as ‘NA’) that your healers are not showing proper respect to the other 5 players who are there. Why should they get special privilege over them? Why confine yourself to 20-25k/hr when you can get upwards of 35k/hr?

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Comment from Noree
Time May 8, 2009 at 6:41 am

1. I only know very little Japanese so unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to keep up in a Japanese social linkshell. I have a strong interest in learning the language though, and would love to join a Japanese linkshell if I knew more! Learning things about each others’ cultures sounds really exciting to me.
2. I have always felt that a decently long exp session with the same set of people is great compared to a long exp session where one person is replaced every 15 minutes. So, usually when a party goes for a long time and someone needs to leave I tell them I would rather disband the party than get replacements and have the problems that the question states.
3. I have definitely met people like this and really wish they would take a break from trying to finish the BC and go get the gil for needed medications. I wouldn’t say this is a huge problem among people I’ve done pick-up BC fights with though. I personally bring any medications I think I will need. (usually Reraise items, hi-potions, echo drops, food, etc)
4. I definitely see this as a problem with mixed EN/JP pick-up groups (ex. Nyzul Isle) where battle strategy is extremely important, I usually make the effort to convey basic things through Auto-translator but admittedly I have some trouble saying certain things.
5. Many of my friends and linkshell mates do campaign consistently while seeking for xp parties (and many of them hate it too I guess..). The fortification exp nerf was really unfortunate for people that didn’t abuse it by going afk. Now I find it annoying to go to a beastmen-owned area with a battle only to find that the fortifications are the only thing present, and I’m starting to avoid the areas alltogether.
6. Great stats/horrible looks: Ace’s Helm, all enkidu gear, optical hat…..Best looks: Bison gear, hecatomb gear off the top of my head.
7. I got Goldsmithing Shaded Specs. long ago just to wear, but now I really enjoy my Qiqirn Hood (so cute!!!)
8. I think some males do like dressing up their Mithras. I’m female and I still enjoy doing so, hehe. Scholar Artifact is one of my favorites which I leveled the job mainly for. lol
9. I think weapon skill spam has proven to be more effective, but when in an exp party I always try to make skillchains when possible (I don’t ask, I just make them XD ) to just add some extra damage. Unfortunately it seems black mages have been forgotten in the typical merit-style party.
10. I personally have a very detailed search comment (with a kitty picture! hehe) and try to mark the camp I’m at when I’m actually in a party, but admittedly I often forget to do so…. /blush
11. When I enter a party I always announce how much time I have if I have a reasonably short amount of time to play. I really wish other people would tell me when they have to go too before sending replacements, I’d rather just end the party most the time.
12. I probably go against the grain of most people I meet when I say I’d rather sub /nin (or if I’m the healer have the melees sub /nin) and have a nice relaxing exp session, rather than chaos that the healer can barely keep up with. I don’t mind gaining a little bit less exp and have it be relaxing. If the party leader and/or the healer wants me to go with other subs I’ll follow suit, I think its really important to respect your healer’s decisions, not all of them are comfortable with the same setups.
Bonus question: I have never tried sushi ; ; It scares me because I don’t enjoy seafood that much.

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Comment from Zykei
Time May 8, 2009 at 6:54 am

1. I can speak both English and Japanese but I generally stay with English shells. I know of a few JP/EN shells in my server and they’re doing well, so even with the language barrier, things will work out if people put effort into understanding each other.
2. I generally let the PT know when I’m leaving 45-30mins before hand and I look for a Rep of the same class as me. I’ve experienced bad players who lets people know last min and doesn’t search for a Rep; I just try not to PT with them next time.
3. For BCs, I would usually bring food and RR at the very least. Before hand I tend to do a lot of research before attempting them so I’m usually well prepared anyways and make sure the people I’m going with also know what to do as well.
4. I use the Auto-Translator mainly because its faster to type+tab than to type out whole words. Lazy on my part, but I’m usually on the lookout for JPs who would need it. If I get a JP member in my party, I usually explain in English to the English speakers and then explain to the JP in Auto-Translator or Japanese.
5. I personally love campaign. Its so much fun being able to tank 3-4 mobs as RDM/DNC and gaining EXP without dealing with people I dislike.
6. My favorite equipment graphic is Duelist’s Gloves, Askar korazin, and Hachiryu Haidate. Goliard and Errant body looks horrible but they have incredible stats orz. Enkidu Harness set looks too tight lol.
7. Depends on what I have with me, I generally like running around with the Enkidu Harness set because it looks funny.
8. I don’t have a Mithra character but I would dress it up to look cute if I ever had one~ lol.
9. I play on PS2 so I can’t parse, but from what I’ve experienced, WS Spam is generally the best on weak monsters like Colibri types. Whereas back in the old days, MBPT might be better on those Dhalmels in Bibiki Bay since they have lots of HP and BLM was a viable DD in those parties. Generally, I try to close as many SC as I could because the SC Damage is equal to another WS.
10. I use my /seacom all the time. For Meripo, LS Event, Soloing, Bazaaring, etc. I guess some people are lazy to set those up for whatever reason. Having leveled BST, I learned that even if you have a on your seacom, some people will still camp on top of you. As rude as that may be, it’s just a waste of time arguing with them.
11. I don’t do that.
12. I learned to not merit on RDM lol. I generally merit on SAM so I figured the faster the monster dies, the less DMG they can do to you. Generally if the PT is struggling with heals, it’s not the fault of the healers, its the fault of the DDs when someone isn’t pulling their own weight. Really though, if the party doesn’t have a BRD, it’s not worth joining. 5x DD 1x RDM No thanks.
Sushi Question: Everything. lol

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Comment from Greggles
Time May 8, 2009 at 7:07 am

1. I would be interested in joining JP shells if I had learned the language. I’ve always enjoyed learning about other cultures and how they differ from NA culture, though, so if maybe I could join an LS with players that can speak both Japanese and English pretty well, that would be great.

2. Well, it really all depends on what’s looking. I don’t think most people will spend that long looking for a rep before saying, “Oh, no rep available, later guys!”. Also, I’ve noticed that party leaders(that I’ve had, I can’t say anything for anyone else) don’t seem to like to ask people that aren’t Looking for a Party, so that reduces the number of available replacements.

3. For missions, I always try to bring enough Medicine to keep me well during the battle. I don’t think that a lot of players like to spend a ton of money on medicine if they can avoid it, but will if they need to. So, if you think we need medicine, just let us know.

4. That’s strange. I -always- use the auto-translate when communicating with foreign players. It seems to be a given to try to use it. The only issue I see is not being able to communicate efficiently :/

5. I don’t Campaign that much, but I’ve done campaign a few times after fortification nerfs and I can say that I don’t like it all that much.

6. I think that Errant has some good stats, but doesn’t look all too great.
To be honest, I think that royal redingote looks nice on taru. Also, I enjoy wearing the Igqira Weskit on my BLM in town, I think it looks cool. I also feel that most AF looks cool – except for WHM AF. I wish they would have went with a cloak without a head piece instead and added a bunch of stats to make it worth having 4 armor pieces instead of 5.

7. Yeah, there’s a set I wear in town, but it’s not gear that I don’t wear. It’s really just the gear that I think looks the best on my character, or the most expensive gear I own for that job. I don’t really see the point in buying a whole new set just because it looks nice; I’d rather be able to get some good use out of it in terms of game play.

8. I don’t really have a Mithra Character that can wear anything besides level 1 Race Special Equipment, lol. I don’t really enjoy seeing how gear looks though =x I like seeing the stats and how they’ll improve my character, mostly.

9. Yeah, I calculate EXP/HR(the English Windower allows this). It’s mostly proven that weapon skill spam is better than the traditional SC/MB parties of old. Sometimes I like to set up an old school party with friends in bibiki bay with Level sync. It’s kinda nice being able to relax a bit more than working to obtain 20+ thousand exp in an hour.

10. I don’t know, honestly. Again, I -always- put my search comment in to show which camp I’m in(especially if I’m in a level 75 greater colibri camp) and I also denote which jobs I have. I think most people don’t show which jobs they have unless they’re all at the same level as the person, since you can only search one job, which means that if your second job level is not near the level of the seeking job level, that lower level job won’t be as likely to get an invite. At 75 though, I try to list all of my 75 jobs because you never know what job that the leader will want(they mostly want RDM though, go figure).

11. Some people are like that, it’s really annoying to me too. I try not to do that, but sometimes, real life circumstances get into the way, such as a family emergency. It’s happened to me a couple of times. However, most people try their best to alert their party leader about when they need to leave. I know I do.

12. I don’t really mind the different play styles – I frankly enjoy both. Japanese parties for me tend to be more fun(because they’re more relaxed) whereas I’ll join an english party if I’m low on time and want as many experience points at a time – although I’ve joined some -very- good Japanese parties.

As for the sushi, I don’t really enjoy sushi all that much. I don’t know why – I’ve just never really liked fish. =/

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Comment from Briarb
Time May 8, 2009 at 7:28 am

12 – I think the most important aspect to a successful merit party is finding a healthy balance between MP consumption and damage output, but also while pulling in as many experience points as possible. It is true that having the DDs use Utsusemi and having a BRD or COR use a mage sub would make a very safe and smooth party. But is it necessarily the most effective in terms of bringing in the most xp/hour? The way I see it, any extra MP that is being consistently sat on is simply a waste of resources. This party’s MP is better off consolidated on just the RDM (freeing up a DD slot) and also better off being spent curing a DD using a sub job better suited for damage dealing. While this is harder on the RDMs, most NA players that choose to merit on RDM understand that this means more experience points for the entire party and as a result, not only expect it, but welcome the fact that they will sometimes be pushed to their limits.

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Comment from Rozes
Time May 8, 2009 at 8:14 am

First off, a quick message. I feel most of the messages that will be received are going to be from “talented” or rather, more dedicated players (if we spend our free time reading FFXI sites). So as such, a lot of these questions are inclined more towards players that are not that dedicated and act stupidly giving a lot of foreign players a bad rap. Random tells, stupid party setups, and non-use of auto-translate, are things (I would like to think) more dedicated foreign players do not tolerate. But onto my list!(I’m trying to write in the 3rd person here) =D

1) I feel this is more of inexperienced players seeking to join JP linkshells because they believe their character will advance further with the help of knowledgeable JP. Most inexperienced players have an idea that all JP players are experts, and most likely respond to shouts merely because they understand the word “Linkshell”.

2) This seems to be more or less a cultural difference. Most NAs join parties to get exp; they could care less who they are partying with and how it happens as long as a relatively high exp/hr is achieved. Because of this, if someone in the party has to leave, the party leader tries to replace them to keep that high exp/hr going, most of the time failing to realize until after a tell has been sent to a replacement, that the party dynamics are no longer suitable.

3) Most foreign players care too much about their equipment, and not enough about their playing style. They tend to focus solely on their job, and how to maximize the potential for their abilities (A DD doing as high damage as possible), and place the responsibility of curing, raising, etc to another job, as they believe that should be that job’s main focus.

4) Most of this is simple ignorance. Many NA players do not know this offends you as JP players. We simply continue to speak in English because that’s what is fastest and easiest for us to do. Again, I feel not using the auto-translate at all to help break down the language barrier, is a mistake of a non-dedicated player.

5) Most every NA and EU person I know campaigns, even if only to clear the zone for an HNM to pop.

6) I really do not like the look of the Denali set, and the complete set of Skadi equipment has very good stats, but does not look attractive.

7) My favourite piece of casual equipment would most likely be my Kyudogi. But on that note, many foreigners go out of their way to obtain the best equipment in the game, and then wear that as if to “show off” their accomplishments. I am constantly scolded for wearing my Kyudogi, even though I possess a Kirin’s Osode but I detest the look of it.

I’m a female, and my character is a Mithra as well. I tend to become very annoyed when people check my character and reply with sexist tells. But I do like to dress in outfits that I think make my Mithra look cute.

9) Foreign players live by calculating exp/hr. For instance, if exp/hr is terrible in a party, most NAs will try to leave as soon as possible, and find a replacement. Today, weaponskill spamming has become the best way to earn exp/hr. With a BRD party, and heavy DDs, exp/hr is achieved at a high rate, with very little responsibility on jobs. Pre-ToAU, weapon-skill / magic burst was the smartest means of fighting, however, many foreign players do not have the dedication to achieve a weaponskill / magic burst all the time. This is part of the reason that weaponskill spamming is so popular today; it takes very little effort.

10) This is simply ignorance on foreign players part, as well. Most foreign players don’t know any better, and would do so if they thought it appropriate. However, many players who are not dedicated care more about what they will receive in the party, and could care less about what anyone else wants to know.

11) Many foreign players do this simply because foreign party leaders do not want to have to deal with replacing people. If a party member were to tell this to the leader at the start, the leader would be more inclined to kick that person and find someone who will stay longer.

12) I completely agree with you here. I have stopped playing RDM for just that reason. As stated before, foreign players live by exp/hr, and currently 5 DDs and a RDM is the best chance to gain the highest exp/hr. Many foreign players treat this game as a job (translate to work) and do not relax and fun. They are so uptight about gaining very high exp/hr, that often you as a RDM are expected to deal with it.
Most foreigners (dedicated and non-dedicated alike) tend to think that JP ONLY is a somewhat insult. They believe that as JP players you feel you are too good for us, or rather you just don’t want to deal with the language barrier. To know that it’s more than that is good information.

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Comment from Guppy
Time May 8, 2009 at 8:16 am

1. Aside from players interested in Japanese culture, some of these Western players may be located in East Asia (businessmen, military personnel, students, etc.) or may work night shifts. They may be interested because they’re looking for friends in a time zone who will be online when they are.

2. The replacement cycling was developed as a response to the great difficulty in assembling groups sometimes, prior to the advent of Level Sync. Unfortunately, these parties often meet two different fates. If unsuccesful, a party may cycle through members to try to achieve some working composition, which may or may not happen. However, should a party turn out to work together well, they often will manage to cycle in replacements efficiently. But being a good party means players will inevitably try to take it too far, and eventually stretch the length of the group to the breaking point. Either way, it’s difficult being the final player who comes when it’s time to break.

3. I’ve sometimes noticed NA players tend to under-invest in pickup groups, while being better equipped for static parties. Since cross-cultural static groups are not common, that’s the pattern you end up seeing.

4. Many NA players actually haven’t taken time to examine the translator in depth ({Reward}=Pet Food?), and learn their translation phrases from the shouts they hear. While it is relatively easy to string together an invitation, it is more difficult to convey tactics using the translator (and sometimes relevent phrases dont exist, especially in complex activities like Nyzul Isle).

5. There’s still a fair number, but there is very little coordination among the players that do. When my server makes a big push to take a beastmen stronghold, it’s often a Japanese player who coordinates the fight and announces the strategy. Post-nerf, I don’t think we’ll take a zone again until something major changes.

6. Igqira gear looks awesome on a tough-looking hume but ridiculous on a tarutaru like myself. I like to wear the Christmas gear (It’s cute!), but it’s only seasonal a short time each year.

7. Chef’s hat. I like to give people tarutaru headbutts with it!

8. We have a term — “Manthra”, for male Mithra players (Note to Elmer: Is Manthra translatable?). Some of my friends use the translation term {Mantra} as a humorous approximation for this!

9. On the tough, high-resistant IT mobs that used to be popular, Skillchain MB was the best. Spam is merely an optimization to the new TP-burn style, along with the prioritization of melee over magical damage. Unfortunately, players then tended to adopt their XPing style to other activities out of inertia, I think.

10. I suppose it never really became an expected convention among NA players to use the comments. Many don’t even set their “JEGF?” flags correctly, or assume it means what players they would be willing to PT with, rather than what languages they speak.

11. Occasionally it is an honest emergency, but for players that do this routinely, consider them as the equivalent of Jpn players who force D/C to dodge a committment.

12. As a career mage, these kind of parties are absolutely exhausting to me, and I find myself hard pressed to keep up. The XP rate can be truly excellent though, but strongly depends on the ability of the mage to adapt himself to the difficult playstyle. Also, melees find it easy to replace members in this kind of party.

Q: The Japanese club at my school dressed their female members up as maids, and they were selling “Marshmallow Sushi” at a fundraiser. Does this food actually exist in Japanese maid cafes?

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Comment from Forg
Time May 8, 2009 at 8:42 am

1.
Not a lot of interest no, very few people ask to join foreign linkshells that I’ve seen.
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2.
Many times I have had this happen to me. I’ve had Japanese players do this also. Being a replacement isn’t always bad, but its the bad times that get remembered >_..< If we could correct that, more people would care about their search comment. I am always being asked things that are very clearly in my search comment. It is frustrating. While I use the auto translator I take the time to make certain it makes sense in multiple languages, but my effort does not pay off. Many players no longer bother.
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11.
I have had many players both JP and not tell me “{time remaining} 5 {minute} {time for work!}”..I always try to warn the party at least 30 minutes before. If I don’t have at least 2 hours, I do not join a party. I am sorry if you have met many players that leave abruptly, these players were rude.
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12.
SHORT VERSION: I am actually able to take LESS damage by subbing samurai in many situations.

Not intending to insult, but many times JP players seem afraid of normal exp monsters.
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☆ボーナスQuestion☆
I really don’t like sushi, but I’ve never had “real” sushi..I can tell you this: if you visit America, do not order the sushi here, it is awful.

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Forg Reply:
May 8th, 2009 at 4:23 pm

umm wth, 2/3 my post is missing and most of it went into italics?? gdi, I am not retyping all my answers.

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Comment from Telethiel
Time May 8, 2009 at 8:48 am

3. I am surprised to hear that NA players DON’T bring items to events, because the people I play with do. We always discuss strategy carefully beforehand, and that includes who should bring what items. English resources like FFXIcyclopedia and Alla often include explicit instructions about what items you should bring to events.

4. I wish very much that SE would expand Auto-Translate. It can be so difficult to make battle preparations in Auto-Translate, there’s just so many concepts that you can’t express clearly. However, the way that FFXI is designed, you can reasonably expect people to just show up and play their job the way it’s supposed to be played, without having to give them precise instructions. With that said, though, I have been in JP XP parties, or hanging around Al Zahbi late at night, watching the chatlog fill up with Japanese and lots of “wwww”s, and feeling wistful that everybody else is having so much fun and there’s no way for me to join in.

5. I love to do Campaign, and so do all my friends. But I feel like SE has been leaking the fun out of it. Yes, it’s more “fair” to make people work hard for their XP, but is it more “fun”? No, and I think fun is more important than fair.

6. & 7. Lilac Corsage~! That new tuxedo is also sexy, it makes me wish I played a male character. I think I’d like to see more useless but pretty equipment in the game.

11. It’s as unacceptable to drop a party without ample warning in NA as it is in JP.

12. Speaking as an RDM, word to that.

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Comment from mightyg
Time May 8, 2009 at 9:32 am

1. As interesting as that would be, I just don’t have the knowledge of Japanese to get anything out of a JP shell. Also I am fairly set in my ways with my main shell and don’t feel the need to split my time between 2 or more shells.
2. This is really a common problem regardless of how you look at it, there are a lot of people who start parties that don’t really put enough effort into making it work. That said, I have tried inviting people with jobs that may not fit well with the party as a last resort, and sometimes it does actually work out. So my attitude in that situation is it’s better to try and succeed occasionally than to just give up keeping the party going.
3. I’d also attribute players showing up to bcnm without proper meds and preparation as due to lack of experience. And generally if you’re doing bcnm with NA/EU players, you probably met them through /shout, and people that would be interested in doing bcnm with strangers don’t have the experience/connections with a solid linkshell most of the time. So that is bound to happen.
4. As much as I try to take advantage of the auto translate function, it often falls short, when trying to convey information in complicated situations like Nyzul Isle etc.
5. I do a lot of campaign battle, and I don’t think anyone is happy with the fortification nerf. though in the long run it might do some good by making people work for their exp and help defend the areas better. we’ll see.
6-7. I really wish they had made the ZNM sets different models. i really like my Homam and most of the AF sets. I’m really tired of the shield models though, i wish they’d add some new models or skins. I was always keen on Sam af and relic armor, I think it looks awesome.
8. Mithra fashion isn’t my forte, but they are cute.
9. I don’t have too much of an opinion on merit xp, but I’d say at least for Aht Urghan areas that melee parties are better. I’d like to see some adjustments to skillchains to make them more practical, like lowering enmity caused by bursts, and not canceling the burst window if another weaponskill is used.
10. generally as far as camp location i wouldn’t want to limit myself to one location so it seems silly to put that in your search comment. obviously having jobs listed should be a given, I’d be hard pressed to list what areas i have access to with the auto translate, I honestly don’t see many JP’s doing that either, at least not in anything we could read.
11. I’d like to ask anyone that’s done that the same thing, obviously unexpected problems happen occasionally though especially with 6 players.
12. I don’t really have much to say to that really, when i do a merit party, i want it to work, and if that means getting 1 healer and 5 dd, then so be it. as a long time WHM, I understand where you’re coming from and that some people don’t realize the burden they put on the healers, but sometimes you gotta suck it up and do your best, and hopefully the dd’s will sub ninja. All parties have a risk of being bad, JP or otherwise. if you want to limit yourself to JP only, that’s your choice, but like i said earlier, sometimes you have to put yourself out there if you ever want something good to happen.
13. Honestly not to big on sushi ^^;

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Comment from Aeri
Time May 8, 2009 at 10:23 am

1) I was in what was basically a Japanese-centric HNMLS at the end of its run. I felt a little bad sometimes that I could not effectively communicate with everyone in the shell, however I befriended a number people who could speak both Japanese and English. They helped me convey my thoughts and comments to the other players.

2) There is no excuse for a party member who is leaving the party to recruit a substandard replacement. If or when a player informs me (as the party leader) that a replacement is coming, I always ask them for either a name, or the job. I have spent a lot of time leveling during what is considered JP prime time, so I have become accustomed to setting up a party and asking each member how long they intend to be online, so a party duration can be set.

3) I imagine that, like other responses you will likely see, this is not limited to any particular nationality. I’m quite certain that you can almost always find someone who does not bring the necessary medications, or just does not know what to bring and is too embarrassed to ask. Personally, I make sure to bring two reraise items, as well as a menagerie of medicines, but I’m an alchemist so it doesn’t take much effort.

4) I think a number of American players have asked Japanese players the same thing. Your response to us is the same as ours to you.

5) I don’t really do Campaign too much. I probably should do more of that, instead of standing in my moghouse dancing with my mannequins.

6) I’d say Ace’s Helm has great stats but looks like crap, but I’m a mithra, and I love my robo-kitty! My absolute favorite piece of equipment is a Kyudogi.

7) Not personally. I carry with my everything I need to make the particular job I am playing as useful as possible.

I think most male players all have the same reason for playing Mithra.

9) There is no doubt in my mind that WS spam parties far outshine the traditional SC/MB parties. However, WS spam parties are not always an option based upon available camps.

10) It’s difficult to fill the seacom box with all the necessary information when just listing my main/sub availability fills it up

11) I plead not guilty. I suppose you have just had bad experiences. I too have had experiences similar to this. It is not limited to any nationality.

12) It’s funny, I feel that Japanese players do not show enough respect to DD. You would presume to weaken your DD to lighten the load on the job that is designed to heal in that type of situation. I would much rather have the monster I’m fighting die after getting off three attacks that land as opposed to dieing after getting of 9 attacks that don’t land.

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Comment from Redhobbit
Time May 8, 2009 at 10:43 am

1. I’ve never heard of an NA player wanting to join a JP linkshell. I’ve never wanted to join one because I wouldn’t be able to understand what was going on.
2. Replacements in parties is pretty much the norm in the parties I’ve been in. Usually, when the server population is low, which is pretty common in NA prime time, it is a struggle to find enough players to form a party, so if the party disbands, another one won’t form. When the server populations are higher, finding replacements is usually pretty easy except for some of the in demand jobs. I prefer not doing replacements, but I’d rather have replacements then not have a party. I mostly hate it when people get a replacement without checking whether people want to stop which leads to the replacement getting screwed. I think it may have to do with the different time zones and schedules people have. There is a 3 hour time difference between the east coast of the US and the west coast and some people just get on at different times. With everyone starting and stopping at different times, it is hard to have a party that starts and stops together.
3. I think they are just being lazy. It is annoying to us too when people don’t have the supplies that are needed. I think many NA players are fine with trying a battle many times and so don’t worry as much about each attempt.
4. Sometime people use auto-translate just to be lazy on typing or because they are used to seeing it and find it easier to read. I think it’s rude to not try to use the auto-translate when needed, but sometimes party chat is just idle chit-chat. I’ve been in Japanese parties where there was a lot of Japanese party chat and almost no auto-translate, but I think it was just chatting so hard to translate.
5. A lot do campaign. The nerf to fortifications is terrible. There is no reason to go to offensive campaigns now because there might not be any mobs there.
6. I think Optical Hat has good stats but bad looks. I actually like the looks of Walahra Turban but most people don’t. Fun fact: everyone calls it Walmart turban after the ubiquitous discount retail chain. I think BLM dynamis gear looks great.
7. I don’t go after gear just for looks. I’ll sometimes choose the best looking gear out of what I have on me if I’m just running around town.
8. I’m not into dress up, but Mithra are usually nice to look at.
9. Not only do most people calculate xp/hour, many of them obsess over it. xp/hour is one of the most common brags these days, having displaced WS damage as the most common brag. I find that WS spam produces the best result against all but very difficult enemies. For xp, though, if the enemies are that difficult you are in the wrong place or fighting the wrong level of monsters for best xp. There is a lot of delay in using a skillchain and often one of the melee has to use a weaker WS in order to make the skillchain.
10. People don’t bother to set the search comments because most people don’t read them. I often get asked questions that are answered in my search comment. I still set my search comment when seeking party and when inviting always prefer people with search comment set. It’s interesting that you mention camp location in search comment. It just never got popular because the people that will camp on top of you don’t bother to read search comments either. Available jobs and areas has never really been an issue that I’ve seen. People usually just seek on the job they want to xp on as switching jobs for a party is rare. For xp parties below merit, there usually aren’t so many people looking that people can be picky. For merit parties, the DD are often from the same LS and they pickup the support jobs. The popular jobs get invites without search comments and the unpopular jobs don’t get invites even with them, so people get lazy.
11. People that just leave are rude. I always give 15-30 minutes notice. On the other hand, many party leaders are also rude in trying to cajole someone to stay way past when they want to leave because they are a needed job. I’m usually one of the needed jobs and it gets to be a pain when noone ever wants to let you leave.
12. The typical merit party I always see is 4 DD, 1 RDM or WHM healer, 1 BRD or COR support/puller. The DD always have a sub that offers some damage mitigation, usually /SAM using Third Eye and Seigan for 2h weapon users and /NIN for everyone else. I usually play BRD in merit parties. I’ve honestly never really seen the RDM or WHM have problems keeping MP up, healing everyone, and keeping all the melee hasted, even if I miss ballads sometimes. I’m curious as to why JP merit parties have so much healing. Is there more damage to heal somehow in JP parties? Or are they just more laid back? NA merit parties are very straining on the healer and BRD requiring constant attention. I find them to be really good xp (12-20k/hour), but very tiring. The 4 DDs tear through mobs in less than 30 seconds frequently so I’m pretty much constantly pulling, only pausing long enough to sing 1 song or sometimes 2 if I manage to get ahead a little.
Bonus: My favorite is tuna sushi

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Comment from Minibuddha
Time May 8, 2009 at 10:51 am

To answer their questions:
1. If we understand that you are shouting for a LS and we understand your shout, we can probably keep up with the conversation. As far as TV shows, its true we would probably not get the culture difference. My Linkshell in particular has a few Japanese members who speak nothing but Japanese in a mostly English speaking Linkshell and we have a blast with them, they do Dynamis with us and everything.
2. Due to the time issue (per say its bedtime or something else) People tend to go and they try to get the exact same job but if that is not available, they go for the next best thing. Example if a BRD leaves, they ask another BRD, but if one is not available they go for a COR or another job such as. We cycle out because we do not wish to hurt the other peoples performances. Just because I have to go, that means the party should not suffer.
3. Well this one I can not answer because I bring Potions, ethers, Vile Elixirs, etc to BCNMs. I think perhaps some people are just not too bright planning for those type of quests.
4. For me, If you speak another language, I will try to communicate in that language. For example if it is 5/6 and we get someone who speaks Japanese, I will speak Japanese for you. I usually tell everyone to use it, so you know the battle plan. However again some people are Ignorant and choose not to be social in another language.
5. Many people do Caimpaigns. I think the nerf on the fortification is an outrage. I do believe they did the right thing removing the skill ups on them, but come on, if the mobs are on the defensive, no one is there, and we hit a wall for 30 minutes, get 20 exp, no one will help those areas out. Therefore many people have asked, mailed and emailed Square Enix to fix that right away.
6. Best stats but looks horrible, I can not tell you because I think they all look great. The most amazing one to me is a full set or Ares Body armor, that looks too cool for words.
7. When it comes to outside a party, I put on what is needed, never for looks but what I am battling in or running around in. I tend to keep on what I can. It all looks cute on a tarutaru anyways haha.
8. Guys love how mithra looks in anything period. Mithra to us, has a sex appeal so Guys tend to want to be mithras, so they can look sexy while playing. But some also take mithras for their DEX factor too. It depends on who the person is playing behind the mithra.
9. For a long time, I too thought the SC, magic burst chain was wonderful. I remember the days of Making distortion and a black mage casting Freeze making crazy damage. However, I feel due to Colbris and their reflect of magic, it ruined black mage as a job, so no one wants them anymore. In fact Black mage is a dying job really. People who level it, are up to a challange and I salute them for it.
10. People want to party in that particular job. Also some jobs soloing tell their location. However people who are new, or do not care, wish to just find a party and tend to be lazy. It shows who is the more dedicated player to see someone put up their search comment properly. I always display all the info I can, jobs, places, sub jobs, long time party, Yes, please! lol
11. If I know I am going to be busy, I stop seeking, appologize (if I need to) and log off the game. Half of the time, the people playing are kids under 18, they are still under parental rule, and parents will ask their kids to help them. 60% of players are under 18. Therefore parents ask them to get off the game or help them with something and therefore, they leave without warning. Players who tend to live alone or not in that kind of place, they have more time and are able to sit down and play. People who seek need to have time, if they do not, do not seek. However again some people are brain dead.
12. Seeing that is JP ONLY I have never understood and I thank you for letting me know and understanding what it means for. Firstly, my tarutaru is a 75 RDM, so I do understand it is difficult. Players fish monsters quickly because they want rapid experience. 20k exp/hour no longer is considered quick, but more mediocre. Damage dealers complain when they do not get healed, they in fact do not understand that Mages have casting times and need to wait and require MP. When they do not get it, Damage Dealers and Tanks die, plain and simple. Now that I understand what you mean by JP ONLY I thank you again for caring, concern and to look out for everyone. I too wish to not be a single mage to a party of Damage Dealers alone. Having that BRD or COR or even a WHM just makes life easier. So the next time you see me seek, as RDM for merits, ask first, if you have some other aid, I will join no questions ask, but 5 Damage dealers and expect me to keep up with the others, no thank you.

I am sorry if my answers are harsh, but I just simply am telling the truth about how I feel. How others feel, I do not know, but most of them think only about themselves and no others. I tend not to care about me and worry about others first.

Bonus Question:
I like all kinds of Sushi but my favorite is Squid. I tell you what is really good, Squid Sushi on top of house fried Rice. Oh that is so good, it makes my mouth water. In fact, I am headed to Dinner right now, I will go get that haha.

-signed Minibuddha (BIS)

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Comment from Wafuru
Time May 8, 2009 at 3:08 pm

1. If I could understand Japanese, I might be interested in joining a Japanese Linkshell. However, my knowledge of it is so poor that I’d be really embarrassed to even ask to join, not to mention that I probably wouldn’t understand many in-jokes and such.
2. I personally dislike parties that cycle in replacements, especially when it ends up with someone becoming the leader who obviously doesn’t want it. I also think it places an unfair burden on people to say ‘look for a replacement if you’re leaving’ when they may have a very busy job and limited time to rest. I always feel absolutely horrible whenever a replacement gets invited and we end up disbanding, and I’ve been on the receiving end of that too. It’s not pleasant.
3. I always come with as much stuff as I can to make sure the mission goes well. I almost always carry around a reraise earring and hairpin now that I have my mog satchel, and I try to make sure everyone that I’m helping with missions has appropriate medicine too. However, I feel for some people it might be a cost issue. One of my friends was running very low on gil so I ended up buying her some yagudo drinks and hi-ethers (she was going as Summoner). It might also be laziness.
4. I try not to advertise for missions with auto-translate unless I’m prepared to discuss battle tactics in auto-translate as well. However, some players use it, I think, because it’s easy to use auto-translate as an ‘auto-complete’ type tool…for instance the zone ‘Sauromugue Champaign’ is fairly long and somewhat hard to spell, but typing S a u and then hitting the tab key is easy. So some people may be using it as an auto-complete function and ignoring the fact that some people may actually need things explained in auto-translate to do well. That’s irresponsible.
5. I don’t do campaign much, because my main jobs are Black Mage and Scholar, and I usually can do better soloing or duoing with a friend than trying to get exp in Campaign. However, I’m leveling Samurai so I’ve started doing it a bit more. I think a lot of NA players do Campaign–I know that a lot of people in my LS prefer it to random parties, even. As far as Fortification exp being cut, it seems really harsh. I hardly ever attacked Fortifications for exp, but I sure wouldn’t now. It seems like it might make it hard to get those areas back if they get taken over by beastmen.
6. Great stats but horrible looks? The first thing that springs to mind is the Errant Set. I use this all the time on my Black Mage, Red Mage, and Scholar, but it’s pretty ugly. I also wish the Elemental Staves (Fire Staff, Ice Staff, etc) were a bit prettier for as much as I end up using them.
As far as the best graphics, I love the Askar set, the Marduk set…the new Nuevo Coselete and Mirke Wardecors from A Crystalline Prophecy are pretty neat looking too, I think.
7. I’m a little bit of a clotheshorse sometimes…I like the nation aketons since I’ve obtained Rank 10 in all three nations, and my Dandy Spectacles from the event just before Wings of the Goddess came out. I also obtained all my Samurai Artifact Armor even though most of it isn’t very good…the only piece I really use is the Kabuto. As far as my favorite pieces of fashion gear, I’d have to say the Dandy Spectacles, or the subligaria you can obtain from Fomors.
8. Well, I’m not a guy, but I play a Mithra and enjoy dressing her up! I’m sure guys enjoy it too, though they tend to favor skimpier outfits than me, lol.
9. I was in a static party that went from level 20 to level 75 with the same six people, leveling up every Monday with the same jobs. Our setup was one that utilized skillchains and magic bursts, and I’m sorry to say that we came nowhere near the same exp/hour as I can usually pull in with my Red Mage in a typical tp burn/ws spam party on things like Colibri.
10. It annoys me that so many people don’t have search comments. I always try to set mine with my subjobs, how much exp I need to level, a note that I have all areas and runic portals, and that I’m fine with healing. Also what level of Level Sync I’m fine with. However, it seems like a lot of people don’t even read search comments (ie, they invite me and then say immediately, ‘can you go to Mamool Ja Staging Point?) it’s annoying, and I don’t really know why people don’t set them up better or even bother to read them.
11. I always try to give plenty of warning when I’m going to be busy or afk. It’s disrespectful not to do so.
12. I know exactly what you mean. My Red Mage hasn’t got ‘elite’ gear, for example I don’t have a Duelist’s Chapeau or Dalmatica, and sometimes I feel swamped in very busy merit parties with 5 melees. Honestly, the Japanese style sounds better to me sometimes. I guess it’s partly because NA players seem to have a ‘now now now’ kind of attitude. NA players seem to always have some kind of event or obligation they need to get to, so they want to cram the maximum amount of exp they can get into the shortest possible time frame. Of course, this does make it very hectic, but you do get a lot of exp…still, I can’t say I prefer it very much. I leveled my Black Mage before Treasures of Aht Urhgan came out, and I enjoyed lining up magic bursts and the feeling of accomplishment at times when everything went smoothly. Though I won’t turn down the promise of fast merit parties if I have enough time, I guess I’m kind of wistful for the days that were. Either way, since JP players don’t seem to prefer that style of party, I can’t blame them one bit for the kind of separation. Whenever I get a ‘JP ONLY’ answer, I usually just say something like {Thank You.} and {Take Care.} I understand what it’s like to be in a party where you can’t understand anything that’s said, and though I’ll accept Japanese party invites, sometimes it’s almost lonely to be in one where everyone is speaking a different language than me. I don’t hold a grudge against JP players for this at all.
Extra Question: Oh my goodness…I haven’t eaten very much sushi, I’m sorry to say. I live in the middle of Texas near a town that’s not very large, and we just got our first reputable sushi bar, so you’ll have to excuse me for being a sushi ‘newbie’. However, I had some shrimp sushi and tuna sushi and they were very good, so I’d love to try more!

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Comment from Middy
Time May 8, 2009 at 3:26 pm

1. Honestly, there are some people in my social linkshell who don’t understand our own pop-culture references. If the foreigner is really knowledgeable about the Japanese language I don’t see why you should deny a chance to become their friend over a little thing like culture differences. Think of what they could learn from you and vice-versa.

2. I actually agree with this. It’s rude to the replacement and tiring for the people constantly waiting for them to show up. I’ve been in a few parties like this and every time it was with an NA leader. I hate it. Nowadays if they start cycling in replacements I just suggest disbanding before it starts, or I leave myself. I would rather we just disband than have to let someone’s hopes down of getting EXP.

3. I will admit, I forget to bring reraise a lot to BC’s. Especially if I’m not going on WHM (my main job). BCNM’s and KSNM’s, I think a lot of people want to cut down on their expenses so that their orb profit is greater. I think there’s no excuse for mission and quest BC’s though. I have no problem spending extra gil on meds for my party if it increases our chances of winning.

4. This is just rude, but I doubt everyone does it.

5. My linkshell and I do campaign very often (we avoid parties like the plague), and the nerf to fortifications really upset us. What’s SE thinking? Sometimes there are no beastmen defending the area during a campaign battle. They want us to mindlessly beat on a wall for almost no reward? With the C.A. so far away, it’s just not worth it. Screw that.

6. Aurum and Enkidu gear, hideous. Also Goliard armour. Every time I see a mage in a piece of Goliard I have to grimace, it’s so ugly. Oh! And the Royal Redingoate is also ugly. It clashes with everything! I think the AF and relic armour looks best, honestly. I’m also really fond of the Morrigan body piece, but maybe that’s because I want it so much, lol.

7. The eye patch! I love my eye patch. I wear it all the time. People always ask if I tripped and fell on my katana. ^^;

8. I’m a mithra too, but I’m female, so of course I love dressing up my character. I don’t know about male characters. That’s kinda weird if they do, I think. lol

9. I just wait until reraise/food wears, and I do a rough estimate of how much we make. I think TP burn parties make the best exp/hr, but they’re so boring. I wish Magic Bursts would make a comeback in EXP.

10. This is something I wish I could answer, but I wonder the same thing myself. I also want to know why nobody reads the damn things. If my seacom says {Level Sync} {No thanks.} why do I get invites from people 20 levels below me?

11. I can’t answer this, I never do it.

12. Maybe it’s just me, but I have no problem whatsoever being the only healer in a merit party, so long as there’s a bard or corsair to supplement Sublimation from WHM/SCH, and good DD who know how to utilize Utsusemi or Seigan. I never have issues with MP, and maintaining a haste cycle is second nature.

There were times when I had party set-ups with WHM RDM BRD DD DD DD, and those were the most boring parties ever. There was nothing to do split between myself and the RDM. I almost fell asleep! I think the challenge and the constant activity is what attracts me to being a mage in the first place. However, it DOES depend on the Camp. Sometimes having that extra healer/sleeper is really helpful, but for the most part it’s not needed.

Personally, if I saw a DD trying to sub WHM or something, I would feel offended, because to me, it appears that they don’t trust me to keep them alive. We invite DD to do damage, not to gimp yourself by subbing WHM and healing.

Then again, this is all from a WHM perspective. RDMs have a much harder time healing compared to a WHM, so maybe they need the extra help?

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Comment from evilmica
Time May 8, 2009 at 3:48 pm

1. I would love to but i’ll never join one since i can only say arigato and i dont think i even say it right hehe.

2. I personally dont like cycling members id rather disband the pt.

3. all i have to say is HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. . . . if a person in my group dont bring medicines and such on missions and bc they dont belong there.

4. I invite ANYBODY in xp party and yes i will use auto-translate to get what the jobs i want. I will autotranslate where we’re going and what we’re fighting and I expect you (the person I invited) to know what your suppost to do. I dont need to tell you what your suppost to do. If your the puller I’ll tell you that your the puller even before you got invited to the pt.

5. I hate campaign soooo much! But I’ll still do em for the sake of doing it lol.

6. I think hauby is ugly, i think walahara turban is ugly and i specially hate taru rse. M.body and Vfork.

7. I went after the denali body cuz i think it’s cute. Right now i’m going after M.body and Vfork cuz i think they’re both hot. And i dont have pld hehe. . .

8. I just like staring at the tail! that’s it.

9. the way toa was designed se killed sc > mb but even in old areas i guess id rather have a buncha dd’s cuz theres more patience and organization involved which id rather pass.

10. If i’m leveling a job that i really want an invite i’ll put all sorts of stuff but now that i’m lvling brd hahahaha no i dont even have time to put a comment. About stating your camp i personally dont do this and i rarely see anybody do this including jp.

11. I personally dont do this i tell ppl that i’m leaving a party about an hour before i have to go and even if that hour is done i’ll still wait for my replacement to come before i would leave. Unless theres a big emergency ofcourse, which is rare on its own.

12. I’ve been a rdm on those merit pts. I actually have no problem with it. Keeps me busy and not borred. Wanna get merit as fast as possible so can do other stuff because honestly meriting is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo borring. I dont believe that healers are short supply. Brds and Cor are short supply but healers. . . hell no.

the sushi question. . .
i like the one with the unagi hehe i dont get why alot of ppl like the salmon one i think those are nasty!

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Comment from arianna
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:41 pm

1.

I think part of it is curiousity.. and to practice their japanesethey may not get the refereances at first, but that can change in time, and its no different than someone from the united states not getting a referance from a australian or british show or the reverse that hasnt hit the other continent in many ways in that respect. I know if i could and had a chance i would join a german one to brush back up on my german from when i lived their.

——-

2.

I hate it when a party disbands just as you get their. But it is something i guess weve come to expect. Ill agree its not fair and as a party leader it should be avoided by trying to be aware of what the other group members are wanting to do before inviting others.

——-

3.

lazy sigh.. i occasionally forget, but when i do im ready to kick myself >^.^< I also think they have the opinion possibly that that is what the healer is their for, and that they dont have to worry about it. Frustrating as that may be.

——-

4.

Sometimes I see foreign pick-up parties recruiting for members using Auto-Translate, but then when I join the party, all the conversation and battle planning is in English. I’ll ask for them to {Please use the Auto-Translate function.} but nobody ever does. If you are going to /shout for help with the Auto-Translator, why not use it in the party? It feels like I was tricked.

Sorry for the rudeness, and ultimately thats all it is for them to not even try to communicate via using it once you ask them. Auto translate is probably just used to ask for simplicity of phrazing on the keywords to get the point across, but once in group its easier to speak natural english, the fact that they are leaving out one member from the conversation on how/what to do is certainly wrong.

——-

5.

I play campain..

It was a major part of my leveling strategy post 50 while waiting for groups.. but now.. i wonder what exactly im going to do with the nerf.. granted i mostly play mages so hitting a wall isnt going to give as much exp to me as curing the npc’s or other players at those levels, but sometimes thats the only campain avialable and i do have a few melee’s i need to level that this will definitly impact. I dont like it and dont understand it

——-

6.
What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?
What equipment do you think has the best graphics?

i cant say i like the look of the walahara turban, but otherwise.. for whm it looks ok, for a couple other classes its fine, but the rest it just looks totally silly..

i love the dancer relic, though i doubt ill ever have it lol.

——-

7.

Outside of your normal party gear, is there any equipment that you go out of your way to get strictly for looks? What are your favorite pieces of casual equipment?

nopes, cant say i do. If im on whm i want to be ready on a moments notice to teleport out and run to whatever a friend needs, and if im not on whm then theirs a reason im not.

——-

8.

I’m a Mithra, and I find that a lot of foreigners seem to be into Mithra fashion. They examine me and ask where I got my equipment and such. Do you think male players enjoy dressing up their Mithra in cute outfits?

im mithra, but honestly i find the hume girls cuter.

——-

10.

lazyness, though i dont quite understand writing your camp location in comments either. Also with wring a camp location many locations arnt going to be auto translatable, so only those of your own langauge would be able to understand.

jobs/subjobs, levelsync, areas certainly make thing alot easier..

——-

11.

i think its rude also. i know those sometimes something comes up that you arent planning to have happened i had it once or twice myself, but if i am planning on not having time to be in a group, i dont even bother trying to find one.

——-

Bonus:
Im vegetarian

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Comment from Ace
Time May 8, 2009 at 4:51 pm

4. Sometimes I see foreign pick-up parties recruiting for members using Auto-Translate, but then when I join the party, all the conversation and battle planning is in English. I’ll ask for them to {Please use the Auto-Translate function.} but nobody ever does. If you are going to /shout for help with the Auto-Translator, why not use it in the party? It feels like I was tricked.

I keep getting told tab-key no thanks or completely ignored or just plain w in response. You think you were tricked? I think I was used as filler and I am not really wanted.

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Comment from Tomiko
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:01 pm

1. I have interest in them because most of the Japanese players I’ve met have been the type of people I like to be around and they’ve also helped me learn more about Japanese players. In turn I’ve also helped them with questions they might have about English words/players.

2. I hate this as well and try not to invite a replacement when I have to go unless I know the party will be going on for at least enough time to make it worth it for the replacement. I also try to avoid getting a replacement if I know the party is bad. “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you” is how I look at it.

3. Overconfidence. I’m guilty of this as well. Unless I know I’ll “need” them I tend to not bring them either. Mog Satchel helps a lot with this though as I have a decent assortment of items in case I do need them.

4. Some just have no consideration for others. Can’t really think of any other reason. If it makes you feel better, there are some that even ignore questions asked by English speaking players, so its more that the person is inconsiderate in general and not just towards non-English speaking players.

5. I used to do it very often, but haven’t so much the past couple months. I do enjoy it though. As for the Fortification question, it doesn’t bother me much. I never really cared for the afk fighting, I’d rather fight Beastmen as its more fun. The main thing I hate about Beastmen controlled areas is that they (the Beastmen) usually take so long to get there.

6. Stats: Skadi Body, Dalmatica, Aurum Armor (Aurum armor has the nickname of “Piss armor” for many English players due to the color), Walahra Turban (looks so bland).

Looks: Ares Cuirass, Valkyrie Fork, Hofud, Valhalla Armor, Crimson Scale Mail.

7. I tend to like rare items like Spelunker’s Hat and Nadrs for looks. They sit in Storage currently, but I still like them.

8. I have mannequins for that (including a Mithra). I think Mithra tend to have nicer .dats for armor than other races. I really like the look of Yingyang Robe on Mithra compared to Hume Female.

9. I think most English players do keep track of it. Personally I think Weaponskill (TpBurn) parties provide the best results. This could be mainly due to Greater Colibri which is one of the most popular camps. I think that Skillchain+MB could do well at a Troll camp, but Birds are just too squishy for SC+MB to compete.

10. Camp Location: From my experience, this is an issue with all players. The only ones I see that tend to be consistent about putting their camp locations are those soloing. Sometimes I see it in Bhaflau Thickets though with leaders listing which level (top, middle, bottom, SP North, South, etc.) they’re on.

Seeking: If you mean Subjobs, then I agree players should list those. I tend to list the main ones used for the job I’m seeking as. Sometimes I don’t or forget to but it usually isn’t much of a problem since I always seem to get asked if I have a certain subjob anyways, even if its listed in my /seacom. Sometimes I wonder why I bother since there’s always someone who asks something that is clearly in my /seacom. Access area is something everyone should mention, but I think some either forget or don’t care.

11. Some players just have no consideration for others. I like to give at least 15 minutes notice if I need to leave a party.

12. I’ve been the Rdm in situations similar to the one listed (Rdm+Brd+4 DD) and I agree that it is a large burden. I usually won’t do it unless I know the DD because I know they won’t take unnecessary damage just to put out higher numbers. /Nin and /Sam using Seigan+Third Eye are important with that type of setup to make sure the party can go nonstop without MP issues.

If I’m on Rdm though in that situation and some random Drk is going to leave Souleater on, then as far as I’m concerned he can die and receive an R1. Same with Dragoons who like to spam Empathy when their Wyvern isn’t at full health which creates unnecessary healing just for a small damage boost.

Bonus: I don’t like most types of fish. lol

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Comment from Gekko
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:15 pm

1. Most of us don’t look for linkshells outside of our native languages or at least languages we are fairly fluent in. Most of those tells are probably from people that watch too much anime and think it makes them Japanese if they learn the language.

2. Believe me, I am equally upset when a party disbands as soon as I get to camp. Definitely don’t base your image of foreigners on that though. In most of the parties I join, the leader tries to make sure that people are willing to stay for at least another hour before a replacement is called in.

To answer the hinted at question, the reason we replace members that leave a party is that usually a good amount of the party is going to keep going for a while longer.

3. I would like to say the players without medicines or reraise earrings are the exception to the rule. At the same time, I also have to say that I don’t like bringing more than what is absolutely needed to win. There is a balance between being unprepared and overly prepared.

4. I agree that this is rude. Whenever I’m in a party with Japanese members, I will use the Auto Translate whenever possible. I have found that a lot of newer players never had to learn how to use auto translate beyond making it easier to type a long or complicated item/area name. Back when i started, it was very common to have a mix of English and Japanese speaking players who all knew how to use auto translate properly. I’d say the main issue is that parties aren’t as mixed as they used to be, so new players don’t really get to use it enough to know how to use it to communicate ideas or plans.

5. A lot of NA/EU players do Campaign. I am one of them. Most of us are very unhappy about the Fortification nerf. It really gives most of us no reason to actively try to get areas back. Low rewards aren’t very good incentive to do something.

6a. I love my scorpion harness, but it’s just ugly. I find my eyes constantly drawn to that little white patch just below the head and wonder why it’s there.

6b. I actually like the Jaridah Peti. It has a very complex design that you don’t see on a lot of other armor with useful stats.

7. I don’t really have any casual gear. When I’m running around or seeking for a party in town, I want to show off my gear I actually use to give a good impression. It’s kind of like picking the rank 10 over a rank 6 when building a party. The rank 6 could have a relic weapon and the best gear there is while the 10 has nothing but AH gear, but rank 10 looks better on the search list. The same applies to wearing casual gear over your best gear, I can’t tell whether or not you’re wearing the gear for looks or if it’s your real gear.

8. This one is a little creepy. I generally assume that male players pick mithra for the high dex and agi stats.

9. I always calculate my XP/hr. It lets me discover whether a certain party build is better in a camp than some other build. At lower levels, skillchain + magic burst can still put up good numbers. Later on and especially in Aht Urghan areas, weaponskill spam is the way to go because many of the monsters resist or reflect magic cast on them. Another downside to skillchains is that they were dependent on two people. If one of them, such as a samurai, was gaining TP faster than the other, the TP would just keep stacking but still be set back to zero when the SC was finally ready.

10. Search comments seem to be another one of those lost arts that newer players aren’t being taught for some reason. I would never consider putting my flag up without one. Until now I’d never heard of using a comment to mark a camp beyond soloing beastmasters and black mages.

11. If I have to leave a party because I’m getting tired, I try to let them know at least an hour in advance. If I know ahead of time that I have a set time limit, I will of course tell the party about it. I also refuse to keep seeking if i have less than 2-3 hours left to party.

12. I can’t speak for everyone, but any party I’m in where we have a single mage we usually do make up for it by using utsusemi and having a bard or corsair along. I don’t expect a single rdm to haste everyone while still keeping up with everything else. A standard NA merit party actually looks more like 3xDD 2XBRD RDM. So it’s not like the RDM is entirely alone.

As a counter question, I’d like to know why almost all Japanese Corsairs sub whm and play it like a bard. You have good skill with marksmanship, several pieces of gear that grant extra ranged accuracy, but yet it hardly gets used beyond occasionally pulling. Most NA CORs sub RNG and use the gun to do respectable damage while still keeping up a full 4 roll cycle. Why play a job if you aren’t going to use it to its full potential for the good of your party?

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Comment from Can’t I be anonymous?
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:44 pm

1. Probably not simply because of how hard it would be to attend events based on JP times. Maybe If I lived closer to Japan’s time zone.

2. Sometimes life gives you lemons. Parties don’t always work out. This is just as likely to happen to any NA player being invited to a party and is almost always the result of a mistake. Sometimes when you get one player who wants to leave you suddenly have four other members who decide they need replacements too, and it becomes too difficult to keep the party running. Personally I just don’t like to expfor very long. After my band wears off I look for a rep and if I can’t find one I don’t always want to wait for one to show up. Level sync makes it easier to replace people, though.

I can recall one night very late when I saw a JP group shouting for members to do Sacrarium, and I really needed it done so I thought to speak up. To my shock, they were quite willing to have me along. It was a golden opportunity and I triumphantly declared in auto translate that I had the required key drop for the mission. Then, my internet service went out. I couldn’t get back on until the next day, and I still haven’t completed that mission. Keep in mind accidents and mistakes do happen and most of the time it isn’t personal.

3. This is probably due to people being lazy and not looking at what the requirements for the particular battlefield are, or simply forgetting to check their inventory to make sure the are well stocked. It can happen to the best of us

4. It’s pretty hard to form any complicated sentences with the auto translate function. I think most players will assume that if you are willing to go with the group even though you can’t communicate well, that you at least know what your role should be.

5. I think a lot, or just as many as JP players. I don’t know about the nerf I haven’t logged in for a while.

6. PUP Artifact and any ki.nd of subligar is offensive to the eye but there are several with pretty good stats.
Equipment added in/since the ToAU expansion seems to have much more detail than pieces from older expansions.

7. I like my hume wearing red. So I often will combine pieces of red equipment together like Cerise Doublet and Wool Cap. I also wish there were more Armet style helmets with decent stats available. I like the mytserious masked Knight look.

8. Mithras are nice to look at, but I hate when I talk to one and find out that it’s a guy.

9. There is an addon you can get that some people use to see the exp/hour of a party they are in, but I just make a rough estimate by simply checking how much exp progress I have made at various intervals.

10. A lot of people seek under the assumption that it is understood that they are only interested in partying as the job they are currently seeking as at camps appropriate for that level. Unless stated otherwise this is what most of us assume.

11. it’s bad form not to give a proper heads up, but sometimes people just lose track of time. It could be that they are afraid that if they say they have to leave soon they won’t get invited to the party at all.

12. Most people I know consider this to be bad party construction as well. A lot of DDs have /NIN and if asked nicely will most likely change their sub so that they can cast Utsusemi. It just depends on communication.

I can say that we all have the same goals in mind, but It seems like a lot of Japanese players have a hard time letting go of bad experiences of the past. It’s not always going to be like that.

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Comment from Namy
Time May 8, 2009 at 5:59 pm

2. personaly i don’t like getting replacement for me in parties, it bothers me when am about to say i want to leave the party and find out that someone just brought a replacement, this sometimes forces me to get a replacement for myself. but there are exceptions when somehting happens and i need to leave in the early start of the party, i beleve that would be the time were it is recommended to get a replacement.

3. that have many reasons, some players think the fight is too easy and doesn’t require such items, and some others don’t have enough money to spend on them, and finally some players don’t have enough information about the fight itself and thus not knowing they need certain items.

4. sadly alot of them use the Auto-Translate because they are too lazy to type the whole word themselves. however, i always focus on communicating with all my pt members so i would keep using the auto-translate in situations were none-english speaking players in my team.

5.i did alot of campain battle and i still do it regularly, however i was expecting SE to improve exp we gain from campain and they nerfed the fortifications insted which was a huge disapiontment for me, that nerf lowered my excitment to attend campaign abit.

9. yes i always calculate xp/hr i personaly feel happy when it is more than 6k/hr, i try pushing my friends in some events into using skillchains for magic burst however, i don’t usually try that with normal xp parties anymore because most would argue it is not as effective as before in these situations.

10. i usually leave some comments up and leave other info for when pt leader asks me, i might forget sometimes but i mostly would be having one on.

12. 5DD and 1RDM is stupid scary paarty and i would personaly leave that, i joined many merit parties and most of them usually have RDM/BRD/4DD setup or RDM/BRD/BRD/3DD setup or sometimes RDM/healer/4DD they are usually well balanced, and on those rare invites i get invites from parties as you described i would just apologize and leave.

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Comment from Nevarie
Time May 8, 2009 at 6:56 pm

1.) I’d probably join a linkshell that had a mixture of Japanese and English speaking players already but not a strictly Japanese one as I wouldn’t be able to understand the conversations very well.
2.) When I’m leading a party I usually disband it when someone has to leave, I tend not to join parties that are already underway unless there is a friend or linkshell member in it that has asked me to come out and play with them.
3.) For myself I don’t use many potions do to inventory space constraints but I do always carry a form of Reraise, Echo Drops a Iccarus Wing, and several types of food for missions.
4.) I haven’t run into this specific scenario myself. English players do have a tendency to use the auto-translate feature as a short-cut for typing out common words.
5.) Just as many as Japanese players I would think. I don’t do offensive campaign battles before because fighting fortifications is not fun so the nerf did not affect me.
6.) Optical Hat is ugly as sin but the stats are very good. On the flip side I think most the artifact armor looks really nice but has poor stats for most situations.
7.) Yes. Denali Jacket, and Yagudo Headgear are my favorite.
8.) Probably. As we say, If you are going to be looking at a characters backside all day…
9.) Weaponskill spam on squishy monsters and T/VT targets.
10.) I question this myself constantly.
11.) I usually let the party know in advance if I have less then 2 hours to play. Otherwise I give a heads up 15-30 min before I need to leave.
12.) I don’t merit too often but when I do I make it a point to do so as Dragoon that way I can help out with Healing Breath if I see there’s not much healing power.

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Comment from Jadi
Time May 8, 2009 at 7:32 pm

1. You bet. I would love to be in a link shell where I couldn’t understand a single word because I like being utterly confused all the time as I watch strange text roll by. No, lol just kidding.. I can’t think for a second that anyone would want to do that. Most likely it’s just some kid who doesn’t understand what kind of shell it is.

2. To me it seems that NA players are much more flexible and able to deal with a change in members. To say that a party disbands when a replacement arrives or that the party becomes worse is unfair. Firstly a replacement was called because a member left so that makes it impossible to continue at all meaning it can’t be a negative if the party disbands. Secondly sometimes the replacement is better, sometimes not. Your jumping to conclusion if you believe replacing is always bad. I tend think NA’s would also rather be in the field getting at least some exp and not in town aimlessly looking for party.

3. Again it’s an unfair characterization that all NA players don’t bother. I know few that don’t always carry medicines and the ones that do are new players who have not yet learned.

4. I’ve been the only NA in a JP party before. It’s unreasonable to expect the party to chat in English or be encumbered by the auto-translator just for me. If they want me to know something they will use the auto-translator. That being said when the situation is reverse I try my best to include JP’s in and use the translator when I can. Go ahead and chat in whatever language your able to, I don’t mind.

5. I do a lot. I’ve even leveled a few jobs entirely from 60’s to 75 in campaign. Is this unusual?

6. Optical Hat, Scorpion Harness, Penance set.. come to think of it MOST of the really great gear looks terrible. I would have to say subligar is my least favorite. (but a lot of it has some great stats) Oh and Cesti.. what in the hell where they thinking when they created those? Are they suppose to be martial arts weapons??

7. I actually like the Rasetsu set and the Jujitsu set. More so I’m just taking the ugly gear off (until party time) and replacing it with decent gear than buying a set of good looking gear.

8. Yeah. It’s perverse.. lol. My GF wanted to be a Taru.. I think all Mithra players are men.

9. Yes we do look at exp/hr, and.. it depends. If a skill chain is attractive by itself or if our party includes a BLM, I would be more inclined to do skill chains. If we are more melee damage based it is sometimes more efficient to just go at 100%.

10. I’ve been a player a long time and I question the same thing. I think it would be fantastic to see people use the search system more.. however I find I myself don’t use it as well or as often as I could.. I think it’s free form nature drives people away.

11. I don’t know if this is a NA phenomenon or not but it’s really frustrating when you invite someone and 10 minutes later they “suddenly” have a linkshell event to get to. I tend to think that they were unhappy with the party for some reason and want an excuse to leave because if they were happy they would stay. I feel these people miss out a lot because parties often have a shaky start as people adjust to each others styles. Still.. you can’t force people to stay.. you just have to remember who they are and not invite them to parties in the future. Ostrasism is your best retort.

12. You need to be careful not to be a collectivist. People are all different individuals and it doesn’t matter where they are from or what language they speak. That being said a 5 DD setup isn’t very good. I prefer 4 DD’s, a healer and a support job.. but I’m not terribly picky either. I believe everyone should be struggling just a little bit in party because that’s how we know everyone is working to their full potential. I’ll let you know that many people take offense to JP ONLY, it’s not a helpful comment… and it doesn’t sound like your looking for only JP players, in reality your looking for veteran players who won’t get you killed, you should express that. Stop using it and it will do a lot to help heal the issues we have with out language divide.

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Comment from Subligarprincess
Time May 8, 2009 at 8:29 pm

1. I have been interested in joining a linkshell for quite some time. I do night school and work into the morning, so I am usually online when there are fewer english speaking people. I think it would be a fun learning experience.

2. I rarely experience this with parties. If your party has an irresponsible leader or member that chooses to get a replacement without asking the other party members, that should only reflect poorly on them as an individual, not on the entire NA ffxi community.

3. I always bring medicines and items, so I can’t really comment on this. I often meet other NA who bring medicines and items, not only to events, but to exp parties as well.
4. Many NA use the auto-translate function as a shortcut when speaking to other NA players. It is sometimes faster to use it than to type normally. However, a good number of NA players find this annoying and lazy.

5. They nerfed campaign? …What’s campaign? (´・ω・｀)

6. Most people would say Republic Subligar has great stats and looks horrible, but I love the way it looks. Assault Jerkin (on elvaan male) is definitely a great piece with terrible style though. The best looking piece of equipment in the game is the egg helmet from the easter event!

7. My favorite pieces of casual equipment are the white JSE subligars, the swimsuit body, the egg helmet from easter, the heart clubs from valentine’s day, and dream boots on an elvaan male. That is my casual gear.

8. All mithra are men.

9. I miss magic bursts in parties. When I’m on the appropriate job, I try to magic burst if a skill chain comes up. It’s generally more efficient to just weapon skill when you can now though.

10. I utilize search comments, and I still miss out on invites.

11. I always say I will be leaving 30 minutes before I have to leave.

12. I play either BRD or RDM in merit parties, so I know what it is like to always be busy. Personally, I enjoy the challenge. I work hard in merit parties. As a red mage, I find it easy to heal once I get used to the pace of the party. If I have a bard helping me, I can go forever.

Bonus: I’m allergic to seafood.

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Comment from Ringoko
Time May 8, 2009 at 9:14 pm

1. I imagine most of us don’t want to join a social JP shell, mostly because the percentage of Westerners who are able read Japanese characters is quite small. That said, some of us are able to read Japanese (漢字でも！) and communicate, myself included. I would want to join a social JP LS to be able to meet new people and have a chance to practice and learn new Japanese words. Missing out on pop cultural references seems to be unavoidable though.

2. I am going to swim against the current here, and say I highly prefer the Japanese way of managing EXP/meripo parties. Roll out together, fight together, disband together. I never accept an invite to replace someone. If I’m already in a group, I don’t mind adding in a replacement member if someone has to leave unexpectedly, but once multiple people start leaving and bringing in replacements without even telling the rest of the group I start to get annoyed.

3. This cuts across cultural boundaries. I’ve seen countless Japanese and Western players not bringing meds with them, and I’m sure the reason is the same for both: lack of gil. This is doubly true in a pickup group. However, when I do linkshell-organized events or stuff with friends, meds and items are usually mandatory.

4. I never do this because I can speak Japanese to some degree, so it’s difficult to answer. A lot of Western players shout in Auto-Translate out of habit more than wanting to be open to Japanese players I think.

5. I think it’s popular no matter where a player is from. It’s a great way to kill time while waiting for an invite, and sadly the only way to level up some jobs these days. There’s also nicer rewards to be had since the last update. The fortification nerf was lame, but also a cheesy way to get EXP/AN so I can see why it was done.

6. I don’t really care for the look of the Haubergeon, but you won’t find me wearing anything else. As for best graphics, I think while it may not be “cool”, Tarutaru BST AF is the definition of “cute”.

7. In real life I favor function over form, utility over looks, and in FFXI I guess I’m no different. I don’t go out of my way to get gear based solely on looks. I like to run around in full BST AF since I’m a Taru and it’s cute, but this is about the only time I wear “town” gear.

8. Maybe? Some people have unhealthy obsessions with Mithra.

9. I think most Western players do this, myself included. The way merit camps are setup with lots of squishy, easy-to-kill mobs (i.e. Colibri) WS-spamming is by far the best method to earn XP quickly and efficiently. SC/MB parties used to be superior, but only because there were no merits and the camps that were around had mobs that were significantly harder to kill. I really want SE to introduce camps where SC/MBing would be more efficient though, I miss that playstyle.

10. I almost always provide this information in EN/JP depending on what time of day it is. Sometimes its frustrating because even if you do, people will come camp on top of you, or you will wait endless hours for an invite. Other people are just lazy.

11. If you know you are going to be busy, how come you don’t alert people at the beginning of the party instead of surprising everyone at the last minute?

11. Maybe we have a cultural difference here. Westerners are much more individualistic and sometimes are unknowingly inconsiderate of the thoughts and feelings of others, much moreso since we can’t see the other people we’re playing with. I don’t like it either but as the Japanese say, 仕方がない

12. Well, in most cases when dealing with a pickup group of people of differing talents, abilities, etc, you want to play a merit party on the safe, defensive side. That means DDs subbing NIN, picking up an extra healer. This is important as well when dealing with a language barrier. Now, when you’re doing a merit party with your LS or group of friends you trust and know well, this is when I think switching to a more aggressive and offensive style is fine, if you want to do that. Gaining 50k EXP in two hours always feels good. The lone healer may have a burden, but he’s getting EXP a lot faster too you know. I understand the motivations behind “JP ONLY” as I can speak Japanese and understand JP culture better than most Westerners, and I wish some players wouldn’t automatically assume it’s always because of racism. In the end, sometimes I want to gain EXP as fast as I can because I have little time to play, and other times I do want to just relax and gain it at a gingerly pace. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to go about it.

BONUS: Tuna all the way. I’ve been living in Hawaii for a while now and they use “ahi” in a lot of food, so my love for tuna has grown even stronger!

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Comment from Zarris
Time May 8, 2009 at 10:48 pm

1) Personally I would have interest if I could speak Japanese, but as I cant as was stated it would likely be too difficult to be fully social. However if I was fluent I have to say i would be very interested n the various references and the like of another culture. Broadening horizons like that sounds pretty fun.

2) I was rather amused to learn in the last set of questions that JPs refer to our party style as “revolver” parties, thought it was a pretty cool term. I suppose the reasoning behind them is usually people want to do different things at the same time in most social shells, so people get who they can to keep a party going. Personally, and this is a shared opinion of several NA, I find calling someone in only to disband after a short time to be very rude, and try very much to alot at least another hour to a replacement. For this reason though I try to static with friends more than i seek solo. Still, if i am getting a replacement i do try very much to make it a person who compliments the party setup.

3) I think this may be a misconception. Especially for missions my group requires healing items and the like. Minimum for my Limbus group is a re-raise earring and echo drops if not more depending on zone. BCs i think maybe people dont want to spend money on something they are doing to make money unless they have to, so try to do without if they can. However, if you are facing a tough battle like a KS99 groups i know will require items.

4) Many people concern themselves too much with getting a party setup and started, and thus will seek anyone they can to get a good group especially if they dont have too long in the day to play. Personally I feel it is only polite to keep a good portion of chat in autotranslate if people of different nationalities are together, at the very least if it is a party command. This is a sentiment shared with some of the better players i know.

5) I am quite fond of Campaign. Its a fun activity and very profitable in terms of exp. Generally i go Thf/Dnc for its survivability and solo ability for the long fights, and gives some healing and support abilities to help build up a score. I feel the Fortification nerf was unnecessary. I can see why they did it, but attacking the forts was a good task for those lower that cant do too effectively against the beastment themselves. And now that there is less reward for attacking the forts it is likely less people will. This in turn will lower the chances of the Allied Forcies keeping territory, and give us less chances at the cool BCs we get for taking territory. So i hope they improve that a little.

6) I suppose in terms of good stats/bad looks i would have to say Republican Subligar takes the cake. It is the best leg slot for melee for a long time but… I just cant bring myself to wear that awful thing. As for best its hard to say. I am rather fond of my Homam armor. Some of the new reward armor looks really nice, the Reddingote especially. Was a little disappointed in the simplicity of the Mirke Waldercores by comparison hehe.

7) I have gotten a few items just for their nostalgic value, such as the Flawless Ribbon from Limbus. It really serves me no purpose of having aside From saying I have the Final Fantasy Ribbon hehe. Aside from that I occasionally go after weapons that look cool, like the Nadrs and Rune Blade.

Hehe, I dont play a Mithra so i dont do much of this myself. Closest ive come is getting a swimsuit for a Mithra mule of mine. As for checking Mithra… Suppose its just that the female form catches more eye hehe. From there if someone notices a piece of good gear they didnt know about they may ask. I know alot of JPs dont like being randomly checked, but in the English version the check phrase isnt quite as impolite, so generally its just people admiring your gear or looking for hints at what they could get to better themselves.

9) A ton of people are big into parsing, and thus xp/hr has become quite a focus. We have some people that have calculated the formulas behind stats and are always looking to make things more efficient. People like myself will use rough xp/hr to give a light estimate of the parties effectiveness. But some of the more elitist group will demand Cor or Brd and 5x DD or both and 4 x DD, and will consider less than 20k xp/hr “gimp” and expect closer to 25-30k xp/hr. Personally i think that is a tad extreme. I miss the days of Skillchains and Magic Bursts, required alot more skill than the zerg mentality of today. Zerging comes out more effective… but i feel it also “dulls the Blades” of some players skills nowadays so to speak.

10) Some of us try to put as much info as possible in our searches. Most however just don’t seem to think of it. Further than that I guess its a leaders responsibility to list the camp, but they dont think to change their own message. I think most JPs like their camp in Japanese, so maybe some EN players just arent catching onto the trend cause they dont understand.

11) Some people are just inconsiderate… Not all of us are like that. Personally i feel if you cant provide your focus to a party you should be there, because you are leeching off them.

12) Like the answer to question 9, i think people are looking simply to maximize their gain in the amount of time they have. The Elitest sentiment makes some expect alot. And thus, as people have proven that you can get 30k per hour in certain camps with zerg setups, that is what they strive for (forgetting that over 5k per hour used to be GREAT). And so that is what they expect, and they expect a healer to be able to keep up and believe that to be their job. Personally I agree that is too stressful. I am all for making good exp, but i prefer a slightly more relaxed pace than breakneck. In the end i guess it is communication of that fact that widens the gap between JP and EN, or lack thereof. Personally why i like these questioning sessions, helps us get our feelings across a bit better than we normally could.

Bonus) Heh… I am a fairly strict vegetarian, so no meat or fish for me. Pity though, its such a beautifully prepared food… i get kinda jealous sometimes.

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Comment from Xiahou
Time May 8, 2009 at 11:08 pm

I posted my responses on my blog here:
http://xiahoudun1981.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/in-response-to-the-japanese-questions/

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Comment from Dartvalince
Time May 8, 2009 at 11:41 pm

I’ve posted my responses on my blog @ http://www.cwhitley.com/dartvalince/?p=255, but I will post them here as well

1. Do foreign players have a lot of interest in joining social Japanese Linkshells? (Especially ones with only JP members) I ask because when I recruit for my shell in Japanese, I get a lot of tells from foreigners looking to join. Personally, I feel like even if they could understand my /shout, it still would be hard to keep up with regular conversation. They wouldn’t understand pop-culture references to old TV shows, for instance.

If I could speak and understand the language, I personally would love to join a social Japanese Linkshell. Since there is that apparent wall in place, it would be silly for me to try to join one.

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2. Parties that cycle in replacement members seem to be popular amongst foreigners, but a lot of times the party will just disband once the replacement arrives. Of course, there are times when the replacement is contacted before they get all the way there, but there are many instances when no one says anything. There are also many cases where inappropriate jobs are invited and the party can no longer function well.
To me, this is a big reason behind some of the negative images Japanese players have about foreign players. What do you think about this?

I try to keep the party going on as long as it possibly can. If that means finding a replacement for a job, then that’s what I do. It’s very common for a player to let the party leader know the {time remaning}. When I’m informed of this, I’ll ask everyone in the party if they want to simply disband or if they would like me to find a replacement. If everyone else is good to go on, I’ll do a search for the same job that’s leaving, but if there aren’t any lfp at the moment, I’ll discuss witht he party members the differnet jobs I can bring in as a replacement.

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3. Why does it seem like many foreign players don’t bother to bring medicines and potions to Missions and BCs? Many Japanese players make sure to have Vile Elixirs, Hi-Potions and/or Reraise Earrings.

I’m very adament about this. Even if I know I’ll more than likely not need it, I’ll still bring medicince and postions with me.

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4. Sometimes I see foreign pick-up parties recruiting for members using Auto-Translate, but then when I join the party, all the conversation and battle planning is in English. I’ll ask for them to {Please use the Auto-Translate function.} but nobody ever does. If you are going to /shout for help with the Auto-Translator, why not use it in the party? It feels like I was tricked.

I always ask people in auto-translate when i ask them if they need a party. If they say yes in auto-translate back, then I ask them if they speak English. If not then I’ll auto-translate everything in party chat. For instance, the other night I was building a party in Qufium Island. I found a jp player. The conversation went as described above. I needed a way to explain what mobs we would be fighting and what to do when we ran out of them so I Auto-translated {Worms} = {Camp}, 0 {Worms} = {camp} {crabs}, in which he replied {understood}.

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5. How many NA and EU players do Campaign? Any thoughts about the recent nerf to Fortifications?

I’ve yet to get into campaings, so I have no answer here

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6. What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?
What equipment do you think has the best graphics?

No comment

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7. Outside of your normal party gear, is there any equipment that you go out of your way to get strictly for looks? What are your favorite pieces of casual equipment?

I sometimes will put on a subligar just to annoy my wife. She says calls them my panties

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8. I’m a Mithra, and I find that a lot of foreigners seem to be into Mithra fashion. They examine me and ask where I got my equipment and such. Do you think male players enjoy dressing up their Mithra in cute outfits?

I think this would be a person to person baises. Some males are into that some aren’t. I’m a Tarutaru and I enjoy different fashions for my character when I’m just on the game to goof off with friends

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9. I wonder if you calculate the XP/hr of parties, and if so, do you think that Skillchain/Magic Burst or Weaponskill spam produces the best results? Before parsing became widespread, Japanese players used to think Skillchain/Magic Burst was the best.

I do mental calculations of Xp/hr.
Alot of players that I come across have the mentality that skillchains/magic burst are a lost art and that just spamming weaponskills is the way to go. I disagree with that completely. Though it is only three of us, my wife, my friend, and I, when we are in parties, we coordinate Skillchains and Magic Bursts as much as we possibly can. Sometimes the other players in the party don’t want to cooperate

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10. How come it seems like so many people don’t utilize Search Comments properly? Why don’t they write their camp location for others to see? Also, it’s strange to see so many people seeking without basic information written like available jobs and where they can access. Don’t you want an invite?

If I am seeking, I add in information such as jobs, though usually I do not seek unless I’m currently they job I want to actually pt as.

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11. If you know you are going to be busy, how come you don’t alert people at the beginning of the party instead of surprising everyone at the last minute?

This is a very good question that I would like to ask alot of EN players as well. I think this is just a problem with that specific player not knowing good ettiquite

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12. Honestly, the largest difference in thinking between Japanse and foreign players exists
in the Merit party.
You often say 5 DDs and a RDM is so good, but having a single, solitary healer is hard
on the RDM.
Japanese realize that healers can be in short supply, so we make sacrifices to lighten
their burden, like subbing a mage job, or using Utsusemi.
I feel like many people don’t show proper respect to healers.
When we say JP ONLY, it isn’t always an issue of language,
but the fact that we feel there are other dangers and demerits associated with
a non-JP party, stemming from our different play-styles, that we wish to avoid.
This key difference in thinking, more than any race or language issue,
is what really sets us apart as players. They are just looking to sit back, relax
and earn some decent XP.
Please feel free to provide your own insight and thoughts

I’ve yet to have to Merit. I can completely understand where you’re coming from though, as this is how you feel it’s best to be done. I think this would be a debate that would boil down to players points of views and it’ll be a discussion that’ll have no clear end. If 5 DD’s + RDM works, then it works. If subbing mage jobs or Utsusemi works, then hey, it works.

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Comment from Tek
Time May 8, 2009 at 11:54 pm

1. I can speak Japanese a little and understand a little. Although, it would be difficult to keep up in regular conversation. Because it is social linkshell it may be fun to join and talk sometimes. I can see some others in this situation will feel the same.
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2. The revolving PT is kind of old style. While it still exist, I try to avoid them because of the same reasons JP players avoid them. I will only accept invite if I know the PT leader. For example, linkshell PT.
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3. I can understand JP frustration with the NA/EU players that does this… In time sensitive zone, like BCNM or mission, it is generally vital to have these items as it save much time and grief. JP are not alone to feel this way.
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4. I’ve been in PT with this type of situation… but reverse! Although I know a little Japanese. It’s difficult understand all. At the party start, I tell the leader I know a little and try to follow along but I am slow to read. Especially Kanji, so please use auto-translate for those. Although for simple EXP PT, almost no communication is needed for me to do my job properly.
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5. I think most people do campaign. At least to keep rank for BCNM! Now with ANNM I think more try to do it more often. Even though it’s likely most of the time they do not do campaign until they have to. The fortification nerf is sad, it was good chance to level up low level (melee) job through campaign battle, now it is difficult to use campaign battle for melee jobs.
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6. Horrible look: Republic subligar on M Elvaan, Assault Breastplate on any race and all Aurum gear from ZNM
Best look: Luisant Set, Hydra gear set, ares armor + m.body and ares armor + e.body
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7. Strictly for looks: Wyvern Helm, darksteel Armet, Rng Af2 Body, Dhalmatica (best town gear look for blm + af2 hat, nostalgia)
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8. This one made my lol irl. It’s funny that it’s targeted to Mithra only. I think all player use town gear. Fashion for job based on look not just stats. Or based on stats and not looks. Like 5/5 Heca +1 or AV ring.
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12. I don’t know about 5 DD and 1RDM… This is stupid way to make PT. Usually, PT is at least 4DD + 1BRD + RDM. The idea is to kill faster and higher skill chain and faster EXP. Granted it is difficult for RDM alone to cure… but @ level 55+ it should not be that difficult, provided there is a good NIN tank and good DD. For merits or 73+ PT, 3DD + 2 BRD or 1BRD & 1COR + RDM. Depending on the skill of each player, this is best set up for speed. If all player in this kind of PT is ging, this kind of PT is at least 30K/hr.
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Bonus question:
I like all kinds of sushi… it’s very difficult to say which one is my favorite. But if I have to choose right now there’s a 4 way tie: Hirame Engawa, Uni, Kanpachi and Mirugai.

Generally I don’t like rolls because they use inferior fish quality to that of sushi. However, blue crab handroll is very good. Is there such thing in Japan?

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Comment from Cat
Time May 8, 2009 at 11:59 pm

1. If I could understand the language I would join. If I was invited by a JP friend, I’ll accept the LS even if I couldn’t understand the language.

2. I’m not a fan of replacement parties myself. If more than two people leave the party, (especially it they’re a tank and healer) I’ll normally give a 30min-1hr notice or just wait it out because I know more than likely the party won’t last long.

3. Lazy, too poor/cheap, or forgot. I’ll bring the essentials that I’ll need depending on the job I play. Since I’m on brd most of the time I only have room for at most is a reraise earring, echo drops, and/or prism powder and silent oil. Instruments eat up my inventory.

4. I’ll try to help out if the PT leader doesn’t. I’ve also been in the same postion when being invited by a JP party.

5. I loved Campaign when it first started! There was a nerf? I need to play more… ._. I still don’t like mages get less xp than DDs though.

6. Horrible – O-hat Best Graphics – Noble’s Tunic

7. I like idling in AF. THF AF, Culinarian’s Apron, or nothing at all.

8. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. Who doesn’t love a catgirl?

9. Calculating xp/hr in xp parties has become a habit everytime I join a party. I liked WS+WS+MB when I first started playing. Now, everyone at most has shifted to WS spam. Sometimes, it’s funny seeing the WS’s damage in double digits. Makes a good laugh for the party.

10. I’ve never used /seacom! I’ve heard stories when people that used /seacom put in all the information that was vital, and whoever was inviting them still asked the same questions that was availble in the search comments. After that, I just felt it was useless.

11. I hate that also. Idling in a party doing nothing annoys me and the other members. On the EN side, if they take too long the leader will kick and replace the person. If the AFKer can’t be replaced we normally disband.

12. One time I was invited to keep 5 DD healed on WHM at lvl 58. Let’s just say I hated the experience and the DD died once or twice here and there. I just couldn’t keep up and my mp was always drained.

I never had an issue with JP ONLY, but I can attest to different playstyles. It makes my party experience more entertaining and enjoyable.

Bonus: I’ve tried 4 different ones. I loved crab and salmon. Tuna… was a bad experience. The other I don’t remember off hand.

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Comment from Aerroenu
Time May 9, 2009 at 12:42 am

Mr. Elme~r! I posted my answers to those questions on my blog:
http://aerroenu.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/aerroenus-answers-to-japanese-questions/

Elmer-Elmer-Elmer!! I have a suggestion!! Why don’t you make EN players answer their EN questions (and post their responses in Japanese) and JP players answer their JP questions (and post their responses in English)?! I think that would be a ton of fun because there were EN questions that I wanted to answer and share with our fellow JP players!!

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Comment from Porcelina
Time May 9, 2009 at 2:06 am

1) As EU player I can tell that I would give a lot to be in a JP event linkshell because many of them schedule their events when its early afternoon here. A nice time to play. But I don’t speak a single word of Japanese so this is out of question.
Japanese are said to be kind and polite people and most of those I met in parties are so this might be a reason why people ask to join social linkshells but personally I don’t see a good reason of joining a JP social linkshell. You can meet friendly people everywhere in this game. Maybe those people who respond just see the chance to improve their verbal abilities. I don’t know.
2) I love replaces and find them very economical. Seeking a replacement is very polite. It means you care for you party member. You care that they can go on getting exp even after you are gone. I don’t like it at all when the whole party disbands just because one or two people have to go. The only problem about replacements is when people don’t agree in advance with the rest of the party members before they seek a replace.
3) That’s right. Many people don’t bring along medicine. Sadly. It bothers me too. Most of the time it happens with new, inexperienced players who believe the elder player can win everything with ease.
4) might have been the better choice if you indeed don’t know what to do. But since everyone is supposed do know what to do in exp parties; I’m sure they did not talk about anything of great importance or just did some chit chat. Maybe they just didn’t know how to answer your question.
5) I think most of us do it a lot. Some of the rewards are very nice. The nerf is aweful. We loose access to Campaign Ops and less people join to conquer the required areas because of the bad exp.
6) The Enkidu’s set is wonderful but the look is so horrible! It reminds me on the low level beetle set and the colour is even worse. I really like the look of the Askar Korazin. The deep black and the shiny highlights are very pretty.
7) Difficult. I somehow like the shape of pantaloons. No matter if its SMN or WHM gear and besides all the stats. I always wear my pantaloons in cities.
Of course. Can’t deny they are cute. I’m Hume F but sometimes I wish I was a Mithra. Any gear looks good on them. (And they have funny emotes)
9) That depends on the camp doesn’t it? Those things are nice when you use skillchains to get the hate back on the tank in camps with tricky enemies. Or later on when the party is able to do skillchain light with the combination of decent weaponskills. But in other cases it simply helps best when everyone pops up their most damaging skills.
10) I do want a invite and I write down these things. Besides that fact that I ensure my “invite” by building my own parties in 90% of all cases.
11) Actually I always have the feeling Japanese players say just 1 minute before they disband. And NA give are the once who say they have to go at least 30 mins before. Maybe we should blame the lack of autotranslation usage skills of some people?
12) This is funny because I have a story about that:
2 days in a row, I had 2 pts with very similar set up at the very same camp. (Said bird camp)
First day it was 5xNA + me, next day was 5xJP + me. There was a huge difference and as being the healer (WHM) I have to say both had good sides and downsides. The NA pt gone all out. In the JP pt everyone came /NIN. NA party had chain 89. JP chain 73. In the NA party some people where always in yellow HP. I surely had to work hard and in two situations it was actually trouble but with the Bards my MP where always high enough to keep everyone alive and somehow the challenge and the high chain was very pleasing. In the JP pt I felt rather useless. My MP did not drop below 900 a single time. Sure I was happy that partying was so relaxing this time but they really wasted my spot. I already started to feel odd of doing nothing but hasting. Now what? Who has the better way of playing? Risking a bit more but get a higher chain or play save but still get decent exp? After these 2 days I thought combining the pt-behaviour of both would’ve be a wonderful dream like party. Struggle to play with each other is not a good way. It’s rude and silly. We should learn how to improve our play-style by learning from each other.

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Comment from Kiichi
Time May 9, 2009 at 2:24 am

1) When I first started playing, I was studying Japanese in high school, and I really wanted to join a JP social. My language skill was still so bad that I couldn’t even tell when they were looking for members ; ;.

2) I absolutely hate putting my party flag up! Every time I get a normal exp PT, after an hour, somebody gets sleepy…so they have some new person show up without warning, then the next person gets sleepy…and they leave without a replacement. I hate replacement parties… why would you invite a DNC to replace a SAM when there is already a healer, brd, and pld?

3) I don’t carry more than Echo Drops on me normally, but for a BC situation, most guides will list if it’s necessary to bring xxx medicine, and I will.

4) I’ve never joined a pick-up mission party, but I don’t know why somebody would not want to use auto-translate…that seems rude lol.

5) I do a lot of campaign, but I rarely went to beastmen controlled zones because hitting a wall for an hour was no fun ._.

6) UGLY! =.= Royal Redingote… on my SMN..with Oracle’s Braconi and AF+1 feet. I look like a clown! Austere robe…from level 50-59 looking like a hobo Optical hat, lol.
Good Looking:.. I wear a Goblin Coif all the time . I use Argute Loafers to main heal because they are cute, but the stats aren’t that good lol…(that’s bad isn’t it)

7) I got an Asklepios just to say I could get 15% potency on weapons..I’ve never used it lol. I also got the lvl 50 BLM/SMN and WHM/SMN JSE, and I don’t have a clue why, what a headache it was lol.

I’m a mithra too.. I’ve never had anybody ask about anything like that lol.

9) I don’t care how much xp/hr I get as long as I’m having fun >.> Most other people don’t have that outlook.
I always party with my Samurai friend, in any situation, and I am always on SCH, SMN, or WHM. I make him do SC so I can MB lol. But my friends make me use a BRD character to pull AND my own character to Main heal..so I had to cut back on MB

10) I don’t invite people without a /seacom.. unless they are the only person lol.

11) I won’t party unless I know I have at least 4 hours, and It won’t run too late. The only times that I had to leave suddenly were when I was informed suddenly, and I would feel really bad lol.

12) I’m used to 4 DD, and me on BRD and SCH. I can’t imagine 5 DD 1 healer, especially if they don’t /nin @_@ they would lose more EXP than they could imagine.

Bonus~!) I don’t like seafood xD, even when I was in Japan, I only ate apples, chicken, and rice..I also got really sick (I wonder how ;P)

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Comment from Cat
Time May 9, 2009 at 2:36 am

1. I personally would not want to join a Japanese social linkshell because I couldn’t keep up with the regular conversations. I think, like me, many just want join to interact with the Japanese community more though.

2. I do not like the fact that replacements are done. The sense of being impatient is not polite to me. It makes me feel like I have an obligation to stay. Also when people are waiting on someone else to show up if that person makes a mistake by themselves trying to get to camp they sometimes get ridiculed. They will then give up and another person will try to be found. If I don’t have time for a party or don’t plan on staying I will not join one.

3. I usually do. However I don’t manage my inventory well so a lot of times I do not have space.

4. I think Americans somehow have come to the conclusion that it is easier to use the auto-translate function than it is to type out the word. I use it strictly as a communication tool. My shouts are in English.

5. I enjoy doing Campaign. However I don’t see the same amount of people doing it in our prime time as I do during JP prime time. The fortification nerf was uncalled for. I have sat at my computer just watching my character hit the fortification for almost 3 hours! That was boring so I find it necessary to go AFK.

6. I think the Gi’s are done very well.

7. Yes I would go out of my way for looks. I think they did a good job with job artifact armor so I like to wear that a lot for looks.

8. I think they like dressing them up in cute outfits.

9. I have gotten way more EXP with skillchain/magic burst than I ever have with weapon skill spanning. Except when they had those RNG parties.

10. I do utilize it for specific information. I think many others who put “(I want experience points.) (Japanese)/(English)OK (world) (Please invite me to join)” do not utilize the comment section for what it is.

11. I do not do that. I’m very formal in parties. I think others do that because they will take whatever they can get in a short time. Other times they might not like how the party is being played. (I think that is what this question is asking.)

12. I have also never seen the 5 DD + RDM party. Having some kind of support for more MP is a must. Those who don’t sub NIN I think are just trying to show off their damage. It’s pointless really when they are always in yellow or red. I enjoy more relaxing merit point parties.

Bonus: I personally could do without the rice and go with just the fish. However on the rice I like unpickled mackerel(no sweeteners or salt), escolar(shiro maguro), and flying fish roe(tobikko)

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Comment from bbtt
Time May 9, 2009 at 3:06 am

1) I have no interest in JP shells because of the language barrier. I also feel like JP are not friendly towards NA players, they think the game is just for them and we should play by their rules but they are mistaken. FFXI is a global community.

2) In JP parties it seems they all agree to meet and then disband after a set time, but in NA switching members in and out is used to avoid stopping the flow of XP. If I have to leave I will ask the leader if they want me to find a rep or not, If I am leader I prefer to find replacements myself to avoid sub-par players.

3) These items are uneccessary for most BC’s. NA’s prefer to just jump in and give it a good shot. Sometimes melee will be asked to bring icarus wings but because gil is scarce I don’t have anything against people that dont have meds.

4) If a JP is invited to a NA party It is too difficult to try to get him involved, I would rather easily discuss it with my party and then tell the JP what he should do. For instance if we are doing a BC and our pty decides a RDM (JP) should be only healing I would say in auto-translate {redmage} {healing}{cure} OK? so he understands.

5) I do campaign every week only for the rank up evaluations. Once I get my wings of honor I do not plan on doing it anymore. I dont think campaign is very fun b/c sometimes the battles end so quickly and you waste time teleporting, it is annoying. Fortifications were good to skill up but SE has foolishly stopped that, they really need to implement faster skill ups.

6) I don’t like endiku armor and aurum because they are a rehash even tho stats are good. Homnam and Barone are my favorites.

7) I don’t buy armor for looks because it is a waste of gil. I have different sets of armor for whatever I am doing. For outside areas I will run in damgage % reduction gear and movement speed items in case of aggro. In town I will usually wear my best pieces of hard to get equipment to show off.

I’m not into mithra’s. I think people who in love with them are either pubesent boys or losers with no female contact in Real Life.

9) Magic burst is a waste in xp parties, they may be usefull in pre-TOAH areas if you have a competant party.

10) I always use comments and try to avoid those who dont, but also keep in mind that the boxes are very small so will not fit much information.

11) Like the search comment question this is another generalzation, all NA’s are not like this. In the NA community there is a seperation between hardcore/good players and bad/casual players, it is like we are in different worlds.

12)For merits a PTY of BRD puller, RDM haste/cure, COR w/ dnc subjob or /rng, and 3 heavy DD sub/sam can pull 30-35k per/hour in a good open camp spot, while using WS spam. I dont want to sit back, relax and “take it easy” I want to get merits as fast as I can so I can be done with it. A pty of extremely aggresive players will get more merits than casual ones. Getting 10 merits in 3 hours isnt something to look down on, and for the record I only care if the player has great equipment and skills, I could care less what country he is from. To me that is the big difference, JP Only is stupid to me, I dont want to chat with my PT, i want to have 5 other people that are great to get fast merits.

BONUS) I don’t like raw fish, sushi does not appeal to me. I would rather go to a japanese restaurant and have Hibachi. Hot pockets and mountain dDew are fairly popular for us here.

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Comment from Kyari
Time May 9, 2009 at 3:23 am

1. I think there’re probably a certain group of people who would like to join these kinds of linkshells – not me personally – but I figure a lot of people who have a basic grasp of japanese and (I hate to stereotype) the kind of people who watch far too much anime.

2. I think this largely comes down to unwillingness to go back to lfp. It can sometimes take hours to find a party, and if you can somehow extend that length by switching in a new player so as to not have to reflag that’s great. Sometimes people don’t have a long time party and it’d be a waste of resources to not try and continue the party. There are unfortuanate occurances where the party falls appart once the replacement gets there, but there are also times when the party continues without losing anyone for many, many hours.

3. I think that’s an unfair generalisation. There’re always going to be people who give everyone else a bad rep by not preparing. But as someone who has just recently pushed through CoP up to Sea – my wallet can assure you that people still use medicines and supplies.

4. A lot of people just use the auto translate feature out of laziness. It’s quite irritating even as an english speaker when someone puts together sentences by dropping in an autotranslate word and sticking “S” or “Ing” on the end.

5. Quite a lot. Everyone seems to disagree with the Fortification nerf as it makes campaigning in those areas undesirable.

6. Optical Hat! It looks horrible but has great stats. Walhara Turban too.
I think most of the Artifact gear has great graphics but often horrible or impractical stats.

7. I leveled Clothcrafting to 50 so that I could get my Spectacles, and then stopped leveling it. Also I like my Denali body piece even though it’s not that great for me – because it looks like pajamas

8. I think that male players preffer to undress their mithra from cute outfits.

9. I think it depends on the level of the party as well as what jobs are involved. There are certainly combinations of jobs where spamming weaponskills as soon as they’re available is the best option – but there’re times I’ve partied where the experience has been horrible until a skillchain and magicburst were set up. Personally though, I’m a Dancer, the majority of the times I weaponskill result in a self level 3 Darkness skillchain which my friends tend to know to look out for to magicburst.

10. I think this just comes down to laziness once again.

11. It feels like a lot of people just use certain things as an excuse to leave parties one they level. It seems more often than not “Oh I just realised my linkshell needs me” or what have you comes up soon after a player and/or their friend levels.

12. I’m not particualy a fan of the 5 DD, 1 RDM setup. I think a lot of people are finding similar flaws with it these days – especially in parties that can outpull mob respawns. I think EN players seem to view meriting as a burden – something they want to get out of the way as soon as possible in an attempt to return to their endgame activities.

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Comment from Itazura
Time May 9, 2009 at 4:01 am

1. The general population would not be interested. Personally, though, since I understand Japanese a little, it would be interesting to at least observe how JP players converse with each other. However, the NA FFXI client has Japanese text input disabled–it would not be possible to even write simple あいさつ without “tab speak” in Japanese without using third party tools. To not at least participate in simple conversation (without using Auto-Translator) properly would likely to be considered rude, yet using third party tools likely would be frowned upon as well.

There is no good option for foreigners using non-Japanese FFXI clients, even those who can understand a little Japanese.

2. NA players heaps the abuse of replacement on JP players because that’s how they treat each other. They think it’s normal because that is how they’ve always partied in the past, and that party disbanding shorter after (or before) someone arrives is just bad luck or ill timing; the existing party members do not feel any personal responsibility–everyone blames someone else, assuming a typical player even thinks about the feelings of the replacement who have just arrived.

On this, they NA players should learn from the Japanese players.

3. Not all NAs are like that, but those who do, do so in party out of laziness (to buy medicines or farm the gil to buy medicines). Another factor is that NAs are more resistant to peer pressure–that one group heavily disapprove of a person’s lack of preparedness would not always deter the person approaching another group with the same attitude. Lastly, not all players are familiar with the resources available on the Internet with helpful preparation tips for missions and quest battles–we do not have those printed guide books that many Japanese players take for granted.

4. The prevailing attitude seem to be that once you decided to join a group, its’ up to you to adapt to the group. I do not join shout groups often, though, so cannot say that with great confidence.

5. Campaign Battle is fairly popular, but there generally isn’t coordination to win area–it is basically soloing exp instead of participating in a battle campaign, much less a war over the control of territories. There is some tension between some melees and some mages; a number of melees believe it’s mages job to cure other combatants, even outside of parties, while mages content it makes no sense since they get better experience points using the time to melee instead curing others, and that melee jobs should use /DNC SJ to cure themselves.

NA players dislike the exp nerf greatly, I think.

6. My character is a Mithra… There’s almost nothing that looks horrible. Some combinations of gears do clash badly, but I try not to remember them. w

The Phantasmal abjuration (Shadow Breastplate, etc.) set looks amazing, and I’d love to have it one day just for walking around in cities.

7. The blue and white swimwear looks nice, as do the yutaka from events.

8. Yes. ._.;

Not all male Mithra players do, of course, and even fewer would admit it, but many Mithras are dress up dolls for boys.

9. There is almost a consensus that WS spam party tend to produce better exp rate compared with the “Skillchain and Magic Burst” style. A few people do keep an eye on the exp/hour stat or use tools which produce the exact numbers, but generally most people go by ‘feelings’.

10. Many (if not most) NA leaders invite without reading comments. That makes people seeking think writing comments isn’t important. Leaders typically do not write camp location because it’s not a common practice–even I forgot this two nights ago, and I should have known better.

There’s no culture of writing comments amongst NA players.

11. There’s no expectation that a party stays together for a duration, and then everyone disband. Often, people thinks as soon as they can find replacements for themselves, they can leave, regardless of how long the rest of the people can party. Or, they would just leave when they feel like it, without bothering with replacements.

Members do not think about the welfare of the party or the desires of other members, nor would they care. Too many people will put up the seek flag even when they only have 45 minutes to play.

I hope the Japanese players would never understand or adopt this mentality.

12. That’s not a question. ._.

The actual preferred setup is DD x3, BRD x2, RDM x1. Or, at least DDx4, BRD x1, RDM x1. DD x5 + RDM is not considered desirable.

In any case, I was often that single lone RDM in party, the sole person with any ability to cure. It was stressful. However, if I complain it’s too much of a burden, people will insult me and call me lazy.

That’s why I do not participate in pick-up merit parties as RDM anymore.

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Comment from Itazura
Time May 9, 2009 at 4:11 am

Bonus:

Salmon (sake nigiri). It’s sweet, with nice texture, and–most importantly–the majority of sushi shops in California use reasonable (edible?) quality salmon. Tasteless tuna (maguro) is all too common here, and ordering stronger flavor or expensive ones like saba or ama ebi is really dangerous in shops one does not know well!

Sadly, even though supposedly California exports some of the best uni to Japan, getting even second tier stuff here in restaurants is something of a miracle.

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Comment from liger
Time May 9, 2009 at 4:54 am

1. I do have a big interest in joining a JP social. I personally do keep up with some of JP pop culture. I know i wouldn’t be able to keep up with most of what’s going on in the shell, but if something familiar comes up, i think i can contribute to the conversation. Its the same with the JPs in our HNMshells, They don’t say much, but damn when something funny happens where they can respond and contribute, there are no barriers on both sides where we all couldn’t talk.

2. It’s frustrating on both sides, but in my experience there are good and bad, its all up to the players and the leaders( a gamble). Usually if i’m leading a party.. if all we need is a DD swap, ill check with mages/tanks(key members that sustain the pt) to see if they are staying and swap players out that have to leave accordingly to keep the pt going. you can’t win them all lol, beats sitting in town for 2hrs because there’s no healers lfp

3. 1. they don’t know much about the mission or BC to be prepared. at times they will go off 2nd hand information from someone who did beat it(who didnt need meds. so they assume they won’t as well) 2. they are cheap and lazy.

i fit # 2 lol. if i can beat it off of what i have on me, then i wont bother bringing it. But if it’s my first try at a new BC or with players i REALLY don’t trust ill bring some form of reraise and extra meds.

4. Some players just use auto-translate out of habit without thinking. in some cases it’s just easier to type with auto-trans, but if i actually get a JP or any other foreigner who can’t understand English well.. i do use auto trans or google eng~jp translations XD

5. fortification nerf is a love-hate relationship to me. i usually avoid fortification only campaign, because i can get more exp/notes doing other things.

6. AURUMN @_@ is the worst but its so sexy!!!!
Best graphics are the askar/homam hands down

7. Any gear that maximizes all my jobs MND build for RDM, full haste/stall build for PLD, etc.

duelist chapeau+1 & Valkyrie’s fork are my favorites peices of equip i own =Q

8. YES! i personally try to dress myself to look sexy or cute. if you’re staring at the monitor for a long time, it might as well be eye candy ~_^. i don’t think its just mithras, every race has their “jueno pose” or town gear

9. in a general merit pt its a straight TP burn that wins parse/spread sheet proves it. but… if i build specific parties i go for skillchain if i can. i can usually 1shot colibri from 100% just with 2000 dmg light SC with mirror dmg, but that depends who my melee partner is and if he can keep up, situational

10. From what i can tell in the many LS social/HNM linkshells, a lot of players don’t know all the auto-trans words that can be uses or can’t think of a way to word/group the auto-trans properly to make an effective comment, so they don’t bother. other people are either just lazy or just want to go a specific job to get exp buffer/skill ups that they can’t get if they go on another job. but i guess that’s what campaign is for =/. there are a few players in my shell who have rdm & brds but refuse to go on it because they are sick of that job.

11. i think that’s something everyone does not just foreigners, ive seen quite a few JPs do the same. its just on the person i guess. if i leave a pt early i always give an alert, unless a HNM pops and my shell needs me. i’ll usually find a replacement quick, if i can.

12. i can understand how you feel. alot of times it does work out. people just want to mimic the “new standard” without adjusting their equip & play style to match themselves to the “new standards”(out of stupidity or ignorance), which is frustrating… People are just dumb sometimes…

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Comment from Anonymous
Time May 9, 2009 at 5:10 am

2.) I have no problems with replacing people in parties as long as everyone else is going to be staying for a long time. I think the problem lies within the person leaving or the leader just grabbing a replacement without asking the rest of the party how long they plan on staying. When someone invites a new member without asking how long everyone else is staying, I really disagree with replacements. I can see how that would create a negative image of NAs that I kind of have to agree with because I can’t stand it either.
4.) If most of the players in the party are NAs, they’re probably going to speak english. I’ve joined things like that with JPs who will speak primarily in japanese.. but they have at least had the courtesy to explain things to me in auto-translate as well. I think it’s just people being rude and inconsiderate.
6.) Republic subligar is gross. I hate wearing it, but the stats are so good. Nuevo Coselet is really ugly, too, but the augments are really nice. I feel bad for all the PLDs who had to trade in their pretty Valor Surcoats for the Nuevo.
I love scholar AF, it’s really cute.
8.) They’re probably not interested in fashion if it’s a guy. They’re probably trying to hit on you.
10.) A lot of people don’t use search comments because a lot of people don’t even read them. I will put in my search comment that I don’t want to party in a certain area, or level sync any lower than a certain level, or that I have a friend I want invited, but they will just ignore my comment and invite me anyway.
11.) I think sometimes it might be that they don’t like the way the party is going so they lie and say that they have stuff to do, and leave. Other than that they’re just being inconsiderate… which would probably be a good answer for more than one of these questions.
Bonus.) Salmon is my favorite. Yum. But tuna can be good too, depending on where you get it from. A place near me used to have good tuna but they closed down.. ; ;

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Comment from Kairiz
Time May 9, 2009 at 5:51 am

1. Do foreign players have a lot of interest in joining social Japanese Linkshells? (Especially ones with only JP members) I ask because when I recruit for my shell in Japanese, I get a lot of tells from foreigners looking to join. Personally, I feel like even if they could understand my /shout, it still would be hard to keep up with regular conversation. They wouldn’t understand pop-culture references to old TV shows, for instance.

It could be people looking to understand the language better or because they wanna play with people of a different culture.
——
2. Parties that cycle in replacement members seem to be popular amongst foreigners, but a lot of times the party will just disband once the replacement arrives. Of course, there are times when the replacement is contacted before they get all the way there, but there are many instances when no one says anything. There are also many cases where inappropriate jobs are invited and the party can no longer function well.

To me, this is a big reason behind some of the negative images Japanese players have about foreign players. What do you think about this?

I think thats more of a bad player issue than a foreign issue, A good player would communicate with the party they’re leaving giving other oppurtunity to do so, and not leave a replacement hanging.

——-

3.

Why does it seem like many foreign players don’t bother to bring medicines and potions to Missions and BCs? Many Japanese players make sure to have Vile Elixirs, Hi-Potions and/or Reraise Earrings.
Because for missions, why spend money when they can keep entering for no exp loss? Again bad/lazy player issue.

——-

4. Sometimes I see foreign pick-up parties recruiting for members using Auto-Translate, but then when I join the party, all the conversation and battle planning is in English. I’ll ask for them to {Please use the Auto-Translate function.} but nobody ever does. If you are going to /shout for help with the Auto-Translator, why not use it in the party? It feels like I was tricked.

If they don’t convey the message to you of your role, Then they’re a bad leader. And they can only blame themself if they fail

——-

5. How many NA and EU players do Campaign? Any thoughts about the recent nerf to Fortifications?
Campaign sucks.

——-

6.
What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?
What equipment do you think has the best graphics?

Republic Subligar!!!!
Valhalla Helm. Got horns yo.

——-

7.

7. Outside of your normal party gear, is there any equipment that you go out of your way to get strictly for looks? What are your favorite pieces of casual equipment?
I wear gear that matters to me/looks good together. Like Black Belt.

——-

8. I’m a Mithra, and I find that a lot of foreigners seem to be into Mithra fashion. They examine me and ask where I got my equipment and such. Do you think male players enjoy dressing up their Mithra in cute outfits?

Yes.

——-

9. I wonder if you calculate the XP/hr of parties, and if so, do you think that Skillchain/Magic Burst or Weaponskill spam produces the best results? Before parsing became widespread, Japanese players used to think Skillchain/Magic Burst was the best.

TP burning. Anything below 20k/hr at merits for melee parties is poor if they have a free camp.
——

10. How come it seems like so many people don’t utilize Search Comments properly? Why don’t they write their camp location for others to see? Also, it’s strange to see so many people seeking without basic information written like available jobs and where they can access. Don’t you want an invite?

Because people don’t tend to want to party anywhere outside mamool ja staging point and Colibri.

——-

11. If you know you are going to be busy, how come you don’t alert people at the beginning of the party instead of surprising everyone at the last minute?

Things happen in real life unexpectedly。

12. Honestly, the largest difference in thinking between Japanse and foreign players exists
in the Merit party.
You often say 5 DDs and a RDM is so good, but having a single, solitary healer is hard
on the RDM.
Japanese realize that healers can be in short supply, so we make sacrifices to lighten
their burden, like subbing a mage job, or using Utsusemi.
I feel like many people don’t show proper respect to healers.

When we say JP ONLY, it isn’t always an issue of language,
but the fact that we feel there are other dangers and demerits associated with
a non-JP party, stemming from our different play-styles, that we wish to avoid.

This key difference in thinking, more than any race or language issue,
is what really sets us apart as players. They are just looking to sit back, relax
and earn some decent XP.

Please feel free to provide your own insight and thoughts.

5 DD 1 RDM parties are poorly set up parties. I personally refuse to exp with that set up. 4/2 or 3/3 ratio to melee : support. Always consisting at least of a bard. Or 2 bards and one corsair depending on what’s availible.
I personally like COR BRD DRGx4 ;o

And the JP only issue is what it is. The only people who don’t understand it don’t grasp the concept of how it is easier/more enjoyable to party and talk with people of their own language and tend to focus more on the xp/hr.
To be perfectley honest nobody complains until the only support job availible is JP’s when otherwise they could of set up a party.

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Comment from Kairiz
Time May 9, 2009 at 5:52 am

ugh, forgot to edit out the questions sorry

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Comment from Yellow Mage
Time May 9, 2009 at 8:00 am

1. I would love to join your social linkshell – provided the conditions that I spoke Japanese and didn’t have a social linkshell already. ^^; I’m afraid I would probably only slow things down in even bilingual shells; however, there do exist many foreigners with a love for the Japanese language and culture, and perhaps such a social shell would be the kind of immersion they would be looking for to help improve their ability with the language. ^_^

2. Ugh, replacing party members . . . if it’s a friend, and I am able to do so, I would replace them in a party. However, I’m not very fond of having to replace people unless absolutely necessary (like finding someone to replace a PIKMIN, as you apparently call them), and even then, to minimize downtime I wouldn’t have anyone leave the party until the replacement is somewhere reasonably nearby. I would honestly prefer, though, that if someone had to leave some time soon, that everyone set a goal for how much more exp they want to gain within that timeframe, and once that goal is achieved and the person leaves, I leave it up to the party to decide what it is most prudent to do, usually depending on how many people have been seeking party with an appropriate job in the appropriate level range, how many people in the party have to leave any time remotely soon, and how many people really want to continue grinding every last experience point they can until the bitter end.

3. I don’t know, I guess we’re kind of cheap! ^^; Forgetfulness could sometimes also play in to the equation. Typically, though, we would prefer not spending the gil on meds unless we know in advance that we would need them or that they would be a massive help – at least worth what they cost in gil. Personally, unless additional medication is really mandatory, I’d just bring whatever stuff I’d bring to an EXP party – Food, Reraise, et cetera.

4. Honestly, I know how that feels: I have been to a couple of largely Japanese parties where the entire party chat would be nothing but kana that is foreign to me. I think the mentality among the EN playerbase is largely that, for the most part, the roles that each job takes in an exp party has already been well-established: tank jobs tank, healers heal . . . there can still be some controversy as to what is and isn’t acceptable, though: I would NEVER have a Summoner main-heal a party – partly because I feel sorry for them and prefer that they weren’t shoehorned in to the healer role at all, but also because I would prefer to have a more dedicated healer class, like White Mage, Dancer, or Scholar, watching over my party (Red Mages and Blue Mages might be able to fit the bill with some support from another healer, but honestly, I feel that the former has been played to death and the latter not played enough), for example. In the end, it comes down to the individual person: if it is apparent that they need instruction for that party, then we should hit the {Tab Key} more often. If they aren’t willing to provide instruction, though, even if you have asked, then I’m afraid you have entered in to a party of jerks. =/

5. I honestly don’t have much opinion of Campaign, as my highest level is currently 34 Paladin (though, I’m a main Red Mage, but that’s 30 at the moment). ^^; It does seem that Campaign is quite popular among the English-speaking community, possibly because it is like a sense of freedom from the constraints of time and conformity that the typical EXP party demands. For obvious reasons, this can be a doubled-edged sword in multiple ways.

6. OHat (Optical Hat) and anything that looks like it, tends to get that award from the English-speaking community, but in the middle-levels, Brigandine has a lot of infamy as well. As for which items have the best graphics, honestly, anything that doesn’t look like a mage threw up on it typically fits the bill – this is a visually appealing game with strong art direction, after all.

7. I don’t go out of my way to wear anything that I wouldn’t be wearing in a party for looks.

8. You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some players that do enjoy doing that. o_O;

9. I don’t calculate exp per hour unless it is something I can easily do in my head. ^^; Unfortunately, weaponskill spam has been, well, if you look at it, everything all of Aht Urghan has been designed around (either that or the people who developed that continent were utter morons ), but I would really like to see more Skillchains and Magic Bursts, not just for the sheer amount of unsurvivable damage it inflicts on most mobs, but for the amount of co-operation it fosters amongst the party, and then the community as a whole. When it has become most efficient to not even bother communicating with your teammates, you know there is a problem . . . however, I appear to be standing on a soapbox at this point, so let me just say one more thing to all Samurai who do not extend their self-skillchains to include every weaponskill they have available to them when they are self-skillchaining: you are all fools. The damage dealt from a Skillchain increases quickly the bigger the chain gets: you would get more damage from using your two-hour to cycle through nothing but level 1 chains before your level 3 finish than using the same number of weaponskills available to make two chains ending in level 3. This can be a critical detail for fighting something like boss-monsters with a lot of HP, or who are just dangerous to be left alive for any period of time. And, moreover, use your teammates! They have weaponskills, too, and can make the chain even bigger and do even more damage!

10. Personally, I’m just lazy: if I logout or get disconnected, my search comment isn’t going to be there anymore anyway, and I rarely have a search comment that’s worth keeping a macro over (I’m not exactly the kind of person who does nothing but exp party after exp party and needs a search comment to keep track of my progress), so, usually, I just don’t bother taking the time to make a search comment. It is said in the question that basic information should be included in the search comment, but if the information is that basic, then why include it at all? If I would be in a situation where I would not have access to a certain area and would have to indicate so in my search comment, I’d rather just get access to the dang area first before I even bother with exping (again, exp is hardly a priority for me). As for jobs, if I’m seeking a party, whatever job I’m seeking as is typically the job that I intend on using.

Now, people who don’t *read* search comments as opposed to not making them, those are a much more major problem all together: if one is going to go through the time and effort of making a search comment that I myself am usually not committing, it’s just rude to not bother reading it.

11. I always keep my party as informed as I am in regards to how much time I have. ^^; Usually, stuff happens extemporaneously and I have to go right then, or if not then then in five minutes. <_.<;

12. Let me say immediately as a RDM main (though, I’m only level 30 . . . ), I *HIGHLY* disapprove of the 5 DD 1 RDM Merit party setup: it not only puts us RDMs in to too much stress, as stated in the question, and we are pidgeonholed in to a healer position that a more dedicated job like WHM deserves to be in. In fact, RDM + WHM makes a very powerful team.

You are correct in saying that our playstyles are rather different, however, what you complain about is not the actual difference: there are still plenty of EN players that subscribe to the herd-mentality of everybody going /NIN, however that bandwagon has only recently started to slow down and fall out of EN favor as opposed to subs that can better damage output while still leaving a defensive option for emergencies, like /SAM for two-handed weapon users. /NIN is purely defensive for those jobs, and is viewed as an option that is far too conservative for what parties demand nowadays.

The real difference between the EN and JP playerbase is that the former is *far* more willing to experiment, to go off the beaten path, or just to do something that hasn’t already been done ad nauseum to infinity already. Myself, while I am leveling the more conservative /WHM sub as well, as a RDM I am also bringing up the /PLD and /BLU subs because I view them as having untapped potential, and allow me much more versatility to exercise every facet of my job. I am quite separate from the grand majority of EN players in thinking that RDM/PLD would be a good combination at all, however, if I can prove my merit in a party, then I will have done my job (well, in multiple ways. ^^; ), and if not, I still have /WHM leveled anyway. In the EN community, I have more of a chance to find, and try, something different successfully, whereas in the JP community, I would have more than likely been just another cookie-cutter conformist.

In spite of these differences in our playerbases, our thinking, our play-styles, I do not feel that they are at all irreconcilable. Even though that the JP mindset is more “use something that works,” and the EN mindset is more like “find something that works,” there is no reason that we can’t play together, as in the end, we each have the same goals: fun, experience, and camaraderie. If we unite and co-operate with each other, rather than fight with each other based on relatively minor differences in philosophy, we all as a whole can get much more accomplished per person. Besides, there are plenty of EN players that conform to certain standards, and somehow, I doubt that there aren’t any JP renegade players out there at all.

Bonus: I am sorry, I don’t eat seafood. ;_;

Note to Elmer: if you’re thinking of including our usernames with our responses, then I would like to remain anonymous. “Yellow Mage” isn’t even my character name, anyway.

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Yellow Mage Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 8:19 am

What the heck, the post submission system cut off my number 11! >=O

I’ll try submitting the whole thing again:

11. I always keep my party as informed as I am in regards to how much time I have. ^^; Usually, stuff happens extemporaneously and I have to go right then, or if not then then in five minutes. <_.<;

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Yellow Mage Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 8:23 am

Why does it keep doing that!?! I don’t even have a period in the emoticon!!! . . . I’ll try it again, just with everything that came after the emoticon:

But those who know that they are going to be preoccupied later and decide to party anyway, leaving the entire party unawares of a planned absence, and then leaving on a whim, are just jerks. Honestly, when I lose my connection in the middle of a party, I actually panic in real life, because I’m afraid that I will have appeared as a rude jerk to the party thanks to forces beyond my control! >.<;

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Lenor Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

You need to be careful when inputting “>” and “<” as emoticons because greater than and less than characters make up part of HTML mark up and might interpret the text as one giant custom tag. It’s safer to use “<” or “>”.

Lenor Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 6:19 pm

er… “& lt;” and “& gt;” (without the spaces)

Comment from Zareth
Time May 9, 2009 at 8:56 am

1. I honestly couldn’t say. Personally, I’ve never had an interest due to differing time zones. Part of it may just be things such as a schedule preventing them from playing during NA hours.

2. NA players often have much more variable playtimes, so partying for certain amounts of time may not be largely viable. Sometimes a member has to leave early, and it’s simply faster to get a new person than get or make an entirely new party.

I think the issues with lack of proper warning lies mostly with the fault of the individual, though; it’s not a cultural thing, they’re just… bad players, lol.

Inappropriate job balance is definitely something that happens, but I think all the same it’s merely evidence of a bad leader, rather than a result of the practice [of inviting replacements]. I’ve had parties with strange set-ups (both NA and JP) as a result of replacements or right at the start. Generally, though, a good leader will disband if the party is completely nonfunctional. (Ie: Healer leaves and none LFP)

Interestingly enough, the feelings of the JP community are mirrored at times in the NA community. I know many people who won’t join parties as replacements for the same reasons.

3. Well, part of that is how the game evolved. Many players find carrying hi-potions very cumbersome (especially at high levels) due to the inventory demands. However, many of the more considerate players do carry reraise items, although Vile Elixirs aren’t as common. Though we may see more of things like Hi-potions with the release of the Mog Satchel.

4. I’ve had that issue myself in Japanese parties; I think it’s a player issue more than anything else. Just rude individuals.

5. NA and EU players do quite a bit of campaign (in my experience). I couldn’t say if it’s more of less than the Japanese community, but it’s definitely significant. Many of us were rather annoyed at the nerf at first, but on reflection it’s not so bad; all it effectively did was make campaign EXP ~65 (~61 for some jobs) harder. But, any job 60+ (with proper SJ) can still melee imps quite easily for EXP if push comes to shove. And many jobs can damage main enemies effectively earlier on. So, in the end, it doesn’t really matter much.

7. Casual gear isn’t as common for the NA community, but many people will use rarer pieces of armor that are perceived to have a limited use as “town” gear, or to look nice when they get /checked.

9. Hahaha, yes, skillchain/magic burst parties were the norm among the NA community for quite a long time. However, I think that even before parses, those that were aware of TP burns felt they were better. I enjoyed them back before AU (usually in Ru’avitau), and I think those that knew of them regarded them as better.

10. I personally write down camp locations whenever I can, but it never really caught on for most people. We’re a victim of group mentality. “If only one person does it, it won’t matter” so in the end almost no one does.

I think some people don’t put jobs in search comment because they LFP on the job they want an invite on. If you only want to PT on SAM, and you’re LFP on sam, other jobs don’t matter. I think people stopped bothering with access when Sky, AU and CoP became standard though.

11. I think those are just inconsiderate people, though for the most part that’s abated over the years.

12. I agree. Generally we try to construct our parties as RDM 4 DD’s and some kind of secondary support. Either a job that can help heal while fighting (DNC, BLU) a support class (COR, BRD) or another healer (RDM, WHM etc.)

I think you must’ve had some very bad experiences with NA! It’s considered standard for all melee to sub ninja (for utsusemi) or samurai (for seigan) as is applicable. Many melee are even uncomfortable with subbing anything else! Though in more traditional parties, many melee will sub WAR.

Personally, I feel the reason for JP only NA only is a lot of things. Some people just think JP are better than NA or vice versa. Some people aer just racist (It’s ugly, but true unfortunately) and some people just aren’t comfortable with the language barrier. And then there are some who feel the different play style is important.

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Comment from Areis
Time May 9, 2009 at 9:12 am

1: One of the major benefits I find from a social linkshell is just the chatter even if I don’t feel interested in it. Something unique to read every few minutes outside of the general flow of battle messages. I also enjoy when I can ask people for help, and when playing alone often will help people in my social shell just for something different to do for a short while. I have played and quit a few times and have become a very casual player and that pushes me away from many of the high attendance requirement event linkshells that would keep me busy.
——-
2: Sometimes it is very nice that a long standing party will disband when 1 member leaves. Most NA parties recruit more members as time goes on because the party leader and many members want to maximize the amount of time they are able to exp, and usually try to invite members who will arrive before someone has to leave so that the party can continue working. Because of this sometimes when you have 4 hours or more to party, you might find yourself not warning people at the beginning since it is such a long way off, and then realizing very shortly that you must leave soon to make it to an event. I usually will not have my search flag up if I know I have less than 1hr, but occasionally I forget and have to apologize to people who invite me. If I am looking for party and am invited by a JP player I will likely try to warn them of my play time remaining before accepting the invite, however I may forget ^^: I am only human. As for inappropriate jobs being invited that is a problem that is an issue with a very poor party leader, I have left some parties because of problems like this. I try not to support people who are unwilling to plan for an effective party.
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3: Many NA players are interested in doing things as cheaply as possible. This is not the best outlook for first time success =/. Depending on what I think I will need during an event I may or may/not have Hi-potions but often do not bring Vile elixir or Reraise items. If I know that Re-raise will be possible and the fight still winnable I will bring it, but without foreknowledge I don’t feel that it is a required expense. Many players do not bring Silent oil or prism powder which bothers me, however I have been known to forget them on occasion.
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4: I despise macros that have party chat in them for no reason. In the case of many players they use much more than I consider necessary and much of this might be what causes annoyance. I try to inform my party that for questions that the party should respond to they should use the auto translate function, but many are oblivious to common curtsies and ignore the request. For general conversation using the translate function would be very difficult, even though the NA client is much simpler to use than the JP version, it still is very limited in dialog.
When I send out an invite using the translate function it is just to make sure that the invite is understood even if the player does not speak English. I try to keep party pertinent information in auto-translate, but usually that amounts to where camp is, who is fishing, if we need a short break, or if we will be disbanding.
When I’m /shouting for help in auto-translate I’ll attempt to use the translate for the strategy as appropriate, but I generally hope & assume that players understand what is required of them so that the rough hints I can give with translate make sense.
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5: I am actually very happy with the “nerf” for fortifications, skilling outside of campaign, and for exp gained at low levels. Many players were abusing the system and would refuse to help fight monsters who were in an area preferring to afk and strike the fortification while doing something else. Many of those players would also ignore bodies nearby who could be raised. This is a very conceited way to play the game. I attempt to solo / tank monsters no matter what job I am on if it is able (75 Whm, Blm, Blu, Sam, Mnk) or provide support for players who are (72 Smn). If your unwilling to support other players, you should not be doing events that take multiple players to do.
——-
What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?
Ace’s Helm does not go with any other equipment and makes me very sad that it is so ugly.

What equipment do you think has the best graphics?
I like the look for all the Salvage equipment except for Skadi. Ares, Usukane, Marduk and Morrigans are all very well put together item sets, on stats and graphics.
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7: I don’t use equipment that I don’t like the look of, I understand many players will say that since I play on PC I could .dat swap but I am conscious of how other people see me. I try to chose my gear in such a way that I will be happy with how it looks and how I will do in a party.
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8: There are many players who will dress up for town equipment, however more often than not when we examine someone it is to see which pieces of gear you are equipping at the time to gauge what we consider appropriate gear to use for ourselves on that job.
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9: I don’t enjoy the merit party philosophy of throw weapon skills at something till it blows up and quickly move on to another target. I understand that this produces very good results, but it bores me quickly. While I have been leveling my Drg to 75 (at 63 atm!) I find that I need to hold back to make sure that the tank is holding hate, and this results in me looking for skill chains and planning so that when I weapon skill I’m not taking too much of the mages MP if I pull hate. I also get quickly bored with meriting by myself, because I feel that there is very little reward for time invested… 10 hours for +1 Str is not very appealing, but then neither is 5~6 hours in weapon skill spam and 2hrs LFP.
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10: Because most NA players search for what they’re looking for I would not get an invite for my 63 Drg if I was LFP on 75 Whm. This leads many NA players to think that setting a /seacom is not going to help them get a party, and they seek on the job they would like exp on. Because of level sync this concept is changing, but not quickly. Many people who feel very elitist also will put their merits or equipment into their /seacom so that other can “know they are getting a good member” when they are invited. I like to think if you are good at what you do, people will know because your name gets around on its own.
About which areas we have access too, that very quickly clutters a small area open for NA players to write in. We can usually fit 5 words across and 3 lines of them before we are out of room. I believe that because of symbolic representation of words/phrases/concepts which are an integral part of the Japanese language you are able to list much more information in the small area.
The use of /seacom for which camp a party in is something that has never caught on with the US population. I think most of it is because we have been playing since the RoTZ expansion and are not used to having more parties interested in exping than the number of potential camp areas for that level. Although in the past I remember more parties than could fit in many exp areas, that was mostly because we didn’t look for other options. I usually try to send 1 member (or myself) to different potential exp areas to see what is available and come back to town if the camps are taken and decide from what we have seen to be available.
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11: I try to warn parties if I expect to have less than 2hrs to commit because most NA parties don’t last that long anyway. If I have more time than that and the party has been recycling members it might not occur to me until shortly before I must go. (See question 2)
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12: To begin: 5 DD’s and a Mage is a horrible party I would leave a setup like that unless I was very close to something I had a desire to have the merit points for.
I am not looking for the 30k/hr party only, I am quite happy with 15~18k/hr merit if it has a solid flow with no danger. my “optimal” setup is 3x DD + healer + support x2, however this is often not available and is reduced to 4x DD + healer + support/fisherman. This second setup is very controversial with many people who play corsair as they believe themselves to be a DD first and everything else second. After reading the JP responses I feel that I have very similar views that job combination should be chosen to best fit the needs of the party which, for example, means many people will need to be /nin when they would prefer otherwise.
Many times at low levels I will come with Sub Jobs that are very unheard of for most NA parties because they provide more party support without regard to my personal dps.

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Comment from Kimiko
Time May 9, 2009 at 12:34 pm

Posted my replies over on the blog site. Go here for the full post: http://www.staronion.com/kimiko/?p=1099

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Comment from Ryuke
Time May 9, 2009 at 1:56 pm

1. I think a lot of NAs and EUs are interested in learning more about the Japanese culture and Language. The best way to do this is through immersion in the culture and slowly picking up words and phrases, even if they don’t understand completely. A lot of English-Speaking players also have a lot of respect for the Japanese way of doing things, and may wish to learn more about how/why the Japanese do things the way the do.

2. Most of the time, at least in NA time, waiting for a Party invite on a DD or a mage job can take a long time. Most of the time this is what causes us to make parties, anyway, just because we’re sick of waiting around. Disbanding the party because one person has to leave often means 2 or 3 more hours of waiting for a party.

Most PT leaders who know what they’re doing will make sure everyone else has enough time to party before inviting someone, and will try to get jobs that will keep a good PT good, or try and make an average PT better. I agree that inviting weird jobs or disbanding as a replacement gets to camp is stupid.

3. Most of the time, if instructed to do so by the PT/LS leader, people are pretty good about bringing food/reraise/meds. However, I don’t like to carry around stacks of medicine that I probably won’t use because of space restrictions. The introduction of the mog satchel will probably change this, and will allow people to carry around more potions.

4. If a JP player responds to my shout, I always do my best, between auto-translate and the very basic Japanese expressions I know, to make sure they’re filled in with updates and what’s going on. I’ve been in PTs where the leader is also oblivious to the fact that they have many different languages in a PT, and in those cases I’ve also tried to communicate what’s going on to the JPs/non-English speakers in the PT.

5. I’ve always used campiagn as a tool to rebuff my jobs that don’t get merit parties so easily. However, since the higher level fields-of-valor have been introduced, I haven’t found myself doing it so often.

6. I don’t like the yellow Aurum set from ZNMs, even though most of the set is very good stat-wise. I really like the corsair af/af2 and the skadi set.

7. Most NAs (including myself) have a “town” set, which equips the best looking and hard-to-get items, even if it would be useless to use all of that gear all at once in an EXP or end-game situation.

8. There are threads on endgame forums about “cute Tarutaru” screenshots. I think people very much like dressing up their characters in cute outfits, regardless of race.

9. Before ToAU, nearly every PT did Skillchains and Magic Bursts, and on certain high-level monsters people still do. However, especially with the popularity with magic-reflecting and magic-absorbing monsters (Colibri and Puks), straight melee-burns seem to be more effective, and also more fun for the DDs involved, (in my opinion anyway). Magic Bursting used to allow BLMs into more traditional PTs, but since the introduction of puddings and other mana-burnable monsters, it isn’t such a big deal.

10. I don’t invite people, JP/NA/EU that don’t have their jobs, TNL and available areas clearly listed in their search comment. If they don’t want to put the effort into a 2-minute search comment, I don’t want them in my party.

11. Most people consider having less than 2hrs to play not enough time to do anything significant, and will not throw their flag up, but instead go farm or something on their own. People are pretty good about giving warnings about having to leave, but In-Game and Real Life emergencies do come up.

12. The ideal setup for a merit PT (in my opinion) is RDM COR BRD DD DD DD, or RDM BRD BRD DD DD DD. Having 5 DDs and 1 healer is a bit rough for a healer. It’s better to substitute a bard or corsair for a DD or 2, because they will increase the damage of the remaining DDs and are able to help the healer with additional refresh or healing.

Bonus. I love Salmon sushi and California rolls. With lots of wasabi and pickled ginger. I’ve never been able to bring myself to try urchin or octopus. I tried shark fin once, it was very good but too expensive to eat often.

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Comment from Kauna
Time May 9, 2009 at 3:08 pm

1. I would like to meet more Japanese players, but my ability to speak Japanese isn’t that good. What’s more, I don’t understand the cultural differences very well, and I have a hard time speaking to Japanese players for fear of offending them without realizing it.

2. Generally, I don’t mind replacements as long as the party discusses it (asking how much longer everyone will stay, and if the new member’s job is acceptable for the party). Sometimes when someone says they’re leaving in 30 minutes, other people might also want to leave around that time, and then it’s no good to invite a new person. I hate it when a new member just shows up and someone says “gtg guys my replacement’s here” without letting anyone know beforehand.

3. Medicine is expensive, so I can understand people not wanting to bring it. I always carry a stack of echo drops and a RR item, though.

4. I think this is mostly a matter of feeling more comfortable speaking one’s native language. Whenever I’m invited to Japanese parties, they often don’t use the auto-translator beyond offering a {Hello!} or {Nice to meet you.}

5. A lot. I do campaign frequently, usually while seeking for a party. I’ve got friends with over 1 million Allied Notes. As for the fortification nerf…. I haven’t noticed it, to be honest ^^

6. 99% of end game head equipment is ugly. Optical hat and Walahra turban in particular look horrible. I also think Ares body looks pretty bad. The best looking equipment is definitely AF1. There’s not a single job whose AF1 I dislike. Some AF2 looks good, too, but some looks ugly (I hate the way COR AF2 looks). For low level gear, I think leather armor and noct equipment looks good.

7. I like wearing a runic sword on my SMN.

8. Yes.

9. I don’t calculate XP/hour personally, but I know a lot of people who do. As for whether skillchain/magic burst or weaponskill spam is better, I would say it depends on what jobs your party has and what enemies you’re fighting. Generally, if you’re fighting something with low defense or hp (like imps or colibri), I’d say weaponskill spam. If you’re fighting trolls, I’d go with magic burst.

10. People used to use search comments to show how close they were to next level, but with level sync that’s become irrelevant. As for available jobs, generally people seek on the job they want to get a party for.

11. Often times people don’t know they’re going to be busy. Things can come up. When they do know, however, they should inform the party.

12. Personally, that doesn’t sound like a very good party to me. Ideally, there would be a BRD or COR, or better yet, both. If neither is available, though, I would prefer another mage or a dancer to a 5th DD.

Bonus. I don’t like sushi. Sorry ^^

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Comment from Lashiec — Sylph
Time May 9, 2009 at 6:55 pm

@1. Most people probably would if they could understand Japanese well enough. Culture would be lost but if they’re exposed so it long enough they’ll pick it up, they would not have joined if they were not interested. I personally wouldn’t mind if they were interested in having me. If not, well, then it cannot be helped.

@2. Hmm? I always felt this to be a normal thing. It doesn’t really bother me at all because it’s been done to me so many times. In my defense however, I rarely party with pick up groups as often as I used to, but I try to be as courteous as I can with strangers. I would like to party with people I know more often. Friendly rival competition is always the most fun. That way when you beat them, you can rub it in mwahahaha.

@3. You know, alot of the time when you see people sitting our BC fights they like to brag about how they did it without using such and such items and/or abilities. So I guess it’s something more of a ego boosting thing. CoP Airship fight anyone? They say, “We did it in 28 mins with no CCBs or 2 hours.” “Oh yeah? We did it in 23!” Or something like that. A false sense of skill perhaps? Stroke of luck? I wouldn’t know, I don’t do major events with pick up groups. Isn’t that why you join a linkshell for such things? I suppose some people view being overly cautious as cowardice on the other hand being overly reckless is stupidity. Me? I carry things that will help my own survivability and self-preservation.

@4. Pick up parties have battle plans?? Just fight and win!! As for casual conversation, it’s only natural you’d speak in your native language with other people who speak the same. I’ve been in many mixed pick up parties, I thought it was a norm that Japanese players join pickups and say “よろしくー” to determine if there are any other JP speakers in the party. If none are present then my guess would be they watch TV to pass the time for the duration.

@5. I campaign. I like it. It’s fun. Fortification nerf ruined that. Thanks SE.

@6. Futsuno Mitama and Amanomurakumo. Don’t you wish they looked like CoP’s Tenzen’s Great Katana? The best looking? I like the Shirogatana for a weapon and Jujitsu Gi for armor. Simple yet elegant.

@7. Does the ACP body piece count? Hahahaha.

@8. It’s our secret shame. I guess the best excuse I heard for it was something like “Better to look at a girl’s ass all day rather than a guy’s.” Hey, is your nose bleeding?

@9. I’ve done both. I like both. If it’s with people you know then whichever is more fun for them. I’m a samurai and I self-skill chain practically every Meditate. If people don’t want to take advantage of that then it’s not big deal.

Probably the most oddball merit party I was in was 1 Sam/War (me), 2x War/Sam (1 Great Axe, 1 Polearm, 1x War/Nin (Dual wield Swords), Brd/Whm, Cor/Whm. Sam/War was puller (Provoke) and Tank (Seigan Thirdeye). Warriors fought and won. Healing wasn’t much of an issue with as fast as things were dying. Max Chain #199. I provoked a Wivre by accident. Daahahaha.

@10. I feel there isn’t enough space to detail all of that information [in English]. My standard comment consists of the following:

Looking for Party
Just for a short time is fine. \\<– Anything past this gets cut off
Level sync O

And that’s all you really have space for. The auto-translator for the PC version does not contain the phrase: “Anywhere is fine.” Or “Anything is fine.” Where as a JP player would write “どこでも行きます。” I would assume that if you’re level 75 and looking for a merit party that you would have access to any of the currently standard meritting areas already.

@11. If I know I’m going busy I don’t party. I cannot participate in Salvage with my friends because of that. ; ; MardukさんとNishikoさんごめんな！

@12. A merit party to me is only fun if I can really get into it. Meaning I feel like I want to do my best instead of relaxing and letting things take it’s course. When I do, I feel satisfied regardless if how I actually did. In general, I think it’s the mantra of offense is the best defense. Of course doing this with friends makes it twice as enjoyable, don’t you think?

Yes I think the playstyles differ greatly but you cannot make a compromise if you cannot understand each other. Overall if the person is good at what they do, then I think it’s acceptable. Samurais that aren’t subjob ranger wearing Hachiman Domaru amirite? Haubergeon is only 100k more people!

@Bonus!: I like them all. No discrimination here. I’d eat my best friend’s house cat if he didn’t cautiously defend his cat around me.

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Comment from Jessie
Time May 9, 2009 at 8:04 pm

1. I think a lot of people would appreciate at least the opportunity to join. Even though most people probably would prefer having a group that they can communicate flawlessly with, it would be nice if the group would allow them in. I have a friend who wants to join a particular Japanese linkshell because of what they do, but they won’t let him join because he cannot speak Japanese.

2. We have very similar thoughts as well. One thing I wish Square-Enix would do is add some “replacement”-oriented text in the auto-translator, because replacing members is a very communication-heavy task.

3. I’ve never had this problem with people I do missions with. I would assume because they aren’t always extremely effective, cost a lot of gil, and take up a lot of inventory space.

4. I use it myself, but you’re right, the auto-translator goes under-used in a lot of situations. I think a major problem is that it’s not common knowledge what the auto-translator says to both ends, like how if we say “take care” it doesn’t translate to “be well/see you again”, but rather “take caution”. If the translator was more forgiving, it would be a lot easier to communicate.

5. I’m a North American player and I do Campaign a lot. The update to the fortifications is exasperating, but I see why they did that. There are a lot of possible routes they could have taken, but decided to swing the “nerf-bat” instead.

6. I’m a Mithra player, so nothing really looks “bad” to me, haha! If I had to go with anything though, I would say subligar on male characters. My favourite pieces of equipment to look at would be any of the Campaign armor, the Red Mage relic set, and the Wing Sword!

7. I actually don’t wear casual equipment around town, because I fear if someone examines me while I’m wearing anything other than my “best” equipment that they will think lesser of me.

8. I’m a Mithra player and I do care a little bit about aesthetics. Under most circumstances I refuse to make my character wear skimpy or needlessly revealing equipment.

9. I’m always trying to get the highest experience points per hour, though it doesn’t bother me if I’m not as long as everyone is having fun in the party. From what I’ve seen, weapon skill spamming seems the best, but there are some circumstances of skillchains being useful.

10. I’ve always used the search comment for seeking party invites, but lately I’ve been trying to expand to other searches, such as selling items or trying to beat a particular mission or quest.

11. This is a very annoying problem sometimes that usually results from miscommunication. I will always avoid partying if I know I’m busy, but if something comes up I always try to give as much notice as possible.

12. That’s a good point. As a Red Mage, I refuse to join a merit party without at least having one person subbing White Mage or having a secondary healer. To be honest, I would like to see something done to the game to make it so parties are more diverse again. Encouraging tanks and other mages to join parties would be a great asset to the game, in my opinion. But until then, I completely agree with the way you do things.

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Comment from Pud-Lakshmi
Time May 9, 2009 at 8:33 pm

3. This is probably due to cost. Many people will deny that they skimp on meds because they cost too much, however I am certain that lots of people do. Spending 10-20k on meds, only to lose the run, somehow feels horrible.

4. For some reason a lot of NA/EU players seem to have an obsession with the Auto-Translator, using it wherever and whenever possible for no good reason. I don’t think they are particularly targeting JP players, more using it because “Thats what you do when you shout for a mission”. Although I am guilty of using it, I now try and shout without auto-translation. I find people respond better to a proper sentence than auto-translated mess anyway.

5. I have been doing campaign recently to rank up, and I used to love fortifications. They were boring, time-consuming, uninteresting, but awesome! I loved getting exp while browsing the web or watching TV. I do understand why SE nerfed the exp, the reward:work ratio was pretty broken, and we all know we aren’t allowed nice things in FFXI. I think they should have cut it in half if they felt they needed to change it, enough exp that people would still do it, but not too much that SE can’t handle it. I almost always stick to defensive battles now.

6. Zenith mitts and Walahra Turban have great stats, but look horrible. And I can’t stand the look of the BLM AF (Although Relic is ok). Royal Redingcote looks hideous, can’t stand it at all. I think that the Igqira Weskit is the best looking piece in game, love it!

7. My town gear is a mix of functional and vanity! I wear Sorcerer’s Coat for refresh (Although I would prefer to wear Igqira Weskit), and other slots are filled with gear I am proud of: Relic, ZMitts, Naigama etc.

Bonus: I’ve never tried sushi, although I keep meaning to.

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Comment from Ranu
Time May 9, 2009 at 11:15 pm

1. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I do. I’ve had JP in NA/EU shells trying to further their English, and I’ve always wanted to learn some Japanese. Or at least some phrases that can get me by.

2. The reason they are so popular, is simply because it keeps the party rolling along. Sometimes the exiting player will invite the wrong job(meaning, not the job they are) slowing the xp/hour, but most of the time it allows those of us who are in the party for as long as we can, the ability to keep going without disbanding and researching for another party. And yes, there are those selfish people out there that know that someone is on the way to replace someone else, only to disband when they are on the way or have just got there. This has happened to me several times(from JP and NA/EU parties), and it annoys me to no end.

3. Among people I’ve hung out with or had events with, if you don’t bring the proper items? You’ll be extremely lucky to be invited again, and even if you do it’s after much begging on their part. Trust me, even among the general NA/EU population, forgetting to bring items to events, is frowned upon as well.

4. It’s because it is far from a complete function. Meaning, there are alot of things I wish I could say using it, that are not in it. So when I’m in a pt with JP, I just usually stick to {Thank You}, {Congratulations} and {Nice to meet you}, after we muck through the initial battle plans. Me and alot of other NA/EU players would rather use the default /emotes to convey much of what we want done or express. Due to the incompleteness of the Auto-Translate function. Sad, but true.

5. I don’t, so I won’t comment further about it.

6. a) The O-Hat comes to mind right away, a very ugly piece.
b) Alot of gear, especially higher level mage gear looks great.

7. I go strictly for function, if it looks great? Then all the better. ^^

8. Some do, and it disturbs me greatly. I have a Hume Male, strictly because it conveys me in-game better. ^^

9. I have friends that do parse merit pt’s, and the drg-burn seems the best course(in bird camps, respectively). In meripo’s, I’d say that melee burn is most likely the best course, but there are some camps that provide the skillchain-magic burst course better. Mount Z pt’s in the mid 60’s, comes to mind for one of the better places for a Magic Burst party.

10. In my current static(drg burn static), my party leader does insert our current camp, though very crudely. {Bird}{Camp}{Down}{Mine}, is his usual search comment. Though he might want to add the actual position to that, at least he attempts to do it, where others in the area don’t ever do it(to my knowledge from /sea all’s).

Among my friends that I started out with, it was/is considered an act of “I don’t really want a pt”, if you don’t include your jobs, subjobs and available areas in your search comment. Though I am guilty of excluding what areas I have access to lately, mainly because I search as a 75 Drg, so any invites that come my way are for the usual bird camps. ><

11. Many NA/EU do initially warn other players if they have limited time, or are going to be interrupted at some point. Myself, I warn others that I might have to go afk for a short time when my daughter is sick. But there are many players out there that have no common decentcy, and won’t give you more than that 30 seconds warning when they /kneel down and log off. Those people very much piss me off too. I myself will start looking for a replacement, before I tell others that I have to leave the party and I’ll wait til I know the replacement is on the way. Short notice I know, but I’d rather not dismay other players til I have that other person on the way to camp.

12.a) I am skewed on my outlook for this topic, due to my drg-burn static. In a drg-burn provided there are at least 3 Drg’s in the pt as /mage. But as far as my experience outside of a Drg-burn? I’d say the answer is in many places. Last night, for example, I got a merit pt in which there was only 1 healer. I offered to go as a Drg/Whm for the extra healing, but the Sch/Whm got very angry at me for even mentioning it. I could have lightened his healing responsibilities, but he declined it very rudely. Some pt’s, like the Drg-burn scenerio, just work better. And then there are those pt’s that are just thrown together, in a vain attempt to gain xp, from what was currently available at the time.

b) Actually, in low-mid level parties, I, myself, would rather be in an all-JP party. I like the playstyle and I like the constant xp rolling in, the non-stop play is a welcome change from many NA/EU low-mid level playstyles. This would explain why I prefer to be in a Drg-burn in merit pt’s. The playstyle is almost exactly the same. And my need to avoid standing around doing nothing, would explain why I can’t stand alot of the NA/EU low-mid level parties I’ve been in the past 3+ years, and is why I will solo while I have my flag up.

c) As I have said before, I do not like accepting a “decent xp” party, it bothers me knowing we could get more xp/hour. When I am playing, I wish to get as much out of the game as I can and “decent xp” isn’t good enough, I want “great xp”.

Bonus question: Where I live, there are no authentic Japanese restuarants. So I haven’t had the chance to actually try any Sushi out, though I eventually wish to try it someday.

Ranu-Bismarck

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Comment from Ranu
Time May 10, 2009 at 12:13 am

I feel like I need to clarify/balance out some of my answers. So here goes.

4. Even JP do this. I have been in many, many JP parties where I was the only NA or EU player. And after the initial battle plan, it seems like the majority of JP would rather use nothing but Japanese, which inturn excludes me completely. Not that I’m complaining, because I’d rather get xp than chit-chat. But if any JP says it’s a NA/EU only problem, they’d be completely wrong. Alot of the JP pt’s I’ve been in, it seemed as if I were looked down upon simply because I wasn’t Japanese and that, that was the reason most of them chose not to use any form of the Auto-translate feature.

10. Even JP don’t look at the search comment feature either, or know how to distinguish what some things mean. I have recieved many, many /tell’s in straight Japanese, and the only reason I could come up with for this, is my name, maybe they thought I was Japanese initially. Though it says, plain as day in my languages while I’m looking for a party, “EG”, which stands for “English, German”.

Though most of the JP community utilizes all of the available space in the search comment, it seems many of them do not even bother looking at them anyways, or at the other areas of the search comment such as the players languages. But, then again, many NA/EU players do the same thing.

My point here, is that many of the JP communities complaints about NA/EU?, seem very much the same as the NA/EU communities complaints about the JP community. And I think it’s about time that all communities, JP/NA/EU, start realizing that the only difference between us, is the languages, plain and simple. We all have our minor differences, but many of our complaints about each other, can be turned around on us as well, since all of us (NA/JP/EU) do the same things as the other. And we all have those players, on all 3 sides, that are just downright rude to anyone and everyone, those that are rude to only a certian community, those that are accepting of all others and those that try very hard to lay a foundation of understanding between all 3 sides, in any aspect of the game.

We are all the same, when you boil it all down, to our actions. It doesn’t matter what language you speak or where you’re from.

Good Day.

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Comment from Techfire
Time May 10, 2009 at 12:34 am

1. I think a lot of NA who play this game like Japanese culture and want to learn more about it. I agree it would be difficult to communicate, but perhaps there are members that want to improve their English as well?
2. I am not a fan of parties that cycle members either. Often I will go, and the party will disband. I prefer parties where everyone stays until the end. Telling the leader in advance how much time you have left helps too.
3. I believe it is important to have the proper medicines necessary for missions and BCs, but only the necessary ones. Usually I consult guides online to determine what to bring.
4. I think many NA use the Auto-Translate in /shout even if they are looking for English speakers. It has become the accepted way of using /shout. But if it is in a /tell, I think it is important to keep using Auto-Translate if it is needed.
5. I don’t do Campaign that much.
6. I think Enkidu’s armor set has great stats, but absolutely horrible looks. If there are two pieces of equipment which have similar stats, I will always pick the nicer-looking one. I like Paladin and Corsair armor, as well as Opaline and Argent sets.
7. For looks, I wear Corsair AF1 with a Lilac Corsage or Corsair AF2 with an eyepatch.
8. I have a Mithra mule but I don’t user her often. I agree that many players enjoy dressing up their Mithras. Maybe SE should put more cute Mithras in the storyline?
9. I don’t parse, so I can’t really say. I do miss Skillchain/Magic burst if only because it is a neat aspect of FFXI gameplay that is used much less these days.
10. I think the main thing NA look for merit party members is the job/subjob combination they are currently on and the seek flag. It is assumed that the party will be in Aht Urhgan areas and that the player will have all staging points.
11. I always try to give the leader advance notice if I need to leave.
12. As a healer myself, I appreciate the sentiment. All I can say is that merit parties are open to many styles, some good, some not so good, but it is good to explore. I think the most challenging differences between NA and JP are the thinking and the language. If we had only one of those differences, it would be much easier. But sometimes I enjoy trying to understand.
13. Either kappa maki (cucumber), or inari zushi.

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Comment from Ziglet
Time May 10, 2009 at 2:01 am

1. Although I always like talking to Japanese players, I don’t think I can understand enough Japanese to communicate effectively. But if someone with more language skills thinks they can keep up, I think they deserve a chance.

2. I don’t like it when I get to a party and it disbands right away, either, but it’s comforting to know that if I have to go before a party ends I have the option of calling someone to replace me.

3. It seems like a lot of english-speaking players depend on other players rather then on their own items. They expect that the WHM will handle raises, and they don’t want to have to buy potions. For me, it’s a problem with how much gil I have; other times, I admittedly fail to read up on the mission and don’t bring what I need.

4.Personally, I try to always use auto-translate when I invite JP players to my party, but sometimes there are things that just can’t be communicated with the auto-translator, or if they can I don’t know how.

5. I see tons of english-speaking players in campaign, but they don’t seem to be as organized as the JP campaigners. But that fortification nerf… I was pretty upset about that. I hope they put it back the way it was, or at least up the EXP a little bit!

6. I don’t know about great stats and horrible looks, but I think the tidal talisman is one of the most handsome pieces of equipment in the game. Every time I see it, I wish I’d bought one!

7. I think the nation Aketons are really good looking. I want to get opaline for my female character, also, but doesn’t everyone?

8. I think a lot of male players like to dress up their female characters cutely. I mean, they have to look at her the whole time they’re playing, so she may as well look good!

9. I don’t parse XP/hr, but because of parsing people seem to have stopped doing skillchain/mb … I don’t personally know why, it seems like it should be more effective.

10. US/EU players don’t seem to use seacoms the same way that JP do. We tend to just put our flags up, and in most cases will take any invite to a reasonable place. But I think now that level sync is commonplace more people are writing their /seacom to let people know whether they want to sync and at what levels.

11. I’m guilty of this. Sometimes I think that I can handle doing two things at once and it doesn’t work out the way I thought it would. Other times, I don’t even know that I’m going to have to go afk or log out. I think everyone can understand when real life sneaks up on you!

12. I find the problem with dd/rdm merit parties funny, because when I was first starting the game it was the JP players who had the reputaion for being really hard on their mages. I remember being in a party of all Japanese players as a White Mage and feeling very stressed. They didn’t seem to want to ever rest!

>>>They are just looking to sit back, relax
and earn some decent XP.

Isn’t everyone? I think we could all do with realizing that we have a lot in common, and a lot of the same complaints, which is funny in a way. I think we have a much more similar playing style then we seem to think.

Also, I like Philadelphia rolls. It’s a roll with salmon, cream cheese, japanese cucumber, and of course rice and seaweed. It’s delicious <3

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Comment from Nyaaaaaa
Time May 10, 2009 at 2:03 am

1.

Personally I have no interest in joining a JP social linkshell. The language barrier would make it more of a hassle than it would be worth. On the other hand I am delighted when I meet a Japanese person who tries his best as English (Since my japanese language skills = ZERO). Now I don’t know what old TV shows your pop-culture references you might be referring to, if it’s live action I would be inclined to agree with you but if you’re talking about animated shows a lot were exported to outside countries (Moomin being the one which surprised me the most when I found out it had been animated in Japan)

2.

I am not entirely sure about how I feel about this one. With the advent of TAU it became a lot faster to get to camps so a change of members wouldn’t be as big an issue as it was in the old days but it also means people are likely to just invite a replacement without consulting the party. Sometimes you’ll find that three or more party members want to disband but don’t feel they can say so in the party chat…

In the end revolver style parties are fine only if you can find a proper replacement and if the party is in agreement about continuing.

3.

I usually find that people will bring the medicines needed for a fight if they are told to bring it. But often the issue is that some members haven’t read up on the fight and are unsure of what is required of them personally I have never really had any real issues of the kind. Perhaps it has to do with notorious bad players who most English speaking players know not to group with. But Japanese players haven’t had a chance to hear about them because of the language barrier.

4.

I concur, to increase their chances of getting a group for the fight/nm/quest they include everyone in their shouts through use of the auto-translator but then ignore it when delegating tasks. It sounds to me like people were being lazy and unfairly assumed that they’d be able to get by speaking English only. Tricked? I think not. Unfair and conceited, yes.

5.

It is a very sad development, perhaps people shouldn’t be able to beat on the fortifications while not looking at the screen for ages. But to punish all players because of some bad apples was a complete overreaction. Especially when you consider the fact that sometimes there is nothing to do in Campaign aside from hitting fortifications.

People don’t go to beastmen owned areas unless there is no other option now.

6.

The obvious would be the optical hat. The demon helm has a pretty unfortunate look as well. Mostly I think people look at head and body gear when judging the look of a character however an unfortunate trend is when people choose to wear jet seraweels over mahatma slops despite the small difference in cost purely because they don’t walk ugly trousers.

Trader/baron’s gear is really pretty for such low level gear. Sadly I’ve run out of low level mage jobs so I can’t wear it any more.

7.

I actually love wearing my voyager sallet on BLM since it makes my tarutaru look like a happy little hamster and because of the odd looks people give a black mage in plate armor. Another favourite of mine is the puppetmaster AF because of how fabulous it looks and because of how different it is from most of the other gear.

8.

Oh but we all want out character to look the best, I don’t think it’s limited to the sexual deviants who created a mithra character. Obviously some people are more into that others but I do tend to idle in the gear I like visually.

9.

Expwatch plugin, I’m sure plenty of people have gone over this already. I do miss the spectacular display that was a freeze magic burst on Robber Crabs.

10.

Lazy people, they’re an international menace. Especially people who don’t write camps in their search comment are bothersome since you’ll have to guess at what they’re doing. People with their flag up usually want exp.

11.

A few bad apples…I really don’t think it’s limited to English parties but perhaps it’s a cultural thing.

12.

Firstly I thought the current style was 2brd(or a cor)/1rdm/2dd for the ultimate exp experience I don’t recall people saying 5dd/1rdm being good I can imagine it being hard on the healer if he is the only support. I always make a point to ask people to sub ninja when making a merit party, people who are uncooperative should be removed from the group. The slight loss in damage the is easily made up for by the lesser amount of healing the RDM has to do.

If you chose to write JP only in your search comment because you find foreign people a demerit to your party then perhaps it is time for you to consider what exactly there is to gain from an isolationist attitude. Perhaps instead of shunning people with different play styles you should communicate with you party members. Obviously this is easier said than done thanks to the fact that English is only mandatory up to a high school level, meaning people will avoid talking together and only use the auto-translator for the bear necessities.

Now I don’t know who “they” you refer to are but I’ll assume you’re speaking about Japanese players. I find it odd that you think English speaking players have goals other than gaining exp and having fun.

Bonus questing.

I don’t eat sushi. I don’t think there is any decent sushi place in my country so I would rather save my first sushi experience for when I locate a place with real proper sushi.

Also Sole Sushi +1

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Comment from Nyaaaaaa
Time May 10, 2009 at 2:03 am

I meant 3 DD, damn

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Comment from Bill
Time May 10, 2009 at 2:27 am

1. I’ve been a Japanese language student for about three years now and would love to improve my Japanese by joining a JP shell, but my guess is that JP would use too many complex Kanji speaking to each other for me to benefit greatly.

2. Often times the problem is that a different party member will not tell the leader that they have to leave soon until the leader says they have gotten a replacement for someone else leaving soon, which creates problems. Additionally, it can be hard to juggle social lives and playing for long periods, since friends or a girlfriend can call you for dinner or, if you’re a parent, you have to attend to sudden responsibilities. It’s just become accepted that RL issues can constantly arise, so I think NAs have adapted to this issue by being open to replacements instead of disbanding.

3. In most fights, most affordable medicines will not make a significant enough difference to bother, and some like ethers can even be detrimental, since it takes so long to use and leaves you unable to heal for a period of time. I do agree that everyone should bring RR earrings, though.

4. If they are speaking in English, then my guess is that the particular strategy they are discussing does not concern you directly, and that they will use Auto-Translate when discussing your role within the party specifically. If they do not, then that is indeed not right.

5. The vast majority of people I know do Campaign but don’t like the recent changes that have made the battles more tedious and difficult. As for the fortifications, I don’t mind if they nudge players away from AFK whacking, but they then need to provide more incentive for players to attack beastmen-held forts and regain areas, which they have not done.

6. Optical Hat, Assault Jerkin, and the Aurum set all have odd designs but are good enough to wear for exp at certain levels. The Askar and Homam designs look the best, in my opinion.

11. Most times when this happens I do not know in advance that I’m going to be busy, but something in real life comes up like friends or family. I’ve actually had a lot more Japanese players leave suddenly with no explanation than NA players.

12. No good NA player I know advocates a 5 DD merit party unless it contains a DRG/WHM, so I’m not sure where you’re getting this idea that the NA playerbase considers 5 DDs optimal. 5 DDs is indeed a strain on a single healer. However, melee, especially 2 handers, do not need to /nin in order for a single healer to be sufficient. If a party setup is healer, support, 4 DD, and the healer cannot sustain the DD unless they all sub ninja, then there is a major problem with the situation that does not have to do with the party setup, but rather being at a bad camp or a lack of skillful players. If WHM can heal 4 DDs subbing SAM with no problems, and they can, then RDMs can as well.

I take the point that subbing nin makes parties more relaxed and less stressful, but it also cuts down on EXP/hour and therefore makes you party longer. Therefore, I think the NA mindset is to have shorter, more intense EXP sessions because they want to achieve their EXP or merit goal quicker, rather than having less stressful sessions that take longer to achieve the same result.

I like salmon sushi the best because the taste is simple and goes especially well with soy sauce.

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Comment from KiamoKo
Time May 10, 2009 at 3:54 am

A1.I would have more interest if I could understand Japanese.
Sadly, I can’t read it at all. {/blush}
But I really like playing with Japanese players even if I don’t always know what they are talking about. That’s what auto-translate is for^_^.
If I could read Japanese… maybe I wouldn’t know pop-culture or old TV shows, but the same thing can happen talking with English speaking players.
It’s still fun to talk about those topics and learn from one another ^_^
——-
A2. Personally, I would much rather stay with the same group for how ever long we are training. I guess it is popular since the English speaking players can be in time zones that differ from 1 to 5 or even more hours.
Typically, I ask people how long they are staying for before finding a replacement. If it is a short time, I prefer to disband.
As far as wrong jobs… I can only guess that it is because who ever is leaving is in a rush, and is grabbing anyone willing to come out.
——-
A3. I have no idea. Lazy? Not much Gil? Uninformed?
I have a static group for Chains of Promathia missions and require that people bring re-raise, items for HP/MP and so on… Basically I give them a list of what to bring to make sure we are prepared. So far this has worked great! ^_^
So, I can assure you that is not the case with all NA players!^_^
——-
A4. Awwww {/comfort} ; ; That makes me so sad.
I’m not sure… I guess they assume that Japanese players are magical and will suddenly be able to understand? I’m really not sure, because I would feel the same.
I love using auto-translate.^_^
If I shout using it, I use it once the party is gathered also. It is often difficult to convey information using the translator, but I just keep trying until everyone understands. It seems silly and a big waste of everyone’s time to do otherwise.
——-
A5. I don’t know how many… but I do campaign sometimes and I am NA.
I’m not yet 75 (only level 60 /blush) so it is not as attractive to me, I guess.
I am unhappy about the nerf to Fortifications. It seems to me players will be less likely to take back areas that beastmen control since sometimes the entire battle is just us vs. the fortification.
——-
A6. Errant or anything that looks like that, but has been re-colored or re-skinned.
Oh and haub–something. I forget how to spell it :3 /blush. That looks silly on female characters.
Prettiest graphics would be…(pardon me while I peek at the AH for correct names) Sipahi jawshan, jaridah peti and manteel (on female characters). Those all look so cute! :3
——-
A7. I don’t have the gil or the space right now for extras like that ; ; {/blush}
I used to wear a corsage around town, but I don’t have it any more.
If I ever got married in-game, I might wander around in the wedding attire… Or perhaps in gear that someone really special had given me. *^_^*
——-
A8. Hehe I am a female and Mithra and enjoy looking cute!
I was really excited to get my RSE and then my RDM shorts because it looks so cute on! :3
——-
A9. I do not keep tally of XP/hr. I just cheer when I see that “Level Up!” animation!
I rarely get to see skillchain/magic burst but I would like to. I think doing that enables us all to learn better teamwork and communication.
Though I know there is a strong theory that weaposnkill spam is better damage over time, making for faster level-up?
I’m really not sure, but I want to see *both*!
——-
A10. :3 Well… when I seek for XP; I put available support jobs. I’m not really sure what to put for areas I have access to. Suggestions would be great!
I see some people put something like, “area all”, but I do not have all access to everywhere ; ; {/blush}. So, I wait to see where they tell me to go. Usually I can go, but I do not have all access to the past areas. {/blush}
Outside of XP- I always use it! I put what mission I am looking to do, or if need something crafted I list the item + the materials I have already… Anything I need help with goes in search comment! As well as silly things… but when it is something silly I use “other” ^_^
Why everyone does not do something similar is beyond me! That is what it is there for, right?
——-
A11. This bothers me too!!! If I know I have a short time, I like to tell them up front and hope for the same courtesy.
My guess would be… maybe they lost track of the time?
That has happened to me… but I do try to give a 30 or 20 min. alert at the least.
——-
A12. As a Red Mage, I *agree*!! It is so hard to keep 5 melee happy when you are the only healer. They scream for haste, then enfeebling, and of course you have to cure them! And then you get some over-zelous Dark Knight that thinks using Soul Eather + weaponskill is a good idea when you have 20mp and convert not ready! X_x
^_^I wondered if the JP ONLY note had something to do with that. Sometimes, after being in a not so pleasant NA party, I want to do the same thing! hehe But I don’t speak Japanese so that would probably be pretty stupid of me to do. XD
When I go out to XP… I want to learn. Maybe this is no longer so at 75, but at 60 I am still learning and want to learn. Even at 75, I want to learn to work with ALL the different jobs and explore their different talents.
{Red Mage :: Kiamoko :: Please Invite me :3}
I always get excited when I go to a mostly Japanese party, because I always leave happy! That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the NA parties, but they tend not to be as.. polite.
For example, in a JP party they wait for everyone to gather before we get a chocobo. Then they make sure everyone is there and ready before pulling.
They bow when I teleport, or buff the party. I always have a pleasant experience with Japanese players.
When I go with NA players… usually they take off even after I have asked to follow because I do not know the area we are going to. The puller runs off before I have a chance to buff the party.
They tell me to push it when I say I want to rest because MP is low.
It feels very self-centered.
Not ALL NA parties are this way, but I can say no NA party has ever /bow when I buff or teleport. Though sometimes they say “thank you”.

☆Answer☆
I don’t eat meat at all, and rarely eat fish, but I do enjoy “vegetable” sushi. I know that is contradictory kind of… but I still like sushi, it is like a little present to eat! I like any of the following wrapped in rice/seaweed: carrot/asparagus/avocado/shitaki mushrooms/cucumber. Mmmmmm!
Other then that… hmm that fancy tuna with fish eggs is good too :3
Ahh now I want some mmmnomnomnom!<3

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Comment from Alvaros from Fenrir
Time May 10, 2009 at 12:27 pm

1. Social? I don’t speak a single word of Japanese, so the socializing would be difficult. If it were some kind of endgame linkshell, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. The important strategy questions I might have are usually explained well on wiki and other information sites, so communication wouldn’t be terribly difficult.

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2. Sometimes, people are just rude. Most times, however, the idea of the replacement is to keep the party flowing for the other 5 members that you are leaving behind. Sometimes even uttering the word “replacement” or “Have stuff to do, gotta go!” is enough to get the other members to remember that they should be doing something else, and the party will break. Replacing yourself in secret is the best way to avoid this, it’s just not a full-proof method.

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3. I can’t answer why people do this, because this is actually something that irritates me. You wouldn’t go into the battle vs. Sin in FFX, or vs. Exdeath in FFV without tons of potions, so I have no idea why people in this game think that they can walk into a battle vs. Eald’narche or Raubahn or the Shadow Lord, and not as much as take a Yagudo Drink! We don’t exactly have save-states people!

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4. In my experience, there is just very little communication between party members. Be it for exp, mission, or a battlefield. Unless party members are friends already from a linkshell, there is little communication except the pertinent details. Thanks to widespread use of Wiki and other sites, many times there is only a brief review of the strategy given before a run. People assume that everyone has read all available information on the given objective, so there isn’t much need to talk, save for the joking around between the players that know each other, and therefore, don’t need the Auto-Translator. It’s nothing personal to the non-English speakers, there just isn’t much communication except amongst friends.

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5. As an NA player, I usually campaign when I’m not busy farming or planning a mission. The armor pieces offered are incredibly useful for me since I am not interested in abjuration armor. They’re great alternatives for those of us who do not have the time or money to farm sky or do salvage runs. Further, I’m a PUP, so my meripo invites are few and far between.

As for the fortifications, I don’t know how SE expects players to spend their time to fight to regain territory if they’re not going to reward us. It’s entirely counteractive to the campaign patch from a few months ago, when the basic campaign strategy was to let the beastmen attack the capitol city and gain exp from defending.

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6. Once again, I’m a PUP main. Pick any piece of the AF or Relic armor, that piece has great stats and horrible looks. If we’re talking about the best graphics for equipment, I’d have to say that BLU AF/Relic looks the coolest.

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7. I wouldn’t do that in real life, and I wouldn’t do that in FF. I will take a look at what gear I have, and make a decent-looking outfit out of that for walking around town, but I wouldn’t waste inventory space just to look pretty.

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8. Simply, yes. And if you’re more of a leg guy, there’s Elvaan women to dress up too.

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9. I estimate my party’s exp rate, but I don’t parse for specifics. From experience, it seems to me that spam parties move faster, but nothing is more fun than a coordinated effort to skillchain/magicburst a mob down. My record in an exp party was a 5-person skillchain in Valkurm. If my memory serves me correctly, it was Distortion > Liquefaction > Scission > Detonation.

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10. Writing camp location is a new thought to me. Before my party heads out, I just /sea the level range in the area to see if camps are full or not. If “/sea Bhafthicket 75″ turns out 36 people, I will assume all Bird and Mamool camps are full. There’s no way I’m going to check all 36 people’s search comment to see where they’re camping. It’s fairly obvious.

As far as basic information is concerned… I will only put jobs on my comment that I am willing to use at the moment. I have both PUP and PLD, but I don’t like partying on PLD. I just keep it for missions. Because of that, I never mention my PLD on my comment.

As far as access is concerned… The expectation is that you have as many available areas as possible. If you are level 68, the expectation is that you have Azouph Isle Runic already. If it isn’t written, it is assumed that you have all necessary warps. If you have to write that you don’t have a staging point, you should be running there to get it while lfp instead of sitting at the Auction House.

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11. People are just rude. I have a general idea of what my day/night looks like before I put my party flag up, and when I do get a party, I tell the leader right away how much time I have left. I work in emergency services, so if I’m on call, I don’t even bother with my party flag at all.

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12. It’s possible for a single mage to heal a whole party. It’s been done many times before. If you can’t keep up, then don’t be a mage. The same could be said of a PLD tanking across from SAM’s, RNG’s, DRK’s, etc. It’s hard to manage all that hate, but it can be done. As much as I don’t like playing on my PLD, it’s the only job where I’ve actually gotten compliments. I would not have become the PLD I am now if I was always paired with another tank just to lighten my burden. Yes, it’s a game, it’s supposed to be fun. Many times, fun comes in the form of a challenge to improve. If I was the SAM or RNG or DRK, and I was facing Promathia, or Absolute Virtue, or Dynamis Lord, I’d rather have the mage who can act independently. If for some reason the rest of the mage corps goes down, I know I will be OK. There is a difference between “experience points” and “experience.”

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Comment from Terenyx
Time May 10, 2009 at 2:01 pm

1. The most I can say is that “foreign” players may be intrigued at what might make up social interactions in a JP linkshell, but I personally have no interest.

2. Unfortunately, impatience seems to be a theme in many NA players mentalities. If something disrupts their xp for more than 5 mins, they’re ready to move on, ditch a party or whatnot. As others have mentioned, there’s always the RL card. Many times it should be noted what time it is and many times
it would seem unfortunate that as the NA player base is crawling into bed that’s when the JP primetime is starting, and the NA player is probably getting a replacement and is crawling into bed in the next breath. This isn’t in any shape or form acceptable, but it might bring to light the reasons behind the negativity and perception.

3. Laziness and cheapness or arrogant presumption. This can go for either side, but what I’ve seen is either the player wants to just get through it with minimal effort or believes they are so “pro” that they can just charge through it and wing it without any real effort.

4. Two things: The person shouting is lazy and wants to just type some words and then hit tab (or whatever the console equivalent is, I play on PC) to fill in a shout, and/or the person shouting is trying to get *anyone* who is willing to help but cares nothing once they have the correct win scenario. Yes, you’ve been
tricked and the only reason the person shouting is going to use the auto-translate function is when they think the strategy concerns you or if you’re doing something wrong. Again – this is not right, and proper respect dictates equal discussion potential.

5. Many NA Players use campaign for buffers or xp when they don’t want to die/put forth any concerted effort in a party. The nerf to fortifications sucks.

8. Sadly, male players who play Mithras are doing so because they either want to look at a nice piece of ass or use said ass to manipulate others into giving them things.

9. We sure do. SC/MB is a thing of the past in nearly every pt I’ve been in outside of certain HNMs, and even then it’s not always necessary. WS spam is what it’s all about now.

10. The theme of laziness once again presents itself and that is the only reason people don’t use decent search comments.

11. The only thing I can say is the RL card once again rearing its head. Anytime I have to suddenly leave it’s because of an emergency or some truly unexpected event. I will also say though I have had more experiences with {Have stuff to do, gotta go!} from JP players than NA players.

12. I disagree fully. 5 DDs and a RDM is a terrible setup unless the leader of that party is getting impatient, and then that party leader will pay the price. The hastes won’t be coming, the heals will be coming late possibly leading to death or more downtime when MP is low. The ultimate merit party setup has always been for me: RDM, BRD, DDx4 or you can even put in a tank and 3 DDs.

Now, as far as the relaxed and laid back thought process? That honestly depends on what the mindset of the party is. Generally, a random group of NA players are probably going to have a bard puller that is aiming for that 20-30K/hr hardcore party to be over and done with in 2-3 hours.

The idea in that is that you go hard and then end early instead of spending more time in a laid back environment. If I’m going to merit, I probably also have a few other things I want to do in a given night besides xp.

The JP ONLY comment will always get a bad rep with me because even though throughout the consistent responses from the JP community that it is in some shape or form a way to “preserve” the desired environmental variables or limit “negativity” that has been experienced in the past it is a definitive statement to anyone browsing through search comments that the person with said comment is no longer open to any other experiences outside of what which they themselves can control or be perfectly comfortable in. By all means, it’s your game – go for it, but don’t expect for others to villify you for it when it’s an instant disappointment for any NA player as a slap in the face when they may have never committed the crimes said JP Player already condemns them for never having done.

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Comment from Kongolo
Time May 10, 2009 at 8:23 pm

1- Yes very much, been in once for a while (einherjar JP ls but dropped since I stopped doing it )
2- Personaly when partying in NA prime time and have JP players in the party, they tend to bail on us without warning, [I'm Sorry.] [I'm Sleepy.] then they disband warp or log.
3- Expensive, but generally using Reraise.
4- Never join pick-up xp party
5- Always doing campaign instead of merits pt, much more fun to me. Nerfing fortification wasn’t a big deal for me, I always look/seek the mob in the zone.
6- On word, PUP! Sorry elmer! xD
7- Kingdom Aketon
8- No comment.
9- No
10- I know, it’s sad. Would help a lot if ppl use search comment more offen.
11- Bad player.
12- .

*Bream Sushi

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Comment from Taku
Time May 11, 2009 at 12:08 am

1.) I don’t personally know anyone who has, and I feel that with my limited knowledge of Japanese, I feel like I would be insulting a Japanese linkshell should I enter it.

2.) I generally get a party consensus on how long everyone wants to remain in the party before getting any replacements. Standing around for half an hour is frustrating! Although, many times, I am standing in Aht Urghan looking for a party anyway, and I often stay in a party as long as possible in hopes of getting something accomplished. If I must leave within an hour or so, I definatly keep the leader and/or party informed; but I know plenty of people (almost exclusively EN) that never do this…

3.) I have 1-3 reraise earrings in my bag at all times for events, and usually I have to loan one out to someone who forgets. In very important situations, I try my best to prepare beforehand, but a lot of the times, it’s not enough, or it’s not needed at all.

4.) Short answer…some NA players are lazy! I really can’t think of another reason why they would recruit with an autotranslator /sh, and not bother to accommodate the people that respond. Comes across rather rude to me.

5.) Campaign used to be a very good way to get *something* accomplished while waiting for EXP/meripo for hours on end. Now, it just seems I’m being punished because I cannot find a party.

6.) As a dragoon, I do not like to look like a jack-o-lantern with my optical hat and assault jerkin! And my dragoon JSE is just like lvl12 brass armor, it is ugly! But the stats on that set is rather useless anyway. Ares is nice, but it’s just too…pointy, lol.
I love the way Barone set looks, especially on Elvaan F :3 Also, some MNK gear before level 70 is rather pleasant to look at, if not just a little bit too red.

7.) I don’t bother too much with my hume M’s appearance, although he usually has on blue cotehardie with RDM AF hat, a decently matching mix of dragoon af/barone, or just a pleasant COR relic theme with him. OH! He can wear his wedding tuxedo :3 ! Although, I never see a certain Elv F MNK without a lilac corsage. I think she likes to dress up more than she likes to punch things.

8.) Absolutely. It’s a bit ecchi, but many things are good in moderation ^ _^)

9.) Although it’s one of my favourite things about the battle system, ever since ToAU came around, skillchains and MB are just obsolete in everything but difficult HNM/missions. Although, I’ve seen impressive SAM that can still spam ws and pull off great SCs too.

10.) I think a lot of people that I see do not know that there is another menu available after they press the – key, lol. Also, some people just don’t care enough about the feelings of other to put forth the effort. During primetime, however, I usually see a PT with some sort of camp location when I browse through meripo areas. As for the second part, I’m very proud of my efforts to be flexible, so I proudly put any/all SJ available to my job in my /sea comment.

11.) If I do not have enough time to devote to a PT, I don’t seek. If I am sleepy or something and get a PT invite, I find a way to stay alert for the next 3 hours, minimum. Maybe it’s just too many kids with short attention spans that pull off the “Gotta go” 20min into the PT, or maybe a lot of em are elitist jerks…

12.) I cannot speak for a lot of people, but when I merit on RDM or COR, I like to stay as busy as possible. I know that if I’m not casting, I’m slowing down the EXP. I genuinely find multitasking very fun on RDM, although constant COR/NIN pulling can get pretty stressful with multiple parties around. When I want to kick back and relax, I usually go to Campaign, or merit on my DRG. Truth be told, however, I feel like I need a lot of merits to be on par with a lot of players (JP or EN alike), and I would like to get them in a reasonable time.

Bonus: White tuna with cheap warm sake!

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Comment from Cemalidor
Time May 11, 2009 at 12:26 am

1. Maybe. Main problem would be for me personal my limited playtime.

2. Happened to me on some occasion. It’s kinda frustrating to spend time and gil to get to the camp, only to see the pty scramble. Maybe if the pty leader would set a deadline when the pty will disband or ask his members not to search for replacements on their own withour consulting him?

3. Can’t answer that for other people, try myself to get stuff on my goobie bag if needed. At least if reasonable to get, Vile Elixir might be bordering (don’t know the current prices).

4. Can’t answer that for the community again. Also i might be biased since my english isn’t the worst. If i know there if someone in the pty without knowing too much english i will certainly use auto-translate for the needed stuff.

5. ^^;; Well, i got my Thf from 67 to 75 plus merits exclusive with campaign battles and ops. Frankly SE overdid it there (again) with the xp nerf. But since on Odin we mostly defend i didn’t suffer that much so far.

6. Hm, Brigandie +1 comes to my mind.

7. Really thinking about to buy that formal attire some day. ^^

8. Entirely possible, as much as jp will do in my guess.

9. Don’t use a parser, i prefer a relaxed pty over too much stressful for xp/hr

10. Well, the seacom wasn’t covered that much in the manual, so i think most people just don’t know how to use it in the jp might favour it.

11. That’s hardly an EU only issue……. had JPs to pull that stunt too… XP leeches are never welcomed.

12. Personally i find this question mildly annoying, since it implies that JPs only know how to do this ‘right’.

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Comment from Schultz
Time May 11, 2009 at 9:06 am

1. I am currently in a Japanese Dynamis/Einherjar linkshell. I can understand some of the conversation, but due to the NA client, I’m unable to respond properly. I do my job as I’ve been asked to, and sit back and laugh at the jokes I can understand.

2-4. Inconsiderate players. It’s not limited to on specific group of players, but seems to happen most with NA players.

2) Some players don’t believe in a cut off time, they will party until they drop. Replace when someone needs to leave. Sometimes the person leaving will just grab anyone as they don’t care what happens after they leave.
3) Some players believe that they are the only person in the party. They don’t understand that there are other people more important than themselves, so they expect to be first in line to have Blindna cast on them.
4) Again, some players just want to play. They don’t care who they get in the party, nor do they care if everyone understands the game plan, they just expect that everyone understands what they are saying.

To summarise not all players are like this, and we all have to deal with it at some point. These type of players not only ruin the enjoyment of other players, but give the rest of the player base a bad reputation.

5. To be honest, I don’t know, but I do see more Japanese players out there. The recent fortifications nerf has dropped participation numbers from what I’ve seen.

6. Interesting question.
6-1) Tie between all the ACP body pieces. Potentially great stats, awful look.
6-2) Askar

7. Koenig Cuirass. Makes a TaruTaru look tough.

8. Oh a can of worms will be released with this question. Umm, of all the male Mithra players I know, they don’t “dress up” their characters the same as the female Mithra players I know. Then again those that do, I guess would be just doing it for fun, or trying to be “in character”.

9. It depends on the mob really. If brute force can take down the mob faster, then that is probably the better option. But there are times when brute force has minimal effect (crabs etc), so having a Black Mage there to burst off a Skillchain helps a lot. I would have to say, mob specific.

10. Lazy people just flag up and don’t give information because they don’t want to change. They go out as Samurai sub Thief wanting to do BIG DAMAGE, but don’t realise that sub Ninja means that they can have Hasso up all the time, and still have shadows incase they pull hate. Then again, it could also be that that is all the player has to offer, so they don’t write up anything else.

11. See answers to questions 2-4. It’s mainly due to players not thinking about everyone else in the party. Only thinking about themselves, and that they don’t have to worry about what happens after.

12. Somewhat answered in 10. I personally use Corsair sub White Mage. A lot of players don’t understand why I do this, and they mock the sub job choice. The reason is that they believe the job to be 100% damage dealer roll in the party. It has buffs, it can’t be standing in the one space shooting. White Mage sub helps out the party by reducing the stress on the primary healer. They just don’t understand this.
The explanation of “JP ONLY” makes sense, and I hope people will think of that before they go on their rants.

13. …

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Comment from Dragir
Time May 11, 2009 at 3:20 pm

1. Do foreign players have a lot of interest in joining social Japanese Linkshells? (Especially ones with only JP members) I ask because when I recruit for my shell in Japanese, I get a lot of tells from foreigners looking to join. Personally, I feel like even if they could understand my /shout, it still would be hard to keep up with regular conversation. They wouldn’t understand pop-culture references to old TV shows, for instance.

If I were at all able to read and type Japanese characters, or even Romaji, I would be VERY interested in joining a Japanese linkshell. Social or otherwise. I, to this day, prefer the way Japanese players conduct themselves both in manners and in play style.

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2. Parties that cycle in replacement members seem to be popular amongst foreigners, but a lot of times the party will just disband once the replacement arrives. Of course, there are times when the replacement is contacted before they get all the way there, but there are many instances when no one says anything. There are also many cases where inappropriate jobs are invited and the party can no longer function well. To me, this is a big reason behind some of the negative images Japanese players have about foreign players. What do you think about this?

To me, the problem lies not with cycling replacement members, but a laziness on behalf of the member asking the replacement to come to camp, whether it is the leader or the member who is disbanding. I like a party that replaces members when only one person is leaving the party and the rest of them are staying for 2 hours or longer. Why needlessly disband the party when 4 or 5 people intend to stay for a long time? If more than 2 members are leaving the party, a party typically disbands as a result.

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3. Why does it seem like many foreign players don’t bother to bring medicines and potions to Missions and BCs? Many Japanese players make sure to have Vile Elixirs, Hi-Potions and/or Reraise Earrings.

This is not strictly typical of foreign players, as I have done a great many events with Japanese members who did not bother to bring medicines or food to a difficult battlefield or even an merit/experience points party. “Good” and “bad” (or prepared and unprepared) players are a universal condition not solely dependant on their nationality.

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4. Sometimes I see foreign pick-up parties recruiting for members using Auto-Translate, but then when I join the party, all the conversation and battle planning is in English. I’ll ask for them to {Please use the Auto-Translate function.} but nobody ever does. If you are going to /shout for help with the Auto-Translator, why not use it in the party? It feels like I was tricked.

I basically never /shout and create pick-up parties for anything, but if I did, I would likely use the auto-translator purely out of habit. This question was addressed last time around when foreign players answered “because it’s easier to type a few letters of a word and then press the Tab Key to complete it.” Regarding feeling tricked, I can understand why you would feel that way, and I would consider it rude not to continue using the auto-translate function.

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5. How many NA and EU players do Campaign? Any thoughts about the recent nerf to Fortifications?

Many NA and EU players use campaign to buffer jobs that aren’t frequently invited to merit/experience points parties, but a few of us do Campaign for the purpose of Campaign; that is, to gain control of a region for the purpose of unlocking Splitting Heirs, for example. On the nerf to Fortifications, I feel it was unneccessarily drastic. While there were always players who would simply “/attack on” and walk away from their computers, this was not nearly as offensive to me as those who were using third party tools and scripts to sing repeatedly and reacquire Allied Tags for automatic experience points without even being present. The difference is that the players who are Auto-Attacking Fortifications were not doing so with any third party programs (as far as I know) and were contributing to regional control. So the nerf to Fortifications was not needed, in my opinion.

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6. What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks? What equipment do you think has the best graphics?

Great stats, but horrible looks: Enkidu Harness set. Walahra Turban. Morrigan’s Slops and Pigaches.
Best looks: “Black” set (Dark Knight JSE). Unicorn Harness set (Warrior JSE). Homam set. Morrigan’s Coronal, Robe and Cuffs.

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7. Outside of your normal party gear, is there any equipment that you go out of your way to get strictly for looks? What are your favorite pieces of casual equipment?

I do not go out of my way to get equipment strictly for looks. I have enough trouble with inventory space already.

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8. I’m a Mithra, and I find that a lot of foreigners seem to be into Mithra fashion. They examine me and ask where I got my equipment and such. Do you think male players enjoy dressing up their Mithra in cute outfits?

Many players who examine you and ask from where you got your equipment are just new players looking for advice and answers, but there are a lot of players who like to ‘dress up’ their characters. This is far from exclusive to Mithra, however. Many players enjoy dressing up their Tarutaru, or Galka. All races, genders and models, really. Some people are into that sort of thing, and others aren’t.

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9. I wonder if you calculate the XP/hr of parties, and if so, do you think that Skillchain/Magic Burst or Weaponskill spam produces the best results? Before parsing became widespread, Japanese players used to think Skillchain/Magic Burst was the best.

Many players calculate the XP/hr of parties and the best results generally come from parties that don’t specifically effort to skillchain and magic burst. HOWEVER (this is a point I’d like to stress to all who read): I think it is important to know how to skillchain. It is important to be aware of the possibility of a skillchain. While it is not best to hold one’s TP and wait for another player’s TP with the intent of skillchaining, whenever 2 players are consistently within 10-15% TP of one another, they should always spontaneously skillchain. For that to happen, players need to be aware of all weapon skills’ skillchain properties. If you’re a SAM in a party with another SAM, and you weapon skill first, you should always use Yukikaze. If then, the other SAM also has TP, he can close Fragmentation with Gekko. This is just one very easy example, as most players are aware of that particular skillchain (I would hope). However, many people simply disregard the extra damage of a skillchain (usually 50% to 100% or more of the second weapon skill’s damage) and, again using Samurais as an exmample, will use only Tachi: Gekko, weapon skill at the same time as one another, or for whatever reason, not be paying attention to what’s going on in the party and miss an opportunity to skillchain.

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10. How come it seems like so many people don’t utilize Search Comments properly? Why don’t they write their camp location for others to see? Also, it’s strange to see so many people seeking without basic information written like available jobs and where they can access. Don’t you want an invite?

I make a point to completely fill the available space in my search comment with any relative or important information wether I’m level 10 or level 75, and once at camp, I include my location so others can see it. However, as has been said already, most players don’t even bother to read search comments, much less write them. Regardless of that, I continue to use it as I have since 2004, in the way I was taught was proper.

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11. If you know you are going to be busy, how come you don’t alert people at the beginning of the party instead of surprising everyone at the last minute?

I can’t answer for irresponsible players, I can only apologize for them and again explain that this is not behavior exclusive to foreigners. Many Japanese players have abruptly said {Have stuff to do, gotta go!} and disbanded from my party without a replacement, leaving everyone in the party (be they foreigner or Japanese) very annoyed.

___

12. Honestly, the largest difference in thinking between Japanse and foreign players exists in the Merit party. You often say 5 DDs and a RDM is so good, but having a single, solitary healer is hard on the RDM. Japanese realize that healers can be in short supply, so we make sacrifices to lighten their burden, like subbing a mage job, or using Utsusemi. I feel like many people don’t show proper respect to healers. When we say JP ONLY, it isn’t always an issue of language, but the fact that we feel there are other dangers and demerits associated with a non-JP party, stemming from our different play-styles, that we wish to avoid. This key difference in thinking, more than any race or language issue, is what really sets us apart as players. They are just looking to sit back, relax and earn some decent XP. Please feel free to provide your own insight and thoughts.

I say this with 0 bias and much sympathy, as a career Red Mage; I have rarely had any trouble maintaining a powerful, attentive “TP burn” party of 3 to 5 damage dealers. It is ideal, of course, to have some extra support (a Bard or Corsair or a second healer; most merit parties are built this way), but I’ve never had to complain that a party was going “too fast” for me. If a party isn’t going “too fast”, it isn’t good enough. I want to be challeneged in my role as a healer and I want to see a good ratio of XP:time. When a party is too defensive-oriented, the entire reason for being in a merit/experience points party is contradicted. I am there to do the very best job I can, and I expect the same from everyone else. There are, of course, some circumstances in which you have players who are sloppy or irresponsible in counting shadows or even AFK after engaging an enemy. This is unacceptable, of course… but if everyone is doing a good job, I don’t have any problem with working hard to keep up with them (which includes Haste on every damage dealer, Refresh, Stoneskin and Blink for myself, and Dia II or III and Slow II on every mob with the occasional Paralyze II as MP allows). I understand the desire to “relax and have an enjoyable time.” However, for myself, it is not an enjoyable time to relax.

13. What type of sushi do you like best?

Maguro (chu-toro). What’s better than the best part of tuna?

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Comment from Angel
Time May 11, 2009 at 7:41 pm

1. If I could speak/read a little bit of Japanese, I’ll love to join one.

2. I hate when the replacement system fails, but (almost in my experience) if the party was good before the replacement, probably will be good after. If the replacement is one the way, why not give it a 10~15 minutes opportunity?

3. They’re cheap. They’re more players that try they best to have the items/information of the Mission/BC.

4. Normally if I shout or use the auto-translate function is to evade grammar or spelling errors (I’m Spanish native speaker). When {Please use the Auto-Translate Function} appears I’ll try my best, but you need a lot of experience with it to send the correct idea at the right time.

5. I like Campaign, when i have little time or not in the mood to party/craft is the way to go. Hate the fortifications change.

6. Horrible Look: Enkidu/Aurum/Errant sets.
Great Look: Duelist’s/Ares sets.

7. Nation’s Aketons.

8. First time notice of it. ^^

9. In my experience, depends of the level/situation. In low-level and mid-level parties could be an useful asset. In endgame mobs or HNM or when playing around whit your Adventuring Fellow is real good. In high level/merit parties is better to ws spam.

10. I always put the info, even start with a {Nice to meet you}, but a lot of people don’t know what the green/red/etc dot means when they do the search.

11. Not sure how to answer this one. I give a time notice and ask if they want me to seek for a replacement ( <-{Time Remaining}:30 {minute}, then <-{Time Remaining}:10 {minute}, then <-{Last Boss}).

12. I’ve been the 1RDM, is extremely fun the first 2 or 3 times, but is not my kind of setup. I prefer the 1 Healer 1 Bard 1 Support, 3DD, but with that setup, I feel is better to go /WAR or /SAM damage wise.

If as a DD, I’m asked to change subs (/mage/NIN to /SAM/WAR or vice versa) I’ll do it, no problem with that. Usually I’ll check the party setup when start to moving to camp, and ask the party leader if something else would be good if applies (/DNC OK?).

I’ve got my share of good and bad merit parties at different time zones. Even with all the DD going /NIN or /SAM, its not a guarantee that is a good/bad party.

13. A cucumber, avocado and cream cheese roll or shrimp nigiri.

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Comment from Shiroiwolf
Time May 11, 2009 at 9:09 pm

Well this is going to be a long reply.
1. I think a good number of us would be interested, but it’s the language barrier that kinda stops us ><. Unfortunetly, for learning Japanese, that’s pretty much limited only to some of our colleges and University’s schools here in the states (at least on the east coast) and focus on other languages are put more heavily on others, notably Spanish or other European languages, notably French and Italian. Otherwise you’re pretty much on your own to learn Japanese. I am interested in learning in about other cultures though.

2. Uhm… sorry but JP players aren’t exactly innocent of that either, I’ve had JP players do the same to me…. Either way, it really depends on the situation. In cases of accidents or someone had to leave at the last second, I just kinda let it go and say “alright no problem”. Some people lose track of time and realize “uh oh I have to get to work/school/etc” or an emergency happens, I try not to make a big deal out of it. The only time I really do get mad is when it’s reasonably justified, like getting an invite, and replying a few seconds latter that I accept, and then told minutes latter or so “No vacancy” or so. and even then, the other player and I get over it, apologize to each other, and no harm is done.

3. Et tu? (Latin for “And you?”) I really don’t think this is just us EN players who do this…. and either way,, if we know we can beat it without the items, we’ll do it. Granted, there are some situations where we request (if not demand it) that people bring certain items (Nyzul Isle is one such example, notably the boss floors, the request is virtually always for Fanatics, Body boost, and Dusty wings, and also on some occasions, Dusty Elixer/potion/Reraise, etc etc) We also often bring Reraise earrings as well when it really matters and counts. Also in my case, during Nyzul runs, I often grab a Shepherds drink for my wyvern.

4. We’re not trying to trick you, we use the Auto-Translator in town because A. It’s simple, B. We try to be as inclusive as possible (no one wants to stand around town for hours on end with a half formed party) and C. it makes our intentions clear. Once out of town, when some battles only have seconds to make decisions or say something, we really don’t want to be worrying right then and there trying to type a sentence that makes sense using Auto translator, or trying to use what little of a foreign language we know that can be misinterpreted. That said, I’ve been in JP parties and they’ll talk solely in Japanese. I assume for the most part their just talking about their interest in party, and simply ask for what we’re doing and the strategy. Then I just do what I need to do, and after the party is done, thank everyone for it.

5. I’d say a good number of us, granted I do play on a smaller server (Pandemonium). The Fortifications, I know certainly raised quite a few groans. Surprisingly though, since the update, I know San d’Oria has been doing well (granted, alot of Iron Rams players) while Windurst seems to struggle to keep West Sarutobaruta and F-N-K. Bastok has been swinging around between 2-4 or 5 places every week… We don’t like the nerf, but we fight to keep the areas still and not worry about XP as much as we used to. That said… can you tell your fellow JP players that do this, to please stop running away when I’m trying to help them, yes I know, it’s not as much XP yield as one may like, but I’m trying to help them kill the beastmen, rather than having 20 players all assault one enemy while one or 2 people are off soloing a mob at risk of being K.O.’d

6. ha ha ha XD This one I think is different from person to person. For me, I’m not a big fan of Subligars (on me that is ). I know I know, the Bastoken Sub gives good stats… but I don’t like showing off my male hume legs (Even more horrifying when it’s a Galka!!! o.0; I feel sorry for male Tarutaru’s) I know the other one I’ve heard alot is the Scorpion harness, and even then, you’d get a multitude of responses, I didn’t really mind wearing a Scorpion harness, others didn’t like it one bit, and some were just amused by it for some of it’s designs.
….strange enough… I have a Leo Subligar for my Dragoon….
Best Graphics? That’s a tough choice, and kinda varies by what job I have really, I know the Gallant/Valor armor sets for PLD is what convinced me to level it, I think they look great, for my Dragoon, I’d have to say my Nuevo Coselete ^^

7. Too many to count XD. I have to say one of the very first I did get was the Royal Knight Aketon, since I’m a fan of the San d’Oria aketon but didn’t have the rank/CQ points yet to get it (and I still don’t ;_;) And it looked the closest. I also like the Custom Swim/summer/beach sets such as the Custom Gilet set. Another pick, hands down is the Otokogimi Yukata, not only because I think it looks awesome (not to mention doubles as a good piece of low level gear when trying out jobs^^) but it also gives you stacks the best item in the game, Datechochin!!! XD lol.

8. ah.. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never played as a Mithra/manthra ^^; Sorry.

9. That’s a good question… I try to skill chain where possible, especially in the dunes/qufim/jungles were you’re trying to get as much damage as possible out from those, but latter on it changes up… if I know the Skill chain will cause alot of damage, and I have a decent skill I can use to close or open one, I’ll use it, but sometimes, it seems like some of the best skill chains require you to use some stuff that not as great as other options, such as trying to compare using Impulse drive to close a skill chain from a Tachi: Gekko compared to using Penta Thrust to follow on or open up for your party’s Ranger to use Side Winder for both 2 high power Weapon skills and a decent Skill chain. Magic Burst, unfortunetly.. I rarely ever see ; ; That kinda died with the loss of Black mages from parties post Colibris

10. Sorry, I know I’ve been getting a bit too relaxed on that, I’ll see if I can improve future Search comments when seeking parties

11. I think the answer is once again going to vary by the person. I’m not trying to be rude, but sometimes something comes up at home and I have to get up right away. In cases I do know I’m going to be busy, I try to give the party leader a heads up before hand, and apologize if slipped my mind

12. Ouch… this was the question that made me cringe because of how it came off as… I think this is one which I think we’re going to have to disagree with….
First off, we’re not always 5x DD, sometimes we’re 4x DDs and 1 healer, 1 Support/back up healer, or other times, we’ll a COR, BRD< Healer, 3 DDs or so. and even then there are further variations. To me… I view the whole “Every DD should sub ninja for shadows” bit rather an excuse to let healers be lazy. I’m sorry, but when i’m tanking on PLD, I don’t go “Oh please sub ninja for my sake in case there’s a lapse in me holding hate do to one reason or another.” No.. I go all out and push my skills as far as possible to get the situation under control. Likewise for DRG, I sub SAM for most of the time. If I get hate, I do what I can to minimize damage (third Eye +Seigan, High jump/Super jump, etc etc) and i’ve done just fine and have never effected the party dramatically. It’s a simple matter of knowing your limits and trying to work around it. The other point is, it seems a bit unfair to be told or at least expected to give parties my all, and then be told that I should “make it easier” for someone who seems like they don’t want to put the same amount of effort in. Also I have a view that to sub ninja for jobs that can’t take advantage of it’s dual wield properties, isn’t a very efficient use of subjobs. Plus.. isn’t there Afflatus Solace now? Stoneskin cures…

13. Ah… that’s hard to say, I’ve had “California rolls” which I know is no where close to the actual stuff. I’ve also had “Maryland Crab Sushi” (a sushi roll filled with Chesapeake Bay crab meat caught in the state of Maryland, with the meat also seasoned with Old Bay crab seasoning). I’ve been to Japanese restaurants that serve authentic Sushi.. but I’ve never gave it a try, and always seem to go with something else, like Yakitori skewers or Miso soup.

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Comment from Loona
Time May 11, 2009 at 10:33 pm

1. Some people may have an interest in having some form of casual communication with JP players, especially if they are learning the language, and want to get some practice while enjoying a game they like – and if trying to get involved with group activities, be it partying, missions and whatnot would give them an extra incentive to make sure they understand and research any unfamiliar words, expressions and kanji.
I don’t think the issue with old TV shows would be a big problem, some people who’d bother to learn Japanese might also be familar with some classic TV shows. I can certainly imagine a western player being a Gundam fan and joking about Scorpion Harness being 3 times better than any other body piece, or Red Mage being 3 time better than any other job, for example.

——-

2. Replacement parties can vary a bit in quality depending on the available jobs seeking and communication between the party leader and the current members – a decent leader will inform the current members of the available options and ask for opinion on who’s available and if it’s worth continuing.
The really rude thing is for some players to call their own replacement without telling the party they’ll need to leave – once the unweary replacement arrives he may find the party disbanding and his travel effort wasted because everyone else wanted to leave as well, but didn’t know he was coming.

——-

3. Not all players have the gil or inventory space to have those extras at hand, but it can be useful to ask in the party for what’s needed before (if you’re not sure) or give recommendations to the other members (if you’re researched the situation and know it better than others) going to the relevant area. Communicating about these matters is important, since missions needs can be so varied, few things should be taken for granted.

——-

4. Not everything that gets said in party chat is relevant to the battles themselves, sometimes players make comments or jokes without thinking much about it. At least in my parties, when there’s something relevant enough everyone should know, and I know at least one of the players is japanese (it’s not always obvious, some players tend to remain silent) I make sure to use the Auto-Translator to make sure the essential information gets across.

——-

5. Friend and LS buddies of main use Campaign a great deal, and so do I sometimes. For the most part I still tend to prefer activities where I may get skill-ups, since I play Monk and I’d like to cap Guard someday.

——-

6. Scorpion Harness has good stats, but I’m tired of seeing it everywhere, especially in the middle of armor sets with colours that match badly. Also, Optical Hat looks too odd to be worn by melee, yet if you have it you can’t really afford to use anything else to melee, sadly – it looks like a too much like a mage hat… Not a big fan of subligaria either…
I really like things like the Tiger/Feral Mask – not much of a party piece, but it’ll be handy to skill guard and wear in towns. The Iqra (sp?) set black mages have access to also looks pretty cool, I almost feel bad that job doesn’t fit my playing style much.

——-

7. Complete armours sets like AF tend to look nice, they were meant to go together. I also like the Tiger/Feral Mask, feels like a real battle trophy of shamanic headpiece.

——-

8. While I don’t play Mithra, I can imagine myself going for gear with a cool “tribal” look if I did, if seems to fit their general feel.

——-

9. I don’t calculate exp/hour – with the variety of quality in parties I consider “layer zero” of success to be “nobody dies”, and from then on it’s thing like not too much time wasted with things like moving camps, long pulls or waiting for replacements. A little time spent resting MP and HP can actually save time if it keeps everyone alive and effective at their jobs in my opinion.

——-

10. I’d gladly use the Search comments if I wouldn’t have to rewrite them every time I log in. SE has implemented a few convenience-related features since I joined the game about a year and a half ago, like the auto-stacking of inventory items – maybe this will be tweaked in the near future for everyone’s benefit.

——-

11. If I need to leave, I tnd to let people know in advance – I’ve seen some people that don’t though, it can change with each individual.

——-

12. My level’s not high-enough for merit parties, but I do recall a forum post with an interesting insight about always having at least a healer and a half in your party – at least one main healer and another job either subbing white mage who’s ready to heal as needed, or main job who’s capable of ealing, but for whom that’s not the primary function usually (like blue mage).
Like I said, my experience is still limited, but Utsusemi probably isn’t always the only effective way to mitigate damage, and /nin isn’t useful for all jobs (monk seems to lose a lot of damage potential if not subbing WAR, and some decent Counter setup might help boost damage while mitigating it…), not to mention it’s expensive to burn through shihei.

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Comment from Omeed
Time May 11, 2009 at 10:41 pm

1. My only linkshell is a social linkshell. I just use it to chat occasionally, find occasional people to do stuff. Something to make the game less lonely when my friends aren’t online to play with. I would not be interested in joining a JP only LS since I don’t understand Japanese and wouldn’t expect JP players to use English for my sake. I would be interested in a mixed social LS though.

2. I hate these type of parties too. I make it a rule to never accept a party invite as a replacement player, even if my current job does not get many invites. I know some parties only get replacement players if they are going to be partying a long time, but most seem to break up after 30 minutes, so I make it a rule not to risk wasting my time and do FoV instead.
3. I don’t know. There is a weird attitude that people can get along just fine with their gear and don’t need meds. You even find people who paid 1m+ gil for a +1 item with minimal boosts to one stat who don’t bothering spending 10k gil for a Vile Elixir so they can increase their chances of winning a tough fight. It bothers me too!
4. I think those people are just being inconsiderate. I make an effort to use auto-translate in parties with JP players, but honestly I’m not very good at using auto-translate so I tend to recruit NA players over JP players to limit my need to use it.
5. Seems like a fair number of players do. Maybe 1/3 people I know do campaign. I think the nerf was good. It’s silly to be able to get xp for basically reading a book while barely paying attention to your character. I’m glad they nerfed it, but they should modify Campaign to take into account the fact that people won’t beat on fortifications as often because of the reduced rewards.
6. Enkidu’s Harness. It’s a new high end AH armor that uses the exact same graphics as one of the most popular AH armor’s for a lot of classes. There is no reason a gear with those kinds of stats can’t at least get a recolor. SE seems to just be very lazy with designing new gear these days.
7. I like wearing my full Garrison armor. It’s not very attractive… I just like wearing the low level matching set I can wear on any job.
8. I think many NA men do enjoy that, but good luck on getting them to admit it. I play a Tarutaru male and I pretty much tell my wife (who doesn’t play) that the game is just one elaborate game of dressing up your dolls.
9. I wonder if you calculate the XP/hr of parties, and if so, do you think that Skillchain/Magic Burst or Weaponskill spam produces the best results? Before parsing became widespread, Japanese players used to think Skillchain/Magic Burst was the best.
9. I religiously calculate my xp/hour. I think at lower levels Skillchain/Magic Burst pts do a lot better xp/hour then all melee DD parties. Later on past the 40s with all the accuracy gear I think the trend changes towards melee parties. I think the reason everyone wants TP burn at all levels now Is because its what people in merit pts do so people just do the same at every level because they are lazy.
10. How come it seems like so many people don’t utilize Search Comments properly? Why don’t they write their camp location for others to see? Also, it’s strange to see so many people seeking without basic information written like available jobs and where they can access. Don’t you want an invite?
10. I think this is because there is a perception that people don’t bother reading your search comments so most people don’t bothering writing any. I try to most of the times, specially when seeking while doing FoV or farming but I don’t think it gets read. Doesn’t change my invite rate any. My high demand jobs still get invited without a party flag or search comments up, and my low demand jobs don’t get invited even with flag and search comments up. It’s discouraging.
11. These people are just inconsiderate. I hate them too. Specially the ones that say “Dinner” 30 minutes into a party. You figure they have to know when dinner is going to be, so should just get started with their pt after…
12. Honestly, the largest difference in thinking between Japanse and foreign players exists
in the Merit party.
You often say 5 DDs and a RDM is so good, but having a single, solitary healer is hard
on the RDM.
Japanese realize that healers can be in short supply, so we make sacrifices to lighten
their burden, like subbing a mage job, or using Utsusemi.
I feel like many people don’t show proper respect to healers.
12. I agree. I think lots of NA DD take the support and healer classes for granted and whine too much when they are being picky with the DD they want in their merit parties. I think people should accept the fact that generally speaking, healing and support characters are less fun and easy to play than DD characters and they should be helped out to make partying less stressful for them. Most people seem to want to pack the party with DD and get better xp/h with a stressed out RDM though.
3. Fatty tuna. Not sure that Japanese name for it, but it is more expensive than regular tuna and not every sushi restaurant has it.

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Comment from anon
Time May 12, 2009 at 3:25 am

1. Alot of NA/EU players enjoy FFXI because of it’s Japanese origins and like to learn about the language/culture. I think they like to get into JP groups even if communication is difficult.

2. This bothers me as well, it’s poor communcation. Sometimes someone will find a rep without even saying so, if they’d of asked the party, everyone might be ready to finish anyway, which is unfair on the new member arriving. Also, some people feel it’s their duty to find a rep as it’s the ‘done thing’. They find a job the party doesn’t need rather than just saying ‘I have to go soon, no other healers seeking party, sorry”. Sometimes I feel the role of ‘Leader’ is not taken seriously, they make no special effort to gather everyone together and make it work. I don’t think this is NA/EU/JP specific, just poor communication/leading skills.

3. I don’t know. Often they are not nessacery.

4. I think most people will make sure important infomation like Camps are translated, but you are probably not missing much from the English chatter unless you want to hear Xxcloudsephxx describe how high he is right now.

5. I havn’t gotten to WotG content yet, most of my friends do Campaign though.

6. Horrible-looking but good: Dusk. Errant.
Good looks: I really like my RDM Duelist Tabard, and Samurai weapons.

7. Event related gear, but also I have a ‘green look’ with a Glamur Jupon and Zenith Slacks, items I rarely use otherwise.

8. Yes. I am guilty!

9. TP burn, but I don’t care about most efficient, SC/MB is still fun and I was taught through this game by someone who valued the ‘traditional’ style.

10. Again, lack of experience, lack of communication. Also, alot of people don’t bother, because Japanese parties won’t invite a foreigner anyway, right?

11. more of the same.

12. As a RDM I understand. Sometimes I like the pressure, the parties flow all comes down to me as a healer, as long as the DD keep pumping out numbers. I hate not being able to relax or even take a toilet break though, so I prefer BLM parties in the mountains, or old fashioned parties (mostly through level-sync).

13. Anything. With extra Wasabi.

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Comment from pahn
Time May 12, 2009 at 7:35 am

hello.

1) most NA players do not have interest in joining JP shells because of the time and language differences. i have an australian friend who speaks no japanese and has been successful in a small JP HNMls for years though. if this is a question about the populations as a whole, i think the answer is “no, time zone and language make too much of a difference.” for individuals, i’m sure there’s varying cases (especially among players who are trying to learn japanese).

2) these parties are popular among disrespectful noobs. there are americans like me who discourage members from finding replacements without asking the leader or party. i can’t say the stereotype is misguided, but it’s a symptom of noobishness and inconsiderateness, nothing more. considerate leaders exist.

in the past, however, i have noticed that JP players will be more willing to wait for suitable jobs to be found while the party is formed. since around 08 or possibly even 07, i feel that NA/EU players got a bit more patient.

3) it could be because most NA/EU players seem to focus on XP and HNMls more than story-type events, and see those events as a stepping stone to get over with asap. it could also be that a lot of english players coming along to these events are new and don’t know any better.

4) i think sometimes you *were* tricked. the leader just wants to fill job slots (healer/buffer/DD) but has no interest in being respectful and inclusive to the whole party. other times, it could be that questions are being asked in english, so even the more considerate members answer in english because they can’t fully answer via autotranslate, or they’re just in the habit of speaking english. when i join JP parties or fill 5 slots with JP players, they often speak much japanese without autotranslate. i don’t mind, as long as we go back to autotranslate for strategic communication (also, i usually try to improve my japanese in these parties).

5) i have never done campaign, and have no plans to.

6) optical hat is the classic great stats/bad looks. aurum is ugly as well. byakko’s haidate look cool on their own (for most races), but often clash with the rest of one’s gear.

7) relic armor. when i was just starting in 2004, relic armor was a very job-pride oriented goal for most people, and the feeling has stayed with me. i love the purple monk look.

i have definitely seen this to be the case. many people are lonely.

9) yes we do, often with parsers. SC/MB was never maximum XP/hr. TP burn has always been the way, from KRT MNK parties, sky parties, on. in the early years of this game, people hunted monsters that were too high level.

10) lazy, inconsiderate people don’t use search comments. i am usually a party leader, and i will always invite people with useful /seacom over blank /seacom.

11) from 2005-2007, JP players were notorious for doing that to NA players. i’ve received this rudeness from JP/NA/EU players equally.

12) regarding XP/hr, this stereotype among JP players is outmoded and wrong. most skilled NA players want 3 DD, 2 support, 1 healer, or 3 DD, 1 hybrid, 1 support, 1 healer. as for casual vs focused, it is a fallacy that maximizing XP/hr requires heavy focus. a party with 4 DD/NIN 1 COR/WHM 1 WHM-or-RDM get “casual” (ie bad) XP because they are overdoing the safety. they could be equally safe and get more XP by taking some damage with DD subs, as long as the right jobs (and especially someone with provoke and shadows) are in the party.

it’s one thing to be casual, another to leech by refusing to cure, pull, or engage/WS appropriately. if you are so casual that you won’t help your party members kill faster, you should play solo exclusively.

bo-nasu) i’m boring; i love tuna sashimi.

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Comment from Althalus
Time May 12, 2009 at 5:01 pm

1. I am a member of a Japanese social Linkshell, but I think that most EN players would prefer to join linkshells that contain a lot of English-speaking players. That being said, I do understand most of what is being said in LS and party chat, to the surprise of many of the Japanese players.

2. I think that judging EN players because we find replacements is a bit narrow-minded. I’ve been in many parties, both JP and EN, and to be honest, I think both can work out very well. For example, when many people are seeking, I think finding replacements is a better way to go, but if there are not many other suitable jobs seeking when you need them, it may just be better to disband the party instead of having to find the replacement, wait for them to arrive at camp, then resume partying.

I think the JP method is good only when you are certain all party members can stay for a long time, whereas fidning replacements can allow for a bit of flexibility.

3. You forgot to add “parties” to that list. :p
To be honest, I’ve encountered many players from around the world, and not just EN players, who fail to bring medicines/foods appropriate to their job. I can understand if you forget one or two items, but I think that failing to bring any items at all makes you look incompetent.

4. {I don’t know how to answer that question}, haha. The auto-translate is both very helpful, but also quite lacking– maybe the people you partied with are just stupid? Especially after you asked them to use the auto-translate function… using the auto-translate function.

5. I think I’ve done Campaign about ten times. I just don’t find it that enjoyable, and would rather be in a party, or soloing. I prefer to use Fields of Valor over Campaign battles when soloing.

6. Errant Houppelande Set= good for stats, but ugly. I hate the look or turbans, too. I don’t care that Walahra Turban has 5% haste– it’s hideous!
RDM AF1, DRG AF, Ares’s Cuirass and Goliard Saio are all pretty cool-looking armour. Joyeuse is a nifty-looking weapon, and I like the look or Tariqah shields.

7. Not really. If I don’t need a piece of equipment I sell it or give it to a friend who can use it, and I don’t buy or try to obtain gear that I won’t actually use to enhance my jobs.

8. Mithra — {Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to pass}. On the dressing-up note, I do think many players like to wear cool-looking or rare gear to show off (we call it “town gear”), or because they like the look of it on their character.

9. TP burn is boring, but so much more efficient. I usually only go in meripo with friends though, so that makes things a bit more fun.

10. Unless soloing BST pets, I never thought putting camp location in /seacom was standard practise. But I agree that not putting basic information in /seacom when looking for party just seems silly.

11. I don’t know, and this also frustrates me… Almost as much as when people don’t give notice and just say {Have stuff to do, gotta go!}, and disband from the party. It makes me so mad, I wish I could PvP their ass and make them home point. (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ==== ┻━━┻

12. If meriting on birds, I’m fine with me being the only healer, as I generally only need to worry about Pecking Flurry. But on Mamool I prefer to have another healing job there, so I can also enfeeble the mobs as well as help cure.

Bonus question: SQUID SUSHI FTW!

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Comment from Pelamir
Time May 12, 2009 at 6:43 pm

1. It would depend on if they were willing to speak English or use the auto-translate feature. I like conversing with Japanese players and use the auto-translate for almost everything I say if there is a JP player(s) in my party, however most of the time this is hard to do so since they don’t use the auto-translate feature themselves.

2. Replacements getting invited only to disband a few minutes later is a problem, however I don’t think it should reflect badly on foreigners in general, but instead the individual players that invite replacements to such parties. We North American players hate when it happens to us too. As for parties that disband when one members leaves, why? On most occasions, if the party was good enough to stay together after forming, they should be good enough to stay together when an appropriate replacements arrives. Saying bad setups are possible is irrelevant, since this could (and does) happen when parties are first forming, not just when members are being replaced.

3. I always do this, as I believe it to be a good practice myself. I don’t know why other players do this.

4. I have never seen a JP player say {Please use the auto-translate function}. It’s probably because I use the auto-translator at almost all times when I am partying with a JP player, as I mentioned earlier. If a JP player does not understand something I say, all they need to do is ask and I will politely rephrase it for them or use the auto-translate feature if I didn’t already.

5. I have only done campaign a few times before the nerf, but now I certainly see no incentive in doing it. I wish they would fix the fortification nerf, since a lot of players had fun with campaign before the patch.

6. I think Optical Hat has amazing stats, but looks terrible. I think the PUP artifact armor is the best looking gear.

7. I can only play for a small amount of time each week, so I don’t have time to get equipment that is not directly beneficial to my character.

8. I do not do this personally, and can’t really say if I think other players do. My mule is a Mithra though, and I picked her purely because I think Mithra look cooler than the other races.

9. I think Weaponskill parties generally perform better, since it is often too much trouble to get a good skillchain organized, and certain Weaponskills must be used that may not be the strongest or best weaponskill for a particular job. TP is also a concern: when a job that gets TP very quickly has to wait for another job that gets TP very slowly to get at least 100% so they can skillchain, a lot of TP is being wasted since the first job performs less weaponskills total.

10. I always use search comments to list things such as exp. to level, subjobs available, minimum desired level sync, and so on, but I have NEVER heard of someone putting their camp location in a search comment. If I am getting invited to a party, I’m going to be heading to YOUR (a.k.a. the party’s) location. It doesn’t matter where I’m at currently.

11. I only party (or even play FFXI period) when I am not busy. I can’t speak for other players.

12. Healers who think they deserve special treatment need to realize that they are players like everybody else. I show as much respect to them as I would any other party member, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to treat them better than anyone else as that would be disrespectful to the other members of my party.

When JP players say JP ONLY, I think it’s very rude. I am willing to adapt my playstyle when I invite JP players into my parties; why are they not willing to show the same courtesy?

I don’t like sushi.

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Comment from Ben
Time May 13, 2009 at 3:45 am

1. Honestly, not really, it’s nothing against the Japanese players; I can’t read/speak Japanese very well so I feel I would miss out on too many things. Plus I just like to talk…a lot; you’re more likely to get tired of me than I of you.

2. I hate experience/merit partying, the grind takes all the joy out of the game for me. I have no problems with the replacement system; it’s less rigid for something I already hate doing. If I want to party for two hours I can, if a party can keep going on indefinitely and I want to stay, I can do that too.

When I do party, I like to keep everyone informed of when I plan to leave starting at 60 minutes, at 30 minutes I ask the party leader if he/she would like me to find a replacement or if they plan to do that (I always hope they do, to be honest). If I have to find a replacement I try to find the same job, if none are seeking I move to party chat and discuss with them of the jobs that are seeking what would they prefer. When my time is up, if no replacement is forthcoming I excuse myself and leave, if a replacement is on the way I tend to stay until they show up.

3. I can’t speak for everyone, but before the mog satchel I only carried a stack each of echo drops, antidotes and Crab/Squid/Sole Sushi (my primary job is a Ninja), I also always had a reraise earring on hand. With the mog satchel that has changed a bit, I carry the above items as well as poison potions, sleeping potions and blinding potions. As for bringing items to BCNMs and such to use, if the strategy can be accomplished without using them, I won’t use them, the point is to make gil, not spend gil.

4. EU/NA players tend to abuse the auto-translate system, it’s a form of netspeak exclusive to FFXI and love it or hate it, EU/NA players rarely use it for what it was intended for. Generally speaking, if the auto-translate doesn’t make sense, there’s a high probability the person speaking isn’t speaking for the benefit of players who speak a different language than them. I’m not advocating people alienate players who speak another language, but it is what it is and it’s unlikely to change at this point. I wish there was a way to embrace both the auto-translate and netspeak aspects of it, but SE has put so few useful phrases in there it may as well be abused.

5. I go through Campaign phases where that’s all I do outside of endgame events for a week or two, currently I’m in a down phase and don’t even check to see what areas are controlled. The nerf on the fortifications is highly troubling to me I can only imagine what other pointless nonsense they may be thinking to nerf Campaign with. However, thus far on Odin, this nerf hasn’t had much of an impact.

6. Optical Hat and Mirke Wardecors are horrible looking, as are any of the Constellation Subligar. Just no. As for what gear I think looks great, I’ve always liked the look of both the Paladin and Ninja Artifact and Relic gear sets; they really speak to the essence of each job.

7. Indeed, I wear my Koga/Ninja gear in town, Koga during the day, Ninja at night, as well as any “work to obtain” gear I can fit in the other slots like Rajas Ring.

8. I can’t really speak to this, but yes, people seem to like to dress up their Barbie Dolls…*ahem* I mean Mithra.

9. As a Ninja tank, I don’t have time to wait around on other people to set things up unless it is extremely beneficial. My job is to hold hate and Blade: Jin often goes a long way to doing that. As for results, the SC/MB approach pales in comparison to just flat out zerging most things, it’s not even close and it amazes me when players insist on SC/MB for standard monsters.

10. I’m guilty of initially ignoring comments, if I see you’re seeking on the job I’m looking for I tend to be rash and send an inquiry, HOWEVER, once I realize someone has put up comments and they are for something else altogether, I’m quick to apologize. The biggest problem I find with putting in comments is I tend to forget that they are there and they get erased if I log out.

11. I hate it when people do this, if you are too busy to party, then you shouldn’t be partying. Set time aside or don’t do it, there are few acceptable excuses for this behavior.

12. Meriting is work, trying to disguise it as something fun is silly, the entire point is to get as many merit points as possible so the less time spent doing this the better. Having mages that can’t keep up is failure on their part, not everyone else. Either get to work and break out the big guns in merit or stop complaining. Sorry if I come off as rude in this response, but basic game mechanics do not support a mage running out of MP unless that mage isn’t capable of doing their job. Also, for two-handed jobs /SAM is vastly superior, it’s insulting to those players when they are asked to come /NIN instead.

Bonus. LOL, I’m from the American South, we fry all our food, including fish.

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Comment from Minako
Time May 13, 2009 at 3:57 am

1. I was in a social Japanese linkshell for a very long time. I did not know any Japanese, and I was the only EN player in the LS. I kept trying and trying and we slowly began to find ways to communicate with simple words. I think of them all as dear friends now.

2. I really hate replacing party members. I try to plan at least 4 hours aside for a party before I join and I wish other players would put aside time for that too. I hate wasting time.

3. I’m not sure why that is at all. The most medicines I brought was for the ACP Final Mission. There was no one to Refresh me in the fight so I brought 18 Yagudo Drinks and several Hi-Ethers.

4. I try to talk a little with the japanese players I invite (in romanji) and I seem to have very little luck in getting a response. I think it’s better sometimes if I invite 2 or more japanese players rather than just 1.

5. Everyone in my Linkshell does Campaign and all my friends do Campaign. A lot of NA players are very angry about that nerf. Some talk about not doing Campaign anymore until it is fixed.

6. I would be very happy if every piece of equipment (that you can see) had a different appearance from the rest. I love my Yinyang Robe, but why does it have to look like a Monk piece?

7. One of my friends works very hard on his casual equipment. I think I see most players wearing the Red Shade Glasses for looks.

8. My friends love dressing my Mithra up in cute outfits. I wonder if people think I’m strange for some of the equipment I wear.

9. Not a lot of players are willing to hold TP for a skillchain and magic burst.

10. I wonder if I am putting my information properly in my search comment. I grew up in a JP social shell and they said sappo/sj: /nin /war etc… would be understood as support job. I also put World: O to explain that I have full access in the game.

11. I would never do that. I hate those kinds of things too!

12. I think that problem is going farther than just merit parties. I see players doing those sort of parties earlier than merit level now. It annoys me as well!

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Comment from Faiye
Time May 13, 2009 at 4:46 am

1) I would feel out of place in an all JP shell because I don’t speak Japanese
2) This is one of the most annoying things about partying and seems to happen especially at lower levels. This is one reason I try to solo as far as I can until I reach a level where I must join a party to get good exp.
3) At all times I bring food, echo drops, reraise item, and possibly yagudo drinks (if the situation calls for it). I will only use hi-potions or elixers if I am doing a very difficult solo event. I think its mostly about saving money.
4) If I know there is a non-english speaker in the party I will try to use the auto-translate feature, however some things are simply easier to convey in our native language.
5) I used to do all my exp and especially merit points in Campaign. I stopped doing it regularly before the nerf, and now I don’t do it at all. I don’t see myself going back anytime soon, I think the nerf was a bad decision by SE.
6) Ugly: The optical hat has always looked horrible, i refuse to get one its so ugly. Also the Mirke Wardecors at first I did not like the hands being covered, but I got used to it and actually think it looks nice now.
Pretty: I like the way Askar body looks.
7) My Opaline set. I got it strictly for looks and its one of the few sets that actually makes my elvaan look feminine!
LOL, I think maybe they are hitting on you in hopes that you are a female player.
9) Skillchain/Magic Burst is still good before Aht Urghan levels. Aht Urghan mobs have low DEF/HP so in those areas its generally better to spam weapon skills.
10) When partying was the only way to get exp I used to put detailed search comments as it seemed getting a spot in a party was very competative. Now I simply don’t bother with search comments anymore.
11) I rarely put my flag up if I have limited time, and if I do I always alert the party leader before he/she invites me.
12) 5 DD’s and a RDM is the reason I NEVER merit on RDM anymore…ever. Also, it is my understanding that BRD, BRD (or COR), healer, 3 DD’s is the best setup for merits. Whoever decided 5 DD’s and a RDM is the best setup needs to quit the game now.
13) My favorite nigiri-sushi is Unagi (freshwater eel). I prefer Maki-sushi though, my favorite being the caterpillar roll which has unagi and carrot greens, topped with avocado and eel sauce (which makes the roll look like a long green caterpillar).

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Comment from Faiye
Time May 13, 2009 at 5:04 am

I missed part of number 12

12) The JP ONLY thing is completely BS. When I used to play WHM during JP prime time I got invited to parties with 5xJP members ALL THE TIME. Throughout the entire course of the party they never used the auto-translate feature or made any attempt to communicate in english, even if we were moving camp it was as if everyone just left and expected me to figure it out. After weeks of this I finally understood “JP ONLY” really means “JP ONLY, unless we really need a healer and we can’t find a Japanese one.” This was later the same on RDM.

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Comment from Rinpu
Time May 13, 2009 at 9:25 am

1) I don’t have an interest in joining a social JP linkshell as my knowledge is rather poor, but for those people who have a stronger base in the language would wish to join in order to improve their skills or better understand the culture. Many people I’ve met used television to help themselves learn a new language, so they may have a decent understanding of various references.

2) While I am not a fan of replacement parties as many people happen to get snubbed by them, there are benefits to those who truly want to continue experiencing for an extended period of time. For any party to consider getting a replacement, communication between the members is needed to know how long each is willing to continue, and if so, to continue with the available pool of jobs seeking.

3) I usually bring the basics to events; reraise, food and echo drops. Certain events I may remember well and bring other items such as Hi-Potions, Au Laits and Juices. Other events I may not be so familiar with so a reminder on what is needed or wanted is always welcome.

4) Part of shouting in auto-translate for some people is out of laziness, other times the shouter may just want anyone and think the event is straightforward and needs no explanation. Most party chat I’ve come across is just that, chatting, and no real battle strategies are discussed unless someone asks about it.

5) I couldn’t say about how many NA/EU players do Campaign but I find it enjoyable and usually take my Paladin to it regularly. I haven’t done any offensive battles recently so I can’t comment on the nerf, but I find it unfortunate as I used to use them to skill my unused weapons.

6) I’m gradually coming to dislike the look of the Nuevo coselete. I also don’t care for the Optical Hat or the Zucchetto-type and the Sallet-type helmets. I like the Valor/Gallant set and the Iron Ram Sallet set (Minus the Sallet). I did love to wear the Earth Doublet and the Brigandine armor when I was at the level to use them.

7) I don’t usually keep pieces on hand to wear for looks. I generally select from what I have when I’m just standing around town. Although when I was low level, I would wear a Cuir Bandana instead of my Eisenschaller when I was running around because I kept forgetting to re-equip it.

Some probably do like to dress in cute outfits, while others prefer to search for an actual pair of pants.

9) I don’t parse and I like skillchains so I try to form one if I can. Weaponskill spam is much more efficient for certain events I think, especially if one damage dealer is gaining TP at a much higher rate than another.

10) At minimum, I’ll put how much I need for my next level. At most, I’ll also write where I can go, what level I’m willing to sync down to and what sub jobs I have. I have noticed not many people will read the comments and will invite based on the job you are.

11) If I don’t have much time to play, then I don’t seek. If I have to leave a party for any reason, I try to give 30 minutes notice.

12) I’ve never been a part of a 5 DD/1 Healer merit as my main job (Paladin) isn’t desired for that combination. The few merit parties I’ve been in were usually a mix of odd jobs, and from my point of view, it worked well. I have been in an experience party that had one healer who was a RDM and that was just a nightmare.

13) I prefer the texture of cooked fish, so for Nigiri sushi it’s generally Shrimp or Unagi. For specialty rolls I really liked the Dragon Roll; Tempura Shrimp, Crab, Eel, Cucumber, Avacado with the Unagi Sauce.

. . .

Great, now I’m hungry.

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Pingback from Aerroenu’s Answers to Japanese Questions « Misprint in the Vana’diel Tribune
Time May 13, 2009 at 11:33 am

[...] Answers to Japanese Questions Yay for Elmer the Pointy’s blog post of Japanese  Questions for English Players!  While I’m psyched, I admittedly am disappointed by the… negative nature of a lot of [...]

Comment from Hanah
Time May 13, 2009 at 1:51 pm

4. I’m a EN player from Australia who plays during JP primetime. I PT almost always with JP players. They rarely ever use the auto translate function to assist me. When i am PT leader, i always use the auto translate function in all my PTs. So this occurs from both sides, typically because the players are inconsiderate. Thus, EN or JP makes no difference.

5. Very annoying changes to the fortifications. Removing the exp and skill up from campaign is totally unnecessary. With the level sync system not giving skill ups, we are forced to grind it out too much. FFXI is becoming less and less fun.

6. I’ve played the game a long time, when it was released in the NA years ago. Back then, JP parties ALWAYS WANTED THE MAX XP/HR. Now you guys are saying you want to just play to relax and have fun? I guess that hardcore work mentality will burn out eventually, and we all realize that playing a game is meant to be rewarding and fun. Back then, the EN community have this mentality. Casual play for fun. Now, the EN community is focused to getting the MAX XP/HR.

Also, there is no reason SAM should sub NIN ever in a merit pt. That is what Seigan + Third Eye (SETE) is for. The colibri multi-hit ws eats through utsusemi shadows, whereas its considered 1 hit for third eye. It’s just quicker to make a macro and switch in SETE. Plus, any aggro a DD take is only temporary until the next DD ws.

I understand the COR/WHM part however. It’s to assist the RDM by offloading some duties. RDM are extremely busy and when i do play them, my hands get cramped up (not as young anymore hehe). But if you truly want to assist everyone, COR should SJ DNC. You get to keep your melee/tp gear without sacrificing with MP gear, and can use slugshot once in awhile on top of great debuff and heal support from DNC. Plus, more COR should use their guns.. so i can sell more steel bullets!! ^^

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Comment from Stabby
Time May 14, 2009 at 5:50 am

1. I actually spent a lot of time in a JP social LS. Two of my oldest friends in FF are Japanese players (I’ve actually traveled to Japan to meet them, and a few others ^^), and one day they invited me into their LS and introduced me to all of their friends. Because of that small favor, I decided to study Japanese and one day visit Japan… So for me, I was very interested in joining a Japanese LS, even though I was almost completely in the dark as to how to speak Japanese at the time – My friends in the LS were very accommodating, and I could tell that when I joined the LS, the attention typically turned to me and they would all either speak in English, or stop talking altogether… Eventually I learned to be very quiet so they would think I had gone AFK, and then I’d chime in to surprise them when they thought I wasn’t around – It got really fun once I learned to read kana haha. I got a lot of “{fear}” comments made about me around that time.

I would always start my morning or night off in their LS to practice my Japanese or just to talk to my friends, but when I would give them pearls to my LS, they almost never popped in unannounced… I always had to coax them to come and meet my friends haha.

But I’ve always been incredibly thankful that they allowed me to join. Without it, I would never have learned Japanese, nor would I have visited Japan. Plus, they taught me a whole slew of dirty words and double-meanings haha. That alone was worth it!

2. People are jerks. I always feel really bad when this happens to someone, and pretty annoyed when it happens to me… but, it’s just part of playing a game where you have to rely on random people. The funny thing is, I’ve always thought the phrase “Sho ga nai” applied fairly well in these situations, but I guess its much more uncommon and therefore more irksome to the Japanese.

3. Sometimes we do – Sometimes we dont. People in my LS will usually bring things to missions / BCs, but we’re all friends, and we know we wont be wasting our gil on a potential loss due to someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing – Losing with no investment is alot easier to swallow for some people than losing and being out a couple of 10k gil notes haha.

4. I think the belief there is, using the Auto Trans is going to net you the best possible way to get your point across – If you can properly construct your request in Auto Trans, then you’re going to be understood by people. I know in Japanese a lot of the times there is maybe 1 “correct” way to say things, but in English, this isn’t so, and we have a lot of people using a lot of different terms for things – Auto Trans gives us all a common language… even between two English speakers. That, and using AutoTrans is fun. That’s my opinion.

5. Love Campaign. I got my BLU from 61 to 75 only through Campaigns and Spell Farming (Raningu), and I know a lot of other friends who have used it to help level jobs or get merits, so I’d say it’s fairly popular, but it’s tapered off a bit as of late.

10. As a BRD, this is my biggest pet peeve. A long time ago, I used to be in a static with some real life pals. Now, as any BRD can tell you, we get begged to join parties all the time. So I used to put, in auto-trans, the following in my search comment:

{Party}? {/no}{/no}{/no}{/no}{/no}
{/no}{/no}{/no}{/no}{/no}{/no}
{No Thanks} {Thanks for the offer, but i’ll have to pass}

I would still get /tells asking for a party… and some people would even go so far as to say I was being a jerk for not partying, or that i had a responsibility to join their party because i was the only available BRD, or even so far as to say I should go /anon if I didn’t want to party! The nerve of some people…

So as far as i’m concerned, anyone who doesn’t read a /search comment is an inconsiderate moron, and if they happen to get mocked (Yes, i’ll give you a hard time if you don’t read my comment – you found me by typing /sea all 75 brd, you clearly could read my comment), they deserve it. People who don’t set /search comments are just silly… but then again, I’ve never once needed to set one as a BRD, since i’ll get a party no matter what. But as BLU, I always set a comment alluding to the fact that I will not blow all my MP in 2 mobs and be a party leech. So I’m with you guys on the search comment issue.

11. I’ve always said that a RDM alone, no matter how good, is going to have to be incredibly on their toes and maybe lucky if they can entirely hold together healing for 4 melees in a typical party (Cue the career RDMs calling me an idiot, but most RDMs out there in pickup PTs are not solid, career, trustworthy RDMs). Many people claim BRD can’t pull without /NIN, but any BRD worth his salt knows this is just something bad players say. I always opt to come /WHM (except on colibri), specifically for this reason – A RDM is going to need help, and with my MP merits, MP gear, and ethereal earring, as long as they can occasionally cast refresh on me, I have almost unlimited MP. I can drop curagas between pulls to help keep people safe, while the RDM handles the main healing. This includes keeping my own HP up as well, although typically there is no time for luxuries like casting Stoneskin, so it does come with a bit of risk… but hey, no risk, no reward.

Thanks for the questions – Please keep it up!

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Comment from jojo
Time May 14, 2009 at 3:44 pm

1.
I don’t know anyone specifically, but I suspect non-Japanese who are fluent might like a chance to practice
conversational Japanese with native speakers! Also there are some NA players who prefer Japanese playstyle and might want
to for casual/social events.

2.
This can be annoying if handled poorly. However, it can also be annoying to everyone to have a good party end because someone
has a real-life emergency and has to leave. You will often hear NA players say RL (real life) > FFXI. It the responsibility
of the party leader to ensure that each member of the party can stay for a reasonable length of time before a replacement is
found for the person who has to leave.

3.
Some events require items like this and others don’t. NA players expect to be told what they need to do to prepare for a fight
(how else will they know)? It’s the leader’s responsibility to set out the expectations in advance – best to assume that it’s
everyone’s first time to an event unless you know otherwise.

4.
For events/battles, I think that the Auto-Translator is pretty limited in its vocabulary. It’s difficult sometimes to
figure out how to discuss a complex strategy using so few words! To be fair, I have rarely (if ever) had a Japanese player
attempt to use the Auto-Translate function to explain something to me. Mostly Japanese players just chat in Japanese to
one another also.

5.
I think most NA players now do Defensive Campaign only as a result of the Nerf. I think most players do campaign because they want
at least 1 piece of the high level rare/ex gear from campaign.

6.
“What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?”
Optical Hat and Walahra Turban. SE apparently wants DD’s heads to be ugly. Such a shame because mage headpieces look great!

“What equipment do you think has the best graphics?”
I’m a sucker for full PLD AF or Relic (I’m a PLD main). To be honest, a lot of the full AF looks great (COR, RDM, DRK, DRG, and BLM for example)

7.
Yeah I actually leveled COR in order to wear full COR AF “Yarrr”

8.
Yeah some guys are pervs… I expect you have some in Japan too. :p

9.
I do not normally calculate it, but the overwhelming consensis is that in Merit parties, the Weapon-Burn type parties will
lead to higher XP/hour. In lower level parties, there are a few cases where Magic Burst can be useful, but the difference in
XP/hour is marginal, so people don’t usually bother to set up SC-MB. Unfortunately I think this has led to some lazy DD’s who
don’t really understand the Skillchain tree…

10.
I use my search comment to lay out my subjobs/weapons/exp to next level etc when I am seeking for an XP party (or if I’m seeking
but don’t want XP I’ll say that in my search comment). I think many NA party leaders don’t really care about a search comment,
and that mgiht explain why some NA players don’t use it. The emphasis is usually on looking for a particular job more than
who wrote the most in their search comment. But all else being equal, when I am building parties I usually give precidence to
players with an informative search comment (it helps to know if they have the subjob I want without having to ask).

11.
Sometimes things come up in Real Life that we don’t expect. I think it is generally accepted in the NA community that Real Life
> FFXI, so people are a little annoyed but accept it when people have to go.

12.
I understand where you are coming from. For example, I’d never want to level BRD in a Merit party because they are very very busy
and I don’t want FFXI to feel like a job. I think that some NA players are too quick to dismiss people who want to merit for FUN
and to play in a more “relaxed” mode. Oddly, those who want to play a more laid back style are often called “selfish” because they
are reducing the XP gained by the rest of the party members. It is interesting to read that your perspective that too many DD’s
will make the life of the healer harder (although the party may actually gain more XP/hour). Both attitudes could be called
“selfish,” it’s just whether it is XP/hour or the player’s stress level that is more prized.

Bonus:
What type of sushi do you like best?

I like the clam nigiri type: http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/JcLC5mB-5DjNxwVC1iahKQ/l
I had it for the first time recently and it blew me away!

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Comment from Asier
Time May 14, 2009 at 5:19 pm

1.>>I don’t think people have a particular interest in joining shells because they’re JP shells but as a Japanese American it is nice to be able to talk to other players about Japanese culture, interests, and things. Though I still get hit with JP Only often.

——-
2. >>No one likes it when parties disband right away. But should everyone have to stop playing because one person needs to leave? We see it as being much better to secure a replacement when the other members wish to continue. That way there is no need to feel guilty about having to leave and the others can enjoy playing.

3.>>Reraise items I can understand. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t bring the other medicines if they were asked to. Unless it is noted, common knowledge, or stated most players won’t bring special items.

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4. >> The same applies for JP parties. I can’t think of any EN parties where people would use the auto translator when asked to or when conveying information to non-english speaking players. It is not uncommon however to convey only the finalized battle plans in romanized Japanese or through the auto translator

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5. >>Plenty I often see a variety of players out there. I actually support the nerf to Fortifications. It seems out of place to be able to freely attack and gain skill on them without the monsters attacking you.

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6.>>Adaberk or the Nuevo Coselete (Shoulder Shield!?). I prefer designs that are simple like the dynamis Relic armors or have nice texture art like Askar. I have never understood the SE obsession with asymmetry.

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7.>>Bastok Aketons on all my mules and Mannequins. Viva the republic!

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8. >>I think people always have some interest in the aesthetic appearance of their characters.

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9. >>Some players do. Skillchains in general have become more for fun than efficiency.

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10. >>Many people utilize the search comment while seeking. I don’t often see any players JP or EN with camp information in their comments unless they’re Beastmasters.

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11. >>Often times interruptions pop up unexpectedly. I’m not trying to be rude but if the cat knocks something over I have to go clean up. It’s discouraged everywhere to leave a party at the last minute and is common to at least notify people 30 minutes in advance

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12. >>The ideal set up is usually DDx4 Support Healer. And if there is no support for the healer, many people are willing to try it out anyways. It’s not bad, as a mage I can handle it despite it being harder. Having parties that are fast and you are pushing yourself can be very exciting. I think EN players tend to focus on one thing and do it very well. Ex; War/Sam in without question more powerful than War/Nin. By specializing we are able to raise the average potential of the group. They may take more dmg and it may be more stressful for me but it is very effective.

Bonus: What type of sushi do you like best?
Hot Night Roll: tempura shrimp, crab & avocado inside. Spicy tuna on top

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Comment from Artemas
Time May 15, 2009 at 2:39 am

1. I am an NA player and I would not have an interest in joining a primarily JP shell because I do not speak even rudimentary Japanese. Although I am familiar enough with end game events for the jobs I have, I would miss out on the casual conversations. Most are probably looking to join the shell for a chance of gear, or the pretentious reason of ‘having a JP ls’.

2. Unfortunately, just because one has alot of merits/play time experience doesn’t necessarily mean that one is a good merit party leader which would include being courteous and informative to all members, including reps that are on their way. You can always put “No thanks, rep” in your search comment, other than that, it’s always a gamble when you merit with people you do not know.

3. I, personally always have an rr earring, VE and VE+1, and most of the people I do events with also do. I haven’t seen alot of this behavior but it is probably due to cost/laziness.

4. It may be that what they said isn’t in auto translate or isn’t party related.

5. I campaign alot, I like the feature. I don’t mind the fortification nerf, I only campaign with incoming mobs.

6. I think this gear has great stats but looks horrible: rdm af body. walahra turban. thief’s knife. rapparee harness. glamor jupon. shura armor set. byakko’s haidate.
I think this gear has the best graphics: rdm af2 body. dusk legs. neptunal legs. dragon harness. neptunal body. hara-ate.

7. Qiqirn Hood!

8. Yes! Casual/town gear is fun, and now with new mog satchels, players have room for it!

9. I always parse the merit parties I am in. My group usually does around 30 to 35k at Jade camp, and the setup never includes a blm. Always tp burn.

10. I always check search comments for the camp that I’m interested in. If I get there and there is a party, I will overcamp you. When I get tells from the party leader, I point out that they didn’t put up a comment, so I don’t think it’s a wide spread idea that people are familiar with. Also, if I am building a party and I see PlayerA with search comments, and PlayerB without it, I will inquire with PlayerA first, because I’m aware of he/she has already, meaning subs/jobs/areas of access. PlayerB will just seek for longer but maybe it will sink in eventually.

11. Maybe it’s really last minute? I usually let people know ahead of time, and most of the people in my LS also do too.

12. I don’t think that would be a very good merit party. Three melee damage dealers, with one rdm, one puller brd and one support job for heal/melee buffs (brd or cor). And I don’t think I ever relax in a merit party, really. I’m usually the brd/nin and I’m always hustling, looking for that next pop to bring back for the party. But I don’t want ‘decent xp’, I want ‘great xp’. There are times when I will be rdm/whm and it is tough, especially now when 2handers are so powerful, especially with hasso, which means the /nin is almost void in merits. But this is where player skill comes into play, with doing fast enough damage (for less cures), and wisely using seigan/third eye (on skoffins).

13. My favorite sushi is.. taste wise I like saba (mackeral), and uni (eel) on the rice, with a little soy sauce and a little wasabi. Very delicious! For the rice rolls, I love them with crab and lobster and avocado.

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Comment from John
Time May 16, 2009 at 3:51 am

1.) I would only be interested because, as a student of the Japanese language, it would be interesting to see native speakers speaking casually over the internet. Also, I’m sure many Japanese people would be surprised how much Americans know about Japanese pop culture. But I do agree that Americans probably couldn’t contribute to the conversation much.

2.) Well this is true for the case of some, but not all foreign players. I think we feel guilty for having to leave, so we replace our spot in the party to keep the party going. However, when they replace their spot with some one else, they assume that the other party members will be able to stay a while. And also, not everyone is as informed as to what jobs make a good party. So this is an issue that pertains to the individual, but once again, this is not the case for all foreigners.

I prefer for the whole party to end instead of to start replacing people.

3.) I always have a reraise item and I don’t have a problem with buying other potions when I’m asked to. If I’m not asked then I assume that we can handle everything with our abilities/spells.

4.) The auto-translator cannon translate everything. I always use it whenever I can, even with other English players. Just a habit.

5.) I don’t have much experience with campaign.

6.) What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?
What equipment do you think has the best graphics?

6.) The Errant gear has great stats, but a horrible look. I also am not a fan of DNC AF gear. DRG AF, though, looks awesome.

7.) I got the Opo-Opo Crown a long time ago for my BRD. It is pretty obsolete now, but I still like the look of it!

8.) I have not heard of this, but I am not surprised. There are a lot of people out there with a strange cat fetish >_>

9.) I don’t calculate the xp/hr formally, just a rough estimate. I think weaponskill parties produces the faster xp/hr, but as a magic user, I think chain/magic burst parties are way more fun.

10.) I don’t do it mostly because I don’t see others doing it. But I think the Level Sync feature has caused players to be lax with displaying things such as “tnl.” It just doesn’t matter as much now if you can all sync to one level.

11.) Sometimes it’s hard to know when something will come up. I’ve had times where I had to leave unexpectedly.

12.) I hate meriting because it is way too tense for me. I would enjoy it a lot more if it was more casual.

13.) I like all kind of sushi, though I’m not fond of things with eel. I love wasabi!

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Comment from Mischa
Time May 16, 2009 at 10:53 am

1. I think only foreign players who have a good grasp of Japanese would be interesting in joining a social shell, or those who wished to improve their language skills. If they are unable to communicate with others, what is the point of joining a foreign social/chat linkshell?
2. I find this trend to be largely rude and an inconvenience to others in the party. It should be made clear to the leader (and as leader to the rest of the party), how long you can stay for, and how long the party will last. If anyone has to leave early and a replacement is a viable option, it is a judgment call based on time remaining, and if anyone else is leaving. I prefer to just disband when anyone leaves, preventing a disband on a replacement arriving.
3. Good players will have read up on the mission and be prepared for the fight or BC. This means bringing meds, echos, prism powders/silent oils, and anything else necessary. Those who can’t be bothered to sneak/invis/take care of themselves in some way speak volumes about their playskill, and usually drag the rest of the group down.
4. Players should at least communicate the plan and relevant information in the party chat so that all the members can understand. Auto Translate doesn’t easily lend itself to conversations, there’s not much helping that.
5. I think Campaign was a good addition that all players have utilized in some fashion. I participated more when I was leveling my DRG from 65 to 75 lol. The nerf offers people little incentive to do offensive battles; it was a bad idea.
6. Ace’s Helm and Bard’s Roundlet. I think the Askar and Homam bodies look very nice.
7. Not really. I idle a lot in Crimson gear on my DRG.
8. I think some do. I just assume most mithra characters are played by men.
9. ToAU’s “TP Burn” has effectively replaced the Skillchain/Magic Burst in party play. What I find disappointing is that this is true for parties of all level ranges. Having a low level bard pull is a poor idea, in my opinion. I think as you get closer to 75, WS spam is a more viable option and produces the best results in the shortest amount of time.
10. I miss people putting their camp location in their seacomms. Back when I (& was typical of NA parties on my server) consistently partied on weapons in sky, it was customary to have your party location in someone’s seacomm. What the hell happened to this? Bring it back. A lot of the people seeking without basic information aren’t interested in coming as a different job, or partying in any other location. However I don’t think this excuses the lack of basic information about viable support jobs and access points in their comments. It makes coordinating a party difficult when someone cannot access a Runic Portal after you’ve invited all your members and located an open camp.
11. I try to avoid this. Sadly, it’s become a stereotype. If you don’t have time to party before an event starts or you have to go somewhere, you should put your available times in your comment and let the leader know. I see a lot of JP comments with information like this in them, which is helpful when forming a group from /sea. I think this would be a good addition to NA/etc comments.
12. I’ve only had the misfortune to party 5 DD 1 RDM on a handful of occasions, and I left the party soon after because it was a miserable experience. The JP groups I’ve partied with are generally more concerned about the group, utilizing damage reduction and adding support (subbing NIN or WHM for example), bringing silent oils and prism powders to get to camp, and walking everyone back to a safe spot after the exp ends. They’re content with earning fair exp, without putting a lot of strain on any one person. JP Motto: Offend No One. lol The NA party (particularly since ToAU) is more focused on the individual: maximizing damage output and exp gain in the shortest amount of time. While /SAM does offer some damage mitigation, it’s not an adequate substitute for blink, and a lot of people just fulltime Hasso anyway. This attitude has burned a lot of bridges when it comes to partying with different people and put a lot of strain on healers in a party, which has led to this negative perception of NA/EU/etc players when it comes to meriting. It’s gone both ways, however, and I know of more than a few NA who will not invite JP COR because they will not sub something apart from WHM. I think a lot of people will just agree to disagree instead of changing their party mechanics, which is unfortunate.
13. I don’t care for sushi.

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Comment from Geoff
Time May 16, 2009 at 4:44 pm

3. Reraise should be mandatory for anyone, always. On the other hand, Vile Elixirs are a lot of money so it’s not something I would expect someone to carry at all times, personally.
4. As others have said, I think this is more the result of a long-standing habit in the NA community to use the auto-translator as a simple form of auto complete. It’s a bad lazy habit, but many people still continue to do it.
7. Personally, RDM AF2 legs are my favorite “just for looks” gear.
8. I play a mithra, and sure, I enjoy dressing up my character to look cute. You spend 99% of the game looking at your own character anyway, and doesn’t everyone enjoy the feeling of wearing nice-looking gear (no matter what race or gender they play)? Even if the best gear for combat is sometimes ugly, at least around town you can enjoy wearing whatever you think looks nice (and see what other people are wearing too).
9. I miss skillchains and MBing but there’s no doubt that WS spam produces the best results in terms of exp/hour. I always clock my exp or merit parties to see how they’re doing. I think this is very common behavior in the NA endgame scene.
10. A lot of “common courtesy” things like this aren’t very well understood in the NA community. Maybe most Americans are dense? It’s confusing to me too, but I always try to include useful information in my /seacom and I’m much more willing to invite people that do the same. Many NA players seem to never bother to read search comments, even in English.
12. I agree that many NA parties are too aggressive and poorly planned, but I find that often many JP parties are too timid. Personally, as long as it’s not overly stressful, I would rather challenge myself as healer in a merit party and try my best to push my limits than have three SAM/NIN melee and be bored the whole time. However, there’s no excuse for 5 melee and 1 healer! That’s just a bad party.
As far as the “JP ONLY” attitude, I’ve read a lot about this… I understand the thinking and it makes perfect sense to me – but still, when I read a search comment and see “JP ONLY” it’s hard not to feel as though I’m being looked down upon. Adding (Please forgive me.) or a cute 顔文字 lightens the effect, but when I see something like “(English)(No thanks.)” or “(English)(Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to pass.)” it just feels like sarcasm. I guess that’s our culture for you!

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Comment from Aldem
Time May 17, 2009 at 2:55 am

1. I personally have no interest in joining JP shells, as the language barrier would make conversing very difficult (I speak no Japanese), and the play times between us would be different as well.

2. It is VERY frustrating when people invite replacements for themselves without telling anyone, especially when other members may not have much time remaining themselves. Though NA’s tend to do this more often in my experience, that is likely due to the fact that I party with many more NA players than JP (I have had JP players invite replacements and not tell the group until they arrived and then leave with no notice as well).
When everyone else in the party has a lot of playtime remaining, would it not be much more beneficial to everyone to invite a replacement for whoever eneds to go? It goes both ways, players just need to make sure everyone can stay for a sufficient amount of time so the party does not disband shortly after the replacement arrives, as that is not fair to them.

3. I agree that it is very frustrating when players arrive to a BC or Mission battle completely unprepared. Reraise should be carried at all times regardless of the job you are on. Potions/juices/elixirs are not always vital to success, but I agree that for the more difficult battles players should carry at least a few potions ‘just in case’.

4. It seems that most NA players use the auto-translator in shouts just because it is faster and easier than typing complete words/sentences. I do however 100% agree that if an NA party invites a JP player they should give them the courtesy of explaining things using the auto-translator. This also works in reverse, though I have personally almost always had good experiences when I am the only NA player in a group.

5. I love campaign, I have over one million allied notes and have been spamming ANNM’s lately as well. I personally do not agree with the changes made to fortifications and hope that they will someday be reverted!

6. Aurum Sabatons! They are fantastic for the jobs that can use them but they look terrible!
I love love LOVE Usukane Haramaki. Adaman Hauberk was also very well done.

7. I’ve never actually bought anything just for looks, but I do tend to walk around in whatever I think looks the best while in town.

8. I have no comments for that question <.<

9. I have only started using parsers recently but weaponskill spam parties are definitely the accepted #1 way to max XP/Hour.

10. I 100% agree. It is very frustrating when players do not check search comments when inviting people. I do not understand why more players dont set appropriate search comments, and even moreso how it is possible for players to invite others without reading their search comment.

11. Again, 100% agree. I do not understand why players wait until the last minute to tell everyone that they have to go. Thirty minutes should be the minimum time given before a player leaves the party as that is a sufficient amount of time to either pick up a replacement or decide to disband altogether.

12. I have never participated in a 5 DD 1 rdm party, and completely agree that is is not a good setup. 3 DD, 2 Brd or Cor, 1 Rdm or Whm is my favorite setup, as it nets the highest XP/Hour possible without putting too much strain on the healer. When this is not possible, 4 DD, 1 Brd or Cor, 1 Rdm or Whm is the next best thing.
What I most disagree with is using /nin against Colibri. The argument given by JP’s seems to be that /nin is the best way to lower damage taken to make it easier on the healer. This is simply not true. /Sam with Seigan and Third Eye full time takes much less damage than /nin and is able to deal more damage at the same time with Store TP, Meditate, the lack of a casting time versus Utsusemi, and to a lesser extent Zanshin. /Nin not only lowers damage dealt, it lowers XP/Hour and actually INCREASES damage taken versus Colibri. I cant count the number of times Third Eye has taken Pecking Flurry and kept on anticipating afterwards while if I had been /nin I would have taken the full brunt of the damage and if Ni timer was down, I would be getting hit for full damage until the mob was killed. /Nin is simply an inferior subjob for Colibri plain and simple, it offers no advantage whatsoever against /Sam and as for one handed weapon users, they generally arent powerful enough after the 2-Handed update to pull hate anyways. Colibri are easy on a healers MP pool, /Sam makes it even easier while increasing both damage output and XP/Hour. There is no contest.

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Comment from Oldive
Time May 17, 2009 at 4:04 pm

1. I personally do not have any interest. If I could understand Japanese I still don’t think I would. There are a lot of culture differences and therefore perhaps a lot of references and jokes that I would miss. Part of this game, to me, is laughing with the people in my linkshell. I think most of these people are interested in joining Japanese linkshells just so they can say that they are in one as if it gives them high status amongst the NA players.

2. I also try my hardest to avoid this situation. When I lead parties, I make the best attempt to make long lasting parties so that I do not have to replace people but still, these things sometimes cannot be avoided. When I find myself needing to leave a party, I try to do the best I can to warn the leader at least half an hour ahead of time. I will be, in that time constantly looking out for another who would fit my role. I play Corsair so sometimes this can be difficult. I will sometimes stay extra time when possible to help the party. If, in the end, I cannot find a replacement that satisfied my leader, I will unfortunately be forced to leave. If I find myself in the party where someone has left, I would rather continue with one less member temporarily than disrupt a good party’s balance by hastily replacing a member.

6. Great stats and horrible looks: first place goes to Summoner’s Austere set. My best friend is a summoner and I have to look at that all the time.
The greatest looking sets in my opinion are Sorcerer’s, Commodore, and the Noble’s tunic.

9. I monitor it, sometimes, but only in very good, or extremely poor parties. I try to analyze what is going well or what is going wrong with the party when XP seems slow. Even though it’s not popular, because BLM was my first job, I really miss the old Skillchain/Magic Burst parties.

10. I play Corsair, so sometimes I receive invites quickly. But I always try to include available subjobs, areas, and roles I like to play. Sometimes, but rarely, I will offer up alternate main jobs I am willing to party with at the time.

11. This is one of my least favorite habits of many people. People assume that just because they have an hour to party that they are fine on time. Nothing annoys me more than the good party that only lasts for one hour. If I am going to be busy, I try to tell the leader before I even accept the invite, and then I will remind the leader starting half an hour early.

12. 12. I love to merit, but I do not get around to it much, so I will use my experience as Corsair. I leveled from 1-60 without ever trying /WHM in parties. Usually parties were built around my being another source of damage output, even though I never let my damage dealing interrupt my buffing. I recently tried /WHM level syncing to 60, only using gear that I had from leveling WHM, which is 62. I fell in love with it. I and a WHM kept the party going at a decent clip. We gained XP at a decent rate and I never got bored. I also never got overloaded. I am thinking about working in a lot more /WHM play in the future.
I also play 75 Warrior, although not so much recently because I would really like to see more setups than 5DD + RDM in a place other than on Colibri. I have seen people put these parties together sloppily with horrible results. I really wish our side would put more thought into who they invite to parties rather than grabbing the first 6 people they see with the correct job.
I look forward to perhaps getting into more interesting setups when I reach 75 Corsair, when perhaps I will have a better selection of incoming invites.

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Comment from Kuea
Time May 18, 2009 at 8:26 am

1. I have to disagree with you. I used to be in a JP event shell, it was fun. Many of the Japanese could speak and understand some english pretty well. And they taught the few English speakers in there Japanese as well as we taught them English a bit. I did learn a lot from the JP in the shell though, JP do things very differently then us in FFXI. The english speakers had so much in common with the JP we talked about random things and sometimes anime, manga, movies, food, even FF. The language barrier is hard but I think what helped is we had some Americanized JP’s in there who could speak both excellent, they did alot of translations back and forth which helped alot.
3. I always bring food. Part of that is from being in that LS and another is if you aren’t prepared you have a big chance of not winning the first time.
4. I use auto translate as much as I can with people who don’t speak English. Again a part of the ease to find the right words is from being in the LS stated above. It isn’t hard to try to get a plan across and it doesn’t always have to make a perfect sentence.
10. I always put in where I am camping solo/party – It is respect for others so they don’t come to find you there and have to go all the way back.

I also always put my TNL, Subs, Home Point, If I can access the “world” or not, how many runic portals I have, and if I have food or Ranged in my comment. It is so helpful when making a party so that you wont have to spend 10 minutes asking everyone what they can sub etc. I think many don’t do these things because people rarely check comments also. I tend to get invites from people asking TNL or if I have a friend tagging along, not even noticing that. Which can be annoying since I would believe checking comments is common sense.
11. I love JP parties because they stay long and rarely chat about unimportant things. I only really join parties when I know I can stay in them for a while. I dislike the fact that now parties last like 30 mins ._.
12. Another reason I love partying with Japanese, they think highly of their mages in the party ^_^. Parties I have been in JP whether tank or melee try to keep hate on them, or even cure when they don’t have to if they can. I am a full mage and sometimes it can be hard to heal and such when things go bad and I appreciate that at least they try. It should be common sense to be nice to the person healing you ^_^. I also agree I hate being rdm/whm in a party with 5 DD’s I usually leave, I have good gear but not top notch gear so without all the extra refresh it gets hard especially when American players sub war or drk cause they want to do so much more damage I don’t think they realize this makes the healer hurt cause then they have to cure everyone much more then needed in a merit pt.

I also understand the JP ONLY situation. Being in a JP shell I have had it explained to me, and I agree the play style is different. Many people disagree and think they are just being rude but think about it many American players whine and bicker in parties, JP get down to do what they came to do lol, and their parties are usually nice, smooth, and calm.

13. I love all sushi

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Comment from Sparhawk
Time May 18, 2009 at 2:47 pm

1. I personally wouldn’t mind joining a jp social shell (or HNM) if I was on a schedule that allowed me to be on at their peak times and if I could read/write jp. There can always be something to talk about, even with in our own culture there are plenty of refrences to old shows ect that not everyone will get, and who knows might spark an interest to check it out and learn alittle bit more.

2. I think no one really likes that honestly, I personally if leaving try to ask the party what they want for a replacement and do my best to find it. As a Party leader I almost always tell someone thats on the way that things turned south and the groups gone but to some degree I can understand why someone would feel embarressed enough to not say anything.

3. mmm thats just depends on what we are doing some BCNMs such as the PCC I’ve done enough on smn to I know my limitations and usually keep a RR item for that just in case moment, but if it was something I knew was hard or new I’d come prepared with potions RR ect ect.

4. Usually I’ll explain how things will be done in english and then try my best to convey it into auto translate, though at times I really hate how auto translate words things I had a friend who could speak jp so usually I asked him to translate for me which made it really easy.

5. I like campaign as a means to get exp/kill some time but I didn’t do it very often and I havn’t played since Jan. (yeah… haha) so not sure if they added something to the forts.

6. haha Old school Optical Hat for sure I really don’t like the Ares body look either but love the stats. As for graphical I really like the Homam and Askar sets

7. I can’t recall anytime really striving hard to get something cause it looks great but I guess I was happy walking around town in my ugly ares gear though I did like to throw on full AFv2 sets at time for kicks.

8. Maybe I’m weird but I never really was to fond of Mithra never bothered to make one as a mule or such.

9. I’ve always felt that TP burn parties were better on exp per I think the best I gotten was close to 20K an hour (But it was brd X 2 my gunginr drg my friends mandau thf a rdm and another random melee)

10. I also agree its annoying when people don’t set their comments to what they are doing or acceptable to invite to a party. Maybe more of the newer players just aren’t used to using them as often since they never had a huge need to where as those who played longer played where Everyone had a search comment almost.

11. I think they are scared that they will not be allowed to exp for the time that they have so they rather get what exp they can and then go and don’t want to get stuck looking for replacements

12. I think you got something there. I notice to some degree that with in the NA community when it comes to Merit points it seems to be “Get the best and Be the best” where as from what I gather in JP its more “Lets go out and have alittle fun but do well as well” I personally thing parsing a merit party is stupid unless its for your own use to test/improve gear but alot of NA people get so obessed with having to be the top DD or Best EXP/Hr (which doesn’t seem to be limited it to FFXI) which to some degree I don’t mind but I could never stand having the “Perfect” exp party. Though at times I do prefer a merit party with LS mates/Friends where its more relaxed and steady pace is pretty enjoyable. I do see where the JP only for merits at least comes in if your more used to having relaxed exp groups compared to the fast paced “Gotta get chain 100+” groups but I think you’d be shocked how many people if given the chance wouldn’t mind a more relaxing exp group.

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Comment from Allie
Time May 18, 2009 at 8:43 pm

1. I don’t think I would try to join. I like to stay on one linkshell instead of juggling between multiple shells. Also, I cannot read Japanese, so I would feel entirely left out. I wouldn’t want to be the one to ask everyone to please write in romaji.

2. I agree that the replacement thing can be annoying, as I myself have had quite a few of those. However, I realize that people do have other things to do that can come up. It is only a game, after all. With the ability to solo a lot of things now, I just continue doing what I was doing before.

3. It could be that people are just cheap or think that they are invincible. I will admit I will go into some fights without medicines. However, I feel that way because it can take a few seconds for the item to finish working and I’ve already lost the HP the item was trying to cure!

4. I said before that I cannot read or write Japanese, but I do understand a little bit of Japanese grammar and some words in romaji. If requested, I will try my best to include the Japanese in on the conversation.

5. I do campaign all the time. Its a fun distraction while looking for a party. As far as the fortification nerf goes, it did not really bother me. I like to play at the defending outposts.

6. Great Stats / Horrible Look : Optical Hat, Assault Jerkin, Ares Set
Great Graphics : All Artifact and Relic sets

7. I like to hang out around town in my DRG or PUP AF, even though I do have better gear for parties.

8. I cannot speak for everyone, but I just have an interest in cute things in general. Hume Females (my character) and Mithras dressed in cute outfits are nice to look at.

9. I only monitor the XP in my head. While getting big XP numbers is nice, fighting a continuous stream of monsters is better. Sometimes I’ll stick around in a party getting less than stellar XP only because we’re fighting fast and furious, which I find more fun.

10. Points taken. However, I have rarely seen search comments with Party Location in it, including on Japanese players. If I promise to do so, will you?

11. I don’t look for an invite if I know I’m going to be busy. If I’m in a party, sometimes my wife surprises me with chores like lugging bags full of groceries up 2 flights of stairs. Sorry!

12. I’ve never really had a problem with the JP Only sentiment. Like I said before, this is just a game. With thousands of players on a server and a million different things to do, another party will come along or another task will come up!

Sushi: I love sushi! I prefer the roll type myself. A local sushi bar has a roll that uses a fried sweet potato and a liquid ginger dressing. Another of my favorite rolls is the Philadelphia roll, which uses salmon or tuna with cream cheese. Lastly, the California Roll (Crab Stick, Avocado, Cucumber) and Cucumber Roll fill out the rest of my plate… Now I’m hungry for sushi!

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Comment from Darius
Time May 19, 2009 at 3:24 pm

1) For those learning Japanese on their own, or those who are interested in Japanese culture, I think it would be nice to have a Japanese social linkshell. After all, there is nothing better than immersion for learning about other cultures.

2) This is also something that I don’t like, and I see it alot in parties (NA parties, mostly). I understand if people have to leave because of unforeseen circumstances, but if they knowingly have little time to party when the party starts, that’s good information to know beforehand. I think that if anyone has to leave a party, at that point the leader should ask how much time other members have remaining, and whether or not they should get a replacement or break.

3) The low drop rate of even slightly profitable items has caused me to retire from BCNMs. That being said, taking recovery items into some BCNMs already puts you at a loss if you don’t get what you went for. There are some exceptions though… a Yagudo drink isn’t going to set anyone back too much gil and provides a great service should refresh not be available to the magic users, reraise item for those who can raise in case of a wipe, etc.

4) I think the auto-translate has come to a place where alot of people use it by default without thinking. I also get invited by auto-translate into French or Japanese parties, and being the only english member, find myself in the same situation. It doesn’t bother me too much, but there are those times when the party decides to move where it would have been nice to get a “Moving Camp” instead of everyone running off suddenly.

5) Campaign is a good place to wait for an invite, or to level if you are a job that isn’t very popular at the moment. I don’t see it as a place where NAs or EUs particularly frequent as compared to the Japanese community. Regarding fortifications, I don’t play a game to beat on a wall for 10-20 minutes at a time. If I did do that, I’d expect to have a decent reward for my boredom.

6) Horrible Looks, Great Stats: Republic Subligar, Aurum set
Best looking gear: Ranger AF, Morrigan’s Coat, Noble’s Tunic, Blessed Set, Bison Gear, Gambisons in general

7) I do like the looks of some gear, but I don’t usually go out of my way to get it, with the exception of a Santa hat. My wife plays a taru character on my server and she is in love with collecting neat hats. She has all of the lvl 65 ToA beastman headgears, even though she’s never used them for the stats/latents. She also has the Goblin Coif which she loves to wear while fishing, and she leveled Samurai from 20-59 (now 75) simply to be able to wear the Sipahi gear for looks.

Two of my mules are mithra and I do enjoy doing the seasonal events to get them nice clothes.

9) I do not personally parse XP/hour for merits that I join, but I slightly prefer doing Skillchains/Magic Bursts rather than WS spam as a play style. However, it doesn’t seem to matter, as the prevailing attitude is that WS spam is better so you just get pulled along as that is what most english merit parties are doing.

10) I wish everyone would use Search Comments. While searching for a party, I don’t include area access since I have access to all areas, but if I didn’t, I would mention it there. I include my TNL if searching for an exp party, what subjobs I have available, and the range I’m willing to level sync to. When I’m soloing, I always place in my search comment my map coordinates or my target mob. That being said, more than half the time its completely ignored. I get asked questions that are clearly stated in my comment, or I get camped on top of when I’m soloing frequently.

11) This is a big pet peeve of mine too. If I don’t have more than 40 minutes to party, I usually won’t seek at all and just do something else.

12) The first job I got to 75 was RDM, so I whole heartedly agree with the notion that it is difficult to be the only healer in such an environment. A secondary healer helps out a ton and I would welcome it. That being said, I know that if I want alot of merits in a short time, I can seek on RDM and get a 5DD party and just get through it. I suppose the NA attitude is that merit parties aren’t very fun to begin with, but we all need merits, so lets do it in the most effective way and get it over with. If there were a few more merit camps that were viable on the level of Colibris, I think there might be some leeway in play styles.

I go more for Unagi than other sushis, and I love it with some candied ginger. I also love spring rolls.

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Comment from Encaitar
Time May 19, 2009 at 4:44 pm

Hi. I’m Encaitar from Phoenix.

1. If you consider the question of whether you have an interest in joining an English linkshell, the answer should be the same. I’d have to say that there’s an extremely small minority of players who would be interested (including me… hint hint), partially because they have some foreign language ability (yes, me again). It would be interesting if there were social linkshells or even light event linkshells made with the explicit purpose of narrowing the Pacific Ocean, so to speak. I’d want to be part of such a linkshell. The only problem is that such a linkshell would require individuals who are genuinely interested in exchange so that tribalism won’t win out and cause the social structure to fracture down cultural lines. It’s too bad that I couldn’t understand your T.V. references (Japanese T.V. is too kitschy for me, anyway), but is that really an obstacle to cross-cultural communication?

2. It’s very frustrating to be the replacement member who arrives to get only 10 minutes of party time in. Both EN players and JP players have experienced this and hate it. It’s puzzling that parties can split up without warning, and I think EN and JP players are both in agreement that members who leave without warning are extremely rude. (Then again, emergencies do happen.) Even though the member-replacement method has the potential to create irritation, EN players believe that a majority of the time, when done responsibly (big caveat–one rude person makes it difficult for everyone), it is more efficient and allows for the coordination of many different schedules and needs. Keep in mind that JP players are mostly in one time zone, but EN players are not. I think the replacement method has arisen partially because EN players span so many time zones.

3. If you wonder why it -seems- like foreigners don’t bring expendables like that to missions and BCs, it could just be a cognitive bias, much like the ones which cause EN players to have negative but unsubstantiated opinions of JP players. Assuming this isn’t so, the bottom line is probably that they are costly, and also that they’re a little unnecessary, especially if a mission can be reattempted and especially if there’s no EXP loss for failure.

I think there are some situations where they are definitely called for, but most of the time these expendables don’t make or break the mission. It’s almost always up to the jobs that are there and who plays them. And when things go wrong, they tend to REALLY go wrong. But when there is a cost to failure, like a BCNM, you might be more liable to see everyone using consumables.

4. It can’t be helped that the conversation happens in English if the party is mostly English. But you’re right about one thing: EN player aren’t good enough at using auto-translate and are sometimes altogether rude in neglecting to use it. On the other hand, before I had any Japanese language ability I had no expectation to receive sophisticated instructions when I was the only EN in party (which was frequent, because I preferred JP parties). I just went with the flow. So I guess for simple things, like finding your way to an easy-to-find camp, it is unnecessary to be told in most situations. But I sympathize with your feelings of neglect, and I apologize for the ongoing failure of EN players to use this function.

5. I like Campaign less and less every day. It only allows idiots who were powerleveled to 50+ continue to be idiots and never learn how to party cooperatively, economically, and politely. As for the fortification nerf, I guess it’s fair. Offensive campaign battles were so poorly conceived, they really don’t matter to me, anyway.

8. While I don’t understand all the motivations for being Manthra, yes, I do think there’s a little girl inside of most of them that just wants to dress up their kitty-cats as if they were dolls.

9. For most weapon skills and skillchains, I think that the best tactic is hold TP when other members are close but burn it if they are <50%. If the jobs are appropriate, it is often possible to have a couple different skillchains going, all dependent on who is ready when. I honestly think that the only reason WS spamming comes out ahead in parsing is that the above strategy requires more communication, knowledge, and flexibility than most players are capable of. If players were more tactical in finding a BALANCE between saving TP for skillchains and burning it, I’m sure it would beat just spamming.

10. “Properly?” That sounds a little bit chauvinistic, because in no place does the game tell players to specifically include camp locations or available subjobs. Search comments exist for the individual to share whatever information he or she thinks is pertinent. It’s up to the individual to decide what is important or whether anything needs to be put there at all. Why some people never use search comments at all I do not understand, and I sympathize that EN seem to be completely oblivious to the usefulness of them.

11. I always try to give warning. I think only once in the last year have I ever had to leave a party without a bare minimum of 20 minutes warning. Usually I try to aim for 45 minutes to an hour of warning.

I think that players who leave without warning are the small minority, but the headache they cause the rest of us is quite large. When someone leaves my party in such a way, I usually send a /tell asking the person to be more considerate with parties in the future. Please be aware that on the whole EN players are just as bothered by this as JP players, but I think we’re more used to tolerating rudeness silently.

12. I hate that format for merit parties and parties in general. I think it’s overrated, less effective than everyone thinks, and it’s also mindless.

One of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed JP parties as a WHM is that they tend to be more considerate to healers and to unpopular jobs. I truly believe that JP parties are more cohesive in such a way as to maximize the party’s overall potential, whereas many EN players are interested in maximize individual damage with disregard for everything else. I agree that there are a higher percentage of loose cannons in the EN player base, but as a general rule most ENs probably want to be cooperative. It’s just that some of them have been poorly educated in the game. Probably they’re just naive or stupid, not selfish.

Wouldn’t you agree that most EN players are cooperative and try to maximize the whole party’s potential? It just that the one rotten apple spoils the whole bunch: one bad player can erase the efforts of five good ones. So please, try to keep the lines of communication open by not developing any tribalistic ideas about how all ENs act because, firstly, you will be wrong most of the time and, secondly, will have deprived yourself of good chances to make friends and to improve other players’ abilities as well as your own. This is exactly the same advice I give to ENs about JP players.

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Encaitar Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 5:29 pm

Uh, I just realized there are probably a couple silly errors in there, like plurality issues, because I forgot to proofread. Ninja fix at will.

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Comment from Nyoki
Time May 20, 2009 at 11:33 am

1) I can’t say that I have any interest in joining a JP LS, as I know probably no Japanese. I can imagine some NA and EU players join them to learn more about the people and culture.
2) When I am leaving a party, I try to find a suitable replacement unless I know the party is going to disband. My biggest problem seems to be that when I find a replacement and ask them to come, my tank decides he has other things to do and the party disbands. I do my best to always tell the replacement what is going on though.
I wont lie and say I haven’t disconnected myself from horrible parties, mainly because I don’t want to put another through the torture of a bad party
3) When I go to missions I always check up on guides to see what to expect, and plan accordingly. I always bring reraise cause I am always certain in my mind that the first run will be a fail, mainly because everyone needs to see the fight to get a handle on it. I bring medicines if needed, such as poison potions or echo drops, but I usually don’t bring hi-potions or vile-elixirs for missions.
4) I always navigate through the auto-translate when partying with JP players, and often end up getting onto other NA players for not using the auto-translate in parties. Most JP players show the respect to let me know what is going on with auto-translate, I should do the same.
5) I have done one campaign, and enjoyed it. I just restarted playing, so I don’t know about the fortification nerf
6) Byakko’s Haidate on a Mithra looks horrible, as with the other haidates that don’t go down to the knees.
I am a big fan of the Blue Mage AF set, especially on Mithra.
7) I don’t have a seperate set of gear for sitting in town, mainly cause I don’t really care what my Mithra looks like when I’m only halfway paying attention to the game.
I prefer ‘cool’ to ‘cute’ myself :p
9) TP Burn parties are superior to SC/MB parties unfortunately. I really really miss the Skillchain/Magic Burst days before Aht Urghan, I still go out of my way to get pallies and ninjas to use swift blade and blade:ten so I can make darkness with Tachi: Gekko
10) I think it’s kind of ignorant to not use a search comment, I want to know your possible sub jobs and if you can even get to my camp. I will always ask a person with a search comment that applies to my parties situation over someone without.
11) When I’m lfg, I’m in it for the long run, short of an emergency I’ll probably be there for a few hours. I hate when people join party and either say brb and never come back or just randomly say they have to leave and leave, especially when the party is going well.
12) Eh I dont have too much merit party experience with drg being my only 75, I usually end up in mammol ja staging point soloing sea puks for decent exp/hr because of lackluster drg gear, I always feel like a dead weight in merit parties. With regards to only 1 healer in merit parties, I actually prefer the 4 melee, 2 heal/support as opposed to 5 melee, 1 support. Although I dont mind subbing whm on drg with only 1 healer to try and help out.
I do get a little depressed when I see JP Only in people’s search comments as they are usually the key elements to parties. I mainly feel badly for JP players having been in parties with NA or EU players that made them choose to only play with JP players.

Favorite type of sushi: I have liked every sushi I’ve had… Crab Sushi was interesting and tasty… guess I’m cheap >.>;

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Comment from Caleb
Time May 20, 2009 at 9:39 pm

1. I have no interest in joining a JP linkshell because I cannot understand the language and (auto-translate) just wouldn’t cut it. I think EN players who understand the language may be inclined to try to join a JP linkshell if its events are within times the person would normally be playing.
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2. I do cycle players and have found a replacement for myself when the leader wants to cycle players as well. I want to see the party succeed, so I pick a person who’s job would be especially helpful to the party or let the leader know that I cannot find a suitable replacement and remind him of when I will have to leave. I let the whole party know that I am leaving and ask if a replacement should be found, so anyone else can speak up if he feels he would leave relatively close to that time as well. I find the individual has made an incompetent decision if I find people leaving with a replacement already there without anyone in the party having a clue that he would be leaving. There is a risk to taking an invite from a party that has been going a while but I think it is more likely than not worth the time spent, especially levels 14-49 with very limited xp in campaign while waiting for that invite.
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3. I bring what I feel is needed to a battlefield, I sometimes do not buy enough but normally have more than enough for the task. When people do not bring needed items it probably means he is “Cheap,” broke, or clueless. I do not believe this would be limited to foreign players though, just players who don’t look ahead and think things through.
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4. I always recruit people in (auto-translate) as a habit, if I find the person I have invited does not understand the English i switch to saying any battle related info in (auto-translate). I did not think I was tricking anyone, by inviting in that way, I just find it to say what I want to bring across in the easiest manor for anyone to understand regardless of what their native language is. EU players usually speak fluent english but have (auto-translate) on their native language.
Also, i have been recruited to some JP parties and on my language list is only listed E. I was recruited using (auto-translate) and they just kept talking to eachother leaving me completely out of the loop the entire time. I just hope they weren’t talking about me ever I did my job as proficiently is I believe I could, so they would never Need to use (auto-translate). I figure they were just chatting it up having a good ‘ol time.
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5. I campaign, the nerf on fortifications is horrendous, if SE doesn’t want people hitting them normally they shouldn’t allow campaign battles to go on without enemies around to hit.
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6. Optical Hat, Aurum Set, Oracle’s Set, and Chausube Set are all ugly.
i like Morrigan Set, Auster Set, Crow Jupon Set, and Monster sets.
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7. I don’t want to waste inventory since it is in limited supply. I like to collect all of the equipment available during the events and put them on occasionally but that’s really it.
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8. Mithra are cute and it is nice to see their players try to dress them up.
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9. We do calculate xp/hour. semi TP spam is the best. If the players can work skillchains and just wait within ~30 TP to make it happen that is best.
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10. Until you mentioned it, I hadn’t considered it at all. I haven’t made a party myself in a few months but I will make sure to place that info in my comment when I do. If the party leader disconnects due to router issues the info will not be up anymore and I can say with confidence, I will have forgotten all about a comment by that point in the party.
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11. the individual is selfish, stupid, or ignorant. I don’t think any nation is without people who do that though.
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12. I am a RDM&SMN, I will use an example to answer this question. Greater Collibri Camp: party setup SMN/WHM, SAM/DRG, WAR/NIN, BRD/NIN, DRG/BLU, (forgot). the DRG was actually our main healer. I used hastega, Ecliptic Growl, Ecliptic Howl, and did cures anytime someone got into the orange. got 20k+ hour. drg never ran low on MP due to 1 ballad directly on him. really they could have gone with another DD or a COR in place of me but we were already running out of mobs too quick anyway. We do NOT try to over use our mages, we try to put our parties are their max potential. when I am on RDM I let the puller know if he is going faster than my convert timers will keep up with otherwise we will be doing worse in the party. our DD do use mage jobs or /nin if needed to. If the person is not willing to play for the better of the team he isn’t in the same party as me for a long time afterwords.
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sorry, I don’t get a chance to eat sushi much and I have not found a favorite.
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I am sorry if it feels like I am attacking the notion of JP verses Foreign but I have little reason to think people from Japan are any different than people here,(have jerks, idiots, and perverts there too) especially since a friend of mine grew up in Japan and tells me it is the same, except everyone is a little more polite.

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Comment from Ollorin
Time May 23, 2009 at 3:04 am

1. I couldn’t imagine functioning in an all any foreign language social shell. I fear you’re getting tells from confused noobs.

2. For most of us, the negative about replacement parties is outweighed by the speed at which we get into PTs and earn xp. Some days a PT disbanding just as I arrived is enough to make me shut down my computer, but most often the parties last long enough for a merit, which is worth it. Making a whole dedicated party is far more annoying… but I never make parties myself.

3. It’s more a matter of noob players. Anyone who is in a more strict HNMLS will come prepared, but if they can get away with being cheap… well, the will. Culture may have something to do with that; we’re very individualistic, whereas from what I understand you are taught to value the whole over the parts. Hence, when we join up with the whole, a lot of us haven;t considered those needs… at all. And some of us learn from it, if you’re lucky!

4. Auto-translate generally has nothing to do with being inclusive to foreigners, honestly. Pressing tab to have whole words spelled for you automatically is just another of our many ways to be incoveniently convenient. Further, we often use auto-translate to be ironic or play with word use. It’s just so much easier to “type it all out” when the system does it for you.

5. I did campaign before they lowered the xp. Ever since, I’ve thought it sucks.

6. Optical Hat has always been just awful. That and THF AF. Homam and Askar sure are hawt.

7. I know some people will go out of their way to gear for fashion, but I, like most NA/EU players I hang out with, gear up for maximum efficiency, period. I will, however, get nice looking gear and set it for a “walking around” gear change macro (to show off my stuff).

8. I’d punch a guy in the face for telling me he dresses his Mithra up to look cute (joking). Most NA/EU guys choose Mithra because they’d “rather stare at a chick’s ass all day.” We call them Manthras.

9. Are you kidding? We parse the hell out of merit PTs. If it’s not getting 20K/hr+, it’s a sub-par burn PT. Skillchain -> Magic Burst is, therein, inefficient. The increase in magic damage comes at a cost for holding TP, which has the effect of slowing down WS rate and increasing mob TP gains. If SE had been smart, they would have made TP viewable to all in PT, but they don’t so inevitably the process itself of just setting up the SC is tedious and a waste of time. I’ve never seen a MB party do over 20K/hr.

10. I had no idea you used search comments for all that. Is there an instruction book I missed out on? I use /sea comments to give my TNL or TNM and maybe some warnings about things I won’t accept, but I never though about using it to tell location, etc.

11. Honestly, that’s the biggest thing we gripe about… about YOU! You have a rocking PT going, earning killer xp and then you guys always bust out the “Have Stuff to Do” translates without any warning. I try to give ample warning before I leave a PT, myself.

12. We don’t see merit parties as passive events to casually enjoy. We see them as a massively hardcore crunch. Most RDM I know that merit on RDM find it insulting to have anything other than a 5 DD setup. And a waste of their time; they could have been making an extra 1K/hr (or w/e). NA and EU play style seems very focused toward maximizing the individual’s effect and we found ways to make merit PTs work like that in our favor. Those setups allow everyone in PT to go all out and therefore put everyone to work, and for it I’ve seen parties that have burgeoned on 40k/hr xp. I don’t feel bad for the RDM in that situation in the least. The RDM didn’t feel too bad either, lol. Death in those parties, really though, is the exception; it happens very rarely.

Bonus: My wife and I are very new to sushi, but we love it. I love sashimi, though I don’t care for octopus (too rubbery). We are, as noted, big fans of the rolls; I think you get a lot of very creative ideas in a roll. My favorite is call the Yummy roll with has shrimp inside and salmon on top, garnished with bread crumbs and flying fish eggs and some sort of sauce. We also like the Cedar Roll, which is a rainbow roll with lemon slices and sauce. It’s very non-standard, but I happen to like dipping my rolls in dumpling sauce!

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Comment from Volkai
Time May 24, 2009 at 11:12 pm

1. Don’t underestimate the knowledge some foreigners have of Japanese language and culture. After all, some of them may want to – or might be planning to – move to Japan! Some have done so already. These people probably have a strong interest in joining a Japanese linkshell because it is a way to immerse themselves in and better understand a culture they seek to visit or join. Others have an interest because they work in the evening or at night and sleep during the day, meaning they play when few foreigners are on. In this situation it is difficult if not impossible to find a decent group to do endgame activities with that is NOT mostly or completely Japanese.

Either way, you should give people a chance. In the worst case, you can still kick them.

2. This happens less often than you might think. Of course, every party ends eventually. The issue is, not everyone is courteous about letting people know when they have to leave. If two people leave without announcement, that usually ends a party. Unfortunately, there is a trend of people doing this when another person – who has talked about when they’re leaving, and has a replacement on the way – leaves. Another thing that happens is someone mentions they need to leave, but doesn’t say that they have a replacement coming.

There are definite disadvantages to the cycling replacement member party method, but there are advantages to it as well. You can invite party members that may only stay for a little while, because when they leave your party isn’t over, you just find another person. Your Paladin lost power due to a downed power line? That’s okay, you can get another one. (If you know the Paladin offline, call him right away and make sure he’s okay though.) Red Mage decided to ditch to go to the bar? Replace that sucker.
In this way, a cycling party can stay around and active for hours. I once had a cycling merit party that went for fifteen hours (11am-2am, iirc.) The first paladin was around for four, went to work, and came back for the last two hours. Between the start and end of it, I was the only person that never left. We went for two hours with only five people, and I was tanking on war/nin, because no tanks were seeking. It was slow going for a while, until we found another tank, but then our pace picked right back up. That party got me from a 5k XP buffer to capped XP and multiple merits (I forget how many.) So, while it sucks to come to a PT that disbands right away, in my opinion the benefits offset the downsides.

3. Because you’re not as good at avoiding the idiot foreigners as you are at avoiding the idiot Japanese players. Really, language has no relevance here.
When the player in question is NOT an idiot, they probably got too used to relying on Red Mages and Bards (and for Raises but not MP, White Mages and Scholars) for all their MP and HP and Raise needs, and just didn’t think to pick up meds. There’s also a slim chance they’re new and don’t know what they needed – and might have expected the person organizing the group to tell them what they needed.
But mainly it’s idiots.

4. I have seen a few people do this. I don’t know why they do this, it seems pretty rude to me. When I’m in a party where this happens, I try to translate (with the auto-translate function) what the leader is saying, but I’m not certain if the Japanese (or French, or German) player understands that I’m trying to provide translation, or if what I’m saying makes sense. It can be difficult to communicate complex tactical concepts with such a limited auto-translate vocabulary…
This is made harder because I see some Japanese players go do crazy things when I know they understand what I communicated to them. Like that Japanese Red Mage that decided he was going to Refresh the Paladin… once. And only once. And then he was going to spam nukes. And yelled (I think) at us for not raising him when he pulled hate and died after the Paladin died. (For the record: they were the only ones in the party with Raise.)

More replies later, must go now.

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Volkai Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 1:46 pm

5. Most do at least once or twice a month. Probably a fifth devote an hour or two to Campaign weekly. A few, I’m not sure how many, have eschewed grouping for XP entirely in favor of Campaign. Probably 5%-10%.
I was disappointed by the Fortification nerf, but not outraged. I just enjoyed the soloing it allowed.

6. Great Stats, Horrible Looks: Republic Subligar. Horrifying appearance on M Hume, horrifying lack of suitable replacement for too many levels on too many jobs. Also, the Optical Hat. I mean, really? Finally, the Walahra Turban just has a disappointing appearance. Maybe it would look okay without the chin strap, but even then… the Sipahi head still looks better. Finally, the new Mirke Wardecors really disappoint, compared to its analogues.
Great Looks: The new Nuevo Coselete and Royal Redingote have fantastic appearances. Most of the AN-purchased armors do, as well. I wish I had the inventory space to carry around a set of HELM and chocobo gear, I’ve always liked the looks of those – and the glasses were a big part of why I leveled Clothcraft.

7. I would love to go out of my way to get gear for looks, but I have a hard enough time going after gear for stats as it is! x.x That said, I have been leveling clothcraft mainly for the glasses…. Other than that, I like to carry around full armor sets for the look. AF, Relic… I know the stats suck, but I want a suit of lv.40 breastplate armor just for the look… there are, in total, 70 sets of armor I want just for the look. Of course, that’s impossible to do when a third of them are ZNM/Salvage armors… but a man can dream!

8. Probably.

9. I don’t usually parse XP rates. I’m not that hardcore a player. I prefer skillchain/magic burst to weapon skill spam, but your group needs to be finely tuned to make the extra chain/burst damage outweight the lost damage from using major multihit weapon skills right away at 100% TP as often as possible.

10. It’s a mystery to me as well. But then, I sometimes wonder why the only thing in a Japanese player’s search is “JP only” and nothing else.

11. If I know I will be busy soon, but still want to party, I make sure to add “{Party}: {Short time}” or “{Time remaining} {Short time}” to my /search. On the other hand, sometimes things just come up and you don’t have a good choice- if I have to choose between being rude to someone online in a game, and being rude to someone in person at the door… I’m sorry, but I’m going to be rude to the people online. I don’t want to, but Volkai the WAR75, DD in a Meripo is easier to replace than Alex the Person someone is waiting for at the door.

12. “You often say 5 DDs and a RDM is so good, but having a single, solitary healer is hard
on the RDM.”
American players on the whole have high expectations for Red Mage players. I should first say that what I’m about to state, I do not entirely agree with: We have high expectations for Red Mages. In being able to do so much they allow for high levels of potential not otherwise reached. Yes, this means Red Mage is the toughest job to do in a high level merit party – You, (and by you I mean all RDMs) should already know this by the time you hit level 50 on Red Mage. Because you know what lies 25 levels ahead, you should be ready for it, because you have time to prepare for it. If you can’t handle the burden, you should probably play a different job.

Unfortunately this is the prevalent attitude – that high expectations are okay because the expectations have always been high, because anyone taking RDM all the way feels they are ready to meet those expectations.
I disagree with this. Red Mage should not be limited to the most experienced players. My views on the topic are more in-line with those stated by whoever asked question 12.

I feel that all players worldwide would benefit if Japanese players would stop worrying quite so much about if their english is good enough or not, drop the JP-Only, and give our strategies a chance, too. When it comes to merits, at lesat, we’re all looking for a chance to relax and get some esay merits. Not to mention it’s a great chance to make new friends you wouldn’t otherwise meet. The difference in thinking is much smaller than you think.

Bonus Question: will be answered when I am not dead tired.

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Comment from Matuyoga
Time May 25, 2009 at 7:39 pm

1. I personally have no strong desires to join a Japanese Social Linkshell but I am curious as to what Japanese players talk about. (lol)

2. I actually try not to join or create these sorts of parties. It makes partying very stressful when a new player is arriving every fifteen minutes, you hardly get to talk to or connect with people and it makes EXPing seem very mechanical. I’ve actually coined the term “Zombie Party” to describe a party that refuses to die(disband).

3. I keep quite a few medications (Echo Drops, Antidotes, Remedies, Reraise, etc.) on my person at all times and try my best to stock properly for BCs, but my limiting factor is the cost/space efficiency of these other items (I wish Hi-potions stacked).

4. It’s kind of difficult to communicate my thoughts with the Auto-Translate function as is. When I’m in a party with all Japanese players, I sometimes feel like I am being ostracized. I think it kind of works the same way in any party when the you’re the only one who speaks your language. That being said, there still are people who are accommodating and go the extra mile to explain plans and include players who don’t speak their language into their circle.

5. Quite a few from what I can tell but I’m so busy with linkshell events I don’t have time to campaign. Because of that, it’s cycle of losing and earning back my campaign medals.

The Fortification Nerf was a little extreme but I do admit that hitting a wall for half and hour is pretty boring.

6. Byakko’s Haidate is amazing but looks like stitched cardboard and Walahra Turban makes my Tarutarus head even bigger then it was.

I really like the way Bard AFv2 looks (except the hat!).

7. I haven’t really went out of my way to get good looking gear but I think my favorite set of casual gear is the of Arhat’s gear.

8. One of my friends played a female character, when I asked him “Why did you pick a female character?” he responded “If I’m going to be playing a game for 5+ hours, I’d like to be looking a girl at least.” (lol) I think a lot of players, to some degree, enjoy dressing up their characters.

9. I do keep track of EXP/HR, and generally WS spam seems to be more efficient in terms of EXP/HR. I think SE really needs to amp up the SC/MB system, it’s long overdue in my opinion.

10. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a little strange people don’t use their search comments properly (lol).

11. If I know I’m going to busy, I usually go campaign or log off entirely. My only guess is that most of those people are just making excuses.

12. I think that those sorts or parties are created by people who are either looking for any experience at all or are completely inexperienced at merit parties. I seldom search for party. Instead, I ask my friends and linkshell members if they’d like to merit. I try to create a party that’s both fun and efficient. I don’t know if Japanese players communicate and co-ordinate jobs and sub jobs in a pick up group as I do with my friends, but if you do then I think that element communication is the missing piece in those parties mentioned you had mentioned.

13. I don’t really know much about sushi, but I do know to never try making an eating contest out of it.

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Comment from Silverwedge
Time May 27, 2009 at 2:19 am

1. I would never join a Japanese social shell because I can’t speak any Japanese. I can see some players that are familiar with the language joining for the purpose of sharing in another culture though.

2. I usually am the party leader and will sometimes allow members to get replacements but only if there is still significant time left in the party, if the person leaving does so abruptly, for instance. I always ask everyone in the party before a replacement is sought {Time remaining?}.

3. Lack of preparation seems more like a player issue than a culture issue. My linkshell works well together because we appreciate the importance of being well prepared with medicine, food, etc.

4. If I bring a JP player into any of my XP or event parties, I make sure that any important information said by myself or another party member is done in Auto-Translate. If everyone isn’t on the same page, the party suffers.

5. I don’t do campaign as it seems like slow XP compared to the other jobs that I can solo on.

6. Walhara Turban is great but looks bad, but perhaps I’m just tired of looking at it! I like the BST Relic gear the best.

7. Don’t really have favorite casual equipment, don’t have enough playtime to pursue gear that doesn’t have function.

8. I think many NA players enjoy dressing up their Mithras, but I don’t understand it.

9. Skillchain / Burst parties were lots of fun back in the day, but nowadays it seems that weaponskill spam is the best for XP. I wish SE would update Skillchain and Bursting mechanics.

10. As party leader I always set my search comment for camp. It all started leveling BST to 75 many years ago when there were very few camps. It was important to be respectful to other soloers.

11. I wish more people were honest about how much attention they are able to give the party before they join, but it doesn’t always happen.

12. I’m not a RDM so I can’t speak to how difficult their job is in Merit, but as a BRD puller, I know I can consistently chain very high XP with only a single RDM and often without a BRD or COR to support. When I do have a COR, I usually ask for /RNG because I don’t see the RDM as main healer being the reason why chains break down. If the COR is helping with more damage, the birds die faster and less healing is needed.

Bonus: My wife is vegetarian so we usually stick to Tomago as the #1 sushi

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Comment from Mogknight
Time May 30, 2009 at 12:36 am

1. The difference in cultures is too great for me. I wouldn’t understand the etiquette, like to toss in the odd swear word when I am frustrated and generally feel I would get kicked quite quickly.

2. I think that anyone that invites someone to a party and then disbands shortly after (without warning) is really inconsiderate.
I’ll personally ask my members how long they have left and try to work around it. If I feel that the party will go belly-up I’ll apologise and disband.

3. To BCNMs I’ll always bring what I think is necessary. However, in parties I roll with just food. No potions or anything. I’m seldom ever a mage so refreshing drinks are unnecessary and am rarely ever a tank so I don’t worry to much about getting hit with a status. If we’re fighting AoE status dealing mobs, I’ll just take it and carry on.

4. It’s my personal opinion that English speaking people are generally lazy with communication. Text messages abbreviate almost every word and the internet is full of people ‘ho talk lyk dat’. Auto-translate is another way for us to be lazy.
I myself use it if I am talking about Sauramauge Champaigne (for example) as A) It’s really long and B) I’m not entirely sure of the spelling.

If, however, I’ve recruited a Japanese player (and being English I try to make the ratio 3:3 for EXP parties so everyone has someone to talk to) I’ll either use the auto-translate function for as much as I can or /tell a member if a specific instruction has been said in English.

5. I can’t be bothered to try it. I did mess about when the expansion came out but lost interest really quickly. Then again, my highest is only in the 60s so hitting stuff was difficult and seemed entirely fruitless.

6. O-Hat has great stats but is very ugly and not very melee-esque. Gaudy Harness also has fantastic stats, but it’s horrible. The shoulder pads ruin it entirely.
Best piece of equipment for looks, I think is either the big blue Great Sword (not sure the name) or long bows generally. However, I do like voulges too (Great Axes. I can’t spell).

7. I never go out of my way to get something that is only pleasing to the eye. If it’s not useful, it’s another space taken in my inventory. Precious space.

8. I’m a Mithra. I chose it because I like tails. Between a Mithra or a Galka the Mithra is more pleasing to look at. It also has the best starting stats. Back when I thought they were more important than they really are this helped me with my decision.
I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever go around dressing up to look ‘cute’ though.

9. I don’t calculate XP per hour. I pigeon-hole parties. The absolute best party for me would be massive amounts of EXP and a good conversation. They’re few and far between. Otherwise you either have good EXP with no conversation or good conversation but rubbish EXP. Both could keep me wanting to go on in a party, depending on what mood I’m in. Basically, it doesn’t have to be amazing EXP to keep me in a party. If the conversation’s good, I’ll stick around for enjoyment.

10. I feel like if I have anything in my search comment that’s written in English, I probably wouldn’t get a massive amounts of invites anyway. I usually play in the morning and early afternoon in the UK (4pm here is Japanese midnight) so there’s a lot of Japanese parties about.
Even when I make my 3:3 parties, a lot of people see I am English and say “No thanks!”

11. That annoys the hell out of me too. Make your cups of tea, smoke your cigarettes, put the children to bed, cook your dinner and finish all your chores. Then, only then, should you start partying regardless of whether your Japanese, English, American or whatever.
Have a short smoke/tea break in the middle of a party if there’s a gap to, that’s fine. But don’t start partying whilst trying to cook your dinner and vacuum at the same time.

12. I’m not high enough to comment using my own experiences to work from. However, I can only think that English speaking healers have adapted to the more pressurised system which us Westerners have forced them into.

Incidently, the wording of ‘Japanese and foreign’ I find really ignorant. I’m not American. I’m English. I’d like to be accepted as so, rather than bundled into the pigeon-hole that ‘every non-Japanese speaking player has the same pattern of thought.’

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Comment from Elvaron
Time May 30, 2009 at 9:10 pm

1. Do foreign players have a lot of interest in joining social Japanese Linkshells?
I’ve started FFXI in 2004 and only through FFXI became interested in the japanese language. I have since studied japanese language and culture as a minor subject at University and spent half a year in Japan at a University in Kyoto. The whole experience was incredible, I wish I could just go and live in Japan for a couple of years. My G/F would kill me though I also hang out with a friend whom I had known only a little over FFXI, and I believe that we have found a great friendship in real life. That being said, I’m horrible with kanji, so joining a japanese chat linkshell was, since I started the language, a high goal, something that, should I succeed to learn, adapt to, understand, communicate with and find friendship in, would prove to myself that I have finally become fluent So yes, there are people like me who are very interested in that. We may not understand everything, but that’s the challenge, isn’t it?

2. I’m a german player speaking fluent english and o-kay japanese, so I get to see both sides kind-of between the front-lines. There are times when I get frustrated when a JP party simply disbands because one person leaves, when it’s 8p.m. in Japan and replacement should be easy to find – especially when lvling in level ranges, where fast and safe travel isn’t an issue any more. When I know I need to leave or start to feel tired, I look for a replacement without telling the party. If my job in the party is too hectic, I’ll tell the party leader to help me out with the search. If everything goes well, the replacement will arrive and replace me without any major slow-downs for my party members, it’s just my way of respecting other people’s time. However I will of course inform my party after having found a replacement, in case they actually were gonna disband anyways, so as not to have my replacement waste their time.
And third, there are times when there’s just no-one around or, worst case, everybody in the party has become sort-of mute after a few hours of partying, some afk, some half-afk, only 3-4 players left in the party, these kind of situations where I myself only pay half the attention to. In those cases, someone should just find the courage to say “disband”, instead of wasting time. But since people will want to continue, it’s not an easy thing to decide. Just asking what the others think of the situation would probably be best. I’ve had a couple of parties that had almost the entire set-up replaced and still I was lvling nicely for 8 hours straight.

3. I always read up on strategy info on ffxiclopedia, make sure to bring any medicine mentioned there, and some never-wrongers like Ether and Yagudos if I play mage. I never understood why many people try to do things unprepared, sometimes they just respond to a shout for something they need but didnt prioritize, so they were like “Oh, i COULD use that, but i didnt really plan on doing it”, so they kind of expect the leader to tell them what is required. Also, some players dont have a computer and cant look up ffxiclopedia and stuff like that. FFXI strategy guides are not a common thing outside of JP (I saw my friends collection in his room, you guys got the heads up on printed info), at least not in germany. So, lack of access to information and lazyness are probably the big two.

4. It seems to me that party leaders want to fill their party with decent jobs, and assume that, at least in XP parties, apart from camp and tank/pull/skillchain setup, only micro-management would be done in further communication. An experienced party can often xp for hours without any important discussions going on. In those cases, I assume EN players believe that a JP player would rather tune out on the chat and enjoy the fact that he is gaining XP than being looking for a party forever. Many of the things discussed after the fighting has started can simply not be explained using auto-translate. Also, experiences in JP parties before I learned japanese properly have shown me that, vice versa, JP players often just hope you do your job right rather than trying to explain something that should be obvious given this is the 5th year of playing a WHM over the auto-translation system.

5. I don’t do Campaign, mostly because I don’t believe it’s the right thing for me (I play WHM, SMN, COR, BLU). Some people I spoke to were sad that the nerf removed the exploit of fast skill ups (it was about skill ups right?), but agreed that it was an exploit and had to get fixed sooner or later.

6. Personally, I don’t like hooded bodies that take away the head slot. Also, I’m disappointed that some equipment doesnt have a look (e.g. hairpins). I often browse on FFXI Dats and check out what new things they have, and there are great ways to improve the way equipment looks. Personally, I love artifact armor. When I was starting the game, it seemed so cool to me, and even though their stats are often worse than the expensive gear that you can get on the same levels, I like it when I see them. Overall, I like outfits that have a decent style. BLU AF, COR AF, the outfits of some story NPCS (Gilgamesh, Aldo, Nag’molada), … The best looks I’d probably have to give to, armor-wise, SMN for over-all style (’bum style’ JSE, AF1, AF2…), weapon-wise to Odin’s twin blades.

7. I try to always get event gear when it becomes available. Due to inventory space limitations, I had to put most of them to the store NPC, but once SE fixes my problems with the security token and I get my mog satchel, that will probably see more people use casual clothes when out-of-battle. My personal favourites are my Clothcrafter’s Apron and Glasses (simply because they took me half a life time to get) and my Windurst Apron, worn proudly.

Other than that, japanese outfits rule. I love walking around with a Yukata and a bamboo sword

Also, I like to amass equipment that I practically have no use for. I’ll never play NIN to 70+ or SAM to 60+ yet I don’t pass on chances to get R/E NM drops (only when they are rightfully mine of course, I wouldnt take other peoples drops when I help out ), just so I feel like having achieved a little. Plus I horribly love to decorate my Mog House, even though noone comes to visit I even got a Mannequin cause I liked the looks.

8. Personally, I like the looks of most equipment on Mithra the best. For example, huge armor worn on Galka I dont like. I’m a Taru, so all of my equipment is tiny-sized, so I sometimes use the Windower Plugin to walk around as a mithra (don’t tell GMs or my girlfriend ).

9. I do keep track of those figures, and I find that proper Skillchain/Magic Bursting works great, when not in simple Mana-Burst or TP-Burst Setups, since it often means that people who care about properly setting up SC/MB chains care about other aspects, too, and will give their max for the party. Apart from that, I’m fine either way as long as the XP/hr is great, if it’s not it’s rarely due to SCing or not SCing.

10. Many people dont realize the search comment function is being used widely. I find it great when – mostly JP players do it though – ppl write a short notice what their LFP flag really means. I guess some are too lazy, others don’t realize it, or don’t consider what would be useful information in a search comment. Also, writing camp pos might seem to some to be giving out unneeded information that could only result in other ppl coming by, rather than being left alone. Guess it’s a difference, not in culture per se, but in FFXI tradition, when search comments are set up and how and why.
I truely understand your concerns though, I feel the same

11. I would do that, and why some people don’t will always remain a secret to me. I assume some just have a busy background. Imagine not a small japanese room with a bed, a TV and a console to play FFXI, but someone sitting in a big living room on a desk playing the game while the rest of the family run around, suddenly claiming that it is time to go to someplace, so the players themselves didn’t know before-hand. It is in itself an inexcusable action, but sometimes unavoidable. That’s just the randomness of every-day life.

12. I must admit, there are times when I, too, just want to sit back and relax, because – apart from crafting and fishing – merit parties can be the most relaxing things to do in FFXI opposed to Story Battles and the likes. But then there are times when I truely want to maximize my efforts, and show that I am a master in my job and have a proper understanding of how team-play should work. Of course there will be people who think differently about setups and strategies and stuff, but the personal motivation to contribute to everyone’s good is, in my opinion, really the only limit to a player’s compatibility with the rest of his party. Then again, I am german, so don’t take my word as a voice of the NA world. It’s more like there are different groups, some bigger (NA and JP) and some smaller, and everyone of those groups has some key differences that can only be overcome by working together. And there’s always guys that stand out in being overwhelmingly good or bad, who taint the image of a group. I often feel embarassed for not being a JP player when I see or hear about some of the behaviour going on

Bonus Question: I don’t like particularly sushi. Especially not since a spontaneous challenge from myself towards my jp ffxi friend ended in myself eating sushi with raw egg and natto. Good thing my glass of green tea was filled up, so I could wash the taste out of my mouth
I’m a ramen fan. I love it to the extent where I would cook my own soup and make my own noodles, both taking many many hours…
I love many of the foods in Japan, from snacks (Pocky, the tasty things from the konbini, those salten peas (emame? something like that)) to dishes (gyosa, ramen, yakiniku, yakitori, yakisoba, ageaisu (uh–fried ice), …). The only thing you guys really miss out on are good, big pizzas (japanese pizzas often come in tiny sizes, and in weird combinations of ingredients – only dough with chocolate cream and sugar powder on top, they should call it crêpes – and who puts mayonaisse on a pizza???).

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Comment from Elvaron
Time June 4, 2009 at 7:23 am

In addition to my original post: I just had one of “those days” and I’ll definitely write “JP Only” from now on into my search comment, after replacing 15 ppl before even getting to the xp party camp, and after those that had left noone on seek answered… noone… out of 80 ppl. It was 7a.m. in Japan so practically no Japanese were on seek… This is worse frustration than my recent failed attempt at the CoP Airship Fight…

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Comment from Knives of Phoenix
Time June 9, 2009 at 10:37 pm

Don’t know if this is too late or not, but here goes:

1. My first linkshell was full of only Japanese players. One of the reasons I play FFXI is to practice my Japanese and French at random times. Joining a totally Japanese shell would be really fun, but I don’t ever see offers now.

5. I do Campaign all the time! It’s really fun, and it allows me to get lots of experience points while working towards equipment. The nerf on fortifications sucks though… I hope they fix it.

6. Optical Hat is atrocious! I also hate subligar. With subligar, people either love it or hate it. I’ll take Rogue’s Culottes and equipment similar to it any day.

7. I’ve been trying to get Assassin’s Culottes for years now. They’re so nice and blue. They’re not great for fighting in, but they’re so pretty! As for vanity pieces I often wear, I wear Magnifying Spectacles a lot.

9. I don’t know wear or not skillchains and magic bursts are better than spamming TP, but I do know that the game was a lot more fun when we played with that style. Without renkei and magic bursts, there’s so much less strategy and regular parties get REALLY boring!

10. One reason I mostly just solo now is because many players just stopped using search comments altogether. It makes parties really hard to lead when possible candidates to join your party provide no background information at all. When I do rarely party, I always use search comments.

BONUS: I’m a vegetarian and I don’t eat fish! Cheese, though… mmm.

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Comment from Arianwen
Time September 25, 2009 at 7:14 pm

1. Not me personally, but i believe that most NA, EU, etc would want to join a JP linkshell, -to- learn about the pop culture and all the little tid bits. Japanese is not a huge language in the states, i tried to sign up for it 3 times in high school and it was canceled. Most people that find an interest in the JP culture only get it through old history books, and have no information on the here and now of what’s going on in Japan.

2. I personally hate it as well. Common sense will tell you what job is needed when a certain person leaves the party. If that specific roll can not be achieved, then maybe something that can come close. Sure a SMN/WHM isn’t the best healer, and may not do as good as the WHM you just had (not fact, just basing off scenario) But it’s better then no exp. Especially for the DDs. Being a DRK myself, even if the party is getting 1000xp an hour, it’s better then sitting LFG for hours.

About the party disbanding before.. that’s just the stupid mentality most players seem to have. When the healer leaves, no one wants to stay around and wait. So they leave. Or the tank leaves, healer doesn’t want to wait, healer leaves. Now no tank and no healer, so everyone else leaves. They don’t even want to wait to see if they already had a replacement. I really hate this mentality, and please don’t think every NA is like this. But it seems a majority of the NA playerbase thinks about the individual, not the party.

3. Gil. Gil = time. Time = less time spent in a exp party. Most NA will think “well the WHM can silena me. no need for echo herbs.”.. And then the WHM gets silenced. I personally like being prepared for many different situations, but i usually still won’t bring a bunch of Hi-Potions or Vile Elixers. Oh sure on boss fights, but not for your small time parties. If i’m dying that quickly that i need to use a potion, then i think there is something wrong with the party.

4. People use the auto-translate in shouts because it’s easier, not always to recruit any other languages. Me, for instance; whenever i would log on, i’d tell my linkshell (Hello!) in the translator. even though we all spoke english. However, after you asking them politely to use auto translate, -at least- for the battle plan, was horribly rude of them. I don’t think the auto-translator is up to snuff on having a good conversation, however. Especially since we always try to form words from it, like (May)(Bee) – maybe – which comes out as (5th Month)(Insect) or something on your side.

6. Horrible looks? the beelte harness. I loved playing my low level ninja with all +1 gear, but it looked so horrible. Almost any mage equipment. Silly WHM AF hat.

I loved the Hauberk/Thick Set. Balin’s sword. Paladin AF. Death Scythe/Vassago’s Scythe/Trecadim Scythe.

7. Yes! I can’t remember the name, but the MNK/SAM/NIN gear around the 67th level, purple and black. I loved how that looked. I’d walk around with the pants almost everywhere, they go with everything. Or San d’Oria’s Tunic. I would of gotten the goldsmithing glasses, but that was way too much money, so i went with the bonecrafting ones.

8. Catgirls are becoming very sexy over here, sort of. I always had my hume female to play with, i love dress up, but i had an add-on that would change my race to look like a mithra, so if i was in the mood i would switch over.

9. We do now. No one cares what goes on in the party as long as it’s optimal XP/Hour. However, i currently HATE the WS spam parties. I loved taking down a few mobs, just to set up to close that light SC with spinning slash, and watching my blm friend do insane damage with her magic. Ah, the good old days. I wish they would make this more viable. Maybe big hopes for this in FFXIV?

10. Lazyness is again a key factor. You can start to blame WoW (World of Warcraft) for that, where most players expect everything to be handed to them. Personally for me, i don’t put down the camp location, but i always put down what subjobs i have availiable, what weapons i can use, if i was willing to switch to another job of the same level.. when i was lower level and got my first sniper ring i used to show off how much +ACC i had.

11. I also hate it when people do this. I try to give atleast a 30 minute warning, if not a full hour warning. And i will always try to find a replacement for myself. Trust me, it dissapoints us NA to see people do this. Personally, when i invite someone to a group to begin with, i have a short conversation with them. If they seem to have some common sense, i’ll invite them. If they talk like an idiot, i’ll tell them the spot is full, and get someone else.

12. I blame american movies for this one. It’s not a NA movie unless something blows up, someone gets horribly eviscerated, world is destroyed.. etc.. So, most NA just want to let loose all of their abilities at once and do as much damage as possible. If the mob is dead, it can’t hit you, right? Well to a degree this works. Probably not optimal, and so not fair to the RDM.. however the RDMs do agree to this, and many of my friends leveled a RDM, just to get invited into those kinds of parties, to put merits on their mains.

I never really thought of JP ONLY like that. I always thought it was just because you didn’t like us, and i’m sure i’m not the only on to think that. I guess it’s hard to relay that you’re just trying to avoid conflict and frustration through the auto translator, however just the way it comes out sounds very rude. Especially when i see a person i asked nicely to a invite, got a JP ONLY, then see them the next day in a full NA party. I guess in every orchid there will always be bad apples.

BONUS

Honestly i like all kinds. Though i must say i’m coming to love wasabi. I prefer sushi that has a more sweeter taste, so i get a clash of tastes with the wasabi. Makes for a very interesting meal, and i always leave satisfied. I just wish sushi wasn’t so expensive over here! You can buy a cheeseburger for under $1, but the cheapest roll of sushi is around $7! And sushi is better for you! Unbelievable! (Sorry that i can’t translate that to yen, Hopefully someone can)

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Comment from Darlene
Time January 14, 2010 at 4:53 am

Q1. Do foreign players have a lot of interest in joining social Japanese Linkshells?
A1. While cultural exchanges are a grand value in themselves, activily joining a shell where I could not participate in conversations very well or follow or give instructions in an endgame shell would be very difficult. While I would love the chance to get to know many Japanese players, I do not believe it very practical in any but a social sense.
——-
Q2. Parties that cycle in replacement members
A2. In many cases, the rough road to get to level 75 is considered so hard, especially when leveling unpopular jobs, there are many that believe ANY xp party is better than playing solo. In addition, the average “pick up party” is a gamble since you never know what you will get. Therefore, you will find people who wish to continue to use the party as long as possible and use tactics and combination they would never choose if they were given a choice.

As for people acting rude, however, there is no help for that; you will always find people who refuse to act with basic courtesy.
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Q3. Why does it seem like many foreign players don’t bother to bring medicines and potions to Missions and BCs? Many Japanese players make sure to have Vile Elixirs, Hi-Potions and/or Reraise Earrings.
A3. I do not know about experiences of people who ask this question, but I know in all events that I attend, it is considered very bad form to show up without proper medicines and status gear (my dynamis shell had a grand laugh when one black mage reported that he bought eye drops instead of echo drops for Dynamis Windurst). Even if I am helping a new player complete a level break quest, I will insist they purchase Silent Oil or Prism Powder as necessary, or I will not help them. It boils down to a matter of “have it, or do not participate.”
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Q4. Sometimes I see foreign pick-up parties recruiting for members using Auto-Translate, but then when I join the party, all the conversation and battle planning is in English.
A4. The Auto-Translate function is a way for many english speaking players to be lazy about typing, or spelling. Even more so when they do not have access to a keyboard. Therefore, they will use the functions without even considering the fact that the people they are speaking with may or may not speak the same language. This is shown by the way many will form American Idioms by combining translate words, and assuming people will understand; something that annoys me. Basically, never assume that they know that you cannot speak english. A great way to reinforce the point is to use Kangi or Kana in your macro’s.

If you ask people to use the auto-translate function, and they do not, then they are being inconsiderate to you. But you will have to admit; the available list of words is very limited, and offers no grammer. I can speak enough Japanse to get by, and I often can give rough instructions. And I made one Japanese party laugh at one of my jokes once, which made me very happy. Sorede romanji ha warui desu ne?

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Q5. How many NA and EU players do Campaign? Any thoughts about the recent nerf to Fortifications?
A5. Personally… I love Campaign. But I switch between Campaign and Fields of Valor, depending on what I am in the mood for, or what drops I need at the time. I actually didn’t know there was a nerf to the Fortifications… (what is “nerf” in Japanese? Does it refer to the company “http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/en-us/” that makes spongue dart guns? Just curious)

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Q6. What equipment do you think has great stats but horrible looks?
What equipment do you think has the best graphics?
A6. I just bought Dusk Pants that I think has good stats, but looks bad. Especially on my Dancer, since I think the Dancer Artifiact equipment is the best graphics.
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Q7. Outside of your normal party gear, is there any equipment that you go out of your way to get strictly for looks? What are your favorite pieces of casual equipment?
A7. Can’t think of much right now, but I go out of my way to wear the Dancer Artifact Body when I can, but I never use it when fighting, unless I am desperate for Curing Waltz; Scorpion Harnes is just too useful.
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Q8. I’m a Mithra, and I find that a lot of foreigners seem to be into Mithra fashion. They examine me and ask where I got my equipment and such. Do you think male players enjoy dressing up their Mithra in cute outfits?
A8. I really don’t know what it is with guys and “cat-girls” but it seems to be a common fantasy for them. You would have to ask them, but I wouldn’t be suprised.
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Q9. I wonder if you calculate the XP/hr of parties, and if so, do you think that Skillchain/Magic Burst or Weaponskill spam produces the best results? Before parsing became widespread, Japanese players used to think Skillchain/Magic Burst was the best.
A9. To be honest, I never played the game to get the highest numbers as I possibly could; my guage has always been “am I having fun.” In my opinion, this game takes a great deal of time to play, and if I am not having fun, then I am wasting an extreame amount of my time. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t always try my best; I just always did whatever was asked of me. If I was playing BLM and they wanted a Magic Burst, I did it.
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Q10. How come it seems like so many people don’t utilize Search Comments properly? Why don’t they write their camp location for others to see? Also, it’s strange to see so many people seeking without basic information written like available jobs and where they can access. Don’t you want an invite?
A10. In my opinion, it is people being lazy. I always put as much information as I think is important. If I were forming a party, I would pick someone who had information more than one who did not.
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Q11. If you know you are going to be busy, how come you don’t alert people at the beginning of the party instead of surprising everyone at the last minute?
A11. I abosolutly agree. This sort of thing causes the english players to be upset as well.
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Q12. Honestly, the largest difference in thinking between Japanse and foreign players exists in the Merit party. You often say 5 DDs and a RDM is so good, but having a single, solitary healer is hard on the RDM.
A12. I was a RDM in a party that had a BRD pulling monsters and sleeping them. At my last count, the highest chain we reached was chain #250. I cleared several merits by the time I asked to be replaced. It was amazingly efficient, fast, and we earned an great deal of experience points. And I couldn’t take it for very long.

All I can say is: I agree it is a burden, but it works if you can do it. If you want fast experience points and a lot of excitement, I would say, try it out. It’s a matter of preference.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:

When I first started playing it was considered by most of my friends as a valuable experience to be invited to a Japanese party. I was invited to many, and it was a great experience every time. I learned a great deal, I did a great job, and was re-invited back again. I don’t know how others think, but I like the chance to meet people from other countries and exchange ideas and a little fun. But think of it like this: even in english only parties, I often do events or XP parties with people that are rude, disruptive, and people I would never wish to deal with again. But I will not stop doing these XP parties or events. It is all a risk, and is worth it in the end. So all I can say to any Japanese player who reads this; give us a try… maybe you will have a good experience.

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Comment from Jacinda
Time February 23, 2010 at 2:23 am

1. Personally, I’d love more interaction with the Japanese playerbase than the occasional pick-up party. Joining a linkshell would be great practice for the language and help to bridge the gap between players. I think that so many of the differences between players is due to ignorance, and what better way to help understand something than to immerse yourself in it?

2. Cycling members is a very common practice in almost every party I’ve been in. I do find it highly frustrating when you go through the process of finding members and the party disbands shortly after. As such, I personally try to avoid making parties because I believe that once a party is made, every member should get at least one level. Unfortunately, parties become a victim of the “domino effect” when a member leaves.

I have been fortunate enough to be told that a party is about to disband after I receive my invite, and I an thankful for it. Though there have been times when you get to the camp, start a few fights, and then a key member decides to leave (tank or healer).

3. This depends on the event in question. I admit that I have been guilty of not bringing a reraise item and I should work on that. However, more important items than reraise are things such as poison potions, silent oil, and prism powders. It really surprises me to see how many people don’t bother getting these.

While people not having items during events doesn’t bother me as much, I will say that not having necessary items during parties drives me insane. Getting to Caedarva Mire and having RDMs or WHMs without echo drops is just asking for trouble.

4. I agree. If you used auto-translate in the shout, then that same courtesy should be shown in the party or during the planning stage. I believe that unless you are in a static group, you should always ask if people know the basics before you go in. Anything else is an assumption, and assumptions are very, very bad.

5. I still see plenty of people farming Campaign battles for whatever reason. Personally, it’s lost its appeal to me and I only go now to maintain rank. I think it would have been more entertaining if it took on a more of a strategic approach instead of just tossing bodies at us until the time expires.

The fortification nerf was very poorly thought out. They have essentially taken away a major reason to go to beastmen controlled areas. Hitting a wall was silly to begin with, and now it’s completely pointless to do so.

6. The best stats and horrible looks? Any of the recent expansion pieces, except the Mirke Wardecors. That actually looks nice and is useful. Also, Ares armor looks repulsive to me. I understand the intimidating aspect of the armor, but it simply doesn’t look good.

For fashion’s sake, the Duelist Tabard, Morrigan’s Robe, Askar set, and Homam look nice. Though I do wish that SE would break away from the “east-indian” styling of armor for a bit. Since this game has so many various historical references with the names of items, it would be nice to see that same type of variety in the styling of equipment.

7. Level 1 RSE. Not that it’s stylish, but it’s a reminder of where you came from, so to speak. My favorite pieces of armor right now is the Askar set. I like the color scheme. xD

8. I don’t know exactly how to answer this one. It seems that the Mithra were made to be the most sexually appealing of the races, so it’s not really a shocker that people want to dress them up.

9. I don’t play on a PC, so xp/hr calculations are beyond me. However, I find that SC/MB actually makes the party less boring and you really work together as a team, which in turn brings more enjoyment on a personal level. I know some people do parties for a high rate of xp/hr, but I also want to enjoy myself and not fall asleep with a controller in my hand. Working together with people is how I accomplish that.

10. The amount of detail put into a search comment can depend on several factors. Camp location is something I have rarely seen in anyone’s /seacom, regardless of nationality. It would be nice for soloists to have listed, but I think people usually check camps by seeing who’s in the area, not necessarily what they are doing.

As for available jobs, if you mean subjobs, then I completely agree. However, for a person who’s currently a 75 DRG and seeking, I think it would be a wasted effort to list that they are also a 50 RDM, 63 WHM, and 23 PLD also available to party. Mainly due to the fact that if you came across this person, you were probably looking for a 75 DRG, not one of the other jobs they have.

11. That’s a courtesy issue, and if you don’t have the time to party, then don’t look. I agree with you completely here. We now have far too many ways to gain solo exp, or short events that don’t require a great deal of time. MMM, FoV, Campaign, etc. I find it very rude to join a party only to say you need to leave 20 minutes later.

12. I’ve seen a 5 DD x 1 Healer merit party, and these can definitely work well. However, those parties are the exception to the rule. It requires players to have exceptional gear, merits, and merit party experience to work effectively. Dare I say, it’s a veteran merit party setup.

Otherwise, I feel that a BRD+RDM+maybe COR/RDM, and DDs should do fine. Granted, the exp may not be monumentally high, but it would still get you merit points, and quite possibly in a more relaxed setting.

I also think it’s a player mentality. I have seen too many forums or players talk about merits as if they’re a pain to get, so they want to rush through and get things as fast as possible. Yet, if all you’re doing is rushing, you’re bound to get frustrated easier and lessen the enjoyment of anything you do. In a game that’s designed to take time, rushing through anything seems less than ideal.

Bonus: Eel is by far my favorite. ^_^

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Comment from oneyed
Time March 22, 2010 at 6:24 am

12. The difference between the two styles of play, as you noted is definitely the though process that goes behind the game play. I can’t speak for many European countries, but in the United States, the most common school of thought is well-known to be practicality. What matters most in the mind of the US gamer is often times how much exp, and how fast we can get it. As a rdm, i feel the same way. Although it is often times difficult for me to keep everyone alive while keeping up with (de)buffs, if the exp is good, I find the party worth my time, and ultimately, very fun. If the game play is easy, but the exp is less than what I am used to, I feel as if the “fun” is missing.

And just to confirm, I think that most everyone in at the late game merit parties will sub /nin.

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Time April 11, 2010 at 1:37 pm

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