Would like some advice from some mature community members.(Long post)

[Alazar313]

Hi guys, Even though I have a feeling this thread will be like a lure for those childish members who love to resort to personal attacks and insults in order to make a point. I want to see If i can also get some replies from some of the more mature members of this community and hopefully some advice as well.

As I posted before, I just got PSU expansion on the PS2.However I am not a new player to PSU, actually I got my copy of the game on Dec 1 2006. I started playing the game really early on.

As time passed however and the hacking problems started to appear I started to worry about the safety of my account, and the future of the game. Rather than seeing what would happen for myself I chose to leave the game in March of 2007 and attempted to keep in contact using the official forums. For the most part however when ever I asked about the Situation of the game, the hacking, population, and overall updates my questions were almost always received with very rude and improper responses by the games community, this lead me to believe one of two things. Ether all the good players had quit and gone to something else. Or all of the rude players are the only ones on the official forums.

Anyway, I gave up trying to keep in touch with the game and how things were going with it. I decided to come back in January 2008(Without checking the forums) to find out that the population had gone down from 5 stars which is what I was used to seeing on most of the time, sometimes 6 to less than 4 stars. that didn't bother me much I figured "Well, The hackers are probably gone now, and the Rude children probably got bored and left as well", to my chagrin I was only correct about the hacking. I tried to play the game, have fun and enjoy it.When ever I had a doubt or a question though and was trying to find an answer to it I would turn to the forums or even to the general chat on the games "Hot spots", again, my questions were usually met with rude and irrelevant answers. I was finding it very hard to meet some players who actually could carry out a conversation without resorting to insults when ever I happen to have a different opinion than them about a topic.
(For the record, I don't mind a good argument/discussion as long as its logical, is based on a relevant issue and can be free of personal attacks when people disagree with you. In a sense an informative discussion).

Leaving the game again only a week after I started in January of 2008 I figured I would try the 360 version for a change, I did this sometime in the middle of 2008 I can't recall when. So I went to the store got the 360 version and got everything set up. A day after I joined I canceled my account. Everything about the pc/ps2 servers in terms of conversation and immaturity of some of the players was exasperated tenfold. Again, I quit the 360 version of the game.

Now I come back, my 360 is broken I decide to buy ps2 AoTI expansion and give it another go, This time I come to PSO world instead of the official forums I must admit I received a much more mature feel from the community from my first post and onward. I am playing PSU and realize In all this time, I only have 1 person on my friends list. One person that I found that could carry a conversation without having to resort to insult. A single person that I found that I could actually ask questions to.

I did a few runs in the past few days, and ran mostly into mature and kind players to my surprise. I did discover something though, I have yet to make any friends in PSU. And so comes the main part of my post,

Why is it that in games like FFXI, or LoTRO (both very group oriented games) I can go weeks without running into Rude childish players however in PSU when it had a solid number of players, I couldn't go a day without seeing one, or having one insult me because I didn't agree with his opinion. Was I just lucky my past 5 years of mmorpg gaming?

I am also wondering Why Is it that I can't seem to make any friends in PSU, where in FFXI and LoTRO even guild wars, I have so many friends on my lists that I can't go a single day without answering 45 min of mail.

I want to ask some of the mature players a question, I know a lot of you have your solid group of friends you play with, I assume you are all very close friends as well. And this is a big part of why you play psu and enjoy this game.

What would you recommend I do in a game like PSU, with atmosphere like PSU to make some good mature friendships so that I don't have to always feel like Im playing solo?

Iv tried talking to people and asking questions, but a lot of the time it ends up as I stated before hand, Maybe I am just very unlucky in PSU and very fortunate in other online games I don't know, What advice would you give me to make some good friendships and manage to get some fun people to count on to do missions and chat and enjoy the game with?

I don't understand why I am having so much trouble in PSU finding people to have a conversation with or people to just enjoy the game with. I would really like some advice on this please.

If some one here enjoys playing PSU on the pc/ps2 and would like to get in contact please feel free to send me a PM on the forums,

Thank you for your time for those of you who managed to read all of my post, I know there will be some people who will flame, But Ill try to zone those out. Again, I hope I can get some people to PM me or at least reply to my post in a constructive manner.

[TheOneHero]

From what I know of FFXI, it's an uber grind, maybe the stupid kids didn't have the patience for it?

I'm not currently active on PSU at the moment, but when I did play, it was usually with people I had met on PSO or became friends with through PSOW. A few I met in game, and those relationships usually came from buff parties. (You really get to know people in those, XD)

I tended to play how I wanted to play, as long as it didn't detract from the gaming experience of others. ...Except this one time. During an event, someone in the group complained about people picking up synth mats, or photons. Now, I'm not an uber hardcore PSU player, I don't have time to hunt 1337 rares to make cash; so I do it with synthing.

I explained it to this guy, his answer, "I carry 55 weapons and armor, so I have only 5 slots for extra items." >___________>;

Do good at your class, be kind, honest, and respectful of the other players; and I'm sure the nice people will find you. :)

(I hope that helps at all, it's pretty early here so my post is just the bare minimum.)

[xBladeM6x]

Well for the most part, the game does have immature people on it. But there are people, like myself and most on this site, that are mature. You just have to find them lol. Anyways, I think the reason why there are more immature people in this game is because of the fact that the game wasn't advertised, so there wasn't many people who even knew about this game. With that said, most of the people who did join, were from the demo. AKA - Porn land. The immaturity spawns from that lol.

There is not much else I can say. I guess all I can recommend that you look for a group on this website to party with.

[Cracka_J]

Embrace the immaturity!
Your enjoyment of PSU will expand tenfold!

Seriously though, it helps if you aren't bothered by much. I have a very high tolerance level except for when people say brb and afk for an hour+. That's really the only thing that gets to me. Everything else I can pretty much deal with, lol.

Feel free to pm if you need people to run stuff with.

[Para]

There will always be good and bad kinds of players online.

[gratefulgriz]

I would just give it a roll and see what you get. I have been playing on and off (mainly do to content NON-updates and money) for years. I have found the PS community and the PSU players to be amazingly mature, kind, honest, and therefore the best! I know I sound naive, but I have really enjoyed hanging out with you all! BUT remember its just a game, if you can't live with it, don't worry, it can live without you but not all of us!

[fay]

i generally only play with the 2 friends i know in real life.
however one them found someone who had just started playing. he gave him money and stuff for nothing and got him to buy the expansion. now hes kinda in our little group when he plays.

i dont mind joining random partys sometimes but i try to stay away from them for the reasons same as you. another thing that gets me is the people that complain when you do something they dont like and get all power hungry and try to make you do what they want.

if you play the 360 version please come join with me. ill happily do some runs with you. you sound like the type of person i wanna do runs with.
out of the whole time iv played (which is ages) iv only found 1 person who was properly nice. we would share our items that we find etc.
however there is some people on this forum who i have met that doesnt act like an imiture brat. nate dog i think his name is. hes a decent guy when ever i do runs with him.


so yea please join in for runs with me if you play the 360. gamertag = LINK2212
only problem is most americans dont understand my accent which leave me generally not using my mic but a keyboard instead. if you can understand the scottish accent then thats a bonus lol

[xDemi]

T^T most of my best friends (online friends are my besties D:<) have quit the game so theres only like 3 of us left Dx and most people on there are a bit annoying but there are meny mature players out there :D >.>;;; i sorta am i can be i really can but most the people i met were mature so yea like people have been saying just gotta find um =p

[Rust]

Or all of the rude players are the only ones on the official forums.

First of all : Yes.

That said, TOH pretty much stated why you barely meet immature people on FFXI.
Hardcore grinding is partly why I left the game myself, because I'm too much of a casual player for it.
I don't know about LoTRO since I never played to it, but the other main Codemasters online game, DDO, is about the same. Most of the kids just leave after the 10-day trial because they can't afford the (quite expensive) monthly fee and the game requires a really high cooperative teamwork even since the lowest levels in order to progress, and that's too much for them.
As for GW, you just have been lucky, I guess. Though I wasn't on the US servers, the game was full of elitist kids, selfish pricks and angry immature otaku/nerds. I almost finished the main campaign by soloing it, then quit because the gameplay was too boring to me.

As how it goes to find people to run with on the game, I'd suggest you'd lurk a bit longer on those boards, in PSU General, Lounge, maybe Player Matchup section, also ; and try to see if there is people you're finding acquaintances with, then try to make friends with them and meet up on PSU. That's how I got most of my cards ; the ones I actually use, I mean. I have quite a bunch of cards I got directly from people IG, but I almost never call any of them actually.

I would propose you to meet up sometimes, but I'm a very casual, slow-leveling player, coupled with a big soloer because the way I want to play usually differs too much from what most of the people on the game want to do, so yeah.

And I'm very immature.

[Alazar313]

Thank you for the replies, I would just like to say I am currently on PC/ps2 giving it a second try, I don't think I made that clear enough in my post, sorry about that.

Also If I can meet many nice players on here that play on 360, I honestly wouldn't mind sending in my 360 for a 100 dollar repair and hopping back on those servers ether.

Thanks for all the great comments so far.

[Yunfa]

Ah, joining up for the 1st time on the 360 without buds to help u out is tough. You have to "earn" respect on the 360 side. Meaning, if you have a nice pallete with 41+ bullets, techs or photon arts, even the "immature" ones will shut their mouth and obey. This is said from personal experience.

[biggabertha]

Unfortunately, there will always be immature minded players in any online game. The best way to avoid them is to ignore them or use the blacklist to keep their conversations silent from yours.

Final Fantasy XI requires team work to play - as I'm sure you've come to realise and notice. It isn't a viable option to solo in that game unless you have less... "traditional" means to play. Many other MMORPGs that require a subscription fee helps to filter out some immature players but they also filter out the good players.

PSU and WoW (World of Warcraft) are extremely solo friendly. That's not saying they are solo games online but everything that does not require an extra body to step on a switch in PSU, you can do it solo with a bit more time than in a party. Same in WoW, you can happily solo from the moment you start the game to the level cap. Lord of the Rings Online has a similar game mechanic to both WoW and FFXI but has a more.... repetitive combat/leveling system than PSU and that's the attraction of PSU.

WIth PSU, you have a vastly HUGE control of your avatar's appearance. Weapons and abilities are relatively easy to attain but the best part is the ability to acquire virtually any item within the game by yourself.

There are no items that are tied to your account for specific use (not anymore, at least) such as weapons, armours or clothes and everything that is tied to your account for use is effectively currency that can be acquired in alone (Leveled Photon Arts (PAs), PA Fragments, Casino Coins and items bought/traded in the casino).


In response to your question/query about what to do within PSU, I would highly recommend you to persist in your attempt at playing this game. Of course, many of the more mature players have an inactive subscription and there are several flaws within the game but everytime that there is an event of some sort, people will naturally flock towards it. Join groups that have at least changed the party name and written something that interests you within the comment box.

However, the bottom line with PSU is (as you must know with FFXI):

In order to get anything in this game, you must either be extraordinarily lucky or extremely persistent in repeating the same run, over and over.

One of the hottest items going now is the Lumirus/Kaos Knight. An S rank arm unit that boasts an incredible amount of strength when equipped and it is of course, extraordinarily rare. Smoe have gone many hundreds of repeated runs before acquiring the item and some have even gone longer than that whilst not being so fortunate.


Finally, in response to what you asked about what personally keeps me attached to the game? Only a handful of friends and my ambitious dream of having all PAs for each character, each specific class currently available and every PA available to that class, all at maximum level.

Yes... so that means having two, three or even four sets of PAs for each weapon for my characters... no, I am not looking forward to owning three Masei-Sous.

[Atomic646]

From what I know of FFXI, it's an uber grind, maybe the stupid kids didn't have the patience for it?

I'm not currently active on PSU at the moment, but when I did play, it was usually with people I had met on PSO or became friends with through PSOW. A few I met in game, and those relationships usually came from buff parties. (You really get to know people in those, XD)

I tended to play how I wanted to play, as long as it didn't detract from the gaming experience of others. ...Except this one time. During an event, someone in the group complained about people picking up synth mats, or photons. Now, I'm not an uber hardcore PSU player, I don't have time to hunt 1337 rares to make cash; so I do it with synthing.

I explained it to this guy, his answer, "I carry 55 weapons and armor, so I have only 5 slots for extra items." >___________>;

Do good at your class, be kind, honest, and respectful of the other players; and I'm sure the nice people will find you. :)

(I hope that helps at all, it's pretty early here so my post is just the bare minimum.)

Yeah ffxi is pretty tough or that no one really wants to start something by typing it, I mean its easy to talk shiit.

[buzyb77]

Thank you for the replies, I would just like to say I am currently on PC/ps2 giving it a second try, I don't think I made that clear enough in my post, sorry about that.

Also If I can meet many nice players on here that play on 360, I honestly wouldn't mind sending in my 360 for a 100 dollar repair and hopping back on those servers ether.

Thanks for all the great comments so far.


1 of my 360 has been going back and forth to the Repair Shop since its death on 11/26... it starts its 3rd trip next week... as the 1st time it got it back it would not power up...2nd time I get my unit back and the color get brighter and darker in randoms and I get black lines acroos my screen Wheee Round 3 here we gooooooooooooo

[Alazar313]

well you dont pay every time do you? they have you covered by now?

[zantetsuken]

Derp.

[Criss]

Hey Alazar, if you see me around (Sryche, Liva, Eve), call me or send me a message and I'll gladly join you for a few missions. :) I happen to be leveling a new alt these days (Eve, currently lv 53) so we can certainly do lower rank missions together to get you leveled up. :3

[DEM_CIG]

If you ever hop back on the 360, hit me up. My GT is Eternal Aura, I like to help out people when I can. Right now most of my friends dont get on that much any more and I enjoy running with new people.

On a second note ZeroTheBurninator is really nice lol.

[Chaos320]

Happy monday to all of you!

Now on to business...

Here is the deal, i have played PSU sense the game has come out on the xbox360 having ID number 1865(or something like that) and knowing a lot about it. Well the past 3ish months it has slipped away from me and i have found myself playing different MMO's and such.

Well over the 4 day weekend i had from work i decided to play some RockBank 2 on the xbox and guess what?...Its red ringed yay!!! -_- Well i want to come back to the PSU world because its a great game but...im not sure about it

So the questions i have for you PC and PS2 players are...

1) Is it worth it to even come back to PSU? i mean i use to be a die core fan of it and then with the lack of updates and such it just kinda slipped away from me because of nothing new...

2) If i do decide to come back how is the PC/PS2 world? well populated and friendly and such?

I mean ill be on my PC playing and such i dont know it that matters on the debate or not, i just really dont want to / dont have the funds for a new 360 right now. Any input you guys have would be great!

*Im sure there are like a billion and one spelling / grammer errors but im about to start the work day and dont have enough time to re-read it. Sorry :(

[EMPYREAN]

uppdate rate hasent changed.
personaly i took a 3 month break and only came back to 150 cap, 1 new miss(thats a boring reskin of 2 miss we allready have) and 3 new jobs so dont expect alot of new content.

population..... bad.
during daytime(gmt +1) its between a half to 1 full star. when i go to bed its around 1 and a half star(uni 2 only)

the posetive thing is ther seems to be a wery mature community and rarly have i met any assholes exept during events.

so if u r looking 4 alot of ppl to play whit, fix your 360.
if u dont mind playing in a ghost town then welcome to the pc/ps2 side

[Calsetes]

Speaking as a mature player on the PS2 and PC servers, I can honestly say that the population is extremely small compared to what it was back when it came out (i.e. "vanilla PSU"'s launch). That said, of the people who still play, you'll still have good players and bad players. The thing I try to keep in mind when I come across some bad players is just ignore them and keep doing what you're doing in the party until they boot you for something, or leave the party of your own volition. Usually, I opt for the latter, and then either try to find another party or start one of my own.

As for finding people that you play with on a regular basis, I usually give my card to just about anyone and everyone (assuming they show a bit of intelligence on their end), and they can ask me to help them out anytime. I don't usually try to initiate the conversation myself though, unless it's someone I know fairly well. In the month that I've played after coming back from a year-long absence, I have approximately 3 or 4 people that I converse with and play with on a regular basis. They just kind of happened that way, my being nice to them, them being nice to me, and them getting my help when they asked for it.

I will admit, depending on what level you are in the game, it can be hard to find mature players. A lot of the low-levels and even a good bit of the 140-150 group strike me as immature, just from what I've seen in lobbies and whatnot. My only suggestion would be to have fun while you're playing, and feel free to crack a joke or two while in a mission if you want. I'm sure you'll strike a friendship up with someone in good time.

As for hackers and cheaters, I've heard of one or two glitches being in the game right now. I personally don't think they should be used, but I'm not going to report anyone over it (get one person kicked from the game, the community lost 1/10th of its total population). If it's an annoying glitch, I'll just leave. If it's a very mild one (like back when swimsuits came out, people lagged it so they'd be able to wear whatever pants they wanted with the swim top, or vice-versa), then I have no problem with it. It's not even that hard to get money anymore, assuming you can get ahold of Grinder Base S's, or some Copernia or Olpad.

If you're ever on the PC/PS2 servers, and see either Calsetes, Nuku Nuku, Eimi, or Narau running around, feel free to ask me for help. Chances are I'll be more than willing to lend a hand.

[Chaos320]

well thats good. Back on the 360 we had are same share of not the best players to good friends as well so i can understand where your commin from there. Even with all of the xbox360 players i still only had my fair share of 5ish good friends i would talk to all the time then just random people i could find from here to there for a few runs. Well all sounds good, just startin off at lvl 1 all over again with no money no nothing dosent really sound so great lol. But your prices where like mine back on xbox360 it wont be too hard to get my hand on some decent items. Well so far the feed back has been good. Keep it commin guys i might go get it tonight considering im sure its not that much...unless its way to hard to even find anymore.

[Chimeria]

I may get the game the Wednesday and I'm looking foward to making some friends. So I'll let you guys know when I get it...Man I'm kinda scared though.

But yeah, as with all online games you just have to find the right people. I used to play alot of free online games before I got my XBOX and the people online pissed me off. I left alot of them because the community was horrible. Most likely I probably just hunt down the posters here and stalk them until they become my friends. LOL. (just kidding)

[Alazar313]

I get on at nights, Usually between 8pm and 11pm PST.

Although yesterday I was on I was really not doing much, since Im in this race to reach 75 on my 3rd Job in FFXI im lvl 72 atm and need to do a lot before I can go to 73. So If im on im usually sitting outisde in parum east doing nothing, or In my room. ---

Shiro Tagachi, character name.

I visit all the people who send me PM's on here, their rooms, but no one was there, so Im going to be visiting rooms again tonight between 8pm - 10pm.

[Ryock]

You'll always run into rude people, especially on PSU. Regardless of whether you go to the official forums, these forums or on the game, they're there. And unfortunately, they outnumber us XD. Joking aside, you probably did have some pretty bad luck to be honest, though I'm not surprised. I don't usually run into a ton of rude people or people who constantly like to tell me stupid things. I'm reminded of this very stupid kid I ran into yesterday... anyways though, anyone will tell you that 360 is the last place to go to when you're looking for nice, understanding, intelligent people.

A lot of the smarter people here either cling together or they solo. I was lucky, as me and my group of irl friends are all very much into SEGA's games, so once I started, my three irl friends immediately joined in with me, so I had me and three others from the beginning. Though my list is pretty large, there's only a handful of people I talk to. It's pretty easy to spot out people you can have a decent conversation with, though. They're around, just gotta look XD. You say you're on PC/PS2 servers, right? Well, if you're ever on there, send me a PM here, I'll play with ya for a while.