Why you should be playing Final Fantasy XI: Level sync
by Seraphina Brennan 
Dec 30th 2008 at 4:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Tips and tricks, Why You Should Be Playing
This should be a story that any MMO player is intimately acquainted with. You've just picked up an awesome new MMO and have been flying through the levels. It's gripping you and you really want to share it with your friends. Then you realize the fatal problem that occurs with most MMOs -- you're too high level and you don't want to wait for your friends to catch up.
With Final Fantasy XI, this was the brutal nature of the game. Being one or two levels away from your party resulted in decreased exp for everyone involved. Being three levels or more meant the party just didn't work at all and experience was ruined for everyone. It was unbearably hard to get parties, because everyone had to be within 2 levels of one another. With the recent advent of level sync, however, those days are long gone.
Jumping into Final Fantasy XI with level sync as a viable option is like jumping into an entirely brand new game. Level sync is like City of Heroes sidekicking, but on steroids. All you have to do is select a member of your party and tell level sync to set to their level. That's it! Any member of the party who is above the level sync level will be automatically dropped down to that level, and anyone underneath the level will stay the same. So if you sync to the lowest member of the party, all party members are now the same level.
What makes this an even better addition is that items and equipment drop down with you. No need to go out and get a brand new set of gear to match your new level. At the same time, the team didn't want level 75 players to automatically drop down to level 20 wearing their 75 equipment and have the best stuff. The armor and weapons will decrease to the median statistics for the level, meaning if your buddy is a level 20 and is wearing level 20 stuff, he will have the better gear. But, your gear will still be totally good for kicking clippers and pugils back into the sea.
Plus, if all of this didn't sound good enough, you still gain 100% experience in level sync mode. All of the experience you accrue goes towards your higher level, so you can party with a group of level 30s and still gain experience to get you from level 39 to level 40.
The impact this has had on the game is immediately apparent. The Bahamut server had more people on than ever, including 110 people in the Qufim Island area alone. Grouping has gone from being a long chore to having extremely fast pickup times and enjoyable results. The only problem right now is that level sync can only be used if your party is level 10 and above. While this means that soloing is still the best way to get to level 10, it would be nice to have that option available even at the lowest levels.
A great new feature like this -- one that allows you to play a very group based game with your friends, no matter their level -- makes the game into an epic adventure that mimics the Final Fantasy series rather than just being another MMO knockoff. If you haven't played FFXI in a while, or were considering picking it up -- do it. Level sync is just one way this game has been revitalized for modern day play.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
double9s said on 4:33PM 12-30-2008
All games (WoW) should have something like this. I hate not being able to play with friends just because our level difference is so big.
In a system like this, where levels are only simulated down, not up, are there any fairness issues that I'm not considering?
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Colin Brennan said on 4:42PM 12-30-2008
There are no fairness problems, but there are balance problems. One of the big disadvantages to level sync is that you can keep leveling in the same area as long as you can keep syncing down to a lower level player.
What this caused is people over camping low level areas and less people present at higher level areas. Higher levels sync down to hang with lower levels, which leaves less people at the higher levels. No incentive to explore.
But I think as people level up with the friends, they're going to be exploring eventually... plus Square-Enix will no doubt tweak the system to get it right.
Frostybolts said on 12:27PM 1-05-2009
Hitting the level cap in WoW is so trivial that there's really no point in going out of your way to engage in low level content with your friends
Even without the recruit-a-friend system, you can just level a new guy to play with your buddy
If they start playing 4 hours a day and outpacing you, it'll only take 3-4 weeks for them to hit 80 anyway, and in the mean time you can hop on once in a whioe to run them through a low level dungeon
colin said on 5:08PM 12-30-2008
Colin, I have to strongly disagree, mostly because although I have played Final Fantasy XI for a long time i still don't have really any high level jobs and it is very nice to once again see many people in the lower level areas. I will admit though the system does need some tweaking which i'm sure square enix will with out a doubt have with in a short amount of time.
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Colin Brennan said on 5:12PM 12-30-2008
Don't worry Colin, you know that I obviously feel strongly thumbs up for the system. Last night I actually had fun playing FFXI, and I haven't been able to say that in a long time. That small note is pretty much the only problem I have with the system, and that will be regulated in time.
Plus, I'm with you, my Dark Knight is only level 24. :)
Aselus said on 6:07PM 12-30-2008
mmm I wouldn't say people are ignoring high level areas on Quetzelcoatl, most of my level syncs are 50+ in ToAU areas.^^ heh, though admittedly 30~50 (aka. garliage, crawlers nest, esat altepa) is a lot of peoples 'most hated' locations, so i'm not surprised those levels are trying to get out of those zones XD. A shame though because they are a good change of scenery.
Imho aside from making more stats scale, there really isn't anything else that should be done to the system, if they gimp it in any way (even a little more then it is now) a lot of us in the higher tears will start saying forget it and not play with our friends in the lower tiers.
just my thoughts. ^^ LevelSync system is AMAZING XD
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Graill said on 10:01PM 12-30-2008
If i am not mistaken AOC had this from the start.
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Ernest said on 4:18AM 12-31-2008
Certainly FFXI isn't the first MMO to have the Level Sync idea, as Graill pointed out, but while other systems just allow friends to play together despite disparity in level, FFXI's Level Sync has solved many problems that have plagued the game for a long time and frustrated some of my friends into leaving.
You no longer have to log onto mules and do a inventory-shuffle just to do a simple level-capped task. A single player leveling no longer completely ruins a experience-grind party. One really has to be initiated to FFXI in order to appreciate the magnitude of this seemingly simple change.
Really, since the Wings of the Goddess expansion (and all the additional MMO competition), Square Enix seems to be taking the game in a direction that suggests they don't hate the FFXI playerbase with every fiber of their being.
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Dread said on 9:19AM 12-31-2008
Why would you stay in the same area? That makes no sense to me.... higher levels might drop down to party with lowbies, that will get hem XP, but it aint going to get them those phat lewt drops they are used to.
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Meanwhile said on 11:37AM 12-31-2008
Aww, I've been hoping for this for so long! But I think it's too late. I no longer know anyone who plays this game. Sigh.
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Yoshimi said on 1:30PM 12-31-2008
I agree, it's too late for me. I am glad they finally added this feature, but I have long retired FFXI.
Since my friends were usually lower level, I could never really play with them ...so they quit, and in turn, so did I.
I hope other developers see this and incorporate it into their MMOs.
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Terrence Newton said on 8:40PM 1-01-2009
yes, these are the kind of articles i need to read, to make me feel better about my decision to return (in the near future) to ffxi. admittedly, ffxi is the only mmorpg i've ever played, but i absolutely love it. i love the strong emphasis on teamwork, the importance of good strategy, and the general difficulty of the game. i also love the job system (mainly how it lets you have multiple jobs). i have yet to find any other game that offers these things (some1 please tell me if there is..).
i guess my biggest gripe about the game has been partying. i loved partying, but sometimes it would be so hard to make a good exp party. sometimes you'd be missing just one member (let's say you'd need a WHM and your pty is 58-60), and the only one you see out there is like lvl 62. you'd basically be screwed. or, sometimes you'd get a proper pty together, and all of the good camps would be taken (esp. if ppl in your group don't have access to sky or w/e).
now, you can pretty much pty wherever you want (except like in like east saruta), w/ whomever you want. i think that is awesome, and i am really looking fwd to it.
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