Goodbye, CoP

Ever since the update, I found more and more ppl running around with titles obtained from CoP missions. Apparently, being able to solo/duo CoP missions makes the whole thing a lot easier, those missions are less hardcore now and more accessible to those not willing to spend hrs and hrs making a pt and finding ppl for CoP. This is both a good thing and bad thing. More causal players or new ppl can now catch up and obtain sea/limbus gears easily, but one of my favorite aspect of this game is now gone, forever. And unlikely to come back in the future.

So, what is my favorite aspect of this game? My favorite aspect of this game is just same as every other FF titles, adventures and stories. Enter a dungeon with a group of companions and fight your way through, fight the boss, save the world. As the story progresses, the player get to explore more and more new areas. And the players get the chance to try different pt setup and strategy for every boss fight. This traditional RPG element is what I enjoy the most in all RPGs, even in FFXI, which is a MMORPG.

I entered the world of FFXI after CoP is nerfed, and did my first promy mission when my highest job reached 36, with my second LS Gamblers (which died shortly after). We were a bunch of noobs with pretty much zero experience for mission BC fights except rank mission 2-3. Promy fights are our first real mission BC fights that requires some item preparations, strategy and balanced pt setup, one of the first real challenge for us noobs. I still remember, our pt setup was PLD DRK BLU WAR WHM BLM, which is a very bad pt setup. After killing mobs aggroed and Memory Receptacles on the way, we finally reached the boss fight. Well, in the end we failed the boss fight. But this was my first group event ever. I will never forget this experience.

One month later, I retried promy with Axiom, with some of the veterans guiding I finally learned promy needs yag drink for mages, needs right job such as NIN or DD/NIN for frontline jobs, needs full set of animas for everyone, etc. And when we finally cleared promy and being teleported to Lufaise Meadows, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. There are other tough but memorable fights that requires some organization, such as 2.5 mammets fight, or Diabolos fight, I enjoyed them all.

After that I left the LS and formed my own CoP and add-on mission static, I learned to search FFXIAH.com for people on the same mission and have the jobs I need for the fight, if I can’t find ppl then I asked friends for help, it’s really painful to do all the organization, especially for a lazy player such as myself D; , however, after I’m done with all those missions it became an experience I’ll never forget in this game.

One reason why I like to do all those missions with a pt instead of solo/duoing is because it gives the feeling of the old FFs, you always face the challenge with a bunch of companions, not alone. Sometimes ppl in my pt had some interesting and funny conversations when watching the CS, which makes the CS even more interesting than it should be.

After the promy removed, I had an EXP pt in promy. Our group climbed up to the top floor, raping Memory Receptacles on the way, killing them within 5 sec. those Memory Receptacles used to be some sort of mini boss on the way to the final boss of promy. I really want to ask SE, what’s those Memory Receptacles for, if they no longer serve as some sort of gate keeper for players to challenge them?

Pretty much every challenging and memorable mission fights that requires a lot of organization and balanced pt setup, may be soloable/duoable at 99. ToAU last boss (The only BC fight I tried more than 3 times for clear) ASA last boss (possibly the hardest mission BC in this game at 75 if you don’t SMN burn it)ACP and MKE and so on. Those fights may be as laughable as rank mission 5.2 Shadow Lord battle in the future.

I understand that getting a pt together for CoP is shit. IMO, the best way to solve this problem is to give better reward (such as 10k EXP instead of 1k, or some super good EX/RARE augment items), so you can get ppl to help easy. If everyone all solo through the entire story, and only do story so they can get gears, then there is no difference between FFXI and one million MMORPG out there. Which is all about gear grind, gear grind and more gear grind.

Goodbye CoP. No, CoP is still there, but it's no longer the CoP we hate and love.