What Does Being Veteran Player Means Nowdays?

I agree to this, time spend shouldn't mean much. But the ability to guide others and learn should be main priority , and i don't mean making your own ls and such. Just being able to go to a pick up group and play well follow guidelines and such, make friends in the process and do the best you could in that situation. Even if its not best by everyone standards

Skimmed through the first page, I think most people are on the same general idea so I stopped reading.

Elitism has been and always will be in every single MMOs, it's a type of electronic competitive sport, so people, even for regular players, will aim for becoming an elite in w/e they do.

But also like every sports, you got the people that will think that they're globetrotters when in fact they aren't even close, it's matter of perspective when it comes to how one defines the term "Veteran".

I joined '09, end of ToAU and shifting towards WotG, at that time when I didn't know any better, I jumped on the ToAU wagon too late by the time I got my first 75 as a BLM, there are countless times people told me till this day that I'm not worthy because I haven't been in the hardship they have been through pre 75 era since by the time I join there were SMN/BMN burn and FoV page etc.

I know I'm not a vet, and will never claim to be one. However it is like someone said, whenever I join a "vet onry" shout, it tends to be the people who show up without gearswap of any kind, every time I see those people wielding a 99 Ukon in full twilight I weep for their weapons.

In my own perspective, I view someone as a true veteran when they utilize themselves decent enough to contribute output to the group by a reasonable margin; and know of the mechanics to support the rest of the members even when he's not asked upon.

For my experience, I personally have been a main healer or mage class in EVERY single MMO I played, going on 15 years now. I know that I enjoy casting most, so I would read up extensively on my job specifically for gear and mechanics, however not limited to. It's equally important to know of what you're fighting, who you're fighting it with, and be prepared accordingly. The more knowledge you have within your grasp, the better you can refine your playstyle to cope with more players/situations, even when throwing you into an event as a first timer.

TL;DR version: FFXI is not rocket science; no matter what phase you are people will still try to one-up you; "vet" status is just an opinion; the more prepared you are, the better you are.

My 2 cents.

The ability to guide players makes you a mentor or in some cases a philanthropist(haha). A veteran player that guides other players is one of those two things respectively.

That doesn't mean that a Veteran has to help other people, though often times they do.

A veteran player is also not going to refer to themselves as a veteran, or openly require other people to be "veterans" to join a PUG.

A person who requires veterans by name is an elitist, typically.

The only pre-req to being a veteran is to have a vast knowledge of the game. Now to be a ***, that's pretty easy, and there are tons of those out there throwing out the word veteran.

Sadly the term is used incorrectly by many. D:

Knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge are different things. While I agree with what you said in part, I'm not trying to be nit picky. What I mean is, however much you know you still need the gear to make use of that knowledge successfully.

Yes and no. Let me try a metaphor here.

A veteran navy SEAL doesn't need a gun to kill you, he knows he can stab you in the throat with a pen.

A typical veteran player has good gear because they're educated in it and work towards it. That's more of the effect of being a veteran than it is a requirement.

I'd think more in terms of gearsets/tweaking than gear itself though.. I'm not denying your statement, just kind of amending it a bit.

Not having gear so much as knowing how to get the most out of what you have.

I appreciate what you're saying, so I'll give an example.

Player X loses their nice account for some reason and starts on a new account. They burn their characters up to 99 quickly and already have the skill and knowledge from before. They lack the gear to make use of that skill/knowledge though, so imo they cannot be called 'veteran'.

Thoughts?

Gear is unfortunately half the battle in this game or prolly any mmo or rpg out there. Some ppl don't have the time to to get the gear needed, or the gil to buy it. Some ppl lost their account and were banned . Came back and well no other choice now than to burn your job to 99, maybe play a bit sometimes leech the rest. nonetheless you still need gear after the job is 99, and with demands some ppl make these days is kind of hard not to adjust to it. A thf only needs thief knife mostly since most of the time that's why you there for, yet a lot of ppl go to the extents of getting relics and best gear they can just to be able to excel and be more prepared add even if its only a bit more dmg ect.
Gear doesn't determined a players ability to be good at their jobs or to adapt but without it well makes certain things in this game harder, or doesn't give you the chance to go to those events

I agree a little bit, I mean, I think someone fitting the moniker correctly wont be out of the running for long. They will go build a relevant weapon and get their gear in decent working shape/skillup.

A burned veteran = a noob? haha

90% I agree. The part about gear not determining a players ability to be good at their jobs, I absolutely don't.

If you get a DD without support (DT sets and the rest) gear, and u don't have fanatics drinks and such, many harder NMs will kill them, thus dropping their contribution to 0. If you get a mage without idle sets, the amount of time they can remain active for is lessened greatly. If a rdm doesn't have an enfeeble set they contribute less, if a brd doesn't have a -song casting time set, their ability to adapt to situations quickly drops. So on and so forth.

And yet, for the time they haven't got the gear to go with their skill, they aren't a veteran. Which is my point.

When there's a discussion about gear/skill, why would the reason behind not having certain gear involved?

Say if I'm applying for best college in this world, and it requires grade A for everything in high school, but I only have B+. What's the point to tell them "I got B+ because I have to work part-time and support my family, I missed a test and I ended up getting B+. Please accept my application, I'm certainly smart enough for this."

I mean, does the reason of not having X gear matter? If you don't have it, then you don't have it.

However, experienced player or dedicated ppl often find faster way to farm gears. Personally I'd aim for gears offer biggest increase first, unless it's an item with emotional attachment(such as R/E/M). I've seen plenty of players waste time on side grade or gears that requires more effort and offers less increase(such as farming a swift because he has no twilight).

Being a veteran means you don't play anymore.
Because there is no way you've put up with the 10 years of crap this game has made you go through and still put up with ***like Matsui's "Unbarance"

Basic recollection and foresight (and the ability to use Google) are skills now? Cause that's really all it takes to elevate yourself above the common windowlickers.

The word veteran is miss used by many for many reasons, everyone and myself have listed explanations. but this day of ffxi people consider a "veteran" to be one that can parse in the top 3 and rip high spike dmg. Is this true? No. But sadly thats all people think you need to do to qualify as a veteran.

So what do you if you don't have X-piece of gear ? and lets say it requires an event like legion, cuse i don't think delve nm's and plasma count as that, i think is the only thing that apply to that rule nowadays, maybe NNI also. You dont get it cuse you didn't ask to get in? you don't get it because they don't want to understand that even without x-piece of gear you can still perform well enough to make a difference?
I do agree with the fact the priority's should be set straight and should have preference for the job you play most want the gear best ect.

If i had a penny for every time i have gotten something, accomplished something just because i ask and prove i could do it . I would prolly be able to sent money to my mother in Cuba more often

They'd still be a veteran player, and would likely illustrate that by not trying to engage in group content before skilling/gearing up to the point where their new character is not a liability (unless they had friends letting them leech).

Its not the old days anymore back in 03-04 etc veterans had gear that under skilled players wouldn't have. You could pick out just by sight who is good, who does end game, who had good LS and spent months/years grinding on point based events to earn them, that no longer exists tho ffxi, its totally new different game.
Now everyone merc 10x more than back in the day so noobs wearing NNI etc don't mean ***, gear doesn't represent anything anymore. Casual players can be vets now but back in day casual players weren't accepted into LSs as there was forced attendance.

And yet, the implied inability to do said content would suggest a deficiency in the player, removing them from consideration as a top player? After all, the term 'veteran' does socially mean 'top player', even if the opinions on what makes a player such may differ.

I believe this is the point I was making earlier lol

I don't have any backreading skill :(

That's not what I meant!
I was just agreeing with you!

...is a noob.

If an LS member tells me he's a Vet. I assume he means he has at least been around since 75 cap and did some end game back then.

If I see a shout for Vets, I assume they mean they want players who know all the nuances of their job and what kinds of gear to equip in each situation AND they know what gearsets they will need for that event + they know the enemy/its moves and if the event is like NNi, communication skills. Amount of time they have been playing is irrelevant.

Usually when someone tells me they're a Veteran I assume I should probably find someone else to pick up their slack in my group

I should elaborate what I meant... Non-event chatter in LS.

This is a good way to put it, i made a similar reference. But when u see a /sh for veteran we all no what they really are saying is
"/sh Looking for Members that can do eye candy numbers"

A true veteran is secure enough with his gaming prowess to be a humongous clusterfuck of fail and noobishness.

Veteran is rank 10 in your nation.