So the complete version of FFXI is on sale this month and I'm

the game changed a lot to make it solo player friendly which kinda defeats the purpose of playing a MMO

I'd recommend that you play it, but play it as a solo experience. Don't expect a large community of players because it doesn't exist anymore.
That said, You should play it. grind a job to max level, run through the story missions, then quit with the knowledge that you've experienced the best of what the genre has to offer.

>>387616694
>That said I've also heard some say that it's not worth getting into at this point.
It's kind of true, I'd say. A big part of FFXI's charm was how tight-knit the community was and how much you had to and together to get shit done. Getting to know the other players made the grueling level grinding much more tolerable, so now that the numbers aren't as high as they used to be it's not as easy for new players to get into it. Haven't played in a while honestly, but supposedly they made solo leveling a little easier.

>>387616863
>you've experienced the best of what the genre has to offer.
lmao no. if it was the ebst of what the genre has to offer then why is both retail and the private server scene so dead? you would think there would be a healthy emulation server community like WoW or Runescape but nope

>you will never ever liberate Tavnazia from the beastman hordes, the refugees will live in a hole in the ground for eternity

why not just play on a private server? you get to play the same dead game but without paying a monthly subscription fee

>>387616694
Id love for this to go f2p so I can finish the storylines I never finished.

>>387616694
Play it solo

I tried getting into it with a friend and the game just doesn't work that well unless you're either solo or in a full group.

does this shit get removed from your Steam library when the sub ends? I see people review it on Steam but NO one has it in their actual library.

>>387617857
they played a standalone boxed variant of it, then reviewed it on steam.

I've never actually played the steam edition of it that I own, I just used the CD key to upgrade another account with the expansion content.