History YMMV / FinalFantasyXI

** Among the villains, Lady Lilith is easily the most popular villain despite not getting nearly as much attention from Square as The Shadow Lord, The Zilart Princes and Promathia. Fans love her for her tragic back story, understandable motives and Fanservice design. She was the runner up in the above popularity poll to become a trust.

** For most players, "Red Mage" and "sensible update" cannot possibly exist in the same sentence. For completely opposing reasons, however. Also, opinions are rabidly split over [[ZergRush meleeburns]].
** Meleeburns? How about [[SeriousBusiness astral burn is/is not cheating]]?
** There's also the gradual raising of the level cap from 75 to 99, after years of the best gear at 75 being the best in the game. For some, it means the game becomes more soloable or less people are required to get things done, for others it means their hard earned gear now amount to nothing compared to the new stuff. Either way, there will be grind.

** Among the villains, Lady Lilith is easily the most popular villain despite not getting nearly as much attention from Square as The Shadow Lord, The Zilart Princes and Promathia. Fans lover her for her tragic back story, understandable motives and Fanservice design. She was the runner up in the above popularity poll to become a trust.

** There's the job combo of [[GameBreaker Red Mage/Ninja]]. There are videos on Website/YouTube of players with this combination soloing enemies that were intended to be fought by full alliances. Do note that while these ''are'' possible, they require maximum skill and several hours of not leaving the game for any reason whatsoever, as well as expensive healing items. [[AwesomeButImpractical It's more for E-peen than anything else]].
** For most of the game's run, Ninja had a special place in the Stop Having Fun Guys arsenal -- Ninjas at 37 get a GameBreaker ability (Blink, thanks to the Utsusemi spell) that allows them to ignore any and all incoming damage. It was considered mandatory for the longest time to take Ninja as your subjob if you were melee, simply because of how broken the Blink spell was - instead of healing better, faster, or using tactics, everyone simply had to blink away the damage. In addition, you had to get the Blink spell (which cost a lot of money) and spend money on the Blink spell component (which you used up ''every single time you cast it''). As a result, playing a Ninja was extremely expensive in the long run.

** Having said that, subjobs can be an indication of incompetence: for example, a [[MightyGlacier Paladin]] / [[SquishyWizard Blackmage]] thinking they can be a direct damage specialist, or a [[TheBerserker Warrior]] / [[LightningBruiser Ninja]] before the subjob grants abilities that are worthwhile.

* MostAnnoyingSound:
** Haste Samba. And Boost. Which you will hear Every. 15. Seconds. And Bard songs.
** Also the spell Ice Spikes, a defensive spell that causes ice-type damage any time the buffed target is hit, and ''every time'' it activates (as in everytime the target is hit) it sounds like someone is loudly breaking glass. Particularly annoying when its on an enemy, and you're entire party sounds like its emulating a bull in a china shop by meleeing it.

* InternetBackdraft: [[GameMod Windower]], and whether it's legal or not. And, within the Windower community, whether advanced mods such as AP Radar are going too far.

* ContestedSequel: Lots of FanDumb regarding this early on, from Japanese beta testers complaining that the game was "too western" to westerners declaring it "not a FF" and begging for "''Final Fantasy XI Offline''".

** So many Mithras are [[CrossPlayer played by males]] that everyone calls them "Manthras". [[{{Squick}} Even though]] [[OneGenderRace they playable ones are all]] {{Cat Girl}}s.

** There's also a wide variety of nicknames (more than a few unflattering) for zones, [=NPCs=], and [[BonusBoss Notorious Monsters]].

%%** There's also a wide variety of nicknames (more than a few unflattering) for zones, [=NPCs=], and [[BonusBoss Notorious Monsters]].

* BigNameFan:
** [[ComicBook/GoldDigger Fred Perry]] is known to play - and even writes and draws "Level UP!", a web-comic starring his Mithra red mage (as well as some [[BleachedUnderpants more adult]] fare starring the same character, generally titled "Level Down").
** [[VGCats Scott Ramsoomair]] also did the official webcomic for the game...or at least he used to. [[ScheduleSlip It's been a while since the last one.]]

** Everybody has a horror story about at least one ''Chains of Promathia'' boss, most aggravatingly the 45-minute airship fight where dying to any one of three stages of the fight meant you needed to fight all three again, but not before reacquiring special items needed to win. The [[MarathonBoss Pandemonium Warden]] [[RunningGag deserved this title once]], on account of literally beating a linkshell into submission courtesy of a ''nineteen hour fight'' that ended when the leaders started realizing people were sacrificing their actual health and called it off. Due to the negative press, they [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] both it and the similarly maddening Absolute Virtue while also going to the extreme AntiPoopSocking measure of a ''two-hour'' time limit on both fights.

%%* TheScrappy: Naja Salaheem. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Ooooh,]] Naja Salaheem.

* BigNameFan: [[ComicBook/GoldDigger Fred Perry]] is known to play - and even writes and draws "Level UP!", a web-comic starring his Mithra red mage (as well as some [[BleachedUnderpants more adult]] fare starring the same character, generally titled "Level Down").

* BrokenBase: For most players, "Red Mage" and "sensible update" cannot possibly exist in the same sentence. For completely opposing reasons, however. Also, opinions are rabidly split over [[ZergRush meleeburns]].
** Actually, Square-Enix seems to have hit on a way to keep Red Mages happy while not pissing off the entire rest of the playerbase, if a recent update is any indication. They gave Red Mages new toys to play with that are useful, but don't actually make the job any more powerful than it already is.

** There's also the gradual raising of the level cap from 75 to 99, after years of the best gear at 75 being the best in the game - for some, it means the game becomes more soloable or less people are required to get things done, for others it means their hard earned gear will soon amount to nothing compared to the new stuff. Either way, there will be grind.

* FanNickname: So many Mithras are [[CrossPlayer played by males]] that everyone calls them "Manthras". [[{{Squick}} Even though]] [[OneGenderRace they playable ones are all]] {{Cat Girl}}s.
** There's also a wide variety of nicknames (more than a few unflattering) for zones, [=NPCs=], and [[BonusBoss Notorious Monsters]].

* GameBreaker: Take your pick, and be aware that opinions are somewhat mixed: The Ninja's Blink ability, Red Mages in general, Meleeburn parties, Astralburn parties...
** Also, there's the job combo of [[GameBreaker Red Mage/Ninja]]. There are videos on Website/YouTube of players with this combination soloing enemies that were intended to be fought by full alliances.
*** It should be noted that while these ''are'' possible, they require maximum skill and several hours of not leaving the game for any reason whatsoever, as well as expensive healing items. [[AwesomeButImpractical It's more for E-peen than anything else]].
*** For most of the game's run, Ninja had a special place in the Stop Having Fun Guys arsenal -- Ninjas at 37 get a GameBreaker ability (Blink) that allows them to ignore any and all incoming damage. It was considered mandatory for the longest time to take Ninja as your subjob if you were melee, simply because of how broken the Blink spell was - instead of healing better, faster, or using tactics, everyone simply had to blink away the damage. In addition, you had to get the Blink spell (which cost a lot of money) and spend money on the Blink spell component (which you used up ''every single time you cast it''), all of which required -- yes, more LevelGrinding.
* GoddamnedBats: Many areas of the game just toss your normally-used detection-prevention spells out the window. We won't even go into the evil incarnate that are imps.
** Literal, to low level players trying to cross the Valkurm Dunes map to reach their exp party, the Sand Bats in that tunnel. Impossible to avoid and aggressive to any player low level enough that they HAVE to take that route (as opposed to higher levels and travel spells.)

* LGBTFanbase: The muscled-out {{Stripperiffic}} Galka are a OneGenderRace, all male. With the implications readily apparent, there is a '''lot''' of gay-appealing fanart of these guys.

* LootDrama: The trope was originally called "The Ridill" over the infamous drama Ridill would cause when it dropped. The Ridill was a sword that was usable by multiple classes and had an extremely useful effect, but was a 5% drop off a boss that only appeared once every day.
** Other items that have similar effects on the player-base but at a reduced rate due to being more specialized, even rarer, etc include Defending Ring, Hauteclaire, and anything from Absolute Virtue.
* MostAnnoyingSound: Haste Samba. And Boost. Which you will hear Every. 15. Seconds. And Bard songs.

* NeverLiveItDown: Pandemonium Warden made headlines when a group stubbornly sat for eighteen hours while fighting it (Which the game STRONGLY suggests against, hell, you gotta click past the warning every time you enter the game, not even Warcraft does that). The boss has been killed relatively quickly (that is to say, with a bit of time left on the two hour timer) multiple times since it was nerfed, but journalists (and this very wiki) continue to report on the evil online game that makes you sit at the computer until you're physically sick. (See MarathonBoss above.) A general rule of thumb nowadays is that no boss sticks around for more then two hours. After that, the critter despawns, but if it takes you that long to kill the guy, your not doing it right (Underleveled, bad strategy, [[RefugeInAudacity half the alliance being made up of bots.]])

* StopHavingFunGuys: Due to the way job/subjob combinations work, there are only a few that are considered "correct," and anyone who does not conform to the "right way" to play is just asking for a [[SeriousBusiness "Stop Having Fun Guy"]] to go off on them. Meleeburns, for example, are heavily slanted towards piercing damage such as Dragoons, the "correct" way to melee in the endgame is either a Dragoon or Samurai, subbing the other class -- or Warrior. Having underleveled subjobs or gear is also considered unacceptable, even though [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts it can take months to farm the money required for at-level gear.]] The game is basically ''designed'' for the SHFG mentality. While the norms aren't ''too'' ridiculous, Lord have mercy if you don't follow them, much to the resentment of many players. [[http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/ One popular endgame-oriented forum]], has 15 fifty-page threads devoted to nothing but "gimped" players (to varying degrees).

** Having said that, subjobs can be an indication of incompetence: For example, a [[MightyGlacier Paladin]] / [[SquishyWizard Blackmage]] thinking they can be a direct damage specialist, or a [[TheBerserker Warrior]] / [[LightningBruiser Ninja]] before the subjob grants abilities that are worthwhile.
** The game is (was?) NintendoHard so when people suggest you go to a certain area to farm certain enemies it's pretty much accepted that doing so is the ''easiest'' and least risky way of gaining experience.
* TearJerker: Some of the quests and missions.
* ThatOneBoss: Depends on who you ask, but everybody has a horror story about at least one ''Chains of Promathia'' boss, most aggravatingly the 45-minute airship fight where dying to any one of three stages of the fight meant you needed to fight all three again, but not before reacquiring special items needed to win. The [[MarathonBoss Pandemonium Warden]] [[RunningGag deserved this title once]], on account of literally beating a linkshell into submission courtesy of a ''nineteen hour fight'' that ended when the leaders started realizing people were sacrificing their actual health and called it off. Due to the negative press, they [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] both it and the similarly maddening Absolute Virtue while also going to the extreme AntiPoopSocking measure of a ''two-hour'' time limit on both fights.
** If the developers are to be trusted, the fight was always intended to take less than two hours and the nineteen-hour group was doing it wrong.

* WinBackTheCrowd: To say that Abyssea has re-energized an aging game is quite the understatement. The number of people on-line at any given time has not been this high in years.

* HarsherInHindsight: The Wings of the Goddess story is ultimately about [[spoiler:two diverging realities struggling for their existence at a critical point in time that decides which of them prevails as the primary reality and which is relegated to oblivion]]. Nowadays ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXI'' coexists with ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'', whose revamping it helped to finance during the transition from 1.0 to 2.0, and [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Square Enix appears to have decided ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXI'' will get no more major expansions]] - also, ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'''s director Naoki Yoshida is in charge of Square Enix's Business Division 5, which handles the company's online games.

** Also, there's the job combo of [[GameBreaker Red Mage/Ninja]]. There are videos on Website/YouTube of players with this combination soloing enemies that were [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM6evZwIyTw intended to be fought by full alliances]].

* TheScrappy: Naja Salaheem. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Ooooh,]] Naja Salaheem.

* CanonSue: Shantotto appears to qualify - consider that during an Aht Urhgan mission she, a [[SquishyWizard Black Mage]], can pretty much tank a major boss, and during that fight rack up damage numbers from the lower level elemental spells which would be impossible for players. When you do have a chance to fight her, TheBattleDidntCount.

* TheScrappy: Naja Salaheem. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Ooooh,]] Naja Salaheem. Prishe is a combination of this and CanonSue, but still has a rather large fanbase. Hmm, wonder why.

* {{Alt-itis}}: An interesting case, since you can change class and start over from level 1 without creating a new character.

* FanYay: The muscled-out {{Stripperiffic}} Galka are a OneGenderRace, all male. With the implications readily apparent, there is a '''lot''' of gay-appealing fanart of these guys.

* ThatOneBoss: Depends on who you ask, but everybody has a horror story about at least one ''Chains of Promathia'' boss, most aggravatingly the 45-minute airship fight where dying to any one of three stages of the fight meant you needed to fight all three again, but not before reacquiring special items needed to win. The [[MarathonBoss Pandemonium Warden]] [[RunningGag deserved this title once]], on account of [[http://petfoodalpha.com/?p=1055 literally beating a linkshell into submission courtesy of a]] '''''[[http://petfoodalpha.com/?p=1055 nineteen hour fight]]''''' [[http://petfoodalpha.com/?p=1055 that ended when the leaders started realizing people were sacrificing their]] ''[[http://petfoodalpha.com/?p=1055 actual]]'' [[http://petfoodalpha.com/?p=1055 health and called it off.]] Due to the negative press, they [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] both it and the similarly maddening Absolute Virtue while also going to the extreme AntiPoopSocking measure of a ''two-hour'' time limit on both fights.

*** Source?

** Also, there's the job combo of [[GameBreaker Red Mage/Ninja]]. There are videos on YouTube of players with this combination soloing enemies that were [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM6evZwIyTw intended to be fought by full alliances]].

** Also the spell Ice Spikes, a defensive spell that causes ice-type damage any time the buffed target is hit, and ''every time'' it activates (as in everytime the target is hit) it sounds like someone is loudly breaking glass. Particularly annoying when its on an enemy, and you're entire party sounds like its emulating a bull in a china shop by meleeing it.