The current State of FFXI in 2025: RMT Everywhere, SE Silent, New and returning players Getting Left in the Dust (Asura)

I’ve been playing this game both in vanilla and in its current state on and off for a long time, and honestly… it’s time we stop pretending everything’s fine.

RMT Isn’t the Exception Anymore, It’s the Norm.

This isn’t just about bots in Dynamis Jeuno or automated characters farming certain items. It’s everywhere now.

Sortie, Odyssey, Sheol Gaol, Omen, Prime weapons content, all being run 24/7 by merc groups, most of them botting and selling clears for gil or, even worse, real money.

automated 3rd party softwares that can complete entire runs without typing a single word.

People are buying clears,Aeonics, Bumba RP (the worst mechanic ever), Dyna RP, gear, because why spend months farming and trying when you can just buy it?

This is the main way people “progress” now.

Square Enix’s response? Dead silent. Either they don’t know how bad the problem is, or they’re just ignoring it.

Reports go nowhere. The taskforce is caring about bigger issues i guess.....

Bots and mules “made for the job” have been online for months under the same names, spamming the same services openly.

I encourage anyone at SE to create a character in any starting city. It takes five minutes to see how bad the problem really is.

99% of the shouts are merch selling things for real money or gil that peoples buy on their 3rd party sites.

No bans.

No posts.

No acknowledgment.

Meanwhile, the rest of us keep paying our subscriptions, buying wardrobe expansions, and grinding content legitimately, only to find that most of the progress at one point is essentially locked unless we pay a merc with real money from a third party site.

If SE doesn’t care about third parties running the game, fine, just say it. But stop pretending it’s under control.

New and Returning Players Are Getting Wrecked

You can’t get groups for the content you need to progress.

You’re stuck halfway through the story (Voracious Resurgence can’t even be cleared without Stage 2 weapons), or locked out of gear because “nobody does that content anymore.”

The economy is insane. Prices are ridiculous.

And the only advice you hear? “Just merc it.”

This isn’t progression anymore, it’s a brick wall. You either swipe your card for services or gil, or you give up stuck in limbo with no way forward.

Most of the endgame content Is basically out of reach for any new or returning player unless you pay a merch or multibox youself:

Reisenjima NMs

Aeonics

Dynamis-Div (good luck forming an alli to clear)

Odyssey bosses noone does any of that, V25 bumba is too hard and random, for 200$ you can have it... absurd.

Capacity points 2100/ Job points / Job levels

Ambuscade Vol. 1

Omen

HTBFs (very easy droprate is a joke) if you enjoy doing the same thing 300 or more times to drop something or pray the rng gods you can try, good luck with that also... isn't balanced nor fun.

All of it is sold for absurd amounts of gil or even worse, real money.

Shout chat is 99% service sales.

“Legit clear” shouts are so rare they’re worth screenshotting.

If SE isn’t going to force players to keep this content alive, at least give us the tools to do it ourselves:

Solo or Trust scaled versions of older content are absolutely necessary now.

Rewards that aren’t a joke. (Rank 10 city missions give 150k gil… what does that buy now? A stack of food from the Curio Vendor?)

Spark farming was capped because of botting and that penalized more legit players then botters. As a new/returning player atleast there was a legit way to farm gil in the system (BY PLAYING THE GAME)... nerfed to the ground for no reason.

Right now, a lot of the game exists only on paper, not in practice.

TL;DR

Bots and merc shells own the economy

“Just buy it” is the standard advice

New players can’t progress without paying real money to third parties

SE acts like none of it is happening

FFXI isn’t dying because it’s old—it’s dying because it’s being hollowed out from the inside.

What Needs to Happen ASAP

Revamp abandoned content so it’s playable without paying mercs real money

Stop letting third parties dominate all endgame progression

Give new players a real shot at playing without spending real-world money (which SE likely never sees anyway, apart from subs)

Start communicating with the community about these issues

If the game is in “maintenance mode,” then maintain it.

Right now, it’s a pay-to-win husk being propped up by the last few players who still care.

To the Veterans

Let’s be real: if you’ve been around for 10+ years, have every REMA, capped RP, five Stage 5 sortie weapons and a veteran linkshell behind you, this isn’t aimed at you.

But new and returning players?

They’re getting wrecked and if they quit, there’s no fresh blood to replace them.

You’re already being forced to buy content you can’t clear due to lack of players.

Don’t shrug it off. Help fix it.

Final Thought

If we actually care about keeping Vana’diel alive, we need to speak up.

Because if nothing changes, SE won’t need to shut the servers down.

The legit players will leave, and all that’ll be left is bots and mercs selling each other clears.

Let’s not let it end like that.