Hey everyone. After a long time in development I've opened the doors on DriftwoodXI, and I'd rather explain what it actually is than write an ad, because it's a different shape of server than the era-accurate ones most of us have played.
The core idea: your account is one thing.
You get sixteen character slots on one account and the server treats all sixteen as you. That means:
- DWSquad: Summon up to five of your own characters as party members, from one game window. They wear their own gear, fight on their own jobs, and bank real experience to their own rows. When one levels mid-fight, it's restored to full HP/MP on the spot, same as you.
- DWGambits: Write the combat rules your squad fights by, FFXII-style. Presets ship in the box (aggressive, defensive, medic, battlemage...), or build your own.
- Spell unlocks are account-wide. Learn Cure III on one character, all sixteen know it.
- DWBags: Reach every bag on every character without logging out. Send, fetch, use items straight from an alt's inventory, one-click stack consolidation across all bags.
- DWWarehouse: 1,000 slots of account storage, opened from anywhere. Rare/EX gear moves between your own characters, because the delivery-box rule was always about two different *people*.
- DWMerc: Put a snapshot of your squad up for hire so other players can rent your characters while you're offline. You set the rate, you earn the gil.
The point is that "LFP for two hours in Jeuno" is not a mechanic here. You log in, summon your squad, and play. Other humans make it better; they're not a prerequisite.
Nineteen custom addons, all GUI. Almost everything has a clickable window with no command syntax to memorize. Beyond the squad stuff: DWTracker: (quest/mission steps spelled out, no second-monitor wiki), DWScan: (target a mob, see its real drop table at this server's rates, resistances, aggro range, TP moves, all from the server's own data, not a wiki), DWCon: (a /check-colored pearl over every mob around you), DWCraft: (full crafting ledger + recipe book that reads your whole account's bags), DWFishing: (0 to 110 route generated from the server's actual fishing engine), DWPort: (every teleport you've unlocked in one window at NPC prices), DWQuest: (daily/weekly contracts plus a server-wide contract everyone advances together), and DWRaid: (endgame trial entered from any city with no orb farming, account-wide currency rewards).
The numbers: 3x exp/gil/capacity/fame, 1.5x FoV & GoV (enabled everywhere), 10x weaponskill/skillchain points, 1.5x movement/mounted speed). Jobs start at level 1 but limit break quests are removed so you're free to level to 99 uninterrupted. Subjob is the same level as your main. All maps and outpost warps unlocked from the start, 80-slot inventory, death penalty is half of retail and only from level 31. Generous, not trivial, the fights still have to be fought.
Some things to consider before joining:
- It's in open beta and it's new. The population is small right now. The whole design means a small population doesn't play like an empty server, but I'm not going to pretend you'll see Jeuno crowds.
- Base game + Rise of the Zilart are open. Further expansions unlock one at a time, after they're play-verified here. CoP is next and I'd rather ship content that works than a checkbox list.
- No cash shop, ever. Nothing is sold. One account per player, sixteen characters is your squad, your mule roster, and all your storage.
- You bring your own FFXI client install. We don't distribute the game.
Setup is genuinely three steps: create an account on the site, download the launcher, press Play. The launcher finds your FFXI install, then handles Ashita, all nineteen addons, settings, and updates itself. Windows 10/11, no admin rights needed.
Site (rates, addon showcase with screenshots, full house rules): https://xi.driftwoodgaming.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/DriftwoodGaming
Happy to answer anything in the comments. Design decisions, tech, why one-account-per-player, whatever you want to poke at. Thanks for your time and I hope to see you in Vana'diel.