I played this game from probably 2005 to 2010 very sporadically with my friends. They all moved on but I stuck with it. I didn't even know that there were private servers for it but after getting all classes in FFXIV to 60 and i240 I just knew that the game had really let me down and wasn't anything like what I had hoped it would be.

I think one of my 'fondest' memories of FFXI was one of my friends spending an entire summer camping a NM for a drop and then right after he finally got it, Square ended up giving out the item really easily in some event or from some NPC. I can't really remember the details but I do remember my friend ending up quitting right when he found out.

That would totally suck, the NM item being given that way. What a slap in the face.

Welcome by the way. If you're looking for old-school FFXI you've come to the right place.

Thief's knife? That caused a lot of people to quit in retail, hah.

What was the item TC?

Got me curious now, the ordeal sounds very familiar but I can't put my finger on it.