Coming Back At This Point...

Staying above 120 minutes gives you more than enough time to cap in the next zone - though I can see how it might be more difficult. I mostly do events lead by a WAR who can just FC for a few minutes and we're good. Which any lowman group should invest in, esp. b/c most KI are in gold chest.

Try not to get discouraged by all the change if you do come back. I had many friends who quit before Abyssea, tried to come back after, and just couldn't get back into it and quit for good. Make some good friends that are willing to let you tag along and help you get your AF3/atmas/abyssites. Everyone seems to prefer low-man and only bringing the minimum required these days and only using alliances to XP. It's a completely different game from what it used to be. It can be overwhelming to jump back into but it can also be a lot of fun with a couple of good friends once you figure out what you're doing. A lot of people are going to give you the "You can solo it" talk because they already have their groups established and can't be bothered to help, but what's the fun in playing an MMO by yourself? Just find somewhere to fit in, be willing to accept the major changes and learn the new game, and you'll be okay. Level one of the "most used" jobs people have mentioned in Abyssea after you get RDM to 90 and necessary subs to 49, just for some versatility. RDM is still good, WHM is just better at pure healing since your tanks have 3k+ HP, while RDM is better at everything else.

Tl;dr, it's still a fun game, just not for people who still want to stand around camping 21-24 hour spawns every day around the clock and stab colibris for 40k/hour. Have an open mind.

What tactics can I use to talk my wife into letting me come back?

I've gone over the fact that 1) it doesn't really take the time investment it used to (less down time getting 2-3 good friends together than waiting on a shell) 2) I don't want to invest that kind of time in it anymore 3) it's cheaper than me burning through offline games at $60+/mo

Duct tape

Duck Tape*

duct tape

— n
a type of strong waterproof adhesive silver-coloured cloth tape used for repairs by plumbers, electricians, etc
Please use a dictionary before correcting me.

Colored*

What did he do, he had two posts get nuked in a very short amount of time.

I'll try the duct tape approach, but then I'll run out for the kids ><

Lol I call it duck tape too XD

I highly recommend to take a good look at the Abyssea page on ffxiclopedia. Just about everything you'll need to know about abyssea is there(or linked from there). Your first priority in abyssea should be getting abyssites. Celerity is most important because it increases your rate of obtaining stones for time. Merit, Furtherance, and Sojourn (+HP/MP, +all stats, +time added per stone respectively) are the next important. Next priority would be obtaining lunar abyssites. These allow you to equip atmas (1 per abyssite, 3 abyssites exist). You get these by killing 1 zone boss, 7 zone bosses, and the third is bought using cruor (abyssea currency). Atmas are gained by completing missions/HNMs/etc. outside of abyssea (these are called synthetic atmas) OR by killing NMs in abyssea (with red weakness). Depending on your job, there are certain atmas that are very important to obtain, work on getting these ASAP, as you will be "gimp" compared to everyone else without them (regardless of how good your gear is).

just curious how long ago you played on alex and what was your char name in case i might have seen you around.

Razorken, Hume/male blonde spikey hair. Started in Alex, moved to Midgar, then started a brand new char in Caitsith (Dipset).

**edit: Played in Alex about 3 yrs ago, Midgar about 2, and Caitsith I quit on May the 25th.. i think

D: Good thing you don't have BLM to stagger on. One of your macros might look like:

/ma "Quack" <t>