FFXI introduced Level Sync to FFXI.  This isn’t a new concept for MMO’s but the basic gist is you can form a party where the players can be of any level.  The party leader chooses the member to sync to (usually the lowest level member) and viola, everyone else is capped at that level and their gear scales down.

This has been great since I can now get a party anywhere with anyone at any level.  Mostly what I’ve witnessed it used for is to level synch with people in your LS.

This is a great way to help out your LS mates and get experience points in the process.  The downside is that you end up participating in parties with people who:

1. tend not to be drunk, high, or otherwise braindead.
2. don’t go away from their keyboard after every fight for 5 minutes.
3. aren’t watching pr0n instead of actually playing.
4. some combination of the above (consider #3 and #2 for the ‘ewwww!’ factor)
5. all of the above

Hold on… Those are downsides?

Well yeah.

Now, getting motivated to participate in a standard pick-up group is a monumental undertaking.  It’s like trying to get excited about that stalk of celery laying next to a chocolate fudge cheesecake, or getting really psyched to visit a dentist in a third world country instead of heading to the to beach.

Damn you SE!  Damn you for giving us players EXACTLY what we wanted.