Service, Our Money, and You

[Camiie]

And if you're not getting your money's worth, you're entitled to quit playing or demand better service- not demand a discount just because some other game that performed worse than this one is being discounted or priced lower.

Ah inspiration!

I demand better service because I don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Recent content such as Voidwatch, WoE, and Neo-Nyzul have not been entertaining to me and are seriously lacking in storyline and creativity. I do not feel as though SE is putting enough resources and effort toward this game, and are relying on a development team that has proven to be sub par and unresponsive. I do not feel as though gameplay issues and bugs are dealt with in a timely fashion. Although the price of the game has remained constant, the level of service has degraded over time in all aspects.

While I understand that SE has many concurrent projects and that FFXI is an old game it still has a healthy and active community of players, many of which have subscribed to the game for years. These are loyal customers, who I think even SE would admit, have dealt with serious and various quality issues they should not have had to. Still, they've stuck with the game for various reasons. While many may disagree and I'm sure those responses to that effect are forthcoming, I think that these customers deserve a higher level of service for their money.

I don't know what SE's plans are and I don't know what SE's finances are or how their departments are structured. I'm not a business major and I'm not a game designer or programmer. I'm only a gamer and a long-time customer. I can only tell you what I feel and what I see as a customer, and I feel there is a lack of quality and communication in today's FFXI. I see more excuses than action. I feel that my loyalty is not currently appreciated. I see that loyalty to certain other projects is valued quite highly. That feels wrong to me.

It's not that I begrudge the people who have dealt with the issues of other games. I'm sure they deserve the breaks they are getting. I just feel that we deserve more than we're currently getting because we have gotten more in the past. And not the distant past either. Why a couple of years ago I would say we got top notch service and support from SE. Issues were dealt with quickly and communication was open and active. The developers were very responsive and honest. These very forums were born during that time. Content was fun and creative. It was a breath of fresh air. The game was alive and active. It wasn't perfect, but if things were today as they were during that time you'd hear no complaints from me.

I realize we have a different dev team than we did then, but the things I'm asking for should be what we get no matter who is in charge. I'm not asking for anything special or out of the ordinary. To be honest I shouldn't be having to ask for or complain about this at all.

[Alhanelem]

Now that's a more sensible approach. The FFXI teem does need to pay a bit more attention to its fanbase. I realize as well that they can't do everything, but if they can't do something we want, then come up with a reasonable alternative that they can do.

I don't know what SE's plans are

On the FFXI side, this is pretty much the biggest problem. We're approaching the end of the known and established plans for the game and we don't have any news on much past this point. I do imagine that we will be getting some kind of news soon, with the hints dropped in relation to the anniversary. But it would be nice if they didn't leave us hanging for so long.

[Zumi]

As a day 1 subscriber to FFXI I too am disappointed with the lackluster updates we have been getting.

When I saw the updates we will be getting posted last week didn't really get me excited or anything.
-Job Adjustments - Lowering recast timer on merit abilities
-Key Item Category Revisions - Adding a category for voidwatch key items
-Guild Merchant Waiting Period - That one to two second delay when buying items from a guild now gone.
-Job Adjustments: Ranger - Now rng generates less hate when doing EES
-Legion Adjustments - 18 man Legion now has half the HP as the 36 man version (should of been like this from the start)
-Ranged Weapon WS and Ability Adjustments - Now ranged WS do more damage far away.

Not a single thing on that list to really get excited about. Its almost laughable that they made a news post for some of those things, key item catagory and buying items from the guild as a major point of the next version update, really SE really".

If SE really doesn't give us something substantial soon I can't see that many people continue to play this game.

SE needs to come out with something new and exciting to tell us about FFXI or pretty much the game is dead.

[Alhanelem]

I'm sure they know we're at the end of the timeline rope. They need to announce some kind of new content pretty soon (I imagine they might at vanafest, but who knows). The only thing we really know we're getting that isn't in yet is the summons caitsith / atomos, and and some sort of UI update.

[Gokku]

Limbus and salvage 2.0 guys .01% drop rates will buy them all the time they need!

[Sarick]

There have been comments posted that things like guard and parry would be fixed. Guard has been broken 10 years doesn't SE think some of these broken things need adjusted before the newer stuff? My friends are leaving. What they've saying is "I don't like the direction the game is headed." This shows that some of the new events went back to the old pre-abby system. The game is old WOTG and ABBY made the game a little interesting. The newer stuff sacrifices fun for tedious and lackluster gear collecting.

Open up a new sea abyssal that is linked to the shin/provenance fight completion. Frankly I don't know why the VW story hasn't been closely linked with the coming apocalypse that hit the alternate reality. If you recall the abyssal story is about creatures (VW) attacking from another higher dimension. The people where content to ignore it until it ultimately caused mass destruction to their world.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Personally, I'd just like to say that I don't have anything against the developers themselves. I do feel that they're doing a yeoman's job with the resources they've been given, resolving long-standing issues where they could, improving the user interface, and even introducing new battle mechanics.

Rather, I'm disappointed and frustrated with the lack of resources they appear to have at hand. Nobody should expect the kind of commitment and support from the development team we've had in days gone by when, by all appearances, they're making do with a skeleton crew. Even the PR staff here on the fora are expected to cover two games simultaneously.

To me, the enemy here is instead management, the ones who decided to starve XI of resources to begin with. It's as if they're making a gamble on how long we'll quietly put up with this situation and keep paying our money before things hit critical mass (and, with our reaching the end of the last roadmap, we may be there now).

A new expansion pack, a rebuilt engine (just adapt the one you're building for XIV 2.0!), discounts for longer subscriptions or for subscribing to both games at the same time... anything to show a genuine commitment to future support of XI would be greatly appreciated!

Because right now, the support XI is getting now is feeling less like XIV and more like TetraMaster.

[Camiie]

Personally, I'd just like to say that I don't have anything against the developers themselves. I do feel that they're doing a yeoman's job with the resources they've been given, resolving long-standing issues where they could, improving the user interface, and even introducing new battle mechanics.

I guess "devs" is a broad term. My main issue is with the leadership and direction of the game. Whoever is in charge right now isn't doing a very good job on even a basic level. Nothing seems to be going right. Content design, communication, quality control, customer service, prioritization, resource assignment and management... It's just bad all around right now and the problem is at the top of the chain. The buck stops with whoever that is. I'm not calling any names.

I know what it's like to be a rank and file employee held back and put in bad spots by a supervisor, and I'm sure that's what's happening here. I'm not saying that person should be removed or fired, but I will say he needs to change the way he does business. I'm going out of my way to be diplomatic because I don't want to give any excuses for this thread to be nuked, but I have a lot of frustration with how the game is being run at the moment and I want that to be clear.

The attitude that existed during the initial release of Abyssea needs to return. That's not asking for a renewal of the content itself, but the way the devs ran things at that time. I don't care if that was a different team. The current team needs to operate that way, egos be damned.

[Dazusu]

The only thing we really know we're getting that isn't in yet

Announced Limbus, Einherjar and Salvage revamps called and said Hi.

As for the OP - Agree with much of it. Would like updates other than changing the recast timer of meritable abilities. That's a 2 minute job, no?

[Arcon]

As for the OP - Agree with much of it. Would like updates other than changing the recast timer of meritable abilities. That's a 2 minute job, no?

You forget that this is SE we're talking about. Reducing a recast timer has to be discussed in five meetings, the implications considered, thousands cases played through to determine the balance of the adjustment, then another few weeks go by testing its relation to every other game mechanic possible to make sure reducing a timer doesn't suddenly make cures do 100k damage. As I said, this is SE we're talking about.