Classic Server

[Alhanelem]

I can see a few problems with this.
First, what do we define as classic, and how do we go about doing so?

That's one of the things that does bug me about the idea. Different people have different ideas about when the game was in its best state. The other question is where do you go from there? Do you freeze the game in that decided state? Do you re-introduce the patches overtime from there? Come up with original content just for that branch? (In order from least to most labor intensive). The game would get pretty stale after a while if it was frozen in some previous state with no updates.

Frankly I think the best part of the game was never any particular feature or patch but rather the community. I think a lot of people are just "done" after having played the same game for several years, i think that's really more of what it is than any particular thing in the game making people leave.

As I've mentioned before though, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to them trying this if it didn't compromise the current game for those enjoying it.

[noelv1995]

Bump since its 2018 and classic servers are more than a real thing now. Can't they just like dedicate a dead server to ToAU and previous content?

[Ketaru]

Bump since its 2018 and classic servers are more than a real thing now. Can't they just like dedicate a dead server to ToAU and previous content?

As the last reply from Alhanelem in 2014 says, who gets to decide what's "classic"? Why stop at ToAU, rather than WotG even though much of WotG was already released when the game was still 75 cap?

[noelv1995]

Agreed, but why is that stopping them from making a classic server? They can do what they want, ToAU, before ToAU, up to the point in WoTG where level cap changed. They don't even need to call it classic just name it 75 cap servers. I understand this game doesn't have much support from SE but I would think they can actually make money from it. Since tbh that is what decides yes or no

[Nyarlko]

Agreed, but why is that stopping them from making a classic server? They can do what they want, ToAU, before ToAU, up to the point in WoTG where level cap changed. They don't even need to call it classic just name it 75 cap servers. I understand this game doesn't have much support from SE but I would think they can actually make money from it. Since tbh that is what decides yes or no

From what the devs have said in this past year regarding things like this, (the answer was a resounding "No." btw,) it sounds to me like there may be some licensing issues involved. Sony was involved with original development of FFXI, so this may be simply an "impossible" task.

[BurnNotice]

If anything, it's easier to upgrade the level sync function to do content of your choosing at a player level of your choice. Should this happen, there will have to be an incentive to get people to want to do this kind of content. If level syncing at 75 again will allow for certain items/materials to drop to be used for 119 drops or to help upgrade RMEAs, then I am all for it. Otherwise, to open a server for nostalgic purposes would be adverse to the current playing environment.

[Alhanelem]

From what the devs have said in this past year regarding things like this, (the answer was a resounding "No." btw,) it sounds to me like there may be some licensing issues involved. Sony was involved with original development of FFXI, so this may be simply an "impossible" task.

Also, it isn't anywhere near as simple as ppl might think, like going back through their archives for a particular build or whatever (and apparently they don't keep all of everything from past updates). But as I said in the past, there are problems with the idea:
1) What is classic? it depends on who you talk to. Who decides this?
2) Does it get updated? Unlock the later contents over time? How does this all work, because the game WILL get stale and the server will die if there is no updates, as tantalizing as a blast from the past may be.
3) Community fracturing. There is a considerable possibility that adding a special server with different content could fracture the community.
4) Rose tinted glasses. Nostalgia is great and all but you will quickly realize that without the community in the state that it was at your desired time period of the game, it's not going to be the same. Without packed servers, your experience with grinding for XP/merits/etc in particular isn't going to be terribly different from the way it is now, you'll either need alter egos or spend hours to form a party the old fashioned way. You're not going to be able to gather 20-30 people for classic dynamis, there's just a lot of things that simply won't work the way they did in the old days even if they did activate an old version of the game on a special server.
I think a much better idea than a special server with a special version of the game would be simply improving existing functions like level sync to make it easier to enjoy older contents in a way that is closer to what they were originally designed for. Currently it's a hassle to try to get things just right, and that hassle often turns away people who might otherwise be interested in fun self-imposed challenges.

Agreed, but why is that stopping them from making a classic server? They can do what they want, ToAU, before ToAU, up to the point in WoTG where level cap changed. They don't even need to call it classic just name it 75 cap servers. I understand this game doesn't have much support from SE but I would think they can actually make money from it. Since tbh that is what decides yes or no

While the money to be made isn't nonexistent, the potential income has to be weighed against the cost of implementation. The devs have weighed in on this issue in the past and shot it down, basically suggesting that the cost-benefit outlook isn't good. I had a continuous subscription for over a decade, and I don't have any friends that aren't still playing that would likely be swayed back on the promise of a classic server. The fact is MMOs today are very different from when FFXI came out, and we're all older and probably have jobs etc that we might not have had before, and FFXI's depth and complexity, as awesome as it truly is, is too much for today's gamers it seems.

[Elexia]

Considering the era XI was in development (97-2001?) that was a time Square always threw out source code and such, so very very unlikely they have old builds laying around from the 2002-2004 era. It falls down to if they spend time and resources doing a classic, it could be used towards revamping the core of this game.

[Laughlyn]

Classic servers ! < Yes Please >

or rather new servers starting up, with or witouth RoE / RoV, with no option for current players to migrate / move to these servers with current characters.
Meaning, everyone who goes onto these "new" servers would have to start from scratch. (because it would be fair)
That would be fun imo.

[ultimax]

just comeback in the game and really miss the Rise of the Zilart era , let hope one day to have the classic server