Sincere thanks to the FFXI Team.

[OmnysValefor]

Hey, if you want to provide feedback without discussion, there's always email.

When someone has something critical to say and others disagree, noone says they can't disagree with OP.

[Stompa]

Stompa regularly makes appreciative threads, and good for her, I'm glad she enjoys the game but she'll be the first to say she enjoys the game for very different reasons than a lot of players. She says she's dropped all of her ilvl gear and refuses to upgrade her weapons because it makes the old game world feel like paper (and it certainly does, old-world things that I used to be worried about tanking on PLD, I'll "tank" on SCH). She's not interfering with anyone else, so more power to her.

One thing Stompa does share in common with a lot of players is that much of her joy in the game world is based upon good times she had because this was once an incredible game and still can be but as another poster pointed out.. the day of such a divisive announcement is probably not the day to post yet another thread praising the devs without expecting some dissenting feedback.

Thankyou for your replies. I will respond using paraphrased quotes, as I'm sleepy.


Re; "this is a Public Forum, not an email," [from your other post.]

You are totally correct, and I expect and hope for replies from anyone who wants to comment, regardless of their views.

Re; "She has tossed her ilvl gear."

I tossed about fifteen full armor sets and a load of weapons. But I still have main working ilvl sets on my Mule#1, she is Jobmaster / Procmaster ( :P ) WAR and has a load of utility ilvl gear, for helping my friends and LS, if they need me for something. It would be selfish if I just tossed everything, as there are people who depend on me. But I did toss most of my ilvl, for the reasons stated, it makes the old areas feel toothless.

Re; "She plays because of the memories of the old game."

I play because I love Vana'diel, the actual visual world itself. I play because I love the FFXI game engine, Menu System, Macro System, Battle Dynamics, the medieval appearance of gear, fishing, friendship, Automaton, etc. It is not really nostalgia for the old game, although I accept there is that too.

Re; "it is a sensitive time, people are upset about Wardrobes, its the wrong time to post your Happy Feels threads."

This is actually why I'm posting my Happy Feels thread. It is a sensitive time, and my sensitive feelings were dented by the negativity in the wardrobes thread. When I see negativity take wing, I am far more likely to post my Happy Feels, it is my defence mechanism!

All the stuff about "I'm quitting in protest!" and "it is a conspiracy ; first the wardrobes, then Cash Shop, then work-camps and chemtrails!"

I don't see SE as a predatory mercenary organisation, more like any normal business. I don't see a creeping totalitarianism, or a covert slide to a more mercenary business model.

As other posters said in the Wardrobes thread, FFXI is a different game to FFXIV, what works in FFXIV could prove to be disastrous in FFXI, because of the different expectations of the players. Also FFXI has been around for such a long time, people spent 8 whole years building a Mythic, this is different to FFXIV where you have not spent 8 years doing anything. As a company, SE have to respect the feelings of people who built RME for many years, and the way to do that is to not start selling them in Cash Shops. The same goes for HQ armors etc.

Also FFXI has always prided itself on quest-based progress, so for example we were not given the option of buying our personal chocobos in a Cash Shop, we were offered a lengthy, and very beautiful, quest line to raise our own chocobos. This is a good example of FFXI core values, they offer you a nice thing, personal chocobo, and they offer a very cute and long-term quest line to obtain the nice thing. FFXI quest-based progress is incredibly popular with FFXI players, and is the very opposite of Cash Shops, which is why I don't see Cash Shops appearing in future.

The extra Wardrobes are, as far as I can tell, intended to HELP the player, by allowing you to cancel several of your storage mules, and consolidate your excess gear on your main account. Cancelling those mules will save a small subscription sum, which would pay for the extra wardrobes. That is why my Happy Feels took a dent when posts started appearing about how terrible it all is, and how it is a diabolical capitalist conspiracy. It was actually supposed to help people!

[Stompa]

How disappointing that a thread that started with such a positive note was so swiftly descended upon by people looking to hijack and derail it.

OP, your post is awesome, and a great reminder of what kept me playing XI for so many years, and of what always keeps me coming back. I'm sure the FFXI devs appreciate the sentiments.

Thanks for sharing some positivity!

Thankyou for your kind words! We are all united by our love for FFXI, and this includes the FFXI Dev Team who are all huge fans of the game too. We are fortunate in many ways, and it is important to never forget that.

[Stompa]

Thanks for posting this Stompa

Also at least for MMO I played that were subscription models, most companies went with the cruddy model of your monthly fee doesn't pay for new content, it pays for maintenance, legal fees, moderators/GM's, phone and email support, server costs and bandwidth and business expenses overall and new content and features only came out in overpriced expansions. I'm glad SE gives us much more than just maintenance for our monthly subscription, and personally while I know f2p mmo's make a lot more money off a smaller player base, I don't like what f2p does to communities of players. New players always come in, only to leave, usually asking for lots of help before they go. It always baffles me how people will be upset over a small monthly fee and then also be the ones with $3k steam accounts and $700 in League of Legends skins, or plop down $60 for a single player game they get maybe 40 hours out of, just doesn't compute to me.

Thankyou for replying.

I totally agree with you, the FFXI Subscription is a unique model, for a truly unique game.

This is why comparisons to other games always seems so hollow to me. Other games are not worthy to shine FFXI's pointy boots. They are worlds apart, so why should we compare subscription models, when we are talking about two completely different phenomena.

[Stompa]

Stompa thank you for Thanking the FFXI team... for all of your well stated reasons...

I too remember as you very eloquently stated:



People, in general, seem to have short memories when they become angry about a given situation; we tend to forget (for example) that when FFXI stopped service on the 360/PS2, this also meant subscriptions which existed based solely on those systems also stopped; which meant that money needed to be replaced with "something"... this could have gone a number of different ways... such as sub rate increase by $1 per account; instead it became something based on choice...it's optional.

So again, I welcome the opportunity that is presented here... the ability to continue to play a game I love and that is not being shut down simply because as a business they are attempting to find reasonable ways in which to continue to operate--and ultimately they are doing this for us. Yes, they need to be paid like anyone else "ya gotta eat"... but also this game is for us... let's not forget that...and we need to be respectful in our responses... but like I said...people, in general, seem to have short memories.

/bow

Thankyou for replying.

I totally agree with you, people are quick to forget.

Like the love-songs says; "its funny how quick the milk turns sour, isn't it."

I'm still blissfully dancing for joy, because the game is still online! Wardrobes schmoredrobes lol.

[Stompa]

It is nice to see an itemized list of some of the improvements made over time, and they are rather substantial to one that has taken a lengthy break from the game before now. Obviously no game will ever be perfect and there are improvements that can always be done. But at this point, I'd say they can rest on the additional content and focus more on balance adjustments and minor system improvements. There's a lot for players to catch up on as it is. And players are this point are mainly sticking around to cross off that bucket lists.

Thankyou for your reply.

This is why I tried to post a short itemised list, from my not-very-good memory.

We have had a plethora of new features and tweaks, almost non-stop for a long time, it is hard to keep track of all the new features! Many of these new features were added as a direct result of SE listening to people on this Forum, and then implementing an official version of the players' suggestions. And they have added a lot of cool stuff that we did not suggest, too.

The truth is that SE have added so many things to help new / returning players ease back into the game, RoE is central to this, but it is really incredible how much easier it is to start playing FFXI today, as a total newcomer, than it was a few years ago. I think this is actually SE's greatest achievement, making the game easier to start for new players, something that the original game lacked somewhat.

[mekia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARghlVjBab0

Are you the WHM in this story ?

[OmnysValefor]

I have always always loved that video.

[OmnysValefor]

I haven't been rude to Stompa or anyone else, I merely replied to other people's posts in the thread.

This is an open discussion forum, so no 'authority' or 'right' is needed.

I'm sorry (to Stompa) but praise to the development team amidst such a divisive decision is challenging dissent. You don't have to agree, that's part of what make these discussion forums.

Edit: Stompa and I have chatted (over these forums) many times and sometimes we agree and sometimes we do not. You seem to be taking more issue with my disagreement with her OP than she is.

Stompa (to me):

Re; "this is a Public Forum, not an email," [from your other post.]

You are totally correct, and I expect and hope for replies from anyone who wants to comment, regardless of their views.

Edit, again: And I also dislike it when people bring dead-horse topics to completely unrelated threads but this wasn't entirely unrelated and this is an active topic. There were a few mod posts yesterday but none in the Wardrobe thread (and none here). It's only my hope that we show a representation of the community opinion where they look.

[Hyrist]

I'm sorry (to Stompa) but praise to the development team amidst such a divisive decision is challenging dissent. You don't have to agree, that's part of what make these discussion forums.

No, again I'm going to snipe you on semantics again, sorry.

It's not so much challenging dissent as it is, in my view, challenging the hyperbole and vile commentary that hides under dissent.

Stompa did good here, especially on the timing. This thread is a reality check to those decrying "SE's done nothing for us!", to try to add false weight to the argument against the 'cash grab' the wardrobe's 3, and 4 is depicted as by the community, without even really acknowledging that they've gotten numbers 1 and 2 already at no additional cost, on top of Mog Safe 2, and Mog Case - just to list the one's that were added recently to my eyes.

When weighed against sheer number of storage additions we've received in the long history of this game - I have to wonder when is the time we start taking a look at the responsibility on the player's behalf of inventory management. At this point, I would say it's fair game on the Developers part to have such reactions be considered ungrateful - especially if they're hitting their financial limit.

I am, in fact, grateful for what has been done to this game, and what continues to be - and the timing of threads like these are actually impeccable when protest becomes hyperbolic as it often does. (And it has. It took no time at all for the snide bitter comments and the slippery slope arguments to crop up.)

My main issue with the situation was the complete lack of communication on SE's end about the inclusion of potential paid services. It's fair to say that this was a blindside to the community and that, to me, is more upsetting then the existence of a cash shop itself. For a company that's been taking an approach to value of communication, I believe it is fair criticism to say that a game with such a long standing reputation for not having optional paid services beyond server transfers, deserved much more notice that they were breaking this trend, than danging something that is a highly valued in front of the playerbase as the introductory item, with so much as a month's notice.

However, the argument against a cash shop can stand on its down. It doesn't need the level of negativity we're seeing on the boards, and threads like these are good reminders of the things we do have. I don't feel being critical of that is constructive at this time - as we're faced with the reality of paid services in FFXI. While outright protest and subscription loss can sometimes sway companies away from it, it's not universally effective. I believe it may be time to discuss what would be an appropriate paid service.