Game/Server population suggestions to improve things, or should it get shut down?

[Amalon]

I've been a long time player and thoroughly enjoyed playing FF11 but due to the drop in the population of my server and not being able to find the help to do a bunch of things i had stopped playing. Personally I don't want to see the game shut down but its hitting the point that its become a shadow of its former self and less and less people are playing it.

I've met a bunch of people while playing FF14 that had heard about FF11 but had never played it and have expressed and interest in playing it, but have been told by various people that used to play FF11 that there was no point for them to buy it and play it just because alot of the servers are dying out so they would have alot of trouble finding any help to do the content with.

Some of my suggestions to try and revive the game are as follows:

1) Shut down the game for a bit like they did with FF14 and improve aspects of it then re-release it as a FF11 Reborn

2) Put in a duty finder to do be able to do things like missions, delve, dynamis and ect. Just that way the duty finder can build the party and pull players from other servers and saves the frustration of not being able to find the help to do those kinds of things with the lower populated servers.

3) Do either a one time free world transfer for every SE account for those that are interested in moving from a dead server to a more active one, or just remove the fee for the world transfers. There is alot of people like me that refuse to pay for a world transfer just to move from a dead server and would rather just quit playing completely.

4) From some of what I've read from other posts theres the not so liked server merge option

5) Make it so you can do any and all of the content with just a full party of trust npc's if that hasn't been done yet ( I know you can summon up to 5 trust now but I don't know if you can do all of the content for the game using them alone)

If anyone else has any other suggestions please make them those are just the ones I can currently think of right now. Other than that if no improvements are going to made in regards to the dwindling population and being actually able to do the game content when there is little to no help from other players available that i feel FF11 should just get laid to rest and shut down.

[BBWallace]

Going down the list.
1.) Will not happen. If they shut it down it will be for good.

2.)Most likely would have to redo the engine somehow to put duty finder in.

3.) This would be the most likely to happen tho they should make the transfer service free period.

4.) They won't be doing a server merge anytime soon.

5.) Just No.

[Sirmarki]

5) Make it so you can do any and all of the content with just a full party of trust npc's if that hasn't been done yet ( I know you can summon up to 5 trust now but I don't know if you can do all of the content for the game using them alone)

No thanks..

Why would I pay $20 a month, to essentially play by myself?

I'd rather just go and one-off buy a pre-owned Xbox 360/PC game for $3-4 and have fun that way...

[Stompa]

I've played FFXI almost every day since 2004. Even if I have a very busy day, I will always try to login to FFXI even just for ten minutes.

I am enjoying FFXI as much in 2016 as I have ever enjoyed it. I am on a very quiet server. My LS is small and sometimes empty, but I have built afterglow RMEs solo. I got Jobmaster solo. I have built a lot of nice gear from solo and lowman runs with my friends.

You can get Linkshells from the LS Distribution NPC in all the cities. The LS you join might not be as busy and powerful as in 2005~ when the game was still a Mainstream game, but if you persist you can usually find a LS and make a few new friends and do some low-man events. Many mid-range events can be handled by solo with 5 trusts.

The game is awesome, the charm and magic are still there. There are still nice people playing it, who will be your friends if you seek them out. If just takes a bit of persistence.

Also, a returning player can clear all Limit-breaks solo now, clear all mission storyline battlefields solo now, build level 119 armor and weapons solo now. You can build Afterglow RME solo now. So if you wanted to just enjoy FFXI as a solo player, or with a few friends, you could totally do this right now.

The fact that most of the game can now be cleared solo or with a small group of good friends, is a GOOD THING. Many of us are not nostalgic about the 2004~ glory days of Tyrant Linkshells and begging in line for the LS to help you. Today the game is far more open and welcoming to solo or low-man play, today solo-players and small groups of friends can enjoy the full game without having to wait for the LS leader to stop sulking and organise a run for them.

FFXI is still a total joy to play in 2016, and I am grateful for every precious day I can spend in Vana'diel.

[Amalon]

Like I said I've been a long time player, I had started playing back in 2003. There is time I do miss the old days for how the game play used to be just the grind and satisfaction of gaining those hard earned levels and actually needing to know the job you were playing, but it was extremely time consuming with the hours of grinding to gain 1 level but despite that I still took pride at getting up to lv 75. Tho I don't miss those Tyrant Ls leaders I always found a good Ls that wasn't too hard core and were extremely friendly.

When I had finally stopped playing all of my friends had already quit playing and the Ls I was in had died, every Ls I joined after that I had tried to make some new friends but every time I said something trying to be a part of the group or asked about something I was ignored. All the content that I still had to do I couldn't do solo and some of which you couldn't use trust in (could only summon 3 trusts at that point) and I couldn't find any help to be able to clear the content, I used to sit in town waiting for shouts that didn't happen very often for stuff because there wasn't anything else I could do on my own.

Some servers are worse off than others, during the last free log in I made another char on a different server and it was quite active and I started to really enjoy playing again even tho I was starting completely from scratch, I wish I could transfer my main there but again I don't want to have to pay the transfer fee to move from a dead server that and I'm also on a tight budget.

From what you've said it sounds like they have made it alot easier to be a solo player which I do enjoy being but I also like the social aspect of the game which is why I want a server that is active for that social interaction.

[Diavolo]

Push for server merges, take part in the thread here in this forum and convince others to do the same. That's your best bet.

[Teraniku]

Best chance for your #1, is if they actually do it as an Expansion to FFXIV. (If they could do it as a separate but joined game world where FFXI Job Switching, game mechanics and leveling applied only when in Vana'diel, with XIV's updated UI etc. I'd be on board in a heartbeat) If you wanted to travel between worlds you could do so, so you could send a message to your friend playing in Eorzea to go across the breach to Vana'diel to give you a hand and vice versa.

[Amalon]

Best chance for your #1, is if they actually do it as an Expansion to FFXIV. (If they could do it as a separate but joined game world where FFXI Job Switching, game mechanics and leveling applied only when in Vana'diel, with XIV's updated UI etc. I'd be on board in a heartbeat) If you wanted to travel between worlds you could do so, so you could send a message to your friend playing in Eorzea to go across the breach to Vana'diel to give you a hand and vice versa.

Now there is the first suggestion idea I've seen in this thread aside from my initial suggestions so far, everyone else has either shot down or agreed with some of the ones I said.

What I'm pulling from what you said is more than just a re-mastered FF11 but rather just doing a new expansion so to speak and connecting both ff11 and ff14 together and being able to move between the 2 via something like a boat from selbina or an airship from Jeuno. Tho for that you would either have to put something in to transfer the char data from one to the other due to the difference's with job availability, level and Ilvl caps or you would need to have a char made for both games to be able to transfer over to. Personally I would think needing to have a char made on each game would be the easiest route to go with the least amount of new programming, I do know there is lots of old players from FF11 that are currently playing FF14 so they would already have a char set up on FF11 to use.

I like this idea alot, I would love to see that kind of thing happen!!

[Delmania]

Now there is the first suggestion idea I've seen in this thread aside from my initial suggestions so far, everyone else has either shot down or agreed with some of the ones I said.

What I'm pulling from what you said is more than just a re-mastered FF11 but rather just doing a new expansion so to speak and connecting both ff11 and ff14 together and being able to move between the 2 via something like a boat from selbina or an airship from Jeuno. Tho for that you would either have to put something in to transfer the char data from one to the other due to the difference's with job availability, level and Ilvl caps or you would need to have a char made for both games to be able to transfer over to. Personally I would think needing to have a char made on each game would be the easiest route to go with the least amount of new programming, I do know there is lots of old players from FF11 that are currently playing FF14 so they would already have a char set up on FF11 to use.

I like this idea alot, I would love to see that kind of thing happen!!

It's a nice idea, but translating from an FFXI character to an FFXIV one is pretty hard. For the shared jobs, you might be able to translate, but for the ones that aren't shared, I'm not sure how you'd do that.

Lore wise, it wouldn't make sense. Vana'diel and Hydaelyn are 2 separte planes within the Void. FFXI has played with time travel and alternate realities. (Abyssea and Wings) but not travelling to a completely new world.

[Immortta]

#5 makes me triggered.