Petition for level 75 cap server

[OmegaFFXI]

https://www.change.org/p/official-sq...-75-era-server

Greetings all. Please join me in supporting this petition for Square-Enix to produce an official level 75 cap era server.

Many of us prefer older days. Legacy servers have grown substantially in popularity over the past 5 years for various MMOs. FFXI is one of the last older MMOs with no official legacy server.

This is not about current FFXI vs. old FFXI. Legacy isn't for everyone, just like current FFXI isn't for everyone. Legacy servers have no impact on current version servers. You are free to contact any of the companies with an official legacy server and ask them yourself.

Any questions or concerns, you can contact me at omegaffxi@gmail.com

Thank you.

[Sirmarki]

Couple of points, one of which I believe was brought up by someone else.

1). Who defines what 'classic' actually is?
2). SE would have to produce two separate updates for the server(s). Unless you are suggesting it never gets updated?

[Elexia]

Couple of points, one of which I believe was brought up by someone else.

1). Who defines what 'classic' actually is?
2). SE would have to produce two separate updates for the server(s). Unless you are suggesting it never gets updated?

Easy answer to 1 actually since #2 depends on who you really talk to (concept is easy in terms of retroactive content inclusion but process not so much.)

1. Classic is 75 era, 75 era only had the "classic gameplay" most people know of when referring to FFXI because it's what lasted the longest (2003-2009ish) - There's 3 very different versions of XI, Classic 75 Cap era, Abyssea era and Ilvl (current) era.

[OmegaFFXI]

A lot of times we just use the word classic/vanilla/legacy/era when referencing FFXI just because we're lazy, but in fact there's probably almost none of us that actually played "real" FFXI classic - JP launch. I think we mostly don't want to invent some new word just for FFXI. :P

I can absolutely say, however, that most of the people I've talked to and read posts from regarding a 75 cap server want the server to stop at TOAU. People seem to be OK with the idea of a progression server as well (follows the expansion timeline, starts at classic/vanilla, progresses through ROTZ, then COP, then TOAU), but they still want it to stop at TOAU. No idea what kind of time frame there should be between expansions. Maybe 6 months? Everquest does 3 months on theirs.

There are a small amount of people that want it to stop at WOTG. But it doesn't seem to be enough to warrant an official WOTG era server. (Sorry folks! Most people say they enjoyed WOTGs story but the copy/pasted empty zones turned them off. Many believe that Dancer and Scholar were too strong.)

THAT SAID! People are on board with a few things from WOTG such as new spells, traits, and abilities. Some of those things helped with job balance (or so they say).

Oh and while I talked about it in the petition, I just wanted to say that just about every official (or private!) legacy server I've ever played on has had SOME quality of life/modern changes. Something like level sync should absolutely be in from the start. Probably extra mog inventory spaces (FFXI had one of the worst inventory management systems out of any MMO back then!). They should still charge for extra Wardrobes of course!

Honestly I think there's a lot of things that you could talk legacy players into accepting. Like possibly Home Point teleports only between cities. Maybe not needing your nation to own a region to do the supply quest for outpost warps (OP warps very important during those days, was one of the only forms of fast travel). Maybe changes to HNM timers or how they work like Fafnir etc. You just have to be careful not to add tooo much QoL/modern stuff, otherwise it begins to defeat the purpose of the server. Legacy players are looking for that level grind from the start of the game. They want to do it with other players. They want to beat story missions with other players.

I lastly want to say, most of what I just said is my own personal thoughts and opinions, not necessarily things I personally want or am pushing for currently. I think that should this come to fruition, we would need to discuss each feature on a case by case basis so that people can share their opinions on them. I don't want people to think I am speaking for the legacy community when I mention those things (yet anyway, maybe later when I have more concrete data). The only thing I know for absolute sure that most people want, is TOAU to be the last expansion. I told Blizzard this same thing: a legacy server is an opportunity not only to go back in time, but an opportunity to change time, to make it even better than it was. Each time I have played on a legacy server, I've always gotten the same feelings that I did back then. That's how you know they've done it right, despite things not being 100% exactly the way they were back then due to some slight QoL/modern additions. You just have to make sure that the spirit of what people want from that era is still there.

[Alhanelem]

We already have a really lengthy thread on this. Even if they could do it, a "75 server" would be a terrible idea. There are many reasons why:

1) The game has continued on a very long time from when the level cap was 75, and there are those who still enjoy playing the game now, along with those who are but might be tempted by such a thing.
This idea would divide the community while not likely bringing in many old players who have long since moved on to other things.


2) Content. They would have to develop new content for both this and the normal game, and they just don't have the team to do something like that. If they stopped development on the current game to do that, that would upset a lot of people who put years of work into the game since then, and why should they lose their work so a few people can enjoy their rose tinted glasses for a bit?


3) The passage of time. The game has recieved a modest amount of modernization over the years, and that would be lost by going back in time with the game version. Anyone who comes in and tries this will only find things eve more lacking compared to other modern games today. And unless the "classic server" recieves new content, the novelty of going back to the way things were will wear off quickly.


4) Just not the same- Because we've all already done it before, the experience won't be the same as you remember. There will still be far fewer people playing than there were back then, and while t his is debatable, it was the community that truly made the game fun, more than the content, level cap, or anything else. I challenge you to disagree with this- Was it really fun bashing snippers for hours on end to gain a level or two, or was the real fun interacting with your friends and fellow adventurers, swapping stories and chatting while you play? I don't know about you, but it was the community that made this game so much fun for me, and you can't bring that back to a "classic server" without a time machine and a memory wipe.


5) Potential for confusion- There aren't that many new players these days, but having different kinds of servers with different content would be confusing to new players, who could end up in one place or the other without really realizing it or what the difference is.


6) Disagreement on what "Classic" is- Who decides when the game was the most "classic?" Was it before WoTG? Sometime during it? Maybe go back to Zilart? Do we keep the jobs released after that? No matter what SE chooses, some people aren't going to be happy. There are various theories on what led to the game's decline. Personally I think it was less content related (i.e. not caused by abyssea or WOTG or some other specific game feature) and more just players moving on to more modern games after so many years. WoW's growth far exceeded FFXI's at all times, not just at that point that some people believe the game was "killed." I think WoW and other games like it simply eclipsed the game to the point that people couldn't simply ignore it anymore, and FFXI just couldn't hope to compete without the big overhaul it couldn't get because of the PS2 at the time.


Personally I wouldn't have time for the old grind anymore- I don't have time to do 5 hour raids every three days, and waiting days or weeks to collect upgrades and rewards sucks. It is really beyond me why anyone wants this or thinks it will be "just like the good ol' days" again, when it really won't be.

Yes, a lot of my opinion is in this, but I feel I've raised some legitimate issues.

1. Classic is 75 era, 75 era only had the "classic gameplay" most people know of when referring to FFXI because it's what lasted the longest (2003-2009ish) - There's 3 very different versions of XI, Classic 75 Cap era, Abyssea era and Ilvl (current) era.

This isn't even true anymore. The game has been 99 cap longer than it was 75 cap at this point.

[OmegaFFXI]

1. Is the community not already divided though? It began during WOTG, back then there were 500-600K active subscriptions. Disappointment arose with the severe lack of content and all of the copy/pasted zones. Then Abyssea launched and it was more copy/pasted zones, which was the final nail in the coffin for most. During this time, active subs dropped by over half, and by the time Abyssea was over the game was in such bad shape that no one even cared to parse the sub numbers anymore. Today, it's estimated that FFXI has somewhere between 35K-40K active subs. I'm glad there are people who still enjoy current FFXI, but there are a lot of people who don't and they have nowhere to go except to other games. They moved on years ago after being burned repeatedly between 2007-2011. Between Wings of the Goddess, the 3 mini addon scenarios, and Abyssea, the game lost around 90% of its player base. Lastly, I don't expect anyone to leave retail for legacy. They're two different games marketed to two different types of players, just like every other legacy server.

2. You would need to ask all of the other legacy server communities and companies if their legacy servers took away development and staff from the current version. From my experience it seems like two different versions are operated by two different teams. The legacy team is obviously a fraction of the size, since once the server is finished, there's no more development.

3. Legacy servers are mostly developed for those who have experienced all versions of the game, and prefer the older version. That said, it does give an opportunity for people who have never played the older version the chance to experience it, and I've personally met people who are playing older eras and even the game for the first time on legacy servers. I still see players in-game that I met on legacy servers years ago.

4. I have been playing on legacy servers for nearly two decades, and I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. It absolutely feels the same as it did back then, for every legacy server I've played on. The population depends on the game and the server. As for the community, it's the same too. I've already gone back and bashed snippers for hours, and the equivalent in other games too. And yes I prefer it and so do others.

5. Doesn't seem to be an issue for other games, though I can certainly see the need for an explanation on the game's website.

6. Ultimately, Square-Enix chooses. But they should probably discuss it with the community first. And yes, not everyone will be happy, as with every game and every thing in life. Most of the legacy players I've talked to want nothing beyond TOAU, and a small percentage of players want WOTG.

[Haldarn]

They moved on years ago after being burned repeatedly between 2007-2011. Between Wings of the Goddess, the 3 mini addon scenarios, and Abyssea, the game lost around 90% of its player base.

Pretty sure that was less to do with what was going on in XI and more to do with the advent of XIV.

[OmegaFFXI]

Pretty sure that was less to do with what was going on in XI and more to do with the advent of XIV.

You mean a game that the community thought so poorly of that it had to be completely recreated and (forgive me) reborn? I might believe that if people left for FFXIV 1.0, experienced what it was, and then came rushing back. But not many did. Instead, both of SE's MMOs took massive hits.

There probably wouldn't be a Square-Enix today if they hadn't recreated FFXIV successfully.

[Alhanelem]

Pretty sure that was less to do with what was going on in XI and more to do with the advent of XIV.

A lot of people like to blame WOTG or abyssea, but that's a load of crap. The game was beginning to decline in population before any of this.


If abyssea did harm the game in any way, it's because of its nature as a power playground- which upon completing it all, left you feeling weak when you did regular content outside of the abyssea areas. Some content like Voidwatch tried to bring some of this back, but basically, when you make people feel powerful and then indirectly take it away, it may have left a sour taste in some mouths. But neither of these things "cost the game 90% of the playerbase." There were a lot of factors at work, from already declining populations to content issues, to the advent of FFXIV (dulled by its initial failiure, though), to PS2 limitations getting in the way of needed improvements, and so on. There were a lot of things, it wasn't just any one thing.


It is however true that SE was in a bad spot after FFXIV 1.0 bombed. They had a lot of other things also performing poorly at the time as well. It was a huge risk to them financially, but at least in that respect, the remaking of the game proved to be a good decision.

[emiledge]

Level 75 Server! No thank you!