So, how about some additions to the Dev team?

[Sp1cyryan]

Help help help I need an adult, or perhaps an SE financial adviser. That would most likely be more beneficial.

I am going to go out on a limb here and conclude that the Dev team at this point in the game are rather understaffed for the desires of the player community.

Anyone who has played this game for a long time has seen the obvious decline. The last expansion pack was in 2007 and if I can go out on a limb I would say Wings of the Goddess was the official marker to the age of reusing old content for new content.

Don't get me wrong I am not complaining and I am not against recycling. It makes perfect sense to save time, money, resources, etc on reusing certain things. I happened to love WotG as campaign is incredibly fun (imo) and the great quality of work put into the story line easily makes it my favorite in the game.

However, somewhere along the line this game has reached a point of seemingly just being short staffed. We have reached a point where important adjustments are about "balance", adjusting what exists several times over in a year in more often than not being in minor ways, and reusing every square inch of vanadiel. The headlines of update day announcements today were above the footnotes or even the footnotes.

Never before was the player base to be excited and entertained by "AoE damage of bosses in WoE will do less damage" or "Testimony drop rates have been increased". That was at the very bottom of an update day announcement and never even worth mentioning amongst all the juicy details that make us all happy to roam Vanadiel as it ever changes and grows.

Those are not bad things, but when it is most of what we have to look forward to since 2009 with the add on scenarios it honestly seems like our plate of rations seems to be getting slimmer and slimmer.

Personally I am fond of abyssea, and it can serve as a unique event for the life of this game with a minor tweak here and there every now and then. However, something like abyssea could really have been an opportunity for a new expansion. This game honestly could be much more appealing to new and old retired players with just that as well as obviously keep the current subscriber base happy for years (well, some people are never happy, but you know how that works).

Why does EverQuest 1 get four expansions since 2007 and Final Fantasy 11 gets zero?

TL;DR + Questions to the big cheeses:


How understaffed is FFXI, and is the cost not worth the benefit of adding on to the team?
Besides a decrease in staff over the years what are multiple serious obstacles that stand in the way of breaking new ground in FFXI?
What obstacles stand in the way of a content filled expansion pack to FFXI?
How much of an issue does the amount of data the PS2 HDD can hold pose? What happens if it ever becomes filled? Are those "PS2 is partly responsible for holding the game back" rumors true at all? If so, what becomes of the PS2?


--------
(Random and unrelated) With the advent of the newer billing system and people using crysa. Could something like a 'Crysta Card' or a "Three months of FFXI card" usable for both FFXI and FFXIV (in the case of Crysta) be plausible to implement? You know, WoW has those cards at convenience stores and Walmarts it serves as decent advertising and a somewhat practical way to have people put in crysta or pay for FFXI over existing methods.
Someone needed eyeliner and while I was in the checkout the idea just came to me so...

[Starry]

PS2 limitations to pretty much all your questions <.<

[Arcon]

PS2 limitations to pretty much all your questions <.<

None, to be precise.

[Tamoa]

How understaffed is FFXI, and is the cost not worth the benefit of adding on to the team?
Besides a decrease in staff over the years what are multiple serious obstacles that stand in the way of breaking new ground in FFXI?
What obstacles stand in the way of a content filled expansion pack to FFXI?
How much of an issue does the amount of data the PS2 HDD can hold pose? What happens if it ever becomes filled? Are those "PS2 is partly responsible for holding the game back" rumors true at all? If so, what becomes of the PS2?



I would love to get answers to these questions from SE.

[Runespider]

My guess is they will announce the new addon they are working on around the time GW2 and Tera comes out, since FFXI is at it's worst time ever right now they need something around then to try stop the bleeding of players that will want to try those due to sheer boredom. I can see Tera being the biggest problem for FFXI right now since it's endgame content is low-man friendly and it's just so damn fun to play.

[wish12oz]

Why does EverQuest 1 get four expansions since 2007 and Final Fantasy 11 gets zero?


Aren't there more people playing FF11 also? Now that I know this, I find it entirely unacceptable.

[Camiie]

It'd be nice if some folks above the dev team could see this. The ones who control the purse strings and dole out funds to the various divisions within SE. They need to take a look, not only at this thread, but the site as a whole. The customers are asking for fresh content and fixes to problems both new and old. You could say we're asking for more bang for our buck, but at this point we're not even getting the same "bang" we used to get for the same amount.

We aren't getting nothing, and many of us do appreciate what the devs are able to do for us to varying degrees. Sadly though it seems many of our requests are met with something like, "We'd like to be able to do that, but we don't have the time or resources to make it happen (or make it happen in a reasonable time frame)." The devs themselves admit they are short staffed. As someone in a similar work situation, I can certainly relate. I'm sure many of my fellow players can understand being overworked and understaffed. I know that at my job even one or two more people would make a world of difference. I also know that personnel is a huge expense, and good people can be hard to find.

Even still, I think the SE online division is a very important part of the company and certainly a worthy division to place a healthy investment in. As important as "normal" offline games, handhelds, mobile apps, etc. are there's something special about MMOs. They're a long term commitment from both the players and the developers. They are a much greater financial and emotional commitment than any one and done game purchase. If anything is a make or break proposition it is this. Making a bad game is one thing. Most gamers can forgive that. Screwing up something people have poured lots of time, money, and emotion into is quite another. You can easily turn your biggest fan into your worst detractor.

If SE wants to breed loyalty amongst its customers then they need to be loyal to us now and put their full faith and effort into this project once again.

[Starry]

None, to be precise.

Actually your ignorance of your own post is showing; PS2 limitations is pretty much in the top 3 reasons to this 'What obstacles stand in the way of a content filled expansion pack to FFXI?'. Good try though bro.

[Michae]

All the devs are on ffxiv and as I am canceling my ffxi in about 5 mins since i full time ffxiv and never play xi anymore anyway i thank you for that se ^^

much love

(pretty sad when that bomb of a ff title has grown in one year to be a better time than the much loved xi in its current state)

[Arcon]

Good try though bro.

What was I trying, "bro"? What is needed for a new expansion? Hard disk space and a willing development and production team. PS2 is no hindrance in either. By all means, show me how I'm being ignorant.

[Elexia]

Actually your ignorance of your own post is showing; PS2 limitations is pretty much in the top 3 reasons to this 'What obstacles stand in the way of a content filled expansion pack to FFXI?'. Good try though bro.

Love the sarcasm, especially after reps stated "PS2 Limitations" aren't holding content back lol.

[Michae]

Actually your ignorance of your own post is showing; PS2 limitations is pretty much in the top 3 reasons to this 'What obstacles stand in the way of a content filled expansion pack to FFXI?'. Good try though bro.

Devs already stated PS2 limitations is not a cause for the hold up. Ppl use ps2 limitations as a scape goat cause its easy

[Runespider]

All the devs are on ffxiv and as I am canceling my ffxi in about 5 mins since i full time ffxiv and never play xi anymore anyway i thank you for that se ^^

So basically you are doing nothing, you pay them on the other game. Same company gets your money, they don't care which you play.

[SilverObi]

All the devs are on ffxiv and as I am canceling my ffxi in about 5 mins since i full time ffxiv and never play xi anymore anyway i thank you for that se ^^

Right in track with the business plan for FFXI: make em WANT to play XIV!!
(though in all honesty, I haven't played XIV in a good 6 months so it might indeed be more enjoyable now)

[Sp1cyryan]

Right in track with the business plan for FFXI: make em WANT to play XIV!!
(though in all honesty, I haven't played XIV in a good 6 months so it might indeed be more enjoyable now)

When they officially announced FFXIV and had said they took man power from XI to work on FFXIV I felt a little betrayed. I wanted to like FFXIV and I hated it. They made all these changes to it then since that and it is most likely better, but the initial flop and the feeling of being a shunned customer is enough to honestly keep me from caring about FFXIV at all.


If we really do want SE to answer something like why Everquest 1 gets four expansions since WotG while FFXI gets none we need to throw a whole bunch of thumbs up likes things into the mix :(

[Glamdring]

no question, they need some bodies in the Dev office if they plan to do anything, even if they keep it to mini-tweaks as they are now. It's called man-hours and there's only so much that a few people can get done in them. In a very real sense the number of bodies in the Devs office can be used as a measure of SE's commitment to XI.

However, I differ with your characterization of no expansions since 2007. The 3 mini-expantions that give augmented gear together add up to almost as much content as RoTZ did, at least in terms of storyline/quests. Abyssea-despite how sparse the storyline is compared to RoTZ, CoP, ToAU and WoTG-gave us 9 new zones, and what ammounts to an entirely new play system since it almost completely changed every game mechanic at end-game levels, at least in concert with the additional 24 levels on all the jobs. Currently, they are in the process of retooling most of the old end-game events to something doable at 99 and-while not completely new content-there's gotta be a hell of alot of workload in redoing Nyzul, Dynamis, Salvage and maybe Einherjar, not to mention adding GoV and thus changing pop zones for at least a third of all the mobs in the game. They are also-1 or 2 at a time-revisiting the job designs themselves in light of game play at 99 (not always to everyone's satisfaction but how often do you satisfy everyone?).

In short, the Devs aren't just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. Hint to SE: if you want to do more of this kind of thing on a scale the playerbase is happy with a few extra bodies on the dev team would be nice. I dare say the ones that are on the current Dev time might also appreciate a few co-workers to help make things happen; some of the comments from Devs/reps are the kind of "snarky" tone you hear when someone has hit a brick wall in terms of how much they can get done in a workday.

[Kieron]

Abyssea-despite how sparse the storyline is compared to RoTZ, CoP, ToAU and WoTG-gave us 9 new zones...

Those 9 new zones look like rehashes to me, only colored with a red, dull sky. I believe what players want is reassurance that their beloved game is still lively. Getting new gear is nice and all but where's the full-fledged expansion? Why can't we have one as ground breaking as ToAU? What about an expansion to the far east? They have plenty to work with but they decide to put more men/women on a game that has far less subscribers than XI.

It's no different when you're with your girlfriend/boyfriend for 8 years. You want the relationship to stay fresh instead of growing stale and unappealing.

[Kaych]

It is a good thread put it a very constructive way. However the questions you ask have been asked before and SE choose not to answer them. I have no clue why... it is the same if you ask about RDM mele ^_-

[Crysten]

no question, they need some bodies in the Dev office if they plan to do anything, even if they keep it to mini-tweaks as they are now. It's called man-hours and there's only so much that a few people can get done in them. In a very real sense the number of bodies in the Devs office can be used as a measure of SE's commitment to XI.

However, I differ with your characterization of no expansions since 2007. The 3 mini-expantions that give augmented gear together add up to almost as much content as RoTZ did, at least in terms of storyline/quests. Abyssea-despite how sparse the storyline is compared to RoTZ, CoP, ToAU and WoTG-gave us 9 new zones, and what ammounts to an entirely new play system since it almost completely changed every game mechanic at end-game levels, at least in concert with the additional 24 levels on all the jobs. Currently, they are in the process of retooling most of the old end-game events to something doable at 99 and-while not completely new content-there's gotta be a hell of alot of workload in redoing Nyzul, Dynamis, Salvage and maybe Einherjar, not to mention adding GoV and thus changing pop zones for at least a third of all the mobs in the game. They are also-1 or 2 at a time-revisiting the job designs themselves in light of game play at 99 (not always to everyone's satisfaction but how often do you satisfy everyone?).

In short, the Devs aren't just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. Hint to SE: if you want to do more of this kind of thing on a scale the playerbase is happy with a few extra bodies on the dev team would be nice. I dare say the ones that are on the current Dev time might also appreciate a few co-workers to help make things happen; some of the comments from Devs/reps are the kind of "snarky" tone you hear when someone has hit a brick wall in terms of how much they can get done in a workday.

I bolded the part of the post relevant here. If this was one of their major game plans over the past year, why on Earth did they raise the level cap to 99 if the majority of the content we were going to get was old content v 2.0? We might as well still be 75 at this stage, if you take Abyssea out of the equation.

I am full agreement with the OP though, a little bit of background information on the health of the dev team/budget of the game right now would certainly pique my interest.

[SpankWustler]

At the very least, they could pay the schizophrenic homeless guy who helps out with coding in prescription anti-psychotics instead of economy-priced shochu and provide the red pandas who handle in-house testing with bamboo instead of leftover rice.

[Daniel]

(pretty sad when that bomb of a ff title has grown in one year to be a better time than the much loved xi in its current state)

O.o did I read this correctly? Is it really worth playing!? All I can remember is getting the best GPU available, and a $500 CPU when this game came out and the game play was still choppy at best...

[Falseliberty]

yeah its a real mess.. between the higher ups not giving the devs support and they already behind like 2-3 months from the massive earthquake japan faced, game feels very light atm.. almost like it was back during wotg, thou thats not being fair. there is alot more content atm than there was during wotg >.>

[Runespider]

O.o did I read this correctly? Is it really worth playing!? All I can remember is getting the best GPU available, and a $500 CPU when this game came out and the game play was still choppy at best...

It's still awful and has a tiny playerbase, they are doing server merges soon and they still won't muster more than a 500-1k per server. XI maybe in the crapper atm but XIV is not something to considering moving to as an upgrade, it's just as bad and has the same basic people behind it.

[Elexia]

It's still awful and has a tiny playerbase, they are doing server merges soon and they still won't muster more than a 500-1k per server. XI maybe in the crapper atm but XIV is not something to considering moving to as an upgrade, it's just as bad and has the same basic people behind it.

That's funny because most of the servers have at least 500 per using your exampled numbers, and they want it to be around 2k+ per minimum, hence the merges. It has a smaller playerbase but at least XIV has a future, especially by time PS3 release rolls around, XI is played it, they know it we all know it. For as long as I played XI it's ok to admit that this game is on its last legs.




Those 9 new zones look like rehashes to me

Which every MMO does this (don't fool yourself, every forest, dungeon, lava area etc is exactly the same as a previous one.)


I believe what players want is reassurance that their beloved game is still lively

"New zones" doesn't make the game "lively" because there's tons of RoZ, CoP, ToAU and WoTG zones no one really cares for.


Why can't we have one as ground breaking as ToAU?

FFXI is pretty much done for and the only thing "ground breaking" about ToAU was they listened to cry babies about CoP being too hard, therefore it was done in a way a blind monkey can complete it.


What about an expansion to the far east?

Be real, how likely are you to care about content in the Far East if it isn't Abyssea style?


They have plenty to work with but they decide to put more men/women on a game that has far less subscribers than XI.

Because XIV is their future, XI is the past. XI is well past its prime and lost a lot of people and will continue to do so, no company in their right mind would ignore something to have the potential to be their next cash cow. Why do you think the EQ team eventually made an EQ2?

Why do you think Blizzard eventually made WoW and SC II? They were perfectly content (in your logic) with keeping only SC, Diablo and DII and Warcraft 1 - 3 around since it had "more subscribers than WoW did initally (and probably still does.)

[wish12oz]

FFXI is pretty much done for and the only thing "ground breaking" about ToAU was they listened to cry babies about CoP being too hard, therefore it was done in a way a blind monkey can complete it.

FFXI is only done for if the Dev team keeps pushing stupid crap content less than 1% of the population likes. And I would say Original Nzyul, Einherjar and Salvage were all pretty ground breaking and amazing, I dunno what you're talking about saying TOA was garbage. As far as 14 goes, I leveled all the jobs that matter to 36 to get the skills that are good, I got the good jobs to 50, I beat ifrit, moogles and darkhold, what else is there? Took me a month to beat FF14, how is it so amazing and super awesome? I mean, when they add jobs and AF quests, thats like 2 weeks of content at most, then its back to being lame and having nothing to do but spam ifrit 4 hours a day. FF14 IS SO FUN DAWG!

[Elexia]

how is it so amazing and super awesome?

I'm waiting to see where someone said this.


thats like 2 weeks of content at most

Funny story, in FFXI if you start right at this moment in time, get your job(s) to 99, you can blow through every content in the game in under a week that doesn't have artifical lockouts.

I'll wait for you to point how this is different than "finishing content quickly in XIV." The only thing XI has is the content is repeatable for it's own reasons, just like you repeat Toto-Rak, Darkhold or Primals in XIV for their own reasons.

[Runespider]

FF14 is terrible, you are dealing with a lot of people that have played it and know what they are talking about. If it was good it would have a lot of players and it doesn't.

Peopel are really annoyed with how they are running XI into the ground but if XIV was in any way a step up you would not see that XI has 100-200k subscribers and is 10 years old and XIV is 2 years old and has not even 1/10th of that number..they are even having server merges now lol...even players that have both games installed and pay for them spend more time on XI (even in the state it's in now..). Please don't talk about ps3 launch or anything else, until it happens it's hot air.

Neither game is good right now and the upcoming titles are really going to test how loyal they think we are to the FF franchise when they feed us crap content like they have been..on both games.

[Greatguardian]

I'm waiting to see where someone said this.

Funny story, in FFXI if you start right at this moment in time, get your job(s) to 99, you can blow through every content in the game in under a week that doesn't have artifical lockouts.

I'll wait for you to point how this is different than "finishing content quickly in XIV." The only thing XI has is the content is repeatable for it's own reasons, just like you repeat Toto-Rak, Darkhold or Primals in XIV for their own reasons.

You severely underestimate the amount of content in FFXI, especially when taken from scratch. The problem isn't lack of content at endgame. It's lack of content with rewards that matter.

95% of the game sits around unused and forgotten because it's generally considered a waste of time to mess with. I'm not even talking about bloody exp either, screw exp. I mean straight up content, quests, events, battlefields, none of them get used and many players don't even know they exist.

Also: PS2 limitations exist. Arcon is still correct in saying that PS2 limitations don't limit the particular things pointed out in the OP. Broad, sweeping statements are bad, mmkay.

[SpankWustler]

Funny story, in FFXI if you start right at this moment in time, get your job(s) to 99, you can blow through every content in the game in under a week that doesn't have artifical lockouts.

All of the accessible and meaningfully rewarding content.

If you get into stuff like non-reward-giving quests, content with outdated or incomprehensible rewards, and content that seems designed to drive people away rather than pull people in; there's a HUGE amount of content in FFXI.

[Greatguardian]

All of the accessible and meaningfully rewarding content.

If you get into stuff like non-reward-giving quests, content with outdated or incomprehensible rewards, and content that seems designed to drive people away rather than pull people in; there's a HUGE amount of content in FFXI.

The best is the content with rewards that are outdated upon release.

Balance!

[Rezeak]

I would love more expansions i feel it would draw more people back to the game.

I would like to say i thought the storyline in abyssea was amazing and i know alot of people go what storyline but if you do the quests and read what the npcs are telling you there is a definitly a deep storyline to it ofc it's all opinional which is why alot go "Abyssea has no story" but if you take your time and read what the npcs say when you do quests for then you'll enjoy it ^^.

[Asymptotic]

I have always felt like an expansion to the North or South would be more likely than a Far Eastern expansion.

[Camiie]

Which every MMO does this (don't fool yourself, every forest, dungeon, lava area etc is exactly the same as a previous one.)


If you'd stopped before the parentheses you would have had a good point. MMOs do reuse mobs, items, textures, and models. To say that every forest, volcano, etc. is the same is a rather ignorant statement. Even if they're made of the same or similar pieces it's not like they aren't still different in many ways.



"New zones" doesn't make the game "lively" because there's tons of RoZ, CoP, ToAU and WoTG zones no one really cares for.


Well, zones are supposed to include points of interest and lead us to other zones with more points of interest. The reason no one cares for many of those zones is because they've already seen what they were supposed to see, fought what they were supposed to fight, and outleveled the content therein. New zones with new points of interest would indeed make the game more lively. You're right in the sense that just throwing down an empty zone won't do much good, but it's safe to assume people want new areas that include new things to do.



FFXI is pretty much done for and the only thing "ground breaking" about ToAU was they listened to cry babies about CoP being too hard, therefore it was done in a way a blind monkey can complete it.


COP was an aberration when you compare it to what came before and after. If anything ToAU was a course correction from the deviation that was COP.



Be real, how likely are you to care about content in the Far East if it isn't Abyssea style?


I'd be willing to accept a compromise. It doesn't have to be Abyssea, but it shouldn't be Zilart kings or VW either. Missions similar in difficulty to what we had with ToAU, and events that are based on rewarding our time spent doing them.



Because XIV is their future, XI is the past. XI is well past its prime and lost a lot of people and will continue to do so, no company in their right mind would ignore something to have the potential to be their next cash cow. Why do you think the EQ team eventually made an EQ2?


Because Sony made the same mistake that SE did before SE did. They figured the loyal player base that they'd treated sooo well over the years would gladly abandon their time and efforts and flock to the new shiny hamster wheel even if the shininess was just a really thin layer of spray paint over a wheel that was even rustier and clunkier than the old one.



Why do you think Blizzard eventually made WoW and SC II? They were perfectly content (in your logic) with keeping only SC, Diablo and DII and Warcraft 1 - 3 around since it had "more subscribers than WoW did initally (and probably still does.)


The old Battle.net games are pay to play? They have more subscribers than WoW even though they have no paying subscribers at all? WoW is the same genre of game as Warcraft 1-3 and Diablo and Diablo II? What nonsense is this?

[Kieron]

Elexia, if you're so adamant about your love for FFXIV, go post on the FFXIV forums. FFXIV has had the worst first impression I have ever seen for a game. It's a FF game that sits at an average of 49 on metacritic. It's unfortunate but it's true.

The game is a laughing stock within the industry. At least FFXI and FFXI: ToAU garnered acceptable reviews when FFXIV just out right disappointed everyone. SE won't ditch XIV because it looks bad when dealing with investors (who wants to continue relations when your partner prematurely kills the project?). The game is most likely costing SE more than it's worth at the moment.

Also, if I am not mistaken, FFXIV was (losing players while it was free) and is losing players as of now.

[Cursed]

Elexia, if you're so adamant about your love for FFXIV, go post on the FFXIV forums. FFXIV has had the worst first impression I have ever seen for a game. It's a FF game that sits at an average of 49 on metacritic. It's unfortunate but it's true.

The game is a laughing stock within the industry. At least FFXI and FFXI: ToAU garnered acceptable reviews when FFXIV just out right disappointed everyone. SE won't ditch XIV because it looks bad when dealing with investors (who wants to continue relations when your partner prematurely kills the project?). The game is most likely costing SE more than it's worth at the moment.

Also, if I am not mistaken, FFXIV was (losing players while it was free) and is losing players as of now.

QFT.
Don't forget there is the professional career and pride issue within the organization; internal politics. Like every organization there will be colleagues telling the big C suite bosses "we told you so" and the Big 3-5 C's (CEO/CMO/COO) at least will be tearing shit up within the company and re-allocating resources (where did you go Abyssea Dev team?) to unflood their already sunken ship.

Who wants to be tagged as the person who ruined one of the most distinct, original and successful RPG(MMO)s titles in gaming history?
You think that dude's gonna get a job anytime soon when FFXIV is pronounced dead?

If SE had any brains at all, it would look at FFXIV's 2k? playerbase and then at FFXI's 150-200k Active subscriptions and just say "Screw it. Dismantle FFXIV. Give all the resources to FFXI. Launch FFXI-2. FFXIV never happened. You hear me, it never happened. Dump it in Koyoto"
but instead of amputating the ganglion infested pinky toe that is FFXIV, they've decided to take an aspirin, cut the other 4 toes off and pray to God the infected USELESS pinky toe doesn't fall off the foot, regardless of the threat of it spreading to the entire foot, the leg and eventually rendering them a walking pile of puss and utter crap.
wait never mind, they're already there./

[DrStrangelove]

How understaffed is FFXI, and is the cost not worth the benefit of adding on to the team?


There is your answer.

Suck it up...FFXI is a product, and SE is a supplier. We are the customers.

SE is not a group of independently wealthy teenagers needing direction on how to make us happy. They are in business and owe it to the investors to do their best to make the company as profitable as they can. While we may not AGREE with their strategy, our investment is $12.95 / month, while their investment is their job, their career and tens of millions of dollars of investors money.

We know how to enjoy ourselves and don't care about the future of the company.

They don't have that luxury.

[Camiie]

There is your answer.

Suck it up...FFXI is a product, and SE is a supplier. We are the customers.

And without us what are they?

[Greatguardian]

And without us what are they?

You're still paying customers worth the exact same $12.95 whether you're happy, sad, obsessively in love with Tanaka's hair, or in the process of throwing your PC out the window. Anyone still playing is too addicted to stop playing regardless of how few resources the game gets, and that's all that matters.

[Glamdring]

You severely underestimate the amount of content in FFXI, especially when taken from scratch. The problem isn't lack of content at endgame. It's lack of content with rewards that matter.

95% of the game sits around unused and forgotten because it's generally considered a waste of time to mess with.

The main reason so much of the content is wasted is because it's too easy XP wise to blow past it. Who needs to farm an Empy hairpin when you are going to go from 30-99 in less than a week? AF? Hell, even Raja's ring isn't worth the effort anymore because it stopped scaling at 75. If it weren't for things like maps and being required for area access even less of the content would be used. Could you imagine starting an NPC fellow from scratch these days-the quest would be easy enough but who's going to grind it up levels, especially since the only end-game it can be used in is GoV? and I say this despite LOVING Yufafa, my little butt-saving soothing healer... now it's usually me saving her butt

[Greatguardian]

The main reason so much of the content is wasted is because it's too easy XP wise to blow past it. Who needs to farm an Empy hairpin when you are going to go from 30-99 in less than a week? AF? Hell, even Raja's ring isn't worth the effort anymore because it stopped scaling at 75. If it weren't for things like maps and being required for area access even less of the content would be used. Could you imagine starting an NPC fellow from scratch these days-the quest would be easy enough but who's going to grind it up levels, especially since the only end-game it can be used in is GoV? and I say this despite LOVING Yufafa, my little butt-saving soothing healer... now it's usually me saving her butt

Why do you care? Gear being useless shouldn't matter to you since you're the resident champion for gear/gear swapping being unimportant and the best player on your server, right?

[Sp1cyryan]

There is your answer.

Suck it up...FFXI is a product, and SE is a supplier. We are the customers.

SE is not a group of independently wealthy teenagers needing direction on how to make us happy. They are in business and owe it to the investors to do their best to make the company as profitable as they can. While we may not AGREE with their strategy, our investment is $12.95 / month, while their investment is their job, their career and tens of millions of dollars of investors money.

We know how to enjoy ourselves and don't care about the future of the company.

They don't have that luxury.

You should honestly be ashamed at how ignorant your post is. Your condescending remarks are completely misguided and serve only for you to be "that guy". By that guy I mean the stereotypical "they are in charge they are doing what they want and we should deal with it" guy that weasels its way into anything whilst defying all conceivable decent logic.

Please, you honestly can not say if the cost is worth the benefit as chances are you are far from qualified to make even an intelligent remark on the matter.

Honestly as long as this thread stays around and is not deleted while the OP picks up likes and more posts come in on top of each other then an answer may eventually come. That is all I and others really care about. Lay it out to us in a direct and detailed manner SE.

[Glamdring]

Why do you care?

I care because this is a discussion about having things to do. There's a ton of stuff, but no incentive because it's straight to end-game in a week or less. And that's unfortunate, because alot of those earlier fights were alot of fun, alot of challenge and in some cases worth doing for rewards IF they scaled. You make strong friendships when you go through hell together, new players are going to miss out on alot of that. The current end-game gear fights aren't about putting forth your all and getting your well deserved reward for all that work; the fights are too easy now, so end-game is now about spam it over and over for low returns, then wait until it's your turn for the drop. And that's just sad... There's 8 years of game content that new people will never see, or never feel that sense of accomplishment if they DO choose to do it, because other than getting maps, maybe a synthetic atma and access to new areas all the risk and reward are gone.

[Greatguardian]

Oh? But why does it matter if the gear is useful or not?

You say you don't need gear. Whether or not gear is useless should have no bearing on you because you are so skilled. If the events are fun, I'm sure you will do them regardless of their rewards.

If gear's usefulness matters to other people, perhaps you should open a dojo and instruct these young grasshoppers in your ways so that they may be as skilled as you and not need useful gear themselves - leaving them free to explore all of this game's unused, unrewarding content.

[DrStrangelove]

You should honestly be ashamed at how ignorant your post is. Your condescending remarks are completely misguided and serve only for you to be "that guy". By that guy I mean the stereotypical "they are in charge they are doing what they want and we should deal with it" guy that weasels its way into anything whilst defying all conceivable decent logic.

Please, you honestly can not say if the cost is worth the benefit as chances are you are far from qualified to make even an intelligent remark on the matter.

Honestly as long as this thread stays around and is not deleted while the OP picks up likes and more posts come in on top of each other then an answer may eventually come. That is all I and others really care about. Lay it out to us in a direct and detailed manner SE.

There's nothing condescending about my post. I answered the OP's question.

Your post on the other hand was rude and insulting. Unfortunately, saying I am ignorant of how businesses operate is not even close to correct. Try again.

The OP asked a business question....I gave him a business answer.

The better questions are:

1) why are you responding when you have no idea how to calculate costs and benefits for SE and do not realize that as a result you are in no position to evaluate their decisions otherwise?
2) why are you responding when you don't know what the duties of the board and the company directors are?
3) why are you responding when you confuse being told how things are done with being told you are too stupid to understand how they are done?

[Sp1cyryan]

Bump for good measure. Figured it was about time to do it.

[bungiefanNA]

One of the payment options for Crysta is UltimatePay, which has prepaid cards available. SE doesn't need to do prepaid cards because of that. They didn't before the new billing system either, with VISA and MasterCard having prepaid cards.

[Feynman]

I've seen different statements from SE at times (I'm not looking them up right now because I'm at work and shouldn't be on here at all really...) that the PS2 HDD was filled up at one point though that was mainly due to the method used for updates. PS2 users had to do a clean install of the game and SE changed the way that updates are done on the PS2. But I'm not really in the know on how much free space is on the HDD now and if it could handle new content or not. Others on here have said the SE says PS2 isn't holding new content back and I have no reason to not believe them.

I've also seen a statement that no new content will use Abyssea or the proc-ing system, largely because they consider Abyssea a "mistake" that doesn't fit in with any of the other game content. So I don't think we'll see anything else on that side of things.

As much as I think SE uses "balance" as an excuse as much as a real reason I do think they should try and keep things balanced. A lot of people that I know that play or have played other MMOs complain about things not being balanced anymore and shortly thereafter quit the game. But yeah, SE has an interesting sense of balance at times I agree.

[bungiefanNA]

The PS2 HDD wasn't filled up, the 8 GB partition on the 40 GB drive was filled up. They have since expanded the partition size for the game, and changed how the PS2 processes updates. When Heroes of Abyssea came out, the actual data files for the PS2 version were just over 4 GB, but the system wasn't deleting all the old temporary files from patches. Now the partition has 10 GB of space allocated to it, and they haven't added much in the way of new files.

[FrankReynolds]

One of the payment options for Crysta is UltimatePay, which has prepaid cards available. SE doesn't need to do prepaid cards because of that. They didn't before the new billing system either, with VISA and MasterCard having prepaid cards.

This could be said of every gift certificate for every business on the planet, and yet they continue to sell.

[Zumi]

Maybe they are happy with the subscriber numbers as they are now. I logged on FFXI on a Saturday night I saw 3500 playing. I was like wow a lot of people still play FFXI and don't mind doing endless abyssea which is still packed.

In comparison FFXIV has around 250 during peak time.

If people are still playing with the game having little new content and lackluster updates like event items being added to porter mogs then it give SE little incentive to hire more people or put more people on FFXI. For whatever reason FFXI seems to have a really loyal customer base which is shown with 3000+ people on server during peak times.

[Camiie]

If people are still playing with the game having little new content and lackluster updates like event items being added to porter mogs then it give SE little incentive to hire more people or put more people on FFXI. For whatever reason FFXI seems to have a really loyal customer base which is shown with 3000+ people on server during peak times.


Sounds like we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. If we stay loyal they assume we're happy and maintain the status quo. If we leave en masse they figure it's time to pull the plug.

[Feynman]

The PS2 HDD wasn't filled up, the 8 GB partition on the 40 GB drive was filled up. They have since expanded the partition size for the game, and changed how the PS2 processes updates. When Heroes of Abyssea came out, the actual data files for the PS2 version were just over 4 GB, but the system wasn't deleting all the old temporary files from patches. Now the partition has 10 GB of space allocated to it, and they haven't added much in the way of new files.

Thanks for the clarification but it leaves me with a question. The PS2 HDD never really was used for anything else at all (as far as I recall). It was marketed and sold with FFXI and never lived up to it's expected uses. So, why not make the full drive available for the game?

[Atomic_Skull]

Thanks for the clarification but it leaves me with a question. The PS2 HDD never really was used for anything else at all (as far as I recall). It was marketed and sold with FFXI and never lived up to it's expected uses. So, why not make the full drive available for the game?

Sony isn't going to have someone write a new firmware update for a dead system when there's nothing in it for Sony.

[Zumi]

The 10gb partition is hard coded on the PS2 so no matter what SE wants to do they will reach that limit eventually. If they want to go past that would have to drop PS2 support.

[FrankReynolds]

The 10gb partition is hard coded on the PS2 so no matter what SE wants to do they will reach that limit eventually. If they want to go past that would have to drop PS2 support.

I'm pretty sure that they announced that Sony was letting them expand the partition a few months back. Maybe someone who is better with this wonky search function could look that up.