Service, Our Money, and You

[Camiie]

And if you're not getting your money's worth, you're entitled to quit playing or demand better service- not demand a discount just because some other game that performed worse than this one is being discounted or priced lower.

Ah inspiration!

I demand better service because I don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Recent content such as Voidwatch, WoE, and Neo-Nyzul have not been entertaining to me and are seriously lacking in storyline and creativity. I do not feel as though SE is putting enough resources and effort toward this game, and are relying on a development team that has proven to be sub par and unresponsive. I do not feel as though gameplay issues and bugs are dealt with in a timely fashion. Although the price of the game has remained constant, the level of service has degraded over time in all aspects.

While I understand that SE has many concurrent projects and that FFXI is an old game it still has a healthy and active community of players, many of which have subscribed to the game for years. These are loyal customers, who I think even SE would admit, have dealt with serious and various quality issues they should not have had to. Still, they've stuck with the game for various reasons. While many may disagree and I'm sure those responses to that effect are forthcoming, I think that these customers deserve a higher level of service for their money.

I don't know what SE's plans are and I don't know what SE's finances are or how their departments are structured. I'm not a business major and I'm not a game designer or programmer. I'm only a gamer and a long-time customer. I can only tell you what I feel and what I see as a customer, and I feel there is a lack of quality and communication in today's FFXI. I see more excuses than action. I feel that my loyalty is not currently appreciated. I see that loyalty to certain other projects is valued quite highly. That feels wrong to me.

It's not that I begrudge the people who have dealt with the issues of other games. I'm sure they deserve the breaks they are getting. I just feel that we deserve more than we're currently getting because we have gotten more in the past. And not the distant past either. Why a couple of years ago I would say we got top notch service and support from SE. Issues were dealt with quickly and communication was open and active. The developers were very responsive and honest. These very forums were born during that time. Content was fun and creative. It was a breath of fresh air. The game was alive and active. It wasn't perfect, but if things were today as they were during that time you'd hear no complaints from me.

I realize we have a different dev team than we did then, but the things I'm asking for should be what we get no matter who is in charge. I'm not asking for anything special or out of the ordinary. To be honest I shouldn't be having to ask for or complain about this at all.

[Alhanelem]

Now that's a more sensible approach. The FFXI teem does need to pay a bit more attention to its fanbase. I realize as well that they can't do everything, but if they can't do something we want, then come up with a reasonable alternative that they can do.



I don't know what SE's plans areOn the FFXI side, this is pretty much the biggest problem. We're approaching the end of the known and established plans for the game and we don't have any news on much past this point. I do imagine that we will be getting some kind of news soon, with the hints dropped in relation to the anniversary. But it would be nice if they didn't leave us hanging for so long.

[Zumi]

As a day 1 subscriber to FFXI I too am disappointed with the lackluster updates we have been getting.

When I saw the updates we will be getting posted last week didn't really get me excited or anything.
-Job Adjustments - Lowering recast timer on merit abilities
-Key Item Category Revisions - Adding a category for voidwatch key items
-Guild Merchant Waiting Period - That one to two second delay when buying items from a guild now gone.
-Job Adjustments: Ranger - Now rng generates less hate when doing EES
-Legion Adjustments - 18 man Legion now has half the HP as the 36 man version (should of been like this from the start)
-Ranged Weapon WS and Ability Adjustments - Now ranged WS do more damage far away.

Not a single thing on that list to really get excited about. Its almost laughable that they made a news post for some of those things, key item catagory and buying items from the guild as a major point of the next version update, really SE really".

If SE really doesn't give us something substantial soon I can't see that many people continue to play this game.

SE needs to come out with something new and exciting to tell us about FFXI or pretty much the game is dead.

[Alhanelem]

I'm sure they know we're at the end of the timeline rope. They need to announce some kind of new content pretty soon (I imagine they might at vanafest, but who knows). The only thing we really know we're getting that isn't in yet is the summons caitsith / atomos, and and some sort of UI update.

[Gokku]

Limbus and salvage 2.0 guys .01% drop rates will buy them all the time they need!

[Sarick]

There have been comments posted that things like guard and parry would be fixed. Guard has been broken 10 years doesn't SE think some of these broken things need adjusted before the newer stuff? My friends are leaving. What they've saying is "I don't like the direction the game is headed." This shows that some of the new events went back to the old pre-abby system. The game is old WOTG and ABBY made the game a little interesting. The newer stuff sacrifices fun for tedious and lackluster gear collecting.

Open up a new sea abyssal that is linked to the shin/provenance fight completion. Frankly I don't know why the VW story hasn't been closely linked with the coming apocalypse that hit the alternate reality. If you recall the abyssal story is about creatures (VW) attacking from another higher dimension. The people where content to ignore it until it ultimately caused mass destruction to their world.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Personally, I'd just like to say that I don't have anything against the developers themselves. I do feel that they're doing a yeoman's job with the resources they've been given, resolving long-standing issues where they could, improving the user interface, and even introducing new battle mechanics.

Rather, I'm disappointed and frustrated with the lack of resources they appear to have at hand. Nobody should expect the kind of commitment and support from the development team we've had in days gone by when, by all appearances, they're making do with a skeleton crew. Even the PR staff here on the fora are expected to cover two games simultaneously.

To me, the enemy here is instead management, the ones who decided to starve XI of resources to begin with. It's as if they're making a gamble on how long we'll quietly put up with this situation and keep paying our money before things hit critical mass (and, with our reaching the end of the last roadmap, we may be there now).

A new expansion pack, a rebuilt engine (just adapt the one you're building for XIV 2.0!), discounts for longer subscriptions or for subscribing to both games at the same time... anything to show a genuine commitment to future support of XI would be greatly appreciated!

Because right now, the support XI is getting now is feeling less like XIV and more like TetraMaster.

[Camiie]

Personally, I'd just like to say that I don't have anything against the developers themselves. I do feel that they're doing a yeoman's job with the resources they've been given, resolving long-standing issues where they could, improving the user interface, and even introducing new battle mechanics.


I guess "devs" is a broad term. My main issue is with the leadership and direction of the game. Whoever is in charge right now isn't doing a very good job on even a basic level. Nothing seems to be going right. Content design, communication, quality control, customer service, prioritization, resource assignment and management... It's just bad all around right now and the problem is at the top of the chain. The buck stops with whoever that is. I'm not calling any names.

I know what it's like to be a rank and file employee held back and put in bad spots by a supervisor, and I'm sure that's what's happening here. I'm not saying that person should be removed or fired, but I will say he needs to change the way he does business. I'm going out of my way to be diplomatic because I don't want to give any excuses for this thread to be nuked, but I have a lot of frustration with how the game is being run at the moment and I want that to be clear.

The attitude that existed during the initial release of Abyssea needs to return. That's not asking for a renewal of the content itself, but the way the devs ran things at that time. I don't care if that was a different team. The current team needs to operate that way, egos be damned.

[Dazusu]

The only thing we really know we're getting that isn't in yet

Announced Limbus, Einherjar and Salvage revamps called and said Hi.

As for the OP - Agree with much of it. Would like updates other than changing the recast timer of meritable abilities. That's a 2 minute job, no?

[Arcon]

As for the OP - Agree with much of it. Would like updates other than changing the recast timer of meritable abilities. That's a 2 minute job, no?

You forget that this is SE we're talking about. Reducing a recast timer has to be discussed in five meetings, the implications considered, thousands cases played through to determine the balance of the adjustment, then another few weeks go by testing its relation to every other game mechanic possible to make sure reducing a timer doesn't suddenly make cures do 100k damage. As I said, this is SE we're talking about.

[Duelle]

I don't usually agree with most of the people in this thread in other matters, but in this case you're all absolutely right. The approach taken by the devs is starting to wear on my patience, which means I may be due for another hiatus from the game.

I don't think anyone here has anything personal against Tanaka Hiromichi and the rest of the crew, but the change in philosophy between Abyssea and now is so evident it's not even funny. If other meaningful changes accompanied the battle content we've been getting as of late, I might be willing to overlook some of the stuff (like say, job changes more meaningful than reducing the obviously-too long timers on certain abilities). I don't even know where this game is headed anymore.

[Luvbunny]

Not to defend the developers, but from their point of views, they did A LOT of stuffs pre-abyssea. 2 level caps, numerous job adjustments (and nerfs), a complete void watch series (and not enough adjustment to it), neo-nyzul, legion, AF2+2, neo-dynamis, adding gazilions side grade crap gears and some good alternative gears, last tiers of magian trials (that will guaranteed 0.1% people will complete it)---and these are just the few big ones to mentioned. We got more updates than the era of CoP, ToAU, and WoTG used to. In fact we get more now than it was before if you look at their past updates history. So not calling out that they are not doing their part. But the main problem is they still have no clue on how to create fun and accessible content and need to stop in BS grinding with low drop rate. The sad thing is, they have proven that they are very capable in creating amazing content that is fun and accessible. ToAU and Abyssea are examples of this game - and there are plenty example of FFs games as well, namely FF13-2.

I agree that the problem lies at the top. This person need to come up with a better vision for the game. And focus on building another blockbuster content for the masses - read not contents for 0.1% of completionist player base with no real life. The past year gave us with so many new contents with amazing possibilities, now if only they focus on making it fun and accessible.

[Camiie]

Not to defend the developers, but from their point of views, they did A LOT of stuffs pre-abyssea. 2 level caps, numerous job adjustments (and nerfs), a complete void watch series (and not enough adjustment to it), neo-nyzul, legion, AF2+2, neo-dynamis, adding gazilions side grade crap gears and some good alternative gears, last tiers of magian trials (that will guaranteed 0.1% people will complete it)---and these are just the few big ones to mentioned. We got more updates than the era of CoP, ToAU, and WoTG used to. In fact we get more now than it was before if you look at their past updates history.

I'll call quantity over quality here. They've done a lot, but not a lot of good.


So not calling out that they are not doing their part. But the main problem is they still have no clue on how to create fun and accessible content and need to stop in BS grinding with low drop rate. The sad thing is, they have proven that they are very capable in creating amazing content that is fun and accessible. ToAU and Abyssea are examples of this game - and there are plenty example of FFs games as well, namely FF13-2.

I guess the current team are like the tiny handful of players who long for "ye goode olde days" when endgame was a living hell of low drop rates and needing 18-64 people to get anything done. Most games have evolved past the need to operate this way and most gamers have grown up to where this is no longer a viable method of play. The population as it is now barely even supports this sort of thing anymore. It's fine to include such things for those who wish to and are able to do them, but I think it's probably a good idea to create content that the majority or players will enjoy despite whatever design philosophy the dev team may have.


I agree that the problem lies at the top. This person need to come up with a better vision for the game. And focus on building another blockbuster content for the masses - read not contents for 0.1% of completionist player base with no real life. The past year gave us with so many new contents with amazing possibilities, now if only they focus on making it fun and accessible.

Agreed. His vision is horribly archaic. His attitude is seemingly arrogant and stubborn. This is mean, but he is a proven failure in recent times. Japanese culture or not, while it might be nice for him and the company to have him relegated to the FFXI project it's not so nice FOR THE CUSTOMERS. I might be excoriated for expressing a sense of entitlement, but we deserve better than that. These days though the customer is the absolute last one considered in the equation.

[bungiefanNA]

FFXI is the first MMO I played, and the only one I have stuck with. After the way I've seen SE treat their customers, I'm not really interested in moving to any future MMO they release, and my current plan is to play until I finish all the story content, now that they've made it easier to do in small groups at odd hours of the day. Once I'm done with that, I'll be satisfied with what I wanted to do with the game, and I probably won't come back.

A change in service may change my mind, but having seen lack of consistent support across regions for a supposedly international game (just because I had the misfortune to move), and how fast they are to strip staff away from an established and paying subscriber base, I'm not endeared to the company.

I already denied SE my funds for 8 months because I couldn't use the new payment system, and I had to fight them to fix it for me all that time. I've been subscribed since July or August of 2002 until that.

Also, some of the bonus items being bundled like they have has annoyed me. Something useful only being given to new subscribers because they buy a Collection at a greatly reduced price, compared to paying full price for every expansion on release and only getting a decoration for my house? The Tidal Talisman being useful in-game, but being ugly and not very functional for the real item you get, as well as the absurd price?

[Ilax]

^ -- this and just this. You express my exact opinion i have of SE, and doubt they ever change they attitude too.

SE mentality: "Don't complain, you should be totally satisfy to play the most awesome game in the world, if you not happy go play other fail MMO, but we know we are #1 with our 270,000 subscriber VS 2 million playing WoW."

[Anapingofness]

I agree with the OP. It was so well said that the only thing I can do is state my agreement. I sincerely hope that this thread is seen by the dev team.

[Yinnyth]

Although the price of the game has remained constant, the level of service has degraded over time in all aspects.

The sad truth is that even though we pay the same amount we have always paid, SE isn't getting as much revenue off FFXI as it used to, and that is why service has degraded. The amount of code they're able to write per update is more affected by how many people are paying a monthly fee than by how much your monthly fee is. Yes, it would be fair if I got the same service now I got 3 years ago when it cost just as much as it does now. But life isn't fair, so I'm putting the chances of that happening somewhere around 0.

All the same, I liked your post because I want the devs to hear this. Not because I think they'll hit the magic "fix everything" button which does not exist, but because I want to light a fire under their ass and motivate them to find some sort of solution for the downward spiral. Well, that, and this post was much more even-toned and reasonable than other posts of this nature.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

The sad truth is that even though we pay the same amount we have always paid, SE isn't getting as much revenue off FFXI as it used to

Perhaps not as much revenue, but I suspect the profits haven't degraded too much.

Ignoring labor for the moment, S-E's overhead for running FFXI are servers and bandwidth. The bandwidth they need is directly proportional to the number of subscribers they have, so that part of the overhead will more or less balance out. As for servers, just as we're no longer playing on Pentium III systems running Windows 98, the servers have likely been upgraded over time as well (probably coincident to world mergers), to machines that can churn out more FLOPS and faster data access times for less kilowatt-hours; realistically, the costs for operating the servers over time must go down, even if the user base was constant.

The primary cost driver here is going to have to be labor. Like bandwidth, customer support costs are directly proportional to the number of customers you have to support, so that too can be safely ignored. As for developers, part of that expense is going to come from trying to support aging platforms (PS2 and DirectX 8) that nobody focuses on any more (it will eventually be cheaper to write a whole new client than to support the existing code). The rest of their costs depend on how many man-hours they actually put into "developing."

And I'm not seeing a whole lot of "developing" going on.

[cidbahamut]

I agree with the overall sentiment of this thread. FFXI isn't getting the resources it needs, the management seems to be at odds with the customers and the developments we see lack a sense of urgency. Square-Enix is letting FFXI coast along when they need to be actively investing in it and pulling away from the archaic game design of yesteryear.

I want better service.

[Yinnyth]

Perhaps not as much revenue, but I suspect the profits haven't degraded too much.

Ignoring labor for the moment, S-E's overhead for running FFXI are servers and bandwidth. The bandwidth they need is directly proportional to the number of subscribers they have, so that part of the overhead will more or less balance out. As for servers, just as we're no longer playing on Pentium III systems running Windows 98, the servers have likely been upgraded over time as well (probably coincident to world mergers), to machines that can churn out more FLOPS and faster data access times for less kilowatt-hours; realistically, the costs for operating the servers over time must go down, even if the user base was constant.

The primary cost driver here is going to have to be labor. Like bandwidth, customer support costs are directly proportional to the number of customers you have to support, so that too can be safely ignored. As for developers, part of that expense is going to come from trying to support aging platforms (PS2 and DirectX 8) that nobody focuses on any more (it will eventually be cheaper to write a whole new client than to support the existing code). The rest of their costs depend on how many man-hours they actually put into "developing."

And I'm not seeing a whole lot of "developing" going on.

I love using overly simplistic math to make complicated issues easier on my brain, so...

r=revenue from players
x=all standard operational costs including bandwidth, electricity, customer support, server maint., etc.
y=leftover money for use in developing new content

Let's assume y = r - x and further we'll go on your assumption that r and x scale completely evenly with one another. Now let's assign some sample values to each! We'll say SE gets 200 dollars in revenue, and spends 100 on operational costs, so

200 - 100 = 100

SE can spend 100 dollars on developing new content. Now let's scale back r and x by 50%, so 100 dollars in revenue and 50 on operational costs:

100 - 50 = 50

SE can spend 50 dollars on developing new content.



So even if we assume operational costs and revenue scale perfectly with one another, the budget for development must also shrink if the revenue shrinks.

[Camiie]

The sad truth is that even though we pay the same amount we have always paid, SE isn't getting as much revenue off FFXI as it used to, and that is why service has degraded. The amount of code they're able to write per update is more affected by how many people are paying a monthly fee than by how much your monthly fee is. Yes, it would be fair if I got the same service now I got 3 years ago when it cost just as much as it does now.

There's a lot that factors into what money they have available. The variances in subscriber income, income from expansions/DLC, operating costs, payroll, advertising, and things I'm sure I would never think to consider. I don't propose to fully understand how things operate at SE, and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be sharing. All I can do is make my best guess which I will now do.

I kinda get this feeling from some mysterious place that the biggest limiting factor is the online division simply being spread too thin in resources and manpower between FFXIV and FFXI. That along with the corporate vision of the importance of FFXIV succeeding means FFXI is getting the short end of the stick. I'm reasonable enough to see the justification behind that. My issue is with the shortness of the stick.


But life isn't fair, so I'm putting the chances of that happening somewhere around 0. All the same, I liked your post because I want the devs to hear this. Not because I think they'll hit the magic "fix everything" button which does not exist, but because I want to light a fire under their ass and motivate them to find some sort of solution for the downward spiral. Well, that, and this post was much more even-toned and reasonable than other posts of this nature.

I appreciate it, Yinn. I too feel the chances of anything changing are really really low, but you never know unless you try. It seems though at this point if you want the best service SE has to offer you have to switch over to FFXIV (I can't believe I typed that). FFXI subscribers are just second class customers at best unless those drastic changes I'm wishing for come about.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

I love using overly simplistic math to make complicated issues easier on my brain, so...

r=revenue from players
x=all standard operational costs including bandwidth, electricity, customer support, server maint., etc.
y=leftover money for use in developing new content

Let's assume y = r - x and further we'll go on your assumption that r and x scale completely evenly with one another.

That's not quite what I said.

x = x1 + x2

x1 = population-driven factors (bandwidth, customer support)
x2 = infrastructure factors (maintenance, electricity).

x2 always goes down over time, pretty much regardless of population (or someone needs to be fired), so x overall will go down over time. The average XIV player probably has more computing power on their desktop than what's required to run an XI world.

Regardless, yes, the available profit for development will go down over time. But it won't drop like a rock overnight, and it won't "coincidentally happen" around XIV's launch unless there was a mass exodus of players from XI to XIV at launch.

[Riggs]

the main thing saving se is that while there are now hundreds of mmorpg's out there, there all so so bad, apart from eve online but that will generate a different player base

[Camiie]

the main thing saving se is that while there are now hundreds of mmorpg's out there, there all so so bad, apart from eve online but that will generate a different player base

While you may not like those other MMOs, it's a bit silly to call all of them bad. There's many things in life that I dislike, but I know have plenty of merit.

There IS some very legitimate competition out there for my time and money, and SE needs to realize that and act like it. They need to feel like they have to fight every single month to maintain my attention. They're too complacent, and maybe for good reason. They haven't been pressured nearly enough to get their act together. Maybe some people are right and we have to quit en masse to get them to realize that. I'm trying to get their attention before that happens, because my fear is that if the population starts dropping in huge amounts due to dissatisfaction they'd be more inclined to end support rather than make the wholesale changes that are needed.

[Anapingofness]

the main thing saving se is that while there are now hundreds of mmorpg's out there, there all so so bad, apart from eve online but that will generate a different player base

On the contrary, it's those MMO's that are showing people how much is wrong with FFXI and SE's QoS.
I can't speak for the quality of every MMO out there. This is a MMO saturated market.
However, of the ones that I have played I have noticed quite a bit that SE should pay attention to.

Namely that a great number of MMO's is F2P which means that those MMO's which can suck wookie balls for all I care will still get more screen time than FFXI by sheer virtue of being F2P. I mean really, FFXI didn't even have a free trial until very recently.

I'm not saying FFXI should go F2P. What I'm saying is that because FFXI is a P2P game the QoS should be a lot better than a F2P one.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

I mean really, FFXI didn't even have a free trial until very recently.

Um... wrong.

[Alhanelem]

They did have a free trial, then rmeoved it because RMT were abusing, then they brought it back later after putting lots of limits on it so it couldn't be abused.

[bungiefanNA]

Free trial without buying the game launched after WotG. That's pretty recent as far as this game is concerned. It was also short-lived until its recent return.

[Camiie]

On the contrary, it's those MMO's that are showing people how much is wrong with FFXI and SE's QoS.
I can't speak for the quality of every MMO out there. This is a MMO saturated market.
However, of the ones that I have played I have noticed quite a bit that SE should pay attention to.

There are so many great ideas out there they could borrow the fact that they don't is just mind-boggling to me until I remember who's in charge of the game now. So many things have been brought to their attention over the years and summarily ignored it's just sickening.


Namely that a great number of MMO's is F2P which means that those MMO's which can suck wookie balls for all I care will still get more screen time than FFXI by sheer virtue of being F2P. I mean really, FFXI didn't even have a free trial until very recently.

I'm not saying FFXI should go F2P. What I'm saying is that because FFXI is a P2P game the QoS should be a lot better than a F2P one.

It's funny that F2P game makers don't really have to try very hard, and most don't, but some do a rather remarkable job. But you know SE is supposed to be one of the big time operations, and they certainly are a big name in the gaming industry. Square-Enix... Final Fantasy... Dragon Quest... They even have Tomb Raider under their umbrella now. While maybe they aren't the monstrous behemoth they used to be, they are not small fries by any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately their online division with FFXI makes them look like they are just 5 guys in a garage who work on the game in their spare time. It's really kind of sad.

Unfortunately, they game is priced to compete with the real big boys like Blizzard and universally known names like Star Wars and price is about the only thing they compete on. Now I know those games have plenty of issues as well and as unprofessional as Blizzard can be at times I'd still rate them higher than our devs here. Their success, however, one cannot question. While 10-12 million players is too much to ask of a single Final Fantasy game, it's pretty obvious SE should have been far more successful with a Final Fantasy branded MMO than they were.

I can only attribute their relative mediocrity to their ineptitude and stubbornness. FFXIV isn't the only MMO they dropped the ball with, and though they picked it up for a while with XI, they've now dropped it again. They can do well, they just don't or won't. Please stop failing us SE. We know you can give us better if you'd just put forth the manpower, make available the resources, and open your minds.

[Anapingofness]

They did have a free trial, then rmeoved it because RMT were abusing, then they brought it back later after putting lots of limits on it so it couldn't be abused.


bungiefanNA

Free trial without buying the game launched after WotG. That's pretty recent as far as this game is concerned. It was also short-lived until its recent return.

While I appreciate the both of you pointing out the details where my post was wrong I would like to point out that your effort in that is unnecessary. The fact that the both of you are arguing semantics over a statement that is mostly true is quite disappointing.

Out of everything that I've said that is the one thing you decide to latch on to? Why? To what end? Don't answer. I don't really care, they're rhetorical questions anyway.

FFXI should have had a free trial from the get go, uninterrupted. The fact that it was in limbo for so long is enough to validate my statement. They used RMT as an excuse to remove it and then took ages in returning it. That is unacceptable. I realize that at the time RMT was a much bigger problem than it was today but it still doesn't allow for how long they took in bringing it back. So yes, for all intents and purposes they did only recently add the free trial option. You cannot tell me that the features they added to the current free trial took that long to implement.

Lastly, this is as far as I'll take this argument. If you have to have the last word then go ahead and have it but I will not be responding to it. I refuse to get into a debate and derail the subject even further.

[Luvbunny]

FFXI and FFXIV are not the only two online thing they did, they also working on Dragon Quest X MMO...for the Wii and it is confirmed. Check the link http://www.1up.com/news/square-confirms-dragon-quest-online

What is great about SE is that they are not afraid to STEAL other people's ideas and adapt it to their own games. The results have been hit and miss, and I was hoping for more hits. FFXI itself see many copied game mechanics, but they did not take it further and make it FUN. Assault and Moblin Maze is very similar to Phantasy Star Online, but it was not as good or addictive as it could have been - with too many limitations on place. Pankration to a degree is a clone of Pokemon with a dash of Monster Hunter, but again, they did the bare minimum and not push it further. Field of Valor is an attempt to borrow WoW kill x many mobs for rewards - but was launched with too many limitations and not so great rewards. Abyssea probably is the best realization of all their borrowed ideas, it is fun, enjoyable, addictive and accessible. Post abyssea are a mixed bag, Ground of Valor is way way better than FoV, Voidwatch is actually not so bad other than you are dependent on luck and nothing else, Walk of Echoes is very good but need more tweaks. Legion and Neo Nyzul are great ideas on paper but really need MAJOR tweaks, fast.

[Ilax]

Legion is just Einherjar v2... for Neo Nyzul is pure deception.

VW concept for treasure is PERFECT, is about time we can play the game without getting cheated by any leader.

Now can SE add new option to VW, possibility to pop without any temp item and unable to trigger, and just higher the drop rate as the difficulty is raised?

Anyway just an idea.

[Luvbunny]

VW concept for treasure is PERFECT, is about time we can play the game without getting cheated by any leader. Now can SE add new option to VW, possibility to pop without any temp item and unable to trigger, and just higher the drop rate as the difficulty is raised?

Totally agree, VW idea of treasure is PERFECT, no more favoritism from Ls leaders, no more BS points where you can't really keep track and will be useless when your LS disbanded.

[Mahoro]

While I like the idea of Voidwatch treasure, I find it ironic that people trot out the same outdated arguments against LS's when they likely would have gotten all their VW drops faster in a DKP system if they dropped in the pool rather than playing the RNG chest lottery.

[Godofgods]

ppl never stop complaining....

Shame they don't put this much effort into country/world events...

[Sayomi]

IMO there is no end to this game we all thought it was over years ago but it just kept going, lol and thats great but whats the point behind all these levels with no new expansion or storyline that SE/FFXI is famous for, lets face it FF has best storylines in an MMO nothing else comes close, we need content that provokes team-work and heck good pvp to vent out our frustrations on one another and pass time, if you're tired of sitting around picking your nose and trolling forums in Port Jeuno that is lol.

Heres an idea, remember the opening cutcene to FFXI that got us all wondering where the heck is tavnazia because I just got to Tavnazian safehold and this dont look like what i saw in the cutscene.....then you ran out to lufasie meadows and looked at the distant arch wondering if you'd ever get to go there? Then at the end of CoP you saw a Pheonix feather fall infront of the arch and your like omg next expansion is gonna shed some light! But no we went to the middle east and wore turbans (Aht Urgan), cmon let us go to Tavnazia as an expansion and use the data youve gathered from Besiged/Campaign and make a strongold type deal on a large-scale basis just a thought!

[Luvbunny]

Don't forget about those three little mini add ons that focus on stories :) - before the infamous Abyssea came out - these story based expansion got the worst reviews since it basically the same rehash crap that made you run around in circles and reward you with a measly 3 gears - but hey at least you get to "adventure" in circles and visit those areas in the game that have been neglected.

[Alhanelem]

Totally agree, VW idea of treasure is PERFECT, no more favoritism from Ls leaders, no more BS points where you can't really keep track and will be useless when your LS disbanded.
Well, it's perfect as long as you don't mind collecting lots of logs and ores.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

that made you run around in circles and reward you with a measly 3 gears

If I cared that much about loot I'd probably be happy with the 100% endgame focus we're getting.

In my personal opinion, the biggest problem with the three mission add-ons was the game-breaking BCNM fights. If it weren't for that sharp spike in difficulty (from level ~30 to level ~76+ in one step) half-way through each of them, I'd say they'd make a good model for new storyline content going forward.

As things are now, the results of the last census, showing everyone was up to but not through the final fights of each, didn't surprise me in the least.

[bungiefanNA]

FFXI and FFXIV are not the only two online thing they did, they also working on Dragon Quest X MMO...for the Wii and it is confirmed. Check the link http://www.1up.com/news/square-confirms-dragon-quest-online

Don't forget that PlayOnline Viewer in Japan was used to launch Front Mission Online, Fantasy Earth Zero, and Dirge of Cerberus' online mode.

[Camiie]

ppl never stop complaining....

Which your post is a fine example of.


Shame they don't put this much effort into country/world events...

Actually I do!

[wizzitywillican]

The guild merchant waiting period was the greatest update ever ask anyone who has made ingots from guilds before.