Suggestion: Break the game, SE

The thing is that SE has completely gone away from what made this series fantastic. Final fantasy has always been about the main story line and cutting edge graphics with epic gear and weapons being a side quest. FFXI has turned into a gear and weapon fest and nothing more. What good are these weapons and gear that takes forever to get when there is no worth while content to use them on.

I have seen people when the Almace first came out working day in and day out to get it. When they finally got it they would sit in jeuno with it equiped showing it off. Once in a while go into an Aby party and do a few WS to show off. WOOOHOOOO wow that is so worth it. As a BLM i can kill aby mobs just as quick or even faster then someone with an Empy weapon and it took me only seconds to buy the spells. To me all this game has been is "See how long it took me to get my weapon/gear show."

And the feeling of logging in and thinking today i'll be able to have some fun maybe some friends are on or my LS is actually going to do something today... has gone by by. I recently came back since november (skyrim release) to give this game another shot but my god it's worse then before.

And to SE... thank god, we as gamers, have other options.

I would like more structured events, more aby for the casuals, more maze grinding like salvage for the more seasoned players

the problem is SE dosent seem to have the staff for for putting diff lvls of events out there for people to do

Make certain areas PVP.......if you build it they will come (or at least buy you some time to think of something to add to the game)

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Originally Posted by hideka

what you all failed to mention or even realize is that SE is using the funds from this game to fund the development of FF14. they moved our GOOD dev team over to 14 and gave us back the loltanaka dev team

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Lol, even though said team was on XIV AND XI at the same time? Why do think WoTG was such a slow completion process during XIV's development? You do know Tanaka was still here for Abyssea as well, right?

Not to mention if you played any older FF game or Seiken Densetsu game, I'd find it hard to believe you didn't enjoy them. Any money a company makes off of a game goes towards other projects, that's how a business works.

The only thing the XIV debacle proved is that SE is willing to hold on to however many customers they can, damn be all common sense.

SE isn't nefarious, just stupid. They aren't killing FFXI for XIV -- that wouldn't make any sense, because people who would be embittered by one shitty MMO from squeenix wouldn't flock to another MMO by squeenix.

That being said, I don't care who's doing what at SE. I'm not going to pretend to know who was in charge of what. SE, sadly, doesn't send me memos about their organizational structure. Ultimately, though, I don't care. SE opened up the forums because they wanted our opinions. Here they are.

The game needs a serious shake-up. They need to stop balancing, tweaking, or waffling. There is no reason why I, at 99, shouldn't feel more powerful than I did at 75. Aby proved that it doesn't take +5 of a stat to make a meaningful difference in gameplay. Aby also proved that it is possible to have fun in XI, to do it casually and in a non-grindy way.

Edit: Yeah, they should look into PvP. It's a real aspect of online gameplay that they are ignoring outright. Ballista died because they took their middling, tweaking, and nerfing approach to it, coupled with inconvenient access and zero to low rewards.

It's all about giving people bang for their buck. If I pay for a game on a monthly basis, than that game should be more exciting, engaging, and fun to play than the flashy F2P fare that seems to roll out on a monthly basis these days.

And yeah, I want more story, also. Unfortunately, SE's idea of storytelling is still somewhere in the nintendo era. There is no reason why gaming can't have an engaging storyline -- but quite frankly, for a franchise that was all about story, SE's recent offerings have been vapid, overblown, and godawful.

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Originally Posted by Aquilla

And yeah, I want more story, also. Unfortunately, SE's idea of storytelling is still somewhere in the nintendo era. There is no reason why gaming can't have an engaging storyline --

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Which is still better than shitty hammy voiceacting found in games like Skyrim or Dragon Age, or is that your idea of "engaging story telling?" Because I read books that beat it out pretty much every video game storyline to exist. This is the most subjective thing ever.

The greatest problem is that Square Enix keeps the formula "let's reward the hardcore gamers for their lack of social life" while punishing heavily the majority made from casuals. FFXI was a spetacular niche game 9 years ago but these ppl grew up and their reality is completely different today.

Though some endgame linkshells are still ruled by ppl whose lives are entirely devoted to a game, the majority that are still paying subscriptions and keeping this game alive for so long, even the fresh players, are losing interest day by day with so many events relying so much on others to acquire stuff.

While it might sound nice to promote cooperative gameplay, the way events were designed in ffxi since 2003 promotes a lot of elitism and the masses are left out. One example? Try to get a af3+2 item. It's an item for your job that basically nobody else wants to do anymore since they are trying to get their 10th empyrean weapon (endgame ls leaders of course, the rest will slave-whore themselves for one empyrean.

What happens to the new players that are the breath of air that MUST be flowing inside the game? They see impossible to reach objectives unless they destroy their social lives like endgame shells require (honestly, who in their sane mind stays 5 days a week during nights at home unless you have no family or friends?) and lose interest. With games rewarding them so much faster, trying to get even a single af3+2 item seems a herculean task. You have to rely on ppl to get your Atma, then you have to rely on more ppl to get +1 seals, then you have to rely on more ppl to get +2 seals.

And you only finished 1 item. Let's not even talk about weapon trials. While hardcore gamers might see this as a perk from the game (leaving the best gear to a handful of them) its clear that this system isn't the one that keeps players logging in nowadays. The average player mentality changed.The most rare item in the world is TIME and with less and less time to play games a company that still requires you to devote so much for so little is bound to suffer from hemorrhage till it becomes a F2P.

Abyssea never made the game easier. It just created another carrot in the end of tunnel for us to hunt. The problem is, while in other MMORPG you can go on your own way to the carrot in here your pathetic character still needs the help of others to accomplish his own adventures. This worked perfectly in 2003. But not anymore.

It doesn't matter if hardcore players agree with this or not. FFXI must become more solo friendly. There is so much content in this game that even being more solo friendly it won't ruin the endgame. This is the only game where players have characters that are not tied to one class. They can farm 20 different jobs for gear. This is the only MMORPG where story matters and they can go through each one of them in their own time.

Its SE move now. FF14 will sink soon and without making FF11 an appealing game for new starters with a social life (job and family) the future is really bad towards Square in the MMORPG market.

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Originally Posted by Sagagemini

FF14 will sink soon and without making FF11 an appealing game for new starters with a social life (job and family) the future is really bad towards Square in the MMORPG market.

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If 14 was to sink it would have done so in 2010 and not exist today, not during nor after a major overhaul 2 years later. SE will do just fine if they play their cards right.

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Abyssea never made the game easier.

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Most of us who played XI for at least more than a year prior to abyssea or ToAU can safely say, Abyssea made the game easier. Period. How often did you in 2002-2009 open a chest and got 1250 exp? Let alone open 10 chests back to back in a span of 20 seconds for 1250 exp?

How likely were you to go to a NPC and buy a full set of armor with Haste on it? Let alone how likely were you to have a weapon that beat out most Relics and Mythics for only weeks work rather than years?

Its not about handing down every single piece of equipment to terribads. Its about making only the ABSOLUTE BEST items requiring to have a group. Things like atmas and at least af3+1 had to be soloable by any job without that idiocy of proccing that makes you having to shout for job x or y to do something for you. While players could be doing their own adventures and having tons of fun they are shouting in port jeuno. Those who are in endgame shells or have real life friends playing don't have a clue about it since most of them are being carried by their ls leaders or friends or boyfriends.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

If 14 was to sink it would have done so in 2010 and not exist today, not during nor after a major overhaul 2 years later. SE will do just fine if they play their cards right.



Most of us who played XI for at least more than a year prior to abyssea or ToAU can safely say, Abyssea made the game easier. Period. How often did you in 2002-2009 open a chest and got 1250 exp? Let alone open 10 chests back to back in a span of 20 seconds for 1250 exp?

How likely were you to go to a NPC and buy a full set of armor with Haste on it? Let alone how likely were you to have a weapon that beat out most Relics and Mythics for only weeks work rather than years?

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Its much more harder for me nowadays to get a group going for VV Atma than it was to defeat Promathia back in 2005. I understand that with empyreans and 3 atmas you can basically do anything in Abyssea but first you need to get those. It was so much easier to find groups for Ouryu or any other part of COP even if you were not in a static and you could keep your progression. Now 7 years later its basically impossible to get some atmas and af3+2 items with random shouts.

How easier the game has become?


Honestly i came back to do the trivial and im not even bothering anymore about the bandwagon i lost. But you can't ask for a new player to be motivated as i am, due to my 2003 nostalgia, having to be satisfied with crap from AH or lose his social life to whorehimself in an endgame ls where he is going to complete leaders and officers gear 10 times before anything else.

This is just not the way the MMORPG market works anymore. Online gaming is becoming more and more casual. While i applaud that FFXI stays true (sort of it) to its old formula of randomness drops and devotion to get stuff (i took 3 years to get my duelist chapeau+1 back then) i also see it dying with it.

Im talking about SE future as an online gaming company. They almost destroyed their franchise with FF14 with their stubborn attitude of always being right . They have the tools to make an AAA online product BUT they must start accepting the fact that gamers now are more casual than ever and they won't devote themselves to any game that doesn't reward them fast.

Like it or not. Its money that keeps this business going and these casuals are the ones with it. Much more than the 1-5% of hardcore players.

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If 14 was to sink it would have done so in 2010 and not exist today, not during nor after a major overhaul 2 years later.

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It's already sunk, almost every potential customer was scared off it and turned their attention to new games..or do you think everyone is waiting for a v2 of an old failed game? GW2 and Tera are the new exciting games to look forward to, the only reason 14 is still around is because it's a FF title, it embarassed them with it failing and they are now forcing it to carry on living by throwing money at it. It bombed hard and is still pretty much dead as an MMO. There is no guarantee V2 will turn this game around (they are dumbing down the game engine for a start, and the prettyness of it was one of it's only redeeming factors for many), no matter how hard they try there is no guarantee players will want to go back to try 2 at a failed, dead game.

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SE will do just fine if they play their cards right.

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Yeah because the way they put 14 out, ran it to be still a failure 2 years later and indeed the way they are running this game give you the idea they are ever gonna "play their cards right"? White knight much?

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Like it or not. Its money that keeps this business going and these casuals are the ones with it. Much more than the 1-5% of hardcore players.

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This so much, pity they don't get it.

You can't dumb down a engine from a cinematics engine to an actual engine meant for building games on it. CT was more of a cinematic toolset than full on game engine.

Where did you even hear this info? Then again, based on a lot of your posts about certain subjects..don't answer that.

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You can't dumb down a engine from a cinematics engine to an actual engine meant for building games on it. CT was more of a cinematic toolset than full on game engine.

Where did you even hear this info? Then again, based on a lot of your posts about certain subjects..don't answer that.

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They are dumbing the engine down for v2 to play on weaker PCs, I don't even play the game and I know more about V2 than a XIV white knight?

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This is the most subjective thing ever.

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Whether or not you like the story is very subjective. Who cares? People play MMOs for story like they read playboy for the articles. We want a story -- without it, the game feels empty -- but we play it for the gameplay/community. A game with an awesome story but terrible gameplay won't get anywhere. A game with great gameplay but shitty story can win awards. That's not my opinion -- it's happened.


However,

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Like it or not. Its money that keeps this business going and these casuals are the ones with it. Much more than the 1-5% of hardcore players.

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This so much, pity they don't get it.

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Yeah. The problem is that challenge =/= low drop rate. It never has, and it never will be. Problem is that the red spiky shirt with the awesome str+8 and haste+4% and other assorted piddly stats is not anybody's idea of a super-awesome-drop from the new hardcore endgame event.

SE needs to radically revise their outlook on MMOs.

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Originally Posted by Runespider

They are dumbing the engine down for v2 to play on weaker PCs, I don't even play the game and I know more about V2 than a XIV white knight?

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"White Knight" you really are an idiot.

You don't "dumb down an engine" to make it run better on a broad range of PCs, you optimize an engine to do so. You don't need to go to one extreme or the other, this is why developers use the UE mainly because of it's compatibility and optimization to run on many environments.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Which is still better than shitty hammy voiceacting found in games like Skyrim or Dragon Age, or is that your idea of "engaging story telling?" Because I read books that beat it out pretty much every video game storyline to exist. This is the most subjective thing ever.

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Hmm... See what we have here kids is someone comparing two different things. Books to games. We can break this down further because the games being compared are not the same. We are comparing MMO's, Console/Single Player Games, and Books.

In a perfect world the two would balance each other out with the quality of storyline. However, this isn't that magical place and sadly many video game companies are notorious for not hiring real writers.

Books are special. They've been around longer and people have had a much longer time to get it right with them. Even so, there are things published that should never have even been considered for publication- but I digress.
Books, for all of their history, have to have a compelling and solid structure. They have to be able to convey to us through words alone a story or a message.

Video games are even more special because unlike books they are interactive. People are no longer relying on words to convey a message they can now see what they would normally read. More importantly, people can now take the main character and control him as he begins his journey. A well made video game storyline will make you laugh and cry, much like a well written book.

Now that that basic definition is there please understand that the quality of a storyline has no bearing on the "shitty hammy voice acting found in games like Skyrim and Dragon Age". There have been plenty of games where there was no voice acting. There were also games where the voice acting was in gibberish. Those games had very good, engaging, story lines.

For me though, and I cannot speak for Aquilla, "engaging story telling" means that I can connect and relate to the characters in the storyline. It means that when a character dies, I too will feel a sense of loss. Alternatively, if there is a humorous scene I will laugh. "Engaging story telling" not only uses everything that books have taught us to deliver an unforgettable experience but it also uses the best of what video games as a medium has to offer.

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"White Knight" you really are an idiot.

You don't "dumb down an engine" to make it run better on a broad range of PCs, you optimize an engine to do so. You don't need to go to one extreme or the other, this is why developers use the UE mainly because of it's compatibility and optimization to run on many environments.

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Hey you're the one that thinks FFXIV is awesome and if they play their cards right can make it into a success, if that's not a XIV white knight given everything that's happened idk what is.

For a game sold on being pwetty I'd call it dumbing down, you can use nicer words if it makes you happier.

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Originally Posted by Sagagemini

Its much more harder for me nowadays to get a group going for VV Atma than it was to defeat Promathia back in 2005. I understand that with empyreans and 3 atmas you can basically do anything in Abyssea but first you need to get those. It was so much easier to find groups for Ouryu or any other part of COP even if you were not in a static and you could keep your progression. Now 7 years later its basically impossible to get some atmas and af3+2 items with random shouts.

How easier the game has become?


Honestly i came back to do the trivial and im not even bothering anymore about the bandwagon i lost. But you can't ask for a new player to be motivated as i am, due to my 2003 nostalgia, having to be satisfied with crap from AH or lose his social life to whorehimself in an endgame ls where he is going to complete leaders and officers gear 10 times before anything else.

This is just not the way the MMORPG market works anymore. Online gaming is becoming more and more casual. While i applaud that FFXI stays true (sort of it) to its old formula of randomness drops and devotion to get stuff (i took 3 years to get my duelist chapeau+1 back then) i also see it dying with it.

Im talking about SE future as an online gaming company. They almost destroyed their franchise with FF14 with their stubborn attitude of always being right . They have the tools to make an AAA online product BUT they must start accepting the fact that gamers now are more casual than ever and they won't devote themselves to any game that doesn't reward them fast.

Like it or not. Its money that keeps this business going and these casuals are the ones with it. Much more than the 1-5% of hardcore players.

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There is a lot of truth in what you say Sagagemini. Most of us with established groups don't think about the players without those groups. I'll be the first to attest to that. Like it or not, the sad reality of FFXI is that it is not a very newbie friendly game. So I can totally see where you're coming from.

Although, I will say that the Abyssea has made the game easier in certain respects. Mainly the leveling aspect. Back in the day it was a good party if you could get 5k - 10k exp an hour. I'm glad that SE lessened the grind in that respect with Abyssea, FOV, and GOV.

And some players wonder why these forums aren't taken very seriously. We go from discussing Aby everywhere play and 10xing gear stats to peoples personal opinions about why FFXIV was a failure, random video games in general, whose is and is not a "white knight", books,hammy voice acting, pulling the plug/killing FFXI and I'm sure others I've missed.

Anyway I'm still not convinced "OPing" or w/e you would call it would inject that much life into FFXI. Please keep going with this as there were a few good ideas before this thread turned to lulz.

I'm convinced that the only chance FFXI has is if it gets broken.

It's clear that the current twiddling is doing nothing but alienating more and more players. I'd love to be wrong -- but honestly, what have they given us lately? Neo-Nyzul was declared dead on arrival. People are dubious about Legion. The upgraded lv99 empys are a joke for the work needed to complete them.

All the good updates took away the grindy, nonsensical aspects and made the game more enjoyable to play.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Lol, even though said team was on XIV AND XI at the same time? Why do think WoTG was such a slow completion process during XIV's development? You do know Tanaka was still here for Abyssea as well, right?

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So, what exactly was he doing? What project(s) was he most focused on? Who had what responsibilities during that time? How was his work divided? How was the work of those around him divided? Do you know? You don't know any more than those who think he had nothing to do with Abyssea.

One simple solution would be to make events points based instead of making them always drop one item that one guy gets.

People ( at least me ) generally don't like group content for one major reason. Because no matter how you arrange your group, and no matter how fair everyone is, and no matter how well you structure it, there are always going to be a few people who benefit from the work of the group more than others. If everyone doing an <insert event here> run gets x amount of points instead of being forced to keep their own external points list to decide who gets to lot, then people are far more willing to join groups, and do content as a group. The rate at which people get gear can easily be manipulated by changing the points, instead of adding soul crushing luck based drop rates.

I have never understood why SE would want to program game mechanics that force people to use DKP and other screwy systems. Almost every DKP hosting website has advertisements for competing MMOs and / or advertisements for gil buying / selling / bots. Not to mention the fact that they are making money off SE's product when SE could be incorporating all that functionality right into the game itself.

I am not going to fake the funk with you guys. I personally lost interest in the game. stopped payment and all. I can't say if it's total interest, but that excitement you get when you log in with friends to do events/missions/quest were intense, exciting, fun, and rewarding is no longer there for me. Now, should I, could I, blame the development team for this? I am sure there are a number of people that feel this way. I mean, honestly SE, what are your plans on bringing the people that left the game back and what are your plans to keep the current player base? From what I am reading on this forum, I can predict a handful of people will finally resign from the game for good by the next update do to an overwhelming amount of disappointment. Sad to say, but it's true. :(

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Originally Posted by FrankReynolds

One simple solution would be to make events points based instead of making them always drop one item that one guy gets.

People ( at least me ) generally don't like group content for one major reason. Because no matter how you arrange your group, and no matter how fair everyone is, and no matter how well you structure it, there are always going to be a few people who benefit from the work of the group more than others. If everyone doing an <insert event here> run gets x amount of points instead of being forced to keep their own external points list to decide who gets to lot, then people are far more willing to join groups, and do content as a group. The rate at which people get gear can easily be manipulated by changing the points, instead of adding soul crushing luck based drop rates.

I have never understood why SE would want to program game mechanics that force people to use DKP and other screwy systems. Almost every DKP hosting website has advertisements for competing MMOs and / or advertisements for gil buying / selling / bots. Not to mention the fact that they are making money off SE's product when SE could be incorporating all that functionality right into the game itself.

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That's a very good suggestion. Personally, I would love to see something like that implemented. You're not the only one who feels shafted by spending time and effort helping the one or two people benefit. Not only that but the external point system is kind of stupid. It's too easy to manipulate against a person or for a person in terms of getting/not getting drops.

But seriously, a lot of people would be more inclined to help others if they too got something in return. Yeah, person A gets the gear/item/whatever but if person B, C, D get a point or some sort of small reward that helps them out then suddenly you have a friendlier environment.

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Originally Posted by BurnNotice

I am not going to fake the funk with you guys. I personally lost interest in the game. stopped payment and all. I can't say if it's total interest, but that excitement you get when you log in with friends to do events/missions/quest were intense, exciting, fun, and rewarding is no longer there for me. Now, should I, could I, blame the development team for this? I am sure there are a number of people that feel this way. I mean, honestly SE, what are your plans on bringing the people that left the game back and what are your plans to keep the current player base? From what I am reading on this forum, I can predict a handful of people will finally resign from the game for good by the next update do to an overwhelming amount of disappointment. Sad to say, but it's true. :(

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I've played since NA launch, yada yada coolStory, and recently re-subbed after taking a break for FF14.

Admittedly, it was annoying staying with FF14 at launch, but overall i'm glad i have over this game.


It's the longest break i've had from 11 since launch & after coming back, WOW, i forgot how slow & convoluted this game is systematically & socially.

A Few recent observations.

FF14 population usually sits around 200-400~ (this is towards the end of patch life)
FF11 population 1200~

Both games almost feel the same socially though. It's usually just 1-3~ people ever doing anything. Both have these dull, dead moments where you're just standing around (FF11 far worse though).

It's all about linkshells & VoIP to keep things active, but in FF11 its usually the same thing. Even if there are 10~ online, its usually 1-2 off doing their own thing & ignoring or too lazy to do anything with others.
In FF14 this happens, but usually its little cliques of 8~ that run events together(which is sad considering FF11 supports alliances & hardly gets used anymore).

The best highlight of FF14 has been it's accessibility a few modern designs over many of the things that really make FF11 drag.


But this isn't about FF11 vs FF14, it's about wanting to enjoy both games. In the past, every time i reactivated FF11 i was never this bored. I eventually got around to really enjoying myself.



The very 1st day of reactivating i was have some major doubts. There's just no community or atmosphere to make it worth playing. I won't pretend to sugarcoat the core of how both games present themselves by suggesting it's better with "friends" (ANYTHING is better with friends(esp. RL) & worthwhile).

I used to be against the auto-grouping for content, but sadly both these games need it, desperately amongst many FAR more important things.
There's practically no community worth fighting for anyway, so they might as well embrace it...

......^

So, yes OP, they really just need to "break" the game and let loose. Announce a new expansion & a more revisions/revamps.
It's like they still design & distribute Lv.99 gear with Lv.75 closely in mind (its horrible). It would be nice to see more 9999 up in here (with content lolBaranced for it).

Above ALL else, i should NEVER been standing around in town in either games bored out of my mind (& NO, the answer is not to go out Solo!). Either from LFP or just nothing to do. There shouldn't be lines for events & standing around waiting on event timers that take forever to reset (multiple relevant endgame events would help this too...)

They say that "they always come back" & it's somewhat true. But the more & more i come back, the worse & worse this game keeps getting. After this month is up, i probably won't be back unless a thrilling expansion & real linkshell content is shown.




tl;dr
FF11 & FF14 have been critically boring lately, yet FF14 is going in a direction of more promise & dynamic battles/content(going, not there yet).
Announce a new roadmap & expansion.
Keep reworking/revising existing content.
I don't want to stand around & be bored (in town or events), until then, i won't be re-subbing after this month. It was a mistake.

BREAK THE GAME!

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Originally Posted by Runespider

The main thing they are failing on is just worrying more about balance than the game being fun, for all it's faults FFXI Abyssea was genuinly fun and rewarding, "new" FFXI is appaulingly boring, very much about leaving players out of content and horribly unrewarding.

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I haven't been playing much lately because I am pretty much done with Abyssea. I logged on recently and saw a VW shout but immediately noticed he only wanted certain jobs with certain gear... I logged off and haven't logged on since. I know alot of people hated Abyssea but the great thing about Abyssea was anyone could do it. I want that kind of content back.

That might have been for T6 VW fights, which admittedly are not forgiving fights and take a certain job setup.

Not really sure if it is server specific but on Lakshmi there is a steady stream of shouts. Barring that, people are always free to start their own shouts.

To Tezz, serious question: arent their event timers in FFXIV still, or was the leve restriction or fatigue thinf loosened?

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Originally Posted by Tezz

tl;dr
FF11 & FF14 have been critically boring lately, yet FF14 is going in a direction of more promise & dynamic battles/content(going, not there yet).
Announce a new roadmap & expansion.
Keep reworking/revising existing content.
I don't want to stand around & be bored (in town or events), until then, i won't be re-subbing after this month. It was a mistake.

BREAK THE GAME!

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I agree with everything in your post, Tezz. They need to let loose, they need to add new stuff, not move in increments.

Everyone here on this board has seen people who quit because of tedium. Yeah, it's funny when they come onto the forums with bad spelling and bad attitude. But for each one of those, there's a hundred that just quietly stops coming. There was a reason why Aby was a much needed breath of fresh air -- and they should've headed in that direction, not bass-ackwards.

An MMO needs an active populace. I don't want to play alone. I'm not even against large group content -- I would *love* to see large-group content if it was managed right. The game has desperately needed a better system for getting people together since the get-go, and now it really shows.

Isn't it silly that in a MMO heavily based on PvE and the community, our linkshells are practically prehistoric in their utility? No linkshell ranking or ranks, no in-game calendar, no way to manage membership, nothing.

The LFG system was bad back in the day. Now it's even more laughable. No way to flag up for a specific event, other than relying on /seacom. Once flagged up, no way to get anything else done because of the time it takes to get to places/shuffle gear.

Break the game!

I like what OP posted, and fully agree.
As someone who has played this game since 02/03, Abyssea was a great relief. The game was on its last leg pre-Abyssea.
I'm willing to put money on there being more player returns and a decrease in the rate players were quiting after Scars of abyssea.

FFXI parted with its own norms during the Abyssea expansions.
1. Relic's throne as best weapon challenged by new weapons
2. Lv. Cap increase
3. Smaller groups
4. Fast rewards
5. Abandonment of random reward system in exchange for return on effort system (GOLDEN)
6. Faster leveling, less prolonged repetitive grind for level progression.
7. Easier, faster, cheaper transportation.
8. Plenty of big iconic Bosses.
9. Introduction of the !! proc system (GOLDEN - even though its been milked to hell ever since and not the case anymore)
10. Elimination of timed spawned Kings (faf/aspid/kb etc)

Compare the above to what FFXI used to be... Those of us who have been playing long enough will remember just how exciting the above was in comparison to the routine sorry excuse for content we had before (wotg missions excluded)

IF SE wanted to continue to make money from FFXI, or even increase it, it wouldn't be hard.
There is a lot that can be done with FFXI.
Sadly, after all the years of bitching about PS2 limitations, I've come to realize I should have been bitching about Mr. Matsui Tanaka's creative limitations.
I'm pretty sure at least 50% of you other players have ideas and wishes for this game that would make the jaws of the rest of us drop in excitement. Sadly they will never be implimented. Your great ideas will be ignored. And a has been executive, who only cares about his paycheck at the end of the month and his bonus at the end of the year will continue to come into work everyday and try to get through it without putting so much as an iota of genuine thought into the game he has been mandated to take care of.
I'm looking at you Mr. Matsui tanaKa.

Compare the above

QUICK EDIT:
its also not right that the GREAT members of SE who produced this game and all its suffer the limitations of those holding them back.
When I think of all the individual sounds, themes, area designs, characters designs and battle mechanics of this game and the MASSIVE effort that went into producing them, it sickens me to think that their hard work is being held ransom to some madman's outlook on what a game should be.
FUN> YOUR BLOODY BALANCE!

I just purchased a 3k USD PC to upgrade from my old gaming PC. I can tell you, I won't be playing FF14 and going through it all again because of how you have pooped on me, then pooped on me some more, then disappeared and fooled me into believing things were going to finally make sense, only to return and poop on me some more.
I'm boycotting SE till you are gone. Why should I level a job, only to have you be re-introduced to the game's dev team to bring your bloody balance into it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cursed

I like what OP posted, and fully agree.
As someone who has played this game since 02/03, Abyssea was a great relief. The game was on its last leg pre-Abyssea.
I'm willing to put money on there being more player returns and a decrease in the rate players were quiting after Scars of abyssea.

FFXI parted with its own norms during the Abyssea expansions.
1. Relic's throne as best weapon challenged by new weapons
2. Lv. Cap increase
3. Smaller groups
4. Fast rewards
5. Abandonment of random reward system in exchange for return on effort system (GOLDEN)
6. Faster leveling, less prolonged repetitive grind for level progression.
7. Easier, faster, cheaper transportation.
8. Plenty of big iconic Bosses.
9. Introduction of the !! proc system (GOLDEN - even though its been milked to hell ever since and not the case anymore)
10. Elimination of timed spawned Kings (faf/aspid/kb etc)

Compare the above to what FFXI used to be... Those of us who have been playing long enough will remember just how exciting the above was in comparison to the routine sorry excuse for content we had before (wotg missions excluded)

IF SE wanted to continue to make money from FFXI, or even increase it, it wouldn't be hard.
There is a lot that can be done with FFXI.
Sadly, after all the years of bitching about PS2 limitations, I've come to realize I should have been bitching about Mr. Matsui Tanaka's creative limitations.
I'm pretty sure at least 50% of you other players have ideas and wishes for this game that would make the jaws of the rest of us drop in excitement. Sadly they will never be implimented. Your great ideas will be ignored. And a has been executive, who only cares about his paycheck at the end of the month and his bonus at the end of the year will continue to come into work everyday and try to get through it without putting so much as an iota of genuine thought into the game he has been mandated to take care of.
I'm looking at you Mr. Matsui tanaKa.

Compare the above

QUICK EDIT:
its also not right that the GREAT members of SE who produced this game and all its suffer the limitations of those holding them back.
When I think of all the individual sounds, themes, area designs, characters designs and battle mechanics of this game and the MASSIVE effort that went into producing them, it sickens me to think that their hard work is being held ransom to some madman's outlook on what a game should be.
FUN> YOUR BLOODY BALANCE!

I just purchased a 3k USD PC to upgrade from my old gaming PC. I can tell you, I won't be playing FF14 and going through it all again because of how you have pooped on me, then pooped on me some more, then disappeared and fooled me into believing things were going to finally make sense, only to return and poop on me some more.
I'm boycotting SE till you are gone. Why should I level a job, only to have you be re-introduced to the game's dev team to bring your bloody balance into it?

---

Truer words were never spoken. I have to say, I agree with you completely- I couldn't have put it better myself.

You know, I'm glad people are coming here to share their frustrations with SE's handling of this game. I agree with the above poster's comments about Aby -- it really was what broke FFXI, and made it fun.

They need to keep doing it.

One of the most recent systems introduced was Neo-Nyzul. It is, basically, everything wrong with FFXI in a nutshell -- random, lack of progression, lack of rewards. Granted, SE has made changes to it, and many people are rightfully happy with the proposed changes of allowing people to aim for a floor, and allowing people to claim rewards without depending solely on luck.

Good for you, SE, it's a step in the right direction. It's not enough.

This is what the system should've looked like when it first came to the game proper. This is the kind of a change you should've done after feedback on the test server. This was never a good idea. It was blatantly grindy, the worst kind of grindy, and it was abandoned by the playerbase soon after introduction.

FFXI is a monument to abandoned content.

Yeah, I'm glad that you made Neo-nyzul less retarded, SE. However, I'm not going to be singing your praises just yet. Less retarded doesn't mean 'good' or 'awesome'.

Have a in-game way for people to flag up for this kind of content without sitting in whitegate and praying for the right kind of a shout. Have the NMs in it, those that randomly show up, drop their actual drops with a very high percentage. Have all r/e drops be 100%. Give aby-style random buffs -- maybe a large glowing orb of awesome that can randomly spawn, you run through it and it gives you increased attack/hp/haste? Idk. Have bosses give titles. Have the trophy system give other rewards, too -- special crafting mats, perhaps. Multicolored chickens. Custom pom-poms for my moogle. Random fireworks. *

Am I happy about the proposed changes to neo-nyzul? Yes. I'm glad you listened. But it's a bit frustrating because we, as the playerbase, have been telling you this stuff over and over and over again for a decade. What you did was okay, you get a B for effort, but hardly Triple-A stuff that you should be turning out, SE.

Then go and fix the rest of your abandoned content.

* The author of this post is not a game designer, and doesn't know jack about game designing. All ideas are purely speculative, pulled from the nether regions of Boredom incarnate, and should not be taken as serious, but merely as representations of what ideas look like.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glamdring

didn't say I had a problem with the "dice" (not going to use RNG since that's also the abreviation for ranger), just pointing out that the only real risk left is plain old dumb luck.

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RNG stands for Random Number Generator, which is more accurate than "dice" in this case.

Please tell me what "real risk" there was in the past. EXP loss? Yep, that's about it, or losing a BCNM and your seals going to waste.

There was never any risk in FFXI, aside from the risk you would have to spend hours to gain back that XP that you just lost from one mob. That's not risk, that's artificial padding.

Quote:

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It's an MMO, not a banana. They don't go stale after a few days and the slowly rot off for no reason at all. If there was a will to change, there could be a change and new players and epic lewtz to be had by all.

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Sorry, but are you just trying to troll now?

The game is nearly a decade old, and yes, MMOs do wind down. No amount of polishing and tweaking is going to make XI ever have 1m+ subs again. It's the way MMOs work, I'm sorry you don't understand.

Quote:

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Riddle me this, batman: which part of their outdated code was responsible for the fun I and a lot of players had in Aby, and why has it vanished off the matrix? Which bit of code is responsible for the inability to have your own personal chicken in northlands or WoTG?

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How about you quit being a smartass and use your brain. Our point is that no amount of polishing and tweaking the game is going to make it appeal to a massive amount of people who have not already played it. Yes, more aby-like things being added would probably bring back old school people, but then again, aby also was the reason why a lot of people quit, so it would be a fool's errand trying to argue that it would be the thing that revives XI. XI is past that point at this stage. It's surviving, quite well, and will remain to do so until enough people leave that everyone is on one server.

So your point is that the game is just fine the way it is? Duly noted! However, since a. SE's still running the game, b. SE is still making games, and c. SE's invited us to give our opinions to them, I'll have to disagree.

If you think the game is just fine, and everything's good, that's fine and good too. Just for the heck of it, if SE did decide to break the game and add a whole bunch of new stuff, would you get up and quit in a huff..? Rhetorical question -- it really doesn't matter.

SE needs to break the game, and stop pussyfooting around. All's not well in Vana'diel, and burying your head in the sand has never served anyone.

We all know it won't happen. Even with dwindling numbers, this game is still a cash cow. And sadly, we all complain and keep on playing in the mad hope that something new will come along, but it won't. I mean, sure, we could all get the epic expansion we've all been dreaming about, complete with two shiny new jobs and a dozen new areas. But, like every other time, people will rush through it at mach bajillion and complain that it was too short/not enough content/boring. And a month later, we're all right back here. But should they break the game? No.

What they should do is release one last epic expansion that unlocks every single area ever mentioned but never seen (Tavnazia, Mithra Homeland, Far East), fill in the rest of Aht Urhgan, connect all the loose ends, fix all the battlefields and give every job the abilities based on player feedback. Then one year later, condense the servers, do one last major update and run it as a F2P. This way, the game lives on and SE can suck every last dime out of people before it becomes a relic. This game is old and tired and has plenty of competition worth the money and time to draw players away from here. So fix FFXIV so you still have something broken to charge people for and let this bird fly free.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aquilla

So your point is that the game is just fine the way it is? Duly noted! However, since a. SE's still running the game, b. SE is still making games, and c. SE's invited us to give our opinions to them, I'll have to disagree.

If you think the game is just fine, and everything's good, that's fine and good too. Just for the heck of it, if SE did decide to break the game and add a whole bunch of new stuff, would you get up and quit in a huff..? Rhetorical question -- it really doesn't matter.

SE needs to break the game, and stop pussyfooting around. All's not well in Vana'diel, and burying your head in the sand has never served anyone.

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As I said, people need to stop trying to be smart asses by making rant posts based on an inaccurate assumption. Stop being a smart ass, read my posts, try to comprehend them, and maybe you won't end up completely missing the point in your haste to make a "comeback" post.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mahoro

That might have been for T6 VW fights, which admittedly are not forgiving fights and take a certain job setup.

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I take a slight issue with this. Yes, they aren't forgiving fights, you're right there. But Requiring certain jobs? doubtful. The correct statement would be that job set x has been shown to win fairly consistently if everyone plays it right. Job set y, z, and a-n might very well be able to win it as well, it's just that noone has posted it yet. Regardless, it would require a party that was clicking on all points no matter what jobs were in the set. non-standard parties have a long history of being successful when played right, just look at all the "burn" designs as an example. Not that VW is very burn friendly, at least if you want anything from it, but the point is EMBRACE THE WIERD!!! it actually works more often than you might think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shipp

As I said, people need to stop trying to be smart asses by making rant posts based on an inaccurate assumption. Stop being a smart ass, read my posts, try to comprehend them, and maybe you won't end up completely missing the point in your haste to make a "comeback" post.

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The guy is trying really hard to be nice to you despite the fact that your just ragging on him and adding nothing to the conversation. It makes you look pretty silly. A lot of people think the game is going in a bad direction as of late. The beauty of a MMO is that it can be reinvented and expanded on without any limit other than profitability. That means that the game can be reinvented again and again for 50 years, or neglected and shutdown in 6 months.

I for one would like to see a radical shift and a reinvention. There are still thousands of walls that can be broken down in this game. The old FFXI was fun and while there was a lot of bad stuff, it was overall a great game. I don't want to go back to it anymore than I want to go back to the 8th grade though. Crazy long grinds for stuff that added virtually invisible gains to your character are a thing of the past and should stay that way.

EDIT: Funny side note... he clearly knew what RNG stands for. Good job explaining it to him for no reason though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glamdring

The correct statement would be that job set x has been shown to win fairly consistently if everyone plays it right. Job set y, z, and a-n might very well be able to win it as well, it's just that noone has posted it yet. Regardless, it would require a party that was clicking on all points no matter what jobs were in the set. non-standard parties have a long history of being successful when played right, just look at all the "burn" designs as an example. Not that VW is very burn friendly, at least if you want anything from it, but the point is EMBRACE THE WIERD!!! it actually works more often than you might think.

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This is why i'm glad they have scraped procs from this moment on. (or so they say) Abyssea could have been so different were it not for 6 jobs being locked into use, VW is following the same crippling design, and 2/3 the forum could tell you about bst/dynamis let alone dnc, thf, blu and so on. As much as players like x,y,z set-up and tend to stick to them, in this case the DEVs stepped in and said here is your set-up if you want treasure. Nothing would make me happier then removal of the specific proc in abyssea or vw and replace them with hints/procs based on what jobs are in your party. Unfortunatly, this has been said many times before and has yet to be addressed, and that assumes that something can even be done this far along. At least dynamis is based on a type of move rather then specifics but, in it's case that could very well have been worse.

*Disclaimer* there are plenty of threads to discuss dynamis procs I'm stating a fact not starting a debate.

What would be nice (and on topic) would be if they made scripted fights such as on an airship or boat that require say a certain amount of range dmg to force the enemy closer to be melee'd. Or enemies that react to abilities/spells, so for example if you cast while its casting it will follow with poisonga (like amphitrite) or if you use a 2hr so will it. ZERG ALL TEH THINGS! gets old after you do it to anything that moves and puts up a fight.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FrankReynolds

The guy is trying really hard to be nice to you despite the fact that your just ragging on him and adding nothing to the conversation. It makes you look pretty silly. A lot of people think the game is going in a bad direction as of late. The beauty of a MMO is that it can be reinvented and expanded on without any limit other than profitability. That means that the game can be reinvented again and again for 50 years, or neglected and shutdown in 6 months.

I for one would like to see a radical shift and a reinvention. There are still thousands of walls that can be broken down in this game. The old FFXI was fun and while there was a lot of bad stuff, it was overall a great game. I don't want to go back to it anymore than I want to go back to the 8th grade though. Crazy long grinds for stuff that added virtually invisible gains to your character are a thing of the past and should stay that way.

EDIT: Funny side note... he clearly knew what RNG stands for. Good job explaining it to him for no reason though.

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That was pretty cool of you FrankReynolds. For that, I give you my thanks and a cookie. Tbh, I was just thinking the same thing. So thank you for putting it so eloquently! ^^

SE needs to make heavy metal be able to AH. I can never seem the find the people selling at a normal price... Keep getting all the retards that think 120k for a common VW drop is fair.