That's not really what happened. The player decline was a LOT more gradual than you're implying, and it certainly did start sooner than 9 years.Quote:
If I was running an MMO, and my MMO held out at 3K active users per server (concurrent) for a good 9 years; then suddenly dropped to 600~ concurrent, I'd want to know why definitively; even if only 5 in 100 exiting players leave worthy comments.
Also, they seem to be aware of some of the things that may have been damaging to the game in the long term. They found it was a mistake to send players on a huge and crazy power trip with Abyssea because then future content wouldn't be able to live up to it. As I wrote past, they should have just released a proper expansion like Audolin instead of all those little add on scenarios which don't have much cohesion between them. They also seem to realize that their design direction with certain systems has left something to be desired, because they're now making changes to the game that people have pleaded for which would have been unheard of years ago. Like with PUP for instance, three years ago I never would have believed that SE would realize how far behind PUP was and that even giving them A+ skill wouldn't make them a number 1 DD. I myself never did many BCNMs because of having to walk 10 miles between each run, and i never believed that SE would make it easier to get to them or make it easier to try again when you lose (by being able to set an HP nearby). I never believed that SE would add the new 1-hour to give SMN 30 seconds of AWESOME, or that they would add an ability that opens up avatar solo skillchains and yada yada yada. In Audolin, they've made a few iffy decisions but they've also done a lot of wonderful things that I never expected they'd do.
One factor is simply the game is old. Even wow has had a gradually declining playerbase (though there's a spike upward with each expansion), just they had a much, much larger one to begin with so it isn't as obvious. Other old MMOs dont have the number of players they used to have either, just because they're old. You have to realize that not every reason is a problem or defect that can/will/needs to be address by SE for survival. Some of it is natural.