Tanaka back in charge?!

Edited my OP:

Tanaka has always been in charge of 11 and didn't move to 14! Guess I'm a moron :3

Either way no more funny business like AV/PW and competing over 24 hour NM's please, Devs!


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The original post covered my surprise to see Tanaka's post as producer, as I was under the impression he had moved to from 11 to 14, and then was taken off the board after 14. Appearantly he has been with us this entire time, but was hardly active. The discussion has turned to whether or not he is actually involved in the game now, and whether or not the content is returning to his methods that happened to be the dev team's trade beneath his rule.

Tanaka's always been in a head position of FFXI and still a consultant for XIV. He's been around since at least January by the way, so...there's a big hole that logic.

I was under the impression he was wholly removed from 11 to 14, and that there was an announcement about it? Perhaps I am confused on the matter.

Don't call it a comeback
he's been there for years
Rockin his peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon
...Listen to the bass go BOOM?

Seems I was mistaken then, it was the old battle director being replaced by Matsui that I saw as an announcement back then:

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...opics_all.html

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Originally Posted by Eradius

I was under the impression he was wholly removed from 11 to 14, and that there was an announcement about it? Perhaps I am confused on the matter.

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He was Director/Producer for XIV, then got shifted back to XI around January and Naoki Yoshida was put in charge of XIV.

He never actually offically moved from here but he was far more involved with FFXIV and others were taking the decisions on FFXI, hence why it changed so much while he wasn't really around here during the time he was working on FFXIV. Now that he's been removed from FFXIV and that Yoshida took his full time job he can fully give XI his attention..sadly.

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Tanaka has always been in charge of 11 and didn't move to 14

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He most certainly was involved very highly in XIV, to the point he took the fall for the state it was in and very publicly replaced.

Tanaka was replaced at one point which is why the game was more fun than torture for about a year. Incoming thread nuke btw.

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Originally Posted by Insaniac

Tanaka was replaced at one point which is why the game was more fun than torture for about a year. Incoming thread nuke btw.

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Yet he's been more active on the XI since December 2010 (Heroes of Abyssea) given the time of the staff rearranging notification on FFXIV's website.

So..yeah.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Yet he's been more active on the XI since December 2010 (Heroes of Abyssea) given the time of the staff rearranging notification on FFXIV's website.

So..yeah.

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I don't recall anything mentioning him coming back to 11. I do recall them saying Tanaka would still stay on board with 14 in some facility. Either way I'm sure abyssea was already planned out if he came back at that time and there was nothing he could do about it no matter how much it hurt him to see people accomplish goals in reasonable amounts of time. Bottom line is Tanaka's approach to MMO design is "reward dangling in front a treadmill" where people keep playing because they want stuff but never get it which is what we've been seeing more of since his clandestine return. When he was away we got the "trail of goodies" approach where people get something they want and then move on to the next thing they want which, while less sustainable for a game in it's twilight with a low production budget, results in a much happier player base that doesn't rage quit over things like 1500 heavy metal plates.

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I don't recall anything mentioning him coming back to 11.

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I wouldn't exactly want to make that public either if you know what I mean. But yeah, everyone should have known immediately after the changes to the Black Belt item NMs. This update just solidified the suspicions.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Tanaka's always been in a head position of FFXI and still a consultant for XIV. He's been around since at least January by the way, so...there's a big hole that logic.

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I remember last year he moved completely to XIV and XI's battle director replaced him here. Then he was booted off when it became obvious that XIV was a massive ball of fail and XI's producer replaced him while the director for Abyssea was promoted to XI producer. Somewhere between then and about 2 months ago Tanana was reinstated as XI's producer.

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Originally Posted by Insaniac

I don't recall anything mentioning him coming back to 11.

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Right here

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Originally Posted by Atomic_Skull

Right here

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Yeah that doesn't really count as an announcement that he's back in charge lol and that only happened less than a month ago. BTW the second I saw that post my heart sank. I want him nowhere near this game. His ideals are too old school. Don't get me wrong a have nothing against a bit of elbow grease and hard work but ALL Tanaka cares about is keeping a bottle neck on anything that people might actually go after because it's the cheapest and easiest way to make sure the hard cores keep playing but you are gonna see nearly all of the games new and returning casuals jump ship just like they did before when they ran out of stuff to do that wasn't a grueling terrible task.

I for one am very pleased to see the game moving back in the direction of LS based content vs the Mnk & Whm duo abyssea BS. With a bit of tinkering to WoE (3:1 coin trade npc) and to Voidwatch to make drops based more accurately by performance vs random radomness I think we would be headed in the right direction.

I've been a paying customer since '03 and this is the fool that said hey "no windowed mode for u cuz thats for hackers and bots. these are the guys that thought AV and PW was perfectly fine end game content. these where the guys that we begged and begged to fix kings, yet they said naw we don't see a problem

I'm sorry if i sound bitter but most of the old dev crew just didn't listen to anyone back then

maybe the backlash from 14 was a good thing?

A friend and I were joking about Tanaka trying to run XI into the ground, being bitter over having to fall on his sword for XIV (XI funds -> fixing XIV -> possible tinfoil hat?). I hope it doesn't turn out to be true though. 2003 / 2004 were both good years, sure, but c'mon now. That being said, huge LS events can be fun, as long as it doesn't take forever (or 2 seconds) to get good drops. Moderation, blah blah.

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Originally Posted by Zaknafein

I for one am very pleased to see the game moving back in the direction of LS based content vs the Mnk & Whm duo abyssea BS. With a bit of tinkering to WoE (3:1 coin trade npc) and to Voidwatch to make drops based more accurately by performance vs random radomness I think we would be headed in the right direction.

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Same here, I am really glad Voidwatch has that now. Good linkshell event but the only thing is the drop rates are really terrible imo. Every run people complain about getting random synth mats like logs :/ so it kinda offsets the fun challenging fights with disappointment.

I don't think anyone is really upset about group activities. VW is pretty fun imo and I'm glad to see challenging content that requires people to have some level of skill to complete. What I'm not glad to see is FFXI going back to the "I've been doing this event for 3 years and I still don't have what I want" model. I've been doing voidwatch pretty frequently with my LS since a couple weeks after it was introduced and I still don't have a single one of the items I wanted from it. That is Tanaka game design at it's finest. There's pretty much no way I am gonna put myself through that again considering I may not even get what I want before the servers go down this time around. I will probably quit pretty soon after the 99 cap if the game doesn't look like it's headed in a direction that is less Tanakafied.

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Originally Posted by Zaknafein

I for one am very pleased to see the game moving back in the direction of LS based content vs the Mnk & Whm duo abyssea BS. With a bit of tinkering to WoE (3:1 coin trade npc) and to Voidwatch to make drops based more accurately by performance vs random radomness I think we would be headed in the right direction.

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You say this so cavalierly, as though there wasn't such a thing as LS drama and politics in the past. I, for one, do not want to go back to a time where you had to apply to the right LS, kiss the right you-know-whats, and submit to the whims of a 15-year-old LS leader with a Napoleon complex in order to get the things you want from the game. I wanted nothing to do with that environment then, and sure don't want anything to do with it now. If that means getting ripped by idiots for wearing my AF3 +1 or +2 gear by 99, so be it. I will not compromise myself for digital trinkets. I didn't get into the game for that purpose.

Tanaka's not good for the game.

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Originally Posted by Hayward

You say this so cavalierly, as though there wasn't such a thing as LS drama and politics in the past. I, for one, do not want to go back to a time where you had to apply to the right LS, kiss the right you-know-whats, and submit to the whims of a 15-year-old LS leader with a Napoleon complex in order to get the things you want from the game. I wanted nothing to do with that environment then, and sure don't want anything to do with it now. If that means getting ripped by idiots for wearing my AF3 +1 or +2 gear by 99, so be it. I will not compromise myself for digital trinkets. I didn't get into the game for that purpose.

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100% agreed, i have dealt with to many 8 year old i want my bottle leaders and overly greedy stuck up prick members who the only thing they care about is gearing them sevles and seek to do nothing but use and toss aside anyone that is not them or kiss there so to get gear like i dealt with on a previous server and shell, i do NOT want to have to deal with any more linkshells like this cause all it is s drama and more drama. i don't mind things being hard to obtain but if it means dealing with how it was back in 06-08 count me the f*** out, main reason why i have refused to bother with any high end linkshells since i moved here because i simply don't trust them anymore.

But other then that, let's be honest here, if things DON'T change then this game is surely dead. if you can get everything in a week with new content what would be the incentive to even play this more.

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Originally Posted by Hayward

You say this so cavalierly, as though there wasn't such a thing as LS drama and politics in the past. I, for one, do not want to go back to a time where you had to apply to the right LS, kiss the right you-know-whats, and submit to the whims of a 15-year-old LS leader with a Napoleon complex in order to get the things you want from the game. I wanted nothing to do with that environment then, and sure don't want anything to do with it now. If that means getting ripped by idiots for wearing my AF3 +1 or +2 gear by 99, so be it. I will not compromise myself for digital trinkets. I didn't get into the game for that purpose.

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For all of you that feel that way I ask "What have you learned over the past year?" With all of the low man activities I would hope you learned to do things on your own, and in small groups. To think, and plan for yourself vs having a LS leader lead you around by the nose. I know I most certainly increased my knowledge of the game significantly over the past year.

I'm sorry if you had bad experiences in the past when HNM lent itself toward mega LS's. I'll say it again though like I have a thousand times. Every LS out there was not pure evil. LS's are like Gf's & Bf's. You may get lucky, and fall in love with your 1st. However, chances are you are going to need to have a few before you find the love of your life.

Going back to my initial point. If you are that convinced that every LS you ever apply to will be awful, and treat you badly because they are big meanies then start your own. All it takes is a few friends which is enough to static most anything in abyssea even for casual players. Pick a couple days a week to do Voidwatch, and shout in jeuno for extra bodies. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish with a little initiative.

Getting started on Voidwatch:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Voidwatch

Voidwatch NM tree:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Ca...rious_Monsters

You can do it if you give it a shot!

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Originally Posted by Hayward

You say this so cavalierly, as though there wasn't such a thing as LS drama and politics in the past. I, for one, do not want to go back to a time where you had to apply to the right LS, kiss the right you-know-whats, and submit to the whims of a 15-year-old LS leader with a Napoleon complex in order to get the things you want from the game. I wanted nothing to do with that environment then, and sure don't want anything to do with it now. If that means getting ripped by idiots for wearing my AF3 +1 or +2 gear by 99, so be it. I will not compromise myself for digital trinkets. I didn't get into the game for that purpose.

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Like anything in life, one must do their research before making a decision. There are so many ways to check on a group's reputation these days that people who "submit to the whims of a 15 year old LS leader with a Napoleon complex" have nobody to blame but themselves for choosing wrong. There are plenty of linkshells out there with fair and equitable rules. I help lead one myself and there is literally no drama over loot. Assuming that there would be drama over the new LS-based content is inane anyway. How could there be Voidwatch drama when the loot pools are individual? Simple logic dictates.

I also welcome a return to LS-based content but agree with the posters who are saying the Voidwatch loot system needs some adjustments.

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Originally Posted by Vortex

But other then that, let's be honest here, if things DON'T change then this game is surely dead. if you can get everything in a week with new content what would be the incentive to even play this more.

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I agree with this. The abyssea model doesn't work in a game with a low production budget because they can't pump out replacement content fast enough. Some kind of middle ground would be easily sustainable for ffxi though. NeoDyna/Relics are a reasonable grind now that will keep a lot of people playing for some time and that's the kind of model they should be using. Multiple medium level grinds for awesome gear that keep a semi-casual player busy for 2-4 months will extend the life of the game far more than 3 year grinds like 1500hmp and .2% drop rates on good gear from VWNMs. All these are going to do is discourage anyone but the hardcore players from even doing the content.

For the semi-casual player this update amounts to nothing more than a level cap increase that they will be done with in 3 weeks max. It's the same reason people left this game in droves when they got to level 75, got basic gear for their job, and the only thing left for them to do was level another job or camp an HNM for 3 hours against 120 people.

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Originally Posted by Vortex

100% agreed, i have dealt with to many 8 year old i want my bottle leaders and overly greedy stuck up prick members who the only thing they care about is gearing them sevles and seek to do nothing but use and toss aside anyone that is not them or kiss there so to get gear like i dealt with on a previous server and shell, i do NOT want to have to deal with any more linkshells like this cause all it is s drama and more drama. i don't mind things being hard to obtain but if it means dealing with how it was back in 06-08 count me the f*** out, main reason why i have refused to bother with any high end linkshells since i moved here because i simply don't trust them anymore.

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But what about people who like huge mega shells, camping and endgame drama?

Yes those people exist, I'm one of them.

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Originally Posted by Gallus

Tanaka's not good for the game.

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I know right? Damn us for playing his game.

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I know right? Damn us for playing his game.

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FFXIV was Tanakas game too, they still kicked his ass to the kerb for sucking.

I wish we could start a "Remove Tanaka" petition that wouldn't get nuked instantly. I feel like he is reading all this and lowering VW drop rates while doing one of those insane laugh/crys.

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Originally Posted by Insaniac

I wish we could start a "Remove Tanaka" petition that wouldn't get nuked instantly. I feel like he is reading all this and lowering VW drop rates while doing one of those insane laugh/crys.

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It is a thread with HIS name in the title. I am pretty sure he has read or was told about it already lol, the fact one of the posts was just modded provs that somone who has access to him saw it :l

never mind the fact this is SEs forums.

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Originally Posted by Insaniac

I feel like he is reading all this and lowering VW drop rates while doing one of those insane laugh/crys.

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I was reminded of this.

I played since beta, and there were good times and bad times. But if this starts turning back into Final Tanaka XI, then I'm out of here. Will finally delete my account and leave. Abyssea making the game easier was a double-edged sword, but I am not going to stand for 0% droprates, nerfs all around, and even more events that do things like our lovely WoE coin and scroll problem we have going on right now.

Its not a theory, it should be obvious to anyone that Tanaka is already slipping his slimy tentacles into all of our contents.

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Originally Posted by Eradius

I played since beta, and there were good times and bad times. But if this starts turning back into Final Tanaka XI, then I'm out of here. Will finally delete my account and leave. Abyssea making the game easier was a double-edged sword, but I am not going to stand for 0% droprates, nerfs all around, and even more events that do things like our lovely WoE coin and scroll problem we have going on right now.

Its not a theory, it should be obvious to anyone that Tanaka is already slipping his slimy tentacles into all of our contents.

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Please. Even during "Abyssea XI" there's been nerfs, buffs retarded drop rates. Tell me, did you or did you not know you can still not get gear that's dependent on Blue Proc and TH? Did you know you can get up to 11 TH and all the procs done and still not see a soulscourge? Or Loki's? Or Twilight Gear?

Damn that Tanaka!

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Originally Posted by Eradius

scroll problem we have going on right now.

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You do realize that without some rare expensive drops from those BCNMs there will be no incentive to do them, right?

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Please. Even during "Abyssea XI" there's been nerfs, buffs retarded drop rates. Tell me, did you or did you not know you can still not get gear that's dependent on Blue Proc and TH? Did you know you can get up to 11 TH and all the procs done and still not see a soulscourge? Or Loki's? Or Twilight Gear?

Damn that Tanaka!

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Yes, I was amazingly- aware of all of the above!

Having a 60%+ chance at all the items you mentioned is far better than say

The 0.3% we were used to in Salvage and other events.

Waiting 21 hours for a chance at an NM

Doing Monarch Linn bc for Assault breastplate once a week for up to a year

Need I remind people of X's knife?

Original droprate for Thief's Knife?

22 hours fighting Pande Warden?

You could fill whole pages of this topic with a straight front to back list of the things that don't exist anymore that utterly sucked, and it was made abundantly clear to the playerbase that Tanaka was in fact at the heart of the problems, because of how quickly any method to kill AV but his own (super secret method!) were quickly patched. Don't even try to make up an excuse for that like we found unconventional ways, the damn thing was broken, unkillable.

We also saw what happened to 14 under his rule: No Auction house, No MH, 100% item to trade, Repair system, No delivery system.

Oh man, us not having 100% on Loki's today totally justifies the Caligula-style rule we felt underneath Tanaka! Right guys?

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Originally Posted by Atomic_Skull

You do realize that without some rare expensive drops from those BCNMs there will be no incentive to do them, right?

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Yes, completely aware of that as well.

Have you also noticed how few scrolls we've gotten with 90+ people spamming WoE runs all day every day plus people shouting for the BC's? I don't even mean the 5-10 that have sold on some server's Auction Houses. At the rate we're going it will take well over a year just to get scrolls for only the mages that -currently- exist and need them. Sure, that keeps people going to the event. Sure, that makes WoE+BC's a "success". There is fallout to consider from this however.

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Please. Even during "Abyssea XI" there's been nerfs, buffs retarded drop rates. Tell me, did you or did you not know you can still not get gear that's dependent on Blue Proc and TH? Did you know you can get up to 11 TH and all the procs done and still not see a soulscourge? Or Loki's? Or Twilight Gear?

Damn that Tanaka!

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Did you do endgame before Abyssea? Sandworm HNM which has a totally random pop system between 5 hours a day that could pop in any of 6+ zones, which had horrible drop rates on the most wanted items like VB. Salvage which very often took YEARS to get the drops you wanted along with large amounts of gil when you did get the bits. HNM which was totally impossible to do unless you sucked up enough to get into the correct shells and even then long waiting lists and again took many years to get rewarded for your 3 hours a day.

You have no idea how bad Tanakas game design is in this day and age, there was a very good reason he was moved away from FFXIV and he seemingly learned nothing from that and is trying to turn the clock back on FFXI too.

I don't think anyone has serious issues with making the game a little less Abyeasy but anyone with any sense at all does it a lot more gradually than this update did and Tanakas designs are way outdated anyway. FFXI has attracted a lot of people back to the game lately and this kind of direction is simply going to turn them all away again, I don't think any of us really want that. FFXI and it's players have changed too much for us to just wind back to his outdated ideas on keeping us paying them as long as possible, as cheaply as possible. Expectations are higher now.

As bad as the drop rates were in Salvage, I don't recall ever hearing anyone bitch about having to do Salvage because it was a fun and enjoyable. Salvage is still hands down one of my personal favorite events.

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Originally Posted by Kimble

As bad as the drop rates were in Salvage, I don't recall ever hearing anyone bitch about having to do Salvage because it was a fun and enjoyable. Salvage is still hands down one of my personal favorite events.

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It was fun and enjoyable the first few times... but after the 11th dozen run of Citadel Chelonian it got kind of stale.

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Originally Posted by Kimble

As bad as the drop rates were in Salvage, I don't recall ever hearing anyone bitch about having to do Salvage because it was a fun and enjoyable. Salvage is still hands down one of my personal favorite events.

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Salvage is the same as voidwatch. Fun and soul crushing at the same time. I did salvage with a relatively high number of friends and we didn't dupe so it took us all upwards of a year to finish our first sets. No one was enjoying themselves after the first 6 months but we were already up to our necks in the event so we kept going. It's a classic (outdated) MMO design strategy that expoilts human nature and practically every event Tanaka ever designed followed the same guidelines. "Well, I've already killed this thing 75 times. I must be due for a drop so I can't stop now!!."