Why does Square Enix treat FF11 so poorly?

I don't understand why they are allowing a game with a dedicated audience of paying customers to degrade in the way they are. I can't think of a single other company that acts this way, I would understand if ff11 was a free game like Guild Wars 1 but it has a subscription, additional revenue streams and tens of thousands of players paying it.

It's not like they are able to make new online games to replace 11, cause when they try they keep on flopping. Most of their single player games also do poorly because they cost so much to make, and so barely make a profit. How does management not see they need to keep these games running as long as possible and even make them more profitable by releasing expansions or new content to keep people coming back and interest high?

The lack of care for future proofing ff11 on new operating systems and hiring new staff to ensure its operation long into the future is incredible, even Dragon Quest 10 gets better support and has far fewer players.

The management needs to wake up.

They've been doing this to XI since XIV was an idea in their heads. Siphoning funds off XI to feed the XIV monster from its failure. I remember we went literally ages without content when they were working on XIV. Just how it goes sadly, the game deserves way more. I hope their survery they did will have something come of it, everyone should fill it out:

https://questant.jp/q/896VWH6Q

I didn't even know it was official because it was not promoted anywhere, or if even it is.

The game has seen a massive decline in players over the last year, they are hemorraging players at this rate. They have neglected it incredibly badly.

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Originally Posted by Immortal

I didn't even know it was official because it was not promoted anywhere, or if even it is.

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It is mentioned, and linked to on the PlayOnline sites at the very least.

Because XI is not an A-list MMO. However, it is more akin to a B-list Eve Online, Everquest types.

It was SE doing though.......XI was a A-list MMO, until SE decided they don't want it to be lol.......

To Immortal's point, I will add XIV was their biggest mistake.... The reason why games such as XVI selling 3 million is deemed a failure, is due to failed projects like XIV (Regardless of what it is doing now....because it obviously aint enough....).

It's old, simple as that, they started developing it in the 90's, it's now uncommon to have players younger than the game (not me). They gave it a 5 year life span, it's still going, not strong, but it has a steady fan base.

I still wonder what could have been if they hadn't gone the rapture (FFXIV) way and decided to redo FFXI

As Hard as it is for some to admit... the title says it.

I love this game always have always will, but lets face it the game is more of a time sink now than the 75 era. even with all of the QoL stuff... game is full of bots and RMT spammers. Abyssea was the end of this game... or at least the start of it. introducing Trusts makes 97% of the game soloable.

if this had been the "Only" online version of Final Fantasy things may have been different.

AFAIK lots of stuff in the TOA needs to be 86'd because it no longer applies.
one day all that will be left is the RMT and the bots... i think that's what SE is waiting for.

gives them perfect reason to turn off the lights

Its not a matter of treating it poorly, it's a matter of "investing lots of money in this game doesn't make sense from a cost/benefit standpoint."

You love the game. I love the game. Other people here love the game. But love isn't enough by itself. Square Enix isn't an indie on a labor of love- They're a big company that has to please investors, and investors for the most part are going to care little for their money being spent to update a decades old game that isn't likely to have a big return on it.

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Originally Posted by Deadglobe

game is full of bots and RMT spammers.

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* If you're on Asura. I don't say we don't have bots on Bahamut cause we do but its a day and night difference between Asura and any server.

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Originally Posted by Rinuko

* If you're on Asura. I don't say we don't have bots on Bahamut cause we do but its a day and night difference between Asura and any server.

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Yes, like 90% of the bots in the game are on Asura. On Shiva we have this guy called Jobpoints who sells services for gil but might be an RMT, not really sure; and maybe once or twice a week I'll see an actual RMT /yell. Bahamut is like the second biggest NA pop server I think? and it probably still has a fraction of the bots of Asura.

If you don't like bots, you have options. You can reasonably play this game on any server. Even on low pop servers like Shiva, just reach out to the right linkshell and you can do anything in the game. You don't need a bazillion players around you to be able to enjoy the game.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

On Shiva we have this guy called Jobpoints who sells services for gil but might be an RMT

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I imagine /it/ is on every server, connected to the things fighting for capacity points 24/7.

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Originally Posted by Dragoy

I imagine /it/ is on every server, connected to the things fighting for capacity points 24/7.

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Maybe, but they yell offering to do a lot of other stuff too.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Maybe, but they yell offering to do a lot of other stuff too.

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Ah, that's probably a different one, then... maybe.

That said, I tend to keep 'yell' filtered, so not sure what all they yell about these days... on all the servers I've seen them on, but yeah.

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Originally Posted by Rinuko

* If you're on Asura. I don't say we don't have bots on Bahamut cause we do but its a day and night difference between Asura and any server.

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as Bahamut residence here, every time I'm back for another return home campaigns, always saw shouts for job points/master level pay bots & gil sellers whenever I'm on cities.

I wonder if the player's survey, which has now just closed, will actually change the game for the better or not. I'm sure we've all given lots of suggestions to future proof the game but will we be listened to? Probably not. If we find what we have suggested is not going to be implemented any time soon, we'll start to think this game is on it's last legs.

They don't do these surveys with regularity, which does kind of suggest that they are at a turning point where they're looking at what to do with the game. I'd keep expectations low but the one thing we do know is with XI being treated as a mainline game, they clearly don't want to make it inaccessible, so they are looking at how best to keep it going (but without spending a ton of money most likely)

I agree, it is very unusual for them to do the survey like this & I suggested tweaks like Sortie Campaign, option under status to switch exp points to capacity or exemplar pts, not just merit points (which doesn't work anymore), etc. That kinda thing but we have yet to hear what they are planning to do with all the results. Nothing major will happen. Let's just hope they do something good & useful.

SE is not obligated to increase funding for FFXI, you will know when SE decides to add serious support to FFXI when you see SE shutting down private servers, that's when you know XI is going to be big again. For now SE can see that players are getting their fix from private servers, so there is no reason to increase support for a player base that does not want to pay for the increased support.

I don't think players younger than the game are interested in playing XI, it's only a matter of time until the current player base gets too old and cannot play anymore, and then XI will certainly shutdown and only appear as an event in other SE games.

maybe we can start a GO-fundMe and buy XI from SE as a community, but that would just be a very expensive private server lol.

would we be happy if XI shutdown and turned into a TV series? or a trilogy of movies per expansion? a mobile port would just have microtransactions (like ever-crisis).

and if SE remade XI would we be happy about it playing like XIV? just button mashing, what if XI was remade but in VR?

If I had the money to buy XI and keep it alive forever I would.

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Originally Posted by Chharith

and if SE remade XI would we be happy about it playing like XIV? just button mashing, what if XI was remade but in VR?

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I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that if I wanted to play a game that handled like Final Fantasy XIV, I'd, you know, go play Final Fantasy XIV. If a Final Fantasy XI remake just took the Final Fantasy XI setting and dropped it into Final Fantasy XIV without preserving any of how the game currently plays, I'd play it exactly long enough to realize it was a bait-and-switch. If I wanted to just hammer on buttons while dodging big "don't stand here" markers on the ground, I'd probably just play Hades or something.

Well there are a lot of ways they could modernize the game without it feeling like a completely different one. Simply-

Regional servers for better network performance (along with modernized netcode that can handle larger amounts of data), which would make the game more responsive, even if nothing else changed
further reduction/elimination of animation locks that give a feeling of clunkiness
Modernized UI that's easier to navigate (especially for gamepad users)
A rewrite of core code from the PS2 era that would further free the game from technical limitations that would make it easier and less costly to develop new features/content.
A minimap instead of the nearly useless and incredibly tiny radar we have (which was designed for like 640x480 resolution)

I deeply enjoy Final Fantasy XI, but I utterly despise Square-Enix.

I am at a point, that I do not even want to subscribe to a game I love (FFXI) just to spite a company that disrespects its fans and series....

They're a business. they can't make bad business decisions because love and respect.