Letter from the director?

[Runespider]

Mr. FFXI director! Reveal yourself!

You should probably keep in mind he might not want to do this anyway, it's a personality thing.

Also really, of course it's a PR stunt.. the game flopped and they needed to try regain some intrest in it.

[slakyak]

I'd like to know something about the guy, not necessarily in the same format as Yoshi P's letters... Maybe something via the Twitter feed?

For all we know the guy sits at his desk playing Minesweeper all day lol.

[RagingAvatar]

Also really, of course it's a PR stunt.. the game flopped and they needed to try regain some intrest in it.

While, of course, you're absolutely right - I'd like to point out that almost every MMO I've ever seen has more transparency to it's community than XI.

This game is old. There is no great expansion currently announced. It runs on three platforms and one of those platforms (PS2) is basically archived.

This game makes Square-Enix so much money, they really need to keep this cash cow going - and I want them to because I love this game!

The question is, how are they going to communicate with us to determine the game's direction?
What is going to happen next?

So again:

Mr. FFXI director! Reveal yourself!

[Octaviane]

How about they just give us the August update notes instead? Since it's Aug 5th already and we haven't seen a single teaser.

The planned August update has been pushed back to maybe September iirc and could take longer given all the billing problems.

[Septimus]

I stopped playing XI for a while when XIV was released and recently I've come back to XI.

I have to say one of the great communication tools that XIV has that XI doesn't, is the letter from the director.

We like to know what's going on! What's coming? What is our director's mind? What is his worries and concerns? What goes on there day to day?

The XI team seems a bit like a black box to me, an unknown entity.

Please can we have more insight into what goes on behind XI.

Please press the 'Like!' button if you agree. Thanks.

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...64/detail.html

There you go.

We have an official forum to let us know about what is going on, what is coming up, what is on the Director's (Mizuki Ito since people in this thread don't seem to know) mind, and his worries and concerns.

Compared to how things used to be before the old dev team left for FFXIV, things are absolutely transparent these days. Back in the olden days when dinosaurs roamed across Uleguerand Range, we would get one or two interviews a year where the Devs would send out Sage Sundi to be the scapegoat for their evasiveness and disdain for answers. (On a side note, I feel really bad for the garbage that Sage Sundi went through, and I feel very shameful that I heaped some of it on him. He actually wanted to change some of the worst aspects of the game but the old Dev Team would not listen to him.)

Now we get answers from the community several times a week. Do people not get how shockingly different that was from the old system? Back in the CoP era we would have loved to have known that our complaints were even being listened to, let alone potentially acted upon. It is like people have a taste of something good and demand more but have no idea how good they have it now...

[RAIST]

A Message from the FINAL FANTASY XI Development Team (12/10/2010)

just saying....time for some more communication.

[Septimus]

just saying....time for some more communication.

Like the entire forum here?

[RAIST]

Like the entire forum here?

that is communication from the moderators and the developors, which is restricted by their superiors and thus is often rather vague or kind of "last-minute". What we are talking about is communication from the Director (or at least someone in between that is making the bigger decisions)

Just look at all the notices about the changes in the payment system. The most important problem that was known by the staff for well over a month was never disclosed and was not discovered until AFTER it was implemented.

[RagingAvatar]

Like the entire forum here?

Well, this is a great official place for us, the fans, to gather - but it's not giving me any insights into what the Director is thinking and the general direction that the game is heading.

I agree with your previous sentiments - this is FAR better than what we had in the CoP days (and before that even!) but there is still a long way to go. Getting the roadmap was a great thing but I'd like to hear from Ito-san as to how he thinks it's going.. what are his priorities, why did they choose to do some things over other things, does he play the game, what does he enjoy most, how are we going to attract new players etc.

I guess I feel that this game is important to me and that I'm invested in it - I want to know that the world is in safe hands.

[RAIST]

yeah... after 6+ years with a company, you would think they would care a little more if you are getting cut off from their service because of some half-baked idea they privately decided to implement. All we are getting is virtually ". . ."