Newest interview (abyssea was a mistake?)

[Arcon]

One method has been proven to be the worst method to be imposed upon players whereas the other has been proven to be universally lauded as reasonable and worth the time investment if the gear is worth it.

Proven to be the worst? If that was the case, why did you keep playing for years? And if everyone hates it why are you arguing against other people in this thread? Shouldn't everyone agree with you?

Abyssea universally lauded? Are we living in the same fucking reality? Did the 3.7 billion of people ragequitting over Abyssea and creating threads complaining about it and the game and easymode and SE's face not tip you off that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't the most welcome of additions to this game? Did you hear anyone at all complain like this about any other expansion ever released (not counting the addons, they practically aren't even in the game, and still not as unpopular as Abyssea)?

Again, are you just ignoring the fact that FFXI's population is lower than ever? Or are you saying that that's just VW's fault? In which case you're stupid because Abyssea is still around and if people would love it nearly as much as you're saying, they would be playing that. And if you're saying that players were leaving even before Abyssea (which was true), then how come Abyssea didn't stop it? It did stall it, that's true. Some people even came back. For a few months. Which is exactly how long it took to plow through all the new content. Then most of those people (and plenty of others) quit again.

And like I said before, if Abyssea never existed the content that would have taken its place would have had to void the old gear because there was nowhere to go but up with regards to stats. What were you gonna do? Sidegrade content from 75-95? What would be the point of getting new gear then? Either way, the level cap spelled doom for the old content because the added levels coupled with emphasis on new pieces meant old pieces were going to plummet in value.

No one argues that (apart from some butthurt relic holders). But they most definitely could have gone about it differently. Do you remember your first reaction to the announcement of Empy+2 gear? No? I do, here it is: "HOLY FUCKING SHITBALLS!!" Guess how I know that? Because that was everyone's reaction. And it wasn't because the gear was better. It was because it was orders of magnitude better. People weren't even mentioning shitballs at salvage gear, even though it was amazing (well, maybe Ares's Cuirass). That's how upgrades are supposed to be. Noticeable, but not massive. Otherwise you end up with the example I mentioned a few pages ago.

People did it anyway. The developers should have noticed this had gone out of control and stepped in years ago to rectify the issue as stewards of the game. What did they do? Said 'oh well, less work for me' and let a bad situation get worse.

Hell yeah, people did it anyway. And if someone camps a mob 24 hours a day they damn well deserved that Ridill. If people have really grown up now, then you don't have to worry about Japanese people stealing your mobs in your primetime.

Stop making excuses for what was clearly a conscious decision by the devs to ignore botting and backstabbing.

I hate hippies. With a passion.

Botting? Backstabbing? What the fuck are you talking about? HNMs, that's it. How did people bot and backstab in Dynamis, Einherjar, sea, sky, Limbus, Salvage, Nyzul Isle, etc.?

But let's stick to HNMs for a second. Botting, yes, sadly you'll never get rid of bots. There was nothing the development team could have done. Or do you know something I don't? Tell me how to make botting go away, please. What was that? Make kings KS99 popped? Great idea. We love you.

Backstabbing? As in... MPKing people who claimed your mob? GMable. Enmity stealing to flail them? GMable (and preventable, but still). Ninjalotting? Not preventable by the devs, but by party leaders. Didn't pass after 4min? Kick. Easy as that. Ninjalotting was never possible if the leader paid attention.

So what exactly was your point again?