adieu FFXIV people

[Arcon]

You're wrong because very few people had even heard of FFXI and FFXIV in comparison to other MMO's and so the image is very easily rebuilt.

Assumption. Regardless of how many people know the FF franchise (and you know as well as I do it's a lot), there was a lot of bad press about XIV when it was released. Even people not interested in FF but interested in MMORPGs will know that from various news sites they visit, magazines they read or people they talk to. The same will not be true for the success of the game, unless it's truly groundbreaking. Of course there's a chance of that, but what chance do you give it? My estimate is rather low, judging by what I've seen so far.

Secondly they haven't cut any of the profits from FFXI, because guess what, you're still paying them.

I am not their profits. The thousands of people who have quit out of boredom because no relevant content was released in two years, they are not paying SE anymore, and they were their profits. You call it stable, despite two server merges and still less than half of the average online numbers than it was before? The online numbers are now lower than when they were when the servers were merged, meaning the game has lost over half its playerbase since then. Of course that's just approximations and we don't have the exact numbers, but it's bad enough that it's even in that area.

How can you possibly justify that? Do you think it was just coincidence it maintained a somewhat constant playerbase for ten years and the decline had nothing to do with the lack of updates for about two years?

The best business plan would be to divert resources to the potential best product for as long as FFXI is making a steady income, which it is.

Even if that was the case, FFXI is still their best potential income. You attribute repairing FFXIV the same value as keeping FFXI intact, and again, that's pure assumption on your part. Neither of us can prove it entirely, but at least I have arguments supporting my claim, which I explained above. What do you have to support yours? Why do you think FFXIV is their best potential income? Do you think everyone quitting XI is going to XIV?

You have just stated that no matter how FFXIV is, you will never leave FFXI, so you're playing into their hands.

Wrong, I did not say that. I said I will never play it, it doesn't mean that I will not leave FFXI, as many others have done before me. I actually plan to do that if The Elder Scrolls Online is as good as it sounds at this point and SoA doesn't live up to the hype. However, unlike you, I will actually wait until the game is released to pass judgment, and not declare it the best thing since sliced bread upon release of the beta.

Oh and by the way... I have run a company so I know exactly what it's like, and also done a master degree course in 3D animation which is very closely related to games design, in fact I actually worked along side game coders in a lot of my assignments.

Disregarding that I don't believe you, I just said that doesn't matter at all:

So I assume you understand them better than me, because you have made a game and are running a business?

This time without the sarcasm: your experience means shit. I don't believe a tobacco salesman what he says about tobacco, regardless of how rich his company is. Unless he actually presents evidence and brings a good argument, his words mean very little to me. Similarily, your words of wisdom will carry very little weight with me, unless, you know, there is actual wisdom in them. So far, all I've seen is fandom.

(Also, 3D animation is related game design like watching porn is to having sex.)

They have NO right to work on repairing their image that ffxiv v1 soiled. They have NO right to do ANYTHING outside of ffxi EVER

They have the right, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a stupid decision. I'm not saying they couldn't have done it. I'm saying they shouldn't have done it.

Like I said before, no need to defend any other game to these ppl, they cant see past ffxi and they will hate a game they have never played just because they are butt hurt that after 10 yrs ffxi isnt getting se's full attn

I have actually played it, I've participated actively in the alpha, beta and still hung on to it until after it was released. I was actually looking forward to it, because I don't cling to the past because I'm too afraid to move on, and I did see its potential. It had a depth that was typical of a FF game, but very little content to explore it, and a bad interface to present it.

SE were the ones who crushed my hopes in the first place, and made me go back to XI. Unlike them, I was able to accept that defeat and did move on, which was back to XI. And when I saw that they were prepared to let their good game rot to save the freakshow they created, it naturally made me hate the game for it.

I've defended FFXIV enough, obviously some people are so narrow minded that they can't see past 1 game, as unhealthy as that may be.

As if to make my point, you say that you've defended a game that's not even released yet, barely out of the alpha (and some people say too soon). How can you possibly justify that, aside from fandom?

And stop projecting, will you. Just because I don't like the same game you do, it doesn't mean I'm only interested only in FFXI. I can give you list of games I've played in the last two months alone that are all better than every single impression XIV has ever left on me.

The point keeps being raised that the only thing SE is doing by trying to revive FFXIV is saving face. That's narrow to me. It might be part of the reason, but I also know they're people who like games, like newness, like change, like progression and like cutting edge. It's obvious from the history of the series.

While I agree with pretty much everything of your post, this I find arguable. I would have agreed with you just a few years ago, but their latest releases (not just XIV) have made me wonder. It seems they like their image more than their games themselves. For example, they always wanna do something new. Sounds good on paper. The problem is, not always is new better than old, like the omission of an auction house from XIV. They adjusted it later to offer searchable wards, which was a great idea, but it was late and seemed to be an experiment on the expense of the player, rather than them. As a developer myself, I could never justify that. And there have been many similar examples from previous FF games as well.

Anyway, my response to the rest of your post is basically encapsulated in it as well:

So why not scrap XIV and just offer the promise to their staff of working on XV or anything else new? I'm sure that's where the saving face comes in.

That is most certainly the case. And I think that's what they should have done. You mentioned that some of the systems were already there, but I'm not sure how well that applies, seeing how the game was basically remade from scratch. From the graphical engines and core combat mechanics to the landscape and character design. I'm not sure if they really had much to build on. Of course that's speculation, but even if there was, there are advantages to a new game as well, namely it would relieve a big part of the burden that comes with the name of FFXIV, which was irreparably stained.

And speaking of their "only MMO", they are also releasing Dragon Quest X soon, and I'm quite certain that won't be their last either. Progress is not bad, but FFXIV is hardly progress, and what of it is, could have been handled better.