Classic server, what's the argument against it now?

[Alhanelem]

I'm inclined to agree. I respect other people's opinions, but that's all he's given me. When I asked for sources and data to back up his claims, he never provided any.

I did provide sources, but because what I'm sharing is opinion and theory, it's not dependent on sources. I never once claimed that I was stating facts except where i provided sources of information (which you've apparently glossed over).

This is a discussion and I'm giving opinions, not facts. You have given both facts and opinions, although in some cases your interpretation of the facts you've provided is flawed. You've drawn conclusions from the facts you've provided that can not be asserted by those facts. E.g. you used the simple fact that there was more players and now there's less (Something any FFXI player could have told you without even referring to a source), which is absolutely true. However, you made assumptions based on those facts.

So I ask a question: Are you demanding that I prove that people leave the game for other reasons than "the game used to be more fun?" I'd be happy to conduct a survey if you'd like, but simple observation and talking to people will reveal that there are many reasons. I'm not refusing to provide sources, but you'll need to tell me what exactly you need a source for, because I'm not really trying to prove anything, I'm just giving my opinions. If you want a source for the fact that not everyone wants a classic server, i submit this thread as a source, because I'm not the only person in this thread that's skeptical of the idea.

As I said, I have respect for you because you've been a civil participant. But you've also been rather dismissive of viewpoints other than your own, just because you have "facts" that don't prove your hypothesis. I'm repeating myself here, but my problem is not your facts. My problem is your interpretation of them. You can't just say anything you want because you have XYZ fact. Let me copy what you've done to prove a point: It's a fact that it is 76 degrees F in my room right now. Therefore, the Yankees will win the next world series. While this is very "out there", the point is, you're making assertions that can't be made with the facts you've provided. You're asserting that because a couple other games implemented a classic server with good results, that FFXI is assured of achieving the same were it to do so. Your facts do not guarantee the suggested outcome.

A 75 cap server would be so easy to implement. Like I said earlier, just make a new server, don't allow transfers to it, then remove limit break quests above level 75. Just leave everything else in the game and let the new stuff be added like normal. It would take very little development time, and there's lots of people who want a 75 cap server. SE would probably get a bunch of new money with this kind of server, the demand is obviously there.

Beyond making a lot of content impossible, and disabling new spells and abilities, how does this make the game more fun? I'm not comprehending what it is about levels 76-99 that makes the game less fun by itself. This is just my opinion, not an asserted fact, but to me, the real strength of the 75-and-prior era, beyond what I've mentioned in the past, is the strength of the community. Everyone needed each other and it was the chatting and interacting with others and facing challenges together that made made the game fun. Leveling up by itself was rather boring. Doing it with others and cooperating to achieve a better result was what made it fun- In three words: The Social Aspect. The biggest problem I see now is just the social aspect is much weaker. This doesn't really have a lot to do with the level cap itself.

Since I'm being demanded to cite sources, I'd like to ask you to provide a source that indicates "the demand is obviously there." It takes more than the number of people posting in this forum (on this and past threads on the topic) to demonstrate the demand. That's far too small a sample size.

I'm enjoying the conversation as a whole, but people need to keep in mind we already know SE's plans for the future of the game, and the closest thing we are getting to a "classic server" is going to be the mobile game. It won't have all content at launch, so that's really about as close as you're going to get.