What would make you return to ffxi? (if you left and came back for the free access)

[Castanica]

Oops... Perhaps I made a writing mistake. From the postings I've read here, all content, regardless of final platform, initially has to be written on the PS2 Development Tool. Once the new game data is written & bug tested, in Playstation2 form, it then has to be ported over to PC and XBOX360. Even if PS2 & XBOX support is dropped, SE still needs the PS2 Dev tool to write game code for PC. If I'm correctly understanding the postings placed here by the game devs, the only way to eliminate this would be replace the game's graphics engine. Replacing the game's GFX engine would require rewriting the client. IMHO, rewriting the game client would not be a good idea. You'd be making the game susceptible to all new bugs.

Point is, if they wanted to. They could redesign the dev system to work without the ps2 dev kits, the ps2 isn't supported anymore so they could make this work from pc development only. It's less of "we can't" and more of "we don't really care". I really wish there was a guy in charge of XI that cared about it and has passion for it.

It's not impossible, they just don't want to in the same way they were considering making XI f2p but didn't want to spend money changing the engine to incorporate the cash shop. If they can spend a VAST amount of money remaking FFXIV into a average success then they can spend some on XI to continue running it for the next 10 years too.

[Alhanelem]

Point is, if they wanted to. They could redesign the dev system to work without the ps2 dev kits, the ps2 isn't supported anymore so they could make this work from pc development only. It's less of "we can't" and more of "we don't really care". I really wish there was a guy in charge of XI that cared about it and has passion for it.

It's not impossible, they just don't want to in the same way they were considering making XI f2p but didn't want to spend money changing the engine to incorporate the cash shop. If they can spend a VAST amount of money remaking FFXIV into a average success then they can spend some on XI to continue running it for the next 10 years too.

They didn't design the ps2 dev tool, it would be an astronomical task for them to design their own. There's just no way.

[Olor]

If they don't nerf BST I will probably continue playing. It was actually seeing BST was good that brought me back. If they make BST suck again I don't think I will be around long. I have spent so much time on that job, loving that job when it sucked. It is just sad to see other players can't stand seeing people have fun on the job they love. We're so close to the end of the game and all people can think about is stomping on other people having fun.

[Obysuca]

I really wish there was a guy in charge of XI that cared about it and has passion for it.

Well, there used to be :/ But it seems now SE only cares about XIV and not really caring about XIV itself, seeing as how all content since 2.0, even to 3.0, has been the same, and more caring about $$$.
I miss when companies cared for their mmo like it was their child.

[Alhanelem]

There has been a lot of cool stuff in recent updates. The problem at hand really has nothing to do with lack of caring and everything to do with lack of resources (and we're not purely talking about money here). When I look over the recent patches, I see plenty of sign they care about doing the best they can with what they have.

[Meyi]

If they remade a couple of servers that were capped at specific expansions (like RoZ + CoP, or ROZ + COP + TOAU) then I'd happily pay a sub fee and recreate an entire character to play all over again. Because there was something magical about xp parties that I really enjoyed and wish I could recapture again.

Edit: Or anything nostalgic, really. I love FFXI and I miss Vana'diel so much... yet every time I repay for a month's subscription I only log on a couple of times and find myself bored or saddened by the loss of exploration. Maybe that comes with an aging game. But I miss old Vana'diel very much. SE did a wonderful job creating a unique world that squashed all opponents in my heart. And now nothing can fill its void.

[kylani]

There has been a lot of cool stuff in recent updates. The problem at hand really has nothing to do with lack of caring and everything to do with lack of resources (and we're not purely talking about money here). When I look over the recent patches, I see plenty of sign they care about doing the best they can with what they have.

I agree with you. To me, it seems the developers are far more responsive than they used to be. I'm amazed at all the changes because I felt like they'd give up on FFXI after 14, but it seemed to me like they have tried to get players back and made changes to help new players get in and catch up. I really do think the player base itself is the biggest problem with the game.

If a new player came in with friends, I think they would have a great time, except possibly for being overwhelmed at all there is to do in this game.

[Obysuca]

but it seemed to me like they have tried to get players back and made changes to help new players get in and catch up.

>_> Stopping all content while still charging full price isn't how you get players back

[kylani]

>_> Stopping all content while still charging full price isn't how you get players back

I think they tried and realize it's pointless. So now, they are doing what they can to finish up. I think it's good that they wanted to end with one last good content update before switching to maintenance mode.

I also think the game is well worth the money for new players because of the wealth of existing content, and they will be keeping the servers up and making QOL changes. Nothing says they won't reduce the cost a bit eventually. Right now, they are still producing content.

[Alhanelem]

I do believe that given enough research time, man-hours & money, SE can do anything they wanted.

You don't have any idea how much work it is to design hardware do you? They'd need to spin off a whole new company division devoted to the task. It totally wouldn't be worth the investment to redesign outdated hardware from the ground up for the sole purpose of delivering a new content update to a fairly low sub MMO (I'm not speaking about now, even at FFXI's peak it wasn't setting records). The game doesn't make THAT much money.

IMHO, you don't need a degree Computer Science. You simply have to look at the picture of the PS2 Dev Tool motherboard versus a retail motherboard.

Sorry, you can't just look at a picture of a motherboard and then design a replacement. It taes a liiiiiiiiiiiiitle more effort than that;. And you're right, you don't need a computer science degree, you need an eletronic engineering degree. This message brought to you by someone that DOES have a computer science degree. COS majors don't design computer hardware, they design software. Hardware is the job of an engineer.