FFXI Outline and Future

[Huckster]

Hello all,

I've been playing FFXI since Nov 2003 (wow! 8 years - time flies!). I saw ups and downs of FFXI - Abyssea sure gave a new kick for the game, now the content is good although in my opinion it lacks new storyline and the vision for the future.

Last year I tried playing FFXIV but didn't find it attractive enough so I stayed with FFXI.

Yesterday a 2 year roadmap was released for FFXIV:
http://wdl.square-enix.com/ffxiv/dow...Outline_EN.pdf

It shows the major UI overhaul, change of graphics system, new functions, new server design (one world), and new content.

I remember that this April a roadmap for FFXI was also released:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...ing-April-2011

So my question is devs - can we expect the similar roadmap as for FFXIV? (graphics engine overhaul maybe? vana'diel + eorzea merger?) Or at least some update of the roadmap previously released? The graphics for the roadmap ends on September - show us the future of FFXI!

[Selzak]

Hey there fellow veteran!

I think our best hope for FFXI is the rumored Vita port. This game is a sort of hidden gem because of its slow beginnings. It's aged well, it's established, and a lot of Final Fantasy and MMO fans in general who aren't aware of FFXI would love to be a part of it but they don't realize it yet.

The potential is there (however unlikely) for FFXI to get a big revival with that port, and that would open the opportunity for a new focus on keeping it up and refreshed as the stronghold of SE's established MMO while FFXIV tries to become a future, next-gen successor for a more graphically-focused and casual base. There's room for the games to co-exist, and I believe (perhaps controversially) that FFXI has a lot of room to grow. The Final Fantasy name, and the playability that this game has achieved over the years (combined with its beautifully aging graphics) could make it as big as it's ever been if SE pushes it to become the handheld MMO. I just hope they realize how significant a title like that would be financially and in many other senses too.

Right now, I think SE sees FFXIV as a successor to FFXI, but despite their plans they're stuck with FFXI because it works and FFXIV doesn't. I think it would take the situation above (and that's really the last hope) for FFXI to see significant new content like full expansions going forward. Otherwise, I suspect it will continue in much the same way it has been.

[svengalis]

Still no mention of an actual auction house which is one of the major reasons I gave up on that game such fail.

[Vold]

I hope they do new music in the reboot of the reboot of FFXIV. For some reason that music got on my nerves... maybe it was too repetitive. But then I say that assuming I ever bother with the game. Also, when they say the games will co exist I wish they meant it and not 14 gets 250 people working on it while 11 gets like 10. It's just fricking wrong to not want to conserve your success in the other MMO. I'm just wondering how long will it be before they wake up and realize, oh shit we dropped the ball not only on 14 but on 11 too by ignoring it. Too late.

[Buffy]

I hope they do new music in the reboot of the reboot of FFXIV. For some reason that music got on my nerves... maybe it was too repetitive. But then I say that assuming I ever bother with the game. Also, when they say the games will co exist I wish they meant it and not 14 gets 250 people working on it while 11 gets like 10. It's just fricking wrong to not want to conserve your success in the other MMO. I'm just wondering how long will it be before they wake up and realize, oh shit we dropped the ball not only on 14 but on 11 too by ignoring it. Too late.

These repeated tin-foil hat posts complaining about the # of people developing ffxi or programming the future or creating new content are getting beyond old. This game is 10 years old (roughly from Beta in Japan), which means 15 years ago someone had an idea for a great game, and then made it happen. You've had fun playing, SE has made a killing off subscriptions.

They aren't going to invest a DIME (or more accurately, a yen) into the game they aren't going to get back. They haven't dropped the ball on XI, the last update was considered lame because the previous 3 updates all included abyssea, which also had a cost associated with it. So in return for your normal subscription fee, you got a new level cap increase, new magian trials, and new levels to voidwatch, expansions to GoV and tweaks including the automatically repeating GoV option, a host of new items, and a revamp of the CoP Dynamis system (Which if you jumped on it early, should have made you 15-20m gil or about 25% of a stage 5 for a relic, before they adjusted drop rates).

You're getting new content, and varied content for people of different play styles and difficulties. It wasn't another abyssea add-on, because it wasn't supposed to be.

FFXIV has 250 people because they are trying to make it work right. Its rare to say a single game can turn a company's fortunes, but SE has a lot of eggs in that basket, and they have a responsibility to their shareholders to make that game turn a profit at some point in the next five years.

What *I* wish SE would do is release more add-ons like abyssea (not the abyssea style, just additional content). I don't mind paying 20-30$ a year for new content with the length and breath of abyssea. Think about it - abyssea changed ffxi permanently. How we level, what's a proc, jobs, balance, everything. And it happened over the course of 9-12 months for 3 $10 add-ons. Charge me that much extra every year for new content, and I'll happily keep buying crack. The monthly fee maintains the game, extra charges pay for additional content - this makes sense to me.

[Dew]

We will see amazing "Major" version updates with stuff like, 100 skill levels with no new ws's, AV like hnms with tunnel worm like drops, copy and paste of amazing new mobs we killed 10,000 of before, and very challenging trials for +1 dmg and +1 stat. The future looks bright. lol

In all reality wouldn't except much update wise now. Tho some word on if/when we will see stuff like +2 relic armor, salvage updates, homam/nashira updates, and other things.

[Laraul]

They game is nearly 10 years old... it needs to come to an end... adding content on top of the enormous amount of content that already exists is a bad idea.

[Behemothx]

They game is nearly 10 years old... it needs to come to an end... adding content on top of the enormous amount of content that already exists is a bad idea.

lol, What??

Since when is lots of contents bad?

[Jackstin]

lol, What??

Since when is lots of contents bad?

I sort of agree.. I've been playing off and on for a few years, and one of the things which makes me give up is the sheer amount of things like story-missions that it is difficult to get a party for nowadays.

I think new content is an excellent thing, but I also feel that they should replace some of the old content. A 2.0 reboot for FF11 would be very welcome in my eyes, not least because they could re-do the server and make the possibility of playing on future platforms more likely. After all, one day, there will probably be a Windows platform that FF11 doesn't work on.

[saevel]

Well with Tanaka back to directing things you have a 50/50 chance of seeing something new in last summer / fall of 2012. They designed the latest batch of content to stretch the lv 99 update out to late spring / early summer, they'll more similar content then to stretch it out to fall time 2012. Right now it's about making you pay as much as possible for as long as possible while investing the least amount of money into FFXI's development. Their down to a skeleton crew again like back in 09. You can actually *feel* it now, when comparing to the sudden wealth of updates / additions / content available over the Abyssea time frame (job adjustments, gear introduced, act..) to what we've got in the last updates. The new JA's are mediocre at best with ridiculous cool-downs to prevent them from changing game strategies (and thus not having to spend dev time ensuring fights aren't broken), the new gear is side-grades or just plan down-grades to whats in abyssea, the new "end game" event is just Salvage version 2. They got away with this in the past because we had this snarky believe that "SE doesn't care or listen" and pretty much treated everything they do as thought they were the most incompetent people in the world. But under different leadership suddenly they were acting like a regular MMO company, back under old leadership their no longer acting that way, so we now KNOW the failures are being done on purpose and not as a side effect of incompetent developers.