Is there a future?

[Nala]

We can only hope that when (if?) FF14 actually starts bringing in some money, they will be able to free up some resources to work a bit more on FF11. Maybe this is why we haven't heard much more about adoulin yet? Could just be that they're currently spending so much on FF14 that they don't have a lot of spare resources to work on adoulin.

As I understand it, they have two separate development teams for FF14. One for the current version, and one for the new version. Hopefully, the people working on the current version could be reallocated to work on FF11 when they finally pull the plug.

And before someone goes all "but the current version sucks, i don't want them working on ff11", keep in mind that the first FF14 version didn't suck simply because everyone involved were poor employees. A lot of the issues were design choices by a person who is no longer working there. There would be no risk of FF11 becoming worse if they take one of the graphics artists who was working mainly with textures and bring him to FF11, for example. With a new expansion and whole new areas, there is probably a lot of texture work to be done. Same with audio related work, area design, NPC dialogue, etc.

Not according to the last interview of he who shall not be named, he claimed he let the 14 team make their own choices, man has no shame.

[Miiyo]

I think the question is can FFXI survive 6 months it takes to release SoA.

I've stopped automatically renewing my account simply cause there isn't enough content so at the end of every month i don't play for 1-3 weeks saving me a few £.

This about sums it up. The stagnant content in 2012 is probably due to the lack of manpower if they're working on a full expansion. They've released enough to keep the majority content. The game isn't in too bad shape. The fact is the majority of players, who is the targeted crowd, have plenty to do. The "hardcore" players that eat content up as soon as it come out, are just out of luck when they run out of stuff to do. It's not that they're not listening. The goal of SE's business is to have ffxi turn in a profit as long as possible, not immediately cater to those who clear content the fastest.

[Secondplanet]

This about sums it up. The stagnant content in 2012 is probably due to the lack of manpower if they're working on a full expansion. They've released enough to keep the majority content. The game isn't in too bad shape. The fact is the majority of players, who is the targeted crowd, have plenty to do. The "hardcore" players that eat content up as soon as it come out, are just out of luck when they run out of stuff to do. It's not that they're not listening. The goal of SE's business is to have ffxi turn in a profit as long as possible, not immediately cater to those who clear content the fastest.

I just find the game itself is getting boring, all the senseless grinding of the same mob over and over to be given logs wears a player down from enjoying a game and being down right bored of the same thing every night. I personally loved how abyssea made it that EVERYONE could get nice gear, it wasn't just to the lucky and the ones who spend their whole life on the game. I have never done nyzul isle at all when ToAU came out cause no one wanted any of the jobs i had or demanded i have experience doing it (how can i get experience if i was never given the chance to experience it.)

I think more content like abyssea would do great for the player base due to low party sizes and everyone can get rewarded. Also before anyone says it i'm not asking for everything to be handed to me. I have player many other MMO's and they deploy a similar method where everyone can have awesome gear without spending 27hours a day 8 days a week on the game.

[Kristal]

Legit players sell gil to websites which in turn market it back to players.

That was the case in the old days, when RMT started in EQ as a mom&pop middleman thing and quickly blossomed into the hackfest it is today. While some RMT do buy gil, it's at fractions of their sell value since they can do it cheap themselves. Almost all gil sold by RMT comes from bots, with some account hacks when it was possible. It is in the RMT's best interest to cause massive inflation in economies, so that players cannot make enough for their own daily expenses and are forced to buy gil just to play. (A couple of years ago, prices of expensive goods tripled overnight, coinciding with a triple gil sale at a major gil seller... goods sold by accounts belonging to that same RMT)

I've seen at least 5 people get in trouble for using Diaga on a group of mobs held for SMN burn parties. I've NEVER seen or heard of the actual burners getting bansticked.

That was before cleave parties. It's even explicitely allowed in the EULA. But now you can get in trouble if you PREVENT Diaga or similar gather-stealing practises.

[Rezeak]

The "hardcore" players that eat content up as soon as it come out, are just out of luck when they run out of stuff to do.

To a point that's true but i would of considered myself a hardcore player till meeble came out.

Honestly i'd still do Legion, Einherjar, Limbus, Meebles, Neo-Nyzle and Dyna, if it wasn't such a huge hassle.

Examples.

Neo-Nyzle while I have 15/15 i do like helping out other ls members/friends with it the problem is cause of the luck factor combined w/ need people that are skilled, you need at least 4 people experienced with NNI or your chances are near 0. Then the other side of having to get people on to a chat program so that we can communicate fast is a large headache.

Odin V2 and Legion are 18+ people events training and keeping a crew for this is alot of effort basically every time you get 2-3 new members until your ready u can't even try mul or Odin, either way the organizational pain that these 18 man+ event bring is something me and alot of my friends keep away from. Legion is easy but for the leaders it's hard lol.

Meeble, 15 mins a day sucks all there is to it.

Limbus/Dyna, i like these events.

Simply put, the all or nothing events like Legion, Odin V2 and NNI while i enjoy them the organzational side of these events are a pain, if there was a different versions like 12 man legion/odin and NNI rewards that scaled linearly with player skill i'd play them easily and be a hell of alot more willing to help newer players.

Edit : As a small side note for more casual players I'm sure the case is even worse since all you really have is Dyna, Aby and Meebles.

Cool thing about FFXIV alot of endgame is linked with story content as well for example w/ Ifrit there is a story mode version (no drops) + Hard mode version (with drops) + Relic challenge one too.

Meaning SE got 3 peices of content out of 1 peice of content.

If Legion has a easy/story mode tied to it then casual players could at least enjoy it and even learn how to play legion making it easier for leaders for the hard mode.

Honestly, that's how SE should be fleshing out it's content rather than using timers/low drop rates.

[Sapphires]

I highly doubt it. They're going to be working on ARR harder than ever I would imagine. Let's face it. It's all hands on deck for ARR and skeleton crew for XI for the foreseeable future.

As someone who has worked on multiple games at different studios this tactic is a common practice and with games getting larger+risky+more expensive its pretty common to grab your best devs and throw them on the next thing that needs to ship.
Given the lateness on delivering the items on the XI roadmap and the millions SE has to throw at FFXIV to make it become relevant+get some subs to recoup the costs, I expected XI to get even less updates until the expansion comes out (and it will be probably late)

[Winrie]

SE prolly wondering why we are still on XI, I mean it's coming on 11 years old. Sorry to say but even current version of XIV is better than XI in a lot of ways barring endgame content and has a great producer who directly communicates with his playerbase, and he actually has a brain. It's profitable for SE to revive XI and run them both, each having a dedicated playerbase, most playing both games off and on, sadly tho they will hold til they see ARRs launch success I'm betting, but for some of us like me who have been around since NA launch on XI, I'm quite fed with how XI has turned out and what it is becoming, the lack of a real dev team and intelligent decisions, and lack of proper communication and content that isn't complete time sink crap.

[Luvbunny]

So the future is bleak? New expansion is coming but it does not look that exciting. Current contents are rather bad, with bad design revolved around RNG and 20-24 hours cool down, some even take 3 days. Nothing major is going to happen in the next 3-4 months I am afraid, if you are the type of people who consume contents so fast, you won't have much to do. For the rest of us who consume them at snail pace, the current contents are meaty enough for another good 6-12 months at least, for some even longer.

[Sarick]

Should we forget the past or have high hopes for the future. This old email for FF14 may have brought hope to some and dread to others.

Hope can be bad to those who see through ruby shaded glasses. Dread can be just as bad to those looking through a microscope full of flesh eating bacteria.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of FINAL FANTASY XIV.

While more than two months have passed since the official launch of FINAL FANTASY XIV service, we deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that FINAL FANTASY fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies.

After thorough deliberation on how to meet those expectations, it was decided that the most viable step was to approach improvements under new leadership and with a restructured team.

To realize this vision, and in doing so, provide our customers with a better game experience, we have assembled our company’s top talent and resources. Taking over the role of producer and director is Naoki Yoshida, a passionate individual for whom customer satisfaction has always taken top priority. Not only is he one of our Group’s most accomplished and experienced members, Naoki Yoshida is also a charismatic leader possessing the skill to bring together and effectively helm a team which encompasses a wide range of responsibilities. We also welcome several new leaders handpicked from other projects to work with the existing talent on FINAL FANTASY XIV.

We realize time is of the essence and are fully determined to provide our customers with quality service. It is because of this that we ask our customers to be patient until we are able to confidently present them with a concrete plan outlining FINAL FANTASY XIV’s new direction. The free trial period will be extended until that time.

Regarding the PlayStation 3, it is not our wish to release a simple conversion of the Windows version in its current state, but rather an update that includes all the improvements we have planned. For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of the PlayStation 3 version beyond the originally announced date of March 2011.

The FINAL FANTASY XIV team is working hard to bring our customers an unparalleled adventure, and we ask for your continued understanding and support as we march ever diligently towards that goal.


President and CEO, Yoichi Wada

The development and management teams would like to make an announcement regarding personnel changes.

[Organizational Changes to the Development Team]
To improve the service of FINAL FANTASY XIV, Square Enix has made the following changes to the development team:

Managerial Changes

Producer/Director
Naoki Yoshida

Section Leader Changes

Assistant Director
Shintaro Tamai (FINAL FANTASY X, Front Mission 5: Scars of the War)

Lead Game Designer
Nobuaki Komoto (FINAL FANTASY IX, FINAL FANTASY XI)

Lead Combat System Designer
Akihiko Matsui (FINAL FANTASY XI)

Technical Advisor
Yoshihisa Hashimoto (Next Generation Game Engine Development)

Lead Programmer
Hideyuki Kasuga (FINAL FANTASY XI, DIRGE OF CERBERUS -FINAL FANTASY VII-)

Senior Concept Artist
Akihiko Yoshida (FINAL FANTASY XII, Vagrant Story)

Lead Artist
Hiroshi Takai (FINAL FANTASY XI, THE LAST REMNANT)

Lead UI Designer/Lead Web Designer
Hiroshi Minagawa (FINAL FANTASY XII, Vagrant Story)

These members will make up the development team’s new core—a core dedicated to ensuring we achieve a level of enjoyability that will more than satisfy our customers. Under a schedule of more frequent version updates, the new leaders and their respective sections will strive for continued improvements to FINAL FANTASY XIV service operation and development.

[Extension of the Free Trial Period]
As stated above, the newly restructured team’s top priority is to bring about improvements to the game’s enjoyability, and therefore we have decided to extend the free trial period until we can provide a plan that outlines a level of enjoyment that will satisfy both us and our customers. When we are confident that we have reached that goal, we will notify our customers immediately.

[Future Version Updates]
At present, the development team is putting the finishing touches on the previously announced version update, which is still slated for release in mid-December. In addition, there is one more version update scheduled for release before year’s end. Details on the content and dates of these updates will be released in the near future.

[Delay of the PlayStation 3 Version Release]
Although the release date for the PlayStation 3 version of the game was previously announced as late March of 2011, we regret to inform that this date has been changed.

The PlayStation 3 release will be delayed until we are confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the FINAL FANTASY name for users on all supported platforms. We offer our sincerest apologies to any fans anticipating the PlayStation 3 release, and humbly ask for your continued patience and understanding as both the development team and Square Enix as a whole strive towards making FINAL FANTASY XIV a truly enjoyable and unforgettable adventure.

[New Development Team Policy]
I would like to take this opportunity to greet all of you—those currently playing FINAL FANTASY XIV, those who have taken a respite from playing, and those awaiting the PlayStation 3 release—and offer a brief word by way of an introduction.

No doubt there are very few, if any, among you who have ever heard the name Naoki Yoshida. To be sure, I have never been in the fore on any of the titles I have worked on in the past. I am, however, honored and privileged to work alongside many talented and inspiring colleagues, and with their support have enjoyed making games for a number of years. I am aware that a great many people will think the responsibility of leading FINAL FANTASY XIV is far too large a task for someone so unknown. After all, even my very best may seem no more than a drop in the bucket when considering the sheer scope of FINAL FANTASY XIV. But working together with me are the very talented and very capable development and management teams, whose dedication and motivation are unwavering. I would like to ask you to please put to rest uncertainties that you may have.

Now, more than ever, myself, the development team, and Square Enix as a whole, are committed to furthering our efforts to provide a quality service.

Everything we do will be for our players and customers.


FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer/Director, Naoki Yoshida

First of all, I would like to apologize for our inability to fully satisfy our users with the initial release of FINAL FANTASY XIV. I take full responsibility for the game’s current situation, and have therefore made the decision to step down from my role as producer. A number of concerns that have been voiced by users, such as the design of the user interface, availability of tutorials and game content, and battle system functionality, represent key issues that must be addressed. While improvements are already well underway in many areas, we were unfortunately not able to incorporate player feedback as quickly as we would have liked. We are aware, however, that in many cases, addressing these issues will call for a reworking of game elements. As these changes are our first priority, they will be commanding our full attention and efforts. It is to that end that we have put a new organizational structure into place for the development team. Under this new system, FINAL FANTASY XIV will see changes and additions in line with the desires and expectations of players. Though no longer producer, I will be continuing to support the development team in other capacities, and personally hope that you will continue your adventures in the realm of Eorzea.


Hiromichi Tanaka

Will FFXI die? Do we have a future? The true answer is everything dies it's just a matter how and why it dies.

The FF14 was a prime example of what not to do and what to do. Lets not forget.

[Alerith]

Everything dies. Sometimes slowly.