Multiple Login/Character Transfer

[Dragoy]

I was scanning through FAQ files for FFXIV and there's a situation wherein they seem to be facilitating multi-boxers... Disappointing for me, but I don't plan on being all that hardcore about FFXIV anyway... (http://support.jp.square-enix.com/fa...5&id=5382&la=1) ...

That is quite the interesting article. At the same time, it's quite surprising while being not surprising at all!

I guess they figured from XI that people will very likely 'dual-box' to some extent at least, no matter what. Might just as well make it a bit easier, although I, too, can see it having its effects on the community.

Then again, people would do it either way, probably.

As it stands, though, FFXI is definitely a game that has become ruined by multi-boxers... particularly in the Abyssea age of content, many people quit because they were one of the few that didn't have a WHM mule constantly following them around so they could solo what they needed...

I wouldn't say they ruined it. Rather the game design itself, and more than the current designs, whatever they may be, it's the limitations it had from the start. As time went on and on, more items were added, and there were the limits imposed by the clunky crafting system(s). Not to mention storage issues...

I really don't want to think that 'having mules' was ever intended in the early stages...

The game is designed to effectively do everything with one character, yet you are able to have up to 16(?) characters on an account. There is absolutely no reason to have that many characters (mules included).

I certainly can't say what their intentions were, but I don't think I would see the 16 slots per account indicating that.

Just as a quick example that comes to mind, I can say that I've been in a game that started at around 1997, and has 20 'slots' per account (no extra fees on additional characters, though, and you can access the game absolutely free, or pay for premium areas and so on and forth). It strictly forbids ANY sort of account sharing (even within a family). That one is from a German company, so it's definitely not just a Japanese thing, even though I kind of easily imagine Japanese wanting to play several characters for some reason.

Both realms also have several servers around, and many players indeed play on different ones, so there is that.

Granted, one can not change their 'job' for any one character there, so if you wanted to become something else, you'd want another character for that. However, there is no real need to play as the other 'jobs' as there might often be in FINAL FANTASY XI Online.

I apologise! I could probably come up with better reasons, but my mind is wandering, and sleep is told to be calling.

With the game being developed as a group effort as opposed to solo, there is no enticement to want to redo missions/quests just to have a separate character. The intent is a family plan. I doubt SE intended a family of 4 living together to have 4 separate accounts.

I actually know quite a few players who have several characters (in FFXI) and actually play them (not just for crafting and whatnot). Not 16 characters, but yeah. Some of them got all jobs up to 99 even, but don't really do the group events.

You want to be able to transfer Content IDs from a PlayOnline account to another?
I don't think I would support that.

Why wouldn't you support that?

I guess I just see it too much of promoting account sharing/trading, RMT or not, but I might just be so stuck in my old ways (good example is that game from before, where it was very strictly forbidden).

It would have to be changes to billing. There would be enough people participating in it to make up for any production charges.

Yeah. If done right, it would be convenient fer sure, and could work. And what was seen above, it looks like they're allowing one to play a few characters on one account simultaneously, without extra fees, in X|V (that no extra fee is quite surprising).

Unless I read that wrong.


Sorry if there's anything that makes no sense whatsoever; I should be sleeping, not posting!

[Almalieque]

I certainly can't say what their intentions were, but I don't think I would see the 16 slots per account indicating that.

It most certainly does. As mentioned, this game is designed to be played on one character. There is no reason to create another character outside of having a mule and/or crafting, in which both could have easily been handled without having an entire new and fully playable character.

While there might be exceptions in where people start duplicate characters on the same account with the full intention of playing both, that is the minority. The family plan concept is a prevalent practice that benefits everyone. Just as your local phone, cable, dish, etc. company discount multiple users within the same household, SE did the same exact thing.

If SE truly wanted a 1:1 ratio, then each character would be full price. Major companies such as Google and Sony even allow at least 2 downloads of digital purchases. Other organizations use MAC filtering to prevent sharing. Do I need to bring up Microsoft?????!?! There is absolutely nothing that SE has done to prevent sharing and everything to promote it.

You're confusing "CYA" statements with actual enforced regulations, similar to not authorizing 3rd party software. SE doesn't care if you use windower, the concerns are hacks, viruses, etc. SE doesn't want to be held accountable for any nonsense that you may have done.

However, rules are rules, but the current setup of the game does not indicate wanting a parent to pay for another account for his/her child to play. Because of that, it is easy to infer that SE doesn't want players to share their account information with other players outside of their intermediate family. SE doesn't want anything to do with people stealing, damaging or deleting your digital information.

[RushLynx]

SE doesn't care if you use windower, the concerns are hacks, viruses, etc. SE doesn't want to be held accountable for any nonsense that you may have done.

Idk about all that... While I believe they could easily detect the use of windower if they wanted to, I think the situation is so many people use it that it's in their best interest to just ignore it... Otherwise, all this trouble they're having lately with the UI, storage problems, macro limitations, etc... Windower solves all of those things... The company could save a ton of time, money, and grief by just copying (or buying I guess) the windower software and putting their own spin on it...

Yeah yeah, it won't work for console versions of the game... I'm pretty sure no one would really care all that much... If it's that much of a problem just continue working on the current plans but shut everyone else up in the mean time...

[Almalieque]

Idk about all that... While I believe they could easily detect the use of windower if they wanted to, I think the situation is so many people use it that it's in their best interest to just ignore it... Otherwise, all this trouble they're having lately with the UI, storage problems, macro limitations, etc... Windower solves all of those things... The company could save a ton of time, money, and grief by just copying (or buying I guess) the windower software and putting their own spin on it...

Yeah yeah, it won't work for console versions of the game... I'm pretty sure no one would really care all that much... If it's that much of a problem just continue working on the current plans but shut everyone else up in the mean time...

I'll give you that. Originally, SE probably cared. After analyzing the scenario, SE probably figured that it wasn't worth the effort. Given the effort that SE took against RMT and hacked/stolen accounts, I think its safe to say that windower isn't high on their priority list.

Thanks for pointing that out.