Classic Server

[Laughlyn]

I'd love to play on Classic servers!

Would i pay the normal subscription fee? Hell Yeah!

As long as i can keep my normal mode / to-day game.

Benefits of Classic servers:

More new / low levels players enjoying that awesome old insane grind !

The game as it is right now don't really need much more content, but rather a fresh
start / reboot / reroll for even younger generations to experience the real FFXI.

I'd pick FFXI Classic over WoW classic, but since that's not an option or even "rumors" about that happening... im pretty sure my choice is obvious.

(still loving my FFXI more than anything)

[Sirmarki]

More new / low levels players enjoying that awesome old insane grind !

Highly unlikely in today's society. SE had to adapt many aspects of FFXI to fit with the modern day. If Asura is anything to go by; people just pay one of the hundreds of merc's shouting each day because they don't want/can't be bothered to work for it.

[saevel]

Why won't this just die in a fire where it belongs.

[Alhanelem]

They should just lock this thread.

If you really really want a server that's frozen in time with no new content (becuase that would destroy the classicness of it!), search around on the internet and you'll find options. Illegal options, but most of the people who want this badly enough don't care about that.

Aside from that, there is really nothing stopping you from just teaming up with like minded people to do things the way you feel like doing them.

More new / low levels players enjoying that awesome old insane grind !

Very few gamers in today's age would be able to tolerate the level of grind the game had in the early days. Talk to anyone who plays literally any other MMO and tell them about FFXI and how the grind used to be and nearly all of them would tell you "that sounds terrible."

As i've said before, I would totally be cool with them adding a feature to arbitrarily sync yourself to any level you'd like. That would even be useful in some cases, even if you're not specifically interested in running old content the old way. That's all they really need to do, then you can just sync yourself to level 75 and knock yourself out, everyone's happy and they don't have to waste resources redeveloping an old version of the game (plus you still get your conveniences like home point teleports, etc)

[Vanisher]

I like the idea of a classic server, it already works in the form of private servers at the moment. And to those who think it will take too much resources from SE to realize this, are entirely wrong. Many of the private classic servers are/can basically be done by one person. It's a one man job.

I think many players will have different opinions on what to keep and what to remove, though. And many players are lost because of the private servers are taking them from SE. So I would recommend SE to give players the ability to start their own "World", hosted by SE, where they can set their own rules, and add basic content. This solution might also work for those who want to play single player or with some friends, they just have to adjust the rules accordingly.

So imagine this:
You log into your Square-Enix Account, then you pay a fee to activate "Custom World". And then you can go and set the rules and add content to the server. You can choose a setup wizard, and/or go advanced for more in depth adjustments.

Rule examples:
Main/subjob melding rules, how stats and levels are put together.
EXP bonus.
Movement speeds.
Drop rates.
Level Caps.
etc.

Content Examples:
Make, add, remove or adjust abilities and traits. (Simply make abilities from a set of drop-down menus).
Make, add, remove or adjust magic.
Adjust stats on gear.
Adjust magic potency.
Make simple quests.
Add NPC's and shops.
remove NPC's.
Make new jobs.
Make, add, remove or adjust items.
etc.

Once this is done, you can choose if it's a "Private world", only accessible for you and your friends. Or a "Public world" for everyone to join, who will be able to select the World when they create a new character or if world transfer is requested.
When undergoing a World transfer, you will have to pay a fee as usual. But what does not exist in the new world will not be available, untill you transfer back to the original World or to a world that has the same rule(s).

This might take a bit more resources from SE, but I wouldn't overstate that. You leave the game changing to the players, SE will just provide the ability to do so. I think the option to make a Custom world would make the game appeal to more players.

I hope SE will do this, and it would be a selling point if they announced a graphics refresh to breathe new life into the game, and at the same time announce the Custom World feature.

I think it might be alot of fun. I hope you agree.

[Alhanelem]

Funny enough Star Trek Online (and another game from the same studio) both featured a custom content component (essentially, moddable MMOs, within limits- you could create custom adventures which other players could search for and play, with rewards and everything using almost any of the game's assets), but those features were eventually removed because it was too difficult to both update the game while maintaining support for the custom adventure features. So clearly, it was a significant undertaking to maintain support for that feature, which is essentially what you were describing.

But I stand by my opinion that FFXI gives you plenty of ways to play your way, and a "classic server" is unnecessary. A server frozen in a particular point of time has limited appeal because it will eventually get boring with no updates, and as mentioned multiple times in the past, you'll lose out on many of the quality of life improvements made since whatever bygone day you liked best; and as noted, if you really want that, private servers are a thing (that aren't supposed to be a thing, but there's no denying they are a thing).

[Vanisher]

Funny enough Star Trek Online (and another game from the same studio) both featured a custom content component (essentially, moddable MMOs, within limits- you could create custom adventures which other players could search for and play, with rewards and everything using almost any of the game's assets), but those features were eventually removed because it was too difficult to both update the game while maintaining support for the custom adventure features. So clearly, it was a significant undertaking to maintain support for that feature, which is essentially what you were describing.

But I stand by my opinion that FFXI gives you plenty of ways to play your way, and a "classic server" is unnecessary. A server frozen in a particular point of time has limited appeal because it will eventually get boring with no updates, and as mentioned multiple times in the past, you'll lose out on many of the quality of life improvements made since whatever bygone day you liked best; and as noted, if you really want that, private servers are a thing (that aren't supposed to be a thing, but there's no denying they are a thing).

That depends on how it's implemented. It would be easy to implement updates to the custom worlds I've talked about. It would be up to each Custom World holder to enable the new updates or keep the old settings. So updates for a custom world will be available if they are wanted on the Custom World. I also mentioned that the server holder would be able to add custom content and items, so it wouldn't be without updates. This would in all make private servers less of a thing, and SE would keep the support they need to keep the game running.

[Alhanelem]

That depends on how it's implemented. It would be easy to implement updates to the custom worlds I've talked about. It would be up to each Custom World holder to enable the new updates or keep the old settings. So updates for a custom world will be available if they are wanted on the Custom World. I also mentioned that the server holder would be able to add custom content and items, so it wouldn't be without updates. This would in all make private servers less of a thing, and SE would keep the support they need to keep the game running.

It can't get updates because it wouldn't be classic anymore. Everyone keeps citing a particular time they'd like to go back to. But it can't stay that way AND get updates.

And frankly, when you realize all the nice things the current game has, even if you don't like level 99 or item level, When you go to a server on an old version of the game and realize how much you depended on those features, the old version becomes a lot less appealing.

[Vanisher]

It can't get updates because it wouldn't be classic anymore. Everyone keeps citing a particular time they'd like to go back to. But it can't stay that way AND get updates.

And frankly, when you realize all the nice things the current game has, even if you don't like level 99 or item level, When you go to a server on an old version of the game and realize how much you depended on those features, the old version becomes a lot less appealing.

I'm talking about Custom worlds, not a classic server. A potential outcome of a Custom World however, can be a classic server. Or it can be a default server with additional content. My point is, that you can start a Custom World and add/remove content to your liking. But the original game will allways be the default. It's a more flexible solution than just having a classic server option.

But I don't see the problem if people want to play without updates. If some players don't like it anymore, they can just do a world transfer. I play ES Oblivion to this day, and it hasn't had updates for a long time. Each to his/her own.

Personally I like the grinding, and struggle to level jobs and group together to do missions or BCNM's etc. It makes more sense, and makes the small things very rewarding. A form of classic server, would make more sense to me. But that's me, and I might not be alone.

[Alhanelem]

I'm talking about Custom worlds, not a classic server. A potential outcome of a Custom World however, can be a classic server. Or it can be a default server with additional content. My point is, that you can start a Custom World and add/remove content to your liking. But the original game will allways be the default. It's a more flexible solution than just having a classic server option.

But I don't see the problem if people want to play without updates. If some players don't like it anymore, they can just do a world transfer. I play ES Oblivion to this day, and it hasn't had updates for a long time. Each to his/her own.

Personally I like the grinding, and struggle to level jobs and group together to do missions or BCNM's etc. It makes more sense, and makes the small things very rewarding. A form of classic server, would make more sense to me. But that's me, and I might not be alone.

I covered this before, with STO and other MMOs actually having a whole system for custom content- but it became too burdensome over time as every time they updated the game, they had to go through all the old stuff as well as the new to make sure it all stayed compatible. It is a big undertaking to allow large scale customization of an MMO, and it's a challenge that has been taken up before, but ultimately was removed from those games because it made updating the game a lot more difficult.

(And those systems were detailed, too, you could set the stage with any area you want, spawn any enemies you want, with scripting and such, and still allow rewards and EXP to be gained, etc. You could place almost any assets from within the game into the area, enable and disable classes, abilities, etc- it was really cool)

To a certain extent, I love grinding too, and if you think there's less grind in the game now, you'd be mistaken. They dramatically accelerated the level up process, yes, but all the grinding for gear, earning job points, etc takes longer than leveling up plus earning all your merit points did before- Reaching lv99 and getting Master status takes longer than 1-75 + merits did.