World Mergers

[Peepiopi]

FFXI has always been this way, nothing you stated is new.

The problem is no new content + a portion of players that think they can do everything via shouts. Something that is totally alien to FFXI.

I don't mean to sound rude, and I don't mean this in an attack against you personally. However, whenever someone mentions anything that glaringly sucks about FFXI, it's pretty much guaranteed that diehards come out to defend it by saying, "FFXI has always been this way".

Ex:
1. Horrible server population management causing issues with content completion: Always been this way.
2. "Role balance" being used instead of fair job balance: Always been this way.
3. Prohibitive metagame with extremely difficult progression walls for new players: Always been this way.
4. Horrible economy management and obscure gil income methods: Always been this way.


Those are just to list a few complaints that come up frequently. With respect to a few exceptions, this game DOES NOT appeal to new players largely because of the reasons above. FFXI is shrinking because of it, probably irrevocably so at this point. Unless SE makes serious efforts to address these concerns and actually listens to the players' frustrations, people will just stop playing it. And the remaining number of subscribers will just get smaller and smaller.

I've played FFXI for years, and there are a few things that I really enjoy about it. But I get extremely fed up with the progression in the game. I want to play any content I want with my job of choice, so my biggest complaint is SE's idea of "Job Balance". I sometimes return to the game usually out of nostalgia and interest to see if the problems have been fixed, but they never really are... So I can never resubscribe for more than maybe a month. There are just WAY better and more rewarding MMOs to play out there.

[Pixela]

I don't mean to sound rude, and I don't mean this in an attack against you personally. However, whenever someone mentions anything that glaringly sucks about FFXI, it's pretty much guaranteed that diehards come out to defend it by saying, "FFXI has always been this way".

Ex:
1. Horrible server population management causing issues with content completion: Always been this way.
2. "Role balance" being used instead of fair job balance: Always been this way.
3. Prohibitive metagame with extremely difficult progression walls for new players: Always been this way.
4. Horrible economy management and obscure gil income methods: Always been this way.


Those are just to list a few complaints that come up frequently. With respect to a few exceptions, this game DOES NOT appeal to new players largely because of the reasons above. FFXI is shrinking because of it, probably irrevocably so at this point. Unless SE makes serious efforts to address these concerns and actually listens to the players' frustrations, people will just stop playing it. And the remaining number of subscribers will just get smaller and smaller.

I've played FFXI for years, and there are a few things that I really enjoy about it. But I get extremely fed up with the progression in the game. I want to play any content I want with my job of choice, so my biggest complaint is SE's idea of "Job Balance". I sometimes return to the game usually out of nostalgia and interest to see if the problems have been fixed, but they never really are... So I can never resubscribe for more than maybe a month. There are just WAY better and more rewarding MMOs to play out there.

He was saying that JP players won't play with English speaking players and that a lot of people afk. I was saying this isn't new, the game has always been the same.

The only real reason people want merges is because they check numbers and without taking into account that a lot of people are actually online at once they simply compare one number to another. A merge won't fix the real issues people have that are asking for merges, it will just make more.

[Caradog]

He was saying that JP players won't play with English speaking players and that a lot of people afk. I was saying this isn't new, the game has always been the same.

I don't think that server merges alone could fix the game, at this point it would take hardware and software upgrades so that we cease to run into instancing issues, one of the biggest problems with a larger population causing problems is that the vast bulk of content is instanced and only allows a limited number of groups in at once - Salvage/Sky bcnms/Delve etc

At the same time, I do think server populations are at an all time low, and merging the servers could help as long as steps are taken to alleviate problems caused by the above. Its hard to ignore that shouts are at an all time low and while not suitible for everything, most the fodder content could easily be cleared by a few well aimed shouts.

[Peepiopi]

I don't think that server merges alone could fix the game, at this point it would take hardware and software upgrades so that we cease to run into instancing issues [clip]

Thanks for mentioning that. That's another thing. Whatever database management system they're using for ffxi is really inefficient. I'm not a database expert, but I'm pretty sure that modern relational or object-oriented DBMs blow older hierarchical systems out of the water in terms of efficiency. I'm willing to bet that the inventory lag issues are more related to an outdated DBM that they don't want to change rather than where the servers are located geographically.

point: FFXI's technology is holding development back.

[Peepiopi]

He was saying that JP players won't play with English speaking players and that a lot of people afk. I was saying this isn't new, the game has always been the same.

The only real reason people want merges is because they check numbers and without taking into account that a lot of people are actually online at once they simply compare one number to another. A merge won't fix the real issues people have that are asking for merges, it will just make more.

I gotcha. I do agree that there is definitely a disconnect between JP and EN players. I really wish that wasn't the case, but language barriers are language barriers. And I totally agree that simply merging the worlds wouldn't fix the main issues with the game, but I don't know if it would make more. More people playing together means more opportunities (Assuming that the servers are re-optimized for larger populations).

With that said though, I think all of the games issues (including language barrier problems) could be resolved through more aggressive updates with the game, which we all can agree probably won't ever happen. For example, there's a lot of coding that needs to be cleaned up and the game really needs a more intuitive interface. In regards to the language issue, I'm sure that could be improved by a more user-friendly emote and ping system. Emphasize visual communications rather than typed/macro'd. We can give that a big Fat Chance sticker though.

And if you're looking for players to complete endgame content, the 800 server population really is a pretty stinky number when you consider that big chunks of that are attributed to:

- People that we don't share a common language with (Not as big of a deal for JP players at their peak times)
- Multi-boxers
- AFK Bazaars
- RMT (Not as huge of an issue now as it used to be and I haven't seen any bots, but I assume there are still some bots running around)
- Lowbies
- 99s with insufficient gear to clear the event.

All but the RMT makes up part of the server population that can't be used when putting together groups for events. Now if SE managed the servers so that they had 5-10k players, then the increased activity would mean more communication, more events, and more economy stimulation.

I agree that merging the servers would't be a panacea but it would certainly improve the gameplay.

[Zarchery]

Most things can be soloed. Most of the rest can be done with 6 or fewer people. 800 people is plenty. It's much easier to get things done now than it was when server populations were 5 times higher.

[Sfchakan]

Most things can be soloed. Most of the rest can be done with 6 or fewer people. 800 people is plenty. It's much easier to get things done now than it was when server populations were 5 times higher.

... but think of the people who have a bad reputation for not playing well with others or not playing the game well at all! How will they ever be able to do group content when no one wants them! Won't someone please think of the undesirables?!?