New Servers

[PlumbGame]

Yes, it's time for this again. Do it SE! Considering the pop sizes of servers now, I have no doubt that some kind of server from the beginning or time-locked would be more financially viable than current servers! I'm not saying to stop anything on the current servers, I just know since the last time this was requested pops on most, if not all servers have seemed to decline more than half the pop. Average pop of roughly 500 with 700-800 on weekends? Even worse is a lot of people are on holidays right now and it hasn't seemed to of effected the pop at all, which usually does in most MMOs.

I'll even take there is no plans for this response so it can stop being asked. I just want to know if there is ever a chance. I mean you guys keep re-releasing almost every FF title all the time, what is so different about this (even more considering FFXI is their most profitable)? Better yet, why would some of the current pop of this game go crazy for re-makes of those, but not the idea of a server starting from the beginning for 11?

What's really crazy is the people on these forums haven't really changed since the last time this was requested, so I hope this isn't just the same 5 people going back and forth again.

Anyways, /equip flame shield.

[Jile]

What SE doesn't want to admit is that what everyone that had been wanting those lvl75-capped servers and SE didn't want to provide it have done is leave paid FFXI and are playing on private servers instead where they got precisely what they wanted.

If SE wanted to bring demand to FFXI they could, frankly easily, but they show poor management skills and ignore this basic logical statement. Expand or die! They need to be advertising FFXI. It's hard to find a copy of FFXI for PC/xbox anywhere anymore but ebay or steam for download.... anyway my point stands, the new generation gamer presumes FFXI died a long time ago because SE refuses to spend money on advertising for it. Their focus is on FFXIV and with that doing far less than stellar in regard to player opinion the main newish-flux of players is the return of old ones. Outside of a few scattered RMT I can't honestly recall the last time I saw a 'real' question mark person running around that I could help, they just don't exist anymore.

All that said - SE isn't going to spend more money, even if that means keeping an old XI server they shutdown alive and pushing 75-cap content back on it.

I mean heck, from what it seems we're still running on the same server boxes that they started with from day one. I support the idea bud, I just really don't see it happening.

[PlumbGame]

What SE doesn't want to admit is that what everyone that had been wanting those lvl75-capped servers and SE didn't want to provide it have done is leave paid FFXI and are playing on private servers instead where they got precisely what they wanted.

If SE wanted to bring demand to FFXI they could, frankly easily, but they show poor management skills and ignore this basic logical statement. Expand or die! They need to be advertising FFXI. It's hard to find a copy of FFXI for PC/xbox anywhere anymore but ebay or steam for download.... anyway my point stands, the new generation gamer presumes FFXI died a long time ago because SE refuses to spend money on advertising for it. Their focus is on FFXIV and with that doing far less than stellar in regard to player opinion the main newish-flux of players is the return of old ones. Outside of a few scattered RMT I can't honestly recall the last time I saw a 'real' question mark person running around that I could help, they just don't exist anymore.

All that said - SE isn't going to spend more money, even if that means keeping an old XI server they shutdown alive and pushing 75-cap content back on it.

I mean heck, from what it seems we're still running on the same server boxes that they started with from day one. I support the idea bud, I just really don't see it happening.

A lot of what you say I was actually thinking about while posting my OP. For example, I know a lot of people that play XI actually play XIV also. It made me curious if the pop declined a decent chunk at all when they took away that deal where you you payed cheaper prices if paying for both. I'm assuming not since I would feel a company would continue a promotion like that if they did.

But yes, I'm just a huge advocate for this idea, that being said, I actually do enjoy current FFXI or why else would I be playing it right now lol. So I hope no one misinterprets this as I hate current FFXI. I do agree that probably won't be seeing it happen sadly, but I don't want to completely stop thinking about the idea since like in our previous threads, there is other "old" mmos that have done similar things. So wouldn't say it's out of the realm of possibility.

I was also curious as I was thinking about all the FF's being re-released with extra stuff like achievements. What if they did something like that. As in, what if they re-released the classic experience with added stuff like achievements without destroying the classic experience that people want.

[Alhanelem]

Anyways, /equip flame shield.

You're going to need it friend, you're going to need it.

What SE doesn't want to admit is that what everyone that had been wanting those lvl75-capped servers and SE didn't want to provide it have done is leave paid FFXI and are playing on private servers instead where they got precisely what they wanted.

those private servers are against the TOS and probably illegal even not considering that, and if SE finds them they will likely get shut down with cease-and-desist orders. I also question their viability in the first place, there's probably like 10 people on them. There's no way to get that old school experience without enough players.

What's really crazy is the people on these forums haven't really changed since the last time this was requested,

Maybe that should tell you something... like that the reception you're going to get isn't going to change much.

What I will agree with is the comment about advertising. I don't know how effective it would be, but online advertising is really cheap. It would barely need to be more than a simple hand wave that says "hey, we're still here, come check us out!" It definitely couldn't hurt.

Anyway, on these forums you mostly see people asking either for balance changes or features that make our experience more convenient. While there is definitely at least a small market for a timewarp, it is clear to me tha the vast majority of people would not want to give up conveineces like lots of teleporting all over, easy warping, etc and focusing more on the content and less on the long walks and waiting. The sense of adventure does get diluted a bit, I don't disagree, but as the population of the game ages along with it, many of them no longer have so much time to waste on mundane tasks even if they contributed to the experience. They want to get on, fight some bosses or grind some enemies or whatever, and get off.

I resubbed recently and honestly I still get nostalgia out of this (Mostly, though, the nostalgia of waiting several hours to form a party to fight one NM)

I want to make it clear that I respect your views and thoughts on the matter and so I hope you take this the right way.
The biggest reason I'm not real keen on this idea is it divides the community. Two groups which can not interact with each other because what they want for content and style requires different servers. Even if I wanted this, I wouldn't want to be alienated from my friends.

[Comeatmebro]

i was hoping this was going to be a complaint thread about the disgusting state of their 'i-wish-i-was-tcp' implementation of udp protocol

75 ffxi only worked when it did because of the players it already had, the numbers aren't around now and most of us would just end up quitting again if we were reverted to 75.. there's just as much content available now and you can impose a 75 cap on yourself whenever you want, but people don't have the time to sink that they used to and there are more games on the market

[PlumbGame]

I agree, I definitely get nostalgia all the time. I'm actually in the process of trying to finish all my salvage sets and stuff just cause.

My crazy comment is somewhat misleading I guess. What I really meant is there isn't a whole lot of discussion that can happen on this because the community on these forums is so small and it's just going to be the same people most likely saying the same things again and again heh. Have to post your opinions on the game here though, because if you want SE to see it, doesn't help to post on a site like FFXIAH or something.

I'm mostly trying to take advantage of maybe finding out where SE is going with FFXI, the player-base was already small as is, and tbh, I didn't expect it to drop as much as it has since the last time this was brought up. So I figured I'd throw the idea out there again, because realistically, as the population keeps dropping, the idea sounds more appealing.

[PlumbGame]

i was hoping this was going to be a complaint thread about the disgusting state of their 'i-wish-i-was-tcp' implementation of udp protocol

75 ffxi only worked when it did because of the players it already had, the numbers aren't around now and most of us would just end up quitting again if we were reverted to 75.. there's just as much content available now and you can impose a 75 cap on yourself whenever you want, but people don't have the time to sink that they used to and there are more games on the market

Well the idea behind said servers isn't to convert the current FFXI population over to them. I mean obviously they can play on it and probably will, but that isn't the intention. Like the examples I gave before, Everquest every few years does some kind of "progression" type server, that not usually turns out successful and brings back many players, but a lot of these players also check out the current state of the game. I mean I can't really claim if it's a success since I don't know their financial situations, but given the overwhelming amount of increase to the population every time this happens I would assume that it is a success. This isn't Everquest though so I don't know how it would work, but I can say this game has a + because there is a huge fan base outside of NA. Like I said also, just using that as an example, you don't create the servers for the current population, though some will most likely play on them.

[Alhanelem]

Well the idea behind said servers isn't to convert the current FFXI population over to them.

The thing is, they would have to convert some of them for it to be viable. I really don't see tons and tons of old players that would return just because something like this was offered. If not enough people join these servers, the remaining people would just quit again because they can't get anything done in the heavily, heavily party oriented days of yore. This all relates to the original problem i stated in my opposition- Dividing the community. For this idea to succeed it needs to both bring back old players and convert some current players, which causes that division.

Even if they did, it only benefits them and no one else. The current servers will still have at best the same and at worst somewhat lower populations, so even if people return, we (the people playing on the current servers now) won't be playing with them. So the only long term benefit is a little extra money for SE, which is either profit or used to maintain those servers specifically.

[Kimowar]

they need to merge servers and bad, I have hardly seen another player since returning, maybe 1 master server and some incentive for people to want to form groups as I cant pay to play a single player game.

[Deirdre]

they need to merge servers and bad, I have hardly seen another player since returning, maybe 1 master server and some incentive for people to want to form groups as I cant pay to play a single player game.

Are you in the starter cities still? You'll see the odd person there, but in general, most of them are in either Jeuno (20%?) or Adoulin (80%).