Long Term Options

[Stompa]

As SE have already said, they have no plans to shutdown FFXI entirely. They have announced a date when they will cease further updates/expansions etc. But they will keep the game running beyond that, with bug fixes etc.

And it would be highly illogical for them to go from having multiple servers, to zero servers. Much more likely would be a gradual decrease in servers from the current number, down to four, two, one.

So, the real question would be, on all the servers today, combined, how many seriously 'devoted' fans are there. People who will play FFXI core game without further updates. I can name six such people in my Friend List. So I am guessing there are quite a few of us spread across all the servers.

So, assuming the predicted trend of console players quitting rather than getting a PC, other players quitting because they won't play without new content, etc. we can assume that a substantial number of people will quit. And since it would make no sense to shutdown a game with lots of half empty servers, when you could just merge them onto a couple of full and very devoted-player servers, this is what I would expect to happen.

I will certainly pay subs and play the game till the end, whenever that is. I know a lot of people who feel the same. If all those 'devoted' people were condensed onto one or two servers, would their combined subscription fees be enough to keep those one/two servers running without the expense of updates/expansions? I think so.

I am still working on my Empy Afterglow. At the current rate it should be finished in about ten years lol. So I'm not expecting to finish it. But I'm still working on it. Also, in 2004 I took an oath to defend the good people of Windurst, to protect the sanctuary of Heavens Tower and defend the Star Sibyl. To protect them from the ferocious hordes of darkness. To defend with my life, and I will keep my oath to the very end.

[Artharian]

<snipped for space, but a lot of sense, as always :-)>

So, the real question would be, on all the servers today, combined, how many seriously 'devoted' fans are there. People who will play FFXI core game without further updates. I can name six such people in my Friend List. So I am guessing there are quite a few of us spread across all the servers.

So, assuming the predicted trend of console players quitting rather than getting a PC, other players quitting because they won't play without new content, etc. we can assume that a substantial number of people will quit. And since it would make no sense to shutdown a game with lots of half empty servers, when you could just merge them onto a couple of full and very devoted-player servers, this is what I would expect to happen.

I will certainly pay subs and play the game till the end, whenever that is. I know a lot of people who feel the same. If all those 'devoted' people were condensed onto one or two servers, would their combined subscription fees be enough to keep those one/two servers running without the expense of updates/expansions? I think so.

Hear, hear! :-)

I intend to keep playing (and paying) as long as there's a server base on which to do so. I still have a heap of goals to achieve, more than enough to keep me occupied for a very long time.

Your analysis strikes a chord with me; I do hope this is the way it can pan out - maybe one day we may even meet on a combined Leviathan/Odin/??? server :-)

Art.

[Atomic_Skull]

Blame Tanaka, he ignored FFXI while pissing away the development funds that should have gone to improving FFXI on his terrible game engine that ended up looking like something made in 2005 when it was in fact released in 2010.

They should have started planning for the eventual end of the PS2 platform and began migrating the tools to the PC/360 version back in 2007 or so but Tanaka was convinced that it wouldn't matter because we'd all leave FFXI en mass for FFXIV and then they could just pull the plug on the servers.

SE has always had terrible practices when it comes to development though. For example all of the final source code and original assets for FF7 were deleted from their development systems to make room for FF8 files and nobody at SE thought to back anything up. This is why the PC version of FF7 used PS1 textures and video files, the originals were gone. Also the PC version was based on a copy of the beta source code that someone found laying around on an old hard drive that hadn't been wiped.

[Stompa]

Hear, hear! :-)

I intend to keep playing (and paying) as long as there's a server base on which to do so. I still have a heap of goals to achieve, more than enough to keep me occupied for a very long time.

Your analysis strikes a chord with me; I do hope this is the way it can pan out - maybe one day we may even meet on a combined Leviathan/Odin/??? server :-)

Art.

Hi Art,

thanks for your reply. I totally agree with you about many of us still having lots of goals, and we still wish to play the current game for a long time, and we're just hoping that we continue to have that option.

Also I would love to go adventuring with you in the future, that would be great fun! Here's hoping we all have a happy future together in Vanadiel. ^^