F8 Functionality Change

[Alhanelem]

FFXI is unique, or nearly unique (as I'm not omniscient) in several of its mechanics.

FFXI borrows tons from earlier MMOs, just as FFXIV borrows from the MMOs that came before it. While it definitely stands out from the mainstream games out there with its style, it's still not technically more original.

If I wanted to play a crappy game that is an abomination, made in mockery of a game that I love, with no Job System, no Gear Changing, and is, like almost every modern MMO, a WoW clone, I'd go play FFXIV.

"crappy" is entirely subjective as there are plenty of people out there who enjoy it. It also doesn't in any way mock FFXI- Hell, they even did a crossover event with both games. That's one of the most absurd things I've ever heard. The game has a job system and has had one since before ARR. It doesn't have in-combat gear changing, no, but I don't consider that a feature to be touted. As much as I do love FFXI, the inventory nightmare gear swapping creates is one of my major sticking points.

It's all subjective. Some people like one game, some people will like another (I like both), some won't even like either. That's fine- I'm just sick of people hating for the sake of hating. And feel free to tell me why I'm wrong, but it seems to me like that's what you're doing, especially by dismissing it (and all other MMOs today) as a wow clone. Well, the fact is, WoW was a successful MMO, and it wouldn't have been successful if it was complete crap. I've played it, and while I didn't like everything it did, I think people unfairly hate on it just because it's the biggest (Just like people hate on McDonalds, and other big companies just because they're the biggest)

I have spent an awful lot of time accumulating gear for an awful lot of jobs to wring every last ounce of sub percentage improvement out of them. If 95% of that equipment became, overnight, completely worthless because I could no longer swap to it mid-combat, yes, I would quit.

Obviously to suddenly change the system it would be poop and a dick move. But when the game is designed from the beginning with a particular system in mind, it works much better. Why do I love FFXI? I can tell you it's NOT because i need to collect 300 pieces of gear per job swapped in and out every few seconds to be effective. It's because of the storylines, the slower combat pace that makes kills more satisfying, the wide range of content (though this is largely because of how long the game has been around), the large number of jobs and the variety it offers. The gear swapping and huge amount of items i need to both collect and keep is easily my least favorite part of the game.

So having said all that, we all play different games for different reasons.

And if they're going to completely destroy what I love in an effort to drive me to a substandard, horrible game that I will not play

That's not what they're doing. If they wanted to do that, they'd load the game full of subliminal messages "hey, go play FFXIV" and have NPCs telling you that, etc. etc. The game is staying faithful to itself. They are not deliberately trying to make you play another game, they know (or should know) that pushing and shoving people will only alienate them (like you've said).

The reason FFXI is in its current state is a technical one, and not a "go quit this game and play FFXIV" one. No matter how much you want to claim that, it won't conjure up new PS2 dev kits or solve the other issues that led to the decisions that were made.

Refusing to ever buy another product that has SE's logo on it, even if it wasn't even devleoped at one of their in house studios, is shortsighted and asinine. You don't know that they will continue to only make decisions you don't like, and you don't know that they won't ever make another good game. I don't like the playstation consoles for various reasons, but that doesn't mean I'm going to refuse to buy any product with the Sony logo on it ever again purely because it says Sony on it.

(And yes, if you were wondering, I'm subscribed and playing FFXI even as I write this post.)