Updates after November.

[madmartin]

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/14305/detail.html

As announced in March, we will continue minor version updates through and beyond April 2016. Each month we will bring you battlefields, Record of Eminence additions, balance adjustments, and bug fixes. Vana'diel's story does not end here, and in the near future we are planning a version update for December. We will have further updates in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned for more.

That's quite encouraging. More than i expected to be fair.

[Tidis]

Like I said in another thread, major version updates were there to keep the content fresh, to convince players to continue paying the subscription. With major version updates people will start dropping off sure, once they get their fill of current content interest will wane and the playerbase will slowly decrease. Lest you forget there are still 16 active servers, logically this game can still be maintained until we've server merged all the way down to 1.

[Tidis]

We're not paying for less content, what content is vanishing with the lack of major version updates?

[Everlasting2009]

We're not paying for less content, what content is vanishing with the lack of major version updates?

Errr yes you are. Previously we paid our monthly fee knowing at some point we would get major updates, now we're down to bug fixes and balance adjustments maybe the odd unity/merit fight are you really going to aruge this isn't less overall content?

It's not really hard is it, less content overall give us a lower fee, i'm not asking for the game to be closed i'm asking to be treat with a tiny bit of respect as a customer, something any paying customer with an ounce of sense would also do.

[Tidis]

It's not less overall content, it's still more content month on month, just less of it. The only way we could lose content is if the actively took some of it away.

[Everlasting2009]

We are getting less monthly content for the same fee, dress it up however you like, we should have a fee reduction. Why are you so against a fee reduction anyway or do you like just been taken for a sucker by a greedy company ?

[Tidis]

I'm not being a sucker I'm paying for the content currently provided. The problem with there being no new content is people will complete the current content, get bored and move on whereas with the monthly updates old content got cycled out by new content to keep people interested.

The subscription fee has no bearing on the amount of new content they produce.

[Stompa]

In the old game, there were whole long years when nothing changed, no updates, no new stuff, no free stuff. And yet those years were so much fun.

I wore my BST artifact and light-staff, every single day, in 2004-2005. I literally never changed my weapon or armor for two years. And those were the two happiest years of my life. I don't remember those years being packed with Content Updates, but they were great fun!

We've got used to the recent fortnightly New Content that we have had since Seekers arrived. But that wasn't the FFXI that I fell in love with in 2004. I fell in love with a game that never really had anything new, for years at a time.

We were just playing in the old areas, in our scorpion harnesses and O-hats / turbans, for so many years. I was happy then, even though there wasn't a constant bombardment of New Stuff all the time.

Two main reasons I love FFXI, and neither of them are affected by updates. Number one, I love Vana'diel, the races, the cities, the wilderness areas, the job varieties, the Lore, the history, the NPCs etc. Number two, I love the FFXI game engine, the menu systems, the combat system, the equipment grid, the macro system etc. I love the complexity and perplexity of this incredibly detailed world.

If I somehow finished all the existing content, and finished afterglow weapons etc. I would just start a new character and play the game again from scratch. I am actually considering making a character and locking her on lvl75 and just play the old areas on hard-mode with like-minded friends and some trusts. There is an endless amount of content, if we just reset our challenge perspective and simply enjoy the core FFXI game itself.

And me paying £12/month to keep playing my favourite game in the world, this money is nothing. Less than nothing. FFXI monthly subs is like less than a quality pizza and large Cola. And for that tiny price, I get to spend time with my Tarutaru and my automaton and my dear FFXI friends, and have atmospheric battles all across a vast and detailed world. I just go fishing, do my weaving, chat to my friends, pwn mobs, build weapons. I am happy to just enjoy being in Vana'diel, to me it is a wonderful place to be, with or without updates.

[Dazusu]

No one is being "ripped off" here, value is subjective to the beholder. If you feel it's not worth your money - stop paying. Those that feel it's good value will continue to pay.

I'm not sure why this is even a discussion.

One thing I'm sure we can all agree on - is that there is no more substantial content coming our way and this is a very real case of "the beginning of the end."

The only thing I find sad is that MMOs that are just as old (EQ, EQ2) are still getting expansions and arguably have a similar sized player base to that of FFXI - while I know the whole "dev kit" argument is a fair one to a degree; it's ultimately still a cop out. If SE wanted to continue developing for this game, they would.

They don't - and have said explicitly, this is a cost-saving exercise. They explicitly stated they no longer wish to focus on bringing in new players; but reducing costs. Bean counters are behind this. It's simple, and sad.

A reduction in subscription fee is not going to happen, unless it leads to an increase in revenue. It won't. Simple economics.

[Everlasting2009]

By the way... I just reported you... for being a colossal jerk and smearing Anhalem's name.

She didn't mention his name. Way to assume.