Returning to Vand'diel

[Seiowan]

So, I was considering coming back to Vana'diel and wow there have been a lot of changes. I'm currently taking advantage of the free week to figure things out as best I can (don't yet have Seeker's of Adoulin). I left when Abyssea was the big thing, and since then there's been all kinds of changes.

Now, with that said I've begun a story which seems to start tying up all the other stories into a neat bundle. Everything seems to be drawing to a finale with this very last chapter. I want to play through this and beat it, but to do that I'm going to need some time to get all the puzzle pieces I'm missing (not least of all beat Adolin).

With that said, the X-Box and PS2 service is now closed and I'm concerned that the PC servers won't be far behind. Am I too late to get all this done? Has there been any official announcement regarding how much life the game has left?

Just a little worried I'll end paying for an expansion I'll never get to fully appreciate, and see the servers close before I get a satisfying conclusion.

[Stompa]

So, I was considering coming back to Vana'diel and wow there have been a lot of changes. I'm currently taking advantage of the free week to figure things out as best I can (don't yet have Seeker's of Adoulin). I left when Abyssea was the big thing, and since then there's been all kinds of changes.

Now, with that said I've begun a story which seems to start tying up all the other stories into a neat bundle. Everything seems to be drawing to a finale with this very last chapter. I want to play through this and beat it, but to do that I'm going to need some time to get all the puzzle pieces I'm missing (not least of all beat Adolin).

With that said, the X-Box and PS2 service is now closed and I'm concerned that the PC servers won't be far behind. Am I too late to get all this done? Has there been any official announcement regarding how much life the game has left?

Just a little worried I'll end paying for an expansion I'll never get to fully appreciate, and see the servers close before I get a satisfying conclusion.

Over the last few months, there have been a few statements regarding the future of FFXI on PC, they talk about "years into the future" and "basic streamlined service of bug-fixes / tweaks / some new content" and this "will continue for the PC for years."

Those quotes were paraphrased, but the general idea seems to be, as long as there is a basic amount of player subscriptions to FFXI, the game will continue to run online, with a very streamlined model.

The most recent comment from SE was a week ago, with the start of FFXI's 15th Year ;

As we enter our fifteenth year with a new development structure, we pledge to give our all on both the development and operations sides so that all can feel proud calling Vana'diel their second home.

I hope to continue to see your smiling faces for a long time to come.

Akihiko Matsui
Producer, FINAL FANTASY XI.

As I mentioned last week, this message gave me a lot of hope. I am still building my Empys, still doing long-term things in FFXI. I feel hopeful.

I'm totally enjoying the new shiny FFXI user-friendly game, and I hope that you will enjoy it too, Seiowan.

The Rhapsodies Of Vana'diel is a very wonderful story, it is just totally enjoyable and awesome, imho.

Also there's lots of the new features, such as "/lockstyleset" which allows you to wear visible gear ontop of your actually equipped gear (so you can look like you're wearing something else), I love these new features so very much.

[Seiowan]

Thanks for the concise and reassuring post, Stompa. Now I have to try and make head or tail of all this level 119 gear that's floating around.

[Ulth]

X-Box and PS2 service shutting down is more on Microsoft and Sony. Square doesn't have to worry about other companies when running the game for PCs, so FFXI isn't going away for a long long time. They are actually back up to monthly updates again. Only now they are smaller, which is fine.

[Pixela]

They are putting out monthly updates now, xi gets more updates than xiv.

They aren't making any more expansions but they are not going to stop updating it anytime soon, they would lose too much money.

Check the home page, you can see they are busy on the game:

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml