Classic Servers

[Lortheron]

So, seeing the huge increase in private classic servers (the two largest with lows of ~100 players online and peaks of ~1500+ players online each, and both with ~4000 registered players each): there is undoubtedly a market for this type of server, specially among current players.

I believe Square Enix should take de opportunity that the current servers need merging and while merging the 6~7 least populated servers into 2, creating one or two new classic server for players to start from scratch.

One server could be Chains of Promatia rules, the other could be Wings Of Goddess.

Maybe something not as spartan as a true classic, a little faster XP gain than originally, but definitely not as ridiculously fast as it is now (which, again, is just way, way, too fast, XP gains should be at least half the current speed on retail servers).

They could even have trustes, but limit one or two turstes per player maximum when soloing. And two or tree trustes per party. That way the game is still more accessible, without killing the whole journey that is the leveling game (bast part of the game) and partying with other players at each stage. They could even find a way to somehow increase the level cap on such classic servers and implement lvl99 content without breaking everything else bellow it and messing with the core leveling experience. That would be basically be a selection of only the best parts of the game, a pick and choose.

I do believe more than half the current player base in the retail servers would be more than willing to create a new character on any new official server Square Enix releases, regardless of the rules (classic or not), just for the opportunity of starting anew on a new server and replicating the experience of being a new player along with everyone else at the same time all over again.

So, that's my humble opinion and what I generally would more than love to see somehow in the game's 20th anniversary.

As it is now, I believe even FFXIV takes more time to max out to the level cap, which is sad. There are even many speedruns of FFXI now a days and it takes less time to finish the game main campaign and cap the level of a job with trustes than many solo Final Fantasies... a few hours only.

Again, to me the best part of the FFXI experience is the journey, leveling up in parties, and group play along the way. Having max level in two or three jobs as a long term objective to attain. When that is gone, game loses much of it's magic, specially when it's all so easy, there isn't even the pride of accomplishment. A more middle grounded experience would be perfect, I truly believe, and better for the whole game experience of old and new players alike (something not as spartan as the original, but definitely not as lonely solo and fast as current retail server status).

Now, you may disagree, fine, but one simply can't deny there is a large public for said type of experience (from famous youtubers and twitch streamers). Many players whom don't even participate in forums or reddit (most players, actually) would get behind such an idea. On private servers alone one could amount ~ two thousand players that would love to play in an official classic server.

So many new and returning new players lately, by the hundreds, many would love to relieve that original experience somehow (eased a little bit, yes, but not completely dumbed down and streamlined as it currently is on retail servers). Also, most players I know usually stop playing any MMO soon after reaching max level and finishing most of it's "story" content, that is the true for this type of game and probably true for most new players incoming.

Thank you for your time and attention (even you disagree) : )

[Yvone]

No

ten characters.

[Alhanelem]

Not going to happen, it has already been shot down by SE, feel free to read the several other threads on the topic.

It's also really unnecessary because you don't need a classic server to cap yourself at lv75. Start a new character, and don't complete the level 80 limit break. Enjoy your lv75 prison. Use level sync or find like minded people to do content at lv75 with.

[Lortheron]

Not going to happen, it has already been shot down by SE, feel free to read the several other threads on the topic.

It's also really unnecessary because you don't need a classic server to cap yourself at lv75. Start a new character, and don't complete the level 80 limit break. Enjoy your lv75 prison. Use level sync or find like minded people to do content at lv75 with.

The level cap is really not the point of such an experience. But grouping and leveling together with other people and all else I said in the original post. None of these core elements of joy happen anymore it seems, and that kills much of the game's essence. I even said they could eventually raise the level cap, but this time without simply killing everything bellow it. It's sad when all there is in an MMORPG is just the endgame and nothing else, and everything is turned into a rush to reach maxlevel to finally start to play the game... it's just sad.

I don't want to do just level 75 content with others, I want to do level 20, 30, 40, 50 content in groups, enjoy each level slowly. Not JUST max level content. That's the point. Having to group up in lower~mid levels, enjoying the journey (which is 90% of the game actually) and not just the destination.

[Alhanelem]

here's a quote from an interview in whch SE officially said "no" to a classic server with their reasons:

Oh, btw, to really and truly put this to bed once and for all, Gamer Escape asked about this in an email interview of sorts (was among the things supposed to happen at pax): https://gamerescape.com/2020/04/10/1...y-xi-dev-team/


Gamer Escape: With the launch of World of Warcraft Classic, there has been talk of having classic servers for other games. We’re curious about your thoughts on having a classic server for FINAL FANTASY XI where maybe the level cap is at 75?
Akihiko Matsui: Truth be told, we have no snapshot data of the level 75 era, which would make it very difficult to replicate things as they were back then on this type of server.
Yoji Fujito: As things stand today, we are unable to meet these requests, simply from a version management perspective. If the goal was simply to limit level growth to level 75, that is something that could be done in theory, but we would be unable to provide any changes on top of merely adjusting the level cap and do not have the ability to provide any support for it with our current bandwidth.
Furthermore, it goes against our company philosophy to just toss something out there and say “Here, have fun!” without giving it the due care that our fans would rightfully expect, so a level 75 server it isn’t in the cards at present.

Adding in a few of my own:

- There is little agreement on exactly what moment within level 75 cap history is the most "classic" moment. When Dynamis came out? CoP? TOAU? Right before the cap began to increase beyond 75? there are a lot of different opinions here, and no option will please everyone who is interested.

- Remember that for JP players, who started playing well before anyone on the NA side, the level cap was initially 50. Lv75 is merely memorable because the cap stayed there for much longer than any other level cap until 99. To be really classic, maybe it should be level 50.
-WoW is often cited as the reason a game should do this, and the reality is, it works okay for wow and a few other games becuase they have massive communities. FFXI's community is not big enough for splitting up the current playerbase into people who want to play the current game with its regular updates and a server that's frozen in time in the 75 era. It would degrade the experience for both groups.
- Nostalgia is a pair of rose tinted glasses. Recreating a lv75 server does not recreate the experiences we had when we did that stuff for the first time. The community is what made the game, not the level cap, in my opinion. FFXI was a heavy grind in that age, moreso than it is now, and the reason we enjoyed the game as much as we did is in large part of the community. Making a lv75 sever does not restore that community nor does it restore that doing-stuff-for-the-first-time experience.

[Lortheron]

here's a quote from an interview in whch SE officially said "no" to a classic server with their reasons:

The level cap itself is the least of it really. And if fans made private servers which are stable and run everything well, so can they, having backups or not (just an excuse).

[Alhanelem]

The level cap itself is the least of it really. And if fans made private servers which are stable and run everything well, so can they, having backups or not (just an excuse).

IO'm well aware of this, and it's literally a reason NOT to do it.

Making the cap 75 again, as I just wrote before you made your posts above, does not restore the community to the way it was before.

You are better off using (and not using) in-game mechanics to regain that experience. Make a new ch aracter. Do not learn Trusts and do not complete the lv75 limit break. Don't do Rhapsodies. There you go, instant mega-grind restored. Find five other people who want to spend hours swapping stories while they grind and you don't need a special server.

WoW didn't have mechancis like this. You didn't need to clear quests to level up higher, you can't sync levels in the open world, etc. FFXI on the other hand, gives you the tools to play the way you want to play.

Also, those private servers are not perfect replicas, not everything works smoothly, ignoring the fact that they're technically illegal with FFXI still operating. And you're relying on some third party to know exactly how you want your experience to be, and you're also relying on their good will not to screw you over or randokmly delete your characters etc.

All that aside, it was years and years of work for the people involved to get the private servers to the state they're in now. It's not simply an "excuse." Because they don't have the old data, they would have to devote a team of people to recreate everything as it was before, which would take them years too, as they aren't superhumans.

Ultimately, you may disagree with their reasons, or call them "excuses," but they are judge jury and executioner. If they say they're not going to do it, they're not going to do it. They aren't going to say that just for fun.

Companies have to do cost-benefit analyses whenever ideas like this are floated. Obviously, they did one, and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be worth it.

Just because WoW made some money off it doesn't mean it will work for every game.

[Lortheron]

IO'm well aware of this, and it's literally a reason NOT to do it.

Making the cap 75 again, as I just wrote before you made your posts above, does not restore the community to the way it was before.

You are better off using (and not using) in-game mechanics to regain that experience. Make a new ch aracter. Do not learn Trusts and do not complete the lv75 limit break. Don't do Rhapsodies. There you go, instant mega-grind restored. Find five other people who want to spend hours swapping stories while they grind and you don't need a special server.

WoW didn't have mechancis like this. You didn't need to clear quests to level up higher, you can't sync levels in the open world, etc. FFXI on the other hand, gives you the tools to play the way you want to play.

See, all people that are like minded are playing in private servers or given up, so it's almost impossible to find anyone willing to group up at any level other than 99 in the retail servers.

To my eyes, one could easily restore the original community albeit in a much smaller size (merging many of the current servers, and creating one or two new ones is one way to do it, deleting bot and in game currency sellers is an important part of it too).

[Zehira]

The level cap itself is the least of it really. And if fans made private servers which are stable and run everything well, so can they, having backups or not (just an excuse).

There's a problem. We don't know how to pull players out of private servers. We, however, can invite XIV players to try XI if old school players learn how to stop hating.