Classic Servers

[Spellstar]

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


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.


-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.

1. They could release in phases just as LotRO and WoW have done.
2. Not necessarily splitting the player base but bringing old players back. As proven with WoW classic and LotRO.
3. Nostalgia isn't necessarily rose-tinted. Again as proven by WoW classic which has maintained large population servers of people that do not and have not played retail WoW in many years.
4. I always wonder why people voice such strong opinions to something other players would like. It wouldn't affect you so just don't play it if it came out.

[Lortheron]

Part of the point is that the resources needed are basically zero. Again, fans with their free time did it for nothing already, they can do it in one or two weeks. Worth the try, might bring many players to game if publicized the right way.

[Alhanelem]

Part of the point is that the resources needed are basically zero. Again, fans with their free time did it for nothing already, they can do it in one or two weeks. Worth the try, might bring many players to game if publicized the right way.

Except that the resources needed are not zero. Again, ti would have to be redeveloped from scratch, because they don't have old builds of the game. As they said, they could just remove the 80+ limit breaks on a special server but that's the only way they could do it easily.


The servers themselves cost money to run and maintain the same as any other server. The game still needs to be updated or people will grow bored and leave. That's why WoW didn't stop at vanilla classic, they're literally going through all the updates over again. Otherwise it would have become stagnant. So even if they DID do it, it couldn't stay that way forever- it would be unsustainable. It might seem simple to you, but the reality is, that it isn't. As I said before, those private servers were a huge undertaking. They didn't happen overnight, it took years. It would take SE a long time too. And a long time meands a lot of money in development costs- and for what? There is just no way with the size of FFXIV's community, even at its peak, that a specially developed "classic server" would be worth the cost.

And as they said, they have a policy against just tossing something out there and going "here, have fun." And doing so will not bring back the community aspect by which your own admission was the whole thing that made it fun.


We had fun back then because of the chats and the social interaction we had while engaging in an otherwise really boring grind. The community is what made the game, not the level cap.

If the resources were "zero" they might have done it already. But it's not.

MMOs change and evolve over time, it's part of what makes them MMOs. Anyone who can't accept that really shouldn't be playing them.

[Lortheron]

Except that the resources needed are not zero. Again, ti would have to be redeveloped from scratch. As they said, they could just remove the 80+ limit breaks on a special server but that's the only way they could do it easily.
The servers themselves cost money to run and maintain the same as any other server.

And as the y said, they have a policy against just tossing something out there and going "here, have fun." And doing so will not bring back the community aspect by which your own admission was the whole thing that made it fun.
We had fun back then because of the chats and the social interaction we had while engaging in an otherwise really boring grind. The community is what made the game, not the level cap.

Or they could limit truste use and encourage partying more. With hundreds of new players coming everyday, wouldn't it be nice if everyone grouped up in low and mid level together in a whole new server?
We live in an are where huge companies are actually hiring modders (and along with them comes all their assets). Even CDPR is doing it for CP2077.

[Trublade]

I haven't played in quite some time. I made a new character and came back hoping for the same or at least a similar experience.. What I got was me joining a party where everyone gets 1000-2000 xp per kill and I get 200-600... I go from level 15 to 20 and they go from 15 to 35 in under an hour.. wth?!

I don't want to be on a server where that kind of xp gain exists.
It is insane and it kills the whole feel of level progression and the bonds you make with people while doing it.

It completely negates the use of lower level equipment and absolutely invalidates any low level crafting.
IMO everything in the game is fine EXCEPT for the insane amount of XP gain at low to mid levels.
It's just ridiculous...

I am seriously heartbroken at what this game feels like right now because of it.
Please make a semi-classic "official" server and allow people to join it so they can experience the same awesome feels I had when I got this game on PS2 back in the day or nerf the XP for low and mid levels.
Please..
Thank you.

[Alhanelem]

I haven't played in quite some time. I made a new character and came back hoping for the same or at least a similar experience.. What I got was me joining a party where everyone gets 1000-2000 xp per kill and I get 200-600... I go from level 15 to 20 and they go from 15 to 35 in under an hour.. wth?!

I don't want to be on a server where that kind of xp gain exists.
It is insane and it kills the whole feel of level progression and the bonds you make with people while doing it.

It completely negates the use of lower level equipment and absolutely invalidates any low level crafting.
IMO everything in the game is fine EXCEPT for the insane amount of XP gain at low to mid levels.
It's just ridiculous...

I am seriously heartbroken at what this game feels like right now because of it.
Please make a semi-classic "official" server and allow people to join it so they can experience the same awesome feels I had when I got this game on PS2 back in the day or nerf the XP for low and mid levels.
Please..
Thank you.

The point of low level crafting is to get to high level crafting. Even 10 years ago, that's about 90% the truth.

I mean, if you really want to play a game where you level crazy slow, play MapleStory. Even though it's been sped up since it started, it still takes forever and ever, much longer than FFXI ever did, in the higher levels.

People lead busier lives today than they did back in the day. Nobody really wants to level that slow anymore.

[Pixela]

Part of the point is that the resources needed are basically zero. Again, fans with their free time did it for nothing already, they can do it in one or two weeks. Worth the try, might bring many players to game if publicized the right way.

The cost for Square to do this would be really high, just because someone is prepared to do something for nothing over many years it does not mean a company can have that same luxury. Not only do they have to pay people to do this, they need people to understand what they are doing.

The developers are already busy, they don't have the time to mess around with something a small number of people want.

[Alhanelem]

Or they could limit truste use and encourage partying more.

You can already do this voluntairly, there is no need for a special server for that.

If your response is "i cant find people to do that with," well, that should tell you how many people really care about this. No current player wants to do it, they would rather keep looking forward.

The people who DO care about this have already taken it into their own hands. If you want it that badly, then you'll have to go that route. There is no chance whatsoever of it happening via official channels.

[Lortheron]

You can already do this voluntairly, there is no need for a special server for that.

If your response is "i cant find people to do that with," well, that should tell you how many people really care about this. No current player wants to do it, they would rather keep looking forward.

The people who DO care about this have already taken it into their own hands. If you want it that badly, then you'll have to go that route. There is no chance whatsoever of it happening via official channels.

Wouldn't it be nice to bring people whom do care back? Including those whom don't want to play on private servers?

[Rpro]

Wouldn't it be nice to bring people whom do care back? Including those whom don't want to play on private servers?

It's never going to happen. It wouldn't be worth the time for SE to create a 75 era server just for the small amount of people that would play on it(of which I would be one). Eden does a good job with their server.