Development Team Downsizing and Justification Makes no Sense

[Alhanelem]

What Draylo said. I just said players felt the impact of the focus shift; not that they necessarily knew what was causing the lack of content.

This interview is talking about when FFXIV 1.0 was in development. At this time there wasn't any sort of lack of content in our updates- At least I certainly don't remember getting that impression. I'd agree with you if this was near or post-audolin times, but this was much earlier than that.

I blame SE and Tanaka for pulling resources from FFXI at a time when they could have turned the metaphorical ship around.

I respect your perspective on this, but you have to remember this was a business decision. They felt like they would be more financially successful with a new game that can attract a lot of new players vs trying to keep a ship from sinking. And at this time there wasn't really an accepted rule as to whether sequelling an MMO was a good idea or not- Few games other than Ultima and Everquest had been around remotely long enough to demonstrate how long an MMO can truly last.

It wasn't til later that they realized "Wow, there's still quite a few people playing this and it's worth our time to keep things going a while longer" because players of FFXI and FFXIV were substantially different and there wasn't a ton of overlap.

8 months+ between updates during WOTG....

I don't recall us ever going 8 months without an update of any sort, at least during the time period relevant to this discussion? Even today we *technically* still get updates on a monthly basis. Even the updates that actually add things hadn't been 8 months apart.

[Catmato]

I don't recall us ever going 8 months without an update of any sort, at least during the time period relevant to this discussion? Even today we *technically* still get updates on a monthly basis. Even the updates that actually add things hadn't been 8 months apart.

Maybe there was never 8 months between actual version updates, but if you look here, you can see that there are many instances of going three months or longer between version updates. Some of these updates added little more than a few quests and some job adjustments; nothing substantial.

I respect your perspective on this, but you have to remember this was a business decision

I understand that it was a business decision. I can't say whether it was the right one or not, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

[Immortal]

Look it up, it happened and I lived thru it lol. I remember tons of people then were contemplating quitting because we literally were bored to death doing the same content rotation for years... The latest thing they added was those dumb NM fights you started w/a pixie and gotten the worst side grade augments ever seen.

[Alhanelem]

I think the key here, especially in the context of the time, is there was no pre-existing standard for how to handle the kind of situation they were in. MMORPGs were the earliest "live service" games. Even from before they were released, they had an expected lifespan that was unknown to the players. But as time went on, they realized that people were willing to play these games a lot longer than they thought. I highly doubt we'll see a Final Fantasy ## Online until FFXIV is basically dead.

[Pixela]

They will never make another mmorpg if they have any sense, there has never been a group of players more attached as ff14 players and if they ever do anything to that like what they did with 11 they will lose their minds.

[Alhanelem]

They will never make another mmorpg if they have any sense, there has never been a group of players more attached as ff14 players and if they ever do anything to that like what they did with 11 they will lose their minds.

I mean both games will eventually and truly die. It's entirely possible that the realm will be re-reborn but beyond that, FFXIV will have to die before SE makes another MMORPG in the final fantasy universe. They could certainly make one with a different IP though.

[Immortal]

Wait says who? They aren't as smart as you give them credit for. They will probably make another MMO to surpass XIV just like they did with XI, I will get some twisted satisfaction from watching it happen too, sorry to say. Those XIV players hated on XI for the longest time until it was no longer relevant, I never forget!

[Alhanelem]

Wait says who? They aren't as smart as you give them credit for. They will probably make another MMO to surpass XIV just like they did with XI, I will get some twisted satisfaction from watching it happen too, sorry to say. Those XIV players hated on XI for the longest time until it was no longer relevant, I never forget!

Sorry but I'm gonna go with "they're not as stupid as you don't give them credit for"

I probably could have written something more thoughtful but why bother lol

[Immortal]

Sorry but I'm gonna go with "they're not as stupid as you don't give them credit for"

I probably could have written something more thoughtful but why bother lol

Time will tell, but surely it will be some ARPG that shits all over anything FF was about in the past and all the tiktoking crowd will love it or something

[Sp1cyryan]

Wait says who? They aren't as smart as you give them credit for. They will probably make another MMO to surpass XIV just like they did with XI, I will get some twisted satisfaction from watching it happen too, sorry to say. Those XIV players hated on XI for the longest time until it was no longer relevant, I never forget!

Stop holding such an incredibly petty grudge over vague sentiment from mostly former XI players. It's beyond foolish.