Forcing us to the entire story quest to unlock the new classes is just bad business

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Originally Posted by MrSmiley

no, but if you hate it so much then I guess you should. If they are going to enjoy the story that's great, if not, its a small bump in the road. My point is your blowing the time required way out of proportion just like your likening it to the confederate flag now. This game is as much rpg as mmo, deal with it. Anyways, I'm not even gonna bother with thread, your mind is set and you have zero interest in accepting anything other than agreement.

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Ditto, except I come with valid points and everyone else just screams lore and story, except allowing people to play the new jobs doesnt effect the lore or story...it actually allows motivated new and returning players to actually want to progress in the story....but wait that can't be right...sorry back to the minds of the masses! Gate the game!

Not everyone Vicus I did Site Lore as one of my objections to un gating the three jobs but it was not the only one. The others are probably more valid from a business sense. Page three of this thread if you lost it.

if these new jobs (which start at level 30) became available to new players and those who haven't played in a long time then I wouldn't play with them in most 30-50 content do to them most likely not knowing how to play. The 3 new jobs and the new 50-60 stuff is harder than 2.0 so you will need the experience you gathered from getting to 50 and finishing 2.0 in order to play them efficiently.

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Originally Posted by FudoMyoo

It's only the main story quests (the ones with fiery icon) on their head, NOT beating ALL contents in 2.0

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That is correct. But forcing someone to do dungeons and hard more trials just to experience the new expansion is asking to much. I personally love raiding and hardmodes but I know others that just enjoy doing every single quest solo while chatting with friends or tradeskilling...but the hundreds of new quest in HW is locked out to these people and MAY forever be that way because they have anxiety issues and dont like the stress of hardmodes. Is this game not for them just because of that? Are they not allowed to enjoy it because of this?

Which brings me back to my original point...its a bad business model that hurts the game more then helps it. Heres an example that is pure and simple. FFXI is still active, WOW is still active. Try finding a group in FFXI right now if you just bought the game right off the shelf (or download rather) without having to grind stuff and joining a FC and having people help you get caught up. Now do the samething with WoW. Someone who just jumps into WoW has multiple places to start, que systems to jump into groups with other players (lots and lots of players) all while still seeing the storyline.

Now I dont EVER want this game to be WOW but their business model has kept them thriving over the years...and Squares business model on the other hand.....

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Originally Posted by Raidenz

if these new jobs (which start at level 30) became available to new players and those who haven't played in a long time then I wouldn't play with them in most 30-50 content do to them most likely not knowing how to play. The 3 new jobs and the new 50-60 stuff is harder than 2.0 so you will need the experience you gathered from getting to 50 and finishing 2.0 in order to play them efficiently.

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Thats why I think there has to be a better way. They did it fine with Ninja...then why all of the sudden the new drastic change? There was a big influx of players that came back to try out ninja and you had to level rogue and pug to try it. Why not something like Muar and rogue to unlock DK or Ranger 30 and 15 weaponsmith for Mach? There was a ton of ways to make a better choice then just telling everyone who was interested in spending 50 bucks on their game "no touchy". Bad Business model.

Xi is failing period no one anywhere is going to tell you otherwise they struggle to keep the lights on the fact they announced a mobile version and that the next expansion will be JP only should give you some kind of hint that its going down the tubes. WoW is losing subscribers at a record pace now 7 mil last I heard and falling.

and you still haven't addressed my other two points giving players a reward a. mighty big one I might add. in the form of the new jobs keeps them playing for longer which makes SE more money than if they just handed the jobs out.

Please do us and yourself a favor: quit this game and play the type of game you like. Keep wasting time arguing with fellow player won't change the game the way you like. Maybe you will have better chance calling the director of this game. Goodluck

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Originally Posted by Avin00

So you asked for a reason to gate them behind the story content.
1. Lore: all three are closely tied to Ishgard from your posts its's clear you don't care as much about it as others do but SE does care and they will not budge on this.
2. Skill: players who are taking up these new jobs are already tried and tested through the main story quests and as a side benefit are providing that experience to brand new players in the older dungeons
3. Reward: For the players that have completed the 2.0 story this is part of their reward for doing so and keeps them playing probably the most important reason of the lot.

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Avin I appreciate you listing these out and atleast stating some reasons for the choices and I do see and understand where you are coming from but here is my take.

1. Lore - They own the rights to the lore and could of easily found a way to keep lore intact and made aspects of the new expansion ungated. An emissary could of been dispatched out of the gates and left hubs in the main cities when they finally opened, heck on flying mounts if they wanted. Just could of done a ton with this.
2.Counter point, this "skilled" players I've played with normally just bark and scream orders to new people, never take the time to explain mechanics, and just push thru the content because they want to level their character fast as possible. Allowing someone to actually experience the NEW content (new to them) as the sub classes like every other player had to do would be better for them in the long run. But most of them will have suppar grouping experience with these skilled players...so now telling them, "hey if you want to go make a new class and go thru all those dungeons again" after they had a subpar experience..they probably wont or they will and just rush thru it as fast as possible also"
3. I can understand some rewards but gating an entire expansion for the veteran players is just to much. Maybe lock 1 of the classes or allow the veterans to be the ONLY players that were allow to make the new characters during the early access...that is a fair reward but gating the whole thing...come on?

Just where better ways to do this.

1. New jobs are gated behind the expansion because they're much more difficult than current jobs. DRK has to watch mana and doesn't have the HP of WAR or the defense of PLD. AST has less heals and emergency mechanics than SCH and WHM but can massively buff the entire party. MCH relies on knowing when to go for procs with Reload and when to not, when to use Wildfire and Gauss Barrel to max DPS and not. Most other classes are about memorizing the priorities of your abilities (Damage buff > Most powerful DoT > 2nd most powerful DoT > Damage Combo, weave oGCD skills between). Honestly the base classes are insanely easy 1-50. The new classes are difficult to do well with even for people playing since 1.0. I don't want people who barely started playing the game starting out at level 30 and complaining about how much the game sucks for skipping a tutorial/giving them a shit class they can't play.

As far as having to do the MSQ from 2.x to get to the new classes....I agree they need to trim out a lot of the stupid fetch quests (LIKE ALMOST ALL OF THE TITAN QUESTS) because they don't add anything to the story and are just timewasters. Put that XP onto the MSQ and maybe a couple sidequests that flesh out the area and boom -- story is quick to get through while fleshing out the areas, you learn to play your class from dungeons and primals before 50, and you don't have literally 200 quests to do before you can do the expansion.

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Originally Posted by Parapluies

Please do us and yourself a favor: quit this game and play the type of game you like. Keep wasting time arguing with fellow player won't change the game the way you like. Maybe you will have better chance calling the director of this game. Goodluck

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I like the game...a lot. The story/raiding/dungeons are amazing. But I dislike one aspect of the game that I forsee will actually hurt its playerbase in the long run and I'm not allowed to express myself? Do me a favor and stop reading if it's upsetting you that much. I won't take my ball and go home, little more driven then that.

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Originally Posted by Madjames

I told them I spent 20+ HOURS doing the MSQ just to get into the new expansion and get the jobs. They rolled their eyes and will not purchase this expansion on principal.

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This is a story driven game, I hope they realize this. In fact the whole game is centered around the lore of some sort. Want Challenge log? Gotta do the quest for it, Want weird dances? Gotta do a quest for it. Want to get to ishgard? Gotta ply the whole story of ARR up to 2.55 to access it.

That is just how this game operates. If you take the centerpiece away, the game will crumble. 4.0 5.0 6.0 etc the formula on how to access things will not change. ( Unless they overhaul the whole game.)

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Originally Posted by Vicus

But forcing someone to do dungeons and hard more trials just to experience the new expansion is asking to much.

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I think it's not too much to ask for someone who wants to proceed to the expansion dungeons and hard mode trials, at least. As I said before, they're progressive. You will pull your team down if you haven't the necessary experience.

Now if it's about the new jobs... I suspect the main reason is just technical: they want you to buy the expansion to unlock them, and the "gate" is entrance to the new area via the story quests. If they allowed you into the new area to do some parts of the content but not all of it, they'd need more gates/locks. Maybe at some point in the future they will reduce the amount of gates/locks (as they said they won't always require you to complete all the past content for all future expansions), but for now I think they figure it's not too much to ask. Obviously you disagree, and I'm sure they'll look at their metrics to see how it goes.

Actually those titan quests story wise were done for the purpose of testing the pc. Se also understood how frustrating those quests where that during said quests they lampshaded it.

All 3 of the new classes you would absolutely fail with before getting a solid grasp on the game.

Even I find machinist (the DPS) difficult.

So I'm sorry to hear your interactions with veteran players hasn't been the greatest. but I hope (I have to I'm an eternal optimist) that they are in the minority and that most players when they see that green leaf or hear a player is new are willing to help out and provide encouragement to keep the newer players going.

As for owning the lore I like that the new jobs are tied to Ishgard it makes sense and feels right they could of allowed it outside but honestly its the weakest of my three points and only put it in there because its the most common one. As for the reward point the Ishgard areas themselves are too closely tied to the lore to be a reward in of themselves and any areas attached to them would also fall under the same heading so the only choice is to use the classes as a carrot for players to want to do the old content and keep it relevant.

I will concede that the endless fetch quests of the MSQ can be a bit tedious and the xp rewards from them should rolled into a more streamlined experience.

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Originally Posted by Rannie

Actually those titan quests story wise were done for the purpose of testing the pc. Se also understood how frustrating those quests where that during said quests they lampshaded it.

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That doesn't change the fact that they didn't add anything to the story or that they were massive wastes of time, especially since it was, what, 5 fetch quests in a row? I think one of them was just to bring fruit to Gegeruju so I just had to TP somewhere in Ul'dah and buy him fruit and run back.

They upped the experience you get from the main story.. You know.. The quests you'll be doing -anyway- so they'll make up the majority of your exp.

Go play other game OP....
This what will happen when the pure mmo junkies come to ff14, what they expect is just an mmo.
I myself also admit that I am also a mmo junkies, but I play this game is because of Final Fantasy.
Mmo is just a bonus for me, having a friends doing content and other interaction.

Did you see what happen to WoW? After Word Of Draenor coming out, all new comer buy the game with the boost level. They boost to level 90 with knowing nothing about the class and lore what worse is they go to raid with less experience about their role and class, after 2-4 month they quit because they don't know what the hell is happening and keep getting yell at raid and dungeon because they're new and tired with apexis grinding.

The way SE handling this game I think is much better, they force new player tot do Main Story Quest because they want the player to know about the lore and they put all the tutorial in it, while you leveling you can learn about the class, job and their role in dungeon, SE designed it nicely.

I have to agree that SE need to remove bit filler and they reward the gear while in progress and make sure that after player done 2.5 content they already hit lvl 50 and can go straight to Heavensward.

And btw new job is already advance class that already lvl30, its not suitable for new comer to play that job just like that, even veteran player still trying to figure it out how to handle that job.

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Originally Posted by Mimiru_S

They upped the experience you get from the main story.. You know.. The quests you'll be doing -anyway- so they'll make up the majority of your exp.

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The story quest currently gives me 4800 exp on every fetch quest I am doing. Fates give me 20-50k and take less time. Am I missing something? Did they stop the exp bonus somewhere and I am past it?

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Originally Posted by nuyu11

Go play other game OP....
This what will happen when the pure mmo junkies come to ff14, what they expect is just an mmo.
I myself also admit that I am also a mmo junkies, but I play this game is because of Final Fantasy.
Mmo is just a bonus for me, having a friends doing content and other interaction.

Did you see what happen to WoW? After Word Of Draenor coming out, all new comer buy the game with the boost level. They boost to level 90 with knowing nothing about the class and lore what worse is they go to raid with less experience about their role and class, after 2-4 month they quit because they don't know what the hell is happening and keep getting yell at raid and dungeon because they're new and tired with apexis grinding.

The way SE handling this game I think is much better, they force new player tot do Main Story Quest because they want the player to know about the lore and they put all the tutorial in it, while you leveling you can learn about the class, job and their role in dungeon, SE designed it nicely.

I have to agree that SE need to remove bit filler and they reward the gear while in progress and make sure that after player done 2.5 content they already hit lvl 50 and can go straight to Heavensward.

And btw new job is already advance class that already lvl30, its not suitable for new comer to play that job just like that, even veteran player still trying to figure it out how to handle that job.

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Is that everyones answer? Go play another game? Can't have a constructive conversation? I've played final fantasy since the days of the original NES. I spent an entire weekend taking turns with a friend with 2 hours of sleep while playing Final Fantasy III (6 in japan) when it was released on the SNES. I shut out everyone for like 2 weeks when FF7 released on the PS1. Why am I assumed I am clueless on what it means to be a true fan of FF? Final Fantasy is what actually made me love RPG's and expand to MMO's starting with Ultima Online. It was like playing FF in my own reality.

I state again this game NEVER needs to become wow.....the majority of things I am discussing are BROAD concepts that are TRIED and true to successful MMO's. All I am saying is there are better ways to maintain the hardcore story driven side of this game and still make it seem easy to pick up for new players without make it feel like you are not allowing them to experience THE actual game.

As far as the new classes being advance? To any experience MMO player they arent really that advance, they are just more advance then the really easy classes that launched with this game. These classes you just cant setup easy macros for but that doesnt make them "advance". Some people wanting to come back probably want to just because of the challenge of the new classes because some people left the game because it was TO easy. But even experienced players looking for a challenge dont want to grind out 100 fetch quest just to finally test these new classes.

I am not the only one that feels this way but go ahead and everyone tell me to leave the game. Thats a great business model also. Make it new players are gated and existing players are told to leave because they don't mindlessly pat Square Enix on the back for every decision they make. O and for everyone of you telling me to leave....it's the same people that jump into the old dungeons that just treat people like crap and just push thru the dungeon as fast as possible. I see so many DPS that literally charge ahead and pull everything because their new DK isn't moving at there pace. Or as soon as they die they leave because they assume that the healer is horrible. (not because they ran into two groups of mobs while someone was trying to learn these new advance classes).

I love when people who cling to lore and story want everyone else to leave if they detect even a hint of "I'm more interested in other things" coming from someone. They forget people are here for other reasons too. Besides, there are ways to allow you into some aspects of HW in a lore friendly way without forcing you to complete the main story.

I really don't think everything in HW should be gated behind main story completion. Particularly the new jobs and crafting/gathering content. But that's how SE chose to do it this time around. Best to go with it and, as you are now, suggest that they not do it in the future.

Vicus my advice is to report people who are unwilling to co operate yell out orders or are just general ass hats. SE does ban players for bad play all the time. A friend of mine who has a particularly colourful mouth sometimes was banned for some choice words he used in a CT recently so its not fruitless. He did accept his ban with grace and has since been a model player. I don't want you to leave but I do believe the gating is a good thing for now. That may change in a few months or maybe less.

I have few games that I can recommend for you OP...

About the speed run is another problems... that's player attitude...

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Originally Posted by nuyu11

I have few games that I can recommend for you OP...

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You are adding nothing to this thread but flames to the fire. Please stop trolling; you're not making this enjoyable for anyone and are completely missing any points.

Both sides of this argument are one-sided.

What entitles you to the expansion without doing the story? Because you spent money on it? The product was presented with all details needed with a simple google search, and stated many times. Not hidden what so ever, if people don't like that they would move on it's that simple. (This isn't a insult, just a question.)

Then you have the other argument, if it wasn't gated you think people would flood into the game and try the new classes and it'll be a happy story.

Either side of the argument is voided by the simple logic of this; Yoshida wanted it, so it's in the game.

You get exp and some catch up gear. On my note on this argument, i had two friends not wanna come back because of it and three that trucked through the story and finished off their level 50s who didn't like the game before. I helped them with every fight, and encouraged it. Now they are experiencing Ishgard, and what Heavensward has to offer and are loving it. Those other two miss out? Sure they did, but because of the gated content? or was it their disgust for gated content?

Who's to blame? The gated content? Or the opinions? It's both.

I see it as Yoshida had a vision, he is following it and for saying it doesn't work he has stated multiple times he doesn't want his game to be the next "big thing" but a unique thing that people will enjoy it for what it is.

Personally, the new classes are pretty much the only thing in the expansion I have any interest in. The fact that all the expansion content is locked behind a weeks worth of story quests - half of which are mmo busy work (seriously? I'm making soup now for my story quest? what purpose does this serve if not mindless filler?) is the reason I didn't bother buying it.

There's literally no reason for someone without a pre-existing level 50 to own heavensward. Even the new race, if you like it (I personally think it looks lazy and uninspired. The women look like reskinned mithra and men look like slightly edited human/elvaan with scales glued to them), isn't an incentive since you can just race change.

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Originally Posted by SuzakuCMX

You are adding nothing to this thread but flames to the fire. Please stop trolling; you're not making this enjoyable for anyone and are completely missing any points.

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Hmmm... I'm just trying to be nice dude...
Because all the anger I see from her post, I just think better she find another stuff that fit her style.
Feel free to report me if you think I'm behave badly or break any rules here.

While I understand the rationale behind gating Ishgard and the new classes with the MSQ, it sort of surprises me that the developers didn't include something that wasn't gated.

For instance, a smallish new zone with no MSQ gate. Some part of Thanalan or Gridania that was recently rediscovered. Or that one of the cities decided to try to tame in order to have somewhere to send those darned refugees. Nothing huge like the new Ishgard areas. Maybe include a smallish dungeon.

Some playable content available more easily than that behind the MSQ gate. That could have been done in a way that maintained the story integrity and offered something to new players.

Personally, even if it does break the story, I wouldn't argue with the pre-req being at least level 50 (without story) but having access to Ishgard in some way, shape or form eventually so people can play the new job. Now how it would be done I do not know but I can understand the frustration. After all the new classes are probably what enticed a lot of people, not the new area or flying mounts. Maybe in a few months they will find a way to allow it (just for jobs, no side quests) least I wouldn't argue about it myself.

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Originally Posted by Vicus

Thats why I think there has to be a better way. They did it fine with Ninja...then why all of the sudden the new drastic change? There was a big influx of players that came back to try out ninja and you had to level rogue and pug to try it. Why not something like Muar and rogue to unlock DK or Ranger 30 and 15 weaponsmith for Mach? There was a ton of ways to make a better choice then just telling everyone who was interested in spending 50 bucks on their game "no touchy". Bad Business model.

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IDK why it is so hard for some people to grasp the importance of the flow of the story line....

Wonder if you either haven't gotten to the point in the story, or you skimmed through it and missed it...but the lore for NIN and ROG were introduced into main story well before the jobs were actually added. You've been working with a Rogue since the very early stages of the game (nearly from the start if you were from Ul'dah). The foundation for NIN was introduced later in the story track---but they were both established in the story well before those jobs were added. That is why they were much more accessible.

These jobs however are being introduced in the scope of the Ishgardian realm...a realm that has been repeatedly mentioned as being isolated and off limits for the entirety of the game until this brand new chapter started. It isn't until you get run out of town and have basically nowhere left to turn and the alliance you built with House Fortemps basically gets you into Ishgard. THEN you finally get exposed to their new jobs once you get there.

For a comparison, you can look again at XI. NIN was introduced to you early on in the game. Long before the job was made available to you, there were quests and missions in Bastok that dropped details on NIN left and right. It was a simple thing for you to get a quest and go unlock it--the back story was woven into your experience very early on. But jobs like Dancer and Runefencer were not introduced to you until you went to the realms where you unlocked those jobs. Their lore was not in the core of the main story---they were bound entirely to the story arcs of their expansions, and you had to meet the criteria bound to those expansions to unlock them. You didn't unlock them in your starter nation. You had to do the quests to gain access to the area (which also required you had advanced to some degree in the original content in order to do so), and then do a series of quests that started in those new areas to gain access.

The same basic principle applies here. The lore is introduced in Ishgard, not the starting nations. The jobs are unlocked in Ishgard, not the starting nations. You can't go to Ishgard immediately because it is isolated and no one will let you in until a specific chain of events occur in the main story. Then and only then are the gates open to you so that you can be properly introduced to those new jobs. There is no big reveal on the jobs until you get into the Ishgardian story arc, so there isn't a proper opportunity to introduce them prior to the events surrounding the Before the Fall chapter (2.5x).

And another thing....I keep seeing people state how it will hurt the game, run players off, etc. Then explain why there are sooo many threads complaining about the congestion? Lobby servers clogging? Too many people sitting AFK? If this is hurting the game so much, then why are there so many more people joining/returning? There are notices left and right telling people they must progress main story to access the new content...yet people bought it up like chocolate, swarmed the forums for a week in a panic because they hadn't gotten their codes, swarmed again in EA because of congestion issues (which for the most part weren't there during 2.5x).

SE has ramped up resources "10-fold" (so to speak) since 2.0 release...they've implemented countermeasure after countermeasure to try to stave off the expected congestion (anticipated something like around 450k concurrent logins during EA, nearly a 30% increase over the then current figures)--and it STILL wasn't enough. They retweaked again this week, and there are still threads popping up complaining about it.

Sure doesn't sound like they are bleeding customers over it... quite the contrary.

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Originally Posted by Raist

And another thing....I keep seeing people state how it will hurt the game, run players off, etc. Then explain why there are sooo many threads complaining about the congestion? Lobby servers clogging? Too many people sitting AFK? If this is hurting the game so much, then why are there so many more people joining/returning? There are notices left and right telling people they must progress main story to access the new content...yet people bought it up like chocolate, swarmed the forums for a week in a panic because they hadn't gotten their codes, swarmed again in EA because of congestion issues (which for the most part weren't there during 2.5x).

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This game does not have that many servers and there are a couple servers that are congested but the majority of them are not full or max. I havent had any trouble getting in or que times during peek hours but other servers are worse. While FF population is healthy now (an expansion dropped ofcourse) I don't see multiple servers opening up because people wanting to play are busting down the door. I would hope that dropping a new expansion would mean a new server opened because the demand was so great...but that didnt happen. So like I said Im always fearful of the future in MMO because 95% of them fade and fail fast...and while FFXIV will have some longetivity it seems ..I still would love to keep the population long term. This expansion gate is bareable but if they continue the trend new people will have to go thru multiple expansion to catch up...and you can't think thats a good idea..you just cant

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Originally Posted by Vicus

Snip

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Actually, they have 6 data clusters filled with approximately 11 servers each. If they weren't being used to SE's satisfaction, SE would server merge and start taking servers offline. See: www.arrstatus.com

The primary mistake new players and some returning players are making at the moment is assuming this expansion was choosing them as the target audience. If they were, it would be an expansion without any prerequisites. However, since they warned for 3 months+ about how you needed to complete the up-to-date story to access Ishgard and thus the new content, it comes down to personal responsibility.

New and returning players, however, were thrown a bone due to the fact that leveling is exponentially faster, old story quests which never gave you experience now so does and they even implemented Undersized parties in which case a veteran player who is geared enough can run newer/turning players through dungeons they need a clear on almost effortlessly.

At the end of the day, this is what SE chose to do and so far, from the testimonials of players here, you are in the supreme minority of players who say this wasn't a good thing to do.

If you despised the game to the point you weren't even able to finish the main quest, what makes you think you'll even remotely have some fun with HW?

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Originally Posted by Raist

Snip.

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Yes, this is what I'm trying to say.

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Originally Posted by Vicus

Snip.

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I suggest you can make another mmo, with your vast experience I think you can do it.

Oh, you're one of THOSE people...

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Originally Posted by Vicus

Yeah but lets fast forward to 3-4 years from now.

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No ultima wouldn't work, the point is, you have to earn the Ishgardians trust to be able to enter their city. Ultima has nothing to do with Ishgard. Stop thinking of it in gated terms and in story terms. No, it doesn't take long to do. And yes it makes sense for a story driven game to make you play the story. As for 3-4 years, it has already been mentioned that as time goes on they will streamline the story in various ways to make it quicker. But "I WANT IT NOW!"

btw, the 2.55 and on story is more than worth the dumb fetch quests from before it.

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Originally Posted by Gallus

If you despised the game to the point you weren't even able to finish the main quest, what makes you think you'll even remotely have some fun with HW?

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OP, ask yourself this question.

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Originally Posted by Vicus

This game does not have that many servers and there are a couple servers that are congested but the majority of them are not full or max. I havent had any trouble getting in or que times during peek hours but other servers are worse. While FF population is healthy now (an expansion dropped ofcourse) I don't see multiple servers opening up because people wanting to play are busting down the door. I would hope that dropping a new expansion would mean a new server opened because the demand was so great...but that didnt happen. So like I said Im always fearful of the future in MMO because 95% of them fade and fail fast...and while FFXIV will have some longetivity it seems ..I still would love to keep the population long term. This expansion gate is bareable but if they continue the trend new people will have to go thru multiple expansion to catch up...and you can't think thats a good idea..you just cant

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queues pick from multiple servers, not just yours.

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Originally Posted by Vicus

This game does not have that many servers and there are a couple servers that are congested but the majority of them are not full or max. I havent had any trouble getting in or que times during peek hours but other servers are worse. While FF population is healthy now (an expansion dropped ofcourse) I don't see multiple servers opening up because people wanting to play are busting down the door. I would hope that dropping a new expansion would mean a new server opened because the demand was so great...but that didnt happen. So like I said Im always fearful of the future in MMO because 95% of them fade and fail fast...and while FFXIV will have some longetivity it seems ..I still would love to keep the population long term. This expansion gate is bareable but if they continue the trend new people will have to go thru multiple expansion to catch up...and you can't think thats a good idea..you just cant

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There are 64 worlds (not servers...each world is spread across multiple servers--it's a massive data farm with clusters). This was after they ADDED like 12 worlds in their last world list expansion. Initially we had like 40 worlds or something, and they added a few here and a few there, then did a big expansion in one shot with right around a dozen. There was once a list of "reserved" names for potential expansion floating about somewhere on the web a while back too, so they've been prepared for expansion for a long time. They have already announced they will be adding a new data center in Europe also...so there is in fact planned expansion already in the works.

Something you need to understand about how the system now works. We don't log directly into the world like we did initially. We hit one of 6 lobby servers, each one serving between 8 and 13 worlds. The lobby service has a login queue. We login to the lobby server, then our data is synchronized and queued for transfer to our respective worlds. Once we are handed off, the slot is freed in the queue to manage the next login.

This dramatically reduces the impact of a world's population---the world service doesn't deal with all that back-end communication to the authentication server in Japan and such--it just grabs the player data and rolls with it, fetching/posting to the backend and the client as needed. Databases can come with a default connection pool of up to 32,000--that's just for an individual database connection (which you can have multiple connections to different databases at once), that's not the global pool for the server itself--which is dramatically higher. For example, Windows 2008 server has a concurrent connection limit of just over 16 million---out of the box. Each of our clients takes up 2 concurrent connections to our world service.

Basically, the point is that in theory there should be plenty of headroom within the scope of the world services connection limits for far more people to be on those worlds....even if the populations were to double overnight we may still be OK in that regard. Although, data storage might become a problem depending on how big their arrays are. Our issues come from the concurrent connection limits that SE has to keep on the 6 lobby services. They have been continually tweaking it over time trying to keep things in check with the network capacity and such (which Ormuco has had several rounds of infrastructure maintenance in the last year trying to compensate, and in that process they picked up new peers for us to use).

There is an issue at the ISP level in North America where the exchanges are frequently buckling under the load. SE can't manage that--they can work with Ormuco on their side of the equation, but they can't negotiate with all the other peers out there--the numbers are in the thousands that make up the internet. SE has to be mindful of both their ISP's limits as well as the real world of the internet. If they open the gates too wide, people start timing out before they even get to the servers...they HAVE to put limits in place to keep us from creating our own mini DDoS-style events at various exchange points along the way (effectively what we were doing during Early Access because everyone was immediately trying to log right back in on disconnect). Keep in mind that everyone from both Canada AND Japan are hitting ONE authentication service on ONE IP address in Tokyo during login. The infrastructure there can handle it better. North America has issues with such a high level of concentration in route to Montreal. That is a large part of why they are putting up a data center in Europe---to deal with latency and stability problems due to the EU being on servers in North America.

So it is less of an issue with the number of servers, and more an issue with networking capacity--some of which is out of SE's control to increase.

They have increased the exp and streamlined the main story quests up until level 50 to help newer players get to a point where they can do the end game storyline. I did the story quests in a weekened a month ago and had zero issues with the instances or veteran players and so forth. At the end of the day it's different strokes for different folks. You may not like it, but I do. Everyone here has their own opinions but it just seems that you have opened this thread to say "this is the worst" and refuse to listen to anyone else's opinion. Also news flash: having played so many other mmorpgs for so many years does not make your opinion more valid than anyone else's.