Would you be upset if the game went offline?

I would not care, and I also would not care if they did a character wipe (I have some R50's, so I'm not just saying that).

If they take this game offline there is no coming back, they might say they're working on it at first but then there will be a release a few months down the line saying they scraped the project.

I don't think I would be upset if they took it offline I am not heavily invested in this game at all I might play once or twice a week for a few hours but that's all.

To me, this thread was about would I personally care, not whether it was a good idea. I think two years is too long, but several months, no I would not care.

However, that doesn't mean it's the best move. I don't see that it should have to mean the death of the game, but that is the way some people would think, so it's a valid point. And I'd have to agree that taking down the forums would be just as effective.

However, this is only coming from the English side as far as I know. I have a hard time believing (and I can't read Japanese well, so I can't confirm) that this level of high tension and complaining is coming from the Japanese side. Not to mention they outnumber us quite a bit. So taking down the game just because we can't pipe down, seems unfair, and honestly kinda silly.

However, after patch 1.18, this may all be a very moot point (I sincerely hope). Depends on people's expectations.

They don't need to shut the game down. They just need to fix it faster. I think a lot is riding on 1.18 to see how much content they can produce and the quality of that content. They already pushed the patch back twice, so it would seem to me they care about the quality and understand the importance of delivering a quality product.

Only time will tell, and based on their track record it's not looking good, but honestly we will just have to wait and see.

I think we will know if the game is gonna make it or break it this fall/winter.

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Originally Posted by ObeiKinstar

They don't need to shut the game down. They just need to fix it faster. I think a lot is riding on 1.18 to see how much content they can produce and the quality of that content.

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1.18 isn't a content patch though, as in the focus is mostly on the battle system overhaul, part of it anyway. (and probably other system revisions.) They're being generous with the dungeons being released, since I figure based on what reps said that it's mostly in conjunction for testing battle changes and whatnot.

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based on their track record it's not looking good

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XI is looking damn good, it paid for many of their projects not even MMO related and it still continues to have a decent population of players including new players as it's a lot more easier to get into compared to many years ago. Their track record is fine since you have to include XI and FMO as well as all of their offline library. XIV is just one project they've messed up on, not at all a representation of their entire career.

I started playing at CE Launch with low expectations based on prior XI initial launch track record and the state of the beta. The whole point for me was that as a player with less free time, I'd be at a reasonable rank by the time the game improved. So please don't take my servers away...I'm still trying to get my first 50 (or at least 45 to do dungeons)...

Honestly, I would. And i'd probably stop playing. The online aspect is a huge part of the game for me.

To be honest, If they had shut it down, and said, "we're gonna fix it, come back in 1-2 years," I don't think it would have worked. A large number of the people who already purchased the game would either forget their account name, or lose their security tokens(if they had one) after that long of a time. (Note, i'm not giving percentages here, just "a large number") Plus when they did re-release it, the bad press the game garnered when it was released would just come back. "SE is re-releasing a failed game after 2 years!!" They would have had to scramble for publicity to get the major changes out there, and SE has never been a big "give out lots of information" company. The way it is now, at least as the people playing are seeing the changes, word of mouth is best(and cheapest) promoter that SE has for FFXIV.

And to quote someone from the first page...

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Originally Posted by Fated

What do they have to show for the time spent? They've basically put a band-aid on a gun shot wound.

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They may have only put a band-aid on a gun shot wound, but that band-aid is giving them enough time to get to the hospital.

I would never pick it back up again. Even if they saved my character data.

Screw that.

I don't think a temporary shutdown is needed, or a good idea. The last thing SE should do right now is scare off those still loyal, and in the fast paced modern gaming world, going offline for a few months is a good way to send a portion of the population off to other MMOs. And we're TEN MONTHS into rebuilding - if they've got SO LITTLE DONE in TEN MONTHS that, even after all that time they STILL need to shut it down entirely to fix it... yeah, that's not a good thing, or even good press.

Mark my words, if FFXIV shuts down - it will be for good. I don't see them by any means considering a temporary shutdown a good idea.

Flameshield Note: No, I'm not saying the FFXIV servers are shutting down soon. I'm saying, if the theoretical shutdown OP mentioned DID happen, it wouldn't be temporary, because there's no reason for something of that specific nature.

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Originally Posted by Moth

Honestly, I would. And i'd probably stop playing. The online aspect is a huge part of the game for me.

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You misunderstand, the OP means if they shut down the service until all the changes they want to make were in place, not if the gameplay went offline only.

EDIT: +1 for ShinChuck's signature

this would be a bad idea people will move to another game and i think alot people would get pissed even among those who say they wouldnt.

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Originally Posted by Alaltus

edit: Wait till 1.18 then complain.

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"Wait until beta, then complain"
"Wait until release, then complain"
"Wait until march, then complain"
"Wait until 1.18, then complain"
"Wait until the PS3 version, then complain"
"Wait until" ... should I continue?

Seriously, I'm tired of waiting. I've been on the "other" side, supporting SE because I believed they could make it, but after almost a year later they've made less progress than they made from alpha to beta! (Note that I'm not denying they did make progress)

I paid money for a beta-in-a-box and I was expecting it. But I was also expecting SE to get off their asses and make significant progress after that. Instead we are still waiting and I'm slowly becoming quite bitter about it, especially hearing their excuses(?) lately about why something can not be implemented.

To answer OP's question, taking down servers would save them money and woudn't change anything for me. I guess it wouldn't do good for their reputation though.

I'm giving them time until September 22nd. If the game won't be in a better state until then, I'll be leaving.
And I doubt I will be inclined to ever touch anything SE ever again. Clarification: anything MMO/PC related.

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Originally Posted by _C-a-e-r-i-t-h_

Give every purchaser of FFXIV a choice:

1. Start paying a subscription fee as of 1.20. Servers will be merged as necessary, PS3 release might never come. Work on FFXIV slows as it is handed over to a skeleton team.
2. Cancel your FFXIV account and get a voucher for S-E's next MMO, for price of purchase and 6 months comped gameplay. The ~200 people working on FFXIV now get put to work on this new game, which is called just Final Fantasy Online, to come out in 24 months. S-E decides in the next 3 months whether Crystal Tools can be salvaged or whether to license a functional engine like Frostbite.
3. Cancel your FFXIV account and get your money back for both the initial purchase and any Crysta you bought.

Everyone gets to choose. [...]
Won't happen.

But that's what they should do.

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I agree. Both with your proposal and that it won't happen.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

"Wait until beta, then complain"
"Wait until release, then complain"
"Wait until march, then complain"
"Wait until 1.18, then complain"
"Wait until the PS3 version, then complain"
"Wait until" ... should I continue?

Seriously, I'm tired of waiting. I've been on the "other" side, supporting SE because I believed they could make it, but after almost a year later they've made less progress than they made from alpha to beta! (Note that I'm not denying they did make progress)

I paid money for a beta-in-a-box and I was expecting it. But I was also expecting SE to get off their asses and make significant progress after that. Instead we are still waiting and I'm slowly becoming quite bitter about it, especially hearing their excuses(?) lately about why something can not be implemented.

To answer OP's question, taking down servers would save them money and woudn't change anything for me. I guess it wouldn't do good for their reputation though.

I'm giving them time until September 22nd. If the game won't be in a better state until then, I'll be leaving.
And I doubt I will be inclined to ever touch anything SE ever again.


I agree. Both with your proposal and that it won't happen.

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I, too, am tired.

I'm also betting your post will be removed as a violation of forum guidelines.

But mostly... I dunno. Your bit about not touching anything SE ever again is kinda harsh. Dragon Quest is still really good. Oh, and "Fortune Street" coming out on the Wii later this year is really really good too; I played the original on the DS when it was called Itadaki Street, you're seriously doing yourself a disservice if you pass that one up. (Oh man I sound like a Yuji Horii fanboy here.)

I've been playing FFXIV since alpha, so over a year now. I know things are going to go slowly, and I'm optimistic that things are changing, but if any of the mods or devs are reading this it is very hard to stay optimistic when you don't know where things are going. We're getting a lot of promises for little things, like auto-attack or jobs or dungeons, but those are all just parts of a whole: what is the whole supposed to look like in the end? Don't show me a bunch of pieces of wood and expect me to know what you're making: tell me you're making a cabinet and I'll take for granite that you know what you're doing.

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Originally Posted by _C-a-e-r-i-t-h_

I'm also betting your post will be removed as a violation of forum guidelines.

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That would only mean I'm right though, so they better don't.

About the "not touching anything SE", I guess I should have said "nothing SE on the PC". I don't know how they fared with other PC games, but seeing how they handle FFXIV (and from what I heard, FFXI in it's early stages), I surely won't touch any MMO SE might release.

I've been here since Alpha too. Back in those days (almost) everyone still believed this game would succeed... and people were exploring everything together, with servers actually being alive and people talking. I miss that.

nope, id actually rather they take them off until they got most of the stuff done. Aside from some free testing, all its really doing is costing them money to keep them on and having people, including the people that like the game, get bored faster because there isnt much content there and they still are fixing so much else they dont have enough time to pump out constant content.

That and people find more to be mad about and later post it in the forums (or post about their bordum) id rather wait and jump into the game 6 months later with tons of changes and loads of new content, then blast through the tiny amounts we have now....that and the devs wont have to shove out new half a$$ed content just to keep people happy....which in turn pisses more people off because its not well developed.

so yes im all for turning the game off for a while. Not sure why they havent. Give me the free play time when the games worth spending time on.

I'll go in rage mode if it does.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

That would only mean I'm right though, so they better don't.

About the "not touching anything SE", I guess I should have said "nothing SE on the PC". I don't know how they fared with other PC games, but seeing how they handle FFXIV (and from what I heard, FFXI in it's early stages), I surely won't touch any MMO SE might release.

I've been here since Alpha too. Back in those days (almost) everyone still believed this game would succeed... and people were exploring everything together, with servers actually being alive and people talking. I miss that.

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Ah, the good old days of "well this is just an alpha/beta, they're just holding back for the beta/release." How innocent we were in those halcyon days!

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Originally Posted by Andrien

I'll go in rage mode if it does.

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wow, so informative.... How can i argue such a well though out and logical response.

They should have swallowed their pride and shut down the servers almost immediately. Now with people having earned so much in the game already, it limits their options and makes them have to dance around issues so as not to harm the existing player base.

Yes, I would be perfectly fine with them shutting down servers until they have things right. ...........but I don't see it happenig.

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Originally Posted by Zanfire

wow, so informative.... How can i argue such a well though out and logical response.

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Call for help and wait for him to reset?

Shut em down.

Wouldn't be mad , but it would serve absolutely no purpose to take it offline to fix. They have test servers for that. The one thing that would get better from taking it offline, is that they wouldn't have to see the complaining every time they patch.

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Originally Posted by _C-a-e-r-i-t-h_

Call for help and wait for him to reset?

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lol .....ah i miss FFXI now....damn you...

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Originally Posted by Perrin_Aybarra

I am all for them to take the servers down until the game is ready for release. Keep a beta test servers to get feedback and that is it.

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No thanks. I don't dislike the game although I see room for improvement, and I see the current system with its player feedback on the changes is helping move the game in the right direction. If you don't like the small updates, and want a major release then just don't play. No fee means you don't have to cancel to break as long as you like, and you can check back anytime you like to see if the game is fixed by your standards. You can just shutdown the servers by not logging in.

I'm starting to think maybe they already intend to. I just saw this bit of news from last month:

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Square Enix is readying a new large scale Massively Multiplayer Online title to be announced some time this fiscal year. CEO Yoichi Wada made brief mention of this new game during a May 13 earnings briefing. A full transcript of the briefing was posted today at the company's IR page.

According to Wada, Square Enix hopes aims to operate two to three large scale MMO titles simultaneously, a target it feels will allow it to have stable cash flow.

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Maybe they'll give everyone the option of either staying on FFXIV or exchanging their FFXIV account for a free pass to one or both of the new MMOs they're working on. Then they'll just consolidate FFXIV servers for the people who chose to stay.

/optimism

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Originally Posted by _C-a-e-r-i-t-h_

I'm starting to think maybe they already intend to. I just saw this bit of news from last month:
/optimism

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I'd expect XI is the 3rd MMO in that 2 - 3. As much as I love XI its dying a slow death. I think XIV is critical to SE's MMO strat, and they won't bail on it anytime soon.

Edit: typos

I think SE should do whatever is necessary to bring this game back to life as soon as possible. If that means shutting down the servers for a period of time, and/or even wiping all player data/exp, if it can help get this game become successful for a long period time, I am all for it.

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Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

I think SE should do whatever is necessary to bring this game back to life as soon as possible. If that means shutting down the servers for a period of time, and/or even wiping all player data/exp, if it can help get this game become successful for a long period time, I am all for it.

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If SE came to the Lodestone and said.. we are going to shut this *** game down for 2 weeks and fix this ***! [Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.]... In two weeks.. I would give them the chance.. but if they came and said.. uhh.. oh yeah, we are going to fix this game but will need to shut down the servers for 2 plus years.. i would concider that a GAME OVER.

Yeah, at this point I'd be for it. Right now the game seems to be moving from patch to patch without any long-term direction. Maybe if they concentrated on making the game instead of appeasing the players and combating population drop then they could whip this game into a great game sooner. Without players around, they wouldn't have to worry if the game got worse before getting better.

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Originally Posted by Morticous

If SE came to the Lodestone and said.. we are going to shut this *** game down for 2 weeks and fix this ***! [Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.]... In two weeks.. I would give them the chance.. but if they came and said.. uhh.. oh yeah, we are going to fix this game but will need to shut down the servers for 2 plus years.. i would concider that a GAME OVER.

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Honestly, if S-E came to the Lodestone and gave a specific date, specific timeframe, and say specifically what it was they'd be doing, it could be three years and I'd give them the chance. What's killing it for me is the complete lack of specifics. I don't know when it'll be updated, not even vaguely, I don't know what they're planning to do except for a few components, I don't know what this game is even supposed to be.

It's like you bought a car, right? But everyone hates the kind of car you got. Like, it's a minivan but everyone wants a hummer. So you call your mechanic over and he says he'll fix it so it's not a minivan, so he starts making all these changes like installing a new radio and getting spinners for the tires and he's really been working hard on building a completely new engine for you but right now it still looks like a minivan and while he suggests that'll change you really can't be excited about a car you don't have, don't know when you'll have it, and don't even know what it's going to be. I mean, for all you know he could just be building you that dog van from Dumb & Dumber or maybe he's going to make it a sports car, but who knows?

I don't mind waiting, if I know what I'm waiting for.

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Originally Posted by _C-a-e-r-i-t-h_

I mean, for all you know he could just be building you that dog van from Dumb & Dumber

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OMG can't stop laughing!

http://peoplethings.com/andblog/wp-c..._090527_01.jpg

I wouldn't be upset, no. I was super stoked on playing this game, so stoked I basically camped the alpha waiting for an invitation. However with the way things are going, I would be ok with a mandatory break. I fear a mandatory break would result in a cancellation though. I wonder how strong the company pride is in redeeming the "named" entry in the Final Fantasy series. If this game didn't have the "XIV" in the title it would be long gone.

I wouldn't be upset if the game went offline.

But that doesn't stop it being a stupid idea. Absolutely ridiculous.

Wouldn't bother me I haven't played in over a month and I feel the speed at which they could do things would be much higher if they didn't have to worry about fixing the market wards 5 times a day /joke

But seriously they would have a much better work flow without the worry of the servers being up all the time.

I'd be glad if they took the game down for any amount of time over a month. If the game was down for a month I'd never return again, thus could escape the giant waste of time... And fill it with a better game to waste my time on.

Sure, I'm as patient as the rest of you. I've stuck around since beta hoping the game would get better, and.... Very little HAS improved. You can go off on a rant saying that's not true, and they've done so much to improve it already, but... In all honesty what have they done to make it anything more than sub-par to every other MMO out there so far?

They've changed the wards slightly, which are still hugely problematic and VERY limited. They've added some NM's which are, all except for buffalo, just versions of mobs that are slightly bigger than the normal members of that family. They even all use the exact same attacks. They have fixed some of the awful lag, and tweaked crafting UI. Oh, and they've spent about 50% of their time working on the targeting system, ultimately to go back and make the default targeting system the same as before all these tweaks were done.

And what's to come? Auto attack which appears to actually be slower than FF11 (keep in mind, in ff11 you could choose to use one handed weapons, or lower delay versions of your primary 2-handed weapon type to increase your attack speed at the cost of damage before you had access to haste gear). With ff14's attack speed, a gladiator swings at the same speed a lancer does. 1 hander vs 2 hander, attacking at same rate? What other game does that? The reason they dont? Because it's pretty stupid. Then there are these "raids" as they call them... 2 of them... It'll probably take a week to get every single drop out of them, then there will be zero reason to go back and do them again. That's assuming SE doesn't do what they've always done and put a 1-3 day cooldown on the entry timer.

So yea, i vote shut the game down for now... Then I'd have a good enough reason to convince myself not to play it anymore.

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If the game was down for a month I'd never return again, thus could escape the giant waste of time..

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LOL so FF14 is holding your life hostage... come on !, if you really felt no enjoyment from playing the game you wouldn't.

You had your chance to quit when the servers were down during the earthquake in Japan.

I'd rather be able to play while they fixed it, and though I'm not convinced that taking the servers down would result in a huge improvement in development speed I would probably come back when the servers came back up if they did take them down.

/m

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Originally Posted by NoMX

I'd be glad if they took the game down for any amount of time over a month. If the game was down for a month I'd never return again, thus could escape the giant waste of time... And fill it with a better game to waste my time on.

So yea, i vote shut the game down for now... Then I'd have a good enough reason to convince myself not to play it anymore.

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Um, there are resources you can use if you happen to have a gaming addiction.

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Originally Posted by Jinko

But seriously they would have a much better work flow without the worry of the servers being up all the time.

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Haha wtf is this. You seriously think a developer would not be able to code because a server is up? You do realize that a developer's role is not server administration right?

If any dev had problems putting out code because of the fact the server was on and working they would not last long at all. The only increased work flow from having the server on is the fact that it's easier to find bugs when you have an active user base. How is that a problem?