Originally Posted by
Velhart
To the average MMO player, unfamiliar concepts are unappealing. Can call it SE giving in to the standard, but I think they know well enough that if you want a good chance at those numbers, you need to reel in those new customers with a sense of familiarity, then throw something unique at them.
If FFXIV 1.0 was successful at launch, I doubt that it would of gone over a million, 500k+ at most. While that is a number that makes the game up and going, I believe SE wants to go beyond those numbers and wants FFXIV to last 10+ years, able to make improvements on it to keep it standard. While I think the FFXIV 2.0 audience will be 2 million at most, they have a better chance of reaching that number by standardizing itself instead of being too unique. With the PS3 audience coming in, I definitely think those numbers are a possibility.
In short, I think more numbers will come in being standard than being overly unique. The only real reason Star Wars is doing so poorly is because of it's lack of end game. As long as SE delivers well on the end game content, then I believe it will keep itself up there with WoW and GW2. I doubt it would reach their numbers, but it will keep itself in the competition for a long time.