If the servers are down for a while will people come back?

So now that the servers are going to be offline for anywhere between one week and several months how bad will this effect the population of FFXIV? I know several people who were on the fence about the game and were playing it because it was there and free. Now that the servers are down tho people will be forced to find something else to do. For many people that will mean trying a new game or maybe going back to an old MMO they used to play. So when the servers do come back online do you think these events will cripple the FFXIV population and make it even smaller than before?
Yes I know the 5k-10k white knight / fanboiswill come back as soon as the servers are up but im actually talking about the other people who dont live for this game.

Considering that the vast majority of people comes and goes regularly whether the game is there or not (even more the ones that you don't, rather stupidly, define "fanboys or "white knights" in an poorly veiled attempt to preemptively flame. Since, you know, most people out there don't devote their life only to one game), yes, they are going to come back.
And if they don't come back immediately, they will on the first patch, or the second, or another that piques their curiosity, or the PS3 release, alongside a whole lot of other people.

Most of the people that were interested in quitting, already did.

It might ruin the population a little, the problem is usually if a game went down the development team could still work on it, sadly that isnt the case here, its a complete stand-still for everything.

I will probably not come back on until the next major patch but that is due to the game itself and not my time away, but i was already not coming on prior to this event.

Many of my friends do not care currently the state of the game and only considering coming back when the game has been solved. (September onwards).

Sadly though I stopped playing XIV as much because I started up again on XI and now i cant even do that haha so I think I will spend my time getting a lot of work and things out the way during this downtime.

Most of the people still playing the game are prob playing because they are fan boys. So many will probably come back (myself included).
But for those who were looking forward to improvements and only playing and hoping for news, its a different story. If the game is down for too long people will get bored and try out new MMO's. They will make new friends there, generate new goals, etc. As a result, when FFXIV comes back up, they will have to choose whether to split time between the 2, or focus on one game (and choose a game). Since FFXIV lacks content it is likely they will choose the other game.

So there is a good chance the population will drop.
But FFXIV has years of life in it, so eventually people will come back and it will rise again.

Il be back in a week, you be sure :P I had waited for the weekend to play now this whole week, being happy that the servers stayed up even with natural disasters going, but not understanding why .. i have accepted the wait and il be glad when theire up again, but i also know it might even take a month if things stays as bad as they are. Something they hopefully wont :)

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Originally Posted by viion

sadly that isnt the case here, its a complete stand-still for everything.

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People in Tokyo still go to work. There's absolutely no signal that development has been stopped, or even paused. The development team doesn't need the servers up in order to work. Shutting down the server doesn't mean that they shut down square enix, barred the doors and went home.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Considering that the vast majority of people comes and goes regularly whether the game is there or not (even more the ones that you don't, rather stupidly, define "fanboys or "white knights" in an poorly veiled attempt to preemptively flame. Since, you know, most people out there don't devote their life only to one game), yes, they are going to come back.
And if they don't come back immediately, they will on the first patch, or the second, or another that piques their curiosity, or the PS3 release, alongside a whole lot of other people.

Most of the people that were interested in quitting, already did.

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So you dont think a month or two of being forced to play another MMO(if MMO play is their chosen means of entertainment) could lead people to quitting FFXIV? As far as you being sure people will come back does that include the roughly 90% of the games population who have quit before the servers went down?

I will definitely be back. I can list a few names that I hope do not return however....

I hate to say it but I think it might cause a few people to leave, maybe they will go try other recently released MMO's and decide they like that better or something like that. It's a shame but in all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if SE decided to keep the servers down for sometime after this. I mean they are getting no money from sub's anyway so they are not going to lose money from that and they will save money from not having to run all the servers. They might think it better they cut their losses now and keep working on the redesign and when they have everything fixed and all the work finished then put them back up as a beta to test everything ahead of the PS3 release.

Not saying that will happen but you can be sure someone will have been crunching the numbers to see if it is a viable option, they would be weighing up how much of the player base they would lose that would not return for the relaunch against how much they would save from keeping the servers down. I suppose they would also factor in what it would do to their reputation as a company and if PR would be able to overcome that with a relaunch.

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Originally Posted by TonyMontana

So you dont think a month or two of being forced to play another MMO(if MMO play is their chosen means of entertainment) could lead people to quitting FFXIV? As far as you being sure people will come back does that include the roughly 90% of the games population who have quit before the servers went down?

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First of all, for now they talked about a week. We don't know how the outtage will last, and bandaging your head before it's broken does no good.

The percentage of people that play ONLY MMORPGs is actually quite small. Most people have several ways of gaming entertainment, and many majorly awaited non-mmorpg games have been released or are being released in this period: Dragon Age 2, Shogun 2, Yakuza 3 and so forth.

So no, it's not going to hurt the game in any sizable way. As much as, considering the trends behind your posts, looks like you'd enjoy the perspective.

I'll be standing next to you TonyMontana in your white suit of armor.

if it's a matter of a week or 2~3 i don't think people will run of to the next possible mmo just because they don't know what else to do.
i think everyone that has some obsession in a way with games has one or two games besides FFXIV that he/she likes to play from time to time.
even i do enjoy other games from time to time, for example MvC3 or TDU2 currently.
some others may take this opportunity to make the switch now and focus on another mmo untill FFXIV has the level of gaming experience they've been looking forward to when purchasing the game.

i guess it won't effect the game at all if it's a matter of a few weeks, but it can change if it's a matter of months, which i highly doubt (or let's say hope/pray) for.
if it really comes down to the worst and the game won't be up for months people will surely go on and find a new place perhaps.
there are enough ppl that check by from time to time to see the changes that are done to the game, but every game has it's timeline, and the longer it will take to improve, the quicker ppl will forget about it.

anyways, FFXIV will allways have a decent gamerbase that won't leave the game behind, no matter what (like i do), but a mmo surely is more enjoyable if there are more ppl around to play with, so let's hope things will turn out for the best in japan, and the servers will be back-up next week.

Does it truly matter if people will come back or not? Is it going to interrupt your game play if people who were on the fence go out an play Rift or some other MMO instead of FFXIV? Those who come back, and yes people will come back are those who want to play the game now, even in the state that it is in. Those who choose to stay away will do so because the state of the game now is not what they want in an MMO, not because the servers were shut down due to a national emergency.

I'm happy to see that they've shut down. I was concerned that most companies would not tend to the needs of their country. Even though they were asked to shut down to preserve energy, I'm glad they did. Though if they placed some servers in the UK or US it would not been an issue. Personally I'd like to continue service with them as long as they continue to listen to what their players want, heck, if they said they were going to shut down for a month to improve the game I'd be fine with it.

if there was a mmo right now out there that i would like i would leave without looking back .
Fortunatly theres nothin i like out atm for my mmo time. Maybe tera or guildwars 2 will take me away from ffxiv, if it does not get exponentially better.
Currently im repeating the same thins for around 3 months , so im pretty bored most of the time.Only have a bit of fun when doing nms , but thats about it.
Why i still play? becouse of my friends.But the game sucks atm.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

First of all, for now they talked about a week. We don't know how the outtage will last, and bandaging your head before it's broken does no good.

The percentage of people that play ONLY MMORPGs is actually quite small. Most people have several ways of gaming entertainment, and many majorly awaited non-mmorpg games have been released or are being released in this period: Dragon Age 2, Shogun 2, Yakuza 3 and so forth.

So no, it's not going to hurt the game in any sizable way. As much as, considering the trends behind your posts, looks like you'd enjoy the perspective.

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I will most likely be back. Kind of depends on if the wife comes back or not, I dont really enjoy the game nearly as much without her playing it.

You forgot to answer my question about the hundreds of thousands of people who quit the game prior to the earthquake.

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Originally Posted by Neptune

I'll be standing next to you TonyMontana in your white suit of armor.

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Thank you! Can I just wear a white tux from the 70s instead, we can still label me as a troll or whiteknight or fanboi or whatever I just wanna wear a tux instead the armor kind of makes me sweat!

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Originally Posted by TonyMontana

I will most likely be back. Kind of depends on if the wife comes back or not, I dont really enjoy the game nearly as much without her playing it.

You forgot to answer my question about the hundreds of thousands of people who quit the game prior to the earthquake.

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I didn't because I didn't notice it, and even if I did, it doesn't really pertain this thread.

But I will humor your question :D
Those people's attitude towards the game has nothing to do with the current events. Those that quit with the intention of not looking back won't come back even if the servers were up. Those that quit with the intention of keeping a look on the game and coming back when their gripes are fixed or adressed, will do so when such gripes are fixed or adressed.

There's absolutely no reason for the servers staying up for this coming week to have any effects on those already determined attitudes. They already took a decision, and will probably stick to it.
People that will change their mind (either because expectations of improvements might not be fullfilled, or expectations of lack of improvement might bring surprise if improvement does happen). Will do so regardless of a week of outtage.

FFXIV has two possible major events in it's future to bring back people that quit and bring in new players. The release of the PS3 version (that not only will bring many new players, but will also bring back a lot of those that mean to play the game on PC, that, if the game will have improved considerably, will probably have their curiosity piqued by the reviews of the PS3 release and by the buzz between the new players), and a possible release on steam with a sizable amount of publicity and discount. That worked extremely well for FFXI.

In this FFXIV has for sure a large advantage over the many other games that had a bad start. Second chances, in this market, are pretty much precious. Hopefully SE will take proper advantage of them, and at the moment there's no signal to believe that they won't do all they can to.

This is of no fault but the elements.. or godzilla, idk. People will come back. It can't be held against SE. They're just trying to cooperate with the local power issues.

Yes. They will still come back.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

People in Tokyo still go to work. There's absolutely no signal that development has been stopped, or even paused. The development team doesn't need the servers up in order to work. Shutting down the server doesn't mean that they shut down square enix, barred the doors and went home.

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Well the reason the servers are going down is due to internet supplier turning off, and I think SE HQ will most likely reduce their power consumption, not using PC's and such.

Everyone is expecting a delay so why wouldn't they halt?

I think the current population left of this game is die hards and will probably stick around. It won't hurt the future of this game more than SE already has. Realistically almost all MMOs that get off to a bad start in the western market never recover. The past few years of failed releases can act as a testament to that. However, SE is in a bit of a unique situation with a potential Ps3 release down the road. If they don't get this game into shape and up to modern standards, and relaunch it on ps3 it won't matter.

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Originally Posted by viion

Well the reason the servers are going down is due to internet supplier turning off, and I think SE HQ will most likely reduce their power consumption, not using PC's and such.

Everyone is expecting a delay so why wouldn't they halt?

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Delays are possible, or even better probable (not because they won't be working, but because there'll probably be moments in which they won't be able to work), but i would ask you a more appropriate question: Why would they halt?

Power outtages are, accoring to the news, programmed, so companies will be able to work a schedule around them. It's in SE's best interest to get the game to higher quality levels as soon as possible (it gets them closers to the moment in which they'll be able to add revenue sources to this game, whatever they will be), and they still have to pay their employees, whether they're at home or at work. So no, I seriously doubt they're going to tell them "oh, just stay home and come back when the servers are back up".

I will come back.

I say good riddance to people who quit because a natural disaster kept them from playing a video game. This is far more important. That being said, I don't think many people who enjoy or are dedicated to the game will be effected by this in the long term. The forums are actually quite tame in this situation, which shows the respect in this community. Imagine the whining on the WoW forums if their servers were shut down due to a disaster.

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Originally Posted by Raim

I say good riddance to people who quit because a natural disaster kept them from playing a video game. This is far more important. That being said, I don't think many people who enjoy or are dedicated to the game will be effected by this in the long term. The forums are actually quite tame in this situation, which shows the respect in this community. Imagine the whining on the WoW forums if their servers were shut down due to a disaster.

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It is a fact some people will quit, I expect maby 5-8% will quit if it goes much longer then a week. Mainly the ones who log in like 3-4hrs a week or what not. The people we see everyday in game I would be surprised if they left over this.

As for development delays, I expect some major ones. As in I would not expect another update this month. If they are having to shut down servers, I have a feeling they are not going to have a 100 person staff on PCS all day either. That and they are working on much more lucrative titles which will bring them 100s of millions guaranteed I am sure have priority above FFXIV in a time where they have to limit development.

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Originally Posted by Xatsh

As for development delays, I expect some major ones. As in I would not expect another update this month. If they are having to shut down servers, I have a feeling they are not going to have a 100 person staff on PCS all day either. That and they are working on much more lucrative titles which will bring them 100s of millions guaranteed I am sure have priority above FFXIV in a time where they have to limit development.

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Development has nothing to do with the servers working. No internal testing is done on the public servers, and their internal test server can easily be kept working, as it consumes just a fraction of the electricity used by the whole server farm (it may eaily be shut down just when there's a planned outtage).
Also, game development teams don't overlap. The games which "will bring them 100s of millions guaranteed" have their own development team that will continue to work exactly like the FFXIV one.

The very fact that they actually enlarged and strenghtened the development team bringing in people FROM other teams, is pretty much an indication that the development of FFXIV is a priority for SE.

Other games bring in "100s of millions" only once. MMORPGs has the potential to bring in millions over a much longer timeframe. So it's pretty much a priority for SE to bring the game to a condition in which it'll become a revenue source.

Oh, and I just learned that the first round of outtages in Tokyo has been suspended since shortage of energy is not as bad as it was hypotesized, so the situation may improve in the next few days.

well, i would say many were still playing the game even if they weren't enjoying it that much, many were playing because it was more an habit than fun, and they were socializing via the game... A week off might be enough for them to find something else to do, and if it's off it might seriously affect the game population since many other games are coming out ...

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Originally Posted by Raim

I say good riddance to people who quit because a natural disaster kept them from playing a video game. This is far more important. That being said, I don't think many people who enjoy or are dedicated to the game will be effected by this in the long term. The forums are actually quite tame in this situation, which shows the respect in this community. Imagine the whining on the WoW forums if their servers were shut down due to a disaster.

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I'd have to agree. If someone would quit over this, I'm not sure if I would care for their contribution to the game community anyway.

And I agree with a lot of the sentiment here, most of the players left are die-hard FF fans anyway. I myself fully admit to being an unashamed, outright fan-gal. Like others have said, FFXIV's redemption will come with the PS3 release. SE has to get it right for that; I don't think there would be a 3rd chance. It's only because they are Final Fantasy that they even have a second chance, at least I think.

I figure about 1/4 to 1/2 the people actually playing the game now will find something better in the mean time and not come back.

I will definately be back to Eorzea the second the servers come up and im eagerly awaiting the reopening of servers. I agree to your saying though Abriael it doesn't seem like we'll lose such a huge amount, and i highly doubt it. A lot of the players who don't enjoy the game have probably already quit lol.. At any rate i'm sure this might cause a few to take a short break maybe cause of new games that are just launching. Anyways, i cant wait for everything to be back to normal in Japan, the News is scaring me and i'm horrified by what happenned in Japan. >< i just cant wait for everything to go back to normal hope it does soon. <3

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Originally Posted by Riv

I figure about 1/4 to 1/2 the people actually playing the game now will find something better in the mean time and not come back.

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Thats what I am afraid of.

I will most likely be coming back after this is all said and done. I have to be honest though my play time before hand was slipping. At this point the only glimmer of hope for me staying with the game is in the company system and we wont know any thing about that until the end of the month, or later now. I know i am not the only one in this boat.

I wouldn't doubt that some form of production will be going on though this, but probably not full scale.

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Originally Posted by Riv

I figure about 1/4 to 1/2 the people actually playing the game now will find something better in the mean time and not come back.

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Omg LOL. Talk about FUD.

I look at it this way, my Xbox has been treated badly since i play 3 MMOs actively, 2 of them being FF. So with this crisis happening and the mandatory shut down I can beat the dust off my consoles and just hope that everything goes well for the people of Japan. Now that i think about it, now would be the perfect time to finish Lost Oddesey(sp?) and 100% FFXIII.

Edit: BUT I will be back to both XI and XIV. I was there when servers went down I'll be there when they come up waving my flag of victory. >.>

Those that have invested their time into FFXIV will be back. That includes myself. I see no reason not to return. It is not like the game disappeared off of the face of the earth, characters becoming corrupted or deleted altogether with no hope of recovery... Really, this question does not make a whole lot of sense when you think about it. But hey, I chose to answer it so there you have it.

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Originally Posted by Apricoth

Those that have invested their time into FFXIV will be back. That includes myself. I see no reason not to return. It is not like the game disappeared off of the face of the earth, characters becoming corrupted or deleted altogether with no hope of recovery... Really, this question does not make a whole lot of sense when you think about it. But hey, I chose to answer it so there you have it.

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Let me simplify the question if you dont understand it.
If a worst case senario happens and the servers are down for 1-2 months will people have time to try another MMo and feel invested enough in the new MMO to not care about coming back to FFXIV?

How are we suppose to know what people are going to do? Some might leave, some might not. A meteor could strike the earth between now and then.

All we can tell is on an individual basis if we will return. So far as I have read not a single person said they will not return so.....yeah....I wouldn't worry about it man.

I have Fable 3, and Assassins' Brotherhood still collecting dust in the packaging, as well as tons of other projects that have been neglected anyhow.

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Originally Posted by TonyMontana

Let me simplify the question if you dont understand it.
If a worst case senario happens and the servers are down for 1-2 months will people have time to try another MMo and feel invested enough in the new MMO to not care about coming back to FFXIV?

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And what exactly is the reason to bandage our head before it's broken (besides trying to spread some FUD)? If there was any reason to believe that the problem would last in a scale of "months", they would have mentioned it.

As a matter of fact, the first round of planned energy outtages has been cancelled in Tokyo, since the shortages are less severe than expected.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/14_10.html