Is SE's Marketing / PR department -severely- hurting the games chances of success?

[Jynx]

Actually vanilla wow, was mostly advertised by worth of mouth.

Yeah after people actually played it. People will pick up XIV regardless of the negative press surrounding it and if it's actually a good game by then "shocker" they will spread the word. I've said it time and again if the game actually lives up to it's rebirth it has nothing to fear from it's poor initial reception.

[darkstarpoet1]

WoW was first picked up by WC3 fans and then word of mouth
FFXI was first picked up by FF fans and then word of mouth. It also had -really- good reviews
FFXIV was picked up by FFXI and FF Fans and failed, then gained a reputation for being a failure in the MMO community.

If your right though and SE needs to attract new players who havent heard of the failure and don't do research they should seriously just make skanky outfits and put lots of cute things in the game and then have commercials with cute or hot girls. Thats how F2P MMOs do it and it works.

Edit: also i liked the game at release. I think it was a much better game than it is now. When they changed the SP system and everything became coblyns and leves the game seemed to die. Before that you could fight a whole variety of stuff and there were all-day-long parties going on

while this true to an extent about post sp change you also must consider the amount of active people the game had then also. if you can find 2 or 3 people willing to do something now you could easily get 15 people to do it then. if you have less players in game you will have less people willing to do the same thing.

basically the law of averages. if 1 of 1000 people are willing to do something and you have 500k people in game you have 500 people doing that over the total servers. if you have 30k people playing only 30 people over the entire server base is willing to do that.

granted the sp change did hurt it was not the only deciding factor. it's also not as easy to get leve parties together unless you have a static crew you have been doing them with for a while due to the lack of players in the servers.

[Nero]

lol.. dont get me wrong guys. But watching American people talking about correct english grammar is kind of funny.

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000193.htm

Just messing with you guys.

Back to Topic...

Why you guys dont just chill and enjoy the Game? Look forward the Update which will come "during" Summer. Let SE do their work and support them, not bitch at them for beeing slow. Speeding up work dont really mean that it will be good. I prefer correct working which may take a little longer, but afterwards i can be thankfull for some good Stuff. Of course SE shouldnt have rushed the Game to be released, but that happnd and now its on the new Team to get things right and i totally support them.

[Chezen]

I have to disagree with a good deal of your post.

-When the game first came out, they sabotaged its reputation with the poor communication about the surplus system alienating huge numbers of potential players.

The surplus system would not have saved this game's reputation. It wouldn't have mattered.

-Many 'ideas' have been mentioned and then completely disappeared (ex. hamlet battles, active ecosystems)

This is nothing new and happens in mmos. With the changes in the dev team, it would be prudent to expect it to happen. It also doesn't mean those ideas won't come up later.

-Many updates have been translated incorrectly or have said different things...

I can't speak for the other languages, but nothing vital has ever been mistranslated in this one. Even the infamous "until summer" was not a mistranslation, but rather a literal translation. What the translators do most of the time is add little English idioms, which again is not mistranslation, it's (oh the irony) PR.

-Many updates seem to have been "filler" and created a lot of optimism that ended in disappointment.

I haven't seen an update that didn't do exactly what it promised.

-Many updates have come months ahead of the actual implementation, which creates the impression that SE is just writing out BS on lodestone to appease people without actually coming up with substance...

When FFXIV failed, players asked for SE to keep them posted. Certain people even demand it. SE is, again ironically, only doing what the players asked. People who can never be happy with the updates, or are poor in reading comprehension, spread the BS.

-Patches are released with almost no desired updates. When you release a patch (like 1.17b) all you are doing is fueling negative thoughts about the game. I would say this forum proves that point -very- well.

Patches are released as they are ready. People grumble in the forums with or without help anyway. Even if it was a "desired" patch, there would probably be someone complaining about something in it.

-No communication about PS3 is a serious issue. While its understandable that they won't know until the game is "better", the longer it is put off the more outdated FFXIV becomes. Right now FFXIV has horrible ratings on most sites and is considered to be a failure or a joke to many ff fans and on many MMO websites. Nothing has been done to counter this.

Nothing is done to counter it because there is nothing to counter it with. FFXIV is hardly outdated yet either, but even if it were, no matter how you beat the horse, it can only move so fast. The battel system must e finished before any other major changes can take place. Once that is done, I believe we will see the other changes come relatively quickly.

-The downloading system for patches still doesn't work properly or well, even if you open up ports.

I have never had an issue. I'm not saying others haven't, but I haven't seen evidence that it is any more widespread than any other mmo. Of course it needs fixed for those having problems, but not before the game itself.

-In game systems (like sidequests) have been rushed through and make the game seem cheap to new players...

What new players? There might be a few, but the quests were rushed more for current players than new players. Quite a few of us enjoyed them too. In time, I have no doubt they will be adding cutscenes to them, as the screen already blacks out for no reason when you talk to the NPC. At which time, I imagine new players will enjoy them as well.

-there are a bunch of half-completed and incorrect databases. A good PR department would make sure there is at least one -good- database. Even free MMOs have good databases.

It's a bit tough to make good databases when half of what's there may or may not be changing. I see no reason to waste that time.

-Grid and Limsa cities are dead making the game look empty to new players. Who wants to play an MMO when they only see like 3-4 people at all times in their starting city? Even free to play MMOs that -suck- have more than that. SE should be finding ways to spread the population out, but instead all their efforts seem to make players go to ul'dah

Um, for all intents and purposes, the game is dead. Also, although it can't be confirmed, it appears the grand companies will help spread the population.

There are many more of these. But the simple point is that SE has failed in almost all aspects other than their original website, to make this game appealing or impressive to new and current players.

With this track record, do you really think they will be able to pull off a re-launch? Especially when the game is old AND has some of the worst MMO reviews out there?

There are a lot of small simple ways to make this game seem better, build a better community, and make players and potential players more optimistic. However, the current team seems to be ignoring all these opportunities. Fixing the game will only fix it for those currently playing. To truly save the game SE will need to step up and make people want to play.

The bottom line is, SE can't entice new players until the game is fixed. When they get do, I have absolutely no doubt the game reviewers will re-review the game again. Obviously it is crucial that the game get a good review then. And yes, I think people will come back. The better question is, do you really think the average player would want to come back to the game now? There is no point in creating any marketing hype or PR right now. Even as much as I love this game, I understand this.

SE has to make a game people want to play, not make people want to play. The only thing that would happen if SE hyped this game prematurely (again) is fail this game for good. However, when the big changes are made, and if the game is good, word will spread quickly, and people will play. Final Fantasy can do this because of it's reputation. No other mmo would get such a second chance.

tl;dr I believe much of what you suggest would kill the game completely, not help it.

[Azurymber]

I have to disagree with a good deal of your post.



The surplus system would not have saved this game's reputation. It wouldn't have mattered.



This is nothing new and happens in mmos. With the changes in the dev team, it would be prudent to expect it to happen. It also doesn't mean those ideas won't come up later.



I can't speak for the other languages, but nothing vital has ever been mistranslated in this one. Even the infamous "until summer" was not a mistranslation, but rather a literal translation. What the translators do most of the time is add little English idioms, which again is not mistranslation, it's (oh the irony) PR.



I haven't seen an update that didn't do exactly what it promised.



When FFXIV failed, players asked for SE to keep them posted. Certain people even demand it. SE is, again ironically, only doing what the players asked. People who can never be happy with the updates, or are poor in reading comprehension, spread the BS.



Patches are released as they are ready. People grumble in the forums with or without help anyway. Even if it was a "desired" patch, there would probably be someone complaining about something in it.




Nothing is done to counter it because there is nothing to counter it with. FFXIV is hardly outdated yet either, but even if it were, no matter how you beat the horse, it can only move so fast. The battel system must e finished before any other major changes can take place. Once that is done, I believe we will see the other changes come relatively quickly.



I have never had an issue. I'm not saying others haven't, but I haven't seen evidence that it is any more widespread than any other mmo. Of course it needs fixed for those having problems, but not before the game itself.



What new players? There might be a few, but the quests were rushed more for current players than new players. Quite a few of us enjoyed them too. In time, I have no doubt they will be adding cutscenes to them, as the screen already blacks out for no reason when you talk to the NPC. At which time, I imagine new players will enjoy them as well.



It's a bit tough to make good databases when half of what's there may or may not be changing. I see no reason to waste that time.



Um, for all intents and purposes, the game is dead. Also, although it can't be confirmed, it appears the grand companies will help spread the population.



The bottom line is, SE can't entice new players until the game is fixed. When they get do, I have absolutely no doubt the game reviewers will re-review the game again. Obviously it is crucial that the game get a good review then. And yes, I think people will come back. The better question is, do you really think the average player would want to come back to the game now? There is no point in creating any marketing hype or PR right now. Even as much as I love this game, I understand this.

SE has to make a game people want to play, not make people want to play. The only thing that would happen if SE hyped this game prematurely (again) is fail this game for good. However, when the big changes are made, and if the game is good, word will spread quickly, and people will play. Final Fantasy can do this because of it's reputation. No other mmo would get such a second chance.

tl;dr I believe much of what you suggest would kill the game completely, not help it.

First, while you seem to counter a lot of points i made, a number of people have posted they agree with almost everything. Further almost every point i made has also had various threads made about it. Thus other people do not seem to share you're incredible optimism (although i honestly think your trolling)
I don't really know how you can deny that the surplus issue created a lot of hate for the game ...
The impending doom thing way back in january? was mistranslated and everyone was speculating about it since it said things in diff languages
If this update did exactly what it promised and if people just normally grumble than this game will definately fail since there wasn't just 1 small grumbling thread but a ton of hate and joke threads about it. Thats the whole point, SE should be pleasing players, not annoying them
If the game is "dead" then no ones going to sign up for a dead game in the future.

And this thread is not about getting new players to join now
it is about KEEPING FFXIVS REPUTATION SOMEWHAT HALF DECENT so that in the future when they want to get new players they can.

Fixing a game, and alienating the entire customer base in the process except for a few optimistic people like you will ruin the game. Again i'll use a real life example. Its like Toyota ignoring all safety issues, not fixing any of their cars properly, and using the argument "well we will just fix the problems in the new cars and then advertise to new people". When you apply that logic to -any- real life product it sounds ridiculous. But a few of you seem to keep applying it to this game.
So i'll ask the obvious question: Name one product that has failed, pissed off or alienated all its current customers, and then fixed things and rebounded a year later lets say.
If you can't name one, what makes you think SE is so special?

[Jynx]

Schniders killed people with tainted meat, a few weeks leater it's like it never happened. Tons of companies screw up and get away with little less than "Oops my bad" even if it resulted in the deaths of people.

SE burning a few "trust me the current playerbase is few" players pales in comparison if you feel the need to toss realworld analogues at a digital product. If you want to go into the digital realm...How many people still use Sony or even Microsoft after the snafu of multiple terrible software and hardware issues.

Xbox360 still continues to sell millions of units despite then flat out denying the RROD for 3 years and then just saying "well ok you got us, but we are in the process of extending the waranty so all those class action lawsuits don't murder us" Or Sony when people found Spyware in there basic music software "Rootkits anyone?"

Face it PR blunders are never as bad as you make them out to be, hell wasn't it Honda who had a bunch of cares that needed to be recalled for faulty breaks that could have pottentialy killed people? Guess they dissapeared into the oblivion, hell Honda did little to apease the people who bought the damn cars other than replacing it with a working one.