Make FFXIV more like FFXI and less like WoW

[Tiggy]

There is a funny thing about subjective statements. They are opinions. Seems like a lot of people in this thread just want to argue opinions.

When it comes down to it though any company trying to make money on MMOs has a business imperative to make the game as accessible to as many people as possible and friendly to as many new players as possible. FFXI did not achieve those two goals what-so-ever, and that is the primary reason it never had a million subscribers. That style of MMO is dead, and for very good reasons. The fact FFXI is the most profitable game Square ever made doesn't change the fact that had it been easier to get into they would have made even more money. I have well over a dozen friends who I failed to convince to play past the free month simply because the game was so difficult to learn and slowly paced. I can't remember what the cost of the sub was, but lets assume 14 a month. If those 12 friends of mine had been able to learn the game more easily that's an extra 168 bucks a month they were loosing. Square understands this math which is why they've made the choices they have. Which MMO will be the most successful in retaining long term subs certainly remains to be seen, but constantly fostering a new and growing player base is a key part of the equation. While FFXI certainly had its good points it had many issues that prevented a steady stream of new players to the game. In my humble opinion they made the right choice by avoiding many of FFXI's pitfalls. I'm eager to see what kind of new content they can develop to keep me interested in the long term.