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.

[Doo]

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.

Games don't need to appeal to the masses. Sport games, Dark Souls, Minecraft, etc. It gets dumbed down that way.

[Reeth]

Games don't need to appeal to the masses. Sport games, Dark Souls, Minecraft, etc. It gets dumbed down that way.

True, but it's a lot more profitable if they do. Which is why they made FFXIV the way they did.

[Doo]

True, but it's a lot more profitable if they do. Which is why they made FFXIV the way they did.

For sure but the ones that tried to copy all went to f2p model now. Just like McDonald's is not better than In N Out burgers just because they try to appeal to more consumers! Players have different tastes in games, the more players you try to satisfy, the less you actually satisfy. Blizzard is a rare case because they know how to do it.

[Reeth]

For sure but the ones that tried to copy all went to f2p model now. Just like McDonald's is not better than In N Out burgers just because they try to appeal to more consumers!

Oh I agree, One of the biggest reasons is because WoW was king of MMO's for so long that everyone pretty much just started following suit. Granted this game is healthy enough that I doubt it'll go F2P for a while.

[Shadex]

True, but it's a lot more profitable if they do. Which is why they made FFXIV the way they did.

It is hit or miss. Look at Star Citizen. That is going to be a very niche game and they are already rolling in around 30 million dollars almost completely player backed. Now think of all the money they will make once it goes live. There is money out there and money to be had from players not looking for another themepark. The reason Square did what they did is because it was 'safe'. That's all really. They had a huge blunder with 1.0 and were not about to chance another one by doing anything risky. So they went super safe with the Do It Yourself Western MMO Kit. Hey it worked. Good reviews and lots of players. Doesn't mean the game isn't good. It just means the game isn't as good as it could have been.

[Reeth]

It is hit or miss. Look at Star Citizen. That is going to be a very niche game and they are already rolling in around 30 million dollars almost completely player backed. Now think of all the money they will make once it goes live. There is money out there and money to be had from players not looking for another themepark. The reason Square did what they did is because it was 'safe'. That's all really. They had a huge blunder with 1.0 and were not about to chance another one by doing anything risky. .

True, but there have also been pretty Niche games that have tanked. But as you said, making it easy and appealing to the masses was the safest way to go after the 1.0 blunder. I'm ok with the end product that we got. It's not the game I was excited for when I heard they were rebooting it, but it's good enough for the time being that I enjoy playing it.

[Shadex]

True, but there have also been pretty Niche games that have tanked. But as you said, making it easy and appealing to the masses was the safest way to go after the 1.0 blunder. I'm ok with the end product that we got. It's not the game I was excited for when I heard they were rebooting it, but it's good enough for the time being that I enjoy playing it.

Exactly Reeth, perfectly stated. This is absolutely not the game many real FF fans were hoping for. The spiritual FFXI-2 if you will. But it is passable. But passable only keeps people for so long and then bye bye to all those subs and money. You know, we also have to think about mass appeal games that tanked. Looked at the SWtoR debacle. All that money, a sure fire win IP... and *BOOM* (flames). So sometimes it can go either way. But as you said, we will hang here for a bit before we move on.

[Reeth]

Exactly Reeth, perfectly stated. This is absolutely not the game many real FF fans were hoping for. The spiritual FFXI-2 if you will. But it is passable. But passable only keeps people for so long and then bye bye to all those subs and money. You know, we also have to think about mass appeal games that tanked. Looked at the SWtoR debacle. All that money, a sure fire win IP... and *BOOM* (flames). So sometimes it can go either way. But as you said, we will hang here for a bit before we move on.

Thankfully this game has kept me longer than SWTOR, It had a great story, but that was it. But i'm still optimistic that this game will get better, however if its more of the same a few content patches down the road, I may look elsewhere.

[Ahzarhuuk]

Exactly Reeth, perfectly stated. This is absolutely not the game many real FF fans were hoping for. The spiritual FFXI-2 if you will. But it is passable. But passable only keeps people for so long and then bye bye to all those subs and money. You know, we also have to think about mass appeal games that tanked. Looked at the SWtoR debacle. All that money, a sure fire win IP... and *BOOM* (flames). So sometimes it can go either way. But as you said, we will hang here for a bit before we move on.

Having the IP and all of the money means nothing. SWtOR Suffered because of horrendous imbalincing issues that were left unaddressed long enough for it to cause them sub losses, and the fact that they blew most of their budget on their Voice Actors.

That it was associated with Electronic Arts didn't help the Customer Support department at all either.