Would you be upset if the game went offline?

[Soukyuu]

edit: Wait till 1.18 then complain.

"Wait until beta, then complain"
"Wait until release, then complain"
"Wait until march, then complain"
"Wait until 1.18, then complain"
"Wait until the PS3 version, then complain"
"Wait until" ... should I continue?

Seriously, I'm tired of waiting. I've been on the "other" side, supporting SE because I believed they could make it, but after almost a year later they've made less progress than they made from alpha to beta! (Note that I'm not denying they did make progress)

I paid money for a beta-in-a-box and I was expecting it. But I was also expecting SE to get off their asses and make significant progress after that. Instead we are still waiting and I'm slowly becoming quite bitter about it, especially hearing their excuses(?) lately about why something can not be implemented.

To answer OP's question, taking down servers would save them money and woudn't change anything for me. I guess it wouldn't do good for their reputation though.

I'm giving them time until September 22nd. If the game won't be in a better state until then, I'll be leaving.
And I doubt I will be inclined to ever touch anything SE ever again. Clarification: anything MMO/PC related.

Give every purchaser of FFXIV a choice:

1. Start paying a subscription fee as of 1.20. Servers will be merged as necessary, PS3 release might never come. Work on FFXIV slows as it is handed over to a skeleton team.
2. Cancel your FFXIV account and get a voucher for S-E's next MMO, for price of purchase and 6 months comped gameplay. The ~200 people working on FFXIV now get put to work on this new game, which is called just Final Fantasy Online, to come out in 24 months. S-E decides in the next 3 months whether Crystal Tools can be salvaged or whether to license a functional engine like Frostbite.
3. Cancel your FFXIV account and get your money back for both the initial purchase and any Crysta you bought.

Everyone gets to choose. [...]
Won't happen.

But that's what they should do.

I agree. Both with your proposal and that it won't happen.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

"Wait until beta, then complain"
"Wait until release, then complain"
"Wait until march, then complain"
"Wait until 1.18, then complain"
"Wait until the PS3 version, then complain"
"Wait until" ... should I continue?

Seriously, I'm tired of waiting. I've been on the "other" side, supporting SE because I believed they could make it, but after almost a year later they've made less progress than they made from alpha to beta! (Note that I'm not denying they did make progress)

I paid money for a beta-in-a-box and I was expecting it. But I was also expecting SE to get off their asses and make significant progress after that. Instead we are still waiting and I'm slowly becoming quite bitter about it, especially hearing their excuses(?) lately about why something can not be implemented.

To answer OP's question, taking down servers would save them money and woudn't change anything for me. I guess it wouldn't do good for their reputation though.

I'm giving them time until September 22nd. If the game won't be in a better state until then, I'll be leaving.
And I doubt I will be inclined to ever touch anything SE ever again.


I agree. Both with your proposal and that it won't happen.

I, too, am tired.

I'm also betting your post will be removed as a violation of forum guidelines.

But mostly... I dunno. Your bit about not touching anything SE ever again is kinda harsh. Dragon Quest is still really good. Oh, and "Fortune Street" coming out on the Wii later this year is really really good too; I played the original on the DS when it was called Itadaki Street, you're seriously doing yourself a disservice if you pass that one up. (Oh man I sound like a Yuji Horii fanboy here.)

I've been playing FFXIV since alpha, so over a year now. I know things are going to go slowly, and I'm optimistic that things are changing, but if any of the mods or devs are reading this it is very hard to stay optimistic when you don't know where things are going. We're getting a lot of promises for little things, like auto-attack or jobs or dungeons, but those are all just parts of a whole: what is the whole supposed to look like in the end? Don't show me a bunch of pieces of wood and expect me to know what you're making: tell me you're making a cabinet and I'll take for granite that you know what you're doing.

[Soukyuu]

I'm also betting your post will be removed as a violation of forum guidelines.

That would only mean I'm right though, so they better don't.

About the "not touching anything SE", I guess I should have said "nothing SE on the PC". I don't know how they fared with other PC games, but seeing how they handle FFXIV (and from what I heard, FFXI in it's early stages), I surely won't touch any MMO SE might release.

I've been here since Alpha too. Back in those days (almost) everyone still believed this game would succeed... and people were exploring everything together, with servers actually being alive and people talking. I miss that.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

That would only mean I'm right though, so they better don't.

About the "not touching anything SE", I guess I should have said "nothing SE on the PC". I don't know how they fared with other PC games, but seeing how they handle FFXIV (and from what I heard, FFXI in it's early stages), I surely won't touch any MMO SE might release.

I've been here since Alpha too. Back in those days (almost) everyone still believed this game would succeed... and people were exploring everything together, with servers actually being alive and people talking. I miss that.

Ah, the good old days of "well this is just an alpha/beta, they're just holding back for the beta/release." How innocent we were in those halcyon days!