New Letter from the Producer, XII

[Jericho]

While this is only concept phase right now, we are planning to increase the rank cap for growth once every 1-2 years, and will be implementing elements such as additional classes and jobs in the future.

I'd rather not work hard for 2 year sprints only to have the level cap raised and all the gear I've obtained become useless. And do it all over again.

[Rowyne]

I'd rather not work hard for 2 year sprints only to have the level cap raised and all the gear I've obtained become useless. And do it all over again.

Happens in WoW with every expansion. My bank is full of endgame armor sets that are now obsolete. I keep them for prosperity. :/

I used to really rebel against it. But to be fair, it does let an MMO grow and change, and continue to give us new goals.

[Jericho]

Happens in WoW with every expansion. My bank is full of endgame armor sets that are now obsolete. I keep them for prosperity. :/

I used to really rebel against it. But to be fair, it does let an MMO grow and change, and continue to give us new goals.

I guess playing FFXI as my first MMO screwed me over. I can't wrap my mind around it, and when the raised the level cap it broke my heart. Yes, you all get to hear another sob story. There are memories attached to all that gear, the rewards that come with a challenge. I just don't get it. There isn't anything like it. The fact that rewards for missions were relatively balanced for 6-7 years made me feel like I was playing different pieces of the same game, which made me feel like I wasn't wasting my time. At least until the level cap rose and 8 years became obsolete. Now its a different game. I don't want FFXIV to be a new game every 1-2 years. If I'm going to invest that much time into it, I can't be feeling like I'm wasting that much time.

[Sorel]

I'd rather not work hard for 2 year sprints only to have the level cap raised and all the gear I've obtained become useless. And do it all over again.

If the Development Team does it right, some gear will never become obsolete regardless of what the cap happens to be at the time. RDM Duelist's Armor never made Warlock Armor obsolete, for example.

[Wolfie]

On the other hand, FFXI's endgame got stale really fast because new gear was just sidegrades. And there was some end game content that was obsolete the moment it was released, because the upgrades were minimal and the effort was too great (like sea, COP dynamis, Hydra).

[Ceons]

The Aion one man dungeons are ok at best. I think they get boring really fast. I would have preferred if they had done duo-trio dungeons. At least to play with a friend or two.

Of course there are ones that you 'can' duo or trio but they require very rigid setups (in classes) and then not everyone is welcome. That is a shame.

If SE ever wanted to do solo dungeons, I'd love for them to reconsider to duo/trio dungeons. This is an MMO after all and it can not be that hard to grab 1-2 friends/people to do things with.

[Gicker]

A lot of post to read so forgive jumping to the end here, not so much forum time for me.

It seems like they are planning on giving people what they want.

An upgraded classic ffxi version for the hard cores with some nice additions from other systems released since xi and a more casual game play system for casuals and soloers who might come from games like WoW.

I am looking forward to this myself. I have times when I can play all day and times when I'm lucky to get on a few hours a week. So being able to jump in full blast with real party play and being to to accomplish something in just a few hours will be awesome.

Guys, I have been rather morbid at times about the community. It's been a rocky start not just for the game but for the community. But I am starting to have a lot more faith in people again. I can see people being more reasonable now by and large, or what I perceive as such. I have full faith that both the end product will be what we wanted from the beginning and that SE will get us there, with our vital input along the way. SE may not have a great history with it's players, but what they are showing now has indeed restored at least my faith in the game. And what I'm seeing from the community lately has restored my faith in it's playerbase as well.

And at the end of the day, if I do ever get tired of the rage trolling, all I need to do is log into the game, because in game, things are very friendly and people seem to get along better than almost any other mmo community I've ever seen. Such a stark contrast with the forums sometimes, but c'est la vie. It stands a testimony for us, that no matter how we express our frustrations on the forums, this game will succeed from both a development and community standpoint.

Cheers to you!

[Gicker]

I guess playing FFXI as my first MMO screwed me over. I can't wrap my mind around it, and when the raised the level cap it broke my heart. Yes, you all get to hear another sob story. There are memories attached to all that gear, the rewards that come with a challenge. I just don't get it. There isn't anything like it. The fact that rewards for missions were relatively balanced for 6-7 years made me feel like I was playing different pieces of the same game, which made me feel like I wasn't wasting my time. At least until the level cap rose and 8 years became obsolete. Now its a different game. I don't want FFXIV to be a new game every 1-2 years. If I'm going to invest that much time into it, I can't be feeling like I'm wasting that much time.

8 years didn't become obsolete for the sole fact of what you just said. Because of your memories. At the end of the day that's all a mmo has to offer us. Are you going to look back 20 years from now and say, man I still have the best ffxi end game armor in by guild bank, I rock! or are you going to remember the times you had with your friends getting that armor.

You should be focused on maintaining the glory of those memories and focus on making new enjoyable ones. Right now you are letting a purely objective thing spoil the only thing you have to show for 8 years... good memories.

[Brotech]

I guess playing FFXI as my first MMO screwed me over. I can't wrap my mind around it, and when the raised the level cap it broke my heart. Yes, you all get to hear another sob story. There are memories attached to all that gear, the rewards that come with a challenge. I just don't get it. There isn't anything like it. The fact that rewards for missions were relatively balanced for 6-7 years made me feel like I was playing different pieces of the same game, which made me feel like I wasn't wasting my time. At least until the level cap rose and 8 years became obsolete. Now its a different game. I don't want FFXIV to be a new game every 1-2 years. If I'm going to invest that much time into it, I can't be feeling like I'm wasting that much time.

This is my feeling of it. FFXI's endgame never got stale for me, like it did for Wolfie, the fact that it was all sidegrades, and not Manditory Upgrades that will make you useless if you don't have, meant it was something you could work toward, but not suck if you didn't have...

[Jericho]

On the other hand, FFXI's endgame got stale really fast because new gear was just sidegrades. And there was some end game content that was obsolete the moment it was released, because the upgrades were minimal and the effort was too great (like sea, COP dynamis, Hydra).

I disagree with this. Sea gear did not become obsolete until Abyssea, and most AF2 were useful macro pieces, so the +1 and Acc's from CoP Dynamis were just as useful and nice trophy pieces. I never felt the endgame was stale. It was challenging and emotionally rewarding when they were obtained. Merits were a great idea for character advancement without raising a level cap.