If the servers are down for a while will people come back?

[Neptune]

I'll be standing next to you TonyMontana in your white suit of armor.

[Black_Rose]

if it's a matter of a week or 2~3 i don't think people will run of to the next possible mmo just because they don't know what else to do.
i think everyone that has some obsession in a way with games has one or two games besides FFXIV that he/she likes to play from time to time.
even i do enjoy other games from time to time, for example MvC3 or TDU2 currently.
some others may take this opportunity to make the switch now and focus on another mmo untill FFXIV has the level of gaming experience they've been looking forward to when purchasing the game.

i guess it won't effect the game at all if it's a matter of a few weeks, but it can change if it's a matter of months, which i highly doubt (or let's say hope/pray) for.
if it really comes down to the worst and the game won't be up for months people will surely go on and find a new place perhaps.
there are enough ppl that check by from time to time to see the changes that are done to the game, but every game has it's timeline, and the longer it will take to improve, the quicker ppl will forget about it.

anyways, FFXIV will allways have a decent gamerbase that won't leave the game behind, no matter what (like i do), but a mmo surely is more enjoyable if there are more ppl around to play with, so let's hope things will turn out for the best in japan, and the servers will be back-up next week.

[Jedgar]

Does it truly matter if people will come back or not? Is it going to interrupt your game play if people who were on the fence go out an play Rift or some other MMO instead of FFXIV? Those who come back, and yes people will come back are those who want to play the game now, even in the state that it is in. Those who choose to stay away will do so because the state of the game now is not what they want in an MMO, not because the servers were shut down due to a national emergency.

[Zenkill]

I'm happy to see that they've shut down. I was concerned that most companies would not tend to the needs of their country. Even though they were asked to shut down to preserve energy, I'm glad they did. Though if they placed some servers in the UK or US it would not been an issue. Personally I'd like to continue service with them as long as they continue to listen to what their players want, heck, if they said they were going to shut down for a month to improve the game I'd be fine with it.

[Zkieve]

if there was a mmo right now out there that i would like i would leave without looking back .
Fortunatly theres nothin i like out atm for my mmo time. Maybe tera or guildwars 2 will take me away from ffxiv, if it does not get exponentially better.
Currently im repeating the same thins for around 3 months , so im pretty bored most of the time.Only have a bit of fun when doing nms , but thats about it.
Why i still play? becouse of my friends.But the game sucks atm.

[TonyMontana]

First of all, for now they talked about a week. We don't know how the outtage will last, and bandaging your head before it's broken does no good.

The percentage of people that play ONLY MMORPGs is actually quite small. Most people have several ways of gaming entertainment, and many majorly awaited non-mmorpg games have been released or are being released in this period: Dragon Age 2, Shogun 2, Yakuza 3 and so forth.

So no, it's not going to hurt the game in any sizable way. As much as, considering the trends behind your posts, looks like you'd enjoy the perspective.

I will most likely be back. Kind of depends on if the wife comes back or not, I dont really enjoy the game nearly as much without her playing it.

You forgot to answer my question about the hundreds of thousands of people who quit the game prior to the earthquake.

[TonyMontana]

I'll be standing next to you TonyMontana in your white suit of armor.

Thank you! Can I just wear a white tux from the 70s instead, we can still label me as a troll or whiteknight or fanboi or whatever I just wanna wear a tux instead the armor kind of makes me sweat!

[Abriael]

I will most likely be back. Kind of depends on if the wife comes back or not, I dont really enjoy the game nearly as much without her playing it.

You forgot to answer my question about the hundreds of thousands of people who quit the game prior to the earthquake.

I didn't because I didn't notice it, and even if I did, it doesn't really pertain this thread.

But I will humor your question
Those people's attitude towards the game has nothing to do with the current events. Those that quit with the intention of not looking back won't come back even if the servers were up. Those that quit with the intention of keeping a look on the game and coming back when their gripes are fixed or adressed, will do so when such gripes are fixed or adressed.

There's absolutely no reason for the servers staying up for this coming week to have any effects on those already determined attitudes. They already took a decision, and will probably stick to it.
People that will change their mind (either because expectations of improvements might not be fullfilled, or expectations of lack of improvement might bring surprise if improvement does happen). Will do so regardless of a week of outtage.

FFXIV has two possible major events in it's future to bring back people that quit and bring in new players. The release of the PS3 version (that not only will bring many new players, but will also bring back a lot of those that mean to play the game on PC, that, if the game will have improved considerably, will probably have their curiosity piqued by the reviews of the PS3 release and by the buzz between the new players), and a possible release on steam with a sizable amount of publicity and discount. That worked extremely well for FFXI.

In this FFXIV has for sure a large advantage over the many other games that had a bad start. Second chances, in this market, are pretty much precious. Hopefully SE will take proper advantage of them, and at the moment there's no signal to believe that they won't do all they can to.

[MagicofGaia]

This is of no fault but the elements.. or godzilla, idk. People will come back. It can't be held against SE. They're just trying to cooperate with the local power issues.

[Chromeo_El_Lobo]

Yes. They will still come back.