Quote Originally Posted by AmyRae View Post
I won't answer all 6 questions, but I will comment on your self-response.

FFXIV couldn't make enough money in its launched state. Option A would have been to cut the losses and let FFXIV die a dishonorable death. Option B would be to give it one last chance with a revamp that was good enough to haul in a substantial PS3 crowd.

They chose Option B.

But Option B is going to take time. It took them 5 years to make FFXIV in the first place. A "rebooted" FFXIV was certainly going to require more time than a couple of weeks or even months to get right.

Comparing the rate of patches to what they produce in a game like Rift is not a fair comparison. Rift doesn't have to remake itself from the ground up. Their initial formula was successful enough that all they have to do is build upon it or make minor tweaks.

FFXIV is still working on the fundamentals of player combat, progression, balance, as well as further expanding on the world with new content. The workload is substantially greater; the development concerns go deep into the roots of the game. They have to repair the foundations of the game while still building on top of it (and with no margin for error... they screw this up, it's over).

You don't pay a subscription for this game for a reason. It's not worth subscribing to and they know it. If you can't accept that the game is deeply under construction, you're perfectly within your rights to pick up something else you'd enjoy better. That said, I don't know what it is the development team could do better to improve upon a money-losing game any better than they've been trying to. There's no guarantee of success, but it's a bold attempt, and hopefully one worth watching to its conclusion.
This is my view. It may differ from yours.