The people who expect too much from a monthly subscription kill this game

[Elvin]

I don't usually count "content" in hours, but in quality.

Hunts, for instance, can take hours and hours, but that adds zero value to the game for me. (Of course it might add value for others)

About what can I buy with 10-15$.... well, If I'm not mistaken, a AAA game is usually released for about... 60? so 4-5 months shoud have the same content. But oh, wait. Those patches are not a new game. They add content, so... Shoud we compare the price with a new game? I don't think so. 90% of the graphic assets are the same (And that is what takes most of the money in the development).

An MMO can produce a lot of content per month. In fact they do.


The problem is that they are trying to catter all the audiences, so most people doesn't like most of the content. Of course that's the only way to get a lot of players...


Lately I think that the future of MMOs will come with smaller MMOs with less players and content more cattered to they're kind of audiences. FF XIV might be the last succesfull (At least to some degree) themepark that try to do it all.



But, please, here you are paying about 15$ / mothn plus about 30-40 each 2 years for the game or the expansions. That's about 200/year. I coud preorder 5 Fallout 4 right now with that. And I coud buy more than 10 Skyrims, wich is a more fair comparison, being all FF content done with more or less the same assets, with the same game engine....


There is not a lot of content.

That's why sucessfull MMOs are some kind of MIDAS for the companys. That's why SE went from almost being at bankruptcy to being in a pretty healthy situacion in a short period of time. Because they get an amazing profit with an MMO..... if it works well.

[Miscreant]

snip

You know that the sub supports servers and all of that stuff to right, we're not just paying for updates. I would happily pay more than we do now if we got more content, the sub fee at the moment is negligible it's less than the cost of two-three pints, if you can't afford to afford it you should probably be out finding a job instead of playing games.

[Kurogaea]

I'm struggling to understand the OP. It seems like he is complaining about a lack of meaningful content, while at the same time saying that people complaining about a lack of meaningful content are killing the game?

Nahh, he's just too smart for us.

Lol jking. I think he's trying to say players are being too easily discouraged from this games massive slope to funner content. Like my nephew for instance, he was all like, "Oooh I like how this game looks!" So I had him make an account and bought the game for em. I ran around with him for a bit, and had to leave him to story quests for a bit. About 15 minutes past and he (smart little tike that he is) said when will I be up there with you? And he bailed.

You know what I feel about this game: I feel like the only reason I worked so hard to get where I was, was for my friends so I can keep up and have something to do with them (btw where not actively friends lately) and some other players joined for a challenging MMO experience and some are feeling some sort of way for having their hard worked content nerfed for newer less experienced players. Boohoo. Just record you beating it normally, there, you still triumphed, now go stand on your imaginary throne. -_-

I think as a sign to new players that this game isn't fun is that if the story and gameplay doesn't click or interest you by the time your free trial is up, don't get it. Not for your friends, not because your a fan of the series, but because you shouldn't have to force yourself to play a game. treat yourself better and play something you'll enjoy. "XIV is great social experience" Well you know what else is? Real life, facebook, Cellphone, take your pick. :/

[Stormfur]

I kind of wish that after you went through the main story quests with one character, you could create an alt and not have to go through them again.

[Elvin]

You know that the sub supports servers and all of that stuff to right, we're not just paying for updates. I would happily pay more than we do now if we got more content, the sub fee at the moment is negligible it's less than the cost of two-three pints, if you can't afford to afford it you should probably be out finding a job instead of playing games.

Why do you say such non sense? XD

That argument doesn't make sense. It doesn't matter if its afordable or not. A bread bar for 5$ woud be affordable, but it's a price quite high and doesn't make sense to pay it.


Here, your point was that the subscription fee was very cheap compared to products that have nothing to do with this one. That's not a good comparison.

The subscription fee it's enought to demand content That's pretty clear when you compare the game to other games and their prices.

And players will of course demand content.

And that's not a problem at all, it's simple logic.

[Aethaeryn]

Lets face it as far as most games go, the grind from 1-60 is long, I imagine with a 9-5 or school it would take about 2-4 weeks

I just recently rushed a new character from 1-60 as quickly as I could manage... partially out of curiosity. Skipping all cutscenes (since it's my 4th character and I practically have everything memorized) and leveling lancer to 34 for cross-class bfb, it took me 114 hours (/playtime - I didn't play 114 hours straight). That means it'd take a month if you played 4 hours every day and didn't read anything at all.

It didn't help that I leveled a dps and had queues in excess of 30 minutes for some required 2.x dungeons and trials, so a tank could shave some time off... But yeah, it's a pretty significant time investment for a new player to do 1-60 and join their friends. And most new players are probably gonna want to explore and experience some of the side options like crafting/gathering/gold saucer.

[Risvertasashi]

Nahh, he's just too smart for us.

Lol jking. I think he's trying to say players are being too easily discouraged from this games massive slope to funner content.

That's fair enough. Combined with...:

it took me 114 hours ... But yeah, it's a pretty significant time investment for a new player to do 1-60 and join their friends.And most new players are probably gonna want to explore and experience some of the side options like crafting/gathering/gold saucer.

I think this is why a lot of MMOs these days, as they mature, offer to let new players start at max level (and often with other goodies). I wouldn't be surprised to see FFXIV go this route in time.

OTOH:

I just recently rushed a new character from 1-60 as quickly as I could manage... partially out of curiosity. Skipping all cutscenes (since it's my 4th character and I practically have everything memorized) and leveling lancer to 34 for cross-class bfb, it took me 114 hours (/playtime - I didn't play 114 hours straight). That means it'd take a month if you played 4 hours every day and didn't read anything at all.

For some of us it's more of a "about the journey, not the destination" kind of thing. If a player doesn't care about story and just wants to rush to endgame and raid with friends, they won't like this, but me... If I were just starting now, I'd like having a story that I could log into and work on a bit each day (or however often my schedule allowed). I mean, you don't buy a 60+ hour CRPG expecting to finish it in a sitting or two; just a longer version of that.

Over 114 hours... if you view it as a gate, it's horrible. If you view it as 114+ hours of adventure, on the other hand...

[NovaLevossida]

Apologists are what kill any game, not the ones who voice concerns and criticism or hold developers accountable when they drop the ball.

[Risvertasashi]

Why do you say such non sense? XD

That argument doesn't make sense. It doesn't matter if its afordable or not. A bread bar for 5$ woud be affordable, but it's a price quite high and doesn't make sense to pay it.


Here, your point was that the subscription fee was very cheap compared to products that have nothing to do with this one. That's not a good comparison.

Ok, so here's a relevant comparison: Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, two tickets to the movies will cost you well over $15. If it's an especially longer movie, we'll say that approaches 3 hours of entertainment.

Every patch contains well over that. You (and a date too!) can easily get more than 3 hours of entertainment per month out of FFXIV. Now if there's literally nothing in the game that appeals to you--you hate coil/alex, you hate CT/void ark, you hate the story, you hate chocobo racing, you hate triple triad, you hate pvp, you hate dungeons, you hate hunts, you hate crafting, you hate gathering, you hate gardening, you will hate lord of vermillion, you hate socializing with your FCs/LSs, you hate player run events, you hate...

get the idea?

If there's literally nothing that appeals to you, then by all means, unsub. However, if even 1 of those things appeals to you, you can easily get more than 3 hours per month of entertainment out of it.

In terms of cost efficiency, MMOs are one of the best hobbies to have. I don't know of anything else that gives anywhere close to the same bang for you buck. Provided you actually like them, or at least part of them.

[Zappo]

Final Fantasy games are all about the journey. If your biggest concern is with getting to 60 as fast as possible, you're missing most of the game and some of the best content available in any MMO. The folks behind these games are story tellers, and they throw in some action to keep us interested. Pay attention to the story, and there should be more than enough to keep you interested on the journey to level 60.