Reminder On What Was Actually Said Regarding PS3 Support After 3.0

[Greydor]

They would be dumb to keep up with PS3 support. It's holding so many things back in the game.

Only subtle things to my knowledge have ever distinctly been called out as a PS3 limitation, TP specifically. One can't say definitively that it's holding us back, when we don't know what's in store for the future. Most of the reason I posted this was for comments like this. There's just too many unknowns, and not a whole lot has been said about it. PS3 may not hold 4.0+ back for all we know - it's just pure speculation.

EDIT: I'm not defending PS3, I'm just trying to be a voice of reason.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

You underestimate poverty.

In that case, people probably have bigger things to worry about than a TV or upgrading game consoles.

[Klamor]

Only subtle things to my knowledge have ever distinctly been called out as a PS3 limitation, TP specifically. One can't say definitively that it's holding us back, when we don't know what's in store for the future. Most of the reason I posted this was for comments like this. There's just too many unknowns, and not a whole lot has been said about it. PS3 may not hold 4.0+ back for all we know - it's just pure speculation.

If PS3 support is maintained for 4.0 and beyond then we can basically guarantee that ain't shit gonna change in the game. That fact right there promises the PS3 won't hold us back any further than it already is. We can't have open world anything because of PS3. If people haven't upgraded from a PS3 at this point, then perhaps they need to reevaluate their priorities with where their money is going. Sorry, not sorry, that your decade old tech can't keep up with the times. It's not supposed to. Your equipment has outlived its intended purpose, and keeping a machine on life support just so you can enjoy your 30FPS 720p is disgusting. 8K is right around the corner.

Yoshi said it. They'll support it for as long as people are playing on it. Sounds like we need to direct the irritation that the game is still designed for toasters not at the developers any longer, but instead at the ones we find still using the toasters. Hell, you can get a pretty decent laptop for the same price as a PS4 that's got twice the computational power. Exactly zero excuse why, by this time, you couldn't have set your allowance aside and have saved enough for that upgrade.

inb4 all the delicious tears of toaster-wielders!

[ZhaneX]

In that case, people probably have bigger things to worry about than a TV or upgrading game consoles.

Or keeping up a subscription to an MMORPG.

[MomomiMomi]

In that case, people probably have bigger things to worry about than a TV or upgrading game consoles.

Worrying about things isn't going to change anything. Or are you suggesting that people who don't have much money shouldn't be able to enjoy things?

[Chessala]

While I am all for dropping PS3 support, unfortunately Japan can be a slow changing country and the PS4 pretty much flopped there. I am bettering they are holding their breath to see how the PS4 PRO does before they make a decision.

As for money, 2 years ago I struggled to upgrade my 5 years old laptop and had to take a loan that I am still paying back. Unfortunately, hardware gets outdated and replacing it can be a real issue if you can just about cover your bills, food and some small extras (like an FFXIV sub). So I don't like to ride the "gosh, just UPGRADE" train. However, when the time comes when I actively can't play a game properly anymore with my outdated hardware, I either bite the bullet and upgrade or simply do not play that game.

However, PS4s are getting seriously cheap. We recently had an offer in one of our huge media store chains offering 2 PS4s for 300€. Group up with someone and it's 150€ + a new set of FFXIV games, which are constantly on sale as well. If you can't get that amount of money in the next year until the expansion (with things getting even cheaper), I REALLY think keeping an MMO sub should be the least of your worries.

[Klamor]

Worrying about things isn't going to change anything. Or are you suggesting that people who don't have much money shouldn't be able to enjoy things?

When I was growing up broke AF, I enjoyed a great many things that didn't involve funneling money into something I couldn't afford. It wasn't until I was out of high school for a few years that I was able to afford my first computer. It was a Dell E1505 with a whopping 512MB RAM. We all have our own humble beginnings, but people don't need to enjoy things they can't truly afford simply because they exist. Sometimes you have to do that thing called adult. If we're talking about kids here, then where are the parents?

[Jas710]

Drop the PS3, pick up the Xbox One, and move onward. Whatever amount of leftover PS3 players there are right now, sorry but we are almost into 2017. It's seriously time for them to either upgrade or say sayonara.

[worldofneil]

Sorry, not sorry, that your decade old tech can't keep up with the times. It's not supposed to. Your equipment has outlived its intended purpose, and keeping a machine on life support just so you can enjoy your 30FPS 720p is disgusting.

Except that FF XIV on the PS3 is "keeping up" just fine (as the game is now). Sure it struggles when there's things with lots of players (like hunts), but as long as the game supports it, they don't have much of a problem/reason to have to upgrade.

I play on PC myself and although I've added a PS3 licence to my account, it just felt so clunky I've never played more than about 5 minutes on it so I don't really know how people can play on it... but for those players that are, if they're "happy" with how it performs, if they don't really have a reason to upgrade and it's going to be less of a concern to them.

If/when SE drop support for PS3 with one of the expansions (be it 4.0 or 5.0) then then that'll give those players a reason to consider upgrading, but I don't expect massive changes over night either as it's likely that 2.0 and 3.0 would still be supported for years (based on how SE handled PS2 support for XI)

[LineageRazor]

When I was growing up broke AF, I enjoyed a great many things that didn't involve funneling money into something I couldn't afford. It wasn't until I was out of high school for a few years that I was able to afford my first computer. It was a Dell E1505 with a whopping 512MB RAM. We all have our own humble beginnings, but people don't need to enjoy things they can't truly afford simply because they exist. Sometimes you have to do that thing called adult. If we're talking about kids here, then where are the parents?

There was a guy I knew in my FFXI days who confided in me once. He told me that he'd made some poor life decisions early on, and was now in a situation in which he needed to work two menial jobs just to stay solvent, with no real prospects he could see to get himself out of the hole he'd dug himself into. He had a limited amount of money to spend each month on recreation - and what he really loved doing was playing FFXI.

Is that truly a childish attitude to have? Maybe. I don't know. Regardless, it's just one example of an individual who would need to think long and hard before investing in an upgrade. I'd imagine there are plenty of folks who'd get that thousand-yard stare once the announcement came out that they'd need to shell out a couple hundred bucks or stop playing.

It's also important to realize that a lot of folks DON'T have their own humble beginnings. A strong portion of the playerbase comes from middle- and upper-class individuals who never really wanted for anything. I'm one such individual; while my family was not rich by any means, we never had to deal with crushing debt or anything along those lines. I try to stay cognizant of just how incredibly lucky I am not to have had to deal with those kinds of problems, and never just assume that "a few hundred bucks" should be a small price to pay for something.

One factor to consider, too, is that if individuals have the means to easily upgrade to PS4, they probably would. I played on PS3 for a while, and it was, indeed, pretty miserable. Load times were awful, FATE monsters were invisible and untargetable, and larger monsters moved like old-time stop-motion animation - it was such a breath of fresh air when I moved to PS4! SE doubtless has the means to detect how many players are still playing on PS3, and my guess is that the bulk of those individuals are folks who are either reluctant to or outright can't afford to upgrade. SE has a pretty good idea of just how many subs they will lose, and until the balance of subs lost vs PS3 development costs swings in their favor, nothing will change.