Let's be honest about the future of FFXIV

[Shai]

I will get that douche trophy.
You think I won't but I will. I so will, you don't even know!

I think you're a bit far behind.
Most of your threads are relevant to the OT.

You gotta start interjecting random crap into EVERY thread like ...

tl;dr gg
or...
gtfo /10char

You know, the stuff that some moderator should really throw away before the thread goes Red & Shiny with the superfluous crapping on people that goes on around here. You seem to think about what you're going to say before starting to type.

[MrLion]

Ignore the lion.

Why? Because I'm telling the truth just like all my other posts?

[Keramory]

I don't think anyone can take a person seriously when they pay $80 dollars for a cardboard box.

[Tinydog]

i play because its free and if its for free then its for me!!

[Abriael]

Alright, as a die-hard FF fan (like i paid 80$ for the card board box that FF1 for the NES came in) I felt it was my duty to bring this situation and current state of this game to the light.

Your post demonstrates the most complete lack of knowledge about marketing, game development, online communities and anything related to that, including the state of this game in particular. It's delirious at best, malicious at worst.

Due to that, I'm afraid you really have no place bringing anything "to the light". Can't bring "to the light" what you clearly have no idea about.

They don't need to shut down anything to relaunch the game. It's called PS3 release, combined with an affordable re-release of the PC version on steam. That's all there's to it. The rest is science fiction and a wall of text full of nothing.

Oh, and by the way, don't worry about SE's financial situation. Contrary to what some rather ignorant people believe, eating a couple years in the red doesn't equate with being in financial trouble. SE has more cash under it's belt than most other publishers out there.

I'll give you a hint: They don't need your advice. Given that you spent 80 bucks for a cardboard box, I'd argue that the one needing some serious money-related advice is you.

[Dreamer]

While I realize that I'm not in the majority, I can honestly say that I would pay for a subscription for the game in its current state.

My thoughts on several points made by the OP:

• I don't think the UI needs to be completely revamped. I think it needs to be polished and streamlined, and even there it's mainly just the inventory that needs to be reworked. I think the main screen UI that you see most of the time is fantastic.
• 500,000 US dollars is more than enough to justify a game existence if the game's infrastructure and personnel costs are less than that.
• Regional servers are unnecessary, once they finish reworking the UI so that more is done clientside.
• Content is coming. We're seeing more and more with every patch.
• Shutting down and wiping would remove 90% of the existing playerbase. Yoshi is very likely aware of this, and is probably one of the reasons he has said he will NEVER do this.

While I wouldn't think to call the game successful yet, it's slowly getting there. I've been unhappy with a lot of the decisions made so far (oh auto-attack, how I despise thee; let me count the ways...), the game overall is still one that I enjoy.

[Platinumstorm]

When the game launched and I saw what state it really is in, I estimated June 2012 before the game would be ready. This seems to be an okay prediction so far, and I do believe the game can succeed.

My primary concern is the clash between old FFXI style players who want only grouping, long leveling times, and things many players now only view as masochistic and a way to hinder progression, vs the new style players who want things to be accessible.

To gain subscribers FFXIV developers must go with the latter, but I hope they put their own flavor on it.

I've wanted to make a lot of constructive posts on the forums since 1.19, but I've honestly been scared off by the hostile forum community because I don't think they're terrible open to ideas that aren't related to FF11. I just read a thread recently where someone shouted at another player in big bold red font to "leave already" after he spoke about not wanting FFXIV to become more similar to FFXI.

Primary concerns are as follows - and I'm not going to extrapolate fully on this because I have in the past, and I hope my voice was heard:
#1. Account and billing system
#2. Netcode allowing for engaging fights - aka removing animation lag
#3. Interesting mechanics for skills, and interesting visuals
#4. UI overhaul - remove the lag that remains and add PC functionality [ties in with #2]
#5. Redo the entire world and storyline; quests need to be engaging, players need to feel rewarded, environments need to be amazing with great and varied music, and content immersive at all level ranges. The story needs to be fleshed out and players should be able to engage in the story very often.
#6. Find the correct EXP balance - we've had "maybe you'll get exp", very slow, O.K. if you do a repetitive task, then slower, then too fast. The correct EXP balance is what allows players the chance to experience the content in their level range several times without getting bored. When the content is exhausted the player should be able to move on without feeling slowed down by repetition.
#7. Fixing the economy; gil sinks are not going to reverse the economy's over saturation of gil. People who think this patch solved the economy issues are not examining the economy correct.
#8. Making the crafting process engaging - [tetramaster minigame where equipment modifies a luck stat would be great]
#9. Add diversity to fieldcraft node locations and make a more immersive game
#10. Develop a loot system that works
#11. Add classes players can easily relate to
#12. Scrap the load-heavy and information dry flash website in favor of a site that actually informs players about the game and helps them attach to a character of their choosing.
#13. Add Summoners :P
#14. Tetramaster for fun and trade
#15. Increase retainer bazaar slots, fix the market wards, allow players to rent stalls, make the market wards longer and organizer the retainers, add a buying system for the retainers that allows items to be purchased that players do not have, and allow players to teleport directly to a retainer from the item search screen, show HQ items in the item search function
#16. More things than I can list

I think it's doable, the big question is will Square pull the trigger before the game's ready. I hope not; and so far they don't seem to be indicating that they are.

[Misteyes]

Here's an alternative perspective.

Yes, this game is a losing venture for them. They are pouring good money after bad into a product that will probably never break even. Is it because they love the game? The devs, I'm sure, do. Nobody gets into the game industry wanting to just make money (companies like Zynga are the exception), but they don't hold the money. The executives and shareholders do, and they do have the power to pull the plug.

So why don't they?

SE has a lot of money. If they didn't think they could afford to keep the servers up and pay the dev team for as long as the game needs in order to fix it up, they probably wouldn't have even started to do so.

Pulling the plug on the servers means that the game will be known as a failure. Will it affect sales of the next singleplayer FF game? Probably not. Will it affect sales if, six years down the line, FFXVII is decided to be an MMO? Hell yes.

On the other hand, if they fix this game up so that it can at least capture a niche market (the size of Rift or EVE), then when they launch their next MMO, they'll be able to point at this one and say, "It's like that, but with [good design goal] and [other good design goal] in mind from the start instead of patched in later."

Money spent here makes sure that they'll have a chance to make their next FFMMO.

[Chardrizard]

Nice, another financial advisor. Very fortunate for SE.

[TonyMontana]

[Removed by Moderator according to the FINAL FANTASY XIV FORUM Guidelines.]

You go girl!