Final Fantasy XIV 1.23b - Would you Play it if Available?

[Alash]

Regardless of these points, people were still given the option of continueing to play on the original servers, and they decided not to.

You keep bringing this up like it means anything. People do not continue to play MMOs when they've exhausted all the content that is currently available. They never intended to keep the server running post 2.0, they only offered to keep the server up to hold people over in the mean time between the end of 1.0 and beta/alpha tests for 2.0. If SE announced that the next expansion was going to require the same steps that were taken between 1.23b and 2.0, no one would play past the cut off date either. I am quite confident that if 1.0 players knew that what they were getting was a by the numbers tomestone grind simulator there would have been quite a bit of push back, and if given the option of playing a classic server (maybe in the way that Runescape Classic operates) they would be rather happy to play that.

[Enkidoh]

I am quite confident that if 1.0 players knew that what they were getting was a by the numbers tomestone grind simulator there would have been quite a bit of push back, and if given the option of playing a classic server (maybe in the way that Runescape Classic operates) they would be rather happy to play that.

I keep seeing this stated over and over again and it quite frankly is untrue. ARR was never going to be '1.0 with a better graphic engine/server structure' - if 1.0 really was salvageable don't you think Yoshi would have not bothered spending so much time and money developing ARR otherwise? He determined early on that 1.0 was simply beyond salvation - it was a broken, barely playable mess that had utterly ruined the FF name and nearly dragged SE down the gurgler with it. He valiantly tinkered around the edges as much as he could (mostly to experiment with different concepts and gameplay styles planned for ARR), but in the end, they had no intention of continuing to support 1.0 with updates even with a new engine. The game fundamentally was rotten to it's very code, and only by completing replacing it with an entirely new game but keeping the core ideas, lore and setting could the game be saved, and scrapping 1.0 in the process.

And lets address the adamantoise in the living room here that 1.0 players seem to conveniently ignore or are in denial about: ARR was designed especially according to 1.0 player requests. Things like the Duty Finder, smaller more detailed zones, easier teleportation, even Jobs coming off classes, was all a result of player polling Yoshi did early on in his tenure, which guided their development of ARR. Yes some things may not have turned out exactly how they first planned, but the fundamentals were true to what they said would be.

Besides, the proof is in the telling: FFXIV's logo now doesn't even have the '1.0 adventurers exploding out' artwork anymore, it's just the game's title. Nothing else. It's clear SE themselves regard 1.0 as a sordid part of their past they would rather forget and move away from.

[blindfoldedkaos]

1.0 had some cool concepts of mechanical stuff, that just wouldn't work in a modern mmo let alone ffxiv.

also the servers were constantly on fire for the longest time.

People just hate change and rather play the old stuff, happens with every game that goes through this cycle, (everquest, wow, ff are prime examples of this)

[Shurrikhan]

He valiantly tinkered around the edges as much as he could (mostly to experiment with different concepts and gameplay styles planned for ARR)

Wait, what? Day 1 stated redesign goals included the combat revisions, which were tailored to allow for jobs -- virtually the safest possible bet for crowd pleasing, and the most destructive possible take on the prior combat system. Rather than building on the extended damage types of the 1.0 system and adding synergy thereto to allow for meaningful but variable rotations, all gameplay was reduced, effectively, to 2-3 buttons through the new "combo" system. Every additional combat mechanic, such as incapacitation and battle regimen, were removed upon taking over, even when they had no direct repercussions on his new intended gameplay.

Yes, Yoshida salvaged the game, and overwhelmingly (even if not entirely) for the better, but there was zero "valiant tinkering" with what was given to him. He treated virtually everything about it like a dumpster fire, as if the only thing he needed to do to make a satisfying design was to do the exact opposite of whatever idea came previously, wherever any "side" could be pointed out in design philosophy.

[Kerwin]

And lets address the adamantoise in the living room here that 1.0 players seem to conveniently ignore or are in denial about: ARR was designed especially according to 1.0 player requests. Things like the Duty Finder, smaller more detailed zones, easier teleportation, even Jobs coming off classes, was all a result of player polling Yoshi did early on in his tenure, which guided their development of ARR. Yes some things may not have turned out exactly how they first planned, but the fundamentals were true to what they said would be.

I for one never wanted smaller zones. I hated what they did with the zones in ARR and making them load in between areas compared to a seamless world was hard for me to get use to.

Loading zones reminds me that I'm playing a game. A seamless world is immersive

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I for one never wanted smaller zones. I hated what they did with the zones in ARR and making them load in between areas compared to a seamless world was hard for me to get use to.

Loading zones reminds me that I'm playing a game. A seamless world is immersive

The zones were large, yes, but terrain was basically copy/pasted, you'd run into the same bend in the road or landscape features multiple times, there was hardly anything in the zones themselves, and the "loading screens" were un-immersive, long tunnels between zones, where PC's would pop in and out of view as they crossed the zone line.

[Kerwin]

The zones were large, yes, but terrain was basically copy/pasted, you'd run into the same bend in the road or landscape features multiple times, there was hardly anything in the zones themselves, and the "loading screens" were un-immersive, long tunnels between zones, where PC's would pop in and out of view as they crossed the zone line.

Yep, I remember running through the tunnel at uldah to get in when the front gate was always closed. Good times lol.

[Khaidal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goKSqF9fldE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unpWwn00mJs

I decided to watch some videos of the 1.0 primals, because why not? Definitely would not have played 1.0. If it was your cup of tea, awesome! The gameplay looks absolutely boring to me. To each their own.

[Chiramu]

2015 was the OP :speak_no_evil:

This wasn't even necro'd with the announcement of WoW Classic XD.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

2015 was the OP :speak_no_evil:

This wasn't even necro'd with the announcement of WoW Classic XD.

They don't look down on necro'd threads here, in fact they encourage it to keep everything in one spot.