This video tells you why some people thought FFXIV 1.2. is a better MMO than 2.0

[Penthea]

If 1.2x wasn't great, you won't get so much hype about 2.0,
In fact, it was our 1.2x players, hype it up before 2.0 release

While it is true that 1.2x players did indeed lend great support to the hype of 2.0, you're forgetting some details.

1: Final Fantasy is one of the world's most loved gaming franchises and it's over 20 years old. Its fanbase is huge. 1.2x and 2.0 weren't obscure games. A lot of fans who had not played yet were waiting for 2.0 because it was essentially a new FF game to play, and also anyone who didn't have a pc would finally have a new FF mmo they could play. Anyone who loved the FF series knew about XIV. SE's fame certainly carried them to a degree.

2: SE dismantling their latest mmo and building a new one from the ashes very quickly gained legendary status among the mmo community. Attempting such a thing was almost unheard of, and certainly the success of something to this degree never happened before. Five years later XIV is still the only mmo to accomplish success with anything like this. I personally know people who never played a FF game who were very curious about XIV because of this, and they bought 2.0.

3: SE had no choice but to make 2.0. 1.0's ill-fated release nearly destroyed SE. It truly looked like one of the mightiest jrpg kings would be dethroned. The only way to convince their fans and their shareholders that they could make a solid mmo was to...well, make a solid mmo. Especially to their shareholders because they invested their money into the project and it flopped, so they lost money. That's an incredible amount of financial pressure. SE simply could not leave XIV behind and hope to recover from it, because they wouldn't have survived.

4: SE created their own hype by doing a 180 by becoming hugely involved with the playerbase. Players feeling like they truly had impact on the state of the game definitely inspired them to play more, and be more constructive and active with their feedback. And this resulted in the point you brought up: the 1.2x players helping with 2.0.

1.2x's players were instrumental in not only creating hype for 2.0, but also for the sort of game 2.0 ended up being due to feedback. But let's not pretend that they were the only important factor. SE's long time fame, great reputation and the risk of ruin was equally important.

You see? many rumors you heard are wrong (1.0 sucks =/= 1.23 sucks) , it's just like 2.0, many contents in 2.0 had been done wrong,
SE just fired XV director you know? Too many things are wrong now....

What rumours? 1.2x is a different game to 2.0 because most players, as well as most developers in Yoshida's team did not think 1.2x was good enough, and from a technical point of view it was horrible to work with to the point it severely lacked longevity. This is not an opinion. This is fact. If the "rumours" weren't true then 2.0 would have been an expansion and not a reincarnation of XIV.

Sorry but you liking something doesn't automatically mean it was better in every way. You liking 1.2x doesn't change that the game was unstable, it doesn't change that most players wanted something more or different, and it doesn't change that it was a nightmare for the devs to work on it.

You are truly mixing up fact with personal taste. They are not the same thing. I don't think you could even be called a white knight. You're too blind to wield a weapon.

[Shurrikhan]

Nobody is talking about 24 man raids. The issue isn't the number of players in the raid, it is that the number is a fixed amount. 7 players availalbe tonight ? screwed. 9 players available tonight ? Screwed also.

Agreed. I don't think most people would think the only solution to a rigidly "restricted party size" would be a full-blown Alliance Raid (though, honestly, every other MMO I've played have managed well enough despite having, say, 25 people to manage), but more alike to... 6-to-10 people. Admittedly, it's harder to balance, which is probably why it seems nearly a ridiculous idea for XIV, especially while it only has two difficulties -- significant and trivial -- and no concept remotely approaching personal loot or embedded DKP or the like. But, if we could get it close enough, and add just a few other features, and change out pages for a more granular currency (which--small bonus--wouldn't take up inventory space), we could probably flex all but the bonus boss of each Savage tier even with just the two existing difficulty ranks.

[Zephera]

You see? many rumors you heard are wrong (1.0 sucks =/= 1.23 sucks) , it's just like 2.0, many contents in 2.0 had been done wrong,
SE just fired XV director you know? Too many things are wrong now....

What rumour? The game literally failed because it was that bad, it's an undeniable fact that it was so bad that not enough people stuck around to play it resulting in it's closure.

Also, love being called a white knight, always know I'm on the winning side of the argument when people resort to this all too common buzzword insult these days.

[Sigma-Astra]

And because the 1.2x experience, I was a white knight too when 2.0 just released.

...You still kind of are for the game that everyone else was fine with leaving behind. If you want to stay in the past, that's fine, but let the rest of us move into the future without your nonsense and rose colored glasses.

[Aniond]

Please no more vanilla servers. Between WOW and LOTRO. Its getting old

[Enla]

Please no more vanilla servers. Between WOW and LOTRO. Its getting old

Not to mention there's frankly not enough interest in 1.0 to warrant it. Unlike vanilla Wow and LoTRO the majority doesn't hold positive feelings for that time period, or at least not in enough numbers to actually subscribe and keep even one server up and running.

[Yuinna]

While I tend to wonder what it would have been like to be a part of 1.0, I do not regret being here now. I can understand why some would miss the nostalgia of "old times", but... I feel as though there isn't a true way to recapture that initial feeling of wonder and amazement. 1.0 was beautiful and the animations were much more robust, but I watch videos of players running around the godforsaken copy-n-paste landscapes, and... oof.

Personally, I'm happy with the game and haven't grown bored. I'm going into my 3rd year of playing, in fact. I wouldn't bother staying subbed if I were this miserable and bored with it, though... so why do you stay subbed, OP?

[InkstainedGwyn]

Come FFXVI/FFXVII, whichever is the next MMO, there's going to be threads like this about "the golden days of FFXIV" when it was "the best MMO available" and "truly the pinnacle of FF MMOs" because nostalgia will always be a thing.

Please look forward to it.

[Alestorm]

Not to mention there's frankly not enough interest in 1.0 to warrant it. Unlike vanilla Wow and LoTRO the majority doesn't hold positive feelings for that time period, or at least not in enough numbers to actually subscribe and keep even one server up and running.

The thing about WoW is very few will admit the game was riddled with bugs and issues, and the community was what made it great. A community that will never come back, I doubt the classic servers will last all that long. MMO's that never get content may as well be dead.

[Vidu]

FFXIV 1.0 sold 600k copies it was because SE stop selling it after the game released for one or two months? in 2010.
not because 1.2x contents are bad, there were a lot of return players during 1.2 period,

If 1.2x wasn't great, you won't get so much hype about 2.0,
In fact, it was our 1.2x players, hype it up before 2.0 release
that's why you saw so many people joined 2.0 alhpa & beta, & people had so much passion on a new game

...pretty sure it wasnt the legacy people hyping it up, but rather SE being "We fixed everything, please give it another chance!" and a huge add-campaign. Personally I didnt got to this game because a legacy player invited me but because I saw an add with a free beta-key in a german games magazine.

People returning to the game for its final moments also says little about the actual quality of the game and more about the wish of those players to say "Goodbye" - or possibly get the promised items in the hope that ARR would be better..

And I'm pretty sure 1.0 only selling 600k wasnt due to SE not producing anymore. I doubt that people were trying to buy the game and got turned away because "Sorry, mate, SE doesnt make that game anymore" - but rather SE noticing what a HUGE flop 1.0 was and so they stopped funeling more money into producing copies of a game that no one wants to play.
Also: Did I missread that in this thread or didnt the whole thing went freetoplay at a certain point, in an attempt to safe the game? And didnt that fail aswell?

Yes, 2.0 graphics，UI，QoL changes are wonderful, no one denies that.
and ARR gaming experience is great at the beginning.

Every games experience is great in the sense of wonder and amazement in the beginning, because everything is literally new to you - you have to learn the rules and basics of the game. And while yes, that feeling slips away the longer you play, thats neither exclusive to this game nor is it a truely surprising or bad thing.
Looking at the beginning of ARR without the rose tinted glasses of "Hach, my first hours in Eorzea...!" its not that great anymore. The storytelling is slow, involves a lot of fetchquests and while the dungeons are great for learning the ropes and have some slightly intresting puzzle-mechanics, most bossfights are rather boring. Same goes for the lowlevel jobs - not a great experience.
So, that "great experience" comes from exploring a whole new world and a whole new game - not from the beginning of ARR being the Holy Gral of Gaming.

And because the 1.2x experience, I was a white knight too when 2.0 just released,
why I had to defend 2.0? here's a little story: it's because a guy in my FC, he's a XI player,
because 1.2x leave him a good impression too, he bought 4 ARR copies(that's why ARR sold a lot lol..) & gave them to his XI friends(his friends tried 1.0 & quit),
if 1.2x isn't good, he won't do that.

Sure he would do that! I mean, I cant speak for your friends motives here, but: It is totally possible that he was aware that 1.0 and even 1.2 were still so bad that his friends wouldnt play it. So he waited for the ARR-release, banking on the promise that it would make everything better.

And yes, those 4 copies that your friend brought are the whole reason for ARR selling more copies than 1.0...!
And not SE investing a lot of money into adds...

After 2.0 just released, he was hanging around in the game,
he run to Mor Dhona & check the tomestone vendors when he was only level 1,
after 1 or 2 days, he said: "ARR is a WOW clone". my reaction was:"WHAT? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE, 1.2x contents are enjoyable, SE has no reason to do this."
& time had proved he's right. He & his XI friends quit ARR after one month & never comeback,
for these people, 2.0 is worse than 1.2x, it no longer has any chance

So... without even seeing most of the game, he decided that it sucked and quit? Surely an opinion that one can trust, based on foundation and such!

But: Fair is fair. Different people can like different things. I dont wanna belittle anyone for their taste here - if 1.2 and FFXI worked for you and your friends: Great!
If ARR and the follow ups dont work for you anymore: Sad!
But at the same time ARR work great for a lot of people.
And you dont need to tell them why you like 1.2 better or convince them that its the better game - it might be for you, but beside no one being able to play 1.2 anyways, you dont need to convince anyone here about that.

Stick with games that you like to play - stick with FFXI, find something thats more to your taste... we'll stick with FFXIV as it is today. Deal?

You see? many rumors you heard are wrong (1.0 sucks =/= 1.23 sucks) , it's just like 2.0, many contents in 2.0 had been done wrong,
SE just fired XV director you know? Too many things are wrong now....

What rumors are wrong?
Certainly not the one that 1.0 almost bankrupted the company, that 1.2 was a band aid fix and that ARR saved not only the game but SE as whole...
No one denies that there might have been good ideas within 1.0 or 1.2 - but at the end there werent enough of them.

About firing that XV-director: What was wrong here is that he was losing the company money by putting more and more into XV-DLCs without getting enough out of it. At least thats my guess. He made bad choices and being let go is the consequence.




Let me ask you again:
Why are you here?
Why do you bother playing a game that you dont enjoy anymore?

Stop torturing yourself. If it helps I'll answer your question from a few pages back:
Yes, there is no hope left. All the good people are gone. SE is dead. You can leave and mourn them now.
(No one tell them that the rest of us will continue to play and enjoy our game!)