The direction XIV is heading

[Nephera]

Man i hug the walls hoping that aggro mob i know is aggro wont start walking in my direction, the dread hasnt changed. Now I'm just sure it wants to kill me.

and I know people who wont play this thinking that'll be too much like XI.
XI may have had good features but it punched casual players right in the crotch, repeatedly.

[Kirith]

Man i hug the walls hoping that aggro mob i know is aggro wont start walking in my direction, the dread hasnt changed. Now I'm just sure it wants to kill me.

and I know people who wont play this thinking that'll be too much like XI.
XI may have had good features but it punched casual players right in the crotch, repeatedly.

The point is conserving the food atmosphere and features, while making its core mechanics more friendly and modern. FFXI follows a very old mmorpg concept...

[Nephera]

And aggressive mobs took the hit to make the game more friendly and modern.

[Payadopa]

XI may have had good features but it punched casual players right in the crotch, repeatedly.

Yeah, that's what I do like about XIV but only to a degree. Like I said, I have the feeling that it won't stop with an aggro indicator, so to speak. lol

And yes, soloable quests do bother me. It's definately not like I want to wait another 3 hours just for a party of six so I can finally head out and battle some dragons but not needing a party at all... it's not very MMO-ish.

[Nephera]

Yeah, that's what I do like about XIV but only to a degree. Like I said, I have the feeling that I won't stop with an aggro indicator, so to speak. lol

And yes, soloable quests do bother me. It's definately not like I want to wait another 3 hours just for a party of six so I can finally head out and battle some dragons but not needing a party at all... it's not very MMO-ish.

Thats true, but think of it this way: there's always content you'll only be a-

Well ok there SHOULD always be content you can only be able to do with a group, but not being able to find one shouldnt hinder a player's progression.

I definately prefer grouping, i feel the combat flows a lot better in a group than it does solo. But my linkshell isnt very active.

[Sephr]

I'll agree that we need more party-based content, but I think we can rest assured that kind of stuff is on it's way after the battle system restructure. they've said they're going to cut group sizes to 4 and 8 so that pretty much demands rebalancing of just about all party-based content before the update and means theyre likely to be making things with that system in mind (aka. the first dungeon due in 2 months or whenever).

After all, they decided to make a whole new game when the best choice was clearly to remake FFXI

Also, I was addressing this in my post before, so yes, people do want FFXI-2 for some unknown reason.

[Litzor]

I think the challenge was one of the most appealing things of XI. At least it was for me. It kept the casual players away and gave you something to work toward that felt fulfilling at the end. Hitting those milestones is what kept me coming back for more.

On the other hand, MMOs like World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, and now Rift, are mind-numbingly easy and it doesn't feel like something special when you hit level cap or defeat an endgame boss. Heck, I went back to Warhammer for a 2-week welcome back trial and we killed the enemy leader twice in the same day and I got two of the best items in the game for basically just being there.

A challenging but rewarding game is what I'm ultimately looking for in XIV, and I hope they manage to create or enhance that same sense of accomplishment that XI captured. I don't necessarily want another XI, just another challenging MMO.

[Chardrizard]

Perhaps you failed to notice that FFXI was a highly successful game. It had its ups and lows and it never approached WoW player numbers, but it was still one of the most successful mmorpgs around. Heck, it still is...maybe.

it never reached WoW player numbers for reasons.
FFXI was a successful game, but its not for alot of people.

Yes, many thousands enjoyed FFXI, so did i.

but, how many people/potential customer out there that gave FFXI a try and gave up right away? it was enough people to make FFXI 2-3x profit they are making right now, FFXI was in no way casual friendly and a horrid timesink and i think the shareholders cares about money more than they cares about FFXI-players.

also FFXI would have had failed miserably if it didnt have 'Final Fantasy' label, they had big and loyal fanbase to start it up with.

[Belius]

I love the irony of so many FFXI players wishing for FFXI-2 (god knows why, that game was horrid for the first 4 years - I was there for at least half of that and pretty much play because friends were) and yet moaning that things like an aggression icon removes the sense of adventure.
If you're asking for the same game, there is no sense of adventure, you're too set in your ways.

FFXI was anything but horrid. SE should have taken FFXI as a template for implementing FFXIV. I'm not saying make an FFXI-2 game but use the concepts that worked in FFXI to build on FFXIV. As of right this moment even after the "patches" FFXIV needs far more structuring and content to even come close to being acceptable as an MMORPG by FF standards.

I just feel that SE underestimated the expectations of it's core players and rushed a game that is needless to say unfinished, despite the fact that it is an MMORPG and there will always be content added and changes made. Bottom line is that SE did not prepare a game that lives up to the standards of what is expected by thier core player base.

[Kirith]

I'll agree that we need more party-based content, but I think we can rest assured that kind of stuff is on it's way after the battle system restructure. they've said they're going to cut group sizes to 4 and 8 so that pretty much demands rebalancing of just about all party-based content before the update and means theyre likely to be making things with that system in mind (aka. the first dungeon due in 2 months or whenever).

Also, I was addressing this in my post before, so yes, people do want FFXI-2 for some unknown reason.

I never said i want FFXI-2. I just said that considering the game they had when they started making FFXIV the best idea was to remake FFXI and not to risk with another mmorpg.

As you said, FFXI was pretty bad in the start, but it had a certain charm that kept people disliking it, yet still playing it for years. It almost didn't have casual players while WoW is mostly composed of casual players. I played dozens of mmorpgs and felt FFXI had one of the best communities ever in a game because of that fact alone.

So, the best thing to do would have been to remake that game while making it more casual player friendly, which they KNEW they had to do, but still didn't. Too much greed, i guess, wanting to milk players twice with two games. Now they have one game that is too old to be competitive and another that is too misled to be appealing.