Game Has Gone to the Dogs

[Tupsi]

This is just an excuse, I'm sorry that you in your own words, have little understanding of an MMO, I have been playing them for 11 years now and a successful mmo caters to all players at all times.

You say you played MMOs for 11 years, means your main MMO was probably WoW, which was the start of when "solo MMOs" started croping up because prior to WoW most MMOs weren't solo based nor did they "cater to everyone", you either meshed well with the MMO or you simply didn't play MMOs because MMO was a niche genre barely 11 years ago.

As someone said, successful MMOs were ones that made money and didn't die off within a year of launch. "Catering to everyone" simply can't happen when a developer explicitly states his intention is to cater to one type of playerbase mostly, that creates an imbalance of content concepts.

[Eisah]

Even in 1.0 we were able to go into Open World dungeons with 15 player parties which later was scaled down to 8 for dungeons that are now 4 man in ARR.

It would be so damn fun if we could walk into dungeons with giant parties. Full parties and alliances and just absolute chaos... I wish there were two options - Duty Finder (for the traditional 4-man/8-man party) and the ability to just walk into the dungeon with however many (honestly, some of the low level dungeons I've completed without tanks, so why make people wait for tanks all the time?)
Sure, it'd probably make the lag problems even worse than they already are, but it would be so much fun.

The ability to adapt would be a lot of fun, too. The most fun I've had in dungeons so far is usually when we DON'T have the the 'assigned group' we're supposed to have. I've gone through with me (WHM) and a tank. And lots of times 2DD's and WHM. Having to look at what you've got and figure out how to use your job for it is great.

[Magis]

What this game lack is a REAL Open world content. Not talking about FATEs, I'm talking about exploration, things you can go around and without any pressure.

I think this is what is wrong with "themepark games" over sandbox ones. If the whole "end game" is focused on just the next dungeon, coupled with instant teleports to said dungeons ... then there isn't really anything else to do. No reason to exit whatever hub is designated by the devs/players. WoW (at least TBC and Vanilla, quit after) let you build reputation and made you traverse the world to reach dungeons. FFXI was even MORE on exploring the world to complete objective. If your going to have a world and then proceed to ignore it (except for leveling), then you might as well just make a lobby server and save the money.

If that truly is "Yoshi's vision" then I don't know if I myself could keep playing, but I hope 2.1 shows they aren't trying to turn XIV into that.

[Magis]

Oh, this worn out idea.

FFXIV is a throw-back to the group-or-die games that have largely disappeared from the face of the planet (thank God), where your ability to progress and even reach level cap is gated by the need to find others needing to do the same; FFXI abandoned this model for the better a long time ago now, Tanaka saw this and that was what he did in V1, sadly Yoshi decided to regress into the dark ages with V2 in this respect.

Grouping is fine, forced-grouping to unlock core content (banks, mounts, etc.) and simply to reach the level-cap is so last century. There are many ways to 'play with other players' that avoid hard gating.

Hint: the 'G' in MMORPG doesn't stand for GROUP!

FFXI abandoned that model and proceeded to lose many subscribers and unbalance the game to shit. Even the devs said they broke the game with Abyssea.

[Mrbojangals]

9 out of 10 DF are on its way out as they cannot handle it? You and i have had very different DF experiences. I cant even remember the last DF i have failed. Try leveling a cross class and get more exp. i rerolled a tank and it has made me a much better healer.

[Tupsi]

FFXI abandoned that model and proceeded to lose many subscribers and unbalance the game to shit. Even the devs said they broke the game with Abyssea.

Yeah. Thing is, XI didn't abandon it "for the better", they did to try to put XI where other MMOs were which people playing XI at the time were playing it because it wasn't like other MMOs (and it was still a massively successful MMORPG.) So they went right back to the roots and even added in 'daily'/'challenges' to the mix without going abyssea.

[ApolloGenX]

My problem is that everything is designed with the "Theme Park" design. Problem is that it's so over-structured that the focus becomes doing the finite tasks as quickly as possible. With open ended design, the focus is on creating a steady group that can endlessly consume content or achieve a larger goal.

No, I am not advocating a return to the endless grind. What I am saying is that in an open concept, players define goals and work toward those- whether it be exploration, killing of something specific, or questing- players decide the criteria for success and when they are done.

The "Theme Park" model tells you what you can/can't do and when you are done. That means the focus is on getting "done" as quickly as possible and moving on to the next pre-defined ride.

[Scamperoo]

You say you played MMOs for 11 years, means your main MMO was probably WoW, which was the start of when "solo MMOs" started croping up because prior to WoW most MMOs weren't solo based nor did they "cater to everyone", you either meshed well with the MMO or you simply didn't play MMOs because MMO was a niche genre barely 11 years ago.

As someone said, successful MMOs were ones that made money and didn't die off within a year of launch. "Catering to everyone" simply can't happen when a developer explicitly states his intention is to cater to one type of playerbase mostly, that creates an imbalance of content concepts.

You would be wrong then, my mmo of choice was FFXI, catering to gatherers, crafters, people who play in small groups, those who just generally like to be around real people but not necessarily grouping with them, social players, role players and the like seem to be person non grata in your sort of game.
Just because YOU wish this game would exclude anyone you deem unworthy to play an mmo doesn't mean that Squeenix feels the same way.

This isn't 11 years ago everything is online and people are paying monthly to be entertained, the only way to justify this investment is to cater to everyone. No matter how much you want to keep the genre pure.

[Mourns]

I have played alot of mmo's over the years from 1997-present. Some of most fun I have had PVE wise was in Asherons Call one. I loved the death penalties. I recall having to carry high value items so you didnt lose all your good gear. I recall asking high lvl mages with healing help me get in some acid pits I lost a few corpses in. That was fun seeing them cast life magic spells on me while I was getting jacked. I recall DAoC was best for PvP. Oh the realm battles wow is all I can say and not WoW. But all in all I love FF14 ARR it is well made game. I love the ability of having one guy that can do any job. I am gearing up my 3rd job for coil soon be i80 or better like my other two jobs.

[indira]

What this game lack is a REAL Open world content. Not talking about FATEs, I'm talking about exploration, things you can go around and without any pressure. They've added treasure hunt and that's a step in the right direction, but we really need much more than that. I love the game, but only standing in the city queuing and shouting for groups gets old fast.

the open world can only handle a hand full of people in each area since its so tiny. there almost no mobs in the zones.

like strongholds were packed full of mobs and higher level then you in 1.0, now there empty and populated by weak mobs.

FFXI abandoned that model and proceeded to lose many subscribers and unbalance the game to shit. Even the devs said they broke the game with Abyssea.

everything here in FFXIV is even more broken then abyssea. you just have to get tome stones to gear up & you XP so fast make aby look like slow motion. you atleat had to get key item to enter abyssea & kill nm's to gear up while gianing curor to but the base gear in ffxi.

This isn't 11 years ago everything is online and people are paying monthly to be entertained, the only way to justify this investment is to cater to everyone. No matter how much you want to keep the genre pure.

FFXIV is not a MMO, nothing to keep pure its a lobby game or just another multiplayer game nothing massive about it.