Request for SE to post -OFFICIAL SERVER STATS-

[Rinsui]

I think this game is amazing and lots of people play it.

...
Stop taking those pills.
I mean, you can't be serious, are you? Do you really believe SE removed the /sea all command to... I don't know... lower server load or something?

Azury, we *DO* have rough estimates of player numbers, and we know for sure numbers were in a steady decline since October. We *DO* know that FFXIV has been in Gamestop's bargain bin for quite a few months now. And we *DO* know that even SE admits that their game is not worth paying for. Can't you draw a simple sensible conclusion?

It's still far, far too early to release official player numbers. Maybe in half a year, after the majority of system and content patches is finished. But never-ever would I show current player numbers to the public now!

[ManekiKanji]

This is information that will not enhance my quality of playing , /thumbsdown

Do i think juicy information for gossip for bash or praise on forums is a good thing at the price of stock prices for Se and more money being lost potentially making them they say hay lets scrap this game worth it prob nots!

[Rinsui]

ffxi has server stats built in. By taking them out of this game they created the perception that the game is failing.
(...)
and this dev team has made the game way better and attracted lots of people back, haven't they?

Nah, now you overdid it. Not even the whitest of whiteknights at this point actually argue that a lot of players already have come back. The discussion is about whether they will come back in the future, so if anything, releasing player numbers half a year down the road would make sense.

...

You *are* joking, right? I mean, you do not really believe a lot of people are playing this game right now?

...

Somebody please tell me he's joking?!

[Joeking]

Somebody please tell me he's joking?!

...I'm Joeking.

[AdvancedWind]

...I'm Joeking.

........................







*explodes*

[Petori]

One thing I can say for sure, this game is not popular at the moment. It may seem that way if you have played it few months. The reason it seems that way is because the game is very empty (not many places to go). Most players spends their time in uldah, few camps & few grind places (like raptor). Highest amount of players I have seen in camps nowadays is max. 40 at the same time. Uldah seems to have about 300-400 population I think. Other cities are pretty much dead but there are still people in guilds.

Compare that to 9 months ago, when you had so many players in each city that it was hard to find a mob that was not claimed. Then population started decreasing rapidly and everyone moved to uldah.

[AngryNixon]

What's wrong? They don't have more than enough rope to hang themselves with yet? Posting server stats just seems like a gratuitous amount of rope at this point.

[Rinsui]

...I'm Joeking.

You won.
But if you are Joeking, does that mean he is as well?

[Joeking]

You won.
But if you are Joeking, does that mean he is as well?

No, he is cereal.

[Vahzl]

While I do hate to be negative about the game, I would like to say a few things that explain where the game is now:

1) The game is dying, there are no 2 ways about it. There are no other games in history (that I can recall, if I am wrong, please tell me) that have had to return to a beta phase, and for this long.

2) From an independent observer, coming to the website and seeing that the biggest announcement they have to offer is a 2 minute video showing a feature every other MMo has from the get go, and showing how excited they are to showcase this, is pathetic. They are harping on about 2 new dungeons, and all we have seen is 2 screenshots of each. No videos, no story information, nothing. As a company trying to bring players back round to this game, they are doing a pathetic job of doing so. Also don't get me started on the fact that the video was simply frapsed and plopped onto Youtube. It looked like a child had recorded it. There is so much mentioned in that patch that could have been shown in this video, instead, and again this is for people who would be interested in checking out the game, not the current players, the video shows how little is changing, and that they have absolutely nothing to offer since it crashed and burned those many months ago.

3) The last 2 patches (even though they are just b and c ones) have made microscopic adjustments to functions that people don't even know exist in most cases. Instead of patching in some basic transport options, a mailbox, and such things, they focused on adding a new targetting system and stopping an NM no one ever kills from occasionally porting into a wall once in a blue moon? No, SE, this is not even close to a priority when it comes to getting your game ready for mass production and presentation.

4) There was 0 presence at E3 for anything related to FFXIV. There was presence for FFXI. The PS3 release is a pipe dream, and honestly, having gone from being a white knight for this game, to where I am now, we are kidding ourselves if we think it will happen.

5) The game is fundamentally terrible. It isn't fun to play, it isn't even engaging. The storyline, while it may be epic in proportion, is terribly written, and absolutely awfully presented. You are given like 4 linkpearls in a row just after being introduced to one gaggle of characters, you are then dropped into a new set, and the old ones are forgotten. I love all SE stories, up until this one. I think it is abysmal. We had a discussion about this on vent last night, and I said "Ok then, name 2 storyline characters" (to people who had completed it). "That's easy! there is... that mithra who casts spells, and ...err.... Mother?". Yeah, great storytelling and character building there.

6) They still have nothing to show for their claims. It has been 9 months since the team changed, and still there is nothing ingame that they have promised, and they keep pushing it back more and more. Yes the content should be ready before being released, but it does not take 9 months to get a game into a playable state.

We all love FFXI, we want to love XIV, we are blinkered by our want for it to be good, and cannot see that this game is not actually moving anywhere.

Until Square Enix stop with their ignorance towards players, and feedback, they will continue to make one wrong move after another. They have ignored so many requests for legacy games to come back, when they could be sitting on a mountain of gold the size of Japan from this alone. They have ignored requests for a Triple Triad remake, even as a standalone, and we all know if done right, it would generate mountains of cash. They have not fixed the fundamental flaws this game has 9 months after release, and 13 months after the beta. I fail to see why we should continue to have blind faith in them anymore.

They have not yet delivered, and when they are offering this golden patch, it doesn't even touch on half the stuff that is missing.

Personally I would be happy to see no new content, and instead, just getting the game into a state that allows it to be playable without all the headaches we have come to endure (slow UI, laggy responses, retainers, no mailboxes, no transport other than anima, terrible story). Don't forget, that over time, we have come to endure these missing functions, this doesn't mean that a new player will do the same.

In conclusion, outside of the tiny community this game has right now, people simply do not want to play it. It will be a monumental task pulling all those people that watched it crash and burn back into the game, and as it won't happen, this games playerbase will barely (if at all) increase, and as such, it will die.

I really REALLY hope I am wrong. I would love this game to be great, I want it to be great, but the more I endure, the less I trust SE, to the point where I am now. I used to defend everything they did, I used to love every game they made, but in the past few years, I have found it harder and harder to see the old glint in their eye, and instead all I see are stinking piles of dog turd on expensive media.

Argue if you will, but it doesn't make anything said here any less true.

Vahzl Baruta, out!