Quote Originally Posted by Vahzl View Post
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!
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