Would you be upset if the game went offline?

[Eekiki]

Honestly, I would. And i'd probably stop playing. The online aspect is a huge part of the game for me.

You misunderstand, the OP means if they shut down the service until all the changes they want to make were in place, not if the gameplay went offline only.

EDIT: +1 for ShinChuck's signature

[Captaindownsyndrome]

this would be a bad idea people will move to another game and i think alot people would get pissed even among those who say they wouldnt.

[Soukyuu]

edit: Wait till 1.18 then complain.

"Wait until beta, then complain"
"Wait until release, then complain"
"Wait until march, then complain"
"Wait until 1.18, then complain"
"Wait until the PS3 version, then complain"
"Wait until" ... should I continue?

Seriously, I'm tired of waiting. I've been on the "other" side, supporting SE because I believed they could make it, but after almost a year later they've made less progress than they made from alpha to beta! (Note that I'm not denying they did make progress)

I paid money for a beta-in-a-box and I was expecting it. But I was also expecting SE to get off their asses and make significant progress after that. Instead we are still waiting and I'm slowly becoming quite bitter about it, especially hearing their excuses(?) lately about why something can not be implemented.

To answer OP's question, taking down servers would save them money and woudn't change anything for me. I guess it wouldn't do good for their reputation though.

I'm giving them time until September 22nd. If the game won't be in a better state until then, I'll be leaving.
And I doubt I will be inclined to ever touch anything SE ever again. Clarification: anything MMO/PC related.

Give every purchaser of FFXIV a choice:

1. Start paying a subscription fee as of 1.20. Servers will be merged as necessary, PS3 release might never come. Work on FFXIV slows as it is handed over to a skeleton team.
2. Cancel your FFXIV account and get a voucher for S-E's next MMO, for price of purchase and 6 months comped gameplay. The ~200 people working on FFXIV now get put to work on this new game, which is called just Final Fantasy Online, to come out in 24 months. S-E decides in the next 3 months whether Crystal Tools can be salvaged or whether to license a functional engine like Frostbite.
3. Cancel your FFXIV account and get your money back for both the initial purchase and any Crysta you bought.

Everyone gets to choose. [...]
Won't happen.

But that's what they should do.

I agree. Both with your proposal and that it won't happen.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

"Wait until beta, then complain"
"Wait until release, then complain"
"Wait until march, then complain"
"Wait until 1.18, then complain"
"Wait until the PS3 version, then complain"
"Wait until" ... should I continue?

Seriously, I'm tired of waiting. I've been on the "other" side, supporting SE because I believed they could make it, but after almost a year later they've made less progress than they made from alpha to beta! (Note that I'm not denying they did make progress)

I paid money for a beta-in-a-box and I was expecting it. But I was also expecting SE to get off their asses and make significant progress after that. Instead we are still waiting and I'm slowly becoming quite bitter about it, especially hearing their excuses(?) lately about why something can not be implemented.

To answer OP's question, taking down servers would save them money and woudn't change anything for me. I guess it wouldn't do good for their reputation though.

I'm giving them time until September 22nd. If the game won't be in a better state until then, I'll be leaving.
And I doubt I will be inclined to ever touch anything SE ever again.


I agree. Both with your proposal and that it won't happen.

I, too, am tired.

I'm also betting your post will be removed as a violation of forum guidelines.

But mostly... I dunno. Your bit about not touching anything SE ever again is kinda harsh. Dragon Quest is still really good. Oh, and "Fortune Street" coming out on the Wii later this year is really really good too; I played the original on the DS when it was called Itadaki Street, you're seriously doing yourself a disservice if you pass that one up. (Oh man I sound like a Yuji Horii fanboy here.)

I've been playing FFXIV since alpha, so over a year now. I know things are going to go slowly, and I'm optimistic that things are changing, but if any of the mods or devs are reading this it is very hard to stay optimistic when you don't know where things are going. We're getting a lot of promises for little things, like auto-attack or jobs or dungeons, but those are all just parts of a whole: what is the whole supposed to look like in the end? Don't show me a bunch of pieces of wood and expect me to know what you're making: tell me you're making a cabinet and I'll take for granite that you know what you're doing.

[Soukyuu]

I'm also betting your post will be removed as a violation of forum guidelines.

That would only mean I'm right though, so they better don't.

About the "not touching anything SE", I guess I should have said "nothing SE on the PC". I don't know how they fared with other PC games, but seeing how they handle FFXIV (and from what I heard, FFXI in it's early stages), I surely won't touch any MMO SE might release.

I've been here since Alpha too. Back in those days (almost) everyone still believed this game would succeed... and people were exploring everything together, with servers actually being alive and people talking. I miss that.

[Zanfire]

nope, id actually rather they take them off until they got most of the stuff done. Aside from some free testing, all its really doing is costing them money to keep them on and having people, including the people that like the game, get bored faster because there isnt much content there and they still are fixing so much else they dont have enough time to pump out constant content.

That and people find more to be mad about and later post it in the forums (or post about their bordum) id rather wait and jump into the game 6 months later with tons of changes and loads of new content, then blast through the tiny amounts we have now....that and the devs wont have to shove out new half a$$ed content just to keep people happy....which in turn pisses more people off because its not well developed.

so yes im all for turning the game off for a while. Not sure why they havent. Give me the free play time when the games worth spending time on.

[Andrien]

I'll go in rage mode if it does.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

That would only mean I'm right though, so they better don't.

About the "not touching anything SE", I guess I should have said "nothing SE on the PC". I don't know how they fared with other PC games, but seeing how they handle FFXIV (and from what I heard, FFXI in it's early stages), I surely won't touch any MMO SE might release.

I've been here since Alpha too. Back in those days (almost) everyone still believed this game would succeed... and people were exploring everything together, with servers actually being alive and people talking. I miss that.

Ah, the good old days of "well this is just an alpha/beta, they're just holding back for the beta/release." How innocent we were in those halcyon days!

[Zanfire]

I'll go in rage mode if it does.

wow, so informative.... How can i argue such a well though out and logical response.

[Amsai]

They should have swallowed their pride and shut down the servers almost immediately. Now with people having earned so much in the game already, it limits their options and makes them have to dance around issues so as not to harm the existing player base.

Yes, I would be perfectly fine with them shutting down servers until they have things right. ...........but I don't see it happenig.