Another "they quit" thread

[Yuichi]

Your problem was thinking this would be FFXI-2, it is not.

[Arkghyom]

Pretty, but empty. So superficial!

[Yurimi]

This is just echo-chambering for a non-issue.

Subscriptions are on the rise, not on the decline, as illustrated in interviews, that we've reached 1.8 million active subscriptions. Players leave and join the game continually, so it is expected that there are tales of people who have had their circle of friends quit.

Someone needs to learn 1.8M accounts =/= 1.8M ACTIVE accounts

[Renik]

There are more new subscribers joining than old players leaving the game, but it's just because the game is new and shinny, after a year the real numbers will be shown.

From my point of view, even if this game is getting a lot of new subscribers, it is also losing old subscribers too fast, once the novelty has passed, the old player leaving will outnumber the new subscribers until only the loyal fan-base will be left, and the size of that fan-base will determine if the game changes or not.

[Naberrie]

I too have seen people from my FC just stop logging in and disappearing. But I've also encountered a fair number of people who are just coming in to the game. I don't know if I'd say it's a fair exchange, but I don't believe that everyone who is ever going to play the game is already playing it, nor that just because someone steps away for a while means they're never coming back.

[Enkidoh]

Considering I'm still getting 'world is full - players in queue xx' errors regularly when logging in (usually at peak times), and I still see plenty of new people just starting out, I think this argument is irrelevant.

[Yarikh]

There are days when things are quiet. Or few people are on. But the towns are still crowded as ever during peak hours. Crafting, chatting, hanging around the market boards, queueing for df.. some old players leave, new blood comes in. But they are not dropping numbers like flies either.

I imagine it'll be even more crowded when the new patch gets implemented.

[Vensaval]

we've reached 1.8 million active subscriptions

They reached 1.8 million separate accounts in total. However, it was stated that only about a third are currently active around the world.

Anyway, to address the topic. I feel that my experience is pretty unique since I've never run coil or even beat all of the HM Primals. From the start, I took my time so I could enjoy the game to the fullest. Gradually, everything began to feel stale regardless of whether or not it was my first time participating in a piece of content or my tenth.

Nothing felt new, and this is largely in part to most of the end-game content consisting of predictable and memorable patterns. Going into CT, all I had to do was follow the group and everything went smoothly. There was no strategy involved other than following the specific mechanics. No organic actions from any of the bosses.

Everything ended up feeling like a chore and I had no desire to log on anymore. So, I cancelled my sub. There's just not enough to the content to compel me any longer. More trials and dungeons don't mean anything to me other than more patterns to memorize. I hate that. Yet, I want to love the game.

[CHunterX]

People are quitting because this isn't an MMO; it's an eight-player co-op game.

You do the same content weekly with the same eight people; you aren't even allowed to help others once you've done the end-game content for the week. If you don't manage to have exactly 7 friends, you suffer the party finder. If you have over 7 friends, the rest get screwed.

The lockout is largely to blame.

[chococo]

as illustrated in interviews, that we've reached 1.8 million active subscriptions. Players leave and join the game continually, so it is expected that there are tales of people who have had their circle of friends quit.

Marketing strategies just work so well on people. It's 1.8million copies sold, not active subscriptions. Please do not spread false information. There was a recent interview between SE and 4gamers on another thread here. Please read that. Yoshida was also hesitant to announce the figures until the china servers were up. Of course, it would inflate the numbers so it appears to be doing so well.