What this game needs is NOT more dungeons

[SarcasmMisser]

Dungeons are the main reason I play MMOs. Working together as a group to beat content, playing your role, thats the main draw for me. I've never really understood the boner people have for open world content personally, but I can agree that more options are good.

It's a minority opinion and SE has good reason to believe most players prefer instanced dungeons they can kick back with a few hours a night. Even though it's fashionable to post about the terminal decline the game is in, something that is posted in every MMO forum (especially the ones Blizzard runs, ironically), the overwhelming reception and continued success of ARR provides ample positive reinforcement to SE of their current design decisions.

http://2p.com/5080929_1/Final-Fantas...-flamedust.htm

See this, which flies in the face of every forum doomsayer. The 1.8 number is thrown around a lot, but 500k a day when we are before a major patch is something to be happy about. Note the wording "passed", meaning it's actually on the increase. People as a majority like the dungeon theme park mmo format, it's just that a minority post on forums about it.

Also it's always an unfair question to ask if someone is for more options. No one is against more options, but SE like all companies has finite resources so it's a question that ignores the fact that they have to choose. I would like the world + a unicorn too.

[Derceto]

the overwhelming reception and continued success of ARR provides ample positive reinforcement to SE of their current design decisions.

No offense really, but..... there has been no proven "overwhelming reception and continued success" just yet. They posted one quarterly report stating that ARR sold well, as I would expect with most newly launched games. The initial launch window is "typically" the highest in sales, which was why XIV 1.xx was a clearly evident dose of failure right out of the gate. Will have to wait and see what their numbers look like at their next report. The concerning thing being the fact they haven't announced surpassing 1.9 million people in.... how many months now? 500k daily users isn't terrible, but it's hardly an "overwhelming reception". Especially considering that a portion of those numbers are just RMT.

What I would be more curious to see, is peak concurrent users as of say.... Thursday or Friday after most people have finished their "weekly" checklist. It has to be obvious that SE will use the absolute best numbers they can in their statements. Their wording is used to paint the 'best' scenario they can to give the image of success and popularity. Sad thing is, that the best they have painted so far, isn't terribly impressive. Seeing the game's price slashed after such a short period isn't exactly reassuring either. Low price = Low demand. Seeing Sony raising the price of their PS4 in Canada in response to it's high demand. Or retailers having raised the price of WoW shortly after it's launch to slow the sales.

In any case, SE really needs to cater to more than just the "hardcore" or just the "casual". No mmo since 2003 has matched WoW's design approach success. Actually.... no mmo since 2003 has even been successful using WoW's theme park design. Successful being, able to maintain their subscription design intact. F2P, or outright shutdown has been the end result of them all.

As for Blizzard's forums being polluted with negativity as well? Well.... their numbers are virtually cut in half from it's peak success. I'd say the backlash on the forums should have, and should currently, be taken seriously.

[Susanoh]

It's a minority opinion and SE has good reason to believe most players prefer instanced dungeons they can kick back with a few hours a night. Even though it's fashionable to post about the terminal decline the game is in, something that is posted in every MMO forum (especially the ones Blizzard runs, ironically), the overwhelming reception and continued success of ARR provides ample positive reinforcement to SE of their current design decisions.

http://2p.com/5080929_1/Final-Fantas...-flamedust.htm

See this, which flies in the face of every forum doomsayer. The 1.8 number is thrown around a lot, but 500k a day when we are before a major patch is something to be happy about. Note the wording "passed", meaning it's actually on the increase. People as a majority like the dungeon theme park mmo format, it's just that a minority post on forums about it.

SE has been saying "1.X million players!" for several months. Considering that last September, the game was at about 1.5 million registered users and 600k subscribers (source: http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ne...14q2slides.pdf), it's likely that the "1.8 million players" is the total number of box/licenses sold.

My guess is that SE isn't going to be talking about the total number of people paying a subscription fee outside of their financial reports, because saying "1.8 million players!" sounds a lot nicer and people often confuse it for the total number of paying subscribers.