Quote Originally Posted by Razor View Post
The other night I was thinking about the lack of the rapid transit in the game (don't worry, this won't be a rant about no chocobos or airships) and I was also thinking about how reluctant players are to group up, let alone speak to each other (Maybe its just my server, I'm not sure) And I had a spark of creativity: We want new outposts, new transportation, just new things in general... Why don't we actually make them ourselves?

I thought of the example of a railroad (this is just an example I don't expect to see a thousand pound locomotive doing laps around Gridania anytime soon) and say at the end of an update there were NPC workers standing around between the ferry docks to Limsa Lominsa and Gridania and explained how they have been recruited to build a railroad but had no supplies. This is where the players would come in. There could be special new mines filled with monsters players would need to group up and kill for SP and at the end there would be a plethora of mining points. As players would mine up raw materials and deliver them to the NPCs they would receive rewards for their help. Lumber would be donated for ties and Ores for the rails.

Then, the Disciples of the Hand could come and receive leve-like portions of materials in the "bank" and synthesize them into the desired final products (Lumber into railroad ties and Ores into ingots and rails) and as the players put more and more effort into this server-wide effort the whole project would slowly complete and at the end the entire server could enjoy a railroad connecting points A and B! The Lodestone could even post updates on each server's progress at a certain task to stir up some server vs server competition.

If big projects like this were regularly implemented into the game every few months it would add a new feeling of satisfaction to the players who helped create them and add a much needed sense of accomplishment to one's efforts within the game. How would you feel if in 2-3 years you're talking with a newer player on an airship and you can say to them "You know, back when this game was still young, I helped build these very airships"? It would also give the player base as a whole something to do while they waited for the next patch (Instead of "Okay, here are your airships. Please wait some months while we make something new" it would be "Here is the plans for the airships and airship docks, lend a helping hand to your fellow adventurers so you can enjoy rapid transit!" And then players would be so busy working on the airships and docks that they don't notice (as much) the wait for the next update).

Just a thought I wanted to throw it out there, I'm interested to see what the rest of you all think of a system similar to what was outlined above. Maybe if everyone loves the idea SE will consider it?
this sounds attractive to me but no one plays so there's no point... the servers are barren. if you want drastic changes that will keep players... overhaul ffxi with graphics and the new engine and call eorzea a new land... wont cost them any more than this failure of a game did