The real reasons 1.0 failed

[Yurimi]

Reasons why FFXIV 1.0 failed.
I am tired of hearing why people think FFXIV 1.0 failed when chances are they played 30mins or less of the total productif they even played it or perhaps simply read a thing or 2 online and want to use "1.0 failed" as a reason their idea should be implemented because 1.0 failed without their oh so precious idea.

It failed for many things but stuff like "it was a grindfest" or "it was trying to be FFXI but prettier and people didn't want that anymore" are wrong.

Acceptable reasons for why it failed
-the combat system with its stamina gauge and no auto attacks was horrid
-server systems made massive lag if more than 1 party was around
-the game punished mages making no way to get MP other than expensive ethers or a trip back to an aetheryte every 2 fights making it so no one wanted to player THM or CNJ
-only the best pc's could play the game on anything higher than minimum to medium settings
-lacked a lot of iconic FF stuff (couldn't ride chocobos, no recognizable jobs/skills)
-a confusing class system that left some classes (namely THM and CNJ) for the better part of the leveling experience unsure as to the role as both classes had damaging and healing spells)
-extremely poor translation effort that left even the Japanese players wondering what was going on(look up horsebird fiasco which is what in beta the Japanese maps were plastered with this in the chocobo stable areas where you could inconveniently not pick up a chocobo)*
-fatigue system which furthered suspicion that this game was designed in China where online games are required to have this
-EXTREMELY confusing UI
-lack of auction house at launch and a very confusing retainer system used for selling items
-the intended way to level through leves was extremely tedious and limiting (I say intended because this was of course worked around as methods not intended to be used to level cropped up)

Not reasons why it failed
-it didn't have your super omg wtf idea of amazing awesome
-it was to much like FFXI , while the races and monster models were similar this is about as close to FFXI it was, the combat system was completely different outside of the way you used to controller to choose your macros, the ui was different, the world was different, it was open world vs zoned, the classes were completely different from the jobs of FFXI, *in essence it wasn't like ffxi at all.
-maps were copy pasted a lot, this can go either way. Some didn't like how repetitive the maps were but a lot enjoyed how open and free the world felt over cramped zones that take 3mins to traverse.
-the world was to dangerous
-mixed community servers, from a latency standpoint this is valid from a communication standpoint this is only semi valid but from a server population and health standpoint mixed servers were great in ensuring that no matter what your life or work schedule was when you wanted to play people were around
-game was too hard, it was more difficult but at the same time at least in my experience people were far more open to help people learn over 2.0s community where it being easier has created the idea if you don't know it and haven't won it you can't do it with them (this one however is a personal opinion)
-lack of content, there was content but what we had was as they published in a report about the ffxiv 2.0 creation process, was just what they could bring over and adapt from FFXIV 2.0 during creation and content was rarely developed for 1.0 itself after the choice to scrap it for 2.0 was made

This isn't a 1.0 is better and this game needs to be like that thread this is a thread asking people to stop pushing their ideas under the banner that 1.0 didn't have their amazing idea or this game is doing something you didn't like about 1.0 so it is going to fail because of it. I see this in way to many threads and it's either ignorance or stupidity. I don't care which but let it go.

[Saccharin]

Real reasons means your opinion.

[KiriA500]

deadhorse.jpg

[Roris]

It was developed on a sketchy engine not fit for MMOs or even consoles, it was outsourced to give more budget to other games like the fabulous Lightning saga, it was announced too early and then rushed to compete with Cataclysm when it should have been a good year or two away from having a proper release to iron out all the issues.

[Garlyle]

You should dig up Yoshida's own analysis of what went wrong with 1.0 and how ARR was constructed, that he did at GDC this year. The things you point out are really minor symptoms of the greater issues, which yes, actually did largely stem from "Here's what worked when we built XI, so let's just follow those steps again".

[Themis]

Oh, you're one of the people who worked on the first version? No? If not, these are your opinions on why it failed.

As already noted, Yoshida did a presentation at GDC that covered some of the key aspects behind the failure of the project. Yes, the final product was a big shambles, but there were far more important, deeper issues than what we saw on the surface in the game.

[Nadrojj]

Why do we care at this point? We have a shiny new game, why ponder the past?

[Quiz]

Oh, you're one of the people who worked on the first version? No? If not, these are your opinions on why it failed.

As already noted, Yoshida did a presentation at GDC that covered some of the key aspects behind the failure of the project. Yes, the final product was a big shambles, but there were far more important, deeper issues than what we saw on the surface in the game.

You should dig up Yoshida's own analysis of what went wrong with 1.0 and how ARR was constructed, that he did at GDC this year. The things you point out are really minor symptoms of the greater issues, which yes, actually did largely stem from "Here's what worked when we built XI, so let's just follow those steps again".

[DragonFlyy]

-the combat system with its stamina gauge and no auto attacks was horrid
-server systems made massive lag if more than 1 party was around

My opinion on the first one (noticed I stated opinion and not fact) ... I enjoyed the combat system. Was slow and clunky but was still fun.
Second one, I never had a problem with lag. Currently I run into lag more often than I ever did in 1.0.

[Felis]

-a confusing class system that left some classes (namely THM and CNJ) for the better part of the leveling experience unsure as to the role as both classes had damaging and healing spells)

Conjurer - elemental magic with circle AoE
Thaumaturge - astral/umbral DoT magic with cone AoE

You forgot the absence of a search system in the market wards (the idea of the wards was ok, if there would have been a search system from the beginning)

Some of your points only showed up during the beta (horsebird as example)