Really starting to worry...

[miqokini]

I'm wondering what SE has in mind to get people interested in this game again. Sure, chocobos and air ships might seem awesome to us, but that's not gonna sell it to an outsider. I'm wondering if there is any hope...

At this rate, it's hard for me to continue playing the game. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy it very much, but I'm beginning to notice a major issue. There simply aren't enough players to make this a worthwhile MMO. And no, I don't want to play solo. If I did, I wouldn't be playing an MMO.

I have 3 crafts above r30, and most others are hovering around r20, yet it is near impossible for me to make any gil. Sometimes I have things sitting in the retainer's bazaars for days, if not weeks. And I'm selling useful gear and items. I also constantly make sure my items are listed cheapest.

This tells me that the population must be extremely low. And those who are still around most likely have been for a while now and don't need the stuff I am trying to sell.

And population wise, it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I am constantly seeing friends I've made in-game just disappearing, never to be heard from again. I have been in many very successful Linkshells, only to watch them slowly die.

SE, I hope you have something great up your sleeve, besides just simple updates every couple months. That's just not going to cut it...

[Akira_Tenshi]

Have you not seen the Ifrit video!? 1.19 is only days away. I don't know what your complaining about. It's the biggest patch yet, why not just wait and see how people feel about the game then. There is plenty of people on my sever. The players will come when the patch hits.

[AsterBarnivere]

Have you not seen the Ifrit video!? 1.19 is only days away. I don't know what your complaining about. It's the biggest patch yet, why not just wait and see how people feel about the game then.

Okay, so one primal battle... how long will it take for players to finish that and then leave? (Not long) It'll pretty much be the equivalent of the NMs that everyone was able to beat in less than a week, and after that, what will there be left to do?

[Arcell]

Okay, so one primal battle... how long will it take for players to finish that and then leave? (Not long) It'll pretty much be the equivalent of the NMs that everyone was able to beat in less than a week, and after that, what will there be left to do?

That's looking at it from a long-time player's point of view. Of course the people who have multiple 50's are going to burn through any and all new content, that's just how it is. However every additional piece of content just adds to the pile of things new players have to look forward to.

[Biggs]

That's looking at it from a long-time player's point of view. Of course the people who have multiple 50's are going to burn through any and all new content, that's just how it is. However every additional piece of content just adds to the pile of things new players have to look forward to.

While I agree with this statement, it only highlights the fact that SE doesn't really give a damn about its current player base. I see little point in leaving the servers on while reworking the game, only to have the current player base level all their jobs to 50 and run out of things to do because they are too busy making things for people that aren't playing yet. I am not saying I don't understand how this can happen given their situation, you have to work from the ground up after all. I am only reiterrating what I believe to be the biggest pickle SE is currently in with this game: How to encourage current players to stay on while also tempting new players to join? As it stands I feel like many people that have played for this past year will leave the game if SE starts charging without adding in content for all the characters that have 5 plus jobs at 50+

I don't envy their prediciment.

[KiriA500]

Okay, so one primal battle... how long will it take for players to finish that and then leave? (Not long) It'll pretty much be the equivalent of the NMs that everyone was able to beat in less than a week, and after that, what will there be left to do?

Go outside?

The game is still in the process of getting BASIC mechanics down. Anybody who honestly expects the game to have an infinite amount stuff to do can go throw a fit at the straw man they've built.

[miqokini]

The arguments presented have there merit, but I've still got a couple issues. First of all, I'm getting sick of hearing "A lot of people will come back after the patch." I've heard people say that for every single patch so far. And while it may be true to an extent, those same people just seem to disappear again a week or so after the patch. Perhaps that is the problem. FFXIV is updated at a snail's pace compared to most other MMOs. I truly believe that it would be much better for SE to release small patches every week or so, rather than one large patch every couple months. This would at least keep people's interest longer.

For example, someone who has every job leveled to the max will just plow through all the new content in a couple days and then have nothing to do or nothing new to experience for a couple months down the road. If small patches came out every week or so, this would not be the case, and more people would stick around. It just makes sense.

Also, I don't want to sell all my items to a mindless NPC. I actually find joy in interacting with REAL people, and participating in a REAL economy, but FFXIV just seems to lack that to the max. For instance, I have one of my retainers' bazaars full of dye. The first day I put it up, it all sold immediately. I filled my bazaar back up with more dye, and now, 5 days later, I have only sold 1 (one).

This tells me that there must only be an extremely small amount of people who actually buy dye, something you would think would be a hot item.

[Sephr]

The arguments presented have there merit, but I've still got a couple issues. First of all, I'm getting sick of hearing "A lot of people will come back after the patch." I've heard people say that for every single patch so far. And while it may be true to an extent, those same people just seem to disappear again a week or so after the patch. Perhaps that is the problem. FFXIV is updated at a snail's pace compared to most other MMOs. I truly believe that it would be much better for SE to release small patches every week or so, rather than one large patch every couple months. This would at least keep people's interest longer.

For example, someone who has every job leveled to the max will just plow through all the new content in a couple days and then have nothing to do or nothing new to experience for a couple months down the road. If small patches came out every week or so, this would not be the case, and more people would stick around. It just makes sense.

Also, I don't want to sell all my items to a mindless NPC. I actually find joy in interacting with REAL people, and participating in a REAL economy, but FFXIV just seems to lack that to the max. For instance, I have one of my retainers' bazaars full of dye. The first day I put it up, it all sold immediately. I filled my bazaar back up with more dye, and now, 5 days later, I have only sold 1 (one).

This tells me that there must only be an extremely small amount of people who actually buy dye, something you would think would be a hot item.

I don't think it's a snail's pace at all. Compared to a large amount of MMOs who generally produce completely new content on about a 3 month cycle, I'd say XIV's doing pretty well in generating brand new systems and content. Unless of course, you're looking back on the 4-5 months we had of fairly limited content introduced which would be fair enough, but that was time they spent planning the content we're getting now and developing it.

With most MMOs it's a constant cycle with new content being developed a good 5-6 months before it's implemented fully rather than after the previous patch, whereas with XIV it stopped dead back at the start of the year and had to start over from the basics. I'd say it's doing pretty well and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

As for your comments about dealing with people directly I agree, and I think we need an auction house to make the process simple and easy as it should be. But that's another conversation all together.

[Benji]

The arguments presented have there merit, but I've still got a couple issues. First of all, I'm getting sick of hearing "A lot of people will come back after the patch." I've heard people say that for every single patch so far. And while it may be true to an extent, those same people just seem to disappear again a week or so after the patch. Perhaps that is the problem. FFXIV is updated at a snail's pace compared to most other MMOs. I truly believe that it would be much better for SE to release small patches every week or so, rather than one large patch every couple months. This would at least keep people's interest longer.

For example, someone who has every job leveled to the max will just plow through all the new content in a couple days and then have nothing to do or nothing new to experience for a couple months down the road. If small patches came out every week or so, this would not be the case, and more people would stick around. It just makes sense.

Also, I don't want to sell all my items to a mindless NPC. I actually find joy in interacting with REAL people, and participating in a REAL economy, but FFXIV just seems to lack that to the max. For instance, I have one of my retainers' bazaars full of dye. The first day I put it up, it all sold immediately. I filled my bazaar back up with more dye, and now, 5 days later, I have only sold 1 (one).

This tells me that there must only be an extremely small amount of people who actually buy dye, something you would think would be a hot item.

I've played for about a week or two after each patch that has released in the past few months. I've only logged on recently to do the events they've been implementing.

I'm expecting to start playing regularly after 1.19 hits.

[Blarp]

Go outside?

The game is still in the process of getting BASIC mechanics down. Anybody who honestly expects the game to have an infinite amount stuff to do can go throw a fit at the straw man they've built.

That argument sort of goes both ways dude. The game is still in the process of getting basic mechanics down after a year of patching. We're talking pre-alpha design document type stuff here. Why should the OP care to bother with the game at all?

OP, populations are low, and the antiquated social "features" they've given us to work with defiantly do not help. Unfortunately, I really don't think we're ever going to see jam packed servers like we did in XI's glory days. Times have changed a lot, and most gamers will not tolerate a broken or incomplete game. XIV had a huge amount of hype behind it; former and current players of XI were going to come back; people playing WoW were excited; there was talk of XIV on every major news site. And then launch happened.

Maybe people are right and the PS3 launch (if it ever happens) will revitalize the game, but I share your doubts and concerns. If 1.9 doesn't impress you then I'd suggest that you take a break until SE announces the game is "ready" but I honestly don't expect that announcement for another year.