Powerleveling Revisited

[Lavani]

Once the game starts costing money I think the amount of people wanting a mediocre experience in content will drop. I REALLY hate to say it, but it's obvious most people who have played FFXIV during this time were here for the graphics and free play, not out of loyalty or interest. There are lots of fun MMOs out there, and if you're playing an MMO for a story/content, you don't skip it. It's just not logical.

Yes I agree that you don't "skip" a story if that's what you're after. When I was leveling my first 50, I did it entirely in "legit" groups. I had zero PL parties and I still "skiped" the content. At 50 I was able to do all of the story quests and switch to lower level classes, (that got powerleveld at times) and turn those in for the exp rewards. Regardless of having the option to powerlevel or not people can still enjoy content and story. It's illogical to remove a game style or leveling process because someone else doesn't agree with it.

I'm not going to argue with your point - it is valid - but you have to understand how incredibly stubborn and devoted the secondary group is. The former group may bring in the cash, but the latter is where you will be gauranteed to keep recieving that cash. The trick isn't to absolutely, under any circumstance, please the first group only, but to trick you guys into throwing money at the game to keep funds up (Through patches that promise a better game - like how WoW does, and any of us who like WoW know how potent this is) while the more reliable, stubborn group plants down and stays under even the most harsh of circumstances - that is, once you prove, as a company, you care about us, too.

Hmm, which would explain why Yoshida mainly focuses on appealing to the non-loyal-FFXI potentials. How interesting.

Since you brought the subject of WoW. Yes Blizzard seems to be catering to less "hardcore" players recently. It is extremely easy to level to cap, run a few dungeons and get full epic gear. That is one of the reasons they lost so many people during WotLK and Cataclysm. Why would they continue to do this if they are losing people? Because the people that enjoy the quicker access to content (via fast leveling) and perhaps even the ease of access to epic gear (although not top tier) outweigh "the incredibly stubborn and devoted secondary group."

Both Blizzard and SE are major companies in a very competitive industry. They are going to make decisions based on profit margins a lot. Also SE is trying to erase the taint that the original ffxiv launch brought the company, and probably the best way to do so is to make the game succeed by doing similar things that wow did (in terms of time spent leveling vs time spent on end game content) to gain a larger number of subscribers. The largest part of MMOs is the endgame content, that's why new patches add END GAME CONTENT.

More people playing tells reviewers that the game is more successful and if they enjoy the game as well the game will receive even better reviews and bring in even more people to play and pay. They probably also see this "incredibly stubborn and devoted secondary group" and know they will stick with the game through "the good and bad". You said "trick you guys into throwing money at the game to keep funds up" well guess what, that's easier done to the "loyal" people who have been here for forever and a day because they want the game to "succeed". The game will succeed when more people are playing the game, not just the devoted few.

[Mirh]

Yes I agree that you don't "skip" a story if that's what you're after.(...) The game will succeed when more people are playing the game, not just the devoted few.

I've exhausted a lot of energy over the last few days on posts so I'm kind of in a mellow enough state to not do my normal, so you'll have to forgive me for a lack of worthy response:

You make several good points here, although I weigh this to be really to some level a glass half full / glass half empty situation. I did forget that a lot of people in WoW left due to how easy the game was, myself included once I progressed enough to see. The issue here is that WoW still boasted an incredibly large player base that was genuinely happy - the core of WoW, being quite happy just having casual fun. Blizzard did not have to worry about losing the hardcore fanbase because it would always have millions of players and intense income. They did this because they are (*blush*) an incredibly good company. (Although of course it brings in a few more $$million.)

SE does have to do whatever it can to keep their ridiculously pricy project of an MMO from sinking due to how catastrophic it all has been to them as a company - it's true. I think it'll all come down to what Yoshida is really about. If the development team really has that "Japanese passion" for FFXIV they did for FFXI, they'll want to bring incredible amounts of life into the world, and even if Yoshida is just wanting to make the game attractive for item hunter types, he won't be able to directly stop that.

Make no mistake though. I'm aware how insignificant anyone who wants a slower/more fulfilling MMO really is these days. If it were the other way around, I doubt you guys wanting a quick experience would lay down and take it.

If we don't really clamor for "something" about this SE won't have any incentive period. If you ever listen to Yoshida or read the interviews he seems surprised every time someone mentions something that isn't directly what he thinks will work because it works in WoW. More or less. And I'm under the impression S-E reads these forums. maybe a 12 page+ thread means something, even if it's full of "NO!" lol

Also, anything tough in WOW was strictly at endgame once Blizzard tweaked things. I'm sorry, that's really not fun. Pllllllease try to remember the leveling experience, while not fun to you, used to be fun for people, and the hours/days/months it takes people used to be considered part of a game, rather than an ancient method that wastes your time.