I guess it's time

[Iromi]

SE took standing around in a lobby playing dress up from PSO2. They may have gone a little overboard with it, though.

LOL damn, beat me to it.

[RobbieH]

Even hypothetically if FFXIV is at 500k subs, that is still really healthy for a game like this. Who honestly expects WoW numbers today? It was a right place at the right time scenario. Where is this "Has to be over a million to be considered not doomed." mentality?

500k is an ok number, nothing special about it.

But if you compare to 2.0, let's say 2.0 had 900k

It's an huge loss, and that's why i keep saying FFXIV has low numbers, it used to have a lot more

I don't know, maybe it's time the devs see what they're doing wrong?

We should look to improve, not remain the same "because of profitable numbers" and the actual numbers keep dropping.

I'm afraid they'll only look into changes when the player base dropped considerably, and the game doesn't have anything worth going back to if you quit, becuse the reasons that made you quit are still there, same formula, same everything.

[HeavenlyArmed]

500k is an ok number, nothing special about it.

But if you compare to 2.0, let's say 2.0 had 900k

It's an huge loss, and that's why i keep saying FFXIV has low numbers, it used to have a lot more

"But if you compare to 2.0, let's say it had this number. No one has ever sourced this number, and there's no way the number is actually correct, but let's say it had this number. This number is way bigger than the number that's sort of sourced, so the game is objectively losing a lot of players."

[Thayos]

The decline feels even bigger if we say the game only has 200k players and used to have 500 million accounts.





(Disclaimer: I'm well aware that player-generated estimates two months ago put the active playerbase around 640k.)

[Velhart]

500k is an ok number, nothing special about it.

But if you compare to 2.0, let's say 2.0 had 900k

It's an huge loss, and that's why i keep saying FFXIV has low numbers, it used to have a lot more

I don't know, maybe it's time the devs see what they're doing wrong?

We should look to improve, not remain the same "because of profitable numbers" and the actual numbers keep dropping.

I'm afraid they'll only look into changes when the player base dropped considerably, and the game doesn't have anything worth going back to if you quit, becuse the reasons that made you quit are still there, same formula, same everything.

MMO's never retain their numbers from launch. If say FFXIV had 900k and now 500k, that is actually completely normal. They usually lose a lot before even the halfway point to the new expansion. You really need to take the time and look at how MMO's work on both a community perspective and a developer's perspective. I won't pretend to know the in's and out's, but you shouldn't pretend that you do. You look at the outside and assume something bad is happening. You have no real data to show this besides speculators and people who say the game is doomed without anything to back it up besides some player theories.

Stop worrying about numbers, just offer suggestions that will help make the game better. Let them worry about numbers. Also, don't use numbers to try to present an argument. If your ideas and suggestions are that good, you won't need it to prove your point.

Even if we were in a hypothetical situation where the game wasn't being profitable due to low player count, I have my doubts they would completely revamp the game again to meet the needs of FFXI players.

[KitingGenbu]

Its like no one realizes that numbers do not completely attribute to success and not even SE knows why the numbers are declining. The population of course affects players but it doesn't mean its not successful on the corporate end just because it has a few hundred thousand subs. The cash shop is honestly updating at the same rate if not more so than the game is and people are STILL asking for more stuff, so if people are spending there, it can at least cover the cost of some people unsubbing. Companies dont bank off of how much money they COULD make but rather what is actually MAKING the money. The formula will remain the same until both the subs and the cash shop revenue decrease, then SE will be forced to do something about it, till then one can only hope.

As for people leaving the game, only people can speculate or get explanations from people that actually voice them, but the reasons are too varied. People could be leaving due to family, work, school, other games peaking their interest, and yes lack of interest in the current game. You'll see people leaving for legion next month, maybe not because this game is bad to them but because WoW has something new to offer or the story. I'll admit that even though I felt WoD failed as a whole, most of the story was pretty good (kinda nice to have good voice acting for everything, hint hint). Tossing speculation into the wind based off of unofficial data that could've easily been skewed because of the 96 hour free log in campaigns that SE has been doing as of late dont hold weight for either side.

[Caitlyn]

The question is: Do you really want to play the same (old) game over and over again for the next 10 years? Answer: No one will.

If you want to keep FFXIV successfull, you have to change it. Some things could be radical, but the game must go forward. Keep it fresh, exciting and fun.

Here's a question: if you were given the choice to change only ONE thing about FFXIV, no matter how radical the change would be, what would you decide to alter?

Hard decision. There are alot of things I would like to change, but those things arent radical enough (like deeper character costumization or no more normal mode raids). Maybe a rework of the current class/combat system:

No fixed classes or jobs.
More like having your weapon, your gear and a fixed amount of skills. You can obtain your skills by learning/buying them. You can also upgrade them by spending points (like PvP). You have the freedom to choose your own personal Limit Break. And you can also choose between traditional tab targeting and a new aim targeting system. You can keep your old job or start creating a new one...

Example: Guardian
- Lance, Shield, Plate-Armour
- Tank- and Heal-Skills
- DPS-LB1 and -LB2, Healer-LB3
- Tab-Targeting System

[Thayos]

The question is: Do you really want to play the same (old) game over and over again for the next 10 years? Answer: No one will.

I know I'm not the only person here who has played FFXI for more than a decade.

... right? :/

[Cakekizyy]

500k is an ok number, nothing special about it.

But if you compare to 2.0, let's say 2.0 had 900k

It's an huge loss, and that's why i keep saying FFXIV has low numbers, it used to have a lot more

I don't know, maybe it's time the devs see what they're doing wrong?

We should look to improve, not remain the same "because of profitable numbers" and the actual numbers keep dropping.

I'm afraid they'll only look into changes when the player base dropped considerably, and the game doesn't have anything worth going back to if you quit, becuse the reasons that made you quit are still there, same formula, same everything.

Then they lose people that like how game is. Changing game to chase a group of players at expense of core base sounds like a bad idea to me.

[SpiritMuse]

The question is: Do you really want to play the same (old) game over and over again for the next 10 years? Answer: No one will.

If it's a good game that I like, sure. I've just started yet another playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy, games I've owned for a long time and have played many times. I'm still not sick of them.

So basically what I'm saying is your "answer" is wrong.