Game population by the numbers.

[Shelia]

The problem isn't that Abrieal is a fanboi defending his beloved FF serious against you 2 vicious clowns. It's that you are basing everything off of what you are being force feed on the internet. So basically if everyone used your logic, Warhammer Online would be the greatest MMO ever and it would be the only MMO on the market right now with 80 million subscribers, because that game was hyped that much. Guild Wars will be popular, for a few months, and fade. From what I have seen, it's not as impressive as you 2 make it out to be. There are lots of MMO, you 2 can play which ever you like, and the great thing is, when you see that a game is not what you thought, you can go back to your previous MMO or find a band new one all together. that's the beauty of MMOs, there is never a shortage of options

Um... we never said he was a fanboy. I think all of us here are "fans" of FFXIV.
What else do we have to base GW2 off of...? It's not like the game is out yet. He said "Oh there's no new info and its all hype" and I simply responded by saying "No, there is info and these articles/videos back the hype up". I'm not attacking anybody here. That isn't my intent. =)

The reason Warhammer failed is because the game itself failed to live up to what the devs said it would be upon release. ArenaNet is genuinely trying to pace themselves and live up to their claims before they release a product halfassedly like with Warhammer and Age of Conan... and FFXIV.

Even if you don't think GW2 is impressive, that's fine. Everybody's entitled to their own opinions, so please don't attack me for enjoying GW2 and what I've read so far. :3

[Abriael]

Um... we never said he was a fanboy. I think all of us here are "fans" of FFXIV.
What else do we have to base GW2 off of...? It's not like the game is out yet. He said "Oh there's no new info and its all hype" and I simply responded by saying "No, there is info and these articles/videos back the hype up". I'm not attacking anybody here. That isn't my intent. =)

Maybe wait until you can play the beta before deciding it's gonna be all end all just a piece of advice.

The reason Warhammer failed is because the game itself failed to live up to what the devs said it would be upon release. ArenaNet is genuinely trying to pace themselves and live up to their claims before they release a product halfassedly like with Warhammer and Age of Conan... and FFXIV.

Are you perchance saying that the warhammer online and age of conan devs didn't do whatever they could to pull off the best product they could?
You couldn't be more wrong.
Both developers delayed the released of their games multiple times (two for WAR, Three for AoC), and put all their resources into both games.
Both development teams were composed by extremely passionate individuals and very talented artist/programmers/directors and all. There's no reason to believe that they are in any way inferior to ArenaNet.

Mythic, just to bring an example, made DAOC, which is considered one of the best MMORPGs ever released by many, many people (and made it with very limited resources).
Past games, dedication and talent isn't all that's necessary to release a successful game, the factors that come into play are extremely complex, and publishers ARE a factor (EA influenced the release of warhammer online quite badly). One of the most devastating factors, for instance, is biting more than you can chew (Warhammer Online, Final Fantasy XIV and Age of Conan all suffered from that). And that seems a danger that GW2 might suffer from.

[Shelia]

Are you perchance saying that the warhammer online and age of conan devs didn't do whatever they could to pull off the best product they could?

Yes, I am. lol
I played AoC on the day it launched... and it was awful. Completely full of bugs. Almost every NPC glitches, I fell through the floor several times, and occasionally there would be a glitch with things like looting. The game was far from polished, and there's no excuse for releasing a game that was so blatantly bug-ridden. Warhammer didn't have any obvious bugs to speak of... but the content definitely wasn't there.

Both developers delayed the released of their games multiple times (two for WAR, Three for AoC), and put all their resources into both games.
Both development teams were composed by extremely passionate individuals and very talented artist/programmers/directors and all. There's no reason to believe that they are in any way inferior to ArenaNet.

Dude, just because launches were delayed doesn't mean they were spending that time developing. =\
If you played either game at release, you'd know what I was talking about. Age of Conan was definitely rushed.. the amount of bugs I witnessed within my first day of playing was atrocious. Warhammer just had the misfortune of lacking basic content and things it said it would have, and being overshadowed by other games (much like XIV).

Past games and talent isn't all that's necessary to release a successful game, the factors that come into play are extremely complex, and publishers ARE a factor (EA influenced the release of warhammer online quite badly).

Yes, but you also fail to realize EA pretty much chokes every series to death... lol
They tend to have much more of a vice-grip on their products than most publishers do.

I never mentioned past games/talent as being a factor, either (although it might help in the development process). I just stated that I think ArenaNet is doing the right thing by pacing themselves with their product.

[Shelia]

Good call, Wing. hahaha

[wingiehai]

Good call, Wing. hahaha

Did you actually see the Paxeast footage today? I mean if they can pull off a smooth launch, this could be exciting! This is what I wanted for FFXIV

[Shelia]

Did you actually see the Paxeast footage today? I mean if they can pull off a smooth launch, this could be exciting! This is what I wanted for FFXIV

I saw a stream of a developer playing the demo and showing off some of the highlights of the game yesterday... it was amazing. It was really nice seeing a developer play the game for once, because he knew what he was doing and what to show the audience. I'm truly hoping ArenaNet can pull this off. I have high hopes for them, and I feel like they're doing a good job by pacing themselves with development. I can wait, as long as it doesn't take until next winter. ><

I haven't felt this much hype for an MMO since FFXI... yes, not even FFXIV had me this excited. Somewhere, deep down in my rocky little heart, I knew SE was going to mess it up somehow.... hahaha

[wingiehai]

I saw a stream of a developer playing the demo and showing off some of the highlights of the game yesterday... it was amazing. It was really nice seeing a developer play the game for once, because he knew what he was doing and what to show the audience. I'm truly hoping ArenaNet can pull this off. I have high hopes for them, and I feel like they're doing a good job by pacing themselves with development. I can wait, as long as it doesn't take until next winter. ><

I haven't felt this much hype for an MMO since FFXI... yes, not even FFXIV had me this excited. Somewhere, deep down in my rocky little heart, I knew SE was going to mess it up somehow.... hahaha

I have to agree this was the first MMO I told my friends, dudes wait awhile for this one! But with the clip today the dynamic events were very very cool and if they reckon they have the scaling right for however many players join! They also said regardless of levels your friend and bump you up levels to suit the situation or you can be leveled down too! The combat looks pretty insane, lets just wait and see !

[Punxsutawney]

The problem isn't that Abrieal is a fanboi defending his beloved FF serious against you 2 vicious clowns. It's that you are basing everything off of what you are being force feed on the internet. So basically if everyone used your logic, Warhammer Online would be the greatest MMO ever and it would be the only MMO on the market right now with 80 million subscribers, because that game was hyped that much. Guild Wars will be popular, for a few months, and fade. From what I have seen, it's not as impressive as you 2 make it out to be. There are lots of MMO, you 2 can play which ever you like, and the great thing is, when you see that a game is not what you thought, you can go back to your previous MMO or find a band new one all together. that's the beauty of MMOs, there is never a shortage of options

[Arcell]

As much as I liked Guild Wars 1, I don't think Guild Wars 2 will beat FFXIV for me. It sounds like it potentially has some amazing ideas but it really depends on if they pull it off or not. If they do, by all means it'll revolutionize MMOs forever. If they don't it'll be just another kind of disappointing MMO release.

As for Star Wars, from what I've seen it doesn't look like anything special at all. Oh fully voice acted quests, big whoop. Gameplay looks kind of generic, everyone's going to be running around with lightsabers. Then again Star Wars games never really interested me, their brand of sci-fi doesn't do it for me. Not really afraid of guys in white armor going pew pew with their laser guns.

I like the systems of FFXIV, I like the world, I like the current dev team. A lot of these things give me hope that this game will be a major contender come PS3 launch. I'm going to stick around regardless, though I'll try other MMOs if they seem worth even trying. For the time, none come to mind for me.

[Forlorn]

In December 2003, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada announced that there were over 200,000 subscribers to Final Fantasy XI, allowing the company to break even and start making a profit. Back in April 2009 FFXI hit 2,000,000 active characters. No idea if this considers mules or not. There were between 200,000 and 300,000 active players daily in 2006.As of August 14, 2006 the Xbox 360 version was the sixth most played game on Xbox Live.

Seems FFXI had a slow start but held steady. No idea what the numbers are like now. Still no where near other games which is the saddening part. FFXIV should have been better, damn Square =(