I just want a FF11 modern game.

[CidHeiral]

In what way is retail a cakewalk compared to how it was back in the day?

The leveling experience is much easier, sure, but Odyssey V25s and master trials are infinitely harder than anything that existed in the game back in the day, with the exception of legitimately broken content like AV and PW that was designed in such a way that it just wasn't possible without exploits given the 250+ms latency that Western players were playing with.

I don't think anyone has even cleared the master trial that was added last year yet. The world's first clear of the one before that took 11 months and no one else has cleared it besides the first group yet as far as I'm aware. If you think the game is a cakewalk, you probably don't play or know very much about the modern game.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying but I can see how that could be the case with the way I worded it. Of course content designed to be difficult is going to be difficult. My point was that OP is citing FFXI as the prime example of how to make a new hardcore MMO where every little thing is a huge pain in the ass, but ironically the game has long since sanded off most of those edges. Leveling is way easier, synthesis is easier, you can get around the world much easier, quests and fame requirements were made easier, maps are easier to get, XP loss on death was reduced, etc etc. As much as I enjoyed the game's brutality back in the day, a new MMO designed like that would absolutely be DOA.

[BigCheez]

I think you misunderstood what I was saying but I can see how that could be the case with the way I worded it. Of course content designed to be difficult is going to be difficult. My point was that OP is citing FFXI as the prime example of how to make a new hardcore MMO where every little thing is a huge pain in the ass, but ironically the game has long since sanded off most of those edges. Leveling is way easier, synthesis is easier, you can get around the world much easier, quests and fame requirements were made easier, maps are easier to get, XP loss on death was reduced, etc etc. As much as I enjoyed the game's brutality back in the day, a new MMO designed like that would absolutely be DOA.

FFXI was never a super hardcore game. It just prioritised convenience less heavily, which is still the case compared to modern MMOs. I don't think you're considering why those changes were made.

Leveling was made "easier" (read: more convenient) because the overwhelming majority of the playerbase is at endgame, so there aren't hordes of people looking to party in the dunes anymore. The focus of the game is not the leveling experience anymore because the majority of the content now requires you to be at level cap.

Leveling synthesis was made easier because low level crafts have no value anymore. You could craft and sell things for money while leveling before. You can't really do that anymore.

You can buy leveling gear with sparks now because no one was selling low level gear on the AH.

Getting around was made easier because the world is bigger. And maps made easier to get because there are so many more maps to collect.

None of these changes were made specifically because the game was too "hard". The changes were made because the game grew in scope over the years, the playerbase aged (in terms of the percentage of the playerbase that was at endgame), and it became unenterable for new players.

Some things have changed, yes, but it's still very much still FFXI. There is still a huge amount of player power progression available. Items are still meaningful. And there are still plenty of long grinds. Want an Ergon weapon? Well, there's a 7 month long grind before you can even start one. Then you have the grind for the weapon itself after that.

Wildstar tried that but the MMO genre has just moved past that sort of system now. Those niche games aren't going to survive in the current MMO environment. So your choices are either play one of the current niche games still out there or adapt to the new style of MMOs.

And it isn't even like this is new. The genre started going this way with the people who left EverQuest and others of that time period for (at the time) less grueling options like EverQuest II and WoW.

Wildstar did not fail because it was too "hardcore". It failed because it had a lot of issues in development including key members of staff leaving the company. When players started to leave due to content being developed too slowly, it was then made free to play and heavily over-monetised to compensate. Even more players left and then the game was abandoned by the developers.

Wildstar wasn't a particularly hardcore game. The content was very well received, the problem was corporate greed. IDK where this Wildstar narrative that people try to spin even comes from because it's flat-out fiction.

[CidHeiral]

I don't think you're considering why those changes were made.

And I don't think you're really listening to anything I'm saying. I'm not repeating myself again so as fellow FFXI fans let's just leave it at that.

Now whether a mmo like that would work today, we don't know because no company wants to give it a try.

No company wants to give it a try because they know it would fail. I like that style of MMO as well but the reality is what it is.