Dev Tracker: Discussion

[Sechs]

This lack of information as of late is slowly getting worse with every week.
Really hope they have something "big" (big in comparison to FFXI's nowadays standards of course) in store for us, something to surprise us and excite us.

I'd really love to know what they plan to do at least for the next year. I don't even expect a full timeline plan, just a few lines with generic thoughts of what they have in mind would be more than sufficient =/

[Draylo]

I guess its because XIV has their fanfest and such, it has been really slow as far as information.

[Sechs]

This has started before the fanfest. The people working on FFXI are different from the FFXIV team (well, aside from the community guys who are the same).
It's precisely because of the fanfest going on and all the info about FFXIV that, if anything, we need some news about FFXI even more, even if just to shut up the nth cataclysmic guy screaming "omg FFXI is dying" >.>

[Draylo]

I agree w/you but not much we can do. I noticed a few weeks back they aren't as fast with posting things on the forums as before. Usually they always have something on M/W/F at 3am EST. You will never stop that though, there's always going to be those people. I feel its one of the main reasons the JP population is still decent compared to NA, our community is such shit in regards to this game. Nothing but doomsday prophets and people who think they are cool for bashing this game. I honestly don't know why they do it, it does nothing but hurt the community and by extension the game.

[Sechs]

Yeah that has always annoyed me, and lately it's as strong as ever. It hasn't been this strong since... I don't know, but a long long time.
I don't mind constructive criticism, I'm all for that and love it and, frankly, there's a lot of space about that in the current state of FFXI.
But doomsday stuff really annoys me...

[Damane]

Yeah that has always annoyed me, and lately it's as strong as ever. It hasn't been this strong since... I don't know, but a long long time.
I don't mind constructive criticism, I'm all for that and love it and, frankly, there's a lot of space about that in the current state of FFXI.
But doomsday stuff really annoys me...

only criticism from my side is the low population during my gametime, EU prime. I am not a fan of running events with mules, but this was basicly the only way to run events the last few weeks/months, havent even logged in since a week :/

basicly waiting on the adoulin mission storyline conclusion in november, do that and then prolly unsub -_-

[Byrthnoth]

We're creeping towards JP primetime and there are 555 people on Lakshmi right now. There's one lonely guy shouting for a Chiner's Belt +1.

Shout events in my log:
* 1.5 hours ago - Pil run that looks like it filled
* 2 hours ago - Akvan run (failed)
* 3 hours ago - Gessho (failed I assume, only one shout)
* 5 hours ago - JPs iLevel 124 Incursion shout (two NMs) and did fill up.
* 5:15 ago - Akvan run (filled)
* 5.5 hours ago - JP Abyssea Altepa party shout
* 6 hours ago - Jailer of Justice shout? lol? (only one shout)
* 7 hours ago (11PM EST) - Einherjar T3 shout (filled)
My log ends 8 hours ago (10PM EST), so those are the shout events that have occurred in the last 8 hours. You can probably see why a player without a strong linkshell would feel this game is dead, unless they enjoy farming Voidwatch once every 4 hours.

[Damane]

We're creeping towards JP primetime and there are 555 people on Lakshmi right now. There's one lonely guy shouting for a Chiner's Belt +1.

Shout events in my log:
* 1.5 hours ago - Pil run that looks like it filled
* 2 hours ago - Akvan run (failed)
* 3 hours ago - Gessho (failed I assume, only one shout)
* 5 hours ago - JPs iLevel 124 Incursion shout (two NMs) and did fill up.
* 5:15 ago - Akvan run (filled)
* 5.5 hours ago - JP Abyssea Altepa party shout
* 6 hours ago - Jailer of Justice shout? lol? (only one shout)
* 7 hours ago (11PM EST) - Einherjar T3 shout (filled)
My log ends 8 hours ago (10PM EST), so those are the shout events that have occurred in the last 8 hours. You can probably see why a player without a strong linkshell would feel this game is dead, unless they enjoy farming Voidwatch once every 4 hours.

not trying to start here anything, but lets face it: the game is in tremendous decline and as someone said its still up but "lying in its bed dieing" of old age grasping for a few more breaths. The server merges should have happened long time ago now its again too late.

[Toth]

not trying to start here anything, but lets face it: the game is in tremendous decline and as someone said its still up but "lying in its bed dieing" of old age grasping for a few more breaths. The server merges should have happened long time ago now its again too late.

I think server merges are really warranted now. I still log on each day but my time is so limited that I am mostly playing 14 since there is so much going on with it now while 11 has been rather stales as of late...

[Malithar]

Lack of info happens, if anything, I think it's a bit pre-mature to be tossing around the whole "wtf is going onnnnnn?!" deal. How many years did we go with nearly 0 info in-between updates? We know the next one includes the conclusion of SoA's missions, and I'm fairly sure it'll include some sort of battle content, Yorcia Aluvion Skirmish IMO, as well as Unity Concord, wtfever that is, was really hoping for info about it this week, since they mentioned it two weeks ago.

To be fair, even though the updates aren't always content heavy or anything, I've been really surprised that they've kept up the monthly updates for nearly a year at this point. With how things used to be, that's an achievement IMO. Considering what we used to expect from FFXI, I think they've earned some time to put together quality content, or at least not tease us then have to push things back due to QA/bugs/time, or flat out change their minds, like the 2x LSs.

There was one line from Matsui though that struck negatively with me from the results of the May survey:

"As we draw closer to the conclusion of the Adoulin storyline, we will do our best to satisfy our less-than-pleased players. We also obtained a clearer idea about how far players have progressed in the Adoulin missions.

It is unfortunate that there are a number of players who do not intend to keep playing, so we will endeavor to build more interest in experiencing the Adoulin storyline."

The bolded has never sat well with me at all. Maybe I've read too much into it, idk, but it struck me as "lets tie up the storyline and see if it's worth continuing the game at that point." I just feel like they've done too much good for the game over the past year for it to actually go downhill so quickly. So many great changes (that came too late, admittedly) that I feel like they have some larger plans in store. In those same results, they said they'd eventually make Leafallia relevant for something other than the mission, so maybe we'll have some event there eventually.

Do agree though, if you don't have friends and/or a solid LS, this game is prolly pretty terrible for anyone.

[Sechs]

You can probably see why a player without a strong linkshell would feel this game is dead, unless they enjoy farming Voidwatch once every 4 hours.

I see the point you're making, and I agree with your point completely.

But then I think about how this game used to be.
Before Voidwatch, before Abyssea... were there really that many shouts? I don't remember a lot of them. PUG was a rare thing, players back then were relying on making publicity for their own LSs and there were small groups for several different events, or big event LSs.
Granted that there were more players back then, but I don't remember FFXI being so reliant on PUGs as it is today.

Now I wonder though, is this a sign times have changed? A Threshold that once passed you can't get back? I don't have an aswer myself, but I know for sure that this game used to live pretty well even without the PUG world standards we've seen over the last years.

[Toth]

Well, on Sylph yesterday, I logged in to do a avatar fight but it filled up rather fast. I think the playerbase is still there for sure, just too spread out.

The fact they have not done a server merge yet is telling and makes me wonder if SE is continuing to make a constant profit with the game to stay status quo.

[Byrthnoth]

The dissolution of (large) linkshells capable of doing regular events has been done to death, but to review:
* Abyssea -> Linkshells get a lot smaller
* Voidwatch -> Shout groups become commonplace
* Legion -> People don't bother getting back together (by and large) because the rewards suck. There was probably about 1 NA Legion shell/server.
* Adoulin -> Large linkshells start to become more common for Delve. Now we're talking 3-5 serious NA shells doing Alliance-size Legion on a regular basis.
* Skill patch/Delve scaling -> Large linkshells are no longer necessary for any content. Shaky alliances start to erode in favor of shout groups. People who enjoyed the difficulty of coordinating and executing a Delve strategy find new-Delve boring and quit.
* FFXIV re-release -> Massive playerbase loss. Now the remaining alliance linkshells have half as many people.
* Dwindling population since then -> Now the remaining linkshells have even fewer people. If someone isn't on, they can't do events.
* Incursion + Free subscription month -> Two people that had gone to FFXIV reactivated and rejoined our linkshell. One of them is still activated, but he plays FFXIV during primetime for the most part.

My current linkshell has 10 people on now playing 14 characters (mostly afk). We are >2% of the server (656 characters logged in now) and I'm fairly confident that we're all top-90% players (hard to tell because good JP groups won't invite us). Last night we couldn't get an Incursion group going and ended up doing Garuda on VD instead. If I'm in one of the most competent and full NA linkshells on Lakshmi and can't do current content, which has attractive rewards, something needs to change.

[Sechs]

Good summary.
I hated the scaling/skill part.
Up to then LS got reliant again, and I thought that to be impossible after years of Abyssea/Voidwatch. Honestly I loved that, it can't be just me who loved that comeback?!
I was really sad when FFXI slowly (?) transformed again into the "lowmen everything with 2000 mules" fest that is today =/

[Damane]

The dissolution of (large) linkshells capable of doing regular events has been done to death, but to review:
* Abyssea -> Linkshells get a lot smaller
* Voidwatch -> Shout groups become commonplace
* Legion -> People don't bother getting back together (by and large) because the rewards suck. There was probably about 1 NA Legion shell/server.
* Adoulin -> Large linkshells start to become more common for Delve. Now we're talking 3-5 serious NA shells doing Alliance-size Legion on a regular basis.
* Skill patch/Delve scaling -> Large linkshells are no longer necessary for any content. Shaky alliances start to erode in favor of shout groups. People who enjoyed the difficulty of coordinating and executing a Delve strategy find new-Delve boring and quit.
* FFXIV re-release -> Massive playerbase loss. Now the remaining alliance linkshells have half as many people.
* Dwindling population since then -> Now the remaining linkshells have even fewer people. If someone isn't on, they can't do events.
* Incursion + Free subscription month -> Two people that had gone to FFXIV reactivated and rejoined our linkshell. One of them is still activated, but he plays FFXIV during primetime for the most part.

My current linkshell has 10 people on now playing 14 characters (mostly afk). We are >2% of the server (656 characters logged in now) and I'm fairly confident that we're all top-90% players (hard to tell because good JP groups won't invite us). Last night we couldn't get an Incursion group going and ended up doing Garuda on VD instead. If I'm in one of the most competent and full NA linkshells on Lakshmi and can't do current content, which has attractive rewards, something needs to change.

this pretty much nails my current situation in my shell, if we wouldnt take mules in we basicly wouldnt be able to do all of the stuff... and it actually has come to the point where I am not bothering to sign up for events, because A: people are either late or B: we are to few C: cant get people via shout. Needing 1 hour to get something going is kinda shit (just starting it, you didnt even do it yet)

[KetSC]

This lack of information as of late is slowly getting worse with every week.
Really hope they have something "big" (big in comparison to FFXI's nowadays standards of course) in store for us, something to surprise us and excite us.

I'd really love to know what they plan to do at least for the next year. I don't even expect a full timeline plan, just a few lines with generic thoughts of what they have in mind would be more than sufficient =/

I'm assuming that since the Adoulin missions apparently end next patch (I was hoping that Adoulin Missions would have lasted longer ... I really enjoyed them), that maybe there will be a new end game area of content related after (or involving the last Adoulin missions) like RotZ with Sky and CoP with Sea/Limbus. It could also be like ToAU where they just keeping adding a bunch of new stuff (even if you haven't progressed through the missions much) like ZNM, Nyzul Isle, Mythic Weapons, etc which all came after ToAU storyline ended.

In terms of Adoulin missions, I would have liked if they continued for two or three more updates (so the SoA Missions lasts for a full two years of SoA) instead of one more update. I really like the cast of characters in SoA.

While WotG wait was horrible (2007 to 2010 just to see the ending), I did appreciate the fact that for the duration of those years, it kept a feeling of all the characters of WotG and everything related to it relevant (and the fact that there is something new involving those characters that you could still look forward to in the future).

I hope there's some extra stuff after the main Adoulin missions if it really ends next patch (there probably will be since RotZ and CoP had a mission, ToAU lead to the mythic storyline which involved characters from the main missions, and WotG just had that new quest which is nice). I like the huge cast of characters in Adoulin and also I enjoyed reading story stuff they put on the PlayOnline / FFXI Adoulin Site with each update too.

Also in terms of server activity (for Fenrir) - Japanese PUGs are still popular and the October update had 1.7k+ players at peak (during JP hours). WKRs are always down. Of course during NA hours, it is kind of a ghost town.

What I'd like:

1. Something like hard mode WoE for WKR. Maybe randomly, a WKR Naakual gets upgraded and we'd have those epic 12-36 hour battles against Yumcax again!

During 2013 and early 2014, WKR were really popular and I seen 100+ people do them all the time. Nowadays a lot of jobs can solo a WKR boss and they go down really fast. I'd like to see that old days of WKR back again in some form (it was fun).

2. Something like ZNM for Adoulin. ZNM was one of my favorite end game events in FFXI.

3. More ways to keep content relevant. Voidwatch was fun and was really popular from early 2014 to mid 2014 (done a ton during JP hours and most JPs would invite you) but now it has died down again. I definitely liked their attempts at keeping content relevant and I'd like to see more of it. WoE is a good idea but most of the new rewards aren't all that great (there's a few extra goodies but for things like Flume Belt +1 where the only benefit is a few extra defense and vitality, it's not worth it to farm for that).

Maybe new ultimate weapons or gear or whatever that involves <items from various content here> would be neat and get people doing a bunch of old content again.

Also a problem with some of the gear they let you upgrade (like Artifact and Relic armor to item level 119) is that most of them just have bare stats and that is it. Like the DRG artifact and relic pieces (besides the helm) you weren't already using, you still basically aren't using at item level 119.

Ninja artifact and relic were well done (gear got some stats and traits that made it stand out more - Like Ninja AF Legs have dual wield enchantments now for example) but there are other jobs like DRG (as I mentioned above), DRK, or BRD (for examples) don't have much to look forward to when upgrading their AF or Relic to 119. I wouldn't mind if they went back and made some of the pieces with mostly bare stats more useful by adding some more stats or traits enhancements to them.

To be fair, even though the updates aren't always content heavy or anything, I've been really surprised that they've kept up the monthly updates for nearly a year at this point. With how things used to be, that's an achievement IMO. Considering what we used to expect from FFXI, I think they've earned some time to put together quality content, or at least not tease us then have to push things back due to QA/bugs/time, or flat out change their minds, like the 2x LSs.

I have to agree. Props to Matsui. Personally it is a bit disappointing to see FFXI in this shape.

I have played since early 2004 and I say SoA's FFXI is definitely the best FFXI I have experienced in terms of content, variety, and fun goals (and builds) you can do with jobs.

The only time that almost rivals this is during the WotG era where I had a rotation of sky, sea, dynamis, ZNM, Assault, Salvage, and Nyzul (and for fun breaks in between, leveling up new jobs and campaign battles) with a fun group of people but that was only because things were more active. I like the content a lot more in Adoulin compared to back then.

I have to give a lot of props to Matsui. There are some silly decisions he made or attempted to make (BLU's JP Learning Enhancement category for example) but most of them have been spot on IMO. Things like Skirmish and random augments "or" you can just get the airlixir delve weapons/armor for non-random gradual upgrades. And being able to upgrade a lot of our old gear to the latest item level is nice too. Lots of variety with getting gear and lots of variety with the content.

I was really impressed with everything in SoA when I returned to FFXI mid 2013 last year and I still am (especially with monthly updates this year). It is disappointing things are kind of dying even though monthly updates are going strong. They do need a change of direction.

[Kincard]

epic 12-36 hour battles

i can't tell if you're being facetious because there are people that actually want stuff like this, and I'll never understand it
there's a difference between difficult well-tuned content and just a test in patience and how much of your life you're willing to waste on a video game

as far as why they're not willing to merge the servers, personally I think it has to do with how it would affect the JP players with congestion and whatnot

[Damane]

i can't tell if you're being facetious because there are people that actually want stuff like this, and I'll never understand it
there's a difference between difficult well-tuned content and just a test in patience and how much of your life you're willing to waste on a video game

as far as why they're not willing to merge the servers, personally I think it has to do with how it would affect the JP players with congestion and whatnot

if they dont want merge servers assign at least 1server for EU 2 for NA and give a free jumpto that server with some boon reward to give people incentiv (after they stayed a while)

[Malithar]

as far as why they're not willing to merge the servers, personally I think it has to do with how it would affect the JP players with congestion and whatnot

That'd be my guess as well, although reports from some servers make it sound like the JP population isn't fairing so well on them. Bahamut's is going just fine, just annoying finding JPs that will take you at times.

Honestly dunno how I'd feel about dedicated NA/EU/JP servers at this point. Being on 3rd shifts, I end up playing on more of an eastern schedule; being forced off to an NA server where I had even slimmer pickings would suck. Plus you'd lose touch with what other national friends you did have. Never mind the ramifications of things like less AH supply, massive congestion during peak times, and for lack of a better expression, competition among the top dogs of each server. Know on Bahamut there's only 2 merc LSs/groups. Imagine there suddenly being 10+ that all went around similar times. Think we're either stuck dealing with it until the JP population suffers and the merge happens, or with the cheaper/easier server transfer costs, we'd have to arrange a server to gather together on.

[Damane]

That'd be my guess as well, although reports from some servers make it sound like the JP population isn't fairing so well on them. Bahamut's is going just fine, just annoying finding JPs that will take you at times.

Honestly dunno how I'd feel about dedicated NA/EU/JP servers at this point. Being on 3rd shifts, I end up playing on more of an eastern schedule; being forced off to an NA server where I had even slimmer pickings would suck. Plus you'd lose touch with what other national friends you did have. Never mind the ramifications of things like less AH supply, massive congestion during peak times, and for lack of a better expression, competition among the top dogs of each server. Know on Bahamut there's only 2 merc LSs/groups. Imagine there suddenly being 10+ that all went around similar times. Think we're either stuck dealing with it until the JP population suffers and the merge happens, or with the cheaper/easier server transfer costs, we'd have to arrange a server to gather together on.

who said about forcing people to move. I only said to assign 1-2 servers, give an incentiv reward (a good one) and a free jump to swap, doesnt mean you have to. And I am not saying to remove the JPs from the existing server they will assign.