Do New FFXI Players Exist and Could Anything Renew Interest?

[Gwynplaine]

FFXI is more casual and solo friendly than ever with the experiences boosts. But the game and community are old with most everyone being level capped participating in endgame. So what does that mean for the mythical new player? Do they even exist anymore? Or has FFXI's demographic pretty much been scooped up long ago? Could anything be done to interest new players again at this stage of the game's life?

The tricky thing about FFXI's lack of new and low level players is it's a vicious circle. New players need to know they can count on other new and low level players being around so they're not toughing it out alone. And if they're not reassured of this they won't bother to even try. Lately since the experience update I've craned my neck around various less mainstream FFXI forums and this is the problem I see every time. For an example of what I'm talking about here's a few posts that are very typical:

From a post here-

With steam selling the ultimate collection, I don't see why anyone interested in the game wouldn't want to start now. I'm new as well, I'm only level 13 (red mage). I'm on Gilgamesh with a few RL friends, and would like someone to level with, since they are all mostly high levels.
Hit me up in-game if you start =)

From a post here-

Hello! I am once again joing FFXI and I would love to join it with new players and returning players alike. I want to relive the lower lvl adventure, complete the little things I missed out on and try for the things that used to be out of reach.
...
as long as there is a group of people to play with...it will be a great game.

So please!! If you are a new player, returning player...or just want a fresh start with a hopefully growing group of players...please hit me up on here or in game!!!

From a post here-

I am only interested if 5 others want to static.reason mentoring is no good is because once the higher player gets to certain places in the game like gear or 50+ quests,the lower players cannot help,and the purpose i think here is to form a bond of players working together.If everyone forms a Static then they move through the important parts of the game together at the same time.
...

So do we have 5 others to static ??

Note the trends here. The cheap FFXI Collections offered on Steam seems to generate some interest as well as players who've tried FFXIV want to give FFXI a shot. So apparently the game can still manage to capture some outside interest. This seems to me like FFXI's biggest hurdle to getting new players. They want to know they can find at least a couple other players like them to make it worth their time and money.

I think that Square could do a few things to help out in this situation. The first thing would be to put the upcoming official forums to good use. Right now potential players are scattered all over tiny internet communities. But if they can do it right it could be a great way for interested players to meet, communicate, and join up to start out.

Something else I thought might be a good idea is for Square to offer group discounts for signing up. Sort of like how Groupon and social coupon website offers work. If you and a few other people you know agree to sign up, they could offer monthly fees at a discounted rate. (Maybe like the first 3 months of paid service $5 off or something). It could be far-fetched but the huge success of social coupon type sites like Groupon just screams to be applied to MMOs if you ask me, and no one's done it yet.

The only other big hurdle that sabotages FFXI is the horrendous registration process and Playonline Viewer. Harvard could probably offer college courses just on navigating the Playonline viewer and winning the game of getting your credit card accepted.

I think those are some of the best ways Square could garner some interest from potential players. What do you guys think? Is the new FFXI player extinct? Do you know any? Should Square attempt to lure new players in somehow or is FFXI too old and settled in its niche?

[Xavier]

New players still exist, but the learning curve remains steep even with all of the changes to the game. Unless you have friends already playing, you are going to have a very difficult road to accomplishing anything noteworthy. That's not to say you can't play the game productively solo these days (and, of course, you can "out-level" older content to make it more manageable), it's just that a new player won't have the knowledge or gear to do so, and the game continues to do a poor job holding your hand (lack of direction and explanation basically necessitates reliance on a Wiki for information).

Implementing a quest system like WoW, which essentially directs the player to the appropriate area for leveling (while also giving gear and gold), would alleviate a lot of the confusion new players must feel stepping into FFXI. Of course, the other significant difference is that you can effectively solo in WoW, whereas in FFXI you would be hard-pressed to efficiently solo on most jobs past level 10.

[orson]

Should Square attempt to lure new players in somehow or is FFXI too old and settled in its niche?

Probably not, it's most likely not cost effective. The MMORPG market is pretty saturated at this time and FFXI isn't really anything special in comparison to many other games. Even with a massive overhaul and large advertising the new member's you'd get would most likely be minimal and it would be hard to say if people would stay paying. Also despite the fact that we look at many things now as "easy" mode the game isn't solo friendly and even less entry level friendly.

[kittycatrag]

gifting one-month subscriptions with codes to get n00bs to play, pay for you online gf bob's mithra, or bribe people into farming your empyrean

[Foldypaws]

I know someone who started playing like two weeks ago for the first time ever. Was a friend of a friend thing, I imagine that's going to be the only thing attracting new people at this point though.

[Gwynplaine]

Probably not, it's most likely not cost effective. The MMORPG market is pretty saturated at this time and FFXI isn't really anything special in comparison to many other games. Even with a massive overhaul and large advertising the new member's you'd get would most likely be minimal and it would be hard to say if people would stay paying

I'd agree that they shouldn't spend a large amount of time or focus on it, but I do think with just a little effort they could pique some moderate interest. I don't mean like throwing their weight behind yet even more game overhauls that they've been dwelling on forever now. Just more like if they did a few minor things it would help. Like maybe include a slip or something in every new boxed Final Fantasy series game that has an offer for a free trial.


The learning curve is really steep even despite the "Players Guide" and the new tutorial NPC's. (I wonder how many people ever actually find the tutorial NPCs without being told by someone else). You can always just point to the instruction manual though. (But do the new download-only/Steam copies include a manual?).
Edit: Found out the whole manual is online here. http://support.na.square-enix.com/manual.php?id=20&la=1

[Chun Liroy]

I am new kawaii =^.^=

[D44kpunk]

Try starting over, the game almost forces you to buy gil due to the standards players currently have for equipment. theres a big lack of currency for the most part, unless you're going to be farming already at level 12

[Moridam]

I don't know if they include a PDF copy on the disc or not, but I know the new boxed versions don't include a real instruction manual anymore. I got my roommate started off playing a few months ago, and his ultimate collection most definitely didn't include anything of the sort.

And yeah, the learning curve is pretty absurd for a new player. My roommate has been able to do pretty well as a newbie mainly because I'm able to provide advice, direct assistance, gil, mechanics info, etc.. If you have to start out entirely on your own with no prior experience/knowledge of the game, it really isn't worth it at this point, especially considering how dead the low-level game is. He's got 2 jobs up to 30 so far and a bunch of other random levels, and I don't think he's been in a single EXP group yet because they simply don't exist anymore. Forget making gil, it's practically impossible for a newbie to scrape together a meaningful amount of cash pre-Jeuno.

[Foldypaws]

Try starting over, the game almost forces you to buy gil due to the standards players currently have for equipment. theres a big lack of currency for the most part, unless you're going to be farming already at level 12

Given as how you now can fight EP-- for the same XP players were getting from fighting T-VT before, I'm pretty sure you could level nearly naked except for a weapon until you could get to 77 at which point full aurore/teal/perle will cover you for no gil input while you worked on Emp+1.

[Chun Liroy]

Once you get to 50~60 eps are a pain in the ass fully geared, let alone at 75+. Soloing to 30 is np right now for me. That and I definitely don't want to fucking solo to level 77, even with the new exp increases.

Who wants to let me leech 30-77? >:3

[Gwynplaine]

Don't forget that Conquest gear exists. It's not the best, but it's basically a bonus for killing stuff and doing missions which also reward gil. Someone new might have a better shot at selling stuff on AH once the merge takes place.

[nikia]

Once you get to 50~60 eps are a pain in the ass fully geared, let alone at 75+. Soloing to 30 is np right now for me. That and I definitely don't want to fucking solo to level 77, even with the new exp increases.

Who wants to let me leech 30-77? >:3

There is no need to "ask" to leech exp. Go to port and /sh Abyssea Altepa {looking for members} 75+ WHM RDM BLM DD~ {key} {person} 1/2 /t.
That is pretty much it. If you don't have crour for keys then make sure the second key person understands that til you get some crour he needs to be on boxes. Most people that want to leech will accept that to get a leech spot.
Or befriend say a NIN and let him rip thru dolls solo while you leech. I personally took my best RL friend from 30 to 50 in 2.5 hours or so that way. Stopping long enough to do genkais. Last time we did it we went 30MNK to 58 in about four-ish hours. Was fun and enjoyable to see his reaction to gaining 28 levels just me soloing.

[Skylark]

There is no need to "ask" to leech exp. Go to port and /sh Abyssea Altepa {looking for members} 75+ WHM RDM BLM DD~ {key} {person} 1/2 /t.
That is pretty much it. If you don't have crour for keys then make sure the second key person understands that til you get some crour he needs to be on boxes. Most people that want to leech will accept that to get a leech spot.
Or befriend say a NIN and let him rip thru dolls solo while you leech. I personally took my best RL friend from 30 to 50 in 2.5 hours or so that way. Stopping long enough to do genkais. Last time we did it we went 30MNK to 58 in about four-ish hours. Was fun and enjoyable to see his reaction to gaining 28 levels just me soloing.

This is completely true, I did Dolls in Altepa when our key person had to go, I switched to my level 33 PLD just to do keys and went up levels in no time at all. Really you can get people to level up with you as long as you cover keys, are in a LS party, or some other situation where you can just sit there. Abyssea, along with this newest boost to exp can provide the ability of a brand new player to still achieve 90 in a few days, really the only thing that needs to happen is they have to befriend people and sell NM drops because they'll have no money for basic gear. If leveling up is stopping you from joining the game, it shouldn't be. The best gear now a days doesn't even take gil to obtain, just time. Join the game, level up a bit, do the necessary old content(could even get by without Sky/Sea/TOAU), make friends along the way and just keep going at it until you have friends when you get end game.

Spoiler: show

inb4: lolPLD, why?

[Chun Liroy]

There is no need to "ask" to leech exp. Go to port and /sh Abyssea Altepa {looking for members} 75+ WHM RDM BLM DD~ {key} {person} 1/2 /t.
That is pretty much it. If you don't have crour for keys then make sure the second key person understands that til you get some crour he needs to be on boxes. Most people that want to leech will accept that to get a leech spot.
Or befriend say a NIN and let him rip thru dolls solo while you leech. I personally took my best RL friend from 30 to 50 in 2.5 hours or so that way. Stopping long enough to do genkais. Last time we did it we went 30MNK to 58 in about four-ish hours. Was fun and enjoyable to see his reaction to gaining 28 levels just me soloing.

I would but I have absolutely no understanding of abyssea and how it works, so I'd rather just sit in the background and observe. Would people actually be willing to spend their cruor til I have enough to open chests like you say, etc? I'd need to do genkais so how would I do this once I get to the point where I'd have to leaver ever 10 levels to do 2 sets of level breaks?

[Byrthnoth]

The experience those people want to re-live doesn't exist anymore. It died when people finished leveling their subs just like how shout ZM4 alliances died when everyone got Sky. That FFXI is dead, but the new FFXI is still fun (if even more redundant).

I think the golden time to join FFXI for the kind of experience they describe was around late-CoP. There was a ton of content, but not so much was accessible at once that it was daunting. Post-50 XP/level had been nerfed, but people weren't soloing their way to 50 yet. People still relied on their linkshells, and cost/benefit for linkshells to get people access was still good enough that it happened.

[Khajit]

What are these expensive basic necessities im hearing about considering all the really good shit is rare ex and the halfway decent and perfectly acceptable for a newbie to wear is like 10k each in ah?

[Gwynplaine]

I would but I have absolutely no understanding of abyssea and how it works, so I'd rather just sit in the background and observe. Would people actually be willing to spend their cruor til I have enough to open chests like you say, etc? I'd need to do genkais so how would I do this once I get to the point where I'd have to leaver ever 10 levels to do 2 sets of level breaks?

You could do a full alliance pickup, but they usually are mediocre and already clamoring with leaches (making them more mediocre). Its a lot easier just to get one puller and one Fell Cleave WAR and/or a SMN with Cata to kill shit with AoE. There's really not much to know. You pick a weak mob, round them up with -damage taken stuff/buffs, take them to the person doing the AoE Ws and destroy em all at once. Then the leach opens chests filled with experience, cruor, etc. There's usually so many chests to open you will want at least two people or even three. You'll level up obscenely fast.

Didn't want to sidetrack this into Abyssea but there you go if any old timers are curious about returning to power-level.

[Chun Liroy]

Well you can PM me, I'm still interested in details XD

[Syntex]

Dammit leroy join my server. I need a buddy to fuck around with :D