Comments from the Devs

[arus2001]

http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/17/fi...lay-exclusive/

Haha

Always chuckle at the automatic assumption that F2P = Fail, but in the case of Star Wars, making a shit game free does nothing to really coax people to keep playing. I'd liken it more to SE just keeping 1.0 as was and hoping for the best. As a cheapskate, I'd obviously prefer not having to pay for a monthly sub, but as long as ARR or any game feels worth it, I don't so much mind. My real test of ARR will come endgame, though, and what I can accomplish in lowman/solo as a more casual player. That's the likely point a sub game will alienate me as Rift had in dry spots of content. GW2 failed for me the same way.

[Lucavi]

I've been complaining about exactly what Yoshi brought up since the heyday of Age of Conan was fucked entirely by scared investors who wanted an immediate return on their money and forced the devs to rush the game out the door. Warhammer was no different. Rift was slightly different, but again, because everyone had to be paid only with money that came -after- the game launched, content was slow to develop immediately, because staff was cut right off the back to make room for a repayment of the investors as soon as possible. AoC WOULD have worked as a title, had the investors had more patience and Funcom had an actual leader instead of an incompitent toadie.

Yoshi hit the nail on the head, an its refreshing to see a dev so candid about the issue. Blizz and SE could have afforded to take the financial hit early. Blizz had buckets of money from Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo box sales. They had months to turn WoW around if it had launched poorly (and it kinda did on the bug side: blizz even admitted that the initial raids were broken because they couldn't prioritize working on end-game until they made the early and mid game stable). SE had a constant revenue stream rolling in from XI and their other games, though that just makes the initial failure of 1.0 even more hilarious and pathetic at the same time.

Until companies develop MMOs from their own budgets instead of seeking cash from shakey investors with itchy trigger fingers, its going to repeat again and again. You cannot spare quality in your game post-WoW, and you cannot spare content in your game post-WoW. To secure both, you need a team of workers that are not rushed to get a product out to meet investor demands, and a team of workers that are not let go immediately after the game launches to secure maximum funds for investor repayment.

Edit: All of this just makes Star Wars that more pitiful. EA has tons of money and shouldn't need investors, yet they did the same thing; scrapped the devs post-launch and failed to fix bugs and introduce content in a timely manner. GW2 avoids the backlash of both of these things only by virtue of being F2P from the start: I imagine that the game would have far less players now and months ago had people been paying $15 a month for it, because meaningful content updates and practical balance changes are slow.

[Scythiroth]

^ Is exactly why I have hope for this game.

It may not ever have WoW's numbers, but I know they are trying their hardest to make it great.

[Kelenae]

That last part of Swtor does make me sad. I still play the game (quitting when FFXIV comes out obviously), and still have fun playing it. But ya.... EA dropped the ball on that

[solracht]

The new lodestone is up: http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone

[MutamixBubblypots]

The new lodestone is up: http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone

I've been testing it out, so far it's been pretty nice. I like that you can add emotes to your comments.

EDIT: I guess the only think I don't like so far is you have to scroll down to the bottom to see the community wall. I think it should be next your character profile when you're logged in.

[Shuichi]

New Lodestone is looking pretty nice. I like.

[Scythiroth]

The new lodestone is up: http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone

Looking really good so far.

[Kelenae]

Looks awesome..

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/l...acter/1552989/ My lala is so cute o.o. I can see why they are the master race

[bluefan]

Like the new look. Much less going on the screen as a whole.

Seeing lots of blogs already.

"てすと"

[Grey Jorildyn]

Mobile version is very nice as well!

[ArchDizzle]

Mobile version is very nice as well!

Agreed, was hoping this would go up to day and I am very pleased with the mobile version, going to check out the full site tomorrow.

[Gulkeeva]

Blog posts goin at 100 posts a second here

also...!

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/l...acter/1821003/

fear O_o

[Spider-Dan]

All of this just makes Star Wars that more pitiful. EA has tons of money and shouldn't need investors, yet they did the same thing; scrapped the devs post-launch and failed to fix bugs and introduce content in a timely manner.

That's exactly what I was thinking when reading Yoshi's comments; why was TOR subject to the same pressures as some random MMO from a third-tier publisher?

[Kelenae]

That's exactly what I was thinking when reading Yoshi's comments; why was TOR subject to the same pressures as some random MMO from a third-tier publisher?

because EA lol

[Jinn]

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/l...acter/1577657/

\:D/

[Hyan]

Why was TOR made to look like the Star Wars game I played on PSX?

Questions that may never be answered.

(Prolly because they thought they could emulate WoW's brilliant artstyle and get away with it. lolnope.)

[Hyan]

Always chuckle at the automatic assumption that F2P = Fail

Eh, more like a substantially weaker success. But in the eyes of a gamer who wants the dev support of a P2P MMO, F2P might as well equal Fail.

Still waiting on that F2P/B2P MMO that can match the update cycle of a successful P2P MMO.

[Hioki]

Really digging the new lodestone. Wish I equipped my iron scale through. It looks pretty badass. I only left on the legs and feet. swapped up with the dungeon gear. XD
Reminds me a lot of the rathalos blademaster type armors from monster hunter(If it was white).

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/l...acter/1642547/

[Resin]

Man, it looks great! Nice color picks