4-8-2011 The FINAL FANTASY XI roadmap for the twelve-month period commencing April 2011

[Pikarya]

Honest question: how many subscribers are left on FFXI? I r curious.

~500k accounts last we heard?

500k is really old data...

Confirmed by the most recent upkeep, 350k is strectching it honestly (NPD Group did the numbers).

(This data is only examining games so social MMOs like Second Life are not counted. These are rounded figures.)

World of Warcraft – 12,000,000 (2011)
Aion - 3,400,000 (mid 2010)
Runescape – 1,300,000 (2009)
Lineage – 750,000 (2009)
Lineage II – 750,000 (2009)
Dofus – 520,000 (mid 2010)
Final Fantasy XI – 350,000 (mid 2010)
Eve Online – 325,000 (2011)
Lord of the Rings Online – 210,000 (mid 2010)
City of Heroes/Villains - 125,000 (2009)
Age of Conan – 120,000 (mid 2010)
Ultima Online - 100,000 (2009)
Everquest - 100,000 (mid 2010)
Warhammer Online – 80,000 (2010)

Remember these numbers are ALWAYS inflated. In reality they are usually much, much lower. Blizzard isn't going to admit they've been losing subscribers like crazy in the past 3-4 months.


Also, an interesting private survey that was done.

http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joy...vey-rb-513.jpg

In no way will FFXI ever "flourish" again in population like it did in 04-07. But you may see more old players coming back for a taste if the content is worth the price.

[ronin sparthos]

The stone area looks like one of the two entryways to Rangemount Pass. One of them is full of goblins but the other might have bats, I haven't been there in ages. It has the same stone style as that and you can see a pillar in the screenshot, the entries have those stone pillars in the room.

Id bet on Ranguemont Pass myself, the zone is up there in uselessness and the stone pillar looks like a structure ive seen in there before.

Dangruf Wadi and Ranguemont Pass are also both zones that border on newbie areas. Just sayin.

[bungiefan]

Seems like the skipped listing the step "Slowly phase out PS2 Users". I'm a PS2 user, and when Heroes came out, I ran out of space and had to reinstall... There's no conceivable way that my hard drive can physically fit all of this..

You ran out of space in the 8 GB FFXI partition, not space on the 40 GB hard drive. If they can manage to make each expansion have its own partition, you can use the rest of the space.

[Fiarlia]

Think I found it, looks like Ranguemont Pass, inside the built room you'd take to head back to East Ronfaure, there's pillars, there's steps (look closely at the pic and you see steps), however, there's no Stirges, only Seeker Bats (triples) here. Also, the doorway has little lanterns on each side of it, though it could be hidden by the characters/mob. So... yeah, E-10 if anyone else wants to try and confirm.

[sruon]

Honest question: how many subscribers are left on FFXI? I r curious.

http://www.ffxiah.com/database

On topic, I really like the artworks and the Gilgamesh monster previously showed.

[Malacite]

The Last Stand...

How long has that been in the .DATs? Makes me think of the Zilart & their final stand against Bahamut, except that was faught in Al'tieu wasn't it? And Abyssea is already done as well so.... hmm. Either way, that new artwork is kick ass, really love the floating crystal island theme. Fucking BOO at no cap raise until August though.

Curious to see how new gear stacks up against AF3 +2. For all the effort it takes, it'd be kind of disappointing to have lv 99 gear just take a big shit all over AF3 but I have a feeling that's exactly what's going to happen save for job-enhancing mods. Oh well.

Interesting that we're getting a public test server (finally), another que from Blizzard no doubt.

Where's that bird NM at o.O looks like Dangruf Wadi to me but it could be gusta too. Also in the 3rd pic is that sword bent/curved at the hilt or am I just seeing things? Looks it twists just a bit from the base then straightens out, kinda like one of Vaan's swords.

[blue]

It is obviously named Gilgameshx.

[Rocl]

that shit looks like palborough or zeruhn mines idk how the hell you guys see horototo ruins or w/e

[Kaslo]

that shit looks like palborough or zeruhn mines idk how the hell you guys see horototo ruins or w/e

http://images.bluegartr.com/customav...ar28699_23.gif
Bitch Please...

[Rocl]

i also hope the Last Stand keeps the planar collapse messages 8)

[ringthree]

500k is really old data...

Confirmed by the most recent upkeep, 350k is strectching it honestly (NPD Group did the numbers).



Remember these numbers are ALWAYS inflated. In reality they are usually much, much lower. Blizzard isn't going to admit they've been losing subscribers like crazy in the past 3-4 months.


Also, an interesting private survey that was done.

http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joy...vey-rb-513.jpg

In no way will FFXI ever "flourish" again in population like it did in 04-07. But you may see more old players coming back for a taste if the content is worth the price.

I am going to say, if I remember correctly, that the research from this was partial self-selected, and data was pretty bad. I could be thinking of something else though.

[Odin'sLaw]

i also hope the Last Stand keeps the planar collapse messages 8)

i'm hoping "the last stand" is the next mission in the abyssea line "presuming" some of the more elite NMs exited the world of Abyssea like the Void Walker NPCs

[Kaisha]

To a couple posts earlier in the thread, latest EQ expansion added 13 new zones (most added roughly 10-20 in the mix), 120 some quests, missions, etc, and everything is usually in there from day one. That's a hell lot better than WoTG which had roughly 5 new zones (ignoring the recycled ones with slight modifications), and then a 3.5 some year development process after its release.


On the subject of the 'lolzonelimitations'. Even if SE confirmed that, what's to stop them from just using space in existing zones to create a 'new' zone within? FFXI maps can be fairly huge, and there are a lot of tiny locations in the game. Just fit another zone within that and have it send a different identifier for the 'Area: <name>' message when you zone in.

God only knows where all those dead-end tunnels lead to in a lot of the base FFXI/RoZ maps.

[Spira]

btw, just letting u know for the sake of those who can't/din't click the link, this most crucial thing is missing from the OP.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/at...2&d=1302265327

[TacoTaru]

Story-wise, did they ever explain where the ship in Norg is suppose to be going?

[Spira]

i think it was implied thats where the pirates that attack the selbina-mhaura ship dock?

[Kalima]

More random thoughts.

1. No brewing or abyssean buffs should make these mobs challenging for level 90s.

From someone who has been doing nothing but abyssea for the past few months...I'm probably gonna shit a brick when I realize I don't have auto reraise, nor can I have more crit hits than I do normal hits. Not to mention going back to normal TH when I want something to drop (although since I play THF more these days, it wont be entirely bad)

In saying that, still looking forward to the new content. Really not that bummed out like some people that they're delaying the level cap either since I'm just now finishing up my +2s and wouldn't mind having them last a bit longer instead of being possibly replaced next month.

The only down side to the new content is that it doesn't look like it will provide much story wise. The 3 mini add ons did ok-ish with it but abyssea...*snooze*

[Michelob]

Really not that bummed out like some people that they're delaying the level cap either since I'm just now finishing up my +2s and wouldn't mind having them last a bit longer instead of being possibly replaced next month.

Who said they are delaying the level cap increase? It was already mentioned back in December that 95 wouldn't be coming until late summer/early fall and before then they never gave us a timetable for the next increase anyways.

The only thing new that we learned today, as far as level cap increases go, is that they plan for us to be 99 somewhere between October of 2011 and March 2012 which isn't a delay because we never had a previous timetable for it.

[Kalima]

Ok "delay" may have been a bad choice of word, but both I and other people I've talked to were expecting another level increase with the next major update since that has been their trend the last 3 major updates.

Didn't see (or at least don't remember) any info on the level cap increase back in December, so yeah...my bad.

[TehKerm]

Who said they are delaying the level cap increase? It was already mentioned back in December that 95 wouldn't be coming until late summer/early fall and before then they never gave us a timetable for the next increase anyways.

The only thing new that we learned today, as far as level cap increases go, is that they plan for us to be 99 somewhere between October of 2011 and March 2012 which isn't a delay because we never had a previous timetable for it.

and before dec we was under the assumption it would end in december.