New Vanafest incoming.

[Draylo]

Honestly can't see them announcing a new expansion. Can see them dropping ps2 and announcing their plan for ending XI and porting everyone they can to XIV.

Sort of a 'hi guys this has been awesome but we're not going to develop new content after the end of this year'.

I think they have to commit wholesale to xiv whether it sinks or swims.

Highly doubt they would set this up just to tell people they are cancelling the game lol. There is almost 0 reason to even cancel the game unless it isn't profiting. They are gonna get the money regardless if it comes from 14 or 11.

[Septimus]

Highly doubt they would set this up just to tell people they are cancelling the game lol. There is almost 0 reason to even cancel the game unless it isn't profiting. They are gonna get the money regardless if it comes from 14 or 11.

Pretty much. The fan backlash and bad press would be a PR nightmare, and it would be the worst business move since FFXIV to throw away money on a fan festival that is going to end in failure and disaster.

While we would all love another boxed expansion, I think that we are all realists enough to admit that the best we can do is get more Add-ons. Here's hoping that they will be good like Abyssea and not wretched messes of crappy fetch quests and cop-out storytelling like ACP. >_>

[The Meat Toilet]

The part of me that imagines the FFXI Bros as these semi-human creatures who are perpetually naked unless on camera, usually drinking or inhaling office supplies, sometimes hallucinating, and very rarely working to improve FFXI...still can't imagine it being likely that they would summon up a bunch of people just to tell them in person that FFXI is done.

That's like going on vacation with a long-term significant other just so one can bitterly, loudly, and maybe even violently break up with him or her in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The vacation doesn't soften the break-up, the break-up turns one party into an odd-looking tree stump from another country and the other into Tropical Depression Fuck-You for the remainder of the vacation.

Plus, it's apparently two days long. What is the announcement the first day going to be if "We've had a lot of fun trolling you guys with weird updates, and even more fun that day we had a nude Greco-Roman wrestling tournament instead of working, but all good things must end." is the second day's announcement? If that's the first day's announcement, is the second day reserved for people who wish hold the smallest, dorkiest riot ever rioted because they showed up just for that?

[Apelila]

I almost hope it happens now. Just so I can have the future conversation:

"So, any hobbies?"
"I played FFXI."
"Isn't that the game who's playerbase drew and quartered the developers at a fan gathering after they announced they where shutting down the game?"
"*smiles with deviance*

[Spira]

Yeah pretty much what everyone is getting at. It makes no PR sense to hold a major 2 day event of festivities to deliver bad news. Not even SE is dumb enough to do that.

I think it's for this reason that I'm excited by what is to come. Even if its just a teaser of the year ahead and no expansion/Addon I think it'd be pretty fun simply
Because of the atmosphere of the event.

Anyone else thinking of going ? Could have like a bg gang. I'm thinking of making a tshirt for myself so jps will know I'm the one whise img data mines they keep linking to

[Alkar]

Well the new ROM folder in the dats points at a new add-on/expansion more than a reduced service.
Chances of a full expansion are actually higher imo.

[MaachaQ]

Anyone else thinking of going ? Could have like a bg gang. I'm thinking of making a tshirt for myself so jps will know I'm the one whise img data mines they keep linking to

I had been thinking of going, but the date is too close to my sister's wedding... I'm going to be in the US ^^; The hop from Korea to Japan isn't all that costly, if only the timing had been better I might have been able to pull it off >.>

My account was deactivated at the end of January, but I'd probably subscribe again, at least for a little while, if there was a new expansion to try out. I might wait a week or 2 into the launch to make sure it was worth my while to resubscribe and buy it though.

[InsaniacTHF]

[tinfoilhat] I kind of expect some form of FF14 character migration program to be announced. We've seen no evidence at all that SE is willing to spend anything but the bare minimum developing content for 11. Every spare cent they have is sunk into development for 14. So, why would they put the time, effort, and money into a vanafest after 3(?) years without one? The only conclusion I can come up with is that it somehow benefits 14. That could also explain the platform survey they had us take however many months ago. Maybe they wanted to know how many of us already played on PC making for a smooth jump to 14. [/tinfoilhat]

[Spira]

10th anniversary comes to mind. FFXI made it to 10 years without any major upheavals, hiccups or service disruption. XIV couldn't even do 1 month, I think that's worth celebrating.

[Toth]

10th anniversary comes to mind. FFXI made it to 10 years without any major upheavals, hiccups or service disruption. XIV couldn't even do 1 month, I think that's worth celebrating.

Well, there was the temporary disruption after last year's tsunami.

[Spira]

i wouldn't count that because the tsunami was beyond their control, and that the disruption was a civic responsibility. in other words, it was an external factor which was justifiable, and not something that was the result of negligence or bad planning

[Toth]

Gotcha XD

[Raffi_XI]

Back in dec. there was that interview that stated:

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/story.htm...16&storypage=3

New Challenges, New Adventures

How about new monsters to challenge players? "More will be added to Voidwatch along with future version updates," Ito reveals. "We're going to add a lot of boss-type monsters." Abyssea focused on small teams, but what about large Linkshells that want events to accommodate more of their members? "Large-scale content aimed at Linkshells is something we are actually working on right now," says Ito. Another subset of players still has been waiting for another epic storyline, akin to Wings of the Goddess or Treasures of Aht Urghan. Regarding the next addition to the game, Tanaka states "The major concept of Abyssea was an add-on focused on battle. The add-ons before that had content that focused on story scenarios. For the next version of content, we are considering a new style -- something different from both of these."

Inbefore next expansion is like that casino area in FF7 with a bunch of mini games? FFXI Snowbording?????

[Kaisha]

Wasn't that in relation to the now-released Voidwatch?

[Raffi_XI]

I read it as Abyssea was battle focused add-on, WoTG was story focused Add-on, and Next add-on (rom9?) is something different. Also Voidwatch was already out when this was done, so seems like something new. The fact they talked about major content add-ons makes it seem very likely a new expansion/abyssea-like thing is on the way.

[Eldelphia]

I still think they'll drop ps2 support and possibly talk about some deal with porting players to xiv

[Kaisha]

If they wanted to have XIV news or shit relating dropping XI for XIV, or means of encouraging moving over to XIV they wouldn't continue calling it Vana'fest.

[Spira]

If they wanted to have XIV news or shit relating dropping XI for XIV, or means of encouraging moving over to XIV they wouldn't continue calling it Vana'fest.

THIS.

I know this is FFXI's dev team we're talking about, but srsly guys with the cynicism..

[Kaisha]

On a side note, how quick are they to trademark an add-on name? Curious if we'll catch wind of it before either the dats or Vana'fest does.

[Eurell]

I still think they'll drop ps2 support and possibly talk about some deal with porting players to xiv

Didn't they just like, double the partition for ps2?