Letter from the Producer LIVE Part VI (April 3, 8:30PM JST)

[Sephiroth]

That's called the Korean grinder. TERA is still a korean grinder at its core. Not every F2P games is like that, especially games that were once P2P and switched to F2P.

I still want to see evidence from Sephiroth that SE actually releases content every 2-3 months with XI and XIV, because I sure as hell didn't see it.

You never played XIV V1, and admittedly I never played XI after WoTG or even ToAU.

But I did play XIV V1 and there was big patches every 2-3 months for the life of the game after Yoshi-p took over and this was while developing ARR at the same time. This suggests they will have even more resources in ARR.

You may well be right about XI not getting big patches after WoTG, but perhaps this was when XI should have went F2P. F2P immediately just seems like it would do a game more harm than good.

Usually you'd expect that the more profitable a game is, the bigger the development team and the more content you get as a result. It's obvious where SE went with XI after WoTG, they poured those resources into XIV V1. Maybe the same will happen with ARR in 4-5 years time when SE decides to make the next FF MMO.

[Gokulo]

It was more like 3-4+ for 1.0, plus they did not add a lot of content tbh... They were making the game playable foremost + adding some stuff for us to do.

[Kurokikaze]

It was more like 3-4+ for 1.0, plus they did not add a lot of content tbh... They were making the game playable foremost + adding some stuff for us to do.

This. Not sure where you get off saying 2-3 months when most of the patches were delayed. Content didn't really come till they ironed out most of the initial extremely broken mechanics/calculations and that took a while itself.

[Sephiroth]

This. Not sure where you get off saying 2-3 months when most of the patches were delayed. Content didn't really come till they ironed out most of the initial extremely broken mechanics/calculations and that took a while itself.

They really were more frequent than that. Sure there were delays, but even with those it's clear they were more frequent than that. The largest gap is that between 1.17 and 1.18 which was 3 months 1 week, but there are 7 major patches there in the space of 15 months. That's excluding the minor a, b, c patches that also brought content in some cases.

1.23 - 07-25-2012
1.22 - 04-25-2012
1.21 - 03-08-2012
1.20 - 12-12-2011
1.19 - 09-30-2011
1.18 - 07-21-2011
1.17 - 04-14-2011

I'll accept that a lot of effort went into just making the game playable, but this is still development time that went into the game. If they didn't have to do that you could assume the time would have went into content. If it wouldn't have then the game wouldn't be worth a fee.

[Stanislaw]

In some f2p models you would spend less money per month compared to the average subscription fee to unlock the content that would appease any completionist. I think it's just the "idea" of having to actively pay for something rather than a repeating payment that automatically charges you each month that causes this anxiety about f2p.

Oh, I'm not against paying money to unlock content. Expansion packs are obvious ones I have no troubles paying money for, nor do I have any issues in purchasing DLC's to play more nations in Civilization V and such.

However, when it comes to paying money to unlock certain items/cosmetics/etc... that's when I start having problems with the F2P model.

[Pyree]

They really were more frequent than that. Sure there were delays, but even with those it's clear they were more frequent than that. The largest gap is that between 1.17 and 1.18 which was 3 months 1 week, but there are 7 major patches there in the space of 15 months. That's excluding the minor a, b, c patches that also brought content in some cases.

1.23 - 07-25-2012
1.22 - 04-25-2012
1.21 - 03-08-2012
1.20 - 12-12-2011
1.19 - 09-30-2011
1.18 - 07-21-2011
1.17 - 04-14-2011

I'll accept that a lot of effort went into just making the game playable, but this is still development time that went into the game. If they didn't have to do that you could assume the time would have went into content. If it wouldn't have then the game wouldn't be worth a fee.

Yeah, I'm not sure how people are coming up with "3-4+ months" >.> ITT: Bitter people making shit up on the internet. Seriously, just look at the archives and that's clearly not the case: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/140

They had a total of 11 major updates from launch (9/22/2010) until 1.23 (7/25/2012). That's an average of an update every 2 months for the life of 1.0.

They didn't start adding a lot of actual content until 1.18, admittedly, they were just fixing the game to be playable until then. But at the same time, they didn't start charging subscription fees until 1/6/2012, which was after the 1.20 patch... So it's not like they were requiring their players to continue paying them during the time that they weren't releasing more things for the players to do.

[Kurokikaze]

They really were more frequent than that. Sure there were delays, but even with those it's clear they were more frequent than that. The largest gap is that between 1.17 and 1.18 which was 3 months 1 week, but there are 7 major patches there in the space of 15 months. That's excluding the minor a, b, c patches that also brought content in some cases.

1.23 - 07-25-2012
1.22 - 04-25-2012
1.21 - 03-08-2012
1.20 - 12-12-2011
1.19 - 09-30-2011
1.18 - 07-21-2011
1.17 - 04-14-2011

I'll accept that a lot of effort went into just making the game playable, but this is still development time that went into the game. If they didn't have to do that you could assume the time would have went into content. If it wouldn't have then the game wouldn't be worth a fee.

Hmm guess the wait felt way longer.. I stand corrected on the frequency of patches. However, I don't think this'll mean that their patch development will speed up after ARR goes live - even if I do hope thats the case. They'll be sending all those people they have working on ARR now back to their previous projects and we'll be left with the main XIV staff.

[Hyan]

Well, I think Yoshida said the time between content patches will be 2-3 months post-launch. So, it's quite likely that it will be the case too, based on the previous track record.

[Sephiroth]

Hmm guess the wait felt way longer.. I stand corrected on the frequency of patches. However, I don't think this'll mean that their patch development will speed up after ARR goes live - even if I do hope thats the case. They'll be sending all those people they have working on ARR now back to their previous projects and we'll be left with the main XIV staff.

Yeah we will no doubt lose a good chunk of staff but I'm still expecting bigger patches than v1 simply due to them not having to waste resources fixing game systems or deal with shitty code that can slow down development. Only time will tell, but Yoshi knows the players have high expectations and should know how difficult it is to keep subscribers in a P2P game so there's no reason to doubt him considering he's delivered on everything else so far. They're already working on post-launch content such as housing and internally they probably have a roadmap for the first year after launch. Hopefully they will release that close to launch to give players more faith, pretty sure they release such a thing with XI.

[Lokus]

Hmm guess the wait felt way longer.. I stand corrected on the frequency of patches. However, I don't think this'll mean that their patch development will speed up after ARR goes live - even if I do hope thats the case. They'll be sending all those people they have working on ARR now back to their previous projects and we'll be left with the main XIV staff.

The wait always feel longer, especially when the content is burned through a couple days or weeks after release. Since SE is going the P2P route, it's imperative they keep the 2-3 month patch cycle, especially in today's MMO market where MMOs are falling to F2P fast and player expectations for content keeps growing and growing. I just hope the content that is released grabs my attention or that there is at least some long lasting content that'll keep me busy in between patches. I hope the PvP side of the game is fun since I most likely will do that in between dungeons/major patches. Still not feeling ARR honestly, couldn't even max my character in the beta but I hope phase 3 changes that at least.

[arus2001]

Content quality aside, XIV's biggest problem is probably going to be how much funding SE decides to keep lobbing at it once the reconstruction is over. In the off chance it rebounds and holds a 500k-1 subs for a year or two, I'd be surprised if 150k's worth actually went back into XIV itself as per the vampirism effect it had on XI.

[Kirin]

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/blog/post/275


Want. All of it. Now.

They even redid the opening theme. I want to give Yoshi-P the biggest hug right now.

[Adajer]

It seems like IGN has been keeping tabs on the game, somewhat. I don't know how much advertising they plan to do, but they will need to step it up if they want to attain 250k subs. 1.0 left a bad taste in a lot of mouths. If IGN gives a positive review, and they offer 1st month trial free, I can see it getting to at least 250k subs in the first few months. 500k+ is a bit ambitious imo. Especially w/o a huge marketing campaign.

[Takiwaki]

It will be stupid of them not to push advertising to the max.

[Kononeko]

I think that the advertising blitz will start at the beginning to middle of phase 3, I'm sure that it's also depends heavily on a release date. Also potentially closer to E3. Though I hope that this isn't SE's Final Fantasy announcement that they hinted to during the Sony Presser a few months back.

[Alkar]

I think that the advertising blitz will start at the beginning to middle of phase 3, I'm sure that it's also depends heavily on a release date. Also potentially closer to E3. Though I hope that this isn't SE's Final Fantasy announcement that they hinted to during the Sony Presser a few months back.

They said it's going to be a new FF game for PS4.

[Agito]

People have been burned by extremely lackluster mmorpg games for over 9 years now. Square Enix is the first company with the balls to create a mmorpg that is truly next generation with high quality stacked in every single aspect of the game itself. Regardless if they're trying to make FFXIV the best mmorpg or not, it will definitely be competing for that spot and when people realize just how amazingly good the game actually is (not saying that it will be but i'm betting on it) then the player population will increase by hundreds of thousands from free advertisement alone. Add in payed advertisement and I really believe that FFXIV can attain a million consistant players up to 8 months after the official release. It all depends on Square Enix, they certainly can fumble the football at any given time but if they hold onto that football with dear life then only good things can happen.

[Hyan]

The game is shackled by the FFXI vets bashing it also some Legacy folk I guess. Also western media is so eager to bash the company as opposed to praise it ARR has to deal with that kind of bias as well. I don't see the game doing badly in Japan though.

Yoshida said somewhere in the beta forums they have around 500k beta applications to process, so it seems quite a few are interested in the new game.

Speaking of the beta forums while the devs have shared their plans for most other aspects of the game, the combat system hasn't received much if at all attention from the devs end (aside from the post on elements). I bet they're treading that road very carefully and making adjustments until the very end...

[Kononeko]

They said it's going to be a new FF game for PS4.

I'm sure that it will most likely be vs13 or hey vs13 is now 15. But with that being said I don't think that its to far outside of the relm of possibility. Also before you put more emphasis on the word new again, technical speaking any FF would be a new FF for the ps4, as the system hasn't come out yet.

[Eagleheart]

I'm sure that it will most likely be vs13 or hey vs13 is now 15. But with that being said I don't think that its to far outside of the relm of possibility. Also before you put more emphasis on the word new again, technical speaking any FF would be a new FF for the ps4, as the system hasn't come out yet.

http://assets.diylol.com/hfs/107/404...eve-5a8bc6.jpg