New or Returning Players Discussion 3: FFXI Single Player Edition

[Sirious]

World wide AH would solve so damn many problems. You could actually have a choice where you play.

Open server jumping would be great too. Jump to shitsura and get your ambuscades done, then leave until next month. Without having to pay 40 bucks to do it. If "ls bank theft" is a problem, hey, don't be a dumbfuck and let someone hold your money.

[Spicyryan]

Not saying to link the yells, but can be a problem sufficiently solved by appending @server to a person's name for where they're currently at. If the concern is more for the oldschool fear of people just up and running off with a LS bank or whatever, the correct response is to not do that shit at all.

I am not saying that you did. However, it was to illustrate the point of the problem with people. Which is why free server transfers are not a good thing.
Instead it would likely make the populations even more unstable. Those low population servers like Shiva, Rag, or Quetz would probably be left with a population past the breaking point as people coalesce into a few top servers. A linked AH would not fix this greater problem in the slightest either.
You will also have the same shitty people you want to avoid constantly changing their name in game as well. You have people already flaking out, vanishing after getting a drop, and doing things like that regularly so they might as well support the game and pay.
This all has little to do with a bank being stolen.

On that note as well, a real LS that does more than socialize or PUG card farms has a bank mule or at least some form of accounting. Unless the members don't care that the leader is being lazy.
So the correct response is to actually "do that shit". Unless no one cares about having pops managed or gil distributed correctly.

For example, ours is publicly recorded and accounted for.

And lets people know which pops they can donate for a run.

[Day]

I dont know what any of that has to do with a merged AH or game wide tells lol, and if server pops get to small they can just merge like they've done already.

[Spicyryan]

I dont know what any of that has to do with a merged AH or game wide tells lol, and if server pops get to small they can just merge like they've done already.

Correct, but it stands to reason that they are avoiding that and have been for years. A likely conclusion is that they make more money from server transfers this way, but there is probably more to it than that.

[Isiolia]

Correct, but it stands to reason that they are avoiding that and have been for years. A likely conclusion is that they make more money from server transfers this way, but there is probably more to it than that.

Probably just that there's no way to do them that would make everyone happy. The way they handle name reservation/changes isn't great, and the problems with it get compounded the more times they merge. Even two already-merged servers would probably bring with it a lot of inactive accounts to complicate things, and standardizing on Asura level populations would mean most merges would be of three or four servers.

The recent interview read to me like SE expected the playerbase to dwindle post-RoV and has shifted plans to account for it remaining somewhat stable. From a business angle, why would they mess with that? Presumable, the majority of players are content with the particular dynamics of their server. Or, they can make the choice to move and only have themselves to blame for whatever downsides they face as the result. Forcing a move on everyone probably has a higher chance of losing subs than it does gaining them.

[arus2001]

"Because server transfers make them money!" is about the only sane reason for why SE doesn't jump on, but it's honestly more in the slimy category. XI is already one of the, if not, the most sub-costly MMO still out there (Because of content IDs) and forcing people to drop yet more to maybe make the game playable is win-win for SE. Ultimately, because some people might be dicks is not reason enough to not make some changes, though.

[Sirious]

"lost name" is the stupidest possible reason for not merging. You may feel one way or another about merges, because merges, but the names are the easiest problem to solve.

Ex; delete all data from Seraph. Merge Cerberus and Shiva onto Seraph. Almost no one will lose their name. The odds of 2 active players having the same name (non mule) are very low. Unless you did it on purpose, then you deserve to lose it. The guy who logs in first gets his name (the more active player) and no mules can be used for a couple days to ensure mains get names first.

[Spicyryan]

"Because server transfers make them money!" is about the only sane reason for why SE doesn't jump on, but it's honestly more in the slimy category. XI is already one of the, if not, the most sub-costly MMO still out there (Because of content IDs) and forcing people to drop yet more to maybe make the game playable is win-win for SE. Ultimately, because some people might be dicks is not reason enough to not make some changes, though.

That slimy category is the reason this game exists, still operates, and why these forums are here.

Sure, people will be dicks anyway. Why give them more of an ability to do so, but yes you are right. Which is why I stand by free server transfers will just create population instability and solve no problems as the problem is people.
From SE's prospective as well, why create more work for yourself for no reward?

[Botosi]

I'm no programmer, but if the whole issue is about name dupes, then why not just do [Asura]Botosi, [Odin]Botosi, etc etc.

IMO it 100% has to do with profits from transfer fees.

[Spicyryan]

I'm no programmer, but if the whole issue is about name dupes, then why not just do [Asura]Botosi, [Odin]Botosi, etc etc.

IMO it 100% has to do with profits from transfer fees.

Keep in mind SE banned Byrth from the official forums for publicly explaining how to fix a crash caused by fishing due to a poor formula that could divide by 0. This being after they chose to ignore it being reported multiple times.

Obviously profits are part of it, but given how fucked up eastern corporate culture is even when compared to how fucked up western corporate culture is. It should be no surprise to anyone here that it is very likely about more than that.

The problem is that people try to apply logic to the situation. These situations are not dictated by logic and so it does not bear much weight.

[Isiolia]

I'm no programmer, but if the whole issue is about name dupes, then why not just do [Asura]Botosi, [Odin]Botosi, etc etc.

That would likely create a cascade of other fixes/adjustments that'd need to be made. Or just make things more tedious. For instance, most text commands /tell botosi, /pcmd add botosi and so on.

I think trying to look at things like dealing with existing character names, or other messy parts of the server migration process such as losing all Linkshell items, is somewhat missing the point. Could they come up with better ways to handle those things? Sure. There are better ways to handle a lot of what this game does. However, again, what's more likely is that SE is looking at a relatively stable population comprised largely of preexisting players, active or not at a given time. Truly new players do show up, but any expectations of them showing up en masse are likely misplaced. From a business standpoint, what'd be the appeal in merges? They'd be futzing with the game experience for a large chunk of the population - an experience that they're already fine paying for as-is. The most likely outcome is that they put in time and money to piss off a lot of their players and lose subscriptions as a result.

Were SE actually concerned with balancing servers out, they could start with smaller steps like closing Asura, offering free transfers to smaller servers for a limited time (how they did it when they opened new servers), that sort of thing. They aren't doing that. They're basically leaving things up to the players to do what they want. Likely, again, for player retention. It's going fine, making money. No need to try and fix what isn't broken.

[Spicyryan]

Were SE actually concerned with balancing servers out, they could start with smaller steps like closing Asura, offering free transfers to smaller servers for a limited time (how they did it when they opened new servers), that sort of thing. They aren't doing that. They're basically leaving things up to the players to do what they want. Likely, again, for player retention. It's going fine, making money. No need to try and fix what isn't broken.

Well, firstly they obviously aren't deeply concerned with server balance.

Second, why not merge the smallest 10 or 12 servers while leaving the top 6 or 4 out of 16 servers as they are? Closing a server rather than merging is not the right solution.

Then again, 11 is an odd number, can't have that!!! They must be so conflicted between having 11 servers for XI and having an odd number of servers.
Maybe they just really like the idea of having Quetz and can't bear to merge it even though nearly none of their customers cares about Quetz.

[Isiolia]

Second, why not merge the smallest 10 or 12 servers while leaving the top 6 or 4 out of 16 servers as they are? Closing a server rather than merging is not the right solution.

To be clear, I mean close Asura to new account creation or transfer, not break it up and force people elsewhere. The former is not uncommon to see. I think XI did it earlier on, or some form of it - couldn't pick your server outside of a World Pass. XIV does it now.

Granted, it'd be kinda too little too late for XI. Again, I think SE is just deliberately hands-off at this point. Were they to take a more active role in managing server populations and do merges, then I'd expect limitations to be placed on Asura as well. It's just that much larger than any other server (19.6k active to Odin's 12.5k per the FFXIAH database).

[Spicyryan]

To be clear, I mean close Asura to new account creation or transfer, not break it up and force people elsewhere. The former is not uncommon to see. I think XI did it earlier on, or some form of it - couldn't pick your server outside of a World Pass. XIV does it now.

Granted, it'd be kinda too little too late for XI. Again, I think SE is just deliberately hands-off at this point. Were they to take a more active role in managing server populations and do merges, then I'd expect limitations to be placed on Asura as well. It's just that much larger than any other server (19.6k active to Odin's 12.5k per the FFXIAH database).

I knew what you meant. Much like I believe you know what I mean when I say that stagnating a population is not the right solution nor healthy for the game. This has already been tried before to laughably foreseeable consequences.

This was done with Bahamut and Odin back when they were relevant. They even offered free transfers out of them. I hope you remember the history of what happens when you close the two most populated servers off.

The only immediate solution is to consolidate the smallest servers and leave the larger few/one.

[Botosi]

That would likely create a cascade of other fixes/adjustments that'd need to be made. Or just make things more tedious. For instance, most text commands /tell botosi, /pcmd add botosi and so on.

I just meant that the AH history would spit out the server, not that our characters would actually have name changes.

[arus2001]

I don't see server instability as an issue when transfers are free and immediate within some in-game mechanism like being done in your MH. They can also be an implicitly temporary transfer where you will always have a home world, and once logged out for x time, get returned to it. Active connection caps can also be imposed, where a place like Asura could be blocked off if 3500+ people are online with natives still being able to log in. Technically speaking, none of the "dead" servers need to be or should be closed, as they can exist as backups for open world activities if, say, you find a given merit camp is too crowded or the Ambuscade queue is too long. Functionally, this is no real different than the Channel system you see in a lot of other MMOs, but given XI was not built with them in mind from the ground up, I do expect the process to not be as smooth or need things like the singular transfer point I mentioned before.

Communication is also easy when you keep the @server tag in mind. If you try to /t Bob without that tag, it will always default to your current/home server. Meanwhile, if you type Bob@Bahamut, it will know you mean that iteration of Bob. With @ not being a valid naming character, there is no risk of mix up, either.

The concern this will all somehow alienate players is largely unfounded, aside from maybe those who think they hold a monopoly on certain smaller world markets with an AH merge. The old problem of people worrying about name loss should also be remedied by the forfeiture of a name's rights if you haven't logged in in over 2 years. For the more creative, this shouldn't be a problem, like, ever. All the Cloud/Sephiroth/whatever clones may have a hard time of it, though.

I can understand some apprehension if XI is the only MMO you've ever really known, but like inferred before, a lot of this is common in games that have come since with XI, WoW, or XIV being more of the holdout because $$$.

[6souls]

All the Cloud/Sephiroth/whatever clones may have a hard time of it, though.

Being originally on Midgard, they were a disease.

[Zealot]

Has anyone done monster rearing? Once I get all the mementos I can get from a creature there's no reason to keep it around, is there?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Sirious]

Once a monster is raised/you got the mementos there isn't any reason to keep them, unless you like collecting the random stuff (literally shit sometimes, lol) from them

I kept my Wyrms and Kings when I finished... poor guys, they've been prisoners on my island for 3 years without food or pets =/

[Osede]

put up one month subcription, login yesterday, had no idea what to do lol... just want to take some screenshot so that I can post something when my son will be born next month

But one thing I know for sure, when open my linkshell list, suddenly all the memories flush in my brain