FFXI Thinning Out?

[Eaglestrike]

Maybe thats why I can't get an invite at 53 :/. Its been scarce at this level but never this scarce

The only time that i think most people notice the lack of players ingame is in this situation.

There are 20+ people within my level range (68drk, range is 66-69) seeking, which I think is fairly normal. I don't remember building a party and having more than that at just about any level. It's been this way the past few days too.

[Tajin]

People is clearly waiting on AF2 for ToAU jobs, AF for WotG jobs.

[Royal]

People is clearly waiting on AF2 for ToAU jobs, AF for WotG jobs.

FFXI WILL die before Dancer and scholar get their af2. I'm almost sure of that based on how long it is taking toau jobs to get it.

[Skeetaru]

CoP had a bunch of new missions to keep people busy.

I still see people shouting for Promvyon, so the mission being "content" (and a reason to bitch) is pure bullshit in the big picture.

Nowadays people zergs missions regardless of how long/hard they are, putting JP midnight as checkpoint only makes the bitching increase.

Not to mention how absurdly easy these missions are now that SE made them so easy a 3 year old could finish them.

[Toxictaru]

SE needs to stop making this game for pussies. Whine whine whine, CoP is too hard. Fuck that shit, I made it through, and I consider myself to be a mostly average player. I think making the game TOO easy has turned a lot of people away from it. That and the lack of a lot of NEW content from WotG (lets face it, campaign gets boring after 11-12 hours straight), its probably turning some people away.

However, I rarely have problems getting a party. A lot of it is sadly dependent on what job you're currently leveling, and that people will force you to solo jobs that traditionally haven't been soloed, but whatever, invites still happen. There are a lot of people doing HNM who only appeared from the xbox boom, and once they start getting bored of DA, they'll leave and start leveling other shit (or quit).

Is the game dying? Meh, its getting old, but there are still a lot of people who go at it hardcore. Almost everyone knows someone who has left for some other game only to come back to FFXI. There is a certain draw to FFXI that other games just plain don't have. And hell, there are 30something servers right now, if the user-count per server gets too low, SE will just save themselves a bit of money and start shutting servers down and moving people to repopulate others. It'll still take a while for FFXI to completely die out.

[Thistle]

Yay for a new thread to read!
Boo for it being yet another 'OMG FFXI is dying! QQ' thread.

I've seen more newbies lately than in a long, long time. Real ones, with red question marks next to their names and no clue how to find things to kill, their moghouses, their asses with both hands, etc.

There's nothing to do? Nothing new left to get? If your only goal in FFXI-life is to get new Better BEST armor, then maybe. Some people have more goals than that though. Finally, for the first time, there's a real alternative to zzzzzzz merit parties. And, unlike Besieged, you can do it all day. There are tons of new zones, new places to find XP camps, new things to farm. If all you're looking for is a new HNM, then yeah you're out of luck.

[Ryko]

Nothing new left to get? If your only goal in FFXI-life is to get new Better BEST armor, then maybe. Some people have more goals than that though.

More goals than that = NOT getting the new better BEST armor? Getting gear in this game can and will get you through every aspect of the game if you feel like it (including trying out new stuff in new areas). "Hanging out and shooting shit with friends" is not a goal. Is it something to do? Yes. Will it keep you playing? Probably, but it's nothing you couldn't accomplish with a good chat, IM, or message board.

So get off the whole "desire for gear is what really kills this game etc etc etc" crap please for the love of god. If it werent for it you'd have hit 75, gotten your 40 or so merits before you got bored off your ass from it and dropped everything until you realized paying 12 bucks to sit in your mog house is fucking stupid.

[Thistle]

So get off the whole "desire for gear is what really kills this game etc etc etc" crap please for the love of god.

Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I intended to be. Agreed, a desire for anything, gear or otherwise, won't kill the game. No one person, or small group of people, can kill FFXI. However, it may kill your personal interest in the game. If your only goal in the game is better armor, and there is no more armor to get, there's no where left for you to go.

If it werent for it you'd have hit 75, gotten your 40 or so merits before you got bored off your ass from it and dropped everything until you realized paying 12 bucks to sit in your mog house is fucking stupid.

Huh? I've been playing pretty much since NA launch and it's been years since I've desired some armor/weapon I couldn't get (not counting the few times I'd have to camp the AH for something to be put up for sale). I have a fine, fun time in the game with my AH-bought armor. My fun is totally not armor-related.

[Poopfacekilla]

500K subscribers is a good amount for a more hardcore MMO like FF. FF is a great game but like any other MMO, it's a time-sink and ultimately everyone has to return to 'real' life. Job, school, relationships, etc.

The only real FFXI killer imo, would be a next-gen MMO. Whether its WoW2 or another FF MMO. I say this because I think both would be a good transition for the hardcore players and new players would join just because it's made by a popular brand name.

I never liked WoW. FF was a great game. Lots of good memories. I would play another SE MMO if it was similar to FF with much better graphics. However, the upcoming crop of MMOs don't seem that interesting.

[Lordender]

IMO WoTG could have been a lot better had they waited an extra few weeks to a month or so before putting the expansion out. I believe there are a lot of people are being very critical about WoTG because the dev's did come out and say development of certain toau related things got put on the back burner due to their "Excitment" on working on WoTG.

Things like AV, another review/change being made to einherjar should of happened before WoTG launch, those things probably would have silenced disgruntled players quite a bit.

[Lyramion]

WoW is Cola, FFXI is an old wine.

[Skeetaru]

Or... No matter what SE did for an expansion a majority of the player base would bitch about anyway?

Its the nature of an MMO player, you invest so much time and effort that you expect that every time something "new" happens for it to be the end all be all, most wonderful most polished thing ever.

I wont play another MMO after FFXI I can guarantee that, we are all a bit spoiled by the layers of depth this game really holds.

just a few thoughts and because i think that guy looks cool.

[Ghost_Wheel22]

WoW is Cola, FFXI is an old wine.

Fact: FFXI can give you one hellva hangover

[Sasarai]

People have been saying FFXI is dying for years, it really really isn't.

[miokomioko]

Fact:

WoW rots your teeth and gives you kidney stones.

FFXI can give you a headache and makes your girlfriend frisky.

[Kimkytaru]

I notice that on my server they were less and less american player to party with. I dont know if it's because people quit or do LS only pt, but when I lfp after a ls event (typically around 12 gmt) there is from 3 to 11 player seeking not much more. And it's like that all week day. If you can connect on jp prime time you'll have 100 people seeking.

So yeah I would say it's dieing in USA slowly. Still doing really good in japan tho.

[kuronosan]

It's not that FFXI is dying, it's that most of the older playerbase is getting tired of SE's runaround.

[Sekkite]

Yes, FFXI is dieing all right. Lets forget the new players (non-RMT) levelling in dunes daily. Let's also base assumptions on innacurate census results where SE has refused to comment about large the subscriber base is other than it has been "over 500,000" for many, many months.

Can someone here please make a 'banned to gamefaqs' card please?

Edit: Out of curiosity, has any MMO ever died? Hell, the original Everquest still has a solid playerbase.

[Apelila]

I notice that on my server they were less and less american player to party with. I dont know if it's because people quit or do LS only pt, but when I lfp after a ls event (typically around 12 gmt) there is from 3 to 11 player seeking not much more. And it's like that all week day. If you can connect on jp prime time you'll have 100 people seeking.

So yeah I would say it's dieing in USA slowly. Still doing really good in japan tho.

Well, Christmas is historically a horrible time for player retention(*) from my experience. It killed my first LS in 2005, my sky LS in 2006, and I'm waiting to see if my limbus LS meets the same fate. School just started in most area's again, so this weekend and onward should be a return to 'normal'.

*: People logging in, not canceling accounts.

Every 'zomg FF is dying' thread is overlooking the fact that we're almost at year 6 without a server consolidation. Not that a consolidation is a sign of anything other than an imbalance, but never having to manually adjust the player base suggests at least to me that things have kept pretty even on their own.

But yeah, December is a hit/miss month. You get people exp blitzing over the holidays who normally don't have time to and people disappearing who are normally always around.

[Faris]

There are 20+ people within my level range (68drk, range is 66-69) seeking, which I think is fairly normal. I don't remember building a party and having more than that at just about any level. It's been this way the past few days too

Hey im 66DRK on shiva, lets go. but please no QQing in PT

seriously, we just recently been introduced to a new expansion. Compare it with the other expansions...players were very excited, playtime increased, people who quit came back, more LSs were created, more people started playing. That was COP and TOAU. Now this WOTG, i dont see the same reaction. Also, for the most part FFXI life span is; in my opinion, is around 6-9months. The rest is the social aspect that keeps us going. I've also been talking to some people who shifted servers, im not saying all, but lots of them are bored and they blame it on the server. Hence they shift seeking more fun and action, to be shocked that it is really quite the same. I havent even tried any of the new shit in WOTG, to be honest, everyone tells me its retarded. I just level up and chat with people, same ol shit. When a new expansion is launched, whats expected is that people stop doing a 4year old repetitive raid, and start doing the new quests/raids/missions. ZM gave us sky/3kings, COP gave us Limbus/new HNMs/a big number of zones and the level cap aspect, TOAU gave us new gear, new looks, new jeuno. ZM is the only one that we still til this day do....most of the people still do sky and 3kings, those items, places are pretty unique and til this day hardly replaceable.

Compare FFXI's play style to another game, lets say mario. jumping on green and red turtles...everyday...the same thing, it doesnt change. I dont think anyone would do that for years. Its just the people, friends and primarily the competition. Take out that, we will slowly stop enjoying and therefore stop playing.

What is happening now? there is hardly any competition, everything is starting to become Instanced (is that what you call it? Limbus/dynamis style) people stopped communicating as much, people stopped challenging each other. Even third party tools brought us some really good entertainment, from drama on forums to MPKs at camps.

FFXI is not FFXI as we knew it. Its just another game that will be left as means of communication, and not the gameplay. Yes, its dying, and maybe even dead.

EDIT:: oh and this hacking frenzy we're facing....its kinda scary, i hope SE does something about it, or FFXI would not only die, but there will not even have a grave for its death (/shutdown servers)