FFXI Thinning Out?

[Pergo]

when the expansion came out, my friend and i tried to rush and level dnc and sch to 75 asap... once we got to 50, we hit a bump where it was almost impossible to make a party in under 1-2hours (sometimes much, much more). the people looking didn't fit well in a party. jp time seemed to be alot better, but during na time, there was never ppl on, and people never popped either.... we eventually gave up because the interest level of the jobs finally caught up to us with the slow leveling... but on carbuncle it seems relatively impossible/slow to level during NA time without a static.

thus i feel the game is dying

[Wizerd]

when the expansion came out, my friend and i tried to rush and level dnc and sch to 75 asap... once we got to 50, we hit a bump where it was almost impossible to make a party in under 1-2hours (sometimes much, much more). the people looking didn't fit well in a party. jp time seemed to be alot better, but during na time, there was never ppl on, and people never popped either.... we eventually gave up because the interest level of the jobs finally caught up to us with the slow leveling... but on carbuncle it seems relatively impossible/slow to level during NA time without a static.

thus i feel the game is dying

This would be fixed with adjustments to the game that allowed 3-5 man exp parties to get nearly as much exp as 6-man parties without having to fight pets. As of now, 5 can do just fine, but when you get down to a 4-man party you need a pretty optimal setup to kill things at a decent xp/hr rate. Lower that to 3 and you're stuck with BSTs or a combination with BST in it, because the BST's pet essentially adds an additional party member.

If I want to exp to 75 with my wife and my best friend without worrying about the dumbasses, why can't I do that? Or, maybe I want to have a static of 3 and invite 1 person each time we party. Sure, I could do that now, but since a party setup of 4 isn't so attractive compared to 6 members, what are the chances they'd stay once I told them they were the last one to join the party?

The Signet/Sigil exp bonus is great, but it's not what I'm looking for.

[Sasarai]

Seriously, these threads have been going on for years, FFXI has a solid userbase and this won't be different in a years time, or two years time, or beyond.

I still see roughly the same population at peak and off-peak times now as I did 4 years ago.

[Suteru]

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

Earth and Beyond did. That was my first MMO, too

As for FFXI dying? Not anytime soon.

[BRP]

FFXI is dying in the same sense that everybody and everything in this universe is dying. It'll end at some point in time and time travels forward, so yes, it is dying.


This thread is a good thread.

[spooky]

As they've said in the past, if people keep playing they will keep developing for it. (All be it at a snails pace.)

[Gunslinger]

Snails pace is okay, that's about how quickly I get anything done in the game anyway :D

[Izzy]

These threads are really fucking annoying...

You'll know FFXI is dying when they start consolidating servers. Until then stfu for real. You're probley still playing and you're complaining about the game dying which is the dumbest thing ever.

[Octavious]

FFXI has been dying for a while now. Its an inevitability, I remember doing /sea all and seeing 3100-3600 people during primetime and b4 I left it was about 1000 less to 2100-2600. FFXI wont go away anytime soon but its slowly dieing. I think it'll take SE to create a nex-gen MMO in a established franchise (chrono trigger, final fantasy etc) to fully kill this game.

Chrono Trigger mmo sounds mmm <3. I would love it, heh. I watched a fan-made preview to Chrono Trigger iirc...I forget where it was but someone showed me this clip that all the fans put together in hopes of another CT being made. Man I wish I could find that...

[Zragnarok]

Wow this thread as a lot to offer! From the "FFXI is dying" to the "FFXI vs WoW war".

Stating that FFXI is dying in the beginning of January isn't a very good thing because like other said, a lot of ppl simply doesn't log on because they are too busy IRL. Add to this that a lot of ppl got new stuff to play with. I'm sure there's a few PS3 that sold during xmas and a few games to go with it. Just give it some times, when they will be bored of their new stuff, ppl will log back to FFXI.

And those who think this game as nothing left to offer, you will never make me believe that you all have all your jobs to 75, done all Assault, have all the gear you want, have a relic for all of your 75 jobs, etc... It's all about the goals you want to acheive. There's nothing more fun than having a goal and acheive it. If there's no other goal you want to acheive ( either because you'Re lazy and don't know all that the game has to offer ), well now you can leave.

[Dmitry]

I think the people that quit because they weren't satisfied with the new expansion were just looking for a legitimized excuse to leave.

[Yuri-G]

As they've said in the past, if people keep playing they will keep developing for it. (Albeit at a snails pace.)

Just an FYI.

As for the topic at hand, I sure hope it's not dying, I need to hit 75 someday and I level at a snail's pace. Sure it's getting smaller, and that will affect gameplay in both positive and negative ways, but change exists in every aspect of life and we simply deal with it. It's not dead until we say it's dead, since we keep Vana'diel alive by playing.

Edit: I forgot to even mention the topic of server mergers... yeah, this game has plenty of time left.

[Fartaru]

People actually expected a lot out of the new expansion at the start?

[Araius]

I don't think anyone who plays FFXI plays just so they can get ph4t l3wtz a la 80% of WoW players, so the whole lack of nice gear thing doesn't make much sense to me. This is FFXI, it's always been like that.

Personally I play FFXI over WoW (which I've played for probably a year overall) for 1) the community, and 2) the storyline. I'd venture to guess that's the case for the vast majority of FFXI players. As long as people's friends are still around and there's new storyline content being added, the hardcore FFXI'ers will still be around and plentiful. When crap like massive account jackings happen though and people lose their friends, more people quit. I know all the times that I've quit/taken a break were a direct result of me either 1) having friends in-game quit or 2) being bored with lack of new content I gave two shits about (lolPankration and Choco Racing) being added. The recent account jackings and lack of actual storyline content in WotG are the primary factors in whatever thinning out you're seeing. I haven't gone back to WoW yet because I'm sucking dry every last bit of ToAU storyline I missed, and the majority of my friends (now that they're back from server transfer shenanigans) are still playing.

Quite frankly, people who are more into soloing, grinding and getting nice gear have been playing the wrong game in the first place. That's never been what FFXI was about.

[Not Rocl]

Dying? In my FFXI?
It's more likely than you think. :rocl:

[Blitzen]

FFXI isn't dying because people are mass-exodusing; people are leaving but not at the rate some people believe, but because very few people join the game anymore to make up for ANY rate of the existing playerbase disappearing. Typically, for me, /sea 1-74 and /sea 75 returns 1/3 of the online population for the latter, and considering that anywhere from 1/3-1/2 of the people leveling at any given moment have 75 jobs anyways, not to mention that there's always at least a dozen RMT parties are pushing their way back to 75... yeah.

Like some other people in this thread, my experience is that finding low-mid level pickup parties is like pulling teeth, I probably spent longer getting SCH to 30 than I did getting WAR from 65-75.

[kuronosan]

FFXI isn't dying because people are mass-exodusing; people are leaving but not at the rate some people believe, but because very few people join the game anymore to make up for ANY rate of the existing playerbase disappearing. Typically, for me, /sea 1-74 and /sea 75 returns 1/3 of the online population for the latter, and considering that anywhere from 1/3-1/2 of the people leveling at any given moment have 75 jobs anyways, not to mention that there's always at least a dozen RMT parties are pushing their way back to 75... yeah.

Like some other people in this thread, my experience is that finding low-mid level pickup parties is like pulling teeth, I probably spent longer getting SCH to 30 than I did getting WAR from 65-75.

And therein lies the problem. Why should I waste 4 hours of my day seeking for a party when I have better things to do with my time? Campaign? pfft. Salvage? riiiiiiight.

SE put so many timesinks into this game that it just simply takes too much time in any given day to do everything you want to do and do it effectively. Some choose to devote their time to pimping their character (seriously, where's the Gimp or Pimp thread?) with the best gear, and I respect that. Some choose to devote their time to powering another job to 75, and that's cool. I'm just not going to do that considering the sheer amount of work I have to do that is more important.

Again, like most players who aren't playing as much as they used to, I simply can't dedicate time to a game where there is virtually no individual rewarding content for people as such. People are growing up and maturing and FFXI isn't growing with them. It's like a bad relationship. Your woman stays 14 in her mind while you're 36 and she still thinks your relationship is going to last. Well, it's stale, boring, and there's nothing new to keep you interested in it.

Gear isn't the problem. Lack of interesting and new content to overshadow old content is the problem.

[Draggy]

when the expansion came out, my friend and i tried to rush and level dnc and sch to 75 asap... once we got to 50, we hit a bump where it was almost impossible to make a party in under 1-2hours (sometimes much, much more). the people looking didn't fit well in a party. jp time seemed to be alot better, but during na time, there was never ppl on, and people never popped either.... we eventually gave up because the interest level of the jobs finally caught up to us with the slow leveling... but on carbuncle it seems relatively impossible/slow to level during NA time without a static.

thus i feel the game is dying

Yah we've been trying to level SCH (40 atm) and i think weve only had 2 parties up to 40, rest is PL or duo... is impossible to just find 4 other people to make a party, let alone the right jobs ;_;
And yeah, 50+ trying to find/ make a party with BRD + COR took hours to do ._. (which it really shouldn't..)

[Not Kuno]

And yeah, 50+ trying to find/ make a party with BRD + COR took hours to do ._. (which it really shouldn't..)

Huh? Finding a party with Brd and Cor usually does take a long time.

[ronin sparthos]

I think SE is afraid of what could happen if they mass obsolete'd sky/kings gear honestly. The implications would include a major part of the playerbase bitching to no end about being given a raw deal, hence why Salvage gear was crafted to be better than kings stuff but involves alot of luck/roundabout in salvage/assault to get it. You make the people who wanna camp happy and the people that wanna get higher tier gear as well.

SE is just afraid to take that step into the abyss because (maybe WotG will return to an actual endgame area attained via missions) they risk doing something on a bigger scale of failure than Einherjar and if it was designed poorly then the point of it all would be for naught. Honestly with AF and minimal kings gear you can cut/blow/tank anything in this game to shreds with a decent strategy so adding gear that tops kings and more on par with a completed salvage set would require involving mobs that are far more dangerous, lethal and resistant to todays strategies to be worth getting the 'new shit' so to speak.

SE has room for more elemental wyrms, perhaps some of them can employ some strategies that take us back to having to rethink how to kill something and less of watching who can claim it first. Changing the kings would also be a step in the right direction via difficulty, rage timers, TP moves etc but how many times has SE been told that exact thing.

In before someone mentions WoW.