FFXI #4 in number of subscribers for MMOs

[Charismatic]

That be can explained simply as new players taking you and your friends' place.

because theres tons of new players just gushing into ffxi everyday right?

because there's tons of old players just qutting ffxi everyday right?

Be real.
A lot of people you know have quit over time, but there's still a ton of the same folks who have been around since day 1 still playing.

[Toth]

Frankly, if these numbers are truly correct, the fact that SE has maintained such a stable amount of subscribers only the last 4 years shows the appeal and strength of the product. Even if it needs fixes....

[Frenzy]

Don't know about you, but while I saw some players quite over the last months, I also saw quite a few players coming back from WoW and RL, not to mention quite a few honest to god newbies, asking all the same old questions (Beastmen Seals) and needing all the same old help (Kazham access) (having all the same old complaints (But WoW's quest giver have visible markers over their heads).

I can imagine that subscribers number is around 500k. We could probably take a guess by looking at SE's last fiscial report, there aren't many things beside FFXI in their online section.

[fantasticdan]

Frankly, if these numbers are truly correct, the fact that SE has maintained such a stable amount of subscribers only the last 4 years shows the appeal and strength of the product. Even if it needs fixes....

Or it's addictiveness? Than again, that probably is the main strength of the product. You should consider a good portion of those subscriptions are RMT as well, including extras that may have been banned and resubscribed in the same month. Plus the growing number of people that now pay for multiple accounts.

At first I thought FFXI being the fourth most popular MMO in the US was surprising, than I realized I'd never even heard of two of the games on that list before. MMOs are relatively unpopular as a whole here outside of WoW. Other than EQ2, what other MMOs would you even expect to see on that list?

[Frenzy]

And take the numbers from the Odin is over-crowded thread. According to SE there are 15k to 16k accounts per server, with Odin being slightly higher. With 32 worlds that comes out to about 500k.

And FFXI is generally said to be a rather slow game, everything takes time to accomplish and do, so it takes longer to get bored because you already did everything.
Compared to WoW another point is probably the "one character for everything" policy, in WoW when you grow bored of a job or allegiance you'll have to start over on a new character. While in FFXI you just go to the next Moogle or the right NPC and, voila, a completely new world opens up, yet you retain your quest and accomplishments, you can reuse your equip, you character grows on you and it becomes harder to let your hard work be for naught..

[LD]

Hey, lets not argue like children over opinions.

We'll argue like children over facts, thank you.

[Viq]

Plus the growing number of people that now pay for multiple accounts.

Admittedly, I've been away from FFXI for some time now. Are people that pay for multiple accounts buying a 2nd account, or actually leveling up another character (I assume RDM or BRD buffpet)? It's a very common practice in games like L2 to have a 2nd account leveled up for a personal buffer/healer, but I didn't realize that play style had made it's way to FFXI.

[Super Jam]

Lol @ the RO talk. I used to LOVE that game, but I'd lose interest in a job way to often and have to make a new char to try something new out (along with the shitty Kafra system, ugh). But I didn't find the grind particularly bad until 80+, usually it was pretty fun and fast paced. I wish it had a better grouping system. Finding people to party with was painful...

Still, no matter how much nostaglia RO brings, it's pretty much a prime example of what NOT to do when making a MMO.

I remember old school RO before they introduced the new Advanced classes. Those were the days for really good PvP lol.

The most fun I've had on RO though was being a GM for a private server and just being able to abuse all the commands turning server to night mode, forcing WoE to turn on, spawning like 100x Behemoths in Prontera. u.u Good memories..

The last time I tried playing RO last year everyone just whored out broken SinX mods or Bard who could literally one shot anything but LK with frost joker then arrow vulcan(wind arrow). Used to be really good in terms of balance, went down the shitter as they added more content. But was still a creative system, I thought the card system was the most creative aspect of any MMO I've ever played and really allowed for a lot of customization.

[Charismatic]

Yeah, even if cards never did fucking drop...

[Super Jam]

10k/10k/1k

^-^ stop playing on lower rates

[Zilong]

Remember when Taj used a GM account for all those cards in iRO and they had like full vitata/whisper card wipe?

Good times.

[fantasticdan]

Admittedly, I've been away from FFXI for some time now. Are people that pay for multiple accounts buying a 2nd account, or actually leveling up another character (I assume RDM or BRD buffpet)? It's a very common practice in games like L2 to have a 2nd account leveled up for a personal buffer/healer, but I didn't realize that play style had made it's way to FFXI.

In terms of legit players, it's mostly people giving/lending their accounts to friends/linkshells when they quit or take a break, but I'm sure purchased accounts are also a big part of it.

[Izzy]

Remember when Taj used a GM account for all those cards in iRO and they had like full vitata/whisper card wipe?

Good times.

THAT WAS TAJ????? NO FUCKING WAY HAHAHAHAHAHAH

To those Q_Qing about "OH U SHULZ PLAY ON HIGHER RAETZ SRVRZ", playing on a private server never gave me any sort of satisfaction. Killing one mob and getting 30 levels makes me feel like I didn't really accomplish anything at all where in iRO getting a level was something I had to work to get. The only thing I really used private servers for was to test different builds.

[Purrrfect]

One of the thing that bugs me about most other MMOs is the reliance on using the mouse. I love how FFXI just lets you use the keyboard for everything.

Also the job system is excellent, stops you having to redo the same major quests over again for each job, heh.

I hope FF13 is not like FF12 too, in terms of gameplay. Must finish that game some time...

Lines 1 & 2 qft, line 3 fixed.

Forcing mouse use in the other mmos is another thing that keeps me from finding another game. They should stop trying to blend genres. Make an action-rpg like 12 or crisis core, and then make a turn-based-rpg. XI also has the best camera control of any mmo, an important part for ppl that get motion sickness in the first-person craze.

[setzor]

I've been playing Lineage2 on private servers off and on for the last 3 years, it seems to be more popular in south america/poland/russia/europe. It's actually a pretty fun game. I'm playing on a x7 rate server now, and honestly, I couldn't IMAGINE playing on the 1x retail...take you 2 years to get to max level on 1 character. That's probably why it doesn't have a huge North American following, if you can't end-game in 2 weeks or less, forget it :D

[Viq]

I've been playing Lineage2 on private servers off and on for the last 3 years, it seems to be more popular in south america/poland/russia/europe. It's actually a pretty fun game. I'm playing on a x7 rate server now, and honestly, I couldn't IMAGINE playing on the 1x retail...take you 2 years to get to max level on 1 character. That's probably why it doesn't have a huge North American following, if you can't end-game in 2 weeks or less, forget it :D

I assume your private server doesn't have CT1.5, or even CT1 or Interlude. It takes about two weeks to hit B-grade on 1x retail servers if you know where to grind these days. Another week and a half to get to A-grade. From there you can party with people up to S-grade, and take part in Sieges/raids. It would still take a long time to hit Olympiad, but just to be able to jump into end-game doesn't take that long.

[setzor]

I've been playing Lineage2 on private servers off and on for the last 3 years, it seems to be more popular in south america/poland/russia/europe. It's actually a pretty fun game. I'm playing on a x7 rate server now, and honestly, I couldn't IMAGINE playing on the 1x retail...take you 2 years to get to max level on 1 character. That's probably why it doesn't have a huge North American following, if you can't end-game in 2 weeks or less, forget it :D

I assume your private server doesn't have CT1.5, or even CT1 or Interlude. It takes about two weeks to hit B-grade on 1x retail servers if you know where to grind these days. Another week and a half to get to A-grade. From there you can party with people up to S-grade, and take part in Sieges/raids. It would still take a long time to hit Olympiad, but just to be able to jump into end-game doesn't take that long.

full official interlude server actually :d http://www.frintezza.com

[crazyrabbit]

I did play on a fully working x50 CT1 server for a few weeks, only nice thing are tyrannosaurs >.> kamael suck btw... they have a class that you can only chose when you got the other 3 kamael classes on that char already at 75+ (ie main and 2 subclass then 3rd subclass) so you would think that class must be uber overpowered, but no its just almost exactly the same as one of the others.
And only one thing would make me play on official L2 serv, that weird theme park island with all those minigames, because that doesn't work on any p servers out there D:

[Aikar]

Before WoW hit, FFXI was the most popular MMO of them all with 500,000 subscribers. That number hasn't changed at all since then, so this isn't particularly surprising other than the fact it's not third (is LotRO really that good?). The HUEG LIEK XBOX numbars that WoW has are extremely, extremely unusual for this genre.

LotR:O is supposed to be really good. It's casual as hell and has the LotR license used well.

Casual and Good do not go in the same sentence, unless good is prefixed with not.

[Kyreth]

Casual can be good. It's just not going to have as long a play life because less effort is involved in play.

WoW and FFXI are both "good" games, one being more casual for much of it's playerbase than the other. In the end, I always point at player population as a testament to the quality of a game. FFXI grouping in there with City of Heroes to me = a solid game, despite it's age.

As long as S-E keeps doing quality of life improvements and dribbles new content into the game, it'll soldier on fine. Much like Everquest- it may be an older "world", but it's huge and entertaining for folks to explore, even now.