What is keeping FFXI from reaching the potential it has?

[Silenka]

PS2 limitations mean nothing to the PC and Xbox user. They can complain all they like about it, but there is nothing stopping them from releasing a different graphic for people on PC/Xbox.

Evidence to support

• Downloads are separated by PS2, Xbox, PC, depending on which one connects, you do not download a generalized patch.
• People on PC can .dat mod their graphics without a problem to any of the other consoles being affected as it just affects local machines.
• Continued from the first point, developers code differently for each one (as supported by the glitch where console users were fishing an an insane rate compared to PC users).

SE can say "We want to make it fair between all three" but that is once again a scapegoat for not wanting to release different models for the ones that can handle it.

Reskinning isn't hard, hell they replace icons every now and then, reskinning isn't hard. Some things don't even need reskin more than a pallette swap. I'm sure everyone wearing an antares harness wouldn't mind as much if it was just recoloured black so it's noticably different.

This this this this this this.

PS2 users know they're behind the times. They wouldn't have any ground to stand on if they tried to complain that PC and Xbox suddenly had better graphics than PS2. It's what's expected on today's platforms. SE doesn't care enough about their damn game to update anything. I don't understand why they keep pretending like they care (money I guess), or where that 'do your best at everything' Japanese mentality went when it comes to FFXI. If you're going to put resources and manpower and paid employees into this game, why not go all the way instead of halfway? It doesn't make sense.

[Xno Kappa]

SE needs to stop with the unnecessary time waits for every freaking event. You have some really fun content that for some fucking reason SE deemed fit of you doing for only 30~ minutes a day.

[Antithesis]

The funny thing is the player base make all these amazing .dat mods that I sometimes think they should be working for SE.

The windower dev team needs to work with SE. Not should, needs.

[VZX]

Probably some have been mentioned before:
- Poor drop rate on certain items/in certain events. People get bored doing it much faster before anything worthwhile dropped. It doesn't take too many trials for people getting excelled at something.
- Why can't they have an NPC that hold over 9000 items? I've been thinking leveling a new job but the hassle moving items between mules makes a complete turn-off.
- 20-25s zoning. If you forgot 1 item in Mog House, it may take 1 complete minute to take it.
- Delay in general. You can't recheck item being sold within 30-45? s. You can't recheck send box within that delay too. Some ??? repop timer, MMM, etc.
- Real time map

[Khajit]

- 20-25s zoning. If you forgot 1 item in Mog House, it may take 1 complete minute to take it.
- Delay in general. You can't recheck item being sold within 30-45? s. You can't recheck send box within that delay too. Some ??? repop timer, MMM, etc.

That's because a few years ago some fucktards decided to do DOS attacks on FFXI. (by spamming the AH and delivery box system I think.)
As such any beef with the wait technically shouldnt be considered SE's fault imo.

[Ruuz]

I think the real way to classify FFXI is not that it is challenging, but that it is difficult to play.

Long delay (in everything), bad interfaces and player tools, gear progression that puts you at other people's throats constantly, it all makes the game difficult, but none of it is a challenge.

Big changes Id hope for:

-give PS2 and Xbox users the same tools we PC users have (keeping other's TP a secret really doesnt help anyone)

-change the stupid fishing system, it actually favors botting more than preventing it.

-se needs to at least try and make inroads with the people who play their game. their complete apathy towards us just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

[Katarzyna]

-give PS2 and Xbox users the same tools we PC users have (keeping other's TP a secret really doesnt help anyone)

Um...what are you talking about? TParty is a plug in from Windower, which is third party program, not supported by SE. In fact, it goes against their ToS since it's classified as a third party program. (Not that it matters. SE should've done a better job porting it)

[Antithesis]

Fucking 6souls sigged me. Everbody makes mistakes!

[Rokimus]

Is it just me or does anyone think FFXI's main goal is to make back the money lost on "The Spirits Within" CG Movie.

***"The film received mixed reviews[9] and despite aggressive promotion by Sony, it became a huge box office bomb. With a budget of $137 million (including marketing costs) the film made $85 million worldwide, meaning total losses were approximately $94 million (the studio typically receives half the box office gross). The domestic box office loss was, at the time, the largest in film history."**

and this

**"The idea to develop Final Fantasy XI as an online game was conceived by Hironobu Sakaguchi when establishing Square Pictures headquarters in Hawaii."**

The way I see it is you take one of the biggest franchises in video game history, with an extremely loyal fanbase and create a MMORPG. Make the game a time consuming experience and drain that money over a long period of time to make back all the money they lost on the movie. It is exploiting/pimping your "cash cow" franchise.

I know I am probably wrong on this "conspiracy" but it has always gone through my head regarding SE attitude to the playerbase. I'm not a WOW fan but if you compare the level of customer service and work that Blizzard puts into it makes SE look like trash.

Amazing idea there, my friend. I wouldn't put anything past SE seeing as they are a pretty shady bunch to begin with.

Back on topic though, I think that FFXI is being held back primarily by communication between company and client. Too many things have been mentioned to SE and they just say 'no' without giving 95% of what they receive a second thought.

I don't play WoW but I have a few friends in RL that do play it, and the #1 thing they mention is how Blizzard 'takes care of its player base' whether through constant patches/upgrades or just the sheer good quality of their customer service.

Take a hint, SE. It's probably too late for FFXI but if you have any plans to run a successful 2nd MMO, follow Blizzard's standards for maximum player base attainability.

[Okan]

I understand the different character for different job aspect, but SE never tried to make that seem reasonable due to the additional charge PER character. Sure, it's not "much" per month, but quick math is it's $120 for 2 additional character for 5 years. On top of the ~$750 you already paid for the normal monthly fees.

Follow that up with never balancing the jobs. I had this argument with an LS member last night and he feels the game is "well balanced" because everyone can level any job, mind you this is after he complained that him having 10 less STR than an Elvaan SAM as a Tarutaru SAM was unbalanced and he regrets the decision. Anyway, I don't think that is "balance" because that would imply that instead of the DRK, WAR, and SAM melee only rush, BST, PUP, and DRG could be as easily accepted in those DD spots. But because I have the ability to level DRK, it's fair? Essentially, one should play a job that they hate to gain gear for a job that they like because it's fair? I don't bite that. SE missed this bit a long time ago. WoW stepped up with each expansion trying to re-do each job to make them all fair. Holy/Disc priests were given DD abilities to farm. Tanks have had their DPS upped (Or that was the plan) to allow them to farm. Hunter and Warlock DPS went from terrible pre-TBC to excellent in TBC (Hunter due to timing mechanic and Warlock due to threat -- they changed these in a sense and Warlock was excellent). No idea about Wrath. Each job had a niche in an instance regardless of it's damage. EVERY job had a role, some better at it than others, but a player that knew that class could do it well. In this game, no one experiments because the risk of losing is typically the loss of said HNM to another LS waiting for you to die anyway.

Also some mechanics work against players. How long was there the "No melee at HNM because you're feeding it TP" rule? I had this bit of an argument too with someone who posts here occasionally. Basically the statement was about a parse I read about a BST who did 13% damage at Odin by keeping his pet alive versus the 11-12% the RNG and SMNs did. He said that a BST will never be allowed because you'd feed Odin too much TP. Without going further about whose right or wrong (I am ignoring ANY comment about that from here on) -- the game mechanics makes it difficult to balance that out. I've seen mobs spam certain abilities regardless of what was hitting them. How many times have you guys witnessed Fafnir spam wing with no one even touching him? Exactly my point. I've seen LS's filled with SMNs using ONLY SMNs to kill Tiamat, Vrtra, and Fafhoggs because they didn't want to "feed it TP" and of course I've seen people melee, skillchain, and MB all three (four) without a single SMN minus SJ's in the entire alliance.

Risk versus reward is huge too. We've all had the Fafnir that dropped Andvaranauts, Aegishjalmr, and the abjuration no one wanted. Remember the FIRST screenshotted kill of Tiamat? Remember the reward? A single Fire Crystal. Jorm was worth killing on Unicorn for a while because we had a JP DRG trying to HQ the Corazza (Dalsomething? Anyone remember him? Did he ever get it or did he buy Rilu's?) Unless you had this guy on your server, Jorm was very rarely worth killing except for the title. Vrtra was a one-timer also. Get one or two manteels and you never had to fight him again. So the rewards are nothing now. Fafnir, Nidhogg, KB are all huge time-sinks due to pop, claim, and drop rates.

List goes on.

[Ultimagi]

I can't agree with you when you say that jobs are imbalanced and don't have niches. This is more the fault of the player base than it is of Square-Enix. People don't use certain jobs because they are too closed minded to give them a chance, or because the player playing those jobs doesn't know what they're doing. Given the right opportunity, every job does have its place in endgame, most linkshell leaders are just too blind or stubborn to see it.

[Antithesis]

You know, how would the game improve / decline if TP was changed so that you nor the monster no longer gain TP from being hit? Subtle Blow would be kinda pointless then lol. And so would MNK's Roll!

[Okan]

I can't agree with you when you say that jobs are imbalanced and don't have niches. This is more the fault of the player base than it is of Square-Enix. People don't use certain jobs because they are too closed minded to give them a chance, or because the player playing those jobs doesn't know what they're doing. Given the right opportunity, every job does have its place in endgame, most linkshell leaders are just too blind or stubborn to see it.

I have to disagree. As a BST that wants to be accepted at end-game events, I can not count the amount of times I've been told to come as WHM or BLM and in attempts to make it so, I've sold more WHM and BLM gear and have far better money and merits invested in to my 73 BST than my 5 year old WHM and 3 year old BLM. My statement goes to say sure, PUP and BST and DNC can be used at end game, it's just DRK, WAR, SAM, and RNG will do better and they will be ignored. Remember the days of lolDRG and the stories of them sitting for over 5 hours for a PT invite while the RNG was getting a tell as soon as they logged on? Who is at fault here? Sure, players are partly to blame, but majority of the blame falls to SE for never properly balancing the jobs.

Is it really fair for the THF to sit outside the alliance until 5% and then come in and hit it once just to proc the Treasure Hunter? Might as well stack more Rangers!

Players would not be to blame if SE did proper balancing.

You know, how would the game improve / decline if TP was changed so that you nor the monster no longer gain TP from being hit? Subtle Blow would be kinda pointless then lol. And so would MNK's Roll!

You mean Chi Blasting?

And I don't mean to remove it totally, but balance it per damage instead of action. So that a mage casting Burst II gave it 50 TP and that Dia gave it 1 TP instead of 5 each. So that a DRK hitting it for 100 damage gave it 3-4 TP instead of 20. In the end regardless of who did the damage, 2500 damage gave the mob 100 TP regardless of the MEANS.
Make mobs more like players. Mobs give us 2 TP when we get hit.

[GeneJackit]

W/ all the complaints and suggestions I think a lot of people need to keep in mind that if the game is profitable...they wont make big changes. I mean, why spend money developing new tools / programs / inovations for a game people still pay for? Obviously, we all have ideas to improve the game...but unless the suggestions and complaints turn into lost revenue SE isnt going to change much of anything. I would like to know how profitable of a game XI is, and how profitable a company SE is...especially w/ the economy in the shape it is...but I would assume they are doing well. I think there mindset is "If it aint broke, dont fix it." Of course, broke to them means "unprofitable."

[Okan]

Huh? If the game is profitable? Have you seen WoW recently? Guess Blizzard is losing tons of money on that game.

[Antithesis]

The changes would be killing 2 birds with one stone. It would make us happy as fuck and then we tell our friends about it and they tell there friends about it. Coupled with some small TV spots if they try and I see a boom. FFXI is not a bad game at all, but its too time consuming for an era where casual games are the new thing. Mix in a bit more casualness to FFXI while keeping the hardcore there and improve EVERYTHING that needs improvement and FFXI can easly go head to head with WoW.

[Ultimagi]

I'd say your Puppetmasters or Dancers are just being used for the wrong purposes. Beastmaster, however, I did overlook. I agree that job got shafted for any endgame use. Back in the days when Dragoon was laughed at, they were just as good damage dealers as they are today, minus the 2 handed weapon patch. I had some pretty good parties with Dragoons, and I totally blame the player base for thinking it was a mediocre job.

[Okan]

Agreed that FFXI isn't a bad game. Except I feel like some beaten spouse or something. Of course we don't THINK it's a bad game, but to someone outside our relationship looking at our black eyes, it looks like the devil. Seriously making things more "WoW Like" in terms of adding more casual rewards (Assaults and Nyzul are a step in the right direction since these can be done at whim and don't need major planning). Now they just need a few more touch ups and this game will grow or at least SE will have a large enough base for when FFXI-2 is released it could very well step up and compete with WoW. [As long as they keep YuRiPa out of it we should be okay!]

I'd say your Puppetmasters or Dancers are just being used for the wrong purposes. Beastmaster, however, I did overlook. I agree that job got shafted for any endgame use. Back in the days when Dragoon was laughed at, they were just as good damage dealers as they are today, minus the 2 handed weapon patch. I had some pretty good parties with Dragoons, and I totally blame the player base for thinking it was a mediocre job.

I had some great leveling experiences with DRGs when I was leveling up. I also had some bad experiences with BRDs. I agree the players are a huge reason some classes are overlooked, but as I said earlier, the reason they go overlooked is because they have been tested, tested, and tested, and just don't hold up as well as another class/job.

[Antithesis]

Agreed that FFXI isn't a bad game. Except I feel like some beaten spouse or something. Of course we don't THINK it's a bad game, but to someone outside our relationship looking at our black eyes, it looks like the devil. Seriously making things more "WoW Like" in terms of adding more casual rewards (Assaults and Nyzul are a step in the right direction since these can be done at whim and don't need major planning). Now they just need a few more touch ups and this game will grow or at least SE will have a large enough base for when FFXI-2 is released it could very well step up and compete with WoW.

FFXI-2 would be amazing. Or FFXI: Redux. Port all of our data from FFXI > FFXI-2. Make updates and stuff.

Golden.

[Okan]

Damn it. 10 minutes used to read this thread made me miss the name of the new game.
http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/ffxi-...lace-ffxi.html