What is keeping FFXI from reaching the potential it has?

[Antithesis]

When PS2 limitation excuses are just too much.

We all know the limitations of the PS2 prevent SE from overhauling and adding alot of things. But is there anything else that is hindering the game from possibly becoming better in the long run? (Besides the Dev Team I think we all know that.)

Or could every reason really be linked to the PS2?

[Gaea]

30,000 alexandrite

[Gergall]

It's been said a million times, but here it is yet again. The drop rates are horrible. One player gets an item on the first kill (or dynamis or salvage run, or whatever), another person goes 0/50. Vastly different rewards for the same amount of effort? I can understand a little bit of randomness but there is way too much in the game.

King spawn timers are also ridiculous. The player who can provoke something a split second faster than another player reaps huge rewards...why? I'm not even talking about bots here. Even if everyone plays fair, why reward a player who hits provoke a fraction of a second faster?

Those are the types of problems holding FFXI back from being amazing.

[LD]

30,000 alexandrite

Kinda sums it up.

The one example that proves all of FFXI's flaws: Poor itemization, low reward for high effort in contrast to high reward to low effort, shitty drop rates, limited access to everything of value, etc.

[Maxxthepenguin]

The inability to get enough funding to be able to provide enough content to make events come up fast enough to allow high enough drop rates.
If they could come out with twice as many events, they could double drop rates since it could keep people around just as well.

[Arthars]

make everything 100% dorps

since that way, even if 35 slavage pieces drops easy, it wont be cheap to make as well

player-based economy sould be enough to keep stuffs under control, 100% 35 dorps in salvage doesnt mean you can get them easy as well(lolw00tz)

[rog]

SE

[Syanonn]

SE hiring programmers and GMs knowing little about the game.

[Hiryo]

OP asking about technical restraints or restraints via content?

Not content, right?

[Antithesis]

OP asking about technical restraints or restraints via content?

Not content, right?

Both.

PS2 "apparently" also limits the amount of content they can add and do to the game. I am just wondering if the PS2 is Satin and the PC is God while the Xbox 360 and PS3 are Jesus. One's evil and outdated, the other is constantly evolving and always has room for improvement and the last two are basically PCs in a sense.

[Kilhart]

SE

^ This.

[Omniyoji]

I don't know and I don't care cause all I see is that cute JP girl in your sig! I can stare at her all day long!


Err.... I'm pretty sure there's more to it than just PS2 limitations (although it probably is a big factor), but they couldn't ever possibly remove complete support from the platform since supposedly (according to them) they still have many PS2 subscribers...

I'll admit I originally started FFXI on the PS2 but have switched to the PC as my main and the PS2 being my alt every other week~month.

[Lahan]

And sony is too greedy to let their PS3 play PS2 games so all those PS2ers cant upgrade.

[Lordwafik]

Inconsistency.

[Senji]

Its too late for it to reach its potential, that time has come and gone. SE screwed up in listening to the players and fixing things and they can only hope to maintain the status quot. There wont be any big surge from people leaving Wow or any other mmo, and its not the fresh new game for FF and other people to want to test out.

[Ragnus]

Pull a Star Wars Galaxies where they attempt to gain new users at the cost of their whole playerbase?

[Antithesis]

The thing that really gets me is how SE fails to realize just how popular FFXI is (Many people rank FFXI second to WoW, this debate is open to interpretation but it is from what I know) and has failed so many times to capitalize on this. Instead they turn a deaf ear to us and do as they please. Sure, they have been listening to player feedback recently but its more like cryptic feedback they are receiving.

[ronin sparthos]

-Disproportional rewards vs effort. Look at crap like Hydra, Vrtra, TOAU Beastleaders.

-Horrible drop rates on R/EX items. Stuff like Eastern Shadow should be 100% drop if you honestly expect players to sit there through a 16-32hr window killing placeholders.

-Slow reactions to playerbase concerns. Took 4 years for some Moogles in Selbina/Mhaura when that should have taken 6months at the latest. Its not like its a HUGE change to the game itself.

-AV. Its an awesome creation to SE and they plan more of these superbosses with WOTG but honestly they exist as myths and legends for most in a game where many things go unfixed for patches on end.

[Khajit]

Shoddy programming. ps2 limitations is just an excuse used by SE wherever they go normally since everyone loves a scapegoat instead of noticing how often they exceed the so called limitations.
When they designed the game they did alot of wasteful things that wouldn't have mattered if the game only lasted until COP or TAU but we had alot more longevity than they expected. For example the armour in this game has it's own dat file including texture. Now while that might not sound so bad it means for every recolour out there instead of simply reloading a new texture onto the same model for each recolour the game had to generate and store data for each individual peice.
EG)
Model A Skin+1 Skin 2+Skin3
vs
model A+skin 1, model B+skin 2, model c+skin 3

I'm sure there are lots of little things like that everywhere.

[Not Kuno]

Square never had any touch with it's playerbase. They always just felt they were right and simply don't change anything if they don't want to. Look at any sort of NA interview if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Most importantly, many drop rates are so piss poor, and risk vs reward is just so off the wall for so much shit.