Server Populations

[Lucavi]

We don't even know what the outcome of that decision is yet. From a company's PoV, there is no reason to fire 'that guy' (usually the Producer who handles these things) at this time.

This is awesome. You sound like those guys that say bad press is better than no press. "We're buzzworthy!", yells the SE executive.

Yeah, for all the wrong reasons.

[Hyan]

Well so far it's dragged the company's name through the mud, creating a lot of bad press, and left a bitter taste in many people's mouths. If this ends up being a financial success, I'll be shocked.

Well, it's not like this is the first time he's done this. I doubt they'll operate on an assumption because of this fact alone.

If the game doesn't recover though, another old fart bites the dust! Only Kitase and Nomura left :Q_

This is awesome. You sound like those guys that say bad press is better than no press. "We're buzzworthy!", yells the SE executive.

I am not particularly surprised that you are not getting it.

[Lucavi]

Yeah yeah, Hyan.

[Tomino]

There's one more thing on the table actually.
Sometimes if you have to choose between a bear and a wolf eating you, well, there is not much blame to but on someone.

What I mean is that should they had NOT release FF14 so early but instead around Dec/Feb, they would had to face Cataclym, all Xmas games sitting on players' desks, the upcoming 3DS buzz, TERA and god knows what else.
I'm simply saying they took the risk, willingly. Maybe 300k buyers on September were better than 100k on January, who knows.

[Lucavi]

Assuming that a January launch would have had all of the features that are now promised to be included by January, they'd have grabbed, and more importantly, retained well over 100k subs.

TERA and the others aren't out yet. People that play WoW will play WoW. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever to release XIV when they did. None.

[Muay]

All FFXIV has accomplished is make me nostalgic for XI. The discs are just sitting there, taunting me from their shelf.
I've probably logged more playtime on New Vegas and Civ V than on XIV, that's just sad. Three people I started with have already given up on the game, and a fourth is going to give it another shot on PS3 release. If people give up on your game when it's still free to play, you're pretty much fucked.

It's funny you say that, all FFXIV has accomplished for me is making me want to try WOW to see what all the fuss is about.

[Shade]

Assuming that a January launch would have had all of the features that are now promised to be included by January, they'd have grabbed, and more importantly, retained well over 100k subs.

TERA and the others aren't out yet. People that play WoW will play WoW. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever to release XIV when they did. None.

Well, someone in the higher ups obviously thought there was. Who knows what out of touch money men think. Would love to know though.

[bruiser]

It wasn't the release date that killed them. It was the horrible decisions that led the direction of the game. What do you think would have happened with more time? You think you'd have an AH? That was a design decision. You think skillups would be less random? Design decision. Interface would be better? Design decision. The only thing that would be better if they had had more time is there might be a little less interface lag. That's the problem. That they didn't even realize any of these other gaping flaws were problems until they released the game. If they realized how bad this was going to be, they wouldn't have released it. It's not like nobody in the studio knew what was going on until they had an internal release candidate going. The UI was a conscious decision. The market wards were a conscious decision.

The people who need to be fired are the UI Producer (you can see his name in the credits btw, I forget what it is) and the designer who invented market wards. Everyone else can stay.

[Dooom]

That they didn't even realize any of these other gaping flaws were problems until they released the game.

Weren't people complaining about these things in beta?

[Katlan]

It wasn't the release date that killed them. It was the horrible decisions that led the direction of the game. What do you think would have happened with more time?

I basically agree w/this. SE alrdy proved throughout all of alpha/beta that they mainly cared about server stability and some combat issues, despite all the negative feedback on the plethora of other features in the game. It just doesn't make sense why they ignored the feedback from testers on so many other plateau's (yes, I agree well over 75% of the feedback should be ignored and was just crybabies being crybabies, but any competent review team and filter all that stuff together to realize what the crybabies are all talking about, and separate that from the good feedback).

I don't think more development time would of helped the game. They needed the harsh reality that the game has widely received from worldwide press. They were just too arrogant otherwise.

XIV's major downfall is that the extra free month isn't going to help them. 85%+ of players these days don't look back at a failed mmo to see if it has improved and to try it again. The die hard fans will, and some others will on top of that, but the majority of ppl will dismiss this game and never look back. And couple that w/the most retarded payment options in MMO history, most ppl will be turned off to try the game again just for that fact.

[Hyan]

What do you think would have happened with more time? You think you'd have an AH?

From Marketplace to an AH is not that big of a stretch. They're already getting there.

Many of these 'design decisions' are being changed in the future. Some can't, but very little of all this is completely irreversible as some of you seem to imply.

Weren't people complaining about these things in beta?

Yes, and I doubt they were oblivious to the complaints. It just didn't matter.

[Dooom]

Has there been an official announcement about an AH? Whenever I asked before, people have only quoted part of an interview.

Then again, still no secondary stamina bar for shields, so I'm not putting much faith in SE's ff14 team until it's actually in the game.

[Hyan]

Has there been an official announcement about an AH? Whenever I asked before, people have only quoted part of an interview.

At this point, it would be stupid to have one. If they wanted an AH, they can make one out of the Marketplace. Making a whole separate system that could be implemented more easily would be a bigger waste right now.

[bruiser]

From Marketplace to an AH is not that big of a stretch. They're already getting there.

Many of these 'design decisions' are being changed in the future. Some can't, but very little of all this is completely irreversible as some of you seem to imply.

Yes, and I doubt they were oblivious to the complaints. It just didn't matter.

But that's just it. They didn't even want an AH. They wouldn't have implemented one with mroe time because they specifically didn't want one. More time wouldn't have changed that, it took them getting their asses rammed into the ground by an 40 foot long cock for them to realize that hey, these market wards really are going to destroy your game.

The decisions are reversible, and indeed they are reversing them. What's probably not reversible is the impact those decisions had on the playerbase, and by extension, the future of the game.

[Dooom]

At this point, it would be stupid to have one.

I disagree entirely. Another common complaint from reviewers and players? Buying and selling shit sucks. That they haven't mentioned any real plans for an AH or changing how SP is gained makes me believe they want it to be this way, which is fucking retarded in my humble opinion.

[bruiser]

I disagree entirely. Another common complaint from reviewers and players? Buying and selling shit sucks. That they haven't mentioned any real plans for an AH or changing how SP is gained makes me believe they want it to be this way, which is fucking retarded in my humble opinion.

His point is that the AH can just be a frontend for the market wards. Players wouldn't even notice the difference. Imagine you go to a window, type an item and hit search. Instead of searching an "Auction House" it searches the bazaars of everyone in the market wards. It tells you exactly who has it and what ward they're in. You walk into the correct ward, and they are the only ertainer visible. You purchase the item.

That's really just equivalent to an AH, literally. The walking to the retainer and purchasing it manually is the step under a normal AH where you would go to your mog house and get the item out of your delivery box.

[bruiser]

Don't think this has been posted yet.

http://img4.mmo.mmo4arab.com/news/20...8/ffxiv/1b.jpg

[Hyan]

But that's just it. They didn't even want an AH. They wouldn't have implemented one with mroe time because they specifically didn't want one. More time wouldn't have changed that, it took them getting their asses rammed into the ground by an 40 foot long cock for them to realize that hey, these market wards really are going to destroy your game.

The marketward changes were talked about before the game was even out. The release reception didn't change shit, it just enforced the already known fact that this shit doesn't fly.

His point is that the AH can just be a frontend for the market wards. Players wouldn't even notice the difference. Imagine you go to a window, type an item and hit search. Instead of searching an "Auction House" it searches the bazaars of everyone in the market wards. It tells you exactly who has it and what ward they're in. You walk into the correct ward, and they are the only ertainer visible. You purchase the item.

That's really just equivalent to an AH, literally. The walking to the retainer and purchasing it manually is the step under a normal AH where you would go to your mog house and get the item out of your delivery box.

Hey, thanks. They can also make the system to skip the "walk to correct ward and purchase item" part if AH is what they have in mind. There really is no need for any separate systems at this point.

[Katlan]

Don't think this has been posted yet.

Spoiler: show

http://img4.mmo.mmo4arab.com/news/20...8/ffxiv/1b.jpg

Hard to know if its accurate since OP came across different figures

[Dooom]

If market ward searches will search multiple wards, then yeah, you'd be right. As it stands we just have to wait and see. I'll be very disappointed if they program it so you only search the ward you're currently in.

Don't think this has been posted yet.

Was linked to on a few pages ago, but on a Sankaku Complex article so I can't blame anyone who didn't click it.