Will FFXI last?Follow

Right on! More lower levels on Gilgamesh! I just started on this server, and there do seem to be at least a few of us. Not nearly as dead a server as I first thought.

Edited, Apr 2nd 2007 9:18pm by buzzguy

SE is making a new MMORPG, but it's going to take <Long Time> As far as I know nobody knows anything about it yet.

Edited, Apr 5th 2007 9:04pm by ShijimaOfRemora

Population, therefore popularity, isn't exactly an indicator of what is good or not. Sometimes a superior item is not the most popular, it happens. Other times it is the most popular.

How do you know those who say "WoW sucks" didn't play it a fair amount before making that judgment. I don't think it sucks personally, but I do think FFXI is better since it has more to do. Both games have advantages over the other, but ultimately I prefer FFXI's group dynamics, LSes over guilds (mainly because you can have more than one and unequip if you don't want to be bothered), and that there are missions. WoW is nice in that there are a lot of skills per class and you can jump and walk off cliffs instead of walking around 500 miles to get off the cliff too. But honestly, if you don't like WoW at level 10, you won't like it later. Personally I found 1-10 the best levels in WoW and the higher levels (I got to 47) to be very dull. In XI I almost find the opposite, I tend to enjoy higher levels more since there is more to do. I think that is a big reason for the population difference, WoW is more front-ended while XI is more back-ended in terms of things to do. If I could wish for one thing in XI though it'd be faster traveling methods.

Anyway I see it lasting another 4 years or so, but it will probably dwindle off. They have made some good improvements over time, but if they really want more players I think the best thing they could do is abandon the PS2 format. Release more character models for creation, higher quality visuals. Those combined with faster traveling I think could draw in some people. Although I wouldn't complain about some of the jobs having a few more abilities (passive and active) and I think that'd help a lot too. But all MMORPGs eventually die so it is only a matter of time. Just add some more front ended content if you really want to attract more people.

IMHO, it will last.

Unless I am mistaken, Ultima Online which came out around 1997 is still running. By today's standards that game is an old geezer, but it's still popular to few people.

The problem with Final Fantasy XI will be to adapt to a lower customer base. The game will last ? YES. Will it have as many people ? Obviously NO. Already, I feel this would be a good time to merge 2 servers into one. By doing that, everything would be better for a very good while. And they can repeat the process when needed. (Man is that needed !)

The game as a lot to offer and it lasts long when you have 5h on weekend days and 1h on weekdays (for farming mostly, heh). I managed to get to level 50 with my black mage and very close to that with 3-4 other jobs, in a year or so. It's going to take me forever to reach anything above 70. *smiles*

It's worth getting the all-in-one pack with all the expentions. And dont be afraid to make friends, jion a linkshell and pester the old timers that are 70+ to help you by forming a PL-less party in the dunes, everyone will have a blast.

Now that the economy is starting to stabilise (on valefor anyways), it's starting to get fun again. Crafting is slowly comming back to being worthwile (Cooking and Woodworking mostly), and farming has good rewards. Nope, not dead just yet :) And I beleive the caretakers of FF11 will make good decisions to help keep the game alive as long as possible.

-- Francois, of Valefor

Edited, Apr 9th 2007 5:12pm by FrancoisValefor

Well I said it before and I'll say it again, ToAU should be a lesson on what not to do when releasing a XPack. Never focus on just one group of people, in this case High Levels. XPacks should have new things for all levels, new areas, new jobs, new equipment, new quest, new everything. Right now we have a very unhealthy trend where half the server pop is level 1-70 and the other half is 71-75, basically if the server pop is 2400 that is (Lv.1-70 =1200 ppl) and (Lv.71-75 =1200 ppl.) The only true fix the current problem is release a new XPack with the Western Lands or Far East in which the zone are more balanced much like Zilart was ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI:_Rise_of_the_Zilart ). Mirror the stuff you did for Zilart Xpack and you'll raise FFXI to play again. IMO of course.

Edited, Apr 10th 2007 10:37pm by dyvidd

TO answer this original question of ffxi lasting i see it having no chance past 3 years. many of my points have been already made but something that i have not seen much on and i dont think should be overlook is guild wars 2. after reading the article in pc gamer its hard not to think this game has potential to not only take away from this game but WoW as well .

thats a very Broad term.


I remember Fox news saying at the Presidential ceremony in 2000 that President-elect George W. Bush had the potential to be one of the greatest presidents ever ushering in a new era for America and Americans alike.


You are giving FFXI a 3 year death sentence based on potential of another unproven game. And George Bush was given 8 years based on potential. Do you see the distinction in using such broad terms to define sucess?

Honestly SE seems to be on the ball lately. I am hoping for a announcement of a new expansion soon. just an Annoucement I dont need a date just tell me "Hey we have someting big in store keep pumping us money and we will keep pumping out expansions and content."

The community is too hostile to new players to make it last. Its ironic, because at this time its probably the easiest to get into the game and basic gameplay. But looking here, on alla, you have endless threads about skipping valkurm, about noobs sucking, or ones with new players frustrated and asking things only to get hostile replies.

People arent tolerant any more. Game mechanics aside (and no matter what anyone says, they arent broken, or exclusive. FFXI is a fine game) the problems are now the community's attitudes.

@Purrsona

You have this problem with every good game. It's for everyone to decide on their own if they can, let's say, "control" their playtime.


I came back recently after taking a one year break of FFXI and i was glad to see that many of the friends i made since i started the game are still playing.
I was also very happy about the lower prices for good equipment.

What realy shocked me was the ammount of items in the AHs. I remember that there was almost everything for sale when i quit and you could craft almost everything and it would sell.
When i check the food section now i only see a few stacks of the most used foods. Others were sold months ago for the last time.

The community might be endgame now but i still see new players running around and asking for help. And the recent release of the game for XBox360 was a good step to get new players into the game.

However. I agree with the other posters that there isn't enough new content for lower levels. SE should do some work on the crafting system too by making reciepes more usefull to increase demand and give crafting and the economy some boost.
New NMs, HNMs and so on are already nice and the new equipment is nice too but most of them require high level jobs or very high craft skills and no new player will be able to get a high crafting skill with the current economy without losing money with every synth which is very discouraging for them.
Level capped zones are a nice change sometimes and i like doing level capped stuff too. I also love the storyline of the games missions.

What FF needs to prevent death?
1. I'd say a more rewarding quest system. Why not give a player some gil or materials or exp like you get it in every other MMORPG? It's always the same few quests people do. Drain, Aspir, Teleport Scrolls,...

2. Something to attract more new players. FFXI never was a hyped game like WoW here in Europe and it's not well known here compared to the normal RPG series. With the release of the french and German version more players will join but it's way to few without creating some hype around the game.

3. Remove taxes for putting items in AH to encourage more people to sell stuff in AH again.
Players should have to pay the tax only if their item sold.

4. Do some work on the crafting system. Either change the stats or effects of some items or change some of the skills required to synth items so that not only high level crafters can make them for profit.
Maybe change the HQ system to a fixed rate regardless of the crafters skill as long as it's high enough to synth the item. Or make HQs depend on other variables instead of crafting skill so every player can aim for them.


That's just what i noticed after coming back and what my ill mind tells me could help removing some of the current problems.
One thing that's for sure is that the community got to work to make the game more friendly and to get more players into the game again.

I just hope SE will make another FF MMORPG in the future before XI is realy dead...just don't make a game like WoW...

Oh my dear sweet Christ, people are still harping on this subject? Go ahead an search back about two years.... FFXI was "dead" then too, as was it last year, this year, and every year afterward. It's called, shut the hell up and stop believing what some 14 year old **** told you because he has a hard on for WoW (which sucks ***, btw). At 3:30am EST, my server had 4100 players running around, average that to about 3500 across, what 31 servers? Yeah, it's dead, should just run a magnet over your hard drives and quietly go mourn at the failure that is FFXI. I can only hope that they don't bother with the two new expansions ready for 2008.

It appears that the only people bothering to post here are the nay-sayers. For the record FFXI has patches 2-3 months apart and the changes have not been small tweeks lately. There have been a couple nerfs in the history of FFXI but one has had a minor recovery. The BST nerf was a game mechanics change that made it difficult for some players to adjust.

FFXI is gonna be around awhile. There has been new interest shown from the players who are jaded with WoW and there have been severe game mechanic changes that allow for smaller groups to gain an xp bonus. The RMT are getting thier butts kicked finaly and things are changing to make the game more friendly. Still not much on the how to play in the actual game but there is a newbie guide on the POL main site now.

Seems many games like this get jaded players who feel that they never got what they deserved and always wanted more. For the record it is not good to help people just because you expect something in return. People like me help players because they need the help and I can. I feel the players like me outnumber the players like them.