Hiromichi Tanaka: "we're not sure" on FFXI future...Follow

Whatever they need to do to give everyone a fair shot. I actually think a lot of the botters and HNMls leaders will go to XIV since that's where the money will be. Might make the post FFXIV Vana'diel cool from that perspective.

I honestly think everyone's overreacting to every one of these interviews. There could be some truth in it, but I'll wait to see how hard FFXIV bombsFFXIV is received.

elite gear is part of every MMO. It's how they game path the road to these gears that matter.

I think with everyone capped at 75 these 5 years, SE has done a reasonably good job of pathing players to epeen gear. The one element they haven't done so well compared to other MMOs is the job's top tier weapons.

The relics/mythics are just increadibly difficult to get considering what you get back in return. And the bonuses you get from equivalent weapons in other MMOs are far more potent for much less work/cost.

You obviously aren't speaking of endgame elite players that camp HNM's 24/7 and never seem to log off. BG is the hub for these players with no life. That being said, FFXIV is going to be a WoW clone in a lot of respects.



FFXIV is going to be more causal hence the WoW comparisons. The Guildeves system is all they can talk about. It's basically Campaign OPs for FFXIV. SE wants us draw in more causal players, but I'm sure they'll include more NM's on the scale of PW and AV too. So don't worry, you won't be left behind as bad as your thinking. Now before someone wonders why I think SE will take a lot of cues from WoW, do the math. An early interview of FFXI had one of the producers talking about getting ideas off other MMO's of the time. Considering how successful WoW is, it would be stupid to not steal an idea or two. FoV has sold SE on the causal player base as well. So don't fret, you're worrying about nothing.

Edited, Aug 25th 2009 11:17pm by ShadowedgeFFXI

FOV was basically copied from WoW and SE has said they want Guildeves, which is an upgraded FOV to be the main activity on XIV, so while to call it a WoW clone may be too much, it is going to be very much a PvE take on the WoW casual solo no grouping needed playstyle. People will NOT party on XIV because they will NOT need to. You can take that to the bank.

You obviously haven't played in a while. FFXI is not /NIN only. Did you even read that damn thread? It was telling people who always /NIN to STOP as it is often retarded to do so. The playerbase went through a phase where certain melee jobs shouldn't ever /NIN, followed by a phase where all melee should /NIN all the time. Today we have a happy median, we sub /NIN when it makes sense, we /WAR when it makes sense, we /SAM or /DRG when it makes sense, etc. This game was never meant to be /NIN, some people got on that bandwagon, not the game's fault people believe everything other people tell them.

Quit talking like you have any idea what you're saying just because you wish FFXI to die since you quit.

He probably meant the Japanese players.

I think it's interesting that so many people are assuming endgame content will be added to WoTG. I know there's that zone that has yet to be unlocked, but what if that's a new area simply for hosting the dungeon crawl to the final WoTG boss?

I can't remember whether SE mentioned new content coming in WoTG, but nothing recent stands out. We all know that SE is capable of announcing upcoming changes to the game that never actually happen.

If new endgame content was on the way, then why hasn't it been installed already? At this point in the game, I'd much rather have SE focus its energies on a new, real expansion for FFXI.

They did, indeed, say that there would be some form of endgame content for WotG. It is unknown if its going to be a sky/sea type area or another zeni system or heck even whether it will just be some new HNM that free spawns, but they said they are adding an AV/PW calibur mob with WotG.

One thing for sure, if they fix what is there -- people will complain no new things. :P

Personally, whether there is new thing or not does not even matter to me, as I have yet to do a lot of things in the game, and I will never able to do them all.

The most difficult thing for adjusting the game is however: how are you going to balance players that are more like me with people who beat the mini-expansion in couple of hours and level WoTG jobs to 75 in 3 days? Chances are the former's opinion is rarely heard -- they probably less outspoken in specific details in the game, simply they are not familiar with it. The latter group will have a tendency to try to dominate conversations and opinions -- not only they are probably more familiar with it, but it is often considered as prestige in game to be at the forefront.

Chances are the designers will design game with the mind of slow player and only hear the opinions of the diehards.

Edited, Aug 26th 2009 12:09pm by scchan

Didn't SE come out in the census and say they had more customers / accounts than ever? Why would SE ignore FFXI if has more customers now than when it first came out?

If they really do plan to ignore FFXI and its playerbase, they are certainly doing it at their own risk. If the majority of players switch to FFIV and IF the majority like it enough to keep playing that game then they will probably pat themselves on the back and say "Great, we're so smart!"

However, a lot of dedicated FFXI players might not like FFIV or decide to switch over to a different MMO. The latter is even more likely if SE simply decides that FFXI has reach it ultimate state. Some players will stay as long as they can, but others may decide that it's time to find greener pastures. FFXI provided the fuel for SE to develop their new online game. It would be a tragedy if in the process they kill the very thing that made so many people dedicated gamers (or conversely a good thing so that a few us may get off our couches).

I love FFXI and won't try FFIV. I won't ever play another MMO either. This is my one and only adventure into this type of addiction and there will never be another.

Meanwhile they are running all their players off so no one can see it, or the fights that lead up to it.

A lot of that may have been gardening mules. But it's hard to deny that FFXI's population has reamined fairly constant and servers quite populated with real players.


Well, the discussion has long since removed itself from Mr. Tanaka's comment to a series of assumed outcomes.
The answer clearly is that they won't ignore FFXI and that asking why we are not getting any content/expansions right in the middle of their 3 add-ons experiment and just 4 months after their big March update and ACP and 1 month after their july update and MKE isn't going to yield a satisfactory answer.

Clearly though, for some people, the game is long dead. Why they continue to beat on the same dead horse is beyond me.

Edited, Aug 26th 2009 4:51pm by Dekusutaa