So, I've recently checked my e-mails, and finally spotted the one saying that our server will be Besaid. I have yet to purchase the game because my computer crashed and I am now using a friend's computer as of late. I may have slow replies currently because of this, but I will eventually.
In the past couple of weeks, there has been a decrease in population. All together, the server with the largest population is not even to about 3000 yet. I'm not judging the game at all. I still want to play it. But does anyone know why people have quit ? I do notice glitches, even in the opening movies, with videos on youtube. Or maybe that's just my eyes playing tricks on me. I doubt, though, that people would quit all together for minor issues. It sort of strikes the curiosity in me.
I'll try to get the statistics as soon as a can, but it seems as though I didn't even save the dang bookmark on accident.
The issues are not 'minor' issues. There are large, legitimate reasons people are leaving. It's been said a few times, but FFXIV's best friend right now are RPers and other tight communities. If you were part of a small group that's barely on, or solo, the game wouldn't be worth enduring in many respects.
At an MMO release, populations are booming. Naturally over the course of the first month or two the population shrinks. This is normal.
The population is what now? So far the cities are still way over crowded and mobs are still in high competition ...
Ofcourse every mmo has a population boom at luanch and laters players either decide hey dont like it or they cant run itwhich might be a huge contributer atm.
And there will always be the doom and gloom-negative nancys that say the world will end... Case in point, aion, they merged servers yes but the population seems to b growing.
Didn't XI go through something pretty similar? I didn't get into XI until PS2 release though, and I remember at PS2 release, the community was pretty huge.
IMO, SE kind of shot themselves in the foot by trying to throw a product out too soon in order to remain competitive with similar titles being released around the same time. Now, it seems like the community is having to deal with a 'glorified beta version' until SE gets everything back on track. I still feel confident that by PS3 release things will be looking a lot better.
Brin Ahlrine Wrote:Didn't XI go through something pretty similar? I didn't get into XI until PS2 release though, and I remember at PS2 release, the community was pretty huge.
FFXI went through the exact same phase and a lot of people don't seem to realize it. In fact, most MMOs go through the exact same phase. I remember picking up XI when it first came out in the U.S. I quit after like...level 11 due to absolute boredom (and then went back several months later). There was simply nothing to do. I recall a lot of complaining about similar issues back then even. Everquest II went through the exact same thing as well.
Does FF14 have a lot of flaws? Absolutely. A lot of them have been addressed by SE already for the Nov/Dec updates though. Population will shrink just like it did in FFXI (and most other games) but will likely rise again steadily as new content is added and expansions are released.
I know it's been posted before but I'll go ahead and post it again just in case anyone has missed it. The following link shows how FFXI evolved from start to finish. You'll notice tons of similarities when it first came out (no NMs, few quests, no chocobos/airships, little content, and all you could mostly do was grind levels). Heck, even FFXI got an extended one month trial period just like FFXIV just got.
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To add on to Castiel's point, the other thing a great deal of people seem to be either forgetting or ignoring is that when FFXI was first launched in the US, it had already gotten its first expansion. The bugs and whatnot that we're dealing with now aren't that different than XI dealt with during its Japanese launch or, as people already pointed out, what most MMOs deal with during launch. A fair portion of the FFXIV playerbase came from XI and were, for want of a better term, spoiled with the launch. Yes, there were some issues with it but the major problems that people are seeing with XIV were already dealt with before it ever hit western shores.
But this all requires thought and logic to recognize, which is a lot harder than just going OMGRUINEDFOREVER like so many people tend to do.
I'm sure that once Square finishes Beta on FF14 it'll be a good game...I'm just not going to pay a monthly sub until it gets to that point.
Brin Ahlrine Wrote:IMO, SE kind of shot themselves in the foot by trying to throw a product out too soon in order to remain competitive with similar titles being released around the same time. Now, it seems like the community is having to deal with a 'glorified beta version' until SE gets everything back on track. I still feel confident that by PS3 release things will be looking a lot better.
Every MMO does this though, sad as it is, because you can never have a "complete" MMO ready to ship. There are always issues, always bugs, always balancing problems or quest problems that require a lot of play time to uncover/fix and money. Most publishes push a MMO out because they get impatient and want a return on their investment, especially if a game is in development for awhile. The good thing though is that MMOs can adapt and change with time, look at Age of Conan.
Best example actually would be WoW, they started off badly, frequent server crashes for the first few months, very little content, a lot of other bugs(which do still pop up from time to time), but yet, look at it now, it's the juggernaut of the MMO world.
AOC has gotten a lot better true, but it's lacking in many ways and it's appeal is fairly limited.
I think "potential" may be the key. Some games come out with high polish, but not really much room for expansion and growth when you really get down to it. Other games are full of bugs and lack content, but have great potential. How a game grows, or even is able to grow, can have a big impact. I think FFXVI has some solid roots in place, the trick will be what SE does with it from here.
I'm enjoying the game so far, well, most of the time. Some things irritate me, but not enough to make me want to quit.
And since WoW was brought up, what I remember most about WoW's release was seeing screenshots from people who were 10000+ in the log-in que with over 24 hour ETA to play
It made me glad I was in EQ2 at the time. One thing I can say about FFXIV is I have yet to fall through the world or get stuck on the geometry, a rarity in my experience with MMORPGs.
Well there are so many great MMOs. Why should people wait for FFXIV to become one?
I've said plenty of times I can stick with it because it's about the only game I play and I have a good social network. But for those wanting to invest a lot of hours into something, or those whose time is split between multiple games, it's not hard to see why people aren't flocking FFXIV.
DAISHI Wrote:Well there are so many great MMOs. Why should people wait for FFXIV to become one?
I've said plenty of times I can stick with it because it's about the only game I play and I have a good social network. But for those wanting to invest a lot of hours into something, or those whose time is split between multiple games, it's not hard to see why people aren't flocking FFXIV.
Quoted for truth. This is sadly the main reason why I haven't been getting on at all. Instead of frustrating myself with everything that's wrong with 14 at the moment I've been playing other things while I wait for SE to 'get their act together'
Sadly, a depopulation also take a toll on the intensity of the community. The less people there are on the servers, the less social interactions there are as a whole. MMOs are a social game. The social aspect is trademark of such games. A game might have a robust system, but if the game is empty for some reason, it does lose it's appeal for some players. The game does feel empty at times.. the zones are huges and rather silent. I think I actually miss the random shouts in FFXI. (Yeah.. nostalgia is nasty!)
Furthermore, in this instant-gratification culture we live in, why play a frustrating game that should "eventually" get better, when you can get another game out there. This was well-pointed earlier.
Hopefully, the upcoming patches and Christmas should help!