STARTING Beta 2 months before launch is insane, especially if they really have made sweeping changes from Alpha to Beta. It is common sense that this would create a measure of concern.
Yeah... and didn't SE say some time back that the Beta process would be quite long? 2 months is not "quite long" for a MMO, especially one - as you pointed out - has had significant changes in its change from Alpha to Beta; such as the altered combat system, etc.
Kinda makes me wonder, too.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
There's content. Too bad that just might not be enough.
There is not going to be 'enough' if people are expecting a WoW type quest fest game. FFXI style camping and mob grinding to level is still going to play a big part in this game.
To be honest, quests were OK at first, but as time as gone on the flaws in the system have become apparent. I'm actually looking forward to being able to get random groups while I'm out leveling for the first time in ten years (the random odd pug quest group that only lasts for 20 minutes I get in LOTRO at the moment excepted).
I really do think Square Enix is onto something with the idea of grind mobs for xp, do quests for other stuff. Enough for me to pony up $75 in advance. The worst that can happen is it can join Aion on my shelf in the list of games I preordered and didn't get my money's worth out of :P
Edit: I'm trying to be good a fanboy and you're all stirring up controversy and stuff! *wags finger* Also I suppose i should be my old 360 controller out, probably going to need it...
If players PUG up as they feel for PvE at launch that would give a really rich community at launch given the mixed location nature of the game servers.
they are having a hard time even getting beta workign, and the release is 2 months away...I sense a Conan feeling
i sense its beta and they have 2 months
guesing the guy got invited this week....am tho not certain it were wise to go out their way and promise it done in 2 months, but wouldnt say its impossible either.
I normally dont preorder games, but I did get my copy of FFXIV and can't wait to play it!
Ok so it might have issues at launch, big deal! All games are going to have issues when they start out, while you might catch and fix some of the bugs prior to launch you will find that you did not catch them all (Pokemon ref hehe). Unless they just say we are not going to fix these issues everyone is complaining about then I will probably continue to play the game. Eventually they will fix said issues and as a player I can just hope that those bugs get fixed in a timely manner. And as some one said in another thread, they might need the money from the Subs and I am more than happy to pay for the game if it means that it will be successful.
I never understood the "zomg it needs millions of subs or has to compete with WoW!" mentality.
I've played lots of MMOs, including WoW. I've seen good ones, I've seen bad ones, and I've come to the conclusion the mid-range is best in terms of population. I have reached this conclusion for several reasons.
First, EvE is the only game I've ever played where everyone in the whole world is on the same server. For every other game, there is an absolute maximum size of the community - the number of people on my server. Everyone else may as well not exist.
Second, there seems to be an optimum population range for sub MMOs, which I'd guesstimate to be about 200K to a million. Games with less than 200K subs seem to have a hard time pushing out content at a decent rate, games that explicitly state a goal of gaining more than a million subs, especially at launch, always, always, and always end up releasing a game that's very carefully crafted to appeal to as wide a range of gaming styles as humanly possible and ends up failing to please nearly as many as they had hoped.
An MMO world, by virtue of its very nature as a persistent online world, has a great many aspects which only work 'best' when designed around mutually exclusive goals Is the world a world you can get lost in and explore, or a world in which any location worth going to is only a click away? Does the game world change logically in response to the actions of the players, or is it static with players following predetermined stories? Even simple things, like which is the 'best' way to advance, through solo gameplay or group gameplay? Or is gear a crafted commodity or a treasured reward that you have to spend a lot of time earning?
WoW is the only game that took the middle-of-the-road generalist approach and pulled it off, and despite continuing attempts at repeating its success I don't think it's possible. In 2004, I could count the number of good MMOs on the fingers of one hand and WoW's huge in-built fanbase, combined with genuinely good MMO, blew the doors wide open. But MMOs in those days were like 1960s broadcast TV, there were only a few channels so of course those channels had very high viewership. MMOs today are like cable, there's zillions of them and there's no way a generalist channel (or MMO) can really compete since no matter what they do there will always be a specialist game that does it better.
CCP can put all there players on one server due to the space battleships and coordinates nature of their game. XIV has a richer world full of story, NPC, mobs, and players so because all of that take a lot more space and bandwidth it needs more servers to fit all SEs players in.
Ok with out saying much. I know a lot of people it seems on here are saying 2 months of beta its to soon with the drastic changes from Alpha.
There hasnt been any drastic change the battle system has changed yes but just the tempo its still the same system. Its just faster. The beta is not also crasing or blowing up or whatever. There has been some issues but what beta doesnt have issues.
FF14 is a lot more complete then most people think.
Comments
Yeah... and didn't SE say some time back that the Beta process would be quite long? 2 months is not "quite long" for a MMO, especially one - as you pointed out - has had significant changes in its change from Alpha to Beta; such as the altered combat system, etc.
Kinda makes me wonder, too.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
The beta has been in development since March.
6 months to iron things out, should be long enough in theory.
There is not going to be 'enough' if people are expecting a WoW type quest fest game. FFXI style camping and mob grinding to level is still going to play a big part in this game.
To be honest, quests were OK at first, but as time as gone on the flaws in the system have become apparent. I'm actually looking forward to being able to get random groups while I'm out leveling for the first time in ten years (the random odd pug quest group that only lasts for 20 minutes I get in LOTRO at the moment excepted).
I really do think Square Enix is onto something with the idea of grind mobs for xp, do quests for other stuff. Enough for me to pony up $75 in advance. The worst that can happen is it can join Aion on my shelf in the list of games I preordered and didn't get my money's worth out of :P
Edit: I'm trying to be good a fanboy and you're all stirring up controversy and stuff! *wags finger* Also I suppose i should be my old 360 controller out, probably going to need it...
If players PUG up as they feel for PvE at launch that would give a really rich community at launch given the mixed location nature of the game servers.guesing the guy got invited this week....am tho not certain it were wise to go out their way and promise it done in 2 months, but wouldnt say its impossible either.
I normally dont preorder games, but I did get my copy of FFXIV and can't wait to play it!
Ok so it might have issues at launch, big deal! All games are going to have issues when they start out, while you might catch and fix some of the bugs prior to launch you will find that you did not catch them all (Pokemon ref hehe). Unless they just say we are not going to fix these issues everyone is complaining about then I will probably continue to play the game. Eventually they will fix said issues and as a player I can just hope that those bugs get fixed in a timely manner. And as some one said in another thread, they might need the money from the Subs and I am more than happy to pay for the game if it means that it will be successful.
I never understood the "zomg it needs millions of subs or has to compete with WoW!" mentality.
I've played lots of MMOs, including WoW. I've seen good ones, I've seen bad ones, and I've come to the conclusion the mid-range is best in terms of population. I have reached this conclusion for several reasons.
First, EvE is the only game I've ever played where everyone in the whole world is on the same server. For every other game, there is an absolute maximum size of the community - the number of people on my server. Everyone else may as well not exist.
Second, there seems to be an optimum population range for sub MMOs, which I'd guesstimate to be about 200K to a million. Games with less than 200K subs seem to have a hard time pushing out content at a decent rate, games that explicitly state a goal of gaining more than a million subs, especially at launch, always, always, and always end up releasing a game that's very carefully crafted to appeal to as wide a range of gaming styles as humanly possible and ends up failing to please nearly as many as they had hoped.
An MMO world, by virtue of its very nature as a persistent online world, has a great many aspects which only work 'best' when designed around mutually exclusive goals Is the world a world you can get lost in and explore, or a world in which any location worth going to is only a click away? Does the game world change logically in response to the actions of the players, or is it static with players following predetermined stories? Even simple things, like which is the 'best' way to advance, through solo gameplay or group gameplay? Or is gear a crafted commodity or a treasured reward that you have to spend a lot of time earning?
WoW is the only game that took the middle-of-the-road generalist approach and pulled it off, and despite continuing attempts at repeating its success I don't think it's possible. In 2004, I could count the number of good MMOs on the fingers of one hand and WoW's huge in-built fanbase, combined with genuinely good MMO, blew the doors wide open. But MMOs in those days were like 1960s broadcast TV, there were only a few channels so of course those channels had very high viewership. MMOs today are like cable, there's zillions of them and there's no way a generalist channel (or MMO) can really compete since no matter what they do there will always be a specialist game that does it better.
Ok with out saying much. I know a lot of people it seems on here are saying 2 months of beta its to soon with the drastic changes from Alpha.
There hasnt been any drastic change the battle system has changed yes but just the tempo its still the same system. Its just faster. The beta is not also crasing or blowing up or whatever. There has been some issues but what beta doesnt have issues.
FF14 is a lot more complete then most people think.