I recently came back to play this game and I am happy with the people playing. It seems to me there is more people and that its growing. However I am only one server and can't speak for the others. I do know some of the servers are full and not accepting any more players on them.
They will hit a million this year easily. Probably will go down as the greatest comeback in video game history.
Are there any interviews or a post-mortem with the team since ARR went live? I think the story of how they turned this game around would make for an interesting story, and probably one both players and devs can learn from.
Well all I can say is that I recently came back to FFXIV and having fun so far. I have been in and out because I do seem to get bored of the gameplay eventually since it is so close to what WoW offers and I'm not much of a fan of that anymore. I simply play because in all of my MMO hopping I have discovered that it isn't the game that keeps me invested and happy with the MMO genre, but actually the community and the socialization aspect of a game that keeps me entertained.
With that being said, FFXIV has the best community I have seen since about pre-Wrath WoW or original EQ. People are responsive, looking for groups in chat, etc. It just seems more lively and approachable.
I loved ESO gameplay but the community was almost non-existant and was the most solo experience I have ever had in an MMO.
All in all, I'm so happy this game is doing well and I hope that this game continues to do well in the future. I agree the person earlier saying if they brought the GCD down by .5 seconds it would make a world of difference because I also have friends who won't play the game because they feel the 2.5 seconds is excruciatingly long between attacks.
To each his/her own. My 150+ friends list is lucky to have 5-6 people online at a time
Fair enough, I admire your (kinda) neutral sounding statement. It is a passive aggressive exercise in saying nothing but inferring quite a lot.
What you say would suggest to me though is, yes, people have indeed left the game, because people DO leave games, but your friends list ultimately means very little.
Because new people come to replace them.
Like I say, all I can say is that yesterday I had to queue to get on.
Credit where credit is due.
I am very neutral about it.
As I said, the game just isn't for me, but I still play it on occasion.
I've long moved beyond the idea of "You play that game!?!?!". People should do what makes them happy. The people who usually hate on others for enjoying a game are the same people who, like me, are just bored dudes jealous that you found something that can hold your attention.
Originally posted by danwest58 Looks good. We can get these numbers to grow even more in the future. I think what will attached a few more people is if they take the 2.5 GCD from 2.5 to 2 seconds. I have some friends that dont like the GCD however could manage better if it was just .5 seconds faster. I know it sounds small however over the long term combat wouldnt become WOW Spammy.
The skill speed stat decreases this (though only marginally at best). I can only imagine that as the level cap goes up, and gear naturally has higher stats on it, that this will be an increase as well.
Personally, I like the combat the way it is. For me it's a balance between ffxi's very slow, methodical combat and WoW or EQ2s spam-fest.
On topic: It really is insane to see the growth of the game not just going from 1.0 to 2.0 but a very steady increase in playerbase ever since as someone who played 1.0 (and was one of the crazies who liked it).
Actually spam feast is true for FF and not for Wow. Just spamming is slower and with less buttons. Totally unapealing. Posible to play with 3 abilities while in Wow i find use for 2 full tolbars (except for rogue). Always loved a lot FF series, especially on PS2, .... but with FF14 release this magic was lost. Only great thing I see, actually I hear, is music. Still guess will return some day.
Originally posted by sagewisdom Originally posted by LoktofeitOriginally posted by FoomerangThey will hit a million this year easily. Probably will go down as the greatest comeback in video game history.
Are there any interviews or a post-mortem with the team since ARR went live? I think the story of how they turned this game around would make for an interesting story, and probably one both players and devs can learn from. Time just recently interviewed Yoshi-P. That's a really good article.
Originally posted by danwest58 Looks good. We can get these numbers to grow even more in the future. I think what will attached a few more people is if they take the 2.5 GCD from 2.5 to 2 seconds. I have some friends that dont like the GCD however could manage better if it was just .5 seconds faster. I know it sounds small however over the long term combat wouldnt become WOW Spammy.
The skill speed stat decreases this (though only marginally at best). I can only imagine that as the level cap goes up, and gear naturally has higher stats on it, that this will be an increase as well.
Personally, I like the combat the way it is. For me it's a balance between ffxi's very slow, methodical combat and WoW or EQ2s spam-fest.
On topic: It really is insane to see the growth of the game not just going from 1.0 to 2.0 but a very steady increase in playerbase ever since as someone who played 1.0 (and was one of the crazies who liked it).
Actually spam feast is true for FF and not for Wow. Just spamming is slower and with less buttons. Totally unapealing. Posible to play with 3 abilities while in Wow i find use for 2 full tolbars (except for rogue). Always loved a lot FF series, especially on PS2, .... but with FF14 release this magic was lost. Only great thing I see, actually I hear, is music. Still guess will return some day.
It's possible to play with 3 abilities with any games but you are surely gimping yourself and being a burden to your group.
Actually spam feast is true for FF and not for Wow. Just spamming is slower and with less buttons. Totally unapealing. Posible to play with 3 abilities while in Wow i find use for 2 full tolbars (except for rogue). Always loved a lot FF series, especially on PS2, .... but with FF14 release this magic was lost. Only great thing I see, actually I hear, is music. Still guess will return some day.
Context:
FFXIV lvl15 dungeon
WoW lvl100 raid
A fair comparison? Up to you.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Actually spam feast is true for FF and not for Wow. Just spamming is slower and with less buttons. Totally unapealing. Posible to play with 3 abilities while in Wow i find use for 2 full tolbars (except for rogue). Always loved a lot FF series, especially on PS2, .... but with FF14 release this magic was lost. Only great thing I see, actually I hear, is music. Still guess will return some day.
Context:
FFXIV lvl15 dungeon
WoW lvl100 raid
A fair comparison? Up to you.
Made me chuckle, because it's true. I'll just leave a link of something I wrote regarding the complexity of FFXIV's combat system when comparing it to WoW.
Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing). German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century. Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now). I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things). In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while. If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this. If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own. Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis. Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
Anyone that made an account (free trial/beta/final) to play the game.
Active accounts.
Accounts that are paid up in order to access the game currently, these are players who bought the game and are currently playing.
Inactive accounts.
Account that have no access due to no current payment made, these are players that bought the game but no longer play.
Characters
The characters you are able to make on that account.
FFXIV sub options and character allowances per account:
Legacy $9.99 30 Days 8 characters per world 40characters max total Entry $12.99 30 Days 1 character per world 8characters max total Standard $14.99 30 Days 8 characters per world 40characters max total
FFXIV accounts can have upto 40 characters, as such 5 thousand players who go crazy with RP/leveling alts (or whatever) and make just over half the characters they are allowed to (20), can account for 100k extra characters alone.
Maybe it's just me but a game that has 730k active characters when most players can have upto 40 of those per account seems a little worrying.
Originally posted by scorpex-x Some useful MMO terms.Account.The basic account you create to play the mmorpg.Registered User:Anyone that made an account (free trial/beta/final) to play the game.Active accounts.Accounts that are paid up in order to access the game currently, these are players who bought the game and are currently playing.Inactive accounts.Account that have no access due to no current payment made, these are players that bought the game but no longer play.CharactersThe characters you are able to make on that account.FFXIV sub options and character allowances per account:Legacy $9.99 30 Days 8 characters per world 40characters max totalEntry $12.99 30 Days 1 character per world 8characters max totalStandard $14.99 30 Days 8 characters per world 40characters max total FFXIV accounts can have upto 40 characters, as such 5 thousand players who go crazy with RP/leveling alts (or whatever) and make just over half the characters they are allowed to (20), can account for 100k extra characters alone.Maybe it's just me but a game that has 730k active characters when most players can have upto 40 of those per account seems a little worrying.
Actually, there are only about 500 people playing. They each have 36 accounts with 40 alts on each one. It's a huge cover up by SE. They are actually buying their own cash shop items en masse to make it appear they are profitable.
Actually, there are only about 500 people playing. They each have 36 accounts with 40 alts on each one. It's a huge cover up by SE. They are actually buying their own cash shop items en masse to make it appear they are profitable.
Well now you're just being silly.
The only people that should ever be mad about facts being posted are those that trade in lies and aim to mislead.
In a game where one character can do everything there is less tendency for alts. That seems like common sense so even if you can make 40 characters why would you ?
Originally posted by kitarad In a game where one character can do everything there is less tendency for alts. That seems like common sense so even if you can make 40 characters why would you ?
Aesthics, rpg elements (female healer and male tank etc), coil lockouts, alternate perspective, rested xp, quest resets, boredom, anti-social characters if you don't wanna be bugged by LS or friend list that day, role play and probably many more reason that give some advantage. Also if it wasn't desired why would the company even offer 40 characters per account? You think when XIV introduces a new race it will just be new players or people that race swap that access it? The biggest majority will be players making a new alt with the new race.
Ffxi had a system where you could do it all on one character, almost everyone i knew had many alts for various reasons. Heck go look at the official ffxiv forums and people have lots of alts in their sigs.
I've said it numerous times, a system where you can do everything on one character is rarely the boon it's made out to be. Half the fun of making a new character is the whole new look, new animations etc.
The reason alts were so heavily used in FFXI was due to being used as mules mainly. FFXIV, you cant do that because you must be on someones friends list to send them stuff. People also used alts in FFXI to have another maxed craft, which FFXIV you can max every craft. Yes, people do have alts in FFXIV but probably not nearly as much as FFXI.
Originally posted by scorpex-x Originally posted by Foomerang Actually, there are only about 500 people playing. They each have 36 accounts with 40 alts on each one. It's a huge cover up by SE. They are actually buying their own cash shop items en masse to make it appear they are profitable.
Well now you're just being silly.
The only people that should ever be mad about facts being posted are those that trade in lies and aim to mislead.
Originally posted by Foomerang Actually, there are only about 500 people playing. They each have 36 accounts with 40 alts on each one. It's a huge cover up by SE. They are actually buying their own cash shop items en masse to make it appear they are profitable.
Well now you're just being silly.
The only people that should ever be mad about facts being posted are those that trade in lies and aim to mislead.
Oh the irony lol
You don't understand what Irony is do you? :P Feel free to point out what was not factual about my post.
Originally posted by drivendawn Indeed like that fact that free trials don't count because you can't go above lvl 20 or the fact that this was done for a recent date so it doesn't count beta tester either.
I think you probably misread my post, I bolded the part that applied to characters. Most of it was just mentioning general MMO terms since so many seem to find this whole thing confusing. I never said anything about free trials or beta in relation to characters.
Originally posted by mgilbrtsn No matter the terminology arguments. FFXIV-ARR is doing pretty well, I think.
This poster gets it, hopefully more follow your lead instead of some of the more try-hard types that plague this game.
If people need to post misleading numbers to feel validated by their choice in MMO they are doing it wrong and ultimately fighting a battle they will never win.
If you are confident and happy in your game then you don't need to prove it to others, nor do you need to use misleading numbers to feel like your game is more than it is.
What many seem to resort to is as pathetic as a World of Warcraft player boasting about that game having over 100 million registered users. Even though that figure is pretty much meaningless.
Originally posted by kitarad In a game where one character can do everything there is less tendency for alts. That seems like common sense so even if you can make 40 characters why would you ?
Aesthics, rpg elements (female healer and male tank etc), coil lockouts, alternate perspective, rested xp, quest resets, boredom, anti-social characters if you don't wanna be bugged by LS or friend list that day, role play and probably many more reason that give some advantage. Also if it wasn't desired why would the company even offer 40 characters per account? You think when XIV introduces a new race it will just be new players or people that race swap that access it? The biggest majority will be players making a new alt with the new race.
Ffxi had a system where you could do it all on one character, almost everyone i knew had many alts for various reasons. Heck go look at the official ffxiv forums and people have lots of alts in their sigs.
I've said it numerous times, a system where you can do everything on one character is rarely the boon it's made out to be. Half the fun of making a new character is the whole new look, new animations etc.
From posting facts straight to the looney toon land I see.
The only alts in FFXI were lvl1 characters for storage or gardening purposes, and much later, dual boxing (which required another account altogether). Having a real alt in that game would be weird as hell. You're really scrapping the bottom of the barrel at this point.. There's no other reason I need to make this thread.
Everyone can decide for themselves what to believe. Whether FFXIV has an insignificant number of alts compared to any other MMO due to not having to make one every time they want to play another class or access certain content (not the boon it's made out to be - scorpex-x) or whether the lure of rested xp is enough to make everyone have 2-40 characters. Surely rpg elements and rested xp is just as popular of an incentive to make an alt as not being able to play another class and not being able to access certain content with your main.
By the way, you get +50% exp for each class after the first one you level, and all the animations are pretty much identical between the races. Those coil lockouts tho.
Using LOL is like saying "my argument sucks but I still want to disagree".
Originally posted by scorpex-x You don't understand what Irony is do you? :P Feel free to point out what was not factual about my post.
Congrats for posting a fact. But don't pretend like we can't all see your ridiculous post history.
I stand by my post history just fine. I do not post lies or mislead, I post the facts. Why would I make up lies or mislead when it's so easy (as I show) to disprove them? That would be a waste of time.
The last official word was this game had 500k subscribers, be happy with that. Don't try to inflate the number by misleading people with other numbers that are honestly meaningless. As I said before, many only see validation in their game if they can put it on a pedestal made of fake gold. Why? Do you think a Warcraft player gets a feeling of pride and validation in their game by telling people it has 100 million registered accounts instead of 8 million subscribers? I was going to post how many "characters" warcraft has but they don't even give that information because it's such a useless number.
Yes I understand it might make you feel good to post a big number or to try give the impression the numbers are growing by posting 500k subscribers and then posting 750k characters, even if it's meaningless but why? It's a false sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. It's just trying to confuse people with different numbers in the aim to make the game appear to be growing or bigger than it actually is, I don't see the point of that.
To me honestly, that just comes across as desperation.
Comments
Time just recently interviewed Yoshi-P.
Well all I can say is that I recently came back to FFXIV and having fun so far. I have been in and out because I do seem to get bored of the gameplay eventually since it is so close to what WoW offers and I'm not much of a fan of that anymore. I simply play because in all of my MMO hopping I have discovered that it isn't the game that keeps me invested and happy with the MMO genre, but actually the community and the socialization aspect of a game that keeps me entertained.
With that being said, FFXIV has the best community I have seen since about pre-Wrath WoW or original EQ. People are responsive, looking for groups in chat, etc. It just seems more lively and approachable.
I loved ESO gameplay but the community was almost non-existant and was the most solo experience I have ever had in an MMO.
All in all, I'm so happy this game is doing well and I hope that this game continues to do well in the future. I agree the person earlier saying if they brought the GCD down by .5 seconds it would make a world of difference because I also have friends who won't play the game because they feel the 2.5 seconds is excruciatingly long between attacks.
I am very neutral about it.
As I said, the game just isn't for me, but I still play it on occasion.
I've long moved beyond the idea of "You play that game!?!?!". People should do what makes them happy. The people who usually hate on others for enjoying a game are the same people who, like me, are just bored dudes jealous that you found something that can hold your attention.
Actually spam feast is true for FF and not for Wow. Just spamming is slower and with less buttons. Totally unapealing. Posible to play with 3 abilities while in Wow i find use for 2 full tolbars (except for rogue). Always loved a lot FF series, especially on PS2, .... but with FF14 release this magic was lost. Only great thing I see, actually I hear, is music. Still guess will return some day.
Time just recently interviewed Yoshi-P.
That's a really good article.
It's possible to play with 3 abilities with any games but you are surely gimping yourself and being a burden to your group.
I acknowledge FFs great success but I agree that these numbers have little meaning.
I've never paid a subscription for this game and neither did my friends but according to these criteria we are all being counted as active players.
Did you and your friends buy the game or tried the free trial?
We bought the original FF which seems like a mmo lifetime ago and we jumped in for a few hours during the free weekend.
Context:
FFXIV lvl15 dungeon
WoW lvl100 raid
A fair comparison? Up to you.
Made me chuckle, because it's true. I'll just leave a link of something I wrote regarding the complexity of FFXIV's combat system when comparing it to WoW.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/6633187#6633187
Some useful MMO terms.
Account.
The basic account you create to play the mmorpg.
Registered User:
Anyone that made an account (free trial/beta/final) to play the game.
Active accounts.
Accounts that are paid up in order to access the game currently, these are players who bought the game and are currently playing.
Inactive accounts.
Account that have no access due to no current payment made, these are players that bought the game but no longer play.
Characters
The characters you are able to make on that account.
FFXIV sub options and character allowances per account:
Legacy $9.99 30 Days 8 characters per world 40 characters max total
Entry $12.99 30 Days 1 character per world 8 characters max total
Standard $14.99 30 Days 8 characters per world 40 characters max total
FFXIV accounts can have upto 40 characters, as such 5 thousand players who go crazy with RP/leveling alts (or whatever) and make just over half the characters they are allowed to (20), can account for 100k extra characters alone.
Maybe it's just me but a game that has 730k active characters when most players can have upto 40 of those per account seems a little worrying.
Well now you're just being silly.
The only people that should ever be mad about facts being posted are those that trade in lies and aim to mislead.
Aesthics, rpg elements (female healer and male tank etc), coil lockouts, alternate perspective, rested xp, quest resets, boredom, anti-social characters if you don't wanna be bugged by LS or friend list that day, role play and probably many more reason that give some advantage. Also if it wasn't desired why would the company even offer 40 characters per account? You think when XIV introduces a new race it will just be new players or people that race swap that access it? The biggest majority will be players making a new alt with the new race.
http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/2nl7lp/alts/
Ffxi had a system where you could do it all on one character, almost everyone i knew had many alts for various reasons. Heck go look at the official ffxiv forums and people have lots of alts in their sigs.
I've said it numerous times, a system where you can do everything on one character is rarely the boon it's made out to be. Half the fun of making a new character is the whole new look, new animations etc.
The reason alts were so heavily used in FFXI was due to being used as mules mainly. FFXIV, you cant do that because you must be on someones friends list to send them stuff. People also used alts in FFXI to have another maxed craft, which FFXIV you can max every craft. Yes, people do have alts in FFXIV but probably not nearly as much as FFXI.
The only people that should ever be mad about facts being posted are those that trade in lies and aim to mislead.
Oh the irony lol
I self identify as a monkey.
You don't understand what Irony is do you? :P Feel free to point out what was not factual about my post.
I think you probably misread my post, I bolded the part that applied to characters. Most of it was just mentioning general MMO terms since so many seem to find this whole thing confusing. I never said anything about free trials or beta in relation to characters.
This poster gets it, hopefully more follow your lead instead of some of the more try-hard types that plague this game.
If people need to post misleading numbers to feel validated by their choice in MMO they are doing it wrong and ultimately fighting a battle they will never win.
If you are confident and happy in your game then you don't need to prove it to others, nor do you need to use misleading numbers to feel like your game is more than it is.
What many seem to resort to is as pathetic as a World of Warcraft player boasting about that game having over 100 million registered users. Even though that figure is pretty much meaningless.
From posting facts straight to the looney toon land I see.
The only alts in FFXI were lvl1 characters for storage or gardening purposes, and much later, dual boxing (which required another account altogether). Having a real alt in that game would be weird as hell. You're really scrapping the bottom of the barrel at this point.. There's no other reason I need to make this thread.
Everyone can decide for themselves what to believe. Whether FFXIV has an insignificant number of alts compared to any other MMO due to not having to make one every time they want to play another class or access certain content (not the boon it's made out to be - scorpex-x) or whether the lure of rested xp is enough to make everyone have 2-40 characters. Surely rpg elements and rested xp is just as popular of an incentive to make an alt as not being able to play another class and not being able to access certain content with your main.
By the way, you get +50% exp for each class after the first one you level, and all the animations are pretty much identical between the races. Those coil lockouts tho.
A 20% growth in active character numbers would make me worry too, if I were a hater.
Which you are not, of course. The hypothetical hater, you know.
I stand by my post history just fine. I do not post lies or mislead, I post the facts. Why would I make up lies or mislead when it's so easy (as I show) to disprove them? That would be a waste of time.
The last official word was this game had 500k subscribers, be happy with that. Don't try to inflate the number by misleading people with other numbers that are honestly meaningless. As I said before, many only see validation in their game if they can put it on a pedestal made of fake gold. Why? Do you think a Warcraft player gets a feeling of pride and validation in their game by telling people it has 100 million registered accounts instead of 8 million subscribers? I was going to post how many "characters" warcraft has but they don't even give that information because it's such a useless number.
Yes I understand it might make you feel good to post a big number or to try give the impression the numbers are growing by posting 500k subscribers and then posting 750k characters, even if it's meaningless but why? It's a false sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. It's just trying to confuse people with different numbers in the aim to make the game appear to be growing or bigger than it actually is, I don't see the point of that.
To me honestly, that just comes across as desperation.