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FFXI - Our Money, Our Time, Our Input, Our Game?Follow

#1 Jan 14 2004 at 5:31 PM Rating: Default
17 posts
Does square have a website/email to request things we would like added to the game? I mean I feel that at $12 a month from the 500,000 people, our financial say should have significant impact in things that are/would be feesible to do to make the game what we(the community) want out of it.

Is this too grandiose? Is this too much of a request? I mean the last update I downloaded only fixed the direction the ninja or someone was facing after a power jump? I mean come on.

Why can't we see a bigger change, almost everyone complains about chocobos and the reoccuring rental fee. In real life I can either lease/buy a car. So why not in the game? Would this be so hard to implement?

Or the map system. Almost every game in the world supports a small in game map, do I really need a fullscreen map just to check to see where I am going? If the map is already overlayed fullscreen, it cannot be that difficult to just resize it and put it in a corner.

And finally why can we not sell our character after we've worked for days/months/weeks lvl'ing it up? An artist uses paintbrushes that are obviously owned/copywrited/created by someone else to make their work of art, and they can resell it. A mechanic uses tools/parts/pieces that are owned/created by someone else, but yet cars can be resold. The owner shouldn't care where the money is coming from so long as they still get the money. So why should Square care if I want to sell my character because I'm done with it, I mean if I sell the account they'll still be making their $12/month, just from someone else.

I mean I'm not asking for mega code rewriting/ingameplay/management changes, just some things that community complains about and stuff that because we(consumer) are paying for it should have a pretty good say in it getting done.

just my 2gil...

I want to hear what others think about like a web based request board so Square could get direct feedback...


Edited, Wed Jan 14 17:34:33 2004 by Auralis

Edited, Wed Jan 14 18:41:25 2004 by Auralis
#2 Jan 14 2004 at 6:27 PM Rating: Decent
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389 posts
I am very much against "programming by democracy." Most suggestions made on various message boards are not very good. Often it is just someone that wants to make something easier or make themselves more powerful without regard to the larger picture like game balance. Or someone that has a decent idea but no idea the resources involved in implementing it.

I trust the professional game developers to be able to make a good game. I think they are more qualified to make these decisions then the average player out there.

If you want to make a suggestion send them an email or post on a fansite. If enough people make a fuss I am sure it will get their attention.

If you want a game that is basically "programming by democracy" check out AC2. The best customer interaction, for sure. A board where developers interact with players. The players have the devs running around in circles though. Classes get changed, changed again, changed back. Inevitably there is division within the playerbase and the boards turn into a flame fest.

My rule is: players are good at finding bugs, developers are good at designing games. I think players should report bugs and give feedback on what they like/dislike about the game but leave it to the developers to actually design the game.



Edited, Wed Jan 14 18:28:17 2004 by Lutha
#3 Jan 14 2004 at 6:35 PM Rating: Decent
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4,520 posts
first off, yes playonline has a website and i believe somewhere on there is a place to give opinions and stuff, but it probably wont be seen.

secondly 500 million is off base no? i mean when you first log onto this site it says in big bold letters in the news PLAYONLINE REACHES 500,000 PLAYERS. its got to be really hard to forget that on your way to typing your post. another thing is that the 12$ a month we pay is to pay for the constant GM support and maintanance needed to keep this game going.

A wise suggestion for you is also to review your facts before typing, it makes it a lot more easier to read and to relate, but when you start saying things like "500 million people" and the big one i had a problem with is the
Quote:
Is this too grandiose? Is this too much of a request? I mean the last update I downloaded only fixed the direction the ninja or someone was facing after a power jump? I mean come on.
for someone whos saying they want to make adjustments to the game....shouldnt you know a little about other classes first?

Now to pick at your suggestions of changes. Yes it's anoying to have to rent a chocobo everytime, but without this inflation would take place and items would become even more expensive. Hmm you choose.

The map thing i sort of agree on, but its no big problem. i think its meant to be almost like a real map. i mean you cant look at a map and look where your going. but in the sense of gameplay i agree.

ah and the last one. this has been a controversy over many games. its all based on copywrite. Yes an artist can make art and resell it and yes a mechanic will get paid for fixing cars. Let me ask you this though, if you worked on something and let others in on it while you still owned it would you want them to make money off of it where you could make that money? an artist doesnt let people draw and paint all over his art while hes working on it does he? he doesnt let them sell that "stock" of the painting to other people that they pay nothing for? NO, so why should these MMMORPGs allow you you make money off of their "painting" that you are adding to.
#4 Jan 14 2004 at 7:32 PM Rating: Decent
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389 posts
It doesn't matter how many awkward analogies that people can make about the copyright issue. Allowing people to sell accounts or items would only create costly legal nightmares for Square. There is no good incentive for them to do it.

Allowing people to make financial gains from FFXI would motivate people to exploit and hack as much as possible. It would be bad for the game if Square allowed that.
#5 Jan 14 2004 at 8:04 PM Rating: Decent
I'm pretty sure that of all the staff at a company the size of POL and Square that there's at least one person who visits Allakhazam...
#6 Jan 14 2004 at 8:22 PM Rating: Default
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1,120 posts
If you wish to suggest something to SE then do so. We are paying customers(and they are charging more a month then "just enough" to cover maintanence costs) and derserve the right to be heard. But that does not mean that SE should listen to you. The areas in which they shouldnt listen as far as Im concerned are character balance and game content. So many companies sacrifice balance for speed to market. Then afterwards start nerfing everything to oblivian in an atempt to ***** things up more. SE first game Ive seen that is actually close to being balanced and I have no interest in seeing that screwed up. Suggestions on what would be nice on future content may very well be looked and adapted for the game. But changing current content only makes some peoiple happy at the expense of others happiness.

Where customer feedback is most useful are things like aesthetics(different options for more armor skins for instance) or user friendlyness. Like the unfriendly UI. If they heard from every single PC user on UI they would start offering more UI options and versatility.
#7 Jan 14 2004 at 9:34 PM Rating: Decent
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1,031 posts
Finally I see a halfway intelligent post from NotCoach...

And now, to address Auralis...

1. "chocobos and the reoccuring rental fee." There's a somewhat structured economy in FFXI, and SE would have to look at the effect that renting/owning chocobos would have on the economy. I'm 100% serious. They'd have to do something like a stable fee to offset the rental fee, plus you'd pay a dear premium for the chocobo itself. It's just such a complicated matter that it would take a design team quite a while to think it out thoroughly.

2. "do I really need a fullscreen map...?" Yes. It's meant to be a distraction. You wouldn't pop open your map in the middle of a mob-infested aggro-happy zone, now would you? Nor would you go traipsing through that zone. You'd plot your course at the zone entrance, walk softly, and carry a big stick.

3. "why can we not sell our character...?" First, for security reasons. You can't delete your credit card and contact info until you delete your account and cancel your content IDs, and that deletes your characters as well. Second, it's basically a free pass to an uber-character. Think about it: a person starting out at level 1 would need at least a month to get to level 30, and that's if they played a lot. So in the end Squenix would actually lose money if a player sold his 75 PLD/37 WAR to someone else because they wouldn't need to spend months and months leveling.
#8 Jan 14 2004 at 9:40 PM Rating: Default
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1,120 posts
TheFunch wrote:
Finally I see a halfway intelligent post from NotCoach...


I dont amuse you?

Edited, Wed Jan 14 21:42:10 2004 by NotCoach
#9 Jan 14 2004 at 9:43 PM Rating: Decent
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525 posts
and to these "big" updates you always mention. If they were going to radically change gameplay for some crazy reason they would release another say 30 dollar expansion pack with gigs of info already preloaded.

Solves two problems, A) servers arent sooo insanely bogged down from people downloading huge new updates and new implementations regarding new areas, characters etc.

B) That way they dont have to try and somehow squeeze any major info into a patch that everyone will have to download. They can also add more graphics and spruce up other things in the process if they decide to release something major.

But to comment on your chocobo question, like someone else mentioned, its to help balance economy. Everyone must pay for a chocobo and that helps keep gil at reasonable prices for everyone. If someone could just use a choco to get everywhere for free they would use that extra money to buy other stuff that would in turn make it less available to others causing inflation on ingame items.

Chocobos are fine as it is, and the map problem shouldnt BE a problem if you have played enough. After you've been to places enough (like qufim) you dont even need the map. I dont have a map of qufim and i know how to get to anywhere in the zone. Minimap is just useful to help you see red dots for enemies, PT member locations nearby and other people. Its also kind of an aggro meter as each inner ring they enter on the minimap greatly increases your chances of being seen, heard, or (smelled?).
#10 Jan 14 2004 at 9:45 PM Rating: Decent
If people were allowed to sell their account. I think that selling ur account is ruining the game for the people that would buy it. First of all the people that would buy it just so they dont have to spend time playing the game shouldnt be able to play in the first place. Basically a cheater in my eyes. And its not like u can beat the game anyways, so keep the game, go get a real job and stop trying to make money off of making strong char on MMORPG's. GEESSHHHH

I love this game SO DONT FLAME IT.
#11 Jan 15 2004 at 1:13 AM Rating: Decent
Quote:
So why should Square care if I want to sell my character because I'm done with it, I mean if I sell the account they'll still be making their $12/month, just from someone else.


Because they have nothing to gain from it, but more headaches because of all the fraudulent activities that would be involved. If you buy an account, what guarantee are you goign to have that it's goign to belong to you? What's to stop the original owner to call Square a month later and report that the account was hacked and stolen from him? He has all the proper information, registration codes, original creditcard numbers, etc. And this is only one of literally a thousand ways that fradulent activites can and do occur.

And i agree, i don't want this game to be run by a democracy. What's going to happen is that this game will get dumbed down to what the masses want. Chocobos are just fine, i haven't heard too much whining about it. You are NEVER going to have anything that's going to satisfy 100% of the people out there. Everybody will always want something better, and everybody will always see the grass is greener on somebody elses side. You say that fixing the Dragoon jumps was 'just it'? But wanted Chocobo to be institued as free instead in the patch? That just shows how ignorant you really are of the issues. The dragoons were a problem in the game, they were a bug that needed fixing. What you want is a content change, a specific content that they knowingly put in since the beginning, and that they don't see a problem with. So just to make you happy and dumb down the game some more, you'll be fine with Dragoons being bugged when they're using one of their attacks?
#12 Jan 15 2004 at 2:06 AM Rating: Decent
Ahah! Heres a choco idea. How bout another 'craft' so to speak that allows you to breed chocobos at the ranch. Once you are able to breed certain colors. You may choose to rent that kind. Then you can say that it is 'your' chocobo because it would look different than someone elses and you have obtained both the right to ride it in the first place, and also you have the skill and patience to ride the more 'advanced' kind. Instead of just BUYING the grass and sitting down for hours to ride one.

Sounds fair to me... Don't see anything unbalancing with that. Lets re-cap.

1. Must obtain chocobo liscense first.
2. Must do quest to begin breeding chocobo.
3. Must raise skill in chocobo breeding to obtain different chocobos.

4? Increased chocobo skill possibly to include longer riding time or increased finds with digging?
5? More breeders at a stable possibly lower rental prices?

Anyone like to add Pro's-Con's to this suggestion? If I get enough on the good side I'll send an email to this 'Request Page' and see what kind of feedback I can get from SE.
#13 Jan 15 2004 at 2:27 AM Rating: Good
Basically when I log in I want my character to be 75 in every class, and my character should have acess to ALL my maxed classes abilities at any given time. Chocobo's should be free - no, better yet they should be paying ME 999,999,999 gil every time I "rent" one. They should also fly, teleport, spit fireballs at enemies for a JILLION damage, and when all is said and done, should be crucified to rid me of my sins.

By the way that was all sarcasm.

These games are all about balance, a balance I believe Square-Enix got completely right; a feat I've never seen befoer in a MOG. If you want to make a change or a huge addition, rationalize it out, think about how it will effect game balance, and then write about it.

When I sent my Suggestion over adding a PVP colliseum, an in-game sport game, chocobo raising/racing, and an in-game card game, I completely thought out how it would effect gameplay. Basically they would be fun for any level, while acting as a time sink (money maker for SQE) and a money sink, to help higher level players get back into crafting/making gil. I wrote a WHOLE big thing on it, but I'm not gonna bog this board down with it.

If you want to write Squarenix, then go to Service and Support in the Playonline viewer, then to Contact Us, then to Comments and Suggestions. I hate to tell you where to send your info, but you certainly have a right to do so.

Edit: Just wanted to add that, whenever you want to make a suggestion about a change or addition, make sure you include reasons for doing so that would be important to Square-Enix. Don't just go, "Oh d00d this would be 1337." Point out that an idea will make a good time sink, or an attraction that would bring new players into the game. SQE is out to make money, and a smart suggestion never forgets to add what's in it for them ^_^

Edited, Thu Jan 15 02:41:19 2004 by GrayHavens
#14 Jan 15 2004 at 2:46 AM Rating: Decent
Chocobo Breeding as a craft skill sounds like a hitch to me. Shall I start a new thread for it?
#15 Jan 15 2004 at 3:11 AM Rating: Decent
Just goes to show you can't please everyone. I like the game the way it is and nothing in my opinion needs to be changed. It was complaining like this that ruined SWG down to the mush that it is now. And i for one will respect any decision Square/Enix makes since they've been making games for awhile now, i see no reason to doubt thier skill.
#16 Jan 15 2004 at 3:13 AM Rating: Decent
Rathius wrote:
Chocobo Breeding as a craft skill sounds like a hitch to me. Shall I start a new thread for it?


I beat you to it Rath! Go check out my "A day at the races!" Thread ^_^
#17 Jan 15 2004 at 3:24 AM Rating: Decent
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352 posts
I'm sick of people complaining about the money they spend on a game. I see it ALL THE TIME in the Planetside forums. And now here?! Look...you are paying to PLAY the game not make it. This is Square's creation, this is their game. They can do whatever the hell they want to do with it. When you enter in your credit card info, you're paying for the content presented, the bandwidth you are taking up, and the storage of your character info on their servers. Developers only use forums when they need a certain type of feedback, or what developers like to call "Constructive feedback."
#18 Jan 15 2004 at 4:18 AM Rating: Default
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1,120 posts
Stellus wrote:
I'm sick of people complaining about the money they spend on a game. I see it ALL THE TIME in the Planetside forums. And now here?! Look...you are paying to PLAY the game not make it. This is Square's creation, this is their game. They can do whatever the hell they want to do with it. When you enter in your credit card info, you're paying for the content presented, the bandwidth you are taking up, and the storage of your character info on their servers. Developers only use forums when they need a certain type of feedback, or what developers like to call "Constructive feedback."


Dont ever start your own business Stellus. Youll last about 2 days.
#19 Jan 15 2004 at 10:05 AM Rating: Decent
17 posts
Well after almost 20 flaming posts after sifting through the sarcasm, and other crap, I'd like to say thank you to TheFunch, for being the only one of all of you that didn't talk down to me, flame me, and just basically be an *** about suggesting things.

TheFunch's reply was the only one that really made me understand without feeling like a complete dumbass, why said changes cannot/shouldn't be implemented. I understand it's a public forum so all types will be around, but most of you should take time and read how TheFunch was the only one that handled their opinion professionally and didn't just say my ideas were dumb :P

Anywho, most of it does make sense, and It's a good point you bring up about, if i sold my higher lvl character then some n00b would be running around with a lvl 75 paladin not knowing how to provoke, etc...Nice I think I understand now there's a lot more to it then what I thought :)
#20 Jan 15 2004 at 10:25 AM Rating: Decent
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4,148 posts
I miss the in game map
#21 Jan 15 2004 at 10:41 AM Rating: Decent
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1,120 posts
[quote=Auralis]Well after almost 20 flaming posts after sifting through the sarcasm, and other crap, I'd like to say thank you to TheFunch, for being the only one of all of you that didn't talk down to me, flame me, and just basically be an *** about suggesting things.

TheFunch's reply was the only one that really made me understand without feeling like a complete dumbass, why said changes cannot/shouldn't be implemented. I understand it's a public forum so all types will be around, but most of you should take time and read how TheFunch was the only one that handled their opinion professionally and didn't just say my ideas were dumb :P[quote]

If you actually read all the posts Im guessing you have to adjust your sensitivity settings then. Maybe they are on the blink. Might wanna look at buying a new cranial card.
#22 Jan 15 2004 at 10:42 AM Rating: Decent
500,000 people times $12 is over 5 million dollars a month.

I think we should be seeing a lot more updates with that kind of money.
#23 Jan 15 2004 at 11:12 AM Rating: Decent
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173 posts
Constant GM support?
I have yet to see one, if fact, I doubt there
are many, as I constantly see the same names around
such as Cumwad and *********

I agree an mini map would be sweet, along with:
resizing/moving ingame windows
different windows for different types of chat
more heads for PCS (everyone looks the same)
more colors (nearly all armor/clothes use the same colors)

I would also prefer a better character creation system.
Honestly, as another posted previously,
other than race and class, you get like two options,
head and hair color. Kinda sad.

I'm not sure if they have this or not, as I'm new to
the game, but GM sponsored quests, missions
(kinda like D&D) would be sweet, or maybe an option
to let volunteer people in linkshells GM quests
for their linkshell, theyreby not interfearing
with the world for anyone else not in the linkshell.
#24 Jan 15 2004 at 11:14 AM Rating: Decent
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4,575 posts

no no and no. and no again.

your time, your money...you can give input, but its not your game. you leave with your $12 and it wont hurt the company at all. everyone else's $12 is used for more than just server maintenance.

everything you talk about is on some backburner somewhere. the developers of this game have deadlines and features they want to add before other features. it all changes with time, that is the dynamic part about mmorpg. everything we have now, the japanese crowd did not have all of it when they first played.

the in-game maps you talk about, not every mmorpg had it to start with. some of the newer ones might, and maybe you think some of the older ones did b/c you just started it after that was added. imo a map in this method is just fine. you can't believe how many EQ maps i had to print up for viewing outside the game.

if you're lvl 20+ and cannot afford 70-500g for a chocobo ride, then dont ride. run back to the newbie zones and make some money. however, i've only seen it reach 500g at the crags..in town, it has generally been about 70-200g. and this isn't real life...so currently you can only rent a chocobo, you cannot buy one. wait, you mean, why didn't they make cars in this game like in FF8? (yes that was sarcasm). or wait, if they did implement buying chocobos, it could be costly like 2,000,000 gil like the expensive horses in EQ. that way, someone like you who just wants bigger and better things more easily can't get a chocobo for a long time.
it will teach you some patience or you'll leave the game. both results of which are not that bad.

there are many reasons some mmorpg (not only FFXI) discourage selling virtual items/accts for real money. if you cant see the benefit of this on the game's economy, im not sure how to explain it to you. if you want to sell virtual items, go play UO or Diablo2 or some other games (I think AC might do this kind of stuff)

and then like the others said, major updates would probably be left for the expansions. same reason that this wont tie up servers for a long time, or those on 56k wont suffer horrendously.
#25 Jan 15 2004 at 11:30 AM Rating: Good
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8,507 posts
yeah...but what's that AFTER taxes?
#26 Jan 15 2004 at 12:27 PM Rating: Decent
FYI - Chocos out of Jeuno range from 150 to 800 gil.. ouch. LOL
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