FFXI on the decline?Follow

Of course it's way too early to be crying "FFXI is dead",but I had noticed that there were maybe 1k people on Asura last night. A pretty big decline from what it has been. Now, I know FFXIV has been a huge hit(I'm actually seeing commercials, which I never did for XI) like SE has gone all out to bring this back from the dead and surprisingly it worked, hell it even has me contemplating the switch. But what are everyone's thoughts? Could this actually be our end bringer? With XIV's success and hopefully what continues will SE nix XI? Despite Xi being a steady income, but with higher number's from XIV would it matter anymore?

Haha didn't say that there weren't commercials for it, just that I hadn't seen any. This post is in no way saying XI is dying. Just that XIV has had a substantial impact. I was curious to what everyones thoughts on this might be.

QFT.

I'm still getting junk done in XI. It's simply more likely to be done on weekends now. Despite that, I managed to grab my Jeuno Tier V and VI clears last week, followed up by a Provenance Watcher clear, via a pick up group. I was up until 2:30 AM but it was worth it to scratch that off my "to do" list.

This tends to happen often when a "new" big MMO comes out, with a good deal of the player base hoping over to it to play it for awhile, and then eventually coming back. Sometimes some people will stay (for awhile), while others will return to XI the moment that the "new car smell" has worn off. It happened with Aion, it happened with TERA, and it happened with XIV during its first release.

It just seems a bit worse this time around because there's a bit of a lull in content for XI at the moment, so things seem extra quiet game wise right now.

the reason why it seems like XI is "dying" atm because not only a new MMO came out but kids back to school,work, half of the people (26+ members) on my LS is back to school,work. this happens every year. with every new game + school = temp big drop of people

812 people on Odin a bit ago

The first few years of FFXI were the worst, and several years after that, they were the worst too. A couple after that were just bad. After that things went into a bit of a decline

Aion didn't last one week because of terrible handling of their launch.

This sums up my thoughts pretty much. FFXI for years has been held back by RNG, low drop rates, content impossible for low-man groups so you have to shout for hours, gated content that is more of a pain to unlock than actually be fun, and all kinds of time sinks. As much as I loved FFXI and my 6 years playing it hardcore, its waaaaay past its prime and dying (for real this time). Yoshi-P has pulled a total 180 with ARR, and its a whole new ball game. XIV is just so damn fun, so user friendly, so fresh, so easy to get into and get stuff done. I'm 100% into XIV and not looking back at XI.

I am playing both 11 and 14 at the moment, but what would keep me around would be for them make old content far more accessable like they did with CoP.

I am a bit of an odd ball player, I play for the story and for BLM. BLM is my one and only job, I don't care for any others, but I am a casual player and I am in the UK. It is very hard for me to get most stuff done but there is so much I want to do and now some of it seems impossible. I would love to do the following:

Limbus: For whatever story content exists there, get items for AF1+1, get Atmacite of the Ultimate.
Dynamis: I have a full set of currency, but would like to get my Sorcerer's Belt and the AF2-1 items and make it the old way before making it +2.
ZM+CoP: I have completed both of these but have done none of the continuation missions, I would love to do stuff like fight Bauhamut.
ToAU: Never got anywhere in this, still on mission 15, doubt I could ever get the people to do this these days.
Assault: Kinda pointless but I would love to run and complete each and every assault atleast once and also complete the Yigit armor set, again doubt I can find anyone to do this.
Salvage: Again would LOVE Morrigan's set but probally impossible.
Weapons: Would love to make these but totally out the reach of casual players like my self.

Things I did like (sort of) were the Magian's Weapons, for me as a BLM anway. It was stuff I could do on my own without bothering others, my only real problem was the number of mobs you need, what does killing 250 mobs prove? Then needing to do it 5-6 times for each staff, for 7 staves. How is it fun? It was pure tedium, 25 mobs would have been more than enough.

The best was our AF3 though, easy enough to get the base items, and whilst the +1 and +2 items needed a group, it was only ever a small group and you were (almost) always rewarded with drops, and the number of drops needed was not out of the world. It was a reachable goal and it was fun to help our pals out.

Adoulin on the other hand I really am not a fan off, I need to go wack trees or stones for hours on end, in the hope of getting a drop, that I need 3 of, so that I can make something, so that I can access something else, where I might get a drop and maybe some items to give it a random upgrade... Really, anything random is awfull! If I have worked hard for something I want pay off. I do not go to work and then have my boss /random to see how much I get paid that month. Give me fixed or selectable upgrades, like AF3 armor

It is always hard to stay motivated for things when /random is involved.

14 on the other hand (so far atleast) is to easy and anti-social. I have just unlocked BLM in it and apart from a few story missions and dungeons I have not even teamed up with anyone, and when I have no one has talked, I am not even in a LS. It feels more like I am playing Legend of Zelda with some co-op dungeons thrown in. I miss the working with others from 11.

I get this. It does have that feel. It is nice to just wander around alone... for awhile. But then, not as much. I wish square would do better at the happy medium.

We did Skirmish as a 4-man last night (111 Rala Waterways, with a 121 thrown in at the end for a teeny bit more challenge... not really.) It was fun, relaxing, and each of us walked away with a little bit of profit from the junk that dropped and a new weapon or two, even if it wasn't necessarily the one we wanted. (What am I gonna do with a great sword?)

It was relaxing, fun, and while it was a bit repetitive, I made it my challenge to find the shortest path with the lease overlaps through the maze.

To be fair people have been saying that for years. And here we are, albeit barely, it seems.

My biggest nark about FFXI (and im banging my drum again) is what they did bringing out those new SoA weapons that blitz what we had and worked months even years for... its bordering on unforgivable and I think for some people it was just too much,

It took me over a year of soloing and duoing to get my 90 Twashtar, which I only got in March this year, the base damage of which is now completely a joke compared to an Aphotic Kukri which can be obtained within 3 days, I know as I have one.

Unless the amount of heavy metal plates required gets reduced heavily or they become droppable elsewhere then my Twashtar will likely stay as a huge waste of time... there must be hundreds of other people in similar positions to me on every server...

We know that gear gets superceded and improved with new gear, I don't think many people would argue against that, its progression and that keeps things fresh and something to keep aiming for which is what keeps this game alive and is a good thing. What REALLY got to me is how much time I spent on one weapon for it to become almost trash over night for something to blow it away that takes 72hrs to complete... that hurts +2

I am not asking for a 'gimme' or something easy, but just the chance to realistically finish my Twashtar and have it so it can compete with the newer weapons, that's all i want.

I have read SE has said 99 RME will get a 'boost' but what that means is anyones guess, and what about the many hundreds even thousands? (across all servers) who don't have the 99 fully upgraded? do we get shafted, again?

If you **** enough people off with a BIG slap on the face (and this WAS a BIG slap on the face for many people working on RME weapons) then they might just walk away... Is this what SE really want? who knows.









Edited, Sep 11th 2013 4:59am by Danseurfabuleux

Edited, Sep 11th 2013 5:04am by Danseurfabuleux