December 12, 2012 Version Update

I think occasionally it's "We have this great idea" followed by "Well ***, we can't actually make that work on this game engine."

I think replace occasionally with often, and "How is this old game still going?". Don't get me wrong I love XI, and I might just come back soon, but a lot of things people *** about (like comparisons to 14 in regards to having multiple LS chat at once), just isn't feasible.

Have you ever got a loan? I think not.

You're dumb anyway if you think they don't have the money.

Get comfortable with the idea that their *** given is sort of like Dark Matter.

He lost the election so he has to find a new thing to troll, dont quote him k?

Yes, banks are just dying to give money to big businesses who were on the verge of disaster not too long ago. They are just throwing money at them so they can try to develop a 10 1/2 yr old game on an old *** engine, in hopes of gaining a few subscribers. Sounds like a wonderful idea for the bank, right?

And they might "have" the money, but it wouldn't be responsible to budget that kind of money for a project (XI) that is staying afloat as it is. They aren't going to get a mass influx of new players on a 10 1/2 year old game, when they should be wanting those new subscribers when 14 picks up again. It would only make sense for a business to want people to get on the new game, since it's still fairly fresh (see: overhauled so basically "brand new"), and they can ride that game out for a long time to come.

Honestly, how many people quit XI like myself, and are waiting on something big to MAYBE return? Exactly my point...

Who gives a ***?

You're just not getting it Deces lol

Indeed indeed. Regardless, I created a back up plan for in the event that it does suck.

8100 alex and 4 assasults left to completion. I'll be damned if I don't finish regardless of circumstances.

Lets say they pay their programmers 50k/year (average 60k in Japan, but lets say they get them fresh out of school). Assuming no increase in overhead from increased users and one mule per user, hiring that programmer would have to gain/maintain only 300 subscribers for a year to break even. Estimate/add in overhead and call it 320 because MMOs are notoriously low overhead ventures. Divide by the number of active servers (16) and you get about 20 people per server. You don't think programmer could fix enough crap and add enough content to entice 20 people per server to maintain their subscription for a year?

It isn't that we don't programmers because SE is directing their resources away from FFXI and towards FFXIV. We don't get programmers because SE is incompetently run.


I mean, hire one guy to fix the balance issues in Ballista. You don't think there are people crazy enough about Ballista to resubscribe for that? I'll ruin the surprise, there are.

In this scenario, that's that much less profits though. You're not GAINING those subscribers, just maintaining, which means you're still losing money, no?

They recently hired a few new people, I thought.

No, whether the subscribers are gained or maintained they're still dollars you wouldn't have had without the programmer.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/square-enix-has-highest-salary-average-among-game-companies-in-japan-6384932

Old, but they get paid way more than just 50~60k a year.

Maintaining is still a profit over people who cancel their subscriptions. Case in point, I might not have opted to let my sub expire in the coming weeks if we'd seen more substantial and well-designed content of late.

Also I believe they won't just hire any random person fresh out of school. For FFXI in particular, they would want to target vet programmers who are based in the gaming industry for many years.

Well ok, I get that maintaining is profit over cancellations. But if you had (just gonna make up numbers here) 1000 subscribers and made $12,000 from that. Then hired a programmer, and still maintained that 1000, and still made 12,000, you're still out the amount of salary for that new dev team member, ya? I know this is simplistic, but that's the point I'm trying to make here.

For the present, yes. It's an investment against losses in the future at this point (they "make up" the money in the long run), not an attempt to generate fresh sources of revenue. The closest thing to a shot they have at that is SoA, and even that is going to draw primarily from the ex-player pool.

Well that's exactly my point Night. That's what I was getting on to Deces about. Even if they got their "indian given" dev team back, I don't think it would make enough NEW subscribers to really keep this game going for years and years to go.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/118701/Report_Japanese_Developer_Salaries_Average_57590.php

Well, perhaps they're randomly overpaying for the market, or perhaps they have a bunch of overpaid schmucks that aren't programmers.

This was known since 2008-2009 actually. While Tanaka failed to live up to expectation on bringing us solid content, they started tailoring the game to casuals and the people still playing.

They have long given up on creating a model of content that brings in new players.

I don't get all the rage, between odinv2, new limbus, crystal dragons and meebles and god knows what else I can squeeze in. People screaming about lack of content. I can barely do most of it.

Are people mad about lack of new content or game design?
I don't get it we have had a ton of new things thrown at us over the past few years and I see people quitting yet alot of people stuck around thru WOTG which was like a black hole for content.

If some of you are burnt out then your burnt out. Don't blame SE for it.

PS I do have major gripes with core game mechanics atm but not content

Then XI has been doomed since this mentality was adopted. I actually didn't know about that. Guess I'll stay happy with 14, when it returns.

It's both. I can promise you that they are overpaying simply because it's Square Enix as a company. Nintendo does the same thing for the upper echelon of their devs-- it's like working for Google as a web developer, vs working for a lesser known company.

Not really "doomed". Last time I checked, Everquest was still chugging right along with over 15 expansions and I really doubt any newer gamers will be enticed by a game that looks like this

FFXI will remain as long as SE deems it profitable. Which will still be for a long time.

1 30 minute fight on a 3 day lockout (realistically on a 6 day lockout if you want to maintain ichor to buy your 1-2 wings)
2 different 30 minute fights on a 3 day lockout (realistically a 6 day lockout since you'll need to get those ancient beastcoins from somewhere*), but both events are on the same lockout timer
1 2-5 hour event with no lockout with non-existant drop rates that requires a shout alliance full of gimps.
1 2 hour event on a 5 day lockout (presuming you're doing one full tier in a sitting, why would you not?)

SO MUCH NEW CONTENT BRO, SO FKN MUCH NEW CONTENT.

*presuming you arent buying them

Not to mention all of the legion horror stories I've heard about how stupid difficult that content can be.

do any of those drop anything worth having.

all of them do really.