Why people keep coming back to FFXI?

What SE did right.

With the latest attention focused to bannings ^[2], everyone would only really just go with their bat and just keep hitting SE of what they did. I do agree it was a little bit severe, and they wern’t putting them in the player’s shoe when it comes to doing stuff like this… but whatever SE is doing, they are ALSO doing something right. They are keeping their steady not too much up’s or down’s in their subscription ^[3] (a little bit outdated though). For one thing they aren’t merging servers.

Being away for over 4 months now (with little bits of login for a quick hi) from FFXI, I’ve came to realize what is really keeping people playing FFXI. I can tell you it is NOT because of the gameplay. =)

However, it’s a bit sad how SE is now doing their 2nd MMO – Rapture ^[4]. There are even rumors of how SE is trying to kill FFXI and just focus their energy on Rapture. :/

For those that don’t keep up with Mai stuff. I’ve been a FFXI and WoW player for quote some time. FFXI being 5 years and WoW just little past 2 years. I believe I’ve experienced what both games got to offer, experience end-game content and also invested a great amount of time in both community. I am still subscribed to both games.

A Chat with Takalo/Roranora.

We had the greatest chat. For those who didn’t play long enough to know these people. Takalo was a very Pro TLW Taru, whereas Roranora and I was in Omen, both of these linkshells are consider the top-notch linkshell back in 2004. We discuss a few things which we think… kept people coming back including Takalo. (Yes, he reactivated it lol)

But whatever it is, we still chat over AIM. Why? Our past bonded people together. We get together, we talk about the epic good-old times doing WHM blink, maintain Provoke 15sec apart with 1 MainTank and 1 OffTank, skillchain and burst without dying. Those achievements of killing hard monster was hard-wired into our gaming experience, it was epic and.. it felt like those people made it all happen and without them… duh.. it wouldn’t have happened. Nowadays, that mob feels like exp mob. Rora even said it doesn’t even feel epic anymore to kill it. I agree :x

The Smaller Community

I certainly feel that this played a big part in what keeping FFXI going. The smaller community. In WoW, each server can hold up to 10k people on each side. 10k Alliance 10k Horde. Yes, we kind of have that too… but our 10k is not active players. Those 10k are active players. In WoW, you are just a John Doe. If you are 1st on the server to get say.. a [item]44707[/item]. Yea you’ll be the well-known Takalo for a week but after that… it’s kinda gone and you are back to John Doe.

WoW constantly try to attract players by creating a point where players can play catch ups. First, it releases dungeons. Okay, you can get the hardcore people to go run for it. But then it waits until it releases the next set of Dungeons, just so the casual players can play catchups. So the 1337 ppl can get their e-peen in as well as keeping the casuals. It attracts casual players that way but not necessarily keeping them coming back.

This is where FFXI shines. If you are bad, you aren’t John Doe because… people will remember you and won’t invite you again for another bad exp party fuckups. If you are good, you aren’t John Doe again! There isn’t that many playing to begin with… so it’s really not that hard to remember names. Plus, you are only dealing with a couple hundred of players anyway… 3k on server at anytime, 1/2 JP’s.. then a ton of AFK’s, then you won’t really have that many walking around.

Your Permanent Identity/Character Attachment

Changing character face/name in FFXI is beyond possible. Well name.. if you change servers. So what does that mean? Your krama stays on that server ^_^; Especially how you don’t create a new char for each class/job, you keep your name so… it makes it easier to remember people. There’s good and bad to both system, but in terms of building community, of course a same name is better.

It’s like Tsunade who plays on FFXI. He can have 15 jobs and still be Tsunade. In WoW? Tsunadei, Tsunadeii, Kirika.. that’s already 3 char names. He might be well-known on Kirika for good tanking skills (which comes down to player skill), but then he won’t be recognized on Tsunadei… he’s good but since people can’t relate those 2 together. Player skill usually carries across other jobs they play because it comes down to one thing – they know wtf they are doing. Some people I know, both FFXI and in WoW, do not know wtf they are doing 24/7. I’m sure you all have someone in mind like that ^_^;

So what’s the deal with Leeroy Jenkins on the right? To those that don’t play WoW, Leeroy Jenkins is someone who was being an idiot and ran in like a noob when their guild is planning their attack. It’s kinda like “sorry to reference”, a WHM and Tazo in our linkshell who ran into KS99 like a noob, got Dragon Breath as first attack, smoked and rocked my KS99 orb to ashes. In WoW, they call it “don’t pull a Leeroy Jenkins” to reference to someone who ran in like a noob. Actually, Blizzard saw THIS YOUTUBE ^[7] and found it funny, so you can now do a quest and… have the word “Jenkins” beside your name. Eg. “Kimiko Jenkins”. Yes, Blizzard watch YouTube too!

So Blizzard wanted to help people like Jenkins to lose their horrible krama. Well they provided a $10 name change! What does this mean? It allows people to use that server as one way to get rid of Krama =) Of course they say your friend will be notified, Friend List updated with new name and if you are on somebody’s ignore list, you’d still be on it. But at least people cannot relate you right away! Which overall makes WoW a more..asshole game than FFXI. But regardless, I’d still get assholes in our LS , they are pretty equally spread among WoW and FFXI.. I’d say both game 5% are asses. You get them both in WoW and FFXI. With 5% out of 3000 char, you are only looking at 15 assholes, In WoW, if 10,000 each people are on each side, then you are looking at 50 assholes. Which IMO is why people always say WoW is more of a kiddie game. You’re just exposed to more assholes but that’s because the server is big! There, another advantage or.. what SE did right. Keep it small.. so you keep assholes small too!

All this comes down to one thing… smaller community, same name… builds your character attachment. Having 6 different WoW characters… not so much. One Taru or 5 years? Oh yea.. that’d sure make you attached to the game.

*PS: I name change too!! =) Not for Krama (lol), but to make a more FFXi name :D You don’t have to believe it though :D
It’s now “Shantotto” from Majeev, which is how I got the screenshot of “SUCCESS” LOL.

Gear Progress

FFXI took the approach of not replacing gear like WoW. In WoW, your shit becomes obsolete with every major expansion, and slightly obsolete with each version update. In FFXI, you can swap gear during combat, making a lot of gear being useful in “specific” purpose, making it more room to..collect gear. WoW’s only got 2 sets of gear, PvE or PvP. Well if you’re say a… Resto (healing) Druid and also a Tank Druid, then you might keep 4 sets of gear “PvE Tank, PvE Heal”, then “PvP Tank, PvP Heal”. Whereas in FFXI, you can have a glove to cast 1 spell, another glove to cast other spells, one for healing. There are just numerous more possibilities with gear swap capability.

With gear not being replaced as much, people feel like they aren’t that far behind and is always welcome back into the community even if it means just a few hours. Whereas WoW, when your shit becomes obsolete, you could either 1. feel like playing a lot or 2. an excuse to cut back on your hours or just don’t play at all.

So yea, the feeling of not being left behind from not replacing gear as frequent, is definitely one reason people keep coming back. They are always welcomed back because… they fit right into the community.

Account Policy

The fact they they “could” delete your account after inactivity is always one thing that keeps me or others bugged and keeps it being paid. Well what does that mean? You have no barriers to login when you already are paying for it. Whereas in WoW, once you stop paying, you kinda feel like… well it cost $15 to just chat to friends… This is one good way to keep people coming back… even if they are at the edge of quitting or stop playing. I know for one thing, Tazo would activate once every 3 months just to keep it alive =) She love what she put in, misses Tazo just… burnt out :)

To cut it short. Whatever SE is doing IMO, they are doing something right. Unlike other MMO who merge server after 3 months. FFXi been very steady. Not enhancing each server to hold people nor shrinking. Odin even had population problem. Regardless… the community in FFXI is what really “imo” keeps this game together. The gameplay… meh… it’s old, tiring. We really use this as a way to chat more than “really” enjoying the gameplay.

You might have another opinion :) By all means express it! But this is what we’ve all found (Takalo, who came back playing, Farkee, who also came back playing for a bit, Rora expressing his 2c about the game) was what keeping together :) It is a great community, and I wish SE would just really put some effort and healing this game up. Good ideas was brought up on BG (What’s keeping FFXI Alive ^[9] / How do you Improve FFXI ^[10]). Well whatever it is… I’m still paying so… whatever they are doing.. it works in keeping subscribers. After-all, businesses exists for the sole purpose of profits. It’s there =)