EVE is goo, but slow, you need to be a really dedicated playet to achieve anything in EVE. STO is more of your arcade style game, you don't lose your ships, you don't need to mine for days and the universe is pretty instanced. But overall at least NOW, I enjoy STO better. (played EVE since 1995 with breaks, but game is very well made, its just easy to lose yourself in it). STO is good now especially now with their episodic events. Today is next Series starting, cool!.

Guilds are inconsistent communities. Especially the ones that are not built from family members and close friends. Even if people are from the same country and the same time zone, which is ideal to schedule events - there will still be many factors playing a role that will affect the guild population. Loss of interest to the game, education, family matters etc. I personally consider that mature guilds with members of 25+ or even 30+ are the most reliable and stable. I've been running a guild in LOTRO for more than 3 years and we still have about 15 members on sometimes. Most of those members however are long time veterans, in other words - core of the guild.

What any guild leader has to focus on is developing a guild core, from reliable members that you can trust and who has time to participate in guild's life. Which means that recruitment never really stops, its like a net that dust and sand falls through and bigger pieces - reliable and loyal members - stick around for good. Guilds that are based only on numbers with seemless recruitment usually are short lasting and affected by drama, bickering, loot greed etc. in other words unstable and unreliable. Its like a big PUG (Pick up group) that you never know whats gonna happen with it.

I really feel sad about this whole FFXIV thing. People are trying to defend it, but its just obvious that game at its current stage will probably appeal to very big fans of FFXI only since FFXIV is basically just a remake with the same game mechanics and better graphics. FFXIV is definitely not made for a broad audience. This game created so much negativity that I don't even want to return to it even in March. We'll see. I think I am done following this game and its progress for a while. Played it in OB, and nothing has changed after release, which I of course expected. This game is not worth the time nor money. I am done with it. Don't think I'll miss anything, cause there is nothign really there to miss.

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....
I don't hate the game like I hated STO, but I sure as hell am not going to pay a monthly fee for a half finished game that barely runs on my PC anyway until they fix all of these glaring issues. I don't mind that I bought it, but I just wish I knew I would have to wait a year before it's worth playing. Hopefully.

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Sorry for cutting up your post, didn't want to quote the whole thing.I did grow into hating STO as well. It has very repetitive gameplay and until NOW it was quite boring game. I mean I've been in beta for STO and loved the casual feel of it. But then when game got released I've played for a couple of months and start taking breaks. Why until NOW, well devs finally understood what Star Trek is about and releasing the Feature Episodes now every week. I think this is the best thing that they've ever done in STO and gives the game a real trekki feel. So I am enjoying playing STO again in my dreadnought with a spinal phaser lance - boom! And I bet new episodes will be as fun as these "cold" series were.

As far as FFXIV goes, I was really surprised that such a respectable company like SquareEnix that made a lot of my favorite games is about to release another junky MMO. I mean it almost feels like people who work on single player SE games are pros and the ones who work on online ones are a complete ignorant noobs. Really, compare the quality of FFXIII for example, no, ANY Final Fantasy single player game, compare it to FFXI or FFXIV and there is such a difference its just odd. It makes me a bit angry to be honest that a game with such a great potential, so many years of experience and they are releasing this piece of... work.

I really hope that by the time PS3 version is out all the storylines will be complete, people won't have to wonder around the world like idiots looking for leves to do. I know that game is for a console, there is no doubt. Its developed on Crystal Tools graphics engine, which has been never before used to port games to PC and now there are problems with FFXIV performing on PCs. Even high end rigs have glitches, graphics lag, mouse lag etc. I am just shocked that SE allowed such a poor quality game to be so widely advertised. Unless of course Square Enix doesn't value it's reputation any longer. But then again I guess their most focus is on Asian/Japanese market and players out there seem to be ready to play anything that says Final Fantasy in it.

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Originally posted by Damon
I'd say read about the game as much as you can, listen to why people think it's bad or good, and then run for your life. :)
If you get it, I hope you like it.  Personally, I think SE should be ashamed, but that is just me.  You might love it...

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I totally agree with Damon here. SE SHOULD be ashamed. But thats a matter of taste of course. Some people like this type of game. Even though there is not much to like at all. I'll check the game out on PS3, cause FFXIV in NO WAY is a game for PC.

So yeah, been playing the game for 3 days now, Fioan lvl 10 here. I kinda hate to play a female but since there is no other choice what the heck.

So, Vindictus, my first impressions - VERY WELL DONE.

I wasn't expecting actually from the Korean developer such well detailed game. So I'll just list things in order.

Graphics - Well, hat down - top notch. I play on MAX settings and this is one of the most gorgeous F2P games. Not even F2P, graphics in this game beat quite a few P2P MMOs. It would be awesome if game was made with DX11 support but I still give this game a strong - 9.

Interface - Its almost intuitive. There are only few slots available to bind your items to and it seems that slots are specialized as if #1 for potions only, #2 for feathers only etc. Which gives those slots sort of a focused definition and makes them more intuitive in the long run. You don't have to press gazillion of buttons to activate your 754 skills, a lot of skills in this game just extend your normal attacks - which I personally like. You feel your class specialization better this way and it fits well with all the character animations. The only con for me here is that Interface is not adjustable, you can't move shortcut bar or anything else or change position of gadgets on the screen. So I'd give the interface a good 8.

Music and Sounds - So far I haven't found anything annoying yet but i wasn't blown away either. Music is ok and sounds are appropriate, but there is room for improvement so I'll give this part as well a good 8.

Game appeal - I am one of those picky gamers who look at every little detail in the game. The way character fits into the world, the way cities are designed and how well instances are done. Those are few criterias I'll probably mention in this section. So the character fits pretty well in Vindictus world. Quests are not stupid and everything makes sense. While there is a lot of grind present its expected from F2P since there will be items added in release version that will make the grind less annoying, which will be a priority for paying customers. Towns are designed very well. I haven't seens very far yet and only one town, but I hope that Vindictus doesn't only consist of one little down and 7 boats at the docks that you have to take quests from over and over again. I hope there are more towns/villages to see and world to explore.

Game is quite heavy on instances, reminds me of DDO, and instances are quite similar, at least been so far 10 levels. I don't see a lot of changes in architecture but hoping that this will change at higher levels. I think there are chunkcs of instances made and design switches between those chunks when you teleport from one instance stage to another. It supposed to provide a smooth gameplay but so far it's been quite a bumpy ride. Mobs move like in a slideshow sometimes while game runs smooth, so there is some improvement to be done on a server side definitely.

I hope there will be more variety as the time goes by with different architecture and planning for instances, new towns to explore, new quests and story lines to complete. At this point I have to give this a 8.

Crafting - its not really presented in game as the profession itself since you have to supply the NPCs with materials and they will 'craft' the items for you if you have the mats in your bags. At this point there is little to be done in order to expand your storage, and mats simply pile up in your bags and take a lot of room. I'd say that mats supposed to have their own bags, like crafting bag etc, having only 1 bag for everything is not very well executed feature. I understand this is done this way to promote potential bag extensions sale from Item Mall, but so far I haven't been able to find any extensions for my bags. It would be good if we could have some free extension at least at leve 20. Crafting is usually mixed with the bag space so the way its done in Vindictus is a bit off. Its possible that crafting materials will also be sold on Item Mall, which makes sense considering that at this point you have to grind a lot to make a set of light armor for example. Crafting is not realy a crafting in Vindictus, its more like an item exchange system. You give me materials, I'll give you the equipment. So all these thoughts considering I'll give crafting 7.

So while the game is quite unique, battle system is very fast paced and not boring, great graphics and well designed otufits there is a lot of room for improvement. Game looks good and feels fun. Based on the sections above - overall score comes to 8.

What I want to see in Vindictus in the future:

More bosses and super bosses, more variety in instance designs, more towns, more story lines, better variety in equipment (everybody looks the same right now).

Vindictus is not MMORPG, its a Fantasy Action MOG - Multiplayer Online Game. Its similar to DDO. Very heavy instanced, free korean game with item mall that will be coming in release version. Thats how they will make money off of this game. There is no PvP in Vindictus, not that I know of at least. Eventually it will be just a raid focused game. You level up then raid on a casual basis.

Because of these specific restrictions that Michael points at in his article Bioware is actually able to stay on the market and stay strong, not create one, two crappy games and file for bancruptcy. Star Wars is an Intellectual Property. I can give an example of a game where you can be everyone and do everything, except that game has little IP behind it and overall game just sucks, even though people still play it because there is little else to play and game has a lot to offer.

There is another game similar to what Bioware is working on, that game is made by Turbine and built based on another intellectual property. LOTRO had a lot of restrictions in the beginning and game turned out to be very good and welcomed by a LOTR fans very widely. Maybe it wasn't as good for raiders like that other game, but it was built based on a story which made it so much better than WoW.

I don't know if Bioware is trying to attract every 12 year old kid with SWTOR or they are actually creating a quality product based on solid IP that people will enjoy because of that IP. I actually hope that Bioware will develop SWTOR keeping in mind deep story and lore behind the star wars. If this will distract people who cares less about story and make them not to buy the game - I think its a sacrifice that must be taken in order to create a good game appropriate to the story and canons of SW.

Not every MMO has to be "good MMO" if it makes the developers sacrifice the story elements, or cinematic experiences so that every 12 year old pee in their pants from excitement. There is a potential in every MMO, but Bioware is earned a reputation of a company that always released the games heavy on story. You can't have every mob raidable and on the other hand have a game that is focused on experience based on exciting story lines. Its a proven fact. Bioware wouldn't be Bioware if they've created a type of Star Wars MMO like SOE did, and they would have been even less Bioware if they'd create a game with some elements only because its COOL and supposed to attract every kid on the block.

Star Wars is a serious IP and Bioware is a serious game developer. I hope they will always keep close to their reputation as first of all the best company for creating RPGs. And even though some people may find that SWTOR lacks some freedoms of other MMOs it will definitely be a great experience story wise. Which I bet most of star wars fans and bioware fans are hoping for.

After all there are many games where we can raid monsters and very few that have any decent story in them. I'd say there is no story problem, there is a problem that people expect every MMO to have huge raids, PvP and yellow pants. Thats of course figure of speech. But as Michael mentioned there is a justification behind every step that Bioware takes. And its not just an ambition, even though ambition is a mandatory for creating GOOD games. Its ambition and IP and company's reputation.

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Originally posted by Kaocan

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Originally posted by reanor
 

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Originally posted by Kaocan

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Originally posted by reanor
 

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Originally posted by Silacoid
What physical and class level(s) did you play through, and at what point did you cease to have fun?

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A lot of MMOs are released unfinished usually and then devs just add more content as time goes by. BUT, they at least polish the game play for 20-30 first levels so that players at least have some kind of a hook to keep their interest.
FFXIV however it seems like devs said " We are sorry but we simply didn't have time to finish teh game - ITS NOT READY FOR RELEASE ". The the company said - "We've paid you money and gave you enough time to work on the game - you wasted money and time, so do whatever you want but game has to hit the shelves on 22nd of September or you are all fired".
Thats what I think is happening right now. SE FFXIV franchise had to rush the game into Open Beta stage being forced to do it. Game is badly unfinished, has crippled gameplay but it needs to be released on 22nd or else... Thats why game is in such pathetic state. It is being rushed and nobody seems to care that rushed game will receive very bad reviews and will end up having very few subscribers - mostly those who got Special Editions pre-ordered. I feel sorry to be honest for people who has their pre-orders.
I've got burnt once on pre-ordering based on a hyp and CGIs (Aion) and paid for a year of gameplay, then I've tried the game and very regreted about it. I am not going to repeat that mistake with FFXIV. Even though I am one of the biggest supporters and fans of Square Enix.

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Now see everything you said up there is based on your own belief that the words I highlight in pink are all true. To you they may appear to be, and I will grant you that, but those statement are not true to everyone. A fact is only a fact if it holds true to everyone under all circumstances. And by definition, these pink statements are not facts, but mere conjecture based on your own opinion of what you believe this game to be.
Now that being said, I do hope you did not pre-order this game, not because I dont want you to play it, but because those pink statements exhibit some serious negativety between you and this game. And that can lead to nothing but more stress and angst on your end, which logically should be avoided. I am in full agreement than anyone who exhibits this much distress in advance of a particular games launch, should not be attempting to force themselves into playing it.
Oh and to clarify, I personally do not find this game badly unfinished or having crippled gameplay. I certainly do not believe it is in a pathetic state right now, or that SE has had to rush the game into either open beta or for thier planned release date. And although there are many people giving this game very bad reviews, I still believe this game will have plenty of subscribers directly after launch and for a while to come.
As you can tell, there is a difference in our opinions on this game. And I'm sure there are many more that differ from us both on this very topic. The key to remember about the opening post on this thread is what I highlighted in red. The intent wasn't to see how long you played this game, but at what point you ceased to have fun. The assumption was placed upfront that everyone wasn't having fun in this game. The statement alone tainted the thread with a slant towards those who dont like this game already. Truth is, not everyone has ceased to have fun already, some of us are still enjoying every minute of it, we are of course not the target of this thread as it was intended.

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I am really happy for you. And its great that you like the game in such a state with so few things to actually enjoy. Yes, weather effects are nice, I liked that as well. But if taking a boat and watching thunderstorms will keep your interest for months until they release at least more leves to do - I don't know, you must be a VERY BIG fan of FF online game since it takes very little for you to actually enjpoy the game.
Unfortunately thats not enough to keep most of the people interested. Boat ride is fun for a few times, later on it becomes a routine. You can jump around and pretend that you're having fun but trust me - after you take that boat ride for 5-10 times it won't be as enjoyable, it will be just a transport from point A to point B.
MMORPGs are made to attract many players if that won't happen - there won't be enough finances to support the game. How many people do you think SE will have enjoying the boat rides after a week of play after release? If there is no content and only weather effects and repeatable leves with 48 hours of downtime - you'll start losing even those who were jumping around the boat enjoying the weather effects with you.
Majority of playerbase consists of people who join the game to PLAY it. Socializing is fun but many MMO's have proven that kids these days are looking for faster ways of having fun. Us old farts, fans of real RPG like to socialize on the boats while it sails for 30 minutes from point A to point B, unfortunately those aren't most of the players.
I am happy for you that you are trying to see the world through a pink glasses, and don't want to aknowledge that game is in a very bad shape even 12 days before release. Fortunately most of the players tried the Open Beta and aknowledged the game needs a lot of improvement and attention. Hopefully SE will listen to those opinions and pay more attention to them.

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 See, there you go again with the assumptions. YOU beleive there isnt anythign to do in this game, mostly because your too damn lazy to go look for it on your own. Perhaps you would be better off if they spoon fed you quest after quest after quest telling you to go kill 10 this or collect 20 of that. I'm sorry this game isnt built to your easy mode standards. Please get over yourself. Your not that important and no I dont really care who you are.
The simple fact as you have stated time and again is you beleive this game has no content, and by content you mean quests. You however have no idea what real content is. NO content is NOT JUST QUESTS! Did I make that clear enough for you yet? The lack of content is in reality between your freakin ears. You need to wake up and smell the roses bub. This game just happens to be beyond your comprehension it seems. If it isnt spoon fed to you then you automatically assume it isnt there. Fine, it is there, your just too shallow of a person in real life to understand the content.
I'll make one last attempt to reach beyond the carrot in front of you on the stick and bring you out from the treadmill you have obviously been riding for so long. The lack of content in this game is 100% your view point. The bad shape of this game is 100% your view point. The inability to do things in this game is 100% on your end. The lack of understanding on the UI is 100% your lack of intuition in figuring it out. The lack of in game help is 100% your lack of ability to find it for yourself. It is in there, your just too freaking LAZY to go find it. If the only thing you got out of your hours of gameplay is that there are only 8 levequests in a 48 hour period than please DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME. I for one do not want to have to take the effort to teach you how to play it once your in the game and whining about how you can't figure out where to go 'train up'.
And for the last time, I AM NOT A FANBOI OF FF OR SE! Do some freaking reading and maybe you would have caught the last 5 times I stated that. Sorry everyone, the one thing I cann't stand is people who spout off misinformation based solely on thier ill-gotten opinions. If this idiot had spend a few moments of his beta time actually TRYING to find what was there to do, TESTING the game as a beta tester like he was SUPPOSED to be doing, he would have seen there is more to do than smacking mobs with your weapon.

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Wow, you are some angry fanboy, lol. Keep raging fanboy. I am one of the potential players and I am entitled for an opinion as much as you do. And there are many more people who say that game needs a lot of work than those extremely naive ones that talking about how great and awesome game is.

"Fanboy:
An arrogant person who goes into an outburst every time something he likes is questioned."

You are probably one of the biggest fanboys I've seen on this FFXIV forums.

Game sucks its clear as day, only fanboys can't see it.

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Originally posted by alkrmr
the thing you have to remember here is it's a GAME, and if you cannot keep your customers entertained after the first few hours the game fails as a source of entertainment and just becomes a job for fanboys

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Right, some people don't need content they just like to ride boats in FFXIV. Who cares about content, right?

[quote]Originally posted by navyalc
[b]

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The majority of my issues with FFXIV stem from lag and slow UI. This is a beta problem and I highly doubt will be a problem after release. Isn't that the point of OB? My guess is this lag effects people quite a bit and seeps into the rest of the game making their opinion negative overall. Imagining an FFXIV without any lag or slow UI makes my wiener tingle.

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Unfortunately that is not a problem of Open Beta. Thats a problem of Crystal Tools Graphics Engine that FFXIV is created on. That engine had never before games created for PC. It is SE's first experience. They've been using this engine for years to create their console games and a lot of games for example from PS2 can be emulated to a PC and they perform perfectly fine.

I've played my PS2 version of FFXII on PC through emulator, with DX9 graphics, Anti Aliasing and AFs and it looks really awesome comparing to what it looked on PS2. Unfortunately Square Enix is porting FFXIV to PC. This game will perform on PS3 much better than on PC due to complexity of the graphics engine that is initially created for console games.

Thats why I don't see anything good happening with FFXIV on PC. I will be waiting for PS3 version and even then I'll first make sure that storylines are finished and there are more things to do. I am not paying 60$ to do 5 leves every 48 hours. Whoever wants to they can switch characters 5 times a day and run around the world with 1 character to complete leves from different townscities.

For me - it only says - this city has not enough content - this game has very little to do unless you like to be a jack of all trades. I like to focus on 1 class and at this time FFXIV has no content enough to immerse me into this one class.

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Originally posted by Kaocan

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Originally posted by reanor
 

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Originally posted by Silacoid
What physical and class level(s) did you play through, and at what point did you cease to have fun?

---

A lot of MMOs are released unfinished usually and then devs just add more content as time goes by. BUT, they at least polish the game play for 20-30 first levels so that players at least have some kind of a hook to keep their interest.
FFXIV however it seems like devs said " We are sorry but we simply didn't have time to finish teh game - ITS NOT READY FOR RELEASE ". The the company said - "We've paid you money and gave you enough time to work on the game - you wasted money and time, so do whatever you want but game has to hit the shelves on 22nd of September or you are all fired".
Thats what I think is happening right now. SE FFXIV franchise had to rush the game into Open Beta stage being forced to do it. Game is badly unfinished, has crippled gameplay but it needs to be released on 22nd or else... Thats why game is in such pathetic state. It is being rushed and nobody seems to care that rushed game will receive very bad reviews and will end up having very few subscribers - mostly those who got Special Editions pre-ordered. I feel sorry to be honest for people who has their pre-orders.
I've got burnt once on pre-ordering based on a hyp and CGIs (Aion) and paid for a year of gameplay, then I've tried the game and very regreted about it. I am not going to repeat that mistake with FFXIV. Even though I am one of the biggest supporters and fans of Square Enix.

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Now see everything you said up there is based on your own belief that the words I highlight in pink are all true. To you they may appear to be, and I will grant you that, but those statement are not true to everyone. A fact is only a fact if it holds true to everyone under all circumstances. And by definition, these pink statements are not facts, but mere conjecture based on your own opinion of what you believe this game to be.
Now that being said, I do hope you did not pre-order this game, not because I dont want you to play it, but because those pink statements exhibit some serious negativety between you and this game. And that can lead to nothing but more stress and angst on your end, which logically should be avoided. I am in full agreement than anyone who exhibits this much distress in advance of a particular games launch, should not be attempting to force themselves into playing it.
Oh and to clarify, I personally do not find this game badly unfinished or having crippled gameplay. I certainly do not believe it is in a pathetic state right now, or that SE has had to rush the game into either open beta or for thier planned release date. And although there are many people giving this game very bad reviews, I still believe this game will have plenty of subscribers directly after launch and for a while to come.
As you can tell, there is a difference in our opinions on this game. And I'm sure there are many more that differ from us both on this very topic. The key to remember about the opening post on this thread is what I highlighted in red. The intent wasn't to see how long you played this game, but at what point you ceased to have fun. The assumption was placed upfront that everyone wasn't having fun in this game. The statement alone tainted the thread with a slant towards those who dont like this game already. Truth is, not everyone has ceased to have fun already, some of us are still enjoying every minute of it, we are of course not the target of this thread as it was intended.

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I am really happy for you. And its great that you like the game in such a state with so few things to actually enjoy. Yes, weather effects are nice, I liked that as well. But if taking a boat and watching thunderstorms will keep your interest for months until they release at least more leves to do - I don't know, you must be a VERY BIG fan of FF online game since it takes very little for you to actually enjpoy the game.

Unfortunately thats not enough to keep most of the people interested. Boat ride is fun for a few times, later on it becomes a routine. You can jump around and pretend that you're having fun but trust me - after you take that boat ride for 5-10 times it won't be as enjoyable, it will be just a transport from point A to point B.

MMORPGs are made to attract many players if that won't happen - there won't be enough finances to support the game. How many people do you think SE will have enjoying the boat rides after a week of play after release? If there is no content and only weather effects and repeatable leves with 48 hours of downtime - you'll start losing even those who were jumping around the boat enjoying the weather effects with you.

Majority of playerbase consists of people who join the game to PLAY it. Socializing is fun but many MMO's have proven that kids these days are looking for faster ways of having fun. Us old farts, fans of real RPG like to socialize on the boats while it sails for 30 minutes from point A to point B, unfortunately those aren't most of the players.

I am happy for you that you are trying to see the world through a pink glasses, and don't want to aknowledge that game is in a very bad shape even 12 days before release. Fortunately most of the players tried the Open Beta and aknowledged the game needs a lot of improvement and attention. Hopefully SE will listen to those opinions and pay more attention to them.

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Originally posted by WSIMike

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Originally posted by mmjarec
you people are so gullible i cant beleive you say "oh its just beta they will add more zones and content over time"..

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Are you implying they won't?
FFXI launched with a world map not much larger than XIV's will be at launch and look how huge it's become over time.
It's not gullibility to believe SE - or any MMO developer - will continue to expand their game worlds over time to become much larger than what they launch with. It's common sense.
 

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He meant that when game is released - there is gonna be the same game as you playing in Open beta. If you agree to wait a year to have more leves added and play the game for a year in the state that it is now in Open Beta - well its your choise, but I am not taking it. This game definitely don't deserve a full monthly pay of 15$ OR even 49.95$ for the copy of it. There is like 10% of the actual game is completed. The rest is like in developer minds still...

People still think that they are getting something more in Release Version? That is really naive. Trust me, all that available in Open Beta thats all you gonna have on release either you want to believe in it or not. Don't fool yourself. Listen to people who has experience playing multiple games in Open Betas.

I'll buy the PS3 version but only when I see that game is actually worth spending money. This game is set up to play on console and PC version will always have problems. If there will be PvP I can tell you for sure that people playing on PS3 will dominate since interface in FFXIV is made for a controller and not for a mouse and keyboard.

But to be honest and seeing how bad game is fairing so far in Open Beta I won't keep my hopes up. I'll check this game out maybe in the middle of October or a bit later after its out on PS3 and received a batch of patches and bug fixes AND when more leves and overall content is added.

But even at this state I'd still prefer to play FFXIV than Secret World. :)

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Originally posted by Kaocan

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Originally posted by natuxatu
It is very foolish to assume that I should have to play a boring game for a couple weeks to "get to the fun stuff." It would be very logical, one would think, to make a game fun right from the start. In fact it would make even more sense to make the start of the game one of the more exciting aspects since that is what draw people in.
It's fair for people to judge the game after playing it only for an hour. It's SE fault if the first hour sucks. I think it says a lot more than saying "it gets better" which it probably does. But no one should be *forced* to play a game they don't like just to get to something "good."
That's silly and it is not good game design.

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There was this one game once, built thier starting zone so awesome it sucked tons, and I mean TONS of players into buying it out the gate. And then people left Tortage.....
There is more to a game than the starting zone, first hour, hook. And if thats all everyone these days wants, well then maybe gaming companies shouldnt' bother making MMORPGs with year long subsrciptions in mind, but rather 2 week burn up content that 'catches' the player and is fun "from the start". Seriously though, most people on these very forums never plan on playing any game for more than 6 months anyway nowadays. So why are the gaming companies even bothering to try to make it worth more, and last longer. You all dont want that anyway right? You want instant fun, instant catch, instant evrything, and screw the long term commnunity and fun.
Maybe I'm a dying breed, but I want a game that has the potential to beomce a strong, developed community that I can play in for YEARS and YEARS. I dont give a ratts ass about wether or not I ever hit an end-game let alone what content it contains. And I sure dont care about having my first 5 minutes in a game having to be 'exciting'. If I want exciting in 5 minutes  I'll go hop in my kayak and catch some whitewater.

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Usually first 15-20 levels of the game ISa hook. If first impression about the game is not good - most of the people move on. Thats just an obvious fact, thats why most of the devs try to at least polish thoseose first 15-20 levels for players so they can get hooked to the game and not HATE it after playing it just first 5-10 hours/.

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Originally posted by Silacoid
What physical and class level(s) did you play through, and at what point did you cease to have fun?

---

A lot of MMOs are released unfinished usually and then devs just add more content as time goes by. BUT, they at least polish the game play for 20-30 first levels so that players at least have some kind of a hook to keep their interest.

FFXIV however it seems like devs said " We are sorry but we simply didn't have time to finish teh game - ITS NOT READY FOR RELEASE ". The the company said - "We've paid you money and gave you enough time to work on the game - you wasted money and time, so do whatever you want but game has to hit the shelves on 22nd of September or you are all fired".

Thats what I think is happening right now. SE FFXIV franchise had to rush the game into Open Beta stage being forced to do it. Game is badly unfinished, has crippled gameplay but it needs to be released on 22nd or else... Thats why game is in such pathetic state. It is being rushed and nobody seems to care that rushed game will receive very bad reviews and will end up having very few subscribers - mostly those who got Special Editions pre-ordered. I feel sorry to be honest for people who has their pre-orders.

I've got burnt once on pre-ordering based on a hyp and CGIs (Aion) and paid for a year of gameplay, then I've tried the game and very regreted about it. I am not going to repeat that mistake with FFXIV. Even though I am one of the biggest supporters and fans of Square Enix.

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Originally posted by ziggydawitch
...So yeah...I called Gamestop and cancelled my pre-order....and here I was thinkin my mmo search was over. I thought I would be happily playing ffxiv for years....but no :(
My mmo hunt isn't over yet.  Looks like I'll be putting all my mmo hopes into the Guildwars 2 basket...
~Ziggy~

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Yeah they've messed up FFXIV. Its a huge let down. You are actually supposed to play FFXIV with the controller thats why controls seem so awkward to you. I've played it with controller but game is simply unplayable, it has nothing to do very little content and full of bugs. FFXIV ended up being a major fail no matter all the hype and pretty CGIs. I am shocked that Square Enix allowed FFXIV to be released in such a pathetic state. Less than 2 weeks left and game is like in Alpha stage. Its not even ready for Open Beta. Major let down. Simply awful mess up.

My favorite change is DX11 graphics. While there is water and lighting changes there are also some improvements in all the GFX, spell effects etc. And graphics look even more pronounced now. LOTRO is still the best MMORPG out there. My 2 cents of course. I am not PvP fan, so some casual immersion into the world based on Tolkien lore - very fun time spent. Been playing this game since Closed Beta 2 and still playing and having fun.

Game feels extremely rushed... My impression after Open Beta - awful. I've uninstalled it and 'maybe', big maybe, will try it when its out on PS3 - the way its supposed to be in the first place since Crystal Tools Engine has never been used before to create games for PC. I think SE got over their head on this one. FFXIV needs a LOT of work, and at this point it has next to NONE content.