Popularity of FFXIFollow

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I have to agree with shearo completely, but I think it is the same way across all the servers.... I have no way of knowing though..

Definetly there are less people now, but I think the Japanese population have not declined yet. I think with XBox360 release, population will rebounce a little bit, but no where something like PS2 release.

Call me old school, but I do agree player altitude has generally worsened. May be things are easy now, but old days, nothing is easy. AF takes long time, Genkai takes long time... Nowadays people will go have a NIN75 solo Shadow Lord... Just I find people are taking less effort to earn what are considered prized quests and items now.

I think part of the problem people believe that catch up fast to peers are important. It really disturbs me when I teleported-Dem and see someone tell me this

"Power level blahblah gil / hour" (And yes that person does not even bother to say "Please", of course I do not bother to answer either)

I would rather see peers teach basics in the game, then to spoil, while newcomers take effort to find if they are able to solo and accomplish the task themselves or with people among his ranks before resorting to leeching. Leeching should be last resort.

if they are in the dunes and offerring gil/hour for PL-ing, doubt they are new to the game. unless they buy gil (which i believe is something people who start playing don't do immediately; gil buying is more for gucci items at the higher lvls) that is.

i've spoken to some japanese before. they seem perfectly happy with the synergy of working in a party, being part of a team, working to get something (xp, gil) to get something more than one could themselves. they get powerful in the process, but it's more ... holistic. more like "no point rushing to the top, if you can't do the stuff to get to the top."

sorry, in office. musing. =p

Just from my observations, the population on Cerberus has declined slightly in the last 6 months. Peak periods are more usually closer to 3,000 than 4,000 on.

While the Dunes may be much emptier, that reflects the leveling population more than the total population. A higher portion of the population is mid level or higher, having already gone through the Dunes with what jobs they are planning to level.

The more mature (in terms of how long they have played the game...not in terms of social interaction) population is also reflected in the rapidly inflating prices of many things, especially synthing materials. A smaller portion of the population is leveling on mobs that drop essential ingredients, and so prices are escalating...rapidly.

We did not seem to get much of an inflow of new players this Christmas. So the best hope for a more balanced population is the XBox 360 version moving out of beta. As that appears to be of fairly little interest in Japan, the new players will come from elsewhere, leaving their population more imbalanced than the rest.

New players help balance the population and the economy. So when they arrive, look for the promising ones and make them feel welcome and included.

While Rag was the biggest server out of all. Having been the beta server. They used to peak around 6000. Now we have more than them at peak hours. Migrations did exactly what they were intended to do. Even out servers heh.



=o?



Edited, Mon Jan 23 18:04:04 2006 by Zaleshea

wasnt it also you who were shouting stuff about people raping kittins in lower jeuno?

That is why I really liked the concept of level capped missions and areas where lower level can work with higher level for a common goal. The problem now is high level complains they are being gimped or working with noobs are stupid.

Why cannot people think about the good things a certain change will bring and concentrate on the bad things?

In some ways, I am a big supported in level capping country missions and Zilart missions... The big problem now is that now people will refuse to help those missions. It is very double edged sword -- trying to correct leeching and encourage team work among senior and junior players will become a disencouragement for people to help out... I really do not know what to do is the best.

I should start thinking quiting this game when I am so serious about game problems... I have been around for way too long. I remember when I was 10 years old, when I have a stuff toy I am already very happy, now 10 years old have PS2, gameboys... those things ... are non-existant when I was young. Things change, I did not change... May be I should change ^^



When I am new player, there is no such problem between NA and JP. I remember JPs teach me to use Apple Pies and use Melon Juices ^^ when I was level 20 white mage. Some JPs friend I met that long ago, are still on my friend list and we still talk quite often.

I will be politically incorrect, but a lot of problem between JP and NA are caused by incompability of the culture. I will not say who is right or wrong. I myself is of Asian descent. I have yellow face and black hair, and speak and write fluent Chinese (and pretty good Japanese too). And I grew up in Hong Kong. For that reason, I tend to side with JP, or at least have a better understanding of their mind set.

Not everything JPs think are correct, but I believe strongly in teamwork and pursue of individual interest and emotions should be suppressed for "the greater good." This is quite unlike NA individualistic interest, expressional behavior -- complains and talk loud, banter in who is better etc.

SE designers are clearly Japanese people, so they design the game in a way (at least the beginning) to fit Japanese culture and altitude for both business reasons and personal taste -- a very team work based with huge component of social interaction. May be that has caused some misfit to NA in how the original game design is.



I confess I have spoiled some players before, but I try not to do that. I never power level, I never leech, I try to help/solo myself if I can, I do not like to ask for help unless being quite desperate.

When I criticize others for spoiling and encourage leeching, I got attacked back as "That is my game, I play the way I wish." But by saying that you are harming the "greater good." But then, is the interest of "Greater good" that important? You know my stance in that question.

I lived in US for over 10 years now.... And part of the block from me able to live well among Americans is the concept of "individual vs group interest."

I remember driving in DC, one car block up the lane (even that driver does not need to) and cause a jam, I pass that car and give that guy a honk, the answer to that is the middle finger... But I will say DC drivers are worse compare to most part of America ;P

Off topic about Japanese:

I know a lot of Japanese friends, who I can talk to all the time, puts "JP only" in their comments. May be I do not know fully (since they are know I am from Hong Kong), but I think so-called "Racism" is not really true. JPs just have as much right to have fun, and sometimes they should have the choice who to play with. That choice is not "racism" as in what , say Martin Luther King would consider as racist.

It is more like walking into a Chinese shopping mall in San Fransico and Toronto seeing only Chinese word. Does it make "gaijin" (foreigner) feel bad? It probably does, and I can understand that feeling, but yet it is also understanding why Japanese and Chinese would make a shopping mall to be somewhat exclusive. There is no reason to paranoid about that. If you sit down and try to talk to the Chinese store owners reasonably, you will get a fair response.

Personally speaking as an Asian, I can see why Japanese people can feel uncomfortable to deal with NA.

I know it is hard to get the chance to visit Asia... I think that is still the best way to understand the issue. Enthuz knows what I mean ;). If have chance, I highly encourage people should at least visit cities that have relatively large and visible Asian population in North America (Toronto, Honolulu and San Fransico are probably best choice) and go visit a real Asian neighbourhood, I hope you will understand more^^

Back to topic:

I think to get best enjoyment in the game, it is important to think interpret the game designer's goal in your own pretext. To me, FFXI is clearly designed to be a やりごみ (yarigomi) game -- a game to eat time with little secrets and hidden stuff let you figure out to eat your time.

Even in both JP and NA, I find the game become more like a textbook game - you fight Kirin this way, you do Ecowarrior this way blah blah blah.

Game designers obviously create so many jobs and give you a SJ to be flexible and play the game in multiple of ways... I am starting more to feel I should start going back to fish Moat Carps instead of running around in Sky hoping to see if Faust is up.

NA started late -- there is no question about that. Some people take their time (may be too much) to catch up that time difference, and they managed to and even exceed the early comers (say like KnightsOfNi). In the old days, LSs like KoN has to come up from a much stepper curve than people now. So new comers should keep that in mind and also more senior should also consider that when interacting with more junior player. Leeching and spoiling can only happen two way -- it is never a 1 way street.

Edited, Tue Jan 24 17:30:58 2006 by scchan