Except you continue to actively play Last Fantasy XI, you would be forgiven for not figuring out about a variety of additions the virtually 23 year-old MMORPG made in 2024. Clearly the crossover in FFXIV was a giant step and it actually made me personally pleased to see Jeuno made in a contemporary graphics engine.
On the FFXI facet instantly, new servers have been added, the gamepad enhancements beforehand launched have been expanded upon, and new Grasp Trial content material and a stage 9 model of Besieged dropped. Certain, it might not sound like rather a lot, however for an MMO that is not technically in improvement anymore, it is all the time good to see issues nonetheless enhancing.
In a New 12 months’s letter from the group, Producer/Director Yoji Fujito not solely recaps the yr, but in addition seems to be ahead to 2025. Now this is the place issues get a bit attention-grabbing (though completely predictable for these of us that play or cowl each Last Fantasy MMORPGs.).
The look ahead mentions issues like extra solo-friendly content material choices, continued graphics enhancements, improved auto-grouping, and a discount within the steps required to improve late-game gear to make issues simpler on new or returning gamers.
The place do these ideas come from? Why, a survey that SE despatched out in November, truly. With virtually 14k respondents, the group shares some attention-grabbing survey outcomes divided into Japan respondents and World respondents. Roughly half of the respondents are present gamers.
A few of the stats fall into the “that is neat data” class. Examples embody the truth that the biggest portion of Japanese respondents have been between 40 and 50 years previous, with the biggest group of worldwide respondents being 30 to 40. Perhaps not stunning for an older MMO, however neat nonetheless. Different neat stats embody virtually 70% of respondents logging in no less than 2-3 instances per week and gaming periods being over 1 hour lengthy for over 95% of people who responded.
On the “solo gameplay” entrance, whereas FFXI has made huge enhancements on this entrance via the years (primarily out of necessity), there’s clearly nonetheless work to be carried out right here as over half the gamers responding say they play solo, and the variety of respondents that truly play with random gamers (i.e. not solo or devoted teams) is within the single-digit percentages. Yeah, play with buddies, most nonetheless enjoying already are and searching for a gaggle could also be laborious should you aren’t.
It ought to make the group really feel good that almost all respondents are “Glad” or higher on the content material and login marketing campaign entrance.
My favourite a part of the survey, although, reveals one thing anybody that performs the sport (or did) or reviews on the sport already is aware of. When speaking particularly to lapsed gamers, the group requested what would deliver them again to the sport. The primary reply for Japan-based gamers was a change of their life, nonetheless the worldwide viewers merely stated “make it cheaper month-to-month, or supply a bundled FFXIV subscription.” The “different” class on this query compelled the group to take a look at particular person feedback and there they discovered a robust calling for a “Traditional” model of FFXI, which means a model from when the sport’s stage cap was 75 and, satirically given the solo dialogue earlier, a celebration was principally required for development.
Neither of those shock me, but it surely’s attention-grabbing to listen to the group lastly acknowledge them, notably the subscription one. Whereas the group would not point out any particular motion on account of the survey but, they do speak up this survey as being probably the most complete model of their participant surveys from the previous they usually do say, “By disclosing this information upfront, we hope to make use of these outcomes to assist information our future improvement efforts for the sport in a manner that may hopefully fulfill as many gamers as attainable.”
Now, figuring out that SE totally acknowledges a number of the above factors AND they intend to make use of this suggestions to information their work…will 2025 see any motion on these fronts? One can hope!
