What are your gripes with the game at the moment?

[DarthDymond]

Umm, don't know where you are going with this. In the time SWTOR has released one PvP map, 25 story chapters, 5 uprisings, and the EC - FFXIV has released more than 300 quests, added more than 500 new pieces of gear in game, made more than 50 QoL improvements, added three new professions (classes), added 34 new 4-man dungeons (for a total of 47 in game), added two new zones (real zones, not corridors), added 6 8 man raids (for a total of 12) and 3 24 man raids (for a total of 6).

 

It isn't even close man. SE is giving players there money's worth and then some for their monthly subscription. Why? Because they feel they owe it to their paying customers (and thus why they have grown constantly more than three-fold since launch to now have 6 million players). SWTOR just adds a grind to make you play all the same old content you have been playing for 2-5 years.

 

It takes weeks to grind through the content FFXIV introduces in a patch and months to get through the content of an expansion. It takes less than half a day to go through all the NEW content SWTOR puts out in an expansion.

 

FFXIV has 800,000 - 1.2 million players on at a time concurrently. SWTOR is lucky if they have 1/20th of that concurrently.

 

It is estimated that FFXIV will overtake WoW by this summer as the number one MMO on the market. And they did it by focusing on providing lots of group content (as well as a TON of solo content), have a sub fee (on top of having to buy the game) with no F2P and no cash shop. In other words, all the things the market says you need to do to survive today FFXIV didn't do and they are about to take the top spot.

 

Finally, I will add this. FFXIV is two years YOUNGER than SWTOR and already has more than three times the content. In another two years, with two more expansions and eight more patches under their belt, when they reach the age SWTOR is today, they will have the equivalent of four SWTORs worth of content.

 

At this point in time, SWTOR is literally close to death's doorstep while FFXIV continues to move further away from it every week with more and more players joining the game.

That's great - it's genuinely good to hear that FFXIV is doing well and giving its fans plenty of content.

 

That being said, absolutely none of what FFXIV is putting out is content I'm interested in playing. SWTOR, on the other hand, is releasing content I enjoy and am interested in playing. As such, SWTOR is giving me a better value for my money than FFXIV would be.

 

That's the nice thing about having variety within a genre - those who like the type of content FF is putting out can enjoy that, those of us who like the type of content SWTOR is putting out can enjoy it instead (or in addition).

[FerkWork]

By all means, take your time. I understand how engaging final acts can be. I'll probably be around. Perhaps I'll even dain to call you out on your baseless supposition again.

 

Have fun with that. As I said there's no need to be upset just sit back and enjoy the memes. I got another level and a retainer btw. :^

Edited January 20, 2017 by FerkWork

[FerkWork]

Umm, don't know where you are going with this. In the time SWTOR has released one PvP map, 25 story chapters, 5 uprisings, and the EC - FFXIV has released more than 300 quests, added more than 500 new pieces of gear in game, made more than 50 QoL improvements, added three new professions (classes), added 20 new 4-man dungeons (for a total of 47 in game), added two new zones (real zones, not corridors), added 6 8 man raids (for a total of 12) and 3 24 man raids (for a total of 6) plus t he Golden Saucer (casino and carnival mini-games) and four other mini games including Chocobo racing (and how long have players been asking for swoop racing in SWTOR).

 

It isn't even close man. SE is giving players there money's worth and then some for their monthly subscription. Why? Because they feel they owe it to their paying customers (and thus why they have grown constantly more than three-fold since launch to now have 6 million players). SWTOR just adds a grind to make you play all the same old content you have been playing for 2-5 years.

 

It takes weeks to grind through the content FFXIV introduces in a patch and months to get through the content of an expansion. It takes less than half a day to go through all the NEW content SWTOR puts out in an expansion.

 

FFXIV has 800,000 - 1.2 million players on at a time concurrently. SWTOR is lucky if they have 1/20th of that concurrently.

 

It is estimated that FFXIV will overtake WoW by this summer as the number one MMO on the market. And they did it by focusing on providing lots of group content (as well as a TON of solo content), have a sub fee (on top of having to buy the game) with no F2P and no cash shop. In other words, all the things the market says you need to do to survive today FFXIV didn't do and they are about to take the top spot.

 

Finally, I will add this. FFXIV is two years YOUNGER than SWTOR and already has more than three times the content. In another two years, with two more expansions and eight more patches under their belt, when they reach the age SWTOR is today, they will have the equivalent of four SWTORs worth of content.

 

At this point in time, SWTOR is literally close to death's doorstep while FFXIV continues to move further away from it every week with more and more players joining the game.

 

Dude Chocobo racing is amazebawls XD

[LordArtemis]

Here is something of interest. Information is from August of 2015, quite a while ago.

 

http://imgur.com/a/XplYZ

 

It appears there are 217k a1 clears at that time. That may be telling.

 

Certainly, the amounts mentioned earlier in the thread are total subs, NOT active players, which is likely MUCH lower.

Edited January 20, 2017 by LordArtemis

[Kaedusz]

Have no gripes, except for 1. The only reason cxp is bad is because it makes you useless at PvP for a huge amount of time after you hit 70, unless are super rich and a crafter. Not to mention the situation is still not the best, even then, because you can't get set bonuses.

I used to just buy all the PvP gear instantly the moment i hit 65, before 5.0.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Kaedusz

[Theeko]

The return of the Korrelias 1.2 mounts as new welfare mounts

[Wayshuba]

http://igcritic.com/most-played-mmorpg-games-of-2016/

 

 

Now.. the above is about 10 months old.. so numbers may be higher now, but nowhere near the fiction you are presenting here.

 

If we apply the generally accepted average of 10% of players logged in concurrently at any given time.. that means the US servers for FFXIV have around 13,000 concurrent players... NOT 800,000-1.2M you are claiming. I doubt even WoW reached that level of concurrent players, ever. And I will happily give you the benefit of the doubt and say they doubled in size in the last 10 months.. which means 26,000 concurrent players at one time... which is really pretty small to be honest. [And NO.. the Japan population base does not apply, unless you are claiming you play on a Japanese server.]

 

You are right about FFXIV content updates.. but so what.. if the game is not interesting to a player, all the content in the world won't help overcome this. Personally I found FFXIV very lacking in fun and enjoyment. It was tedious, grindy, and offered no worthy lore, back story, or even story to base the effort on. Of course if you are an FFn fan over the last decade of the franchise.. then FFXIV is your favorite sweet treat.

 

You need to re-read the article you linked. Active players in the article is CONCURRENT players. Thus why ESP is listed as number 3 with 250,000 playing simultaneously and FFXIV listed above them at 324,000. If FFXIV had only 13k concurrent, SWTOR would be number 2 according to the article.

 

It should also be noted that in the article they mention SWTOR as having 9,000-18,000 concurrent players which includes both subs and F2P. Using your 10% math, that would mean total players of 90,000-180,000, which includes both Subs and F2P. If that is the case, given how the GC System basically told F2P/Preferred players to get the heck out, and the number of subs that have been cancelled as a result of the system, then SWTOR really is on death's doorstep if that article is too be believed.

[Divona]

Finally, I will add this. FFXIV is two years YOUNGER than SWTOR and already has more than three times the content. In another two years, with two more expansions and eight more patches under their belt, when they reach the age SWTOR is today, they will have the equivalent of four SWTORs worth of content.

 

At this point in time, SWTOR is literally close to death's doorstep while FFXIV continues to move further away from it every week with more and more players joining the game.

 

 

I found it kinda funny that people still comapre and wait SWTOR somehow by miracle start making tons of new content let alone large group content. It was decided 2 years ago that this game is done by any meaningful group content or major large expanions. Adding few FP's or new so called uprisings is not what majority were waiting for. On top of that this game focus mroe on fluff that is CM and getting as much free money as possible.

This is all because game will stop soon any content updates and everything will be scalable and solo friendly. This is done ON PURPOSE because thats how you maintain game as long as possible without any extra costs.

 

To make this game totally new experience:

1. It needs new and bigger dev team

2. It needs new senior team lead who has ideas to make new content

3. Needs talented new team who can create big group content

4. Needs a long term plan and making paying customers being part of that (open discussion)

5. Needs new game engine or a lot updates.

Does any of that happen? Nope and there is a reason - there is no plan for it. SWTOR community team does not answer any long term plan questions because there is non.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Divona

[Autumnsbane]

It is estimated that FFXIV will overtake WoW by this summer as the number one MMO on the market.

 

That's hilarious. They said that about this game. And Rift, Terra, ArchAge, AION, GW2, LOTR, Neverwinter, Eve, Wildstar, Elder Scrolls, and the list goes on. Every new hot MMO is a flash in the pan that thinks, because of a temporary surge of interest for the new shiny, it will overtake WoW. The "wowkiller" they call it. That is just never going to happen, for a multitude of reasons (fan loyalty being supreme). Oh, it may occur for a few months, like The Monkees outselling The Beatles for a time in 1966, but that is just not going to happen in a world where, as one person in this thread said, gamers are like locusts.

[grania]

My most recent gripe is my companion constantly trailing behind me or flat out invisible, what gives?

[Wayshuba]

That's hilarious. They said that about this game. And Rift, Terra, ArchAge, AION, GW2, LOTR, Neverwinter, Eve, Wildstar, Elder Scrolls, and the list goes on. Every new hot MMO is a flash in the pan that thinks, because of a temporary surge of interest for the new shiny, it will overtake WoW. The "wowkiller" they call it. That is just never going to happen, for a multitude of reasons (fan loyalty being supreme). Oh, it may occur for a few months, like The Monkees outselling The Beatles for a time in 1966, but that is just not going to happen in a world where, as one person in this thread said, gamers are like locusts.

 

Just to clarify, FFXIV is not new. It launched in 2013 (2010 if you include the 1.0 version) under ARR. It had 1.5 million unique members by close of 2013 and has grown to 6 million today.

 

You need to do a little more reading on the title. While I don't play it, I am impressed that is one of the few MMOs that is actually growing it's audience while the majority, including WoW, are losing their audience. WoW doesn't have the 10 million subs/players they once had and have been on a steady decline.

 

Now, for comparison, SWTOR started with 2 million and was down to almost 10% of that within six months of launch and then climbed back to 400,000 with the launch of F2P.

 

So the proof is in the pudding. Only two MMOs are growing at the moment - FFXIV and ESO.

 

In addition, it has been fans that have called the next MMO the WoW killer. Only once did a company claim they were going to beat WoW with a title and that was EA with SWTOR.

 

The point, however, of all this that I am trying to make is this: SWTOR could have enjoyed what FFXIV is now, and seriously could have given WoW some competition if they had done what Square Enix did. First, they fired the producer of FFXIV and put someone in charge who is extremely passionate about the game and the fan base. Then, they stop selling copies and made the game completely free to play so they could use those customers to learn. Then they engaged with the fan base and more importantly, listened and HEARD (which BioWare hasn't done with this title in it's entire existence) and responded. The result was an MMO that relaunched and has grown every year since then. SWTOR could have been this but the decision makers in charge have always had too much of a frail ego on top of a whopping heap of arrogance. That has been SWTORs bane since initial beta!

Edited January 20, 2017 by Wayshuba

[Andryah]

You need to re-read the article you linked. Active players in the article is CONCURRENT players. Thus why ESP is listed as number 3 with 250,000 playing simultaneously and FFXIV listed above them at 324,000. If FFXIV had only 13k concurrent, SWTOR would be number 2 according to the article.

 

It should also be noted that in the article they mention SWTOR as having 9,000-18,000 concurrent players which includes both subs and F2P. Using your 10% math, that would mean total players of 90,000-180,000, which includes both Subs and F2P. If that is the case, given how the GC System basically told F2P/Preferred players to get the heck out, and the number of subs that have been cancelled as a result of the system, then SWTOR really is on death's doorstep if that article is too be believed.

 

Active players =/= concurrent players.

 

Active players = players that have logged in recently, and or periodically with an active subscription. It's an easy metric to keep track of for a sub only game like FFXIV. Though it does not tell how active said players are.

 

Concurrent players = how many players are logged in at one time. Also an easy metric to keep track of as well as calculate based on active player count. It's a better metric to determine how active players are in an MMO.

 

You did use the term concurrent, but I think you misused it. Now.. if you meant to say your 800k-1.2M players were active players... you would be closer, but again... still way overstating known data.

 

The more interesting data though is 6M accounts created for the game since launch, yet only 124K active in the North America servers and around 350K total world wide. So their retention rate for a 3 year old MMO.. is nothing spectacular, nor is their number of active players. Pretty typical for MMOs now days, because players come and go all the time and are less likely to linger after they have binged.

 

We get it... you think FFXIV is the cats meow of MMOs. That's fine. But how about not using grossly distorted numbers to try to tempt other players to follow you over the rainbow.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Andryah

[midianlord]

[...] SWTOR could have been this but the decision makers in charge have always had too much of a frail ego on top of a whopping heap of arrogance. That has been SWTORs bane since initial beta!

 

I've been saying ^that^ for years.

 

We've all been saying ^that^ for years.

But BioWare's been responding with "But we can do no wrong, ever, BECAUSE WE'RE BIOWARE." (Oh, and you dare to be critical of THE HOLY AND SAINTED BIOWARE?????!!! Here's your forum-ban, you...you...Philistine, you!)

 

For years.

 

They've brought this completely on themselves. I only hope that when this game finally shuts down, that...well, you know, that guy...gets permanently blacklisted in the industry so that he can never again ruin another game with his monumental stupidity.

[renegatezta]

My main issue is the difficulty in both the story missions and in the open world. There are two extremes at the moment: Either the content is waaaay too easy and becomes a chore, or it's actually too difficult to a point of frustration. I think they need to give the 'easy' mode a boost in difficulty and provide us with a medium difficulty. Given how they're so focused on story now and essentially ignore everything else, I'm amazed that there are only two difficulties. Edited January 20, 2017 by renegatezta

[Khyler]

My biggest complaint is in the cosmetic area. When I put on a Chest Piece and Leggings, leave off the bracer, gloves, etc. and hit apply...The slots I left empty default to showing the armor slots that are equipped. What's the point of having a cosmetic if you're going to display a default value?

[Wayshuba]

Active players =/= concurrent players.

 

Active players = players that have logged in recently, and or periodically with an active subscription. It's an easy metric to keep track of for a sub only game like FFXIV. Though it does not tell how active said players are.

 

Concurrent players = how many players are logged in at one time. Also an easy metric to keep track of as well as calculate based on active player count. It's a better metric to determine how active players are in an MMO.

 

You did use the term concurrent, but I think you misused it. Now.. if you meant to say your 800k-1.2M players were active players... you would be closer, but again... still way overstating known data.

 

The more interesting data though is 6M accounts created for the game since launch, yet only 124K active in the North America servers and around 350K total world wide. So their retention rate for a 3 year old MMO.. is nothing spectacular, nor is their number of active players. Pretty typical for MMOs now days, because players come and go all the time and are less likely to linger after they have binged.

 

We get it... you think FFXIV is the cats meow of MMOs. That's fine. But how about not using grossly distorted numbers to try to tempt other players to follow you over the rainbow.

 

First of all, I clarified I don't play FFXIV. I use it for comparison because it is an example of what happens when a developer actually listens to their player base (which BioWare hasn't done since beta) and focuses on developing content (rather than skins for their in game store). FFXIV represents what SWTOR should have been. Difference is they put people in charge of the remake that actually care about the game and pleasing paying customers. BioWare could care less.

 

Secondly, the article uses global, simultaneous and concurrent interchangeably. Under the No. 3, ESO, they mention 250,000 simultaneous players (which is synonym for concurrent). They list SWTOR, at No. 10, as 9,000-18,000 concurrent.

 

Being that they listed FFXIV above ESO with 250k simultaneous users, I think it is safe to say they are referring to simultaneous or concurrent when it comes to FFXIV.

 

Lastly, the financials published by Square Enix don't jive with the number. Go read their financials. Estimated revenue from FFXIV is a third of their digital intake which is $1.9 billion, which would make FFXIV near $630 million annually. There is a limited cash shop (Mog Station) so it is mainly from subs only. At $180/year for a sub, that comes to upwards of 3 to 3.5 million subs. I belive it was you who posted earlier about the 10% of the base usually being concurrent. With the 324k listed in that article and the total subs subjected from the SE financials, those numbers tend to jive.

 

In fact, SE published a loss in 2013 and swung wildly to profitability in 2014 and they attributed it all to the success of FFXIV ARR.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Wayshuba

[Groncho]

gripes

 

 

Subscription Plans

 

You have 10 days of subscription play time remaining.

 

Your account will move to Free-to-Play status if you cancel your subscription and your paid game time runs out.

 

 

After 5 years

 

unsub

[FerkWork]

First of all, I clarified I don't play FFXIV. I use it for comparison because it is an example of what happens when a developer actually listens to their player base (which BioWare hasn't done since beta) and focuses on developing content (rather than skins for their in game store). FFXIV represents what SWTOR should have been. Difference is they put people in charge of the remake that actually care about the game and pleasing paying customers. BioWare could care less.

 

Secondly, the article uses global, simultaneous and concurrent interchangeably. Under the No. 3, ESO, they mention 250,000 simultaneous players (which is synonym for concurrent). They list SWTOR, at No. 10, as 9,000-18,000 concurrent.

 

Being that they listed FFXIV above ESO with 250k simultaneous users, I think it is safe to say they are referring to simultaneous or concurrent when it comes to FFXIV.

 

Lastly, the financials published by Square Enix don't jive with the number. Go read their financials. Estimated revenue from FFXIV is a third of their digital intake which is $1.9 billion, which would make FFXIV near $630 million annually. There is a limited cash shop (Mog Station) so it is mainly from subs only. At $180/year for a sub, that comes to upwards of 3 to 3.5 million subs. I belive it was you who posted earlier about the 10% of the base usually being concurrent. With the 324k listed in that article and the total subs subjected from the SE financials, those numbers tend to jive.

 

In fact, SE published a loss in 2013 and swung wildly to profitability in 2014 and they attributed it all to the success of FFXIV ARR.

 

M8 you better cease or that poor creature might sudoku themselves with those facts. As someone who plays both the main things that needs to be said is FFXIV has frequent content updates in all areas. Swtor can barely updates one area and when things break FF fixes them asap while Swtor lets it go for a few months. But yeah memes aside, I reccomend any to try it out who is looking for an MMO not a SP Cash Shop Simulator. :^

[ZeroTypeR]

- GC/ RNG and being forced as the only means to gear up at 70

- Lv sync too close to planet lv

- No return of certain original companions

- kotfe

- kotet (minus chapter 2)

- no create a companion mode (minor, but I thought I'd list it)

- no green mods vendor at lv 70

- no individual loot/exp when not grouped and attacking the same enemy as someone else

(happens accidently on my part sometimes)

- being forced to choose an adv class

- nerfs to classes

- constant changes....!

 

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I have.

Edited January 21, 2017 by ZeroTypeR

[Valaetia]

I liked the consequences offered with the choices made during the ET yet I found the lack of group content disturbing. It was pure solo play with no reason to group and run with family or friends which for me is the whole point of an MMO.

 

I also felt as if they went way to far in making my character too important to the Universe. I'm a bounty hunter, what care do I have of sitting on a throne? I'm a speck in the universe eking out a living. I really disliked that I was placed in a position where everything hinged on my choices. I don't want to be THE hero just A hero. (Or in my case a cash register with a blaster pistol or two LOL) This is one the key annoyances for me. I don't need to be the center of the universe and by forcing that onto me they removed me from the fantasy in a way that left me feeling a bit cranky.

 

I have a giant issue with the botting currently infesting the game and the lack of effort from BW to handle it.

 

I dislike that I have to pay with cartel coins to unlock outfits for all my characters. (WoW does a thing where any gear collected is available across all toons at no extra cost in order to allow easy transmog to armor.) It seems extreme that we're expected to shell out 5.00 here, 5.00 there if we want to be able to use armor or mounts or weapons across our accounts.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Valaetia

[Andryah]

Lastly, the financials published by Square Enix don't jive with the number. Go read their financials. Estimated revenue from FFXIV is a third of their digital intake which is $1.9 billion, which would make FFXIV near $630 million annually. There is a limited cash shop (Mog Station) so it is mainly from subs only. At $180/year for a sub, that comes to upwards of 3 to 3.5 million subs. I belive it was you who posted earlier about the 10% of the base usually being concurrent. With the 324k listed in that article and the total subs subjected from the SE financials, those numbers tend to jive.

 

It's clear that you are absent clue about what "concurrent players" in an MMO means. You talk about active subs, and present them as "concurrent players", which is a different term entirely. Since you refuse to listen to reason, I'll just let you wallow in the fiction.

 

As to this.... since you have to actually still purchase the box or it's digital equivalent.. this is no surprise. You pretending that it reflects only subscription revenue is hilarious. Now look at their numbers objectively... 6 million accounts created since launch... yet only 5% retention in terms of active players (per the data being discussed from my link). Nothing stellar about that at all.. it just demonstrates that they are churning through many customers pretty much like every other MMO.. rather then retaining them long term. other then the fact that they are making good revenue from selling boxes/digital-boxes, and continue to do so incrementally with expansions.

 

Oh.. so now you embrace the articles estimated numbers rather then you hyper inflated numbers you presented earlier? Well.. that's a tiny bit of progress toward reality at least. Of course.. this severely undercuts your earlier statement that FFXIV will overtake WoW within the year.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Andryah

[Andryah]

M8 you better cease or that poor creature might sudoku themselves with those facts. As someone who plays both the main things that needs to be said is FFXIV has frequent content updates in all areas. Swtor can barely updates one area and when things break FF fixes them asap while Swtor lets it go for a few months. But yeah memes aside, I reccomend any to try it out who is looking for an MMO not a SP Cash Shop Simulator. :^

 

If you actually read my comments, you would see I take no issue at all with the fact that FFXIV provides a lot of new content releases.

 

Fictional numbers as to active players subs, and concurrent players though... sorry.. but Wayshuba is simply making up numbers with no objective support of them at all.

 

FFXIV is a good MMO for some (if the player makes clear compromises on some things in favor of others), and it certainly popular and active right now. The studio benefits from a very large and long term fan base of the FF series, so this is no surprise at all. But their fast pace of content is severely undercut by many of the game mechanics and studio approach to the game as well. In other words.. it's a great choice for some, and not so great for others... just like every other MMO on the market today. Any given MMO does not fit all, and never will. Which is why there are a lot of choices for players in todays market, and I encourage players to play what they like.... and clearly you do not like SWTOR.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Andryah

[FerkWork]

Mfw Devs announce that they might announce an announcement of new MMO content for the first time in 2 years

 

 

PogChamp

[HJ__]

As said above, there needs to be more Jedi outfits. I dont want to buy stuff from the CC, and having some added would be amazing.

[Fygee]

1. GC being the only viable method for getting lvl 70 gear of any kind.

 

2. Being unable to craft any lvl 70 gear without reverse engineering gear and mods acquired from the method above.

 

3. Forced level scaling. Its a great feature, but I wish I could turn it off in areas I want to explore without getting harassed by agro, especially when gathering resources.

 

4. Drop rates for platinum items in the Cartel Market are absurdly low. I shouldn't have to spend a bunch of real world cash just for a chance at a really nifty weapon or piece of armor I want. I purchased three packs of 25 crates and not one yielded a platinum item. I'd prefer they be available the old fashioned way: exclusive to the cartel market, and directly purchasable without the element of chance involved. As it stands, its a blatant money grab.

 

5. Bugs in the latest expansion story missions. I got stuck a few times that the stuck command couldn't fix, and also experienced other odd bugs that forced me to restart some missions.

 

6. Story missions being absurdly easy. Even on Veteran difficulty, I cream everything with little effort. I'm okay with keeping it that way, but it would be great to have a third difficulty (Master) that would provide some much needed challenge, while also giving you greater rewards for doing it (more credits, more blue/purple items, items that drop exclusively from it, etc.).

 

7. Graphics look dated as hell. They look better in the latest expansion, but playing the old original story missions, the low-res textures and lack of modern 3D rendering are becoming more and more of an eyesore. At the very least, high-res textures for everything would be really helpful. Wouldn't be a bad idea to tap the community for help on that, as I know re-texturing everything would be a big task.