http://www.mmogchart.com/

Dear god, look at what WoW has done.

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COBRA KAI DOJO NEVER DIES
RIP Shiloh

hmm...that market share chart caught my attention. I don't know anything about WOW, but if that game really has 50% market share I ask what makes it so good.

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Its faster paced, quests are rewarding, and i bought a tuxedo for my cow lol.

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Job 10: 20
The mikey's have a plan. Djay isn't all powerful.

I think it mostly came from good advertising, lol.

I mean you goto any of the major online sites like Gamespot, Gamespy, hell even Fileplanet and there's banners, articles, and entire sections of the website showing off WoW right there on the main page.

I won't deny if the game is good or not, but what I think Blizzard really did was take MMORPGs (specifically theirs) "mainstream", as opposed to a tiny little corner market that a lot of people A) didn't really know about, or B) didn't want to pay monthly for.

Probably helps Bilzzard already had a huge fanbase behind them with Warcraft 3 too.

But hey, except for Lineage stuff (which is played by like a bazillion chinese/asian players) FFXI is still rockin on above the rest down there at the bottom. :P

Square had a huge fanbase to pull people into playing FFXI you would think. Most people I know that play Final Fantasy would never play a FF MMO. Hard to convince them to play a MMO period. WoW has done better due to Blizzard's main audience isn't a bunch of console gamers (FF series is console) but a shit load of RTS gamers who play on PCs. Blizzard sold a crapload of WC2 not just WC3 and did well with Diablo 1 and 2 and Starcraft of course. Those are all PC games, which is the major market for MMOs. WoW is a fun game that can be played somewhat casually compared to other MMOs. The way it appeals to both the somewhat casual MMO player and the more hardcore is what makes it so damn popular.

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs

The reason WoW is so successful can be summed up with one simple acronym: PvP.

The problem is that Square's huge fanbase were all Playstation players. And I'd imagine most hardcore console gamers wouldn't want to play on a PC even if they could, lol.

And honestly the PS2 version of the game failed badly, lol. Sony made a huge cock-up of the Hard Drive support, even removing it completely for the new model PS2. You can't even get the Hard Drive in Europe, it just doesn't exist. So FFXI in Europe is PC only, and the only way to get it in other countries is Ebay now, pretty much.

If SE realise how much of a failure the PS2 version is, maybe they'll drop it's support someday. Once they do they could probably do something with FFXI to really help it out.

::Imagines the day:: If this ever happens there would be so many possibilities to FFXI. There would no longer be that memory cap on models and animations, there would be room for graphical and engine improvement, not to mention the ablility to constantly add new content (WoW style). Although I am not to sure on the limitations of the xBox360 version of FFXI, anyone have information on the restrictions this console has on FFXI regarding updating/new content?




Down with PS2 !

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"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
--Albert Einstein

Yeah PvP helps vs games like FFXI. But in Lineage and Lineage II's case.. those games are more hardcore PvP to be honest. No factions means anyone can PK you. There are consequences for PKing in that game and it is way too hardcore for any casual player. WoW you can world PvP without any real consquences and you can do BGs. BGs aren't that different than Ballista/Brenner, except for the fact that WoW was built to be a PvP MMO and FFXI fails miserably at its halfass attempt at PvP.

IMO SE should scrap FFXI entirely and make another MMO from the ground up. This game is flawed at its core.. that is why you can't really go further than level 75 without breaking the game entirely. Look at the best gear dropping off of 3 year old monsters. There is no room for true progression.

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs

honestly, if anyone on this forum tried WoW out for a few days they'd probably be sold and never play ffxi again.

Fantasy Earth is a new SE MMO and it blows FFXI and WoW off the block. Only problem is that they only released it in Japan and dont seem to have any plans to release to in the US at this time. Maybe they will wait a year and then release it in the US. It is also PVP ^^ Took me just a shade under a week to get it here in the US.

Doubt anyone would. I have had WoW since beta.. never used the disks. I still play FFXI. As flawed as FFXI is, I still enjoy some of the newer aspects of it. WoW isn't that great either lol... just really good for a MMO errr glorified chatroom. I have my doubts whether Fantasy Earth will be that great tbh. Would not be surprised if they kept it JP onry this time also.

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs

Now i'm not trying to diss the game because i did play for 2-3 years. But honestly how much longer will you and everyone else keep hoping? It took them 2 years to finally do something people wanted. Which was introduce new jobs. It took them a full 2years almost to address the issues with HNM camping. Most complaints actually aren't dealt with in a timely manner really. Wow or any other mmo isn't innocent either of this. But ff is completely off the book. How much more can you all take? An expanision just came out for the game. They can't change the Core of the game with it still being centered around the ps2 design aspects. EIther you wait hopelessly or give them a message they'll truely understand. And that is stop playing. I noticed it hasn't dipped down, but thats only because alot of people like myself refuse to close the account. Or just sold it off to someone else to ige or some crap

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Job 10: 20
The mikey's have a plan. Djay isn't all powerful.

That's a small problem that everyone's lived to deal with by now hopefully. Like you said, they're not going to drop the PS2. I don't think they'd get the hint unless a bunch of people quit and let them know that was the reason, but I think that would be too hard to coordinate anyway. Some people still play just to talk with the friends they've made, and I guess running around a virtual world is more fun than aim, and it gives you something to talk about at least.

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[In Yarr we trust.]

I personally just could not get into it. My brother bought the game because he was sick of ffxi. He was able to get into the game fairly easily while I could not make it past level 6 without being bored to death. Maybe someday though, if final fantasy 11 dies.

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I came to FFXI because I've been a fan of Final Fantasy games since I was a kid (only played console games my whole life). I started it on PS2 and ended up converting to PC. If it wasn't for FFXI being a Final Fantasy game, I would have never played a MMO ever. And I would have never played anything on PC either.

It has opened up my eyes to a whole new world of gaming. I have a new respect for PC games and MMO. I'm sure there are many others like me.

Only reason I don't play WoW is, all my friends are scattered across all servers (from rl and FFXI). I wouldn't know where to start. I agree FFXI is way too time consuming and not very rewarding. I'm sure if I played WoW I would play a lot less. Which would be a good thing

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I've played lots of MMOs, which also if William C. Dement is right in this article, then I owe my brain alot of sleep. I've played Gemstone III, Dragonrealms, EQ 1 and 2, Lineage 2, AC, SWG and FFXI and now WoW. They all had good qualities, but its almost as if blizzard played all these games also, and took the best stuff from these games and made WoW.

I used to think the game was extremely easy, and to admit it, it was most likely my elitism gettin in the way of sanity. I wanted a hard game because I've played all these games for a long time, and my shit has to give me a challenge. There is a certain nuance to not having to stress out over stuff in the game.

Even the drama is petty and simple, because you just really end up killing the other person if they piss you off. Fighting solves alot of the problems that you can't really deal with in FFXI because all you have is arguments.

I am sort of sad that I didn't come to this game alot earlier, and hang out with my cousin more when he started, but I'm making up for that now I guess. The game has made me a believer in the first 24hrs I played it. Blizzard really do a good job with the game, its sort of sad because its not a hard concept to get right, its acutally a pretty simple idea for the game.

FFXI was awesome when I first started on it, but it fell into the same trap as all the other ones. So far all blizzard has shown me is a huge world with tons of interaction, potential danger, and no feeling of punishement for not playing the way they want me to play. Even if I can't do something with anyone else, and thus not do the quest, I can do it alone at a later lvl, or I can skip it, because nothing is a requirement to acutally play the game on a normal pace. Its just fun, its not hardcore, its not elite, its just fun, and last I did check, thats what games are supposed to be.

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Warlock's are not OP, maybe if you stopped running around like frightened little girls you'd be able to beat me...

WoW is way more acceisble to even the most casual of players than most MMOs out there, that is why it is so popular.

Of course, the PvP system is terrible in WoW and the end game is pretty much like any MMO out there, it is 1-60 that is fun for most.

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60 Undead Warrior *Coming for you C'thun!*
60 RDM Ifrit *retired*
10 BST Phoenix *leveling up!*

No game maker ever makes a game saying "lets aim for the hardcore small userbase"

Every game made tries to do what wow did. The reason WoW is good is because you can tell it was well thought out. FFXI feels like a waste of time compared to wow.

I use to think wow was easy. Its not "easy" its just well designed.

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COBRA KAI DOJO NEVER DIES
RIP Shiloh

DT, if one day SE drops ps2 support altogether to revamp ffxi, why not just make a new game lol.

Even tho they probably do not use the same staff or whatever, I think i'd be happer if they just stopped ffxi altogether and focused on the single player games again, get them out on time and do quicker JP > English translations.

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The USA hasn't had a new single player FF game(in the main series) since 2001's FFX. FFXII ain't coming til winter, that'll make it a nearly 5 year gap, buncha malarchy, also, I am against dropping ps2 support because I am on ps2 and my computer is a pile of crap.

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Some stories can't be told with words, some legends are meant to die

Vanguard does.

its because you can jump


I played it for a few days, but I still like FFXI better. Jumping off of trees just entertains me to a great extent.

I hate WoW's disgusting trashy-american character design, and i've heard the graphics kind of suck too compared to higher-end games like eq2

ffxi has its problems but nothing could get me to try that peice of shit game lol ((and not just because I like japanese design better, i played EQ and EQ2 for a long while ))

also WoW's jobs are stupid and boring IMO compared to ffxi, from what i've read on the site descriptions and what friends tell me

but I do hear it has great soloing and pvp, wich makes me /cry because those are two things I love. I hate ffxi's retarded " HELP EACHOTHER ONRY " pt and alliance shit where SE makes you need help for like everything

but #1 I play games for graphics, character desig, and pets classes, gameplay comes second, and i could care less about storyline, I spam through mission and quest logs faster thn lightning, lol

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No sig because 3 sigs in a row people make me change my sig and I refuse to have a pony sig!