May 8th, 2022 Livestream Thread

The issue with your post is there is no one more mad here than you. Just look back on your posts. You're clearly mad.

I can't speak for anyone else, but it gets super old to see people bitching about the same ***on every post expecting a different outcome. If SE isn't doing it for you anymore, go somewhere else. Let the people who are happy with the game be happy with the game.

So use the block button if you can't handle it, thats what its there for. I'm not mad, just disappointed and expressing my opinion in a thread related to what I'm disappointed about. It's almost like you don't know the function of a forum.

You know when Draylo is disappointed in something FFXI, it's over.

I didn't even say that to be mean, I just know you're usually the reliable guy to find positivity in things.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with your idea of a forum being made for nothing but bitching. You're legitimately a broken record.

I have a question for all the people who are actually legit disappointed or mad (and not just trolling) - wtf were you even expecting? Tanaka to come out of retirement, go on stage in a tux and announce a 4K Unreal 5 remaster along with a new expansion AND a complimentary mithra sex doll for every active subscriber?

A lot of people were legit expecting a new expansion, an hd remake, POL ripped out, etc. Completely outlandish ***, and they're acting like they've been betrayed now lol

Id like to think people were -hoping- for stuff rather than expecting, unless this is someone's 1st "big announcement" they should be well aware how this song goes, all the way down to NA/EU getting next to nothing compared to the JP side.

Hoping is cool. I was hoping for more too, just wasn't expecting it. Reading posts on the reddit is pretty sad though

The hopium for more is clearly present. The game reaching 20 years is a big, especially in this day in age, as many game happened after XI and did close down before XI.

However, not that I want to ruffle people's feathers but here's some fact.

This is by far the most the player were given. I am not sure what were everyone's expectations truth be said. Maybe there will be something new appearing on the official website once the 20th Anniversary kick in like it did for the 18th anniversary.

However I thought the live stream was a cool community gathering (At least on my end from where I watched it.) Being disappointed seems pointless when accounting the track record of FFXI's event. I'd say the 20th Anniversary is pretty good overall. I ain't hyped about it, but I'm content. The general reception seems to be misplaced, in my humble opinion. Just my two cents.

I mostly used muscle memory to write down those events. If I am wrong, apologies. I think I'm pretty spot on, or close to it, though.

If you look at what they've managed to do before, it should give you a pretty good idea of their development cadence. For example, last year, we got Odyssey Gaol, Shinryu HTBF, some minor job adjustments, TVR missions and master levels.
If you think a team with this sort of throughput can just magically pull a whole new expansion out of their *** (technical difficulties notwithstanding) without completely stopping work on anything else they might be doing for 2-3 years straight, you're just delusional.
That being said, if they really manage to deliver everything announced yesterday before the (fiscal) year is out, I'd say their capacity is actually increasing, although I wouldn't speculate on the reasons.

IMO Mechanics with dmg type restriction is fine.

Mechanics with dmg type restriction AND DPS check is a nightmare to organize pt for. And that is *** Odyssey.

If SE wants to design content with a DPS check, remove the dmg restriction so everyone can bring their best geared DD for zergs. Of remove the DPS check for damage type restriction so people can bring their lesser geared job/friends to cover the missing dmg type. Why'd they have both present is beyond me.

Not a broken record, I rarely *** about this game as its still my favorite game and I have a lot of love for this game. I want to see it do better, but its frustrating given the circumstance its in.


Look, they've hyped this up for years. I don't know where people are coming out of the woodwork only in the last few days, but we've known they have constantly said they were announcing something "big" in this thing. I don't have the receipts to pull up and show it but it is fairly commonly known given that 12k+ people came to watch it and literally every NA in the comments with some kind of hope for something. Then you had people literally selling accounts seeing the writing on the wall about this event. It's not unreasonable to assume SOMETHING would have came from it. I'm just disappointed that's all.

Was part of me hoping for an expansion? yea. At the least I thought we would get new zones or teasers for what the new content is or anything related to the future of the game. I just don't even see why this event was even on the map.

Because its 20 years. The people who have put a large amount of their careers into the project wants to look back on the accomplishments they've made. That is what they did, and they gave us the road map for the next 2 months on top of that.

This isn't sarcasm, I really can't remember them ever promising anything big. Please post an article or quote or anything

That doesn't need to lead to a source or an article. It's not completely misplaced to be excited on such a big number celebration. There's no need to try bait into an argument.

Everquest has like 28 expansions. Would of been cool to SE getting their head out of the sand. However I can't say I personally did hope for anything, this game always did move at a turtle pace.

Can't say I'd complain about that one.

I do. I actually went and found the original posts that people (mis)reference when talking about it, and the only thing that's there is that they have something planned for after the 20th anniversary and the only reference to it being "big" that I've found was one of the developers saying it's too important to announce in a forum post.

Here's the community team post I'm referring to:
https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/51608/dev-tracker-discussion/208/#reply

Unless there's some other source for SE trying to market the 20th anniversary date as an announcement for something huge, I'd say this is mostly just people huffing their own hopium.

See my post above for a feasibility analysis of that.

It isnt some small indie company... I don't care for your analysis. Plenty of older MMOs still get expansions and aren't even as expensive sub wise as this game. They are getting plenty of money and are capable of expending resources to invest into this game. The problem is they aren't and all that money is going to other projects, which is cause for people to be disappointed. Why do you care to insist that people are delusional for having hopes for a game they play? I can literally go to any other game forum and see people writing hopes for the future of their games and things they would like to see.

It less of an attempt to bait an argument and more of an attempt to stop the spread of misinformation. People going and putting "SE said something big is coming for the 20th" when they said no such thing is bad, because it leads to more people feeling the way Draylo does than needed.

Of course, if I missed an article or interview where they explicitly said an expansion, a roadmap, a hd remake, POL removed, or anything like that is coming, I would love to see it, and so would everyone else.



I'm not sure why people look at other MMOs for comparison to knock on FFXI. Everquest isn't FFXI. Its the same silly reasoning people used to say FFXI classic would work because of how WoW classic worked, even though those are very different circumstances.

Because completely divorcing your hopes and desires from reality can only lead to disappointment.
The difference between XI and other older MMOs is that those games actually have fully staffed and funded development teams. If SE ever decides to allocate headcount and money to Matsui, we can absolutely get another full-fledged expansion. But until that happens, it's simply better to keep your expectations in check, for your own emotional well-being if nothing else.

First and foremost, why not? XI is built up after the idea of Everquest, as shown and explained in the Livestream. SE looks at competition often to improve, such is how FFXIV became to be so big.

Classic is taboo, but in reality, it'd work. The private servers has a lot of players, more then what people would like to admit that advocate retail.

Expending the game just keeps the game healthy. Adoulin was in 2012, its been 10 years since the last expansion release. New exploration is great, it keeps people around, it gives incentive to work on more projects.

I appreciates the updates we get, with all the *** it sometimes bring as well, content is content, it could be nothing at all. There's no reason to adopt the mantle of being a conservator.

Big companies are now basically controlled by shareholders and the products they make are not made for players or management, but for them. As shareholders care mostly about short-term goals, they do not think about what will happen in the ten years period. By huge chance, they will already cash their shares and move to a different company. Things like NFTs seem like an easier way to get quick cash than making an expansion to the 20-year-old game, which could turn out to be a success with the same chance for it to be a flop.

For this reason, I wouldn't expect anything big, even if I would love to see a new expansion, new graphic hud, jobs, or monsters. Why invest in a big AAA thing, when a simple smartphone game with gatcha system can often bring better money compared to the investments made?

Fair enough, but I would argue it is almost never a 1 to 1 scenario. Old games that are still getting expansions are likely supporting their flagship MMO. FFXI isn't SE's flagship anymore, for better or for worse.


Hey man, I like the classic private servers. I go back and play on one of them at least a few times a year, mostly when the retail updates are light and I cancel my sub as a result. The question is, how many of those people on the private servers would actually pay a sub in the event a classic server officially made? No way to tell, but certainly not all of them. In addition, I'm not sure how many people would abandon their years of work on the classic private servers to start over.


Everyone would love a new expansion, but we were told outright in 2015 that major updates for FFXI were over. Of course, some things have changed since 2015. They obviously weren't planning for a new storyline to roll out in 2020 back in 2015. I would argue though, however, that major updates being over hasn't changed. Until we're explicitly told otherwise, I think its a bad thing to pretend otherwise, and its a very bad thing to spread misinformation that only leads to more disappointed players. The people who went into the 20th live stream with tempered expectations are at the very least ok with what we are getting.

Business perspective wise, you are more then correct. It's a bit of a sad new reality but one that did became accepted as younger and new gamer takes over.

That being said, I think the main issue at this XI really has, is that PS2 dev kit. I can't imagining recruiting developer for this to be easy. Interim's would be perfect for a game like XI, however I can't many who comes out of school knowing to work such an archaic coding.


I've played a lot of WoW, and a big chunk of that was WoW private server. I played classic when it was officially made, it did reunited many players, I've played all the way through burning crusade because doing Black Temple was my dream as a teen, now that is done. (Also I felt like I finally accomplished my goal in WoW so I decided to pick up XI again.)

The problem with private servers, is nothing is guaranteed. Yes 1 or 2 for example has been around for a long time. But the bulk of them had drama / merge / character data issues because they're not professionally handled or have any etiquette or company procedure to refer to. So the plug can be pulled out pretty easily on those.

And that is the reason why WoW classic worked out. But I can even go further and say Lineage 2, another game from the early 2000s, which I played, did also classic servers, it actually worked for them for a while. But NCsoft is being NCsoft as always and threw in cash grab stuff. People would have stick to it if they would have been more authentic otherwise.

So after having done private for multiple MMOs, I'm confident a FFXI classic would work out. Now, would I play FFXI classic? Heck no, this game is way hard on classic mode. I love retail and all it offers and QoL it has to offer.

That's the thing, it did change. SE tried to have FFXI players moving to FFXIV, I remember the legacy subcription offered, free game time. I played FFXIV, it's okay for what it offers but it's not really for me. I won't start getting going on the bullets and the whys of why XIV doesn't work for me. But I do go back when there a few big update and try to keep up my character up to date as much as possible for a month or two every now and then. And the reason why I do it, is because of what you stated.

SE threaten to end XI left and right and that way I got a foothold on their big MMO if XI comes to end. I strongly believe that those who wish for something to happen don't only do hope so only to have more content to do. But it would also bring in a sense of security, which is something I can rally behind. But at the same time, I'm personally on a reality check, and the situation or more less favorable. Yes we do get bits left and right, but it's still very little.

I see this kind of opinion on the internet often but I don't think that is the reality.

Customers is always on top of the food chain in capitalism because they are the one paying for products and services. Investors will pay but they are looking to make more money than they invest, which is profit came from paying customers. without customers paying investors will never make any money.

If, for whatever reason, that you as a customer feel the company isn't providing service that you look for, and the company is still making money, then it's probably because someone else is a happy customer and continue to pay.



Or maybe it's the gacha players wanting short term entertainment and pay mad money to SE so SE make more of them. Not sure why is this investor's fault when it's clearly just customer preference problem.

Doesn't the health of bosses scale according to how many people are present at start, just like Delve and Incursion?
I thought this was the case for both Vagary and Omen.

Omen also has scaling for the objectives but that stops at 6 so it's sorta irrelevant for the example we're tryin to make here.


Shoul've added Geas Fete to the list, health of those NMs does scale with number of participants at start as well.

Also building entirely new devkits and converting the existing game to be compatible with said devkits given most of the ps2devkits they mass bought for RoV are broken.

Okay so I have a question , IIRC when mentioning the +2/+3 of the Empy armor sets, Wasn't it said that jobs wanted/needed to have tweaks/reworks before these armors were upgraded? I know that the OFFICIAL anniversary date is the 16th. so maybe more announcements then? I also know that playing this game off and on for the duration of its lifespan, that I need to be realistic and remember how updates/content come to this game. also the mentioning of TVR only being halfway done through with this upcoming update means that any type of "BIG" content could very easily come out over the course of the year. That being said back to the original point of my question, unless I misread the information about job tweaking seems kind of redundant to mention that then say nothing about it after the news of the armors being upgraded in July

I don't think it's unreasonable for people to have expected this anniversary to be more substantial. They've been talking about this for at least 3 years.

1. May 16, 2019
- http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/17052/detail.html
|...The development and operations teams are working in tandem to bring you the best Vana'diel experience ever as we approach our next major checkpoint—the 20th anniversary—...|

2. Jan 1, 2020
- http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/17505/detail.html
|...You may recall that last year I declared our intent to bring FINAL FANTASY XI's safely to its 20th anniversary together with all of you...|

3. May 16, 2020
- http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/17822/detail.html
|...will remind everyone of our humble beginnings those many years ago as we march ever forward toward the 20th Vana'versary...|
|...The team is always looking for more ways to continue to provide you with unforgettable experiences, particularly as we look toward the 19th and 20th Vana'versaries...|

4. Jan 1, 2021
- http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/18325/detail.html
|...2021 rings in the 19th year of operation for FINAL FANTASY XI. As we countdown (count up?) to the 20th Vana'versary, we're planning a variety of activities...|
|...our all-new storyline that will carry us from August 2020 through the 20th Vana'versary...|

5. May 16, 2021
- http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/18549/detail.html
|...While the 19th Vana'versary is of course an important milestone, we're already underway planning special events to celebrate the even bigger 20th Vana'versary that will soon be upon us...|

6. Jan 1, 2022
- http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/19018/detail.html
|...May 16th of this year marks the 20th Vana'versary of FFXI...In advance of this momentous occasion, last year we launched the celebratory WE ARE VANA'DIEL promotional website...|
|... the site is chock full of content to enjoy ahead of our 20-year celebration...|
|...the development and operations teams are working their utmost to ring in the 20th Vana'versary in style...|

Personally I got exactly what I was expecting, so I can't say I'm particularly disappointed because I was expecting just that.
Lotsa memory reminiscing, cameos, interviews, contributions from various game designers and players, cooperation with CyGames and some in-game announcements, namely the new content and empy reforge.

If anything you could say I was expecting a bit more english subtitles and I was expecting them to show us a trailer for the new content. Well yeah maybe I was expecting that, but what we got is not too far off so I can't exactly call myself disappointed.


At the same time I wouldn't say that the possibility of some paid mini expansions was to be ruled out completely. I wasn't expecting that myself but I can't fully blame people who were expecting somethin like that



I absolutely agree with that Essylt BUT we don't work at SE human resources, so how were we to know what goes on behind the curtains?
I mean, hiring 15 more people, not telling us or anyone else (why should they?) and making them work on a new expansion with minimal cooperation with the current main team, who keeps on working on the live game, wouldn't have been so unbelievable, now would it?
It's how things are done in most MMOs after all. One team cares for the live game, one team cares for the next expansion and then they switch over once the expansion is released.

I believe that issue has already been solved, at least to a degree, otherwise we wouldn't be getting the content we already are (since the devkits were actually bought for SoA and RoV was riding on the remains of that stash).

True. But so far, at least, there has been no evidence of them getting more headcount.

None of those quotes promise any big releases, just a celebration (which we got/are getting).