How can Final Fantasy beat World of Warcraft on the MMORPG department?

Of course we have Final Fantasy XI: Online and its expansions, but WoW is doing so much bettr than it. Do you think there is a chance for FF series to beat WoW in the MMORPG department? If yes is your answer, what do you think should SE do in FFXI (or their fututre online FF game)?

World of Warcraft is that giant that can't be touched. Well, at least not yet. There have been so many new MMORPGs that have come out on the market to trying and gain enough fame off of Blizzard's success. The new idea that has been thrown into the MMO market is that anyone can play the genre. The MMORPG world has always been about hardcore dedication, but today it's more casual friendly.

Believe it or not, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI is quite successful. In reality the most successful MMORPGs have always maintained at least a steady player-base of 500,000. Final Fantasy XI is still one of the most played games in the genre today, even after all these years. World of Warcraft is pretty much a miracle; not even the developers planned for this success.

I believe that one of the main reasons why WoW has been the king of MMOs so far is because they go for quality before quantity. They are trying to make every player able to experience the end game content, not just hardcore players. So the more number of people enjoy the game, the more people are attracted to the game. Not just that, but they are making the game more and more casual while keeping the difficulty hardcore, here is how:

- In the past, you HAD to gather 40 people to come online at the same time and stay online for like 3-5 hours without any breaks if you wanted to get the best rewards in the game, then in the first expansion, they reduced the number of people required to 25, shortened the size of dungeons but increased the difficulty of the dungeons. This has made more players able to experience the end game content while the added difficulty was enough to meet the hardcore player's thirst for difficulty.

- Small dungeons (5-man) took like 2-4 hours in the past to beat, which has limited the number of people who can enjoy the dungeons. Now they made every small dungeon beatable in within an hour while the difficulty is harder than normal. Which has attracted much more players to it while the difficulty remained the same or even made harder.

- In the latest expansion, they gave the players the option to experience the end-game content with 10 people, even the Lich King (Main villain). So this has attracted much more people to play and enojy the end game content while the difficulty of these 10-man raids are even harder than these dungeons that required 40 people in the past.

- The PvP system in the past asked players to fight in Battlegrounds for at least 6 hours a day if they wanted to reach the final PvP rank that gives them the strongest PvP rewards, which has limited the number of players who can enjoy PvP, but in the latest expansion, thanks to the "Arenas", you can get the strongest PvP rewards in the game even if you play for 1 hour a week! But in return, you need to win the battle in order to raise your rating, because the endgame PvP rewards require good arena rating to be bought, so winning the battles is the new kind of challenge to reach the rewards.

I haven't played FFXI myself, so I don't know what does WoW have that FFXI lacks. So in general, they switched the difficulty from "Getting a large number of people online and staying online for a long time" into "Harder boss fights and harder-to-master contents". So my point here is, due to the issues facing the world right now are causing people to become more and more casual, so the more hardcore-limited the game is, the less players it can attract.

I played both World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI. When FFXI first came out it was definitely an alternative to games like Everquest. The job system was definitely unique, and it's world. Just like EQ it was definitely a game for the hardcore gamer; even more so hardcore in my opinion. The problem with FFXI is that the normal enemies you encounter(especially at higher levels) sometimes become tedious. The grind is so long! If you read the review for the Xbox 360 version, Final Fantasy XI hasn't made any real changes to be more casual friendly. You have to be in a party in order to continue to play FFXI at higher levels. And let me tell you, you rarely fight multiple enemies so it doesn't look exciting. Everyone is standing around one &*^% goblin that looks level 1 hitting it. lol

With the list above from the other post, those are some extremely good reasons why WoW is on top! Final Fantasy XI can't even touch those options, which I find horrible since it's been out for so long. World of Warcraft does make things exciting for new players. I played Asheron's Call, Everquest, Final Fantasy XI, and Anarchy Online before play World of Warcraft. I can tell you right now that the first dungeon I did in World of Warcraft(Alliance side in the mines) was absolutely awesome, and was different. That's when I actually became hooked on WoW. Multiple bosses, and waves of enemies. Plus I was a warrior! The game made me feel bad ass. I was this wall standing in front of 10 enemies, not letting them past!

With all that said, World of Warcraft doesn't hesitate to make you feel special. You're not waiting for level 30 to get some awesome armor. And combat which is very similar to a lot of MMORPG is just faster, and it looks cool.

FF's only bet of beating WoW in terms of ranking and not in budget is by making FFXI a FREE MMORPG, maybe they can charge for the game itself and some in-game merchandise, but they must make registration and playing free to beat WoW.

Another approach of making WoW fall is by adding some legendary FF characters in the game like Cloud, Squall, Tidus, etc., that's sure to impress ff fans who haven't played FFXI yet, like me.

 That's all I can think of as of now, what can you say?

I think both are creatures of completely different kinds.

I don't think fans of Final Fantasy will be too pleased to have a FF MMORPG...that's what were the gut reactions towards FFXI anyways. Final Fantasy has been good in the traditional single-player component and I think SE knowing that will focus on it's strengths.

Owing to the recent "change in direction" from FFXI with real-time battle systems there is a certain possibility of a newer FF MMO. In such case I don't think it can beat WoW. Like NeoGen said WoW is a creature which can not be touched atleast not now. The only game that could beat WoW would be perhaps Blizzard's own Diablo III but even that has a single-player part so it isn't pure MMO.

FF would need too many changes to beat WoW in MMORPG department. The most important and crucial change is that it has to become a hack-n-slash... :( 

DIABLO 3!!!!!!!! I AM A HUGE DIABLO FAN!!!

sorry for that outburst

I think both are creatures of completely different kinds.

I don't think fans of Final Fantasy will be too pleased to have a FF MMORPG...that's what were the gut reactions towards FFXI anyways. Final Fantasy has been good in the traditional single-player component and I think SE knowing that will focus on it's strengths.

Owing to the recent "change in direction" from FFXI with real-time battle systems there is a certain possibility of a newer FF MMO. In such case I don't think it can beat WoW. Like NeoGen said WoW is a creature which can not be touched atleast not now. The only game that could beat WoW would be perhaps Blizzard's own Diablo III but even that has a single-player part so it isn't pure MMO.

FF would need too many changes to beat WoW in MMORPG department. The most important and crucial change is that it has to become a hack-n-slash... :( 

lightwarrior179

well, then it wouldn't be the same kind of game as WoW again, making another barrier. Also, FF isn't known as a hack n' slash type of game, so again, that would create even more barriers.

[QUOTE="lightwarrior179"]

I think both are creatures of completely different kinds.

I don't think fans of Final Fantasy will be too pleased to have a FF MMORPG...that's what were the gut reactions towards FFXI anyways. Final Fantasy has been good in the traditional single-player component and I think SE knowing that will focus on it's strengths.

Owing to the recent "change in direction" from FFXI with real-time battle systems there is a certain possibility of a newer FF MMO. In such case I don't think it can beat WoW. Like NeoGen said WoW is a creature which can not be touched atleast not now. The only game that could beat WoW would be perhaps Blizzard's own Diablo III but even that has a single-player part so it isn't pure MMO.

FF would need too many changes to beat WoW in MMORPG department. The most important and crucial change is that it has to become a hack-n-slash... :( 

the_josh9

well, then it wouldn't be the same kind of game as WoW again, making another barrier. Also, FF isn't known as a hack n' slash type of game, so again, that would create even more barriers.

People usually tend to make the mistake of associating MMORPG with hack n slash type of gameplay. It isn't a necessity that every game must have a hack-n-slash gameplay to be classified as a MMORPG. It just is that such type of gameplay is a proven method to addict people something which MMORPG developers want.

FFXI is already a proven example of a non-hack-n-slash MMORPG. To become more popular it might have to move more away from it's turn-based roots and adopt a more action-centric gameplay. 

Would it not then be wise to try and separate itself from the typical MMORPG by retaining the elements that make FF games so loveable to its fans? Could it not then attract more RPG fans by doing so? I think it's a matter of getting the word out there too.... i didn't think anyone still played FFXI, or i would have probably been more inclined to give it a shot... i mean, what's the point of playing an MMORPG by yourself? :lol:

The other part, as mentioned, is making the game accessible, which currently i do not view it as being so. A monthly fee is understandable, but when you're already paying for internet, as well as a membership like XLive, any additional fees kinda turn you off. Is there any way around this?

WoW is too big and out of control for FFXI to ever hope to actually beat it, IMO.

WoW is too big and out of control for FFXI to ever hope to actually beat it, IMO.

SymonDezyn

Then, maybe, SE should make FINAL FANTASY VII: ONLINE. j/k! Don't flame me. :P

[QUOTE="SymonDezyn"]

WoW is too big and out of control for FFXI to ever hope to actually beat it, IMO.

Fantasy_Gamer

Then, maybe, SE should make FINAL FANTASY VII: ONLINE. j/k! Don't flame me. :P

Now that would give sleepless nights to Blizzard and WoW fans! :P 

[QUOTE="SymonDezyn"]

WoW is too big and out of control for FFXI to ever hope to actually beat it, IMO.

Fantasy_Gamer

Then, maybe, SE should make FINAL FANTASY VII: ONLINE. j/k! Don't flame me. :P

you know, if they did.... i would play it! :oops: 

Hrmmmmm....I played FFXI Online for 4.5 years. WoW lasted for me....5 months at the most?

I think that Blizzard went for quantity over quality in my opinion. Maybe I'm just biased :lol: . B/c how I see it is that Blizzard made it easy for even the newest group of pc players feel like they can do something good with themselves. But I started out on FFXI and went I was asked to try WoW out ~ I felt it too easy and terribly boring.

And there's always 2 sides to one coin. Each mmo I guess has there own unique aspects that draws everyone to one or the other that make it fun or facinating.

Personally, I see SE doing some amazing improvements. Now with the new lvl cap battle system, it makes newer players have an easier time lvling since anyone and everyone who has owned the game 3+ years already have 1 or several lvl 75 jobs and an hnmls. Plus SE eliminated the need to have lvl capped equipment. My god that alone sounds wonderful, since I remember having to constantly log out, hop on a character mule and mail myself all my lvl capped gear....and I had it for 3 different jobs. That's painful lol.

I think if SE wants to see some even more improvements in boosting there numbers up, try out an almost same tactic when they brought out the new jobs in Treasures of Aht Urhgan and Wings of the Goddess: but make it new races instead. That might keep people from Q_Qing and actually buy the game. And mebbie make Absolute Virture more easily obtainable LOL :lol:

I have not been able to play FFXI in over 5 months now due to some private matters, but I'm looking fowards to trying to go back here at the beginning of the new year.