Niko

Looks like the truth hurts. No amount of rate downs will change that, but A for effort!

There are two issues in this article that make it completely and utterly stupid.

First of all, "why would Square do this?" In other words, why would a company ever try to outsource something when developing and supporting a product? Do you honestly lack the common sense to grasp why would that be? They wanted to save money, and they don't (or didn't) want to develop an internal billing system like POL when they could outsource it instead. (HINT: that's the benefit, and no, it doesn't always end up benefiting consumers, just like with any other outsourced project).

Secondly, Tanaka has NEVER LEFT HIS POSITION as the Producer of XI and more importantly the manager of the 3rd development division at SQEJ headquarters where both MMO's are being developed. To think that Tanaka is somehow out of the picture (or ever was) is the type of thinking you might see on the official forums by people who take anything they hear as a fact.

The community backlash was so severe they figured they will lose less money by providing alternate means of payment (hopefully internal). That's all there is to it.

To be honest, aside from the plans to overhaul the battle system and faster frequency of updates I liked Tanaka's plan for the winter better.

"Have they included some ingame tutorials yet ?"

They are going to make tutorials better for March. Since that was supposed to be the PS3 versions release, they concentrated on getting everything done until then. I don't think those plans have changed even with the PS3 delay though.

@Dranaerys & chrisredfield31

Definitely. The only way to really make up for the failure is to fix the game and make it good. However, this will take time and while they're making progress, it will take even longer. For the time being, they can not do more than they already have. The future of the game is looking grim, but it could be a lot worse too.

It is also sad to see a single person's mistake is being reflected for the whole team. One person decided the budget, as well as the schedules. And he has resigned from his position.

One thing is for sure- mediocre is not enough. They need to impress us with something substantial, and I hope the new producer will deliver.

"I don't know why people keep saying it's "impressive" that they admitted the game sucks. It's like admitting the sky is blue. "

Not really. It's not your fault that the sky is blue, and neither is it a bad, shameful thing to admit.

It isn't easy for people to admit their mistakes. At least no other MMO has done it so eloquently, and with actual consequences (free playtime).

You can say the game sucks all you want, but they have done nothing but the right things for the past two months. That should count for something.

"Actually, FF11 ripped off Everquest in so many ways, I can't even begin to list them. The most novel aspects of FF11 were TP, skillchains and MB, in my personal opinion. Much of the remainder was based on early Everquest, including NMs and the egregious economy."

Job system and more focus on story mean nothing?

The more the game developed, the farther it departed from the standard EQ model. Although no one can deny EQ had a lot of influence to it.

Can't really ask more of them, especially Tanaka. His mistake, his responsibility, and his demotion.

Now it's time to own.

@Solp

Then I have no idea what you were thinking while writing that. If you really knew about the updates, what you said makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

"They should be adding MORE current mobs (which they are) and there is no mention about FIXES (because it's all in the lodestone)".

I'm sure there will be Real things to bitch about in the actual update, so you'd better save your ammunition there.

@Solp

So they are doing both, yet you still complain? And had you read the notes, you would know fixes are coming and why this news has no real info.

But then again, you don't need to know anything to troll properly. Mission accomplished.