PS2 Limitations Thing

Agreements

The space limitations for gear is not because of ps2 limitations, because they used to say that before the satchel and wow now we have a mog satchel (that you had to pay real life MONEY for in order to get mind you) Do you know how much money SE makes from peoples gear mules. Once again it all comes down to the money that SE is making.

They can switch to a PC-specific, upgraded version of the game just fine, provided you guys are all willing to pay about $60 per character (everyone, even those not on PC), and are willing to wait 1-2 years for them to hire back a development team that they no longer have.

We knew awhile ago SE was in the "cut our losses and go" stage of the game.

All MMO's have large "dev" teams to get the product out the door, then they cut about 75% of their staff and go into what's called a "live" mode. Live teams generally only have enough technical chops to maintain the game, not make sweeping changes or recode core systems and engines.

Live teams generally make less, and tend to be more junior developers sometimes headed up by a few original Dev folks. Nobody who's a Dev Team Rock Star wants to be put on a Live team after release, as it's considered a demotion. They want to move on to the next product. MMO's typically don't bring in enough income to support an entire dev team post-launch. (We're extremely expensive.)

I saw that ninja edit!

Edit: both >_>

oh there wouldn't be any sleeping involved once I'm done with yah ;)

So once an MMO is out and up running, they tend to not keep the folks who can make necessary core changes to better the game down the line should demands/expectations change? Seems like a shot in the foot, but a sad state of reality.

I just pictured some JP dude in tight leather pants, a sparkly vest and sunglasses busting through the Dev dept. door at SE, and all the other employees wispering "Oh ***! That *** can edit like a son of a ***!"

Anyway, I'm gonna make a guess that had SE kept their full developmental phase staff, that we'd either pay more somewhere and/or we'd still be looking forward to FFXIII, only to be disappoint.

We could tell that their team was spread thin, especially when peeps of Rapture came out. Little did we know all the good guys were workin on something new while leaving us already playing with their old guinea pig high and dry.

lmao when you said you picture a jp guy i swear i picture edward from twilight im sorry lol

the "sparkly" vest got me

My best guess is that the Star Wars MMO is currently burning up to a million dollars a day in crunch dev budget. FFXI could support this level of dev team if everyone wanted to pay upwards of $190 a month.

Correct. Usually they don't fire these people, they move them to other projects. If there's an expansion planned or an emergency, they can move them back, but it all depends on cross-game scheduling and logistics. It's never terribly agile.

The average turnover for an MMO developer is about 2-4 years at any one given company. You will occasionally find longer, especially at a company known for chains of mega-hits like Blizzard. But generally those with the core knowledge of how the game works are gone and off to other companies a few years after release.

I think he means core major code changes, aka graphical changes, or for the sake of argument a new battle systems ect, those types of changes, a new expasion and levels is pretty minor in the *** scheme of things because the core code is already there...

Yup.

You trying to say I'm wrong?

Generally, there is a difference between "developing" and "content." Developing, for instance, is writing the battle system. Content is adding a new skill to said combat system after release.

If the game is architected intelligently, the original developers have created a modular system to add new content and behaviors on the fly without needing a core programmer. For instance, World of Warcraft uses Lua. That way, someone without much coding skill, like a Designer or a Writer, can go in and add new skills, abilities, items, etc once the core developers have all moved on shortly after launch.

Raising a level cap is likely just flipping a switch, then pouring on a bunch of designers and content monkeys to write a bunch of new items, skills, abilities, etc into Microsoft Excel and making sure it's balanced.

Similarly, making a new zone, quest, monsters, etc, is usually a similar modular system. You're not re-coding the server just to add a new kind of Uber Dhamel that breathes fire.

I was gonna say something funny... But there is simply no need to after something like this being said.

He said it right !

That is prolly one of the most intelligent things I've herd today.

They should at least add new areas and not reskin them in every expansion :/ (I'M LOOKING AT YOU WOTG/ABYSSEA)

"I concur, isotopes is the ***, brah."

I really want Eagleeyes to make a picture of a fire breathing elvaan dhamel.

I agree but i think it has a lot to do with final fantasy 14, and they feel its not worth their time and effort into new area's.

Outside of those obviously :P Yeah I like the WotG areas but I still wanted some new areas like with CoP and ToAU. The past-only areas are cool (especially Vunkerl) and I would've liked some more of those.