FFXi Version Update Delay

Next big date to watch is Friday. Thats when the scheduled rolling blackouts are suppose to end.. hoping there wont be an extension and will give me hope the game will be up early next week.

The Site to watch:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031406-e.html

While it may be easy to turn the servers back on, making the update/merge happen will probably take more work. Remember, SE's offices are most likely closed as well, which means there's no staff to work on the changes before implementation. We'll probably have to wait a while after the servers are turned before the update/merge can happen.

For once, I don't want SE to apologize. Take your time Square Enix, I'll be here when you get it up and running again.

lol They said keep us abreast. ahaha

Uh, LotRO is free to play...

Instead of merge we should have more servers again... to much over crowding constantly fighting over abysses nm... it is worse then old school end game... well at least close

Why does everyone seem to think Japan is a third world country? Japan as a whole is doing very well to recoup from the disaster that had occured. If you read updates on TEPCO, the power crisis is not as bad as it seems. The rolling blackouts are ONLY scheduled until the 18th.

Get your news somewhere besides FOX and CNN.

The way it is currently going, the servers will be back on time, maybe a few days late. People need to have some faith, remember no matter what had happened SE is still a company. I realize not important to civilization, however i'm fairly sure the executives and owners do not want to keep it down long enough to lose too much money. Its sad to have it work like that when people are suffering, but realize in the real world money is king.

Deal with it.

I'm pretty sure SE aren't up for paying for more servers.

I think its funny too how people think Japan is a third world country while they are actually a first world. They are probably handling the situation better we would here in the states. Overall they are doing what they can...Can't be easy. Now that they have to watch out for those energy plants.

While they are not 3rd world and will do everything they can quickly and efficiently to get their country back on track, they have a much different culture than the U.S. in terms of businesses and supporting their country.

If SE and other game developing companies know that keeping their operations down for a few extra days will benefit the country by all means they will cooperate. It's not the cut throat do or die profit mongering environment in which our corporations are cultivated.

Alot of the gaming community believes that SE will suffer over 12 million in loss revenues if they're shut down for a month. An acceptable loss. However, they also believe that SE will lose apporximately 8% of their subscribers permenantly. this amounts to quite a bit more over an extended period of time.

40 days lol? I'd be super pissed if I was SE employee. They need this stuff called money. Rolling blackouts are not a big deal, just shut the server down before the blackout occurs. Also the blackouts are not occurring in every part of the city either, although I have no idea what "block" SE is in.

This is not a post meant to argue that they should have the servers up by sunday. I'm only saying that the blackouts through April are no reason to postpone turning the servers back on. Some MMO's have daily maintenance where they take the game down for a few hours every morning.

Also, where the hell did that arbitrary 8% number come from haha. I love when people pull numbers out of their ***. There's absolutely no possible way to know how many will leave or stay. It's completely subjective.

Am I the only one who finds it disturbing that people would literally bail on a game they've played and sunk countless amounts of effort and time into simply cause they can't play for a month due to severe worldly circumstances?

^ This

There has been circumstances where I was not able to afford the game for countless months and did not think "well I should quit since I have no money" I myself have put way to much into this game to quit even if it was down for a month. Maybe not a good example but to me it's the same situation of not being able to play for prolonged periods of time. I played my ps3/DSi/etc til I was able to afford it again, and doing the same thing now.

It seems like that predicted 8% need to have their "fix" of having progression done on some virtual alter ego more so than actually finding enjoyment or social fulfillment in FFXI.
These are the people that once they're unable to play something for any period of time say "*** it" and run to the next available MMO to regain their character development mode and go for big numbers.
Kind of sad when you think of all the things they miss out.

Like how awesome the mission storylines are.
How vast and beautiful the world of Vana'diel is.
The friends and bonds we've made and meeting new people.
Finding a degree of mastery in a job class you enjoy more than any other
etc. etc.

It's not just that but like people have said before, eventually others are going to find something esle to do and lose intrest.

The longer they take the bigger the risk of people quitting because they're over it and found better things to do with their time.

I am little shocked how much I miss Final Fantasy... I didnt think I was addicted as much as I am finding out I am... lol

Well, a whole host of reasons were offered. Most of them centered around a newly discovered life outside of ffxi.

I suppose.
I mean will alternatives really overshadow FFXI once the servers are up again? Will people suddenly realize they missed out on what they settled for during the downtime? It just seems so unlikely, yet plausible based on the general attitude many players have as I've noted above.

Most of the subscribers they'll lose will no doubt even notice that the servers were ever back up

So, casuals in other words?
As sad as it is, it wouldn't surprise me if the vast majority of the FFXI population were indeed "devotees" if you will.

Yep, yep, yep!!

Casuals pay the same rate as hard core players. Loosing loads of casuals won't seem that much to the players but the loss in income will be massive.

Vast majority IS devotees, and will return. 8% would hardly be catorgorized as such. Nevertheless, it's a significant loss of revenue that SE could ill afford to lose at this time. Personally, I want to see SE begin focusing on new blood. Their marketing has always been meh, to say the least.

There are long time players of this game that are just bored of it. This is just an excuse to move onto to something else.

Not just casuals...

We call em casuals, SE will call em casualties.

Yeah, I never saw FFXI advertised in an appropriate manner.
The best I got was an occasional vague page on the back of a gaming magazine or two. And even those mags were mediocre, and probably wouldn't attract that many players.

I guess that's where I'm disturbed. It takes a catastrophe like this and the servers being shut down to find an excuse to move onto something different or in a subjective manner: greater.

Most businesses that are classified as "Service" especially in the entertainment genre, rely upon 'word of mouth' advertising.