I have been there. For it all, the betas both open and closed and the early release for the collector's edition, Final Fantasy XIV has grown well, the community is helpful and the content has come along. The game mechanics have nearly been completely revised and leveling itself has changed so dramatically so many times I think we are right back where we started. The world has a soul an organic base that is unmatched in gaming yet the players are all but gone.
What happened? Everquest was a steaming pile of difficulty at release, WOW, LOTRO, crashed to the desktop nearly every cutscene for two years. Why is FFXIV having traction problems, with it's class bending yet strangely classic Final Fantasy style mixed with actual turn-based actions? You happened. The new gamer, the Steam/iTunes/Generation I/Y that's what happened, most gamer kiddies nowadays are onto the next title while Angry Birding under the table. There is an entire generation behind us of kids who are filled with High Fructose Corn Syrup, bad genes, and raging Asperger's combo ADD. This current crop has no investment in a franchise, they vote on a whim, game on a whim, and if something isn't incredibly easy or finalized with DLC in one month, move on to the next First Person Shooter.
The older of us remember waiting anxiously on patches, and new content, much of which (in Everquest's case) was years upon years apart. I take my gaming like my wine: slowly, aged, and perfected. If this makes me an old hipster fan-boy so be it, enjoy changing my diapers while I play Everquest's 38th expansion...
Lore...
The Founding of a Tradition
Ever since the Ministry of Palatial Affairs revealed the rekindling of the Immortal Flames, the latter has not spared a single spherule of sweat to promote its presence to the public. Stepping up their efforts, the Immortal Flames now host Foundation Day, a celebration commemorating the creation of the Grand Companies of Eorzea more than a millennium past.
According to our sources, the concept was conceived at a congregation of committee members for the Eorzean Alliance,* who recommended that the revelry be simultaneously sponsored by all three city-states. Contrived to curb the consternation of civilians while saturating soldiers with spirit and steadfastness, insiders indicate that the event is also intended to regulate the rivalry raging between the Grand Companies to attract adventurers to their ranks.
Regulated roistering aside, the return of the Immortal Flames alone has been a blessing for the burg. Not only has it aided the amelioration of anxiety over the Garlean threat; it also affords adventurers—rapidly rising as the realm's richest spenders—a steady supply of salary. The prevailing perspective at present is one of expedited economic expansion. Even as I put pen to paper, a curious case of collaboration is being brokered between market and monarchy for the minting of memorial money and the subsidization of salutes by firearms.
The current commercial climate is plainly propitious to profit. Whether you prefer to participate in a procession or peddle products to the public, we at The Mythril Eye enthusiastically encourage participation in the pomp and pageantry as a means of monitoring market movement.
Havak Alvak
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