Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

[Aeni]

Okay ... maybe that was a bit sensational in headline. However, it seems like the peak periods of activity on this server happens to be around 11am PST and lasts all the way to about 11pm PST. After that, activity just ... takes a nose dive. Whatever problems there were with overcrowding at camps or in the Wards seem to be a thing of the past during the times that I log on (10pm to 2am PST)

Anyway, I'm finding my market for my goods drying up. It's becoming quite disheartening to not be able to move things that I've made like the way I was doing 2 weeks ago. For example, these hammers for BSM. I would put them up and it would sell out in just 2 hours. Now, I'm finding it difficult to sell 4 or 5 of them within a 4 day period.

I don't know what to do. If I want to continue with crafting, then I'm going to have to solely rely on crafting leves every 36 hours in order to progress since there's relatively no economy to speak of. It appears that most people gave up on the bazaar system and have taken to just buying things at 30 to 50% markup from character bazaars in front of the inn. Testament to laziness > any company's best intentions.

If anyone on Palamecia needs the services of a blacksmith, albeit not as progressed as some of these ridiculously hardcore players (Rank 40+), let me know. I need some purpose to continue plugging away at the craft. Even the prospects of PS3 players bolstering the population and the economy seems bleak atm.

[Freelancer]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Well, people are ranking up so 2 weeks ago maybe there were many people @BSM 10-20 that needed the hammer, those that got it still use it and they're surely started making it themselves and those that out grew it sold it and that's more hammers in the market, so you won't sell as many.

What to do?

Make something else, its tough and annoying but thats the only thing you can do, since lets face it, not many newbies around anymore to keep buying the low ranked stuff.

I used to make a killing off Sheepskin gear and and such, mainly rank 1-13 gear and now you can forget that, DOM/W people are in the 20s now, and so are most crafters, and they're making stuff to sell as well.

Just push on to rank 20+ and try making iron tools.

[Etra]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Huh? Peak playtime seems to be fine (well, in comparison to the others) for the Japanese. Palamecia gets about 750 people online from 5pmEST to maybe 2amEST. Otherwise, I see about 1300 to 1400 people online during 8amEST to noon.

[Aeni]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Huh? Peak playtime seems to be fine (well, in comparison to the others) for the Japanese. Palamecia gets about 750 people online from 5pmEST to maybe 2amEST. Otherwise, I see about 1300 to 1400 people online during 8amEST to noon.

Have you been online around 10pm PST? Because Limsa Lominsa is a ghost town and I've been to Ul'dah a few times and it's a lot less crowded than two weeks ago. The wards are slowly being emptied of retainers so that even renting a stall is not an issue anymore (you could never find an empty one before)

I could just adjust to what I can make and sell but I wanted to be a niche in the tools department. Weapons seem to sell even slower than tools but we'll see. Someone commented on the fact that low level gear was selling for a high amount because more and more players are starting to catch on that wearing over-ranked items on their character was a big waste of money AND an actual disadvantage over wearing appropriate ranked gear but I'm not really seeing that market being any more or less better than the sub-rank 40s ...

[Ziero]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

I've been playing at the most wonkiest of hours myself, and I dunno if it's cause I'm on one of the more "populated" servers or what, but when ever I'm on, there's always tons of people. Plenty of JPs, EUs and NAs despite whenever I decide to log on.

Lower level gear and lower level camps are probably harder to move and less crowded because, well, people level up and move on. Less people need the low level stuff (even after realizing that appropriate level gear is better then higher ranked stuff) and less people crowd the low level camps. Combined with the fact that the JP version was actually the least bought version currently, and that most JPs probably preferred to stick to their own "official" servers, and it's understandable why it would seem certain things and certain groups are less wanted or active then they used to be.

Most JPs are probably waiting for the PS3 version anyway, when that launches the game will see a massive population boon from all areas but most especially the JP players.

[Aeni]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Most JPs are probably waiting for the PS3 version anyway, when that launches the game will see a massive population boon from all areas but most especially the JP players.

I'm not sure if this will be the case since Sony has sold less PS3s than PS2s this time around. If anything, there won't be any more PS3 players than PC players (numbers should be about even) for this game. If I were SE, I'd push the game harder for the PC than for the PS3 since you have a very limited audience to peddle the game to and it's a hard sell to convince those without a PS3 unit to get one just to play a game that has received a lot of negative reviews and publicity for the PC release.

As for what is happening on the XBox front, I can only imagine that those with an XBox more than likely have a PC to run the game and so it's not like they are going to dramatically increase market share going down that road. Assuming SE is still remotely interested in porting the game over to XBox still. I'm almost certain that whatever interest Microsoft had before their negotiations broke down more than likely dissipated over the past few weeks. All of the upcoming updates are not only to repair their PR with gamers and to convince dissapointed customers to return, but it can affect how they impress other companies in the gaming industry for future collaboration and projects.

[jenova_9]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

mmorpgs are more popular than ever, especially with PS3 growing in success, mew! MMORPGs certainly are more popular than they were during the PS2/FFXI days, even though mmorpgs have yet to go mainstream on consoles, it will happen starting with mmorpgs like FFXIV!

PS2s never came with a harddrive, but harddrives being standard for PS3, its even more capable with mmorpgs than PS2 was and it will certainly make more sales on PS3 since that version will certainly be better, with everything PC version started with, and much more, fixes included!

[Aeni]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

mmorpgs are more popular than ever, especially with PS3 growing in success, mew! MMORPGs certainly are more popular than they were during the PS2/FFXI days, even though mmorpgs have yet to go mainstream on consoles, it will happen starting with mmorpgs like FFXIV!

PS2s never came with a harddrive, but harddrives being standard for PS3, its even more capable with mmorpgs than PS2 was and it will certainly make more sales on PS3 since that version will certainly be better, with everything PC version started with, and much more, fixes included!

PS3 a success? Ask anyone but Sony and they'll tell you a different story. One of the most expensive disappointment in the gaming industry for the current generation. It's still not a flop but in comparison to PSX and PS2, it's definitely not in the same league.

41 million or so units worldwide (5 million in Japan) for PS3 versus around 120 million or so worldwide in 2008 (Over 140 million in 2010) with over 20 million sold in Japan for PS2. Only 1/4 of PS2 owners own a PS3 in Japan which directly correlates to a smaller demographic for FFXIV's reception.

Having a hard drive or not does not influence a player's decision on buying a game. The PS2 HDD versions were plentiful when they were first introduced and was only phased out due to just mostly FFXI requiring it. Since most everyone who owned FFXI and liked it enough to continue playing it owned that version there was no more need for Sony to continue selling it.

[jenova_9]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

with time passing and console price drops, eventually PS3 will be the PS2 of this era! Companies like SE wouldn't develop high quality games for it if they wouldn't make a profit out of it.

[Aeni]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

with time passing and console price drops, eventually PS3 will be the PS2 of this era! Companies like SE wouldn't develop high quality games for it if they wouldn't make a profit out of it.

PS3 will be long forgotten when that time comes. Do you live in a bubble or do you not know many of the first world nations are undergoing extremely difficult economic times? Unless Sony is willing to price PS3 at $129 like they did with PS2 there will not be a dramatic increase in sales. PS4 will be their next bet and I think they'll likely promote it well over the PS3 if they don't want to compete toe-to-toe with Nintendo's Wii in the sub $100 market.

[jenova_9]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

ya but no matter how much Wii sells, Wii is one of the worst platforms to develop an mmorpg of FFXIV's depth and system specs.

Wii is basically a modified gamecube, hardware very outdated and the controller is not practical for some popular types of games, and no quality online services.

So ya it is pointless to compare console sales because that doesn't mean a more successful sales console is better than the other. Wii doesn't even exist as far as games like FFXIV is concerned.

Obviously people aren't going to pick up a Wii if they want to play FFXIV. And many people don't want to deal with PC troubleshooting, building and prices.

[Ufgt]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Have faith in sony's 10 year plan.

[Aeni]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Obviously people aren't going to pick up a Wii if they want to play FFXIV. And many people don't want to deal with PC troubleshooting, building and prices.

My point is that hardly anyone is going to buy a console to play just ONE title. They're willing to pickup an accessory to do so (i.e., HDD for PS2) but a whole new $300-400 console system? Not in this economic climate. Sony is more than welcome to step into the world of Wii and try to compete with Nintendo at the $129 price point (Nintendo doesn't need to do this because every other console is priced at least $50 more which affects the psychology of most middle class income earners)

Also SE has dropped the system requirements by a lot (since beta) to just "run" this game. If you want the game to look photorealistic, then you're expected to spend a lot of money for that experience. But just to play? You don't need a Ferrari to do so.

[jenova_9]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

My point is that hardly anyone is going to buy a console to play just ONE title. They're willing to pickup an accessory to do so (i.e., HDD for PS2) but a whole new $300-400 console system? Not in this economic climate. Sony is more than welcome to step into the world of Wii and try to compete with Nintendo at the $129 price point (Nintendo doesn't need to do this because every other console is priced at least $50 more which affects the psychology of most middle class income earners)

Also SE has dropped the system requirements by a lot (since beta) to just "run" this game. If you want the game to look photorealistic, then you're expected to spend a lot of money for that experience. But just to play? You don't need a Ferrari to do so.

PCs are still heavy and clunky to move around. And they are so vunerable to viruses and more likely accounts stolen, and squillions of other issues. And PS3 offers a decent hardware standard that's better than most average PC setups, and more affordable than the expensive PC setups.

Also PS3 uses up less electricity, so the electric bill is more affordable too.



PCs are still too complicated, pricey and problematic to be worth gaming with. No wonder most PC gamers are the loudest, cranky and most bitter gamers in the world.

[Raydeus]

Re: Palamecia and the death of the JP Players

Don't say stuff like that J9, it just makes it sound like you are the one being cranky because you can't afford buying a decent PC.


If anything PC gamers appear to be louder for the simple fact that they are way more comfortable using forums and other communication tools. Whereas console gamers have historically had very little contact with it until very recently (from a gaming point of view) unless they had a PC in the first place.

Give it time, once console games get used to their in-console browsers they will be louder than PC gamers. Who will be too tired of it by then to bother anymore.