Final Fantasy XIV: “Players Only Allowed 1 Hour a Day”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Aug 24, 2010 14:39 JST
- Tags: Final Fantasy, MMORPG, Otaku, Production Controversy, RPG, Square Enix
Square Enix is introducing a “fatigue” system to upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV which will apparently see players hit with crippling penalties if they play more than an hour a day, with those daring to play more than 4 hours having their XP reduced to 0.
Square Enix acknowledge the existence of the system in an interview and in previous comments, but are strangely reticent about providing specifics:
Tell us about the “fatigue” and “dormancy” systems please.
We wanted to introduce a system to reward players who don’t have a lot of time to play. Maybe it looks as though we are placing long playing users at a disadvantage, but the idea is really to let play for short periods be viable.
Won’t that cause some concern amongst players who play for longer?
We want these players to try different classes. If you change class the fatigue doesn’t affect you, so you could try non-combat classes as well. You actually have more play choices now as you can make more characters.
“Some concern” may be a colossal understatement if early reports of just how draconian the limits are turn out to be correct:
Fatigue goes up to about 50% in 2 hours, and it takes 2 days to go down! So, if you play 4 hours you have to stop playing completely for 2 days!
WHAT!?
Only 1 hour a day!
What’s really amazing is that you have to pay a monthly subscription for this…
They can’t get away with this on a subscription game. They’ll be sued!
So you get bonuses for staying logged out – the servers are going to be nice and quiet, aren’t they!
More on the “dormancy” system:
Recovery takes time.
2 hours of combat or 1 hour of craft will induce “dormancy.”
The dormancy is actually shared over different characters.
It will decrease gains to 0% in the end.
It seems to be proportional to the amount of XP you earn.
Both light and heavy player are going to weep...
Such systems are not unique, but Square Enix appears to have taken the system to an extreme likely to either completely eliminate its “hardcore” player strata – to say nothing of its high-handedness in dictating to players that they can only play an hour day.
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Square Enix: Eliminating the need for parents since 2010.
Omg wow
Are they serious? 1 hour per day?!
Are they afraid their servers cant take it or something?
Real Gamers will not accept this!
why does real gamer mean playing more than 1 hour a day for you?
so... if you don't play more than 1 hour a day you are just a poser?
What he means is hardcore players......and yes
not just hardcore gamers, but casual gamers as well.
seriously, i've logged in longer hours on farmville back when i played it.
Exactly! This hurts every one! An online match on Bad Company 2 can take over an hour
Time to have a REAL life, (ie: girlfriend, go to college, have a job) loosers.
Most people have enough time to be hardcore and still be a contributing member of society.
get the fuck out of here.
Time to learn to spell idiot.
Funny. I'm going to college, have a girlfriend and am job hunting, and I still manage to be a "hardcore gamer."
@17:08 What?! You spend more than one HOUR a day playing computer games? Good grace, do you EVER see the sun?
I get about 60-80 hours a week around university and sleep and I'd still like to play more than I do.
TITS OR GTFO
Leveling isn't as big of a issue as you guys are making it out to be.
I know a beta tester(Youtube username: rocslock) that is currently level 23. He started beta 3 testing August 11th. Go look at his first beta 3 gameplay video and then his most recent video. You can confirm he started on August 11th and he is level 23 in his latest video.
It has been 13 days since rocslock started beta 3. That means he gained 1.7 levels a day. With the cooldown on xp you can assume he got that 1.7 levels within that 1 hour period each day.
**********************************************
MMORPG may turn boys into fags and gurls into dikes, time to limit them. I salute the reform ^_^
"Leveling isn't as big of a issue as you guys are making it out to be... That means he gained 1.7 levels a day."
I love how you idiots think this is a good thing. That's still achingly slow. Play a good MMO sometime, you know, one that actually rewards you through level ups and whatnot.
Anon at 4:35 what "good MMO" are you playing? An MMORPG whose main selling point is grinding 14 hours a day to gain 10 levels is not a "good MMO."
An MMORPG is more that just grinding your balls off to hit level cap. Maybe you should try and enjoy the game a little bit while you level up.
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I thought the archaic battle system was the Best reason to NOT play the game, but this one tops them all~
takes a ******* hours just to go around in town =_=
Exactly...
"They can’t get away with this on a subscription game. They’ll be sued!"
Square, I am disappoint.
They expect you to pay MONTHLY for 1 DAY A MONTH.
Come on.
that like paying $1 an hour to play FF14 on top of paying for the game itself... who the hell would want to try FF14 if WoW is just as addictive and they dont put limits to your playtime?
Most people don't seem to realise this, but early World of Warcraft had a similar system; if you played longer than a certain amount of time, the experience you gain is halved.
Players didn't like this, so they replaced it with the current rested system; now players who play only a limited amount of time have their experience gain doubled.
Interestingly enough, they halved the experience gain at the same time, so the end result for players was exactly the same. Just the wording was different.
Now of course, getting no experience at all is even worse, as are those times allowed to play, but I'm just saying, it has been done before. That, and people stopped complaining about it just because they phrased it differently.
@anon 21:00
This is the first thing that came to mind when I read the title. However, when you think "it's been done before and players didn't mind", I think "how the hell can they even consider that when the most successful MMORPG tried it and decided that it was a bad idea?".
The double experience you gain in WoW is a really insignificant amount even if you stay at an inn for a day or two. It's a bonus. You'll still get more XP for questing for an hour than staying at an inn for a day. What Square Enix is doing it pure stupidity.
When did WoW have this? That is total BS. Rest experience is completely different then this. Rest doubles your xp which is a reward. This is a penalty.
I'll sell you this diamond ring for 50% off! $5000!
Hmmmm, it says 1 hour a day "PER CHARACTER"....which means you could potentially constantly rotate between characters and level up like 24 characters at one time at the same progression.
I miss Squaresoft...
If it's like 11 then that will also cost you since each character is like a extra couple of dollars.
You don't need to make multiple characters.
Dormancy only affects one job, simply switch to a different one, and it resets. You can still play a dangerous amount, it just forces you to have a versatile job set, because they don't want spastics hitting the level cap within the first few weeks, considering how much they rushed FFXIV.
Holy Crap! It can take 15 min to join a dungeon or 30+ min to make a raid party and then at least 30 min to finish in world of warcraft!
this is what FORUMS are for moron... you ARRANGE this beforehand ONLINE, or get your friends on MSN and do all this.
Start adding people from games to em.
SOLVED.
note: each slot was to be paid on FF11
it's probably combat time/crafting time, not idle time.
Why would you go on the forums just to arrange a raid when you should be able to do it in the damn game you are playing for. Stupid fan boys trying to defend a horrible decision.
because it is more fun doing it with friends than random assholes that don't know hoe to play?
better start finding better things to do...XD
gaming is dead!
Again? I swear, there must be some necromancer out there who keeps resurrecting it. Gaming (particularly PC gaming) seems to die every week or so.
It hasn't died as many times as duke nukem forever. Theres gotta be a fucking cult of necromancers working on that one.
As a side note, I want to see what square tries to do for damage control. It should be equally hilarious.
"may" be a colossal understatement "if" early reports of just how draconian the limits are "turn out" to be correct.
Most of the users here can't read between the lines. It's just rumors.
Desperate troll is desperate.
Played out comments are unoriginal.
why are you people honestly complaining. you play one hour every day and go play something else for the rest, or just sit on their and talk to your friends.
honestly why you guys all complaining about not being able throw your lives away.
there's so much anime and manga to watch and read that playing more than 1 hour a day would seriously hinder your ability to stay up to date, totally disregarding reading old stuff or re-watching anything.
imo this is how i play final fantasy xiii usually and seems like a sound business plan.
15$ a month for an hour a day sounds like shit.
If you're paying a monthly subscription fee, you should be able to play as you want for the month. If they're going to restrict your play they need to reconsider charging for their services.
You can play as much as you want fatigue just stops people from wanting to grind to cap in 1 day and whine the game is too short. Fatigue is nowhere near as bad as this is letting on.
I was probably grinding for 5 hours straight before fatigue set in and the XP was still worth it, fatigue was gone the next day. Fatigue was probably added since you don't start at level 1 with every job you keep your level and start at rank 1 on the job but with the HP and MP pool of your level.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard from Square Enix.
"Won’t that cause some concern amongst players who play for longer?
We want these players to try different classes. If you change class the fatigue doesn’t affect you, so you could try non-combat classes as well. You actually have more play choices now as you can make more characters."
Yes, they will, this is just genious.
Actually considering you gain XP even while crafting it is worth doing other things in the game.
I'm in beta, and this post hasent got anything right. This has already been proven false. Cant you do you own reasearch next time?
actually it was because people were suing from fatigue and lost of hours a day... in korea...
my how the mighty have fallen. if i gave a shit about square anymore I might be outraged. but because of it's lax attitude on making quality products, i could care less. bioware has filled in the void where square-enix once resided.
as long as there is a cold bud light in the fridge and better games to play, this is just another nail in their coffin. careful square, you could end up like eidos.
Nobody will accept this. Even casual players tend to sometimes have several hour long sessions on weekends.
Yea, if things keep on like this I, for one, certainly won't be picking it up. It's almost like wasting my money (to say nothing of the monthly subscription fee). They really should keep their "foster parent" bullshit to themselves. Unlike some child, I can play an MMO, and not crash and burn my life.
"Real players will not play this!"
FIXED.
Smashed~
@Quack: Well said.
A cap is ok, it's good for casual gamers and can help reduce addiction, but this is ridiculous.
Exp cut down 10% each hour would sound good to me. 20% if playing time is more than let's say 40 hours a week. Maybe even more for kids.
A game time cap wouldn't hurt, but only for really extreme cases like that guy who played 10 hours a day for years.
I think they should only allow this for the gamers who WANT to be restricted due to their own personal addiction to these games or parents letting children play the games under certain restrictions.
This idea actually isn't bad if they don't force it upon every gamer.
Agreed
"may" be a colossal understatement "if" early reports of just how draconian the limits are "turn out" to be correct.
Most of the users here can't read between the lines. It's just rumors.
Why would I want to pay someone to be my third parent?
There are other MMORPGs out there that are FREE, and as such, FREE hours. If I want to go rotting in front of a monitor for countless hours and die from a UTI contraction, I want that freedom of choice.
"Square Enix: Eliminating the need for parents since 2010."
Ah, just like TV. Wait, what?!
If they charge you per character like in FF XI, then we can have an idea about the motivation behind this feature @w@
Whoever wrote this dreck should be punished. You need to cite your info using the full Japanese quote where they discussed a 1 hour limit, or openly apologize and correct your error.
I don't suppose any of the staff at SankakuComplex are actually in the Beta? If they were and had a clue they might see that there's no such 1 hour penalty. It is true that there is a fatigue system and players aren't happy with it. But it doesn't apply at the hour mark and it doesn't reduce your exp to 0. Most players encounter it only after 10 or more levels and several hours. So it is at least more subtle than that.
So this article says. Learn to read.
I hope you understand that this is false facs?
Do you own research before you believe these kind of rubish fact sites.
1h per day, hahaha. If ppl believe this you must be easily fooled.
Hehe i'm gona link this to Troll.org it'll be a blast haha.
:shrug: meh. Someone will always find a way to circumvent this system some way. Don't underestimate the obsession of a hardcore gamer.