Seeking A New Horizon: MMO Private Servers and Preserving the Past
My party of six was busy killing crabs in Valkurm Dunes, a normal experience party like any other, when the unthinkable happened. One member of our party, a Black Mage, was doing Black Mage things — chain casting elemental spells and dealing damage — when he accidentally pulled aggro. Normally, this is nothing major, but he somehow managed to pull the crab at the exact moment before the crab used his weaponskill. Now, crabs have a few weaponskills they can choose from: on the weaker end for example, Bubble Curtain is a minor area-of-effect water attack that isn't particuarly frightening. They can also use a tankbuster weaponskill called Scissor, however, and this crab decided to do just that on our Black Mage before any member of the party could respond. This tankbuster hit so hard it reduced the Black Mage from 100% HP to dead in the blink of an eye.
This wasn't just any Black Mage, however — this was a "hardcore" character. Hardcore characters only get one life before their stats are recorded on a global leaderboard, and a depressing message is broadcast across all maps on the server. This message popped up in the chatbox, showing a survival time of nearly 200 hours played for the Black Mage. The entire party expressed their condolences, but the Black Mage seemed oddly okay with it. A short wait for a Raise later, and we were back to killing crabs and gaining experience. Just another morning in HorizonXI, a Final Fantasy XI private server.
Private servers for MMOs are nothing new — dedicated fans for MMOs that are long dead or abandoned by their parent companies are plentiful, and so is their desire to keep those games alive. I've written about one for Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE before, and that server is still kicking around a year later. Private servers for games that are still actively being maintained by their parent companies, however, are a completely different story. You can register for an official account and pay subscription fees to access the official version of Final Fantasy XI right now, with very little headache. So why play a private server?
To understand that, first we have to examine game development and design for a two-decade-old MMO. When Final Fantasy XI launched (and for several years afterwards), the game leveraged challenging (and even sometimes outright hostile) design against its players to promote camaraderie amongst its players. Unlike modern MMOs, once you reached level 10, you weren't just expected to join groups to continue leveling — it was mandatory. The popular leveling spot from level 11 to 20 was Valkurm Dunes, and you could not easily survive there without a group of four to five party members beating things up alongside you. This was intended gameplay at the time, and it lasted pretty much the rest of the game until level cap.
Over time, however, the idea of needing to play with others in a Massively Multiplayer Online game started to come into question. Final Fantasy XIV had returned from its rebuilding phase as A Realm Reborn, and players were enjoying the solo-focused progression through the game and story. World of Warcraft had long since focused on solo-play for leveling and group-play for dungeons and raids, but the design ethos leaned even further in that direction with the highly successful Mists of Pandaria introducing solo-friendly activities beyond leveling (possibly even leaning too far with Warlords of Draenor and Garrisons). On a macro scale, it seemed like MMOs were shifting towards more solo-friendly endeavors, and Final Fantasy XI eventually followed suit.
A new system introduced in 2014, named Trusts, allowed players to summon dopplegangers of friendly NPCs in the game world as party members. You no longer needed to scrabble together a group of people or wait for hours in Valkurm Dunes for a party invite, instead, you just needed to talk to a handful of NPCs and summon them before you go off leveling. While this undoubtedly made for an easier and more streamlined leveling experience for players, there was definitely a loss as well. Trusts became the de facto way to level all Jobs for all reasons, and since you no longer needed to invite others, you no longer interacted with other players outside of your Linkpearl (Guild).
This is just one of the sticking points for many who remember the older days of Final Fantasy XI, and partly why private servers for this game exist. HorizonXI is what is known as an Era server, which is to say that it attempts to be "era" accurate to the expansions as they released, sans a few changes. The server is currently on the Chains of Promathia expansion (circa 2006), and it is preparing to launch Treasures of Aht Urhgan in the near future. This means that the majority of the content is recreated or designed for that 2005-2006 era of Final Fantasy XI history — friction and all.
There are no warp crystals to teleport you from Windurst to Bastok — you gotta ride the ferry between Selbina and Mhaura or take the Airship to and from Jeuno. There is no personal Chocobo mount to summon whenever you want, you can only rent Chocobos from specific NPCs. No experience tomes are floating in the wilderness to assign you kill targets for experience, and there are no Trusts or Adventuring Fellows. That may seem oppressive if you're used to retail, but in my experience, learning how to navigate and level up without these conveniences made for a much more enjoyable time than my time on retail.
The server is extremely active (for a private server), with peak playtimes approaching nearly 3000 players — but even in off-peak hours, I've never seen the number dip below 750. How many of those are players afk'ing their Bazaars, I'm not sure, but it's never been difficult to find groups to play with, even with my odd play schedule and time zone. This is partly due to a handful of changes that the developers did make from retail, namely changes to loot drops, experience rates, and specific Jobs.
For example, Thieves have long been maligned as the Job nobody wants to invite to a party (on retail, and at lower levels at least.) They provide little benefit to a group aside from damage, and their damage isn't that special, and there are too many thieves looking for parties when our party needs a White Mage, etc etc. On HorizonXI, Thieves get a little bit of love — they get Triple Attack at level 30 instead of 55, their elemental weaponskills are now hybridized and work with Sneak Attack / Trick Attack, and Mug now gives a flat 5% critical chance bonus to a target (instead of simply stealing gil). These are minor changes that add up into a Job that now, at level 30, can chunk an enemy's HP by 40% or more with proper Sneak Attack / Trick Attack usage.
There are a lot of changes, too many for me to put into one article, but to highlight a few really interesting ones: shields have been buffed to some degree, including stronger and more frequent blocks. Utsusemi: Ichi and Ni (Ninja spell that grants 3 perfect dodges) has had an increase to its recast time by 15 seconds. These two changes alone allow for tanks that aren't necessarily Ninjas to take center stage (although Ninja as a subjob is still the premium choice). Many drops that were extremely nice to have (but only dropped from rare Notorious Monsters) were given "clones", similar items that do the exact same thing but drop instead from boss encounters, offering an alternative way to acquire these items. And, of course, the Hardcore system detailed in the first few paragraphs — when you create a character, you're given one shot to make it as far as you can go before you die.
After clocking 18 and a half days of playtime on HorizonXI, I can personally say that the server is successfully walking a fairly tight rope — how do you keep "good" friction and remove "bad" friction? What differentiates the two, and how do you identify it? These are questions that game designers grapple with daily, and the questions aren't any easier even if you're working on a pre-existing product like Final Fantasy XI. To get an idea of what the thought process was for working on a new version of a decades-old MMO, I reached out to the HorizonXI dev team to pick their brain about the server:
Kipling: Hello, my online handle and name on HorizonXI is Kipling. I am on the admin team and primarily do administrative work, game design work, and game balance work. I joined the project shortly after it was first announced as a Community Manager. Outside of HorizonXI I enjoy playing fighting games. I am currently playing Street Fighter 6 (Ed) the most and am master rank. I am also very much looking forward to the next Fatal Fury game.
Aerec: Hi! I’m Aerec in the community and on the Team. I am on the admin team and was the person who originally came up with this crazy idea that became HorizonXI. I primarily work on Era+ Development, Game Design, Server Administration, and I dabble in everything else. When I’m not coding Horizon? To be honest, most of us on the admin and lead team don’t have time for a lot of things outside of server work - Quite a few of the leads on the team treat the server as their second jobs: Spending 30+ Hours a week contributing. However, when I do find time to sneak away I like to dabble in MTG Commander Nights that one of the devs and I host locally, and games like Old School Runescape and Randomizer versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.
Beira: Howdy, I am known as Beirabear. I am on the admin team and have been with HorizonXI since its early stages of creation. I do administrative work and lead the creative side of things. My free time is currently spent reading, obsessing over my animals, and playing a small assortment of games like Pokemon and Fields of Mistria.
Damarus: Heya! I’ve been part of Horizon since well before launch, starting out as a developer, then taking over a Lead Developer role and eventually joining the Admin team. I play on the server on and off, but mostly just love the development. Outside of XI, the games I play most are D&D for tabletop - I’ve been running a campaign for friends for about 5 years now and have about 7 players at the table - and the Talos Principle on my PC.
The original start of the project was a group of people who wanted to relive the classic level 75 cap era experience, but with a fresh twist, and maybe some custom content. Many of us had played on multiple level 75 cap era servers or very custom servers, but we went into this with the idea that we could capture the spirit of 75 era FFXI while also enhancing the experience and giving players new things to discover. Discovery was a huge part of the original game, and it felt right to play into that. Originally, some founding members of the team wanted a more classic 75 cap experience, while others wanted a more custom experience - we ended up somewhere in the middle.
The primary goal was to make sure the game felt like level 75 cap era FFXI through emphasis on teamwork and social interaction. A lot of modern MMORPGs have somewhat abandoned needing to collaborate with others in many parts of the game, and FFXI at 75 was always special for being so focused on that aspect. Maintaining the social fabric everyone knew and loved was the primary driver for us. In addition to this, we also worked hard to give players new things to explore and grapple with. New items, new quests, new quality of life, custom job changes - it was all in the name of keeping the experience fresh while staying true to what everyone loves about the game.
As for major features that were abandoned - there were some features we did not get to implement, but we have them on the back burner for eventual implementation, such as a “refer a friend” program. Generally, we tend to move delayed features and content into a queue and then implement them over time. The launch server stayed true to our original vision and design scope feature-wise.
No, they have not. We have not reached out either, and there has been no conflict. We have the utmost respect for Square Enix and all of the amazing works they have created. Many of these works have undeniably shaped the lives of so many people, including our team. FFXI impacted all of us so much that we ended up with HorizonXI. We do not think there will ever be a game quite like level 75 cap FFXI ever again. The magic they created was spectacular. We are so thankful to Square Enix for this and encourage everyone to subscribe to FFXI to support the game.
The main development effort on these jobs is getting them to work properly, while also figuring out how we can enhance the experience through our Era+ system of custom changes and adjustments. Puppetmaster for example, as a pet job, is extraordinarily complex from a coding perspective. Not only do we have to nail interactions with the player themselves, but also the automaton, and how that interacts with the server. Blue Mage is also very unique in its spells, spell learning process, and the properties it gains through equipping different spell sets. Then you finish the trio with Corsair which has its own unique Phantom Roll interactions and how to game that system. Overall, the TOAU jobs were very distinct, which makes them compelling to so many players.
We know that all three of the TOAU jobs are hugely popular, so we are putting as much care and effort into making them right as we can. We are also putting a lot of care into the custom job balancing that will go into each of them to enhance the gameplay experience. We want to capture everything players love about these jobs, but also give everyone new things to enjoy and new gear to collect. We are very thankful for all of the community developers and capturers who contribute to getting the code on these jobs in working order.
The server is entirely funded internally by staff. We do not collect or solicit donations, nor will we ever. Nor will HorizonXI ever cost money to play in any capacity. This project is entirely funded by the passion of FFXI nerds with a few extra dollars in their wallets. Every so often, we meet to discuss our monthly costs, and then people on server staff throw a few bucks at it. It’s pretty simple - but it works. While we appreciate requests to help with the server costs, we keep this a private passion project to ensure its ongoing operation.
Fields of Valor was released about a year after the launch of Wings of the Goddess. We have plans to implement it, but likely not until we reach the WOTG era on HorizonXI. While we do have some custom systems on the server, we generally have planned to release most pieces of content sequentially in the expansions they appeared in on era retail, to emulate the progression of 75 cap era FFXI. So in short, it is coming, but not until later. That being said, when it does come out, you can likely expect some Era+ changes to keep the experience fresh.
(editor note: Scavenge (pre-2013) would give the player crafting materials, however post-2013 started granting ammo instead, such as arrows, bolts and so on. Eco-Warrior is a quest that requires players to team up and take down monsters tucked away in an extremely dangerous cave or mine — on retail, the rewards for doing this were not worth the hassle, but on Horizon it grants a massive experience boost.)
We have an internal mandate that all Era+ changes must solve some kind of problem. The reason for this is if we go overboard with custom changes, you start to lose the details that made level 75 cap era FFXI so special. Accordingly, all Era+ changes are aimed at solving what we perceive as problems or friction points with the game experience.
Eco-Warrior was examined and given Era+ treatment because we felt that the content was fantastic at its core - but the rewards were too lackluster for most players to engage with it. As such, we enhanced the rewards to boost engagement with the content through Era+. We approach all other Era+ the same way. Custom job changes are designed to lean into a job’s identity while attempting to remedy known balance issues. New quests are designed to give new rewards for categories where those rewards may be lacking from the original game, or rework frustrating yet required gear choices like the Thief’s Knife. Quality of Life changes are made to remove unnecessary friction and frustration, while still preserving the game’s “slow burn” feeling of accomplishment.
Our development process generally starts at the ideas stage. Someone on the team identifies a problem, and then we talk it out for a while. We ask: “How can we solve this in a good way through Era+?” Eventually, when we get really serious, we enter the documentation phase, and then it goes to development for feedback and coding. After tha,t it will hit our test server, and once it is ready, it goes to the live server. Then we monitor player feedback and make adjustments as necessary.
We think it would be wonderful if there was official collaboration. We hope someday there is. There are many people who love the level 75 cap era of FFXI, but there is no product on the market for them at this time. We can genuinely say that we are hopeful for the future and what it may hold for 75 cap FFXI, but we will continue to work on HorizonXI in the meantime for all passionate fans like us out there.
End of interview.
As gaming continues to grow, and the design of MMOs continues to change and morph, I do think it's important to highlight private servers that seem to "get it" with regards to their respective source material. You can go and find any Ragnarok Online server with experience rates multiplied by 1,000 — something that, to me, ultimately misses the point. Why play something designed around longevity only to reach max level in an hour, a day, a week? Why play something designed around group cooperation only to summon a bunch of NPCs and play by yourself? Servers like HorizonXI understand what made Final Fantasy XI special — logging in, finding a group, and experiencing the community around the game you're playing. Sometimes it's watching a fellow adventurer get absolutely demolished by a crab, and sometimes it is working with a bunch of people you don't know to push into a dangerous cavern to complete an objective. When you strip that away for the sake of convenience, you really start to miss what, in my opinion, it is all about: everyone pushing forward towards a distant goal on the horizon.
You can download HorizonXI here (for free), and you can support the official Final Fantasy XI release here.