Free to play plans?

[Caketime]

The amount of tears this thread has generated at the very idea of F2P gaming is hilarious. My favorites so far are the posts outlining what will happen in painstaking detail if this hypothetical situation occurs. Next time I need the future divined for me I'm asking you dudes.

[Mirage]

Not free to play indefinitely, but having like the first 40 levels free, regardless of how much time you spend getting there, would prbably be good.

[Umichi]

Well, if you want more gear/weapons/events, it should only be fair you pay more, right?

Truth of the matter is I stopped caring about having the best gear a long time ago because I knew if I obsessed to much over having the best gear, I would likely turn to RMT. I think everyone would. Everyone else obsessed about gear. But many did not turn to RMT and played the honest way. And still others did turn to RMT to improve at least a few times. I know how tempting it can be to turn to RMT.

So, F2P wouldn't change THAT much. People will always buy game cash. You can't stop that. They want to win and will do what they feel necessary to do it. And no, they won't get caught till it's too late. I mean, look at what Lance Armstrong did to a different game? And he fooled everyone for years.

and look where that got him, he's pretty much shunned from the cycling community now, he's no longer a hero to people and he lost all of his awards.... cheating ingame by going to rmt si just the same so don't user that sort of logic...

[Umichi]

Fuck no. Horrible idea, for any game, ever. Whoever thought of these things first deserves to be hung.

That aside, the price they asking is a lot. It's still one of the most expensive pay-to-play games I know, despite being as terrible as it is. They should reduce the fee substantially imo, I know that would bring back some people who don't consider the current fee acceptable, without having to result to such awful ideas like cashing in on optionals.

most mmo's cost around 15 dollars ffxi still hasn't changed ther subscription fee i think and it's been 12 for a long time...

[Zarchery]

I'm confused here. FFXI sucks, so it should be free?

Square-Enix is still a business, not a public service.

[nyheen]

LoL i cant believe you guys complaining about the price. it not even that much. lot of others great MMO got monthly fees like WoW and they doing fine. are you guys seriously trying to turn it into a free to play MMO? if this was free it would not be wasting time putting out them exp packs like SoA and any of the old ones. if they did it would be rushed with little to nothing on it.

honestly to me most of them Ftp games are kinda rush, cheesy and almost all made the same. some look nice but i guess that just me. or maybe i played just the sucky one?o.o

[xbobx]

I'm confused here. FFXI sucks, so it should be free?

Square-Enix is still a business, not a public service.

You do know that many mmos have actually made more money switching to FTP than they did with subs right?

[Umichi]

LoL i cant believe you guys complaining about the price. it not even that much. lot of others great MMO got monthly fees like WoW and they doing fine. are you guys seriously trying to turn it into a free to play MMO? if this was free it would not be wasting time putting out them exp packs like SoA and any of the old ones. if they did it would be rushed with little to nothing on it.

honestly to me most of them Ftp games are kinda rush, cheesy and almost all made the same. some look nice but i guess that just me. or maybe i played just the sucky one?o.o

wow is not a good example as they have a free to play option up to lvl 30.

[Dragoy]

I as well think FINAL FANTASY XI to be (too) high on the price. It will obviously be even more so when playing with more than one account at the same time. Of course, that is up to the player to choose to do, but the game itself can in my opinion be blamed quite a bit for that just as well (inventory/storage\crafting woes to name a few, not to mention how much it can be of help with the events like Abyssea).

FFXI doesn't cost a lot to play at all, and I and a lot of other players play the game at least once a day, 4-7 days a week so that to me would be worth the small amount they ask for. The amount I pay for FFXI is 1/4 of the amount I pay for my mobile phone bill every month, so hardly breaking the bank

To me, FFXI costs about 16 times as much as my phone bill does (actually 32 times since I have two accounts (both with 4 characters)). ^^;


Would I want it to be free-to-play?

Very likely not, because it would require some silly changes. There are games that have 'premium' areas, abilities, spells, housing and such, but it's possible to play for absolutely free, and do a lot from which one big thing is to keep in touch with friends.

So as many have more or less already said, I'd say the current 14-day trial should be improved upon. Could probably drop the time restriction, and definitely make them able to party together, and talk to people. It's difficult to help, when they can't even ask for it.

As it is now, the trial probably does discourage more people than encourage.

I think enough has been said about that. I don't think there is any reason not to be able to let there be 'free areas'. Don't think there's need to restrict level even (especially if you have already attained it before). Free/Premium choice, I would welcome. Yes.


The very least I think they should do, is reduce the monthly fee. I'd say at least half of the current fee would perhaps be enough, but I guess one can only dream about that. Perhaps they'll make another 'pay for XIV and XI at the same time, and get a wee bit of a discount, yo!'


Blubb.

[Arcon]

most mmo's cost around 15 dollars ffxi still hasn't changed ther subscription fee i think and it's been 12 for a long time...

It's 13, and that's "around 15" as well. Also, I don't know about the US situation, but that's not true in Germany and Europe, and from what I could find on Google after a 1min search it's not very true in the US either. WoW is the only one I could find that costs 15/month, and all of them, including WoW, have plans that can get you a cheaper total than FFXI (such as buying several months in advance). And that's still not counting additional characters, which many other games offer for free.

I'm confused here. FFXI sucks, so it should be free?

Square-Enix is still a business, not a public service.

It sucks, so it should be cheaper. Charging 50 bucks for a bag of poo is not good business. Profit = monthly fee * subscribers. If the monthly fee is lowered, the number of subscribers will be higher. Too low, and the number of subscribers won't change much, so you're cutting profits again. It's all about finding the sweet spot.

Free to play is a horrible idea though, for this game more so than for most others.

You do know that many mmos have actually made more money switching to FTP than they did with subs right?

Which? Do you have actual numbers or just heard someone say something at some point?