Free to play plans?

[Umichi]

No, the one single reason for that is SE's paranoia about RMT.

there was no paranoia... RMT's were abusing 14day trials back during the great inflation to quickly farm cheap items to npc them to make gil to sell to other players on almost a daily basis i would get /tells from at least 13 or so RMT's peddling their inflated cash. RMT's were also manipulating the prices of the AH so things would be exuberantly cheap when they wanted to buy something out. then they'd drive the price back up... learn your ff history plox

[Umichi]

as a matter of fact free trials is RMT 101: abuse them

[Arcon]

Dungeons and Dragons had their revenue go up by 5 times and Lord of the rings online went up by triple.

Have a source on that? Other than the one you posted, which contradicts what you said here and is from 2010?

See, people don't look at the big picture. When people think a mmo goes ftp that their sub base stays teh same. The idea is that you increase your players dramatically so that the real money purchases end up more then the current subscriptions.

FFXI is perfectly setup for FTP because of its incredible time sinks. Want a new Weaponskill, well you can do the nyzul path, get to 100 then do quest, or pay $10. Want an emp weapon, well here is 50 chloris buds for $20.

People would buy that stuff. The people that didn't could do it the old way.

You don't look at the big picture. What works for one game may not work for another. FFXI already had a lot of players leaving because they didn't wanna spend 15 bucks a month for the fee, due to content release slowing down. How much do you think the remaining people or the people coming back would spend on things they can already do or get as they are now? For that scheme to work, first you need lots of content, something this game is massively lacking right now, and second a player base that isn't as set in their ways as this one. This may work on a newer game where people are used to this from the start. Right now, if you made an empyrean buyable all the people who invested months in it would feel betrayed and angered about a bunch of rich kids buying them because they can just afford them. These are people who invested years in building their characters. And the few rich kids who would actually do that would not be enough to make up for the lost market.

To make this a viable business idea you'd need new content tailored to precisely this business scheme. And seeing how SE goes about updating content, it would not work out with any kind of profit for anyone involved, least of all the players.

Finally, you have one thing going for newer games that also doesn't apply to FFXI: advertising. When a MMORPG goes free to play, new players try it out which gives a boost in subscriptions. That way they get to see the game and can decide to invest money into it if they want to. But who would try out FFXI if it goes free to play when there are several games over a decade younger that are also free to play? Why choose a game that resorts to a free to play scheme to stave off its own death due to lack of content over any of the other alternatives?

Right now FFXI is still shitting out money for SE, because it provides just enough attraction to keep a core group of players interested, and even many of those are just there because of the break from XIV before the final ARR release and the promise of SoA looming on the horizon. But who would actually buy things for this game if they don't intend to play it for long or just wanna check the waters? New players certainly wouldn't. That would be something catered almost exclusively to older players, but they are the ones that least of all need it.

It's not paranoia if it actually has those level of effects on a game.

There are and always have been better ways to deal with RMT, just like there are better ways to deal with cheating and botting, but SE has demonstrated that they like to punish everyone just to make it slightly harder for the bad guys to operate freely. Not that it's really having any effect.

You are wrong, people would do it the old way and not quit, some would but they are babies that think they are special and entitled. Many people would play the old way, and many people new to the game would pay for some of that content.

You have no way of knowing that, just like I can't know for sure that you're absolutely wrong, although I'd be willing to bet you good money on it. I know how I feel and I know how all of my friends feel, and we can barely stay interested in the game as it is. If they let us buy everything we currently have to play the game for, most of us would quit, and statistics say we won't be the only ones.

Not sure if you know this, but a lot of people bought gil with real money, and the majority of people didn't quit because so many people were buying gil, in fact, many of them bought gil and lied about it.

You really like to just say stuff without any proof or evidence if you feel like it'll support your argument.

Guess what? I heard DDO shut down because Turbine, Inc. is completely broke, and the producers of LotR say their free to play scheme gave them cancer. Also, it reportedly causes abortions.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

People have listed examples of successful free-to-play MMO's (for varying degrees of "successful"), but how many FFXI players play those games currently, let alone have spent money in one?

It seems to me that if the playerbase would love a free-to-play system, they'd be doing so already in another game. FFXI is only ten years old, after all...

(And I'm still in favor of an unlimited free trial.)

[Edyth]

Is this game worth the 12.95, of course not. Look at what we got before compared to now. what we use to get in one update before is equivalent to a year or two of updates we get now. Anyone that thinks that 12.95 is still good value is just plain wrong. No one in their right mind would think so. But people will continue to play and considering Square Enix is one of if not the greediest game companies out there, I don't see it. SE is the one that charges $15-$20 for iOS and Android games when everything else is $5.

For those that say that the manpower is not there, well not our problem, if that is the case, drop the price accordingly. The expansion is being paid for by our monthly sub fees, it shouldn't be, that money is supposed to be for connection and regularly updates. The expansion should be paid for by the price of the actually expansion. Which of course they have overpriced.

In other words, what you're trying to say is:
"DUR DUR DUR I hate dis product an its to expnsive but ima buy it neway n complain DUR DUR DUR."

[sarcasm]You are obviously very intelligent when it comes to money, and SE should listen to you for financial advice.[/sarcasm]

[Solonuke]

If you calculate in inflation, for me the game has become a lot cheaper to play over the years (depends on where you live of course). Other games that do use subscription models today have a subscription fee of 15 dollars.

[Zarchery]

The monthly fees I spend on this game save me money that I would otherwise spend on other video games or other forms of entertainment. It's cheap if you ask me.

I've had times when I didn't think the game offered me anything to do and wasn't worth the money. What did I do? I suspended my content IDs and stopped playing. I didn't say "this game is not worth the money, make it free!" I said "this game is not worth the money, I choose not to pay and choose not to play".

[xbobx]

Well considering I run the finance department for a national company, I actually know what I am doing.

Archon.

seriously, what wrong with you? It doesn't matter if the article is from 2010, he wanted to know which mmos made more money going ftp.

Google if you want. Look up D&D and LOTR, find out I am right, and shut your mouth.

why is it so hard for people to believe a ftp model can make money, and more money than a sub plan. You think these people making the decisions don't know what they are doing? They make 7 figure salaries and did a ton of research on comparing the two different models. You think they sat down and said, hey, I don't feel like making money anymore, lets be kind and go ftp. But I guess some people here seem to think they obviously know more than those people, and have no education or experience to back it up. I make comments, because, I have 25 years of experience in business.

[xbobx]

In other words, what you're trying to say is:
"DUR DUR DUR I hate dis product an its to expnsive but ima buy it neway n complain DUR DUR DUR."

[sarcasm]You are obviously very intelligent when it comes to money, and SE should listen to you for financial advice.[/sarcasm]

If you took the first 4 years of content and compared it to the current couple years of content. Give it to people that are not into games (because most feel blessed to take anything a company gives them) and ask them if the price should be the same for both levels of content. I bet you won't find one person that says they should be equal.
You think there isn't an issue, and many here, because you are ability to think properly is clouded by your level for SE. But, just because you think it is fine, doesn't make it so.

So stop crying because someone may say something negative about this game. I have been here since the beginning, I know the value of money. I know how budgets work, how costs are allocated. The reason game companies, like SE do things like this, and do not update prices because the majority of gamers are idiots, well, the majority of the younger generation are I guess. They have this warped idea that we own the corporations and we should be proud to buy their products. But, that is not how the real world works, they have to work for our money, and the greed kicks in when they know they can get away with it. They know when they can get away with it, when they realize their customer base is complacent.

[nyheen]

If you took the first 4 years of content and compared it to the current couple years of content. Give it to people that are not into games (because most feel blessed to take anything a company gives them) and ask them if the price should be the same for both levels of content. I bet you won't find one person that says they should be equal.
You think there isn't an issue, and many here, because you are ability to think properly is clouded by your level for SE. But, just because you think it is fine, doesn't make it so.

So stop crying because someone may say something negative about this game. I have been here since the beginning, I know the value of money. I know how budgets work, how costs are allocated. The reason game companies, like SE do things like this, and do not update prices because the majority of gamers are idiots, well, the majority of the younger generation are I guess. They have this warped idea that we own the corporations and we should be proud to buy their products. But, that is not how the real world works, they have to work for our money, and the greed kicks in when they know they can get away with it. They know when they can get away with it, when they realize their customer base is complacent.

if you dont like the price of something then dont buy it. the price been the same since day 1. SE want the price to be $12 95 a month then that them. you dont move into a $900 a month house with papers signed etc then 5 month later complaining about the rent to high but nothing changed. move out if it over priced lol