Make FFXI Free to play!

[Anjou]

Making it FTP after 11 years of service is a slap in the face to the people who've played for so long. Just because some people want it to be FTP, doesn't mean that it is the right course of action. For 11 long years FFXI has been in service, even today with their servers catering to 2000+ people on each server, that's roughly 2-3 million US dollars a month. Now into account that back in the day the game was much more active, you have to fathom the profits that they've made. Do you seriously think that even now SE will make it FTP with all of that potential money going poof just like that?

It's straight up bad business, and only when FFXI is neck-deep in the grave will they -ever- consider making it FTP. It's PTP and it'll stay PTP, no ifs ands or buts to it. Sorry for being so blunt but people who think that it should go FTP need to realize all of the money people have spent, and how going FTP will make all of that mean nothing to dedicated FFXI players.

[Runespider]

Making it FTP after 11 years of service is a slap in the face to the people who've played for so long. Just because some people want it to be FTP, doesn't mean that it is the right course of action. For 11 long years FFXI has been in service, even today with their servers catering to 2000+ people on each server, that's roughly 2-3 million US dollars a month. Now into account that back in the day the game was much more active, you have to fathom the profits that they've made. Do you seriously think that even now SE will make it FTP with all of that potential money going poof just like that?

It's straight up bad business, and only when FFXI is neck-deep in the grave will they -ever- consider making it FTP. It's PTP and it'll stay PTP, no ifs ands or buts to it. Sorry for being so blunt but people who think that it should go FTP need to realize all of the money people have spent, and how going FTP will make all of that mean nothing to dedicated FFXI players.

Would you prefer to see it stagnate further, losing more and more players? Genuine question because the game is depressing with how few people actually play it now. The current player loss is unsustainable and the game won't be here in a couple of years the way it's going.

There are a lot of ex players that would come back for f2p, there are a lot of players that main other mmos that would come back to XI part time if it was f2p. This is not something you can turn your nose up at, this game is very unhealthy and quite why you don't want the world to be alive with people is beyond me.

The content they are adding is horrible and it keeps getting worse, that's what you get for putting a part timer to run it that works full time on another game. All kinds of problems there, conflict of interest, lack of care about the game they are working on etc..

[Vil]

Would you prefer to see it stagnate further, losing more and more players? Genuine question because the game is depressing with how few people actually play it now. The current player loss is unsustainable and the game won't be here in a couple of years the way it's going.

There are a lot of ex players that would come back for f2p, there are a lot of players that main other mmos that would come back to XI part time if it was f2p. This is not something you can turn your nose up at, this game is very unhealthy and quite why you don't want the world to be alive with people is beyond me.

The content they are adding is horrible and it keeps getting worse, that's what you get for putting a part timer to run it that works full time on another game. All kinds of problems there, conflict of interest, lack of care about the game they are working on etc..

what the hell are you basing all this off of? LOL

The game is what it is...a dated 10 year old game. Naturally, it'd be harder for newer people to come in to it because the foundational mechanics are different from today's MMO standards, as are the graphics. Making it F2P wouldn't bring in a flood of people...the interest would be the same.

The old "the game won't be here in a couple of years" doomsday scenario has been tossed around since the Chains of Promathia days..like really. Maybe FFXI doesn't have the numbers WoW does...but then again, does it NEED to be mainstream and hot with 2mil+ subs to be successful? No. It is successful enough that it continually turns a profit for SE, especially in this generation where their console titles have not been performing as they had expected.

As with all other RL scenarios "free" doesn't really mean "free". It really means "pay to win". If you do a study of this model, you will find that it is actually more of a detriment to the life of a game than a sub fee is. When your income is dependant on impulsive sales, you never know if next month will net enough or not.

And that's not to mention the quality of the game would go down even further with F2P. If you say the development is garbage right now, then go ahead and insist on F2P and see how fast this game would die off with lack of balancing, content, and support.

F2P isn't the magical solution for FFXI, a reworking of game mechanics is.

[Anjou]

Would you prefer to see it stagnate further, losing more and more players?

No I don't, but I don't want cheap people swooping in on the game like a pack of angry vultures because they can't afford to pay for their monthly WoW subscription.

Genuine question because the game is depressing with how few people actually play it now. The current player loss is unsustainable and the game won't be here in a couple of years the way it's going.

The second they make it FTP, that's going to accelerate the death-rate of this game. The older players who put their money in will be offended and leave the game, leaving a 'dumbed down' community who knows next to nothing of the game.

There are a lot of ex players that would come back for f2p, there are a lot of players that main other mmos that would come back to XI part time if it was f2p.

Let me stop you right there and tell you something. If you mean to tell me that you can't pay $12 dollars a MONTH on something, how in the hell do you expect to pay for utilities? If you want an FTP MMO so bad, go look at Runescape and tell me what you think of it. The quality will literally drop so fast that people will think FFXI's quality dropped off a cliff if it was charted on a line.

This is not something you can turn your nose up at, this game is very unhealthy and quite why you don't want the world to be alive with people is beyond me.

I'd love to see FFXI alive again, but not with FTP people who will ruin the game. You don't have things for free, all good things come at a price. If you can't pay for it, then that is just tough.

The content they are adding is horrible and it keeps getting worse, that's what you get for putting a part timer to run it that works full time on another game.

Would you like to submit your own work then? Because I highly doubt you can make things like the people working at SE can. Put up or shut up.

All kinds of problems there, conflict of interest, lack of care about the game they are working on etc..

Lack of care? If they stopped caring do you think FFXI would have lasted for 11 long years? There's a fine line between being ignorant and flat out foolish, and right now you're one side of the line that you shouldn't be right now.

[Runespider]

Have you ever played a P2P mmo that went F2P?

Would you like to submit your own work then? Because I highly doubt you can make things like the people working at SE can. Put up or shut up.

This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've read, ever. So let me get this straight, if a surgeon labotomised someone you love by mistake it would be ok because you can't do any better?

These are professionals, the quality of work they are offering is terrible compared to previous years.

The fact the game is in this horrible state right after a new expansion speaks volumes.

[Anjou]

Have you ever played a P2P mmo that went F2P?

Star Trek Online, Lord of the Rings Online.

I indeed have and I won't go back to them

[Runespider]

I've played Tera and Rift and the difference after they went free to play compared to how deserted they were before was/is staggering. F2P does bring old players back, it does make the games more profitable and it is a good thing.

Wgeb FF14 comes out the already terrible state of the servers will be amplified as you see large portions of the playerbase leave overnight, from my experience the players that fight against f2p the hardest are the ones that leave before it even happens due to such low player numbers.

[Anjou]

I've played Tera and Rift and the difference after they went free to play compared to how deserted they were before was/is staggering.

I won't lie to you, I've hardly heard about Tera or Rift despite those ads I keep seeing on the internet. Having something advertised in your face as FREE NOW!!! will typically attract people. If in the beginning FFXI had a bigger advertising campaign, I guarantee it would have been more active, maybe even today since SoA came out this year.

F2P does bring old players back, it does make the games more profitable and it is a good thing.

It also drives old players away, and sometimes drives them further away. In terms of profit, that monthly fee suddenly disappearing is going to rob SE of -roughly- 24-36 million dollars a year, in terms of business do you think they'll just drop the monthly fee, and lose that profit that could be used to pay a worker's pay check just because some people arguing on an internet forum are angry and want the monthly fee dropped? Business isn't conducted like that, if FFXI is neck-deep in the grave, I can see them making it FTP, but not while it's got profit still being made.

Wgeb FF14 comes out the already terrible state of the servers will be amplified as you see large portions of the playerbase leave overnight, from my experience the players that fight against f2p the hardest are the ones that leave before it even happens due to such low player numbers.

If that is the case then so be it, when FFXI is on its death bed and is no longer seen as profitable, I'll have no qualms if SE makes it FTP, but I will find it utterly stupid for them to make it FTP when they can still make money to make good games.

[Demon6324236]

Wanna know the difference between FFXI, STO, Tera, and Rift, that would make all of the difference in the world? FFXI is 10 years old, STO is a 3 year old game, Rift and Tera are each 2 years old. If tomorrow they said FFXI went free, how many people would really join this game if they looked at its graphics, its age, its player base size, or its forums with all of our complaints? No one would try it, no one would care, and even those who did join, what would they do? Run around the abandoned low level areas where no one goes, hoping that a high level will come swoop them up and explain the game to them and where to go so they can actually do something fun?

Another thing, advertisement, look at SoA, how many places did you see advertisements for SoA? I saw one, from the time SoA was announced till its release I saw a single advertisement for the expansion, if the game went F2P would anyone even know about it? Like Anjou said Rift and Tera have advertisements up on sites saying FREE NOW, but what if SE does not have those up on sites, informing people of the newly F2P FFXI? One might say it would be stupid to change their game in such a way but not tell people, but then again, someone might say it would be stupid for them to make an entire game, fail, and then throw money back at the project to rebuild it in hopes of it working while your company goes down the drain as a result. I do not have faith that if they for some stupid reason made this game F2P that they would by any means do it in a way that would not kill the game, because between SoA's lack of advertisement, FFXIV, and its age, I doubt anyone would know or care about this game being F2P or not.

[Anjou]

Wanna know the difference between FFXI, STO, Tera, and Rift, that would make all of the difference in the world? FFXI is 10 years old, STO is a 3 year old game, Rift and Tera are each 2 years old. If tomorrow they said FFXI went free, how many people would really join this game if they looked at its graphics, its age, its player base size, or its forums with all of our complaints? No one would try it, no one would care, and even those who did join, what would they do? Run around the abandoned low level areas where no one goes, hoping that a high level will come swoop them up and explain the game to them and where to go so they can actually do something fun?

Another thing, advertisement, look at SoA, how many places did you see advertisements for SoA? I saw one, from the time SoA was announced till its release I saw a single advertisement for the expansion, if the game went F2P would anyone even know about it? Like Anjou said Rift and Tera have advertisements up on sites saying FREE NOW, but what if SE does not have those up on sites, informing people of the newly F2P FFXI? One might say it would be stupid to change their game in such a way but not tell people, but then again, someone might say it would be stupid for them to make an entire game, fail, and then throw money back at the project to rebuild it in hopes of it working while your company goes down the drain as a result. I do not have faith that if they for some stupid reason made this game F2P that they would by any means do it in a way that would not kill the game, because between SoA's lack of advertisement, FFXIV, and its age, I doubt anyone would know or care about this game being F2P or not.

^^^^^^^^

This man speaks pure truth.