Free to play plans?

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

So, F2P wouldn't change THAT much. People will always buy game cash.

More players will buy gil if it becomes legit, but many players will not. Many will even be driven away from the game outright.

If nothing else, there is no guarantee of a net increase in either income for S-E or players to interact with.

S-E has both dabbled with running a subscription-based game into the ground (TetraMaster) as well as f2p (Fantasy Earth Zero). They likely have more data to base any decisions on than any of us do.

[detlef]

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.

The reality is that to be the best you'd have to invest thousands of dollars into RMT, which is just plain crazy. Realistically I think the people who actually RMT are extremely casual people who just want to get by and make the most what little time they have online without having to worry about gil.

[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...

[Destrover]

on the topic Discussion, i dont think S/E will go F2P anytime soon, espetially when the Older players that have been around since day 1 and few after, now have <and holding while paying generously> for 3 to 4 accounts just so they can have that multi player level completed but solo in terms lol, but they consider it QUITE fun indeed so they dont mind payin, what else they got todo right? lol

thats just more money to be made still.

There would also be so many more security risk factors in going f2p aswell i think. there wouldnt be "paid" Gm's for this game anymore, so it would get sloppy.

[Castanica]

Free to play month.

Seems someone is testing the water.

[Dragoy]

Free to play month.

Seems someone is testing the water.

Heh, well it isn't working too well, at least not fer me who had an account deactivated during this 'test'.

They say I had to pay off the bills for the previous 30 days, but I'm pretty sure that's not how the billing works nowadays.

>.>;

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

FFXI is old now and honestly the level and quality of the updates we get no longer mean it's worth the subscription fee, the game has also lost a lot of players.

Ehh... that was more true this time last year than today. Today we (finally) have a new expansion pack to look forward to. Even if the updates nowadays do feel underwhelming, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Also, the new update schedule might be contributing to the ennui; monthly updates can't be as big an exciting as the old quarterly updates were, since there are only so many man-hours in a month and generally don't have weeks to hype an upcoming release.

Does Square have any plans to let FFXI go free to play with a cash shop anytime soon?

FFXI is still profitable enough to pay for both itself and for fixing XIV. Don't expect them to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs any time soon.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

FFXI is still profitable enough to pay for both itself and for fixing XIV. Don't expect them to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs any time soon.

Realy FFXI is the major factor keeping SE afloat. Yes, they are expanding their market off of gaming only, but FFXIV would have been another "Spirits Within."

[Twiglet]

Honestly the free trial is so limited that SE might as well make it not be time limited to be honest, you can't have any of the expansions, which means beating the Shadow Lord somehow at level 30 is the only real thing you can do, and only on a budget of 100k that you can't have gotten from other players or the Auction House.

That said, if I had to give one suggestion to improving the current free trial system, it would be a method to trade a Linkshell to them one way. Easiest way to get free trial players hooked in my opinion.

I got suckered in by the trial, and dragged a pal and the boyfriend along with me. It needs to be altered so that trial users can form parties. We spent hours running around trying to find randoms to party us up.

More players will buy gil if it becomes legit, but many players will not. Many will even be driven away from the game outright.

I'd ragequit.

[Edyth]

FFXI is still profitable enough to pay for both itself and for fixing XIV. Don't expect them to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs any time soon.

Realy FFXI is the major factor keeping SE afloat. Yes, they are expanding their market off of gaming only, but FFXIV would have been another "Spirits Within."

Those are the facts, and anyone who objects to that statement and continues to argue that this game should be free-to-play has less business sense than a 4-year-old at a lemonade stand. Don't give out free lemonade (FFXI) and make people pay for ice (bonus content). They'll take all the lemonade they want, with little to no ice at all. SE wouldn't just be shooting themselves in the foot; they'd be stabbing themselves in the financial heart. FFXI makes a few million dollars for them every month; think about how many packaged games would have to sell to meet that number. Think of how much DLC/extra content they would have to sell PER MONTH to meet that number. Then please, shut up. <<<Directed at the people who say this game should be free to play.