Please make FFXI f2p!

[Stompa]

A subscription pays for a game to be updated, that's the whole point of it. You pay for the developers wages to make new content right? That will be soon removed.

Not really true. I pay subs for a lot of games that never "change" in terms of updates, like online Chess groups and online Dice/Cards gambling groups. Games like Poker and Chess never get updated (not in thousands of years!) but people still pay to be members in some of those online groups.

We can agree that Chess and Poker are classic games. People love to play those games online, with strangers from around the world. Some of those groups are of course free, but there are also paid membership groups. The difference in free and paid groups for those games, is that the paid-membership Poker/Chess groups have glitch-free service which are moderated and controlled to preserve fairness and enthusiasm. The free versions are often a huge headache / trainwreck and less fun to be part of.

FFXI is also a classic game. It will remain a classic game after it stops being updated (ie. altered). We will still be playing a classic game online, with likeminded people from around the world. And so we should pay subs for that service.

I reject the notion that a game that has no updates is basically "dead" which is what has been said in a few threads. If it is a fun game, a classic game, then you can still enjoy playing it, even after the updates stop. It is only dead to you, if you as an individual stop enjoying it.

Also "no thanks" to the idea of cash shops / pay to progress etc. This game requires some patience, a lot of the best classic games require patience. Being in a hurry to finish things is not really what a good game is about. Playing the game by the rules, enjoying it and making progress using skill and perseverance, are what all classic games are about.

Why should we base a game's worth on how much it is updated. Surely we should base a game's worth on the core game itself, how much we enjoy the basic mechanisms of the game, the rule structures, storylines, atmosphere etc.

Currently FFXI is a huge explorable world, with hugely immersive content and very nice gear / battle / character-progress systems etc. After the updates end this year, FFXI will still remain this exact same huge world, with all those great features still intact. The only question is, do you enjoy playing FFXI?

I do, and since FFXI will still be available after the updates end, I will still enjoy playing it and I am happy to pay subs for the chance to enjoy this classic online game, even without updates.

[Ethereal]

Elder Scrolls Online went F2P and the community grew. The monthly fee was holding back people that were on the fence.

[Isal]

I'd only see the need to reduce the price of the subscription fee after the final update. The only way I'd (personally) condone a F2P model is if the game play experience in the game remains exactly as it is on the current model if I continue to pay the same or reduced subscription fee every month. If I have to pay any more than that to get the same experience on the F2P model, then forget it. Any time I see an MMO switch to requiring microtransactions out the butt like the app games out there today (wanna keep playing? Just buy more <insert game's name for currency here>! The more you play, the more you pay!), I'm completely turned off. (I'm not referring to EXP/XP, I mean the literal experience of playing the game)

Given that Square Enix has plans for a native mobile client some time in 2016, I'd wager they have plans for the game's subscription model for the next 1-2 years at least, I wouldn't expect the "funeral" until then.

[Dale]

So I read about the retiring of ffxi and the removal of the developers from the project.

Does this mean we will get a f2p model or at least a drastic lowering of the subscription?

A subscription pays for a game to be updated, that's the whole point of it. You pay for the developers wages to make new content right? That will be soon removed.

Now that FFXI will be PC only a f2p model will work really well, optional items for impatient players and various cosmetics would make the smaller playerbase this game has incredibly profitable.

To quote south park: Make the game about waiting (current FFXI) and let players pay not to wait (f2p money fountain). Look at a game like Warframe on steam, that game makes nearly $30 million a quarter currently, and it's not even a very complex game.

The old arguments against f2p are honestly done and dusted since the game will soon be put out to pasture, at this point they really need a f2p system or it simply won't be sustainable into 2016 and beyond.

Currently playing and posting due to the f2p 2 week thingy!

I agree with you that if they stop adding new content then subscription fees are not justified.

Dropping the monthly fee won't keep veterans on the game who have run out of things to do. It would probably lure some newer players into the game though. So going F2P might stretch out the life span of Final Fantasy XI if it is their intent to pull the plug soon anyway.

These are answers quite apart from should they . The old arguments against f2p models are valid. There is a reason f2p games require less staff, development, and investment. They are basically the Wal Marts of the industry - sacrificing quality for lower upkeep costs and higher profits.

My understanding is that SE has said only that they would stop creating new content for the Xbox and Play Station 2. Yet everyone on these forums seem confident this game is basically dying in November. So I'm not sure what to believe or what is happening.

I'm just going to play this game until there is nothing left for me to do. When that happens I'll find something else to play. I have decided there is no point worrying about the future.

[bungiefanNA]

Everquest 1 is also still getting expansions. IIRC, they're at over 20 of them now.

[Castanica]

The thing to keep in mind is that Square think this game is not worth the effort right now, they did a simple calculation of subscribers - the loss of console players and said it's done.

If they went with a f2p model and it became more profitable that could very well change, that could very well convince them to add content to it again.

A f2p game does not need a massive subscriber base to be profitable. This may be the only lifeline the game has going forward, it would be a travesty if a) the game died and b) the mobile app version (which you can bet will have in-app purchases) makes more money than this one does.

It saddens me that people are being so short sighted, once November comes players are going to be shocked how few players stick around.

[Stompa]

The thing to keep in mind is that Square think this game is not worth the effort right now, they did a simple calculation of subscribers - the loss of console players and said it's done.

If they went with a f2p model and it became more profitable that could very well change, that could very well convince them to add content to it again.

A f2p game does not need a massive subscriber base to be profitable. This may be the only lifeline the game has going forward, it would be a travesty if a) the game died and b) the mobile app version (which you can bet will have in-app purchases) makes more money than this one does.

It saddens me that people are being so short sighted, once November comes players are going to be shocked how few players stick around.

I don't think anyone can be short-sighted on this, because nobody knows what is going to happen in the future. We are all guessing. These are uncharted waters. FFXI is not the same as those other games. FFXI is a unique game in many ways, with a famously loyal core playerbase. We simply do not know how many people will stay on next year and beyond. You say hardly anyone, I think maybe quite a lot. But we don't know!

In the beginning you were saying that you shouldn't have to pay money for a game that has no updates, but then later on you're saying that you will be happy to spend money in FFXI, if the money goes directly to buying gear/progress. In both cases you are paying money for a game that has no updates, so it sounds like you're saying the updates aren't the real issue, but getting gear/progress without actually farming it, is.

And you talk about longevity, don't you see that FFXI has survived this long partly because of the fact that people worked on long-term projects like RME and crafting mastery etc. A snapshot of the FTP/cash shop system, in terms of longevity, is ; player X buys their capped jobpoints/craft skills, buys afterglow RME etc., wanders around hitting some mobs, stands around glowing in town, gets bored, walks away and never comes back.

You don't know how many people will quit when updates stop and neither do I. However I know a lot of legitimate players who have been building their Empys for years, and who want to finish their Empys, and <wait for it> when they've finished their Empys they want to actually play the game using those Empys! People are not spending years building RME and afterglows, capping jobpoints etc. just so they can quit. They are investing all that time and effort, because they want to play the game using that nice gear and those skills.

Which raises the final point, did you consider all those people who built / are still building RME, all those who levelled jobs the legit way, got craft mastery the legit way. How do you think those people will react if there was suddenly a FTP/Cash Shop with people buying all the stuff that other players had worked so hard for? Do you think that would encourage longevity? Do you not think that might actually lose the faithful playerbase who like to play RPG Adventure games by actually going out in the RPG world and <gasp!> Adventuring in it.

I know a lot of people who will keep playing this game so long as it is online, and are happy paying subs for it. But I don't know anyone in my friends community who want to see gear/progress going on sale in a FTP model. So I think there will still be a lot of people wanting to play after updates end, but this is only my guess - I'm not stating it as a fact, since nobody knows the future.

I agree with Vienne and other posters, a slight lowering of subs makes sense, when the major dev work stops. But subs are still important to keep the unadulterated version of FFXI online and supervised.

[Dale]

It saddens me that people are being so short sighted, once November comes players are going to be shocked how few players stick around.

I don't think they are being short-sighted. Rather they are just hoping for the best.

I hate to say it though - but I think you're right. If new content stops I think most players will move on. MMORPGs depend on the evolution of its gameplay to survive. If there is no future - people are going to start looking for a game that has one.

[Castanica]

I don't think they are being short-sighted. Rather they are just hoping for the best.

I hate to say it though - but I think you're right. If new content stops I think most players will move on. MMORPGs depend on the evolution of its gameplay to survive. If there is no future - people are going to start looking for a game that has one.

November is really going to open peoples eyes, I just hope it opens them in such a way to realise that you have to evolve or you die. F2p could save the game and I hope people see that, there are a lot of people that want to keep playing this game and it could also usher in renewed interest from Square once they see they can make more money from f2p than subs. You only have to look at xiv to see that players will spend a lot of money on their cash shops buying ponies and silly hats.

Before someone says well ffxi is old, the most profitable mmo titles on the market are the old titles. Lineage 1 makes more money than Guild wars 2, blade and soul and wildstar combined. Everquest 1 is still popular, profitable and gets updates. I don't even need to mention WOW do I? All these titles are as old or older than FFXI and are among the top of profitability.

The wait and see approach honestly might be waiting too long, there will only be a short window where Square will bother to care one way or the other.

Evolve or die, simple as that.

[Isal]

The people who still play even after they've completed the latest content aren't going to just up and quit after November. If there's a reason for them to be logged in for the whole gap between content releases, then odds are that reason isn't going to be affected by a lack of new content patches.

How many of the console-only players also own a mobile device in this day and age? How many who own mobile devices would find FFXI appealing enough to buy into it and start at the beginning of 13 years worth of content?

For all we know, the mobile client will bring in enough returning console players and mobile gamers in general to inspire SE to do something fresh with Vana'diel. It just seems premature (to me) to set a dooms day and start calling people short sighted.