How a f2p system could work on ffxi.

[Castanica]

I'm counting these two titled threads, and the other threads which got off-topic Ftp advertisements posted in them too, and its already a lot more than three.

Its starting to feel a bit like a hostage-taking situation. "I am holding your beloved FFXI as my hostage, and if you don't let me buy game treasure with dollars, your beloved game will surely die soon."

Stopping console support, 1/3 of JP playes are on consoles.
They aren't offering free PC copies to these console players that have paid many hundreds or thousands of dollars.
They are having an official end to the story.
They are stopping support.

I'm not sure what you take from all that but to me it doesn't state the game has much of a future, the only way that will change is if the game becomes more profitable. Nothing short of a monetisation change is going to do that.

The only future ffxi seems to have is on mobile phones, being run by nexon. Nexon have a terrible reputation.

[Stompa]

Stopping console support, 1/3 of JP playes are on consoles.
They aren't offering free PC copies to these console players that have paid many hundreds or thousands of dollars.
They are having an official end to the story.
They are stopping support.

I'm not sure what you take from all that but to me it doesn't state the game has much of a future, the only way that will change is if the game becomes more profitable. Nothing short of a monetisation change is going to do that.

The only future ffxi seems to have is on mobile phones, being run by nexon. Nexon have a terrible reputation.

I'm not 100% sure of this, but aren't SE offering the full PC game as free download? I haven't really checked it because I'm still running my old install from ages ago, but I think I saw that somewhere.

I have JP friends on my mostly-JP linkshell, some of them are on PS2 and they will change to PC when the time comes. Its only a small sample of players obviously.

The problem I have with these "FtP-or-die" threads is that they are relentless and depressing. The first time it was raised as a topic we all discussed it, and I was like its cool that people are discussing their feelings on it. But its getting really overbearing now.

Also, I do VW with my static, they're all building Empys, they aren't talking about how the game is going to die for sure. They're just playing the game and paying subs for it, and trying to stay optimistic and happy and stuff.

Some people have been building Empys for like 5 years, doing a few hours after finishing work on occasional evenings. How do you think they will feel if some kid can buy the same Empy with $$$ in like a few seconds flat.

I pay subs and sometimes all I do is log-in to give cabbages to my mog-garden pet Karakul, and watch his little happy love-hearts going up. I'm happy paying subs just to mess around and pwn mobs with my friends, I don't think the subs are expensive, and I don't see the end of updates as any kind of killing blow to Vanadiel as an immersive and enjoyable virtual world online.

We don't know that FFXI would survive without subs, using only FtP cash-shop input from occasional players who don't want to play the game and kill mobs and get treasure <That way.> I think this particular game would implode really quickly under the FtP model.

I just think we don't know the future, how the game will manage when the updates stop, maybe there will be more than enough fans paying subs to keep it running for ages, we simply don't know. And in the meantime I would sooner not be bombarded with lots of "the game is going to die!" stuff all the time.

[Seillan]

I'm no hostage-taker lol. I'm not the one saying that if my demands are not met, the game will die.

I made requests for things like automaton costumes etc. but never in multiple threads, and I never posted a suffix that if we didn't get automaton costumes, the whole game would die forever

I don't know, I thought the "pieces of moogle" thing was pretty hilarious, personally .

OT: In regards to the OP's post inferring that we "never played a f2p game that was any good", I'd be willing to bet I've played just as many mmorpgs as you (if not more), including just about any F2P mmorpg that's actually worth playing. It doesn't change my opinion.

It's also funny that you mention Everquest in your argument as one of the games that had to go F2P to survive. That's a bit fallacious as the game didn't actually go full-on F2P. It went with a hybrid system, and a relatively strict one at that. It's basically nothing more than a glorified trial. Anyone that wants to progress to any meaningful extent in the game (getting to AA cap and such) will undoubtedly need to subscribe, making the "F2P" thing almost entirely moot. Using EQ as an example doesn't really make your case.

So, just to put things in perspective, in order to make your F2P proposal a success, the majority of the playerbase would not only have to be in agreement with the model change (something I seriously doubt), but they'd also have to be willing to contribute a considerable amount to the cash shop in order for the game to make up for the thousands of subscription fees lost suddenly, while also spending enough extra to increase profits by a considerable extent (otherwise the transition would be pointless, right?) Call me a skeptic, but I really don't see the aforementioned scenario actually playing out so nicely. Not on this game and definitely not at this point.

[Stompa]

I don't know, I thought the "pieces of moogle" thing was pretty hilarious, personally .

Hopefully they'll put us in adjoining cells when we're sent to Kupotraz Island. I'd like that, you're cute.

[Seillan]

Hopefully they'll put us in adjoining cells when we're sent to Kupotraz Island. I'd like that, you're cute.

I'd say you're making me blush, but with this permanently-rosy, rosacea thing we taru have going on, it's hard to tell. And I'd like that too.

[Castanica]

I don't know, I thought the "pieces of moogle" thing was pretty hilarious, personally .

OT: In regards to the OP's post inferring that we "never played a f2p game that was any good", I'd be willing to bet I've played just as many mmorpgs as you (if not more), including just about any F2P mmorpg that's actually worth playing. It doesn't change my opinion.

It's also funny that you mention Everquest in your argument as one of the games that had to go F2P to survive. That's a bit fallacious as the game didn't actually go full-on F2P. It went with a hybrid system, and a relatively strict one at that. It's basically nothing more than a glorified trial. Anyone that wants to progress to any meaningful extent in the game (getting to AA cap and such) will undoubtedly need to subscribe, making the "F2P" thing almost entirely moot. Using EQ as an example doesn't really make your case.

So, just to put things in perspective, in order to make your F2P proposal a success, the majority of the playerbase would not only have to be in agreement with the model change (something I seriously doubt), but they'd also have to be willing to contribute a considerable amount to the cash shop in order for the game to make up for the thousands of subscription fees lost suddenly, while also spending enough extra to increase profits by a considerable extent (otherwise the transition would be pointless, right?) Call me a skeptic, but I really don't see the aforementioned scenario actually playing out so nicely. Not on this game and definitely not at this point.

Every mmo I played that went f2p was complained about by the players "oh I'll quit if it goes f2p!", almost all of them stuck around after f2p and the game did add more players and did increase revenue.

Also a hybrid system would be fine, a pure p2p system is not.

Is it depressing to talk about? sure, keep in mind I was subbed to ffxi for nearly 6 years and I thought as you did. The point is it's more depressing what Square will do to this game if they can't increase profits, all they care about is cold hard cash. They have very little loyalty to a game that made them lots of money, they only care about what it can do for them now.

[Isal]

The PC version is completely free to anyone who already has an account ( http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/dow...stall_win.html - Full game + all expansions/add-on content ), and their reduced team will still be there for bugs, balance, and Quality of Life adjustments, all of which fall under the "support" category.

[Castanica]

The PC version is completely free to anyone who already has an account ( http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/dow...stall_win.html - Full game + all expansions/add-on content ), and their reduced team will still be there for bugs, balance, and Quality of Life adjustments, all of which fall under the "support" category.

There are no bugs unless they add new content, also what is qol adjustments. Nobody knows.

[Isal]

There are no bugs unless they add new content, also what is qol adjustments. Nobody knows.

They recently expanded the number of RoE quests you can have active at a time. That's one example of a Quality of Life adjustment. The idea of there being absolutely no bugs is a bit optimistic.