Thoughts on a shared subscription?

[Pixela]

Pay $12

That pooled $12 (remember, your MASSIVE $12 can't pay for the developers coffee for 1 singular morning alone, it's the pooled money that makes the project possible) is calculated by Square Enix and the XI dev team are given a budget to pay wages, so they can make new content. This includes things like Ody, login items, new story missions, new stuff and the upcoming 20th updates.

>whine it should be $6 because you can't seem to think ahead*

Pay $6.

That pooled $6 is now calculated by Square Enix and the XI dev team now get a budget 50% smaller than last year to make new content, since almost all this money goes on wages this means they have to lay off half the workers.

you: "b-b-but I thought I would get the same as I'm getting now and pay half! why is this happening to me!?"

You now get 50% less content than what you're complaining about.

>whine it should be $3 because you can't seem to think ahead*

"I want to pay $3!"

That pooled $3 is now calculated by Square Enix and the XI dev team now get a budget 50% smaller than last year to make new content, since almost all this money goes on wages this means they have to lay off half the workers. Since the amount of staff required to make content has a breaking point, they almost all probably ask to retire or moved to another project.

You now pay $3 and you get nothing ever again, now your brain finally clicks that this entire argument wasn't a good idea because you still have no other MMORPG to move to and now the game will literally never get another update at all. However, now it's too late to undo because the team are gone and there is zero incentive to hire more people and train them to use this outdated engine.

*If you still want to play the game, you have to understand that less money coming in means a smaller budget next year. So unless you are off to play another game, why on earth would you want less things to do than what you're complaining about now?

If $12 a lot i could understand it, but it's literally not. It's $3 a week, for something you spend most of your time on. If you did not think XI was worth it, why are you here when there are literal Free to play games for you to move to? Also btw, every mmorpg has a lack of content....because they all have a higher burn rate than 11 does. So no matter where you go, you'll have the same issues once you burn through the basic content as a new player.

Square keep this game running as a service to fans and because the current developers love the game and WANT to keep working on it, they would much prefer you move to XIV because it it basically a shopping mall that most people end up spending hundreds of dollars on, with new mounts, level skips, pretty outfits and other nonsense. A company will always put more money into a game which has multiple ways to get more money out of you as opposed to a simple sub fee.

Maybe you should should stop playing the game and instead give that $12 to Nasa so the can fly to the moon? or end world hunger maybe. After all, this is $12 whole dollars we are talking about.

[Tharly]

That is your opinion and you are welcome to it. Others see things differently. Getting a discount after a game has been out for a while is normal and so is discounting bundled services. They won't be doing it so really there is nothing to discuss anyways.

[Pixela]

Are you a ff14 player like the others suggesting this? Just wondering since I know many ff14 players want XI to shut down and all.

[PMS_Jordan]

Are you a ff14 player like the others suggesting this? Just wondering since I know many ff14 players want XI to shut down and all.

If you are refereeing to me then yes. I play both games. However, I personally haven't ran into XIV players who wanted XI shut down.

[Pixela]

No I'm referring to Tharly. I have run into many ff14 players that want "ff11 shut down so all the players go onto that game" and so "the money spend on 11 can goto 14"

That's not how it works ofc but I've come across many of them all the same.

[Tharly]

I'm not sure how you would get that kind of assumption from my statements. I do play both and while I am on 14 mostly now, I enjoy both. I would love to see 11 get more updates and have more value for me, but without new content that isn't going to happen. But as I have stated multiple times, most of the entertainment value has dried up in 11 due to having done the content available which means I have less incentive to stay subbed.

How many of you would keep paying the same amount to watch a movie over and over again? No matter how much you like that movie, paying full price for it each time you watch it will make you not watch it. Put that movie in the bargain bin though and it becomes more available as an impulse buy because the lower price reflects the lower value the movie now has to you.

[Alhanelem]

Are you a ff14 player like the others suggesting this? Just wondering since I know many ff14 players want XI to shut down and all.

I don't know anyone who has actually said that with a straight face. But I also don't really engage with the XIV community a lot, Most of my time is spent on things in the game most others don't care about lol

[Pixela]

The thing is, this isn't about money. Most asking for this think nothing of spending an extra $2 to have chocolate sprinkles on their coffee or a snickers bar from the vending machine. This isn't about saving $1.50 a week on a sub, it's just purely some kind of weird mental hangup linked to it being a subscription. It's kind of like someone buying extra value beans at the store and saving 50cents so they can feel good about "saving money" and then spending $120 on some new headphones because you thought the color was nicer than their old ones. None of the people arguing about this are poor, saving $6 a *month* isn't going to have any impact on your life at all.

To some, ffxi is a side game. They only marginally care about it, their main game is another so they can say things they know will have a catastrophic effect on the game with little worry, because they only play it now and then anyway and they will soon be flitting off back to 14. Many of these same people defend a $30 mount in the cash shop of their main game, above and beyond the main sub even....because it's their main game and they care more about it.

To others FFXI is their main game and there is no other game we can move to, because we think the rest of the market is full of garbage. To us, the people who make the content having their budget slashed means we will get even less content than we get now. We don't want less than we already get. The finance dept at Square Enix decide how much money this game gets, its not upto the developers they just make what they can with the money they have.

The benefit of getting content on a game we spend so much time on > the negligible benefit to our lives of having that extra $6 a month.

We get new missions, we get new ambuscade dungeons (a new one was added last month), new HTBF, new login items, we new endgame content, new gear or just new stuff in general. Even if you don't see or like these additions every month it's still things that are being worked on that take many months to complete that are being created in an on-going fashion. Even if you're annoyed at the amount of content you're getting it's still better than getting nothing at all if it's a game you are playing.

To be frank, we are getting way more than we should be getting given the skeleton crew the game has and in-fact more than most mmorpgs on the market get.

[Stompa]

To others FFXI is their main game and there is no other game we can move to, because we think the rest of the market is full of garbage.

This. On giant golden rollerskates.

I also want to thank you, for reminding people that the Devs are working very hard to keep the game running smoothly and crammed full of treats and novelties. You are correct, that the Devs love the game, it isn't business, it is personal.

People have short memories. A few years ago SE had a corporate stage presentation where they announced FFXI would be shutting down pretty much immediately. Fortunately, they later did a big U-turn and decided to keep FFXI running on a devoted skeleton crew.

Later, the Devs said, on a FFXI anniversary ; "thanks for fifteen years of FFXI, and here's to fifteen more!"

A huge change of direction, from nearly sinking in a storm, to sailing happily on calm sunny seas.

I actually am dirt-poor, but I wouldn't even hesitate to pay double the current FFXI monthly subs just to keep Vana'diel in my life.

[Alhanelem]

The thing is, this isn't about money.

Except that it is, most people don't want to subscribe to multiple MMOs at the same time, even if it's not a matter of whether they can afford it. People don't want to waste money, even if they have plenty of it. There are many people who would be enticed to play another MMO if they could get a discount for doing so. We're not talking big numbers here but it costs basically nothing for SE to offer if people end up not utilizing it, and if they do gain some subs out of it, they're still making more than they would have if those people didn't subscribe to a second game.

To others FFXI is their main game and there is no other game we can move to, because we think the rest of the market is full of garbage.

There is *some* truth to this. Even I feel like MMOs today aren't made like they used to be, when they were really meant to be like an extension of yourself, rather than "just" a game you play. However, that doesn't mean today's MMOs can't be fun, or that they're "garbage," but rather they just aren't enjoyed in the same way. FFXIV is full of fun content that I enjoy for what it is. Where it fails is in the community department. The duty finder, while making it easier to group for content, makes the whole experience a lot less personal because in many cases you're not likely to see the same players again unless you liked them well enough to befriend them.

That doesn't mean the game is garbage or isn't fun, but it does mean FFXI is capable of fufilling needs that FFXIV (and other modern MMOs) can't.

But this is also a reason such a program could be fruitful, the two games offer very different experiences, and there is value for some to be had in playing both of them. And while there definitely are people who see all modern MMO experiences as inferior to those of the era of FFXI, there are also those who like the ones of today, as well as those who are curious about the past.

Need I remind you that during FFXIV's original conceptual phase, they originally envisioned FFXI and FFXIV as being two worlds that were directly linked in the same universe, and you could even switch from one to the other. This is why FFXIV's original races were made in the image of FFXI's, with all of the same hair styles etc (plus more, of course). There was in fact a hope at one point that we would want to play both. There is really a lot to gain by making this easier for people.

A few years ago SE had a corporate stage presentation where they announced FFXI would be shutting down pretty much immediately.

They never said the game was shutting down, much less "immediately," but rather that they planned to end major updates and go into "maintenance mode." So I call [Citation Needed] on that. There was also concern expressed about a major FF title becoming unplayable and them not wanting that to happen. The cancellation of the mobile re-imagining of the game also likely means they will be continuing to support the game (to some degree at least) for even longer.

Ultimately everyone should have the oppertunity to experience Vana'diel, and get a sense of the history of MMOs and how they evolved from games like this (and Everquest, and Ultima)