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  1. #1
    Player PMS_Jordan's Avatar
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    Thoughts on a shared subscription?

    Hiya Everyone,

    I was over on the FFXIV forums and I came across a post that is getting some decent tracking about wanting a shared subscription between FFXI and FFXIV. Kind of how a WoW sub gives you access to both Retail and the Classic severs.

    What's your opinion on the the topic? Would you want or not want something like that?
    I personally would love it since I play both games and it would save me an extra subscription fee each month. However, I only recently came back to XI so I'm not for sure if a shared sub would cause issues for the game or not.
    (2)

  2. #2
    Player Stuzey's Avatar
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    I'm not sure if you know, but they had shared subscriptions when FFXIV was released, I have the link here, it offered a discount if you purchased both

    http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/topics/ffxiv/

    They stopped it, I think when FFXIV got canned for ARR, maybe before.

    While I probably wouldn't use it, as I never got on with FFXIV, of course I would support it, FFXI would be the main beneficiary, bringing more people back who have jumped ship.

    I remember way back, when they were developing FFXIV (Or Rapture as it was known), there was some talk of linking the games, so you could chat between them, but they never went through with this, shame....
    (5)

  3. #3
    Player Alhanelem's Avatar
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    It has been suggested many times, and in some circumstances they've suggested they could look into it, but they have stated that there is a difficulty in that the two games use entirely seperate systems for handling the subscription and payment processes.

    At the time the shared subcription did exist, both games used the Square Enix Account Management system. But when FFXIV was relaunched, the game was moved to a separate account system.

    It's a lame excuse tbh, but it is the reason given.
    (1)

  4. #4
    Player Clou777's Avatar
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    just imagine if millions of players suddenly came to FFXI lol, we usually just get a couple of thousand playing on each server
    (1)
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  5. #5
    Player PMS_Jordan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuzey View Post
    I'm not sure if you know, but they had shared subscriptions when FFXIV was released, I have the link here, it offered a discount if you purchased both

    http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/topics/ffxiv/

    They stopped it, I think when FFXIV got canned for ARR, maybe before.

    While I probably wouldn't use it, as I never got on with FFXIV, of course I would support it, FFXI would be the main beneficiary, bringing more people back who have jumped ship.

    I remember way back, when they were developing FFXIV (Or Rapture as it was known), there was some talk of linking the games, so you could chat between them, but they never went through with this, shame....
    A decent amount of people on the FFXIV forums are saying a shared sub would kill FFXI (somehow) Which makes no sense to me since more players would help the game.
    (0)

  6. #6
    Player Alhanelem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PMS_Jordan View Post
    A decent amount of people on the FFXIV forums are saying a shared sub would kill FFXI (somehow) Which makes no sense to me since more players would help the game.
    The logic is because they'd probably get a little less money from a lot of existing players who have had accounts for both for a long time. But there are also those who have never tried one (or the other) and might be more motivated to if it didn't cost as much.
    (2)

  7. #7
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    No, this would be a terrible idea. For multiple reasons.

    FFXI and FFXIV have totally separate development teams, they both require money to keep staff employed. How are they supposed to split this money exactly?

    Assuming the argument is that XI should take the smaller cut and ffxiv should get the most. Why on earth would FFXI take 50% less money from some people for barely any benefit? To get more people to play from FFXIV? If the hurdle for them is being unwilling to pay $3 a week, why would paying $1.50 change that? It wouldn't. Beside that, it's a fact that XI is not going to be liked by most XIV players anyway (and vice versa), there isn't some mass army of XIV players waiting to rush in but the $3 is putting them off. $3 is not a massive turn off to an XIV player, since it is already one of the most expensive mmorpgs to play on the market (sub, expansion fees, cash shop) and XI follows in fairly close behind. People playing either game do not have money problems so severe that paying an extra $1.50 a week (paying half is supposed to be a deal breaker?) is a massive turn off.

    If the argument is that you should have access to both games for $12, then hell no. That's utterly stupid, one game would literally take a massive cut in income.

    End result of a shared sub is FFXI would get less money from a portion of their customers who currently pay for both, when it can ill afford to cut the money it has coming in as it is. FFXI does not have a cash shop to offset, the sub is all it has. Given the state of inflation right now, this is the last thing they want to do.

    Also it would cause friction in the XI community. If someone paying a sub for XI and XIV is to get a reduction for paying 2, what about someone that pays multiple subs to XI for alts? Do they get no reduction, why is the double/quad/triple etc money they pay worth less than the double money someone pays for 2 different products?

    This is like walking into a store and asking them to give you 50% off the 2nd box of chips because it's made by the same company, if you want both pay for both.

    Half the people suggesting this think nothing of paying $3 for their morning coffee in Starbucks.
    (4)

  8. #8
    Player Alhanelem's Avatar
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    No, this would be a terrible idea. For multiple reasons.

    FFXI and FFXIV have totally separate development teams, they both require money to keep staff employed. How are they supposed to split this money exactly?
    No. This isn't a terrible idea, and it's a very simple one. The idea is that SE will make more money, not less, from people with an interest in both games but are unwilling to pay for multiple full price subscription MMOs at the same time. You give them a bit of a break if they subscribe to both.

    This is no different from, say, insurance companies offering a discount for getting different insurance products from them at the same time. They make more money if every customer uses only their services instead of one service from them and another from someone else. Further, going back to FF, subbing to both games means they're even less likely to be subbing to a competitor's game.

    Think about this more carefully. If you're a big company and you're trying to find an easy way to get more money from your customers. If you have two things and most customers only buy one thing or the other, does it really not make sense to you that they would offer a discount on buying both? Yes, they make a little less money on the sale, but it's still more money than if they only sold the one product instead of both.


    The goal here is to attract some users who play FFXIV, have heard of FFXI and are curious about it but are on the fence because of the cost.


    This is like walking into a store and asking them to give you 50% off the 2nd box of chips because it's made by the same company, if you want both pay for both.
    Uh, this happens all the time. Have you ever heard of coupons or multiple pricing before? Save a dollar when you buy two with this coupon! Sale price, three for $10, all [insert brand here] products!
    (0)
    Last edited by Alhanelem; 09-04-2021 at 10:33 AM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alhanelem View Post
    No. This isn't a terrible idea, and it's a very simple one. The idea is that SE will make more money, not less, from people with an interest in both games but are unwilling to pay for multiple full price subscription MMOs at the same time. You give them a bit of a break if they subscribe to both.

    This is no different from, say, insurance companies offering a discount for getting different insurance products from them at the same time. They make more money if every customer uses only their services instead of one service from them and another from someone else. Further, going back to FF, subbing to both games means they're even less likely to be subbing to a competitor's game.

    Think about this more carefully. If you're a big company and you're trying to find an easy way to get more money from your customers. If you have two things and most customers only buy one thing or the other, does it really not make sense to you that they would offer a discount on buying both? Yes, they make a little less money on the sale, but it's still more money than if they only sold the one product instead of both.


    The goal here is to attract some users who play FFXIV, have heard of FFXI and are curious about it but are on the fence because of the cost.


    Uh, this happens all the time. Have you ever heard of coupons or multiple pricing before? Save a dollar when you buy two with this coupon! Sale price, three for $10, all [insert brand here] products!
    Most XIV players will not like XI and will never like it, it is so alien and punishing an experience from XIV.
    Most XI players do not like XIV and will never like it, it is so alien an experience from XI (almost all XI players have played XIV, we do not like it).



    This image perfectly encapsulates both games:

    FFXI gives you so much freedom that most modern players do not know what to do and where to go, they get mad and quit in the first few hours (we like this, XIV players don't) FFXI endgame is so punishing for new players that it almost feels like the developers want you to fail and most XIV players baulk at this mindset.

    FFXIV drags you around by the hand constantly from start to finish, to the point you have no freedom at all (we don't like this, XIV players do), XIV won't even let you in a dungeon unless it knows you can clear it most of the time.

    The potential crossover of players that will like both is pretty small, and of those that do they don't want to play both at once and actually just swap and change between them so a double sub serves no purpose at all. Also, of the few that I know of that pay a sub to both but only play one and alternate....*they do this to help the game* so letting them pay less is counter productive to the reason they do it.

    This would be like paying money to an artist to support them on Patreon, so they can continue making pictures you like and them offering a 50% less option. Then the artist stopping making pictures because they aren't making enough money anymore.

    The argument you're making only makes sense is there is a massive army of people on XIV that want to play 11, but $3 is a massive hurdle and $1.50 isn't (lol), this is complete nonsense.

    Almost everyone that makes this argument saying "it's good business to charge less because more people will buy your product" have no idea what they are talking about most of the time, the world isn't as simple as people make it out to be. If you charge $10 to buy a Death Metal CD (or whatever niche product), and then lower the price to $5 you now have to have twice as many customers buying it to bring in the same money (why would you do this to bring the same money, the point it so make more and so you need 3 times as many people now buying it). The issue with this is that tastes are different and some products just appeal to a niche audience, lowering the price does not massively increase the userbase if it's a niche product. The reason Death MEtal is not mainstream is not the price, my granny does not listen to death metal because the CD costs too much and so lowering the price of a Death Metal CD to $5 won't do much.

    FFXI offers a niche experience that we want but that is not and has never been popular with the mainstream audience that XIV caters to, so they will never like it in large numbers. Even if XI was free this would not change, the game would just have a mass army of level 1 to 10 players that quit in a few hours.
    (3)

  10. #10
    Player Stuzey's Avatar
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    I don't think the money is the issue, more the convenience, if it's a simple click of the button to pay for both I genuinely believe more will think, what the hell I'll give it a go.

    But, you could be right, I don't like XIV and thus, don't play it, I don't think a joint subscription would change my mind, even though I have many old XI friends who play it... So I contradict my thoughts with my actions...

    What I would say, is what have we to lose, it's not like we get new battlefields regularly, I see more people leave XI as they have run out of things to do (and don't want to spam the same fights in odyssey), maybe a joint subscription would move the spotlight onto XI and encourage more development.....
    (2)

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