Do you think SE should have a free to play AND a subscription model for ARR?

I don't want to see FFXIV go F2P honestly.

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Originally Posted by KamikazeMan

Do you guys think SE should implement a model that's free to play on top of the subscription model? Something that allows people to, say, get to level 25 for free. There could be other restrictions, of course like gil cap, unable to sell things in the market ward, can't get retainers, limited inventory slots, etc. Those are just examples.

Hell, they could even let players play till max level, but throw a ton of restrictions for F2P players. A cash shop can be something only for F2P players to remove some of these restrictions for a limited time - weekly and bi-weekly.

I'm curious to see what you guys think about this.

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I agree absolutely, and here's why:

I will always be a monthly subscription player for FF XIV, however, there are individuals out there, for any number of specific reasons cannot and refuse to play the game with a subscription.

If allowing a player who downloads/buys the game to play up to a certain level and have varied restrictions to "demo the game" and see if they like it, they can then proceed to purchase the game through a subscription method and also choose to cancel when they become busy with something else.

I'm not sure exactly how SE will manage this, since I have no knowledge or experience with how these sort of deals happen within a business, but I think it should be something to consider and looked into somewhere down the road.

I'm all for a subscription because I do believe in some aspects that it breeds high-quality entertainment in return and a gauranteed enjoyable experience. Not in all cases, but in most cases, from what I've played.

On the flip-side however, I do strongly feel that getting more gamers to pick up and play your game through more than just the avenue of a $60 purchase with a wonky 30 day free trial can limit a potential audience who is willing to play your game, to some extent.

Inevitably, they may end up playing it longer than most of us veterans someday? You never can tell unless you try!

So, in retrospect, I think somewhere down the road open up something like a few other MMO games have available, such as a digital download, a free download, or a buy for $40-$60 and play forever unless you upgrade sort of deal along with our already existing subscription model who are dedicated to the game for life.

I think it's worth considering, in my personal opinion. I think Yoshida has considered it at least once or twice in his mind. He seems like a pretty open-minded, and intelligent individual that plans ahead of time.

I hold him in very high respects and believe he will re-access the situation 6 months time after the release of ARR and see what's best for his game. But we'll see what happens in the future! :)

More like Free to sell off in game assets using currency that cost more than the subscription does so we can fragment the game this way subscribers still have to pay for cash shop items because there not in game. No, you can keep that shit far away from XIV.

NCsoft on the other hand are the only publishers in years that have done FtP properly.

Free to play no, time limited and gameplay limited free trial yes.

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Originally Posted by Wolfie

Free to play no, time limited and gameplay limited free trial yes.

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This -^

No F2P system. F2P paralleled to a P2P system is only for the people who dont want to pay in the end anyways - if you want to test out the game to decide if you really do want to pay.. thats called a Trial.. So.. get to the point and make the proper system (Trial, not F2P).

(The paralleled systems are bad because it basically makes a permanent group of inept players and inadvertently makes the game P2W, a trial needs to be explicitly a trial)

i got to agree with most ppl here no f2p

Oh yes, I'd love RMT to spam me even more!

well at least you'll have a mailbox for them to put it in

If you can't afford monthly payment of only $13 a month, i'm sorry...but at least get a minimum wage job that should cover it. Not being mean or anything, it's just logic.

F2P doesn't have constant updates and expansions and stuff. It's like playing call of duty games where you constantly do the same thing over and over.

I would prefer a Trial for this game like there is a 14-days-trial in FFXI. And this trial only with restrictions to prevent RMT.
I don't want a F2P model with cash shops etc.

If you compare MMOs these days only those who don't have much content or are crap go F2P. And they had to go F2P because people didn't want to pay a monthly fee for a game that isn't worth it.

People are willing to pay a monthly fee if the game is good enough. WoW and FFXI still are P2P after years because there are still many people who think that the game is worth a monthly fee. And I think that FFXIV: ARR has the potential to go that way, too. FFXIV 1.0 wasn't good enough to be able to compete. But SE has learned from this and is doing a great job with FFXIV: ARR. They put a lot of work in it to bring it up there were people are willing to pay a monthly fee.

A free trial for new people to test the game is enough to check if the game is worth paying. Maybe not too short limited in time but maybe in level and such. Lets say trial members can get up to level 25. Then they could test a level 25 raid. (with a long timer after win) They could do first quests to enter a grand company and then get guest member of a free company but not a full member. And as a guest member they would not be granted any benefits of those free companies. This way they can test everything in a small way, see a part of the story, test a raid, check if there is a free company they like. And at this point they should be enough curious and have enough experience to decide if they want to pay for that game. If the trial gets a time limitation, too, then that should be long enough to reach that point in game (for gamers that don't have all day to play).