Final Fantasy XIV's initial impressions from a new player + Fee suggestions

Hi there, first off I never played Final Fantasy XIV at launch because I saw how bad the reviews were. I heard that Final Fantasy is being overhauled and thought while it was not a monthly fee game yet I'd try it out before it goes P2P. I also heard the game improved a lot so I thought it would be a good time to try it.

So I get the game home and decide to let it install. So far so good, I got the disc installed and now have to download the year of updates. Here is where it starts to go down hill already... What's with the incredibly slow downloads? I was going at around 200kb/s which was okay in like 2002, but in 2011 this is very very slow. Not sure if I was just downloading on a bad day, but it gives a bad impression right off the bat. Of course too be honest I was heading out to the movies anyways so it wasn't a big let down for me or anything so I just let it download. Other players might be a little more upset especially if the game gets even larger with V2.0 on the way.

Alright I'm back home and ready to play. Now time for me to make an account. Alright so I get my account setup pretty easily or so I thought. I get into the game and it turns out I don't have any character slots and have to add an “optional service” to my account. This process is the longest I have ever seen to play ANY game... well... EVER! Not only does it take a long time to complete the process; the cost for a character slot is ridiculous which leads to my first suggestion:

-Give 3 free slots and charge an extra 3$/2$ per additional slot afterwards. (Also due to the poor reception have the price at $10 a month, which to be fair might still be a little much due to the games reception. I'll offer a more detailed suggestion below for how I think it should work.)

Cost isn't the only reason I suggest this, but also for new gamers initial mentality when trying to play the game. No one wants to go through a 20 minute registration process to play the game. It gets them off on the wrong foot which is not what you want to do. Registration needs to be as painless as possible. (Not sure what V2.0 plans to do about billing, but this needs to be improved.)

Now onto the game itself. I start to create my character and must say I was blown away! The character creation is very cool, modern, and fun. This is a very strong aspect of the game and I was impressed. After I create my character and choose my starting location I see my character on a rocking boat surrounded by many different game characters. It was a pretty neat brief opening and it starts going through the very brief tutorial. I eventually get onto the deck of the boat and the awesome cut scene begins. This part of the game is very impressive. Visuals are amazing, and it feels like my guy is unique in a MMO world. (Which a lot of MMO's don't do.) I also loved the fact I could use a controller instead of keyboard and mouse. (I don't mind keyboard/mouse, but sometimes I like to just sit back and use a controller.) So yada yada yada. I battle a few baddies and finish the boat/tutorial starting.

After this starting I'm actually starting to feel pretty good about the game. (Sets the mood well.) Now I get to the inn and start following the main quest, but I am mostly just wandering around. (I liked exploring the town it was so big and neat to look at.) However, after doing a few quests I start to feel lost and wanted to look up a few things online about the game. So here I go... Alt-Tab... CRASH?! WHAT! It's been 1 year and the game apparently doesn't let you alt-tab in full screen. I've been a long time gamer, and have NEVER had a game not let you alt-tab. This I assume will be fixed for V2.0, but right now it's a pain. Of course the other problem with the alt-tab issue is the fact that many game mechanics are not explained very well and you get overwhelmed pretty quickly. I know I had so many questions that I wanted answered:

-Can I change my class?
-Can I dye my clothes?
-How do you know where to go for your quest? (Sometimes the hints aren't great in journal.)
-What other types of quests are there other than the adventurer guild quests. (Can't recall what they're called.)
-Can you make/join a player guild?
-Etc.

After doing some research before playing again and playing for a few more hours I already start to feel like “What does game offer other than a grind of solo fighting?” The world is virtually empty. I've played for about 8 hours and have yet to see ANYONE say ANYTHING! Not a word! Nothing! Nada! If the game world is empty now, what's going to happen to the current players when P2P happens? I also couldn't find anymore cool cut scene type quests which was disappointing.

There are some things that I really enjoy about the game however, these things ALMOST make me want to stay. For example the class system is very cool; I love mixing and matching skills from class to class. The combat itself is good and bad. I like the way it works, but I don't like how slow it feels. (If it was a little more fast paced, it would be more fun.) If the game wasn't going P2P so soon it might appeal to me a little more, but right now there is not near enough good. I've seen this said a bit, and I hate being cliched, but the game really does feel like it's still in beta.

Now I know at the end of the day many people feel this post will be pointless because V2.0 will change most of these concerns. (I've looked at the dev roadmaps.) With that said, I still thought the developers may find it interesting how a new player like myself views the current build of the game. I also want to make a few suggestions to the way billing should work before V2.0 comes out based on my play experience.

Now I don't know how many of the current Final Fantasy XIV fans will stick around when P2P comes out, but one thing I believe is they certainly won't be attracting any new players around the MMO universe. I personally believe the Final Fantasy team should have a temporary subscriber plan like so before V2.0 comes out:

Scenario A: F2P/ Optional payment

Right now many games are going F2P and to be frank some are just as good if not better than the current state of the game. I suggest Final Fantasy XIV should keep some aspect of the current Free Trial. For example Free Players should have ONE free character slot and ZERO monthly fee. The only fees should be for players who have additional character slots. (At the current prices.)

My logic to this idea is that:

-You will bring in players to try the game during the rebuilding phase, and thus still make money off retail sales.
-Dedicated players will pay the fees so you WILL get some revenue in the mean time.
-Positive Hype before V2.0 comes out. Right now people around the web say: “Final Fantasy XIV is going P2P already?! What a joke!” They won't even LOOK at the game if it goes P2P instantly and are less likely to look at it once 2.0 comes out. Don't you want them saying: “Cool there is a F2P option until 2.0 comes out. Maybe I'll try out the game while it's rebuilding or at least try it when 2.0 comes out.” Maybe they'd even opt for the extra character slots?
-Most importantly I believe you'll keep most of the current players and thus when V2.0 comes out they'll be ready to pay the extra fees and you'll have a solid base of players to build from.

Now too be honest, perhaps you don't even want to keep most of your current players and that's why you are going P2P so soon. I'm not stupid and I understand the logic might be:

-Get rid of all players, but the most crazy fan boys. (Also use them as testers.)
-Hopefully the other players will return during V2.0 and not be too annoyed.
-Less talk about the game the better. (Less hype about the current version, more hype about V2.0. “Final Fantasy XIV never happened! What do you mean it's already out?! No it only comes out when the PS3 version comes out.”)

I do think that this logic is a little bit cruel to the gamers intelligence and highly doubt it will work in the long run. When V2.0 I believe most of your present players won't even look at it they'll be too busy with Guild Wars 2, WoW, or another game. It doesn't matter if you offer them a free trial, it won't be about money for most, it will be about their time. If they are already enjoying another MMO why would they bother with you again?

Scenario B: Reduced fees

At least have some reduced fees until v2.0. Let's be honest here V2.0 might be worth the minimum $12.99 a month, but I doubt many people think the current game will be after patch 1.20. At least cut out the monthly fee and just have a character fee OR cut out the character fees and just have the monthly fee. (Which is what I think V2.0 should be anyways. Character fees are a little silly in today’s age.) For example perhaps have the game cost:

-$10.00/month
-8 character slots

When V2.0 comes out:

-$15.00/month
-8 character slots

Anyways that's my thoughts on the current games state and the current fees. Thank you for reading this long post and I hope you consider my suggestions. I wish you luck in the future and perhaps one day I'll be back.

-Nick