Paying Per Character

I really, really don't like this system. I don't see how it benefits anyone, I also think creates a frustration for those who enjoy making different characters. For those who can afford it, it's probably no problem, but for those who can't, it is a problem. I think something like a $15 a month fee would be better for this game.

Just my two gil. :p

The game is desinged such that all classes can be experienced with a single character, making multiple characters unnecessary for most players. I like it because it means sticking to one identity for most people- when you meet someone, you know how to find them again. You can recognize them when you see them on the streets of Ul'Dah.

And no, I'm not paying $15 for you to have multiple characters when I'm only going to have one.

True, but I like having a few characters with different builds from others. (Some truly dedicated healers, tanks, DPS.) Also, I'm a roleplayer, which means I like to switch from character to character every once in a while to avoid getting tired of one.

Also, I wasn't saying it had to be $15. I was just using an example of what's commonly used by other MMO's.

EDIT: I see why you thought I was saying it had to be $15. Sorry for the confusion, I reworded it for clarity.

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Originally Posted by Leyza

Also, I'm a roleplayer, which means I like to switch from character to character every once in a while to avoid getting tired of one.
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This thread again?

It's been here before? O.o

(No, it's not specifically due to RP. I was saying it was just one reason why I like having alts. :p)

Yea, not sure if SE realizes how many people would roll different characters across different worlds. It would, at least, give some people more of a reason to stick around.

Yes, it would.

If we were able to make more characters without that pointless and annoying barrier, we could actually experience all this game has to offer. But, currently, we can't. :(

Here comes that "I" word...

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Originally Posted by Rau

Here comes that "I" word...

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What do you mean? (Slightly tired, so forgive me if it's obvious.)

The game is designed around the 1 character for everything concept. It was designed to remove the need for alts which most mmos force on people.

All classes/Jobs can be played by everyone, All specs are for each class individually (They can be reset in a future version after certain duration of time), There are not rival factions (you can play with everyone), the mainstory line merges so everyone ends up with the same story. There really is very little reason for an alt. And if you want one you end up paying what you would on another mmo per month.

I can see this being a negative for Role Players who want different races, but for the average mmo gamer... really it is a plus to not have to use an alt.

Well, outside of roleplaying, there are the Grand Companies and starting quests, which others may want to experience.

I guess it doesn't help that I always have a terrible case of alt-itis. Unless it's Aion or Rift. >.>

EDIT: I do agree with a lot of what you said, so don't think I'm disagreeing with everything. I'm just bringing up a reason a non-roleplayer may want to roll an alt.

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Originally Posted by Leyza

Well, outside of roleplaying, there are the Grand Companies and starting quests, which others may want to experience.

I guess it doesn't help that I always have a terrible case of alt-itis. Unless it's Aion or Rift. >.>

EDIT: I do agree with a lot of what you said, so don't think I'm disagreeing with everything. I'm just bringing up a reason a non-roleplayer may want to roll an alt.

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dont be surprised if you get the option to switch to other companies/nations in the future in order to experience them

Are they planning on that, TheVedis?

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Originally Posted by Leyza

Are they planning on that, TheVedis?

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it was done with 11 after the game had been out a bit, and it was a good idea so you could experience all the storylines

its not officialy in the works(its a very very low priority even if they are thinking about it) but i seriously wouldnt doubt them actualy doing it in the future(next 2 years or so)

I hope they do. But, I'm not getting my hopes up.

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Originally Posted by Leyza

I hope they do. But, I'm not getting my hopes up.

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in 11 they didnt do it til after they increased the story quests to 10 per nation(the quests there were rather long in comparison to here)
which is why i say itl be at least 2 years here, by the time 2.0 hits im sure youll see more differences between the stories between nations, and building on it from there we will see where it can go
and thats not even considering companies(it would be nice to be able to quit your company, in the process forfeting ALL points you have earned in it as a punishment in order to join another, after having done any quests for said company you have not previously completed that is and starting from scratch in them)

I understand the arguments for having access to multiple alts, but personally I think the focus on a single character is refreshingly different from other games in the genre. It may also lead to players acting with more civility to each other*, since reputation becomes more important without the anonimity provided by having easy access to a dozen alts.

*I understand you can still buy alts that people can and will find ways to be jackarses to each other, etc. etc. This is more of a theory based on my personal experiences with people in FFXIV than anything.

I get bored in a game if I can't play more than one character, and I quit. Currently XIV is making it too expensive to have the characters I need to enjoy the game.
$3 is far too much, I'm not rich. $1 each would be a lot easier to pay for, but it is a bit ridiculous that characters cost anything more than the basic monthly fee in the first place.
If they don't make changes, I don't know how long I'll be able to stick around.

They quite clearly stated when FFXIV first came out that the cost per month would be $12 - broken up into a subscription fee and a character fee. This gave people the flexibility for people to pay for the number of characters you want to play and to pay for the number of retainers. So why are people complaining about the $3 character fee. It isn't something they have just tacked on, it is something that has always been there. If you want to add to the server load by having the data for 2 characters and all their information and items, then you pay more.

I am not going to subsidise the ability for you to play as many characters as you want when I am quite happy with one. Nothing is free. You want it you pay for it, If you don't want to pay then you have to manage with only one character.

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Originally Posted by Magnesium02

If you want to add to the server load by having the data for 2 characters and all their information and items, then you pay more.

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Why pay more? No other game charges for extra characters data because it doesn't cost more to have them.

SE is just greedy and wants to impose limits that no other game has - what reason is there to impose them when no other game does?

This is SE they always do things the most convoluted and akward way possible, I don't see why you would be surprised.

You want to roll alts to experience all the game has to offer?

So you want to experience the 8 quests you don't have access to when you choose one of the three GC and each city storyline (which ends at the same place).

Well pay 6 bucks and do that then... for a lot of people it's not worth the time and effort just for a few quests; which are horrible by the way...

Also... you said charge 15 dollars...

$10 + $3 (2nd char) + $3 (3rd char) = $16... you can then get access to all the quests (lol) this game has to offer!

$16 at least until 2.0 rolls around

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Originally Posted by Crica

Why pay more? No other game charges for extra characters data because it doesn't cost more to have them.

SE is just greedy and wants to impose limits that no other game has - what reason is there to impose them when no other game does?

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Because RMT is a problem
Because storage space is limiting
Because you can corner the market and mess with the economy
Because you can play 95% of the game on one character
Because it's there game and they decide wtf to do with it
Because FFXI had a similar pricing plan

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Originally Posted by RemVye

Because RMT is a problem
Because storage space is limiting
Because you can corner the market and mess with the economy
Because you can play 95% of the game on one character
Because it's there game and they decide wtf to do with it
Because FFXI had a similar pricing plan

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Translation: SE is greedy and wants to impose limits that no other game has for no other reason then greed.

RMT are not going away with these limits imposed.
Why limit storage space when you don't have to?
You can corner the market with these limits imposed.
I paid for 100% of the game already, not just 95%.
Yes, they can do what they want with their game - be greedy and limiting or be reasonable and not impose limits that need not be there.
This is FFXIV, not FFXI.

I would guess that the $3 charge is calculated based on the overheads involved of electricity to run the servers, the expenses to maintain hardware, the expenses to maintain software, the cost of upgrading hardware and software, the costs of salaries and salary oncosts of staff directly related to the maintenance of the servers, apportioned out over the estimated space alloted to each characters needs.

SE has already stated several times the required a amount of server space when people asked for more inventory space that the cost of expanding 100 and 50 slots for retainers and when they discussed what it would cost to create the individual versions of each item by plain, statted, coloured and coloured statted. So yes, there is a cost for haviong more characters. SE is choosing to recoup those costs in PLAIN sight rather than HIDING the cost in one bulk fee. I don't want to pay for your characters, so I am happy to pay my $12 for my entertainment without having to pay $15 or $20 so you can do what you want.

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Originally Posted by Magnesium02

there is a cost for haviong more characters.

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It isn't 3bucks a character, I promise.

WOW = 50 characters for 15bucks a month

As do most mainstream MMOs.

Sorry, it's greed, plain and simple.

And you are an expert in Management Accounting, IT infrastructre management and costing and you know all the technical details about the makeup of SE's servers, their running costs and personell? And who says that WOW is as complex as the coding and datastructure of FFXIV? Blizzard probably has the accounting strategy of charging everyone for, say 5 characters when the average player has 1-3 so they still make a profit overall. SE is just being transparent, not nessesarily greedy

Considering the servers are probably running at 10% of what they were initially, I think they can afford the "overhead". Considering characters that aren't being played are basically just static cells in a database :/ Not a whole lot of extra.. electricity per month.

Let me ask you this to clarify. If you have an empty 100 gig hard drive, and you download 10 gigs of stuff. why would having static data sitting there make your hard drive use more electricity?

What I'm getting at, is even if a player has 100 characters on their account, they can only ever use 1 at any given time. Meaning the server is only under load for one while playing, and the other 99 are just dead weight (and not very much weight.)

Its like people see the servers as holding their 3 dimensional characters. All they pretty much are is text in an enormous database, and I'm sorry but text doesn't take up that much space.

I kindof see your point to a certain extent, but to vehemently defend SE (A company, that runs off of money) against someone calling them greedy, saying they don't know how SE's servers are coded (which, if poorly, is their own damn fault) when you don't even know yourself is silly.


edit~ I guess that I should add that I have 2 characters, and don't really care about the charge. It was the same with XI so I suppose I'm conditioned to it. Though 3$ is excessive, whatever. To anyone whining about 3$, buy 1 or 2 less bags of potato chips a month.

Some people won't accept anything - it doesn't matter what you tell them or show them.

Just end this thread... this isn't going to change SE's mind about pricing.

/thread

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Originally Posted by KitCat

they can only ever use 1 at any given time.

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This is why I don't understand why characters have to cost so damn much. lol :\

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Originally Posted by Leyza

I really, really don't like this system. I don't see how it benefits anyone, I also think creates a frustration for those who enjoy making different characters. For those who can afford it, it's probably no problem, but for those who can't, it is a problem. I think something like a $15 a month fee would be better for this game.

Just my two gil. :p

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if you cant afford the extra 3-6$ a month maybe you should prioritize better and not even pay for the initial fee. Take that money and leave it in the bank.

also no way in hell will i pay a set fee for people to have more than 1 character when the game is made to experience on 1 alone

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Originally Posted by Jinko

This is SE they always do things the most convoluted and akward way possible, I don't see why you would be surprised.

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Indeed, being able to do everything on 1 character is very convoluted and awkward.

How do you create a new character?

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

How do you create a new character?

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http://i40.tinypic.com/n9sh.jpg

............................. V

http://i42.tinypic.com/2003csy.jpg

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Originally Posted by Thanos

if you cant afford the extra 3-6$ a month maybe you should prioritize better and not even pay for the initial fee. Take that money and leave it in the bank.

also no way in hell will i pay a set fee for people to have more than 1 character when the game is made to experience on 1 alone

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I'm not saying I can't, what I'm saying is that it's pointless. And you can't experience all the quests on one character. :p

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Originally Posted by Leyza

I'm not saying I can't, what I'm saying is that it's pointless. And you can't experience all the quests on one character. :p

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In virtually all cases where you can't, the only difference in the quests is pretty much what you see in the cutscenes. They all have the same effects and end results. Seperate but equal.

Go play another game, like what my sig says! You will get your instance love as well!

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Originally Posted by Jennestia

Indeed, being able to do everything on 1 character is very convoluted and awkward.

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That right there is what is known as a "valid point." :)

I've played other games where you only have 1 character slot and then pay to open a 2nd slot, but it is a 1 time fee. I don't need or want more than one character, but I can see how people who do want to feel they will be punished with an annual $36 fee to do it.

Wait, $36 a year for a 2nd char? I changed my mind, that is a really very reasonable price to me...