As of the current situation of general stay-home advice (and because I've read Blizzard/WoW added a +100% Exp Bonus for a month as well), I thought either the "returner's bounty" campaign or the "free login" campaign we've had before would be a good idea.
What do you think?
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03-22-2020, 10:22 PMRugirOpinions: Returner- and/or Free-Login Campaign due to current situation.
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03-22-2020, 11:24 PMStriderShinryu
Would be a good idea for sure. Waiving all sub fees would be too big an ask but the returning subscriber campaign would be a nice gesture. Maybe turn back on the itinerant Moogle stuff or something too just as something extra for players to do while they are trapped at home.
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03-22-2020, 11:29 PMOdstarva
Absolutely. If anything, I'm surprised no event of any sort has taken place yet.
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03-23-2020, 01:39 AMFirstnameLastname
Corporate says no, go and pay.
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03-23-2020, 01:43 AMVahlnir
I think it would be a wise business move to do this right now. More players at home means there are more bored players wanting to play different games which means there's a potential for new customers which equals profit. It might also net them some decent PR: "Square Enix's free login campaign lets gamers play their game for free for a limited time!" Every company loves good PR. Well, except Blizzard. They seem to love crashing and burning.
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03-23-2020, 08:06 AMIscah
They already have the unlimited free trial to attract new people into the game without initially paying for it.
It might be nice of them to offer free logins, but it's not good business sense. They do it during quiet periods when they want to get people back into the game, not shortly after an update while a large chunk of the player base is at home with nothing to do. That's a prime time for people to choose to take up a subscription, so why would they declare a free login period at this point? -
03-23-2020, 08:38 AMMomomiMomi
I take part in just about every free login. I predict we're going to have a free login around mid April. My inactive sub is ready.
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03-23-2020, 12:26 PMHasratBecause, at least in the US, there's not a great deal of guaranteed paid time off due to quarantining orders, reduced hours due to nobody out patronizing anything, and otherwise a general loss of income for many, while bills continue to expect being paid. So, one way or another, SE's going to end up losing some subs over this. At least with some good PR, they've got better chances of bringing them back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iscah
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03-23-2020, 02:46 PMIscahThat's something to do in future though, if they're losing subscriptions and they need to keep people engaged or lure them back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hasrat
And they don't get any benefit out of making the game free now.
Let's say A is a regular player who can't afford to play now, B is a regular player who can still afford it, and C is currently not subscribed but is bored and and wants to play.
If they're still charging for subscriptions, they lose A but gain C. They're still getting two people's money regardless of who those people are (and if C didn't sign up, they'd still have one subscription from B).
If they make it free, they are getting zero money from anyone, have three people taking up computing power on their servers, and still have to keep the game running in uncertain financial times.
I can't see that possibly being beneficial from their viewpoint. -
03-23-2020, 02:50 PMUnaki
Careful. Making any suggestion involving possibly getting something, even the smallest thing, free will attract the "wElL yA sHoUlDnT pLaY iF yA cAnT aFfOrD iT" crowd.
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03-23-2020, 03:35 PMVahlnirBuT yUr PrIoRiTiEs ZoMg!Quote:
Originally Posted by Unaki
(you're welcome) -
03-23-2020, 04:35 PMHasratThe Free-login campaign doesn't make it free for everyone. Subbed players still pay subs. It's simply a campaign to bring inactive players back, with the goal of hopefully regaining their sub. Much like the Callback campaign is meant to encourage active subs to get any inactive friends back into playing and subscribing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iscah
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03-23-2020, 07:01 PMJojoyaWhich is still true. People need to learn to live within their means. Pay for basic necessities first then if you have anything left over you can get the luxury extras - like video game subscriptions.Quote:
Originally Posted by Unaki
I'm not against this idea, though like others have said it's unlikely since the situation is having a world wide economic effect on businesses as much as it's having on the employees. SE still needs to be able to pay their employees, suppliers, etc. while the business is operating.
But as a middle ground, maybe they could offer a deferred payment option for those who need it. Let players have up to 2 months where they don't need to pay upfront. After that, the player would need to bring their subscription current by paying for those 2 months plus the next month as usual before they can resume playing. Failure to bring the account current would make the player ineligible for future free log-in and returning player promotions. Those with the financial resources to continue paying their sub (or have already paid in advance) would be unaffected. -
03-24-2020, 05:06 AMDivinemights
No, at the best they will offer 100% experience bonus like Blizzard did with WoW.
You are asking too much from a company (any company).
Please do not confused with act of gesture and self-entitlement -
03-24-2020, 07:49 AMVahlnirYou must not be aware of the fact that they utilize free login/returner campaigns pretty regularly regardless of the real world circumstances.Quote:
Originally Posted by Divinemights
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03-24-2020, 11:11 AMAnarnee
I actually would prefer they didn't. I have a queue on every server that I have characters on for the past week. I don't mind when the game is in a lull, but that is not the case right now.
Editing my reply to the post below so I don't have to bump this thread.
I never said the queues were particularly bad, but that is besides the point.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojoya
As paying customers I shouldn't have to wait in more of a queue because they decide to do a free campaign in the middle of a busy spell. -
03-24-2020, 11:39 AMIscahYeah, that's probably when they bring in those sort of campaigns. "The game population is dropping, let's bring more people in". Not when they're already busy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anarnee
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03-24-2020, 09:07 PMJojoyaMaybe your log in queues are different but mine aren't more than 30-45 seconds. Even at Shadowbringer's launch, it was very rare I had to wait more than 5 minutes to log in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anarnee
A 5 minute wait is not a big deal. -
04-01-2020, 12:19 PMAsako
I'm honestly surprised they didn't make up until end of Heavensward or Stormblood free to play given the current situation. With people having a lot more free time this is a good time to get them hooked. Then you can sell them Shadowbringers once they are invested into the game. Like printing your own money.
Apparently Square don't like free money. xD -
04-01-2020, 01:14 PMworldofneilIt can be if you pay for a standard subscription with 8 characters and want to swap characters a few times.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojoya
They already do a free trial that has no time limit up to level 35 with every class... It might not be endgame, but you'd know by then if you like the game or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by Asako
They're also not going to give away the base game which they currently charge for (which you need to do to even get to Heavensward or Stormblood like you suggested) -
04-02-2020, 07:16 AMAsako
Aye, but it's ancient content now. There is already a long enough slog for new players that want to get into the game. I'm just saying they could have made a bigger effort during this outbreak to reach out to more people. The game is free to 35 but the story doesn't really get going until after that. Obviously make it a limited time only thing.
The more time goes on the more content the game gets and more and more it becomes a harder sell to new players because they have so much to catch up on. A lot of complaints I hear are 'there is too much to catch up on so I'll pass' which is so true.
As the game is primarily story based, story skip potions aren't really a good solution for these players. I'd say get more people into the game by offering at least the complete base version for free for a while. I've been playing since 2014 and love the game and wanna see it staying healthy for another while. Get more peeps in. Yeeeo. -
04-02-2020, 07:59 AMIscahI don't think "getting more people in" is an issue right now. Worlds are full. They're going to run campaigns to attract players when the game is quiet, not when it's busy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Asako
Anyway, it's not in their interest to attract new players right at the moment, as they work on a "less off-putting" version of the base game MSQ. They don't want to invite players now, have them give up and not want to come back later.