From Never F2P To...

[Havenae]

Most MMOs can't be P2P and survive. Players don't want to spend subscriptions anymore. Not because they're 'trolls' or 'riff-raff', but because quite frankly subscription is a dead business model, and so many MMO gamers are adverse to buying a box and then paying money monthly to be able to continue playing a game they already bought. Mostly due to comon sense and partially due to so many failed MMOs in the last 10 years. Now, you can throw out all the counters to that statement that you want, but the proof is in the numbers. Hybrid and B2P or even F2P models pull in more players which potentially mean more money in the long haul. Now I tend to agree with Yoishi that f2p is a much less stable income for an MMO.
It does have to potential to make loads more dollars than a sub based model does in short term, but it's sporatic if you can't shell out content and items players want. And yes short term in this genre matters now. New MMOs are coming out all the time with new features and improvements upon the core game system. EQNext for instance I think is going to blast this genre open and all of these games that rely on decades old syste,s (like this one) are going to have one hell of a hard time keeping up. Certainly subs create a more stable income that is substantial over times, but very few gamers play MMOs for years upon years these days. That of course has something to do with developers being stupid and allowing players to reach end content in less than a month (sadly this game included).

At the end of the day for me (and I don't mind paying a subscription provided the game is worth the subscription. and in fact I generally loathe f2p) is "What does the game offer?"

This game, while beautiful and interesting in some ways doesn't have a whole lot going for it that most other games don't already do or do better. It's only real sell point is the IP (and for some of us that's enough, but for most it isnt) which can be a love or hate thing for many, and the graphical quality.

That's the bitter truth. I like the game. I've learned to overlook my slight dislike for the combat system and how one-dimensional the classes seem to be. I believe the game has a lot of potential and I look forward to see what comes of it. But I'm not the type of delude myself into thinking f2p or needing to go hybrid isn't a possability. It isn't necessarily a sleight to the game, it's just what this genre has become.

[MysteriousRonin]

Bla Bla, ignorance and idiocy

You don't know a thing about what you're talking about. Please keep your ignorance to yourself so it doesn't spread, or go back to Neverwinter. You casuals may be the majority now, but the real MMO gamers still want subs, and there are a lot of us.

He's talking about if the subscription base slides enough to where it's no longer viable, not some imminent change just because.

Last week it was "SE will fall on our swords before going F2P", this week it's "We'll go F2P once the subs get low". What do you think it will be next week? I admit I took the OP's word for it and panicked before reading the article, but Yoshida is flip flopping and it has me worried. I don't see how you can be so dismissive about this if you love this game.

Rift comparison

You're seriously comparing Rift to FFXIV? One of the most bland, over hyped, mismanaged, and souless MMO's vs FFXIV ARR which is easily the best MMO since V-WoW launched and has a huge amount of potential for the future if it stays P2P.

FFXI has had subs for 11 years now, if SE doesn't betray its players out of greed then we could be playing this P2P for a long time.