From Never F2P To...

[Arcturius]

love how people spread rumours on these crap websites getting people like the OP and everyone else that reads the threads made by them going and believing the rumours. Yoshi has stated he will never go F2P that he will shut the game down first before he goes F2P so not sure why anyone believes that tabloid bull crap from a 5th rate website.

PREACH!

[MysteriousRonin]

--Blind panic! Don't pay me any attention.--

Yeah I will not play a F2P game, even a hybrid model. This really pisses me off that they would even consider this horrible payment model that is a scam after promising us it would be P2P. If they are considering that as the future of the game then it looks like I will not be subbing because I don't want to waste my money on a company that can't keep their word and would so easily consider betraying the people that stuck with them all this time. This is the news I've been dreading since 1.0.

It sucks because I really loved this game and had a 180 recurring sub set up, but all F2P, B2P, and Hybrids are games with no future, which means there really is no reason to stick with FFXIV since it will get little to no content in a year or two.

The casual gamers WoW brought in are killing the industry, and now there are no good P2P MMO's left because they whine about any game that's not F2P and we real MMO gamers have to suffer because there are no more games for us anymore.

[Lafaiel]

If this game went F2P I would probably call it quit on MMO's finally, but I would make a character on the JP servers first, just to watch the BR's flood it and piss them off. huehuehuehue.

[Lucidisomnis]

You had to be a fool to think they'd just pull the plug on the game if it started to falter as a sub model.
Of course they'd go F2P.

They're a company. F2P models tend to be profitable, sometimes massively, others just for a little while. But they're almost all profitable for a period of time.
Why would they flush the chance to make additional money off their investment by pulling the plug due to a faltering P2P base? That's dumb, when they can just go to a cash shop and milk it awhile longer.

Just so they wouldn't hurt your feelings? They care about return on their investment. They'll make the decision based on that, not your feelings.

Yeah I will not play a F2P game, even a hybrid model. This really pisses me off that they would even consider this horrible payment model that is a scam after promising us it would be P2P. If they are considering that as the future of the game then it looks like I will not be subbing because I don't want to waste my money on a company that can't keep their word and would so easily consider betraying the people that stuck with them all this time. This is the news I've been dreading since 1.0.

It sucks because I really loved this game and had a 180 recurring sub set up, but all F2P, B2P, and Hybrids are games with no future, which means there really is no reason to stick with FFXIV since it will get little to no content in a year or two.

The casual gamers WoW brought in are killing the industry, and now there are no good P2P MMO's left because they whine about any game that's not F2P and we real MMO gamers have to suffer because there are no more games for us anymore.

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

[Ronyx]

LOL if this goes free to play we will never be able to play haha because if the servers can't handle 250,000 ppl what will happen with over a million? XD Servers will literally blow up.

[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.

[Alerith]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127378-Final-Fantasy-14-Team-Didnt-Expect-So-Many-Players-PAX-2013

If you read this article yoshi says they may go hybrid one day with p2p and f2p servers. The fact that he said he would NEVER go f2p to now saying this is concerning. I dont want to see this game go f2p. The 180° shift in such little time is not a good sign. What do you guys think?

The article does not say they may one day do it. They said "IF they had to", they have some idea how they might go about it but there are no plans to do so. I'm pretty sure it's going to stay P2P. One can only hope.

[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.

[Noata]

I imagine he was likely referring to what has been happening as of late. MMO's like EQ, EQ2, Aion, TERA and a few others start out pay 2 play and become free 2 play later. the hybrid model is likely more like what Sony does with EQ2 and EQ, where after a decade of Subscription they switch models to let others enjoy the game before a new one is released.

I have no way of truly knowing, but I personally believe that this model is not going to hit FFXIV for at least a few years

[Helzbelz]

Here we go again F2P players thinking that the P2P model is dead. Its not get over it. If FFXIV goes F2P myself as well as all my FC will be gone. In place will be players that will play the game until they hit the pay wall that will not spend a dime on a game period. So They would loose $13 a month from 30 people to gain 30 people who will not spend a dime. Its not a hard choice. F2P games suck and are very low quality games. Many of which will be shutting down over the next few years you can count on that.

Now if Yoshi P is talking about a Hybrid model after the game has been out 10 years to allow people to play it before they sunset the game. Yea thats fine. But they go the way of SWTOR, Tera, and many other fail MMOs no we will not be here.