Full translation of Yoshi interview, including his openness to F2P

[LlenCoram]

Legacies need their own forum.

Also I doubt this will go f2p anytime soon, At least not in NA,EU or JPN (wow in china is f2p, so maybe there.)

I'd like to point out Zell, who you no doubt threw a Like at because he argued my point, is also one of the "legacies."

Nowhere do I insist this has anything to do with my playstyle. I counter that people who want this game to become the cesspool that is a F2P game need their own forum.

[LordSaviour]

He has a little more Informations than people who believe the ~5% of total Forum-Users is a proper Sample-Size to gather Informations.

These forums are a good way for devs to get an idea of what the community wants.

You see all those Polls in regards to what all Americans Feel on a certain subject and "Presidential Approval Ratings".

I don't know about you, but they never asked my opinion.

You don't need to poll everyone that plays the game to get a good feeling for what the masses want.

[Shikiseki]

Well I really really hope this game won't be F2P because it actually doesn't have the social interactivity that keeps most F2P games going - AT ALL!
I'd die within months...

Maybe around the time 3.x - 4.x hits where noone really cares about content anymore and Golden Saucer or possible a card game are out and established...

That might make me a super duper minority but w/e :/

[BlueMage]

So they're getting rid of Philosophy tomestones altogether. I wonder what that means for i70 crafted items.

I'd wager Philo items will likely still be available but using Myth at a much lower amount. So instead of 125 Philo for coke, it would be 25 Myth. /speculate

[Moheeheeko]

I'd like to point out Zell, who you no doubt threw a Like at because he argued my point, is also one of the "legacies."

And 90% of the "this is too easy I have nothing to do" posts in this forum are from players that had a 3 year head start.

[Nutz]

It's a translation so the exact wording and tone are dubious, but to me it sounds like he's just saying that he's not vehemently opposed to F2P model in principle the way people seem to think. If a large number of people wanted this game to be F2P (and it looked like it would make economic sense) then they'd consider doing it. I think he's just being candid. It doesn't look like it's something that's likely to happen. He even goes into the various reasons why he doesn't like the model from a developer's standpoint and why he thinks it's more appropriate to other genres.

About the extra retainer(s) for money though, I guess that is happening. Not sure how useful the retainer ventures will necessarily be, but he does specifically comment that the extra retainer will be all the more useful because of the upcoming features.

[Failia]

I could see them adding a system similar to other MMOs where you can exchange in-game currency for 30 days of playtime.

While that is possible since there isn't really much of anything to spend gil on currently, I somehow doubt it as in this circumstance they can actually LOSE money from subscriptions. Games like EVE Online are kinda unique in that endeavor.

It would also defeat the whole purpose of the Steam launch. You can actually use your Steam Wallet to pay for your monthly subscription. I add funds to my wallet using PayPal, which is directly connected to my bank account so a credit card isn't required at all. it's quite nice.

[Kayo]

Yoshida: If there's an impression that I'm determined to stick to a subscription service, that's a mistake.

Wow he's seriously trying to go from MMO hero to dishonest prick all in one day isnt he? Yeah this is probably the last developer I was trusting not to screw its paying customers over. This game goes F2P im done with SE, possibly even MMO's. Never paying for their games again just like EA and Ubisoft.

[Nekodar]

While that is possible since there isn't really much of anything to spend gil on currently, I somehow doubt it as in this circumstance they can actually LOSE money from subscriptions. Games like EVE Online are kinda unique in that endeavor

Even in EVE, someone has to actually buy the subscription to sell in-game though, if I don't remember completely wrong.

For ARR that would be like someone buys a timecard, converts it to an in-game item, sells that item for gil...

[LlenCoram]

It's a translation so the exact wording and tone are dubious, but to me it sounds like he's just saying that he's not vehemently opposed to F2P model in principle the way people seem to think. If a large number of people wanted this game to be F2P (and it looked like it would make economic sense) then they'd consider doing it. I think he's just being candid. It doesn't look like it's something that's likely to happen. He even goes into the various reasons why he doesn't like the model from a developer's standpoint and why he thinks it's more appropriate to other genres.

Calmer (smarter) minds than I made a good point: he works for a company that also support F2P games, so coming out and saying, "F2P games are bad" isn't really possible. I'll admit I was confused when I read "F2P is ok. Doesn't work for MMOs really, but I'm not against it" but what my friends say makes sense.

Here's hoping it never goes F2P at least. After Imperian, never again.