Full translation of Yoshi interview, including his openness to F2P

[Flickalado]

Jesus has anyone leased a car (it's not very smart)? You pay for the thing every month and still are restricted to x amount of miles. It's just how businesses make money, cause they sort of have to, to survive. If you have to pay, I'm gonna guess, 10 extra bucks for another retainer, and that's causing you to get all pissy then go back to singleplayer games. I for one have a steady job and can cut out a couple Starbucks runs to make up for the extra money spent.

[Naunet]

As far as I'm concerned, if I pay monthly to access a service I expect to be able to access it to its fullest, not to pay for it then be told "oh, but if you want to have access to X feature/content you must pay an extra".

Agreed. This interview and the retainer news carry a very suspicious scent to me. The retainer thing alone is enough to be upsetting. I came to XIV because I felt I could trust them to deliver us a P2P MMO with dignity; that trust is wavering.

Jesus has anyone leased a car (it's not very smart)? You pay for the thing every month and still are restricted to x amount of miles. It's just how businesses make money, cause they sort of have to, to survive. If you have to pay, I'm gonna guess, 10 extra bucks for another retainer, and that's causing you to get all pissy then go back to singleplayer games. I for one have a steady job and can cut out a couple Starbucks runs to make up for the extra money spent.

I don't think you're understanding the principle behind the protest. Bank space is a pretty fundamental feature in an MMO, and restricting it is generally only found in free-to-play games. FFXIV is not free-to-play, therefor it's reasonable to expect that in-game features are not limited behind a pay wall.

[Adramelech]

Expect to see cash shop vanity gear and mounts coming soon.

[Namasu]

I think people are either taking things out of context, overreacting, or not considering every angle. I didn't read anything that was cause for alarm.

Yes but most people who read this, no matter how fine the translation is, will still have some doubt when they hear Yoshi being so open to F2P when everything seems to be going fine and we haven't have one of those "FF14 F2P in 2 months" thread since last year.

It's just a stupid move that hurts PR and make the anti-F2Pers as well as the normal subscribers question the state of the game's active population and Yoshi's motive even more. I won't say I demand it but I think Yoshi should make some post to clarify this before it gets out of hand, or resolve it in the 2.1 livestream like he mentioned.

[Musashidon]

that moment people realize p2p only means that you pay to play it nothing more. cash shops are part of all games be it f2p p2p or console games. paying to play a game never meant you get everything in game it just meant you have to pay to play it.

[Lyrinn]

Yes but most people who read this, no matter how fine the translation is, will still have some doubt when they hear Yoshi being so open to F2P when everything seems to be going fine and we haven't have one of those "FF14 F2P in 2 months" thread since last year.

It's just a stupid move that hurts PR and make the anti-F2Pers as well as the normal subscribers question the state of the game's active population and Yoshi's motive even more. I won't say I demand it but I think Yoshi should make some post to clarify this before it gets out of hand, or resolve it in the 2.1 livestream like he mentioned.

I just quickly checked the JP forums and didn't see anything on this, but I imagine the community reps here will have reported this already since, as you said, it would be bad to let the panic go out of control.

[Yshnal]

Jesus has anyone leased a car (it's not very smart)? You pay for the thing every month and still are restricted to x amount of miles. It's just how businesses make money, cause they sort of have to, to survive. If you have to pay, I'm gonna guess, 10 extra bucks for another retainer, and that's causing you to get all pissy then go back to singleplayer games. I for one have a steady job and can cut out a couple Starbucks runs to make up for the extra money spent.

The issue is not about paying more. The issue is about what and why. As Naunet said, these kind of restrictions are usually found in F2P games. We're playing and paying a P2P, not a F2P (there's plenty to choose), so that should give them a hint of what we actually want to pay for.

Anyway, I'm happy if you're willing to pay for anything without thinking twice. That means that if someone tells you that you have to pay a tax to breath you'll pay them without saying a word (overexageration, but you get the idea). But some of us aren't ok when we see things that we don't like and we think that are unneeded. In theory the game is doing fine, so why do they do this? Database space costs? Come on... And even if that's the reason, sometimes it's wiser to reduce a bit your benefits and keep your customers happy (making them stay and say good things about you to other people that they know and that might get interested in your product), than to lose their trust.

[juniglee]

Don't think I saw any mention of this in the interview, but I hope that blue/purple gear can either be stored in the Armoire, or traded for seals in 2.2. Purple probably shouldn't be tradeable for seals, but at least be able to be stored in the Armoire.

At this rate, I'd need to pay for an extra retainer, just to store all my Darklight, HM Primal weapons, and Allagan Monk gear.

EDIT: Also, what happens to i70 crafted gear? If Philo is no longer going to be available in game, there needs to be other sources for the crafting materials. Perhaps we might see HQ Peacock Ores and the like in 2.2?

[jars]

my experience with a f2p mmo was tera, where I had no issues with how it was done.

personally I prefer getting something more tangible than a rather amorphous "you get to access your character" for my money but if subscription is how ff14 functions best then I'll not complain.

[Sessurea]

why would this game go f2p? it suits casuals with jobs! Lives! families! he has created an all-round more healthy/less addictive mmo, where weekly attendance is promoted and rewarded.( rather than 24/7 grind). The only people complaining about this game are the 1% hardcores, which don't matter, statistically. They won't quit anyways, except maybe the 1% of that 1%? lol. This game is too revolutionary and successful ( in terms of target audience/marketing ), to ever NEED to go f2p/p2w.