Free to Play vs Pay to Play Ideas

[Eldaena]

If this game ever becomes F2P..... my entire group and I would be quitting for good.

Sorry I don't believe people with more money to spend on games irl should be able to advance above everyone else faster....
I would rather pay once a month for access to everything then not have access to anything because I can't afford to spend more then 15 a month on it... I played a lot of F2P mmos ..... and it would totally ruin this one. I hated all of them. I don't want to be reminded how poor I am every time I see the cash shop and can't spend money on some digital item. "How did you do that so fast?" - "Oh it's 20 bucks in the cash shop..." Great.... what wonderful gameplay and skill that must take...
That is the only thing that will permanently drive me and everyone I know playing away from FFXIV.

No mmo that is F2P will ever be successful, fun, or balanced in my eyes.... You are more then welcome to your opinion and I was glad to at least see you had organized ideas but I really hate threads like these...
The community is really special here.... and I really enjoy reading here.... Imagine the spam, hate and botting that would occur.... look at the forums before SE said you had to have an account. You want all those nasty people back here and in the game?

The game would be a total fail, everyone in my shell would be unhappy, and then we would all go back to XI and never look back. I love FFXIV but that's the line...
------------

Being free to play doesn't mean you get to level faster because you have more money. You are stereotyping free to play games as if they are all the same. Balancing is severely important in these matters and that's what we hear about all the time with the development team. BALANCE.

In a free to play game you don't have to buy anything. In a free to play game it doesn't have to be all the terrible things you mention if the company stays on it. And it's not as if pay to play games keep bots out. We have them now. We would have gil sellers now if it were pay to play or even a popular game.

Just like you and your group would leave if it became free to play, there are several other groups that would leave if it became pay to play. None of the things I brought up made the game unbalanced or unfair in a cash shop setting. Fashion, reasonable one-use items, and a crafting enhancement that still requires a crafter to use. I'm sorry you hate my thread, but I made pros and cons to both for a reason.

[Noctura]

Being free to play doesn't mean you get to level faster because you have more money. You are stereotyping free to play games as if they are all the same. Balancing is severely important in these matters and that's what we hear about all the time with the development team. BALANCE.

In a free to play game you don't have to buy anything. In a free to play game it doesn't have to be all the terrible things you mention if the company stays on it. And it's not as if pay to play games keep bots out. We have them now. We would have gil sellers now if it were pay to play or even a popular game.

Just like you and your group would leave if it became free to play, there are several other groups that would leave if it became pay to play. None of the things I brought up made the game unbalanced or unfair in a cash shop setting. Fashion, reasonable one-use items, and a crafting enhancement that still requires a crafter to use. I'm sorry you hate my thread, but I made pros and cons to both for a reason.

I already drew attention to the fact your ideas were organized and not another "do this just cuz" thread. I love that you have a want for the game to do well. I understand, I am just stating my opinion in return, which happens to be total opposite of yours. I have my opinions of F2P games because for me... that is literally how they all were... I am not stereotyping... I just hate them because they wasted my time and money and pissed me off because I couldn't keep up. People would call me a bad player just because I didn't have certain items or level as fast as they did because of their one time use +20% exp increase from the cash shop and/or their Fashion items that gave them extra stats or exp+ as well. I want to escape the real world in an mmo.... not be constantly reminded how bad it is right now because I don't have money for things I like in a digital world where the in game money should be what you are paying for things with.

After playing about 10 F2P (examples being Perfect world, DnD online, and megaten a while back), I realized that on PW alone I had to spend 70 a month just to keep up with my guild in leveling. I couldn't get any clothes for fun because.... I had to spend money on stuff I needed to level. In megaten everything I wanted was cash shop items, those items had stars and everything was better on them by such a huge amount it was sad and each one cost anywhere from 5-10 bucks for ONE piece of gear in game. This of course ruined the economy of the game when people ran short on game money, bought a really good cash shop item, and sold it for millions. The person buying however has to do things 10x slower and go make all that money back because he wasn't able to afford it in the stupid shop. So people with money irl are rich in game and just raise prices on everything because you can't get it any other way. I really don't want FFXIV turning into one of these games.
I honestly cannot believe I wasted that much money on those games, when it wasn't ever enough to keep up anyway. I promised myself I would never play one again when a guild I tried to join wanted my rl monthy income and how much I was able to spend on the game as part of the application to get in due to the fact they wanted everyone to level faster, and have better access to things then the people who weren't spending money on the cash shop..... No... just no. This isn't meant for a game like FFXIV....

No you do not HAVE to buy the items.... but if you can't then why bother playing... because everyone else that can is better then you and they make sure you know it. I like crafting too, that doesn't mean I can afford to get the items to help me from the cash shop and I sit there watching someone else with a cash shop buff get ahead of me that started 10 lvls below me. That's always how it was for me and my group. I quit all those games for a good reason, that being it.
Your ideas aren't terrible and I agree that for some people it would be ok.... but I would rather pay a subscription right now to get the game going then deal with a cash shop.... it's totally discouraging to me. They might as well sell crafting bots in the cash shop imo...

I'll stop attacking your thread with walls of text... I apologize if it seemed like I was trying to troll. Nothing against you at all, I just get really bad experiences from F2P games, and I want to see FFXIV be better then that... and not sink that low. I want to be able to invite people to FFXIV and be proud of it and it's skill based community.

I am hoping they can pull this off and make the game worth paying for by PS3 release. I have to believe that lol.

[Eldaena]

I already drew attention to the fact your ideas were organized and not another "do this just cuz" thread. I love that you have a want for the game to do well. I understand, I am just stating my opinion in return, which happens to be total opposite of yours. I have my opinions of F2P games because for me... that is literally how they all were... I am not stereotyping... I just hate them because they wasted my time and money and pissed me off because I couldn't keep up. People would call me a bad player just because I didn't have certain items or level as fast as they did because of their one time use +20% exp increase from the cash shop and/or their Fashion items that gave them extra stats or exp+ as well. I want to escape the real world in an mmo.... not be constantly reminded how bad it is right now because I don't have money for things I like in a digital world where the in game money should be what you are paying for things with.

After playing about 10 F2P (examples being Perfect world, DnD online, and megaten a while back), I realized that on PW alone I had to spend 70 a month just to keep up with my guild in leveling. I couldn't get any clothes for fun because.... I had to spend money on stuff I needed to level. In megaten everything I wanted was cash shop items, those items had stars and everything was better on them by such a huge amount it was sad and each one cost anywhere from 5-10 bucks for ONE piece of gear in game. This of course ruined the economy of the game when people ran short on game money, bought a really good cash shop item, and sold it for millions. The person buying however has to do things 10x slower and go make all that money back because he wasn't able to afford it in the stupid shop. So people with money irl are rich in game and just raise prices on everything because you can't get it any other way. I really don't want FFXIV turning into one of these games.
I honestly cannot believe I wasted that much money on those games, when it wasn't ever enough to keep up anyway. I promised myself I would never play one again when a guild I tried to join wanted my rl monthy income and how much I was able to spend on the game as part of the application to get in due to the fact they wanted everyone to level faster, and have better access to things then the people who weren't spending money on the cash shop..... No... just no. This isn't meant for a game like FFXIV....

No you do not HAVE to buy the items.... but if you can't then why bother playing... because everyone else that can is better then you and they make sure you know it. I like crafting too, that doesn't mean I can afford to get the items to help me from the cash shop and I sit there watching someone else with a cash shop buff get ahead of me that started 10 lvls below me. That's always how it was for me and my group. I quit all those games for a good reason, that being it.
Your ideas aren't terrible and I agree that for some people it would be ok.... but I would rather pay a subscription right now to get the game going then deal with a cash shop.... it's totally discouraging to me. They might as well sell crafting bots in the cash shop imo...

I'll stop attacking your thread with walls of text... I apologize if it seemed like I was trying to troll. Nothing against you at all, I just get really bad experiences from F2P games, and I want to see FFXIV be better then that... and not sink that low. I want to be able to invite people to FFXIV and be proud of it and it's skill based community.

I am hoping they can pull this off and make the game worth paying for by PS3 release. I have to believe that lol.

I've only ever played three Free to Play games in the past and never did the cash shop force me to play in any way. Nor do I let elitist players dictate my play either.

Maplestory I played just to try, and spent a little money for vanity only. Perfect World I tried because I was bored and only spent $10 for vanity, but ended up disliking the game. The last one I played was Vindictus which I haven't really spent money on, and only did the free offers they have for NX to purchase from their cash shop. It's an extremely fun game for me and I just play with people I like.

I don't feel like I have to keep up with anyone in any game because why would I put that sort of stress on myself? It's a game. I worry that some of your bad experiences with these kinds of games are in part your own doing for making yourself believe you are less than someone else for not spending money, when you should be thinking you're going to get there too and without spending anything lol.

You bother playing because you enjoy what you're doing, not how much you're spending. If you're not enjoying it; don't play it. And definitely don't pay for it. Even if a cash shop for ffxiv would be strictly inventory and vanity stuff, I think it would be an excellent addition, if only now during this period of free play.

[Noctura]

I've only ever played three Free to Play games in the past and never did the cash shop force me to play in any way. Nor do I let elitist players dictate my play either.

Maplestory I played just to try, and spent a little money for vanity only. Perfect World I tried because I was bored and only spent $10 for vanity, but ended up disliking the game. The last one I played was Vindictus which I haven't really spent money on, and only did the free offers they have for NX to purchase from their cash shop. It's an extremely fun game for me and I just play with people I like.

I don't feel like I have to keep up with anyone in any game because why would I put that sort of stress on myself? It's a game. I worry that some of your bad experiences with these kinds of games are in part your own doing for making yourself believe you are less than someone else for not spending money, when you should be thinking you're going to get there too and without spending anything lol.

You bother playing because you enjoy what you're doing, not how much you're spending. If you're not enjoying it; don't play it. And definitely don't pay for it. Even if a cash shop for ffxiv would be strictly inventory and vanity stuff, I think it would be an excellent addition, if only now during this period of free play.

No, it wasn't my fault that other players in the game refused to have anything to do with me, invite me to their guilds, and exp parties because I didn't buy cash shop items. People started telling me if I wanted to avoid getting bitched at to go buy the cash shop items. I would be too low level in an hour so they'd have to kick me out anyway, without those items. No, I didn't ask to be constantly whined at by people with money and kicked out because I couldn't get cash shop items. I didn't care, I played anyway, but I couldn't do anything without it being an issue for everyone that used it. I dealt with it for a while and then I quit. No way in hell do I feel like I am less then someone else with money and cash shop bs, and you COMPLETELY misjudged what I value in a game and said I made myself believe that crap?? Don't insult me. Who the hell was telling me this the entire time I was playing... myself? No... EVERYONE else. The whole cause of my leaving the games due to lack of parties and people to play with comes back to....the cash shop. I wouldn't even consider going near a game that had one because I don't want to be part of a game community that has ANY value on real money. I am playing the game.... I use money in the game to buy items. That's it.
FFXI was my first P2P game and I stayed on it for 8 years.

I don't want to quit FFXIV.... and I don't want other players asking me if I buy crap on the game. I want to feel like I am playing the full version of the game and not constantly worrying about what I can and can't have because I can't pay for it to make the game better. One payment.... Full version of the game unlimited. No gimped "You get certain features that are awesome but only if you pay extra for them!" That doesn't belong in such a respectable community and it would trash the name of Final Fantasy.
Not all F2P games are bad.... but FFXIV deserves better then that.
Did you get to the levels in Vindictus when you had to buy these gold coins from the cash shop in order to do the higher level runs that gave better money and items?? Yeah I quit. Cash shops are evil. Bring on the subscription fee, it doesn't gimp me. -.-

I did complain earlier about wasting my time though.... and I am bringing that on myself again by reading and posting in this thread... I won't be opening another with any similar subject. I would actually like to stay positive about the future of the game.... so this stuff isn't good for me to think about... if it becomes F2P with a cash shop I have yet again wasted my time.

Please excuse me....
Take care... enjoy the game.

[Eldaena]

No, it wasn't my fault that other players in the game refused to have anything to do with me, invite me to their guilds, and exp parties because I didn't buy cash shop items. People started telling me if I wanted to avoid getting bitched at to go buy the cash shop items. I would be too low level in an hour so they'd have to kick me out anyway, without those items. No, I didn't ask to be constantly whined at by people with money and kicked out because I couldn't get cash shop items. I didn't care, I played anyway, but I couldn't do anything without it being an issue for everyone that used it. I dealt with it for a while and then I quit. No way in hell do I feel like I am less then someone else with money and cash shop bs, and you COMPLETELY misjudged what I value in a game and said I made myself believe that crap?? Don't insult me. Who the hell was telling me this the entire time I was playing... myself? No... EVERYONE else. The whole cause of my leaving the games due to lack of parties and people to play with comes back to....the cash shop. I wouldn't even consider going near a game that had one because I don't want to be part of a game community that has ANY value on real money. I am playing the game.... I use money in the game to buy items. That's it.
FFXI was my first P2P game and I stayed on it for 8 years.

I don't want to quit FFXIV.... and I don't want other players asking me if I buy crap on the game. I want to feel like I am playing the full version of the game and not constantly worrying about what I can and can't have because I can't pay for it to make the game better. One payment.... Full version of the game unlimited. No gimped "You get certain features that are awesome but only if you pay extra for them!" That doesn't belong in such a respectable community and it would trash the name of Final Fantasy.
Not all F2P games are bad.... but FFXIV deserves better then that.
Did you get to the levels in Vindictus when you had to buy these gold coins from the cash shop in order to do the higher level runs that gave better money and items?? Yeah I quit. Cash shops are evil. Bring on the subscription fee, it doesn't gimp me. -.-

I did complain earlier about wasting my time though.... and I am bringing that on myself again by reading and posting in this thread... I won't be opening another with any similar subject. I would actually like to stay positive about the future of the game.... so this stuff isn't good for me to think about... if it becomes F2P with a cash shop I have yet again wasted my time.

Please excuse me....
Take care... enjoy the game.

I still think you are simply stereotyping a possible method of payment for this game as bad because of a bad experience you had previously with something as the same name. I wonder if I presented my ideas in a different light you may have thought differently. Just because a person stabbed you, you don't hate their gender, race, hair color, etc. You hate that person. Just because you had a bad experience with a game, you dislike that game, not all games. Nothing that I mentioned in my idea of the cash shop would give anyone any real advantage in my eyes. So you could buy more space? So you could buy some fashion items? Those were the biggest things I was looking into and the others were just ideas I was throwing out there. Again, sorry if I brought up some bad memories for you with this, but again they were all just ideas and I did list pros and cons on both sides for a reason.

[Kam]

Just because a person stabbed you, you don't hate their gender, race, hair color, etc. You hate that person. Just because you had a bad experience with a game, you dislike that game, not all games. Nothing that I mentioned in my idea of the cash shop would give anyone any real advantage in my eyes. So you could buy more space? So you could buy some fashion items? Those were the biggest things I was looking into and the others were just ideas I was throwing out there. Again, sorry if I brought up some bad memories for you with this, but again they were all just ideas and I did list pros and cons on both sides for a reason.

Seriously Kilta. Stop it.

[SIZE="5"]The forum hath spoken.[/SIZE]

[Eldaena]

Seriously Kilta. Stop it.

[SIZE="5"]The forum hath spoken.[/SIZE]

Stop trollin'.

[Ava]

I vote for a hybrid model. Free to play but subscribers have everything unlocked as long as they continue to pay the monthly fee. For free players, features are unlocked one by one via "cash shop", such as retainers, character slots, advanced jobs (if applicable), certain quests, holiday events, etc. This way people can still play for free, and people who want to pay can pay and have everything unlocked from the start.

Microtransactions are incredibly profitable. I hate F2P games but it would only be logical for them to include some kind of microtransaction model. If it was flat out F2P without a subscription option, I probably wouldn't continue playing because I feel flat out F2P is bad.

[Eldaena]

I vote for a hybrid model. Free to play but subscribers have everything unlocked as long as they continue to pay the monthly fee. For free players, features are unlocked one by one via "cash shop", such as retainers, character slots, advanced jobs (if applicable), certain quests, holiday events, etc. This way people can still play for free, and people who want to pay can pay and have everything unlocked from the start.

Microtransactions are incredibly profitable. I hate F2P games but it would only be logical for them to include some kind of microtransaction model. If it was flat out F2P without a subscription option, I probably wouldn't continue playing because I feel flat out F2P is bad.

That's a good idea that I think people could get behind. I will edit my original post to include an "Or Both" option. lol

[Krausus]

I vote for a hybrid model. Free to play but subscribers have everything unlocked as long as they continue to pay the monthly fee. For free players, features are unlocked one by one via "cash shop", such as retainers, character slots, advanced jobs (if applicable), certain quests, holiday events, etc. This way people can still play for free, and people who want to pay can pay and have everything unlocked from the start.

Microtransactions are incredibly profitable. I hate F2P games but it would only be logical for them to include some kind of microtransaction model. If it was flat out F2P without a subscription option, I probably wouldn't continue playing because I feel flat out F2P is bad.

The problem with that is that model is what games that are dieing off switch to, this game hasn't lived yet so I would hate for it to go that route unless absolutely necessary to keep server population up.