Free to Play vs Pay to Play Ideas

[Eldaena]

My gawd it's Kilta v2.0

My god. Trolling a person you think is a troll is just trolling itself.

[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]

you forgot the biggest con of FTP and thats no obligation to release content on a constant basis. when you play P2P games you are not just paying for access to the game you are paying for ever expanding content in a timely manner

PS: This subject has been beaten to death.

Well, like I said in my original statement I have not seen much of this being talked about myself. And second, you have a point. They don't have an obligation to if it's free to play. However, they don't have an obligation to now either while it's in this limbo. I just thought possibly adding a cash shop, even in this indefinite period, might be a way to help encourage more development as well as add a bit of spice to gameplay.

[Kam]

However, they don't have an obligation to now either while it's in this limbo.

/picard facepalm.

[Eldaena]

/picard facepalm.

Problem? Is this not true? It's been out nearly a year. If they wanted to they could close up shop now and count their losses.

[Kam]

Option 1. yes. They themselves want to make the game P2P. Sorry you missed that memo.

whats /facepalm worthy is how you arrived at that conclusion.

[Krausus]

Well, like I said in my original statement I have not seen much of this being talked about myself. And second, you have a point. They don't have an obligation to if it's free to play. However, they don't have an obligation to now either while it's in this limbo. I just thought possibly adding a cash shop, even in this indefinite period, might be a way to help encourage more development as well as add a bit of spice to gameplay.

Which is why you are currently not paying a monthly sub. Also SE is a very wealthy company, they dont need to run cash shops in order to afford development. Not sure what spice you are talking about, fluff items? If so you dont need a cash shop to add fluff items to 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]

[Naylia]

See, now this is a justifiable statement against free to play that I can agree with to some extent. It would change how people feel about some aspects of the game, however, I'm not thinking that things in the cash shop would completely alter game play. Nothing like double exp or overpowered weapons. Maybe vanity, storage, and possible additions to crafting enhancement or combat items not in game now. It's not things required to enjoy the game. It's not things required to become what you may believe is 'powerful.' Just things to make it more possibly more enjoyable to some players.

See it's not benefits that I'm talking about....it's Disney World vs the Carnival. Disney World = pay your money and everyone gets to go ride its a small world = everyone has a good time, no one ever thinks about money while they enjoy things together (except for that $8 hamburger) once you paid to get in (cause it's a sunk cost). Carnival = you can get in, but then all these activities cost money individually and so you just stand around not enjoying the activities, but instead thinking about how much activities cost (because each bit of fun has an incremental charge). I want Disney World, not the Carnival. However, that said I'm still ok with fees for extra retainers, extra characters, server transfers, renaming, remaking look...outside of the game. When people are in Eorzea, I want them playing, enjoying and experiencing the game, and not trying to decide whether they should spend $1 to access some bit of content that their friends also accessed.

Also...another note. The simple things you mention are likely insufficient funding to keep the game F2P for very long. F2P games always put in cash shops that in someway enhance your ability to play beyond just hair cuts and mount type. I'd like an example of a F2P large scale MMO that is running on Hair Cut/Color and purely aesthetic items that don't impact your ability to advance in the game.

And the PS3 launch is all the encouragement the team needs to get the game right, if they thought that small incremental charges for some of the things I mentioned were necessary to support the development team right now then I'm sure we would have seen them. However, they aren't necessary and they detract from the resources that are trying to fix the core mechanics in this game, rather than worrying about small adds (although I do agree that some small adds for "fun" could boost morale).