Free to Play vs Pay to Play Ideas

[Phenidate]

I'm sorry, but if I am going to play an MMO its going to need to be pay to play, or have a system not predicated upon fancies and frippery.

I like to look nice in a game, but I also want to have the extra content inherent to acquiring nice things in an MMO. Special event gear like the yukatas and christmas outfits in FFXI? It was a 'you had to be there and experience it' thing. Doing the work to get the WHM outfit? Just wearing it makes you feel awesome having finally gotten it.

The moment I need to whip out a credit card to buy 'imaginary company bucks' to acquire said item, it cuts out any sense of accomplishment or meaning behind that costume. You're supporting the company and the game sure, but you lose a lot to do it in the process.

(Besides, based on the latest interview with Yoshida, it sounds like nice looking gear takes a LOT of time and effort to make for this game. I'd hate to see how much SE would try to charge for costume gear if they went F2P.)

[Mortikhan]

F2P is not F2P...cash shops insure that. Items (or improved versions of items) are removed from drop tables and placed in cash shops. At first things are fair but greed always wins out in the end or the company risks losing money so those who make "donations" are rarely perma-banned for any offense. A PVP environment (which eventually one will be available here) is completely slanted toward those with bigger wallets. I have played F2P servers before...I will never make that mistake again.

[Eldaena]

F2P is not F2P...cash shops insure that. Items (or improved versions of items) are removed from drop tables and placed in cash shops. At first things are fair but greed always wins out in the end or the company risks losing money so those who make "donations" are rarely perma-banned for any offense. A PVP environment (which eventually one will be available here) is completely slanted toward those with bigger wallets. I have played F2P servers before...I will never make that mistake again.

Free to play is free to play unless you decide to pay for something. I have been enjoying a free to play game without spending a dime, and I don't intend to. They do try to make their cash shops enticing because they do want to make money. That is not to say that if things were purchasable with real money for a game like this that the things you could buy would be game changing and unbalanced. When I mention 'free to play' as a possibility for this game, I mean it like this: Fair, Balanced, "Pretty", Logical items for sale, and not ridiculous, overthetop, unbalanced items. Again, I'm sorry for you being another victim of a free to play game that made you feel that way. But that doesn't mean that if this game was made free to play that it would be the same as all the others.

[Miliant]

Runes of Magic is an excellent MMO that is 100% free to play, cash shop does not affect the game at all.

Now that that's done, regarding FFXIV: at this point I personally don't think it matters whether FFXIV is going to be F2P or P2P. I bought this game almost a year ago, with the idea of playing almost a year ago. An MMO is a long term investment: it took me 4 years to be satisfied with FFXI and quit it. For some other MMOs I played, it took me a little less time before saying "okay, I'm satisfied. I'm done now".

But FFXIV? A year after starting my "journey" on September 2010, I've achieved nothing. I got tired at around level 30 and never felt like playing again other than to check on patches. This is because in one year the game has released nothing but minor fixes of bugs it shouldn't even have been released with. The idea of the real game starting 2 years after my journey to Eorzea began is something I'm not ready to go through. The game was empty and has failed to create a journey-like experience and the sense of achievement you get from any MMO. The question of whether it's gonna be F2P or P2P is irrelevant when a lot of people don't want to play/got sick of the game while it's free and costs 5 bucks.

[Eldaena]

Runes of Magic is an excellent MMO that is 100% free to play, cash shop does not affect the game at all.

Now that that's done, regarding FFXIV: at this point I personally don't think it matters whether FFXIV is going to be F2P or P2P. I bought this game almost a year ago, with the idea of playing almost a year ago. An MMO is a long term investment: it took me 4 years to be satisfied with FFXI and quit it. For some other MMOs I played, it took me a little less time before saying "okay, I'm satisfied. I'm done now".

But FFXIV? A year after starting my "journey" on September 2010, I've achieved nothing. I got tired at around level 30 and never felt like playing again other than to check on patches. This is because in one year the game has released nothing but minor fixes of bugs it shouldn't even have been released with. The idea of the real game starting 2 years after my journey to Eorzea began is something I'm not ready to go through. The game was empty and has failed to create a journey-like experience and the sense of achievement you get from any MMO. The question of whether it's gonna be F2P or P2P is irrelevant when a lot of people don't want to play/got sick of the game while it's free and costs 5 bucks.

It's true and your opinion reflects some of my points I've posted on this thread. I'm guessing this is part of the reason that the payment issue hasn't been discussed or brought up much...because who is going to pay for this on a monthly basis or put any money into past an original game price? So many single player (co-op) console and PC games have more content, story, balanced enjoyable combat...and Final Fantasy really isn't ready for either of them. At least they were sensible enough to have this indefinite period, otherwise, the game may not be here at all anymore.

An interesting thing I thought of later on, is proper expansions in the future. Do you think it could possibly be profitable for both players and developers to create more expansions than a usual large-scale mmo, with good content to keep people satisfied and wanting to buy them? I think expansions would work better for a console game too rather than a monthly fee. However, the reassurance players get from putting money into a game monthly (thinking it protects their character, their servers, and overall their game) might not be there if there are only expansions to purchase or if it went free to play. Definitely a lot of factors on all these fronts.

[Krausus]

I don't think that's a fair statement to make. It can be argued that the timing of hybrid models gives opportunity to dying games to take advantage of, but those games have experienced a significant increase in subscribers after the hybrid model was put into place. I think it's less that games go hybrid when they die, and more of microtransactions have become the most profitable idea in the entire gaming industry (see DLC) and it has only recently been applied to MMORPGs.

I honestly feel hybrid models are probably the future of the MMORPG. Developers are in it for the money and microtransactions/DLC is where the money is at. In Square's press release detailing the state of the company that happened around the time of FFXIV release, they stated directly they want to focus more on DLC products and mobile games because it is their most profitable area. The hybrid model keeps both sides happy, and while some people may be disappointed that they will be playing with free players, I think that's their problem and the hybrid model is a great "in-between" option.

Well I have only seen companies use this model when the game population starts to die off (DDO, LotRO, AoC, think maybe CO). I haven't seen any companies start off with this model (though I dont claim to know of every MMO)

[Krausus]

It's true and your opinion reflects some of my points I've posted on this thread. I'm guessing this is part of the reason that the payment issue hasn't been discussed or brought up much...because who is going to pay for this on a monthly basis or put any money into past an original game price? So many single player (co-op) console and PC games have more content, story, balanced enjoyable combat...and Final Fantasy really isn't ready for either of them. At least they were sensible enough to have this indefinite period, otherwise, the game may not be here at all anymore.

An interesting thing I thought of later on, is proper expansions in the future. Do you think it could possibly be profitable for both players and developers to create more expansions than a usual large-scale mmo, with good content to keep people satisfied and wanting to buy them? I think expansions would work better for a console game too rather than a monthly fee. However, the reassurance players get from putting money into a game monthly (thinking it protects their character, their servers, and overall their game) might not be there if there are only expansions to purchase or if it went free to play. Definitely a lot of factors on all these fronts.

the state of the game now should have nothing to do with its business model once the game is up to par to be charged for. Saying the game should be F2P in the future because it has issues now is ridiculous.

[Eldaena]

the state of the game now should have nothing to do with its business model once the game is up to par to be charged for. Saying the game should be F2P in the future because it has issues now is ridiculous.

The game is changing and it will be different than it originally was going to be. I mean there is a new producer even. Even if months down the line it becomes a much better game, there is competition and possibly better games on the horizon. You have to take into account all aspects in order to determine which payment method is best for your game. It all matters.

[Krausus]

The game is changing and it will be different than it originally was going to be. I mean there is a new producer even. Even if months down the line it becomes a much better game, there is competition and possibly better games on the horizon. You have to take into account all aspects in order to determine which payment method is best for your game. It all matters.

There will always be competition and the business model for this game will not determine its population. What will is the state of the game and its fans.

[Eldaena]

There will always be competition and the business model for this game will not determine its population. What will is the state of the game and its fans.

Your statement is basically agreeing with me that all aspects will and have to be taken into account before a payment plan is finalized.