So, even Wildstar is going f2p...

[gorezilla1]

The thing is, the producers of these MMOs that went f2p said the same thing. Look at Rift. They said, "we will never go f2p" and 6 months later, went back on it. Plans change over years. I am just hoping that this plan will never change for FF14.

True enough, but the quality of content in XIV is superb. And if that doesn't convince you, remember that XI lasted this long as p2p so XIV will probably last just as long.

[Verdan]

I don't expect FF14 to change to F2P. This game already failed so hard drastic action was needed, and we're playing what they did to fix it.

[Sylve]

And snip.

MMOs typically go F2P because they desperately need population.

Wildstar had some significant issues.
Star Wars the Old Republic had some significant issues.

For as long as people people are getting regular enjoyable content, they will be happy to pay a sub.
Games like WoW only get away with their long patch cycle because of it has a rather established population who don't play because they like WoW, its because they enjoy playing with friends who don't want to leave due to time invested.

I really hope we don't go Free to Play here on XIV, it'd gut the development speed, which is one of things i rather enjoy about XIV.
And FFXIV is the only MMO I've played that gave me a whole new class in a patch. lol
And lets not forget 3 new classes AND a new race in its first expansion. I feel like my sub money is well spent with this kind of pace.
WoW, for all its subs, still only manages 1 class OR Race (Neither in WoD) per expansion. And doesn't even have the decency to give you a race change token when they do >_>

[Alberel]

No no, I know. It is so that we can continue getting monthly content updates like the GW2 subscription funds. Oh wait....

hrmn.... Well, at least with a monthly subscription we will get content without having to purchase it on top of that. Er....

Trying to compare FFXIV's content patches to the pitiful additions GW2 gets is laughable. Until last year the only persistent new content GW2 had received was the Fractals dungeon (which was actually just delayed content that didn't make launch) and the karka island that has no content at all on it and no one ever bothers to visit... It took them three years to announce an expansion pack with the seasonal story leading into that expansion being the first new content the game had received in well over a year.

GW2's content patches typically amount to nothing more than a redesign of a previous system. In fact ArenaNet has now redesigned the traits system twice! Not only do they not have the money to fund proper content development but they waste what little they have on revamping old systems instead of making desperately needed new ones.

When you pay a subscription you typically get much higher quality content with a much faster release cycle. If anything comparing FFXIV to GW2 proves this point to be true so trying to use GW2 as an argument to disprove it is actually hilarious.

[Spy]

Wildstar lost a lot of players (myself included) because of a few things.

A: Content might have been a smidge too hard (Though personally, I thought the 2 hour long super hard dungeons were actually very fun xD) it's just that kind of thing can scare away a lot of players (Especially the more casual group).

B: There was no incentive for high level players to go back and help lower level players (Unless they were friends or something)...so there started to be a huge gap in player base, and thus a lot of content couldn't get done for newer players.

etc...I honestly think my biggest issue was I couldn't afford two P2P games, and FFXIV won over the two when it came to games I wanted to play. So sadly Wildstar was abandoned. However I do plan to play it again after the model change. (While still playing XIV).........I really miss Wildstar's Housing system though T_T Since I t\dont see FFXIV's ever going that awesome

For as long as people people are getting regular enjoyable content, they will be happy to pay a sub.
Games like WoW only get away with their long patch cycle because of it has a rather established population who don't play because they like WoW, its because they enjoy playing with friends who don't want to leave due to time invested.

Actually, when I played WoW (I played for 2 years) there was a ton of content to do in that game. It's not just friends, but that game can be actually fun! Tons of mini games, places to explore (Land/Sky and Sea), backstories, the pvp, the classes are fun (Druid to this day will be my favorite). I love the hidden secrets and lore like in this video. I think what ultimately caused me to quit was my friends (going back to XIV)

[Averax]

The difference between FFXIV and Wildstar is that Wildstar tanked hard after its launch. FFXIV almost did in 1.0, but picked itself up.

[Sylve]

snip
Actually, when I played WoW (I played for 2 years) there was a ton of content to do in that game. It's not just friends, but that game can be actually fun! Tons of mini games, places to explore (Land/Sky and Sea), backstories, the pvp, the classes are fun (Druid to this day will be my favorite). I love the hidden secrets and lore like in this video. I think what ultimately caused me to quit was my friends (going back to XIV)

I played from vanilla to WoD end game.
The friends of mine who still play, in their own words only do so because of the people.
As an Australian on a US server, PvP sucked hard.
Except Season 1 Arena ... Resto Druid + Afflock 2v2 was the only time i truly enjoyed pvp.

Different opinions are different, but game died for me in WotLK, where i got so bored with the endgame i ended up with 17 level 80s before Lich King himself was available to fight.

I will however, full agree with your statement that druids are the best.
Druid was my first class and remained my favorite class (Especially since they gutted the fun of Warrior Tanking) right up until i quit.
Leveling 1 - 60 as a Resto Druid and hanging around Meeting Stones to xxx myself out to groups for dungeon xp will always be my favorite memory though.
Too bad its more of a lobby game than XIV is now >_>

A huge problem WoW has is its huge gaps between content.
If you lot think XIV has a content drought now, Mists of Pandaria received no content updates for 18 months, its first new content was the pre-WoD events ...
Even now, Its 6+ months between updates, and those updates are incredibly anemic, usually consisting of 1 new raid and some bug fixes + class rebalancing. Sometimes a new Daily Quest hub also.

The rapid, constant updates XIV is doing is part of its success, in my opinion. I sincerely hope this cycle continues into Heavensward.

[RedAntares]

To be fair, Wildstar was aiming too big from the start for what it resulted to be in the end, it was a matter of time to be honest, that game had some good ideas but nothing that justified the pay to play model, plus NCSoft has been dropping the ball in the west lately, they expected a lot from Wildstar which flopped really fast, delayed the launch of Blade & Soul too long (now it's an outdated game) and managed to make GW2 into a boring grindfest with a story that was interesting at first but became a snoozefest really quick (I'm still a huge fan of GW but not interested in playing it anymore)

I don't think FFXIV will go F2P, the game is doing really well atm but if you are really that worried, just look at FFXI, that game has been out for like what? 10 years or more? and it's still P2P. Unless the higher ups change their minds, I don't see this game going F2P anytime soon.

[m3eansean]

You can use an in-game metric like cactpot. Now I realize not everyone plays cactpot, but you're telling me 75-80% don't play? .

This is an awful metric. Cactpot is played by a fraction of the playerbase. I know many people who gave up after the 3rd week or so because they see it as a waste of time. Mini-Cactpot would be a better metric.

[MistyMew]

FFXIV is doing too well to go ftp in the near future.

Mind you one day... years from now who knows?, never ever go by what developers say, IF one day it is the preferred choice for profit then I guarantee you, it will go ftp, but no worries for a long time yet
Remember the $ rules that decision, not us.

I have nothing against any ftp game, would never quit due to something so silly as that, I play a few of them as well as a few sub based games too. If its fun to me then I play, pay or no pay

FFXI never went ftp but thats not because its still successful..farrr from that lol, its simply not plausable to be ftp as they would have nothing to offer. there are no vanity sets, no variety of mounts, no pets ..at all, no xp elixrs etc, its simply too ancient to even handle a store front...most things that ftp brings are not in existance in ffxi. They have to stay sub based even though the subs are very low.

Wow...imo will go ftp, the rate that they are losing ppl, the utter lack of trust many players now have in the developers, i can see it going ftp at one point (and tbh, imo, it already should be and hope it does soon)

I play all of these mentioned and more to this day, just my 2 cents ..meh