YoshiP stated that MMOs are trending toward F2P

[Skotie]

The day this game goes free to play is the day I quit...

I never understood the people who say they prefer F2P games and then end up spending more than they ever would on a P2P game on cosmetics or restricted content.

You and me both. I could never convince my brother to try out ffxi because of how against p2p he is, yet he openly admitting to spending close to a thousand on one f2p game.

I just don't get why people would prefer that. I mean in the end we're still both just grinding time away on a mmo, mine just costs a lot less. Which is ironic since his is supposedly free to play.

[Savagelf]

I just don't get why people bring this subject up they brought since 2.0 to many times

[Bishop81]

You plug the hell out of Trove, don't you?

I use that as an example because it's the most recent F2P MMO I have played. It's quite boring after a while (quite quickly too) ... but that can be said of FFXIV too.

the devs will increase the grind by a lot more to encourage people to buy the grind reducing items. That's how F2P is. They design the game to encourage/force people to spend more.

And subscription MMO devs increase the grind (and/or gate them) to slow the players down so they will keep being subscribed.

Seriously, what got me thinking was how Trove had "dailies" where you log on do some task until a meter fills up then log. FFXIV has you do the exact same thing! Log on, do Hunts, daily roulette ... etc. then you log.

They are doing the exact same thing! The grind exist to suck money from your pocket.

[Airget]

F2P are all about finding the golden goose. To gamers that don't have the incentive to rush to be the best, ya it can be a good deal, but on a business end it's all about profit, when F2P games like this are made it's in hope that ya they will find those who will easily burn 100+ a month on the game to feed their addiction. So while ye might think F2P is decent, the truth is to an extent it is legal gambling that leads to no momentary rewards in the end. Look at how many F2P use a "boost pack" like mechanic in their games to entice players to buy more and more and hope they score a rare.

[Eul]

Meh F2P? Won't happen m8. The content still good. Grind still okay too.

[echoica]

I hate this thread so much. Anyone pushing for a free to play model for this wonderful game is nuts. It would personally totally ruin the game for me if they were to do that.

[Bishop81]

F2P are all about finding the golden goose. To gamers that don't have the incentive to rush to be the best, ya it can be a good deal, but on a business end it's all about profit, when F2P games like this are made it's in hope that ya they will find those who will easily burn 100+ a month on the game to feed their addiction. So while ye might think F2P is decent, the truth is to an extent it is legal gambling that leads to no momentary rewards in the end. Look at how many F2P use a "boost pack" like mechanic in their games to entice players to buy more and more and hope they score a rare.

Oh I know exactly how F2P works including some of the more slimy tactics.

But given how sub MMOs are designed currently with all the gating and grinds, the line is really beginning to blur.

I hate this thread so much. Anyone pushing for a free to play model for this wonderful game is nuts. It would personally totally ruin the game for me if they were to do that.

Don't look at me. I'm not pushing anything. Just pointing out that FFXIV uses a lot of the same tactics that F2P games use to grab your money - just in a slightly different way; one gets you to fork out to overcome the grind, the other uses the grind to try to get you to stay subscribed.

[StrejdaTom]

Difference between F2P and P2P games.
P2P games = all are equal.
F2P games = those who pay will always be infront of you, no matter how much time you spend in game.
Also much more developers time go into creating cash shop content instead of valuable ingame content.

There are a few exceptions, but these games are usually mobas and stuff, not huge MMOs.

Sorry but I don't play games to grind for 1000 hours to be somehow close to wallet warriors.
If FFXIV ever goes F2P, I am gone and I am taking my friends with me.
If that happened you really couldn't expect the same patches pace as now, or maybe yes, but half of the patches would go into cash shop.

[Daralii]

Don't look at me. I'm not pushing anything. Just pointing out that FFXIV uses a lot of the same tactics that F2P games use to grab your money - just in a slightly different way; one gets you to fork out to overcome the grind, the other uses the grind to try to get you to stay subscribed.

You mean the same tactic every successful P2P MMO has used?

[SkizzleofRagnarok]

If Yoshi P stopped thinking alot of money shortterm for a few and stop thinking mainstream it would have been way different. Look at Ffxi 10+ years people still pay for subs. Why? Regardless of abyssea and a few easy mode content its still rewarding and enjoyable. All expansions are different with different endgame content. I can guarantee you if ffxi got remade today with better graphics minus abyssea and repetative book camping exp. Alot of this community would be going back. Same if Blizzard releases a new mmorpg. So honestly if you want to save this amazing game people need to speak up cause right now its just Cash cow thats masters to the Cost of the games heart.