starting to charge at SW: TOR release is a horrid idea

[Azurymber]

FFXIV attracted a lot of people into "story" since the FF series and FFXI were story heavy.

SW: TOR is pretty well the newest MMO out there and heavily story driven. It also has a huge amount of preorders.

Starting to charge right when a competitor is releasing a much better rated product is a really bad idea business wise

On the other hand the "new" version of the game looks -epic.- It would seem a much better idea to start charging -then- rather than now and lose subscriptions.

[Xellos2099]

Agree.... require it to pay at November/December is a huge mistake. Was hoping they start charging at ffxiv 2.0 or the job system but i guess it will take too long.

[Ilethius]

We have had over a years worth of free gaming (ok not the best quality but still free), they were going to charge at some point they have chosen the date they have as it suited THEM best.

You now have 3 options, rage quit, accept it and start paying, wait till 2.0 is released.

[Tinydog]

waiting until 2.0 would probably be the best bet

[Kaida]

I'm hoping they offer a reward for the people who keep playing during the changes, I'm not 100% happy about the billing but I do see why they need to start billing to keep this game moving for free all this time must have hurt profits.

[viion]

I will likely pay for XIVPads but I really wish I did not have to, its still a Beta for me, it feels as if the last year was an alpha compared to v2 and we are now moving into Beta up until v2.

I dont pay for betas.

the only benefit is more people quit and then the server is less laggy, woot =D

[Azurymber]

Personally I don't mind paying but I do run a business and its -very- common business sense not to "launch" a product when there is a better alternative coming out. Like you wouldn't launch you're new semi-decent phone on the day of the iphone launch.

It's also a horrible decsision because at the $20 store price FFXIV makes an awesome christmas present.

So they will be alienating a bunch of people who won't pay due to it being a beta
Diminishing the possibility of the game making it under people's christmas trees
And losing a lot of players to SW TOR which according to almost all reviews is -far- superior to FFXIV at this stage (or at least there is a widespread belief that it is)

It is pretty well the -worst- possible time they could pick to start charging in Western markets. Maybe the choice is something based on Japan though?

[XxOstiaxX]

SE seems to never learn from past mistakes, last year they released the game before wow, to get a head start, we all know where that went, now they want to start charging when games like SW: TOR and probably GW2 and Diablo 3 are comming out...... Yeah SE that seems like the right thing to do.

[Gramul]

Yeah...I wouldn't worry about Star WoW right now.

Let's just say for the fans sake, I hope they have the same desire to change and improve as Square did with this game.

[GreatLeviathan]

Nah nothing will be able to compete with FF.
Graphics are already better then any game on the market and even games comming out in the next year.
FFXIV will mob the floor with those