This year is not the right time to end the no subscription period in my opinion

[XxOstiaxX]

They were raging about a shitty game they bought. Most of them quit the game. Different rant.

They are now ranting about a shitty game that they bough and now have to pay subs to, in order to play a different game 1 year later.

[Petori]

They are now ranting about a shitty game that they bough and now have to pay subs to, in order to play a different game 1 year later.

- Ranting about an incredibly bad game they bought
- Ranting about having to pay subs for much improved game after playing more than a year for free

[BONKERS]

I agree, reactivating the subscription is a really bad idea. For players, the best thing would be to make the game P2P a month after the new version, so that people can try the "new FFXIV" and decide whether they want to pay for it or not.

However maybe they just can't afford to do so, honestly it looks more like a desperate attempt to get out of the money pit they dug with the failed launch of this game than a real dev decision.

TBH the only reason I bought FF14 - even though I loved FF11 - is because I got it for 5€ without subscription. I'll probably buy a month once the new version is stable to see what the fuss is all about, but I'm not sticking around once it becomes P2P... I seriously hope they won't lose too much players, this game has potential.

That doesn't make much sense considering we ALL had to pay some form of money to even play the game as we do now.
From 15-70$ or more.
And it's not like they don't have money at all. Square Enix is a GIGANTIC corporation with tons of money.Especially all of the money that was almost PURE PROFIT after they broke even with XI YEARS ago. 500,000+ people paying an average of 12$ a month is over 6 Million $ just on estimate a month they would make.(back in it's hayday or whatever)
The only logical explanation is "We need to cover new development costs"
yet of course the above also applies to that.

[Bahn]

No joke that's exactly what people said at release too.

Yeah, a lot of people who were concerned about the game at release were accused of being haters and trolls, even though they had very valid points. Defenders of SE at that time claimed the product was OK and then we just had to learn how to "deal with it".

Then what happened? Within 2 months of release, the population fell at an exponential level.

I'm getting the same vibes here with the subscription announcement. It really is a bad business move for Square. Their current player base would be potentially great word of mouth - viral marketing. I actually got some people who were disillusioned with the first month of play to play this game again after the 1.18 patch, and it DEFINITELY wouldn't have been possible if the game cost money to pay a one month sub fee for. It staying free to play gave great word of mouth advertising and actually made the people I talked to want to stay. They're taking zero risk by trying it again - they can just try it out again for free without having to spend money for it or sign up for some sort of monthly subscription model. If they don't like it, then no big deal, but if they like it, now Square gains another customer who will stick around to see what the game has in store for them a month, or even a year from now.

I think that word of mouth model would be the best way to get FFXIV's reputation back from the ashes again. Or at least, like I've stated before, set the subscription fee at half price until the full reboot.

[SilverPhantom]

yes don't mind paying the monthly fee (BUT) Since the game only at 50% complete we should only pay 50% the sub fee
you dont buy half a game and pay the full price of that of a completed game do yea now ?

[Mikita]

I wouldn't mind paying to continue playing FFXIV...
BUT, I'm concerned that a good percentage of my in-game friends would not.

Whether or not I will stick around really depends on which of my friends also continue.

If it gets lonely, there won't be much reason to continue.

I guess it's a "wait and see" for me.

[Platinumstorm]

I wouldn't mind paying to continue playing FFXIV...
BUT, I'm concerned that a good percentage of my in-game friends would not.

Whether or not I will stick around really depends on which of my friends also continue.

If it gets lonely, there won't be much reason to continue.

I guess it's a "wait and see" for me.

That's something I've been thinking about lately too. It will be an absolute ghost town, especially for North American players, and that doesn't provide a good playing environment for the people who remain. There are a lot of questions behind why they need to do this, I just hope they will see to it to reconsider.

[Bahn]

I'd like to add, the FFXIV 2.0 news hit a lot of gaming sites, and lo and behold, as predicted the gaming sites are also questioning the subscription fee reinstatement when the game is only half finished. I'm seeing comments from all types of gamers that are saying now they're not even going to give the game a second glance because the game is going pay to play.

Word of mouth is powerful advertising and it was equally as damaging for Square. It hurt them in the past because of their follies at launch, but they can use that same word of mouth to allow a new player base to try the game again and "lock" them in for the 2.0 relaunch. By reverting back to a p2p model with a half-finished game they're pretty much reducing any chances of people coming back to the game over the next year. But again Square shot themselves in the foot with this one, as the same sites that are announcing the 2.0 relaunch are also questioning Square's (lack of) wisdom for reactivating the subscription fee for an unfinished game.

It's a very risky move for Square to take. I hope it doesn't come around to bite them in the butt later.

[Zanfire]

I'd like to add, the FFXIV 2.0 news hit a lot of gaming sites, and lo and behold, as predicted the gaming sites are also questioning the subscription fee reinstatement when the game is only half finished. I'm seeing comments from all types of gamers that are saying now they're not even going to give the game a second glance because the game is going pay to play.

Word of mouth is powerful advertising and it was equally as damaging for Square. It hurt them in the past because of their follies at launch, but they can use that same word of mouth to allow a new player base to try the game again and "lock" them in for the 2.0 relaunch. By reverting back to a p2p model with a half-finished game they're pretty much reducing any chances of people coming back to the game over the next year. But again Square shot themselves in the foot with this one, as the same sites that are announcing the 2.0 relaunch are also questioning Square's (lack of) wisdom for reactivating the subscription fee for an unfinished game.

It's a very risky move for Square to take. I hope it doesn't come around to bite them in the butt later.

i ahve a bad feeling this might. to the casual person seeing this on another site it looks like a desperate attempt for money. To a big portion of us it seems like a p2p beta of 2.0 which is the real version, because we get our "free trial" then and they deem it good enough to send to ps3. It just plain looks bad to a lot of people and id rather they let yoshi take full charge and say no to that, because he really seems to be making this game good, but this will be a stain on his rep.

most of the people here like me who are very willing to pay for 2.0 are having a hard time justifying paying in a month with lots of simple issues still making the game feel like its not ready.

[kensredemption]

Word of mouth is powerful advertising.

So very true. I know most of my friends were skeptical of XIV after I told them of my experiences with XIV, but it's even more powerful when there are trolls collectively bashing XIV. Believe me, I've seen it happen.