Questions and Feedback on the Future of FINAL FANTASY XIV

[Betelgeuzah]

i rather think that ppl who already left will forget about the game til 2013 and ppl who are still in the game and are now leaving won't come back. That is the reason why the few months too early won't cut it for SE and rather hurt them.

It's such a marginal number, that it doesn't matter. The revenue they gain from those who don't leave is a greater incentive.

The people who left by now are much larger in numbers, and this sub fee won't affect them. Seriously speaking, how many of them do you see coming back before 2.0 now that it has been announced? It doesn't make any sense, with or without sub fees.

This fee is in place for those who play the current game and are willing to pay for it. Some will leave, but we are not talking about a mass exodus here- since this game doesn't even have the playerbase for mass exodus in the first place.

50% of people leaving the game in its current state is not the same as 50% of people leaving WoW in its current state. And even in that case Blizzard would get more revenue out of 5mil of their players paying a fee instead of 10mil paying nothing.

In a nutshell, not all customers are equal. Especially when half the customers are blocking the company's stream of revenue from the other half of the customers altogether.

[Engel]

Will the existing races get new animations or new stances to really differentiate them from each other?
(Eg. Elezen getting their Final Fantasy 11 Monk stance when the weapon is drawn). Yes i hate the fact that Elezen don't look as cool as their 11 counter-part.
Also will the existing Weapon Skills have new animations as well? (Eg. like Doomspike 2 did)

[MiNuN]

(Hello!) My friend is extremely worried that when 2.0 FFXIV is release, it will be a complete re-boot and that it will erased any previous data our characters had. Can you make it clear, official that it will not be the case, if it is not too much trouble, please make this answer out to Eli Storm of Istory.

[Fresha]

Right now I'm still playing FFXI but, keeping my account on FFXIV to jump in from time to time to check up on how the improvements work out. I report back to my friends on the LS (the few that are still with us and to those that left i'm still in contact with) on progress of the games improvement. The repairs to the game is certainly going in the right direction. All of us are hopeful that when this game is complete it will reinvigorate interest in our friends to return.

As good as the progress has been, FFXVI is still a few more updates away from the point where I will be willing to pay for the service. Being an IT PM for a living, I have enjoyed viewing the changes as they occur. This development team is performing a fantastic job of rescuing this troubled project.

It's not quite ready for regular play for me so for now, I will pass on paying up to see that happen.

I do fully understand SE's need to start seeing revenue from the game. The pressure from the business need to start seeing pay back for what must be 10s or maybe even 100s of millions of dollars in project investment has to be crushing on the development team management.

Keep up the good work and I'll see you in 2013

[Xmbei]

I am requested a lifetime subscription option when subscriptions are activated. I am going to stick around for years to come. I saw that option in DCUO and would love it here. Is that sometime you have considered?

Not to sound bad but I have noticed MMO's that offer Lifetimes usually end up going FTP by the time the amount of time has passed the lifetime members have paid, so if they just waited they could of gotten to play without paying 200$ For example DCUO is now pretty much FTP except you don't get achievements if you don't pay.

[Jutien]

Why does SE feel its the right time to start charging sub fees for a half finished game, during the holiday season!? knowing a whole NEW version is releasing a year or so later?

[DexteraDomini]

What I find particularly amusing is that if Yoshi P. had announced only a timeline for the patches and left us in the dark about V2.0 no one would be on here complaining about paying for a half finished game. How do I know this, BECAUSE YOU'RE STILL HERE! The game in it's current state is well worth paying $13 a month for, not to mention the dev team is building a new game from the ground up to correct the things that limited this game from day one. Forty three cents a day, one, if you can't afford that you should be focusing more time on bettering your career potential and less time on MMO's and forums. Two, for a year now, 250 families have been bearing the burden for yours and everyone else's subscription fees, it's time to reward the dev team for all the hard work they have put in turning a complete mess into the current highly enjoyable version we have today. If you disagree that the current game is worth paying for, goodbye and good riddance.

[Rizon]

(Hello!) My friend is extremely worried that when 2.0 FFXIV is release, it will be a complete re-boot and that it will erased any previous data our characters had. Can you make it clear, official that it will not be the case, if it is not too much trouble, please make this answer out to Eli Storm of Istory.

This excerpt should answer your question:

Among our new plans is the fundamental reworking of in-game maps. As part of this process, there will be a period required for switching over to a new client and new servers, after which there will be a large transfer of data when service is brought back online. After the new client is completed, new software for the PC version will be distributed online, and can be acquired free of charge. Character data and progress for players already playing the PC version will also be preserved, allowing those players to continue using their in-game avatars. Another announcement will be made in the future as the day on which the new FINAL FANTASY XIV software will become available for download draws near, and the PlayStation®3 system version officially released

[Orophen]

It's such a marginal number, that it doesn't matter. The revenue they gain from those who don't leave is a greater incentive.

The people who left by now are much larger in numbers, and this sub fee won't affect them. Seriously speaking, how many of them do you see coming back before 2.0 now that it has been announced? It doesn't make any sense, with or without sub fees.

This fee is in place for those who play the current game and are willing to pay for it. Some will leave, but we are not talking about a mass exodus here- since this game doesn't even have the playerbase for mass exodus in the first place.

50% of people leaving the game in its current state is not the same as 50% of people leaving WoW in its current state. And even in that case Blizzard would get more revenue out of 5mil of their players paying a fee instead of 10mil paying nothing.

In a nutshell, not all customers are equal. Especially when half the customers are blocking the company's stream of revenue from the other half of the customers altogether.

I'm agreeing with this. Additionally, FFXIV has been a drain on the company's resources for a year past the release date. If you take into account the fact that resources were already placed into the initial release, no shareholder in their right mind would be happy with the situation. SE can't keep reporting losses every quarter, and even if you guys feel cheated or "scammed" somehow, FFXIV is going to have to stand on its own feet eventually

I know you guys wish it was later rather than sooner, but there are probably plenty of reasons why that's not going to happen, and most of them probably have to do with money and company profits, since we're dealing with a business here and not a small developer operating from their garage.

If those that don't want to pay want to leave, it's fine. If you don't want to support the game and help pay the developers, I certainly wouldn't hold it against you. But the players that are going to leave will have absolutely no impact on what's going on right now. If the game was meant to fail, it will fail regardless of whether you were willing to pay or not. I'd wager that the majority who had left before this announcement wouldn't have returned anyway until 2.0 came out, and as was said before, getting money from 60% of the players is better than getting no money from 100% of players right now. I'm pretty sure the shareholders and other people who have a stake in the company see it that way too.

[Issac]

A Long-Winded Analysis of Why I Hate SE, By a Guy who Knows the Business

I don't know just what you are expecting. I don't care how much experience you say you have in marketing. I don't care if you think what they're doing is unfair, a bad business decision, or whatever. Because it all boils down to this:

Do you work for them? Are you making their decisions? No? Then shut the hell up. I think they're better off without you.

I paid $75USD for the game. I then proceeded to play the game for over a year for free because of a bunch of people complaining. To be honest, I would have payed for it from release. Am I "right" in saying that? Well, no- Obviously the majority opinion of elements about the game influenced them to let us play for free. But here's the thing.

The game wasn't designed to be play for free. There are no microtransactions. SE, the entire time, has been scrambling to deliver a stronger product. Huge patches have kept coming out (through a disaster, mind you) each full of new content. They have been listening to us, a first for them. They have bent over backwards to meet the demand of communication and have been developing the game in a fair direction, fairly quickly.

They didn't have to let us play for free. They could have kept charging and used that money to bring in more devs to produce the content faster. But no, while not making any money from the game, they spit out patch after patch.

The 12-month path from "subscription start" to FFXIV2.0 is going to be riddled with unique story content that is "live." We're all going to be part of something. I'll thank all their hard work with my wallet, and they'll thank my patronage with unique story content. I see it as a win-win. So, Darkshine, you have to ask yourself;

Do you enjoy the game in its current state? Do you want to experience the 7th Umbral Era? Then pay up.
Hate the game? Don't care about the story content? GTFO. You'd probably just be complaining and ruining everyone else's fun ingame anyway.

It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter if you're 15, 25, 35, or 45. It's all about your outlook and whether or not you're willing to pay for it. No one cares what experience you have.

Me personally? I fit your aforementioned age group at 24. But it doesn't matter how old I am because I am looking forward to experiencing the coming patches and story content, and I am willing to pay for that.

Sorry, no. I won't validate your experience in this situation. Maybe if I were to choose to consult with you on a marketing decision, but no one around here is doing that right now.

Good luck, have fun.

(P.S.) I still play MUDs.