I think the reason why everyone is freaking out is...

[MrLion]

Because they didn't read the roadmaps well...

Some of the misunderstandings are:

"Well why pay now when its going to be free again in 2.0?"

That's actually not the case....in fact the temporary free trial is going to last only 3 months, so really for those of us who are going to pay are saving 36 dollars. Something that is not clear is whether it'll be just for paid accounts or anyone can try it out. My guess, and this is the best business move for SE, is that only the paid accounts get to try it out, it makes sense because that is also when the Closed Beta of the PS3 version is going to be released.

"Why pay for an incomplete game with no content till 2.0?"

This is what really gets me and either people don't know how to read, they read it wrong, or they just complain just because. Believe it or not there is a ton of content planned from post-1.19 to post-1.23. By 1.23 we will have:

-Moogle Primal Battle
-Garuda Primal Battle
-Hamlet Defense for PvE
-The job system
-Two instanced raids
-Garlean Empire battles
-The Twelve content
-Garlean Legatus Battle
-Massive changes such as PC search, The Market Wards adjustments, Private Rooms, gear for your Personal Chocobo, and the Critical World Changes (the planned "New Eorzea")

And all of this is during the 11-month billing cycle. That's quite alot considering that the dev team has to work on 2.0 on top of all this content.

"2.0 is going to be a new game and its going to be as if 1.xx never existed"

No...no, no, no...nowhere in the roadmaps do they mention that 2.0 is going to be a "totally new game". The concept of 2.0 is that its going to change the way its going to look, have brand new content such as PvP, brand new UI, and the massive server stability that is going to gain from the new server infrastructure. That's it...yes you will still have your guildleves, you will still have your Primal Battles, your open-world dungeons/fortresses, your instanced raids.

Nowhere in the roadmaps say that this will all be gone. What is going to be gone, however, is the one-time events leading to the "cataclysm", which as the name implies is like WoW's cataclysm...same world, same content, but new content if it makes sense. The new maps in fact are coming out before 2.0 which is the radical changes to the world ("New Eorzea").

"Why are the fanboys paying for a game that is 50% done? Yoshi-P said it was 50% done so he must charge 50% of the fees"

You're dead wrong...He said that by the time 1.19 comes out the game will be 50% done to "Launch Expectations" and that 1.20 will be near 100%, which means that when 1.20 (which is when the billing cycle starts), the game is at "launching condition", therefore the fees are fine how they are going by that logic.

I will add more as I wander around the forum...any thoughts? Comments? Negativity?