Compromise: Just Charge $5 For Now. Once 2.0 is Out, Then Charge $12

[Synfrag]

Thats still part of the risk, that chunk of players who stop paying (more of them because they think currently its not worth full price for the worse 1.0 version of the game) have a chance of ending up playing something else (multiple big releases coming withing the next year) or simply forget/give up on it. Would you risk losing all of those potential subs because you want to charge on the inferior version of your game?

Most people who are into MMOs dont just sit around for a year, they will very likely try other things while waiting and it could possibly get them to stay, it happens all the time. SE needs to decide whether its worth taking the chance of losing them as future subs. And its pretty clear that the people who are not happy with a full price charge are a pretty decent #, there are numerous topics on multiple sites about it and basically every interview i have read had to ask why they want to charge so soon before 2.0 (they all got the same robot response)

And if the #s are great enough of people who either stop playing or wait til 2.0, it will effect the people paying. When the servers are a lot more empty, or peoples friends/family/LS mates decide not to play, it can in turn get them to not play now, or people could possibly not enjoy the empty feeling on their servers (some which are already not very full)

What big releases are coming within the next year? I count 2 major names. 1) SWtOR which, I think you have to be a star wars / future nerd to really get into. 2) Tera which really has not gotten great reviews and sounds like the good old run of the mill quest loops and boss battles. Only god knows when GW2 will come out.

Besides that, 90% of the people I know play multiple MMOs for when there is nothing to do in one. Hell I have 4 active subscriptions right now and I still choose to spend my time in XIV, maybe I have masochistic tendencies but XIV is rapidly changing unlike any of the other 3.

Patch releases:
Aion - Gives you new outfits to wear and continues to break the balancing in pvp YAY!
WoW - Gives you the same dungeons with new art and the same exact mechanics as any prior to it.
FFXI - Gives you more and more ungodly content that is in most ways the same but the patch schedule is monthly introducing new features every single month
FFXIV - Gives you new features and overhauls, a one time story that only players now will see, content seems to be challenging and has interesting mechanics but also leaves you wanting more than what you got post patch

The above points are only to illustrate that everything changes in it's own way, every one of these games is playable and enjoyable in their own way. I understand a lot of people don't have time for 4 mmos or can't afford to maintain them but for may of us out there it requires more than one to remain satisfied.

It's like a drug addict having something to smoke, snort and shoot. Each has it's ups and each has it's downs.

Charging for the game is imo a good move because what this community needs is the removal of, well, 1/2 the people in this thread for starters. Then we can stop being defensive and help communicate what the game actually needs or what we would like to see.

[Starlord]

What big releases are coming within the next year? I count 2 major names. 1) SWtOR which, I think you have to be a star wars / future nerd to really get into. 2) Tera which really has not gotten great reviews and sounds like the good old run of the mill quest loops and boss battles. Only god knows when GW2 will come out.

Besides that, 90% of the people I know play multiple MMOs for when there is nothing to do in one. Hell I have 4 active subscriptions right now and I still choose to spend my time in XIV, maybe I have masochistic tendencies but XIV is rapidly changing unlike any of the other 3.

Patch releases:
Aion - Gives you new outfits to wear and continues to break the balancing in pvp YAY!
WoW - Gives you the same dungeons with new art and the same exact mechanics as any prior to it.
FFXI - Gives you more and more ungodly content that is in most ways the same but the patch schedule is monthly introducing new features every single month
FFXIV - Gives you new features and overhauls, a one time story that only players now will see, content seems to be challenging and has interesting mechanics but also leaves you wanting more than what you got post patch

The above points are only to illustrate that everything changes in it's own way, every one of these games is playable and enjoyable in their own way. I understand a lot of people don't have time for 4 mmos or can't afford to maintain them but for may of us out there it requires more than one to remain satisfied.

It's like a drug addict having something to smoke, snort and shoot. Each has it's ups and each has it's downs.

Charging for the game is imo a good move because what this community needs is the removal of, well, 1/2 the people in this thread for starters. Then we can stop being defensive and help communicate what the game actually needs or what we would like to see.

Then we can stop being defensive and help communicate what the game actually needs or what we would like to see.

That's what we all want :/, I'm tired of arguing

[Azurus]

I just want to point this out real quick and thats it:

Do you guys even know " how many people comprises the forums?"

- Either argument, that's trying to come out a winner, both sides lost because of the fact that Majority of the people are in the game, not on the forums. I understand both sides of the thread and each one has a valid point. However, in the end no one wins, because of the simple fact that " a very little base of players/trolls/whatever Comprises these forums" while the rest are in the game.

The Game is where your information is at, not he forums in this situation.

Edit: and its usually the same 20-40 people, going back and forth at each other 20 for and 20 against

I don't agree with you often...but hell i could kiss you for writing this! Well put!

[Azurus]

What big releases are coming within the next year? I count 2 major names. 1) SWtOR which, I think you have to be a star wars / future nerd to really get into. 2) Tera which really has not gotten great reviews and sounds like the good old run of the mill quest loops and boss battles. Only god knows when GW2 will come out.

Besides that, 90% of the people I know play multiple MMOs for when there is nothing to do in one. Hell I have 4 active subscriptions right now and I still choose to spend my time in XIV, maybe I have masochistic tendencies but XIV is rapidly changing unlike any of the other 3.

Patch releases:
Aion - Gives you new outfits to wear and continues to break the balancing in pvp YAY!
WoW - Gives you the same dungeons with new art and the same exact mechanics as any prior to it.
FFXI - Gives you more and more ungodly content that is in most ways the same but the patch schedule is monthly introducing new features every single month
FFXIV - Gives you new features and overhauls, a one time story that only players now will see, content seems to be challenging and has interesting mechanics but also leaves you wanting more than what you got post patch

The above points are only to illustrate that everything changes in it's own way, every one of these games is playable and enjoyable in their own way. I understand a lot of people don't have time for 4 mmos or can't afford to maintain them but for may of us out there it requires more than one to remain satisfied.

It's like a drug addict having something to smoke, snort and shoot. Each has it's ups and each has it's downs.

Charging for the game is imo a good move because what this community needs is the removal of, well, 1/2 the people in this thread for starters. Then we can stop being defensive and help communicate what the game actually needs or what we would like to see.

....you dont get a kiss... no wish of further removals from the playerbase will ever receive my affection!

[AmyRae]

It's silly to assume that their main incentive for introducing a fee is revenue. Refer to my other post, all of Yoshi's recent interviews, and all announcements concerning v2.0.

You're under the mistaken belief that SE is a not-for-profit organization. All their decisions have been guided on how to make the most money on this project as they can. If they don't want interest to wane before the 2.0 release, and offering the game free up until now was clearly intended that way, they ought to consider customer retention if they want to charge a fee from now on. Many people don't think this game is currently worth a full price subscription, and a year is a long time to find other distractions in a competitive marketplace that could pull them away for good.

If you want to enjoy this game for years to come, you ought to be concerned that there will be enough people left come next year to keep the game afloat. The pride of the few isn't going to do it.

[Anapingofness]

i have watched you troll and attack everyone who disagrees with you on this thread. and out of these 49 pages i bet you got 50 post. i have sat by watching all of you. its sad to see your side of the argment and i seriously have tryed to see it from that side.

here is pretty much what it is. 1 side feels as if they only recieves 50% of what they wanted when they puchased the game. other half feels they have recieved 100%

now those who feel they havnt recieved enough are getting trolled by the same 5-10 peeps who refuse to stop arguing with everyone over poinless concept of what the want out of the game.

if your happy with what you got then why must you troll everyone on these forums? why are you not busy playing the game? your biased opinion has no merit tho and you can not justify telling someone else they recieved everything they wanted just because they got everything that satified you but not them. your basicly saying their opinion dont matter and yours is only one that does.

ive sat back and watched you and wynn tell everyone that disagrees with you to stop playing if they are not satified with the game they bought with their own money. you two are the forum plague of this comunitee. you purposly argue any point just to turn it into one.

if you and wynn enjoy the game so much how bout you stay off this thread and let other who have not posted post on it, before you troll it to death and get it locked.


now onto my opinion. this game is not worth a sub. it has been free from start for a reason. and the map i read says the finish line is a year away. This game is not complete and a big company like SE need to fix its PR and get better reviews from someone other than the fans on this forum. they need outsiders reviewing this game that will not give them biased opinions. earn back some of the bad publicity it got from the floped release. 2.0 and ps3 lauch would be perfect for this.

but charging now or even charging half will proly just send those who are waiting for what they consider a finished product packing. would be even more bad PR and reviews, not to mention they need to compete against alot of good up and comers in the next year. not the time SE not the time at all.

^^ Well put my good Sir, well put.

[Anapingofness]

Regardless of my stance on the whole "is it too soon to pay" debacle I will say this... if no one sounded off, and everyone was complacent we would have never received Yoshi P, and this game would be 6 feet under. The Dev team is open to feedback on the topic, as they have stated. So for the ones arguing "if you dont feel the game is worth it, leave!" that is not constructive. It's best for them to hear why people feel they should not have to pay, or pay full price. Us turning and attacking each other for our POV isn't helping the situation, not at all and in fact it is just derailing the thread.

Good point and I'm glad you brought it up.

[Baxter]

i agree with this, everyone should say what they feel, thus, i too have to say that i feel, the people who say the game should be free are offering nothing, they are just telling developers they have a game no one would pay for. The people who want a reduction may have a point, but in order to make that point they should show how the long term profitability is similar, or surpasses what they would get with a 12.99 price point.

personally i dont really think they can attract 2.6 times as many players with a 5 dollar price tag, but i admit i could be wrong. maybe 5 dollars is the magic number that makes people say screw it, ill pay that even if i dont like the game. Its a real possibility, but i think that maybe 8 dollars, feels like the perfect price point, substantially lower than people imagined, but would only require them to attract 1.3 times the amount of players who would pay 12.99.

There are people who will stay no matter, go no matter, and there are people who truly feel they are being cheated by paying full price or any for that matter. I'm not saying you won't run into trolls, but this is a common point of view (which is fine). Will it double population lowering it to 5 dollars..?, ..probably not.

I am too lazy to find it, but there was a recent interview Yoshi told the magazine it is actually not "funding" 2.0 rather than paying for the level of customer support for what we currently have. 2.0 in essence has been, and will be paid for. To paraphrase it was a 'promise they made to the players, and a promise they made to Sony'. The game isn't dying the moment they go p2p if a lot of people quit because they are getting, and have got a lot of people who are coming back after the announcement of p2p, and naturally there are a lot of people who are staying.

No matter what they decide on whether to discount, keep free, or charge full price; I have a hard time seeing them scrapping any plans. I'd gladly eat my words if this happened, but at this point I think of XIV as "too big to fail" in Square's eyes. It's not about the standing title, but about the after effects of XIV dieing at such an early age and it's impact on the rest of the series name/company name.

[Nabiri]

I'm alright paying but I just wish the price was closer to average MMOs.. $3 per char + the cost of retainers is a bit too much cash for me to handle. I have multiple characters for RP.. I really don't want to have to deactivate some and choose which to play each month. Charging for extra storage in a non-cash shop game doesn't sound fair either.
If characters were $1 each, I'd happily pay SE. If we didn't have to pay for retainers.. I'd be ecstatic.

[dolionakifkinpos]

Personally I hope they stick to their guns and go ahead with the full price. I don't think you guys genuinely understand the gravity of the situation and the simple fact is most gamers are all talk and will pony up if they have to.

, I think there real reason there charging is cause their tired of you idiots smearing verbal feces all over these boards, so somebody said"well if were gonna have to put up with this vocal minority with nothing better to do then play our broken game" well lets start charging them, cause in all honesty most the people who started quit, which is a fact, and the dev process will prob take much longer cause a few people decided they are gonna keep playing, so not only do they have to rebuild the game from the ground up, but they also have to keep putting in content that will be mostly obsolete in a year or two just to keep you dead enders satisfied for another year