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

[Zanfire]

I still stand by my statement that >90% of the current player base will be back for V2.0.

yes they likely will be, that much is obvious. SE themselves even said they will go through with getting to 2.0 regardless of the players left. So that just begs the question ,if they clearly dont care about the amount of money they are making from pre-2.0(they said even if only 1 or 1,000 players are playing they will keep going), why even charge? Why full price? If they cared so much about how much money they got up until 2.0 they would make it obvious that the game cant continue without payment, but they say just the opposite.

[Physic]

yes they likely will be, that much is obvious. SE themselves even said they will go through with getting to 2.0 regardless of the players left. So that just begs the question ,if they clearly dont care about the amount of money they are making from pre-2.0(they said even if only 1 or 1,000 players are playing they will keep going), why even charge? Why full price? If they cared so much about how much money they got up until 2.0 they would make it obvious that the game cant continue without payment, but they say just the opposite.

2.0 development costs are covered as an investment, but the current server, and new content that cannot work within 2.0 are probably not really withing their cost structure.
Also a lot of things are going to be introduced before 2.0, that if they canceled the current service would make 2.0 pop more,

say if 2.0 is jobs, 4 primal fights, company rank and quests up to rank 3 garlean battles, hamlet defense, job quest progression and gear.

A lot of this content is coming before 2.0, 2.0 is mostly server fix, new graphics engine, and map redesign. Many core gameplay mechanics are pre 2.0 so, you are getting something for your money, they are actively developing content that you will see in the current game. The fact that they are commited to making the product doesnt mean they want to incur losses if they can avoid it, as well as player cash acting as income, to mitigate the ivestment.

Another big reason is that they need to establish the game as a p2p game. better to do it now, than 2.0, because if they wait for 2.0, well many people will have had over a year to experience stuff, 2.0 wont offer much, and yet there will be a big cost. This argument will only get stronger and more vocal the longer the game is free.

Now while i would love a price discount, unless people suggest things that will make more money in the long term, then its really a moot point. If the game doesnt make what they project, it wont last that long. or the service offered will dwindle, leaving the game with a skeleton crew and virtually no updates. So forget player retention, because retaining players who dont want to pay for the game has no value, unless they change their business model. If they had advertisements, or low cost well running cash shops, maybe they could be f2p, but nothing about the game is currently built to take a strong advantage of having a large amount of non paying players so as to be profitable.

Its just unreasonable to ask that the game make no money, why develop it?

[Finneli]

Right now I will stat that if things do pan out the way SE has shown us in the PDF files and if outside life commitments allow, I will get the ps3 version at launch. Hope there will be a collector’s edition of it.