After the next expansion they should consider expanding the F2p experience

[Seraphor]

The previous expansions (currently Stormblood and Shadowbringers) could definitely survive off of a buy once, play for free system with the Free Trial restrictions still applying without an active sub... They even have the "Starter Edition" which contains SB and ShB.

Unfortunately there's no way to revert back to 'Free Trial conditions' once you've paid the sub. Once you've unlocked access to the Marketboard, FC's and Retainers, you can't 'give back' anything you've acquired through these system.

[NightHour]

Until FFXIV's biggest competitor (World of Warcraft) can offer ANYTHING close to what FFXIV does in their free trial I don't see the need to expand it.


Let's compare the trials shall we?



FFXIV:

Level cap is 60
Includes 2 expansions of the game and all content associated with those expansions
No restrictions on play time

FFXIV Trial restrictions:

Free Trial players can purchase select in-game items from the Final Fantasy XIV Online Store during the Free Trial, but not all in-game items are available
Free Trial players can create up to eight playable characters, though you may only have one per world
Free Trial account characters have all their levels capped at sixty
Free Trial account characters can accrue a maximum of 300,000 gil (the currency in-game)
Free Trial players cannot use the “shout,” “yell,” or “tell” in-game chat options during the trial
Free Trial players cannot access the in-game market board during the trial
Free Trial players cannot trade with other players during the trial
Free Trial players cannot send in-game letters using the Moogle delivery service during the trial
Free Trial players cannot hire retainers during the trial
Free Trial players can join a Linkshell or cross-world Linkshell if invited, but cannot create a new one of their own
Free Trial players cannot create or join a Free Company during the trial
Free Trial players can join a party if invited or by using the Duty Finder, but cannot create one themselves
Free Trial players cannot create or join a PvP team or participate in The Feast (Ranked Match) and The Feast (Team Ranked Match) during the trial
Free Trial players cannot log into the Lodestone, the official forum, or Companion application during the trial




World of Warcraft:

Free Trial (Starter Edition) level cap is 20
You can chat in say but players more than 10 levels above you will not see your messages.
You can whisper players added to your friends list.


World of Warcraft Trial Restrictions:

You can hold a maximum of 1,000 gold per character.
You cannot participate in Pet Battles.
You cannot use any other chat channels besides /say.
You cannot whisper people who are not on your friends list.
You cannot use any of the guild related functions within the game.
You cannot use any paid services (character transfers, faction changes, etc).
You cannot form your own party.
You cannot Trade with other players.
You cannot use the Mailbox.
You cannot use the Auction House.
You cannot use Real ID features.
You cannot use World of Warcraft voice chat. You can use Battle.net voice chat instead.
You cannot use the Emote function in text chat





In terms of restrictions, both games are relatively similar but in terms of content available to people on the trial, FFXIV is still the clear cut winner.


The 1-60 experience has more playable and re-playable content than the 1-60 on WoW imo.

[Absimiliard]

Wouldn't expanding the free-trial also make the bot problem even worse?

[Derio]

Yea HW ends on such a good note. It would be extremely awkward to end on SB

[Caddo]

Purchased base game: ARR+HW+StB, without restrictions

Oh no, I understood what you mean and I stand by my statement.

Right now they have three choices.

1) Play for free with restrictions
2) Pay a small sum to have restrictions lifted
3) Pay a larger sum to have restrictions lifted and get more content in the long run

2 and 3 are normally on sale quite a bit so it's more of a "Do I need more content now or can I wait for a sale?" with 3 obviously being the best to grab on a sale.

They already get enough content as it is (and I'm totally not saying this because I spent 59 minutes the other day on Twinkledinx and am not looking forward to mentor roulette getting spammed with Rath EX / Tsuki EX even more lmao).

[Raven2014]

This may be throwing cold water in the discussion ... but IMO most of the talking point is kinda irrelevant.

The current trial is more then sufficient for even the most skeptic person to make a fully informed decision.

- If you genuinely still feel on the fence about the game after the current trial, I think it's safe to say this is not the game for you.
- If you still feel the urge to play and want more after finishing all the content of the current trial, that means you like it enough and should pay to benefit the content creators like everyone else.

Beside that, any other reasons one can use to extend the current trial above what we already have would be just window dressing for the fact the person is not looking for a trial, but simply fishing for a free game.

Like ... seriously, the amount of content you can play in the current trial probably double/triple most games you have to pay 50$-60$ for. Asking for more just smell like greed to me.

[NightHour]

Wouldn't expanding the free-trial also make the bot problem even worse?

Most likely.