Free Stormblood for starter edition users

[Jojoya]

Feels like a sub grab for SE to try and get free trial players into paying players more so than anything else. It really seems worthless when you have to buy the starter edition to be able to play the free Stormblood edition when you can just purchase the complete edition for $30 more and be completely done with it.

Could be they have a large number of accounts with only the starter edition registered and they're trying to give those paying customers additional content value compared to those on the free trial.

Could be they're hoping that getting to the end of Stormblood will convince them to pick up Shadowbringers/Endwalker.

It's hard to say. Regardless, I think few if any will see this special promotion as a bad thing.

[AwesomeJr44]

It's basically a ploy to get some free trial players (who only have ARR + HW) to go paid so they can get a 'free' expansion with their purchase of the game. I'm fairly sure that once you get off the trial, you can't go back either, so anyone who falls for it either has to stay paying or quit. The only audience it's actually useful for is incredibly niche.

[RobynDaBank]

It's basically a ploy to get some free trial players (who only have ARR + HW) to go paid so they can get a 'free' expansion with their purchase of the game. I'm fairly sure that once you get off the trial, you can't go back either, so anyone who falls for it either has to stay paying or quit. The only audience it's actually useful for is incredibly niche.

This isn't for FT when you literally need to have bought the Starter Edition, no? If the customer does some basic research they'll know they can just get Endwalker instead of going the Starter Edition + free Stormblood route.

[Amenara]

Could be they have a large number of accounts with only the starter edition registered and they're trying to give those paying customers additional content value compared to those on the free trial.

Could be they're hoping that getting to the end of Stormblood will convince them to pick up Shadowbringers/Endwalker.

It's hard to say. Regardless, I think few if any will see this special promotion as a bad thing.

I am just hoping trial players don't get screwed by thinking SE is giving away a "free" expansion when it actually costs $20 and now puts your account on a monthly sub. If I were someone serious enough to want to play the game I'd rather buy the whole game for $50 or w/e it costs than $20 for what is covered by the free trial plus one extra expansion. Honestly the starter edition is just a scam at this point.

[kaynide]

I am just hoping trial players don't get screwed by thinking SE is giving away a "free" expansion when it actually costs $20 and now puts your account on a monthly sub. If I were someone serious enough to want to play the game I'd rather buy the whole game for $50 or w/e it costs than $20 for what is covered by the free trial plus one extra expansion. Honestly the starter edition is just a scam at this point.

I mean, it doesn’t take a lot to actually read the fine print and/or google the details.

Offering a product for a price and allowing people to decide whether they want it or not is hardly a scam.