Seems like alot of people want this game to become Free 2 Play. >.>

[HiirNoivl]

It doesn't matter if it's F2P or not... all that matters is if you want to play the game or not. Money is never an object between people getting what they want (credit cards).

Objecting to the fact that it's P2P is just an excuse. They're just not interested in the game.

[Loggos]

After having played free to play I'd rather not want FFXIV to go there.
I surely enjoyed the freedom to log on whenever I wanted without a suscription fee but on the same time I was driven by the addiction of at least ten items I wanted to get so badly (and that highly exceeded what I'd have paid with a normal suscription).
Those items were not necessarily play to win, they were costumes or pets or enhancing items so basically you could play the game without it. But honestly if you see people running around in something incredibely flashy and pretty and cool while you have a very generic gear all the time (and no pet and stuff) then you start to want that too, maybe...
The issue I dislike is the danger of the game only radiating around the cash shop and only around the cash shop and its items and not around content anymore.
I really don't like that.
Like this, the game doesn't give the feel of playing to discover a story but playing to buy and to use to items you bought and to buy even more. Personally all this advertising (e.g. at Aeria games) gives me the thought of something less serious (just my opinion) and drives my attention away from actually roleplaying my char in a catching storyline because this advertising is omnipresent.
The fun and rewarding moments are partly transferred from successfully finishing content to the feeling of having made a good purchase after some intense shopping to me.

Besides people might end up paying way way more than now. Even if they are just vanity items I've seen people spend hundreds of dollars just to get a special costume and this every month.
I really prefer the freedom of playing to get a reward beyond normal playing (and paying a basic fee) and not paying to get a reward beyond normal playing.

If there is a hybrid model that offers suscriptions with all options the game offers (and all items) and doesn't exceed the current (non legacy) limits while there is also a cash shop for those who don't want to buy suscriptions (maybe also to buy certain content besides items) then I'd be ok because I could decide which model I go for. :x

[Drazzan]

I would rather not see FFXIV go free-to-play. I believe it would ruin what makes this game, and I'd probably end up quitting if it did. The reasons for this are quite simple, free to play games are by design, built around a microtransaction system and the idea of mass numbers of players whom don't care for the game (most of the time) and can just drop-in and drop-out with no need for social interaction. The microtransaction system can range from pay for vanity items, through to pay to win. Pay to Vanity is okay, but it tends to make all non-real life money purchased gear look boring in comparison.

I've been playing Guild Wars 2 since the release here in EU and I must say; while it is fun, most definitely fun, it has a microtransaction system. An example would be my Level 17 Norn; the gear that I got at 1, 5, 10 and 15 all look the same; this is what happens in Pay4Vanity; I know there is rare drops that look nice, but they are few and far between.

Even though Guild Wars 2 is fun it lacks something that Final Fantasy XIV has. When I often try to describe this, it never comes out properly.I think it's something to do with the aesthetics of Final Fantasy XIV, the attention to detail on equipment, the emphasis on emotions, the shouts, the social; in Guild Wars 2 even though I'm playing with friends and I occasionally get the "thx" for raising some randomer, the game feels very barren and lonely, the chat bar isn't even important to the player, the fact you can hide the chat window is testiment to this.

One thing I keep spotting in f2p games is the developers needs to keep on using static lightning that then isn't accepted by most of the objects in the game; (as they have their own lighting properties), this is what makes most of F2P games look aeshtetically similar; even GW2 has this problem, and looking at FFXIV: ARR; there was the picture of the twelve church that had the same issue, the spires were pre-lit and not accepting dynamic shadows or lighting, though I'm hoping this is just due to pre-alpha.

I'm not really sure what this post is, a rant? Maybe. But I don't want to see Final Fantasy XIV: ARR ever go free-to-play. Final Fantasy XI had a niche, very strong demographic and community and I want to see Final Fantasy XIV have the same strengths. We have a community currently and we do have our characters here and there, our shouts, even our own catchphrases so to speak; "Heck the Bed" anyone? I never see these sorts of familiarities and involvement in a free-to-play game, even a buy-to-play game.

tl;dr - Free-To-Play and Buy-To-Play lack polish, attention to detail and social interaction. They rely on a microtransaction system that by design wether vanity or progress purchases will make people who don't play feel distanced from the experience. FFXI survived, and FFXIV will too.

[FireBud]

I'd rather they focus on there guns, even at 100k x 9.99$ a month it's still a lot of money per-month for a game to be bringing to the table. You don't need big numbers for a mmo to be successful or profitable, you just need to work it right so you can get the best of both worlds.

FFXI was no world of warcraft with subscriber numbers and yet it's been more profitable then everything in the series, that long term investment with subscription is better then the short term yields of the majority of F2P (unless your a very successful F2P like Maple Story).

I'd rather it be P2P, it's not much of a investment 9.99$ a month, most people make twice that a hour these days.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

i vote for P2P. :|

[TheRac25]

heres a hint f2p isnt really free, unless you want to sit around town wearing nub gears lol, it can cost much more than a monthly sub

[Rau]

and those people get bored and will quit in a few weeks anyways. I absolutely despise F2P. Please for the love of god keep this game P2P.

This. This. This.

[ShinigamiKayla]

I vote for P2P too >.>/ F2P games just have this very weird aura to them as if no one really cares about players and people are just more insanely rude then normal o.o/ and anyways we should pay to make sure the development team gets a paycheck to get warm food in their bellies every night!~ think about it if the game went FTP they would starve and Yoshi P is already so skinny... -panic-

[Drazzan]

I vote for P2P too >.>/ F2P games just have this very weird aura to them as if no one really cares about players and people are just more insanely rude then normal o.o/ and anyways we should pay to make sure the development team gets a paycheck to get warm food in their bellies every night!~ think about it if the game went FTP they would starve and Yoshi P is already so skinny... -panic-

We should send the dev-team wordly packages of international cultural food!

[ShinigamiKayla]

I vote we send them Fish Tacos because who does not like Fish Tacos =3