So 1.0 owners have to start paying the monthly fee immediately?

[Abriael]

FFXIV:ARR includes 30 free days of playtime with purchase for new accounts. However, even though players who own FFXIV Version 1.0 will receive FFXIV:ARR for free, this does not include the 30 free days of play.

Does this means that 1.0 owners will have to start paying the monthly fee immediately?

This is a *large* 180 from what was announced previously (for instance here), that clearly stated that there'd be a free trial for PC users before they'd have to pay the monthly fee.

I'd say a clarification is needed because there are going to be a lot of disappointed people because of this.

If I didn't completely misinterpret what Hvinire said, I can't even start explaining how bad an idea this is, as it completely misses the chance to drag back into the game many 1.0 players that would probably try it if they had some free game time, but having been disappointed once, won't spend money on it without trying it.

Edit: Some info has been given by Yoshida solving the issue, unfortunately that info was posted here by someone else in potential breach of the beta NDA, so I can't repeat it here. Waiting for an official statement by the dev team on this forum.

Edit2: They finally posted it officially:

Yoshida recently posted an update regarding FFXIV 1.0 users being able to try out FFXIV:ARR at launch that I'd like to pass along:

Producer and Director Yoshida here.

I apologize for the delay in preparing various announcements.

With the beginning of official service on 8/27, we will be implementing a two-week long Welcome Back Campaign for those of you who have a FFXIV 1.0 service account, regardless if you are a Legacy Member or if you have Collector’s Edition/Standard Edition. During this time period you can try out FFXIV: ARR for free, so please take this opportunity to check out the game!

Once the date draws closer we will be announcing the details on the Lodestone as well as sending out an email from the development team.

[TrystWildkey]

*stagger*

I'm so thoroughly sick of so many people wanting to get every possible advantage/promotion/free thing they can.

*headdesk*

[Abriael]

I'm so thoroughly sick of so many people wanting to get every possible advantage/promotion/free thing they can.

This is simply something that Square Enix promised, as per link in the initial post.

You do know that promising something and then not keeping that promise is not a good idea, especially when billing is concerned?

[Kaizlu]

This is simply something that Square Enix promised, as per link in the initial post.

You do know that promising something and then not keeping that promise is not a good idea, especially when billing is concerned?

He is correct. I mean, forget about players that stuck with the game up until the end I'm sure most of them won't quit the game for 9.99 ~ 14.99. Think about all the players that left at the beginning that were promised a 30-day trial months ago. So far it seems that I've been spreading wrong information on the web

[Medura]

Square promised before servers went down, that every owner of ffxiv would get the first month of ARR for free. This is certainly a fact, and hearing the opposite now is quite surprising to me. (Not a big deal, since im gonna pay anyhows, but still, we where promised it)

[Zenaku]

I remember yoshi-p saying he be giving every 1.0 account free 30days to try out the game to see if it's something they want to play or not. Now it seem we no longer get the free 30days wow o.o

[viion]

I remember yoshi-p saying he be giving every 1.0 account free 30days to try out the game to see if it's something they want to play or not. Now it seem we no longer get the free 30days wow o.o

In the original road map it said launch would come with trail/free, dont know if its on recent roadmaps, to lazy to look atm. We also get that 2 week free period, plus phase 4 goes over which is free, so WHO CARES there is so much free play time....

[Goufunaki]

I think he's just referring to the actual 30 day trial new accounts get. We already had our free month trial when we bought 1.0.

Wasn't it just the first month of ARR's launch that was supposed to be free, regardless of new/returning players?

[Allesasi]

They guaranteed that we would not have to buy the game again. They never said anything about a new free trial!!!!!!

It's only $ 10.00 anyways. I'm sure you can collect all your beer/soda/water bottles and come up with enough to pay for one more month.

[Abriael]

They guaranteed that we would not have to buy the game again. They never said anything about a new free trial!!!!!!

Yes they did.

I quote from this document:

"Reinstate limited free trial period for PC version"

and then two to three months later:

"Free trial period ends"

There aren't any other ways you can interpret that.