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

[Abriael]

There was no bad business decision. You get to play for free during early access. This was something we were getting regardless of whether we preordedre the collector's edition or not. Everyone else has to buy the game, we don't.

The early access period is our free period. The only way you could argue this as going against their promise is to argue that because people can now buy in to that free access period, that it doesn't represent that anymore, but I don't agree with that.

The early access is going to be a week tops and is *not* open to everyone. Only those that preorder or have legacy will have early access, leaving out a whole lot of people.

The promised free trial was multiple months long.

A free trial is obviously indispensible to lure back the majority of the people that tried 1.0 and then quit. Most of them are rightfully skeptical at the moment, and I can easily see many of them just say "screw it" if they have to use their credit card before they can actually ascertain that the game has been steered in the right direction.

Again, bad business decision, on top of broken promises.

[DubstepNinja]

People that have no arguments often resorts to pictures.

[Abriael]

I don't think the issue in question even comes close to comparing to the issues that led to 1.0's faliure.

People are crying about one month's payment. Many of us have been playing MMOs for years. This is not a big deal.

It's a big deal for the many that are already (understandably) skeptical about the game, and were going to give it a second chance because they didn't have to spend anything upfront.

Now that they have, I can see many of them not coming back at all. SE had a very solid advantage bringing back almost all the people that bought 1.0 with a free trial, and with this they're burning a sizable part of it.

The whole "hey, come and try it, it's free, and if you like it you can stay and pay later" option that was the smartest thing to do (and what they initially promised) is gone.

[Alhanelem]

The early access is going to be a week tops and is *not* open to everyone.

You do not know how long it will be, so stop pretending you know. It's almost september when the official launch date begins- Even if phase 3 and 4 both last 3 full weeks with 1 week in between them, that leaves nearly a month for the early access period.

Again, bad business decision, on top of broken promises.

Again, there was no bad business decision, or broken promise. You get tons of free time to play the game. You've already given SE your money, you did it years ago.

The promised free trial was multiple months long.

Uh, no, it wasn't. There was no hard length of time given. That being said, beta phase 3 + 4 + the free early access period = multiple months. During this whole time you get to use your original characters.

This thiread is an example of never being satisfied no matter what people are given. people feel entitled no matter what.

You should already know by now or at least the end of phase 4 whether you like the game or not. You don't need a free trial on top of that to come to that conclusion. People are raging over small stuff.

[Abriael]

You do not know how long it will be, so stop pretending you know. It's almost september when the official launch date begins- Even if phase 3 and 4 both last 3 full weeks with 1 week in between them, that leaves nearly a month for the early access period.

No early access is ever longer than a week per industry standard. There's no indication that it's going to be longer for this game.

A long early access is a whole different can of worms, and it's going to make a lot of people unhappy, as it places those that won't have access to it at a radical progression disadvantage compared to those that are in it.

And even if it was a month long, the early access is not a free trial. It's not open to everyone.

This makes it completely useless to lure back those that quit 1.0 and are skeptical about the game.

Again, there was no bad business decision, or broken promise. You get tons of free time to play the game. You've already given SE your money, you did it years ago.

Only those that preorder or are legacy get early access, not everyone does. Most of the skepticals won't preorder and aren't legacy, meaning that those that need a free trial most won't have it. That removes a lot of precious momentum from the release of the game.

Uh, no, it wasn't. There was no hard length of time given. That being said, beta phase 3 + 4 + the free early access period = multiple months. During this whole time you get to use your original characters.

Only there was. The original document gave hard dates: October to November - Free Trial Starts -> Post January - Free trial ends. That means two to four months depending on how you read it.

This thiread is an example of never being satisfied no matter what people are given. people feel entitled no matter what.

People will feel entitled to what Square Enix promises, and Square Enix promised a free trial, that isn't being delivered.

If they didn't want people to feel entitled to it, they shouldn't have mentioned it.

You should already know by now or at least the end of phase 4 whether you like the game or not. You don't need a free trial on top of that to come to that conclusion. People are raging over small stuff.

Only, it's not about me. I know I like the game now. There are 800,000 people out there that tried 1.0, and a lot of those are rightfully skeptical, and could make a difference between a strong launch and a weak one.

But can always count on some of the people about here to turn a discussion which is about the whole potential playerbase into something about "you!"

[Duuude007]

They already said that after launch there would be a 2 week welcome back campaign. Recently. Don't get so freaked out if the wording changes, that free window still exists to try out the game.

[Abriael]

They already said there would be a 2 week welcome back campaign. Recently. Don't get so freaked out if the wording changes, that free window still exists to try out the game.

Two weeks are quite a lot shorter than the months they promised, and quite a lot less effective.

[Duuude007]

Two weeks are quite a lot shorter than the months they promised, and quite a lot less effective.

The original document gave "subject to change" estimate dates. not promises.

Big difference.

[Abriael]

The original document gave "subject to change" estimate dates. not promises.

Big difference.

The difference is way too big to be considered a simple adjustment, and what matters is that it's simply a lot less effective to lure people back.

I personally know at least 15 people just between my close friends that counted to come back and try the game for a while because it was initially free, to have a chance to gauge how much it improved.

With this, I doubt most if not any of them will.

The game already has an uphill battle to fight due to the stigma brought by 1.0 and to the fact that it's pay to play. Skimping on the chances to prove to the skeptics that it did indeed radically improve isn't exactly conducive to success.

IMHO it risks to waste a lot of the efforts made by the development team to steer the ship around, as many that would have played and appreciated it given the free chance, simply won't.

Having to pull out one's credit card is a big barrier between a skeptical potential customer and a game. It can make a big difference, and it's a big missed chance.

Lure them in with the free trial (like it was initially announced) and make them stay with quality was a very sound tactic. Now it lost quite a lot of its edge.

[Keku]

hold on here, sorry to point it out but the free trial you seem to think is months long was never stated to be months long.

You do know they did reinstate the free trial 30 day period for anyone with an active account from sept 29-nov1 2012(end save date)? They may have put this here to fulfill what they said who knows. Notice how that's the time period on your roadmap you posted free trial would start oct-nov and end after ARR release with no set amount of time after.

I do agree yes it would be a good idea to have a period for those skeptical returning, but as for specifics on how long a free trial would be it's not said anywhere it would be 3 months. You just assumed that based on it saying it would give a free trial in oct-nov and billing would resume sometime after release which they estimated at Jan back then.

"In order to play the current FINAL FANTASY XIV for free until the end of service, please read the details below according to the situation that applies to you."

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...e57e858ee82098

Also it doesn't say anything about game will be down for 9 months or that beta 4 would save progress made. There are lots of things not in that original roadmap which the dates of release are off by like 7-8 months and which the free trial resumes was given at the exact time they said it would oddly enough.