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

[Keku]

considering the PC and PS3 were always planned as a same time release for ARR. Sending out PC full ver to customers and PS3 beta testers at the same time does not match up at all. Considering it's also 2-3 months prior to goes on sale which both PC and PS3 are listed as the same sale start time.

I am not grasping at anything that is just directly how I see it. I am not one to defend SE at random, and as I said I do easily see how people would expect 1 month based on this. Also based on people who left yes as you said will not want to pay to see if it's better, which I also stated I agreed with you on in like my first post.

Again, stores have nothing to do with it. You're grasping at straws in order to prove a false but convenient point.

The "distribution" term is applied both to the PC client and the PS3 beta, which clearly means it's not referring to stores. You don't send betas to stores.

As further evidence, there's the Japanese original document, that uses the verb 配布 (Haifu), while distribution of goods to shops has a specific verb in Japanese, which is 配達 (Haitatsu).



The people who quit have been told over and over by those that didn't that they'd get a free period, on forums, on websites and such. Every time someone came up with a skeptical remark, not knowing if he'd try the game or not, you'd see someone commenting "don't worry, you'll get X free months to try it out".

Whether you interpret it as one free month or multiple it doesn't really matter. What matters is that a lot of people are expecting at the very least one free month, and the word, due to SE's own words (and it isn't just limited to that one document, it was said quite a lot) went around a lot.



In this case we can't really say that. With 1.0's experience we can't really blame people for being skeptical and for wanting to try the game extensively before putting money into it. Lost trust must be regained.



SE defense force in action.

[Abriael]

We can't help SE gain trust again by making threads accusing them of breaking promises they never made especially if such fictitious promises mean very little to most people who will actually support the game.

The promises was made, on multiple occasions. If SE wants to regain trust, they need to keep their promises first and foremost. It's not up to us to "help them" there.

considering the PC and PS3 were always planned as a same time release for ARR.

No, they weren't. The promise of a release of both platforms exactly at the same time is fairly recent.

[SkyeWindbinder]

We can't help SE gain trust again by making threads accusing them of breaking promises they never made especially if such fictitious promises mean very little to most people who will actually support the game.

Fictitous!? Whaaa? It's right there in the link Abriael provded!

That's about as "fictitious" as the keyboard I'm typing on right now. (sigh) What the... Are the SE White Knights out on force right now or what? What's going on?

[Eldryan]

I'm generally a white knight when it comes to SE and the FF franchise, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to side with Abriael here. It's not about the money, I'll be playing regardless of whether I get that free month or not, but it's the principle of the matter. Yes, we were told that all players, returning or new, will get a month free trial on ARR. To simply go back on that now is a bit disheartening.

To those who say that $10-$15 is no big deal, you're making that opinion from the viewpoint of someone who's keeping up with the game, and is hyped for it's release. However, there are quite a lot of people (and I know many personally) who bought 1.0, and haven't touched the game after their first two weeks, nor have they been following anything that's been going on with FFXIV since then.

The folks that I know personally, have resisted all my attempts to get them back into FFXIV despite all the positive changes that have gone on prior to ARR, simply because they've moved on to other games. The one ace I had that got them to acknowledge they might give ARR a chance, is my mentioning that the relaunch is a brand new game made from scratch, and that they're gonna get a free month with their old account anyways, so they have nothing to lose by trying it out.

These people are not hyped over ARR, and to be honest I say it's a 50/50 shot they will even stay after their free month; but now that they won't even get that trial period, it's most likely that FFXIV will remain in the dustbin of forgotten games to them.

I'm a Legacy member, and I am willing to accept something along the line of, Legacy members do not get their free month, but all other returning players will. As I said, I'm going to be playing regardless of whether or not that free month is there (as I imagine the majority of Legacy members will), but my concern is all the players who will not be playing simply because they will not get a free trial period.

TL;DR notes:
I'm willing to pay, but other people might not, and SE risk losing a lot of returning players by not giving them free trial.

[Duuude007]

"beta" -> Not sent to stores. Stores have nothing to do with it. Grasp more straws mate, your knuckles are bleeding

... I thought he was referring to something else, there is no need for you to be so childish about it.

Fine. Since you want to play revisionist with the facts, I will post the old timeline, and interpret what they mean. People can judge for themselves which is the most accurate.
Blue text is my notes.

• ・Late November to Early December (2011) – Monthly subscription fees begin (PC)
• Which was later revised to Jan 6th, 2012.
• ・Late November to Early December (2011) – Patch 1.20
• Which was later revised to Dec 15th, 2011.
• ・Early February 2012 – Patch 1.21
• Which was later revised to Mar 8th, 2012.
• ・February 2012 – Development test server reconstruction complete
• Based on patch schedule likely shifted to around Mar 2012.
• ・Mid April 2012 – Patch 1.22
• Which was later revised to Mar 25th, 2012.
• ・April 2012 – Version 2.0 client system complete
• - Commence porting of current game content to version 2.0 client
• Based on patch schedule likely shifted to around May 2012.
• ・June 2012 – Worldwide launch of new promotion trailer at E3
• Which was delayed due to development prioritization, until Late Jul.
• ・Early to Mid July 2012 – Patch 1.23
• Which was later revised to Jul 25th, 2012.
• ・September to October 2012 – Begin distribution of version 2.0 software for PC
• Which was later revised to Dec, 2012.
• - Begin distribution of PlayStation®3 system beta version
• Which was later revised to Jun, 2013.
• ・October to November 2012 – Reinstate limited free trial period for PC version
• - Commence PlayStation®3 system closed beta test
• Which was later revised to Jun, 2013. Anyone who registered a FFXIV account has access on PC Beta 3 and forward. Yoshida said to consider this a trial (with partial NDA) despite some content not yet in place.
• Somewhere after Jun 2013: Beta 4 (open beta) with NDA lifted, followed by early access for preorders & Legacy.
• ・Post-January 2013 – Version 2.0 client (PC and PlayStation®3 system) goes on sale
• Which was later revised to Jul 27, 2013.
• - Free trial period ends
• Ends the same day the game (early access) goes live.
• Somewhere after Jul 2013: 2 week welcome back campaign begins.
• *The aforementioned dates are subject to change.
• Need I say more.

Based on the above notes, it is obvious that the trial was meant to last from beta 3 until the end of beta 4.

Effectively 6 weeks.

[Allesasi]

Fictitous!? Whaaa? It's right there in the link Abriael provded!

That's about as "fictitious" as the keyboard I'm typing on right now. (sigh) What the... Are the SE White Knights out on force right now or what? What's going on?

Call me whatever you want. I'm not defending SE. What I'm saying is "What is the big deal" about spending a few bucks more for a good game, hell even if it's a shitty game it still not enough to cry about.

[SkyeWindbinder]

... I thought he was referring to something else, there is no need for you to be so childish about it.

Fine. Since you want to play revisionist with the facts, I will post the old timeline, and interpret what they mean. People can judge for themselves which is the most accurate.
Blue text is my notes.

• ・Late November to Early December (2011) – Monthly subscription fees begin (PC)
• Which was later revised to Jan 6th, 2012.
• ・Late November to Early December (2011) – Patch 1.20
• Which was later revised to Dec 15th, 2011.
• ・Early February 2012 – Patch 1.21
• Which was later revised to Mar 8th, 2012.
• ・February 2012 – Development test server reconstruction complete
• Based on patch schedule likely shifted to around Mar 2012.
• ・Mid April 2012 – Patch 1.22
• Which was later revised to Mar 25th, 2012.
• ・April 2012 – Version 2.0 client system complete
• - Commence porting of current game content to version 2.0 client
• Based on patch schedule likely shifted to around May 2012.
• ・June 2012 – Worldwide launch of new promotion trailer at E3
• Which was delayed due to development prioritization, until Late Jul.
• ・Early to Mid July 2012 – Patch 1.23
• Which was later revised to Jul 25th, 2012.
• ・September to October 2012 – Begin distribution of version 2.0 software for PC
• Which was later revised to Dec, 2012.
• - Begin distribution of PlayStation®3 system beta version
• Which was later revised to Jun, 2013.
• ・October to November 2012 – Reinstate limited free trial period for PC version
• - Commence PlayStation®3 system closed beta test
• Which was later revised to Jun, 2013. Anyone who registered a FFXIV account has access on PC Beta 3 and forward. Yoshida said to consider this a trial (with partial NDA) despite some content not yet in place.
• Somewhere after Jun 2013: Beta 4 (open beta) with NDA lifted, followed by early access for preorders & Legacy.
• ・Post-January 2013 – Version 2.0 client (PC and PlayStation®3 system) goes on sale
• Which was later revised to Jul 27, 2013.
• - Free trial period ends
• Ends the same day the game goes live.
• Somewhere after Jul 2013: 2 week welcome back campaign begins.
• *The aforementioned dates are subject to change.

Need I say more.

Um... what does this have to do with SE deciding not to give PC players the free trial?

[SkyeWindbinder]

Call me whatever you want. I'm not defending SE. What I'm saying is "What is the big deal" about spending a few bucks more for a good game, hell even if it's a shitty game it still not enough to cry about.

Who's crying?

I think the point made was that it's not a good idea to rescind the free trial offer for PC players, especially since it was promised, and a free trial would be a good way to get those who have quit the game to try it again and see if they're willing to pay a sub fee. It's not crying any more than people defending SE on this issue are "butt kissing".

[Duuude007]

Um... what does this have to do with SE deciding not to give PC players the free trial?

It is proof that they are still giving the free trial.

<psst> its called B3 and B4.

[Nix]

It is proof that they are still giving the free trial.

<psst> its called B3 and B4.

B3 and B4 are not free trials.

You don't sell a game, say "Here's 30 days free!... But you could have only redeemed those 30 days during beta."

Free trial means you are waived a subscription fee during a time when you would normally have to pay.
Last time I checked, people don't pay for beta access.