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

[ArkhamNative]

The nearest Krispy Kreme is 22 minutes away on the other side of town. I'm not sure whether I'm glad or sad about that.

[Vilhem]

I'm back with donuts..and some steamed pork buns fresh off my stove. Who wants?

[Alhanelem]

Okay, so if the Welcome Back campaign is our specific form of free trial...

...then...

...what's the problem?



Okay, I think, no matter how you chalk it up, we are getting a period of free time with the game after beta. So, I think we're good. Yeah, we're good. It's all good.

...my head hurts...

I think you figured it out. Have a donut

Some think that two weeks might not be enough to entice the part of the 1.0 playerbase that's more jaded, and I'm kind of in that camp as well, especially considering that a whole lot of people expected a month.

1) Honestly, if you you can't judge whether you like the game within a week or less, I think there's something wrong with your ability to evaluate.
2) there was no reason to expect any particular duration. There is no "industry standard" for free time given to old players of a game that was terminated and relaunched (which has only happened a couple other times in history). It could have been a month, it could have been 2 days, it could have been 3 months. Somebody would have found some reason to be upset by it (No matter how right they think they're doing something, someone will find cause to complain) no matter what it was. These people are the ones least likely to be interested in returning no matter how generous SE is with the free time anyway.

[Mjollnir]

I think two weeks free is perfectly fine.

If other people are going to post their unchanging opinion over and over again, so am I. I don't like to be left out.

[Zenaku]

Seeing how everything in beta4 would be saved that your free month right there.

[Kayokane]

considering that we are always morally obligated to deliver bug reports and give feedback even after a game is released

ADDENDUM: replace 'considering that...' with 'based on my morals...' sorry for bringing my obviously flawed moral code into a discussion of semantics, that was wrong of me. ~Nyaa

[Cendres]

Seeing how everything in beta4 would be saved that your free month right there.

True. It is still a very messy way of doing it though and not clear to people outside the fan base. I feel migraine creeping on when I'll try to advertise to the general public on Twitter, Massively and G+...... (So wait you have to be in the last beta to get a free month???)

>.>

[Alhanelem]

Frankly the vast majority of people treat open betas like free trials or game demos anyway, regardless of what they "technically" are.

[Zenaku]

True. It is still a very messy way of doing it though and not clear to people outside the fan base. I feel migraine creeping on when I'll try to advertise to the general public on Twitter, Massively and G+...... (So wait you have to be in the last beta to get a free month???)

>.>

everyone with a SE account is allow to play Beta3/4 so everyone can play they going to send out email so if people don't read there email then bitch about it then i guess it's there issue now is it

[Abriael]

1) Honestly, if you you can't judge whether you like the game within a week or less, I think there's something wrong with your ability to evaluate.
2) there was no reason to expect any particular duration. There is no "industry standard" for free time given to old players of a game that was terminated and relaunched (which has only happened a couple other times in history). It could have been a month, it could have been 2 days, it could have been 3 months. Somebody would have found some reason to be upset by it (No matter how right they think they're doing something, someone will find cause to complain) no matter what it was. These people are the ones least likely to be interested in returning no matter how generous SE is with the free time anyway.

It's not just a matter of not upsetting players or giving them time to evaluate (and even for evaluating, the more the better, obviously). It's a matter of enticing them to return.

There definitely is an industry standard of game time given when someone gets a new MMORPG, which is a full month.

By giving people the chance to download the game plus a full month, you communicate that you're launching a full new game, and that you're giving it to them fully for free. That's a very strong marketing message and reinforces very strongly the temptation to give it a try.

By letting people download the game and adding a "two weeks welcome back" on top of it, you communicate that they're coming back to an old game (more or less revamped), as the whole "welcome back" concept mirrors.

That's a weaker message, and a less advantageous one, as it's in Square Enix's interest to pass the message that Final Fantasy XIV: ARR is an entirely new game, and not just an evolution or an expansion to XIV.

It's really not rocket science. Actually it's basically simple maths. Give more = have a stronger promotional effect.