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

[SkyeWindbinder]

Obviously, but the ones that need to be enticed to return and are most jaded towards XIV are exactly a lot of the 800,000 1.0 customers, which makes the "Hey, this is a fully new game, and you get it for FREE!" message more relevant towards them.

For those that never played 1.0, it's a fully new game anyway, and while they may have read of the 1.0 debacle, they never experienced it.

800,000 people is a very nice bank of potential players for Square Enix. Personally, I would say that trying to grab back as many as possible of them to act as a base for the subscribers of the new game should be a large priority for SE, which is why I advocate a simple "the more the better" approach.

IMHO, a full month would have ensured an almost 100% return rate, while two weeks won't get there. Of course not all of those would stay as subscribers, but the more return, the more will stay.

The difference for SE is limited to starting earning money from returning players on September the 26th instead of September the 12th. I would say it's a very small price to pay for a chance to get more subs on the long run.

Well, perhaps the reason is that bonuses for those in the "Welcome Back campaign" far outweigh that of those who are getting a free trial after buying the entire game. I mean, think about it. We're getting a helluva lotta bonuses, including the fact that we basically get the entire game free. I don't think the free trial we have being somewhat shorter than that of those who have to purchase the full retail version of the game is in any way a real hindrance to sales. And if you think about it, giving away too much can be just as much a detriment to SE as giving away nothing at all. I think SE is trying to keep things as balanced as they can. Sure, it may mean that some people won't get everything they want, but in the end, those in the welcome back campaign are getting a much better deal. I, personally, am okay with what we've got.

"We" are not the issue. We're in the bag already, and we'd probably still be playing and paying even if SE gave us nothing at all. The problem is that we're a vastly outnumbered minority.

Um... well yeah. But how is this bad? What's your point?