So, even Wildstar is going f2p...

[Solaria_Luna]

This! Its funny when peoples usually praise F2P model for being free, its far from truth because if you want to enjoy all of the content and get all best items it will cost WAY more that sub fee. Prime example are games that uses + upgrades on gear, to get max upgrade level you need to dump tons and tons of irl money because you usually cant get those materials from ingame, and if you do its extremely lowdrop and still have failure chance when enchanting(im looking at you TERA). Allods online had stat runes and to get one maxed total end cost was approx 2000$ each and you needed 6 of them, so with these kind of costs you can kiss goodbye for minmaxing and in worstcase for whole end-game scene.

Yes this, Chinese dev created Browser MMOs are like this...I used to spend in them...and about that amount too...mostly on events.

[Erepio]

the title should be "Wildstar finally going f2p"

also not sure why its even on the forums since Wildstar was a failure from the start, it like drop 400% profit since its launch (focusing on hardcore raiders that have and always will be the minority in MMOs was stupid) has nothing to do with FFXIV thats keeps going strong

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Frequently updating can have a negative side effect. People will keep expecting them so when there is long time since last one, people will quit. The game is pretty much living on updates. I played an online game just like that.

And spreading updates too thin is the same result. Cube World was a good game with great potential (and it's still in alpha), but the developer behind it hasn't updated his game in over 2 years and the majority of the players quit playing as a result. The devs in FF14 already have things planned years in advance (apparently things like the Au Ra and the entire story concept for all of 2.X was conceptualized by 2.1) so that not only they got things ready down the pipeline in a timely fashion, but it also allows them to tweak something with minimal delays. I highly doubt this game is going to have a sudden drop in content patching.

[Altera]

WildStar just did not have enough content to make it worth paying a subscription. FFXIV however pushes out more than enough stuff to keep me more than happy paying my subscription, specially with the Legacy discount of 2€ for life

And even if by some chance XIV does go F2P, it is the day I am giving up on MMORPGs for good.

[Escha]

As long as the japanese players still sub and play a lot there's no way ffxiv will be f2p. Heck, some of the f2p MMOs in the west are still p2p with their japanese server counterpart.

[MrSmiley]

That's because the devs can stick to an actual schedule. Being sub based in and of itself doesn't guarantee consistent content.

WoW is sub based. Look at how long Blizzard can (and will) go without adding any content. There are F2P/B2P games that updates more frequently than WoW does...it's insane.

They used to update more often, now they are just preying on their playerbase who cant move on and sucking them dry with additional cash items and character boosts. It's pretty sad honestly.

[Alberel]

They used to update more often, now they are just preying on their playerbase who cant move on and sucking them dry with additional cash items and character boosts. It's pretty sad honestly.

Indeed Blizzard has gotten incredibly complacent with WoW. They put very little work into regular content updates these days. It's funny when you think just how much money Blizzard is making from those subscription numbers yet they release less content than Yoshi's team is on a fraction of the income.

To be totally fair though Blizzard answers to Activision, whose CEO Bobby Kotick is infamous for not actually liking games. This is why Activision milks franchises that it buys from other developers and rarely actually releases anything original of its own; the management has no real passion for the industry. Activision has Blizzard trying to make as much money from WoW whilst putting in as little work as possible. That's the Activision way of doing business.

Conversely Yoshi proved his passion and ability when he turned around the original failure of 1.0 and re-released ARR as a huge success. I think that has earned him a great deal of trust and independence from the higher ups at SquareEnix, sparing his team from the kind of interference that leads to rushed releases and cut costs. Given how SE has been floundering lately with disappointment after disappointment and the public perception that they've lost their spark they need to let people like Yoshi do their thing. I think the business has started to recognise that as we've seen similar changes in approach to FFXV as well.

As long as the execs don't start interfering in Yoshi's work we'll continue to see frequent quality updates to FFXIV.

[Barimu]

snip

Blizzard does not answer to Activision, they may have merged but they are both independent. Little do you know FFXIV 1.0 was released too early due to SE being money hungry trying to get another successful MMO out there.

"Activision and Blizzard Entertainment still exist as separate entities" "While Blizzard retained its autonomy and corporate leadership, other Vivendi Games divisions did not."

[Kotemon]

And yet they are still going to charge for FFXI..

My only gripe with F2P is that many developers try to make a cash shop as a subtle form of overpriced income. Then design it to be necessary for non casual/ocasional players to progress through most of the game. Although most MMOS are not nearly as bad as many of the so called free apps for mobile/tablets.

[Whocareswhatmynameis]

And yet they are still going to charge for FFXI..

My only gripe with F2P is that many developers try to make a cash shop as a subtle form of overpriced income. Then design it to be necessary for non casual/ocasional players to progress through most of the game. Although most MMOS are not nearly as bad as many of the so called free apps for mobile/tablets.

Most of the free 2 play MMOs still have subscription models that allow access to everything. It's just they let you download the game for free and hope you like it enought to subscribe for a bit. Almost all of the MMOs that came out lately have been the same story, people enjoy it till they get to then end and theres little incentive to keep playing after that. RIFT, ESO, LOTRO, DCUO, TERA, AION, and Wildstar were all popular at one point in time. It's just people have moved on now.

The only MMO i can think of that was "stillborn" as people say, was 1.0 ffxiv lol. It took them 2-3 years to fix it.