To the devs....when will/can we pay?

[Lemmiwinks]

I am wondering something a little different than some people are. I think with the smashing success of 1.18 and what I hope will be an even bigger update to content in 1.19 and future patches, I am wondering...when can I start paying?

I phrased that very deliberately. I dont want to come out whining and asking "When will I HAVE to pay?" I know that keeping these servers running and providing constant new content at the pace that you are costs a lot of money. And I am not sure for how long SE is willing to eat the loss. With that said, I dont want to see this game go away just due to profitability issues...I am starting to like it too much ^_^.

So when can I start paying?

[Vawn]

I am sure you can write as many checks as you want and send them to Square Enix any time you want.

As for SE, I don't think they are in a hurry to start running off the few remaining players they have until the game is actually ready.

[Lemmiwinks]

Well on first glance I and most people would agree... you can always make the overly simplistic argument that if I wanted to pay I could. But to use fact that you will chase off a portion of the player base as an excuse to not start charging "until the game is ready" is a false argument. It doesn't matter WHEN you start charging, but as soon as you do, you WILL loose some player base. That is a fact of life and will not change no matter when it is done or how "ready" the game is, so IMO that isn't good enough to be used as the sole reason to not charge people. If it was, then by your logic they should never charge us because no matter when they do, some people will leave.

But from SE's perspective, if I was a business man, and I was loosing more than a years worth of revenue from a product that was shipped before it was 'ready', there comes a point when I would just cut my losses and focus on things that are actually making me money. I personally dont want to see that happen with FFXIV... I am liking it too much. The last patch was amazing and I am sure everyone agrees with me that 1.19 look to be on track to greatly exceed 1.18. I think it is getting to the point that the game has everything needed to call it "ready". I am just curious as to when the devs will start process.

[Gukswar]

I would never pay for this game at this time-.-

[Lemmiwinks]

Well I agree... its not 'quite' there yet... but IMO its darn close. I am not saying we HAVE to pay right now, I just would like to hear some sort of timeline.... cause it has to happen eventually lol. I'm just trying to find out when

[Holland]

Regardless of content. I would guess when you see all of the basic features this game needeed to have at launch implemented, then they would start considering it.

[Lemmiwinks]

Out of curiosity, what is missing in your opinion?

We have a full battle system (tweaks being made... granted)
...we have storyline quests and lots of smaller side quests (more will come)
...robust gathering system
...crafting system (again...tweaking underway)
...raids (some is better than none )
...regular NMs, Faction NMs, and 'hyper NMs, complete with gear drops
...coming in 1.19 there will be airships and chocobos
...no AH but IMO the wards system is a decent alternative at this point. Some changes are needed, but its pretty decent I think
...coming in 1.19 we will have beastmen strongholds


I would grant you that there are tweaks that need to be made to all of these, and they will be made, but I cant think of too much that is downright MISSING from this game at this point. Tweaks will always be needed, but personally I think all of the elements are either here or will be here very shortly. Really... is there anything not listed here (other than an AH) that FFXI had at release and FFXIV doesnt have (or coming SOON)? The only things I can think of is a delivery system, and a more useable party search function... nothing I would consider major.

I could be wrong though. I am sure that someone will think of something I am missing. But btw saying "raise the level cap" or " new races" or "new jobs" doesn't count IMO... those are things that are classically released in game expansions... not in regular patches.

another question is this.... since no one is willing to pay for the game, I would like to know if there is ANYONE out there who actually likes this game, or am I the only one. IMO if you aren't willing to pay for the game when they start charging, then why are you wasting your time playing it now?

[Wagrum]

The more I play FFXIV, the more I actually think that SE probably should stop making MMOs. FFXI was a success eventually but that also had a lot to do with the time it was released when all there was to compare it with were other 3D mmorpgs like Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot and Lineage. In hindsight, these games were cumbersome and awkward to play and had a steep learning curve, but rewarded the faithful and those who dedicated more time into them.

Times have changed, MMOs have evolved (look at Guild Wars 2 for example) and to me it seems that SE just don't want to change their 2001/2 method of how MMOs should work.

While FFXIV is definitely more solo-friendly (and I welcome this) everyone on here knows that it is far more effective to level in static parties or grinding groups; a method that is now frowned upon by most western gamers beginning with MMOs since 2004 (when World of Warcraft introduced quest progression and lore)

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good grind, and I really enjoyed it in FFXI because the game was a lot of fun. But these days people are not going to pay a subscription to a game which gives no sort of instant gratification, no context to the quests that you're doing, makes it more effective to party grind, and gives you little to do other than endlessly craft stuff.

I know that if this game doesn't change dramatically from what I'm playing now to the FFXIV I'll be playing when they introduce subscriptions, I am taking my money elsewhere. I'm sorry SE, but nice textures and good lighting won't make a great game; it needs to be a game that is enjoyed.... and not endured.

[Wishbringer]

I have played (and still play) lots of MMORPGs.
From old Meridian59 over Ultima Online, Everquest, Everquest 2, Guild Wars, LotRO, Star Trek Online, FFXI and some discontinued MMOs (Star Wars Online, Matrix Online ...).
And in terms of user friendly, it's at the last place.
I don't want a WoW-Clone!
But I want a well developed game with lots of content.

You can play a single Player game in several hours, you have a storyline and after some time, it's over.
In old FF games you had some douzen or hundred hours.
In FF XIII you had maybe a douzen (if playing slow)
In FFXIV storyline is only baseline and you waste time in grinding, collecting and repeating guildleves.
No multible and long questlines, no great background stories (only one)

FFXIV lags of story content.
It has enough for a single player rpg, but not enough for a MMORPG that should bind players for years.
So if it would be charged now, several player would say, that they wouldn't pay for month of grinding and crafting.

I still play it, because i love FF, but i would throw it away, if i should pay for the amount of content that is currently present.
I would pay for it, if it would have as much content (or only half of it) as the games i previously mentioned.

For example:
I play EQ1 since beta (1998) and know the whole game with all expansions, all monsters, all thousands of quests and still wait for each new expansion.
I play EQ2 since startup and solved around 5.700 well developed Quests,
I play LotRO since beta and solved around 2.500 quests (and am only at level 34)
I play Star Trek Online since start and have around 1.000 quests solved.
I play FFXIV since closed beta and solved maybe 50 quests (not really quests, you can't fail, only if you act like a stupid, but great films) and hundreds of guildleves with same content every time.

[Lemmiwinks]

SO I guess I really am the only one who likes this game then....