The Trial vs Standard Edition doesn't feel fair

[Rivlet]

Hello,

First of all, let us be clear: this is pure and simple feedback. It is criticism, yes, but one that we hope is constructive, generating (or not) a healthy debate. We also want to state the fact that what we did was, first and foremost, our mistake. We should have informed ourselves better. That said, let's go:

We like your game, but my wife, friends and I feel disappointed after finding out that people who buy it are not able to play for free in contrast to people who don't. Had we known, we wouldn't have bought it.

We know that buying the game lifts some restrictions, but we would rather play the base game and its first expansion for free and with restrictions than paying monthly fees to play the most tedious parts of the game.

To us, that system makes no sense. Something fair would have us going back to the no-perks play-for-free situation after the 30th suscription day, but not totally blocked and left out.

For us, the party is over. Our only option would be to create another set of accounts, do the tedious part again and avoid purchasing your game until we do that. Ideally, we would even prefer to rollback to the Trial condition and lose the game we bought.

And it’s sad, because, even though the game wasn't the best at beginning an adventure, we were having fun together and we were excited about what was to come (in the subscription-required expansions, which we know are the good part of the game).

And I know one may think: just purchase a month and rush through the boring part to make the most of it. Unfortunately, for us, it is not a solution: we don't have much time (work, travel, etc.) and, most importantly, we like to do things at our own pace. Especially when starting.

But the point here is that, again, it does not feel fair. Removing restrictions (e.g. not being able to party) is not worth 10€ plus losing the right to play for free. We write this with good heart, aiming for constructive criticism and hoping for change.

What do you think?

[Vahlnir]

A free trial is a free trial. The moment you exit said trial it's no longer a free experience. Seems pretty straight forward to me and is hardly unfair.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

You wouldn't be able to party up together without outside intervention on the trial.

You'd be gil capped, have no retainers, and a ton of other restrictions.

They want people to buy the game.

[OranKells]

a corporation prioritizing its paying customers? Heavens to Murgatroyd!

[Rivlet]

@Vahlnir: That's the current state of things. We are well aware. But given the chance: don't you think it would be fair-er to equal Standard purchasers who are unsubscribed to the services that Trial users enjoy? Because right now, Standard purchasers who are unsubscribed cannot play at all, whereas Trial users enjoy, with restrictions, a timeless experience.

@Valkyrie_Lenneth: Of course I understand they want people to buy the game. I also understand that those are powerful restrictions. But it's not about the purchase of a standard edition. It is about what comes next. Wouldn't it be fair-er to have standard users be able to play too, restrictions and so on included? Of course, a system would have to be in place (such as syncing max lvl to 60 when a user has bought the game and reached 60+), but I think it's doable.

@Theodric: See replies above.

[ZedxKayn]

I do think it would be fair, to allow players who are unsubbed to play with similar limitations, however I don't really see how some of the benefits given by having a purchased version could be suspended without significantly hurting the overall experience for said unsubbed players, such as gil cap, housing or FCs.

[Vahlnir]

@Vahlnir: That's the current state of things. We are well aware. But given the chance: don't you think it would be fair-er to equal Standard purchasers who are unsubscribed to the services that Trial users enjoy? Because right now, Standard purchasers who are unsubscribed cannot play at all, whereas Trial users enjoy, with restrictions, a timeless experience.

Free trials aren't meant to last forever. It is given with the assumption that a portion of the trial goers will go beyond HW and 60. After it is done you can either pay to play or not. It's that simple. Nothing needs to change here. Again, I don't see what's unfair about this. I get what you're saying, I just don't agree with it. I don't know why anyone would want to continue playing with those restrictions anyway. Too many cons, not enough pros. What you are asking for is more or less a permanent free-to-play option and that is something I'd rather see them avoid.

[FoxyAreku]

The free trial restrictions are incredibly hefty to the point I wouldn't recommend the trial to anyone past just checking if you like the gameplay.

Join an fc, start using the marketboard, share items with your wife, talk to people, all of these things are things you can't do on the trial, and being able to do them is well worth the price.

[Seera1024]

The free trial restrictions are incredibly hefty to the point I wouldn't recommend the trial to anyone past just checking if you like the gameplay.

Join an fc, start using the marketboard, share items with your wife, talk to people, all of these things are things you can't do on the trial, and being able to do them is well worth the price.

I always tell people who ask when they should move from trial to pay is this:

Stay with the trial until one of the following:

1. You run out of content to do in the trial and are ready for more. IE: everything level 60 and finished with the HW story.

2. You're enjoying the game and the trial restrictions are affecting your enjoyment too much.

[Noschel]

It seems the OP's view of the free trial is a bit skewed since they were already playing without the restrictions. As some have mentioned before, it is a very generous free trial and it has been brought up at the time of implementation that it might even be too generous. That seems to be the issue the OP is running against.

Starting over with new trial accounts wouldn't be the same either since they wouldn't be able to party together. Unless one of them stays with a subbed account. Though ARR isn't even that long, so they could probably finish it in a week's time even if they play casually.

He probably just wants ARR+HW to be converted to F2P so he doesn't have to do either.