Free Stormblood for starter edition users

[RobynDaBank]

It's basically a ploy to get some free trial players (who only have ARR + HW) to go paid so they can get a 'free' expansion with their purchase of the game. I'm fairly sure that once you get off the trial, you can't go back either, so anyone who falls for it either has to stay paying or quit. The only audience it's actually useful for is incredibly niche.

This isn't for FT when you literally need to have bought the Starter Edition, no? If the customer does some basic research they'll know they can just get Endwalker instead of going the Starter Edition + free Stormblood route.

[Amenara]

Could be they have a large number of accounts with only the starter edition registered and they're trying to give those paying customers additional content value compared to those on the free trial.

Could be they're hoping that getting to the end of Stormblood will convince them to pick up Shadowbringers/Endwalker.

It's hard to say. Regardless, I think few if any will see this special promotion as a bad thing.

I am just hoping trial players don't get screwed by thinking SE is giving away a "free" expansion when it actually costs $20 and now puts your account on a monthly sub. If I were someone serious enough to want to play the game I'd rather buy the whole game for $50 or w/e it costs than $20 for what is covered by the free trial plus one extra expansion. Honestly the starter edition is just a scam at this point.

[kaynide]

I am just hoping trial players don't get screwed by thinking SE is giving away a "free" expansion when it actually costs $20 and now puts your account on a monthly sub. If I were someone serious enough to want to play the game I'd rather buy the whole game for $50 or w/e it costs than $20 for what is covered by the free trial plus one extra expansion. Honestly the starter edition is just a scam at this point.

I mean, it doesn’t take a lot to actually read the fine print and/or google the details.

Offering a product for a price and allowing people to decide whether they want it or not is hardly a scam.

[SannaR]

I feel this is a way for them to gage the interest in expanding the free trial. As wasn't the starter edition originally only ARR? You know back when the free trial only let you level up to 30.

[KatiaRelanah]

It's basically a ploy to get some free trial players (who only have ARR + HW) to go paid so they can get a 'free' expansion with their purchase of the game. I'm fairly sure that once you get off the trial, you can't go back either, so anyone who falls for it either has to stay paying or quit. The only audience it's actually useful for is incredibly niche.

I do like the narrative of people "falling for" SE's "trick" that's come about (this is far from the first post I've seen saying as much), like SE is in any way in the wrong for trying to push subs.

Like... Yes. Squenix wants to convert people using their server infrastructure for free to paying customers. That's supposed to be the point of the trial in the first place, is to hook people's interest enough to get them paying for the game. Damn them for offering, what, 30% of the game (ARR + HW, subtracted a bit because of trial restrictions) for free, those monsters!

Starter Edition has always been in a weird place, I'll admit, as it basically is paying to unlock social features and... That's about it. No real additional content over the trial. In a way, adding SB makes it slightly more of a deal?

But yeah, sorry... Call me a shill for small indie company pls understand, etc., but I really can't fault SE for actually trying to, you know, make money off of trial players at some point. Yeah, they lose access to their unrestricted playtime... But by making the purchase, they're no longer trialing the game, they are paying customers, subject to the same terms and conditions as anyone else who buys the game and/or begins a sub.

[CaptainLagbeard]

They really could just include Stormblood in the free trial...

But yea, it is for the "Starter Edition", which should be about 10€/$ but does stop the free trial forcing into the monthly subscription cost... It's mostly meant to remove all the restrictions of the Free Trial, without getting any of the content past HW until you reach that point in the game, but I guess for now it does come with free Stormblood.

[ICountFrom0]

They really could just include Stormblood in the free trial....

Oh, they will. This is just a step on the way.

Pre-order is here. This DOES get you everything. This currently isn't out yet though it will be...
Endwalker is currently included in the latest complete edition. Sometimes it's not. There's always a period where somebody will have to buy the two separately and they can make the most possible money.
Shadowbringers is here.
Stormblood is added "free" to starter edition here. Eventually it'll be added permemently, but by adding it free they can make it look like a promotion.
Heavensward is the end of the free trial, it's going to lag behind the most.

I'm seeing 4 versions with staggered timing, moving each at different times to make sure to sell as much content as possible?

[Slayer25c]

They really could just include Stormblood in the free trial...

But yea, it is for the "Starter Edition", which should be about 10€/$ but does stop the free trial forcing into the monthly subscription cost... It's mostly meant to remove all the restrictions of the Free Trial, without getting any of the content past HW until you reach that point in the game, but I guess for now it does come with free Stormblood.

They probably will when 7.0 come out

[Slayer25c]

I do like the narrative of people "falling for" SE's "trick" that's come about (this is far from the first post I've seen saying as much), like SE is in any way in the wrong for trying to push subs.

Like... Yes. Squenix wants to convert people using their server infrastructure for free to paying customers. That's supposed to be the point of the trial in the first place, is to hook people's interest enough to get them paying for the game. Damn them for offering, what, 30% of the game (ARR + HW, subtracted a bit because of trial restrictions) for free, those monsters!

Starter Edition has always been in a weird place, I'll admit, as it basically is paying to unlock social features and... That's about it. No real additional content over the trial. In a way, adding SB makes it slightly more of a deal?

But yeah, sorry... Call me a shill for small indie company pls understand, etc., but I really can't fault SE for actually trying to, you know, make money off of trial players at some point. Yeah, they lose access to their unrestricted playtime... But by making the purchase, they're no longer trialing the game, they are paying customers, subject to the same terms and conditions as anyone else who buys the game and/or begins a sub.

Started edition for people who can't afford full game or just don't want everything at once.

[Phidaissi]

It's literally being done at the same time as a free login campaign.

So the goal is to encourage former players that owned the base game to come back and try, and giving them free SB as an incentive to take that 4 days of free play up.

If they'd done this a year ago I'd have used it myself, I played the game years ago, owned the base game, but not the expansions. I returned to play again because they added the OCE DC. When I first played the free trial didn't exist, it was buy the game and pay sub or no play. I know people that just used the SB code and are waiting until after the 24 hours maintenance to pop their 4 day free login.

How many people are there that owned the game years ago and don't have SB? I dunno, but SE sure does and it's very unlikely to be an accident that free login and free expansion are being done at the same time. At the very least, it's probably very low cost promotion for them.