The future of F2P

[Punainen]

I'm in favor of SE making lots of money so they can continue to employ a large development team for the game.
I'd still rather P2P than F2P. I think however, that making some items like the Chocobo Mask which have no real use except to be awesome could be real money purchasable. This would probably bring in a bunch of extra cash flow without forcing anyone to spend money to upgrade their stats or access content.

Except that doesn't make an awesome game...that makes people realize that they are money-grubbers and wont give anyone awesome stuff without paying EXTRA which feels totally lame, gives people a poor opinion of the company and the game, and in the end hurts the company more than the few extra dollars helped. I already pay a subscription fee, therefore I should have ALL access to the game I'm paying for.

[Nuru]

Do not want Free to play. If It had to go free to play though, they could sure borrow Phantasy Star Online 2's pay model. You can pretty much do anything you want in that game but in order to set up your own shop or add a new skill tree page to your character, that costs money. However, the game is still very playable and the people that pay cash aren't much stronger at all, in fact, they just get boost items to get to level cap faster, which imo totally kills the fun.

I wouldn't like FFXIV to go free-to-play as that would allow anyone with a decent computer to be able to log on and start drama with anyone. At least right now, we have an idea that everyone that plays the game (well, mostly everyone) actually wants to be here.

[Zezil]

<no. thank!>
short word from some asia player lol"
payment will filter alot of type of player and can cut of some the who that i don't want to play with.

[Andrien]

Phantasy Star Online 2 has over 750k subs, it is free to play, and it has not been released outside Japan yet lol. Plus PS Vita version.. I want.

If things really don't go well a year after ARR release, SE might have to consider the f2p model

[Grimwald]

P2P model usually provides faster content patches due to a stable income being pumped into the company, while F2P requires gimmicky shop items being pushed out as quickly as possible in order to meet sales quotas every month.

Despite there being a decent market for F2P, good games have both. EVE is the perfect example of this.

[Cynthis]

I never understood the aversion to having players be able to buy good gear. In principle we have two resources that we can invest in anything we do, including games: money and time. We all have different amounts of those commodities and therefore value them differently. If SE decided to sell the equivalent of the best loot AND make it so that the gear can immediately be identified as being bought, I would have no problem with that.

The only issue is the price of course. If we say it takes on average 100 hours of game play to get a Darklight body (I have no idea what the actual number is since I don't have the time to spend doing it), how much is 100 hours on average worth in yen, dollars or euros?

But to answer the original question, any system for buying things in game should be on top of P2P in my opinion.

[Maxthunder]

I think FFXIV:ARR will fare just fine under a subscription model. I just wanted to say that first and foremost.

With the recent news of SWtor going F2P this fall, the release of GW2 at the end of the month and many of the previous gen MMO going F2P (Aion, L2, Lotr:0). Sub based games are going the way of the dodo.

If FFXIV were to adopt a F2P model in the future, how would you want it to be implemented?

Cash Shop offering vanity items

Episode type content offering side quests or new scenarios

DLC offering new dungeons

Freemium - Subs are given full access to all DLC, while non-subs must purchase a la carte.

I'm not saying I want FFXIV to go F2P. I like sub games where the population as a whole is on the same page. No one is left out because they didn't buy the DLC or uber geared from cash shop purchases.

Is it inevitable for F2P to work it's way in FFXIV at some point? If so how would you want it to be implemented?

F2P no thanks, it FFXIV goes free to play i know i wont play and Im pretty sure a lot of the player base will follow.

[Asiaine]

The issue of F2P can range from 'unfair advantage' to those who pay, to exclusion of those who do not pay, to 'people with most money win!'. A simple example can be:
You can earn your Relic the hard way... ooorr... pay 100$ and buy one in the shops!

Soon it will be a world where those who are willing to pay 1000$ for all their gear set the new expectations and others will look down on them. (Reality is not nice, despite not wishing it to be like this).

If anything, I would be in favour of continuing to pay monthly, but pay more... a lot more! Because in theory, the more I pay, the more better content I can get! Rather than 10$/month, if I pay 20$/mo then I should be able to get almost double the content every month!

(Right now, there is almost the unfair expectation that every 2 months a 'games' worth of content will be delivered. In essence, for 20$ a 60$ game is expected.. every 2 months. And this may not be feasible. Hence why so much filler content or small/negligible updates every now and then).

[Akujin]

On a somewhat related topic.. more or less. How would the community feel about there being an 'enhanced' subscription? The meaning behind that, if/when they release a XIV test server, such as what XI has currently (I dont know how the actual usage works there, havent paid enough attention) would you all be willing to pay an additional, oh lets say.. 5$ to your normal subscription to have access to the test server, to try out new areas, instances and skills, etc before they make it released to the general public who remain on the normal subscription plans? Just curious.

[NefarioCall]

Except that doesn't make an awesome game...that makes people realize that they are money-grubbers and wont give anyone awesome stuff without paying EXTRA which feels totally lame, gives people a poor opinion of the company and the game, and in the end hurts the company more than the few extra dollars helped. I already pay a subscription fee, therefore I should have ALL access to the game I'm paying for.

I was thinking more along the lines of still being able to get the chocobo mask through achievement without paying, or to be able to pay for it optionally. ... but then that shouldn't go for any real useful gear.