The future of F2P

[Chardrizard]

How many MMOs of "these days" have you actually played? Not many I'd imagine because I can load up at least 4 new Korean MMOs that sells you anything from vanity items to tickets to access high level dungeons.

I don't play unknown F2P games from Korea, so you might be right. Last F2P MMOs i played have comes from Aeriagames and somethingspark, which you know english speakers actually plays, and that was where my opinion was based from. They do offer very fair item malls selections and most of'em are sellables so it is accessible to everyone even if they do not want to spend real money.

[Krausus]

P2P games that go F2P is a sign of the game failing. Companies do it to flood their servers with all the F2P crowd giving the game high player base numbers which make the game more attractive to new players. Thus bringing in more potential for item mall sales or premium membership fee's without putting the game company in any position of having to provide more content. P2P models do have to constantly provide more content because that is what the customer is paying for if they dont they loose their player base. F2P models do not have to constantly update the game with more content because they dont owe the playerbase anything because the game is free.

I prefer the ever expanding always updating with quality content P2P model over the small low quaility far and few inbetween updates of a F2P model.

[Zhinse]

There is a segment of people out there who are interested in the game as a FINAL FANTASY game, but are not willing to schill out the monthly fee.

reasons for not wanting to pay a monthly fee are

• Does not think the monthly fee is a good entertainment value
• is not comfortable with paying more than the box for a game.
• Cannot afford to do so

Most of these guys probably never payed a subscription fee in their lives, And I don't blame them when you look at what 'free' gets. It is pretty much on par with p2p service. If p2p really wants to compete they have to offer a service that is immediately more apparent. Obviously we know what the difference is between f2p and p2p. I think the best way is for the crew to spike the game with significant and meaningful content (story and battle) on a much higher rate than now and higher than any other MMO. When people play ARR, they should be getting the feeling that their money spent and time spent is twice as worth it as a netflix subscription.

On another note, its pretty funny to see those people who say they will leave the game if it goes f2p. Leave to where? Elder scrolls online? The myriad of classic pre-wow mmo's? Guild Wars 2? oh.. of course. The Secret World :3. when you look at things objectively, both models affect the design of the content. One is determined to make you play for as long as they can, and the other is designed to squeeze a couple of dimes out of you every once in a while before you take a break. the only way to get a pure experience is to not play an mmo.

[Krausus]

There is a segment of people out there who are interested in the game as a FINAL FANTASY game, but are not willing to schill out the monthly fee.

reasons for not wanting to pay a monthly fee are

• Does not think the monthly fee is a good entertainment value
• is not comfortable with paying more than the box for a game.
• Cannot afford to do so

Most of these guys probably never payed a subscription fee in their lives, And I don't blame them when you look at what 'free' gets. It is pretty much on par with p2p service. If p2p really wants to compete they have to offer a service that is immediately more apparent. Obviously we know what the difference is between f2p and p2p. I think the best way is for the crew to spike the game with significant and meaningful content (story and battle) on a much higher rate than now and higher than any other MMO. When people play ARR, they should be getting the feeling that their money spent and time spent is twice as worth it as a netflix subscription.

On another note, its pretty funny to see those people who say they will leave the game if it goes f2p. Leave to where? Elder scrolls online? The myriad of classic pre-wow mmo's? Guild Wars 2? oh.. of course. The Secret World :3. when you look at things objectively, both models affect the design of the content. One is determined to make you play for as long as they can, and the other is designed to squeeze a couple of dimes out of you every once in a while before you take a break. the only way to get a pure experience is to not play an mmo.

this is the biggest load of crap I have ever read

[Tricksy]

this is the biggest load of crap I have ever read

I know hehe, read the whole thread if you have not already. Its full of such stuff.

[Kerwin]

I will leave if it goes f2p. The community is sour enough, adding the f2p players will just make it rotten.

[buritoslicer]

gawd, these threads just keep popping up... I'm sorry but free to play isn't for Final Fantasy, it would do more damage then good to these types of games. However, if the free to play doesn't have any impact on your paying customers (seperate server with level cap or something along the lines) I'm 100% for that.

I'm still under the belief that Final Fantasy players aren't your average run of the mill WoW/SW:TOR/GW player.

[Tricksy]

On another note, its pretty funny to see those people who say they will leave the game if it goes f2p. Leave to where? Elder scrolls online? The myriad of classic pre-wow mmo's? Guild Wars 2? oh.. of course. The Secret World :3. when you look at things objectively, both models affect the design of the content. One is determined to make you play for as long as they can, and the other is designed to squeeze a couple of dimes out of you every once in a while before you take a break. the only way to get a pure experience is to not play an mmo.

Id just stop playing MMO's until I heard of something that is post release and is considered decent. Since most MMOs are pretty vapid and shitty lately.

I will leave if it goes f2p. The community is sour enough, adding the f2p players will just make it rotten.

Sweet as a peach here!

[Laraul]

Does not matter what you people think. F2P is a better business model for everyone. People who play more will likely pay more. People whom leave the game don't have to worry about deactivating their account. And people who return won't have to worry about reactivating their account and being charged just to check the game out again. Players also won't have to worry about not being able to login to their character simply because of an unexpected payment issue that prevents the account from being renewed.

It's just a fairer, better way of charging for an MMO.

[Jennestia]

Does not matter what you people think. F2P is a better business model for everyone. People who play more will likely pay more. People whom leave the game don't have to worry about deactivating their account. And people who return won't have to worry about reactivating their account and being charged just to check the game out again. Players also won't have to worry about not being able to login to their character simply because of an unexpected payment issue that prevents the account from being renewed.

It's just a fairer, better way of charging for an MMO.

F2P MMOs also tend to be lower in quality and rarely get tangible content -- a lot of F2P MMOs also charge you to access the "good stuff" as people call it.

So it's better in terms of making money, sure -- but is it better for the game itself? P2P MMOs have to keep a standard, F2P has as much freedom as they want to "slack" on delivering good content since you're not paying, they don't really have to offer you much beyond cash shop updates.