The future of F2P

[Krausus]

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.

doesnt matter what you think, F2P model games are crap full of a crap community, full of low security, low support, low content updates, the only thing good about a F2P game is that its free. Guess what else is free.....AIDS.

[Razzle]

I really hate F2P, and wish FFXIV stay P2P forever.

But if it just had to be F2P, I wouldnt choose niether of what OP listed.

I'd go with cash shop but not vanity one. Cash shop will have upgrade and melding increase... I like my vanity to be free XO
looks > stats

I hate when all the cool looking stuff are cash shop... Will probably quit lol

[cloverkitty]

F2P is actually poor wording.
It should be referred to as P2W.

You can play for free but unless you plan to constantly go through those scams to get credits, or you have no life and grind for items to sell, there is very little that can be accomplished.

There was little suprise that the game like the recent star wars went F2P. They had tons of hype and got tons of people to buy the box, then once people played it they realized once you get by all the wow factor there is not much left. So they let the game die or F2P to save it.

The nice things about F2P is you can put out lots of little updates which 90% of them are what gamble box or what else you can upgrade for cash. Have little support or service cost and rake it in.

P2P that stay P2P are typically higher quality, and cheaper if you play often. Of course not cheaper if you only play quarterly.

[Altanas]

I cant see how F2P will damage FF14 more than it has damaged itself lol

F2P opens up the game to a massive playerbase that wouldnt or couldnt hop on board in a P2P environment. The appropriate comparison is to look at Free Realms or DCUO on PS3.

1million players buying something from a cash shop for 1.99 once a month is more money than 100k players paying a $15 subscription once a month. And if it went anything like LOTRO, people are going to browse the shop each week not once a month...

Then again, i'm scared of F2P lol I like my consistency in P2P, having everyone on an equal footing content wise. Not like early 11 days when some doofus didnt even have RoZ so they couldnt get to Altepa lol

[Eclipse]

F2P is actually poor wording.
It should be referred to as P2W.

You can play for free but unless you plan to constantly go through those scams to get credits, or you have no life and grind for items to sell, there is very little that can be accomplished.

There was little suprise that the game like the recent star wars went F2P. They had tons of hype and got tons of people to buy the box, then once people played it they realized once you get by all the wow factor there is not much left. So they let the game die or F2P to save it.

The nice things about F2P is you can put out lots of little updates which 90% of them are what gamble box or what else you can upgrade for cash. Have little support or service cost and rake it in.

P2P that stay P2P are typically higher quality, and cheaper if you play often. Of course not cheaper if you only play quarterly.

^ This is how I feel about it as well.

[Awdogsgo2heaven]

Regardless of what anyone thinks of this issue, games are going toward the free to play model and it's already been the standard in Asia for years. It's proven to boost subscriber base and profits, so from a business stand point it's good.
If 2.0 doesn't get solid subscriber base (which is tough in today's market with all the free games) then ff14 will go f2p or shutdown.

[Jennestia]

Regardless of what anyone thinks of this issue, games are going toward the free to play model and it's already been the standard in Asia for years. It's proven to boost subscriber base and profits, so from a business stand point it's good.

Games aren't going F2P by choice -- many have to go F2P to sustain itself after heavy losses most of the time. It's a standard in Asia because of not only how the economy is, but because MMOs are pushed out on an almost yearly basis in asia -- you can't expect people to keep active subs for 100s of MMOs that come out every few years.

[Norack]

There is only 1 thing that FFXIV 2.0 can do wrong to lose my sub. And that is going F2P.

[heit]

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?

I don't think it matters what they go with... I'll keep paying money to experience all that is XIV and it's future.

I do like the P2P system better than others though. Despite the hundreds of dollars sunk into an account over a long time, I don't feel it's any different from having a gym membership and only going 3-4 times a week instead of every morning and afternoon (oh how I wish I had time).

[Asiaine]

Going F2P means the company is saying: Our game is not good enough for someone to pay 10$/month to play. Our game is so weak in content and services that we can not output the equivalent enjoyment every year one would get from buying two games.

I'm not sure I would want to invest time in a game that the company itself has deemed not worthy of 10$/month.

(Note: If someone can not afford 10$/month, then they have far more important things to worry about then what to play. And that someone would not be a lucrative source of income for SE would it go F2P anyways).