Subscription Cost Vs. Content Drops

[Veritas-Ancora]

As you are probably aware, the amount of time required per patch appears to be increasing.

Patch 7.1 launched November 11, 2024
Patch 7.2 will launch somewhere in March, 2025

That's 4 months, possibly closer to 5 if it launches end of March or beginning of April.

Cost monthly is $13. Four months of waiting for new content = $52 per patch. If it released in April 2025, it'd be $65 per patch. If you have the standard payment to have more than one character, increase all these costs to $15. For sake of most of us, I'm maintaining these calculations at $13.

In a 3-month period, the cost used to be $36.

Now let's say that you argue that the 7.1X patches were content enough. Maybe you played Cloud of Darkness Chaotic and got both mounts. Okay, so the cost of that dividing into 2 months is $26 for that content alone.

If you're a casual player, you're hurting even more. Normal raids can be cleared in one sitting, meaning that the content is completed in 40 minutes or less.

So the question posed:
Is it worth it to you?

I won't even get into the cash shop items, though I think anyone here can have a hayday of the subscription versus cash shop (and the value of time vs. money)

[Jeeqbit]

The subscription isn't paying for content. It's paying for your ability to play it online at all and the basic upkeep of the game.

What pays for content is buying the expansion pack, which is the whole reason the patch content is included in the advertisements for the expansion pack.

If you pay the subscription but do not buy the expansion pack, you actually cannot play much if any of the patch content.

As you are probably aware, the amount of time required per patch appears to be increasing.

It has not increased since they announced it was increasing. It's been about 19-20 weeks for quite a long time now.

[ZephyrMenodora]

It's a personal decision. I'm still attached to the game so I'm fine paying, but I am completely aware my subscription spend is worth less now than it was before they expanded the release cycle.

I had similar arguments with people on the ESO forums who wanted to tell me them cutting content in half, and now not doing annual Chapters at all, is a great thing. Instead it really is just paying the same for less and less.

The feeling of drought feels immense, as even the most casual of us can get through content in a month at most from the patches. Month 2 I can still treadmill some gear upgrades, but by month 3 I'm just logging in to keep my house which doesn't feel great. Anything over 3 months I start to feel resentment, and Moogle events don't make up for it.

Again this criticism comes as a supporter of XIV - I'd rather tell them how I feel about this than pretend everything is fine.

[Clockworks]

The subscription isn't paying for content. It's paying for your ability to play it online at all and the basic upkeep of the game.

What pays for content is buying the expansion pack, which is the whole reason the patch content is included in the advertisements for the expansion pack.

If you pay the subscription but do not buy the expansion pack, you actually cannot play much if any of the patch content.

It has not increased since they announced it was increasing. It's been about 19-20 weeks for quite a long time now.

basic upkeep of the game

The one in which we get DDOS'd on the daily pretty much for the past months ? Because SE doesnt say we're getting DDOS'd doesnt mean we are not, a website such as ARRStatus shows we are getting DDOS'd close to constantly every single day. Nice "basic upkeep of the game" surely that money is used towards the game.

[Jeeqbit]

The one in which we get DDOS'd on the daily pretty much for the past months ?

They do need to solve that. But it's not entirely their fault, since they are being attacked. I do wish they would at least acknowledge it and reveal a plan to deal with it.

[brinn12]

The subscription isn't paying for content. It's paying for your ability to play it online at all and the basic upkeep of the game.

What pays for content is buying the expansion pack, which is the whole reason the patch content is included in the advertisements for the expansion pack.

If you pay the subscription but do not buy the expansion pack, you actually cannot play much if any of the patch content.

It has not increased since they announced it was increasing. It's been about 19-20 weeks for quite a long time now.

You don't have access to every piece of content as soon as an expansion releases.

People pay their subs expecting new, enjoyable content. The game's content is straight up designed to keep people subbed with its lockouts, so saying people are only paying for servers rather than content is a big no.

[Vrankyl]

Uh... but the time between patches isn't increasing. It's been 4.5 months for a bit now. At least since EW. I think they made the time between patches longer officially then, but even during ShB it was about that length. Not to mention, if you really want a comparison technically 13.00 today isn't worth the same amount as 13.00 dollars back when the patches were 3.5 months apart courtesy of the wonderful world of inflation. Honestly, I'm beyond stoked that MMO subs have remained the same despite inflation which has technically made them consistently cheaper year after year.

That said, is it worth it? Yeah. Yeah it is. Granted YMMV, but for me it is more than worth it. I get my gaming needs met on top of being a RPer and the game being essentially the best RP friendly MMO currently on the market. WoW could have a chance soon with housing... though not having dyable gear makes that unlikely and let's be honest... for all the crap one could give SE about their story telling and respecting their lore they are 1000000000x better at it than Blizzard has ever really been.

[Veritas-Ancora]

...for all the crap one could give SE about their story telling and respecting their lore they are 1000000000x better at it than Blizzard has ever really been.

I'd agree with you if we were still playing Endwalker, but I'd venture to say the WoW storytelling is significantly better than Dawntrail.

[CidHeiral]

So the question posed:
Is it worth it to you?

Yes.

I do wish they would at least acknowledge it and reveal a plan to deal with it.

There's really nothing they can do besides jump on it when it happens. Even if they somehow blocked every botnet in existence the attackers could just go up the chain and DDoS an overarching service like their ISP.

[Clockworks]

Uh... but the time between patches isn't increasing. It's been 4.5 months for a bit now. At least since EW. I think they made the time between patches longer officially then, but even during ShB it was about that length. Not to mention, if you really want a comparison technically 13.00 today isn't worth the same amount as 13.00 dollars back when the patches were 3.5 months apart courtesy of the wonderful world of inflation. Honestly, I'm beyond stoked that MMO subs have remained the same despite inflation which has technically made them consistently cheaper year after year.

That said, is it worth it? Yeah. Yeah it is. Granted YMMV, but for me it is more than worth it. I get my gaming needs met on top of being a RPer and the game being essentially the best RP friendly MMO currently on the market. WoW could have a chance soon with housing... though not having dyable gear makes that unlikely and let's be honest... for all the crap one could give SE about their story telling and respecting their lore they are 1000000000x better at it than Blizzard has ever really been.

Every single time Blizzard and WoW are always brought up, it's literally always the same thing, you people only have Blizzard and WoW in your mouth when criticism is said about FFXIV, please get new material, it's seriously tiresome.