Lifetime Subscription

[HiirNoivl]

Lifetime Subs are mostly givin' out when they are about to make a Switch from P2P to F2P (I don't care what kind of F2P it is, it's still F2P) and I don;t want either of them. If they do offer Lifetime.. then I'm going to get worried about the Future of ARR. That's how I feel =(.

Yes but that's not reason not to have them. I know the the connotation may be bad in your eyes, but to me it's a more optimistic option. If they have a lifetime sub, then there's little reason to think that the servers will go down in flames after 2 years (again).

The fears about offering lifetime subs are based on imaginary scenarios and not in actual math or even in reality. Games going F2P have nothing to do with subscription options. Lifetime sub discount takes years to go into effect and they lost money for being bad games or the plan to go F2P was in the works from the get-go

[Zehira]

Uhhhh... no? How about addressing my post?

Um no, I can't address your "WILL" posts because you think yourself you are God... =/

Yes, Yes my child. I am G... *feels a moderator's lidless gaze*..

The instant boost to cash flow can help SE greatly, it all depends on if they need to expand their team to explode in production at wake of ARR release, specially if they release before 100% ready. We can really know at beta.

Also SE can invest the money and its possible to make more in that route then letting it trickle in (not guaranteed).

Its not a waste for SE to consider this, and it really is up to very educated decisions by SE team who have the numbers and dev plans (players can speculate of course- its just not as accurate a calculation when you dont have all the information). It may be a bad plan for them, it may be a great plan, most likely if they ran it they would want to moderate how many came in through it (though -most- people dont load up on big purchases like that, I imagine a few hundred would out of(/per) thousands).

It's very hard to say ARR needs to have lifetime subs since it's the international game like FFXI and you are right that it needs to be very educated decisions. Yoshi-P is like a new man and his first time being a producer, however he has experienced being a director for many games before (<33 Super Bomberman games) so we shouldn't be worrying tho. Good thing that SE got the awesome producer that can use the company's powers to keep us entertaining. lol

Yes, BETA here we are waiting...

[syntaxlies]

People who think Lifetime subs will make SE lose money are wrong wrong wrong.

It will take years for a customer to see any advantage to having a lifetime sub. And in the meantime, it will be a gain for SE. If SE sees losses before the lifetime sub becomes profitable for the subscriber, it will have lost money in OTHER WAYS that have nothing to the existance of a life time option. By the time the life time sub becomes a discount to the player, ARR will be years old and already a success.

Uhhhh... no? How about addressing my post?

life time subs are a gamble for SE they are a gamble for the player. You cant say SE wont lose money cause its a gamble and they dont even know



I haven't posted since yesterday... and no one was quoted in my post so who am I arguing with?

You ignore my post because you can't argue with it. :P Fine troll my responses then because you have no real reason there shouldn't be lifetime option.

Remember, you don't have to take the option... I will.. you don't have to. :P

Lifetime subs will hurt nothing.

you didnt have to quote someone, see the red text

[SkyeWindbinder]

People who think Lifetime subs will make SE lose money are wrong wrong wrong.

It will take years for a customer to see any advantage to having a lifetime sub. And in the meantime, it will be a gain for SE. If SE sees losses before the lifetime sub becomes profitable for the subscriber, it will have lost money in OTHER WAYS that have nothing to the existance of a life time option. By the time the life time sub becomes a discount to the player, ARR will be years old and already a success.

But the thing of it is, a lifetime sub is just not a good idea for a variety of reasons.

I mean, if the game is a huge success, then the people who paid a lifetime sub will not have to pay another dime to play an awesome game. Good for them. But what about the people who made the game? That's money they will miss out on as payment for their efforts, or even to invest in improving the game so it gets even better as time goes by. And if the game is a flop, players will have paid a huge sum of money for a game that sucks. Sure, it might help SE pay off some investors and help them break even and whatnot (though let's face facts here, it won't, because not a lot of people are going to pay a huge lump sum of money for a lifetime sub to this game), but it will leave players who paid that money with a bitter taste in their mouths, and chances of anyone who in't a blind SE fanboy ever investing in another one of their mmos afterwards would be slim to none.

And let's not forget that even offering a lifetime sub to this game would not do much to instill trust into the players. It would be seen exactly as it is; SE offering a payment option that might help them break even in case the game doesn't do well. Which would look to players like they were anticipating the game being a failure and are trying to cover their proverbial behinds in such a case.

In comparison, that would be like being on a cruise ship with a bunch of other people, the captain telling you all "You guys are gonna have so much fun!", and yet finding out later that all the lifeboats are labelled "For Captain and Crew only". You ask the captain why that is, and he tells you "Well, we couldn't fit enough lifeboats on the ship to carry everyone, so we felt it best that we just make sure we have enough to save the crew and myself, you know, just in case. But don't worry! We planned our sailing route months in advance! So in all likelihood, this ship won't sink! We should be fine!" Would the captain's reassuring words make you feel better about the situation? Or would you at least feel a bit, oh I dunno, on edge? I don't know about you, but definitely the latter for me.

[Zehira]

I'm against Lifetime Subscriptions if the game hasn't been out for while. I don't want this forum littered with angry players who bought a lifetime subscription and got bored early.

If a game has lifetime subscription before it has been out for a while, I get a bad feeling the game won't be that good. TSW used to offer lifetime subscription, then it went B2P screwing over all the lifetime subscribers. From what I see from the forums, Funcom compensation was only extra perks.

^^ Pretty sure that Square Enix is very serious about ARR. You see how many MMOs went F2P because the developers gave up about the amount of the subscription. Indeed, they wanted more players.

FFXI is still low but Square Enix is strongly supporting it no matter how little money they are making. lol

Final Fantasy is too good for them to give up.

[Pseudopsia]

^^ Pretty sure that Square Enix is very serious about ARR. You see how many MMOs went F2P because the developers gave up about the amount of the subscription. Indeed, they wanted more players.

FFXI is still low but Square Enix is strongly supporting it no matter how little money they are making. lol

Final Fantasy is too good for them to give up.

I'm sure SE is serious, however others do not have the insight we do. I like there be some protection to the consumers for a lifetime subscription. Not everyone is that smart to be able to judge if a lifetime subscription will be a good purchase before playing the game.

Here's an idea: To be eligible to a lifetime subscription a player has to be paying for any type of subscription for 3 months. After 3 months the player can upgrade to lifetime subscription. The cost of 3 months is subtracted from the lifetime subscription price and the player pays the difference.

[Nix]

I don't think that I would want to part with the amount of cash that a lifetime sub would cost unless the game had the potential to keep my interest for many years, kinda like XI did.

I would absolutely welcome 6/mo or yearly subs though, but with legacy I feel like I'm getting a great deal as it is so I wouldn't mind monthly either. I think for convenience sakes that yearly/lifetime subs would be great for the company, especially if the majority of those that got them didn't get real use out of it (such as say students who absolutely must take time off for studies and the like), but even if there were many, many players that did make the most of it, this would be awesome for square since money earned is totally better than money lost, and there will be plenty of people paying month-to-month so they'd still turn a profit at the end of the day. But with a lifetime sub they're guaranteed a nice lump sum instead of someone fizzling out after two months if they didn't really gel with the game or have time to dedicate to it.

[Warlock]

Bring back the 3 months fee now that we are past legacy time get it while its hot...it felt good not worrying about CC screw up for 3 months XD

[Zehira]

Bring back the 3 months fee now that we are past legacy time get it while its hot...it felt good not worrying about CC screw up for 3 months XD

Isn't that what we have Crysta points already?

Edited, if you buy 3 months with discount it would be a good idea. ^^

[Warlock]

Isn't that what we have Crysta points already?

Edited, if you buy 3 months with discount it would be a good idea. ^^

I don't use crysta i use a CC >.>