Scared about ARR

[Wicka]

The who consider it blatant violations only dk

[Laume]

I'd have to disagree with you. I personally haven't experieced a F2P MMORPG that was worth hanging around longer than a year. The stigma you speak of, is usually warranted.

I think what Wicka is saying is that the f2p model *can* be done right, not that it ever has. Kind of like how communism can be an good form of government, but it never has been. I guess it's the same in a lot of ways, if companies resist the temptation of making cheap, fast, pretty but shallow game, it can be done well. Just like no one that has formed a communist government has resisted the temptation to take advantage of the fact that there's a severe lack of checks in power in the system.

[Twiddle]

I read the first post and didn't bother reading the rest of the thread.

As far as i read... TERA is a typical Korean style of a MMO, It's made for a different culture, different audience, different player base. It was only imported to NA do to popular demand which died fast... TERA did do a few things well, but it did so many things so bad that it simply fell flat... If TERA is reworked in to a single player game, i would be first in line to get it, but as a mmo it's not a threat, people didn't quit TERA do to p2p, they quit because the game became stale.

[Morticous]

I read the first post and didn't bother reading the rest of the thread.

I don't understand what people have against free-to-play games, especially if you have paid for a copy of the game. Nobody gets all up in a dander when Nintendo has no subscription for a metroid game. There are a huge number of games that are F2P, and it is for a reason. It generates income and widens player base.

People have this bad taste from badly done F2P. That does not mean F2P is the plague. Look at GW2, LoL, practically every Facebook game ever, several steam games. As long as gameplay (the entire point of a game) is solid people will play. If you can do away with the archaic subscription system and attract more players then why not do so?

People seem worried about SE not being able to make enough money without subscriptions. That is a bit ridiculous. SE has such a powerhouse of an IP in FF that they would make a killing with vanity micro-transactions. The initial cost of the game is also huge. The development team can be cut in half with the half that doesn't stay with xiv going to work on some other SE project (which makes more money for SE).

The only situation in which subscriptions make sense, is if updates stream in on like a bi-weekly basis with bug fixes and balance patches AND all subsequent expansions are free AND you got all available character slots for the base sub price.

I have a decent job and i can easily afford my legacy sub, and if the game stays sub based i will continue to pay and play because i enjoy the game. But if the game went free to play you would see many more players that simply can't or won't pay subs. Those who have no problem paying for subs will also have no problem buying baby behemoths, and bomblets. Those who won't or can't pay subs will simply add to the player base and may be inclined to drop a one time fee of 5 bucks for a little bangaa statuette that they can place on their desk in their free company complex as a quaint reminder of another FF game without a sub that they played and enjoyed.

I make enough money to pay 20+ subs a month if I wanted to.. it doesn't mean I want to pay real money for better shit each time I want to upgrade.

I also like having GM support and regular updates, something I've been told GW1 did very poorly.

[Wicka]

The "better shit" is the wrong way to do F2P. Those are the games that give F2P it's horrible reputation.

The fact that you make enough money to pay 20+ subs a month is irrelevant. If you can easily afford to pay what it costs to play the game, then you can even more easily afford to blow some cash on whatever you please, should that sub money be freed up. I feel like you are trying to brag that you make loads of cash. A smart way for SE to do F2P, especially because they are sitting on one of the most influential IPs outside of Nintendo's big hitters, is vanity micro-transactions. The smart way to do it, is to only sell things that the players want to buy, so long as it does not affect gameplay.

If I am saving my 10 dollar legacy sub every month, I am more inclined to drop 5 bucks on a "barber" to redo my hair and what-not because I feel like a change of pace. I am also much happier to buy expansion packs because I haven't already dropped enough money to buy 5 of them in one year. I hear that they are thinking of implementing a dying system for gear. Its cool if your standard grade-school crayola box covers all the free colors, and a small fee lets you use the much more versatile 256 color gamut. Etc.

Updates and GM support are not exclusive to subscription based systems. LoL gets updates Bi-Monthly at worst. Minecraft got fairly regular updates (I haven't played in a while) and was also very customer friendly and supportive. I have several games on steam that update often that I don't pay for on a monthly basis.

Look, I'm not paid to design a free-to-play system for XIV. The best I will do is throw out a few examples that prove the system works if handled correctly. I am also not saying that XIV SHOULD go F2P. I am saying that if it does, and if it is handled well, it is not a bad thing. I do think that paying a sub AND having to pay for expansions AND (at least right now) paying for more than one character slot, is all unnecessary and dated.

[Morticous]

The "better shit" is the wrong way to do F2P. Those are the games that give F2P it's horrible reputation.

The fact that you make enough money to pay 20+ subs a month is irrelevant. If you can easily afford to pay what it costs to play the game, then you can even more easily afford to blow some cash on whatever you please, should that sub money be freed up. I feel like you are trying to brag that you make loads of cash. A smart way for SE to d

That's about where I stopped reading. I'm not bragging about how much money I make, I fully expect people in this forum to make 4x as much as me as well as 1/3 as much as me, even less.. or perhaps even live off the taxes I pay. For all you know I am lying, with no job and living off YOUR taxes, it doesn't matter.

The simple fact is you mentioned you make enough money to pay a sub, so you can just as easily pay for whatever from an F2P game.. My point was, I might own the worlds worth in money but it doesn't mean I want to be bothered with buying stuff from some game store to play a video game. I pay a flat fee to play FFXIV no more, no less and that's that. Not $0 today, $100 tomorrow. I also get reliable updates and service, and that's the way I like it.

[Reika]

That's about where I stopped reading. I'm not bragging about how much money I make, I fully expect people in this forum to make 4x as much as me as well as 1/3 as much as me, even less.. or perhaps even live off the taxes I pay. For all you know I am lying, with no job and living off YOUR taxes, it doesn't matter.

The simple fact is you mentioned you make enough money to pay a sub, so you can just as easily pay for whatever from an F2P game.. My point was, I might own the worlds worth in money but it doesn't mean I want to be bothered with buying stuff from some game store to play a video game. I pay a flat fee to play FFXIV no more, no less and that's that. Not $0 today, $100 tomorrow. I also get reliable updates and service, and that's the way I like it.

All that, plus if you dont make enough for a standard sub, you probably cant afford electricity or a decent computer either


I guess there are those EXTREMELY RARE situations where 12.99 every 30 days is breaking the budget....

[Pwnagraphic]

If they game were to go F2P, I'd hope for an option to continue paying a monthly sub anyway. I think DCUO does that.

F2P doesn't scare me, but there's a negative stigma around them.

[Kyri]

Personally even if I was a little worried about ARR at first things are always getting better.

When I used to google best mmo's or FFXIV I would only see a lot of negative complaints or maybe a half okay OP that made sure to talk about how horribly SE messed up with this mmo somewhere in the post. Even on lodestone trolling was flaming up, you couldn't go a page in these forums without 2-3 people having a big ol cat fight and 2 others talking about how the game will always suck and doesn't deserve thier money. This depressed me, I couldn't help but think, "My god what has the MMO community become? Whiny unhappy trolls who literally will bitch that the sky is blue and not the overcast grey of some old game they loved(*cough ff7*) and why all games should just be remakes of the games that got them gaming to begin with..."

But as the tides turn now my Google attempts lead me on more positive OP's and forums across both lodestone and fan based sites or just game sites in general. I have even seen them be #1 most sought for mmo for 2013 on some posts. Granted the age of trolls isn't far behind, constantly bashing in comments, laughing in them and claiming that people just don't vote, only FFXIV fans must have voted because it sucks so bad there's no way they won by being a great game. Haha..

But the point is is I think the game has finally risen, the phoenix from the ashes and yes, people are talking.. TALKING, not just trolling. There is excitement in the air. Non players are looking for more and more info. Google lead searches are bringing up excitement and positive feedback for the future of our lovely game. But people it's up to us. When theres a million people bashing this game in XIV we need to be the voice of reason. Take a bit of time to comment too. Give the people who are honestly curious a taste of the game, answer their questions, rather then let the trolls play the "she said he said it sucks" feedback that is already trying to erode this game from people who have no damn clue about ARR at all and base their comments strictly on word of mouth.

On a last note im not a fan boy.. I think this game had messed up in its youth, as do all games in some way or another. But after years of being hyped for this game and playing it I am tired of people who just want to be negative for the sake of being negative to games. I am all for good discussions about improvements and issues but saying, "Omfg this games gonna fail! I'm bored on Alpha! THE GRASS ISN'T RIGHT! I QUIT!" is not constructive, is not helpful nor is it bringing any real opinion to a discussion besides maybe your parents should have spanked you more and taught you manners on the internet.

[Reika]

There is no reason TERA going F2P should make anyone afraid of FFXIV going F2P. TERA went F2P because that is the fate of ALL Kmmo, period.