When watching/reading the LL today, I really didn't get the impression you had to pay all at once.

The way Yoshi discussed it, really sounded like each 30 days (if you paid that way) you would get new reward. Here is Reinheart's translation from that part:

Quote Originally Posted by Reinheart translation of LL
f; another one, you mentioned about barber, will there be items where you can change race at later time
y; before i answer that, i attended a stock holders meeting and they asked
y; we have something called veteran rewards
y; say there is different subscription courses for XIV, if you do 30, 60, 90 days, as a thank you gift we have items and mounts
f; you mentioned something big
y; go to next
y; might feel like you have to play for a year but you’ll get a reward from 30 days
y; you’ll get the finger cursor minion
y; and go to other screen
y; another one is character remake ticket
y; it’s hard to go through character choices so when you’re playing for the first 30 days you’ll see othe players and feel like you should've changed some stuff/race so, we don’t want players motivation to go down
y; so for those players who want to continue playing 30days and more, we will have something where players can decide to change
y; ok 60 days, doesn’t mean you’ll get sexy miqo’te
y; we have black fire resistant gear and black chocobo minion
g; cute
y; on top of that, 90 days, we have Beady Eye (JP Tiny Eye) lets look at live
g; this is cute
f; this is cute
y; on top of that we have mount (ariman mount)
g; i want this, with 90 days we get this
y; hold on, preparing
y; why can’t I call?
y; oh, have to do that
f; i see, hold on
y; yes
g; so this is mount and the other was minion
g; wow
y; while i move the character, hold on
y; ok good
y; please show the screen
g; this is cool
y; 30, 60, 90 days we’ll have more 120, 180.
y; so does that mean you’ll need to play 30 days straight or, 90 days
y; you’ll be already paying up front and we receive your payment so you’ll get it right away
y; also the game cards i explained earlier from shops
y; those have 60 days so you can do from that
y; we’ll continue to do this with patches so, as you enjoy continuing to play you’ll get more fun stuff
g; this is cute
y; we will have lots of mounts available
Then here is the official translation of that Q/A:
Quote Originally Posted by Bayohne
Q45: Are there any plans to implement an item that can be used to change the appearance of our characters?

A45: Before I answer that question, let me tell you about a discussion that happened during one of the shareholder meetings. One of the shareholders asked me “Are there any rewards for playing the game for a long period?”

The following was my answer to their question:
The feature you are referring to is called the veteran reward system. Players will receive rewards based on the accumulated subscription period. While there are many subscription plans in ARR, players will receive rewards for every 30 days of subscription.

Reward for subscribing 30 days:
- Wind-up Cursor (minion)
- Phial of Fantasia (Used to change the appearance of your character)

Reward for subscribing 60 days:
- Cascadier Uniform Voucher (Grants black “heat resistant gear”)
- A Black Chocobo Chick (minion)

Rewards for subscribing 90 days:
- Beady Eye (Ahriman minion)
- Voidsent Resonator (Ahriman mount)

Furthermore, the unique feature about the system is that players will receive the reward immediately upon subscribing for more than 30 days. For example, if a player subscribes for 90 days, they will immediately receive the reward for subscribing 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days.

Please note that we will continue to implement additional rewards (120 days, 180 days, etc.) via future patches.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1013171
For me, I totally interpret this as you can subscribe however you like, and you will eventually get all the rewards. It's cumulative. Like Legacy was. Like if you subscribe for September, you get the 30-day reward. If you let your account lapse for school and then re-sub in December, you get the 60-day reward. Then you cancel your sub til next summer and resub next June, you get the 90-day reward. Obviously you'll be very behind because the rest of us will be on the 365-day reward by then

These rewards cost them nothing, so I cannot imagine it any other way.