Sub Thoughts?

[Orbital-Dragon]

Do you think this game will remain subscription based? I have seen a lot of people saying they probably will not sub after the free trial. In modern times every new game that tries to go Sub Based ends up falling flat on its ass.

I know FF11 stayed sub based, but it was also released in a different era, and amassed a decent following before all the free to play or buy to play models started popping up. Even WoW is losing members by the thousands every week.

I personally think they will go end up going into some kind of free to play model within the first 3 months. I plan to sub until they go FTP if they do. If not I hope they offer a lifetime subscription option.

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

[Taika]

The director producer has specifically said the game will stay subscription based no matter what. I think he even said he'd rather close it down than move to F2P or any other model.

[Johnist]

Yoshida has indeed stated that he would shut down the servers instead of making the game F2P/B2P.

He has also stated that they need ONLY 400,000 concurrent subscriptions to consider the game a success. Considering they can get that from their Japanese Continget alone, there is a 0.01% chance that this game will repeat the path of 1.0, and a 0.00% chance of it going the way of SWtOR/D&DO.

When those people stop playing it will allow other, more worthy and willing to subscribe, people to log in.

1.0 players lose free access on Monday, so those who didn't rebuy will either subscribe or leave.

[Orbital-Dragon]

Well saying and doing are two completely different things. Everyone answers to somebody. If they start losing out on money early on, I somehow doubt they will just suddenly close the servers and say oh well better luck next time. Hell this already is "next time"

I am sure there is someone behind the scenes pulling the financial strings that even Yoshida answers to.

[MisaCeliousa]

I already subscribed and will keep doing it, i love the game, I love the instances, skills, story, crafting. can't see any reason not to stay

[rabbitzero]

I know FF11 stayed sub based, but it was also released in a different era, and amassed a decent following before all the free to play or buy to play models started popping up. Even WoW is losing members by the thousands every week.

The funny thing is that with WoW, the percentages of losses are similar to other mmos, not plain numbers, but percent of players. With how many play, thousands isn't that much of the player base.

FF11 still is subbed, like you said, and pretty much shows their opinions on F2P. I have no idea what they really need for numbers, i know Matrix Online shut down because it had something like 500 players left. DDO had under 25000, which was what Turbine said was needed for subs to continue being up, and when they went to f2p it skyrockted into the hundreds of thousands. (exact numbers unknown, but one dev said it increased about that much).

Also note that Wildstar and Elder Scrolls are looking to be sub based, who knows if they will stay that way, but it's a sign the f2p model isn't as shiny as it was. (I personally don't mind it, depending on how it's done.

The way Square seems to work, i wouldn't put any money on them going f2p any time soon, if ever.

[Conradus]

Well saying and doing are two completely different things. Everyone answers to somebody. If they start losing out on money early on, I somehow doubt they will just suddenly close the servers and say oh well better luck next time. Hell this already is "next time"

I am sure there is someone behind the scenes pulling the financial strings that even Yoshida answers to.

Translation: "I really don't want to shell out for a subscription, so I'm going to fantasize about playing the game for nothing."

[raelgun]

the sub is super cheap, its one of the cheapest hobbies one can have, why the hell do people complain about this, the base game isnt expensive, at least from official retailers when you can actually buy the bloody game, seriously, the people that complain about the sub are mainly kids who answer to their parents and cant use their credit cards, i hate stereotyping, but just think about that for a second, theres game cards, but works the same way, money every month to sub, and OFC RL > any game, food on table is more important then having to worry about any game

[CrisGer]

To create a amazing game like this one, take time effort and money. It is worth every penny. Free to play games are failures or they would not be free. Nothing worth it is free. And it is "subscription" not "sub". I am very tired of the rash of abbreviations that has blighted gaming. Let's use the language, and not a herd of bizarre acronyms.

[Orbital-Dragon]

Well for the record, I am 28 years old and do not rely on anyone else for money. Anyways I make more then enough to keep up a sub, hell I usually buy a new game every month and that is easily 60 dollars. Anyways I just don't see era of subscription based games continuing. I simply brought this up for a discussion, not a bash on myself.

As far as the above post saying there is nothing worth a damn that was free, I bg to differ. Guild Wars 1 and 2 were both amazing games using the buy to play model, and they rival WoW, sitting at number 2 with proven stats. Lastly Wildstar is NCSoft and I have read more then one article saying it will be a BTP model just like gw.