anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

[fangaxel]

Does anyone know if Final Fantasy 14 is gonna be free to play online or are they making it where you have to pay per month as well i was told that Square Enix is trying to get around the one month payment so it is free to play but i am not sure if that was true or not.

[Tipsy]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

It's an MMO, MMOs are not free. There's costs to keep the server running, to pay the development team, technical support, and a lot of other things, things that the initial cost can't cover while maintaining a profit.

So no, it will not be free. And if it was, it would attract a bad player community.

[Satori]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

^^ What Tipsy said.
You tend to notice an MMORPG that you pay to subscribe to draws a more better crowd and set of subscribers than the free ones.
The community is alot better.

Considering the cost of the game and the work involved I'd be highly suprised if it was free. The only story I've ever read regarding online charges was that SE was trying to get around additional online fees made by the console people rather than getting rid of the subscription fee.

IMO I think the closest we'll get is not having to pay for additional characters but saying that SE have made a fortune from people that garden in this game so even that's a slim to none chance.

SE have this horrible addiction : They love taking your money, sometimes they even charge you twice

[Takelli]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

Defiantly will cost money. There are costs that SE needs to pay in order to keep the servers up, and pay the GMs, and so on.

Most free (Not all) MMOs suck, and have a crappy community (Even a few free ones). The fees help keep the little annoying kids out of the game as well. Don't want to be playing with a immature 12 year old who keeps fucking up,and keeps getting you killed. Or trying to teach some one how to play, and they keep asking questions on something that you just covered.

[Feba]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

You tend to notice an MMORPG that you pay to subscribe to draws a more better crowd and set of subscribers than the free ones.

I've noticed people that say this never mention how terrible their own community can be when they're talking to newbs.

Here's a fun fact: Every time an HNM is botted, someone is MPKed, some asshole tries to camp on top of you, someone bitches about you pulling something off their train, someone can't play their role in a party for shit because "it's just my sub", someone lots something they weren't supposed to get, that's someone in the FFXI community being shitty. For fucks sake, the entire reason most of us even came to DiV is because we thought the other major forums (Zam, KI, BG) are full of assholes, trolls, and internet drama. That hasn't changed. That's the--paying!--FFXI community.

If there's a problem with free-to-play communities, it's that people tend to form small groups with high degrees of isolation. Also Kill-Stealing, since lots of games don't have a claim system, or leave loot on the ground. Free to play games don't leave you thinking "God, what an asshole" much more often than FFXI. There are plenty of problems with both models, but community isn't one of them. Like everything involving humans, there are a few great people, a lot of decent people, and more assholes.

OP, the most reasonable assumption is that it will follow the same model as FFXI, but they haven't said anything yet. Quite honestly, I wouldn't invest in another SE MMO at this point (on top of all my other reasons for not playing another MMO), given that they have an incredibly money-hungry style of business. It makes sense for a game to operate by selling you the game and letting you play online free; like Guild Wars does. It makes sense for a game to operate by selling you access on a monthly basis with everything else provided, like EVE does. And it even makes sense for a game to operate by selling you special items and other advantages inside the game, like most Korean MMOs.

FFXI charges you for the game itself (and every subsequent expansion; which can also be annoying to find), it charges you a minimum of $13 a month (plus another dollar for every character after your first; a system which made sense in Japan, but is absolutely ass backwards for POL clients everywhere else, where it's just FFXI and a game nobody gives a shit about), and then SE also sells trinkets with codes for in-game items, although most of those are pretty useless thus far. Their recent mini-expansions have been an absolute travesty of content-for-money, and even the full expansions spend notoriously long times being in a practically-beta state after they're released.

Crack is cheaper.

---------- Post added at 06:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:37 AM ----------

Don't want to be playing with a immature 12 year old who keeps fucking up,and keeps getting you killed. Or trying to teach some one how to play, and they keep asking questions on something that you just covered.

Perfect example, thanks.

God knows you'll never meet incompetent, ADHD riddled players in FFXI.

Sarcasm aside, don't rag on 12 year olds. There are plenty of people in their 20s that are just as much fucking morons as anyone, and there are some great young players (I remember an eight year old in one LS; damn fine player, not that any of us were allowed to say 'damn' around him).

And in case you're wondering, no, payment doesn't keep kids out. All they have to do is ask mommy, and she will let them play.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

The problem with the "free to play" MMO is that its not really free. The people that play for free get all the sucky stuff and the people that pay out the nose get elite gear. And we're talking about paying more than a monthly subscription fee for a set of gear or even one piece of gear. Free-to-play MMOs are a smash-and-grab operation and little else. They're not designed to last.

If you want to play something free that's online, then I'd go with Monster Hunter Tri or Diabolo II and games of that nature. They're not really MMOs at all, but you can find plenty of other people to work with and work toward gear that doesn't suck.

FFXIV is going to be subscription-based and if its not, no serious gamer is going to touch it because it won't last if it is free-to-play.

You ahve to understand that to maintain a persistent online world that servers take on all the stress. Its not like PSN or Xbox Live where you all matchmake on a server and then someone hosts the game. One server is one world with lots of players on it and things are going on all the time, Square-Enix is the host of FFXIV, not one player is.

When I play Monster Hunter and create a "city" I am hosting a game. I have temporarily taking some stress off the server by hosting, which doesn't cost Capcom so much as it would Blizzard to host thousands of players on one server at the same time.

Think of it this way - an MMO is one giant amusement park. Its expensive to get in because there's so much that goes into running that park each day because thousands of people will go there..

Something like Diabolo II is like a party where people get together and then break off into their own little cliques and leaving to go elsewhere, but still in the company of others and still partying.

[Laynton]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

There are plenty of people in their 20s that are just as much fucking morons as anyone

AMEN! i know more ass wholes that are over 20 than under 20. more mature, obviously...well for the most part, but none the less a complete ass whole. Dont judge a book by its cover(age).

FFXIV is going to be subscription-based and if its not, no serious gamer is going to touch it because it won't last if it is free-to-play.

That will be me. If its free-to-play I will probably not even bother with it.

[cidbahamut]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

Whether or not the asshats come out to play more in free-to-play or not, it has been my experience that subscription based games have been more enjoyable as a whole. The community is a long term one rather than a revolving door of players who are stopping in for a few days before getting fed up and leaving. It makes for a more consistent world, one in which you can recognize the inhabitants and build lasting friendship(or animosity if that's your thing).

I played RO for a while on a free server, but it never really gave me any reason to stick around other than running into the PvP room and using Bard to freeze everyone. No recognizable people, no nothing. The whole world felt barren and unwelcoming so I left. FFXI on the other hand has felt more alive and fluid, and I've met some folks along the way who make the stay worthwhile.

[Laynton]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

I played RO on free server for a little while also...felt the same way...liked the game and i bet if i had played the pay-to-play it wouldve been completely different. but in the end glad i came to FFXI and glad ive stuck around.

[Satori]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

I never said our community was flawless.
I've played quite a few of the free mmo's and wasnt impressed.
In every large group of players you'll find some bad apples I just spoke from my own experience that is all.
I've always said the way ffxi charged the flat fee for a single character was better community wise than the mmo's that give you space for multiple alt's. Because we value our characters a bit more. The ass-hattery still exists and it's not like I'm oblivious to it.
I agree the mini expansions are a complete rip off. They should have just let us talk to an npc and recieve the item because story-wise there's is nothing and the moogle one was just a cringeworthy embarrassment.
As for the trinkets and other crap they sell if you live in the uk you have no chance for getting them you'd find it easier smuggling heroin into the country.

I will say about the free games some are fun I normally hate cutesy games but I gave fiesta a go one time and I enjoyed that some people were quite helpfull there oh and Megaten, I'd say I've played around 10 free mmo's and 3 paid ones, City of heroes, WoW and ffxi friends wise the only games I managed to get on friendly-ish terms were the paid ones. the free ones leave you quite solitary. The only people I saw together in the free ones were the people who you had seen that had obviously bought stuff from the games online store. Which I see worse than elitism on ffxi.

I will say though many of the free mmo's have alot of instanced content which we should have had years ago. All this time down the line and we still have people sleep deprived for dynamis and keeping hours that don't suit them inless they rank higher in the hierachy of the LS.

Especially with the servers reduced now instancing dyna should be possible.

[Solymir]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

Does anyone know if Final Fantasy 14 is gonna be free to play online or are they making it where you have to pay per month as well i was told that Square Enix is trying to get around the one month payment so it is free to play but i am not sure if that was true or not.

No one knows yet.

I am curious where you heard SE might be trying to get around the monthly fee. Was it an article online?

[Satori]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

I think the poster was on about fees from the console people themselves but got that mixed up with subscription to the game.
If I remember correctly you can play ffxi on 360 withough paying the membership thingy to microsoft and only pay for your ffxi but I think microsoft didnt like it and wanted both fees or something like that. I'll have a wee google for it. I'm sure something similar was posted here once.

[fangaxel]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

Yeah it was an article online i had read that is what spiked my curiosity and i agree with everyone here i have played a ton of free MMORPGs and final fantasy 11 is the first paid one i have played and all an all i like Final Fantasy 11 a lot better then any of the free ones i have played i find it to be a friendlier community as well as more entertaining then free ones.

[Kailea]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

No one knows yet.

I am curious where you heard SE might be trying to get around the monthly fee. Was it an article online?

what do you mean "no one knows yet" -.- SE even said FFXIV would be.

[Tipsy]

Re: anyone know if Final Fantasy is going to be free to play online or if it cost

what do you mean "no one knows yet" -.- SE even said FFXIV would be.

I would like to see the article where they state that. Unless of course you meant, ",...wouldn't be."