Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

[Icemage]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

If you're assuming that F2P necessarily means the developer gets less money and therefore can't afford to spend as much effort on content updates and maintenance, you're operating on a fallacy as well. LotRO's revenues famously tripled after switching to a F2P model. F2P can be done right just as subscription can be done wrong. Hell, back when subscriptions were a new thing nobody thought they would ever work either.

Yup. Also: Team Fortress 2 /discussion

Re: Used games and the F2P dynamic
Used games have always been around, and they're not really killing the industry, per se, as much as publishers would like to whine otherwise. What has eroded is the relative price point (games have not tangibly increased in price despite inflation), and the relative profit point (it costs more to make anything that's not shovelware or very VERY specific types of games like Minecraft / Angry Birds / Words With Friends / Draw Something / etc.). Publishers have been trying to find ways to make the new product a more attractive value proposition (day 1 free DLC) or make used games completely worthless (Diablo 3), with mixed success, but used games are not, at their heart, the problem.

EDIT: Ugh, this comment is a mess to communicate what I'm intending to say clearly. Let me try again.

Consumer expectations have changed as well which has pushed the expected resources up - with associated costs - even for free to play games.

Coming back into the context of FFXIV, I think it's brave of Square-Enix to stick to their guns with the subscription model. It's still up to their marketing and development teams to make sure that the subscription price is both worthwhile, and that people know about it. When the measuring stick is F2P games which can offer a lot of content for zero base investment, that's going to be a very difficult task.


Icemage

[Etra]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

I note that you don't say I'm wrong.

Taking something out of context is when you separate a phrase from other phrases that dramatically change its meaning. If you said "I support abortions in all cases where it would save the life of the mother" and somebody quoted only the first six words to support the headline "Raydeus Wants All Babies Aborted" then THAT would be taking something out of context. If someone says "I'm not sure if I want a hamburger or a baked potato" it indicates the person wants each of those things to some extent. Each of those desires can be addressed independently. That's not "taking it out of context." If someone were to call you out on supporting the dysfunctional beef industry, it would be meaningless to say "You're taking me out of context! You conveniently disregarded that I'd also like a potato!"

You want credit for also wanting XIV to succeed. I get that. It's also completely irrelevant to Etra's point, which is that you shouldn't want them it fail at all. I imperiously believe I know your reason for wanting that and don't think it's such a bad one, so I explained it. I also noted why you would be conflicted about it, which implicitly acknowledges the rest of your post. lrn2readcritically

I you.

[Malacite]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

True, it's not fair to just blanket all F2P as crap I'll admit that.

But the majority of them sadly are - especially the MMOs save maybe Guild Wars. It'd be nice to see F2P work for a big MMO like XIV or WoW without sacrificing quality or game balance, but I just don't see it happening any time soon (to say nothing of how much money XI's pulled in for SE)

[Mezlo]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

Even the most conservative, pro-Romney Tea Party American I know refuses to buy an American car.

And this thread has now jumped the shark. Thanks Ketaru.

[Malacite]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

And so it begins...

The irony of that though, wow that's funny. You really can't fix stupid.

Buy a fucking volt and quit bitching.

[Firewind]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

One of the major problems with the Subscription model is that it really needs to offer more than what F2P can offer. There's a ton of great games that are free or only have the initial cost of the game as an investment.

If you look at the model used by D&D Online as an example, it's free to play but subscribing gives you a good incentive since it unlocks everything whereas if you are F2P you need to unlock the locked features or pay real money to unlock them.

What is locked is actually pretty limited. Basically a couple of classes and races plus a bunch of premium only content. Your "casual" player of the game won't really be bothered by that while the fanboys and "hardcore" would be more likely to pay for the premium stuff.

SWTOR are gunning for something similar though it's only really the raids that are part of the premium package. But trust me, you aren't missing out on much there, the raids in SWTOR are glitchy, buggy messes where any melee class is simply a liability due to the amount of AoE that the bosses spam (if they just suddenly don't wipe you by raging instantly or something).

Honestly I'm not a fan of "Freemium" (I personally consider it worse than "pay to win") like the above but it works and I'm not calling it bad, it's actually pretty smart as a business move.

I did really like the model that Age of Conan used though. Basically the game is completely free. However if you bought the game then you get a bunch of extra things as though you were previously a subscriber. The only stuff you can buy from the cash shop are things like XP boosts and starter gear. Premium content in that was unlocked with a one time payment.

[Taskmage]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

FFXIV needs to provide at least a portion of its content for free, as I doubt many people are going to be willing to pay in sight unseen, especially after last time. A purchaseless 14 day trial like XI has at the very least, but something like WoW's Starter Edition would be even better, to give a chance to sample all the classes and stories so people can find their hook.

[Firewind]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

Not even offering a free trial or some kind of referral system when you can download the game to try out for say 7 days, is a massive middle finger to anyway wanting to try out the game really.

Let's assume that I'm a brand new player to FFXIV: ARR (but knowing SE we will have to buy ARR separately anyway) and also WoW.

In the UK a brand new console game costs the equivalent of up to $70. The sub fee for FFXIV is about $15-20 per month (I forgot the exact number. So in order to try the game I would be dropping $85-90 on a game that I may or may not even continue to play after the first month.

On the other hand I can download WoW for free because my friend sent me a referral and I can try it out for 14 days. If it turns out I don;t like WoW then that $85-90 can be saved or spent on other things.

[Taskmage]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

Well, the first month is free at least, right? So only $70, but that's more than enough to put me off from a product that I have less than full faith and enthusiasm for. Assuming I was a prospective buyer, of course.

idk if this is a region-restricted thing, but WoW is actually free up to level 20 with pre-Cataclysm races and classes now. No referral necessary and no time limit.

[Armando]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

What FFXIV needs is a hat-based economy. Even J9 would play it if she could put a cat ears hat (or a pile of them) on a Miqo'te.

[Firewind]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

Yo Dawg I heard you like cat ears...

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

Found this interesting, since Destructoid as a community is anti-MMO and has a less-than-savory attitude toward FF.

Destructoid's gamescom community choice award winner -Destructoid

[Raydeus]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

Now that's surprising. o_O

[Aeni]

Re: Gamasutra: Can Final Fantasy XIV really be 'reborn'?

If you're assuming that F2P necessarily means the developer gets less money and therefore can't afford to spend as much effort on content updates and maintenance, you're operating on a fallacy as well. LotRO's revenues famously tripled after switching to a F2P model. F2P can be done right just as subscription can be done wrong. Hell, back when subscriptions were a new thing nobody thought they would ever work either.

Hmm ... yeah but ... LoL was notorious for their downtime and people would stop playing altogether (myself included) when their development team essentially said, "it's an f2p, suck it up".

Not even offering a free trial or some kind of referral system when you can download the game to try out for say 7 days, is a massive middle finger to anyway wanting to try out the game really.

I think you get 30 days free and I thought the game wasn't going to cost much for new players ($29? $39? I don't know anything about the PS3 cost, though)