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Nice to see a developer that "gets it"...
WSIMike
Member Posts: 5,564
From a new interview at FFXIVCore.com:
4Gamer: By the way, how will billing work? At E3 there was word of anniversary billing.
Tanaka: I feel that anniversary billing is the best approach. We are unlikely to use “Micro-transactions.” We decided that it is cheaper for players and they are able to play longer as a result. On average an item can run up to $4-$5 using micro-transactions.
Sundi: With micro-transactions I think that players will buy everything they want, collecting a large bill, then quit because there is nothing else to get. I want players to have a lasting enjoyment instead.
4Gamer: Will there be the possibility of purchasing additional services?
Sundi: We may want to have option services like server transfers or options for players to purchase. These things were not added until 3 or 4 years after the launch of FFXI.
4Gamer: The basis of FFXI’s income would be from anniversary payments then but do you feel that buyable items would be a possibility?
Tanaka: That would be the basis for FFXI but for now we have no plans for selling items. The possibility of losing players is higher if we did. When people don’t want to keep spending lots of money then will stop playing. With the anniversary payments we get a consistent payment and it is better for the players as well as the long term life of the game.
...
I don't know about anyone else, but with the whole fad being "microtransactions"/"item malls"/etc... it's awesome to me to see a developer gets it with why the whole F2P thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. Not surprised it's SE in this case.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Comments
What is anniversary payments by the way ?
The anniversary date of when you signed up; the way it works for most MMOs. If you sign up on the 25th of this month, you're charged on the 25th of each month thereafter.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
thank freaking god.
How many FFXI players avoid coming back because if you sign back up @ the 25th of the month you get charged twice on the 1st of the next month. No prorate for those 5 to 6 days you played. Two full months one for last one for this. FFXI is known for making an EXPENSIVE comeback!!
Yeah, I don't think the billing system is something many consider a highlight of playing FFXI lol.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
It's about damn time.
If I couldn't pay to play Final Fantasy XI for whatever reason (usually losing and needing a new credit card) I would go for weeks, or sometimes months without playing, and suddenly I'm paying for all the time I didn't even play? Having to pay for the inactive months, reactivating my Contend ID at full price, and having to pay for the current month all in one sitting makes me want to vomit.
Even better than anniversary would be block payment options - or at the very least, realizing that shit happens, and not charging people the way to did me in XI. Almost made me quit completely. I haven't played WoW in over a year, but I bet if I bough a 30-day card I'd still find my freaking character exactly how I left him. No reactivating. No additional fees. Just like it should be.
Especially if they're going for the whole "casual-friendly" thing. XI was hardcore heavy on SO many levels and sub-levels some people don't even realize. I shouldn't be punished by the game for being temporarily unable to play.
Abraxas [365]
There is no such thing as "free to play". "micro-transactions" are just a new way for companies to get paid(more). When you've given up trying to make a good product you think up some scheme to make money with the crap you already have. It's like a garage sale.
Absolutely, that's why I've never liked the idea... well... one reason.
It's just a dishonest marketing scheme (I know, that's redundant). They let you log in and play for free, but then add all kinds of items that become necessary to get involved in the more difficult content, knowing that people will buy them. Just like they say in the SE interview, people end up paying more over time and tend to leave sooner.
Just a poor business model, IMO.. I'm glad SE isn't going with it.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
That's a good thing yea. I can maybe one way Microstansactions might work.
If you could pay your monthly subscription with in-game currency. But even with that model, i can see problems, especially with gold farmers. If the company decides that it take 1500 credits to pay your 15$ monthly subscription, it means 0.01 credit is equal to 15$. If gold sellers start selling the credits cheaper than that, people will stop paying with real money and will buy credits and pay with them hehe (am i destroying my own ideas ?). Good in-game economy could prevent that and they could also increase or decrease the number of credits needed to pay the subscription.
Anyway, i'd rather pay with my own money and get a good product with good support and not see the game dies after a year because microtransaction isn't working as they expect or see it make my game experience worst.
The anniversary date of when you signed up; the way it works for most MMOs. If you sign up on the 25th of this month, you're charged on the 25th of each month thereafter.
I must remember to sign up on the 31st.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
To keep gold sellers out of it, have players pay with some non-transferable tokens earned in-game.
Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't seen any MMOs go with a BoP token economy to cut out gold sellers. There would be some resistance, of course, as players could not sell items to each other.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
To keep gold sellers out of it, have players pay with some non-transferable tokens earned in-game.
Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't seen any MMOs go with a BoP token economy to cut out gold sellers. There would be some resistance, of course, as players could not sell items to each other.
I haven't had my morning coffee yet, so I may be missing it...
But if you're able to pay your subscription with in-game money, or some other in-game form of currency... then where is SE making their money? In-game money isn't going to pay their real-world expenses.
Is there something I'm missing there?
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
That's a good point. I don't know how EVE does it, but apparently they do.
"20 nickels for a dollar? How do you make money?"
"Volume!"
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
its very simple the in game PLEX cards each give 30 days game time when used the only way to make a plex is to pay the company the money they will then give your character in game the card which can then be sold to people who cant afford to play but are realy good in game and can aquire the massive in game cash required to buy one off someone gives a way for people to make huge cash at the cost of real world money
So, EVE sells gold in their own game?
No one gets free time, because some player pays real money for it?
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I guess i wouldn't make a good business man lol.
Microtransaction is a dead end then, screw it !
The backgrounds seem to photo-realistic. The world seems too real, and detracts from the fantasy part imo. What about art direction/stylistic license. They need to "fantasy it up" more.
The months-old alpha footage I've seen for TERA online with a boss fight has set the bar for to test against other upcoming rpgs, and if they don't measure up to it, I'll call them on it. As of now, from the screenshots, Final Fantasy looks okay and shows promise, but TERA Online looks like the total package of the two.
Hopefully what they've shown so far for FF XIV will improve in the upcoming months.
It's still up in the air as to if I'll be playing this, it's unknown if I'll still be playing something else when this finally emerges years later. However, comments like this, and their willingness to change (suddenly going skill based rather than level grind like their last game) is a good sign. The only real change I'd like to see with them is for them to properly support their PC version. People tout FFXI as being "why you can do a console/pc mmo" all the time, but the problems with such a thing are clearly evident in that game in how the PC client has suffered as a result of the console version taking preference.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
I don't know, honestly while I pretty much question how well any MMO will do when it's in development. Final Fantasy isn't among them. It's basically a gimme title. As far as the to realistic comment, thats kind of there style. Any of the FF's look as if there trying to be as realistic as possible in most area's. The only places this doesn't generally hold true is with there chars and weapons. They go over the top a lot of times oO. Not saying it can't or won't improve, but I wouldn't expect the traditional high fantasy art from other fantasy games. FF has it's own style, it's more like a mid level fantasy instead of high fantasy or low fantasy art style. Much is low fantasy but they mix in a lot of high fantasy elements, so might as well consider it medium fantasy lol.
Yes it was encouraging words to hear Square back away from F2P micro models.
I don't buy their reasoning,lol it sounded good though,claiming it was to keep the cheapest model for us gamers,,lol ya right.Although that type of model works for Korean developers[RMT mecca of the world]full of credit card fraud,the whole works a real different culture over there.
The REAL reason is because F2p micros takes ALL of the control out of the hands of the developer.Sure if you are running a totally crooked operation you wouldn't care,but Square is legit ,therefore NEEDS to keep it that way.They don't need to start spending thousands of hours chasing and banning F2p accounts,only to have them pop right back up 15 minutes later,there is no control over your game like that.You also have no idea what so ever on the bandwidth use or need from one day to the next.At least with a set design they know how far their monthly intake will carry them.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Free to play doesn't mean the company is a charity organization. It just means you don't have to pay anything to download/install the client and make an account to play. If you can't resist the item mall, then that's another thing, but it doesn't mean a F2P game isn't "free to play". Of course they intend to make money off of the product, you act like it's a scam or something for them to do so.
Haha yeah I agree here. Many times I have wanted to come back but it was really late in the month so I just told myself I would wait until the start of next month. New month comes along and my urge to return has left me and I end up not playing.
I Agree with Sixpax here, i'm one of those players that prefer micro-transactions over monthly subscription because i am not a compulsive item-mall player so i'm saving up a lot more from micro products than monthly p2p games.
I think the issue is just for us that want to be competitively active in the game without spending an exorbitant amount of money. For us, subscription models will always win out because everyone is following the same payment plan for the same access to the same items.
Well TheStarheart, what if i don't want to pay for others? I would much prefer to pay my own amount of money in micros than to pay as if i would pay the government, which is equal for everyone, that you profit from it or not.
It all depends on how much wisdom you put into micro, some people have very little retain, such as in real life some people buy stuff they don't need at the cost of ruining their wallets, i don't want to have to pay for the people who lack the judgment to save up their money properly.
A good plan fitting for both choices is the new system the game DDO is offering, they offer both item-mall and monthly option, so for those who prefer micro, they can go micro, for those who prefer monthly, they can go monthly, and if you prefer none, you can be none. Accessibility offers great gateways for the gaming community, i believe that a company who doesn't offer accessibility is old-fashioned in their way of thinking.
It should be called "free to download" then, it would be more accurate.
If people like micro great, go for it, but seriously DDO went to their new system because their sub numbers were terrible, if they were ok they wouldn't have changed.