full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

[jenova_9]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

yes, a year up front payment plan is enough. lifetime plans would just hurt both consumer and company.

People who want lifetime could just pay for it every year instead, since, you know, a year doesn't go by as fast as a month does. An up front year deal would benefit the company more and consumer, since they won't be in debt and the company doesn't need to wait before they collect.

I hate subscriptions that charge you later. That's like buying a donut at a store and then they mail you a bill later that month.

There's already squillions of things to keep track of every day. There will always be monthly plans, but full year plans is something they should look into.

I mean look at the stuff bought on PSN Store. That stuff is bought up front by the consumer. They don't charge you later for it (unless you use a credit card.)

Maybe that's what they are trying to offer with the Crystal currency thing they have made.

[vazel]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

A lifetime subscription is charged upfront. It's $200-300. A lifetime subscription will actually save you money if you will play for 2+ years. But for the reasons I gave in my previous post I don't think they're going to give that option for FFXIV as they will make more money from traditional subscription plans.

[jenova_9]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

nuuu but I don't mean a lifetime subscription,

I mean just a straight full 1 year up front subscription.

[vazel]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

You said lifetime subs would hurt both consumer and company and went to list benefits a 1-year sub had over it(which didn't make much sense). Lifetime subs actually save consumers money if they play for years.

[Siali]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

MMOs that have offered lifetime have struggled with popularity or interesting long term content(such as with Cryptic MMOs).

No they do not. The first game to have a lifetime sub to my knowledge was LotrO and you can't tell me they have not been successful or have not had interesting long term content. There is so much content it's hard to decide where to go at some levels.

As for Cryptic both their new MMOs are too young to make that call, thought I will give you Cryptic isn't a very good company to begin with at least they don't make people want to believe in them too much. Lifetime subs are usually offered with pre orders of the game or for a short window only at launch because I think they are meant to cover initial development costs, but that's not true with LotrO anymore as they offer it any time now and Turbine is making quite a lot of money right now with the initial success of LotrO and now with DDO being a hybrid of f2p and p2p..

But in the end yes I think you're right SE probably won't do it because they're secure that people will sub to anything they offer anyway. Another cool thing they could offer though is a reduced price for both FFXI and FFXIV if you're subbed to both.

[vazel]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

I would say Lotro's success has been moderate. The game's long term content is good from what I've heard. I was specifically talking about Cryptic when I said they lack long term appeal. Burning out is a big problem with Cryptic MMOs which is why they try to sucker people in with lifetime subs. Games like WoW, FFXI(which still has 500k subscribers after all these years), and FFXIV do not need lifetime subs as they will be popular regardless and make more money from traditional subscription plans.

[Siali]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

WoW is a freak of nature when it comes to MMOs you can't compare any regular game to them. Nobody can touch that.

I think LotrO is very similar to FFXI in terms of how many people play both games and content addition. That's from playing both, I'll even say comparing Shiva to Silverlode, there's more people in LotrO right now. I don't know if I can find an official source of how many subs LotrO has because they tend to be tight lipped about that.

Anyway this ain't about LotrO! XD Whatever sub model they do offer I will be paying chunks at a time if I can't have my lifetime.

[vazel]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

No I don't think Lotro is as popular as FFXI. Lotro only sold 172k during its first few months.

[Siali]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

That was in the first month, which is more then WoW sold in it's first month. Only to become a crazy sensation later on. The first year of an MMO is in a state of flux, and you can't really judge until that first year is done, and even then an MMO can always recover from a bad year if the marketing is right.

So how many copies are sold at launch is not a very good indication, AoC sold a lot of copies, but they didn't do so well due to their initial problems.

edit: also that LotrO 172K copies sold was in the first month in America, not counting the copies sold in EU, all together the actual number was closer to 400k copies sold, I believe. When WoW and FFXI talk about numbers they are talking world wide are they not? Or are those 300k FFXI subs American only? Because it's a whole new ball park when you have a game that's world wide and a game that is only in one or two countries.

[vazel]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

No that was for an entire financial quarter for Midway(3 months). The first month of sales of a videogame are usually indicative for how popular long time sales are going to be. The fact that it took Lotro 3 months to sell 172k copies should tell you something. WoW sold 240k in its first day of release in America.

[jenova_9]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

aaaah there shouldn't be just monthly plans. I mean I could keep my debit account filled with money, but I dunno,
I just like paying the year's worth of fee so I don't have to think about it for a year.


Kind of like XBL's Gold account. You just pay up front, then you have the subscription for the whole year.

Ya I'm on PS3 now so playing online doesn't require fee, but just using an example what I feel FFXIV should offer as a subscription option.

[Siali]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

If that's true then somebody at Turbine marketing was fibbing that first month because I distinctly remember them making that claim at launch.

Anyway I am telling you that by experience LotrO and FFXI have a similar player base, believe it or don't it's a waste of time to try to look numbers to prove anything. As I've wasted enough of my morning here instead of playing. :p

[vazel]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

If that's true then somebody at Turbine marketing was fibbing that first month because I distinctly remember them making that claim at launch.

Here you go, their financial quarter rundown. Midway halves Q2 losses, delays BlackSite, Wheelman - News at GameSpot

Anyway I am telling you that by experience LotrO and FFXI have a similar player base, believe it or don't it's a waste of time to try to look numbers to prove anything. As I've wasted enough of my morning here instead of playing. :p

Pff, yea who needs facts when you got anecdotal evidence.

But yea it's always best to abandon these useless internet arguments and get back to doing your normal stuff. I'm with ya there. I normally wouldn't have continued posting this long but I guess I was in a bit of a bad mood and had time to spare. Sorry about that.

[Siali]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

.

Ya I'm on PS3 now so playing online doesn't require fee, but just using an example what I feel FFXIV should offer as a subscription option.

I don't see why they wouldn't, every major MMO does, it's a way for a dedicated customer to save some money and keep them happy. A happy customer is the best form of marketing.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: full Year subscription option should be in FFXIV.

Late to the party but wanted to add that every MMO I've known that has offered a lifetime subscription has tanked horribly within months of launching.