Yoshi-P talks swtor and why Final Fantasy XIV will be sub only.

[justandulas]

You can spin it anyway you want lore, but on most forums such as mmorpg and massively, the word is out that it's just not that good even after the redesign. I'm sorry, but that's just the word out there. The few and far in between enjoy it, but those are the ones who enjoyed the original version too which was absolutely horrendous.

 

I admire yoshi-p for his commitment to redesigning the project, but you can dress or rename a turd anyway you want and it's still just crap. I'm glad you are passionate about the game, but don't try and spin it as if 99% of the population who tries the new beta enjoy it when it's probably closer to around 20%. Mmorpg, massively, and other gaming websites. go to them and read the discussions about the beta, it would seem that most people are not impressed with anything other than the graphics.

[Grimdarktaur]

I have seen pretty much an equal amount of negative and positive posts about FF14. It is far superior to the original release, except for those who prefered the combat from around V1.23. The combat is faster paced compared to the original, but slower compared to other games on the market. Most people who don't like it seem to dislike the combat, prefering games which are more real time action based. Up until level 15 the combat can be a little repetitive.

 

As for going free to play, as it has not been funded by external investors, (funded by Squenix money only), they will not be in a rush to go free to play. No investors demanding their money back in a hurry,

 

Will I cancel my current sub to SWTOR for FF14? - No, after all it is Star wars.

Will I cancel my current sub to WoW for FF14? - Yes, but I'll do it quietly, so don't go looking for a traditional QQ I'm quitting post. I can only really spare the money to sub to two games anyway.

[ImperialHippy]

They have proven it. Everyone in the Final Fantasy Online A Realm Reborn beta says the game is amazing.

 

Not everyone, im in the beta and really dont like the game. No voice acting, no agro pulls, **** non-existent story and boring npc's and really poor combat ... everything swtor is not. Cant say anymore tho due to NDA, you'll have to wait n see for your self, but dont hold your breath

[lorelthesecond]

Not everyone, im in the beta and really dont like the game. No voice acting, no agro pulls, **** non-existent story and boring npc's and really poor combat ... everything swtor is not. Cant say anymore tho due to NDA, you'll have to wait n see for your self, but dont hold your breath

 

Eh just so you know the game has full voice acting for quests its just not active yet on the beta because of contracts with the voice actors.

[ImperialHippy]

Eh just so you know the game has full voice acting for quests its just not active yet on the beta because of contracts with the voice actors.

 

.... woops lol thanks for info

[Eillack]

Interesting reading, but we have to wait and see. Personally, I don't think the subscription model is viable given what happen to many subscription base mmorpgs.

 

Square Enix like Sega has both a North American and Japanese division. Does Square Enix plan to release FF XIV simultaneous as their Japanese release and will we be able to switch between both regions? If FF XIV will go live sooner in Japan will we be able to subscribe without going through hoops like with PSO2 from Sega of Japan?

 

Unless it's an already established title like Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega of North America has released abysmal games in comparison to Sega of Japan. Take for example pso not being on the same content patch for the North American version and having to go through great extremes to register or buy AC tokens while remaining on Japanese version. Any port from Japanese version made by Sega of North America other than an mmorpg has equally been a disaster. Thus, I hope Square Enix makes a game that is more accessible to the west, is on par the Japanese version. and at least allows us to switch between regions like swtor. In wow they make you buy a new copy if you want to play on the European servers.

 

This is why you shouldn't post while drunk people.

[chuixupu]

If it is successful for them, more power to them. I'd like to see more mmos prove that subs are still viable, or else they will die out. But as someone else said, they're throwing a party a little early, let's wait a year down the line and see if it's still working for them. Honestly, one of the swtor's problems was that they aimed too high with too high of a maintenance budget to begin with, and EA isn't really one to settle for "just enough".

[LordArtemis]

This part of the interview really stands out its so true.

 

"That’s why you see a lot of companies that chose the subscription model, that wanted to do what we were doing, but were forced to free-to-play. They didn’t go to free-to-play by choice, because if that was the case, they would have gone free-to-play at the beginning. They’d develop it for free-to-play, not full subscription, instead of being forced to go free-to-play. We hear a lot of people saying, “Star Wars is free-to-play now, it’s great!” But then you ask them if they’re playing free-to-play Star Wars and they say, “No, not really playing it.” Everyone talks about how great it is that it went free-to-play, but then you ask around and really, there aren’t that many people who are playing it since it’s gone free-to-play. If you spend all that money on a game ,release it, and it’s filled with bugs and you don’t have enough time to do your updates, people will leave. Players need that new content. Not being able to provide it is fatal. If they were able to produce as much content as players wanted, then people would have stayed there. We don’t really believe it’s a problem with the business model. It’s how that’s handled."

 

I don't agree with this entirely with respect to the reason folks left SWTOR.

 

I think part of it had to do with the market, part the lack of content for end game, and part because the game focused on the wrong group of players. Instead of focusing on casual games, the SWG, KotOR and Star Wars fans as much as they should have (I say 100 percent) they focused many game elements on the "WoW" type hardcore player. Then they were surprised when that professional type player burned through the content as quickly as they did.

 

The game did not appeal enough to casual players. This was the biggest design mistake IMO. You either cater to an audience that is going to value your story and single player friendly design or you focus ALL design elements to cater to a professional crowd and make sure content is stacked to present shortly after launch.

 

They should have had a full expansion with three new planets, 5 new flashpoints, 4 new operations, 3 new battlegrounds and open world ranked PVP, and a continuation of the personal storylines all the way up to level 65, in three parts in place before launch. Or they should have just launched F2P with the market in place.

 

Had they focused on casual players, they would have had all armor as unlockable to adaptive armor, dyes or some type of appearance system in place, a BF2 style space battleground combined with the current space mission feature that included multiplayer and turret play, less instancing/more open world, starships as housing with a robust decoration mechanic in place, less voiced side quests, no companion requirement to play the solo game, huge bonuses for group play, chat bubbles, sit and sleep emotes, more minigames and hands on crafting, etc.

Edited June 22, 2013 by LordArtemis

[JamieM]

You should do some more research. Wow does not have that many millions of western subscribers. Eastern shouldn't even be counted as subscribers since they pay by hour. You should know this if you played wow for any length of time. You should also know that wow was released in era in mmorpg that had very little competition. If I recall there was only swg, everquest 2, and wow for western mmorpgs. You also forget that most people prior to wow were using 56k modems even in large cities. Cable and dsl was still very expensive. Only large companies could afford to place their product on the shelves of large brick and mortar stores like Best Buy, Walmart, and so forth. Thus, if you were going to play an mmorpg back, then your only choices were at the shelves of these stores. If you had dsl or cable it wasn't very fast, expensive, and was less accessible.

 

Ten years later, a lot things have change. You can now download an mmorpg without having to wait weeks or months to download. Blizzard, BW, and many other large game developing companies don't hold a monopoly at stores since you can download any game you want that suits your playing style for mmorpgs. That is a big difference. Now every mmorpg has to compete with any other mmorpgs that you can download. That's the only reason I'm playing pso2. You can only buy the game in Japan.

 

Actually, "WoW" declining subscription numbers is proof that model is no longer viable. In fact, Blizzard went so far as to restart their "Titan" mmorpg, which was based on "WoW" model.

 

“We’ve always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We’ve come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We’re using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven’t announced any dates for the MMO.”

 

If the entire "WoW" model were so successful in the current mmorpg market, then why delay their next generation mmorpg, which is based on the "WoW" model? Obviously, the market has change. If FF XIV fails as a subscription model mmorpg I highly doubt it any future AAA mmorpg will launch as a subscription model given the long list of AAA titles that have failed.

 

By the sound of your post, you seem to dislike f2p model. You also seem to forget WoW has produced two full expansions prior to swtor going live. Did you play wow in vanilla or BC? The game has change radically from those early years. There was no auto queue for lfg, raids, pvp, and so forth in vailla wow when it went live. There were no battleground initially. To run a dungeon you had to use trade chat to form groups, then walk all way to the dungeon. If you lost some one you had to go back to the cities to find a replacement and hope no else left.

 

What your proposing about quality, content, and rush is exactly how WoW was launched. The main difference being is that Blizzard listen to their players and made changes accordingly through out vanilla and bc. Sony did not do the same and consequently lost the mmorpg war with Blizzard with swg. As for Everquest 2 was not innovative enough or borrowed from other mmorpgs to appeal to casual players. It took Blizzard several expansion to be where they are now. You can't expect an mmorpg, even an AAA title, to develop that level of quality and amount of content at launch.

 

If an mmorpg fails to meet a persons expectations in today's market, he or she can play an already establish mmorpg as an alternative. In wow's golden era especially in vanilla and bc, there were no alternative mmorpgs of similar quality that were as accessible to casual players. Today, there are many mmorpgs that are f2p, which is why no has to put up with an mmorpg that doesn't meet your expectations. In vanilla or bc, you didn't really have much of choice. That's the only reason I started playing wow after swg tank. I stop playing WoW in mid cataclysm.

 

Excellent post

[chuixupu]

The problem with talking using Blizzard's rebooting of Titan as an example is there is no indication that payment model has anything to do with their decision. It sounds like it's more of a need to completely redesign the game play aspect. And WoW's subscriptions have not declined that significantly. Their numbers have bounced up and down 1-2 million give or take a few several times over the years, and they're still so far above every other game in numbers that there is no reason for them to even consider a free to play model yet.

[SithKoriandr]

The problem with talking using Blizzard's rebooting of Titan as an example is there is no indication that payment model has anything to do with their decision. It sounds like it's more of a need to completely redesign the game play aspect. And WoW's subscriptions have not declined that significantly. Their numbers have bounced up and down 1-2 million give or take a few several times over the years, and they're still so far above every other game in numbers that there is no reason for them to even consider a free to play model yet.

 

Which makes me wonder if that was TORs problem.

 

"We're going to beat WoW!"

 

"You didn't beat WoW."

 

"Guess it's time to abandon the ship."

 

Seriously, if the numbers they stated before going to F2P was really 1/4-1/2 a million players, how was that not profitable?

[annabethchase]

Which makes me wonder if that was TORs problem.

 

"We're going to beat WoW!"

 

"You didn't beat WoW."

 

"Guess it's time to abandon the ship."

 

Seriously, if the numbers they stated before going to F2P was really 1/4-1/2 a million players, how was that not profitable?

 

TOR needed 500k subscribers to be profitable, but we don't know how long they needed to keep them. I personally think that with the current 500k subscribers and all the cartel money that the game is now fantastically profitable. I very much hope they start pouring some of that money into a real 3+ planet with class story expansion. I can't see how the finances aren't there for this given the $$$ we've seen since launch.

 

I watched a good video on FFXIV today. It talked about their FATE system, full active time events. They are like Rifts from Rift where every so often a new event starts and you just walk up to it to join in. These were my favorite part of rift because they had a thrill aspect to them, never knowing when they would happen, who would join in or even early on what they would be like. The impressive thing about FFXIV is they are launching with 300 of these events in game. Could you imagine if TOR had 300 more things to do while hanging out in the worlds instead of on fleet! I've got to hand it to RIFT for starting this and FFXIV for taking a huge step forward in the quality of these.

[lorelthesecond]

Interesting reading, but we have to wait and see. Personally, I don't think the subscription model is viable given what happen to many subscription base mmorpgs.

 

Square Enix like Sega has both a North American and Japanese division. Does Square Enix plan to release FF XIV simultaneous as their Japanese release and will we be able to switch between both regions? If FF XIV will go live sooner in Japan will we be able to subscribe without going through hoops like with PSO2 from Sega of Japan?

 

Unless it's an already established title like Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega of North America has released abysmal games in comparison to Sega of Japan. Take for example pso not being on the same content patch for the North American version and having to go through great extremes to register or buy AC tokens while remaining on Japanese version. Any port from Japanese version made by Sega of North America other than an mmorpg has equally been a disaster. Thus, I hope Square Enix makes a game that is more accessible to the west, is on par the Japanese version. and at least allows us to switch between regions like swtor. In wow they make you buy a new copy if you want to play on the European servers.

 

Final Fantasy a Realm Reborn has a world wide release date of August 27 btw.

 

Its nothing like the situation with PSO2 and SEGA.

[Arkerus]

You should do some more research. Wow does not have that many millions of western subscribers. Eastern shouldn't even be counted as subscribers since they pay by hour. You should know this if you played wow for any length of time. You should also know that wow was released in era in mmorpg that had very little competition. If I recall there was only swg, everquest 2, and wow for western mmorpgs. You also forget that most people prior to wow were using 56k modems even in large cities. Cable and dsl was still very expensive. Only large companies could afford to place their product on the shelves of large brick and mortar stores like Best Buy, Walmart, and so forth. Thus, if you were going to play an mmorpg back, then your only choices were at the shelves of these stores. If you had dsl or cable it wasn't very fast, expensive, and was less accessible.

 

Ten years later, a lot things have change. You can now download an mmorpg without having to wait weeks or months to download. Blizzard, BW, and many other large game developing companies don't hold a monopoly at stores since you can download any game you want that suits your playing style for mmorpgs. That is a big difference. Now every mmorpg has to compete with any other mmorpgs that you can download. That's the only reason I'm playing pso2. You can only buy the game in Japan.

 

Actually, "WoW" declining subscription numbers is proof that model is no longer viable. In fact, Blizzard went so far as to restart their "Titan" mmorpg, which was based on "WoW" model.

 

“We’ve always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We’ve come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We’re using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven’t announced any dates for the MMO.”

 

If the entire "WoW" model were so successful in the current mmorpg market, then why delay their next generation mmorpg, which is based on the "WoW" model? Obviously, the market has change. If FF XIV fails as a subscription model mmorpg I highly doubt it any future AAA mmorpg will launch as a subscription model given the long list of AAA titles that have failed.

 

By the sound of your post, you seem to dislike f2p model. You also seem to forget WoW has produced two full expansions prior to swtor going live. Did you play wow in vanilla or BC? The game has change radically from those early years. There was no auto queue for lfg, raids, pvp, and so forth in vailla wow when it went live. There were no battleground initially. To run a dungeon you had to use trade chat to form groups, then walk all way to the dungeon. If you lost some one you had to go back to the cities to find a replacement and hope no else left.

 

What your proposing about quality, content, and rush is exactly how WoW was launched. The main difference being is that Blizzard listen to their players and made changes accordingly through out vanilla and bc. Sony did not do the same and consequently lost the mmorpg war with Blizzard with swg. As for Everquest 2 was not innovative enough or borrowed from other mmorpgs to appeal to casual players. It took Blizzard several expansion to be where they are now. You can't expect an mmorpg, even an AAA title, to develop that level of quality and amount of content at launch.

 

If an mmorpg fails to meet a persons expectations in today's market, he or she can play an already establish mmorpg as an alternative. In wow's golden era especially in vanilla and bc, there were no alternative mmorpgs of similar quality that were as accessible to casual players. Today, there are many mmorpgs that are f2p, which is why no has to put up with an mmorpg that doesn't meet your expectations. In vanilla or bc, you didn't really have much of choice. That's the only reason I started playing wow after swg tank. I stop playing WoW in mid cataclysm.

 

Candidate for post of the year.

[Sziroten]

This part of the interview really stands out its so true.

 

"That’s why you see a lot of companies that chose the subscription model, that wanted to do what we were doing, but were forced to free-to-play. They didn’t go to free-to-play by choice, because if that was the case, they would have gone free-to-play at the beginning. They’d develop it for free-to-play, not full subscription, instead of being forced to go free-to-play. We hear a lot of people saying, “Star Wars is free-to-play now, it’s great!” But then you ask them if they’re playing free-to-play Star Wars and they say, “No, not really playing it.” Everyone talks about how great it is that it went free-to-play, but then you ask around and really, there aren’t that many people who are playing it since it’s gone free-to-play. If you spend all that money on a game ,release it, and it’s filled with bugs and you don’t have enough time to do your updates, people will leave. Players need that new content. Not being able to provide it is fatal. If they were able to produce as much content as players wanted, then people would have stayed there. We don’t really believe it’s a problem with the business model. It’s how that’s handled."

 

That's why swtor has no f2p player at all.... like that would make the argument valid.

 

It's ok for a guy to bash another mmo to make yourself look smarter but getting your informations wrong is kinda showing how fare you are leaning out of the window with your claims as there is never! enough content for some players but I sure as hell hope that whatever new or current MMO can deliever content for people leveling through a game in 2 days to max level and expect everything to run flawlessly + that there are other player at their level as well to make pvp/ operations/ flashpoints possible. I guess Bioware should have hired another 10000 people to make this possible at the beginning of the game.... really.

 

No game can come out fully finished and ready to meet all the needs of all players.... . You will have a lack of content if you power through the game so on and so on..... . Comparing a new game to a 10 year old game with tons of expansions etc. is some of the most moronic things found only on the internet because if any mmo would want to deliver that dept of content it would have to need a developement time of several decades and whenver it would be finished, people most likely wouldn't play it because it's not "in trend", the systems you are using for the game are heavily outdated and you did not succeed in keeping players waiting 20 years with a regular friday update because developing a new game is cool but player want to do more than just read news on a forum.

 

If F2P is done properly and people can choose to pay for what they want to play in an mmo I think that is the time a F2P model did succeed. I do think SWTOR's F2P model still is majorly leaking in this aspect and was built with the wrong mindest straight from beginning. Rather than reducing the amount for F2P player they should have increased the amount for subscriber... be it xp, be it availablitiies etc. and only restrict accessibility for hardmode/ nightmare operations and rated warzones.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Sziroten

[MelodicSixNine]

They have proven it. Everyone in the Final Fantasy Online A Realm Reborn beta says the game is amazing.

 

The game IS pretty cool, but let's not get ahead of ourselves with all that amazing. I was in first two betas. Got around to level 10. FFXIV is much more like WoW right now. From UI to gameplay. It's slower than WoW though, it's much slower than SWTOR, but I guess that's bow to original series making the combat more strategic. Graphics are gorgeous. It was really nice to look around. Final Fantasy setting also did much for me, but I'm not that much of a fan to stay around. AAR is step into right direction, but I don't think I will play it. No pvp, no raids, no content - all that they promise to add AFTER the release. It doesn't sound good if you ask me.

 

I personally like the sub system and don't mind f2p options. Cash shop can be a curse though.

 

EDIT: Strangely enough I have read opinions that fans of the game preferred 1.23 combat over AAR.

Edited June 23, 2013 by MelodicSixNine

[Apeth]

He's gonna look silly a year in when it goes ftp. I just don't think mmos are the wonderous worlds they used to be, and they don't keep people hooked as much. Maybe its just not new anymore. Either way it will go ftp. The only reason wow has so many subs is that people are so attached to their chars they don't want to cancel.

 

I like it here I won't be leaving I'm sure Swtor will continue to have profitable subs nimbers

[MelodicSixNine]

He's gonna look silly a year in when it goes ftp.

 

They would rather shut it down than go f2p. You underestimate Japanese sense of honor.

[spectreclees]

I judge a lot of games by IPS. FF is an IP I have never gotten into, so this will be a game I am passing on entirely. Great article though.

[LordArtemis]

I wish them the best and all the success they can possibly have. I'm still a bit skeptical though about whether or not it is wise to launch with a full sub model in this market. We will see I suppose.

[Tsillah]

I think the key to this interview is what he says about their company and Blizzard. They invest their own money into it and are not driven by short term goals because of whining investors.

 

SWTOR could've been successful as a full sub paid game, but the truth is that BW made some massive mistakes in the first year that cost them and the game dearly. Now, don't get me wrong, I do like SWTOR a lot. But I am a Star Wars fan and I am a bit more patient with bugs than the average person it seems. A key factor for me has always been that I make a connection with the actual world itself and BW did manage that. I like logging in and being there. Still, I also acknowledge that they have completely underestimated the need for a more varied and extensive endgame on the one hand and more extensive customisation on the other hand.

 

If they had fixed Soa much sooner (EV was bugged for months) and had more operations from the start it would've helped. More variety in gear, player housing (I see that as customisation) and space combat pvp with customisable ships (stuff like this http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Galaxy_Guide_6:_Tramp_Freighters_(Second_Edition) ), it would have given much needed variety.

 

The story content is great. I like that I can make characters that actually look good...at least females. Male character models are still lacking. They just aren't grim enough and you can't make older characters that are convincing. And SWTOR has a lot of content I do enjoy, but they didn't make a game that had long term appeal for a lot of players, so they left in droves.

 

So then, I guess, the investors got worried and BW acted like all was well and did: nothing. For a long time they thought things would just magically fix itself but subs kept dropping. So then the solution became f2p options. It did save the game as such, but I agree it would've been better if it hadn't been necessary.

 

Will BW now realise they have to make subs more than just barely worth it? Will August mark the beginning of more regular new content and will they add more variety in the game as far as type of things to do? This is what will make the game long term.

 

The macrobinoculars and digging quests were a nice addition, but again a big mistake was made...you can only finish the quest chain by doing Heroics. This type of activity is great for solo play, on weekend mornings for example, and they chose to put Heroic 4 quests at the end. It's what made me give up on them.

 

Please BW, realise that you need to have content for different players and when you do cross overs between playing styles it annoys people. How much better would it have been to have the quest chain be fully soloable and then have the Heroic 4s actually be FPs instead that everyone could do and queue for? Is it that hard to understand that people might want to finish the quest chain themselves? The H4s are actually quite cool but they could've been a new addition to the game: Puzzle FP's or mini Ops, however you want to package it. Now they are one timer per character H4s that most people have a hard time finding a group for it seems. (If you already did it, why do it again? There is no reward for doing it really).

 

So yeah, I actually think BW can do a lot of things that add content and different types of content and make subs worthwhile to have.

 

BW sold themselves to the highest bidder by going on the stock market and EA grabbed them up. What gives players confidence in companies is to what extent they can control what they do themselves and by being consistent and not so naive as they've been in what they thought players wanted. And when you are under pressure form share holders, you are not in control, not really. And even if you do have a good measure of control still, people won't believe you do. Perception is reality.

 

FF and WoW will never be games for me, as I don't like the style of those games. But if they ever bring out a game that does have a style that appeals to me, I would try them out because I believe they can pull something great off. With BW, I just hope and pray that this time it will be better. DA3 for example. I just don't know what to expect, will it be great or will it be another stack of mistakes? I am looking forward to it and fearing disaster at the same time. And BW is to blame for that themselves because they lack consistency and instead of getting the foundation right they start trying to be different and do things like the ME3 ending. Whether you are ok with the ending or not, anybody can see that it is a huge risk and that you will lose a lot of fans. Doing it anyway, just tells a large part of the players the BW is arrogant and doesn't care about the player....Again, perception is reality.

 

End conclusion: When you don't offer a broad enough variety and frequency then adding content becomes a war of attrition. You will always piss off a part of the player base and you will keep losing more players than you add. When SWTOR came out it had a number of FP's a couple of ops and some daily quests as endgame. And EV was totally bugged at the endboss. This cannot be enough in an age where people are used to playing MMOs. BW was unable to add more content quickly and that probably was because of the share holders and lack of investment as a consequence. This made the sub model fail, not the market itself.

[SithKoriandr]

I think the key to this interview is what he says about their company and Blizzard. They invest their own money into it and are not driven by short term goals because of whining investors.

 

^This. Something I find many overlook in the article, or just don't read the article.

 

Spend your own money, and not that of shareholders, and the game will likely work as a sub based game. You don't have people fretting over the price of stock. You don't have to lay off half your staff. You don't have bosses trying to cater to stockholders, instead, they're trying to cater to the customer (the player).

[JediJonesJr]

I have been playing beta since the start and also the ver.1 failed model SQ-E admitted they dropped the ball.

 

they did not drop the ball with ffxiv arr it rocks and while i admit beta of swtor was fun i enjoy ffxiv more now then this f2p crapfest.

 

 

I will come back in a year and see just how well this game has done i see a road with many cracks in it, at least SQ-E had the nads to speak out and reach out to customers and not hide like ea has done there is a reason they have a bad cs rep and low metascore on there products but i guess the name star wars blinds people from bad product.

 

please stay here don't try ffxiv arr we have more then enough people to keep game going with subs.

 

in the future i would suggest to any new ffxiv arr fan don't post in these forums it's not worth the time.

 

 

but i do know many who are leaving swtor subs to play ffxiv arr so from them and me to all of you enjoy it while it lasts.

 

 

i am done sub canceled.

Edited June 23, 2013 by JediJonesJr
update

[Jandi]

Interesting reading, but we have to wait and see. Personally, I don't think the subscription model is viable given what happen to many subscription base mmorpgs.

 

This really annoys me. It's not the sub model that's the problem, it's the complete TRASH companies keep shoveling out that's the problem. SWTOR was a one trick pony and only SW fans stuck with it. It was a horrible MMO at launch and a decent KOTOR 3 with 8 class stories.

 

There is still no community nor the reason or tools to build any in the game. People keep playing MMO's because OTHER people are playing an MMO and in SWTOR, every player is a name on a list you access when you want to do something that needs other people but beyond that, you might as well have bots running on AI around.

 

The economy is completely automated.

 

No chat bubbles meaning having a convo is just a chatbox and to everyone else, it's just people staind around for no reason. Chat bubbles show to everyone that there are *actual* people around.

 

There is no community, just an interface and that's just ridiculous for an MMO as everyone is just on their tiny pockets and consider everyone outside that bubble a nuisance or an opportunity to abuse.

[Andryah]

Spend your own money, and not that of shareholders, and the game will likely work as a sub based game. You don't have people fretting over the price of stock. You don't have to lay off half your staff. You don't have bosses trying to cater to stockholders, instead, they're trying to cater to the customer (the player).

 

No disrespect.. but this statement is complete nonsense, especially in the context of an Asian company.

 

1) shareholders have no money invested directly into products. They invest in the stock of a company. Period. This is true even for an IPO.

 

2) Shareholder, or private...the economic pressures on a game producer are the same. One can argue it is in fact worse for a non-public company. And if you think that an Asian company has less pressure to perform for every ounce of currency invested... you have no understanding of Asian companies at all. In fact, most "private" Asian companies are driven by "private" money behind the scenes, from investors that are less tolerant then a broad base of shareholders in a public company. Doubly so in an "honor based" society such as is typical in Asia.

 

On the larger matter of if FF XIV will be sub only, or something else.... the fact is in Asia very few games are subscription games to begin with. And in the western Market... ALL reliable market data suggests the subscriber only model for new MMOs is dead. Even Activision believes this to be true, which is why they are so incredibly evasive about the business model for Titan.

 

Personally, I'm fine with freemium models, precisely because they offer the best of both worlds to players. I prefer to subscribe, and that is what I do. Others prefer to buy as they play....which is fine for them. The model is good in the western market precisely because it taps a larger total available market of players then subscriber only does now days.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Andryah