Final Fantasy XIV Free Trial Period (Extended [again...])

[miokomioko]

Whether they realize it or not, having some sort of "established economy" already existing when they start the game is a gigantic benefit. The trailblazers usually have it worse in exchange for the epeen of being "first."

[Tomino]

a lot better, if you ask me

I started at Eu release (CoP included) and:

- Low level NM such as LeapingL or ValkurmEmp where camped full time by THF75/RNG37. Me and my friends were like lv20.
- SMN75s (or other lv75 jobs like RDM) were common mercenaries getting paid to do AF quests and such, so it was hard to ever find groups for those.
- Parties would expect a SMN20 to have Fenrir because they all were levelling their 2nd or 3rd job at that point, and all got it using their main.
- Overall, a lot of newcomers would just be "pushed" throught content by their lv75 friends, this including Kahzam keys, Jeuno HP, Sky missions, etc.
- No point in try to craft your own gear because an high lvl crafter would make it with higher% and higher quality.

Just my opinion, but I never got why EUs (or NAs before then) had to start that way.

[Arximiro]

Even during primetime there is only 700 people online on my server, 400+ that are probably afk. This is during the free trial, I can't imagine how bad it would be if they were charging for the game. It's like a ghost town with a bunch of lifeless bodies standing around.

[solracht]

Maybe they'll do server merges soon and open up new ones (or reopen) for PS3 release. Ghost servers get fixed and later on people who want a fresh start can have it.

[Meresgi]

I'm impressed, 2 months worth of subscriptions lost to show people that they have something good on the horizon, takes a lot of guts.

^This. Despite the game being released with a lot of issues, I think them giving us these free months to show they actually want us playing their game and that they are listening to our gripes and have plans to fix issues says a lot about what the game can become. It kind of reminds me of old Blizzard that used to give us free months if their maintenance brought servers down for a full day or two or something.

[SubzeroDiabolos]

http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/fil...s-believe1.jpg

[avelle]

Is the extension showing up in account management yet? I cancelled the other day to make sure they didn't try to bill me and the trial end date is still showing as November 20th. Reactivated just incase that mattered but just checking to see what other peoples accounts said currently.

[Spider-Dan]

I started at Eu release (CoP included) and:

- Low level NM such as LeapingL or ValkurmEmp where camped full time by THF75/RNG37. Me and my friends were like lv20.
- SMN75s (or other lv75 jobs like RDM) were common mercenaries getting paid to do AF quests and such, so it was hard to ever find groups for those.
- Parties would expect a SMN20 to have Fenrir because they all were levelling their 2nd or 3rd job at that point, and all got it using their main.
- Overall, a lot of newcomers would just be "pushed" throught content by their lv75 friends, this including Kahzam keys, Jeuno HP, Sky missions, etc.
- No point in try to craft your own gear because an high lvl crafter would make it with higher% and higher quality.

Just my opinion, but I never got why EUs (or NAs before then) had to start that way.

I might be willing to attribute this to server differences, but my experience was nothing at all like that.

I was personally farming VE with a 40ish THF through mid-2005 against competition that usually topped out around LV60. At CoP release date, there was nothing remotely approaching a legion of 75s that pushed everyone through everything, and you could still craft NQs for something near break even. Furthermore, everyone expected SMN to have Fenrir (hell, even from NA release) because SMN simply sucked without it; you were expected not to play SMN until you had all of your summons (which, in the pre-trial-size days, meant you needed to have a high-level job).

[mysterytaru]

Furthermore, everyone expected SMN to have Fenrir (hell, even from NA release)

NA release didn't have fenny, wasn't added til 2006. the only real expectation of SMN, back then, was to have the main 6 and be semi competent at healing.

[ZarakiKujata]

Is the extension showing up in account management yet? I cancelled the other day to make sure they didn't try to bill me and the trial end date is still showing as November 20th. Reactivated just incase that mattered but just checking to see what other peoples accounts said currently.

shouldnt matter if you are paying w/ crysta, if you havent paid for the additional month or set it to automatically deduct the crysta you should be ok

[Crizto]

Oh cool SE is making me procrastinate some more about canceling my account!

[Achitophel]

It's clear you don't work on the business side of things. Because that's exactly what most companies do There's a lot of things us regular people can never understand. Why, for example, when a company buys / merges with another company do they lay off everyone there, lose all the domain specific knowledge those people had about the internal processes / products, and then just re-hire all new people 6 months later? Because someone crunched the numbers, and somehow they saved a few dollars that way. Or so they thought anyway.

In this particular case we can see it's not working out that well, but this same strategy works for companies all the time. And in fact, if they end up regaining the trust of the playerbase after this whole ordeal, they will end up with a better game than they would have otherwise, and might end up coming out ahead specifically because of this early release. Now wouldn't that be ironic?

I just think it's funny when anonymous internet people think they understand the business of games and deadlines better than the people who have an actual vested financial interest in succeeding. And hindsight is always 20/20.

So true.

[Meresgi]

I just think it's funny when anonymous internet people think they understand the business of games and deadlines better than the people who have an actual vested financial interest in succeeding. And hindsight is always 20/20.

You don't understand, people on the internet know everything from information overload and all run successful businesses.

Also the hindsight comment made me think of this:

http://thumbnails.truveo.com/0022/7F...1FE6_Large.jpg

[Vilmos]

You don't understand, people on the internet know everything from information overload and all run successful businesses.

Also the hindsight comment made me think of this:

http://thumbnails.truveo.com/0022/7F...1FE6_Large.jpg

That episode series would be perfect for SE. The BP part where they do the PR "We're sorry." videos apologies should be SE instead.

[Crizto]

"Final Fantasy XIV was a tragedy that should have never happened"

[drwaffles]

And in fact, if they end up regaining the trust of the playerbase after this whole ordeal, they will end up with a better game than they would have otherwise, and might end up coming out ahead specifically because of this early release.

This is dumb. There is no way in hell the number of potential customers that would've been lost by releasing the "finished" game a few months later would've come anywhere close to matching the number of potential customers they've lost forever by releasing it too early in its current, broken state. Fucking up and then regaining the trust of whatever playerbase remains will not make the game "better" than if they'd released it when it was actually ready and thus gotten a favourable reception. You're certainly correct concerning the fact that releasing a product early can sometimes be an effective business strategy, but it's a disastrous one for something like an MMO where first impressions are absolutely crucial.

[Hyan]

if they'd released it when it was actually ready and thus gotten a favourable reception.

Without the bad PR, I doubt the game would be as "ready" as it will be now with SE putting all they can into it. They wouldn't be pressured into fixing the problems asap if it wasn't for the bad reception.

Of course it would get ready someday, but like this it'll happen sooner, and the game will probably be better for it too (if they don't start rushing it).

[miokomioko]

the number of potential customers they've lost forever

I don't understand how there are as many people as you suggest that are so ridiculously stubborn that they refuse to play the game EVER AGAIN because it was rushed to release.

[Gokulo]

I don't understand how there are as many people as you suggest that are so ridiculously stubborn that they refuse to play the game EVER AGAIN because it was rushed to release.

That's how it works, always did in MMOs. Only a small percentage thinks of going back to check the game again after some updated if it was a fail and disappointment for them.

[Spider-Dan]

NA release didn't have fenny, wasn't added til 2006. the only real expectation of SMN, back then, was to have the main 6 and be semi competent at healing.

We're both wrong... Fenrir was introduced in 2/2004 update.