Square Enix Account Transfer Information Page(6/27/2011)

[Michelob]

As much as people bitch about game changes and shit, this is something that is pretty serious for a company. SE is not gaining subscribers from this, they are only losing. Money talks, watch how fast this shit gets changed.

Of course SE is a lazy sack of shit, so who knows.

The difference between the money lost from subscribers and the money gained from not having to pay as much for their billing department is going to decide the fate.

[Ksandra]

And again, considering there was the same amount of bitching initially with 14 and C&B and they changed nothing...doesn't bode well for this...

[TacoTaru]

I would say at least the argument for XIV is that they haven't actually charged anyone yet, but I'm going to agree with you and say nothing is going to come of this. The only reason we may hope it does is for what I said and all the bitching didn't mean anything because they weren't going to lose money from XIV, whereas they can here.

[Michelob]

And again, considering there was the same amount of bitching initially with 14 and C&B and they changed nothing...doesn't bode well for this...

Nothing changed for them money wise in that affair. The fact that they still aren't making money on that game should make them more cautious dealing with their paying customers in this game. If the number of subscriptions drops substantially then they will add another payment option. The question is will enough people actually drop their subscriptions over this? I really don't know. Mark me down for -$45 dollars for them come September, though.

[Not Kuno]

The only reason we may hope it does is for what I said and all the bitching didn't mean anything because they weren't going to lose money from XIV, whereas they can here.

I remember reading something saying XI was a huge cash cow for them, considering how little they put in now compared to how much they get out. Maybe someone has a link that shows this somewhere.

[Arkanna]

Nothing changed for them money wise in that affair. The fact that they still aren't making money on that game should make them more cautious dealing with their paying customers in this game. If the number of subscriptions drops substantially then they will add another payment option. The question is will enough people actually drop their subscriptions over this? I really don't know. Mark me down for -$45 dollars for them come September, though.

I know for a fact, if nothing changes with this plan, I'll be cancelling as well. Hopefully enough people are with us to cause a CHANGE.

[Ksandra]

Nothing changed for them money wise in that affair. The fact that they still aren't making money on that game should make them more cautious dealing with their paying customers in this game. If the number of subscriptions drops substantially then they will add another payment option. The question is will enough people actually drop their subscriptions over this? I really don't know. Mark me down for -$45 dollars for them come September, though.

No, I understand this, but it doesn't change the face that absolutely nothing is different from a year ago. Even though ff14 never went p2p there was a lot of complaints, and the fact they never once thought to tweak any of it, is a bad sign.

I agree maybe (and that's a big maybe) if enough people cancelled subs to make it not worth it they'll try and do something. But I wouldn't hold my breath because it seemed like they didn't give a shit before, and probably won't now.

[Michelob]

I agree maybe (and that's a big maybe) if enough people cancelled subs to make it not worth it they'll try and do something. But I wouldn't hold my breath because it seemed like they didn't give a shit before, and probably won't now.

I won't hold my breath either because I don't think enough people will actually drop their subscriptions over it to make a large enough difference to them but you never know. They aren't going to just look at the first month either when it comes to looking at a drop in subscriptions. They probably wouldn't reconsider payment options until seeing a substantial decrease in subscriptions over a quarter.

[Ksandra]

come to think of it, they're probably going to hurt the next month because a lot of people who already bought crysta for 14 will probably use it for the next month in 11 lol.

[drwaffles]

What's interesting is that there have been countless THANKS SE I QUIT ragefests across the FFXI forums over the years, but I think this is the first one that might actually have a significant impact. Reason being that in the past a lot of people will have made this proclamation during a moment of frustration, but when crunch time came they probably forgot or decided not to take the final step and actively cancel their account. This time a lot of people (myself included) will wait to see how August pans out and, if there is no amendment to the proposed system, will simply not bother taking the necessary steps to keep paying. It's a subtle shift in the dynamic, but I think they're underestimating just how powerful the consequences will be.

[Cesaria]

I just cannot for the life of me see the commercial logic in this. You've got an option that you have customer feedback from actual customers (not some fantasy opinion panel) that your payment system (for 14) is incredibly unpopular, untrusted by them (and with huge numbers of negative testimonies about your payment handler over the internet) and deters people from paying and playing your struggling product.... and then you decide to force it upon your relatively successful product?

You CHOOSE to move from a system whereby you get money automatically from people each month - to one where they have to sit down and make a concious decision to pay you, where rather than just clicking through the "you've been billed" screen to get to the game - they have to work out how much exactly their combination of characters costs for the month and actively decide to pay it! That's just beyond idiocy to me. Hell, I'm generally pretty laid back about SE's numpty moves - but today doing all this, faffing on buying crysta and working out how much I needed to buy to cover my two characters - I was actually thinking "I really cannot be bothered doing this every month - this seems to be an awful chunk of cash I'm paying out on this game, perhaps I should deactivate characters or mules and cut it down a bit"... why the fuckedy fuck would any company be WANTING their customers to question things like this when everything else is geared towards getting continuing payments setup from people so the money keeps coming in from people's laziness and nothing else.

The only thing I could possibly think of is that they want to pull 11 very very soon and want people to have crysta sat in their accounts so they think "oh well, I've paid for that, may as well stick it on and play 14 till it's ran out" and hook in customers for the sinking ship that way.

[Kaisha]

I wouldn't mind this as much if they lowered the cost of FFXI to $10 monthly (making mules free) so shit fits better within their crummy crysta system.



For all the bitching that'll happen, I doubt SE will open up more options, even if it comes at the cost of quite a few subscriptions.

[mistmonster]

wow I pay $90+ a month for friend accounts, mules (something I probably would never have looked at normally). I'm not logging into 5 different accounts every month to do stupid crysta for them all. They all have different things I use them for occasionally so not having them available only make me wonder if I'm even going to bother on my main. I never thought I'd post something like this, esp on BG but this might be the thing to make me stop playing. Especially if the backlash makes more of my friends who still play quit. I posted my thoughts on the official forums (something I never do either)

Edit: The whole actively having to do something to pay for this stupidity is the *mostly* the issue for me. I'm pissed off at netflix too but when September rolls around and I still have DVDs left to watch I will probably just take it up the ass from them for a bit.. But I'm canceling that to I swear

[Ksandra]

lol well I usually am against people claiming this, butSE is bending over for JP players and not giving a fuck about others.

Via the official forums:

http://www.playonline.com/home/polshift/imgs/img08.jpg

JP can still pay directly via CC.

And I believe it was bungifan who pointed out japanese players can buy crysta in any amount they want.

[Palides]

Nobody will miss you.

I'm not sure what the reasons you have for continually attempting to troll me, but I do find it funny.

Is it that I took a zone from your dyna LS one time?

Is it that when we shared a dyna LS years earlier, I raged because the dd's were 5/5 relic armor and wearing nq amemet, and failed to kill DL with 28+ people?

Is it because I kicked you from a merit party at 75 cap when you leveled Cor purely to melee in daggers, never doing a ws, never doing anything besides using phantom roll?

That's about the extent of my interaction with you that I can remember. Herp derp.

...

Is it because you secretly wish that you had picked taru, and you despise your galka origins?

I'm all ears. QCDN is, and has been dead. Let go of whatever you "drama" you feel that I gave you [In the entire 140 posts I had on that imbecilic website.]

[Gokulo]

lol well I usually am against people claiming this, butSE is bending over for JP players and not giving a fuck about others.

Via the official forums:

JP can still pay directly via CC.

And I believe it was bungifan who pointed out japanese players can buy crysta in any amount they want.

[Ksandra]

knock it off, both of you. Not having an offtopic flamewar in a thread full of pissed people.

[Solace]

lol well I usually am against people claiming this, butSE is bending over for JP players and not giving a fuck about others.

Via the official forums:

http://www.playonline.com/home/polshift/imgs/img08.jpg

JP can still pay directly via CC.

And I believe it was bungifan who pointed out japanese players can buy crysta in any amount they want.

This is a huge slap in the face. More fuel for my fire I guess...

[Selamis]

lol well I usually am against people claiming this, butSE is bending over for JP players and not giving a fuck about others.

Via the official forums:

http://www.playonline.com/home/polshift/imgs/img08.jpg

JP can still pay directly via CC.

And I believe it was bungifan who pointed out japanese players can buy crysta in any amount they want.

What. The. Shit.

[TacoTaru]

Seriously, SE?




If nothing else it shows the shit is in place, they just need to do it for the rest of us.