FFXIV Free Trial Extension ExtendedNov 16th, 2010 at 9:11 AM by Elmer

Square Enix heard you like free trials, so they decided to add some free trial to your free trial.

In other words, players who register an account and purchase a character before November 19th are eligible for an extra 30 days of free playtime on top of the usual free trial.  Not only that, but existing players will automatically receive this free trial extension -- even if they already enjoyed the previous extension!  You can check out all the details of the promotion on The Lodestone.

As CEO Yoichi Wada expressed last week, it's all part of Square Enix's attempts to win back the trust of the players.  Putting money back in their pockets seems like an obvious choice to keep people happy in the short term, though some may debate the inherent benefits in essentially begging anyone and everyone to stay.

The ZAM Forums are already all over the topic, so let us know what you think.

Tags: FinalFantasyXIV, News

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Game Plan
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# Nov 17 2010 at 9:57 PM Rating: Decent
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It doesn't matter to me at this point. I canceled my account. I'm going to do what I always do, and check back in after about 6 months. Give it some time to work out the kinks. Done this for all MMO's I've played (except for STO). VG, AoC, WH, even WoW. So far the only ones that have pulled me back in have been wow and VG. I dearly hope that this game fixes the issues, as I can see a lot of potential in it, but I don't pay for potential. Good luck players, and good luck SE.
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RE: Faith
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# Nov 17 2010 at 3:52 AM Rating: Decent
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Quote:
I'm gonna have to agree,

Seriously So they sold the game 3 months early and are now giving us 3 months of free play. In my book all is forgiven. I'm glad i purchased the game at launch and i'll happily wait for the content both me and SE feel i deserve.

I never really cared for SE before this and i'm happy to see them approach the situation with such an open mind.

I'm eager to put all this behind us and welcome FFXIV as the WOW alternative.



100% agree with ya :3
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FFXIV Free Trial Extension Extended
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# Nov 17 2010 at 2:30 AM Rating: Decent
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8 posts
I'm gonna have to say this won't make me re-subscribe. Don't get me wrong; I liked Final Fantasy XI when I played it (75 SAM, 75 BLM, 66 DRG). I picked up Final Fantasy XIV to play with some RL friends and was infuriated at how unfinished the game was/still is. Laggy/buggy UI, copy pasta'd terrain, copy pasta'd levequests (read them and you will see what I mean), restrictions on levequests, lack of content (8 levequests, then grind rats and dodos for the rest of the day is boring to me). My faith in SE after Final Fantasy XIV went down the toilet. The fact that WoW Cataclysm, which if you don't count future content will be a finished and polished game, comes out in a few weeks doesn't really help them. I feel like I paid sixty dollars to play beta when others opted into the beta FOR FREE. Regardless of rather its been free for the last 2 months is a moot point b/c if the game didn't get the negative feedback it deserves, we'd all be paying for it. SE at this point is basically begging people to stay all while hiding under the guise of "restoring truth in our users."

Edited, Nov 17th 2010 3:30am by Zozma38
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Great Job
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# Nov 16 2010 at 1:03 PM Rating: Excellent
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101 posts
I don't understand... Honestly, I understand some of the arguments that people make in terms of their expectations of the game but SE is essentially forgoing revenue on a costly product that may take years to break even in an attempt to win back our trust. Additionally they are really taking constructive criticism and incorporating it in to future plans for the game. The alternative is charging people for something they aren't content with in the short run and ignoring community feedback in the long run. Is that better? What's done is done, the game was released in an unfinished state, but I don't know how SE could be handling this situation any better.

So the project wasn't what people wanted but SE is making some really big and costly decisions in an attempt to satisfy their loyal customers and I commend them for that.

Keep it up!
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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 12:20 PM Rating: Good
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I have played a TON of MMO's on release, and they have been in the same, or worse state that FFXIV is in. I have never once seen a company give out 60 days of free time on release. Most seem to "only care about the money", they apologize for mistakes and early releases and just say "it will be fixed soon". But acknowledging that, giving us update details as well as giving us free play time until the updates come? What more can you ask for?

I have never minded playing a "paid beta" before, but the actions SE is taking towards its players and community are strong and build up trust. Honestly, you really can't complain about anything since we are playing for free (well, after paying for the game). SE has basically given everyone $30 of play time, for free. No company I have ever seen (no matter the state of their game) has given free play time in large chunks like this before.

Good job SE, this will ensure people will stick around, as well as give us the confidence and trust in you that we will "get what we pay for". I can't wait for the patches!

Edited, Nov 16th 2010 1:22pm by MattVid6
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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 2:50 PM Rating: Default
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This not how things work, when 95% of the people who bought the game or interested in the game left no one cares if the remaining 5% stay or leave, their goal is to get back as many people as they can from the 95% of people who left instead of ripping off the remaining 5%

MattVid6 wrote:
I have played a TON of MMO's on release, and they have been in the same, or worse state that FFXIV is in. I have never once seen a company give out 60 days of free time on release. Most seem to "only care about the money", they apologize for mistakes and early releases and just say "it will be fixed soon". But acknowledging that, giving us update details as well as giving us free play time until the updates come? What more can you ask for?

I have never minded playing a "paid beta" before, but the actions SE is taking towards its players and community are strong and build up trust. Honestly, you really can't complain about anything since we are playing for free (well, after paying for the game). SE has basically given everyone $30 of play time, for free. No company I have ever seen (no matter the state of their game) has given free play time in large chunks like this before.

Good job SE, this will ensure people will stick around, as well as give us the confidence and trust in you that we will "get what we pay for". I can't wait for the patches!

Edited, Nov 16th 2010 1:22pm by MattVid6

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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 4:24 PM Rating: Good
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Umm, I doubt that is their thought process, and I highly doubt your statistics are even close to accurate. 95% of people are not gone. A lot, sure, but not nearly that many.

You make SE sound so selfish in your post, when they are forgoing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Personally, I think you are an idiot, but you can think what you want to think. They are getting 0 money now. If they started charging, they would get some money from the people still playing, however, more people would probably quit. Doing it this way, they are hoping to retain more people until the content is released, and get more subscribers later, while also building up some trust with the obvious fans of the series to begin with. It is a bold move, don't belittle it.

They obviously take pride in their product and are most definitely "paying" for their mistakes. They are NOT ripping people off (they chose not to, and don't feel the product is ready). They are doing quite the opposite of ripping people off. This is something I have never seen any other company do to this degree. Sure, giving an extra few days due to server outage, but straight up giving 60 free days? Most companies just take your money and run.

They obviously are looking out for the health of the game, and the longevity of it. They are not in it for the short run, and that is a good thing.

Edited, Nov 16th 2010 5:31pm by MattVid6
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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 8:24 PM Rating: Default
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And you are calling me an idiot? what a moron
They can make profit from the few users who left but they will lose much more users who are currently playing but refuse to pay for the current state of FFXIV i suggest you read the forums before you make blind statements like this.

MattVid6 wrote:
Umm, I doubt that is their thought process, and I highly doubt your statistics are even close to accurate. 95% of people are not gone. A lot, sure, but not nearly that many.

You make SE sound so selfish in your post, when they are forgoing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Personally, I think you are an idiot, but you can think what you want to think. They are getting 0 money now. If they started charging, they would get some money from the people still playing, however, more people would probably quit. Doing it this way, they are hoping to retain more people until the content is released, and get more subscribers later, while also building up some trust with the obvious fans of the series to begin with. It is a bold move, don't belittle it.

They obviously take pride in their product and are most definitely "paying" for their mistakes. They are NOT ripping people off (they chose not to, and don't feel the product is ready). They are doing quite the opposite of ripping people off. This is something I have never seen any other company do to this degree. Sure, giving an extra few days due to server outage, but straight up giving 60 free days? Most companies just take your money and run.

They obviously are looking out for the health of the game, and the longevity of it. They are not in it for the short run, and that is a good thing.

Edited, Nov 16th 2010 5:31pm by MattVid6

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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 8:21 PM Rating: Default
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53 posts
So that's how you respond by calling me an idiot? you fail just like your game, it's an mmorpg not an offline game so stop treating SE like a saint, they are here for business and obviously you fail at the basic of business.

They think of long term profit instead of short term
Yes they can charge for the crapy product from the few people who is left but that way they wont expand their market plus if you check the forums many people were leaving before SE started charging money so by this actually SE now can keep more players to profit from in the future instead of getting 0$ from these people who plan to leave.

They are trying to please current and future consumers when every server got less than 1k player on average that's not a good sign specially when the game is free to play, the game is crap according to most users/media/reviews and SE admit that so get the hell out of your imaginary world and face reality, people who were going to pay for this game are the minority so the only moron here to be realistic is you

I want the game to success but it doesn't make me a blind fanboy like you.

MattVid6 wrote:
Umm, I doubt that is their thought process, and I highly doubt your statistics are even close to accurate. 95% of people are not gone. A lot, sure, but not nearly that many.

You make SE sound so selfish in your post, when they are forgoing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Personally, I think you are an idiot, but you can think what you want to think. They are getting 0 money now. If they started charging, they would get some money from the people still playing, however, more people would probably quit. Doing it this way, they are hoping to retain more people until the content is released, and get more subscribers later, while also building up some trust with the obvious fans of the series to begin with. It is a bold move, don't belittle it.

They obviously take pride in their product and are most definitely "paying" for their mistakes. They are NOT ripping people off (they chose not to, and don't feel the product is ready). They are doing quite the opposite of ripping people off. This is something I have never seen any other company do to this degree. Sure, giving an extra few days due to server outage, but straight up giving 60 free days? Most companies just take your money and run.

They obviously are looking out for the health of the game, and the longevity of it. They are not in it for the short run, and that is a good thing.

Edited, Nov 16th 2010 5:31pm by MattVid6

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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 8:40 PM Rating: Excellent
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115 posts
Alright, you two back off from the name calling. Argue your points without getting personal.
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Good work SE!
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# Nov 16 2010 at 4:49 PM Rating: Decent
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MattVid6 wrote:
Umm, I doubt that is their thought process, and I highly doubt your statistics are even close to accurate. 95% of people are not gone. A lot, sure, but not nearly that many.
Edited, Nov 16th 2010 5:31pm by MattVid6


Agree, can't be that many!

Many of us dove right in Eorzea on the launch day because of our previous experience with SE product. It didn't turn out the way most of us wanted, but with the development team promising and working hard to improve the game,You can't stop wondering how awesome this game would be onces its improved. I'm sure there are more gamers spectating FFXIV from the sideline and waiting to join after its improved!
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Faith
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# Nov 16 2010 at 10:51 AM Rating: Good
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Scholar
24 posts
SE apparently has in their game, and this is yet another move in the right direction. People can flame all they want, or state that the community is suffering because of the extensions, but the fact of the matter is that SE knows that the game needs some polishing. I'm for one am glad that they are showing good faith towards their customers and it is decisions like this that keep me coming back to the game.

Whether you feel that the fans are too much, or the haters are ruining the community, it is quite obvious that SE has much prepared for us. There is no denying that they are listening to the voices of their player base.

SE knows that we deserve this, and this is a much needed step just to reaffirm my faith in their company.

Great job SE!
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Faith
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# Nov 16 2010 at 9:48 PM Rating: Good
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136 posts
I'm gonna have to agree,

Seriously So they sold the game 3 months early and are now giving us 3 months of free play. In my book all is forgiven. I'm glad i purchased the game at launch and i'll happily wait for the content both me and SE feel i deserve.

I never really cared for SE before this and i'm happy to see them approach the situation with such an open mind.

I'm eager to put all this behind us and welcome FFXIV as the WOW alternative.
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