Can't play free trial anymore

[Neoraptor]

So I've played the free trial a few years ago back when they removed the 14 day limit or something like that.
Now I just saw that the level cap for the free trial has been raised way above where I left of so I wanted to log back into my account and play some more, but it gives me an error saying that I have to buy the game.
I am launching the game from Steam's free trial launcher and have never purchased the base game on this account.
I don't want to star over because I have dozens of hours on one character already and I also don't want to buy the game because that will force me to pay the subscription.
Is there anything I can do? Can I play my old free trial character on this "new" free trial at all?

[Blue]

Have you purchased playtime at any moment since your Account was created?
Cause if so then this would have turned the trial-account into a full-account and with that can not turned back.

[Sunny]

I believe that the trial back in the day had an expiration date related to when they did the new trial, and the accounts that participated in said old trial are not eligible for the new one.

[Neoraptor]

Originally posted by Blue:

Have you purchased playtime at any moment since your Account was created?
Cause if so then this would have turned the trial-account into a full-account and with that can not turned back.

No, I made sure to never purchase it just in case I ever wanted to go back to the free trial to try leveling other jobs

[Neoraptor]

Originally posted by Sunny:

I believe that the trial back in the day had an expiration date related to when they did the new trial, and the accounts that participated in said old trial are not eligible for the new one.

Man, that sucks. What a way to taint the experience for people that are still on the fence about committing to the subscription. This game should just have a free to play version with the limitations of the free trial, without these weird restrictions about having participated in the old free trial and also if you have at any moment bought the game you can never lay for free again.
i was even thinking about starting over but who's to say they won't make up a "new" free trial in the future and gatekeep anyone that had an account on this current trial version.

[Sunny]

I mean, a trial is a trial, and free to play is free to play. You obviously tried it enough to know you want to play it, so it accomplished its purpose as a trial. I can understand your disappointment, because there are definitely games out there that are free to play -- it's just this isn't one of them. I hope you find something to play!

And it's really NOT just a semantics issue: "Free Trial" and "Free to Play" are genuinely different concepts.

[StupidSlinky]

just buy it, there will be no regrets /thumbsup

[♥ Beepy ♥]

Ok so it was a few years ago. Terms and conditions change. If you want to keep your toon then you can always sub-up. The sub is cheap and you can pay month-at-a-time if you don't want it to auto-bill you. It's roughly $0.50 cents a day equiv. and that is really reasonable for the thousands of hours you get out of it.

If you want a free MMO then here is a list:

Guild Wars 2
Lost Ark
Albion Online
Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Lord of the Rings Online
Star Trek Online
RuneScape
WildStar
TERA

Also, if you're still on the fence after nearly 70 hours, then the game really isn't for you. What you're after is something F2P.

[nul]

Originally posted by Sunny:

I mean, a trial is a trial, and free to play is free to play. You obviously tried it enough to know you want to play it, so it accomplished its purpose as a trial. I can understand your disappointment, because there are definitely games out there that are free to play -- it's just this isn't one of them. I hope you find something to play!

And it's really NOT just a semantics issue: "Free Trial" and "Free to Play" are genuinely different concepts.

This isn't really true for live service games though. The game they played years ago is very different to the way the game is today.

[Ralf]

Originally posted by Neoraptor:

So I've played the free trial a few years ago back when they removed the 14 day limit or something like that.
I don't want to star over because I have dozens of hours on one character already

The level cap was 35 when they removed the 14-day time restriction. Did you level everything to 35 and craft HQ gear for all Jobs?

[Sel Und Irae]

You aren't missing much they just count ur money now days.

[Sunny]

Originally posted by nul:

Originally posted by Sunny:

And it's really NOT just a semantics issue: "Free Trial" and "Free to Play" are genuinely different concepts.

This isn't really true for live service games though. The game they played years ago is very different to the way the game is today.

Uh, how is it not true?

They absolutely are different. Trial is to entice you to buy (try to see if you like it); FTP is a specific type of monetization scheme (funded by microtransactions or other optional content) for live service games. This game is buy and subscribe to play as its monetization scheme.

Given the definitions involved relate specifically to live service games, I think you're a little off the mark. Yes, the game has changed over the years, but that does not change what a trial is, and a live service game having one does not make it a F2P game.

[AH-1 Cobra]

Wait, I thought the free trial had no play time limitations? I'm confused here. Did SE decide to put limitations on the free trial, either a time frame window or hours played?

I've been playing the free trial on and off for about a year, the only limitations being access to later expansion content, with a lower level cap, among other things. At no point did they cut me off and tell me I have to pay to continue playing.

*Edit* - I was able to login just fine as a free player. So I have no clue why TC can't login, unless there's something he's not telling us.

I found the SB expansion to be worse than HW IMO, and I've lost any interest to continue playing, got warrior to 70 and finished the MSQ, but it took me awhile to do it because it was a huge slough, and I forgot how much it sucked to slough through a MSQ all over again after being locked to HW for nearly a year. That definitely doesn't encourage me to sub the game to potentially slough through 2 additional MSQs, a 3rd if you could the new one coming up. If I was ever going to sub (not likely), I would just pay for a skip.

[Giganx]

Originally posted by Neoraptor:

Man, that sucks. What a way to taint the experience for people that are still on the fence about committing to the subscription. This game should just have a free to play version with the limitations of the free trial, without these weird restrictions about having participated in the old free trial and also if you have at any moment bought the game you can never lay for free again.
i was even thinking about starting over but who's to say they won't make up a "new" free trial in the future and gatekeep anyone that had an account on this current trial version.

The current free trial is an indefinite one, so you don't have to worry about it expiring and being replaced by a new trial. Your old trial account was only meant to exist for 14 days, though, as stated.

The way free trials generally work is that you have to create an account within the free trial period. So yea, if you want to play for free you'll have to create a new trial account.

[Last Place]

If you did the free trial about 5 years ago, then it checks out. That was a temp 2 weeks you got and then you had to pay, it was only like 5-ish years ago they raised the Trial to level 35 and allowed you to play forever with those limitations, and 3-and-a-halfish since they updated it to the level 60 one.

[Sunny]

Originally posted by AH-1 Cobra:

Wait, I thought the free trial had no play time limitations? I'm confused here. Did SE decide to put limitations on the free trial, either a time frame window or hours played?

Used to. They took the limitations away, but accounts from the original trial are not eligible for the later ones.