subscription?

[Oz]

im new to these types of games so im kinda confused about the subscription thing.
do i have to pay monthly to PLAY the game i already payed for?
or is it a subscription for extra loot n stuff?
am i literally not able to play if i dont pay for the subscription?

[Jethro]

Unless you're on the free trial you need a monthly sub to play the game.

[Saica-Fox]

you can play the base game and the first 2 expansions for free if ur new so go do that and play for hundreds of hours than come here and cry about sub. Free content up to level 60 to 70 is insane good deal

[Oz]

Originally posted by Saica-Fox:

you can play the base game and the first 2 expansions for free if ur new so go do that and play for hundreds of hours than come here and cry about sub. Free content up to level 60 to 70 is insane good deal

so im paying for content? not for the ability to play after i finished the game?
not crying, just curious, its mind boggling to me that people will pay to be able to play a game they've already payed for, if that is ofcourse what the subscription is.
can i not play after reaching level 70 if i dont subscribe?

[Sunny]

The free trial goes to level 60 (not 70), and the end of Heavensward. It's a trial, it's not free to play; your account has restrictions on it. Stormblood (up to 70) was given for free to people who already owned the starter version and HW, not the trial, and you have to have an active subscription to play it.

Once you purchase the game (any version), you must continue to pay a subscription to have access. There is no reversion to the free trial, and there's no option to play without a sub. Any content at all.

Base game (starter and complete) purchases come with 30 days subscription included; expansions do not.

Yes, you must have an active subscription (pay monthly) to play (outside of the trial).

[Oz]

Originally posted by Sunny:

The free trial goes to level 60 (not 70), and the end of Heavensward. It's a trial, it's not free to play; your account has restrictions on it. Stormblood (up to 70) was given for free to people who already owned the starter version and HW, not the trial, and you have to have an active subscription to play it.

Once you purchase the game (any version), you must continue to pay a subscription to have access. There is no reversion to the free trial, and there's no option to play without a sub. Any content at all.

Base game (starter and complete) purchases come with 30 days subscription included; expansions do not.

oh wow, why am i not able to justify a 10$+ subscription for a game in my head?
seems like such a rip off. or am i missing something?
what is there to do ingame after you finish the trial lvl 70 thing?

[Sunny]

Originally posted by Flawizz:

oh wow, why am i not able to justify a 10$+ subscription for a game in my head?

If it's not worth it to you, it's not worth it to you. Just find a different game, there's lots.

seems like such a rip off. or am i missing something?

Steady subscription payments ultimately cost less money for the consumers than incremental/impulse purchases. It's cheaper to pay this way for the content/quality that we receive. To receive the same level of content we currently get for a FTP game the monetization would have to be brutal.

what is there to do ingame after you finish the trial lvl 70 thing?

60. There are a lot of grinds available, but it's all for years-old stuff -- they're all only worth cosmetics and mounts and things.

[Helioseptic]

Originally posted by Saica-Fox:

you can play the base game and the first 2 expansions for free if ur new so go do that and play for hundreds of hours than come here and cry about sub. Free content up to level 60 to 70 is insane good deal

If you can actually get that to work, I haven't been able to log into this game for 6 minutes let alone 60 levels of gameplay. After paying over 100$ for zodiac age then having the game removed from my library I'll stick with crystal chronicles free on android and emulating ffxii and then move over to elden ring instead of even looking at xvi. Hey if you can manage to login to this turd today, enjoy!

[MadDawg2552]

Originally posted by Flawizz:

oh wow, why am i not able to justify a 10$+ subscription for a game in my head?

Your subscription doesn't pay for the content, it pays for server maintenance, staff salary to maintain the code and provide customer support, etc, etc.

Compare the monthly sub to free-to-play cash shops and you'll see $10 - $15 per month is a deal.

[Last Place]

Originally posted by Saica-Fox:

you can play the base game and the first 2 expansions for free if ur new so go do that and play for hundreds of hours than come here and cry about sub. Free content up to level 60 to 70 is insane good deal

I think you made a mistake there. The trial is still A Realm Reborn and HeavensWard up to level 60. You were able to get Stormblood for free if you BOUGHT the base game, that opportunity has passed.

[Saica-Fox]

well as long as ur not the same person that spends hundreds a month on mobile games with microtransactions or gacha games its way cheaper than any of those

[Vangalisk]

Mind blogging? Brother the servers aren't gonna pay themselves. It's a online game.

[Oz]

Originally posted by VANGALISK:

Mind blogging? Brother the servers aren't gonna pay themselves. It's a online game.

i can play league of legends for free, no subscription and its a free to play game?
i havent payed a single euro to league yet i have a collection of 100+ skins, dont they pay for servers ?

[Oz]

Originally posted by MadDawg2552:

Originally posted by Flawizz:

oh wow, why am i not able to justify a 10$+ subscription for a game in my head?

Your subscription doesn't pay for the content, it pays for server maintenance, staff salary to maintain the code and provide customer support, etc, etc.

Compare the monthly sub to free-to-play cash shops and you'll see $10 - $15 per month is a deal.

i play overwatch 2 for free, never pay for any skins in the shop, maybe a battlepass for 10€ if there is a skin i like, but battlepasses are once every 3 months. they pay for server aswell right?

[Tardus Coegi]

I've been playing this game for about a decade now. You can purchase the game, or not [and play until the end of Heavensward Expansion pack; lvl 60 cap]. So what's the difference between Subscription based, and Free to play?

Well, off the top of my head. Free to play cannot access the party finder or market board. You're limited to 300,000 gil cap limit. And Cannot Trade with other players. Some other things you're can't do on Free trial is, use the /yell or /shout feature.

Why is free to play so limited in the examples above? Because it's to combat Real Money Traders (RMT; For short) so they can't hand out gil on free trials, nor can they spam in /yell or /shout (they can in /say though). Also, they can't make parties with free to play accounts to spam (not so say they don't do it with Subscription accounts).

With a subscription, you unlock full access to the game like a normal person. You're not paying a subscription for anything pay to win. You're just unlocking the full game with all of its features.

So if you're unsure if you want to pay a subscription fee or not. I suggest playing on a Free To Play account.

[MOSLEY]

MMOs are one of the more expensive genres of game to develop. There are a few different ways that they can be funded.

They can either be free to play, in which case you will probably have to deal with very aggressive cash shops and pay to win bs.

They can be buy to play through one time purchases, in which case you will probably have to deal with incredibly slow development speed due to the devs not having as much money coming in.

Or they can be pay to play through a subscription, which is usually the most balanced option.

Your sub money pays for on-going development and maintenance. We get a huge content drop in the form of an expansion every couple of years, and then a substantial content patch every few months until the next expansion is released. There is a cash shop for cosmetic items, but the vast majority of cosmetic items are obtainable within the game itself and you aren't missing anything by not interacting with the store at all.

You can't really compare an MMO to a 3 lane MOBA, which never changes and doesn't ever get new content besides new characers and cosmetics therefore has significantly lower development costs. You also need to remember that competitive games have e-sports as an additional revenue stream and significantly lower development costs.