60 days free with the box now instead of 30

Kabaal

I just received an email from them.

 

"- Extended Period

The free trial period will be extended by 30 Days (By combining with the initial free trial period, the total will be 60 days.)"

 

It's if you register your game before 25th October and also includes existing accounts which are still in their 30 days.

Colossus1979

there's already a couple of threads that mention this, it's either good marketing or SE saying "we fail as a company" depending on who you ask around here.

wizyear2099

thx SE woot lol

birdycephon

I haven't recieved any such email, but I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed.

Velric

Originally posted by Colossus1979

there's already a couple of threads that mention this, it's either good marketing or SE saying "we fail as a company" depending on who you ask around here.

It is neither of these. It is  "we hope you will try our game long enough to see the (hopefully) positive changes we make in our first months."

Fortenc

It's on the Lodestone.. and the launcher.

 

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/index.html

 

I think it's a bit of SE realizing that their product currently isn't where it needs to be for them to feel good about charging for it and a bit of clever marketing.  From their plans to fix things, however, by the time the 60 days is up they still won't have fixed the major issues, just the little usability tweaks that people want.

 

Still happy and playing right now, though.  Cheers.

birdycephon

Originally posted by Fortenc

It's on the Lodestone.. and the launcher.

Oh, that must be why I haven't seen it then. I haven't logged on in over a week now.

WSIMike

I received the same email, thought "Really?", and shook my head.

They announced this a little while back, basically as a way of saying "Oops... we blew it with the launch of FFXIV and hope this will keep people from cancelling a little longer" in response to the lashing they were receiving from players and reviewers. It's a damage control tactic.

Now they're announcing it like they're doing some wonderful, generous thing out of the goodness of their hearts.

Gotta love marketing spin.

wizyear2099

yea cheers to people who are playing it lol :0)

Selphares

Originally posted by WSIMike

I received the same email, thought "Really?", and shook my head.

They announced this a little while back, basically as a way of saying "Oops... we blew it with the launch of FFXIV and hope this will keep people from cancelling a little longer" in response to the lashing they were receiving from players and reviewers. It's a damage control tactic.

Now they're announcing it like they're doing some wonderful, generous thing out of the goodness of their hearts.

Gotta love marketing spin.

Well it is marketing you hardly can await to let them say things like "Our game totally suck we rework it and give you 30 more days to stay a bit longer."

I would have played more even without this nice bonus I just mean nobody can blame the marketing people that they sell it in a positive way.

wizyear2099

Originally posted by Selphares

Originally posted by WSIMike

I received the same email, thought "Really?", and shook my head.

They announced this a little while back, basically as a way of saying "Oops... we blew it with the launch of FFXIV and hope this will keep people from cancelling a little longer" in response to the lashing they were receiving from players and reviewers. It's a damage control tactic.

Now they're announcing it like they're doing some wonderful, generous thing out of the goodness of their hearts.

Gotta love marketing spin.

Well it is marketing you hardly can await to let them say things like "Our game totally suck we rework it and give you 30 more days to stay a bit longer."

I would have played more even without this nice bonus I just mean nobody can blame the marketing people that they sell it in a positive way.

Yea I agree you can only see that as a comeback if your butthurt about ff14 :P 

WSIMike

Originally posted by Selphares

Originally posted by WSIMike

I received the same email, thought "Really?", and shook my head.

They announced this a little while back, basically as a way of saying "Oops... we blew it with the launch of FFXIV and hope this will keep people from cancelling a little longer" in response to the lashing they were receiving from players and reviewers. It's a damage control tactic.

Now they're announcing it like they're doing some wonderful, generous thing out of the goodness of their hearts.

Gotta love marketing spin.

Well it is marketing you hardly can await to let them say things like "Our game totally suck we rework it and give you 30 more days to stay a bit longer."

I would have played more even without this nice bonus I just mean nobody can blame the marketing people that they sell it in a positive way.

Naturally. I wouldn't expect any company to come out and sell it as damage control.

I'm simply stating that, knowing why they're doing it, it's funny to see how they're spinning it to those who don't know.

An observation, nothing more.

seabeast

I do not know, I mean one could look at it many different ways.They could be giving 30 days extra because thier success has increased their funding to a point they want to share it with the player base. Or, the company could be feeling so happy about the outstanding launch that they just wanted to say thank you to the millions of players who joined in the game. OR, the company could have decided to give 30 more days as a reward for storming out the lies and consiracies that other companies had attempted to place upon this great game. Or, it could be a damage control tactic....you make the call.

Goob

The root motivation behind this is likely to prevent a cancellation explosion, however, you gotta admit, its pretty smart. Not only is it serving that purpose, but it encourages others to try it out. People flawk to "free" stuff. And, it keeps some of those thinking of cancelling from doing so and playing longer; time that they may spend growing fond(er) or more commited to the game.

WSIMike

Originally posted by seabeast

I do not know, I mean one could look at it many different ways.They could be giving 30 days extra because thier success has increased their funding to a point they want to share it with the player base. Or, the company could be feeling so happy about the outstanding launch that they just wanted to say thank you to the millions of players who joined in the game. OR, the company could have decided to give 30 more days as a reward for storming out the lies and consiracies that other companies had attempted to place upon this great game. Or, it could be a damage control tactic....you make the call.

If FFXIV hadn't been taking such a public lashing by players and reviewers alike, if SE hadn't pretty much come out and said "yeah, we know we released the game in an un-ready state and made some poor decisions, and we're working to improve it", your "possibilties" might have a bit more weight...

However, given the shit-storm of a lashing FFXIV has taken so far ... not really.

I followed FFXIV since it was announced officially as such, and even before that when it was still known as "Project Rapture" (as minimal as the news was for that). I've read every interview and article.. sometimes twice. I've watched every video. I pre-ordered the CE as soon as it was available. Being a long-time player of FFXI, I was ecstatic to see what SE could do with a new game, built on new tech (no, that does not translate into: "oh you only wanted FFXI-2", so don't go there).

I was in testing since Alpha and while others were concerned only about playing and learning the gamem to get a "jump" on everyone else at release, I was actually testing, doing things a dozen different ways to try and "break it" and submitting as detailed of bug reports as I could, because I *wanted* to help SE make the game as good as possible. I defended it against those who predicted it would "fail if it went live as-is", stating that we were only seeing a small part of what SE had in store, and I said this acknowledging that there really wasn't all that much in at that point. I was wrong. What I saw in Beta was precisely what the game launched with - only it launched with more of the same, which is not a whole lot.

As much as I love a lot of what they've done with FFXIV and will readily agree there's a great game in there somewhere, I'm not going to sit here and sugar-coat the reality of what they actually produced and released.

It is what it is, and the reactions it's been getting speak for themselves.

SE is not doing this as a "gift" or a "thank you" to its players. This is damage control, plain and simple.

I am holding on to my copy, am not requesting a credit an am going to give it another try in some months, because I am one of those who believe that any game, given enough time and attention, can be improved. As of right now, though, I have to agree... FFXIV was not ready for release, and SE made some really bad choices in design.

Walkerworld

They should just roll this game under a bus! as someone who has played MMOrpgs for years, games only get one shot at launch to dazzle the buyers. In order for a game to make it, it must have at least most of its shit together by launch. Some games will come out needing only a few quick changes and their off and flying. Then you have games like AOC and Vangaurd who come out of the box a bit sloppy. Sometimes, the makers can fix the problem right away, more Vangaurd then AOC, other times they can't and players walk from a game most likely never to return. In the case of FFXIV there are so many problems wrong with this game, and I mean huge problems too, that this game would need a complete overhaul....it's done. Better for SE to pull out of the PC game market and focus on the console gamer, this game is a mess! I'm so glad I cancelled my preorder as this game will never be right.....What a waste of a beautiful looking game

WSIMike

Originally posted by Goob

The root motivation behind this is likely to prevent a cancellation explosion, however, you gotta admit, its pretty smart. Not only is it serving that purpose, but it encourages others to try it out. People flawk to "free" stuff. And, it keeps some of those thinking of cancelling from doing so and playing longer; time that they may spend growing fond(er) or more commited to the game.

It could indeed help them out in the long run, *if* they get some serious fixes/changes made in that time frame and make it worth their while.

Else it's going to be a lot of lost money on SE's part.

Definitely a gamble on their part.

Shatter30

Since their populations are diviing they had to do something to try and retain some kind of sub base, thats why you get 30 more days.  Its not because they are nice and generous.  You wouldnt be getting 30 days free if the game was doing well. 

Bama1267

 That would be awesome, but I have yet to be able to play even one day since I bought this game. I've never had the problem's I'm having with this game with any other game I have ever played. I meet all the recommended specs and It runs like trash. I'd love to give this game a shot, but unfortunately I think i'm gonna end up selling it to a friend or something at a highly reduced cost.

Murugan

Originally posted by parrotpholk

Originally posted by Shatter30

Since their populations are diviing they had to do something to try and retain some kind of sub base, thats why you get 30 more days.  Its not because they are nice and generous.  You wouldnt be getting 30 days free if the game was doing well. 

This is true but it may have given them enough good will with the fence sitters to retain those folks a bit longer.  If you cannot make a good game in 5 yrs it will take more than an extra 30 days to fix it though.  It is a bandaid measure and we shall see how much it helps.

Not sure what you base this off of, my server has the same amount of people online today as it did the first day of headstart.

 

Which is to say it is pretty much filled to capacity.