FFXIV now free to play up to lvl.60, includes heavensward expansion

[Martymark]

Time to harass my friends to try it out again. This is good news.

[Wylyth1992]

Making their equivalent to Wrath of the Lich King free is a hell of a move from SE, i wonder if this is just going to be the case where the older stuff just gets rolled into a f2p experience and you are just subbing for the latest expansion in future?

SWTOR did the same I think around 2019, extended the free to play portion to level 60 and the first two expansions (though, unlike FF14, you don't lose access to the game once your sub runs out, and if you have subscribed at least once, you will still have access to up to level 75 and all the expansions)

[Rogalicus]

I think they should also make it so if your sub runs out you can still keep playing, your level will just be synced down to level 60 and you won't be able to play the Dancer, Gunbreaker, Red Mage, and Samurai. One of the reasons I am hesitant to sub is because once I do, I will never be able to play it for free again.

They should, but they probably think they'll make more money with the way it is right now.

[Wylyth1992]

I am also wondering if this means you can buy an apartment room as a free trial.

[Wangming]

Guys, let's not get greedy. We got an amazing gift from Yoshie-P. Let's not immediately talk about what else we might want. If too much becomes free, it will end up like SWTOR where like a quarter of 5.3 would be sold as an expansion followed by years of radio silence. I'm glad this move was made, but I think this is more than enough. Any more would be a detriment to the game.

[Swnem]

Are we sure this is not just for new accounts? I believe that is how trials worked. It wasn't an F2P.

[Lucetia]

https://twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status...07884157657088

Well ain't that somethin'?

So now you can play up to patch 3.56, the final update before Stormblood, for free. All jobs to level 60 including the Heavensward jobs Dark Knight, Astrologian and Machinst as well as the playable Race the half dragon Au Ra included as baseline now as well. At the same time they are adding flying to the A Realm Reborn zones and massively trimming down the filler quests to let people get to Heavensward faster.

Making their equivalent to Wrath of the Lich King free is a hell of a move from SE, i wonder if this is just going to be the case where the older stuff just gets rolled into a f2p experience and you are just subbing for the latest expansion in future?

Sounds interesting. My only problem is their support is really crap. I've tried to go back to it a few times, but I had the authenticator on my phone like they wanted and then my phone reformatted itself one day and lost it. Nothing I do has been able to redeem the account.

Now that it is F2P would be even more interested in playing it, but pretty sure you'd have to buy another copy of the game in my case?

Edit: Looked up my copy on steam again. Apparently I can log into an account, but says my cd key was already redeemed >_> Which is funny since this is the only account I have after searching all emails.

Edit: Finally got through support. They made it so I can access the account, but apparently need a sub to play and can't take advantage of the F2P >_>

[Onikaroshi]

Sounds interesting. My only problem is their support is really crap. I've tried to go back to it a few times, but I had the authenticator on my phone like they wanted and then my phone reformatted itself one day and lost it. Nothing I do has been able to redeem the account.

Now that it is F2P would be even more interested in playing it, but pretty sure you'd have to buy another copy of the game in my case?

You can play to 60 without buying anything apparently if you create a new account.

If you wanted to go past that you'd have to buy yes. But like... right now you can get the whole thing for 30 bucks and sales aren't uncommon.

[Lucetia]

You can play to 60 without buying anything apparently if you create a new account.

If you wanted to go past that you'd have to buy yes. But like... right now you can get the whole thing for 30 bucks and sales aren't uncommon.

Nice on being able to create a new account. Though I'd rather not buy a whole new game when I already have one sitting in my steam account, but according to Square my email address doesn't have the cd key bound. I go to bind it and it says it is used >>

Edit: Finally got through support. They made it so I can access the account, but apparently need a sub to play and can't take advantage of the F2P >_>

- - - Updated - - -

Alright, for anyone wondering I just spoke to support. If you have an existing account you just get the free upgrades, but not free trial up to 60. If you want to play to 60 for free you have to create a whole new account.

Which sucks since my old one was like 15 or so. Doesn't make sense for me to pay for a few months to play what a free one can. Just play the free one and then whenever I want then buy another copy. =/

[xenogear3]

It is a so-so deal.
If you buy the base game, you get 1 month free. So the base game is almost free.
If you buy the last expansion, you get all expansions free. So Heavensward is free anyway.

The only nice thing about it is that you can try. If you don't like it, you lose nothing.

As for the leveling, you can pay money to reach max level.
Leveling is boring.

Edit: LoL at the "you need sub to play". Then it is completely useless.

[EllieNora]

Nice on being able to create a new account. Though I'd rather not buy a whole new game when I already have one sitting in my steam account, but according to Square my email address doesn't have the cd key bound. I go to bind it and it says it is used >>

Edit: Finally got through support. They made it so I can access the account, but apparently need a sub to play and can't take advantage of the F2P >_>

- - - Updated - - -

Alright, for anyone wondering I just spoke to support. If you have an existing account you just get the free upgrades, but not free trial up to 60. If you want to play to 60 for free you have to create a whole new account.

Which sucks since my old one was like 15 or so. Doesn't make sense for me to pay for a few months to play what a free one can. Just play the free one and then whenever I want then buy another copy. =/

I mean trial accounts generally aren't intended to be used long-term, so it does make sense to me.

[wowina]

The music in this game is absolutely insane, from the cosy town tunes to the 30 min live recorded full band performances on some of the end game raids. The amount of effort put into them always blows me away, the music is composed in a way to match the boss phase transitions too. The actual combat is pretty good now too with some classes requiring 50+ cpm (casts per minute). The only downside is because the quality is so high, content releases take kinda a long time for things like new raids, plenty of side content to do otherwise though.

[xenogear3]

I mean trial accounts generally aren't intended to be used long-term, so it does make sense to me.

Now you can buy a maximum level character.
The game becomes difficult to attract new players.

No one wants to waste hundreds of hours leveling while you can skip it for $25.

[KrayZ33]

No one wants to waste hundreds of hours leveling while you can skip it for $25.

That's an opinion for sure.

[Jastall]

Now you can buy a maximum level character.
The game becomes difficult to attract new players.

No one wants to waste hundreds of hours leveling while you can skip it for $25.

Yeah, just like nobody levels in WoW where you can pay for the boost with in-game gold even?

[xenogear3]

Just wait until the mandatory patch 2.1 to 2.5 "main stories".
You will regret wasting your time leveling from 1 to 50.

Now you know why it is free.

[Onikaroshi]

Just wait until the mandatory patch 2.1 to 2.5 "main stories".
You will regret wasting your time leveling from 1 to 50.

Now you know why it is free.

That whole section is being revamped at the same time they're releasing this.

[EllieNora]

Now you can buy a maximum level character.
The game becomes difficult to attract new players.

No one wants to waste hundreds of hours leveling while you can skip it for $25.

That's your opinion. Imagine playing an FF game only to skip the story where most of the effort in this game goes.

[Kathranis]

Not quite free to play, it's a free trial and seems to have all the free trial restrictions, which importantly means that it's only available to new accounts, not returning players. It's also not available until August 11.

[Justpassing]

Good for them. I guess nobody's paying to perv on catgirls in Limsa.