Why Bother With The Free Play

Wanted to know, but not get the free-to-play announcement thread to get even more *** up.

You quit (I don't care why)

What's the purpose in playing for the free week. Uninstall the game. What purpose does it serve you. To do ambuscades for gear/gil you'll never wear/spend? Buy ***on the AH you'll never use? See the new nothing that's been not added? Do one mission toward progress on a thing you gave up on multiple times already?

The ones that "do it to see a friend" or "I just want to yell and stir ***up" I got you, those are valid and this isn't directed at you.

Quit meth but take hits when it's free.

I reckon this game is a lot like genital herpes, once you get it, there's no cure. Every once in a while a desire to play will flare-up and there's not ***you can do about it.

When I was unsubscribed, I thought I was done with taking it seriously, but still enjoyed some things in it. I'd log in, say hi to the old linkshell and catch up with a few friends, enjoy a couple quick and casual Campaign Battles or whatever, then log back out.

I used free times over a couple year period to level my Mog Garden so it was done or almost done when I eventually resubbed. Paid off, when I came back last year I was able to almost immediately get my HQ Ring and Ygnas.

Basically what Dekar said.

Implying that people are uninstalling FFXI. Most people have cached porn taking up a larger footprint of their drive space than FFXI takes. No ones going "damn I really need that 14 GB back".

For people that want to see what's changed without re-subscribing.

Spoiler - not much.

If it wasnt for the wardrobe limitation, I would pretty much play every free week(s).

But playing without the full gear, or even without place to store more pieces gathered during the play is a massive let down.

Also, consider that during free play your bonanza mules are resubbed, so you can think of it as an extra login points or whatever other campaign you can benefit with multiples

Now, WHY playing?

Think that playing with a set limitation makes every second more valuable than playing indefinitively.

So, probably you would play more "fun" things instead of the routine stuff, to make the most of it.

Also adds that in theory is the moment the server is at its peak, so you can always have a chance to meet old friends or more chances to play content with more people available

For me, I generally unsub because I'm not getting the value out that I'm paying in; no groups for the big content, and daily grinds eating away all my time. Vana'bout played a big part too - the sheer disrespect that the devs showed for the player base with that soured me on the game.

For the low low price of "free", it's worth it to pop in and do the stuff that I enjoyed. Unlock and level a new job, see what I can do about gearing it. Maybe do a little lower-intensity content without the pressure of doing it every damn day.

If I run into people I used to play with, maybe I'll pay in and play for a while. If not... well, I think I'm buying bonanza marbles and writing down the numbers, and if one's a winner that'll be worth waking one character up for.

Plus, you know... Vana'bout, take 2. I'd like to take a peek at what they did with that, see just how much they listened to us. See if it's bad enough to delete my characters on the way out, or good enough to stick around.

XI feels more like a place than a game, which is an important part that makes people want to come back. It's also easy to just do random stuff in the game easily after returning.

It used to always be such a nightmare to install FFXI (yes I know this was 'fixed'). I have trauma from this experience and plan to never uninstall the game.

I have been subbed for almost 20 years now...

Out of all of the MMORPG's I've tried, FFXI is one of the only ones that actually feels deserving of at least the first three letters of its genre. And a lot of the reason for that is exactly what I've quoted here.

The only reason to return these days is just for the social aspect. If you still have an active linkshell it could be nice to catch up with some folks while standing in your moghouse. Content-wise, there isn't much to see.

I have a kraken club and some other stuff just sitting on my char. Might resub to hand out free ***. Who wants it?

I feel what you're saying, but I actually did, lol

Uninstall isn't about space on a drive, it's about moving on, removing a reason to free play.

Smashing your meth pipe, as it were. Adding an irritation as a deterrent.

You first

The literal second it's not profitable to sell the meth, you bet

Tell them you have something planned for your 20th Drayloversary, then send in screenshots of you playing Aion or something totally random.

Along with neverending pictures of French Exit signs and say there's nothing but those now, forever.

We used to have a joke as kids, and we would say "I'll be here until the server shuts down you'll see" like it was prideful to say you wouldn't quit. I think I'm winning

To put strain on their servers, financially ruining SE one cent after the other.

You know that is the secret of continuing to have fun. Stop doing what is "efficient" and just do what you want in the game. Or go play something else and take a break if you want... you don't have to do omen/sortie/di/whatever dailies. Can be easy to get stuck in patterns, not just with ffxi, but with life too. Find happiness every day folks, it is out there if you look. (some days harder than others admittedly...)

SE, FREE ................... meaning is kind of …

Once in a while, we can't play 1 month free, totally free.
They can't afford it, those old yakuzas won't allow it !.

Just keep paying 50 euros a month, for a dead MMO.
Until you realize how dumb you were.

I logged in to remind myself I'm a moron for not waiting 20 years to play something better.

The free hit makes me log on to open mystery boxes, the wardrobe limitiation makes me resub. SE is so smart and I'm so stupid...

This is normal behaviour

I get your viewpoint, but I think you're missing the point of MMOs and gaming in general.

I believe you're saying "why bother acquiring stuff you won't be able to use 4 weeks from now?'

So why do I bother getting all the upgrades for the Batmobile instead of just going and smacking Slade? Why bother trying to throw down a tetris when playing path B? Why drive on the sidewalk and mow down all the prostitutes on the way to the Malibu Club?

Answer: for fun. It's very easy in MMOs, and ff11 specifically, to get tunnelvision into goals. But the GAME within the game is process. It's why I'm so dead set on staying vanilla, just cause I know how obsessive I can get and where that path will lead me.

....and I apologize for my archaic game references. I'm a luddite and hate new things.