Just got FFXI loaded up yesterday (after a marathon run of updates over 4 days) and I'm loving it.

It's my first time playing the game so I'm very new to it and still getting used to controls, menu's and the general interface etc.

Name: Levahri
Server: Unicorn

Job: Red Mage (Level 1)

i tried to start playing it when i got a free pack sent through with a free months subscription although i couldnt get it working and it kept asking for credit card details and then wouldnt work so i just gave up on it and havent been able to play
i would play it if it was free

I haven't played in a while, and truth be told I didn't get too far in it before the cost just didn't seem worht it to me, anmore... but I was on the Valefor server, and here's my character:



I may start playing again if a) I get financially stable, or b) the cost comes down to a more reasonable price... like FREE! Hell, thats the only reason I play Guild Wars instead of this.

It cost SE a ton of money to keep the servers up and running(and pay people to work on the game year round). They ofcourse do get some profit out of it, but it isnt nearly as much as you might think. games like FFXI and WoW need to charge you a monthly fee to keep it up running.

The original $30 you paid for the game is not nearly enough to keep a game running for years. When they have 30+ servers with around 2-4000 people active at any given time on each, who also expect decent updates to the game on a somewhat regular basis.

FFXI will never be free, a price drop is possible when the game is down to a much much smaller number of people. Dont expect that to happen any time soon either

Dude... Guild Wars has people working on it, too... there are updates all the time (at least once a week, as miniscule as it might be) and they have people who keep it running and everything... but guess what? Its free... why? Because they don't want to charge.

Guild Wars 2 will be free as well.

It doesn't cost as much to keep an online game running, and the servers up, as you may think. There is no way in heaven or hell that Square has put as much money into it as they have gotten from subscribers over the years.

Games just don't cost that much to maintain... period.

GW is not a true MMO, everything you do is in an instanced area with a smaller group of people. While in FFXI(or WoW) you actually have thousands of people on one server at the same time, hundreds of people in the same zone at any minute.

There are hundred of people in towns at any given moment... but still, Guild Wars 2 will not be so instanced (it will be what you call a true MMO) and its still going to be free to play. Its just doesn't cost as much as you think. Its jsut an easy way for companies to have a constant stream of income.

I guess at the end of the day, if there are people who think the service is worth the price and SE sees a profit to be made, everyone wins.

If people think the cost is unjustified then they have every right not to play the game.

Those who aren't happy with the cost have a few other alternatives such as Guild Wars etc, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Of course FFXI will obviously be running as a business, out to make a profit, but what else would one expect?

I could go on and on about this game. I got it upon release and it engulfed me for quite some time. Was the first North American to get Drg to 75, to get Scorp Harness, Sniper Rings +1, Af (back in the first year of release all these things were "OMG WOW" worthy). For the most part, I spent most of my time farming. Quit about three years ago after a so called 'friend' stole a lil over 100mil from me during the first server transfer. Never went back but I miss the game so much and wish I hadn't left. Great to see other players.

i am getting ready to buy final fantasy 11 and was just wondering if it was worth it so if you play let me know and if you have played it how good was it compared to the others?