New Payment option for FFXI... and sadly, it's mandatory

[Death's Head]

Source: http://www.playonline.com/homeeu/polshift/ (Square Enix Account Transfer Page); http://www.square-enix.com/na/accoun...ta/charge.html (Square Enix Crysta)

As some of you may know, SE is in the process of transferring POL accounts to Square Enix accounts. This will, in turn, null and void the current payment option and SE has left us with the following: Crysta.
To continue playing FFXI from September 1st, 2011 onwards, you'll need to have your POL account details transferred to a Square Enix account as well as selected from the following options to obtain crysta to keep playing:

Pay via 'Clickandbuy', which have a bad reputation for scams and fraudulous behaviour. You can pay via Credit/Debit Cards and Paypal, but ultimately have to go through 'Clickandbuy'.

Pay via 'UltimatePay' by playspan, using 'Ultimate Game Cards' in a system similar to Blizzard with World of Warcraft.

Ultimately though... all the new options involve Crysta... and here's the kicker, Cyrsta isn't accepted as a legal payment option in every country where FFXI gamers live (Australia is one such country), so even if we were to go through the above options, we still wouldn't be able to play as Crysta isn't legally approved here. How's that for a kick to the crotch eh?
In the end though... paying SE directly via Debit/Credit Cards will no longer be accepted... unless you live in Japan, then you can still pay the same way as you always have. It's only the rest of the world that gets the middle finger from SE.

If you don't complete the transfer by the end of August, your account will be locked until you complete the transfer. Nothing like having your account held hostage to force you to do something you may not agree with.

On the FFXIAH Forums (http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/23...aid-via-crysta) and the Square Enix Final Fantasy XI Forums (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...-way-no-thanks), there's a lot of negative posts regarding this move by SE, with multiple threats of gamers quitting over this. Speaking for myself I do not support this move, as I will not be using 'Clickandbuy' (Do a google search for 'Click and buy scam' and have a read through all the cases against them) nor the UltimatePay options, as I haven't seen those cards available here for purchase... so I'm left with the third option of being 'forced' to quit.

There's still a month to go, until this change is fully implemented, but I doubt SE will change their plans to carry it out. All I will do now... is get the last seals I need to get at least ONE FULL SET of AF3+1 before leaving... and that shouldn't take long at all to accomplish. To FFXI... Thanks for the fun times over the last 4 years and 8 months, you'll be missed. To SE... please accept the following image as my opinion towards you:

[karate44]

Agreed . I keep getting an error that says my ID cannot be transferred