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

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 (Thread about this) (http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/23975/ffxi-can-now-be-paid-via-crysta) and the Square Enix Final Fantasy XI Forums (Thread about this) (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/12120-Petition-clickandbuy-the-only-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:

That's a well-deserved Finger.

How many people still played this?

From this forum? Not many (atm, I think only Enkidoh and myself play it on a regular basis)... but the game is still going strong. Though after the abovementioned plan by SE... while FFXI will still be around, the population WILL start dwindling fast.

Some games just take a while to die, Just look at Diablo II, hundreds of thousands of people still play a game from 2001. I just dont think I would want to continue paying , especially if it seem the people you are paying to play hate your guts.

Look at EverQuest... that's still going and that's been out for ages. Regarding this payment option... it's the fact that A: we're being forced into dealing with a shady third party (and risk being scammed etc) or using game cards to pay for virtual money to play the game and B: The Japanese gamers can still pay via Direct Debit, while the rest of the world can't.

In Australia (as well as other countries) Crysta isn't legally accepted to be a payment option, and as we don't have the game cards in question here, our only hope is that SE expands the direct debit from just Japan to allow the whole world to use it as well.

There is apparently hope though. Due to the influx of negative postings on the Square forum (as well as third party forums etc), SE issued a statement:


Greetings all,

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are aware of the comments and discussions taking place regarding the new payment procedures not only on the official forum, but on the community sites, as well.

While we don't have specific details to share at this time, we do want to inform you that improving the payment processing options are still a part of an ongoing process. We will continue to take all the feedback we receive as we strive to make the experience as user-friendly as possible for all of our customers going forward.

Matt "Bayohne" Hilton - Community

Source: Square Enix Account Transfer (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/10386-Square-Enix-Account-Transfer-FAQ?p=158090&viewfull=1#post158090)

Nothing specific about what SE's going to do exactly, but does give some hope.

What the hell ARE they doing to themselves??

I mean it seems just like when they kinda get their shit together they go and destroy it with a big "Fuck you" to the fanbase as well.

Maybe SE should just leave MMORPGs ALONE.

Found this:


We have added a few more articles to our Square Enix Support Centre and I wanted to make sure they were posted here as well to have a greater chance of exposure.

Q: Will FFXI/XIV users paying via C&B be subject to any additional administration or credit card usage charges?
A: As a FFXI/XIV subscription takes direct payments from a user's chosen payment method, it is not necessary to store funds in the ClickandBuy account. Therefore the charges outlined below will not be applicable to anybody simply using their C&B account to pay for their FINAL FANTASY XI or XIV subscription. Should a customer wish to use their ClickandBuy account for additional services, additional fees may be incurred. For more information on these, please refer to Safe and simple online payment (http://clickandbuy.com/GB_en/)

Users may incur various charges when utilising a C&B account. These include but are not limited to the following:
- ClickandBuy charges a 'pre-loading' fee of 3.9% of any transaction into your ClickandBuy account when using a credit card.
- There is a handling fee charged for withdrawal of funds from a ClickandBuy account of �1.85/€1.85.
- If a ClickandBuy account has been inactive for 1 year and contains funds, a maintenance fee of �1.00/€1.00 may be charged.

Please note players paying for their FINAL FANTASY XI or XIV subscription in a currency other than EUR or GBP will be subject to a foreign exchange rate of 5.9% per transaction.


Q: Do Square Enix plan to make further payment providers available to customers?
A: While we don't have specific details to share at this time, we are continuing to look for ways to improve the payment processing options. We will continue to take all the feedback we receive as we strive to make the experience as user-friendly as possible for all of our customers going forward.


Q: Why is Crysta not available in all countries?
A: Crysta is restricted to certain EU territories due to legal and financial regulations. However Crysta may become available for additional regions in the future.


Q: Why are some countries not supported by ClickandBuy?
A: Restrictions are in place for countries with whom the EU are prevented from trading with through sanctions or to those where FINAL FANTASY XI or XIV is not supported. Any problems with ClickandBuy registration in supported countries should be escalated to ClickandBuy customer services at Contact (http://clickandbuy.com/GB_en/contact.html)


Q: Why is Square Enix switching from the PlayOnline billing setup to Square Enix Account billing?
A: Square Enix has opted to employ an external company for the processing of payments to offer the highest level of security to customer transactions.


Who the Hell is SE trying to fool? Clickandbuy is notorious for it's bad reputation with Scams etc... so riddle me this: How is giving OUR information (which used to be kept solely on YOUR servers SE), to a shady and disreputable company going to entail the highest level of security to customer transactions? That's a damn joke! As some have said on the Square FFXI forum, It's almost as if SE wants to make FFXI JP only...

Adding that Crysta may become available, isn't going to help bring back those players who can't get crysta now. Does SE honestly think players are going to come back after being violated in this way? psssh....

SE has no clue... It's their accountants who are trying to squirrel away as much money they can from their initial figures. No thought about long term revenue etc.

/clap

Bravo SE... You have just gone and committed suicide, albeit a slow, debilitating suicide. Do they really think people who are affected by this, will continue to support them by purchasing their products now? I already know about half a dozen former FFXI players, who had preorders for other upcoming SE games (whether produced or distibuted by them.), if it has 'Squareenix' on the front of the box, they've cancelled their order. Going to extremes, yes... but on the otherhand, they feel 'screwed over' because of this and want nothing more to do with this company.

Speaking for myself... I honestly don't care anymore. IF SE decides to allow direct payment for all non JP players, that's fine and I'll keep playing. If they don't... no more $35AUSD in my account will go to them at all. Either way, I still win... in a roundabout way.

Well Dark Lord, there's been new information posted on POL about the new payment options - although an actual date hasn't been given yet as to when direct credit card billing will be restored, they've at least confirmed it is coming soon, which is better than the previous statement of 'we're going to bring it back sometime.':



New Option Available for Adding Square Enix Crysta (24/11/2011)

You are now able to add any amount of Crysta to your Square Enix account, between a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 10,000 Crysta. This means you no longer need to choose from the incremental amounts � although you may still do so if you wish.

In addition, we are currently working hard to add direct credit card payment to the billing options as promised in our previous announcement, and we expect to have it available for you very soon. We sincerely apologise for the prolonged waiting time, but a follow up announcement will be provided as soon as full details (including the implementation date) are confirmed.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding regarding this matter.

I'd say it would probably be early next year most likely - probably also to coincide with the start of full fee paying service for FFXIV. But that's another barrel of moogles.

As the new payment plan for XIV is going into effect next month, guess I'll be using the "Return to Vana'diel" function, to once again stalk the lands of Mindartia, Quon and all the other realms of Vana'diel.... AND FINALLY FINISH THE DAMN EXPANSIONS!!!!

Although there hasn't been anything more mentioned on the FFXI website about a return to direct billing other than what I've already posted, I noticed this just posted on the FFXIV website (FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone (http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/index.php?rgn=3&lang=2)), about that game's approaching commencement of full fee-paying service:



Please note that we are working to implement additional payment options around the commencement of billing in early January.

So, if this is indeed true, then you probably only have a few more weeks to wait to come back to FFXI. ;)

Sorry for the double post, but, finally, SE have delivered what they've promised: direct credit/debit card billing has been restored for FFXI. (http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/polnews/news21263.shtml):


New Subscription Payment Option is Now Available (Jan. 26)

The following payment option is now available for subscription payments on your Square Enix account.

- Details of the new option
Input your credit/debit card details directly into the system to handle your subscription payments.

* Please note that this payment option will only be available for subscription payments and not for one-time purchases such as purchasing a Square Enix Security Token.

So Revan, I expect to see Arie back in Vana'diel ASAP. There's no excuse anymore! ;)

About damn time... now just need to get the funds in my account, then get it set up and to use the tagline from Alien 3: "The Bitch... is back".

Hurry up then - Enki misses her 'oath sister'. ;)

As for how effective the new direct payment method is, I had a slight issue upon first attempting to register my Visa debit card in the SE Account Management System, in that I kept getting 'Code 601' errors after entering my card details. It turns out it was Firefox causing the problem - in particular, Noscript was blocking a security script from running that automatically verifies your card details are authentic after entering them. Simply disabling Noscript for that page however allowed the card to be registered properly.

So, no more using stupid 'Clicknshit' for FFXI/FFXIV fees for me (and, after the change over, it actually worked out cheaper for my monthly subscription than using Clickanbuy, although that was probably just due to not having CnB's extra hidden charges added to the transaction).

Either way, it was a long time overdue, but at least they listened. :)

Sorry for the bump but the topic is on the first page so I hope this is all right - but I quit FFXI like a week before this news was posted. Was this change well known before then? Because damn that's crazy. I mean I wish I could pay for my FF14 account via paypal but hey whatever. It weirds me out when I have to use new payment plans/systems for online games like FFXI and XIV. I mean I had never heard of "ClicknBuy" or whatever it was when I was signing up for FFXIV but it was there and I had to use it. There was, of course, a 5 minute read about what it was and how it worked from Wikipedia before paying hahaha. Oh but I am happy that I do get direct billing still, of course.

Also, holy christ. Enkidoh?! That's a blast from the past right there. You used to play FFXI with my Brother and I. (He was Quaz, little Taru RNG and BLM) I think my heart skipped a beat when I read Darth Revans post earlier saying "Enkidoh" and I was like Whaaaaaat? Weird. Also hi. >_>;

Hello. :D It's great to see a fellow West Aussie here. ^^

And don't worry about bumping this topic, as you're right that it was still on the first page and was fairly recent, so it's fine. :D Yes, the revised payment options were hinted a while before they were finally added (namely, restoration of direct credit card/debit card billing) but weren't directly mentioned on the FFXI website - I only found out about SE's plans browsing the FFXIV site.) Also I'm pretty sure you can use Paypal to purchase SE's 'Crysta' virtual currency to pay for subscription fees, but I don't think that's even available here in Australia even now (it wasn't when I first signed up for FFXIV in 2010).

Finally, what was your character's name? I used to play on the Midgardsormr server until it was merged to Quetzalcoatl a few years ago, and I've been in quite a few linkshells since I first started (I'm sorry but I can't quite place your brother's character's name, although I probably did know him, as my memory is pretty lousy when it comes to remembering people! :p).

Pfft good luck with me remembering which character I used to talk to you with. I had...alot. I could never settle on one character and was always changing, haha. I'm patching my FFXI as we speak. It turns out I stopped playing in January after I came back for a month. Forgot I did that. I stopped just as all these nice new changes were coming in. Also good to see a West Aussie, haha.

Right now I'm on Quetz (as always) as Elfeil (Elvaan) and Mithfeil. (Mithra) I got a trend going on. I did check and they stil ldo straight to card transactions so I'm happy. You him and I used to share a LS but it makes sense that you'd have forgotten us. haha