I am really disgusted about returning to FFXI. The only way I can pay for it is if I get a pre-paid Visa or Mastercard to play it, but to get a prepaid card, I would have to pay $10 to get one just for getting a $25 card (10 + 25 = 35), and $5 to refill it.

I can just use a debit card and start playing again, but it’s not that easy for me. I don’t want to have to pay an overage when SE takes out payment for 2 months (If I didn’t have enough for the previous month) or just decided to take a gamble and take out $60 for no reason at all. I’m not saying SE are thieves, but there really should be another alternative way of paying for FFXI without a Visa or Mastercard.

There have been conversations on GameFAQs after FFXI’s release about methods of payment. Of course, using a Visa and Mastercard, but no game cards. The reason that SE don’t issue game cards is because the way it’s made: There’s the monthly base fee of $12.99, plus, if you wanted to, and eventually you may need to after playing for a while, an $1 fee for an extra character.

Now, let’s look at World of Warcraft. WoW has game cards and they are available wherever WoW is sold. This is because there are no extra fees for having extra characters. However, there is a $25.00 fee if you want to move your character to another realm, but you need a credit card for this action. I can easily play WoW since getting a subscription requires no credit card (Except for activating the game card. Search around WoW’s message board for “pre-paid” about this for info.)

Going back to FFXI, there will be no other way of paying for it except for Visa or Mastercards. Unless SE decides to lift the $1 fee for extra characters, another method of payment will become a reality…Maybe.

I’ll just hang in there for another couple of weeks. I’m supposed to be getting a Visa gift card, and I can use that for a couple of months until I break down and get a pre-paid card. If it gets here before the middle of December, I can see the Christmas event!

/sigh