Final Fantasy Vana'Diel Collection 3! (Now with Epic Items~)

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It was the same with the Tidal Talisman. I bought that, along with tons of other people. How many of them do you think still owned it after the first day? Do you think SE really expected that it was so popular and that they'd see FFXI fans walk the streets with their new bling? Why do you even think SE bundled it with a real item in the first place? Because it was always their policy to not make ingame content available through real life means. So they simply said that you aren't paying for the ingame item, but for the actual item, with the ingame item being a bonus. It still went against their policy, they knew it, the players knew it, people were annoyed by that move back then as well. Now they took it one step further, and masked it with a rather useless product, at least to a majority of people who will be buying it.

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All Square truely care about is money, even more so currently. If they know people will buy the whole pack (and they will) just for some "ingame bling" they will do it, and indeed will do it more and more as they see how successfull a means it is to make money. If this bothers you, DO NOT BUY IT. That is the biggest message you can give, if everyone complains but it's a big financial success there will be alot more coming.

This aggravates me to know that an item that i can actually get use out of is something that i have to $20 to get. Even though I got all of the same expansions and add-ons, I don't get this item that can be very helpful to level jobs that are still low level. I still have many jobs below 30, including subs that I probably should have leveled. The reason why most of my jobs are below 30 is because its a pain to level to 30, especially now that everyone is busy with Abyssea and new content.

I have played this game for like 5 years on and off. I have I think 9 or 10 jobs leveled past 30, I haven't even unlocked a few jobs. I even have some subs i need to level that are below 30. So its not like i wouldn't benefit from this item by any means, and yet I would have to pay for an item that would greatly improve my ability to level half my jobs to a point in which i can at least leech. In order for to get an item like that I would have to pay for stuff i already bought for a higher price.

I know that this item is meant to be an incentive for new players, I'm all for giving new players this item. But for people like me, who could use this item, we totally *****ed over. This actually makes me want to dissuade my friends from playing this game if SE does stuff like this, I don't want my friends to be going through similar things in the future.

I guess at the end of the day SE can just do whatever they want, but I am highly dissatisfied with what they are doing to us. If they were giving us an equally good item for buying the expansions/add-ons when they came out it would be a different story, but they haven't said anything of the sort so I'm left to believe they just don't care enough about the existing community enough to do something like that.

SE if you do care enough at least give us, the existing and loyal community, something of equivalent value.

P.S.
Sorry for the long vent post.

Yeah, this is kind of a slap in the face to long time players who bought every add-on individually at $10 each. Everyone that has all 3 abyssea add-ons installed should be eligible to receive this item without having to buy a whole new collection for $20 more. I'm also pretty disappointed that they just announced this collection now. My dad bought the ultimate collection months ago in order to play with me, and it's been sitting there collecting dust because he can't create a new account on Siren until the merge. Now that he'll finally be able to start playing on the 10th here comes a new collection that he could've waited to buy had he known he wouldn't even be able to play when he bought the last one. I'm sorry SE, but I'm getting really fed up with you guys. Stuff like this compounded with your lack of good customer support and worthless GMs that I can't even get to talk to me without an automated message really pisses me off.

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Originally Posted by Arcon

Almost. They tried to figure out how to milk you for more money. And they succeeded and are gonna go ahead with it despite an angry crowd. The analogy is quite nice.

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Actually, if they wanted to milk me for money on this thing, they've failed. My jobs are all 37+ already. And I pity anyone who drops the 20 bucks for something they honestly won't get much use out of. I'm not trying to say SE isn't a money grubbing corporation. They are indeed a large company, and money grubbing is what all successful companies do.

But this is tame in comparison to what they could have done. If they wanted to, they could have put a code for a defending ring on the package which would be useful to anyone who already has a level 70+ job. But that's not what they did, they instead created a brand new item which was designed around giving brand new players a leg up. Imagine starting from scratch in ffxi today. You don't know how to get your SJ, there's no one around your level to party with, and no one you know is playing the game. Anyone in that situation really needs the help.

Everyone who posts on these forums, however, has been playing the game long enough that they could go from level 1-30 on 4 jobs without the beret in less time than a brand new player could go from 1-30 on 1 job WITH the beret. The item wasn't designed for you, so don't buy it. I'm certainly not going to.

Was there this much of an outcry when abyssea came out? Back before this announcement, every player had to shell out 30 bucks if they wanted access to the easiest exp for level 30+ jobs, the best gear in the game, and the easiest, most powerful weapons ever to see this virtual world. 30 bucks, or you don't get to take part in what has become 90% of gameplay. You have to sit around in DA and long for the good old days when you didn't have to pay money to get to endgame places like sky or sea or salvage.

Now that they've released an item for $20 which makes what has become less than 1% of gameplay substantially easier, THAT'S when they've gone too far?

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Originally Posted by Yinnyth

Was there this much of an outcry when abyssea came out? Back before this announcement, every player had to shell out 30 bucks if they wanted access to the easiest exp for level 30+ jobs, the best gear in the game, and the easiest, most powerful weapons ever to see this virtual world. 30 bucks, or you don't get to take part in what has become 90% of gameplay. You have to sit around in DA and long for the good old days when you didn't have to pay money to get to endgame places like sky or sea or salvage.

Now that they've released an item for $20 which makes what has become less than 1% of gameplay substantially easier, THAT'S when they've gone too far?

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Is there anything about your post that it is not a thinly veiled attempt to complain about the new content but instead actually part of the discussion? And, both Sea and Salvage required buying the expansions. The only free expansion was RoZ.

p.s. - Just in case I need to explain, you are saying "You didn't complain about Abyssea, but you complain about this hat." Meaning that Abyssea was bad but this is bad on a lesser scale. However, the two are not related at all. One completely changed game play (which a lot of people found positive) while another is an exclusive in-game item.

Totally fine with this, my gf wants to play anyways, she can use the Code to play the game and I can get the hat :D

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Originally Posted by Randwolf

Is there anything about your post that it is not a thinly veiled attempt to complain about the new content but instead actually part of the discussion? And, both Sea and Salvage required buying the expansions. The only free expansion was RoZ.

p.s. - Just in case I need to explain, you are saying "You didn't complain about Abyssea, but you complain about this hat." Meaning that Abyssea was bad but this is bad on a lesser scale. However, the two are not related at all. One completely changed game play (which a lot of people found positive) while another is an exclusive in-game item.

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Well first of all, just to clarify, I meant "You have to sit around in DA and long for the good old days when you didn't have to pay money to get to endgame places, before sky, sea, or salvage." My overall point is that we've been FORCED to fork over money if we want to keep abreast the endgame community in... pretty much every expansion except for maybe the mini ones. In contrast to this one item which will help you out for... maybe 35 hours if all 20 of your jobs are below level 30... those expansions seem like gunpoint robbery whereas this is more like a panhandling hobo asking you nicely for spare change. You don't need this hat. It won't do you nearly as much good as it would do for someone who is just picking up the game.

If however they were offering a free, final form empyrean weapon, yeah, that's just a painfully obvious attempt to get people who don't need the disc to pick it up anyways just so they don't fall behind. This trinket is just a barely useful fashion statement for anyone who reads these forums, but it's completely game-changing for a true newb. So, when looking back to all the other expansions (Spaceballs 2: The Quest For More Money) in which you either buy it or you're newb, do you really truly believe this is SE's best attempt at milking money out of existing gamers?

I'll say it again. You don't need this hat. If you want it badly enough just to look like a chocobo with embarassing acne and awkward voice changes, hey, whatever floats your boat. But you don't need this hat. Newbs need this hat.

Edit: Maybe not so much gunpoint robbery, but gunpoint tradery. "Give me 30 bucks for this keyboard, or I shoot you!" as compared to "Please, kind sir, I'll sell you my left shoe for 20 bucks." Eh, it's still hyperbole, but you get the point.

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Originally Posted by Arcon

As I said before, it isn't at all about the value and usefulness of the item. It could be a bag of flaming chocobo poop, the concern would still be valid. It's about making any kind of ingame content, no matter what it is, only available through real money means. Is this immoral? Debatable. People aren't entitled to anything, but they could logically assume, that by paying the monthly fee, they don't get excluded from any game content, which is the case here. Even if it was a standalone item, not coming with a new collection, it would still be immoral in my opinion. How does a new collection that comes with it make it worse? Technically, it doesn't. But it masks SE's attempt at making money by shallowly tying it to something else, and as I said before, that sounds like a scam and is disrespectful to the userbase.

It was the same with the Tidal Talisman. I bought that, along with tons of other people. How many of them do you think still owned it after the first day? Do you think SE really expected that it was so popular and that they'd see FFXI fans walk the streets with their new bling? Why do you even think SE bundled it with a real item in the first place? Because it was always their policy to not make ingame content available through real life means. So they simply said that you aren't paying for the ingame item, but for the actual item, with the ingame item being a bonus. It still went against their policy, they knew it, the players knew it, people were annoyed by that move back then as well. Now they took it one step further, and masked it with a rather useless product, at least to a majority of people who will be buying it.

And to the people saying "other companies do something similar all the time", that is not an argument at all.

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Well, I wasn't really responding to you, but.. Since you quoted me.

I don't know what to tell you really. Your stance on this is one I understand perfectly well, but.. it's just the way things are. And my pointing out it's been done before and by other companies or even by SE itself - that wasn't meant as an arguement, that was meant to point out the cold hard truth of the matter.. Which is: This isn't new, this happens a lot now, this is the current direction of the industry.

My arguement was simple, the item isn't worth getting bent out of shape over. Now the MORALITY of this business practice is in a whole other ballpark, and if that's what you (and some others here) are upset about, well.. That's an understandable thing to want to think about and to want to discuss. But as I said, it's common practice these days, it's just the way things are. I don't agree with it either, and yes I find it a bit annoying at times too - it was a bitch in the case of FFXIV to get all of the bonus items in that game.. But meh, life goes on.

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Originally Posted by Yinnyth

I'll say it again. You don't need this hat.

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Agreed

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Originally Posted by Krisan

My argument was simple, the item isn't worth getting bent out of shape over. Now the MORALITY of this business practice is in a whole other ballpark, and if that's what you (and some others here) are upset about, well.. That's an understandable thing to want to think about and to want to discuss. But as I said, it's common practice these days, it's just the way things are. I don't agree with it either, and yes I find it a bit annoying at times too - it was a bitch in the case of FFXIV to get all of the bonus items in that game.. But meh, life goes on.

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I think what kind of stands out here are three things that occurred because of the tsunami:

1) People were asking for a way to give to Japan through S/E
2) People were asking for a way to still pay their monthly fees
3) People were supporting S/E not having a back-up plan for a scenario when their central operations went down, having sympathy for poor planning on S/E's part because of the situation

I think those people, myself included, took those stances because of a feeling of affinity with S/E. It was based on a belief that there was something beyond a pure business relationship. Although S/E is giving an item to those who contributed to relief efforts through them, I think very few expected anything in return when they asked for such a vehicle. I know if the same thing had occurred with a company such as AT&T, I would have had a very different position. I feel like it's pure business with them. Unfortunately, trying to get me to buy something I don't need just to get an item now has made S/E purely a business arrangement in my mind. While it always was that, most companies do not want you to think that. Naive, yes. But, still a reality for many who play the game.