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

[Tsuneo]

*Headesk!*
This is really silly. So much crying over silliness. So this is the state of our playerbase? Whiny kids who feel like they're entitled to everything just because they're paying for a service they've already been getting.

Whining about whining

[Arcon]

*Headesk!*
This is really silly. So much crying over silliness. So this is the state of our playerbase? Whiny kids who feel like they're entitled to everything just because they're paying for a service they've already been getting.

I don't feel entitled to it, and I think most people here don't, I don't know why people keep saying that. This is simply about fairness, loyalty not being rewarded, but the opposite, being punished for it and a central aspect of the game SE is messing with here.

[Randwolf]

*Headesk!*
This is really silly. So much crying over silliness. So this is the state of our playerbase? Whiny kids who feel like they're entitled to everything just because they're paying for a service they've already been getting.

This is where I think the point is missed on some people posting here. I don't disagree with the entitlement. The reality is the majority of players feel entitled. Because, quite frankly, the only thing S/E really has to provide is service to fix any bugs in the content. They don't have to add updates. They aren't required to create add-on's. Really, once you buy the original content, they could be finished with you. So, I agree with you on that point.

The difference is how some people interact with S/E. Not everyone looks at it as pure business. A lot of people believe they have a relationship with S/E. They feel they've been there through the bad times and did not waiver in their support. I still remember calling GM's on obvious RMT in the game and S/E's script was "We understand that making claims on NM's is difficult." Thus, saying it was all in your head. It took them years to admit the problem. And only after the great inflation caused by the purchase of gil was affecting their business. There were quite a few people who quit during that period. There are a lot of other things that S/E has corrected since Abyssea and most the long-time players have been saying there was a problem all along. Personally, I donated to the Japanese relief effort through S/E not for the item but because I felt I had a relationship with S/E and thus a Japanese company. I went and saw that horrible Final Fantasy movie. Not because I wanted to see the movie but because it was something S/E put out. If I didn't care about S/E, there is no way I would have paid money to see that movie. Again, it was horrible.

So, yes, it probably is a sense of entitlement. What a lot of the posters are saying is that it is not a sense of entitlement based on purely paying a monthly fee as well as having bought the content at full price. It's the sense, albeit a false one as this move reinforces, that there is a relationship between S/E and long-time players which is not purely business. Again, not a realistic belief, since on the cognitive level, we all know businesses care about nothing but profit. But, people still want to believe that if they've been a long-time customer, that a company is appreciative of that fact.

[Glamdring]

It's a collectors edition item made specially for this bundle, you really expect to get it free?

If they didn't bother to make the bundle the item would of never been made anyway and if people complain too much over such a silly item they probably won't bother to make anymore.

It's no different than buying all the star wars DVD's singularly and them making a bundle package a few years later giving some special item with it, it's a collectors edition bonus item. They are trying to make the game more pleasing for people coming back or trying it out.

You know, I might actually buy this thing. I've bought every expansion on this game within a week of its release over the years meaning I have multiple discs and a HUGE update download everytime my computer has a fail and I have to reinstall, about every 18 months. Getting a more current version that won't require me to take essentially 1 full day RL to put the game back in might just be worth it; especially with no plans on the horizon for new expansions.

And I could care less about the hat.

[AyinDygra]

The issue here is much broader than this one item that people think is cute, or wanting the nice bonuses on it.

There are two converging trends that have met at this point.
1) This is a subscription based game. We expect content in the game to be within reach of everyone paying said subscription. Expansions are the only fair and acceptable money-based gateways in such a payment system.

There are free to play games that cost no monthly subscription or box price to install the game. These games make all their money based on fashion items, consumables to enhance gameplay, and gear that offers benefits other players do not have access to unless they buy them.

When a subscription based game tries to mix these business models, it becomes a sort of "double-dip" profiteering scheme that makes people rightfully angry, especially since FFXI has been so against RMT type activities, only to engage in something similar to it themselves (allowing money to give players an advantage within the game; be it teleports or fashion items, or boosts to low levels - in a game where everybody can level every job, and remains in those "low levels" once for each job).

2) The second issue is a horrible trend in the view of customer loyalty. Releasing episodic content patches in tiny chunks and that cost more separate than they do in a bundle when the "set" is completed, and on top of that, after reducing the price, bundling it with all previous content, AND giving people who buy this compilation a bonus item... all for less money... and then expect long time players who own the "sold item" already (bundled content) to buy the bonus item to justify the cost of producing the compilation.



I like having all the installation disks compacted and up to date with patches, that's fine. The price point may also be where SE wants it to attract new players... that's fine. I get it; SE wants the barrier to entry lowered so people pick up the game and continue their subscriptions. It's a solid business strategy.

The point here is then to give the bonus item to the people who ALREADY PAID MORE for the existing content as it was released in smaller bits over time.


In the future, I am going to be much less likely to purchase these "epsidodic content patches" (I refuse to call them expansions at this point), until each set is completed, reduced in price, bundled with previous updates and expansions, and given a nice bonus item. -- Is this what SE wants? -- No, I don't think so. If they don't, they had better think harder about these marketing decisions.

[Kaych]

I'm curious if people would be as outraged if SE just offered the in-game item for $20, with no attachment to anything else. I think they would make a mint on cool in-game items to buy for RL money and never understood why they don't do it more often. /shrug

When the three first add-ons came out, poeple felt that they finished them too fast and that they "payed" for the augment item. SE stated that this was never theyr intention. They dont want people to pay for ingame items. The only exception to this was the chip some of us bought to improve the security of the game. A bonus for this was the Mog Satchel.

So after this statement SE made, I am disapointed with them that they say now "You can get the item by buying the Abyssea add-on series again...."


I'll try and find a link in the intervju they said this. Hate when people make statements and dont back theyr stories up^_-

[Kimble]

I don't understand why people think SE is doing this to fund FFXIV. First of all, do you think SE is so poor they cant support FXIV till they get the bugs worked out? I highly doubt they are trying to nickle and dime their XI users to pay for XIV.

[Fincat]

When the three first add-ons came out, poeple felt that they finished them too fast and that they "payed" for the augment item. SE stated that this was never theyr intention. They dont want people to pay for ingame items. The only exception to this was the chip some of us bought to improve the security of the game. A bonus for this was the Mog Satchel.

So after this statement SE made, I am disapointed with them that they say now "You can get the item by buying the Abyssea add-on series again...."


I'll try and find a link in the intervju they said this. Hate when people make statements and dont back theyr stories up^_-

Back my "story" up with what? What story?

[Randwolf]

I don't understand why people think SE is doing this to fund FFXIV. First of all, do you think SE is so poor they cant support FXIV till they get the bugs worked out? I highly doubt they are trying to nickle and dime their XI users to pay for XIV.

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/charts/charts.asp?ticker=9684:JP
I'm no finance specialist. But, it doesn't seem like a positive ledger to me. I'm sure someone with knowledge of these things could certainly interpret it better.

[Seriha]

+1 voice feeling existing players should be given the hat.