Eternal Bond - Standard Plan and Gold Plan

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Originally Posted by TurnBased

Just throwing this out there but has it even been CONFIRMED that the premium will cost real money?

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From the translation here: "Standard is free, gold plan costs money." - page 10.

^money can mean in-game or real life. Still nothing confirmed from how I see it...

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Originally Posted by TurnBased

^money can mean in-game or real life. Still nothing confirmed from how I see it...

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Why would you have to select a plan on the mog station if they weren't going to charge money? If it was just gil then everything could be done in game. When he said money he most likely didn't mean game money. If you think it is just going to cost more gil for a higher tier wedding you probably going to be dissapointed.

You are PROBABLY correct. If they meant gil, they'd have said gil. But IF you are wrong, which I don't think is likely, then maybe they had it done through the cash shop because of system reasons? They're making you go through the cash shop for the Free version as well, when they could have just made the hypothetical, but very likely cash shop purchase a token you could give to the marriage person when choosing the gold option in game, letting the free marriages avoid the hassle just by choosing option 1 and not needing to hand over the item.

I'm pretty sure what they suggested on the stream was that the Gold Plan would cost 1,000 yen (probably $10 USD), and the Platinum Plan would cost 2,000 yen (probably $20 USD), and each person would be able to choose individually which plan they want (so you can mix and match).

The things that he mentioned about the various plans were: the two-person mount, cake item to go in your house, dress, special hairstyle, special hug emote, a special ring that allows you to teleport to your partner at any time, and a minion. But it wasn't clear what would be in each of the plans, as that'll be explained on the info site when it's launched. They did say that the Standard Plan would be fully-featured, so I don't think it's like all of those items will be only in the paid plans... but again, we'll have to wait to find out.

(You do have to go through the MogStation in any case to start the process.)

Edit: If anyone would like to confirm my listening skills with the Japanese video, it's here, and fast forward to 1:36:25.

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Originally Posted by BunnyChain

From the translation here: "Standard is free, gold plan costs money." - page 10.

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3rd Party unofficial translation sadly can't be counted as source.

As for why it would require the Mog Station? Need to arrange time and day for the wedding with the system do we not?

I for one believe that as a P2P game, the only fee I should be paying should be the monthly fee. After that, I should be able to experience EVERYTHING the game has to offer.

I detest the optional retainer service as well as the fact that there is now a cash shop with minions and mounts.

But I won't jump to conclusions that the Eternal Bond will require real money. There is nothing revealed so far to that effect. If it is indeed revealed to be cash shop then I will be as vocal as the next guy against it but until then, I giving SE the benefit of the doubt.

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Originally Posted by TurnBased

But I won't jump to conclusions that the Eternal Bond will require real money. There is nothing revealed so far to that effect. If it is indeed revealed to be cash shop then I will be as vocal as the next guy against it but until then, I giving SE the benefit of the doubt.

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They definitely said 現金 (genkin) = cash. It's at 1:36:49 in the Letter Live Stream. So at least that part is for sure. The Standard Plan is free, and the Gold/Platinum cost money.

This was pretty certain to be the case anyway, at least for the mount, because giving away a free two-person mount would hurt the reward for the invite-a-friend feature.

Cash can still mean ingame cash, unless someone fluent in Japanese can correct me.

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Originally Posted by TurnBased

Cash can still mean ingame cash, unless someone fluent in Japanese can correct me.

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We will find out Monday for certain and then get a full translated letter a by the 19th or so, just in time for another Live letter.

if it was gils, they had all the week for say it... strangely we didn't get any news.... then i will not hold my breath about that.

ps: actually they have gone silent since the live letter.

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Originally Posted by silentwindfr

if it was gils, they had all the week for say it... strangely we didn't get any news.... then i will not hold my breath about that.

ps: actually they have gone silent since the live letter.

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TBH I have a feeling that I see less and less answers from devs and if they answer they answer only to some glamour (or not important stuff) related topics. I would really like if they faced the truth that many people are disappointed in informations about eternal bond system and atleast gave us some statement..

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Originally Posted by StrejdaTom

TBH I have a feeling that I see less and less answers from devs and if they answer they answer only to some glamour (or not important stuff) related topics. I would really like if they faced the truth that many people are disappointed in informations about eternal bond system and atleast gave us some statement..

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It's obvious they don't like to respond to sensible topics. With all the White Knights they don't have to. They also waited till last sec to tell us about it. It's a really sad move.
I guess they din't really learn anything from the 1.0 disaster. It seems one year was enough for them to forget about it.

Looking forward to the crash of the game for a second time.

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Originally Posted by TurnBased

Cash can still mean ingame cash, unless someone fluent in Japanese can correct me.

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That wouldn't make sense because elsewhere in the video he talked about the items that you get in the quest and said they wouldn't be too expensive, and one of the items you could get a crafter friend to help you with (if you're not a crafter yourself), so there will be some in-game cost to it no matter what. In this case, it was contrasting the free-of-charge plan vs. the ones that cost money. In the video he even said "sorry, but the gold and platinum plans will cost money". Later on in the video he talked about the 1000 yen and 2000 yen price points. So yeah... I can't see how he could be referring to gil.

(They also said in the video that all would be explained on the info website when it launches, so to wait until then for more info. That's probably why they aren't saying anything else yet, since the said to wait for the site to launch.)

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Originally Posted by polyphonica

That wouldn't make sense because elsewhere in the video he talked about the items that you get in the quest and said they wouldn't be too expensive, and one of the items you could get a crafter friend to help you with (if you're not a crafter yourself), so there will be some in-game cost to it no matter what. In this case, it was contrasting the free-of-charge plan vs. the ones that cost money. In the video he even said "sorry, but the gold and platinum plans will cost money". Later on in the video he talked about the 1000 yen and 2000 yen price points. So yeah... I can't see how he could be referring to gil.

(They also said in the video that all would be explained on the info website when it launches, so to wait until then for more info. That's probably why they aren't saying anything else yet, since the said to wait for the site to launch.)

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2000 yen = 14 euros, tbh I expected them to put price like 50 euros. :D :D

like said countless time before, and it will be too late when it will be online... because take it out from the game will take more work than simply modify it before put it into the game.

what sad me more and in a way upset me, it's the number of time they are doing stuff like this sneakly, it's the third time that we get sensible subject treated like this. first it was the personal housing, promised to be different than FC housing and after it was the cash shop.
worst, i begin to wonder if the game will really stay a subs game, Cash shop+freemium option sorry but... i believe less and less in the futur of the game. what it's a huge trouble since it's them jobs to make us believe into the game.

them communication have become worst and worst as time pass...

ps: one good question is, the 2 player must pay? because it means 4000 yen for 2 person feature it's totally a rip off...

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Originally Posted by silentwindfr

ps: one good question is, the 2 player must pay? because it means 4000 yen for 2 person feature it's totally a rip off...

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Each person would pay, but only if they want the items. For example, it's not necessarily the case that both players would want their own two-person mount, because it is a two-person mount after all... If one person got it, they could both use it when together. (Likewise with the cake that goes in your house. If only one person has a house, do you need two cakes?) I suspect not everyone is going to want all the fluff, and they emphasized in the stream that you wouldn't need any of it to do the full process, but it was only for people who wanted extras/frills.

Two reasons can explain the silence:

They specifically stated they were trying to prevent any means of pre releasing patch information prior to the patch in order to prevent what happened last time with the sudden market disaster prior to 2.4. If this indeed required Gil (selective service on Mog Station used to help organize the quest requirements and item deliveries), then not only would they have to deal with the backlash of whatever price it would be with Gil (housing, relic weapon, mastercraft demimateria, anything really) as well as the off chance of Gil purchasing from RMT source to help get the head start for reserving the wedding slots (which they are doing quite well in fighting). We have seen this issue happen time and time again, so to keep silent in regards to this dilemma makes since.

Second point (same person, sense instead of since) involves the development team using this silence to observe the feedback in the initial response. They could be using this chance to plan the content based on the speculation and doomsday saber rattling from the general community. If it turns out it was real currency for the other plans, they can have the time to adjust the outcome. Sell the vanity items separately, remove the plans system all together, have everything bought in game with Gil, or even go ahead and release it the way it was originally going to be release, which we still have no general idea in regards too. Even if real currency is used, those who do not care about the price will get the opportunity to do what they want. One thing I honestly do not see addressed is in regards to the plans possibly allowing people the chance to get priority time slots. Here is the beauty of it: I have not seen anyone think about this and it doesn't matter, because we do not know.

Bottom line: we do not know, in English, the hard facts. I was going to go into the state of the internet in general (please, stop texting people across the room from you and turn around to talk to them), but no one will care and instead claim this one idea, with no impact on stats or general equipment used to go into Coil, is more destructive to the future of this game then say something even worse not even in the confines of this game.

Get the facts before you complain and start worrying about how net neutrality is going to hurt you more then showing your friend you love them with a cake.

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Originally Posted by Starlord

Putting a Big feature like Marriage behind a paywall isn't what I call Cosmetic. Please don't give me the "it's free" deal because they are most likely putting the biggest things that every couple in-game would probably want behind a paywall. When it should be in game. Minions? Fine Holiday items? sure Mounts? pushing it a little A Big feature like Marriage.. That's where I cross the line.

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Funny thing is, you say minions and mounts are fine it, yet the paid version is the basic wedding with the addition of minion, a mount and clothes. Doesn't jive man, doesn't jive.

Well, my last post was deleted. So either the devs are taking a vested (and reactionary) interest, or it just mysteriously vanished into the aether. Ironic, since it mentioned how much I care for the game and didn't want it to end up in a bad place.

No reports from the Japanese forums about this particular topic at all? Have they received anything additional that we've not had translated yet? Are they as disappointed / confused? We don't know anything other that there are three plans, two are paid for (gil or real money) and that it's done via the MogStation. Everything else is speculation. Guess all we can do is wait and see.

Skimming over the Japanese General Discussion, most people do not seem fussed about the cash shop at all. Their thread about the cash shop degenerated into people talking about how cool Sleipnir is and how they want to see stuff like Cloud's bike and beast tribe cosplay available and hoping for minion sets instead of just having them available individually. There are people who don't like it, but it tends to be more of a "aww I was hoping it would be free but oh well" or "Sleipnir is kind of expensive" sort of thing.

The one thread about the Eternal Bond system on the most recent two pages is people asking questions about it, like whether you'll be able to invite friends from other servers. No mention about the different plans or money or anything of that sort whatsoever.

EDIT: Going back a little further, there is one thread with people who are upset over the fact that there will be paid plans, but that's it. All of the outcry is contained in that single thread. 99% of General Discussion at the moment is about things like favorite NPCs, a fanart contest, the Starlight Celebration, and changes and improvements people want to see in Heavensward.

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Originally Posted by Ilitsa

Be that as it may, it's like that now.

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With all 100 players left.
A dead game with a bad developer that had no other choice isn't exactly the same as a successful game with a huge player base that actually listens to its players for the most part. Most games that have gone for cash grab schemes like that are dying. That's why I said it wasn't like that before. They screwed up so they tried to make as much money as they could before they have to trash it.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

Not even close to the same situation / reason for going full on into the cash shop.

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Originally Posted by Cynric

With all 100 players left.
A dead game with a bad developer that had no other choice isn't exactly the same as a successful game with a huge player base that actually listens to its players for the most part. Most games that have gone for cash grab schemes like that are dying. That's why I said it wasn't like that before. They screwed up so they tried to make as much money as they could before they have to trash it.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

Not even close to the same situation / reason for going full on into the cash shop.

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Its really only a few vocal people on the English forums that make a huge fuss over microtransactions. For example out of 70 people or so in my FC nobody even cares about it. Most of the people that play the game don't care about it. Most of the JP players do not care about it.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

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I've seen plenty of people fussing but we all pretty much said the same thing in my fc. As long as there's no pay to win stuff then no real reason to care much.

The only thing I personally think weird about this situation is that the extra plans didn't really seem necessary, especially if it's just for mount/minion/slightly more detailed clothes. Me and my friend already decided that we were gonna go ahead and pay for it, so i'm not really in the camp of caring much about it being a money thing. I just find it a little odd to even make separate plans in the first place.

However like I said to the person I responded to in the first place. I was pretty much just responding to the comment about GC, I also didn't mean to go as off topic about it as I did so I apologize.


The only thing I would think is a little bad for this is how much they over hyped that double mount. People seem pretty upset at the chance of that costing money.

I don't like this move in their business practices.

I don't think it's going to fly too well if it really IS only 10 dollars because then that means Sleipnir is supposed to be worth twice as much as a two seater?
Doesn't make much sense.

And then there's the hellish possibility that it's going to cost both real money AND gil, at that point it's just plain considering your customers as garbage. More has to be on offer if that ends up being the case.

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Originally Posted by Ilitsa

Difference being that F2P tend to lock key game progression behind cash shop. Let's take Grand Chase, for example. You get 4 free character slots, and have to pay to unlock any subsequent character after that. you have to pay to unlock skill trees for the characters, pay to be able to upgrade your armor.


Don't like that example? How about this one:

Grand Fantasia. Inventory expansion, items to increase the success of your crafting/upgrading, all vanity options, pets.

There is a world of difference between optional cosmetic options and a F2P's MMO's cash shop locking QoL and inventory space behind their cash shops.

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You do realize that they paywall inventory expansion in this game too right?

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Originally Posted by Anatha

I don't think it's going to fly too well if it really IS only 10 dollars because then that means Sleipnir is supposed to be worth twice as much as a two seater?
Doesn't make much sense.

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Nah Sleipnir is account-wide. The draught chocobo will surely only be for the character that's eternally-bonded and buys the plan. (And, that said, we don't know if it'll be in the Gold or Platinum plan.)

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Originally Posted by Anatha

And then there's the hellish possibility that it's going to cost both real money AND gil, at that point it's just plain considering your customers as garbage. More has to be on offer if that ends up being the case.

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The central part of the ceremony is in-game, so there will be some aspects that cost some gil. (They also mentioned one aspect requires crafting.) The real money payment doesn't let you bypass the in-game quests, just gets you bonus items. (Which is why, you can just choose to do the quests and get the in-game items (dress/ring/etc.) and not pay any cash.)

They said in the past that it'd be crafting related, except in the live letter that was nowhere to be seen, along with quite a few radical changes.

We don't know the extent of the benefits conferred by paying money and should never err on the side of trust when it comes to multinational corporations. I'd rather assume worst case and be wrong than trust a corporation under the misguided belief that they give a shit about me.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, this isn't going to stop here, and they shouldn't have done it here either. It IS a cashgrab, and an unnecessary one, they don't need the money. It'll just go straight to cash shop items until there's a full range of hell to pay.

Their intent to monetize everything they can is clear, we're most definitely not getting a paywall free Golden Saucer, so I have no real idea what we really have to be excited about for the next 4 or so months.

After reading a good majority of the responses to this product (not a conflict, but a product), I have started to wonder whether the people so hell bent on fighting this are really doing it to protect the game from pay to win (stupid slogan I might add) or to keep a game completely leveled. If it is truly the first mark, you have worse things to fear then a couple of pets most outside a select few would even want considering we have Fat Cat and Nutkin now. This makes me believe this is a crusade against allowing people to flaunt purchased vanity items period.

Before you say this is missing the point of a "potential evil growing," look at most business and more so recent political motivations in recent months. Corporations exist to make money in order to continue providing a product. Politicians are voted in to represent and protect their nation's citizens and laws. Some do it good (warranties, protection plans, refunds and recalls with compensation) and others do it pretty bad (broken products without compensation, lousy customer service support, price fixing, political stalemating, proprietary practices). I state this because the development team behind this game are simply that: politicians overseeing their own nation and businessmen doing what they can to ensure it can remain stable and afloat. Remember this during my next points.

When looking at the cash shop now, we see three types of services: content, adjustments and improvements. The content is a series of minions, mounts and costumes. The adjustments are renaming, character changes and server transfers. The only real improvement is the introduction of the additional retainers, which you have two of in game. What does this service provide? Two additional venture opportunities, two more random names in the market place and 175 more inventory slots per character. Analyze each one of these:

Ventures are limited by a timer, so two more ventures gives you more opportunities not just for a specific class type but allows you to also have one of each. You can do the exact same thing by making an alternative character and leveling it high enough to unlock two retainers. This point pretty much fits all these issues now that I think about it.

Paying for more retainers for any of these reasons can be off set by making an alternative character, which based on your subscription type allows up to eight characters on a single server. Would you then say that paying the additional cost for the extra character spaces is just as bad as paying for more retainers? If you looked at it this way, then yes. What really then is the difference? There is none. A person has the option either way to spend his time leveling another character to offset the instant availability on one. How much worth do you see in it. This is basically my bottom line: how much you value something. I have a separate account with six characters on it, each with a crafter and gatherer to allow a maxed desynthesis and another map. By the logic of pay to win, I am in the wrong due to having another account. Am I though if I leveled it the exact same way, pay the same monthly fee as everyone else? No. I just worked to offset the limitations.

Which limitations? This game has a limit to coil accessibility per week, maps can only be gathered every 18 hours, retainers are only able to be one class for a venture and I am sure there are a few I am missing. Each one of these issues can be offset by one means only: making an alternative character. That is it. The previous point about more retainers: making an alternative character is the exact same thing as buying two extra based on the logic of pay to win, but it comes as an option with the subscription, so why not complain about that? (Also know that it is two per character per account so literally it is four for one, eight for two, but that is besides the point).

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Originally Posted by FateAudax

Get your facts straight. Marriage / Eternal Bond isn't behind a paywall. The cosmetics is. Damn these haters are going blind from all the hate to a point of fact twisting.

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As far as you know of. We don't know if there will be any restrictions between Standard and Gold/Plat. Again this is a P2P game, we shouldn't be spending extra money on something we are already paying. Sorry accessing servers isn't really a valid, Accessing the servers to use what is in the game. Taking stuff out of the game and putting it behind a paywall cosmetic or no is just greed in my eyes.

F2P needs a cash shop to survive.
P2P game when we have a healthy fanbase playing it doesn't need a cash shop. Adding a cash shop when you are making a huge profit as it is, is greed.

People need to understand the difference between a pay wall and vanity selection. A pay wall is when content is restricted based on circumstances, not when content is available but certain items with no impact to said content is restricted. You are going to get your ceremony regardless, you just don't get to keep the cake. Understand that. Realize that. You are paying, if that is even the issue, for mounts with no increased speed from any in-game mount, pets that cannot even be summoned in dungeons and a piece of furniture most people wouldn't place in a house anyway. Each one of these items offer no advantage in points, do not restrict you from experiencing any content (mounts and pets do not unlock coil) or make you have to wait less to do something.

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Originally Posted by Drew_Moneroth

When looking at the cash shop now, we see three types of services: content, adjustments and improvements. The content is a series of minions, mounts and costumes. The adjustments are renaming, character changes and server transfers. The only real improvement is the introduction of the additional retainers, which you have two of in game. What does this service provide? Two additional venture opportunities, two more random names in the market place and 175 more inventory slots per character. Analyze each one of these:

Ventures are limited by a timer, so two more ventures gives you more opportunities not just for a specific class type but allows you to also have one of each.You can do the exact same thing by making an alternative character and leveling it high enough to unlock two retainers. This point pretty much fits all these issues now that I think about it.

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120 more shards and 40 more crystals every 40 min and varying amounts of extra mats for crafters, 40 more Market Board slots to sell items, adding up to a listing of up to 80 items at once, not to mention the gambling chances of Quick Ventures. Sure, extra shards, crystal and mat quantities are arguably not that game breaking, but the convenience is still there especially for the rarer mats like say Pudding Flesh or Ochu Vines.

If you're a crafter, 80 total sale slots are pretty substantial allowing you to earn more profits, since you can buy decent gear with those profits, perhaps not the best of the best for PvE but it's still gear there's that borderline P2W aspect. Notice the borderline part, because Yoshida only considers selling Coil and tome tier gear P2W, anything below is fair game according to him, so let's give him that. For DoHs and DoLs though it's certainly is the best gear and there's no other way to get most of it unless you craft it and meld it yourself and that also requires buying the mats in the first place unless you also play around with RNG, and those extra profits from those extra retainer slots can certainly help.

You also can't mail items or money between alts, you can get around this with an FC chest and if a friend helps you for sure, but you don't have to if you rent the extra retainers. Thus more of that P2Convenience aspect that's part of most P2W cash shops.

If you want to know what a pay wall truly is then look at F2P games in general. Some give you the game right out the bat while others (looking at you light saber game) actually make you pay to even enter locations or play a PvP match more then once a day. Honestly, if we are paying a subscription, why not complain about the price of expansion packs? The argument fits, so why not go after Heavensfall for being a pay wall in regards to the new class? It really baffles me anyone can blow up over something like this (ironic considering I am trying to do the same on the opposite side, spoilers) when you are not losing anything.

Square Enix announced the Eternal Bond and the community exploded based on the speculation of the type of marriage it would offer. It was constantly demonized for one reason or another (not naming it because it is apparently bannable), but like right now, no facts were released to prove what it would offer or be. We waited and received our answers, and still their was backlash from some over others. Everyone will not be pleased about it, but guess what the difference is between the backlash of the initial announcement to what we have now? Anyone and everyone can participate in the show of friendship. Period. If it turns out we have to pay to even do so, that is a pay wall. If we have to pay to get a cake, that is a vanity item. I honestly see this entire argument more so as an excuse to bring up select persons who hate the following: