Originally Posted by
Nalien
Define what the core game is. Surely it's the part of the game you enjoy the most, the thing which keeps you playing? In which case, surely it differs from person to person?
I know a few people who enjoy collecting things far more than anything else in the game. People who'd do Coil just to get the Wind-up Louisoix more than anything else. Fairly sure their "core game experience" has already been pay locked given minions were the first things to get locked behind Mog Station, or soundtracks before that.
And yes, I'm well aware Yoshida said they wont go too far with it. Do I trust him though? Sadly, not anymore. I remember when veteran rewards were our cash shop, and then they added the cash shop (in an alternate reality we probably get rewards every 30 days still and all the cash shop minions/mounts/dyes are gated behind subscribing for X days, which I find fine). Heck, Retainer Ventures in the same update that let us buy two extra Retainers was already pushing it further than 2.45 has. Two extra Retainers. Two extra lots of Allagan Silver Pieces to instantly convert to Gil. Double the chance for (expensive) minions. That is an advantage, albeit small. I doubt we'll ever see powerful gear in the cash shop, but I'm certain they're going to continue to push the limit of what they can dump in there.