Wind-up Yotsuyu minion will be for one character only!

I bought this art book for my boyfriend as a birthday present the day it was released on the store under the assumption that the minion would be, as had been the case with all before it, available across his account on any and every char. To be quite frank, I feel cheated that this change has been added to the page nearly a month after its release, and there has been no communication from SE to explain that the change would be made and the reasons why.

I would like to further add to this that there is a multitude of reasons as to why people may want a minion or such on multiple characters, and they have every right to want that when there was a precedent set and the change happens without warning.

Square Enix, please, I implore you to reconsider this change. At the very least, please communicate and give us the real reason as to why this has changed and compensate those who have purchased the merchandise under false pretences.

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Originally Posted by Kazenone

The biggest annoyance for me is that the limitation on the one-per-character was added *after* I put my money down. The cached version of the SE page doesn't have the limitation on it, but the live one does.

Not limited per character:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...tern-memories+

Limited per character:
https://store.eu.square-enix.com/eu/...stern-memories

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Yes, people had checked the artbook page when the change to the orchestrion rolls for the Eorzean Symphony BluRay was noticed. At that time, there wasn't a notice (I believe) for the EU/JP pages. A few days later after the thread was made and moved, it has.

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Originally Posted by ExKage

Yes, people had checked the artbook page when the change to the orchestrion rolls for the Eorzean Symphony BluRay was noticed. At that time, there wasn't a notice (I believe) for the EU/JP pages. A few days later after the thread was made and moved, it has.

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https://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ient=firefox-b - It did not previously.

I'm not sure if this would work, but if certain items that go above a certain price range, are account-wide (Mainly the mounts) whats to say that items obtained from physical purchases should also count, or at least the rule should apply to every single one of them. Nobody is going to buy the odin statue six times for all their characters to have Zantetsuken. Even if it is a minion, the same principle should apply.

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Originally Posted by Endras-Prime

Nobody is going to buy the odin statue six times for all their characters to have Zantetsuken. Even if it is a minion, the same principle should apply.

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Whats to stop them from changing that too? So far they are 2 for 2 out of items released/ing that have changed to this method.

I am going to keep my eye on the 2nd print of the Odin statue and the Shiva statue store pages. No reason they wouldnt change those too.

This book is at least a hundred AUD - and that's if I buy online from the import bookstore in another state.
Mounts which are account-wide are at least 25-30 AUD, from the Mogstation. I cannot say that a book + minion is worth a hundred AUD to get on multiple characters. Which is a pity, because I can see this minion suiting multiple of my characters - across multiple server, so it's not even a roleplay thing. This is a poor choice from whoever made it, and I hope that it's not the case going forward. Even as a Carbuncle Lover, I would not have imported the plushes more then once to get them on all my Summoners and NPC Alts. In fact, I probably wouldn't have brought them in the first place.

And this is a similar situation.

It's pretty simple. I have and probably will buy things I want from the mog station. However, unless it's something specifically for a single character like a server transfer or a name change there is no reason for it to not be account wide. If they really think that it's important to have a single character version they should offer an account wide version for a higher/discounted price. SWTOR is a good example of that. As it stands I'm never going to purchase any glamour or minion or mount item that can only be applied to one character. So, even though I had planned on getting the art book, I won't be now.

As much as I like FF, this shady deal makes me angry. Even though I would never buy things like that. I'm sorry for all of you Hardcore Fans out there.
I wonder why Japan and NA are not affected. I would like to hear what Mr. "please look forward to it " has to say about that move.

I was rather shocked. Got the Symphony for a Christmas gift and started sweating bullets when I realized it was only for ONE character. I can't imagine how people who mess up directing the purchase might feel, especially if they cannot afford a second one. On premium items there shouldn't be this limit, especially where it was seemingly added as an afterthought.

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Originally Posted by zztoluca

I am going to keep my eye on the 2nd print of the Odin statue and the Shiva statue store pages.

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Wait is a second printing of the Odin statue confirmed? I missed getting one and was genuinely sad because I wanted it for itself and not just the emote.

wouldn't mind having the minion as like to collect them but unlike you guys ain't giving SE more $$ for some art book just for a minion when they could put said minions on the mog station for $5 or even $10 for those not interested in buying the music or art book or plush but want the minion

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Originally Posted by Glenfiddich

As much as I like FF, this shady deal makes me angry. Even though I would never buy things like that. I'm sorry for all of you Hardcore Fans out there.
I wonder why Japan and NA are not affected. I would like to hear what Mr. "please look forward to it " has to say about that move.

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JP page has the “one character only” footnote on the product page. As of this comment, only the NA store is lacking said footnote, but I’m sure it will be ninja’d in any day now. I was going to pre-order the artbook with some Christmas money, but now I don’t even want to just to make a statement that I disagree with this change.

I seriously don't buy the technical limitation restriction, even if that is true, they should had work out some sort of solution rather than passing the burden to the customer. Imo, they are testing the waters now and if we don't push back, it will likely become a norm in the future. Unfortunately, unless we get enough people to boycott future physical merchandise or put them under the social spotlight like EA's BF2 and their lootbox drama (I'm aware these two issues aren't of the same scale, just sayin'), it's unlikely that SE will withdraw their decision.

For me? I was initially considering getting the artbook just for the Yotsuyu minion but now I think I'll probably just pass on it. Personally I don't need the bonus on my alt but this double-dipping business decision is just downright awful. I'm just going to vote with my wallet.

My guess they are doing this since they have plans to release the minion on the mogstation in the future. Maybe that is in their intent all along. Have the minion be a timed exclusive tied to the artbook.

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Originally Posted by Awha

My guess they are doing this since they have plans to release the minion on the mogstation in the future. Maybe that is in their intent all along. Have the minion be a timed exclusive tied to the artbook.

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Still doesn't excuse why there's a need to change it to character only. In fact, if that's the case, there's a larger reason to be account wide instead. Like the kupo glamour set from the 16 fan feast. If you get it as a bonus back then, it's account wide. After they add it to the kupo store, it's character only. That way it can be consider a bonus and kind gesture to the people who supported the fan feast while giving new players a chance to obtain the item as well at a higher price.

more upset that I'd have to buy a $40 paper weight for her. That's if the book didn't go straight in the trash if I DID buy it...

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Originally Posted by SokiYagami

snip . . .

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While I agree it does not excuse them, thing is if they can make extra money from people buying more then one artbook now, and in the future having people buy the minion off the mog station and if said change works out for them and they end up netting a profit can you really blame them?

While the whole mog station thing is speculation, from a business perspective it sort of makes sense even though I personally do not agree with it. Though while not proud I am one of those players that buys more then one mount, outfit, and minion for different characters. I also doubt I am alone in this practice. So at the very least I do hope they toss the minion on the mogstation while I am willing to buy more then one minion, mount or outfit off the mogstation I am not willing to buy more then one copy of the artbook or physical product for a digital item.

Sure I hope things stay the same, but if they do plan on going through with this change I do hope they add the item on mogstation.

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Originally Posted by Awha

While I agree it does not excuse them, thing is if they can make extra money from people buying more then one artbook now, and in the future having people buy the minion off the mog station and if said change works out for them and they end up netting a profit can you really blame them?

While the whole mog station thing is speculation, from a business perspective it sort of makes sense even though I personally do not agree with it. Though while not proud I am one of those players that buys more then one mount, outfit, and minion for different characters. I also doubt I am alone in this practice. So at the very least I do hope they toss the minion on the mogstation while I am willing to buy more then one minion, mount or outfit off the mogstation I am not willing to buy more then one copy of the artbook or physical product for a digital item.

Sure I hope things stay the same, but if they do plan on going through with this change I do hope they add the item on mogstation.

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Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not against them putting the minion on the kupo store. After all, I am never a fan of exclusivity. However, these two topics (physical merchandise's digital bonus item going character only & putting said bonus item on the kupo store) aren't mutually exclusive.

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Originally Posted by Alaina

more upset that I'd have to buy a $40 paper weight for her. That's if the book didn't go straight in the trash if I DID buy it...

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Understand you might not be interested in the artbook, but that's something the artist pour their heart and soul into and was brought by your hard earn gil (cash). Maybe try giving it to a friend or someone who might be interested in the book instead? Not trying to tell you on what to do with your gil, but it just felt like such a waste of a good product...

While I have never bought merchandise JUST for the item codes, it IS a major selling point in terms of both buying the merchandise early, and directly from SE. If the codes are no longer account-wide, then I no longer have any incentive not to just wait until I can get the merchandise second-hand at a discount.

Reconsider, SE, this is a terrible change that will cost you sales, especially considering the bonus is made of pixels and costs you no more to give to all characters on an account than it would to give it to one.

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Originally Posted by worldofneil

I don't know how many of us actually buy these products just for the in-game items, but if this change will affect your decision to purchase, please reply here!

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Moneythrowinginairbycelebritiesgif.jpeg

This is very disheartening. I was initially considering preordering the art book myself just for the book itself, wasn't that excited about the minion as Yotsuyu isn't my favorite character and I'm not a completionist collector - but after reading this, I think I'm gonna hold off buying any physical merchandise from them at all, item code or no, until there's a change in this new trend or an apology, word on why such a change would even be considered, something. Because I think the playerbase deserves that at least.

I can understand making items on the cash shop one character only even if I think some of them are overpriced, but I think all items attached to physical merchandise should be account wide because it makes no sense why players should need to order doubles just to get an item on multiple characters across a single account. I'm sure it makes all the sense in the world to SE, but as a paying customer I can't accept their excuse when it brings to mind that thread from a while back where the OP was asking if there was a mistake when he had to choose a character for those orchestrion scrolls. There's shady business practices, and then there's underhanded and misleading representation of shady business practices, and I think that giving a customer an expectation and then letting that customer think they are getting their expectation until after they've made the purchase is something that needs to be addressed. For me, it's the principle of the thing. I just can't support what's being done here.

(Hopefully this is somewhat coherent as I'm posting at 2am. If not, whatever. Just know that I am one who was strongly considering ordering the art book but won't be buying it now because I can't get behind SE's decision or the way they've handled it. )

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Originally Posted by SokiYagami

Snip . . .

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That is the thing from a company perspective it makes sense to make the items single use if they have plans to add the item onto the mog station. Only action we can take as a community is to vote with our wallets, but I do personally feel that those of is that play alts and care about having account bound items are in the minority when it comes to FFXIV. Though if we vote with our wallets maybe we can enact change.

Though I do not see that happening, get the feeling the artbook will still sell fairly well. I can sort of see the mindset behind this change even if I do not agree with it. Just a way to try and maximize profits. In an ideal world I would love for things to stay the same where items tied to physical items are account wide, while upset I am not surprised SE choose to do this.

As I have said if they do choose to keep things this way I do hope they add the items on the mog station so I can buy for my alts without having to buy duplicate physical items.

I enjoyed receiving Account-wide bonuses (minions/housing furniture items, etc.) as a bonus for purchasing merchandise directly from the Square Enix store when the merchandise first came out. There was a large incentive for me because I'd get that bonus across all of my characters.

Now, I have less incentive to buy merchandise from SE because the additional bonus is now very limited, and in some cases, could disappear entirely.

If SE's answer to compensate for the sudden one-character-only limitation is to add these bonuses to the MogStation at a later date, then I have no incentive whatsoever to purchase merchandise directly from SE because it means I can just find a cheaper price on merchandise from a competing retailer and disregard the bonus item because its existence will no longer be limited; the bonus will hold less immediate value; this translates into less immediate incentive to buy the accompanying merchandise directly from SE.

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Originally Posted by Lord_Zlatan

Kind of off topic, but do all 40 characters really need the minion?

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Well what if someone wants to start completely new on another character? Or just start a second one on another server? It might be rare to have someone with 40 characters but having at least one or two alts is probably not that strange. Letting them still be account wide would also hurt no single player.

SE shame on you...it really feels like you are just getting more and more greedy. Why do you feel the need to change something like that? Isnt it already enough that collectors who want everything needs to purchase this stuff?


Edit:

I can already see how they suddenly put this in the mog station (for a way too high price) and people would be happy for that and buy it for their alt characters..which would mean that SE would have made even more money out of this. I do want merchandise items to land in the cash shop because it gives people the chance to own them without buying the merchandise..but not if its single character only, because people who have bought the merchandise in the past would have gotten it for all their characters and now they would need to put more money behind it to get the same result..like milking us even further..

Is SE trying to see if fewer people spending more money will be more profitable than more people spending less money? I don't know. Don't count on this minion later being on the Mog Station though because that has only happened to very few exclusive items. The fact that this being for single character only wasn't clearly mentioned on the product page is pretty shady and worth bringing to people's attention.

In any case, us customers can affect their stats with our buying decisions. If you don't support having to pay for multiple physical items that have no use for you to get digital items, don't pay. If you don't support having to pay for any physical items that have no use for you to get digital items, don't pay. If you don't support single character digital items in the Mog Station or don't support the Mog Station as a whole, don't pay. Maybe those stats will make them reconsider their ways to do business.

Not happy about this. Especially not happy because the change was made AFTER I ALREADY PUT MONEY DOWN. Like, if they have to change all minions and bonuses to one character only, I am okay with that IF:

1. They will be available on mogstation at a later date
2. They explain what is going on and why this change ABSOLUTELY HAS to be made
3. They make the orchestration rolls and yotsuyu minion account wide as the change happened AFTER money was put down.

However, I am of the opinion that bonuses for ALL physical merchandise that we have to pay shipping for should be account wide as a courtesy.

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Originally Posted by Keridwyn

Wait is a second printing of the Odin statue confirmed? I missed getting one and was genuinely sad because I wanted it for itself and not just the emote.

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At least on the Japanese SE site it sold out with in a week. Dont know if they will do the same for other regions.

My compromise that probably no one but me will appreciate. Buy the physical doo-dad and you get an account-wide minion/emote/mount/whatever. You pay that much, you shouldn't have to settle for anything less. Now, later on... maybe a year or so... release a single-character only version on the mog station.

Maybe that last part is a bit self-serving, because I am not buying the physical items no matter what. Even if they were what I consider cheap I wouldn't buy them. Mainly that's because I can do without the clutter in my life. Odd reason perhaps, but hey I never said I wasn't a weirdo. I do like to buy in-game things every now and then, so I would like to see the bonuses available at some point.

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Originally Posted by Camiie

My compromise that probably no one but me will appreciate. Buy the physical doo-dad and you get an account-wide minion/emote/mount/whatever. You pay that much, you shouldn't have to settle for anything less. Now, later on... maybe a year or so... release a single-character only version on the mog station.

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That's literally what they've been doing so far with the few promotional items that were tied to other things (FanFest for instance) that ended up in the Mog Station. SE already did that in the past. Now they're just mucking it up by removing the account-wide from the original version :\

I'm truly not a big fan of this change. If the technical limitation is such an issue then why did they just release TWO mounts that are also account-wide? I can understand the calls to the server when a person makes a new account might be pretty intense (I get a good 60ish mogmails on a new character) but surely people with large amounts of items aren't making new characters so often that it's a massive issue?

A game this size should be able to handle it.

Either way, I think it's shady as all heck that they changed this after people had already put down money on the items and personally it will be stopping me from buying the symphony bluray ... as I already own the CD and would only want the orchestrion rolls , and I can't share estates with my alts so I can't simply put the music in their homes that way.

My thoughts on the matter...

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Originally Posted by TaranTatsuuchi

I've never liked that many of the Mogstation items are character specific...



But...
An item that you have to buy physical merchandise to get, and now those are now only going to apply to a single character?!

I just...
I can't come up with anything to say that I wouldn't regret saying later...

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Originally Posted by BillyKaplan

That's literally what they've been doing so far with the few promotional items that were tied to other things (FanFest for instance) that ended up in the Mog Station. SE already did that in the past. Now they're just mucking it up by removing the account-wide from the original version :\

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Ok then the first part is still valid right? Go back to account wide for those who buy the physical item?

SE has been really shady lately lol they've been changing too many things like this. Even if I wouldn't buy the physical items only for the minion, the fact that they change things like this after opening the pre-order makes me question what direction they're going with exclusive and MogStation items. I don't feel like supporting it anymore tbh.

Bumping this back up to the top alongside the concerns about the code on Eorzean Symphony.

SE, this shady sneaking around and changing things that have had a 4 year precedent for how they work is not okay, and we are not okay with it.

As expected by the community, NA page has been changed disregarding those that preordered before the change. No email to mention it.

https://store.na.square-enix.com/pro...ories-art-book

"This item will be distributed to a single character of your choice on a selected service account."

On a side note Shiva statue still states entire account but the purchase limit has been increased to 2.

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Originally Posted by zztoluca

As expected by the community, NA page has been changed disregarding those that preordered before the change. No email to mention it.

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Thanks, I've removed that line from the original post saying about NA store not updated yet.

Still silence from SE at this point eh?

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Originally Posted by silverlunarfox

Still silence from SE at this point eh?

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You expected something else?

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Originally Posted by Istaru

You expected something else?

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Sometimes they do address concerns. At least the ones that have caught my interest. Ah well...I still want that art book....so I guess I'll leave it.

Like I mentioned before, the only way to get any attention is to either post on the Japanese forums (assuming there isn't a thread already) or ask Yoshi-P directly at a Fan Fest or expo.

The Community Team will never forward these kinds of concerns to the development or marketing teams. Remember, these are the people that basically treat Vegas Fan Fest as a free vacation.

Along with the single character change, there is (for now) no expiration date for the bonus code.