If that's what you got from the post either you're trying to manipulate or you are the one with a reading comprehension problem.
OK, then it sounds good. I am very sceptical when it comes to cash shops because i know the opposite. When the cash shop became the main cash cow then the devs started to prioritize it. A very good example is WoW. Patch 9.1.5 contains only recycled content ala mage tower. And truly new content assets are in a new cash shop mount.
I hope SQEX will never do such things. :)
Cheers
Doesn't matter how much hate something gets if people aren't gonna cancel their subs because of it. It's just extra money.
I appreciate what you're saying here, but a few things (I've repeated this elsewhere, sorry for repetition)
1) A large amount of items offered are from past events. While I would agree they are overpriced, this is the most fair option as a) they can make new stuff for yearly events and b) it rewards players like me who have been loyal through the years by getting the items for free when it was an event.
2) The cash shop items are funded 100% by purchases made to the cash shop. Simply put, without the cash shop, those items you're upset about simply wouldn't exist.
3) All profits from the cash shop go directly back into the game. The money not used on creating new cash shop items (see 2), is used for things like QoL or "nice but not core" additions to the game, the biggest in recent memory being the last expansion of housing wards. The actual money made by the game itself fuels Square Enix as a business, not only FFXIV. The cash shop is the BEST way to ensure your money goes directly back into the game.
4) The game is fairly generous with free rewards. As an example, any new character I make starts with a ton of outfits and like 2-3 Fantasia. Almost every event (give or take Corona) has given something entirely new.
--
Regarding some of your other concerns:
Regarding Viera/Hrothgar: I agree their implementation isn't ideal, but the disclaimer was there on the tin, so to speak. You know what you were in for when you signed up to play them.
Regarding Gender Lock: I also agree it's dumb, but again you know exactly what you were paying for when you bought it. It's clearly marked on each item in the mog store whether they are account wide, single character, men's or women's, etc.
--
So, you can be upset if you want to be, but understand that you're either upset because you don't understand how the cash shop works, or because people are buying things you can't or don't want to spend money on.
It's not because Square Enix is being greedy. It's not because they're developing things for events then skimming them for a profit. It's not because they are removing content/rewards from the game and putting them behind a pay wall.
--
Full disclaimer: I've not yet, to date, bought a single thing on the Mogstation.
I wish the profits went into the game. Then maybe shadow bringers wouldn't have been a huge content drought with half as much to do as previous expansions. >_>
WoW doesn't have a $40 mount or $18 outfits. I'd say FFXIV does it worse, personally.
People keep quoting the Mogstation sales as being a reason why we get content, even though that should be from box sales and subs baseline. Still waiting on proof that these sales go right into Yoshi's hands, but I feel SE has almost Nintendo levels of "naaauuu they're our friends! Not a greedy company that would just lie to us!" I don't doubt a portion of Mogstation sales go back into FFXIV, but so too does our sub fee. It's naive to believe a bank account bleeder like a cash shop isn't funding SE's other projects as well.
All I ever see are people saying so, and no official word on the matter. People can enjoy their $30 whale, but be honest about it.