Buying character slots?

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Originally Posted by Hyrist

Character information is still stored server wise, and seeming you're talking about more alts specifically on Balmung, do you realize the information bloat that would happen on the RP server if that were possible? Remember, they back up their entire database at an incredible rate, so storage isn't the only issue, it's backup.

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Doubtful.

Then again, this is a game that cries "but data storage issues!" for things that any other MMO manages without blinking, so perhaps you're not so far off, in one sense... I'll never understand that. -_-;

@Clover: I wholeheartedly support your post. :) More alts is never a bad thing, and starting on a new server is not a good option.

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Originally Posted by reiichi

So another 8 characters with it's own account would still be cheaper than adding 8 slots at $2 each for 30 days.

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... what. Your math? How is a purchase to unlock an additional character slot AT ALL cheaper than buying and maintaining the subscription for an entirely separate account??

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Originally Posted by Bixillarla

It would never be a one time fee. Look at the extra retainers, it is $2 per month. It would be a monthly fee per extra character if they did add this feature, they have to maintain that extra data each month and will charge you for it monthly.

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That's silly. In any other game, unlocking additional character slots IS a one time fee.

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Originally Posted by Knahli

I only level one job per character for starters. While I appreciate the convenience that if offers everybody else, I'm not taken on the whole 'Your character is the master of everything' concept and I find that certain classes and appearances simply suit different races and sexes. My main is a Bard with level 60 Crafts/Gathering and that's it. She'll never level another job for actual gameplay purposes. In addition, while the character creator is not the most mind-blowingly diverse and liberating experience I have come across, I really do enjoy FF models and designs so I am always eager to make new characters. When I want to play a different class, I don't just press a button and be done with it, I change to an entirely new character - something I believe helps mix things up a bit and offers me a buffer from the burnout that a lot of people complain about; and honestly, as much as I love this game, I can't blame them. The same character every day, for every class doing the exact same thing since day one? Always having just the one particular glamour arrangement if any at all? Not having to work for different sets on a multitude of characters? I find that extremely limiting, to the point that even I might struggle with just that.

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I really do not envy you on obtaining cross class abilities.

I re-obtained blood for blood and swiftcast on one alt and wanted to die from just that.

I also wonder how people even have the time to manage so many characters. I feel overwhelmed with things to do with just the two.

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Originally Posted by Vivi_Bushido

Knew this was a Balmung post lol. The server already has an over population problem. Last thing we need is to make that worse by allowing people to have more alts. There's a reason the server is locked and this will not improve that problem. XD

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How does having an alt contribute to the population? You are aware that you cannot login on two or more characters simultaneously, right? Once you log off to change to another character, the previous character becomes irrelevant.

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Originally Posted by JumperX

then the two accounts idea could be good. Just have one account activate per month. they will need to select which one you want activate in that month.

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Originally Posted by Knahli

...I will occasionally log in for events and the like...

...Having a secondary sub... I'd need a VERY good reason to log in on any character...

...I can't just do so on a whim like I would at present so that makes the price tag 100% not worth it...

...it's not a case of making a character, playing them once and then getting bored...

...I go through phases where I will give some more attention than others...

...character creation is crucial to my enjoyment of a game...

...It's simply something that helps bring this game to life for me...

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Originally Posted by JumperX

If they tell me, " WELL my friend and I want to play the character I have on the other, OMG I can't decide!!!" then that is a problem because it shows the incapability to decide what they want.

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You can attempt to trivialise the matter all you want with condescension but it won't make your argument any more compelling, if anything it suggests an inability to objectively debate a point. You don't have to like or support the suggestion at all, but if you're going to post replies then at least offer something that isn't based off of some self-appointed position of superiority. Just because the request caters to a niche group, it doesn't make it any less credible to at least explore the option of it. It's not as though this was ever tackled before and the Devs said it would take a lot of time and resources; all I want is for the request to be acknowledged and have it's viability determined.

Assuming you played several classes regularly but you could only choose two or three to unlock for the subscription period, tell me how petty and "incapable of deciding" you'd deem it to be when halfway through the month you feel that you wanted to use your BLM to fit into a new raid composition for a day or two, all while not regretting your initial choices.

Feelings are not so mechanical and linear. I can't predict what I will want to do tomorrow, next week or six months from now. What you're suggesting is that I am somehow fickle for buying orange juice every day for two weeks in a row and then one day deciding that I just want a regular bottle of water for a change.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

This part I agree with, though. If you're going to have that many characters, it doesn't hurt to branch out a bit. Meeting more people along the way can be a good thing.

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Naturally it sounds like something worth trying and I can't fault you for looking at it that way ^^ Though at least in my case, I'm the type of person who sticks with a few people and doesn't really endeavour to meet new people all that much. Sometimes it happens and of course it has over the years and I do not regret that at all, but it's not a goal of mine and I am quite happy with just sticking to my own little group. Games are for me to spend time with the people I know, not so much meeting new ones - again though, not that I see it as a bad thing! So in short, I wouldn't really go out of my way to get to know people in either case.

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Originally Posted by Naunet

That's silly. In any other game, unlocking additional character slots IS a one time fee.

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I think her point was simply that she didn't expect SE to take that route were this idea considered, which is an unfortunate but fair point really.

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

I really do not envy you on obtaining cross class abilities.

I re-obtained blood for blood and swiftcast on one alt and wanted to die from just that.

I also wonder how people even have the time to manage so many characters. I feel overwhelmed with things to do with just the two.

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Do you really think so? Leveling to 60 on every class is already more than what I have done altogether! So cross-class skills only balanced it out I imagine. Plus these weren't all created at once but over a three year period! In fact, one character is still level 50(waiting on someone) and another is 56.

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Originally Posted by Knahli

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That is why you plan what you want to get. I am not saying a person will never change their plans, but in most cases you won't. How about you are going to work and then out of the blue, you say, "hey I don't want to go to work. I am going to use my sick hours to just skip a couple of hours or a day or two." SE could try to add more things, but we already know that it is a feature they won't likely put.If I were to play in a game that I am forced to pick one class/job per character, then I will select the jobs I can optimize, and my group will do the same. It is the dumbest idea to think that a static group will recruit people with the same jobs to rotate. People playing that game already know the limitations given by the game.

If you have the money to spend in an apple and orange juice then go for it, but if one of the drinking juice is more expensive than the other and my income is limited, I will have to stop, think, and decide whether or not I can buy more then one drinking juice or the more expensive one. You always work with the resource/income that you have. FYI I never said that the idea is bad, BUT I would prefer SE to work in other features first before we even consider with "I want to have different looks and level alt characters because I already maximized my current main ones."

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Originally Posted by Naunet

... what. Your math? How is a purchase to unlock an additional character slot AT ALL cheaper than buying and maintaining the subscription for an entirely separate account??

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Re-read his quote.
An account with 8 characters being cheaper than an additional 8 characters at $2 each for 30 days.

Disregarding the startup of buying a license for ARR ($20) and Character transfer ($18), on a month to month basis if you use 16 character slots

A month's subscription to FFXIV with 8 characters per world is $14.99
8 characters at $2 per is $16.

$16 > 14.99

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Originally Posted by Naunet

Doubtful.
... what. Your math? How is a purchase to unlock an additional character slot AT ALL cheaper than buying and maintaining the subscription for an entirely separate account??

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You may want to check your wording there. Because you know, adding a single character if it was allowed -would- be cheaper. I didn't argue that. I argued a very specific case.

And yeah, math. It's scary sometimes. It's OK though. I'll get pictures ready.

Last year, FFXIV 2.0 was on sale for $6. Newegg had a sale and they put a limit of 5 per customer. $6. Right there. It's still been packaged up with Humle Bundles too, which can be even cheaper. In the case of the most recent one, I paid $9 for a bunch of games and they happened to throw a copy of FFXIV in too. Collective value? More than what I paid. Still cheaper than buying the game elsewhere.

Still assuming that an additional character slot was priced like a retainer, and that altoholics are going to eventually max out the number of slot available, it's still cheaper in the long run. How many of those characters are likely ever going to make it to Heavensward? Even the expansion goes on sale though. The cheapest I've seen it has been around $20. I don't think it's a stretch to hold off on buying the expansion unless you -really- need 9 or more Au Ra because the main account's maxed out.

So, math part. This is still assuming of course, using all additional slots and not quitting the game. (Let's say a year).

http://i.imgur.com/8wcKE37.png


Whoa there. It paid for itself. Even heavensward if planned for the long-term. And that's simply assuming additional characters were priced like retainers. What if they made additional slots $3? Or $4? It'd easily pay for itself. Sure, yes. Things that are account-wide would be lost. No Legacy items. Or Veteran's Awards. Or SE-store items. But would every single character need every single one of those? All the time? Probably not.

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Originally Posted by Naunet

That's silly. In any other game, unlocking additional character slots IS a one time fee.

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Haha, that's cute ;)
You are a bit like a child that still believes in easter bunnies and Santa - so full of faith :o

Everyone else knows SE well enough by now :rolleyes:
Considering they billed you monthly for extra character slots in the past, bill you monthly even for something basic like retainers, please don't get any unrealistic hopes about non-continous payments for additional character slots if they ever do get implemented again.

@the actual topic:
I personally think 8 is plenty but wouldn't mind such a service for those who want it either.
Except for Balmung players. There are way too many characters on that server already anyway.

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Originally Posted by Atoli

Haha, that's cute ;)
Except for Balmung players. There are way too many characters on that server already anyway.

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Lots of players doesn't really affect a server all that much. Lots of logged-in players does. That's why the server closes for character creation.

It could be better. Square-Enix could probably allow creating more characters on servers you've already got existing characters on. I mean, you can only have one character per account logged in at any given time. Storing a few more probably wouldn't make that much of an impact because character data would still have to be store -somewhere-. And it's far more likely that there's a central pool of data that stores character information which is then passed to the lobby server which is then passed to some sort of world manager server which then gives a zone server information to load your character. But we don't really know the server architecture. Only guesses.

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Originally Posted by reiichi

Lots of players doesn't really affect a server all that much. Lots of logged-in players does. That's why the server closes for character creation.

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I personally think the creation restrictions is probably because upon completing a character you automatically log into the server - and on servers where there is so much congestion that people are always filling the LOG IN QUEUE - you cannot make a new character.

So I believe the restrictions are because of people LOGGING IN and not people ON THE SERVER (which is why character transfers are fine) so it very well might be because of altaholics on Balmung that are always switching between characters that is the reason the server is never open.

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Originally Posted by Atoli

Considering they billed you monthly for extra character slots in the past, bill you monthly even for something basic like retainers, please don't get any unrealistic hopes about non-continous payments for additional character slots if they ever do get implemented again.

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You do realize that the reason SE does this is because players like you have decided to accept it and that it is expected?

By the way, insulting me isn't appropriate.

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Originally Posted by Terrini

So I believe the restrictions are because of people LOGGING IN and not people ON THE SERVER (which is why character transfers are fine) so it very well might be because of altaholics on Balmung that are always switching between characters that is the reason the server is never open.

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Unless SE's poptart servers are even worse than they appear to be (burned up poptarts? toasty crap?), and SE themselves is even more incompetent than I thought, there is no way that the relatively infrequent occurrence of someone logging out and switching to a different character would cause ANY sort of server congestion.