Just Curious why SE never took a vote from players on what we want in Cash Shop?

Just thought about this question while reading another cash shop thread. Personally I don't condone any cash shop in this game but that's not the point of my question.

Why didn't SE actually let us vote on what we really want as a cash shop item or not? Let a players poll be the deciding factor and not just some random let's throw this in there. A vote is much easier to obtain and requires less comments hence more players would probably vote than open a thread about cash shops.

I would if I was SE take a census vote on exactly what we really want in this cash shop. That way the majority of players can really have a say. If we don't want the item in there as a majority then it should not be in there.

Square Enix has been saying all along that this game would be nothing without the players support over the years. Our money but also our input was expressed as appreciated. All the feedback we given the game so far for it to be what it is. Let us decide on what does and does not go in our cash shop.

Edit: As of reading this thread I see alot of players assuming I insist that they give player choice and not run the business as SE see fit. Im not asking for anything more or less than what has already been afforded to us over the past few years. They have already said numerous times they want and need our encouragement and recommendations on what direction this game should take. It's not my words it's theirs. They do in fact want us to vote. Maybe it can be with subbing or maybe with buying from cash shop idk. I just think they need to know that a vote on what items goes into this cash shop might be better overall than the surprise attack right before the patch.

Because everyone would want everything to be free.

Because then players would say "what was the vote for if you still added the stuff". $E rather add the stuff than ask the players if they want them to add the stuff D:

They announce it late so players have already made purchases and then there's no going back lol

They didn't even talk about the $$ wedding version on the Q&A the moderators posted lol

Because it's their game and they can do what the want. The question is what will they do after this shit storm to calm players? Maybe nothing, maybe something.

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Originally Posted by AdamFyi

Because everyone would want everything to be free.

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Wut... how is anything free if we already pay a subscription?

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Originally Posted by Razzle

Because then players would say "what was the vote for if you still added the stuff". $E rather add the stuff than ask the players if they want them to add the stuff D:

They announce it late so players have already made purchases and then there's no going back lol

They didn't even talk about the $$ wedding version on the Q&A the moderators posted lol

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Nonono, it's not $E, what is this, 1999 with M$? It's $€ there you go.

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Originally Posted by Magis

Wut... how is anything free if we already pay a subscription?

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Path of least resistance... Also, sub. fee increase. I'd prefer the fluff we're getting now over my sub fee going up periodically.

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Originally Posted by Tannlore

Path of least resistance... Also, sub. fee increase. I'd prefer the fluff we're getting now over my sub fee going up periodically.

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Sorry? /10char

I have a feeling that the majority of people would actually WANT more stuff in the cash shop. Instant gratification and all.

I mean...

There are some people who argue that since they pay a subscription, they should be entitled to everything in the game that become available to them. (I mean...WoW has a CS and I don't see anyone complaining...)
then theres...
The people who say that the Cash Shop is completely optional and if you don't like it, don't buy it.

Thing is, the cash shop is there for vanity. I'm pretty sure that's been established in the past but I may be wrong. It can't be game breaking/changing (promoting a advantage over players).
If you were just talking about vanity, then people just gotta make a huge thread for SE or a Community Director to notice.

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Originally Posted by UltimateAoe2

I mean...

There are some people who argue that since they pay a subscription, they should be entitled to everything in the game that become available to them. (I mean...WoW has a CS and I don't see anyone complaining...)
then theres...

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From what I heard from a friend, there in fact was a lot of complaining and even more when some horse mount was released.

I'll parrot others here: people would rather scream "No cash shop!"

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Originally Posted by Magis

From what I heard from a friend, there in fact was a lot of complaining and even more when some horse mount was released.

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I have no idea what the deal is with the Odin mount...I mean..well..
Did they expect it was going to be a drop from the new Odin Primal Battle that was shown in Las Vegas? If so...I guess I could understand but, it's totally optional ;___________;.......
Hell, I got it cause I like to look big :x.

Se doesn't need the player's approval to do anything. They are going to put things in the cash shop that they feel would best the company's interest.

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Originally Posted by Magis

Sorry? /10char

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Path of least resistance. i.e. I pay a sub, so I should get everything straight up for free. No effort, etc. Honestly, there ARE people who expect this. Why work for the stuff I feel is tedious, I pay a fee, give it to me now. This kind of mentality.

Wow another cash shop complaint thread. I guess there wasn't enough of these already. Well I'll take that as a cue to take a break from the forums if this is all people want to discuss.

Maybe it's because people keep saying things like "OMG I REALLY want this item/feature/etc. I'll even be willing to pay real money for it!!!"

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Originally Posted by Magis

Wut... how is anything free if we already pay a subscription?

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Well, judging by the current state of the General Discussion section of the forums... xD

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Originally Posted by Black91CRX

I have a feeling that the majority of people would actually WANT more stuff in the cash shop. Instant gratification and all.

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Exactly this. There was a big enough demand from the players already, that's why they implemented it. What we see on the forums is the minority of the minority. Since most subscribers don't visit these forums.

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Originally Posted by UltimateAoe2

I have no idea what the deal is with the Odin mount...I mean..well..
Did they expect it was going to be a drop from the new Odin Primal Battle that was shown in Las Vegas? If so...I guess I could understand but, it's totally optional ;___________;.......
Hell, I got it cause I like to look big :x.

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I was talking about WoW, but to your reply... yes everyone I talked to expected this. If every primal has a mount drop why wouldn't Odin? "Totally Optional" is different to who you talk to. Some people don't care about raiding, is that "totally optional"? How about crafting? Gear? Housing? The only thing in this game that isn't "optional" is the main scenario since you need it to unlock everything. So while you may not care (and heck I don't either) about mounts, there are others who are angry that their slice of content is now being thrown behind a paywall. Now with EB also getting sliced up, players will have to ask every content trailer:

"So what exactly here comes with my sub, and what is behind a paywall?"

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Originally Posted by Tannlore

Path of least resistance. i.e. I pay a sub, so I should get everything straight up for free. No effort, etc. Honestly, there ARE people who expect this. Why work for the stuff I feel is tedious, I pay a fee, give it to me now. This kind of mentality.

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Regardless of how SE implements said items, it won't be free and everyone still has an equal chance of getting items. Outside of RMT there is no way to cheat that.

The people arguing against the cash shop aren't saying they should all get every minion in the mail for free... they want the opportunity to at least have a chance to get said item. So I guess you can say: We are already paying the subscription and will even "work" for it too!

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Originally Posted by cookiecutter

Wow another cash shop complaint thread. I guess there wasn't enough of these already. Well I'll take that as a cue to take a break from the forums if this is all people want to discuss.

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/confused How come you are even reading this thread? You can skip the threads that don't interest you. This is for people who do want to discuss the cash shop.

This needs be said only one time.
The binding contract we all clicked "agree" to without reading the many long pages, lets SE do what they want, when they want, how they want.
SE does not need to ask you anything, about anything they do. You do not even have rights to your account you pay for. SE can if they see fit
double the subs, terminate all accounts, and sell anything hey want to for as much as they see fit.

SE is not accountable to the play base, as far as the legal contract we accepted is concerned. Any accountability SE does, is in good faith that's it.
This all means that SE can come and remove all the Cash Shop threads, or any thread for that mater with out giving reason.

End of the day, we agreed to SE's terms, meaning that love or hate what they do it is with in their right.

i would actually like to see the items you get when you buy other products, CD's, Art book, Plush, etc... in the cash shop. cause basically you have to pay real $$ for the items anyway, and i don't really need the soundtrack or book and such but i would take the items. old promotion items i would not be opposed to either, like pre-order bonuses and i'm not sure what else but i'm sure there are things that are not otherwise obtainable in game that were given away outside or normal gameplay

Even though you pay a sub, It isn't your game. They made it, its theirs. They don't have to ask our permission or get us to vote on whether or not the company wants to generate more income.... What a stupid thread. ITS A BUSINESS!!!!! Why can't anyone on this forum see that!!! You guys are delusional.

Boiling frog anecdote, it's easier to slowly introduce stuff and announce it a week or two before its implementation out of nowhere than to tell that frog you're going to cook it well in advance and then throw it into boiling water.

For every future item they would still want to add to the cash shop, they should bring the item ingame and just increase the sub by 10 cent for each item for everyone who want it.

Because players want to pay with the sub for this items, right? ^^

Because you don't get to vote on everything that gets implemented in a game. End of story.

Just curious why you think they should? It's their business. They can do what they want.

Also, there were numerous posts requesting such things over the last year. They knew enough people wanted it already.

Why do ppl hate the cash shop so bad? i mean no one makes you look at it. Dose it hurt you to see other players with cash shop stuff is that it? i'm lost as to why this bugs ppl so much for me i'm all for it i don't always have a ton of gill so its nice to know i can get somethings with real cash and i'm sure there are others like me out there

because this thread was created by a secret agent to really figure out what people would want to see...

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Originally Posted by Mogi

Why do ppl hate the cash shop so bad? i mean no one makes you look at it. Dose it hurt you to see other players with cash shop stuff is that it? i'm lost as to why this bugs ppl so much for me i'm all for it i don't always have a ton of gill so its nice to know i can get somethings with real cash and i'm sure there are others like me out there

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It bugs people because the only way to get the items is by paying real cash for it. Just like how you don't have a lot of gil and want the option to buy the items with real money, some people don't have a lot of real money and want the option to earn/buy the items with time/gil.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you could obtain all of the items in game, even if they were for absurd amounts of gil like housing, there would be a lot less people complaining. Right now it doesn't bother me because I'm not that interested in vanity anyways, but it's pretty obvious why it bothers people.

The thing that makes me wonder is, they say that they used to do polls because there was no forum, so they said they did polls since we had no forum to post our wants/needs/etc on. YES THERE WAS. If you google FFXIV player poll results, you'll see the poll was posted on the forums and the results too!

Something isn't making sense. Maybe a miscommunication or something. Either way...they really need to bring back player polls...imho anyway >.<

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Originally Posted by DoctorPepper

It bugs people because the only way to get the items is by paying real cash for it. Just like how you don't have a lot of gil and want the option to buy the items with real money, some people don't have a lot of real money and want the option to earn/buy the items with time/gil.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you could obtain all of the items in game, even if they were for absurd amounts of gil like housing, there would be a lot less people complaining. Right now it doesn't bother me because I'm not that interested in vanity anyways, but it's pretty obvious why it bothers people.

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Well then i guess just like if i want gill i have to work my bum off to get it ppl will have to do the same for the cash shop then right? it be unfair to take it Away because everyone cant afford it just like it be unfair to take away rare stuff because some ppl don't have the time to do raids and end game stuff

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Originally Posted by Mogi

Well then i guess just like if i want gill i have to work my bum off to get it ppl will have to do the same for the cash shop then right? it be unfair to take it Away because everyone cant afford it

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Suggesting that it's as easy to make real money as it is to make gil in this game is an unfair argument. Depending on your previous work experience and the location that you live it can be very difficult to get a job that pays more than minimum wage.

I wasn't saying it was fair to take away the cash shop, maybe you're misunderstanding me, I'm saying it's unfair to offer items for cash if there are no other ways to obtain them in game that don't require personal wealth. If you live in a place where jobs are easy to come by and they pay more than minimum wage then so be it but I can pretty much guarantee that not everybody is that lucky.

The cash shop itself isn't what bothers a lot of people, it's the exclusivity of the items in the cash shop. There are 2 things people don't want to see in a cash shop for a subscription based mmo in my opinion. The first would be items that give you an advantage over other players, and the second would be items that are not obtainable in the actual game by any other means.

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Originally Posted by Mogi

Well then i guess just like if i want gill i have to work my bum off to get it ppl will have to do the same for the cash shop then right? it be unfair to take it Away because everyone cant afford it

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People want to take it away because it seems like they'll be putting things there that won't be available in-game. If they had the items buyable through both Cash and In-game currency (gil or NPC trade in or whatever), then it'd be great.

Players with lower wages can work hard to get enough in-game currency to buy it in-game. Players who have more money and don't feel like waiting can buy it. Why not give the players a choice? (a real balanced choice, not an unbalanced choice of get an inferior service for free, or a superior service for money only) That's all they need to do - provide a real balanced choice.

But Doc that still is not a valid reason to scrap the cash shop sometimes in life there's stuff we just can't have. Just because we pay a sub don't mean we should get everything or that SE should not have a cash shop because in the end the cash shop helps make this game stronger i feel for the ppl that can't pay for things they may want but that is life is it not? Anyway i'm sorry if i sound a bit rude to others who may not have the $$ for the cash shop but i still love what there doing with it

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Originally Posted by Mogi

But Doc that still is not a valid reason to scrap the cash shop sometimes in life there's stuff we just can't have. Just because we pay a sub don't mean we should get everything or that SE should not have a cash shop because in the end the cash shop helps make this game stronger i feel for the ppl that can't pay for things they may want but that is life is it not?

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I specifically said that I don't think it's fair to scrap the cash shop, you asked why people have a problem with it. In my opinion, the response I gave is a pretty sufficient answer to that.

I don't think they should scrap it, I think they should re-evaluate their decision to make cash shop items exclusive to the cash shop. There is no possible way for them to make everybody happy, that would be the only happy medium I can come up with. The biggest reason people are so offended by the cash shop is because the items are exclusive to the cash shop in my opinion.

To make it clear, I also don't think that you should just get things for free because you're paying a sub. I think you should have to work for them either by putting in time and effort or by earning gil in game. I highly doubt that the majority of people asking for cash shop items to become available in game expect to just get them without putting in any effort.

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Originally Posted by DoctorPepper

Suggesting that it's as easy to make real money as it is to make gil in this game is an unfair argument. Depending on your previous work experience and the location that you live it can be very difficult to get a job that pays more than minimum wage.

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Well you pay a monthly sub for a video game, If you can spend money on that you should be fine right...? If video games is a priority for you.

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Originally Posted by Vondoomervil

Well you pay a monthly sub for a video game, If you can spend money on that you should be fine right...? If video games is a priority for you.

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You shouldn't assume that. Everyone needs a form of entertainment. Maybe those people that can't afford cash stuff have a budget where a subscription fits, but then they don't do much else. Or maybe the extra money they do have, they'd rather save up for emergencies.

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Originally Posted by Vondoomervil

Well you pay a monthly sub for a video game, If you can spend money on that you should be fine right...? If video games is a priority for you.

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I'm sorry but I don't agree with that, if people come up with a budget that gives them around $10-20 a month for entertainment they're already doing everything they can to spend their money wisely. Odds are you can't give me any examples of entertainment that are cheaper than this game.

Just because you can afford a sub doesn't mean you can afford the cash shop content, is it really that unreasonable to ask that cash shop items are not exclusive to the cash shop?

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Originally Posted by Squintina

Maybe those people that can't afford cash stuff have a budget where a subscription fits

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The cash shop is Optional. No one is forcing them to spend money on it, If you are on a budget, don't buy it. Rather then moaning about not being about to afford something they don't need.