Buying character slots?

Hello! First of all, I must confess: I'm an alt-aholic. FFXIV offers a lot of diversity, and I just love playing with all the different races. Furthermore, it is possible that any new race will be released in the future, which means that people like me will want to make new characters without sacrificing their actual ones.

If I remember well, we can have up to 40 characters per account, however, we can only have 8 per server. I've already used my 8 slots, so for my next character I'll be forced to start anew in a completely different server without my friends.

In this situation, I'm wondering if it would be possible to surpass the 8 characters limit by buying extra character slots. Let's consider that, even if I had 40 alts in a single server, I could only play 1 character at a time, so I (perhaps in my ignorance) don't have the impression that this would result in a negative impact for the servers themselves. Please correct me if I'm wrong though!

Thank you for reading.

I am exactly the same ;;;; I adore creating characters despite the extra trouble it can mean with having to run through the MSQ all over for instance, but for me, that trouble is easily worth the reward. I love chasing different aesthetics and getting excited when I see specific, new armours that might suit X or Y character, it can simply make any patch all the more exciting when you know it's going to have something for at least one of your characters. Currently, I am also locked behind the 8-character restriction per server. And don't get me wrong, I feel SE have been very generous with allowing you to create up to 40 in total and 8 per server, but the truth is that those extra 32 slots are near-useless to me. I am comfortable and happy playing on a high-population server and any other one I have visited to test character designs(due to creation locks) just feel like ghost towns, and that's IGNORING the fact that you're leaving all of your friends and affiliates behind.

Ideally, I'd love them to allow more of the 40 characters to be accessible on a single server. If it were free then I'd be overjoyed, but if it was a matter of paying a fee akin to enhancing your account with retainer services then I would accept it, for it would be much better than nothing.

As it stands, I am almost hoping that I do not like the new race simply for the fact that it would mean playing elsewhere but I feel that this is an issue that could be very low-impact and still make a lot of people happy. Please consider this, SE! ;_:

Definitely wish there were more slots, myself. I would buy at least two more, most likely.

I'd buy more slots!

I'm definitely behind this!

I feel like it's unnecessary.
8 Character slots per server is a lot already and we already got enough additional services and stuff on the mog station.
What do you people even do with that many characters?

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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

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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.

And there is no guarantee that the money would go towards server storage and backup processes either.

I'm an altaholic too but I'd actually recommend you repress the urge some.

Also, being able to roll on other servers gives you a chance to meet new people, so why not take the opportunity to branch out some?

I dunno why but I just KNEW this topic was created by someone from Balmung
and the most 1+ replies will also be from Balmung and people who say meh aren't
like Sayori, I knew it lol.

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Originally Posted by Sayori

I feel like it's unnecessary.
8 Character slots per server is a lot already and we already got enough additional services and stuff on the mog station.
What do you people even do with that many characters?

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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.



(...I can't remember how to use spoiler tags ; )


http://puu.sh/qWInE/780a7a1904.png


These are my characters and they are quite different from one another in terms of aesthetics I believe(if you can get past that the chosen screenshots somehow make many of them appear peculiarly brooding). It's not just some copy and paste where only the name, race and sex change all for the sake of having "that" race and "that" one too. Like many people, character creation is crucial to my enjoyment of a game. I love playing around with it and trying new things and looking forward to content in patches that can offer something to ANY one of them. While not very good at it, I love taking screenshots and taking a stab at editing them too. It's simply something that helps bring this game to life for me so rather than spending all my time waiting for new content and things to do, I like to occasionally invent them on my own.

At the very least, I think it would be great if there were enough slots to cater to at least one of each race and clan if you need to find some excuse to justify the number. There are six races as I recall? So that would be twelve slots altogether. Two slots for a Sunseeker and Moonkeeper, Xaela, Raen, Midlander and High.... etc etc.

To the players who supported the idea, thank you very much!

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Originally Posted by Sayori

What do you people even do with that many characters?

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We play them (?_?)

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Originally Posted by Hyrist

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Ah, thank you for explaining! I didn't know it'd be troublesome to the servers.
On the other hand, I'm not sure if it'd be more of a burden to the servers than a new player paying for a server transfer, yet server transfers are still allowed >_<
But I don't really know how these things work, so I guess that there are good reasons for the character limits every game has. It's still worth a try, just in case the devs ever consider such a feature.

As for right now, there's naturally no other choice than to start anew in a different place. It's simply not easy to leave my friends and Balmung's lively atmosphere behind. But, of course, I'm still very thankful that we can make many characters, even if we have to move to different servers.

Buy FFXIV when it's on sale for cheap and open a second account? If we assume that additional slots cost the same as a retainer ($2 per slot), it's actually be cheaper to just get another account in the long run, especially if another 8 characters are made.

As a refresher, the standard subscription costs for non-legacy people are:
30 days: 14.99
60 days: 13.99
180 days: 12.99

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

The same caveats would still apply. You'd need need to transfer them to Balmung, which bunches of new players already are doing. It'd at least offer you the chance to temporarily unsubscribe from an account of all the characters you were currently playing were on one account as well. (Assuming veterans awards are not a concern).

If you're willing to actually pay for more character slots, then you consider just buying a second account? You can pick up the base game pretty cheaply at times and although you'd have a second monthly subscription fee, you were willing to pay more money anyway and that'd give you 8 more character slots per server. It also has the advantage of being able to log on one character from both accounts at the same time (I don't know if that's useful to you, but it is something you wouldn't be able to do with a single account).

You can also attach a new service account to your existing Square Enix account (up to 8 service accounts per main account) which means you'd even have the same login details and you can choose which service account to use by going via the data centre option from the main menu (so you can just log out to change characters/account without having to shutdown/restart completely).

The big downside though is Heavensward Expansion would need to be bought again, if you need to get them past 50 etc.

Edit: I got distracted whilst typing and looks like someone beat me to it with this suggestion! :D
Just throwing out another option anyway :D

Thank you for the suggestion! I actually didn't know about attaching new service accounts, it sounds interesting.

The possibility of buying a new account did cross my mind at some point, but was quickly discarded. I think it's too expensive and crazy, especially in the long run, since I'm always subbed to this game. Maintaining two accounts for several years (and buying every expansion for each of them) might be a bit too much ;_;

In any case, thank you very much for your messages ^^

buying single character slots was only possible during 1.x (3$/month each slot, inclusive the first one)

Wait, so it was an actual feature in the past? O_O
In that case, perhaps the possibility of it being implemented again isn't 0! Thank you for the information; I never played the original FFXIV, so I didn't know.

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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

Wait, so it was an actual feature in the past? O_O
In that case, perhaps the possibility of it being implemented again isn't 0! Thank you for the information; I never played the original FFXIV, so I didn't know.

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yes, but not many bought more than 2 slots (because 3$/month each slot). Majority played with just 1 slot.
8 slots would cost you 24$/month just for the slots.

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Originally Posted by Felis

yes, but not many bought more than 2 slots (because 3$/month each slot). Majority played with just 1 slot.
8 slots would cost you 24$/month just for the slots.

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Yes, I think that the monthly fee isn't that much of a good idea in the long run, especially for people like me who plan to stick with the game for years (that'd be the most expensive character ever, haha x_x)

My initial idea was a one time purchase of an extra slot in the server of my choice, so that I can play one of my 40 free characters in that slot. Technically, I'm not asking for a 41th character; it wasn't about purchasing more characters than what I'm initially allowed in my account. And just for the record, I personally wouldn't pay a monthly fee for a character I can play for free in a different server. As I said, it's not a good idea in the long run.

I currently pay 25USD, but that's due to 8 retainers.

I think FFXI used to charge per character too.

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Originally Posted by Knahli

http://puu.sh/qWInE/780a7a1904.png

These are my characters and they are quite different from one another in terms of aesthetics I believe(if you can get past that the chosen screenshots somehow make many of them appear peculiarly brooding). It's not just some copy and paste where only the name, race and sex change all for the sake of having "that" race and "that" one too. Like many people, character creation is crucial to my enjoyment of a game. I love playing around with it and trying new things and looking forward to content in patches that can offer something to ANY one of them. While not very good at it, I love taking screenshots and taking a stab at editing them too. It's simply something that helps bring this game to life for me so rather than spending all my time waiting for new content and things to do, I like to occasionally invent them on my own.

At the very least, I think it would be great if there were enough slots to cater to at least one of each race and clan if you need to find some excuse to justify the number. There are six races as I recall? So that would be twelve slots altogether. Two slots for a Sunseeker and Moonkeeper, Xaela, Raen, Midlander and High.... etc etc.

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I admit, I admire your... patience. I don't RP but I would totally LOVE to have my non-healer classes on a different character or maybe just have my 3 favorite Races all leveled up to healers or something else instead of always using a Phantasia every few month because I feel a bit different, but I can just can't bring myself to go through the whole MSQ and even worse all the dungeons to unlock the roulettes again...
Your characters are all very characteristic and I totally get why you enjoy it so much and I think it's a wonderful way to make the game never get boring to you. I notice whenever I get somewhat bored and find myself login on less, a lot of time it's because I grow a little tired of my character, I start changing my glamour and always end up using a phantasia to switch race and afterwards I play a lot more again, simply because I just... well I don't even know, but I just enjoy it again.
And there are some races I'd like to play but I know they are not for me as a main, like a male char for example, but having a male leveled alt as something I totally wouldn't mind... but yea... I don't have the patience and/or time to do the whole MSQ and unlocking part again... :|.

It shouldn't be that expensive. Are you planning to play all those 16 characters each month and all the time? You could always cancel one sub to activate the other sub.

The idea you are referring to reminds me to swtor. They have the character slot, but they do have a limited too. You can't make over 12-13 characters in a server. They still limited F2P players to the limited character slots sub player has.

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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

Yes, I think that the monthly fee isn't that much of a good idea in the long run, especially for people like me who plan to stick with the game for years (that'd be the most expensive character ever, haha x_x)

My initial idea was a one time purchase of an extra slot in the server of my choice, so that I can play one of my 40 free characters in that slot. Technically, I'm not asking for a 41th character; it wasn't about purchasing more characters than what I'm initially allowed in my account. And just for the record, I personally wouldn't pay a monthly fee for a character I can play for free in a different server. As I said, it's not a good idea in the long run.

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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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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

As for right now, there's naturally no other choice than to start anew in a different place. It's simply not easy to leave my friends and Balmung's lively atmosphere behind. But, of course, I'm still very thankful that we can make many characters, even if we have to move to different servers.

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I know how you feel. I have 13 characters, 4 on Balmung, 8 on Gilgamesh and 1 on Coeurl (a little clone that I made there for ENTM server parties) but while it might be nice to have more on one server, I do think it may actually amount to more effort and cost in the long run, because I doubt they would do such a thing as a one time fee. And it is a bit of a load to deal with all of them come events... I only have most of them leveled to 30 because of events and only one character at 60. but each of them is precious!

Ah, just a note. The game allows you to have 2 retainers per character for free. You have to pay a monthly tax if you want more retainers than you're allowed. Likewise, the game is supposed to allow 40 characters for free. As I mentioned, my idea was just to buy a slot so that I can play 9 of my 40 free characters in the same server, not to make more characters than my account allows. Just like server transfers are a one time thing, this should be too; it's basically like transfering one of my free slots from another server to the server of my choice.

This is how I personally see it, anyway (or how I'd like it to be, haha ;; )

Terrini> *Laughs* You're right, playing many alts can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. Though I find it a lot of fun too, and they make me enjoy Eorzea much more; they always give me things to do in this game. As you well said, alts are so precious, haha ^^

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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

Likewise, the game is supposed to allow 40 characters for free.

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Supposed to? It does in fact allow you to have 40 characters per account but at the same time it also says 8 character max per server. So SE is giving person exactly what is stated.

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Originally Posted by Lexia

Supposed to? It does in fact allow you to have 40 characters per account but at the same time it also says 8 character max per server. So SE is giving person exactly what is stated.

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I never stated otherwise, and that's exactly why this thread was made, to ask for the possibility to have more than 8 characters per server. Sorry if my English wasn't clear, I'm not a native >_<

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Originally Posted by yexie

I admit, I admire your... patience. I don't RP but I would totally LOVE to have my non-healer classes on a different character or maybe just have my 3 favorite Races all leveled up to healers or something else instead of always using a Phantasia every few month because I feel a bit different, but I can just can't bring myself to go through the whole MSQ and even worse all the dungeons to unlock the roulettes again...
Your characters are all very characteristic and I totally get why you enjoy it so much and I think it's a wonderful way to make the game never get boring to you. I notice whenever I get somewhat bored and find myself login on less, a lot of time it's because I grow a little tired of my character, I start changing my glamour and always end up using a phantasia to switch race and afterwards I play a lot more again, simply because I just... well I don't even know, but I just enjoy it again.
And there are some races I'd like to play but I know they are not for me as a main, like a male char for example, but having a male leveled alt as something I totally wouldn't mind... but yea... I don't have the patience and/or time to do the whole MSQ and unlocking part again... :|.

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Ahhh... that embarrassed me a bit, haha ;; Thank you, and I'm glad that someone who isn't in the same boat as me can still feel as they can understand where I am coming from, or why people would find enjoyment in it despite the hassle it can admittedly be. Frankly I enjoyed the FF story and I've re-watched a number of cutscenes on occasions through alts, so maybe that's part of the reason why it seems more bearable to me. Don't get me wrong, it can be tedious at times - especially when without a mount at the beginning - but to me at least, I think I would be more worn out from leveling alts on the same character through fate and dungeon grinding; so in the grander scale of things, the MSQ option feels a bit less taxing to me somehow.

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Originally Posted by JumperX

It shouldn't be that expensive. Are you planning to play all those 16 characters each month and all the time? You could always cancel one sub to activate the other sub.

The idea you are referring to reminds me to swtor. They have the character slot, but they do have a limited too. You can't make over 12-13 characters in a server. They still limited F2P players to the limited character slots sub player has.

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To be perfectly honest I don't even play all of my eight characters that regularly. I go through phases where I will give some more attention than others but will otherwise focus my interests around the two or three characters I would consider my Main Group. My lalafel for instance doesn't get that much attention but I will occasionally log in for events and the like or just to take silly screenshots with my friend's lalafel because, like me, she loves that sort of thing and when she has any random idea I'm free to login at any time and go about helping her. Having a secondary sub... I'd need a VERY good reason to log in on any character there because it would come at the expense of a whole month's subscription. I can't just do so on a whim like I would at present so that makes the price tag 100% not worth it to me I believe.

While it's not a case of making a character, playing them once and then getting bored(albeit remaining sentimental), it's certainly not that I actively juggle all or even most at once - I am not that insane, haha. Nor do I remain on top of gear progression and the like. I have grown a little tired of following that so religiously considering how irrelevant it is for non-raid content anyways so even those in my 'Main Group' are somewhere between i210 and i220.

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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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While not ideal, I would still accept this. With retainers, you can choose if you want to re-sub them for that particular month and you can activate them at any time. So that way, even if they are technically locked out one month later on down the line, I need only pay for the character(s) I want unlocked at the time if I am not interested in playing x or y character who also remain locked. Granted you can't choose 'which' retainer in that example, but I would hope characters would be different were this route taken. I'd still love a one time payment option, regardless of how steep it was(I'll easily pay the same price as a mount honestly), but beggar's can't be choosers so I wouldn't rule the additional sub out.

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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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

I never stated otherwise, and that's exactly why this thread was made, to ask for the possibility to have more than 8 characters per server. Sorry if my English wasn't clear, I'm not a native >_<

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Well since SE usually operates on the majority it seems, I highly doubt it will ever happen since the game been out for 3 years already and most player most likely don't have even use the full 8 character slot.

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Originally Posted by Knahli

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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. 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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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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Well, if this is really getting in the way, they need to fix their backup process. Of course, they need to have backups of everything, but only the characters who are actually logged in are changing and need to be re-backed up frequently. As already pointed out, no matter how many characters you have, only one can be logged in at a time, so only one should need it's back-up copy to keep being constantly refreshed like that.

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Originally Posted by Hyrist

Also, being able to roll on other servers gives you a chance to meet new people, so why not take the opportunity to branch out some?

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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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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.

Quote:

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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.