To Steam, or not to Steam.. that is the question

Good evening everyone.

Strange question. I myself installed FFXIV and have been playing via the Steam client for years. Truth be told I'd rather I hadn't, for.. reasons.

Anyway, the daughter of a friend of mine wants to play. She was asking me advice and I told her that if you purchase through Steam, there is no going back.
I thought the process is difficult/confusing enough (ever watch Asmongold's video on how hard it was to get the accounts set up, game installed and playing?)

Curious if any of you have any strong opinions either way, Steam or not. Any regrets over using via Steam?

It looks easier to go "native". Create an account at SE, buy the game, add the game to the account you created's subscriptions tab, and play.

Also - aren't there kind of severe limitations to the FREE option? Like can't /tell, trade, us the MB, stuff like that?

Only got to do the set-up once, and then you got the better version overall.

Honestly go with the regular version. the steam version is beholden to steam actually *being able to verify information*.

I have most of my games on Steam, but I rather have MMOs out of it. Just a personal preference to not have all games in one basket :)

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Originally Posted by Mosha

Only got to do the set-up once, and then you got the better version overall.

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What do you mean?

There is no reason to be restricted by Steam. Buying games away from a platform like Steam protects you. If they wanted to, they could delete your entire library or they could go bankrupt. The Steam version has had a lot of problems recently.

The one case in which I would recommend the Steam version for someone is if the monthly sub is significantly less expensive in their local currency on Steam than going directly through JP/NA/EU SquareEnix. If this is the case in your locality, by all means, go through Steam and save some money. If this is not the case, stay away from Steam.

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Originally Posted by TattersailNightwish

What do you mean?

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TLDR once you buy it through Steam, your account is locked to the Steam version. Meaning you can't get the game off of Square Enix directly on PC, only play it through Steam and Steam alone. You can play it on a PS console apparently.

Also, if Steam isn't launched prior, you cannot access the game.

A fluke and set of restrictions that allegedly exist because of Steam's contract with Square Enix.

That said

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Originally Posted by Rongway

The one case in which I would recommend the Steam version for someone is if the monthly sub is less expansive in their local currency on Steam than going directly through JP/NA/EU SquareEnix. If this is the case in your locality, by all means, go through Steam and save some money. If this is not the case, stay away from Steam.

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this.

I find Steam to at least be quicker and mindless for when you want to renew your subscription, and it works for foreign money than the Euro\Pound\US Dollar\Yen.

I think it comes down to whether the person in question cares about having the game on Steam, with the tracked hours, screenshots on their profile and all the other Steam community stuff. I personally like it so I got it on Steam but if not then why bother I guess?

I don't put all my eggs in one basket.
So native I go lol

if I could go back in time and buy the game outright and avoid Steam, I would.

not that Steam is bad or horrid, it just has some weird limitations and procedures, such as subscription payments etc.

that said, never have had any issues playing from steam, or using it in general, but it would have a few more perks just buying the "pc version".

I steam my rice kupo <3 it comes out fluffy

As much as i like steam, i don't like the idea of going through it to play FF14 (Even warframe, path of the exile or any live service that offer the possibility to use a stand alone client). It's always better (even though less convenient) not to have everything in the same place as it has been said on a previous post.

Never Steam if you have the choice. :)


Cheers

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Originally Posted by Midareyukki

TLDR once you buy it through Steam, your account is locked to the Steam version. Meaning you can't get the game off of Square Enix directly nor can't you get the game for any other console, only play it through Steam and Steam alone.

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Just to correct the above. You can only own one of either Windows OR Steam, you can then add the Playstation version on top of that, regardless of what you pick. So, Windows/PS is fine, Steam/PS is fine.

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Originally Posted by Mikey_R

Just to correct the above. You can only own one of either Windows OR Steam, you can then add the Playstation version on top of that, regardless of what you pick. So, Windows/PS is fine, Steam/PS is fine.

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Did not know that. Corrected it.

They are going to lock other variants of FFXIV as well to the account over time, it wont only just be Steam, Steam was just oneof the first instances, also would only seem fair.

Steam is the most secure, although that can be a small headache in of itself. As of recently, you have to link your XIV account to your Steam account which means if you're not logged into your Steam account you can't play. if this is a problem for you (cos apparently Steam is the devil and eats all your RAM according to ffxiv community...) avoid Steam. get 2FA regardless of platform.

I switched to PC via steam in 2017, and since then there's been 2 instances where I couldn't log in due to Steam, lasting 20mins and 5mins respectively. people love to overblow this to ridiculous proportions but like a lot of things this community says, they're mostly full of shit.

it allows me to use Steam Wallet for paying sub which is very convenient to me for years since old SE store refused to take my debit card and would lock down purchases for 24hrs any time i tried.

probably the biggest factor, at the time i bought the pc version, it was on sale on Steam and was full price in the SE store. was able to get ARR/HW/SB for less than SEstore wanted for it, and the times i bought SHB and EW off Steam i had discounts so it was also cheaper.

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Originally Posted by Tlachtga

...cos apparently Steam is the devil...

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I still will never forgive them for what they did to TF2/classic, DotA/Dota 2, and their handling of the HL series.

If you go with Steam, that means you'll be subject through ALL of steams launching policies. EVERY.SINGLE.ONE of them that might change in the future.

Think about that for a minute and let it sink in slowly.

If I have the option to run a game not on Steam, like directly via a launcher, I will typically do it that way.

Unless someone can't live without the Steam overlay on their games, I would avoid buying through Steam unless that's the only way to purchase a game (which it isn't in the case of FFXIV). If you want to be connected to your Steam friends while playing, you can always run Steam separately and get desktop notifications for messages.

That way access to the game isn't dependent on Steam verification, Steam security compromises (had that happen to me twice in the earlier years of Steam where my account was compromised due to a data breach on Steam's end, not mine), etc. Some people think using Steam is an extra layer of security for your account but it's really just an extra Valve hand on your wallet.

Setting up your game account for PC via normal purchase may be annoying but it's only that initial set up and then adding expansion keys in the future. Day to day play is just starting up the launcher and logging in.

The Steam version is just the standard version with an extra step and extra third party, and thereby extra point of potential failure. I suggest you avoid that if you can.

Go native
Steam locks you to steam only, literally every other platform let's you play the game cross platform on the same account as long as you buy the game separately for that platform
Plus I've had two cases so far where I couldn't log in at all because of problems with Steam

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Originally Posted by Mikey_R

Just to correct the above. You can only own one of either Windows OR Steam, you can then add the Playstation version on top of that, regardless of what you pick. So, Windows/PS is fine, Steam/PS is fine.

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Hm can you? Was pretty sure I read somewhere you couldn't. Less egregious than I thought but still annoying.

I always get MMOs out of Steam, plus my FFXIV account is much older than my Steam account.

On the other end, if you pay with Paypal Steam makes it a lot easier than squeenix does. On mog you gotta buy crysta every time to buy anything, with paypal, and even if you have set auto sub renewal you need to add crysta every time before it renews so basically there's nothing automatic and it's pretty annoying. Buying stuff from the store too, every time you need to calculate how many crysta you need, add those before paying. With Steam you can just do all with Paypal directly without much fuss, so it's much easier.
Of course if you use credit cards instead that's not a problem for you.

ND if your steam account gets banned you're hosed.

There were many good points. So I have to add only some (for me important) ones.

- Native version has more sales (you pay less)

- Native version will not give an extra cut to valve.
Maybe stupid, but I don't want the company of my favourite game go bankrupt and the servers go down (even thought right now it seems like they are steady).

- Valve gives no extra value. If I want to have all games at one spot, I can add the game manually (GOG Galaxy is better btw)

I like Steam plenty but never attach additional DRM to something you don't need to. If there's a plain version and a Steam, go plain unless there's some added incentive from Steamworks or the like.

the benefit of the steam version is that streaming it to the TV is less finicky and you can pay for gametime using steam instead of mogstation which also means using paypal without having to purchase crysta or whatever its called.

its still infinitely inferior to the standalone ver. but as someone who has multiple friends who have never played an MMO in their life who then wanted to try FFXIV, it's a life saver. the mogstation site even after the update is both confusing and also kinda shady looking when it suddenly reverts to the older look on random pages.