Honestly, let SE make as much money as they can.

[Heat]

the fact that people use VPN to play this game is enough.

[KhalidTheGreat]

I'm sorry? Make as much monry as they can?

I thought the main idea of having a p2p game was so we only pay for the subscripton fee. Every paying customer pays the same and gets the same in return.

There shouldn't be any in-game advantages for people who pay more. That just brings back nightmares of cash shops and pay-to-win design that im sure everyone here is so sick of.

I love this game and SE as a whole for that matter, but the main reason I bought ff14 was to get away from all f2p games and just try a legit game where you actually have to work to get stuff, not pay.

Edit: also, with 1.8 million subscribers I highly doubt that they need the extra cash.

[ReiszRie]

FFXI hasn't needed a cash shop for 10 years and FFXI's subscriptions are also funding FFXIV on top of its own subscriptions and possibly whichever revenue the Dragon Quest mmo and Nosgoth get them. FFXIV doesn't need a cash shop end of story. People play P2P mmos to avoid cash shops. Chances are SE would lose more revenue due to lost subscriptions and ruined reputation by adding a cash shop than anything they'd gain from whoever doesn't quit.

IMO people are against cash shop simply out of principle

FFXIV's subscriptions are what swung SE back into profitability after suffering consecutive years of losses and as more patches gets added and subscribers levels out after the initial hype phase, FFXIV might no longer be profitable enough or even profitable to justify the resources dedicated to it. This is of course a hypothesis and I personally do not actively support cash shops in the traditional P2W sense but I am open to see how it could've been implemented differently e.g cash shop vanity items only being for early access to them and that the rest of the player-base can acquire them through in-game means on a later date.

I see no wrong for SE trying to stabilize their revenues from FFXIV and I understand their imperative from a business standpoint.

[Zwipe]

If it keeps FFXIV from turning into a full blown F2P/Cash Shop with a bunch of in-game ads chest that require real money to unlock, I wouldn't mind paying an extra 2 bucks if i really needed a retainer. I still don't understand how people can justify spending $500 on a graphics card or latest console, yet consider an extra 2 dollars a month on a retainer "being taken advantage of."

[Ikeda]

IMO people are against cash shop simply out of principle

FFXIV's subscriptions are what swung SE back into profitability after suffering consecutive years of losses and as more patches gets added and subscribers levels out after the initial hype phase, FFXIV might no longer be profitable enough or even profitable to justify the resources dedicated to it. This is of course a hypothesis and I personally do not actively support cash shops in the traditional P2W sense but I am open to see how it could've been implemented differently e.g cash shop vanity items only being for early access to them and that the rest of the player-base can acquire them through in-game means on a later date.

I see no wrong for SE trying to stabilize their revenues from FFXIV and I understand their imperative from a business standpoint.

Again FFXI has gone for 10 years with no cash shop and has been SE's most profitable game. It's running on about 300k subscribers at most right now. Unless FFXIV some how manages to drop below 100k subscribers they have no business even thinking of a cash shop. Not even a vanity cash shop.

[Shneibel]

but what is the big deal about that vanity market anyway ? it is optional

[Amberion]

but what is the big deal about that vanity market anyway ? it is optional

Because everything that ends up in a cash shop, should have been made in game in some way. Everything in a cash shop means it wasn't added as in game content.

[Ikeda]

but what is the big deal about that vanity market anyway ? it is optional

You know those outfits we get in seasonal events or the lightning event or the vanity item recipes you get from treasure hunting? Instead of getting things like that in updates LIKE WE'RE ALREADY GETTING RIGHT NOW they'd be in a cash shop for $5-10+ each. The reason a vanity market is a big deal is because there is no reason to have a vanity market. They already give us free vanity items in every freaking update and event. You're literally begging them to strip out content they were already planning to give us for free and slapping a price tag on it because you have this delusion that they'd give us more vanity content than they've already been giving us. How many freaking times do I have to say this until it sinks into your heads?

[Shneibel]

How many freaking times do I have to say this until it sinks into your heads?

yeah, it is nice to add that line into that wall of text. And I am not here for you sir to be angry/annoying at me so calm your tits.

Anyway when I say it is not a big deal is because SE can add both recipe for vanity ingame while add vanity gear on the market (in other words, 2 sets of vanity). But I guess it is wrong for me to think that way ?

So those who want to make item ingame can make their item ingame while there is an optional vanity on the vanity market.

[Zwipe]

but what is the big deal about that vanity market anyway ? it is optional

The big deal is that people act like $15 a month is equivalent to a mortgage payment. They would rather pay next to nothing to milk a game until it makes no financial sense to keep alive, and call the game a failure, instead of investing a little extra money for a little "thank you" token in return to help keep a good thing going.

Girl Scouts can survive without selling cookies. We don't need to buy it, but we do to show support. Maybe we should do the same with FFXIV if we want it around for the long term?