Yoshida on "the dangers of going free-to-play"

[JemC]

Cash Shop mentality in a subbed game is damn foolish! I wont stand for it. If this game starts a cash shop I'll go back to my f2p games. There's some heavy hitters coming down the pike. I love the look of Final Fantasy but I can be teased elsewhere. I paid sub to get away from that atmosphere. Gambler's Shop - people can't stop spending money when they open one of those.

Note, I want all those cosmetic things but NOT FROM A CASH SHOP! Events will be pointless if they do this.

[Gextiv]

Sigh, well, once these 2.2 retainers with their perks go live, a precedent will have been set. They are probably getting everyone used to the idea of micro-transactions, to then slowly but surely shove the F2P business model down people's throat, or not. What could be next? Vanity? Mounts? Boosters? Obama Care?

Oh well, vote with your wallets people.

[10TailBeast]

Okay, as long as the balance isn't upset, huh? As soon as you made retainers able to do more than just store crap, you made being able to buy more of them with $$$ upset the game's balance, no matter how little.

[Zwipe]

Good read. This should calm everyone down until next week.

[waldo]

Would be a shame to screw up something really good with f2p. As soon as one guy that can afford to spend a few hundred per month (whale in dev terms) gets an unfair advantage over the vast majority that can't, the game is major broken and a ton of people would stop playing very quickly.
The thing that makes MMOs work is an in-game economy. Even with illegal Gil sellers a portion of that 'money' trickles back down to someone playing the game.
Sell fantasia
Sell mounts.
Sell furnishings.
Sell minions.
Sell houses.
Who cares, but you start selling armor and weapons, and even buffs like 24 hour exp bonus or something like echo, this game is dead.

[Djeserit]

Okay, as long as the balance isn't upset, huh? As soon as you made retainers able to do more than just store crap, you made being able to buy more of them with $$$ upset the game's balance, no matter how little.

Not if venture exclusive items are purely minions, crafting mats for purely cosmetic gear, etc. So what if someone can make more money than you? What is there to buy that actually matters from a power perspective? Absolutely nothing.

[waldo]

Sell fantasia
Sell mounts.
Sell furnishings.
Sell minions.
Sell houses.
Who cares.

Just to clarify myself, if these things that have no impact on the game other than 'look at me I spend money' junk, even that stuff should be obtainable by playing the game (like it is now with everything I've listed). If some fool wants to spend his/her hard earned cash instead of putting in the time it takes to get this stuff in the game, more power to them.

[10TailBeast]

Not if venture exclusive items are purely minions, crafting mats for purely cosmetic gear, etc. So what if someone can make more money than you? What is there to buy that actually matters from a power perspective? Absolutely nothing.

By saying this you admit that they are adding something that upsets the balance of the game. I slacked off on crafting and missed out on that early gil, but that is on my own head. However, even with maxed out crafting, if I don't "fall in line" and buy retainers like everyone else, I won't be able to catch up. That is pay2win in a nutshell. The crafting is a game within a game, there is something to be won, just like dungeons. Players who buy retainers will have an advantage.

[Djeserit]

By saying this you admit that they are adding something that upsets the balance of the game. I slacked off on crafting and missed out on that early gil, but that is on my own head. However, even with maxed out crafting, if I don't "fall in line" and buy retainers like everyone else, I won't be able to catch up. That is pay2win in a nutshell. The crafting is a game within a game, there is something to be won, just like dungeons. Players who buy retainers will have an advantage.

So not being able to catch up is your definition of pay to win? Guess anyone who has been subbed 1 day longer than you must have paid to win at this game.

In the microcosm of 1 aspect of the game, sure, people with extra retainers may have an advantage. Unfortunately, you have to look at the whole game and decide if they actually gain anything by having more money. Pro tip: they don't. This is precisely WHY crafting will never be allowed to make BiS gear, so that gil doesn't = power.

So tell me then, what exactly are they paying for that qualifies as "winning"? Gil is practically useless in this game.

[Skinwalker]

I'm completely opposed to any form of microtransactions.

In my opinion an MMORPG with a subscription model, should make everything available for it's players.
If I want to pay for gear (even if it's vanity) then I could just play a F2P or B2P game.

I play a P2P game because I want the freedom to do any content and get any gear that is available in the game to be accessible, microtransactions limit that freedom.

I'm with you!