Very conflicted about the cash shop...

[saeedaisspecial]

It literally does not work... you don't have to pay anything. You lose nothing by not getting stuff from the shop.

This is outright wrong, you are lying to yourself.
Take a look at the announced Odin mount (which is exclusive to the cash shop according to the Live Letter announcement last night)
At some point during the development process of either the mount or the trial the question must have been raised - Do we make this a drop, similar to the Extreme Primal mounts? Or do we put it into a cash shop?
This question WILL have come up during the development process. They have clearly chosen the route that will yield them money as opposed to the more fairer for all option.

We are losing things because of the cash shop. Content that otherwise would have had a direct method of being obtained in game is now being sold to us.

[Fyce]

We are losing things because of the cash shop. Content that otherwise would have had a direct method of being obtained in game is now being sold to us.

What tells you that they would have taken the time and ressources to make the Sleipnir mount and other vanity stuff if it was not for the Cash Shop?

You're assuming that some stuff will be created, and then they will ask themselves the question about putting it in the cash shop. You're completly ignoring the possibility of the question being asked the other way around: "We will have a Cash Shop. What should we create to fill it?"...

... But yeah, let's all jump into the "Ewwww! what a bunch of greedy as***les! They're cutting off content from us!" bandwagon. It's the mainstream reaction to have nowadays.

[saeedaisspecial]

What tells you that they would have taken the time and ressources to make the Sleipnir mount and other vanity stuff if it was not for the Cash Shop?

You're assuming that some stuff will be created, and then they will ask themselves the question about putting it in the cash shop. You're completly ignoring the possibility of the question being asked the other way around: "We will have a Cash Shop. What should we create to fill it?"...


... But yeah, let's all jump into the "Ewwww! what a bunch of greedy as***les! They're cutting off content from us!" bandwagon. It's the mainstream reaction to have nowadays.

Holy uninformed, Batman!
The Odin mount has been in the game since before 2.0 even launched, how do we know?

This image was taken from the Blog Post they made when they were developing Odin, because of how Odin appears as the character that previously defeated it, a scalable mount model was needed and already made and added in game. No extra development time was used in making it.
Now, we have the Urth's Fount battle confirmed to be released some time before the expansion. During the development process of Urth's Fount, when deciding drops and what not, the discussion of whether or not to make the mount a drop similar to the Extreme mounts will have happened, this is a fact, because it's how development works.

It's absurd that you people are defending such business practices that remove content from the majority of players especially while so uninformed.

[MrLeonheart]

It's absurd that you people are defending such business practices that remove content from the majority of players especially while so uninformed.

Yeah, now what am I going to do with all the time I don't have to spend farming an encounter to never see the mount drop?!

[saeedaisspecial]

Yeah, now what am I going to do with all the time I don't have to spend farming an encounter to never see the mount drop?!

"I don't like it, so I'm happy they removed that option for everyone"
How selfish.

[StrejdaTom]

No cash shop is one of reasons why I love FFXIV more than other MMOs. I really dont think that cash shop is neccessary for them and I am afraid that they will put things in it which should be obtainable trough normal means (like crafts etc, why should we buy vanity items? We should craft them)

[Fyce]

-Snip-

Nothing in your post proves me that they were planning on releasing Sleipnir as a mount for every player. Even with Urth's battle. You are only speculating and taking out the worse case scenario to fit your argument... which rely on only one example, when I was talking about everything as a whole.

Besides, Ex "ponies" are not mainstream content. A lot of people just can't have them. Just look at the stats of the number of players having that mount, and tell me again about that "content available for the majority of players".

And by the way, regarding your last sentence, what I was telling you is to stop having a one-track mind.
I never said "cut content is good!". I actually said pretty much the opposite: if the cash shop can bring stuff especially developped for it, then it's good.

Do you honestly believe they don't make content as usual and then pick some items here and there and put them on the cash shop instead of the patch?

My point is: I've seen countless content especially made for cash shops because the demand was high enough. That content wouldn't have been made without the presence of the cash shops.

Indeed, there will be some cut content. But since that content is purely cosmetic, I don't care that much. People will buy the stuff they really want, and that's it.
Only a few minority of obsessive collectors will be annoyed.

In short terms: I won't cry because they put Sleipnir behind a pay wall. After all, the Ex ponies are already behind a "you must be a hardcore player to beat that content and farm like a pro to have your mount".
At least, in the former case, every player who want the mount can have it in exchange of a few bucks.



For further discussion, please talk with my Baby Bahamut. He'll be flying happily in my future Wind-up Entreprise, while I'll be on my Collector's Edition mount.

[saeedaisspecial]

Nothing in your post proves me that they were planning on releasing Sleipnir as a mount for every player. Even with Urth's battle. You are only speculating and taking out the worse case scenario to fit your argument... which rely on only one example, when I was talking about everything as a whole.

Besides, Ex "ponies" are not mainstream content. A lot of people just can't have them. Just look at the stats of the number of players having that mount, and tell me again about that "content available for the majority of players".

And by the way, regarding your last sentence, what I was telling you is to stop having a one-track mind.
I never said "cut content is good!". I actually said pretty much the opposite: if the cash shop can bring stuff especially developped for it, then it's good.

There is no proof that it was always intended to be for the cash shop either, all we can do is speculate.
The fact is that come Urth's Fount release, there would be an avenue for obtaining it in game, however now it's an exclusive item to the cash shop, that avenue is closed off. This is a discussion that will have taken place while deciding if it should be in the cash shop or not. SE decided not to give players an avenue to obtaining the item in game at all.
Your views on Extreme ponies aside, everyone has an equal opportunity to get them, there is nothing in the way stopping any player from attempting the Extremes, player skill aside, everyone has the same options for obtaining it. Where as a cash shop mount such as Sliepnir removes the opportunity for a fair chance at it because there is no fair way for players to obtain it in game, only those with expendable cash outside of game.

[Fyce]

Your views on Extreme ponies aside, everyone has an equal opportunity to get them, there is nothing in the way stopping any player from attempting the Extremes, player skill aside, everyone has the same options for obtaining it. Where as a cash shop mount such as Sliepnir removes the opportunity for a fair chance at it because there is no fair way for players to obtain it in game, only those with expendable cash outside of game.

That's the first time I see someone saying that the chances of getting rare end-game stuff would be equal between a hardcore gamer and a casual.
It's like saying that a quadriplegic man can win the same medal as Usain Bolt's one.

You're saying that there's nothing in the way of getting the red pony, Aithon? Well, I can at least think of one: countless hours of Ifrit Ex farming.
That's not something that everyone can do. Therefore, the chances are not "equal and fair".
Yes, everyone has to do the same thing to get it. But it doesn't mean that everyone will succeed at doing so, or even be able to try doing it in the first place (and that's fine, but it's not the point).

On the other hand, the Cash Shop is open to all.

So, you really can't compare the two and saying that the "in-game" way of getting items is more "fair", because it's not.


Finally:

For further discussion, please talk with my Baby Bahamut. He'll be flying happily in my future Wind-up Entreprise, while I'll be on my Collector's Edition mount.

I would really like to read your thoughts about that.
If that's not obvious enough, I was implying that there's already content put behind pay walls. It just doesn't have the name "Cash Shop" on it.

Edit: I mean... why are you against Cash Shop items like mounts and minions while, in the meantime, you buy yourself the Collector Edition which does have exactly that?

[Moqi]

What tells you that they would have taken the time and ressources to make the Sleipnir mount and other vanity stuff if it was not for the Cash Shop?

Do you honestly believe they don't make content as usual and then pick some items here and there and put them on the cash shop instead of the patch?