Cash shop confirmed

[Dwill]

what I read here is hilarious.

best part:
"SE doesn't need the money."

IT IS AN ENTERPRISE.
ENTERPRISES GOAL: MAKING MONEY.
THEY WILL MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS THEY CAN POSSIBLY GET.
DEAL WITH IT.

It's even funnier when you know that in 2013, they had 22% less net assets than they did in 2010.

Nice try, but what we're saying is the following:

1) Before the introduction of the cash shop you could buy past years' event items for a small gil fee. Now you have to pay real cash, just because.

As it has been stated, Calamity Salvager.

2) As the dev. team doesn't have unlimited time, it means that part of the time that would otherwise go to develop things for everyone to enjoy will go now to the cash shop.

The development team is not a single entity. People who design instances are not the same people who design the items and these people are not the same who do animation and these people don't design world content, etc. So while it might add some slight workload for the people who do items, it's not going to be something drastic. You're speaking like you have for a guarantee that they will be doing multiple sets of gear every week for the shop and left with minimal time for the game itself when that's just pure conjecture.

3) We're more than sure that they'll throw the cool looking designs to the cash shop, and the normal/ugly ones will be the ones that we'll get for "free". You don't have to be very smart to see that, as they want to be able to SELL them, not having them sitting there with no sales.

Again, pure conjecture. If anything, the new Koenig and Aries recipes coming in 2.4 are a point against you.

4) We already had this discussion when the extra retainers were introduced, with people saying "it won't get worse, you're paranoid", "it's just retainers, they won't put a cash shop", and "I'm sure that ventures will be hard to get", among other excuses. History is repeating again, and some people keep their blindfolds no matter what.

I never saw those threads but then again, I wasn't as active back then so I really can't say anything here on this point.

5) We're already paying a sub, and the game is very successful. SE doesn't need the money and, coupled with1), it's a slap in the face of all of their customers. In other words, this not very customer friendly, and we're in our right to voice our concerns (and even stop paying if we so want).

(Bolded part)I assumed that after posting the link to their financial records at least 3 times in this thread that people would stop spreading this lie:

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ne...q4earnings.pdf
http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/pdf/ar_2013_01en.pdf

6) Just because it's vanity that doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. Everyone plays (or has been playing for over 4 years) the game for a reason, and they're in their right to enjoy it doing whatever they want to do. Just because you only care about raids that doesn't mean that other people shouldn't enjoy collecting vanity items (see housing, for instance). Getting some of it out of their reach all of a sudden is a cheap move on SE's part.

And nothing prevents you from getting other vanity items in game but you're not entitled to all the other content they create. It states as much in the User Agreement you agreed to. If you want to look it up:

http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...2&tag=users_en

Section 4.1

7) Minions attached to physical items don't fall under a cash shop category, even if they're almost crossing the line. After all, what you're supposed to be buying is the physical thing, and the minion is a gift. Not to mention that physical items can't be produced as fast as digital ones, so this doesn't have the same screwing potential as a cash shop does.

Actually, it's the same concept. Vanity attached to a price. The 3 people I know who got the CD all did so for the minion attached to it and most minion collector perfectionist will have bought the CD because else, their collection would remain incomplete.

8) Expansions are NOT the same thing as this. The price of it VS it's value regarding content, systems, etc. is more fair that paying 2-5€ for a single digital item.

Well the thing is that you have no choice to buy the expansion else you're stuck in past content without any means to progress so using the expansion pack in a cash shop argument is stupid on both side of this argument as it's a necessity and it always has been.

9) If we wanted to have a cash shop we could be playing another MMO, even those P2P ones that already had one. Maybe we were here partly because it didn't have that "feature"?

I still can't understand how a cash shop that you're not forced to buy from can be a deal breaker on a game you supposedly enjoy playing.

[Jaybot]

Since when did customers stop having the right to complain about a business? If a company wants to make more money so their execs can have bigger, that's their right and its to be expected. But the customer has the right to complain about their practices. The consumer has a lot more power than some of you tend to believe and that power can often force a company to adjust their strategy.

Just keep in mind that there is a reason public relations and customer service exist.

Exactly. This is the final nail on the coffin for being a fanboy for Square. I was really upset with the additional DLC for XII-2, etc, and this just seals it for me. They're quickly starting to look like EA, and I haven't purchased anything from them in the last few years because they're so greedy.

[SinisterIsBack]

I still can't understand how a cash shop that you're not forced to buy from can be a deal breaker on a game you supposedly enjoy playing.

What's funny is these other MMO's all have cash shops too lol...

[Jaybot]

What's funny is these other MMO's all have cash shops too lol...

And most of these are free to play. But if you're paying for a subscription monthly, this cash shop (other than server transfers and fantasias) is ridiculous.

[Merylx]

Snip

To which I reply with:


At this point you're just a troll. pls stop

I entirely agree, I think it's fair to say Tupsi is doing this all on purpose now. It's hilarious.

[Roris]

Out of curiosity, what are some examples of these games?

TERA, The Secret World, Aion, Defiance, just to name a few.

[Seif]

I think having a sub and this kind of BS in the shape of cash shop is just too much greed on SE's part.

Earlier they said that design, production and developement time of cash shop items in F2P takes away a lot of resources from actual game content production.

Now they're doing it anyway and as a result everyone playing this game loses.
I'm sure no-one would like to trade content for vanity products you pay for but that's exactly what's happening here.

[Gucci_Charms]

TERA and Defiance are terrible for cash shops lol

[SinisterIsBack]

And most of these are free to play. But if you're paying for a subscription monthly, this cash shop (other than server transfers and fantasias) is ridiculous.

So what you are saying is, its ok for a game to have a cash shop if its F2P? Meanwhile, this F2P game doesn't actually allow you to play the full game i.e. restrictions on gear you can wear, cannot travel to all areas, etc. on TOP of vanity and mounts in their cash shop and yet that is AOK!

What I find ridiculous is the fact that it is older event items, If you've done the event they are available via the calamity salvager. What, do you expect them to bring back past events each year? Eventually the whole year would nothing but past events.

The odin mount and minions you cant really complain about as we don't know if they will be in the game or not. Maybe the mount is as rare as mirrors? (which is pretty damn rare), same applies to the minions.

WE DONT KNOW ENOUGH YET TO BE CLAIMING WHAT THIS THREAD IS CLAIMING.

[Sartori]

Woot, get your plastic out