Cash Shop a sign of free to play?

[Alukah]

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If they had any respect for their customers they would turn this into F2P instead of double dipping, keeping the subs while adding a cash shop is insulting.

[Hurlstone]

Seems unlikely that the game will go F2P any time soon (Although I really have no idea why some people seem to think it is a fate worse then death...)

I mean, WoW added a little cash shop some time ago and that is still going in its current model.

[Airget]

It feels like playing Devil's Advocate to say this but do you think 3.0 would be coming as soon as it is if XIV didn't profit as well as it did? Why do you think WoW has a decent update rate and expansion update, it's because of it's profit margin. The more profit a product provides the more likely they are to invest resources into making the game bigger and better.

If 14 was only 25% as big of a hit as it actually was I bet you 3.0 would come in 2016, but the reason it's coming so soon is because of how much of a boom they got from releasing it and how well received it was. The popularity, the profit allow them to place more resources on the product so one can say a cash shop of pure vanity helps to further improve the quality of life of the game because you can look at it from this perspective.

A Cash shop could be seen as a donation to support the game while also receiving in game vanity items. If anything I think it would be interesting if MMOs went a step further and had fans speak with their money, since it's about support and giving player's what they want in terms of content, they could take cash shops a step further and provide a means of showing "support" towards which content they are interested in and maybe even have goals to show support for x content.

So you have these cash shop items, you "donate" to receive in game items and if a goal is reached the devs will have the resources to release x content quicker or to actually make it to begin with.

[Baneus]

The instant level 90 boost cost $60 mind u, not to mention atm its bugged and peeps who insta boost their toons regretted their stupid move because they stuck with lvl 1 gear and skill and the only way to get all of their skills is to finish the questline which at least requires ilvl 400

TLDR : for FF14 comparison that means imagine trying to kill fate boss and adds using auto attacks with ur weathered weapon and lv1 starting skill /TROLOLOLOLOLOL

What? There are zero questline requirements in WoW apart from being at the right character level. Plus you get ilvl 484 from the level boost and 4 20 slot bags. Also: if you boost a 60+ character, your professions get maxed (though without any of the purchasable recipes).

[DarkStaoneDragon]

The answer is simple: look at the Blizzard Store. Look at what can be obtained from it. Has WoW went anywhere? Has it shut down? Have people stopped playing?

I hate when people compare this game to WoW but since you guys want to compare it. I looked up when WoW added the cash shop ok heres the rundown WoW came out on November 23, 2004 the cash shop was added around 12/12/2013 to keep from going free to play, that is a 9 year from launch not 14 months here is where I got the info about the WoW cash shop and when WoW came out judge for yourself,I personally don't want to see this game go free to play. When WoW came out when cash shop was added. you can see my concerns.

Edit: ran out of posts

This is when the store was added literally "In game". The blizzard store offering in game vanity items is older than that. Minions were added in 2009 as direct to purchase. I need to double check, but there may have been add on minions before that.

ok that's still 5 years and not 14 months, thanks for the info.

[Teryaani]

I hate when people compare this game to WoW but since you guys want to compare it. I looked up when WoW added the cash shop ok heres the rundown WoW came out on November 23, 2004 the cash shop was added around 12/12/2013 to keep from going free to play, that is a 9 year from launch not 14 months .

This is when the store was added literally "In game". The blizzard store offering in game vanity items is older than that. Minions were added in 2009 as direct to purchase. I need to double check, but there may have been add on minions before that.

[Xhominid]

Seems unlikely that the game will go F2P any time soon (Although I really have no idea why some people seem to think it is a fate worse then death...)

I mean, WoW added a little cash shop some time ago and that is still going in its current model.

The main reason they act like it is because:

A) They never played any F2P games and only go by the worst examples
B) They played the worst examples
or C) They believe that ANYTHING that is beneficial is Pay 2 Win and thus is bad by default.

I have played my fair share of F2P MMOs, but TERA is not Pay 2 Win(They DO have those stupid boxes, but just save up the gold and buy the costumes outright instead) and most people can easily point you to the better examples with massive ease. But for the topic, no, it's not going F2P anytime soon.

[Riardon]

I don't like the F2P model and I don't like the kind of peole it attracks. One of the reasons I play FFXIV ARR it's because its NOT F2P. What concerns me about the future is that Yoshi already stated that he is thinking he posibility of F2P in order to attract even more players. He said if he will do something it will be a completely different model than the traditional F2P model. Sometthing totally new. This is what scares me. This game is successful as it is. I prefer Devs will focus more on developing and make this game even better so more people will come. I don't believe FFXIV will become a F2P ever. If it does count me out.

[cookiecutter]

No, FFXIV will be another exception just like wow. It'll have the cash shop while retaining the subscription based model. Just look at FFXI which still isn't free to play. I'd easily bet all the money I have on hand that this game won't go free to play.

[ZReport]

All this overreaction is quite funny to watch.