Cash shop confirmed

[Fyrebrand]

SE has it made. They are going to charge us for items we could have had the chance to get as paying subscribers, yet not only are people accepting the practice, they're defending it. That's not a bad position to be in, since not every company's customers react that way to cash grabs.

Haven't you heard? "It's just business." "They gotta put food on the table, this is just a great way for fans to give them added support!" Apparently, Square Enix is both a for-profit company and a charity case.

Yet, someone who merely buys the game and pays their subscription is accused of expecting a "free ride" if they don't like the idea of a cash shop. If you are so against it, "then just ignore the cash shop and vote with your wallet." However, if we do vote with our wallets and unsubscribe from the game, that is "pathetic" and "blowing things out of proportion."

"FFXIV is not a WoW clone." "Stop suggesting features I don't like and go back to WoW." But as soon as we suggest that games with subscription fees should not be adding a cash shop: "WoW is a sub-based game, and it has a cash shop." As if that is some kind of excuse, and WoW is now the model all games should be following.

The mental gymnastics some of these people put themselves through to defend their favourite corporation is astounding.

It really comes down to vanity pets/mounts or a flat raise to subscription. I'm fine with the former.

Case in point. Where on earth did you get the idea that a subscription increase was even being considered, or was ever a possibility? Has any MMORPG ever randomly raised its subscription? And is that how you convince yourself that a cash shop is a good idea? Because you can imagine something worse?

[Dwill]

TL;DR: ARR was successful "as is" and it seems that it was able to rescue the company from the hole that it was in. There was no need to change the status quo with a chance of alienating a big chunk of your playerbase and scaring away other potential customers with something as controversial as a cash shop, instead of just keep doing what they have been doing since 1.x's disaster. Haste makes waste.

There was no need in your opinion but another possibility is that the game will stay the same quality while having a bigger revenue stream which will allow Square Enix to finally put cash in their investing activities. Their other games have been taking way too long to get released (KH3, FFXV for examples) if more money means more investment and faster release, then yes, I am all up for it.

snip

Twisting people words and taking the other side argument out of context while ignoring the earlier points brought is all I see in there.

Hardly.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...optional-items

Dev Post correcting prices of cash shop items: 18 likes
My post asking for the removal of cash shop: 171 likes

I know it's not much to go on but that alone tells all you need to know. Same happens throughout that thread.

Less than 1% of the playerbase posts on the forum. 171 likes out of ~5000 people who posts means squat in the grand scheme of things.

[Mysteran]

Twisting people words and taking the other side argument out of context while ignoring the earlier points brought is all I see in there.

You mean what a huge majority (not all) of the posters that are okay with or pro cash shop are doing with the well reasoned responses those of us against it are giving in this thread?

[Dwill]

You mean what a huge majority (not all) of the posters that are okay with or pro cash shop are doing with the well reasoned responses those of us against it are giving in this thread?

I can't speak for everyone but if you notice me do it, feel free to point it out.

[Mysteran]

One other opinion before I head off to bed I guess.

As I've stated, I'm against cash shops in general. More so in games that are already using a subscription model. I've said that before. I'm not necessarily against games that were built with that in mind and were up front about it before I started investing any of my time and money into playing. I know what I'm going into before I spend any personal assets on it.

Beyond all that though, I don't like how it was announced or the timing on it. Before I say more, I want to stress. I'm not trying to say this was planned or a conspiracy or anything of the sort. I'm just stating things I dislike.

It was announced at a Fan Festival. Whether people like or dislike the cash shop, a lot of them had already put down a lot of money (and time) for tickets, travel, accommodations, etc. They announced the Expansion and gave a good bit of info with hints of other info to come. They waited till the live letter later on in the second day to announce the Cash Shop though. Tickets for EU Fan Festival were already sold out as well. So they got a lot of money out of people that may have made a different decision about attending Fan Festival had they known about it before putting their money down on it.

Then kinda ending the Cash Shop announcement with "Oh by the way, it's happening in just over a week. Along with a patch with content people have been looking forward to for a long while". We won't be able to get any meaningful data out of a subscription jump or decline really with the multiple factors. (not that we had that info to begin with) And there's really no time for player input. It's already a done deal.

[GalkaBikini]

I'm not necessarily against games that were built with that in mind and were up front about it before I started investing any of my time and money into playing. I know what I'm going into before I spend any personal assets on it.

Yoshi P mentioned the cash shop much earlier this year... And I specifically remember a time earlier this year when he said "We have never said we won't have a cash shop or that we won't have a free to play option." I'm really not understanding where the surprise is coming from. I'm also not understanding why people think having a monthly fee automatically means no cash shop. Cash shops are main stream now, it is one of those things that comes with MMOs (and modern gaming in general these days, even with single player games) that you just have to get used to.

[Yshnal]

There was no need in your opinion but another possibility is that the game will stay the same quality while having a bigger revenue stream which will allow Square Enix to finally put cash in their investing activities. Their other games have been taking way too long to get released (KH3, FFXV for examples) if more money means more investment and faster release, then yes, I am all up for it.

Where did I read that...? Ah, yes, in the forums of the other games that introduced a cash shop and/or went F2P. Did they stay the same quality without coughing up more money? I don't think so.

But hey, we're special.

[Dwill]

Where did I read that...? Ah, yes, in the forums of the other games that introduced a cash shop and/or went F2P. Did they stay the same quality without coughing up more money? I don't think so.

But hey, we're special.

Anecdotal evidences are worthless to prove a point. Do you have any actual arguments or is that the best you can come up with ?