Cash shop confirmed

[Evenstar]

I think the fear stems from past experience of playing F2P, or watching a cash shop start out as vanity then trickle into the P2W area. What items? Gear for example, stuff solely exclusive to the shop.

I seriously think that Square Enix is not as stupid as people here think. Do you really think SE will risk doing something retarded like that and lose their players?

[Codek]

I seriously think that Square Enix is not as stupid as people here think. Do you really think SE will risk doing something retarded like that and lose their players?

I don't think any of us believe the Dev's would intend to do that. But there is a lot of fear that the corporate side of SE is feeling tight for money and see this game as a great way to make ends meet.

[Laf]

I seriously think that Square Enix is not as stupid as people here think. Do you really think SE will risk doing something retarded like that and lose their players?

and to get attention of retarded kids and their mom's valets, why not? Worked quite well for tortatic.

[RaddCuban]

I seriously think that Square Enix is not as stupid as people here think. Do you really think SE will risk doing something retarded like that and lose their players?

I don't know. Looking at their sales expectations for many of the games they've produced lately I can totally see that they overestimate people's loyalty to a brand, especially a severely damaged one like Tomb Raider.

[Minerva-Redwater]

I disagree with the cash shop honestly i love this game and not having a cash shop was one of the reasons for it. Now its going to turn into just any other MMO, especially with prices like the ones they listed.

[Gramul]

I think people will leave, but not nearly enough to offset the income from the cash shop. Because the average Joe simply doesn't care enough. Which to me is disappointing, but not shocking.

[Fyrebrand]

Sigh... It was registered accounts or created characters, not subs.

Sorry, my mistake. It was registered accounts, not active subs. We don't know the current active subs. I went back and made an edit to my post, to explain.

[Erudain]

You guys talking about experience, because you say other companies do it too. Can you name one major MMORPG that had a cash shop and added pay to win things?

It was posted several times on this thread so I won´t type it all again....so here come all my copy-pastes


To be fair most don't start with P2W items, they start with vanity only, and they keep adding and adding more vanity.

Age of Conan, DC Universe, Aion, Rift, Tera, SW:TOR, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Star Trek Online, LotR....there are plenty of examples...

Edit: and before you ask, yes, all those games introduced their cash shop before going F2P and it drove ppl away from the game....cash shop alone was not the cause for people to leave but it certainly helped.

Most stay with vanity only.

But it usually raises 2 questions:
- It can be used as a "sort of RMT"...buy an item in the cash shop, sell it in-game for million gils (crafters already do, but at least they put some work into it).
- It depends on what each person definition of "win" is...to some is to down SCoB, to other could be collect all minions/costumes/mounts.

But there has been cases of game affecting items:

Rift added "special editions mounts" back when it was P2P, it was a re-skin of the faster mount in game, ppl was mad since you didn't have to get it/pay it with in game money.

Aion started with weapons skins back in 1.8 (lightsaber skin for swords, popsicle skin for mace) etc, then in 2.0 they added the "socketing success supplements" (permanet item in the store) and "100% socketing success supplements" (timed offer, they sold those for 1 week IIRC) for manastone socketing when it was still P2P. that was their field test that they could include game changing items to the store.
Then on the other hand, you have the "legit RMT" it can create, I remember ppl buying the lightsaber skin on the store and then selling it in-game for millions.

It's true as you say the games had other issues, that's why I said the cash shops weren't the only reason ppl left, but "another" reason people left....and if you are losing ppl the least you want to do is give them more motives to leave.

One can truly hope they will not go down this road with FF XIV cash shop...problem is trying to cope with what you hope for and what history of the MMORPG genre tells us...

As for the doom assumption:

that happened in absolutely every other MMO that went down this road.....I'd call it "an educated guess" more than a plain assumption.
WoW is the only one who retains subs and has a cash shop....one game, alone, solo, that's not a norm, that's called an exception

And last but not least:

I don't know how long everyone here has been into MMORPGs gaming, maybe to some ppl this is their first MMO, or maybe they just played WoW/XI.
People making assumptions here of what will happen are not doing so because they are wicked or evil or hate SE....they are doing them because they've seen the exact same things before, argument and defenders saying "no way that's going to happen" happen in countles other AAA MMOs for the past decade.

[RaddCuban]

Snip because these forums are hateful.

The reason I cherry picked that bit is because it stood out to me as it was the only bit that pertained to my stance on the matter. I'm not opposed to the existence of a cash shop. I'm opposed the change in practices it brings. That is that things that were previously made available from in-game vendors during seasonal events, and that things that would otherwise be attached to merch/veteran status/what have you will only be available for cash from the shop. Hell, if they want to put all the stuff available from the CE, the merch, or from veteran rewards up there in the shop I couldn't care less.
Edit: You know what I'll even add a little bit more. They should make all the old event gear and goodies available on the cash shop for off season purchase!

I just don't think that two things that have very different purposes for existing should be conflated. Are you telling me that if something is up for purchase, but people purchase it for a different reason than was intended when it was made available for purchase that becomes the reason it was made available for said purchase?

[Dwill]

and to get attention of retarded kids and their mom's valets, why not? Worked quite well for tortatic.

Yes, because with a post of this quality which stereotypes everyone with disposable income, I am sure Square Enix values the opinion of your side even more.