Remove both marriage plans.

[Ilisidi]

All Amazon Prime gets me is a raised minimum 'free shipping' limit, to make Prime seem more attractive.
And an artifical delay in shipping my stuff, to make Prime seem more attractive.

So not attractive to me at all, rather makes me look for alternatives.

[Abriael]

Everquest 1 and 2, FFXI, WoW for... 7 years?, EVE (PLEX maybe, but even that is regulated through the market itself) would say otherwise. If SE can't afford to keep their dev and servers up (which is BS since Yoshi himself said they only need 500k+ players to keep it alive) then they should raise the sub rate, not gate content behind a paywall. MMOs were able to operate no problem without a cash shop before. Stop making up excuses for SE, a multi-million dollar corporation isn't "your friend".

Interesting you'd name WoW, considering that it has a cash shop, selling mounts and more, exactly like Final Fantasy XIV.

Thanks for proving yourself wrong.

[Magis]

Interesting you'd name WoW, considering that it has a cash shop, selling mounts and more, exactly like Final Fantasy XIV.

Thanks for proving yourself wrong.

Everquest 1 and 2, FFXI, WoW for... 7 years?, EVE (PLEX maybe, but even that is regulated through the market itself) would say otherwise. If SE can't afford to keep their dev and servers up (which is BS since Yoshi himself said they only need 500k+ players to keep it alive) then they should raise the sub rate, not gate content behind a paywall. MMOs were able to operate no problem without a cash shop before. Stop making up excuses for SE, a multi-million dollar corporation isn't "your friend".

WoW is the exception to the rule when it comes to MMOs. Take all the ones that did copy WoW and look what happened to them? OH yeah, dead F2P stacks of garbage. And the question was "MMOs NEED a cash shop to survive", which off all examples I gave, WoW is the biggest example of that.

[polyphonica]

I think we basically have to wait and see what the prices are for the Gold/Platinum tiers. They mentioned in the stream that the free plan would be fully-featured and they designed the whole thing around that, so even if you got the free package you'd get the full experience.

I think part of the issue is that they don't really want this to be an easy way for everyone to end up with draught chocobos given that until now it's been limited to the "invite a friend" feature (after that friend pays for 90 days of game time). But of course, it's a money-making opportunity for them, and I think they're trying to pitch it as a special event, not something that everyone would do just for the sake of clearing "content".

[whoopeeragon]

"MMOs NEED a cash shop to survive"

"Required to survive" and "extra revenue" are two very different things.

I'm staying out of the main argument here regarding Eternal Bond though.

[Abriael]

WoW is the exception to the rule when it comes to MMOs.

Quality discourse aside, considering its success, WoW is THE Pay to Play MMORPG. As a matter of fact, it's the only one, besides Final Fantasy XIV and EVE online, that can be considered successful. It's hardly an "exception"

Oh, and by the way, EVE online has a cash shop as well, and not just for PLEX. It sells ship skins, vanity clothes and a lot more. Would you care to retract your ill-advised statements?

[Tupsi]

if we don't stand firm on this one, what will come

It's too late to stand firm - The modern gamer has proven to companies they're all for micro transactions, hence: DLC, "Energy" based games and Cash Shops everywhere.

[Mook_Mook]

first with retainers, then with mounts nad minions and now with this. Im glad ive quit the game seeing as the trend has continued and people tend to be ok with it, and because of that it will only get worse. A company wants money and people are willing to throw money out the door for this stuff so it will just continue. This isnt the 2.0 i supported with legacy.

[Roris]

This isnt the 2.0 i supported with legacy.

The big discrepancy in what was promised and what was delivered or rather the way in how it's been delivered is pretty sad, it's been a lot of bait and switch since day one. Even back then when they first started showing 2.0 screenshots they all featured the old battle system for almost a year, then suddenly it got changed just a couple of weeks before the first publicly playable build at Gamescom 2012, it's all spiraled down since then. Funny how all these announcements and changes always seem to be at the last moment, just weeks before they're implemented, so that players can't really do much about it.

[Zumi]

first with retainers, then with mounts nad minions and now with this. Im glad ive quit the game seeing as the trend has continued and people tend to be ok with it, and because of that it will only get worse. A company wants money and people are willing to throw money out the door for this stuff so it will just continue. This isnt the 2.0 i supported with legacy.

Ok you do realize we get a huge discounted sub price with our legacy subcription. We get the premium 40 character sub for $9.99 or $7.99 (6 months), other people who don't have legacy and just bought ARR have to pay $15 a month for the premium sub. We already saved so much money with the reduced sub over the months that buying a few minions or paying for a gold wedding isn't going to break the bank. Buying extra optional items just shows your support for the game. I find that paying $7.99 a month to play ff14 is a good deal and will gladly pay a bit more if I see a minion or mount I like.