Microtransactions are here to stay. And they are a good thing.

[Rock_Biter]

OP, this is really well thought out and I liked what you said.

Games these day take more and more to make, and I am willing to spend a little of my disposable income on a game that I enjoy in the hopes that the creators will continue to create more and better content for said game. Well done.

[Roris]

Whether you like it or not, microtransactions are here to stay, are are NECESSARY for a company to remain competitive in the MMO market.

They're only necessary when:

A P2P MMO is failing and despite its boxed and digital sales, 2.5 million even, it's not retaining enough subscribers for the game to sustain their dev costs and the company has projected they're losing more subscribers than they're gaining each month, thus a F2P switch is necessary. Which means the slow addition of a cash shop
It's a B2P MMO and their only solid income are boxed and digital sales, thus needing more resources to develop content
It was F2P in the first place and the cash shop is their only means to sustain the game

The sole exception in the themepark/WoW clone MMO market is WoW itself and sadly the only reason they can get away with it is because they're Activision and they have 10 million subscribers, real subscribers, not just accounts. Even then, to use the tired "oh yeah well others do it too but they do it worse so this game does it better" argument myself, aside from the level boost, their cash shop is truly limited to pets and mounts and quite a lot of those are sold for charity. The other P2P MMO that has a cash shop is EVE and the only reason it can get away with it is because it's the biggest sandbox MMO right now, with sandbox MMOs being a much smaller market.

Hahahahaha, since when are microtransations necessary for a game? No one buys a game for their microtransactions. Microtransactions didn't exist in P2P MMOs until what... WoW did it a few years ago? It's a business model not a game design lol. Or are you going to give that "in this day in age with high development costs" crap when Yoshi himself said that is not the case.

Pretty much this

[Stihllodeing]

I appreciate you telling me the purpose of my posts for me.

No problem. You're an easy read.

[Giantbane]

Here's a life tip for you. Some people have money. Some don't. What people spend their money doesn't affect you ...

That's not true. Smart companies will read consumer behavior. So in this particular instance, if a significant enough portion of the consumer base will tolerate and embrace siphoning off content from what would otherwise be part of the base game and sticking a "premium" price tag on it, then the company is likely to cash in on it. This can mean less content for those who are paying the "base" price as resources are funneled to the "premium" content that makes additional money.

Also, Triple Triad will probably have booster packs that you can buy from the store. That is a given. Because it's a game based on cards. Almost every card game that you can use to play vs others, will always have transactions like that. This is simply remarkable.

How many card games do you have to pay a monthly fee to play, in addition to the booster packs?

[stoxastic]

That's not true. Smart companies will read consumer behavior. So in this particular instance, if a significant enough portion of the consumer base will tolerate and embrace siphoning off content from what would otherwise be part of the base game and sticking a "premium" price tag on it, then the company is likely to cash in on it. This can mean less content for those who are paying the "base" price as resources are funneled to the "premium" content that makes additional money.

They could also use this additional money into more content that they cannot possibly charge money for. They could take the revenues from cash shop and hire more designers for more content (more turns in coil, more dungeons, longer main scenario) or invest in their server infrastructures (less downtime and "emergency maintenance" that people always complain about).

[DefendPopPunk]

They could also use this additional money into more content that they cannot possibly charge money for. They could take the revenues from cash shop and hire more designers for more content (more turns in coil, more dungeons, longer main scenario) or invest in their server infrastructures (less downtime and "emergency maintenance" that people always complain about).

I was just saying this too. Yoshi-P mentioned before that some of the revenue from the cash shop would go towards more vanity stuff and towards other big costs such as moving servers to the EU. Could these types of things be funded without a cash shop is a better question, but nonetheless, that's what will be funding them.

[CrystalRainbow]

sarcasm on "I think the only way around cash shop is for all players to sell there gil to RMT to pay for cash shop items. Problem solved."

Sarcasm off.

Really depending on how the cash shop goes. Ii maybe a deal breaker for me. I'm paying a monthly to play this game and yes it is cheap entertainment but I am very against the 2 tier system.
As long as everything in the cash shop can be gotten IG I think it's ok. With more and more being added to the cash shop that sets it beyond what I get for my monthly It maybe enough to break the game for me.

I would sooner they raise the price by $1 for everyone and give everyone a chance IG to get it.

[Arkine]

For the longest time I didn't care about the cash shop. Mounts aren't my thing and minions are nothing more than wasted development resources. I only started caring when they added weddings to the cash shop. Not because I want to get married, nope. Because it made me worry that the cash shop will cover more than just minions and mounts.

I play the game to fight monsters and get their loot. Even if the loot has garbage stats or is lower iLv than what I'm using. If I like it, I'll go farm it. With how some wedding dress designs became cash shop exclusives, I worry that eventually they'll add equipment to the cash shop under the guise of "it's just cosmetics! It's OK to pay extra for it because it doesn't do anything for your stats!", and I don't like that.

[DoctorPepper]

I'm reserving judgement for the time being until they add something to the cash shop that is truly pay to win but I have to admit that the second they do I'll be among the first to unsub from this game.

I'm with the crowd that refuses to pay for a sub and cash shop in the same game, if I wanted to play a micro transaction game there are plenty of other options out there that require no monthly subscription at all. I've been supporting this game since 1.0 alpha so I sincerely hope they don't screw it up by being greedy, only time will tell.

[Jeckyl_Tesla]

That's not true. Smart companies will read consumer behavior. So in this particular instance, if a significant enough portion of the consumer base will tolerate and embrace siphoning off content from what would otherwise be part of the base game and sticking a "premium" price tag on it, then the company is likely to cash in on it. This can mean less content for those who are paying the "base" price as resources are funneled to the "premium" content that makes additional money.

That doesn't concern me in the slightest. If they want to put up a horse or a random minion, or god forbid, a bloody dress, for 5 pounds, then they can. If I like it and can afford it, I'll buy it. If I don't like it or can't afford it, I won't buy it. Then I'll move on with my life. Are you telling me that I should not buy things like this because less fortunate people cannot afford them? Is that what you are honestly telling me? What a completely absurd notion.

How many card games do you have to pay a monthly fee to play, in addition to the booster packs?

Triple Triad is coming out for the mobile APP that SE is releasing. That is where you play the game. That game simply will link up to FFXIV, where we will also be able to play the game. So you actually won't be playing a monthly payment for Triple Triad at all. Most people don't seem to understand this for some reason.

Let me make this clear.

YOU CAN STILL PLAY TRIPLE TRIAD WITHOUT HAVING TO SUB TO FFXIV.

Until the ash shop becomes pay to win, I have no problem with it at all.