Who is Optional – A Question of Consumer Value

[Stihllodeing]

Well said op. Some of the things you said are a little too biased in my opinion, but it's hard to completely separate yourself sometimes. It was a pleasure to read.

Is it time for a developer shift in value or is it time for many players to start looking at their other ‘options’?

Yes. I think Square knows exactly what kind of gamer is going to continue to play, pay, and stay. It is not the hardcore raiders focused on having best in slot on every character. They will move from game to game and return to those games like they do all the time. They are such a small demographic, usually have the loudest and most obnoxious things to say, and are considered by many to be cancerous in any community they participate in.

In my opinion, they would be fools to cater to this crowd. So yes. It is time for Square to shift their priorities away from this part of the consumer base and focus a little more on gamers that are more casual in nature. In turn, the career raiders should probably either pipe down, understand what type of game they are playing, or pick something else.

Personally, I wish they would focus a little less on content progressions and focus a little more on quality of life issues ie better servers / menu organization / breaking the trinity (DCUO did it well with the tank-healer-controller-dps) / rmt problems / etc. I don't want to be stuck on the same raid for a year (not that the frequent updates and expansions would indicate this), but some of these quality of life issues just make some parts of the game seem thrown together.

So I say focus on the casual gamers. Focus on the little things that make your game shine SE. This game is absolutely beautiful and loads of fun to play. There's only a few things stopping it from being a pristine experience. It's already one of the best mmo experiences available right now, and I believe you could make it the best with the right direction (I'm biased too though, been playing a FF game for a long time).

Don't worry about the raiders. They'll come back EVERY single expansion. That really means you're guaranteed a 3-4 month sub from them once a year, imo.

[Edeline]

op·tion·al
ˈäpSH(ə)n(ə)l/
adjective
available to be chosen but not obligatory.
"a wide range of optional excursions is offered"
choice
noun:
a range of possibilities from which one or more may be selected.
"you can have a sofa made to order in a choice of over forty fabrics"

You would have the option to buy gear on cash shop or the choice to farm it yourself in game. There, that's what people around here call pay to win (which exactly isn't). But if instead of that filthy vanity that only belong to them useless casuals (please, note the sarcasm) they sold gear, people would lose their minds. Players who want gear, virtual gear which isn't totally necessary (aka BiS) just to make themselves feel like they acomplished something (when they could just get poetics gear!) don't want said items in shop, but screw the rest right, it's just virtual vanity crap!
If you still didn't get it: Both are virtual items for your own enjoyment that are completely useless to someone, but the reason to play for others. People just being biased against each other are the problem here when people is just asking for equality of why one type of players has to pay more and others don't, for the game offers different playstyles. What makes someone more priviledge than others when all of them are paying the same subscription fee?

And just to make it clear. I do raid, gear myself for progression and improvement and I also collect vanity items. Yet I don't feel like one playstyle is less relevant than the other.

[Felis]

Three End game gears and a lvl 5 materia does NOT warrant a rant this long.

Have I missed something?

[KodiHivaer]

I do raid, gear myself for progression and improvement and I also collect vanity items. Yet I don't feel like one playstyle is less relevant than the other.

It wasn't NEEDED but the OPTION was there for those that WANTED it.

People are making it seem as thought they don't have choices here.

[Roris]

It is pretty much the downfall of any WoW clone MMO and this one is looking like it won't be any different, it's simply part of the model everyone follows these days because apparently it works enough, until they all go F2P except for the master template itself. Too much of a focus on weekly locked out raids or in the case of this game, just a single measly raid, and the rest of the content is just a side order of vanity content. This consequently adds even more opportunities to monetize both aspects especially on vanity, and companies sure do love their money.

In ARR's case the issue is bigger because it only offers one single piece of relevant raid content divided into 4 boss battles and only every 6 months. The rest of the side content leans far too much into the "optional" vanity aspect or is simply relegated to catch up. That is, the main reason to run side content, a big chunk which has already been outdated and obsoleted, is to get vanity. I guess you could also run it for "fun" and to remember the good old days when they were introduced, and of course to cap tokens.

For example, you can grind all these crafts to be able to craft all these new items, only to find the majority of them are simply more vanity. Sure some of the gear and accessories might be ok with materia, at least for the first weeks or even the first month, but that's just if you want to min max to be amongst the first groups to beat the new Coil, otherwise the new tome and Coil gear is superior in almost every way if you can wait enough. Gathering so you can gather rare items to craft vanity or get minions. Gardening mostly only offers rare mats to craft vanity or get minions which themselves are vanity. Chocobo training offers barding and I guess faster and easier SB and maps. Housing is just a big vanity thing in itself. Older Primals to desynth their weapons and accessories to craft even more vanity or get ponies in the EX versions, in the case of Ramuh EX to get vanity weapons and a catch up ring and Shiva to get a catch up/vanity 110 weapon, and a nice 120 bracelet I'll give it that. Most dailies to get minions and mounts, and I'll admit the nice stories, and Ixali quests to get items to craft gear to craft more vanity. CT to get desynths and vanity, ST for catchup gear enhancing items and more vanity. First Coil for vanity and vanity mats and of course story. Second Coil for catchup gear and items, and yes the story too. PvP for vanity gear and I guess because it is fun with a good group.

Really it all comes down to not having enough to do in both the progression camp and the side content camp, not enough sidegrades and side content that might not be a raid but also allows for equal progression. Funnily enough, 1.0 started having a decentish semblance of that with GC, Hamlet, Skirmish, the way old primals worked, Beastmen Strongholds, all taken out in favor of a single path: Coil progression and vanity. Much easier to monetize on.

[Shioban]

I'm a minion collector, minions are my content and the cash shop provides advantage on my in game activity from extra cash in addition to the sub fee D:

So if I pay the cash shop - I win the minion (which happens to be my in game goal) = Pay 2 Win D:

Pay to Win in the eyes of a developer, the vast majority of it's players, and anyone who isn't trying to shout "LOOK ITS PAY TO WIN, LOOK LOOK IT MUST BE BECAUSE I LIKE THIS!"

That's not what the industry considers 'Pay to Win'.


Pay to win is where actual gameplay content is by-passed, eased or enhanced through real world transactions;

Better Gear, Better Stats, Removal of Weakness, Limit Break Builders, EXP Buffs, Allagan Tombstones Puchase.

THOSE things would be considered 'Pay To Win', not "I like to collect minions, therefore it must be pay to win", by the vast majority of the community.

Click here

Where do four tiny minions and a mount come under "Essential Vanity".

So is wedding vanity? Is housing vanity? Is crafting and gathering vanity? Is everything but PvE vanity? Content is content whether it's PvE, PvP, or sandbox. The fact is they are hiding half the wedding feature and to "win" the best gear and items from the wedding event you have to buy it for real money = pay to win.

Disclaimer: I'm not going to get married but I do believe patch updated features should be free for subcribers. CS is for services. If SE really needs more money then raise the month sub fee but don't nickel and dime us with paywalls. I would much rather pay $2 extra a month and have Slepnir drop from Odin EX than be required to spend $20 to get him.

IF. And only IF, they actually do add tiers to the mog-station the free ceremony is still available.

I'm not saying it's the most ethical choice, but the choice is still there and they've made it for you.

You have three tiers, you choose which tier you want. If you feel it's worth your money to buy it, then buy it. If you feel it isn't then don't purchase it and show them that it's not what you want.



You can type paragraphs, upon paragraphs into the forums. But if people buy it, it'll continue.

That's a fact. Numbers vs. Words.

[Edeline]

Where do four tiny minions and a mount come under "Exclusive Vanity".

Fixed it for you.

[M0xie]

I think what is missing is the argument of the goal of the game versus what people value in the game.

What is the objective of the actual game? Are people "playing" the "game" if they never gain levels and stand around Gridania on a fancy horse with a cool minion talking to people? (If you like doing this, please do, I'm not saying people shouldn't.) Players of any pace-the true separation between casual and hardcore-probably don't care as much about the cash shop because it does not affect the achievement of the game's actual objectives. Just because it's MMO and other people are there doesn't mean it stops being a game with experience-oriented objectives as a primary directive.

That is why the cash shop is not "game-breaking" and why the items will remain there, and we will see more of them. Vanity (sometimes) costs extra because it is a feature of the game.

[Shioban]

Fixed it for you.

It's not particuarly exclusive. The minions cost 2-3$, if you feel the minion isn't worth that much, then simply do-not purchase it.


The basic run-down is that these minions/mounts/services/semi-useless-vanity that they add is basically adding additional funding by cashing in on those with either a collectors bug, or a fickle choice of mind.
The EU servers being added before, on or after the expansion have been considered and finally finalised as a result of the extra income from the vanity/services they've added.

Fantasias, Retainers, Name Changing and Vanity Items were ALL requested by players from 1.0 and 2.0.
The forum archive proves this, (obviously not everyone was pro-vanity items, but the pro's of adding it out-weight the simply con of "I don't want to pay for it")


I would be vehlemtly against vanity items in the Mog Station if it out weighed the benefits of extra content in-game as a result.

If a few low-production minions, mounts and old seasonal items along with essential MMO services gets new content, new datacentres and more. Then it's worth it.

Their cost is not the problem. It's the fact that they're releasing, and will keep doing it, for the cash shop only. And not only minions that cost 2-3$. The more they see selling, the more they'll throw in there.

Yes. Minions that were commissioned by the development team to be made FOR the mogstation. The minions have a very very low production time and cost, therefore it's easy to produce a wide variety of them without having a major impact on overall development time, costs or the game client itself.

Yes, it's frustrating for some that "They'll just keep adding more", I completely understand why they're furstrated. But that doesn't mean they're going to stop adding things into the game, they'll simply add and make things specifically for the mogstation as a way to make some extra money along side subscriptions.

The world isn't fair, and you can't have everything that you want. But in this case you can, you just have to fork over the premium they're asking for.

It's like insulting your customers with your greed. That's how people feel here.

Customers request EU datacentre, SE oblige.

EU datacentre will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to setup and maintain.
Extra revenue is required in order to balance out profit, development costs and further expansion of the game.

Developers look for alternative ways to earn extra money beside subscriptions.


Datacentres are very, very expensive and take months of preparation to setup a network cluster whilst maintaining a certain quality and standard required for an MMO datacentre to prove functional, this is not cheap.
As a result, they're going to need extra money to procure the finances for a third datacentre, and therefore optional basic items that have no real impact on the game as the best choice without offending players by adding in "Pay to win" progression additions.

INB4 "But subscriptions", the profits from this are torn apart and thrown all across the board at Square Enix into the development of other titles and endeavours.

[Edeline]

It's not particuarly exclusive. The minions cost 2-3$, if you feel the minion isn't worth that much, then simply do-not purchase it.

Their cost is not the problem. It's the fact that they're releasing, and will keep doing it, for the cash shop only. And not only minions that cost 2-3$. The more they see selling, the more they'll throw in there.
Let's say you would like to go to the cinema for pure enjoyment (like playing ff14) but then at the gates, they'd charge you $12.99 to enter the cinema (ff14) and once you're inside you expect to see the movie you want, since you already paid but they offer different types of movies (game content). Free boring movies that no one barely watch (but have the option to) or pay even more to see the fancy hollywood ones (exclusive vanity). You would say 2-3$ is nothing! but then they release a new movie that you really wanted to watch, and they charge you 20$+ after those 13$ for a single movie. (if you think they'd sell a mount+minion perks for the wedding for 2-3$, sorry to break it for you but they won't). While being realistic they don't charge you for entering a cinema, but buying the ticket for the movie you choose to watch, they're double charging you for no reasonable reason. It's like insulting your customers with your greed. That's how people feel here. "Getting over it" is letting them win and control you as they please because you'll pay anyway.