Eternal Bond - Standard Plan and Gold Plan

[TouchandFeel]

There being a free package and a paid package does leave me a little trepidatious, however I am holding off on final judgment until all the details are explicitly laid out.

If the difference in the paid version is solely vanity clothing, a wedding themed tandem chocobo mount and a minion, then it won't be as big a deal to me as it is the same type of stuff that is already being sold just packaged together in a themed set.

If it actually changes the ceremony (location, set dressing of the ceremony, npc's involved, etc.), that may be going too far.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

[Kinseykinz]

Extra retainers in the cash shop say hi, borderline P2Advantage/Convenience, P2Gamble if you consider ventures. No, it's not the same as buying additional character slots because you can't mail between them and you don't really get an extra playable character to level, yes people did use them as extra storage anyway and were practically forced to, but no, still not the same.

Not only this, but another thing I don't think everyone knows is:

For that extra 2 dollars a month a player can pay for each retainer, they get an additional retainer on ALL of their characters; across all worlds. So technically, people with lets say a 'Legacy' account potentially get far better value for their $2/month expense than people with Standard accounts (or is it called Entry when you have only 1 character?) But since a Legacy player can have up to 40 characters, and up to 8 one each world, that's a LOT of potential retainer access for one person to have...especially when you factor in that others paying the SAME price a month only have access to 1 additional retainer in so much as they only have access to 1 character.

I haven't purchased anything else for my account via MogStation, but I am assuming that things like minions/mounts work the same way. So for $24 dollars, I have potential access to 40 Odin mounts...my husband, 1.



Basically, not wanting to open this can of worms, but even my 'Legacy' account status could be considered a weird off-shoot of P2W when you factor in it basically makes it so my buying power is potentially larger than others.

[Yukiko]

If it actually changes the ceremony (location, set dressing of the ceremony, npc's involved, etc.), that may be going too far.

The costs would make sense, when we can hire an GM for weddings, or buy some locations that are getting little adjustments as we see on seasonals in towns...

[Kinseykinz]

There being a free package and a paid package does leave me a little trepidatious, however I am holding off on final judgment until all the details are explicitly laid out.

If the difference in the paid version is solely vanity clothing, a wedding themed tandem chocobo mount and a minion, then it won't be as big a deal to me as it is the same type of stuff that is already being sold just packaged together in a themed set.

If it actually changes the ceremony (location, set dressing of the ceremony, npc's involved, etc.), that may be going too far.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Agree, I actually don't care if they ONLY are charging more for the additional items....but if it effects anything else ceremony/wait times/potential 'bonding' perks that may or may not be added down the road, I'd at least like to KNOW that first....and really think it'd be a dick move on the part of SE if the 'Gold' package offered any additional unspoken perks.

So like you, basically waiting for more clarity and/or assurance that the ONLY difference is the current items listed, mount+minion+clothing options.

[Nyalia]

Well then you out of most of the Eternal-Bond Advocates should know more than anyone else what it should mean. If the mount was in the free version, the Marriage System would be sullied be people having Fake-Marriages for content.

I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me. Why does someone else's reason for doing something affect me in any way? This reminds me of some of the people in the US who are against marriage equality. "Them getting married ruins my marriage!" What? How? I really don't understand.

The fact is, when they ran the Refer a Friend campaign, the insisted that it was okay to lock out the only 2-seater Mount (exclusive functionality) behind a cash wall (friend's subscription) because they said the eternal bond system is coming where everyone can get a 2-seater Mount. Now they're saying that they've also put THAT behind a cash-wall.

So much for actually trusting something said by SE's developers or community managers! First the personal housing fiasco where they told us it would be completely separate from FC housing and far more affordable, then they released it and it was the same exact thing. Now, they promise us real-money-free 2-seater Mounts, and now that they're closer to release, hey look! They cost real-money.

Here's some predictions of other things that they've likely also lied about or misled us about:

• The Gold Saucer will likely require you to spend real-money to buy in-game chips to bet.
• Raising multiple chocobos to race (like they've been hyping for months) will likely require you to pay a $2 subscription fee for each one after the first like with retainers.
• In order to build/fly airships like they've been talking about for months, your FC will first have to purchase a crafting basement addition to the FC house using real-money.
• To preform the final upgrade to your Relic Weapon to change its appearance to the legendary form that they've been talking about for a while (purely a cosmetic upgrade, stats the same as the previous tier), you'll likely have to pay real-money because it's "just a vanity thing."
• MSK, which they've been talking about for a long time and keep teasing in the game, will likely be a class/job that costs real-money to unlock.
• To play Triple Triad (something they've also been teasing for months), you can use a starter deck for free. But, to get better cards, you have to pay real-money for booster packs. Since you don't get anything for the main FFXIV game from playing Triple Triad, it's not "game breaking" to have a pay-to-win minigame, right?

I'll keep playing this game because I'm enjoying it, but I really loathe SE as a company at this point. I'm already invested in this game, but the next MMO that they do? I won't be going anywhere near that. Sadly, I'll probably never see the refer-a-friend Mount because when a friend asks me if FFXIV is any good, ever since the personal housing mess I've been telling them it's terrible and they should avoid it.

[16bitBounty]

I don't want to say I told you all so, but I told you all so. This is what happens when you overwhelmingly support a filthy cash shop in a pay to play game. You all were so supportive of dear Yoshi P and so trusting. Here's that just vanity stuff he mentioned. You want it? You pay for it. Your subscription means zilch. Glad I ditched when the cash shop was released. Have fun riding that slope folks.

[Starlord]

As much as I feel they mean "real money". They didn't say "real", they only said money. There is hope money means gil :P.

[Ilitsa]

I'm fine with the free/premium options. I consider my subscription as the right to access their server and play the game, nothing more. If I want extra goodies beside that, they have every right under the sun to charge for them. If I want it, I'll buy it, if it doesn't interest me, I'll pass. (go ahead and look at my lodestone, see how I have zero cash shop things.)

[Razzle]

As much as I feel they mean "real money". They didn't say "real", they only said money. There is hope money means gil :P.

$E wouldn't keep quiet if that was true D: they didn't even translate that part on the Q&A... lol

[Black91CRX]

I care deeply about the future of this game, and when I see it heading to a bad place, where content is gated behind real money, then I am going to speak out against such behavior. It is not acceptable by any means and it needs to stop, now.

If this "gated content" ever amounts to anything besides vanity/minions/mounts I would agree. But as long as they aren't charging extra to access endgame raids, dungeons, or combat/crafting gear then I'm 100% okay with it.