Real Money to Get In-Game Currency: Eternal Bond Edition

[Dyvid]

No pay to win! Well unless your idea of winning is to gaining enough gil to buy a mansion on the hill.... ; )

[Aezelas]

No pay to win! Well unless your idea of winning is to gaining enough gil to buy a mansion on the hill.... ; )

If winning means getting BiS, or being able to beat the hardest content maybe not.
If it means having an advantage over other people for beating or accessing any content, then it is.

One can use gils to buy gear to reach faster the required iLvl for dungeons.
One can buy the most expensive materias for the best relic built, without having to work in game to get the gils, and this gives them an advantage over people that can't afford that.
I personnaly haven't reached the hardest content yet, but i've read about overmelded stuff. To me, it looks a lot like some kind of pay to win.

I have to agree with the OP. A dev's response would be welcome.

[Taliph]

Just saw a pf "10 mil obo for plat bracelet"

[Aldora]

Still, we need an official stance from the GMs or the Devs. We don't know for sure what they will think about this. Just after 5 minutes of PF I got around 10 messages on the line of "Me and my FC will report you for RMT", "You're going to get banned for RMT", Ecc...

Edit: I'm trying to get contact with one of the active GMs on Ragnarok, if I get something out of this topic I will bring it here.

Edit #2: Support confirms that it's NOT a violation of the TOS.

The thing is, their ToS says something different:

2.2 Real Money Trading, Farming and Power-Leveling.
You may not sell, purchase or exchange for real-world money or value any in-game currency, accounts, characters, in-game services, or in-game virtual items. You may not play the Game for the purpose of acquiring virtual items or advancement in game play on behalf of a third-party or for the purpose of selling any virtual assets to a third party for real-world money, specifically including "gold-farming" and power-leveling services.

Because you are purchasing an in-game virtual item from the cash shop and selling it for an in-game currency, that alone would violate the "Real Money Trading" rule mentioned within the ToS.

What people need to keep in mind is that the item is classified as Unique and Not sell-able, but not untradeable. The main reason why the item is not untradeable, is that you can get 2 and give one to your significant other / partner. If they really would allow people to sell the item, then the item would be classified as sellable so that people can place it on the marketboards.

The item is not intended for selling to third-person with the intent of receiving an in-game currency for the transaction.

[Grimmel]

Still, we need an official stance from the GMs or the Devs. We don't know for sure what they will think about this. Just after 5 minutes of PF I got around 10 messages on the line of "Me and my FC will report you for RMT", "You're going to get banned for RMT", Ecc...

Edit: I'm trying to get contact with one of the active GMs on Ragnarok, if I get something out of this topic I will bring it here.

Edit #2: Support confirms that it's NOT a violation of the TOS.

GM's are NOT Game Developers. A lot of the time one GM will say it's okay, then the other will say it's not. And then you have times where a GM says it's okay and an actual Game Developer will say it is not. You should always take what a GM says with a grain of salt as half the time they are wrong.

I will continue to wait for an official response on this matter before I take the word of a GM.

[Cynfael]

If they hadn't accepted the inevitability that players would want to trade these bracelets for gil, they would have designed the system differently.

Also, if they really want to start brandishing the ban hammer for RMT, there are a hell of a lot of moles to whack before they get to players who are selling items in-game that they legitimately purchased straight from the official cash shop.

[Xhominid]

And still, lots of people will continue arguing cash shop is not game breaking

People have no idea what true gamebreaking is...discuss something is gamebreaking...yeah no.

[TouchandFeel]

I for one hope that this is not the stance they take on this, that it is okay.

While they could justify it as being different because the currency being transacted between the players is gil and not real money, in the end someone is being able to use real money to acquire in-game currency.

[SpookyGhost]

$ = Bracelet = Gil

therefore

$ = Gil

Odd that they're fine with this but go on and on about how many RMT they've gotten rid of.

[Zephyranthes]

Though im not a GM and I can't say how they will respond Tera did this with a lot of items. Mostly vanity but at one point even subscription. It actually worked out really well for those who make good money in game and no so much in RL and helped those who weren't good at farming up gil in game also have gil so im actually kinda cool with this idea

Honestly a Lot of games do this sort of thing and it works out quite favorable in the end. I doubt Se would mind if they don't mind people selling wins for ridiculous prices. I would be more opposed if it was something you could only buy from a cash shop. Buying cash shop items and selling them on game is great for some people.

When Tera did this, it transitioned to F2P. FF14 is a full subscription based model and buying items from the cash shop to sell for in-game gil is in line with pay to win. Gil can get you higher level equipments, melds, best crafting gears, mansions and other non-vanity benefits.