So what if people sell platinum and gold plans for gil?

[Hyunckel]

Yet, now a in game cutscene and quest, with some virtual items warrants $40 and people are dumb enough to not only buy it, but defend SE religiously like they are some poor, down on their luck, friend.

I bet British Petroleum, Comcast, and SNC would kill for such blind devotion to corporations.

That's how video games companies get away with those shady methods. Most players are too dumb to see it.
That's why we can't have nice things

[Magis]

That's how video games companies get away with those shady methods. Most players are too dumb to see it.
That's why we can't have nice things

Yeah like this poster below:

Ok let me break it down for you since you have penchant for misunderstanding. First I never said RMT is why the cash shop exists. The cash shop exists so SE can make extra profits. I said that one of reasons they may have made eternal bonding bracelets tradable over being bought directly through gil is because SE gets a cut this way. Maybe their primary intentions were noble and they wanted to make a way for one person to pay for couple depending on their monetary situations. However I find it hard to believe that SE would not have the foresight to believe some people would not try selling this bracelets for gil. The cash shop would exist regardless of eternal bonding or RMT activity. When I mean I don't care about the cash shop, it means that I've seen this trend happen a lot in video games that I've come expect such things and I have gone past being bitter about it. DLC's and cash shop are just the new business model for video game companies to increase profits. Once implemented they pretty much never get removed so its pretty much like crying over spilt milk. At this point I've just come to accept it for it was and I have stopped lamenting about the good old days when you paid for something you get all of it even the optional material. Now its pretty much if I see something I like in the cash shop, I'll buy it. If I don't like it enough then I won't buy it. My original intent of this post was simply stating that at least SE is choosing the lesser of evils and allowing the vanity and mounts to be attainable for everyone despite how much money they could pay for additional content. They could have just locked the mounts and vanity directly behind a paywall by making it untradeable just as easily.

Yes you DID:

Every MMO is pay to thanks to RMT business. If you have money there will always be a way for you to get ahead in mmo which is similar to real life as well. You can do the same here indirectly by selling of the bracelet for gil. Also its not like this avenue for making gil will last forever. Eventually the demand will be so less and less people will be willing to buy bracelets. As I've stated before, the way they have it now works for everyone since everyone has access to the eternal bond vanity and mount either through gil or cash.

and if that somehow wasn't what you meant, then maybe you should learn to articulate your views a bit better.

Cool, great that we should all be content that SE will stoop to the level of hated companies like EA and Activision. I don't give two shits about what business model terrible companies are screwing their customers over with, and that doesn't excuse SE doing it either. What kind of excuse is that even? Oh Comcast throttles their internet and overcharges their customers, so it's ok for the other ISPs to do it. BTW, "other companies do it" is a pretty shitty justification because guess what happened to those MMOs that did that? Oh that's right, they crash, died, and joined the other countless MMOs in the F2P graveyard. The two big ones that didn't die (EVE and WoW)? They have been surviving for the last 10 years without this kind of stuff, and have a solid player base that grew out of good gameplay and MMO design. They could afford to implement that stuff because they already had a dedicated fan base who were already invested in the game. Speaking of investment in a game (off topic a bit) I find it funny that because of XIV's habit of making gear worthless every patch, very short level grinds, and easy to clear content (even after a while), there is very little to actually invest into the game besides relic and money. At least SE made it easy to quit so thanks I guess.

And let us not forget, this isn't about cash shops per se. It's about cash shops and pay 2 win... IN A SUBSCRIPTION BASED GAME. You can't even enjoy the items you bought if you unsub, at least with F2P, you can come back and see those items any time you want.

[Thyranne]

Oh that's right, they crash, died, and joined the other countless MMOs in the F2P graveyard. The two big ones that didn't die (EVE and WoW)? They have been surviving for the last 10 years without this kind of stuff, and have a solid player base that grew out of good gameplay and MMO design. They could afford to implement that stuff because they already had a dedicated fan base who were already invested in the game.

WoW does have a cash shop and it's a lot worse than what we have. In WoW you can buy instant level 90 and you could buy a pet that could be sold for gold.

[Erudain]

WoW does have a cash shop and it's a lot worse than what we have. In WoW you can buy instant level 90 and you could buy a pet that could be sold for gold.

Didn't WoW CS open in 2013?....that like 8 years after game launch....by that time they already had tons of dedicated fans who had already spent thousand hours in the game.
This game is one year old. Almost every other P2P that started double-dipping players with a CS that fast, failed miserably at it and enraged its customers (SWTOR, Aion, Tera, Rift, etc)

[Thyranne]

Didn't WoW CS open in 2013?....that like 8 years after game launch....by that time they already had tons of dedicated fans who had already spent thousand hours in the game.
This game is one year old. Almost every other P2P that started double-dipping players with a CS that fast, failed miserably at it and enraged its customers (SWTOR, Aion, Tera, Rift, etc)

It opened back in WotLK (2009 I believe) with the Lil K.T. pet and pandaren pet.

Don't get me wrong I really dislike the cash shop too.

[Magis]

WoW does have a cash shop and it's a lot worse than what we have. In WoW you can buy instant level 90 and you could buy a pet that could be sold for gold.

Didn't say they didn't, I said they could afford to do something like that and survived any fallout from doing so because they had 13+mil players from just general good MMO design. Heck, WoW wasn't even unscathed from implementing that (well, and a butt load of bad decisions), seeing as their sub rate has plummeted over the last 4-5 years.

Already stated that the cash shop isn't around for RMT in particular. When I said every MMO is already pay to win thanks to RMT. I meant that you can use real money to buy in game currency using the third party RMT. Also pay to win is subjective since one persons idea of pay to win is different from someone else's. Also if you don't like how SE is using the cash shop you don't have to play it. Another thing is that EA and Activision aren't the only companies that utilize dlc or buying additional content. Here is a small list of companies that utilize dlc or additional content for their games: Capcom, Namco, Ubisoft, Sega, Bungi, Nintendo, Bioware, Atlas, I could keep going but I'm going to stop there. Notice the amount of Japanese companies I mentioned in that list?

So add them to the list, I was just giving examples.

If you hate it that much just don't play, I don't really mind it and I like the game enough that it isn't a game breaker for me. You're probably better off finding F2P mmo to play since subscription based mmos are heading down the cash shop avenue.

Well, at this point the only thing keeping me subbed is my FC so I may end up doing that. The game I joined in Beta V2 (and it seems before you joined) was way different than what I am playing now. I'd rather see this game succeed and live as long as FFXI or WoW did, but it seems that won't be the case. Too bad cause I love Final Fantasy, I love the lore, and I love the aesthetic. Just a note though, if you keep saying "just don't play", soon you will turn into 1.0 or other MMOs where there isn't anyone left to say that to. I am surprised that people would rather have players jump ship than improve the game.

[cookiecutter]

snip

I'm all for players wanting to improve the game but talk about the stuff you know the developers might actually address. The cash shop isn't something SE will get rid of so if you absolutely hate it you're better off leaving since it'll be here to stay no matter how much you complain about it. Notice the lack of GM posts to these thread even with their abundance right now? Getting rid of the cash shop isn't something they'll address. However if you want class buffs, new cul furnishing, qol stuff, and maybe some new in game ideas then they'll actually talk about that and address it.

[Magis]

I'm all for players wanting to improve the game but talk about the stuff you know the developers might actually address. The cash shop isn't something SE will get rid of so if you absolutely hate it you're better off leaving since it'll be here to stay no matter how much you complain about it. Notice the lack of GM posts to these thread even with their abundance right now? Getting rid of the cash shop isn't something they'll address. However if you want class buffs, new cul furnishing, qol stuff, and maybe some new in game ideas then they'll actually talk about that and address it.

Maybe not getting rid of the cash shop, but stopping this kind of content they put on it. Just look up monocle gate for EVE to see what happened the last time a MMO tried screwing players over with a cash shop. Also when do GMs ever post about current hot issues? They didn't when atma was an issue, they didn't when housing was an issue, and they won't now. Their choice in what to reply about is random at best.

[cookiecutter]

Maybe not getting rid of the cash shop, but stopping this kind of content they put on it. Just look up monocle gate for EVE to see what happened the last time a MMO tried screwing players over with a cash shop. Also when do GMs ever post about current hot issues? They didn't when atma was an issue, they didn't when housing was an issue, and they won't now. Their choice in what to reply about is random at best.

I agree with you that SE has to be careful about how much they implement into the cash shop without going overboard. This patch they splurged on the cash shop but at least all the new stuff except wind up Urianger are not solely obtainable via the cash shop. We'll see how much they implement in future patches. I'm going to reserve judgment if they're taking it too far until I see what else they'll do with it. The seasonal gear can be excluded since you have to the opportunity to get this in game for free anyway as long you're playing during that time.

[Aegis]

However if you want class buffs, new cul furnishing, qol stuff, and maybe some new in game ideas then they'll actually talk about that and address it.

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Cash shop is a deal breaker to a great many people, especially one with tradeable items. Refusing to look at removing it could be very painful to the company.

Time was, Yoshi-P wasn't afraid to make hard choices. He made the decision to close and rebuild FFXIV from the ground up, knowing the huge risk and investment required. Now asking to remove a feature that's a couple of months old is too much?