FFXIV - A Step to P2W (My 2.45 Feedback)

[AdamFyi]

There is actually a solution which is even a steam has, why not make it gift option in the mogstasion.

The thing is, we have no idea if the Mog Station is capable of doing that. We can likely assume that data is handled by individual accounts and it doesn't let you alter data on other accounts. You can see this by the fact that the Mog Station only lets you access and edit your account only. This would also explain the lack of a gifting option, a clunky Cash Shop implementation, and well as the way they implemented how you were supposed to gift the Bracelets to your friends.

Pay to Win is getting an in-game advantage by paying real world money. You acknowledged that players who bought and sold the bracelets have the advantage of time. Hence, my point, Pay to Win.

The question is; Is time such a big advantage? Some people would agree, and the others would disagree. However, if the end result is still the same, then should it probably equate time to a pay-to-win system? A pay-to-win system would have to be something that directly uses real-world money to give you a big advantage in the game directly from the point of purchase. How does buying Metallic Dyes or Gold/Platinum plans give you an edge over other players? Does it directly give you the Gil? Not by a long shot. You would still have to look around for potential buyers if you decided to sell it. This is the cause of a clunky implementation as well as the playerbase taking advantage of it. This means that the pay-to-win system we have been discussing about is indirectly caused and was not the intention set by the developers.

So back to what I said earlier; Can time be considered an advantage? Probably not if it is by itself, but it can be when it has other factors supporting it. What we can conclude, however, is that the pay-to-win argument has no ground to stand on because it is indirectly caused by the group that sells them and it does not have a secondary factor to support it. So I took this definition to see if this can possibly be the case;

pay-to-win

Games that let you buy better gear or allow you to make better items then everyone else at a faster rate and then makes the game largely unbalanced even for people who have skill in the game without paying.

I'd like to bring up the bolded text. Now in this quote, pay-to-win is said to allow you to get the desired effect at a faster rate but at the same time makes the game unbalanced in favour for the paying players. Does having being married using the Gold/Platinum plans grant you some sort of buff that increases your damage tenfold? Does dyeing your gear a different colour change your weappon's stats to that of an overpowered weapon that kills everything in a single hit? Does having insane amounts of Gil grant you something equivalent to a God-mode? Nope! Thus, this means that unless there is another action (such as negating skill completely) that supports time as a factor, it probably cannot be considered pay-to-win.

Since all the transactions between the Bracelets and the players buying them for Gil happen directly in game without cash being spent during the trade, I wouldn't consider it pay-to win. Again, this is my opinion on the matter. But I will repeat myself; I do not support people selling the Bracelets for Gil, but at the same time, I do not support those who are against getting the same results at a slower pace.

Edit: Adding this in just in case. I'm not saying that your definition of the term is wrong, nor am I claiming mine is absolute; Hence why I'm using "may", "probably, and "possibly" a lot in my posts. A discussion such as this is healthy and promotes good thinking of the situation. All sides have to make their points clear and question the opposition to see if both they and us are on the same track. Individual opinions are the ones that matter in the end in order for a discussion to flourish and come to a reasonable conclusion.