Quote Originally Posted by Kazumac View Post
If they offered it from in game means it would devalue their cash shop. It would be a bad business decision to do what KogatoAC suggested and reduce potential cash shop sales by offering an equivalent in game option while not offering any additional monetary benefit to SE.
This. SE knows people would buy it (just like they bought the other items), therefore if you personally don't want to buy it in the cash shop (as I stated) SE knows there's plenty more that will and that drove their decision. If you offer an in-game version, there's no purpose to the cash shop version. It's like offering a 90k gil/month sub with the same benefits as the standard $14 sub option and expect people to go with the $14 one.

Quote Originally Posted by Nephera View Post
while ostensibly true, many games offer a free option for a lot of things that can be purchased out of the cash shop. Making it a time saved vs money saved choice for the player.
While true, the free version is usually severely gimped, not as pretty or flatout lacking features/benefits. Much like in XIV's cash shop you can get a Free Eternal Bond option vs Paid options.