It's time to reevaluate the idea of adding a PLEX/Chronoscroll-like system to FFXIV

[DoctorPepper]

I kinda like this idea, I wouldn't have to hunt down time cards anymore =P.

Instead you would have to spend countless hours making the millions it costs to purchase the item. Unless you're legitimately rich and have nothing to buy in game you aren't going to be the one who's winning, it will be the people who just spent $1/hr for your time.

Either way only the rich will prosper from this one way or the other. Poor people in game won't be able to afford the item with gil on the mb and poor people in real life will not be able to afford the item with real money.

[Magis]

Are you kidding me? EVE has the most massively DE-regulated economy of any MMO in existence. It's PURPOSE is to be deregulated. The EVE developers ALWAYS err on the side of letting the players dictate the economy.

An economy can't be fully deregulated if you are the one controlling how many virtual items exist. Please, if CCP doesn't touch the economy, then what does Mr Eyjolfur Guðmundsson do? Why does CCP have a team of economists? They nudge the economy in different ways for example selling devalued PLEX cards when bubbles form to drop prices. EVE is designed around PLEX, and has many ways to remove currency from the economy, especially because it's a PVP game. FFXIV has little in the way of gil sinks, and most expenses are player to player not to NPC. The only two I can think of are the relic quest (only 400K) and housing. Teleports and taxes are negligible compared to the amount that comes in through just normal play.

Oh yeah, and I updated my original post once I got on my computer.

[Necromunkey]

Instead you would have to spend countless hours making the millions it costs to purchase the item. Unless you're legitimately rich and have nothing to buy in game you aren't going to be the one who's winning, it will be the people who just spent $1/hr for your time.

I was sort of joking; I'm legitimately having a hard time finding cards at local stores =P. I guess you're right though, my entire game time would be converted to almost exclusively making gil to buy game time to make gil to buy game time.

[Bishop81]

P2W? Please. We have wedding bands and crap already.

The harm it will do to RMT will be awesome - the heck with them and their tell spam.

If anyone still doesn't understand how it works, Wildstar has a similar system called C.R.E.D.D.

To ripe off their explanation page,

Why C.R.E.D.D. Works:
Becoming a MORE profitable you!

Let’s be honest: People are going to buy gold.

C.R.E.D.D. represents the ideal solution for them.

1. No additional gold is generated into the game economy, which keeps inflation and gouging down.
2. It’s a safe and secure alternative to subsidizing gold farmers.
3. The proceeds are reinvested into the end product.
4. It’s a Win, Win, Win:

WIN: Players who want to earn their game-time can do it with C.R.E.D.D.!

WIN: People who want to buy gold with real money can do it with C.R.E.D.D.!

WIN: Money that formerly went to gold farmers now goes to help the devs improve and expand the game experience for you and everyone!

[Jandor]

An economy can't be fully deregulated if you are the one controlling how many virtual items exist. Please, if CCP doesn't touch the economy, then what does Mr Eyjolfur Guðmundsson do? Why does CCP have a team of economists? They nudge the economy in different ways for example selling devalued PLEX cards when bubbles form to drop prices. EVE is designed around PLEX, and has many ways to remove currency from the economy, especially because it's a PVP game. FFXIV has little in the way of gil sinks, and most expenses are player to player not to NPC. The only two I can think of are the relic quest (only 400K) and housing. Teleports and taxes are negligible compared to the amount that comes in through just normal play.

Just to clarify, ship destruction in Eve actually adds isk (the in-game currency) to the game due to the insurance system.
Purchasing a ship from the market moves isk around from player to player, but when it's destroyed the game creates isk to cover the insurance contract which is handled by an NPC corporation.

Eyjolfur Guðmundsson doesn't work at CCP anymore either.

[KayoZ]

Agree with Magis completely.

Good lord, the more time goes by the more I see these "gamers" waving money at the devs to just cheapen the experience more by playing less. The only "theoratical" benefit this had was combating of RMT, which I can tell you first hand does absolutely nothing to them. I was open to this with Wildstar, it failed miserably. They will ALWAYS undercut players. If the Plex/CREDD/Chronoscroll sells for $20 and 50k gil in game, they'll sell 50k gil for $15. Players will still buy from them, hackers will still hack accounts, and we'll all still get spammed.

This is going to bite Blizzard in the ass. Id bet the butchering of professions, and the market that has happened in that game since WoD was premeditated in order to introduce this. Players in that game are so crazy addicted they buy more accounts than they can possibly manage. Good luck buying any hot ticket item, mog gear, warlords crafted, or possibly even savage blood without paying for someone elses sub.

Can you lazy instant gratification gamers for ONCE just leave ONE game alone for players who like to earn what they get through playing the actual game as opposed to just throwing money at it and picking it up at the mail box? kthx

[Dervy]

Dungeon runs bought with Gil, you said that content is to win- with plex buy Gil with real money and buy wins. P2w. The benifit of the system may be worth a cost but it is still pay to win no matter. Also Diablo 3 proved that RMT can go through any anti rmt system(EVE also has rmt), it really did help ruin the economy (though Diablo had a number of other issues for that).

That's because Diablo 3 was a P2W game. No matter which ever way you think about it or try to word it, it was P2W. That's what ruined the Economy in that game and that's why the first iteration of that game was such a flop (among many, many other things).

I don't see what's really P2W in this game. Yah, you can buy a T9 Kill, okay, grats, now what? It doesn't change the fact you need to find yourself a static and put effort and time into FCOB to actually get the best gear, something you cannot buy with Gil (There's only a VERY few groups who can do T10/T11 carrys, and those are extremely expensive runs and no guaranteed loot either). You still need to do your weekly tome-cap and do hunts/WoD weekly to upgrade poetics to i130, something you cannot purchase with gil either. All the best/top-end gear is locked behind either a Time-gate or a Grind-gate. None of it, excluding crafted gear, can you purchase with gil. And even with Crafted gear, there's still a fall off for when it's no longer effective over i130 pieces.

Another interesting this is that yes, this will slowly stop RMT. It will not eradicate it, but the in-game economy can directly compete with whatever RMTers are selling their Gil for. Actually, in a lot of games which has a "PLEX" type subscription system, it turns out to be more cost-efficient to buy in-game currency through this system, rather than an "illegal" 3rd party.

If anyone saying "HURR THIS WILL BRING P2W" has clearly never played a real P2W game in their life.

[chrillix]

Although a system like this would probably benefit me in several ways, it just feels dirty. I spend 90% of my time in-game making gil, and have amassed quite a fortune. I hate the idea of someone with a bunch of RL money being able to buy his way with no in-game effort to the same type of riches I've reached through countless hours of crafting/manipulating the MB.

[AlexionSkylark]

Now, I really want to ask something for the "pay to win" doomsayers:

You say that paying real money to get in-game rewards is unfair. What about people with real time jobs and family who simply CANNOT get the rewards because they don't have enough time?

So, I shouldn't be allowed a house because I'm a filthy casual who is struggling to get his wallet past the 500k gil mark?
I mean... having more money isn't fair, but having more FREE TIME is?

Plz explain this logic.

[Alberel]

Although a system like this would probably benefit me in several ways, it just feels dirty. I spend 90% of my time in-game making gil, and have amassed quite a fortune. I hate the idea of someone with a bunch of RL money being able to buy his way with no in-game effort to the same type of riches I've reached through countless hours of crafting/manipulating the MB.

Pretty much this. It would also completely devalue any item that takes much effort to obtain as plex sellers would be able to just buy the gil to buy the item. Feeling good about finally beating T13 and getting a dreadwyrm weapon? Well that new guy that only started playing a few weeks ago just bought a T13 carry using his bought gil and got one.

I know players already buy gil but at least we can all point at them and say 'cheater' when it's obvious that they're breaking the ToS by buying from gil sellers. Legitimizing it has been proven to do nothing to combat RMT and would only encourage players buying their way through content and completely devaluing any sense of accomplishment in clearing difficult raids or obtaining rare items.

Now, I really want to ask something for the "pay to win" doomsayers:

You say that paying real money to get in-game rewards is unfair. What about people with real time jobs and family who simply CANNOT get the rewards because they don't have enough time?

So, I shouldn't be allowed a house because I'm a filthy casual who is struggling to get his wallet past the 500k gil mark?
I mean... having more money isn't fair, but having more FREE TIME is?

Plz explain this logic.

If you don't have enough time to play you should be playing a more casual game targeted towards casual gamers such as yourself. You shouldn't be complaining that you don't have enough time to play when you're the one that has chosen to play this game in the first place (knowing full well you lack the time). If you cannot play the game within the rules then don't play the game. Don't attempt to get the rules changed to suit your playstyle.

For the record, doing the Ixal dailies for 30 mins a day can net you in excess of well over 100k a day. Dig up a treasure map in 10 mins for another 40k a day. If you lack the time to even do that then I'm pretty sure you're in the wrong genre entirely.