Oh, so FFXIV is pay-to-win? That's... stupid.

[keyburz]

Buying more retainers to have more space to sell isnt pay to win. Just think about it: you could do the same exact thing by buying a second account and have 2 more retainers. But square wants to make this easier for you, because that is a lot of work and maybe you dont want to run a second character. So they give you the option to pay wayyy less money for the thing you actually wanted, instead of a whole entire account. Think of it like buying car insurance, you pick the package that suits you. Buying the bigger car insurance package isnt "pay2win", its there because people want choices. This is a service designed to make people happy, not upset.

If the current system was no free retainer market spots but you get storage, and you could buy the right to sell on the market, then That is pay to win.

[AsteriaStarfall]

Pray tell, how is having extra bag space pay to win. Are you able to down bosses better because of it? Are you able to make 10m gil off the MB in 5 minutes because of it? Or is it just because you don't know how to organize and keep things separated that you are really angry at? You do NOT have to level every crafting profession at once, you do NOT have to level every DoM or DoW at once. Just because 300+ bag slots is not enough for you to keep things maintained is not a reason to call it "pay to win" Winning implies you are able to beat something in game that people that have not paid the money are not able to do as easy which is not the case.

[Geologo]

I felt trolled a lot when they didn't give you a 3rd free retainer after the 3.0 release, or obtainable in other FREE way in the game.
Like an Achievment for levelling up all your DoH classes to 50 or 60 or something similar, I would even be up for a 3rd free retainer on the Veteran reward, deargod we paid the game, expansion and the month fee for long time, considering the amoung of money they got from a single pleyer they could make you a "present", even because even them realized that the inventory space need an expansion too, allowing you to buy 4 more retainer :/

Anyway I would disagree with the pay 4 win of the OP, but I understand his feels

PS.

[...]
We have access to a LOT of bag space already. Quit hoarding and utilize what you have. Extra retainers are a pure luxury. Totally not necessary.

Checked on the Lodestone, not to be rude but try to level up all or even few DoH / DoG classes, and after we will see if it is enough xD

[CGMidlander]

Yeah pay to win with the "Sea Cucumber" that my new extra retainer bring today on the quick venture, Eorza fear me now!!!

Quick ventures are a waste if you are trying to make money.
Your retainers are better off fetching hard to obtain mats & possibly minions for you to sell/use.

e.g. http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Chimera_Mane
If you value your free time, good luck farming up any decent quantity of that yourself. The drop rate is atrocious.

[Radial]

Pray tell, how is having extra bag space pay to win. Are you able to down bosses better because of it? Are you able to make 10m gil off the MB in 5 minutes because of it? Or is it just because you don't know how to organize and keep things separated that you are really angry at? You do NOT have to level every crafting profession at once, you do NOT have to level every DoM or DoW at once. Just because 300+ bag slots is not enough for you to keep things maintained is not a reason to call it "pay to win" Winning implies you are able to beat something in game that people that have not paid the money are not able to do as easy which is not the case.

The reasoning for P2W has been explained multiple times in this thread. Inventory space is a minor part of it, its mostly being able to make gill off ventures.

[Ultimatecalibur]

Paying RL money for any in game advantage is Pay to Win. Whether it is new gear, another means of acquiring otherwise difficult to get gear, buying gil to pay someone for a carry ... all examples of pay to win.

No, Pay to Win is strictly paying real life money to a cash shop in order to gain mechanical gameplay benefits (i.e. enhanced stats, superior gear, lesser penalties, faster mounts etc.) above those that do not purchase them. This tends to ruin games as only those that spend money can compete.

The ability to purchase a free teleport location, extra storage, extra marketboard listings and similar things is what is known as Pay for Convenience. These things improve the purchaser's quality of life but do not give the purchaser a mechanical advantage over other players. Additional retainers do not allow you to do anything you could not already do, they just make things more convenient.

Next, you have Pay for Vanity. Pay for Vanity is the ability to purchase things with different models and appearances than normal with no gameplay advantage.

Finally you have Game Currency Purchasing. This is the exchange of real world money for in game currency.

[Laxxus]

As an Omni-crafter and multi-class leveler.

[papichulo123]

is the reason they gave us extra retainers at a price because of server load?

[ChameleonMS]

is the reason they gave us extra retainers at a price because of server load?

Nope, profit. Subscriptions pay for servers (Data centres) and content development (future and ROI of past) and still leave room for a good profit. Thus, cast stop items are pure profit.

[Geologo]

Anyway even if the OP talk about "pay for win" and it is not the right definition of what happened, I think you all intended what he means.

They added the option to buy 4 more retainer than before because you could need more inventory space (expecially if u are an omni-crafter) and earning items via ventures faster, but by base they didn't gave you atleast an extra retainer even if the new useful items are A LOT.

This is the problem, not "pay for win" vs "pay for comfort" discussion XD