I'll pay anything for this Chocobo Barding

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I'd like to request that people asking for new things to simply ask for them to be added to the game. Please stop encouraging this Cash Shop with your whaling.

Ask yourself. What will motivate a company more from the following options:

"I want you to make this new item for free!"
"I'm willing to pay for this new item if you'll make it!"

And now you have your answer why people make threads like this.

They sure are.

Actually, they aren't. If you have never bought a single thing from the mogstation, but subbed for a year. You'll have only earned Square $155.88 with an entry sub. Comparatively, someone who bought Sleipnir, Fat Moogle, Lightning's outfit and five fantastas will have brought in $269.87 with the very same sub. You may dislike whales, but from a purely business perspective, they can bring in more money than a sub ever will. In fact, F2P games absolutely dwarf the profit margin of sub models-- by several hundred million.

[Jandor]

Actually, they aren't. If you have never bought a single thing from the mogstation, but subbed for a year. You'll have only earned Square $155.88 with an entry sub. Comparatively, someone who bought Sleipnir, Fat Moogle, Lightning's outfit and five fantastas will have brought in $269.87 with the very same sub. You may dislike whales, but from a purely business perspective, they can bring in more money than a sub ever will. In fact, F2P games absolutely dwarf the profit margin of sub models-- by several hundred million.

You explained why it's good for SE, but not really why it's good for me or any other customer. We're not here for Squares benefit, they're here for ours.

I know they can run the game perfectly well without the cash shop, they did it before.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

You explained why it's good for SE, but not really why it's good for me or any other customer.
I know they can run the game perfectly well without the cash shop, they did it before.

We're not here for Squares benefit, they're here for ours.

Unfortunately, that is just how business works. Game costs have risen exponentially over the years. Companies aren't just going to eat those losses. Thus, it falls back to the consumer. If they didn't introduce DLC or cash shops, the price of games would go from $60 to $100+ (Capcom even hinted they've wanted to do that for years but fear the backlash). The way I see it, at least we have a choice to opt out of paying additional costs while those who do want vanity items can spend their money as they please. Could they run the game without a cash shop? Sure, but they'd be stupid to do so when people will pay for vanity. People need to accept DLC and cash shops aren't going away. Every single publisher does it nowadays and no amount of complaining will change that. If people want to spend their money on stuff like Sleipnir, leave them be. Granted, I wouldn't touch what the OP wants for that price.

The one positive though, is the more profit FFXIV reels in, the more incentive Square has to funnel money back into it. Stormblood likely wouldn't have triple the budget if no one bought cash shop items. So if you haven't. You get to reap those benefits without having paid any extra for them.

[Felis]

Stormblood likely wouldn't have triple the budget if no one bought cash shop items.

CS money went into EU datacentre, inventory expansion and FF XV

[Bourne_Endeavor]

CS money went into EU datacentre, inventory expansion and FF XV

And when are we getting that expansion?

They've earned plenty more since the EU datacenter. Regardless, my point was if FFXIV weren't reeling in the money it does-- cash shop and all. Square doesn't have any incentive to upscale the budget. And we have no idea how much went towards FFXV.

[Hirskuwil]

Stormblood likely wouldn't have triple the budget if no one bought cash shop items. So if you haven't. You get to reap those benefits without having paid any extra for them.

Just want to point out that this "triple budget" that people keep quoting has not been verified. No one can come up with a link to the original report about it.

[SessionZero]

Just want to point out that this "triple budget" that people keep quoting has not been verified. No one can come up with a link to the original report about it.

It wasn't in a report. It was mentioned by Koji Fox during the keynote at the 2016 Vegas FanFest.

[Kosmos992k]

You explained why it's good for SE, but not really why it's good for me or any other customer. We're not here for Squares benefit, they're here for ours.

I know they can run the game perfectly well without the cash shop, they did it before.

You're wrong, and SE recently demonstrated why, the much larger budget for StormBlood vs Heavensward is a good illustration that FFXIV in total is a solid revenue stream for SE, and they can afford to put the money back into the game. More $$ for premium fluff in the shop equals more $$ for development and servers. I'm not seeing anything but a benefit to the players and SE here.

[Jandor]

You're wrong, and SE recently demonstrated why, the much larger budget for StormBlood vs Heavensward is a good illustration that FFXIV in total is a solid revenue stream for SE, and they can afford to put the money back into the game. More $$ for premium fluff in the shop equals more $$ for development and servers. I'm not seeing anything but a benefit to the players and SE here.

FFXIV was already a solid revenue stream for SE before the cash shop. It was routinely mentioned here and in the wider gaming press that this game saved SE from some pretty dire financial predictions, games only sold more copies since then.

Base game, subscription, expansion, more subscription. Then being asked to pay again for recoloured mounts, old event items, items that already exist in other regions, and it being framed as if they're doing me a favour... Great stuff.

[Kosmos992k]

being asked to pay again for recoloured mounts, old event items, items that already exist in other regions, and it being framed as if they're doing me a favour... Great stuff.

If this is how you view what is in the cash shop, then why is it a problem if some people wish to pay for those things?