[Cash Shop Idea] Game Time Token

[alimdia]

The game is a lot more than about End Gear, for example:

- Want a big FC/Personal house: Why not Sell Cash-Shop items and use money to buy the house directly. Very fair to the other FCs who were worked their butt off collecting gils trying to buy that nice house that you have earned doing nothing in game for it.

- Got a new rare items/decos to be sold or bought on the marketboard? Why bothering with a normal price when you know Cash-Shop items sellers can afford for artificially overprice. Screw the regular gils earners..

Etc..

How do you "win" by obtaining a house, rare vanity or decorations? Following your logic the cash shop is already pay to win because it already sells exclusive vanity and exclusive furniture.

I'll ju$t $pend my money on game time for my friend. Becau$e people $uddenly went from hating the Ca$h $hop to making $ugge$tion$ on what to add next. What in the $ane hell i$ going on, guy$? $eriou$ly.

This is different, the sub tokens would be available to anyone who wants to buy them through the marketboard, there's no potential content being taken out of the game to gate behind a paywall, this is both a way to curb RMT and benefit both players who would buy the tokens and who would sell the tokens, while still giving the money to SE instead of 3rd party sellers, all without adding extra gil to the economy.

[RobbieH]

No thanks, this is a bad idea because:

- People with 8 Retainers = 160 Items on Market for those people is a great advantage over people with only 2 retainers
- People who control the economy on each server would pretty much be playing the game for free
- There's still and always will be Market snipers and people who abuse Market (example, people who read new patch notes and buy every required mat on the market there is)
- Veteran Players who didn't level their crafts won't make much Gil (people would feel forced to level their crafts to be allowed to have Gil for this)
- ^Even more crafters = harder to make gil, leaving already stupid rich people at great advantage and no effort to get Sub time
- Square would make much less money and that's not good for the game, we didn't get Inventory space because "Server Limitations", now we're going to get them and people already trying to take money from the game

And mostly important: People complain they don't want FFXIV to copy WoW, but keep posting ideas from that game here.

[Enur]

People dont seem to understand that SE cannot remove bots by ban. They have to beat them otherwise. People are buying gil from bots anyway, so why not make it a SE supported service.

[Aldora]

FFXIV Tokens provide players with a convenient, secure way to exchange gil for game time directly through the in-game Market.

Visit the Market and use your hard-earned gil to purchase one of the FFXIV Tokens another player has put up for sale. Once the Token arrives in your in-game mailbox, right-click it to add it to your bag, then right-click again and 30 days of game time will be added to your account.

I'm firmly against a system like this. Let me explain why:

This subject has been discussed several times in the past and every single one of them became quite heated at that. The main issue people have with this is the mindset behind it.

One person says that that people will be able to buy game time with an in-game currency, so that they don't have to pay the subscription fee due to real life financial issues. Another person says that (s)he has so much in-game money, that they save spend it on buying game time through the market boards and save money. And finally another person says it's to battle RMT, by "legalizing" it through a token system like "Chronosphere/Plex/WoWTokens/etc".

If you want to read more about these discussions, i'd suggest reading what people had to say about it in this thread (545 posts long):

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

I know it's going to be a long read, but this is what i had to say about it in that particular thread:

I still can’t agree with idea’s where you can buy game time with in-game money, by purchasing items which are being sold through real money and placed on an Auction House. No matter how you put it.

15 Dollars or Euro’s is not expensive for a monthly subscription of an MMO such as WoW or FFXIV. If you really don’t have that kind of money to spend on an MMO, then you really need to reconsider if playing an Subscription based MMO is such a good idea. The same applies to people who don’t have a lot of time to spend on gaming and feel that the 15 Dollars/Euro’s isn’t worth the amount of time they spend playing the game.

There are bigger things in life then to worry about this.

On the other hand, we are living in an era where a lot of people want to get “stuff” for free, while throwing money at other things without a sliver of thought. For example, we want to play a MMO for free, but on the other hand, we’re not hesitating when it comes to spending a fortune on vanity items in cash shops.

The main reason behind it is the desire that you just have to have it. But, wouldn’t you agree that there is something very wrong with that picture?

Introducing a “PLEX” system will not solve these first world problems… It will only serve to “feed” it even more. Let’s say you can buy “PLEX” through the Mogstation and put it on the Market Boards… “How much in-game currency do you think is game time worth?” Depending on who you ask, you will get a different answer every time. Because it has no set value, it will give the players the “power” to decide for themselves what the value of “their” game time will be. That kind of “power” should never be placed in the hands of a player. Under no condition.

As players, we already have control over prices on the Market Boards and already you see items which are being sold for exuberant prices, or even far below the vendor prices. Game time should not be a part of that.

Next to that, i’ve seen games where you were able to buy game time or inventory/bank expansions with in-game currency, by purchasing “PLEX”-like currency through a legal in-game cash shop. These shops always charged a ridiculous amount of in-game cash for game time or inventory/bank expansions, which would require a lot of time in order to be able to purchase it.

If you are already susceptible to buying in-game currency through RMT, the chances that you will buy more to be able to buy the game time would only only increase.

No. As far as i’m concerned, paying a subscription fee for playing FFXIV (without having the means to buy & sell game time through a “PLEX”-like currency) is still the best business model to date.

But, make no mistake. I’m all for the opportunity to gift game time to friends or family, but not like this. If you want to gift game time, either buy a game time card for them, or have the ability to purchase game time through the Mog station, which then can be sent directly to the SE account of person you want it to be sent. The person would then receive either a real life e-mail saying that their game time has been extended for the amount which has been paid for, or the person would receive an untradeable and unsellable item in the Moogle Mail box which will extend their game time upon use.

I don't see the world in such black and white terms as "evil" and "good".

I pick the solution that provide the best possible outcome.

Anything that screws over the spamming RMT, reducing my spam, is positive from my point of view.

People are going to buy gil whether you or SE want them to or not - how else did you think those RMT companies survive for so long. This is a fact that you must accept. This is reality.

By introducing a “grey” solution like “PLEX” you are only introducing more means for illicit activities like RMT to flourish by not just expanding our horizon, but theirs as well. Creating more loop-holes to be abused by others. And i’m not just talking about RMT either. Ow, and believe me… If people get the chance (RMT or no), people will abuse systems like “PLEX”.

And trust me, i know fully well that RMT will never go away. As long as there are people buying in-game currency with real money, there will always be RMT around the corner who will make full use of that opportunity. But, “legalizing” it is not the way to go.

RMT is a bannable offence and thus has to be punished. You buy gil? You suffer the consequence. Period.

The only wish i have is that SE hunts them down faster. Have a GM stand in each zone of the game and the second they see an RMT shout or receives one through tell, let the ban hammer fly. They can even suspend them until the internal investigation of their illicit activities/RMT Advertising has concluded.

RMT should not be tolerated and addressed with a firm hand. Not be “challenged” by introducing your own “Legal RMT”.

I know that there are plenty of people who will not agree with the things i meantion above and that's perfectly fine. I've been against the introduction of the Cash Shop since the moment they've introduced it, because the longer it exists, the bigger the chance arises that they will add things into the Cash shop that will go beyond the boundaries of mere "vanity" items and people will have a hard time staying away from it. I'm still "appalled" by every thread where people request more and more items to be added to the cash shop before even considering putting it in-game without a price-tag on it. People were begging SE to put in the Chinese and Korean dresses into the Cash shop, because they wanted it so badly. Now, look at it. 13,50 euro's for a dress and it's only for 1 character, not even account wide. I may be old fashioned, but that's insane... Still people are buying multiple of those, just because they want it.

You want to give those people the means to buy tokens, sell them on the Market Boards and have the value of these be determined by players? Pardon my English, but i'd rather die and burn in hell then see something like this introduced into FFXIV.

The only way i'll "support" buying game time from the Mog Station, is when they make it untradeable and unsellable in game. This also means that you should not get a code you have to enter as a "Item-code" within your account, because those can be sold through other means too.

There are also people who are having trouble paying for their subscription, because their creditcard is being blocked. Right now, buying "Crysta" and use that for buying game time is the only other option. If we can help those people out this way, then i can accept that. But only if they make it untradeable and unsellable in game.

So, i'll say this again, one more time:

But, make no mistake. I’m all for the opportunity to gift game time to friends or family, but not like this. If you want to gift game time, either buy a game time card for them, or have the ability to purchase game time through the Mog station, which then can be sent directly to the SE account of person you want it to be sent. The person would then receive either a real life e-mail saying that their game time has been extended for the amount which has been paid for, or the person would receive an untradeable and unsellable item in the Moogle Mail box which will extend their game time upon use.

[CookieMonsta]

No thanks, this is a bad idea because:


And mostly important: People complain they don't want FFXIV to copy WoW, but keep posting ideas from that game here.

Have you ever wondered where Gil comes from?
What the OP is suggesting actually kills the illicit gil market because it allows a sanctioned conversion of cash to gil. We all have to pay subs, this allows IRL richer people to pay for people who cannot (but might be really good at earning gil in game).
You may very well find it reduces the inflation because as the bots die off, the gil circulates more instead of ever larger amounts of gil being pumped in by illicit RMT.
And seriously, anything that helps crafters is a bonus in my book, they have a certain playstyle they want to pursue, they shouldn't be punished for it.

[Enur]

Aldora, you are missing the point. with a Wowtoken system the players Dont control the prices. The prices are generated from an algorythm based on supply and demand, scaling slowly. no rapid pricechanges.

[MomomiMomi]

I've mentioned my support for this every time it's come up.

I still support it.

[Shirai]

Aldora, you are missing the point. with a Wowtoken system the players Dont control the prices. The prices are generated from an algorythm based on supply and demand, scaling slowly. no rapid pricechanges.

And how do you think that's going to work on this game, where the players do have full control over the MB prices?

That said, I too am completely against anything that makes the game "easier" by means of throwing real money at it.
Reasons have been given by plenty of other players in this thread, so there is no need for me to go into this any further.

[RobbieH]

And seriously, anything that helps crafters is a bonus in my book, they have a certain playstyle they want to pursue, they shouldn't be punished for it.

That is ruining the game for others (example, people who are starting the new relic quest that requires mats) including those who craft but don't snipe the market.

You people ruin the game for others for a quick buck, buy for 100% and sell for 1000%, you don't even need the items, you just do it to make more gil.

And people complain about bots.

I don't know what's the problem with bots, they're not the ones taking the stuff we need from the market, and no one is forced to buy from them to begin with.

But if we want to progress in the game we're forced (for the most part) to buy from snipers if we want to progress otherwise we're going to waste dozens of extra hours so people like you can make a quick buck, but no that IS fine.

[Enur]

And how do you think that's going to work on this game, where the players do have full control over the MB prices?

The point of this thread is to add a token system where players cant control the prices. We wont be able to if its implemented the way we are suggesting. Yes, player controlled prices are bad. Which is why thats not what we want

In wow, you cant play the market with those tokens. theres no risk of one person dominating the market