Is our sub fee not enought

[ErikMynhier]

Not to be mean but you sound like the head office guys who increase prices for production and then complain sales are down but then trot out the amazing gross on sales.

I don't take it as mean, that is the reality of dealing with a business. My goal isn't so much to defend the practice (which personally I don't think is wrong), as much as it is to show how this is the model for this game. And since the game is very successful, we will likely see this model going forward.

The head guy in the office would never increase prices for production, the market increases the price of production. And I complain when sales are down because I have people above me who require I meet a set cost, there for I have to adjust the only budget I have only real control over which is payroll which I don't want to mess with as these people under me need their jobs. So I do role out my amazing gross charts to convince my superiors that we are doing great so I don't have to lay people off, the same people who thing I'm the ass for riding them to increase productivity so I could use those charts to save their jobs. They don't understand and some here don't either, but that's cool because I took not a dime from them, whether they hate me or not doesn't matter. We aren't all wolves of Wall Street.

[Skivvy]

The Blizzard Store was introduced long before 2013, with optional purchasable items such as name, race, server changes, transmog, pets and mounts. The only new territory they've delved into in the last couple years were the level boost and game time tokens. Everything that SE has been putting in their shop up until now has been a staple for Blizzard and WoW for 7+ years.

I haven't personally played WoW, so I can't speak for that, but the articles I found were from 2013 stating that Blizzard was going to add a cash shop / microtransactions to the game. I'm struggling to find sources saying otherwise at the moment, but if you find them, feel free to post (I'm really not saying that sarcastically, text is rough! lol). For what it's worth, I personally am 100% with race changes (fantasia type items), server changes, name changes, etc being monetized separately as they are not direct game-play items.

The only thing that XI has added, and I believe that was within the last 6 months, was the option to buy 2 additional storage slots. They're still holding strong with no game items/mounts/etc going to a cash shop.

[Naunet]

Extra money for extra stuff, how is this new to anyone?

Emotes aren't extra. If you're going to start arbitrarily defining what is "extra", you may as well stick that label onto ANY content added to the game.

[Emerald_Swords]

Best $7 spent

[DaikiKiyoshi]

Emotes aren't extra. If you're going to start arbitrarily defining what is "extra", you may as well stick that label onto ANY content added to the game.

By definition everything in the cash shop is extra. None of it is required in any way to progress in game. So yes, the emotes added to the CS are extra, optional items.

[Reinha]

I would like to point out that since the beginning of ARR the game has never been all-inclusive. There are game play items you didn't get by buying just the base game. Example:



Now, is the CE a good deal for what you get? Yes. Do CE bundles get made a lot less frequently than Mog Station exclusives? Yes. Are the CE items account bound? Yes. I'm not arguing against any of that and they are actually fair points. Making frequent and expensive single character products can seem like substandard service in a subscription game and I understand that people are disappointed. The fact still remains that there were always items that you had to pay extra for. (Unless you count FFXIV Online pre-ARR which I don't know much about, but probably best not to delve into the business model of a game that was putting the company in debt.) Mog Station is just a way to buy those extras outside of major content releases, and it also includes the option to upgrade to CE for anyone who didn't do so when it first released.

I think that instead of arguing against the mere existence of paid exclusives (which have existed since the start of ARR) it would be more productive to argue the exact issues that bother people the most. Like pricing, single character vs account bound, frequency of Mog Station releases, lack of recolor versions of the same items in game or the general lack of cosmetic additions in game. Pin-pointing the problem is something SE could realistically make an effort to adapt to, if people are vocal enough.

[Skivvy]

CE versions and additional promotional items (minions with OST, Plushies, fan fest, etc) are a marketing deal. I can see the similarities in your comment above, but that really is a completely different beast compared to a cash shop.

I do think it could be beneficial, like you said, to focus on the specific issues as there is no way the cash shop is going away.

[Gardthorne]

I think you'll all be fine without your dumb play dead emotes. At least this forces annoying lalafells to pay for this garbage.

[Naunet]

By definition everything in the cash shop is extra. None of it is required in any way to progress in game. So yes, the emotes added to the CS are extra, optional items.

What makes an emote in the cash shop any different from an emote earned in-game? They're both content. As for progressing the game, that all depends on what you want out of the game.

[DaikiKiyoshi]

What makes an emote in the cash shop any different from an emote earned in-game? They're both content. As for progressing the game, that all depends on what you want out of the game.

Eh, what makes them different is one is cash shop exclusive and the other isn't. Obviously you don't need either one but the one in game is there for you to get as part of your sub fee and the one in the cash shop is there for you to purchase with extra money (aside from your sub) if you want it that badly. Many people seem to get upset because they think the items in the cash shop should have been put in the game from the start but if content is being developed specifically for the cash shop as others have guessed, then there was never going to be another way to obtain those items. They were never intended to be included as part of your sub fee. Therefore optional extras for those willing to shell out the extra $$