Stop Making Should-Be Achievement Gear.."Optional Gear"

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

Now you're making assumptions. It could very well be the other way, that without a cashshop we'd get the outfit since it was paid by our sub. And your cash shop money could be funnelling into other non-ffxiv ventures for all you know. We're talking $60 games, $60 expansions, monthly sub fees, and more. This game is magnitudes more costly than any AAA game, and comparable to a fairly expensive hobby.

And so far where are we at now? I guess we got so much money from the cash shop that we can increase the number of dungeons per patch from 3 to 2 right!!! Oh wait.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the game. I've spent countless money subbing from 1.0, getting retainers, buying merchandise, etc. Possibly in the thousands now. If we want to use money as a metric to judge "support", then well I'm probably a bigger "fan" than 99% of players here. But I'm not going to pretend that SE isn't greedy. The only thing that needs to stop is people constantly trying to white night triple dipping.

I'm not a white knight for any game. I just understand how the business side of MMO development and revenue generation and allocation works to a degree. I'm not claiming to be an expert mind you, just that I have some measure of experience with it. In all likelihood, if the cash shop didn't exist, no you wouldn't have seen the Scion outfits added "just because". Not if they required extra work (which means extra cost) to make them useable for all the races. Every game has a budget it must adhere to in order to create its content. After that initial investment to get a game launched, game developers and their investors are looking to recoup their investment AND make a profit above and beyond. That's why those investors made the investment after all. Now there's a cost associated with maintaining those game servers, paying employees, and for future development, and subs are the primary method of recouping the initial investment and sustaining the game overall.

When a content patch is planned, it has a budget just like the initial game or an expansion has. What content gets made for that patch must fall within the budget or it doesn't get made. When SE makes something intended for the shop, that item is outside the budget. To justify the expense of making that item, its put forward as a way to generate additional income for the company. Those in charge analyze and make projections on how likely they are to not only recoup the expense, but also how much of a profit they expect to make for the effort.

You did mention something of note though. You are indeed correct that our "cash shop money" and in fact even some of our monthly sub money, could be (and to be transparent, almost certainly is) "funneled" into other non-ffxiv ventures. That's entirely intended. How do you think a game company generates capital to make other games without relying solely on investors or to encourage investors to jump on board? They use profits from their existing IP's that are currently generating revenue to fund their new projects and/or to show investors they have some "skin in the game" as it were.

The bulk of FFXIV's revenue is most likely folded back into the game for future development, but its virtually guaranteed that some of it goes to fund other projects. A game company cannot rely solely on a single IP to carry it for its entire existence. Why do you think Blizzard is putting out games like Hearthstone and Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm? They know WoW can't last forever and they need to diversify their portfolio to continue as a business.

SE is no different. But at the same time, those other IP's SE may be investing your sub money into could be highly successful and generate addition revenue that could, in turn, be put back into FFXIV allowing for bigger and better expansions and content patches.

[Alestorm]

The thing is most of our sub fees go to the costs of running, maintaining and (soon) upgrading the servers.

[Alerion]

I always find it interesting that some people actually like getting taken advantage of to the point of defending it. There used to be a time where 100% of in-game items would be obtainable, you know, in-game in subscription based MMOs. They didn't need the extra money to continue supporting the game.

In my opinion cash shops in subscription based games should only offer services such as transfers, name changes, race changes and the like. You're quite the sucker if you support something like the Red Baron or White Devil recolors for a stunning $12.

[Belhi]

Firstly, a lot of this gear is given resources to be developed based on the projected return sales. It is the reason we haven't seen a Krile set yet. The person in charge of authorising those items to be made (not Yoshi P) wasn't certain it would sell well enough to make it worth the technical costs of modifying it for all races. Simply put, if these items weren't in the cash shop, they wouldn't exist, period.

Secondly having a second revenue stream isn't a bad thing for anyone. It offers players who are willing to pay more a way to give the game more money. This additional money has helped justify the moving of the US servers to a better location and the overall upgrade to all the servers we get in SB, as well as apparently a tripling of the budget they had in HW to make SB with. The cash shop also help finance the establishment of the EU servers in EU.

A cash shop is bad if it is selling endgame power or we get short changed when it comes to equivalent items in game for our sub fee. Consider what we got in the last patch. We have the Dun Sciath sets, the dungeon sets, a diadem set(with slight alterations for each class), a new glamour set, the Garo event sets, the MSQ set, the Little Ladies day set, two glamour items from the Scholisticate, the Zurvan weapons, the last stage Anima weapons, the glowy crafting and gathering tools, a number of new hair styles, a new dance emote, a singing emote, a glasses emote, a number of housing items, 5 new mounts, a bunch of new minions and frankly probably more I have forgotten.

That isn't including any of the actual playable content. I would say we are getting value for money.

The other issue is selling power and really nothing in the cash shop offers that so that is a moot point.

I get it. You want the stuff in the Cash Shop and are annoyed you cant get it without doling out more cash. However the Cash shop is beneficial to you and is helping finance things you actually are getting which would probably require a raise in your sub fee to pay for otherwise. We aren't getting short changed. Having the Cash shop go won't get you any of the things you wanted out of it anyway and would just end up resulting in getting less overall.

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I always find it interesting that some people actually like getting taken advantage of to the point of defending it. There used to be a time where 100% of in-game items would be obtainable, you know, in-game in subscription based MMOs. They didn't need the extra money to continue supporting the game.

In my opinion cash shops in subscription based games should only offer services such as transfers, name changes, race changes and the like. You're quite the sucker if you support something like the Red Baron or White Devil recolors for a stunning $12.

That "time where 100% of in-game items would be obtainable" you're remembering so fondly was also a time of "you got what the budget allowed them to create and not a drop more". Times change, as do business models. It's not about "needing" money to support the game. It's about expanding your business as a whole, not just one specific IP. Could SE run FFXIV on subs alone? Probably. Would that limit how much they could invest in expansions and content patches? DEFINITELY.

Your opinion that someone is a "sucker" for paying for something they want is noted, but it's just that, an opinion. I certainly don't feel like a sucker for buying the Thancred Modish outfit. I've used pieces of it for various outfits and its brought me a great deal of pleasure being able to make my character look the way I want him to. I'd wager others who have made purchases don't feel like suckers either. Just remember that those extra dollars people spend on the store are benfitting you directly by increasing the available budget for future FFXIV content. From my perspective, I'd say "thank you" to those people for helping the game I play grow. But that's just me.

The point that you may be missing however is that there is a market for these things, else SE wouldn't bother making them. Are they "taking advantage"? Mmmm, I suppose that's not inaccurate. They are "taking advantage" of a tap-able revenue source to expand the available resources to develop FFXIV and other SE intellectual properties. At the same time they are providing additional things for FFXIV players that go beyond the allotted budget, and apparently meeting a demand of their player base by doing so.

For me personally, there's very little I find desirable from the Mogstation, but damn if my eyes didn't light up at the prospect of getting that Thancred Modish outfit... something I would NEVER have gotten to have if they hadn't went above and beyond the allotted budget to make it useable by players, and put it into the store.

[Mature]

You do realize that you don't HAVE to purchase OPTIONAL items, right? So who cares if others do? How does that concern you at all?

This

/10characters

[Alerion]

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While you're correct about budgets your argument falls apart when you realize we could have it all spread over time. All it would take to add in those pieces is to push back a piece of craftable gear or some such to another patch.

You're putting far too much faith in a system designed to soak up every cent possible. There is nothing benevolent about a cash shop, believe me. It was an idea to support entire games in lieu of subscriptions. When companies realized they could actually double dip without much back lash that's when it became the norm. I'm not saying a for profit company is wrong for getting every bit they can, but I am saying if you're paying $12 for what amounts to a single artist's afternoon to recolor existing mounts, you just might be the sucker they're looking for. No one will argue it works.

So I suppose you're right, I do fondly remember the times of olde.

[Baci]

I pay sub plx gief stuff

[Felis]

I always find it interesting that some people actually like getting taken advantage of to the point of defending it. There used to be a time where 100% of in-game items would be obtainable, you know, in-game in subscription based MMOs. They didn't need the extra money to continue supporting the game.

In my opinion cash shops in subscription based games should only offer services such as transfers, name changes, race changes and the like. You're quite the sucker if you support something like the Red Baron or White Devil recolors for a stunning $12.

Remove the cash shop without putting the cash shop item into the game will give you the 100% back and you will still not getting those items.

Ignore the cash shop, ignore anything from it as if those items don't exist and everything is good

[Pintsized]

But where does it stop? Shall they stop making all sorts of weapon models all together?

No problem with that, gear serves a purpose it's not an end itself so who cares about cosmetics, there are 'fluff' glamours if you really feel the need to try to look 'special'.