Quote Originally Posted by Vespar View Post
Square Enix is not doing anything differently that other MMO companies aren't.
We've already explained at great length that yes, SE is doing things differently from other MMO companies.

Blizzard's cash shop is miniscule compared to FFXIV. All items are account-wide, and you can buy Blizzard cash shop credit with in-game gold. Likewise with ESO - all items are account-wide. I don't play it, so I'm not sure if they have a gold-cash shop exchange.

Then you can compare it to f2p MMOs, which one would think would be worse than FFXIV due to the cash shop being their primary source of income, but...

- Blade and Soul - costumes can be mailed between characters, Hongmoon Coins can be purchased with gold so that you don't have to spend any real money in the shop
- WildStar - pretty much everything (costumes, mounts, pets, dyes, etc) is unlocked account-wide, costumes being between $7-10. Everything also has an Omnibit price, which is a currency earned whenever you do something that grants experience (very easy to earn). Heck you can even purchase subscription with in-game currency.
- Rift - everything account-wide, costumes average around $8-9, cash shop credits purchasable with plat, and premium subscription purchasable with plat.
- Guild Wars 2 - everything is account-wide, Gems purchasable with in-game gold. Costumes average ~$8.