Items on retainers held hostage unless I give SE £30

[Kule]

Ok so making this as a warning because this is pretty crazy honestly. I came back to the game yesterday after over a years break and was excited to dive back in and enjoy the expansion.

Uncharacteristically I took out the 180 day sub where in the past I've only ever paid monthly. This is where I made a big mistake, after logging in I realised I had four retainers which were unavailable and at the time of my leave I didn't intend to return so I left gear and items on them.

I logged in to mogstation with the intention to reactivate the four retainers for 30 days, remove my items and then cancel them. The thing is, that's apparently impossible for someone who took out the 180 day sub. I have two choices, pay £30 to SE just to get my gear and items or wait 180 days then change to a 30 day sub and do it that way. It's pretty stupid really and I'm amazed the system even works this way.

[Divinemights]

You are joking right?

[Big_Panda]

SE does not allow you to pay for just one extra month to clean out these retainers?

That is crazy.

[Kisagami]

This also happened to me. My boyfriend bought us a bunch of time cards for us to continue playing a long time without worrying about it later. I have a couple of retainers - I pay extra to have three - and suddenly we had to pay $20US to unlock my retainers. I couldn’t get to the items or money on them. Nor could I get to my sales history at the very least. It was AWFUL.

[NephthysVasudan]

https://secure.square-enix.com/account/app

(You may have to log in)

EDIT - link isn't going where you think it does - Mogstation home page -> Manage Service Options -> Retainer Service -> Details (IE Fine print)

Honestly...they tell you up-front whats going on. I fail to see how this is so bad...other than having a mess to clean up when you get back from a long absence...but doesn't that go without saying?
And are you talking about multiple retainers? Or just 1? (I'm keeping an open mind here so don't sell me short here :P )

[Lmcgyver]

https://secure.square-enix.com/account/app

(You may have to log in)

EDIT - link isn't going where you think it does - Mogstation home page -> Manage Service Options -> Retainer Service -> Details (IE Fine print)

Honestly...they tell you up-front whats going on. I fail to see how this is so bad...other than having a mess to clean up when you get back from a long absence...but doesn't that go without saying?
And are you talking about multiple retainers? Or just 1? (I'm keeping an open mind here so don't sell me short here :P )

I think the issue is the fact that, when you pay for the retainer service, the only option is to pay for the entire duration of your current active sub time. As the OP has 180 days of sub time, they must pay for 180 days of retainer service (6x the per-month cost), even though all they want is one month's worth so they can clear them out.

[Berethos]

I think the issue is the fact that, when you pay for the retainer service, the only option is to pay for the entire duration of your current active sub time.

Yeah...the way they tie the retainer service cost to the subscription the way they do is my least favorite part about it (I currently use two extra myself to have fishing and mining ventures alongside botany and adventurer based ones).

They are transparent about it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

[Derio]

This is why I cant wait for the glamour system to come into play. 2, almost 3 of my retainers are holding gear.

But the fact that you cannot unlock those retainers for just 1 month shows how flawed the system is.

[NephthysVasudan]

So your prepaying for your retainers..which makes sense based on the documents.

So yeah...live and learn I guess - need to pay for just the first month and sort out your junk..then go from there. Or shut down the retainers before you shut down your sub.

Each service (Outside SE) in terms of subscription has these little nasties....just comes with the territory.

[kikix12]

But the fact that you cannot unlock those retainers for just 1 month shows how flawed the system is.

The system is not flawed, it is as it is meant to work.

Long sub term gives you the cheapest price available to you while giving access to four character slots per world. However, you need to cover the cost for retainers for the entire length, too.
Short term gives you the option to choose from month to month how many retainers you keep, but on the other hand, you need to pay the full price.
Entry-level gives you the minimum price and maximum freedom with retainers (they can still be bought, right?!), but on the other hand, you can have only one character per world.


Also, think about like this. A player wants a retainer for one month but plans on playing for half a year...Why?! Cause he will dump all the stuff he doesn't need immediately onto the retainer then "let it go" until he'll need the stuff on it (for example, when leveling the job for which the gear is saved in advance for on that retainer). Once he does, he'll just buy the cheapest version again and have the access immediately. Why would ANYONE pay extra? Really, every day you're not paying for it is a "free" day of having an extra retainer for you. And it could be a LONG extra. After all, the stuff is still there, so it does its job of storing it. If you don't need it, why would you care that its sub is off?! You wouldn't. This is, I reckon, the primary reason for why it is like this.

Be glad. I believe I heard of a game where extra storage space is not only locked out, but completely deleted. Then again, I did play a game where the extra storage space can be taken out from even if its timer did run out, just not be put into anymore.