Awesome diamond dust emote

[Reinha]

If it were available separately then fewer people would purchase the statues. What do you propose they associate with the statues as a bonus to encourage more people to buy it? At that point, what will you say to the people demanding that that different incentive is made available to them as well? In the end, it just comes down to people making excuses just because they want something they cannot afford.

Why does there need to be a bonus attached to the statues? If people don't want to buy statues on their own for the price they are worth then maybe SE should quit selling extortionate statues and instead make more emotes for the masses.

[Theodric]

It isn't unusual for businesses - especially those associated with movies or video games - to team up with third party organisations that design merchandise in the image of iconic characters. Some of this merchandise is aimed at collectors and is expensive. Sometimes it ends up being sold as part of a special collector's edition. Sometimes it is sold by itself. Yet more often than not it is accompanied by special bonuses such as emotes or the aforementioned collector's edition.

It's an incentive. Square Enix get a cut of the profits, though so too do the companies involved in creating the merchandise. Selling the emote by itself would cause less people to buy the statue as they'd just ignore the incentive and wait until the emote was added to the Mog Station. Furthermore, not everything needs to be available to everybody. Some things are simply aimed at those who have a high disposable income and the prestige that comes with that purchasing power is valued highly. Let's be honest here - most of the people complaining are doing so because they do not have the purchasing power to throw money at the statue. They are not the target audience for the bundle deal.

[Oscura]

Furthermore, not everything needs to be available to everybody.

Change the context to raiding pre-story mode (like Coil) or to housing and the tune being sung is different entirely.

Anyone can make the argument "not everything needs to be available to everybody," and while it's true, it doesn't mean people should just accept it.

[Theodric]

Except in this case, it's linked to intentional business decisions. The people complaining do not understand how this particular element of businesses work - some deals are exclusive and locked behind a lofty price tag and are aimed specifically at enticing those with a disposable income. If these exclusive items start showing up on the Mog Station then future deals will be less likely to succeed as the people with a disposable income will avoid them. It's no different to the bonuses that arrive with a collector's edition. People buy them specifically for neat stuff but also the aspect of exclusivity.

People would not buy collector's editions if regular editions came with the exact same bonuses. Ultimately, though, most of those complaining are simply doing so because they want what they cannot afford.

[Stanelis]

I'm pretty sure people care about the emote much more than about the statue. Not many would buy the statues without that emote bonus, so it's main incentive.

I m buying the statue because it looks cool but I'm not really interested by the emote (and my interest for FFXIV is dwindling by the day). At least it's not 150 $ to attend a promotional marketing event.

[Lauront]

Change the context to raiding pre-story mode (like Coil) or to housing and the tune being sung is different entirely.

Anyone can make the argument "not everything needs to be available to everybody," and while it's true, it doesn't mean people should just accept it.

If it's true, why should they not accept it? SE is a vendor selling a product at a specific price. You can certainly ask them to change it or inform them what you would rather see, but they're under no obligation to change the terms of their offering, and I think too many businesses simply cave in to consumer pressure as it is (or worse yet, distorted perceptions of it...) Games and various other media-based products do have a habit of attracting audiences with a larger than usual sense of entitlement, it must be said.

Why does there need to be a bonus attached to the statues? If people don't want to buy statues on their own for the price they are worth then maybe SE should quit selling extortionate statues and instead make more emotes for the masses.

They clearly think it is likelier to make them more money this way. As to it being "extortionate", that is a matter of opinion. Personally, I don't think it would hurt for them to unbundle them at some point, say maybe a year or two later, and sell them at a price point they see fit, but many people will still complain regardless. Can't please everybody... People already flip out over the presence of emotes on the shop. Besides, they by and large do sell emotes on this basis, and add them fairly regularly as part of the main sub offering, too. These are very limited in number. It's the same with the bundling of minions to the fanfest tickets, I wasn't too keen on it, but in the end it doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the game much, since I barely ever use minions or these emotes. As it is, they're prestige emotes, so even if they were unbundled SE would likely keep the price point high enough to maintain that; otherwise, they'd be like all those other emotes you barely ever use. So it is a delicate balance to achieve.

TL;DR I expect they'll unbundle them, just not for a while.

[Theodric]

I'm not too bothered what they choose to do, honestly. I bought the Odin statue because he's one of my favourite Final Fantasy summons and because I though the emote looks rather cool. The exclusivity is a nice bonus. I'm not as keen on the Shiva statue or the emote that comes with it, though I decided to purchase it anyway simply because I could. It's very likely that they will make more in the future and I intend to have access to all of them. That will be a delightful day!

[Lauront]

As for housing, which came up, the sheer volume of content devoted to it is way in excess of anything else in the game. This is why some people get worked up over the lack of availability of it, which they did go some way to remedying through apartments.

Raid content has to be scaled to a certain level of difficulty, since the game is meant to be challenging, so its exclusivity is understandable - and desirable. What they can and will be doing is creating more intermediate content, for those who can't devote the time commitment raiding requires. My particular pet peeve with raiding as it is, is that the easy story mode crap is often taken as the "what truly happened" version, whereas I would prefer to see the reverse, i.e. the Minstrel augmenting your abilities in his tales to make it seem like it was easy, whereas the savage/extreme mode is the true reflection of the story. But yeah, I can understand the gripes behind the actual story of the game being content-locked, since the story is a key selling point. Again, emotes are not.

[Oscura]

Except in this case, it's linked to intentional business decisions.
Ultimately, though, most of those complaining are simply doing so because they want what they cannot afford.

You're moving goalposts. The context is irrelevant. Under no circumstance should any person be forced to accept things for how they are. That is why opinions exist. That is why feedback exists.

Also, seriously? People are complaining because they can't afford it? Gee, what a surprise. The same way that the grand majority of people who complain about housing don't have a house. The same way that people who complained about raiding not being able to raid pre-story mode. The same way, to this day, that people complain about their class and their role in party compositions or their place in class balancing. The same way that people complain there should or shouldn't be parsers. Of course people will post something in opposition of whatever does not benefit them or flat out excludes them. It's ridiculous that you're even trying to imply that since someone can't afford it, it's not serious feedback, it's just them being angry/jealous/disappointed or whatever have you.

I guess we should simply ignore feedback about content from people who can't clear it, run it, experience it (in the case of housing), or unlock it then.

If it's true, why should they not accept it? SE is a vendor selling a product at a specific price. You can certainly ask them to change it or inform them what you would rather see, but they're under no obligation to change the terms of their offering, and I think too many businesses simply cave in to consumer pressure as it is (or worse yet, distorted perceptions of it...) Games and various other media-based products do have a habit of attracting audiences with a larger than usual sense of entitlement, it must be said.

I never said Square Enix was obligated to change their terms. Entitlement also has nothing to do with my statement. All I said was that the consumer does not have to accept what they are being offered, which means they don't have to buy it and they don't have to like it or tolerate it. Feedback exists for a reason. Square Enix can do whatever they like. I was simply addressing how "it is done this way, therefore deal with it," was such a silly notion. If people simply just dealt with how things were, then things would never be what they are today. Either way I don't care about whether or not the emote is available separately. Square Enix's store is god awful and even though I have the money to afford it I just don't care enough about Shiva nor do I care about a "special" emote.

[Theodric]

Unfortunately for many people 'feedback' results in the masses simply demanding that they be granted access to everything. No solid reasons are usually given beyond variants of the phrase 'Gimme, Gimme!'