Should items previously tied to physical purchases become available in-game again?

[Rokke]

Thank you for the clarification. But again, seems like neither wave lasted very long.
Forgive me, but I recall threads being made very quickly after he became available for pre-order on the store about how he was already showing up as on backorder or no longer available. I do not recall him lasting "a couple months" post preorder.

Odin went up for preorder in Oct 2016, with wave 1 being NA fanfest merch and wave 2 being the general sale. Going through my old posts I found this thread. So approx 6 months, which was apparently long enough to be added to an EU online sale to get rid of him.

As someone who does not like to order things if I do not have the money on hand at the time or order regardless of when a company charges for the purchase, again, I understand people not wanting to throw down $150 USD if they do not readily have it in their account. Especially since SE can be particularly finicky with chargebacks and knee-jerk banning accounts (store or game). I can't fault someone for not pre-ordering if they didn't have $150 extra already in their account; I won't pre-order unless I can set aside money to cover the purchase even if the retailer won't charge me until the day it ships. But perhaps my perspective is influenced by my own actions, and not everyone will think along the same lines as I do. Fair enough.

Shiva wave 1 PO opened mid Dec. She did not ship until mid-late Feb. That gave everyone who preordered wave 1 around 2 months to set aside money if they hadn't already done so. If one does not find that feasible, they probably shouldn't be spending their money on video game statues.

Sorry, but I am still not really seeing the reason to keep them exclusive. As I said, re-release merchandise (and release a high enough demand that it will not sell out in less than 12 hours), or implement these extras as log-in campaign rewards that people can get by just paying their monthly sub. Or Mogstation is always an option, but since the thread OP said to take it out of the equation, I wasn't considering them in my initial post.

As I said in my earlier post, I wouldn't be adverse to them rereleasing future waves of the items that were tied to expired codes, and I wouldn't really care if Shiva was restocked a 4th time. This back and forth started because you seemed to be implying they were gone in a flash, leaving those with less than lightning fast reflexes empty handed. All XIV items are previewed waaaaaaaay before their PO go up in the Live Letters. If you (general you) see something you like, jot down the PO time. The plushies, the CDs, the art books, and the statues all have/had plenty of breathing room PO wise :P

[LastFireAce]

This just gonna go back and forward, because Legacy wana defend they status, and Merchandise wana defend as well so yea.
Honestly the best opinion would be to start exclusive Legacy for ARR players then HW and slowly SB.
Bring back/renew merchandise code.
Change PvP so ain't top 100 but if you win certain amount in the season.
Yay everyone happy.

[HyoMinPark]

This just gonna go back and forward, because Legacy wana defend they status, and Merchandise wana defend as well so yea.
Honestly the best opinion would be to start exclusive Legacy for ARR players then HW and slowly SB.
Bring back/renew merchandise code.
Change PvP so ain't top 100 but if you win certain amount in the season.
Yay everyone happy.

There has to be a difference between Legacy and FFXIV 2.0+, though, if the developers were to implement “ARR Legacy players”, “HW Legacy players”, etc.. Personally, I don’t think there’s a need for ARR, HW, or SB legacy, or for any other future expansions to have Legacy status because the game is not dying a painful death like 1.0 was, even after Yoshida stepped in and tried to turn things around. Legacy rewards were given to reward players for playing the worst Final Fantasy game ever, basically. Not as externals for buying artbooks or statues.

Legacy has always been related to FFXIV 1.0, and rightfully so in my opinion, because the game was utter trash, and anyone who played it will tell you that. It nearly destroyed SE as a company. Legacy status and rewards were given to the players that stayed loyal to the worst game in SE’s history (probably the worst MMO in MMO history), and I think it should stay that way. 1.0 is entirely separate from 2.0+. They aren’t the same game, even if the game we play is built on 1.0 code.

I think Legacy is on a different bit of ground compared to external DLC, pre-order bonuses, and things like PvP mounts.

Odin went up for preorder in Oct 2016, with wave 1 being NA fanfest merch and wave 2 being the general sale. Going through my old posts I found this thread. So approx 6 months, which was apparently long enough to be added to an EU online sale to get rid of him.

Shiva wave 1 PO opened mid Dec. She did not ship until mid-late Feb. That gave everyone who preordered wave 1 around 2 months to set aside money if they hadn't already done so. If one does not find that feasible, they probably shouldn't be spending their money on video game statues.

Again, thank you for the clarification. I still stand by what I said about the pre-ordering without having the monies thing though. But, again, it stems from the way I personally handle my money; I can’t expect everyone to act the same as I do.

As I said in my earlier post, I wouldn't be adverse to them rereleasing future waves of the items that were tied to expired codes, and I wouldn't really care if Shiva was restocked a 4th time.

I saw, and I agree with you.

This back and forth started because you seemed to be implying they were gone in a flash, leaving those with less than lightning fast reflexes empty handed. All XIV items are previewed waaaaaaaay before their PO go up in the Live Letters. If you (general you) see something you like, jot down the PO time. The plushies, the CDs, the art books, and the statues all have/had plenty of breathing room PO wise :P

To be fair, the statues may have lasted longer than I remember them lasting on the store, but there was one incident where an item went on backorder 30 minutes after it launched on the NA store: Encyclopedia Eorzea. Thankfully it was restocked and there are no issues now, but it isn’t entirely unheard of, of items selling out lightning fast. I remember the complaining I had to endure from some of my friends when the NA store sold out in 30 minutes lol. You do make it sound like I’m arguing with you for the sake of arguing, though, when I’m not; just trying to give you a different perspective (at least on the monies part).

[Mayku]

I have many exclusive items at home and I wouldn't mind people being able to get the ingame minion or emote via the mog station, one or 2 year later.

Some of my friends don't have the money, other don't want the irl item, and some don't live in a country they could get that item without paying super big shipping fees.

So I really wouldn't get upset at it because I got it way earlier and have a irl item with it.
Maybe just keep the 1.0 tattoo for the legacy players, they deserve a recognition (and it is not a minion or mount anyway, it's more like a title).

[Istaru]

For anything and everything released as an exclusive, limited edition or whatever, my answer always has been, and always will be, no. For anything from today forward that they disclose that it will be made obtainable in some additional method or methods at a later date, I can agree with.

I am not defending exclusives as a practice, but SE made them exclusive, limited or whatever and they should honor that.

[SannaR]

The 1.0 stuff should stay exclusive. Everything else they should either make new codes or put it behind a grind of some sort. I mean look at past fan fest items they were labeled with exclusive and yet they've gone and put the moogle suit on the mog station. Then there are the outfits they make for the Chinese and Korean versions of the game. We've whined enough about those and got a lot of them put into our Mog Station. Or things like the Maid and Butler promotions where the ways to get them are not as easy for some regions. Poor EU players keep on having theirs tied into magazines which most seem to not want.

[worldofneil]

Whether they SHOULD or not is pretty much irrelevant. SE is unlikely to do this, because doing so undermines one of the core draws of the product: its limited factor.

Right now, when SE puts out some hundred-dollar statue or whatever with an in-game tie-in item, folks know that this is their ONLY chance to snag that in-game item. By making the item limited, folks are encouraged to think, "If I don't buy it now, I'll never have the chance again! I don't even WANT the statue, but if I don't pony up, I'll miss out on the minion/glamour/mount/emote/whatever and never have the chance again!" So, they give SE a hundred bucks, the statue goes into the closet to gather dust, and the player has a new minion that follows them around for a few days before the next hot minion shows up. Even so, the player has the warm, fuzzy knowledge that if they ever wanted to bring out that minion again, it's there for them. They didn't miss out!

This is a model that WORKS - but only as long as they maintain the exclusivity. The moment they start making old items available, people start to understand that with a little patience, they can get the thing they want without spending that hundred bucks. And save on closet space, too.

This 2000%. I've bought every physical item with a minion code just to get them all (I have a few still to get, but they're all still obtainable in-game). Things like the various plushes, the art books and even the Eorzea Encyclopedia... hate to say it, but they're all still in their original packaging, just taking up space in the corner of a room. The soundtracks I have listened to, but none of them particularly interest me and they were all bought primarily for the minions.

At this point I'm (almost) wishing a minion would come along that I can't get so it'd break the collection and I could stop buying these things (and amusingly it nearly did with the PvP minions and I campaigned against that... karma much?).

But hey if they're going to release minions later without needing physical purchase? Fantastic! I'll just wait and get them all then. Saves me a fortune and stops filling up that corner of the room!

And that's exactly why they won't do it (that and it's a real kick in the teeth for to their past paying customers that they told were limited/exclusive minions who won't believe anything SE say any more).

[Paladinleeds]

And that's exactly why they won't do it (that and it's a real kick in the teeth for to their past paying customers that they told were limited/exclusive minions who won't believe anything SE say any more).

But let's say you could get the Odin Statue and emote for £115. 2 years down the line, emote goes up on Mog Station, & it costs £230 (for a single character vs Odin statue's emote one being account wide). Would it be such a kick in the teeth then? The people getting it from MS are paying more, getting no physical merch for it, and are having to pay that higher amount PER character they want it for (vs the statue code giving it for the entire account). This is a deliberately extreme example, as it's trying to find out the limits of what SE can do.

[Istaru]

But let's say you could get the Odin Statue and emote for £115. 2 years down the line, emote goes up on Mog Station, & it costs £230 (for a single character vs Odin statue's emote one being account wide). Would it be such a kick in the teeth then? The people getting it from MS are paying more, getting no physical merch for it, and are having to pay that higher amount PER character they want it for (vs the statue code giving it for the entire account). This is a deliberately extreme example, as it's trying to find out the limits of what SE can do.

IMO, they can’t do anything. They sold it as an exclusive, limited edition item. It’s too late for them to change it now.

As far as the price charged part goes. A lie is a lie is a lie. It doesn’t matter how you sugarcoat it or name it. It’s still a lie. It’s not a very good business practice to get into.

I think things like minions, a recolor and sell as a new item is fine.

[Paladinleeds]

They sold it as an exclusive, limited edition item. It’s too late for them to change it now.

People are saying the moogle attire was marketed as exclusive for attending a particular fanfest, but it ended up on mog station anyway. If it is true that it was marketed as exclusive to that fanfest, then that very dangerous precedent has already been set. And that is the worrying thing. I think Lightning's attire was also marketed as exclusive for a particular event, but went on mog station too. That is a problem, and I think the only way to address it would be to file a class action lawsuit against Square Enix. But you can bet those who dared try it would be found and banned from the game permanently for costing SE money with a lawsuit.