The virtual currency "Moogle Coins" in the FFXIV Companion app must be removed

[Tridus]

Am I the only one not mad at this? The app and the servers it interacts with need to be funded somehow. Okay ideally it would be free, but lets be real here. It appears the app can do some advanced stuff. Most apps with this level of advancement have some sort of cost whether it's real money or advertisements.

The competition (WoW) has an app that does this and more. It's included in your sub. It lets you create far more listings per day (200!) with no mobile currency BS required to do it.

The MB is already on functional servers, as are login and chat. The only extra server capacity is on a frontend to handle requests from the app. $5/month for that is a total farce. If they want to do this, it should be a value added feature for people who are already paying a premium price, considering this is one of the most expensive games on the market already.

This is a shameless cash grab to an insane degree. One listing per day, or two for $5/month, unless I pay extra for special currency? I mean, I know Blizzard's technical know how trumps SE, but there's no excuse for such low limits on the app unless the goal is to try and get people to buy extra currency to use it, which is disgraceful behavior in a subscription game. This is exactly how F2P apps work.

[Penthea]

The thing is we're already paying a premium subscription every month on top of paying the mogstation for some glam items. Pay walling content like the ability to get a lot more MB uptime is F2P territory. And not even the good kind, the P2W kind (you get a tangible in game advantage over others.. not just extra comfort).

Glam stuff is optional. You get no significant advantage from having a pretty dress or a cool emote. Jump potions? Well you can just level the stuff yourself, no need for the mog station to get yourself or retainers to lvl 60.

As for more mb uptime, most players log in to play with friends, do roulettes, quests, etc. They don't log in to play intensely with the mb. Most people just put stuff up for sale and forget about it for a few hours. You don't need the app to do that.

It just isn't acceptable for a subscription based game (of which you also need to purchase the game AND the expansions) to implement F2P schemes, period.

Almost every f2p mmo has some sort of pay to win thing involved in their stores, often heavily so. This really isn't the case the XIV.

They could/should make the app a one time purchase. Or have a lite version and a premium one time purchase version. Or hell, I would even accept an in app subscription if what you gained from it was ONLY extra comfort.
But them implementing in app currency and giving you access to real benefits is a tell tale sign that we're getting F'd up the A.

I agree that the payment method could be better. It would be nice if you could do something in-game to go towards paying for the premium version. I have a lot of excess gil I have nothing to do with. I'd certainly consider using it to fund the premium version of the app.

The competition (WoW) has an app that does this and more. It's included in your sub. It lets you create far more listings per day (200!) with no mobile currency BS required to do it.

That's true but that was released long ago when the app market was different and lets face it, Blizzard have far more money to throw around than SE do. I know loads of WoW players and literally no one I know uses the app. Again for the reasons I already stated, it does nothing you can't already do yourself when logged in.

[Mikki]

Well you're not punished for not using it so if you don't like it don't use it. As I said already there is nothing about it that makes it mandatory.

I get the feeling the app may be more aimed at the japanese market. Their school and working hours tend to be far longer than in the west, so I can see how they might get great use out of it.

No, you ARE punished for not using it. Maybe to YOU it's no big deal but as a "market board PVPer" who already competes with bots it's absolutely a huge punishment to me. I'm studying for my degree in Japan and guess what? I'm at lab all day, so my time is limited as you mentioned. But that doesn't mean that I want to pay for some stupid app so I can update my stuff during lab. I'M WORKING, I shouldn't be playing on some app on my phone anyway. But now, as it stands most people update their price only when they're online. So at least when I get the chance to play, it generally isn't so bad. I can list an item and keep it up at the same price for hours. I can only imagine how much more often people will be updating prices with these new changes...it's really going to suck.

You can say it doesn't punish you but when your enjoyment comes from crafting/gathering, then yes. It does. There's just no reason for this. Paid items should not give advantages. Who do you think has the advantage in market board PVP? The player who can update whenever with their phone or the player who can only update when they can get online? Sure there will always be people who have no life and play all day but they're kind of a minority compared to people who only play a few hours a day. No big deal. But when literally anyone who is willing to pay $5 extra gets that advantage while those who are already at their limit of spending power at the sub + retainer fees....well, to me that's not right.

[Tsunenori]

The competition (WoW) has an app that does this and more. It's included in your sub. It lets you create far more listings per day (200!) with no mobile currency BS required to do it.

Not to rain on your parade here because I agree with you, but the WoW app is ceasing the mobile auction house feature on April 18th. Unfortunately this isn't an example that can be used anymore.

I don't have much to add that hasn't been said. I understand the need to subsidize costs, but it just feels kinda sour.

edit: removed redundant words.

[LaylaTsarra]

But now, as it stands most people update their price only when they're online. So at least when I get the chance to play, it generally isn't so bad. I can list an item and keep it up at the same price for hours. I can only imagine how much more often people will be updating prices with these new changes...it's really going to suck.

You can say it doesn't punish you but when your enjoyment comes from crafting/gathering, then yes. It does. There's just no reason for this.

Can't you do this with the free app as well or am I missing something? This isn't some new announcement I think we knew this was coming for quite some time. And yeah it's a given in my opinion that undercutting and price cutting will become a lot more commonplace. One thing you can be sure of it that things will cost a lot less and people will make less money.

[Tridus]

Not to rain on your parade here because I agree with you, but the WoW app is ceasing the mobile auction house feature on April 18th. Unfortunately this isn't an example that can be used anymore.

I don't have much to add that hasn't been said. I understand the need to subsidize costs, but it just feels kinda sour.

Huh. Well, good to know. I assume the Legion app's functionality will be sticking around still?

If they're so broke they couldn't afford to develop this without such outrageous costs, the sensible thing to do would be to not develop it at all. Put the resources where they're needed more.

[Tanathya]

The fact that we've been told about this app years ago, and how they're handling things, feels like yet another of their lies, alongside housing, Diadem, etc. Tired of it. I didn't unsub because of this, but my subscription ran out yesterday, and I don't plan on coming back any time soon. Again.

[Penthea]

You can say it doesn't punish you but when your enjoyment comes from crafting/gathering, then yes. It does.

A significant amount of my enjoyment does come from crafting and gathering, which has made me a very wealthy player, and I still say I won't feel punished for not using the app. I frankly don't check my auctions often enough to need it. I put stuff up for sale and recheck prices three times a day at most. I log in to play the other content in the game, not do "mb pvp" as you call it.

[Rikku272]

Am I the only one not mad at this? The app and the servers it interacts with need to be funded somehow. Okay ideally it would be free, but lets be real here. It appears the app can do some advanced stuff. Most apps with this level of advancement have some sort of cost whether it's real money or advertisements.

True they need people working on the App and its not free for them either to give it too us, but their is a big difference in letting us pay 5 dollar once or monthly.
they don't need that much money too operate an app its just greed and the premium stuff it gives is literally no reason for just give it too everyone instead
of locking it behind a paywall.
Like they have done with many things i pay my sub and square is making big profit from those subs their is no reason for all these paywalls besides squares greed for more money.

[Mikki]

A significant amount of my enjoyment does come from crafting and gathering, which has made me a very wealthy player, and I still say I won't feel punished for not using the app. I frankly don't check my auctions often enough to need it. I put stuff up for sale and recheck prices three times a day at most. I log in to play the other content in the game, not do "mb pvp" as you call it.

Okay, but that's exactly my point. You CAN just recheck your prices 3 times a day and that's fine, right? But what about when everyone has the app and are updating it constantly....then your 3 times a day will be insufficient because your prices will be undercut a million times a day. Forcing you to either give up or buy the app.

And btw, I also log in to play other content in the game. But it's a fun thing for me to try to make x amount of gil each day. I happen to enjoy crafting more than fighting and there's nothing wrong with that.