More and more microtransactions

[DPZ2]

... So to get the "full" FFXIV experience ...

To get the "full" FFXIV experience, one only needs to play the game. There is no "extra" cost for any quest or dungeon instance. Your subscription pays for all of that.

Unless you want to play the "Make Lots of Gil on the Market Board" meta-game, there is no real requirement for more than two retainers at this point in time. Heck, this game has more inventory space than any other subscription-based game on the market at this point ... and I've tried most of them at one time or another. That's 475 inventory slots for which you do not need to pay an extra dime (or gil).

Micro transactions, for cosmetic items and pets and mounts, have been a part of the MMO subscriber experience for at least the last 10 years.

When you have to purchase keys via micro transaction to unlock loot boxes in FFXIV, let me know, and maybe I'll change my mind ...

[Aylis]

To get the "full" FFXIV experience, one only needs to play the game. There is no "extra" cost for any quest or dungeon instance. Your subscription pays for all of that.

Unless you want to play the "Make Lots of Gil on the Market Board" meta-game

I could easily argue that is part of the "full experience" the game does allow for it after all with the armory system and being able to level multiple crafts as one character. I know quite a few people that want to take part of it along those same quests and dungeons. They all had to buy extra retainer space. As someone who omni-crafts in other games I never ran into the space issue like here when it came to crafting. if space was an issue I could just mail things to an alt charac......oh right. That's not allowed here.

[kikix12]

To get the "full" FFXIV experience, one only needs to play the game. There is no "extra" cost for any quest or dungeon instance. Your subscription pays for all of that.

No. Full experience means full experience, as in being able to do all the same things as everyone else, in the same way. If you can do something once a week but another person can pay to do it twice, then you are not getting the full experience.

Retainers are part of the full experience because they have a very practical and important functionality. Even aside from crafting, they allow significant storage space, ventures, the feeling of "owning" them and probably also the spawning of them in housing (dunno whether this applies above the original two or not, but I think it does).

Similarly glamour, and that includes mounts, are part of full experience. Collectibles are a thing, you know. If you cannot complete your collection without paying, you're not going to get the full experience. If you cannot make the look you want, while someone else can, you're not getting the full experience. GLAMOUR IS PART OF THE GAME.

What would not interfere with "full" is things like increased experience items, cost reductions on teleportations and similar things that affect the time something not daily/weekly/monthly limited is done. If done within reason.


Now, one can discuss whether it's fine to offer optional glamour in the item mall. My stance is that...no. It's not. Either the sub or the optional item mall. I can understand only time-savers, like the jump potions or experience boosts. Alternatively options to redo mistakes on players errors, like restoring a deleted character or discarded item. Things that affect the game but are not part of it. Of course, all kinds of merchandise are fair game, so they can sell however many figurines, plushies, shirts and what they have as they want, it's fair game. So long as there is no bundled in-game feature in them...but there often is...for the highest-cost items to boot.


Square Enix always had a shady business model, but very good games from gameplay perspectives. And it's a real shame, because them having good games means they can continue doing the crap they do and they'll still get income instead of going down-under like any shoddy company should. But hey...people literally ask for stuff to throw money at...so what are the chances of that changing?! Keh.

[Aylis]

No. Full experience means full experience, as in being able to do all the same things as everyone else.

Retainers are part of the full experience because they have a very practical and important functionality. Even aside from crafting

Yeeeeeeep.

When I said originally "the full experience" I look at it as can you do the bare basics the game has to offer completely unhindered by micro-transactions and paying more a month to accomplish these things. I didn't look at things like glamor, mounts or minions originally. Even if they're part of the game, those are subjective to the individual person, but they do wrap up into things as I'll explain in a bit. The basics of the game being.

Story and leveling and questing
End game activities such as dungeons and raids
Crafting and gathering
Auction house use
Playing multiple classes.

Story and leveling and questing: Can you take full advantage of it unhindered? Yes.
End game activities, dungeons and raids: Can you take full advantage of it unhindered? Yes.
Crafting and gathering: Can you take full advantage of it unhindered? No, not without needing extra retainers
Auction House use: Can you take full advantage of it unhindered? No, not without needing extra retainers due to increased selling capacities. Not to mention the extra ventures.
Playing multiple classes: Can you take full advantage of it unhindered? No, not without needing extra retainers.

On the subject of minions, mounts and glamor being subjective to the person. That was once the case. However once they started adding in things like Lord of Vermillion and Fashion Report to the basics of what the game has to offer. I'm expecting mounts to be a thing later too in this category. Now minions and glamor have taken a different turn to being something more then just cosmetics. Now there's a push now too there to use cash shop for minions, glamor and dyes as well as needing to rent out more retainers to hold this all.

*Edit*

I forgot to include housing in this, another in game basic function which offers key things like gardening, workshop, exploratory missions etc. Another thing that basically forces players into omni-crafting. In terms to afford one, maintain one, decorate one and use them to their fullest. Which loops back to what I said about needing all those retainers for storage and selling to play the auction house game, Just for the sake of peace of mind so as to not worry about being screwed over by other players. The game itself does enough of a good job with this for housing. Keep logging in and keep paying that sub or else auto-reclamation does its thing and all you worked for is gone.