Just say no

[ElHeggunte]

I really wish there were a dedicated live letter folder or something, to filter out these topics that just seem out of nowhere if you don't keep up with the latest news.

There is. It just hasn't been updated with the latest LL yet. It's also usually announced on the front page of the Lodestone when it's updated.

[Mikki]

$5+ extra a month for added convenience seems like a great deal to me. I would gladly spend $20 extra for such conveniences.

Yeah, but with microtransactions do you even realize how bad it can get? People easily drop $300 a month on that kind of stuff. What if 100 moogle coins = $1USD and it costs 50 moogle coins to update the price/list 1 product? Then just to update the price of 9 retainers would cost $90 ...for one day. This is an extreme example but honestly it could be that bad. Especially because they said they're limiting the kupo nuts to "protect the game economy". You cool with that?

Then the next thing you will inevitably say "well you don't have to pay for it", ok. But then you're paying $5 to barely be able to use a core feature of the app. Sounds....fair?

Oh and also I hope you realize that the chat feature, according from what I can tell, doesn't even allow you to chat with people in-game. You both have to be using the app. Might as well use discord.

[Awha]

Snip . . .

Not really interested in the app for the chat feature, only the MB features, as you said I have discord for that. If say each coin cost $1 per and someone wants to spend $100 coins that is on them. I just do not see how it will effect me to me this is no different from someone paying for extra retainers.

Snip . . .

Sorry I really do not see this as P2W in anyway, it simply boils down to convenience, and I can understand why some are not pleased but in my personal opinion FFXIV offers more then enough content to keep my attention held and I will continue to support them until I no longer feel the game provides enjoyment for me. I see this as a simple extension of being able to buy additional retainers.

[MilanFrozen]

I'm honestly curious if the team will even make a statement regarding this. Will they notice the backlash and make a statement or will they ignore it or is the backlash so minor that they just don't notice it at all? I mean it looks a lot like most people are mad about it, but it's pretty impossible to tell without seeing some numbers which I doubt we'll get in any way shape or form.

[Mikki]

snip

The point is the premise. I really hate the argument of "a fool and his money are easily separated" justifying greedy business practices. If you just accept this, it'll end up getting worse. Notice they said CURRENTLY you can do these things with mog coins. Implying in the future you can do more. Who knows what else they'll add in and how it may impact the way the game is played. Please look into other mobile apps by SE; someone posted some statistics in another thread that showed in order to get certain things you'd have to spend upward of $3k. Also, gatcha is very popular. What if SE started implementing gatcha systems? I just see too much room for this kind of thing in the future if they implement micro-transactions. $5/month, whatever. But no micro-transactions.

[Krotoan]

I'm going to recommend just not using it and if you're enjoying the game just continue as usual. While I get people are feeling threatened by people who might pay and dominate the MB, I'm thinking that won't be as prevalent as they're imagining. The amount of people paying for additional retainers has been described as "low", what makes you think the people who aren't willing to shell out 2 bucks a month for a retainer are going to be willing to shell out 5 bucks plus "nuts" to run the boards? I understand they could be different people, but if there's balking at 2 dollars, 5 dollars STARTING is going to be another barrier. There was a thread before about someone dominating the MB in pots or food or somesuch, WITHOUT the app. Yeah they were suspected of botting, yeah it's something we'd like not to see, but I don't see someone dropping 800 bucks a month just to be "king mithkabob". Is that the fear?

By all means show your displeasure, but the game isn't getting worse for it. They're locking nothing we used to be able to do behind a paywall, just adding an option to manage it a different way. As always there's some doom and gloom following a dis-favorable change but I'm just going to keep playing the way I always have until I actually am not having fun.

I don't like what the app ended up being, but that just means I wont use it the same way I don't use skip pots.

[Mhaeric]

I'll be downloading the app, it's optional to pay you don't *Need* to pay. The features even for the free plan is worth it.

I'm one of the 4% market share with a Windows phone, so I'm screwed out of even that.

[Airget]

If, there is no point talking about ifs if they aren't even close to occurring. Trying to suggest a gacha system would be in this game is just adding unnecessary drama to the situation.

At the same point what would the gacha be? Like what if the gacha was something for the app itself that allowed people who buy into it to customize their app. Would you have a problem with it? It affects the game in no way and just allows the app user to augment their experience with the app.

As for the whole Market-board issue, who honestly cares so people will throw money, reducing the price of items, just to sell it, meanwhile someone online can just lower the price with no issue. In what context do these mog coins actually serve as an advantage to the player?

Think about it, so I'm on break and what I"m going to spend 5 dollars just to force lower my price in hope it sells meanwhile a person online just keeps lowering the price? It makes no sense. I can just wait til I get home, lower the price and then wait as needed. The gimmick of being able to sell/resell items is not an advantage at all. In the grand scheme of things this isn't a benefit unless people are that desperate to make an extra 1mil gil or whatever it is.

And even from the other spectrum, if the gimmick allows one to buy products off the Marketboard and 1 item per coin, that isn't a big benefit either but it does help a lot of people. Say they are on break and want to see if an item they want is on the marketboard, they can buy it in case it were to sell when they log on. In that context the coins are nice however you wouldn't need 60 coins a month to buy/sell junk if their current trade in rate is 1:1.

I will however admit that it is a bit of a letdown to have 5 dollars be required to double saddlebag, that is a lot of inventory space to stockpile items but as others have said you might as well get a retainer at that point so the overall benefits aren't that big in terms of inventory it's just another incentive to pay into the 5/month.

[Awha]

Snip . . .

I get where you are coming from but a company by nature is greedy their sole purpose is to make money. If enough people vote with their wallet things will change, but for everyone one person that votes not I am sure another person like myself will pop up that will pay extra for the added convenience. If they do happen to go the gatcha route I will stop using the app since I do not like gatcha style games. Same reason why I avoid paying for lootboxes in game, I personally do not agree with the practice so I do not take part in it. I know it will not charge since more people use the feature and a company will be foolish to not milk a cash cow. I just do not see the point in getting upset over something that is optional, sure it might become optimal in the future, but if that happens I will reevaluate my stance.

[Mikki]

If, there is no point talking about ifs if they aren't even close to occurring. Trying to suggest a gacha system would be in this game is just adding unnecessary drama to the situation.

At the same point what would the gacha be? Like what if the gacha was something for the app itself that allowed people who buy into it to customize their app. Would you have a problem with it? It affects the game in no way and just allows the app user to augment their experience with the app.

We need to think ahead, though. If you just wait until it happens then it's probably too late. Other SE mobile games have gacha and I could easily see it being implemented for exclusive glamours. Sure you can say "OPTIONAL!!! So no big deal honestly" but personally I don't want to see great glamours stuck behind not only a pay wall but a pay wall + RNG. And I really don't think it above SE to do this.

Yes, I'm being drastic here. But the whole point I'm making is that this is likely only them testing the waters and seeing how many people will pay before they go on to do more cash grabs. And mind, I'm not even opposed to the cash shop (I buy a lot of stuff from it AND I DO have extra retainers). I get it, extra revenue is good for the company. That's fine. But where do we draw the line? Micro-transactions is a very dangerous place to go, imo. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they won't go much further with it - even if that's the case though, showing you're unhappy with it doesn't hurt anything right?

And I don't think it's unreasonable to be upset, either. We all pay a sub, so it can be frustrating if more and more items/features get released as "optional" items that we would like to experience. When it feels like all of the best things are reserved for those who pay extra, it's a bit questionable. Why even have a sub at that point if literally all the best things are not covered by that sub? And I'm not just saying that because I'm personally salty I can't afford these things. Like I said, I buy a lot. But I know people who can barely afford the base sub. It feels really dirty that they shell out the cash for a sub every month yet they constantly get left out of really great items. The cash shop is growing at an alarming rate. But at least I can buy gifts for them of what they really want, but things like this app? I couldn't possibly.