Quote Originally Posted by Vstarstruck View Post
from my understanding.. (what I read, I doono the prices personally)
7 retainer = 14 USD
app 5 USD
app blocked retainer 2 USD
+21 USD + base sub , as you see, base sub wasn't included for the "13.99"
just drop the sub fee all together, the mog shop, app and retainer fees alone make it F2P model
In fairness, I suspect a significant percentage of players stick to the base rate - and not just because they can't afford it, or because they are opposed to double-dipping in principle. Speaking personally, I could easily afford to subscribe to everything XIV has to offer (and purchase more or less anything released on the Mog Station), and were FFXIV to go F2P, I'd have no principled objection to the presence of these F2P-style offerings. I still wouldn't get them, though, because there's absolutely zero need for the additional space offered by Retainers, and the app looks terribly limited for the moment.

Just my two cents anyway. I'm slowly losing interest in these types of discussions, and steadily losing interest in FFXIV as a whole as well. The stale update cycles and increasing influence of micro-transactions are wreaking havoc on my motivation to play. It's made even worse by the mind-boggling reactions from a variety of individuals on the forums, who really do seem quite content to let SE charge them out the ass for trinkets and content re-skins. At a certain point, it just gets hard to care anymore; there are plenty of other, higher-quality titles out there that have been sitting on my play list, and I can always stay in touch with my in-game friends on Facebook.