Did we not just get two $18 outfits 2 weeks ago?

[TaranTatsuuchi]

Which means very little. Shifting budget from X to Y doesn't mean these three developers are now artists. It means you hire what you need, and if you no longer have the budget in the other department, get rid of someone. Same result, and "none of those people are doing it." Which is technically true but also totally meaningless.

....

They've actually stated numerous times that they're looking for more battle content designers.

They just aren't getting any qualified applicants for the positions.

[Lium]

...and I picked my option when I went from WoW to here because Blizzard felt super greedy.

I come from SWTOR, where items in the Cartel Market (their cash shop) go for as much as $50 USD. Not an exaggeration. Then you have to pay even more money if you want to unlock the item account-wide.

So, you'll excuse me if I find the complaints here to be utterly laughable.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

We're getting fewer dungeons than before, delays on other stuff, Eureka when we did finally get it was uninspired to say the least... but hey, phone app with a subscription! That didn't come out of nowhere, resources had to be allocated to build it from somewhere. It's pretty easy to shift budget from development on X to Y, which results in less of X. That's certainly what it looks like is happening with how much attention has been devoted in the past few months on extra paid items compared to the core game itself.

To be fair, that dungeon was essentially replaced by Ultimate. Eureka being uninspired, I'll grant, but the phone app has been in discussion since Heavensward. It wasn't as though they came up with it from whole cloth a month ago. And apparently, it's been heavily requested in Japan who take far less issue with paid services than NA/EU. Not that I like how the app turned out or agree with the subscription model.

Regardless, Stormblood is roughly on par with Heavenswards in terms of content. I suspect it feels less engaging due to how predictable and easy everything has become.

[ErryK]

It wasn't that long ago that ANYTHING that gave you a boost in game and was acquired with cash was considered P2W.

Because the main selling points of these outfits is the glamour, not the EXP bonus. That's why it isn't seen as P2W, because any serious player would wear actual gear and not this waste of stats.

Then people started pushing the standard for what constitutes "P2W" back because it's bad and they don't want their game to be guilty of it. So, change the definition and invent new terms like "P2C" instead.

Except what do you win? You can get to Level 35 without paying a single dime to SE, so why pay $15 for the sub and $18 on top of that for the "pay to win" outfit? I'm not gonna say the game is innocent of P2W (I don't approve of the paid features of the mobile app), but implying that Level 30, which you can get to without paying anything to Square Enix, is a point where you have "won"... is grasping at straws, honestly.

[Enla]

I come from SWTOR, where items in the Cartel Market (their cash shop) go for as much as $50 USD. Not an exaggeration. Then you have to pay even more money if you want to unlock the item account-wide.

So, you'll excuse me if I find the complaints here to be utterly laughable.

Eh, I come from SWTOR as well but I don't think the concerns here are laughable. Just because SE hasn't shown EA's legendary levels of greed and lack of care for their fanbase, it doesn't mean people can't be concerned or feel they're being nickle and dimed. Though I will admit that I very much do not miss being a part of EA's years long tantrum over being forced to turn SWTOR F2P and the resulting freemium economy.

[Jijifli]

Nobody is making you buy it, why is this even a discussion?

Honestly you guys can complain about the prices all you want but it's not like they're holding us at gunpoint. People who want it will get it, and the fact we're getting all these chinese exclusives in close proximity (not to mention getting them AT ALL) is pretty decent considering the legal limbo with China and Korea.

You're right, nobody's making me buy it. Nobody's making me do anything. Technically speaking I don't have to heal on a healer, that's just optimizing. Most content you don't need a healer anyways. You don't need my dps on a BLM, I can just stand there. Doesn't make it impossible, just slower, but that's just an optional thing, right?

Please stop using optional as an excuse. Literally the entire game is optional. Specially when I am not even saying they have to lower the price. Just making it account wide, you know, that thing that lets my alts get it too, would make me shut up. It'd be worth $18 if I could get it on at least 1 extra character.

I come from SWTOR, where items in the Cartel Market (their cash shop) go for as much as $50 USD. Not an exaggeration. Then you have to pay even more money if you want to unlock the item account-wide.

So, you'll excuse me if I find the complaints here to be utterly laughable.

SWTOR I knew would be a problem from the start, so I avoided it. I was moreso mentioning WoW because I came from WoD, where they did very little and felt like they were just using it to milk an extra buck for doing nothing. I have friends on SWTOR, and they know I don't play it for the same reason, the company feels too greedy. I'm not stating Square's the greediest company in the world, I'm stating it's looking like they're going for milking over consumer.

[Emstidor]

You're right, nobody's making me buy it. Nobody's making me do anything. Technically speaking I don't have to heal on a healer, that's just optimizing. Most content you don't need a healer anyways. You don't need my dps on a BLM, I can just stand there. Doesn't make it impossible, just slower, but that's just an optional thing, right?

Please stop using optional as an excuse. Literally the entire game is optional. Specially when I am not even saying they have to lower the price. Just making it account wide, you know, that thing that lets my alts get it too, would make me shut up. It'd be worth $18 if I could get it on at least 1 extra character.

This is not the great argument you seem to think it is, and that's coming from someone who agrees with you 100% about making the items account-wide. The fact that the items are indeed optional and not p2w is entirely relevant to the discussion, you can't just dismiss it outright.

[Remedi]

They've actually stated numerous times that they're looking for more battle content designers.

They just aren't getting any qualified applicants for the positions.

If they are getting anyone that is, Tbh I kinda blame them for beign too restrictive not just the company mind you, but japanese company in general

[Nihility]

Pay for Convenience really. It's only great when you're under level 30 and have the entire set on, which a person will outgrow fairly fast to the point it'll be no more than just what it is initially, glamour only. If we're going to start calling glamour sets with extra features that become useless fluff after level 30 pay to win, then geez, where's the outrage on my Ala Mihgan earrings I can use up to level 50 on all jobs and classes.

not to mention that occupying all 5 armor slots with glamour level armor values and no stats at all aside from the +5 mind is going to slow you down more than the 30% would speed you up.

brand new ring and ala mhigan earring give plenty of exp boosting already imo and have decent stat bonuses

[Jijifli]

This is not the great argument you seem to think it is, and that's coming from someone who agrees with you 100% about making the items account-wide. The fact that the items are indeed optional and not p2w is entirely relevant to the discussion, you can't just dismiss it outright.

Stating it's optional so it's fine is defeating the whole point of things being reasonable. If they did something like requiring you to pay an extra $10 a month sub to do savage, would that be fine? Savage is completely optional after all, and the gear isn't needed to do any content in the game. What about locking crafters with a $5 to unlock each crafter? YOU don't have to, because someone else can, so for you it's completely optional.

I know comparing game functions to gear sounds stupid, but I'm trying to keep FFXIV comparisons with FFXIV comparisons here. Just because it is optional, doesn't mean anything can be done to it and it's fine. And it's not like I've denied they are optional. Anyone could have seen they are optional. Nowhere, anywhere, did I make a statement that they are not optional items. I didn't state these items would keep me out of a raid, or allow me to perform better than someone else.