QoL suggestion for paid retainers we can't afford anymore.

[Remyogic]

Um, or how about YOU take responsibility for not being able to pay for the retainer anymore and remove all of your items from them before your subscription to them runs out? Why is your lack of responsibility SE's problem to fix?

Being too lazy to remove and re-distribute your extra retainers inventory does not = the need for "QoL" changes. That's SERIOUSLY stretching the meaning behind Quality of Life.

[Felis]

Maybe if they can add a function where the player can choose for how many days he want to rent the retainer.
Example:

Subbed days left: 9
Retainer ranting period: 5/9
cost: 23 crystas

[Mahrze]

Um, or how about YOU take responsibility for not being able to pay for the retainer anymore and remove all of your items from them before your subscription to them runs out? Why is your lack of responsibility SE's problem to fix?

Being too lazy to remove and re-distribute your extra retainers inventory does not = the need for "QoL" changes. That's SERIOUSLY stretching the meaning behind Quality of Life.

While I agree with your message (as much as I disagree with how its conveyed), I can't help but also agree with the OP that there should be better venues for it than "pay x amount for the time you need to have it sorted since you already failed to pay and didn't sort it before".

I mean, being pedantic, qol being used in gaming is already a stretch.

[TaleraRistain]

I could see a one-time-only access on an expired retainer being a good QoL improvement. You can't put anything on them, just retrieve. And you can only do it one time after you lose access to the retainer. That way you can get the items back if you can't re-sub that retainer right away.

[StouterTaru]

I think you're able to go to the retainer vocate, dismiss one of your other retainers, and rehire your 3rd.

[Elamys]

If a player could even just go to a GM and get the items back, even through some kind of automated service (like Blizzard does for item restorations) that would be helpful. I've been in this exact situation, and sometimes people don't understand when every dollar counts. If it was through some kind of limited service, that would prevent abuse and also from people having to juggle through paying with crysta, etc to get access to their items for just a day.

I could see a one-time-only access on an expired retainer being a good QoL improvement. You can't put anything on them, just retrieve. And you can only do it one time after you lose access to the retainer. That way you can get the items back if you can't re-sub that retainer right away.

This would be a perfect solution.

Um, or how about YOU take responsibility for not being able to pay for the retainer anymore and remove all of your items from them before your subscription to them runs out? Why is your lack of responsibility SE's problem to fix?

Being too lazy to remove and re-distribute your extra retainers inventory does not = the need for "QoL" changes. That's SERIOUSLY stretching the meaning behind Quality of Life.

"Laziness" or not, there's zero reason not to implement this. Sometimes people just forget. Maybe that person was going to be able to afford it then something happened that put them just out of reach of it. I'm not sure why people are so against the idea of anyone ever getting help for a legitimate mistake.

[Vhailor]

If you want to argue retainers should be free, great, but what does that have to do with my point? Free retainers should be free, not semi-free based on a shoehorned-in system where you can do one-time storage with indefinite retrieval. As long as retainers are paid, they should probably work the way they do right now. Making them free is a completely different discussion.

Generally what I've seen in regards to paid storage solutions - across any computing industry - is an expansion of services over time. Maybe you originally paid for 5GB of cloud storage, and now it's upped to 15GB, no extra charge. Maybe your cell phone plan used to have by default 1GB of data, and now it has 2GB, no extra charge. This generally happens because the cost of the associated infrastructure gets cheaper over time.

So, whatever infrastructure is supporting the expanded Retainer functionality should also generally get cheaper over time. It's therefore reasonable to expect some additional carrots to be thrown people's way in order to avoid them getting angry. One option would be the ability to have 'one-way item access' after a Retainer is no longer paid for, maybe a capability that's only granted if you've paid for them for at least three months, I don't know. There are plenty of others. But the system is exploitative; it always was, and it's steadily becoming more visible. That type of business model needs a steady stream of carrots in order to work properly; it can't all be the stick of limited MB space and basic sub levels of storage (which isn't much of a stick anymore, regardless). Might it discourage long-term Retainer subscriptions? Sure. But those are going out the door at some point anyway, and larger numbers of people subscribing infrequently works too, and is far more sustainable into the future.

[Talraen]

Generally what I've seen in regards to paid storage solutions - across any computing industry - is an expansion of services over time. Maybe you originally paid for 5GB of cloud storage, and now it's upped to 15GB, no extra charge. Maybe your cell phone plan used to have by default 1GB of data, and now it has 2GB, no extra charge. This generally happens because the cost of the associated infrastructure gets cheaper over time.

So, whatever infrastructure is supporting the expanded Retainer functionality should also generally get cheaper over time. It's therefore reasonable to expect some additional carrots to be thrown people's way in order to avoid them getting angry. One option would be the ability to have 'one-way item access' after a Retainer is no longer paid for, maybe a capability that's only granted if you've paid for them for at least three months, I don't know. There are plenty of others. But the system is exploitative; it always was, and it's steadily becoming more visible. That type of business model needs a steady stream of carrots in order to work properly; it can't all be the stick of limited MB space and basic sub levels of storage (which isn't much of a stick anymore, regardless). Might it discourage long-term Retainer subscriptions? Sure. But those are going out the door at some point anyway, and larger numbers of people subscribing infrequently works too, and is far more sustainable into the future.

Throwing us carrots? That's what increasing inventory space (including armory) and adding chocobo saddlebags was all about. How many carrots is enough carrots, exactly?

You're working on the assumption that the retainer costs are tied to infrastructure costs. Why? I always assumed the costs are based on what users were willing to pay; a way to charge a higher subscription fee without actually doing so, to avoid the blowback from increasing subscription fees (even though, adjusted for inflation, they've been decreasing for years). Instead of video games increasing in cost, they've spent the past decade finding other ways to get that revenue.

And yes, the system is exploitative. It's exploiting the people willing to pay more for video games now than they did in 2005 to benefit the people who are not.

[Mahrze]

Please, don't devolve this topic into a armchair dev edition of the battle of cartenau.

[Bacent]

Um, or how about YOU take responsibility for not being able to pay for the retainer anymore and remove all of your items from them before your subscription to them runs out? Why is your lack of responsibility SE's problem to fix?

Being too lazy to remove and re-distribute your extra retainers inventory does not = the need for "QoL" changes. That's SERIOUSLY stretching the meaning behind Quality of Life.

A bit aggressive much? I only made the suggestion because I can only just afford the game. Haven't really had any spare money since I used to afford my retainer back during early 3.X (I've even had friends occasionally help me pay for my monthly sub because there would have been times I'd just have to forgo the game). You don't know someone else's daily life and what they do and don't do, so I'd suggest getting less aggressive.

Hell, I'd be happy with a one time removal of items on my retainer before I'd have to pay for it again. But seriously, tone it down please and thanks.