The whale mount is up on Mogstation

[Marxam]

The entire "burger" is half done in this case, and the few "toppings" we receive aren't very good. This game's cash shop puts some f2p ones to shame.

This "burger" is being sold at a $30 and while it may use "premium" ingredients, it still looks, tastes and "sounds" like a $12.95 burger. This game's cash shop business model puts Apple to shame.

[Enla]

Honestly I don't mind the cash shop itself. What I mind are the prices and the sheer lack of variety on top of being forced to log into a secondary site to even access it. Lower the prices, give us more items, and put a launcher into the game and I'd have no issue with it so long as it wasn't obtrusive or constantly calling attention to itself. Right now though the prices for most items border on absurd.

[SigmaOZ]

So, don't buy the whale. Problem solved. You're getting angry over what other people do with their money when it's none of your business.

A lot of people in this thread need to stop worrying about what other people do with their money. It is literally none of your business.

What the user you quote says is completely true and it's all the consumer's (players) complacency that keeps this game mediocre, this game looks really cheap in this age of awesome graphics and there's no telling how players can expend money in optional items but cannot instead upgrade their computers and demand better graphics!...


I think $30 for a mount is a real steal, it's half the price of a whole new game and you know what happens when players buy such expensive things!?... SE will just keep increasing the prices without returning a single cent to improve the game, they will just milk their players until there is none left and that's when they'll come out with the notice that the game is too old and is about to be retired!...

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

What the user you quote says is completely true and it's all the consumer's (players) complacency that keeps this game mediocre, this game looks really cheap in this age of awesome graphics and there's no telling how players can expend money in optional items but cannot instead upgrade their computers and demand better graphics!...

For what its worth, the graphics are more Square's decision to make sure this game can be played on lower end PC systems than where funding is going. Increasing the baseline graphics would risk losing more of their playerbase unless they wanted to make it all optional. Most you can expect is a completely optional high-res texture pack, if they think maintaining two sets of textures for this game would be worth it for them.

[Lauront]

WoW doesn't make you go through the most mind numbing gate to entry into their game that is the MSQ either. You just hop on a character and level it, which is especially nice when you want to try different race/class combos. For FF14, if you wanna try other race/class combos you have to pay 10 dollars every time, or go through the mind numbing grind that is MSQ all over again, or pay 60 dollars to dodge the grind/get a char up. Not to mention, gearing an alt class very high is nigh impossible on the same character due to weekly restrictions. If you want to gear alts in WoW you just do it, your tank, your healer, your dps can all be around the same item level.

Mind you, not calling WoW better, it's even mildly a dumpster fire right now, but both games have their pros/cons to look at

Other games moved to the F2P model because they know they can't make it on a sub model. Terrible games cannot last on a traditional sub model, which is why so few games attempt it anymore. Whereas a free to play model allows them to milk those few whales willing to spend and get little bits and pieces here from the cheaper players.

Squeenix knows they can milk the players, they won't get it from everyone, but each player who buys this mount is effectively two months of sub per player. Why add interesting content and reward players for playing the game when you can get that kind of dough? Instead, lets focus on pushing out stuff like eureka , possibly one of the most boring, grindy and annoying pieces of content that probably took one of their developers a whole 30 minutes to think up.

( Keep in mind, the MSQ isn't /bad/, but so much of it is obnoxiously dull running halfway across the world over and over to speak to someone for two minutes, just to run back. Rinse and repeat for a huge chunk of ARR It's killed the game for a lot of my friends trying to get up to play with friends )

That isn't an issue with the cash shop, though - that is an issue with their design ambitions for the game itself.

[Lauront]

For what its worth, the graphics are more Square's decision to make sure this game can be played on lower end PC systems than where funding is going. Increasing the baseline graphics would risk losing more of their playerbase unless they wanted to make it all optional. Most you can expect is a completely optional high-res texture pack, if they think maintaining two sets of textures for this game would be worth it for them.

Agreed, but that's the poster's point, IMO. That SE is building the game around people who'd rather spend their money on such items than ensuring they have a PC that is not subpar when compared even to the basic PS4.

Still, there's plenty of non-MMOs out there that make the decision to go for higher end specs and are able to attract high numbers of players and also retain them - so are they saying they can only mostly attract people with weaker systems? Seems like a sad state for a genre to be in. I just don't get why MMOs are the go-to of people with bad computers, because it doesn't seem like we're talking about players on the margins here but significant enough numbers for it to not be worth the risk. Purely speculation on my part as I don't have access to the same info the devs do.

However, I view the cash shop as a symptom and not a cause of any issues the game is facing as such. If it provides them with more income, great; I hope some of it is reinvested in 14.

[Sigma-Astra]

What the user you quote says is completely true and it's all the consumer's (players) complacency that keeps this game mediocre, this game looks really cheap in this age of awesome graphics and there's no telling how players can expend money in optional items but cannot instead upgrade their computers and demand better graphics!...


I think $30 for a mount is a real steal, it's half the price of a whole new game and you know what happens when players buy such expensive things!?... SE will just keep increasing the prices without returning a single cent to improve the game, they will just milk their players until there is none left and that's when they'll come out with the notice that the game is too old and is about to be retired!...

The players buying things from the cash shop have, and I'll repeat, have nothing to do with the "cheap" graphics. THAT is an executive order and game designer issue and less of anything to deal with the player's themselves. Stop being an armchair game designer and executive director. Orders to enhance or upgrade the graphical quality of the game's engine comes from not only the controller (financial director) of XIV's department and budgeting, but from the CEO's themselves in regards towards what the designers can actually do.

You are completely flying off the handle with hyperbole after hyperbole without fully understanding exactly how it's feasible to upgrade an entire MMO's graphical engine.

Seriously, causing fear-mongering and misinformation for no other reason than pure exaggeration and placing blame in other people spending their money as they please because you don't want to is absurd.

[Lauront]

It'll be a while until we see graphical enhancements, if their recent interviews are anything to go by - as far into the future as the PS5's release. If that takes us to 6.0, I am somewhat sceptical that we'll see anything other than optional texture upgrades.

[TheMightyMollusk]

It's a little underwhaleming so I'll wait for it to go on sale.

Yeah, I think I'm baleen on this one for now.

[MicahZerrshia]

I find the mount being a whale is kindda on the nose for the cash shop.