PETITION: Regarding FINAL FANTASY XIV Steam Version (Mar. 8)

[Nora_of_Mira]

Currently, by launching ffxivboot.exe instead of running through Steam, I can:

1. Avoid Steam handling my games, not have to manually mess with hiding myself on friend's list if I don't necessarily want to share what I'm playing.

2. Log in to non-Steam accounts of FFXIV, like my wife's account. This came in handy yesterday, I was able to log in and get a house plot that opened up. If this were locked, I wouldn't have been able to.

3. Launch more than one instance of the game. Referring to #2, I was able to trade her some gil to cover the difference of the price.

4. Avoid any Steam metrics/traffic that is involved with using it. I play often at work during downtime. "Steam" is going to stand out more than "ffxivboot.exe"

1. fair, but you likely have to do this once to hide your online status and you're good to go.
2. SE doesnt condone account sharing or logging into other peoples accounts
3. Im pretty sure this is what they want to prevent with this change, idk.
4. No one can help you there, lol.

[Granyala]

Edit: Oh man i'm slow, sorry for the slow reply Granyala lol

Don't worry, thanks for the taking the time to explain.

I bought the game on steam back then because that is where I discovered it. Had I known how asinine SE chains people to the setam version for the rest of all eternity I would have bought it somewhere else.

I am in full support for a conversion.
I'd even willing to toss them another 20 bucks if that makes them feel better and gets steam off my back.

[Wanzzo]

According to the last update on the annoucement, they will implement the change at 29th of August regardless yours efforts for them to reconsider '-'

This is really bad... =/

To me, the change wont hurt nothing, but I understand that for some will be a little bit painfull...

[Catwho]

I don't. What kind of problem are they trying to solve with the limitation? What kind of fraud are happening?

Steam refunds is the hypothesis I have heard. By circumventing the Steam login process, no Steam game time is logged against the account, so RMT are able to play on an account for as many hours as they can until it is banned, then request a full refund from Steam since it shows the play time as under two hours. Thus both Steam and SE are losing money, and RMT get infinite accounts at no cost.

I don't know how much truth there is to this hypothesis because I don't use steam.

The solution from SE's end should still be to allow conversion of a Steam account to a regular account, or at least allow for dual Steam PC licenses.

[ElazulHP]

Well that is extremely disappointing. I'll be unsubscribing the first time something goes wrong and impacts my playtime then. The Steam authentication servers go down often so probably won't be that long after.

[Nixxe]

I'm hoping this gets delayed once again and then continues to be delayed forever.

[Ayuhra]

You simply DL the client from SE's web page, punch in your credentials, install and play.
You don't need steam. Never did.

I think I used steam ONCE for the original setup back in 2015 when I bought the game. After that I never again had the steam client running. In fact, Steam thinks FF-XIV isn't even installed (I always have to start a fake setup in order to get to new keys whenever they release expansions).

I feel like I did this but I'm not sure.

I do know I run the game through .exe. It's still in the Steam directory but no Steam logins are required to play. In my Steam library the last time I played was years ago (which obviously is not the case).

So at the end of August I will no longer be able to do this?

[Tulnekaya]

If I could switch my 'steam' key to a standard PC one, I would do so in a heartbeat. So would my significant other. When we first started the game back in ARR, we had been recommended the game by a friend. My SO had been gifted the game, and I bought it via steam after my trial after being told that 'there was no difference' between it and the standard purchase.

I had no idea at the time I'd be locked into using steam for any expansions. Which on it's own hasn't been a huge deal. But it's disappointing to not be able to get physical collector's editions.

The biggest problem is Steam's client. There are days where, quite simply, it just DOES NOT WORK on either my PC or my laptop. Or it leads to background lag. Or it just will not save my setting to please stop trying to do inhouse streaming and just let me switch devices. It is a glitchy, glut filled headache, and while it has its benefits from time to time I like being able to just launch my game and play.

So please, Square Enix.

Separate the two keys in the MogStation so I can just buy a proper PC license, or rethink the decision to require the Steam Client.

Myself and my partner have spent a lot of money on this game. A... lot more than we really should. This is a genuine customer service and play issue.

[Vahlnir]

Welp, good thing I plan to upgrade my PS4 to Pro next month. PSN might not be the most reliable sometimes, but it's more reliable than Steam's connection 95% of the time in my experience.

[Nixxe]

I feel like I did this but I'm not sure.

I do know I run the game through .exe. It's still in the Steam directory but no Steam logins are required to play. In my Steam library the last time I played was years ago (which obviously is not the case).

So at the end of August I will no longer be able to do this?

Assuming this isn't delayed again, that is correct. You'll have to start it up via the Steam client.