Forced scarcity and exclusivity.

[Mistyregions]

Forced scarcity and exclusivity really bothers people in this game, I wonder why? Also scarcity and exclusivity is the driving force behind accomplishment and without it the game would be boring. Where do people get the idea game developers have to include everyone into everything? It's pretty unrealistic no? I mean I don't tell the goverment(developer) in IRL to include me in everything or else i complain, or is complaining just a way for people to get studded off their chest?

[PyurBlue]

I don't really care for exclusivity. I don't find comparisons to reality relevant since in the real world we deal with limited resources while in game everyone could have everything if the devs wanted.

I feel like games should be designed around fun and I think it's best if players can experience the entirety of the game, if it interests them. Content should be its own reward, this makes the content itself more enjoyable because it's designed to be fun and it avoids enticing players who don't enjoy content to play said content. When people are drawn into something they don't enjoy they might try to change it at expense of people who do enjoy it.

In short playing for fun is fun while playing for rewards can potentially create problems and degrade quality.

[Vahlnir]

Personally, I would prefer that the devs largely focus on content that lasts and not impose timed exclusives on people often. Thankfully that is exactly what they do, though content in this game doesn't always have much longevity. I'm not against scarcity and exclusivity for the most part though, especially since they don't do it all too often. When they DO push some limited time exclusives on us it's usually something nice.

[MPK]

Yeah wtf I want everything without being FORCED into putting effort into it. Why cant I just get an "I win" button that gives me everything when I pay 12 dollars a month for this gaem
Wow great community btw

[Arazehl]

I agree a game should be about fun, but it can't be all to a game there is. Some players like challenge and with that they want a reward worth the earning. They want to feel that thrill of victory they have struggle to earn. They want to have bragging rights and that's okay too.

Players who think they should have these same rewards with little to no effort put into earning them is laughable. People should respect and congratulate those that fought the good fight, even in this game. Leave the envy, and greed at home . I don't like it when rewards for hard fought battles show in little events because the devs are too lazy to design new rewards for an event. The rinse and reuse is most obvious in this game.

[Mistyregions]

I don't really care for exclusivity. I don't find comparisons to reality relevant since in the real world we deal with limited resources while in game everyone could have everything if the devs wanted.

I feel like games should be designed around fun and I think it's best if players can experience the entirety of the game, if it interests them. Content should be its own reward, this makes the content itself more enjoyable because it's designed to be fun and it avoids enticing players who don't enjoy content to play said content. When people are drawn into something they don't enjoy they might try to change it at expense of people who do enjoy it.

In short playing for fun is fun while playing for rewards can potentially create problems and degrade quality.

I agree with everything but the statement "resources are unlimited in game and the devs could have it if they wanted" because resources are limited. To create those resources cost money IRL, so they have to prioritize stuff and still balance high payoff rewards for dedicated people. Everyone forgets to implement something as simple as instanced housing could cost upwards of 100-200k to implement. That's a shit ton of money. InB4 they profited from SHB, yes they did, and that money gets diverted to diversify their product line, you cant perpetually invest in one product that's like business 101.

[DevilsDontFly]

Depends on what kind of exclusivity you're talking about, to me. I'm okay with something "exclusive" yet attainable for as long as I want, if I decide to put the effort into getting it. Example, UwU weapons.
On the other hand there's the kind of exclusivity that irritates people. Example, the raven earrings from 1.0 that got added to the mogstation and caused people to rampage over "muh limited edition toys!11!".

I just think it's a little weird that a lot of people in this game have those clothes, titles, accessories, mounts, weapons and etc that they never touch and neve see any use, yet they start rampaging and witchunting on the forums the moment those dusty, forgotten items become easily available to the masses.

It's a huge grey area, at least to me.

[Shougun]

Edit: Seems there is some drift on what exclusivity and scarcity mean so just to clarify for myself it means something that is both difficult to get and limited in quantity, not just something hard to get but also limited to get. Difficult journeys are not a problem to me- that's fine; however, difficult to likely impossible journeys because of exclusivity and exclusivity in a general sense at least for major features is not desirable addition to the game for me.

I don't care for exclusivity either, I prefer the journey and vaguely the journey with others but not strictly so. I think scarcity works really well in more hardcore mmorpgs, or sandbox ones where the whole experience is about a shared space. I don't think that's FFXIV. I see FFXIV as a themepark mmo, playing FFXIV is going to Disneyland and experiencing a story and vision. The fun part of Disneyland is not the crazy long lines even, if people try to get too real with me on the example- the fun part of Disneyland is the music, food, environment the smells, rides and family. I say crazy long lines because a few minute wait in lines can be nice to see all the little details they put in the area. Like in FFXIV you don't want to go through a zone so fast you can't even remember what it has, but you don't want to be trapped* there so long all you can think is "that freaking jungle music haunts my sleep". *if you love an area its fine to go back and such, I mean not optionally stuck in progression of a specific place (difference between getting in the ride line again vs being stuck in the line for 5 hours).

For a themepark mmo I feel exclusivity in major features of the game is a rather poor choice. I say major features because these games attract lots of different types of people, some people only play FFXIV for pvp, crafting, story, etc. There are I'm sure people who would probably take a sandbox hardcore FF MMORPG- if you made "EVE, but actually FF" they'd be unbelievably happy. So I think here and there it's not a bad idea, sort of a bone to the minority groups (which each of us might make at some time or another), but that bone I don't think should be thrown with a major feature. Oh yeah so we're going to make a new dungeon content with relic and relic armor but only 50 people of each server can obtain it / do it. Next Relic is PvP tournament winners only! Etc too minority focused concepts, especially with major features. Get out of here lol. Might say Eureka for that last example but that's not what I was trying to suggest since it's not really an scarce resource just a game style not everyone likes (and some love). Also to be clear I'm not against long progression stories, I like a good journey. I don't need rewards 'now', I do want progression and options- I don't want to hear "nah can't, we ran out of resources for that- there is no more food today".

I like FFXIV because it's a themepark, I don't want to invest the time in a scarce resource hardcore game and so if the entire design philosophy shifts to overly value scarcity and exclusivity I think it's not the game for me.

Take me to Disneyland! lol.

[Dzian]

Forced scarcity and exclusivity really bothers people in this game, I wonder why? Also scarcity and exclusivity is the driving force behind accomplishment and without it the game would be boring. Where do people get the idea game developers have to include everyone into everything? It's pretty unrealistic no? I mean I don't tell the goverment(developer) in IRL to include me in everything or else i complain, or is complaining just a way for people to get studded off their chest?

What the game lacks is a sense of prestige in it ms rewards. And prestige is one of humanities biggest motivators.

Rarity and exclusivity are no bad thing themselves. As rare treasures or trophies are generally considered prestigious. Which is a good thing and becomes a big motivator for many people.

However forced rarity and exclusivity is a very bad thing. It generally locks out the masses and demotivates players.

If you force an item to be rare by saying only 100 players can ever get it. That's generally considered to be a bad thing. As it doesn't matter how good players are or how hard they try if they're not in that hundred they can't succeed.

However when things like ultimate weapons are rare this Is generally a good thing. As generally speaking there is nothing stopping any player out there stepping up to the plate and taking on that challenge and it is possible that literally everyone in the game could attain that item.

The issue becomes when you then go and devalue rewards and basically hand them out to players through heavy nerds or unsyncable options. You completely destroy all prestige and value those treasures have and that's generally why everything in this game is considered junk. And so many players get bored so quickly because there are no prestigious rewards to aim for. Everything gets needed to hell and tossed out like candy which completely undermines players accomplishments and destroys there motivation to continue playing.

XIV has had a long standing problem with player retention because of this. It has no issues pulling new players in. But it really does struggle to keep them engaged because it continuously undermines everything players have done.

[Krotoan]

A sense of accomplishment is different than something only having value because someone else doesn't have it and can't get it. Earning it through skill and perseverance is fine, but then demanding that people who weren't around at the time for whatever reason cannot ever earn it or that after a certain amount of time relaxing those criteria so that others may get a chance to enjoy whatever the reward is even if they lack skill or time is , I feel, the epitome of selfish.


The only thing that skirts this line in my opinion is the 1.0 tattoo. Sure I'd love for others to get a chance to get it, but what it represents is more than just time invested or skill toward a goal. It was standing by a company to give them another chance.... but in all honesty if they allowed it for purchase or made it available through another avenue it would be no giant amount of skin off my nose.