Mogstation taking another step to the darkside

[Skivvy]

Entitled generation screeching over nothing. There is barely anything in the cash shop lmfao.

I typically don't reply to such low-quality posts, but here we are.

I'd love to know how exactly I'm being entitled at this point. And also, I've been playing games for about 25+ years, so I'm not sure which generation you think I'm part of.

Anyway, seems a bit like you didn't bother reading most of my post. I've played plenty of games with cash shops, I've spent oodles in these same cash shops (even XIV's), but because I don't completely agree with how SE in particular handles their's I am now simply screeching over nothing?

[MrPresident]

This isn't new they've been doing it for quite some time. I would have less of an issue with many of their items (emotes, outfits etc) if they were account wide but pricing on mounts is pretty high in my view even though many are in fact account wide.

Lol what? When? We just got a Halloween mount for free end of last year. Egg mount, witches broom, Christmas bear. They’ve always been part of in game events, then added later once the event is over. Which is fair enough.

[Worldofwarcraft]

I understand your complaint, but I'm telling you now no matter what you do SE will not stop adding cash shop items. Money is the reason. The mogstation makes them to much money for them to stop. Your frustration is understandable and I get you, but its just the reality of the truth. SE will keep on adding more and more items to the mogstation because people buy them.

[Halivel]

Once upon time, the Mogstation was not as expansive as it is right now. They had fantasias, dyes, one or two mounts, and a few chummy wearable accessories. It's not necessarily new, but they've been expanding the store more and more to the point it's starting to look like a Free-to-Play cash shop, which imo, is not appropriate for a game that has an expensive monthly sub. Not only is it an expensive monthly sub, but they've also given dire in-game incentives to keep subbed even with you can't play (e.g. your house).

Expensive monthly sub that never changed in all the years the game exists, while prices for everything else actually don't stay on one place. If people want to have no cash shop at all or have there only fantasia, then they should be ready to see the raising in sub price every year, because the cost of maintaining the game doesn't get lower. Otherwise servers would be just shut down due to not being profitable. And no, just bringing more players won't save it either, because more players will require better or more servers, which, again, costs money.

Our cash shop is minimal as it is, and often is cheaper than in other games (in some MMOs I played you would buy "fantasia" thrice the price of ours, and couldn't even change sex or race there, as a fast example). All we have there is cosmetic, unlike in many other games, and only item that could give some kind of advantage is skipping books (and the only thing they really give you is saving your time).

Is it annoying that some items are unobtainable in the game? Sure, it is, no argues. But just keep in mind that all those money they rise in mog station (while keeping it purely cosmetic) help them to support the game without dropping it on shoulders of those who can't/doesn't want spend money in shop and pays only for sub. Because, without shop, sub would probably be near to 20$ by now. You can't seriously expect any company to maintain same or higher quality (which FF14 does, no matter how much few people here cry that it doesn't), while also still paying to their employees (suprise apparently, but they don't eat air and don't live in free apartments just as we don't) without rising expences and, as a result, prices in a world where prices constantly get higher and higher for everything.

[Allegor]

The fact the game has a monthly fee at all already scares away people, thinking that by raising the fee in exchange for more content would magically bring in more people into the game is insane - not only would that give skeptical people more reason to stay away from the game but the playerbase itself would most definitely shrink, maybe not by a big margin, but nobody wants to see their numbers go down.

But hey, at least we don't have lootboxes!

[Colt47]

I'm not exactly a big fan of publicly traded companies, but it's what we got. I'm just hoping that at least some of this money is being reinvested into the company and helping it grow rather than having it get drained away.

[EtherRose]

I see what you are saying but I have to disagree. Smart people should question why they pay a sub and still cant get all the items in the game.

So, i really face palmed at this retort and even more at the "Upvotes".

First off, actual "Smart" people would realize paying the sub is for a multitude of reasons. Such as keeping the servers running, maintenance, content, paying employee's, etc. You're talking about a Triple "A" MMO that is literally the best MMO out there right now. Also these mounts, outfits, etc., that they have in the mogstation are not "In the game" technically speaking. Or else you would be able to obtain them in-game other than the mogstation. They are "Optional Items' as is stated on the mogstation. Everything is purely cosmetic and "Optional". And i don't care but i'm going to say it - You don't need to buy them, it's optional. They give us other free seasonal items throughout the year and now you want to complain because they add something else to the mogstation that you want for free but can't get and you're mad. Get out of here.

[Floortank]

Playing devil's advocate for a minute.

Yoshi-P's job as producer is to go in front of a board of investors and convince them to invest money in FFXIV.

In order for an investor to commit money to a project, they must be assured of a return on their investment.

The more profitable FFXIV is to the investor, the more money Yoshi-P is able to secure in the future, for larger expansions, data center upgrades, etc.

Yoshi-P has very publicly stated that in the future, he wants to have all the regional datacenters combined. If you're NA, you'll be able to visit every NA realm, not just the ones on your datacenter. If you're on a EU or JP datacenter, same deal. That would necessitate a hefty upgrade to server architecture and hardware. It's going to cost money, lots of it.

It's not just about FFXIV's continual existence--it's about how much money is invested back into the game so that it can be continuously upgraded and improved. This goes beyond keeping the servers running and the employees paid, and a new expansion down the line. It goes into the very real costs of updating technology, improving performance, and adding the many quality of life features that have seen FFXIV shoot way out to the front of the pack as the best MMORPG in the world.

Cash shops are divisive and in some ways problematic, but the investors who make FFXIV possible are the ones who are wanting to see larger and larger stacks of cash back on their investments. A game without a cash shop is not going to be attractive to them. That's just the way things are.

[EgilTheStressedMage]

Facts and logic.

I can only hope the outrage over the level and story skip which results in level 70 Black Mages never passing one Astral Fire or Umbral Ice or casting a single Thunder was much larger than this. The mount has as much bearing on the game as my annoying neighbors who never stop yelling every two minutes.

[Moonlite]

snip

This is a very well put together post. Except it has been pretty clear that they have been unable to greatly increase the content delivered. We aren't really getting less or more, they are just moving resources around. Now maybe players are overestimating how much money from subs+cash shop SE is actually getting. Or SE is cash cowing 14 and stringing along players to find the breaking point for when players start quitting in droves.



I am sure if the apologists haven't already said it "SE needs that money for other stuff" As if they don't need to maintain a certain level in 14 and its ok to gouge one player base to cover another.