The FFXIV Cash Shop is greedy

[LittleImp]

Those are my thoughts too.
I love how people demand more content and more everything, but at the same time they don't want SE to earn more money to make it. They simply want more for the same price.

Generally, people have been expressing dissatisfaction at the feeling that they're getting less content for the same subscription/expansion price-point. There has been a pretty clear demonstrable downward trend in content-per-patch lately, and it's frustrating for them to watch as SE continues to stock their cash-shop while cutting corners on the game proper.

[SamRF]

I agree that the sub cost may be too low and that most players likely aren't ready yet to pay more. I've acknowledged this before (in this thread and others) and it might be true that a Cash Shop may provide a good middle ground for now. I wish that the MMO market (players as well as games) was more saturated so more players would have more choice and that a solid game with higher sub fee and no Cash Shop would indeed exist, then I likely wouldn't be voicing my concerns and feedback here but instead pull the trigger way faster and switch game.

That said... thanks god you're not developing this game.

Was hoping we could get to a respectful agree to disagree conclusion, with how much room I was giving your argument. Can't expect people to be decent on the internet I guess.

[Halivel]

Was hoping we could get to a respectful agree to disagree conclusion, with how much room I was giving your argument. Can't expect people to be decent on the internet I guess.

Just as much as I was trying to give a room to yours in the beginning, and I didn't mean that sentence as an insult - you just don't seem to be suitable to work in marketing. Every time I see you in threads you're claiming you want the game to be better, but ideas itself just aren't any good in long time perspective (some of them could give an improvement for a short time). Your idea to give "5 pets for 100$ each", even if it's an exaggeration, is very weak from marketing standpoint, because that's not how consumer's mentality works. At this point I wonder if you're geniunely that naive or just a troll.

[SamRF]

Just as much as I was trying to give a room to yours in the beginning, and I didn't mean that sentence as an insult - you just don't seem to be suitable to work in marketing. Every time I see you in threads you're claiming you want the game to be better, but ideas itself just aren't any good in long time perspective (some of them could give an improvement for a short time). Your idea to give "5 pets for 100$ each", even if it's an exaggeration, is very weak from marketing standpoint, because that's not how consumer's mentality works. At this point I wonder if you're geniunely that naive or just a troll.

Yeah I thought it was pretty obvious what I meant with that 100$ example.. you're taking it out of context and I hope not with awareness just to score points. I'll clarify just in case though.

That 5 items for 100$ was just an example to clarify how and why I believe the amount of items are more important to me instead of the price. Of course I know that it won't sell at that price. It wasn't an idea at all, it was just an example to give perspective.

[Eldevern]

I believe the amount of items are more important to me instead of the price.

Unfortunatly, it doesn't work like that and the food is a fair example of customers behavior, a lot of them look at the price first and the quantity after. That makes they will pay more for less thanks to the false feeling they save money.
100g for 2€
90g for 1€90
People will take the one at 1€90 thought they pay actually 10 cents more, the price should be 1€80

[Halivel]

Yeah I thought it was pretty obvious what I meant with that 100$ example.. you're taking it out of context and I hope not with awareness just to score points. I'll clarify just in case though.

That 5 items for 100$ was just an example to clarify how and why I believe the amount of items are more important to me instead of the price. Of course I know that it won't sell at that price. It wasn't an idea at all, it was just an example to give perspective.

I get it. It's just that we have to take into consideration that it's not as simple as it looks to be. Quantity and price both work in tandem, and they work in tandem with payment model of the game itself. No cash shop at all means higher sub and its increasing after some period of time. It's not a bad thing technically, but it will attract less players, and games are usually aimed at different kind of players, not only wealthy ones.

For same reason, cash shop with less quantity for a higher price has less potential than higher quantity for a lesser price. Yes, you can see the second as a bit more greedy model, but it gives more freedom and choice (and, in fact, possibility to spend less money in some cases) to those who buy these items.

So while your idea potentinally could work in ideal circumstances, it won't be that good in reality.

[TwiibieTwuu]

To be fair, WoWs cash shop is in game. And from what I've heard it once sold a mount in game which had the best speed. No other mount in game was that fast. and it was pretty pricey too.

Some stuff in WoWs cash shop is also a limited time thing as well.

FFXIVs is outside the game and most glamour items were originally from a previous event or a Korean exclusive.

Personally I don't like cashshops though i heard most sales from the mogstation goes to the Devs. Since square takes the sub money.

[SamRF]

I get it. It's just that we have to take into consideration that it's not as simple as it looks to be. Quantity and price both work in tandem, and they work in tandem with payment model of the game itself. No cash shop at all means higher sub and its increasing after some period of time. It's not a bad thing technically, but it will attract less players, and games are usually aimed at different kind of players, not only wealthy ones.

For same reason, cash shop with less quantity for a higher price has less potential than higher quantity for a lesser price. Yes, you can see the second as a bit more greedy model, but it gives more freedom and choice (and, in fact, possibility to spend less money in some cases) to those who buy these items.

So while your idea potentinally could work in ideal circumstances, it won't be that good in reality.

Yes and again, I generally agree what you're saying. As a player who gives feedback though I don't like this model.

Beside the sub cost argument, consider that Cash Shop may or may not drive players away from the game and stunt its player growth (I've seen FFXIV Cash Shop as argument against playing this game on other forums), the amount of players that are driven away would perhaps cost FFXIV more than current Cash Shop sales in terms of profit.

However there's no obvious indication Cash Shop is driving that many players away so it's not unreasonable to disregard this argument. I wouldn't say it's a meaningless argument though and I'm sure SE considers that (it's the reason there are no P2W items in Cash Shop).

[Halivel]

Unfortunatly, it doesn't work like that and the food is a fair example of customers behavior, a lot of them look at the price first and the quantity after. That makes they will pay more for less thanks to the false feeling they save money.
100g for 2€
90g for 1€90
People will take the one at 1€90 thought they pay actually 10 cents more, the price should be 1€80

Food is a good example of how consumer's mentality work, though it doesn't sit exactly well with ingame shops, at least for those categories we compare here. In case with food it's "catch them with price while also decieving them with the amount". When we talk about things like mounts or minions - we buy in pieces, which are whole numbers. If I buy 2 minions for 7€ in one in-game shop, while I buy 1 minion for 5€ in another, it's quite obvious that I either get more from 1st one or have the possibility to spend less if I like only one of two minions.

Yes and again, I generally agree what you're saying. As a player who gives feedback though I don't like this model.

Beside the sub cost argument, consider that Cash Shop may or may not drive players away from the game and stunt its player growth (I've seen FFXIV Cash Shop as argument against playing this game on other forums), the amount of players that are driven away would perhaps cost FFXIV more than current Cash Shop sales in terms of profit.

However there's no obvious indication Cash Shop is driving that many players away so it's not unreasonable to disregard this argument. I wouldn't say it's a meaningless argument though and I'm sure SE considers that (it's the reason there are no P2W items in Cash Shop).

It's a bit hard to count how much they can potentionally lose, too. For all the time I play (6 years) I spent about ~1500€ in amount I think (this includes sub, the game itself, all expansions in CE and some items from Mog Station. Also I'm not sure on the exact amount of money because in the past Russia had regional prices, plus exchange course changes daily so it can be ~1500 or a bit less). They most likely do much more than this from a single Mog Station item right after releasing it and also later with "catching up" purchases. Amount of potential players that were droven away by Mog should be quite significant to outplay it, so the loss is either even or less. I'm quite sure their finances department did their calculations on this, otherwise the way Mog Station works now would be already changed.

[Eldevern]

...

Micro-transactions are a suject of economy studies in itself. ^_^

People will make the difference between a minion at 5€ and one at 7€ but they will often prefer to buy one fantasia at 7€ rather than five at 31€.

All is in the catch-up price.