The FFXIV Cash Shop is greedy

[Melichoir]

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 fringe argument. Basically most people look at upfront costs and decide if those upfront costs are worth the money or not. Would you pay...I dunno, 50 a month for a sub on the belief that everything ever developed would end up in game, or 15 a month and pay additional fees for items you can pick and choose from. Keep in mind with the former model, there would be no distinction between additionally developed items adn what would be in game as a 'default'. So there is no 'mogstation' for you to see "Oh, this is why its worth 50 a month." Most consumers wouldnt be down for this model for two reasons - the inability to quantify if 50 a month would be worth it, and the sheer up front cost. It also creates a huge barrier to entry for new players. If youre new to FFXIV and are told you need a 50 a month sub, how likely are you gonna be to drop that on top of 60 for the game itself.

And if were gonna be honest, the immediate push would would be things like "Gee for 50 a month, do I a butler too" and "This games sub is not worth 50 a month! It's way over priced. Look at what I can get by paying 15 a month for WoW, or look at GW2 structure" or what not. And you could say "Well look at this nice glamour you get" but then people would be "So what, thats part of the game and isnt worth the price point."

At least with a cash shop you allow people to pick and choose what they want to buy, rather than saying "you take it all or no deal." Cause frankly I dont spend enough per year on a cash shop that would justify a huge sub per month. Even if I bought 3 fantasias for 30 (for even numbers), in the course of a year that is only like 2.50 a month more.