Cash Shop Announcements from EU Stream

[Vrankyl]

As someone who has purchased the maximum number of retainers...they absolutely do provide an advantage.

For starters, the expanded inventory is wonderful. Though more importantly, ventures are brilliant. I don't know how many people bother to level and gear their retainers in order to send them out on missions but you can make a fortune through doing that. Last week they brought me back 4 jet black dyes and 2 pure white dyes - which sell for a lot.

Honestly I really wouldn't count quick ventures since they are all RNG. The last time my retainer brought me anything of value from a quick venture was like at least a month ago. Even the people I know who have 5 or 6 retainers say it's mostly just crap housing items (ie cheap ass walls and roofs), fish, or random dungeon gear that can't be sold on the MB anyway.

[EtherRose]

As someone who has purchased the maximum number of retainers...they absolutely do provide an advantage.

For starters, the expanded inventory is wonderful. Though more importantly, ventures are brilliant. I don't know how many people bother to level and gear their retainers in order to send them out on missions but you can make a fortune through doing that. Last week they brought me back 4 jet black dyes and 2 pure white dyes - which sell for a lot.

I also have maxed retainers. They do provide a lot of storage and the ventures are "Sometimes" nice. However it's not P2W. Take for example Blade and Soul, that's P2W. Just because you get some gil from ventures by selling items doesn't = P2W. You can easily get good endgame gear by farming tomes and there is no enchanting system other then the materia system which is easy to obtain/use. Also you can literally farm everything faster yourself instead of the retainers // Selling ishgardian restoration materials can net a lot more than those dyes. So in the end there really is nothing that you would work toward to be considered "P2W" or if you prefer Blade and Souls equipment upgrade/enchant system which would cost a fortune and countless farming unless you "Buy" your way through it which would then be considered "P2W".

[Roda]

I mean, just because it isn't the worst thing ever doesn't mean it's not bad. :T

[Theodric]

FFXIV isn't nearly as obnoxious as certain other MMO's in regards to paid advantages, though they still exist. The saddlebag expansion is another example. I don't think they're necessarily terrible features, though I don't see the point in downplaying them when they do provide a fairly decent advantage over players who opt not to invest. Ishgard restoration added a whole bunch of new items to the game through Diadem - and if people wanted to be competitive and score high on the ranking system then extra inventory space was a worthy investment. To say nothing of the fact that the materials themselves sold for a fairly decent price in some cases, so having extra retainers allowed for more to be sold and stored.

[Mimilu]

Retainers also give you more slots to sell things on the Marketboard, which could let you get gil quicker.
It also use to help you easy up the limit of gil you could carry when you transferred servers but they increase the amount of gil you could carry to 999,999,999 gil since then...

I mean, just because it isn't the worst thing ever doesn't mean it's not bad. :T

This is how I feel about most things in XIV, just because it isn't the worst/is functioning, doesn't mean it's not bad. >w>

[ElazulHP]

Apparently buying more retainers is P2W to some people. Because you can send them out on ventures and they make Gil for you. That's the only P2W thing iv'e read about.

That would be considered pay to win IF there was something to win. For example if Square ever decided to let people buy subscription time with Gil like some other MMOs. But, that isn't the case right now so I don't think anyone can say paying for retainers is pay to win.

[Roda]

That would be considered pay to win IF there was something to win. For example if Square ever decided to let people buy subscription time with Gil like some other MMOs. But, that isn't the case right now so I don't think anyone can say paying for retainers is pay to win.

Paying to be the first or best at something is not the only result of a negative influence of in-game purchases. Paying to make an aspect of the game less tedious / improve UX, is also a big way in-game purchases can cause the game to be worse for those not forking over extra cash, since it incentivises the devs to make the standard non-EXTRA-paying experience more frustrating so that we'll want to get more retainers so that we can gather materials faster for our raid food/tinctures/crafted gear or even just store all the glamour we've earned (or bought) that we can't fit in our still-too-small glamour dresser, or get a special mount that ignores riding licenses and lets us move at max speed all the time without having to grind the licences.

[Lium]

HAHAHAHAH people actually think this game is P2W??? Seriously???

Good lord, go check out Star Trek Online if you want to see P2W. I can go into their cash shop right now and buy a tier 6 ship and steamroll literally everyone. Buy some OP bridge officers and duty officers that will allow me to faceroll the content. Or how about Blade & Soul? DC Universe Online? And that’s just off the top of my head. Those are all games where you can buy items in the cash shop that give you distinct advantages.

I understand those are all free to play games, but that’s my point. FFXIV requires a sub, so the items they sell are just vanity items. Like glamours. The gear doesn’t have any actual stats or anything. It’s actually similar to SWTOR in that regard.

Some of you need to get out and play other MMOs. I honestly think for many of you this is the only MMO you’ve ever played.

And it shows.

[yukiiyuki]

HAHAHAHAH people actually think this game is P2W??? Seriously???

Good lord, go check out Star Trek Online if you want to see P2W. I can go into their cash shop right now and buy a tier 6 ship and steamroll literally everyone. Buy some OP bridge officers and duty officers that will allow me to faceroll the content. Or how about Blade & Soul? DC Universe Online? And that’s just off the top of my head. Those are all games where you can buy items in the cash shop that give you distinct advantages.

I understand those are all free to play games, but that’s my point. FFXIV requires a sub, so the items they sell are just vanity items. Like glamours. The gear doesn’t have any actual stats or anything. It’s actually similar to SWTOR in that regard.

Some of you need to get out and play other MMOs. I honestly think for many of you this is the only MMO you’ve ever played.

And it shows.

You can't win anything in XIV, maybe some basic advantages like having more retainers and buying unique costumes and mount from mog.
Gear in this game is easibly obtainable, to see 95% of the content you dont need to grind or clear hard content. There is literally nothing to sell to make it P2W even if they wanted.

[Moonlite]

Honestly I really wouldn't count quick ventures since they are all RNG. The last time my retainer brought me anything of value from a quick venture was like at least a month ago. Even the people I know who have 5 or 6 retainers say it's mostly just crap housing items (ie cheap ass walls and roofs), fish, or random dungeon gear that can't be sold on the MB anyway.

Then they aren't doing it right. If your retainers aren't making you at least a million gil from the stuff they bring which goes with the expanded MB space. They aren't putting any effort into selling. Not to mention that you can desynth everything and sell those mats. Also you can not use more ventures then what retainers bring back in gear. Let also not forget that fisher retainers every few patches that get a rare minion that at least I can always get a couple to sell when they are between the 5-1 million mark. Housing desynths into a lot of mats as well can be as high as 9 of something.