In-game content behind paywalls/ Exclusivity on limited time events/mounts/etc

[Malakii]

With the recent talk of changing the names of the titles in the firmament and seeing the badass omega weapon statue, it has brought up some issues I personally have had for a while and would love to hear what the community thinks about these things as well.

As I just mentioned in the recent live letter an awesome statue of omega with omega M/F was displayed for a whopping ~220 USD. The quality looks great and if I was someone who liked having videogame memorable displayed in my house I would really consider it but, I am not. My problem is not with these awesome statues like omega~220 USD, shiva~150 USD, and odin~180 USD. It's the emotes that are locked behind the huge paywalls, I.E.; Zantetsuken, Diamond Dust, and the new emote for omega. I feel these products bring value to the company and I don't want them to stop making them, I just want them to stop putting in-game content on out of the game products to incentives paying customer to pay more to get an item that they should get in the game. I personally feel in-game content belongs in the game with means to obtain it in the game. That is why I pay a sub, for content to go in the game.

This leads me to the cash shop. I feel like these cash shops encourage the developers to exclude items from the game to have customers pay more for content that should be already included in the paid product. Normally this is w/e in a free-to-play game but this is a subscription-based game and the reason I support subscription-based games is to avoid these kinds of practices or hope to at least. I personally like collecting things but, refuse to spend money on digital products that are left out for the sole intention of being sold, so I know I won't be able to collect everything in this game and that is fine. What is not fine or at least what I am trying to understand is why this is being supported by us the gamers. We are the ones that are encouraging this exclusion!

[*]Minions/Mounts on Cash Shop/Seasonal Items

• There is no reason any digital product belongs in a cash shop over being included in the game, this is hundreds if not thousands of your country's currency to buy in-game items that are not available to be obtained in-game in no other possible way. What value does this add to the customer and why do we support this behavior. Even, some items are seasonal events rewards that have passed, and instead of recycling the rewards into the next year's event, they decide to just throw it on the cash shop and have you pay additional money for it. With the long content patches that we have come to accept, you think they would have time to recycle these events and rewards.

[Malakii]

[*]Limited time rewards for pvp season/ ish resto titles, etc.

• I am up in the air on this because I do have conflicting opinions on the matter. I do think exclusivity done right is a good thing for a game. I am just not sure that this is the way it should be done. PVP is arguably stagnant in this game. No matter the exact reason for that, I don't think having seasonal rewards that can never be obtained again for sought after things like mounts is the right way. Especially when the mount may be the reason they even want to try to get in it anyway. Let's be honest, the early hounds look pretty damn sweet. If the requirements were the exact same as season 1. I believe it was that you had to place in the top 10 for one and top 100 for the other. I would strive to do ranked pvp in order to obtain it, but due to not being able to collect the mounts, which is the main incentive for someone like myself, I personally do not feel inclined to give it the time of day. An asset created for 1 season of pvp that is forever locked away. This is generally the same idea behind ish resto titles. 10 days per patch for one chance at a title that is going to be changed the next season. This is not good exclusivity. This is just gatekeeping for a lot of players to even give it a chance IMO. I might go without saying, but just for the record this also includes regional items…. And promotional items that aren't available again.

TDLR

I am against locking mounts/minions/emotes behind paywalls as an incentive for players to spend extra money on items that should be included in the game and be obtained through in-game means that are instead attached to products that are not relevant to your char in-game and may or may not be desired by the community. I am curious as why there are some members of the community wholeheartedly support this. I think exclusivity in a game is a good thing when done right, but locking them behind limited-time events/seasons/promotions or regional tags is not the correct way to do it. Customer participation in cash shops IMO encourages companies to leave digital items out from the game so they can get even more cash from the consumer. If you want to throw money at SE invest in their stock, buy their clothing, throw it at me, but don't diminish the product you already paid for by encouraging them to leave more out of it for extra capital gain. SE or any sub-model for that matter already has a steady stream of income. Cash shop is just greed. This is just my opinion and would love to hear what the community thinks about it.

[MsQi]

I prefer real money shops to be for physical items, and in game items to be available through in game means. They should at least have the in-game items be available without the expensive statue.

[Puremallace]

FF14 has always been able to get away with a cash shop that would never been accepted in another sub mmo. When the game was F2P they adopted a mind set that the cash shop would support the game and never gave it up.

[DPZ2]

FF14 has always been able to get away with a cash shop that would never been accepted in another sub mmo. When the game was F2P they adopted a mind set that the cash shop would support the game and never gave it up.

The game has never been F2P. Ever.

[Malakii]

The game has never been F2P. Ever.

I believe he is referring to the initial 1.0 launch. It was considered a disaster and the previous game lead was replace by Yoshi-P. When Yoshi-P took over he did suspend the game subscription fee for a time while they continued to fixing it and creating what we all know today as 2.0 or ARR. Granted suspension of the sub fee is not the same as F2P so I can see your stance. I just don't remember when the cash shop was brought in. I don't think it was until after ARR was completed, but I could be wrong.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I believe he is referring to the initial 1.0 launch. It was considered a disaster and the previous game lead was replace by Yoshi-P. When Yoshi-P took over he did suspend the game subscription fee for a time while they continued to fixing it and creating what we all know today as 2.0 or ARR. Granted suspension of the sub fee is not the same as F2P so I can see your stance. I just don't remember when the cash shop was brought in. I don't think it was until after ARR was completed, but I could be wrong.

The cash shop was announced at the first NA fanfest in 2014. (where they revealed the sleipnir mount)


1.0 was never f2p, at most it was b2p.

[SturmChurro]

Yes, it is very predatory for a company to go after people with no self control that have to have everything in a game. 100% everything. I definitely agree, they see people with no self control (and or deep pockets) and exploit it, and they are definitely not the only company to do it either. However, if someone has an issue over missing out on an emote, they should learn self control, in my opinion. Just like a person does not need every physical good, nor do they need every digital good, in my opinion. In general, if there weren't those people with a lack of self control (and or deep pockets) to buy products like this, then they would either change their tactics or stop selling them altogether.

Like I've said before in other mogstation complain threads, it's here to stay as long as there are people continuing to purchase these products. Unless you can make players stop purchasing these products, it's not going to go away.

[Brightamethyst]

I feel like these cash shops are a form of predatory practice by excluding items from the game to have customers pay more for content that should be already included in the paid product.

Except it's not. There's no trickery or deception here. It's not P2W, no one is forcing you to buy anything. You may not like the cash shop but that dosen't make it evil. If you have so little self control that you feel the need to buy out the entire store just for completion, that's on you, not the game.

[Malakii]

Yes, it is very predatory for a company to go after people with no self control that have to have everything in a game. 100% everything. I definitely agree, they see people with no self control (and or deep pockets) and exploit it, and they are definitely not the only company to do it either. However, if someone has an issue over missing out on an emote, they should learn self control, in my opinion. Just like a person does not need every physical good, nor do they need every digital good, in my opinion. In general, if there weren't those people with a lack of self control (and or deep pockets) to buy products like this, then they would either change their tactics or stop selling them altogether.

Like I've said before in other mog station complain threads, it's here to stay as long as there are people continuing to purchase these products. Unless you can make players stop purchasing these products, it's not going to go away.

I agree with the majority of this. I didn't have an issue with missing 1 emote I been playing since 1.0 and the first time I am bringing it up after countless times of this being done. I haven't bought a single thing for the store. I have been gifted a few things from friends but never will I pay for an item from the mog station. I do want to 100% the game but I don't think it is about self-control at least for me, some maybe. It's just something I enjoy doing and since I been playing from the initial release of 1.0 I don't think it's an unreasonable achievement as many several people in the world are pretty damn close to it. I just figured I have two things that I can do. I can voice my opinion on it and hope they will listen if it the community agrees. If not then all I can do is walk away, which I prefer not to do because I enjoy it but as the list of mog station collectables rises over 100+ items it might be that time.