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

[Shougun]

The only thing I wish they did with cash shop was an in game way to earn crysta. Like gil to crysta (and not back to gil). I like a lot of the cash money items, but I would prefer to use my gil to purchase it, even if it was like a million gil to the dollar.

I thought their veteran reward program could have been a sort of cash shop rewards, like every 3 months you get some small cute items (tickets, exp items, fireworks), and a small amount of kupo cash, and every other 3 months (every 6) you'll get a larger amount of that kupo cash (time calculated based on subscription time totaled). Maybe reference FFIX with it being like jars of Moguta's Kupo Nut Conditioner (every jar made with the finest nuts). The kupo cream you can use to reduce the price of items or if you wait a long time you can just purchase something right out. Like to buy a single mount and it might take 1 1/2 - 2 years but eh, free. Also then could say everything is obtainable through in game means- reducing negative comments on the shop even further, given at least an extreme amount of patience lol.

I feel you can bring the experience full circle by adding an in game mognet to complete these tasks too (add some new postman quests, but also has a back stage for their secret shop where you can try on, ride, and generally preview shop items), the best if you get an animation of rubbing down the kupo with your conditioner as bribery for their shop and it coming out super puffy lol. Might be a real cute scene where they secretly bring you to their back shop and when the boss isn't looking you just give them a dab of conditioner on their cheeks and so they reduce the price of an item for you, or if you give them the full kupo experience (pay in full with conditioner) they just secretly let you walk out while the big boss isn't watching haha.

Might even have more fun with Mognet content by like being able to upgrade your mobile mog companion (the app SE has made for your phone), such like you can use them to water all your plants on a single plot (1 nut = all plants on a plot), can choose fc or personal, or other tasks like unit management (being able to send your squadron out, and retainers). The content doesn't have to be cash shop related, like the postman quest example and I encourage that too, making it a lively moogle place (of course some of it might relate to shop). Or like spend some of the conditioner to upgrade your daily allowance or max storage on the app. Since there is a subscription service to the app I assume any upgrade to allowance would be temporary (spend x conditioner to get extra allowance from the mog companion for x months), the storage maybe not temporary- which would be a real nice partner in conjunction with the free daily allowance (this will be a bit offset by a number of new features you can do, so the subscription isn't useless but the app is more empowered for the general audience too). Watering the yard would be a real relief option to me since sometimes when I go on vacation it's like "if they, my friends, don't remember to water my stuff then all my onions are going to die.... RIP....".

[ClickOnce]

Sorry to burst your bubble, in subscription based games it is very common that the only thing your subscription is paying for is simply being able to access the game and play it. Unless it's stated otherwise what the subscription provides, that is the norm. Being a subscriber doesn't automatically entail that you will be able to obtain every single thing from the game.

Unless I missed something, me buying a subscription never stated I could get everything from the mogstation for free. Square is in their rights to have the Mogstation, especially when everything on there is simply "You pay for it, you get it. No RNG involved". You have the right to not use the Mogstation of course.

[EtherRose]

I disagree but, to each their own. This game will end but while it goes on. I am currently 100% complete on triple triad cards. You can have 100% for patches until the next one comes out. I mean take ff15 for example when it came out for could get the platinum for it. Then they added episodes on top of it and calculated it back into the overall score. No new platinum but new trophies. Was I not 100% before episodes came out. Ofc I was. As far as the sub raising i don't see it happening but, if it did it wouln't be by that much. I think that is heavy exaggerated but hey I was too in the initial post so touche.

Alright. So you like to accomplish achievements and collectable's right? You're the type of guy to want/have EVERYTHING? So, i have a simple question for you, i'm just curious because i wan't to see how this plays out. But, do you have ALL Legacy achievements? Seeing how they aren't obtainable anymore since 1.0 ended i'm curious on how you would take this if you don't have them all. What are your thoughts on this?

[Malakii]

Alright. So you like to accomplish achievements and collectable's right? You're the type of guy to want/have EVERYTHING? So, i have a simple question for you, i'm just curious because i wan't to see how this plays out. But, do you have ALL Legacy achievements? Seeing how they aren't obtainable anymore since 1.0 ended i'm curious on how you would take this if you don't have them all. What are your thoughts on this?

No I had a majority of them but not all. I disagree with that too. I wish they would never have removed the ability to get them, but tweak them into a new achievement like they did for some or cleared them completely since they remade the game. I think all achievement etc should be able to be aquire in game for a veteran like myself and someone that just started yesterday. The fact that they just sit on my achievement screen and I know there isn't shit I can do about them gives me ocd a little not going to lie. Also, I understand this sounds ridiculous probably to a lot of people its just what I get enjoyment out of. I know its weird. I just like to experience all parts of the game and complete all things associated with it. It like I am getting my moneys worth and it keeps me having a constant goal.

[Gothicshark]

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.

I disagree completely.

First, these are not content, these are optional items that have no bearing on gameplay, nor are they limiting what you can get in-game.


Second, and the biggest reason why you are wrong, these items allow them to keep costs down for the monthly subscription while being able to maintain a high level of production costs and Q&A to provide a quality gaming experience. Or did you think your $14 a month really was enough to pay for the development of new content in 2020? Trust me when I say it's not even close. Fortunately, we have items that sell well in our cash shop which covers the actual expenses of keeping a top tier MMORPG running, items that do not give gameplay advantages. Yet give enjoyment to those who buy them.

[StriderShinryu]

I thought their veteran reward program could have been a sort of cash shop rewards, like every 3 months you get some small cute items (tickets, exp items, fireworks), and a small amount of kupo cash, and every other 3 months (every 6) you'll get a larger amount of that kupo cash (time calculated based on subscription time totaled).

This is the sort of thing I've mentioned before, and I think it's a great idea. I think they should let us use our now useless Veteran points and/or achievement points to essentially buy cash shop coupons. Say 6 months worth of sub time gets you 1 50% off coupon for any one item in the cash shop. They could also even limit the coupon usage to give a maximum of, say, $10 off with only one coupon usable per transaction so you couldn't just save up several years worth of coupons to get "big items" for free.

This sort of arrangement would not only reward players for actually playing (and paying for) the game but it would also push players to buy from the store if they wouldn't otherwise do so. I mean, a $30 mount might be out of your comfort zone but $15 or $20 with your Veteran Coupon? Suddenly way more reasonable.

[Theodric]

As someone who has purchased many pieces of merchandise in large part due to the addition of bonus in-game codes...

...I'd like to see a compromise in the form of a six month exclusivity period, after which the items linked to the codes are sold on the Mog Station.

[Malakii]

I disagree completely.

First, these are not content, these are optional items that have no bearing on gameplay, nor are they limiting what you can get in-game.


Second, and the biggest reason why you are wrong, these items allow them to keep costs down for the monthly subscription while being able to maintain a high level of production costs and Q&A to provide a quality gaming experience. Or did you think your $14 a month really was enough to pay for the development of new content in 2020? Trust me when I say it's not even close. Fortunately, we have items that sell well in our cash shop which covers the actual expenses of keeping a top tier MMORPG running, items that do not give gameplay advantages. Yet give enjoyment to those who buy them.

Well first off I don't pay $14 dollars I pay $9.99 per month. 2nd they don't just get your sub they get your cash too when you buy the actual game + expac + the sub each month. Where is this stated and why do people speak on it with such authority. Our subs would be so high without this mog station? Our subs couldn't run the game! So you are telling me that you think the supplemental income is what keeps them afloat. That SE banks every month on having enough people buy optional content to keep the game running and enough people buy it every month not only to pay for development but to keep our subs the same price. You can't speak on the cost of this cause SE is tightlipped about active subscriptions, costs, etc., but logically you can say to yourself if SE was losing money on the project that they would stop the project our indeed raise our subs. They are not idiots and I don't know any triple AAA company that leaves it up to such sporadic income hoping it keeps them afloat for a foreseeable future. If actual numbers are release and talked about then maybe I would be like okay yes that makes sense, but for what you can see in their annual financial reports and their current stocks are that SE is profitable.

[Gothicshark]

Well first off I don't pay $14 dollars I pay $9.99 per month. 2nd they don't just get your sub they get your cash too when you buy the actual game + expac + the sub each month. Where is this stated and why do people speak on it with such authority. Our subs would be so high without this mog station? Our subs couldn't run the game! So you are telling me that you think the supplemental income is what keeps them afloat. That SE banks every month on having enough people buy optional content to keep the game running and enough people buy it every month not only to pay for development but to keep our subs the same price. You can't speak on the cost of this cause SE is tightlipped about active subscriptions, costs, etc., but logically you can say to yourself if SE was losing money on the project that they would stop the project our indeed raise our subs. They are not idiots and I don't know any triple AAA company that leaves it up to such sporadic income hoping it keeps them afloat for a foreseeable future. If actual numbers are release and talked about then maybe I would be like okay yes that makes sense, but for what you can see in their annual financial reports and their current stocks are that SE is profitable.

My S.O works in the industry as a Developer.

As to what things cover. Subs cover the cost of maintaining servers, the fact you pay less than the average, kind of helps my point along on this.

The box cost basically covers out of the pocket expenses to make new expansions.

The additional patches, new content during an expansion, and giving a higher polish to the game overall is covered by the cash shop.

Think of it like this:

(for easy math saying $10 as a baseline)
$10 for average monthly - 20 million accounts so estimating 5 million paid accounts. That would be 50million before taxes and investors. which leaves $25million, cost on bandwidth and server space for 20million accounts is close two $1 a person. so give or take server cost is around $20million. This gives the dev team $5million to pay employees working to oversee the player base.

Next to the box game plus expansions, this covers the costs making the game, the extra devs, artists, musicians, voice actors, and basically everything in the opening act of the expansion.

--
what these things don't cover, patch update content, holiday events, and supplemental gameplay events ie new raids. They have to pay artists, musicians, voice actors, programmers to make patch content, so where do they get the money? Sell stuff in the cash shop.

[Malakii]

My S.O works in the industry as a Developer.

As to what things cover. Subs cover the cost of maintaining servers, the fact you pay less than the average, kind of helps my point along on this.

The box cost basically covers out of the pocket expenses to make new expansions.

The additional patches, new content during an expansion, and giving a higher polish to the game overall is covered by the cash shop.

Think of it like this:

(for easy math saying $10 as a baseline)
$10 for average monthly - 20 million accounts so estimating 5 million paid accounts. That would be 50million before taxes and investors. which leaves $25million, cost on bandwidth and server space for 20million accounts is close two $1 a person. so give or take server cost is around $20million. This gives the dev team $5million to pay employees working to oversee the player base.

Next to the box game plus expansions, this covers the costs making the game, the extra devs, artists, musicians, voice actors, and basically everything in the opening act of the expansion.

--
what these things don't cover, patch update content, holiday events, and supplemental gameplay events ie new raids. They have to pay artists, musicians, voice actors, programmers to make patch content, so where do they get the money? Sell stuff in the cash shop.

Thanks for the response gothic. I am over it the OP tbh. It doesn't matter if you are right or I am right. It's not going to change. I think you storage cost estimate is a little high and some other things but still, I appreciate a well thought out response. Cash shop is not going anywhere and neither is the gatekeeping.