Online store prices are outrageously high!

[Payadopa]

1. oh dear, at best 50 cents a DAY to play something as much as you want. what a crime.
2. established precedent in mmos, check out World of Warcraft sometime if you dont believe me.
3. again, see 2 for precedent. prices of labour rise, so too development costs, yet the price is reasonable for what you receive. they bank on volume
4. you get 2 for FREE. so no, the game doesnt make you pay for more, thats optional. inventory management on the otherhand, is usually up to the player.

these are optional items. which part of OPTIONAL are you having trouble with? here, if it helps any:

optional
[ op-shuh-nl ]

adjective
left to one's choice; not required or mandatory: Formal dress is optional.
leaving something to choice.

The retainer situation alone isn't something optional or vanity. It's literally influencing game design. Every serious crafter can attest to that. It is not optional. lol

On a related note, it's true that demand and availability dictate the price (duh) but I'm
a firm believer in educating people in hopes
it changes how they perceive something. You can't look at the state of the industry now and how it used to be and tell me that shit hasn't hit the fan so hard these last years that the fan stopped working a long time ago.

And then I see people not just going along with that incessant greed but actively defending it. Are you all shareholders? lol And the tired ol' excuse of 'it's a business!'. Because earning earning unfathomable amounts of money isn't enough, they must earn all the money in the universe (and monthly).

On an unrelated note, Starbucks' coffee is disgusting. There, I said it. lol

Let's be real here. The prices could double overnight and we'd still have plenty of people here defending it, because that defines a fanboy. Fair enough. To each their own. But don't expect other people to not rattle that cage of yours every time that happens.

[Melichoir]

Let's be real here. The prices could double overnight and we'd still have plenty of people here defending it, because that defines a fanboy. Fair enough. To each their own. But don't expect other people to not rattle that cage of yours every time that happens.

Its rich that because people are not on board with your opinion/position and dont see the cash shop as big a deal as you do, that they are fanboys.

If prices doubled over night Id expect there to be a decent reason for it, otherwise I would stop shopping. There are price points on the mog station where I think it is to high for what it is. I wont throw down 30+ for a mount, as an example. I wait for sales more often than not when purchasing things, and some featuers I do purely out of luxury and not necessity. I do some crafting, and you know what my retainers are full of? Glamours and misc Quest crap. If you plan to go super hardcore with the crafting, having more retainers does make it easier for you, but it is not mandatory. It all depends on what you aim to do.

Beyond that, most of mog station is either from past events or items you acquire in game. Some of it is unique and even then I dont just buy it cause it's there. Most of my favorite glamours, emotes, and mounts were all things I got in game with nothing more than a sub and sometime. And that is, by and large, true of most people and done so by choice.



Beyond that, yeah Starbucks coffee is gross. They tend to burn it or its suger with a side of coffee. It's only good on the morning when you need a swift kick in the ass and dont have time to stop by a place that does coffee right.

[Kes13a]

And then I see people not just going along with that incessant greed but actively defending it. Are you all shareholders? lol And the tired ol' excuse of 'it's a business!'. Because earning earning unfathomable amounts of money isn't enough, they must earn all the money in the universe (and monthly).

On an unrelated note, Starbucks' coffee is disgusting. There, I said it. lol

Let's be real here. The prices could double overnight and we'd still have plenty of people here defending it, because that defines a fanboy. Fair enough. To each their own. But don't expect other people to not rattle that cage of yours every time that happens.

So what proof do you have that they are raking in "unfathomable amounts of money"? And you may not like the concept but it IS a business. and businesses like to make profit, its that simple. So please, I would like to see proof of their incredible profit margins. Thank you in advance.

sorry to pop your bubble but the game I was a 'fangirl' for died before this game was even created and ir broke any faith or loyalty I had to companies in general. What I do respect is that its their market, they can charge whatever they want because I have no clue what it cost to develop the item and neither do you. but if I dont want to pay x amount for it, I wont, its that simple.

If it is something I have to have, then I will either wait for a sale or *gasp* save for it or give up something else to get it.

anyway, when you get the proof please be sure to post it since I am sure I am not the only one interested in it. Thank you ^^

[Krotoan]

But it isn't just me. I'm not the one who started the thread. Nor am I one of the many other people who have all pointed out how over-priced these items are. Plenty of people have pointed this out. So that's not true.

A small number of people being prepared to overpay for something doesn't make a market nor define how the majority think.

But you aren't the majority. If you were the shop would have died. It's evident by just walking around the game that plenty of people pay for these things. Not a minority.

"you have a problem" meaning you are one of the few who sits there and complains that things cost to much while everyone else either buys the items or leaves them be.

The reasons being used to try and defend the prices make no sense. People are saying things like 'I usually buy a Starbucks drink for $6 so paying $6 for an emote (or whatever) is fine. I'll just go without my Starbucks drink for a day.'

But Starbucks is literally the go-to example when people talk about how over-priced street shop drinks are. Defending over-paying for one thing because you usually over-pay for another thing doesn't make it okay.

And the argument that the drinks aren't over-priced as Starbucks is a successful company so the market is happy to pay their prices isn't valid either. There are 7.6 billion people on the planet. Only a tiny minority of those think paying exorbitant prices for a drink is okay. But enough do to keep the company in business. Doesn't stop Starbucks having their deserved reputation for over-priced drinks no matter what the 'market' says.

Fine. lets detach this from starbucks since you fixated on it. Take the bus one day. There you saved 5-10 dollars in gas. Skip eating fast food for a day or two and eat something homemade. There you saved 8-15 dollars. Much of the population that plays these games pays for convenience and luxury daily. It is a budget and you could manage it if you paid attention to where your money was going.

Also it's provable that the items are over-priced. Many, many games give you much more for less money or at least comparable items for less.

Such.. as? Remember some of those games the character/job/server systems are much less robust. One character in FFXIV is enough to experience everything the game has to offer as far as content.

The retainer situation alone isn't something optional or vanity. It's literally influencing game design. Every serious crafter can attest to that. It is not optional. lol

It is a convenience. It can be worked around with large amounts of gil to buy mats (earnable in game and quite easy to do) and gathering specific mats as you need them (god forbid you play the game instead of just hoard stuff).

On a related note, it's true that demand and availability dictate the price (duh) but I'm
a firm believer in educating people in hopes
it changes how they perceive something. You can't look at the state of the industry now and how it used to be and tell me that shit hasn't hit the fan so hard these last years that the fan stopped working a long time ago.

While there are several companies out there pushing the boundaries of what is a game and what is a slot machine. FFXIV right now is not there. Or even close. It has a set market with no RNG and a pretty consistent price point.
Pushing back against ANY change because other companies are doing worse things is senseless. I do remember games from the beginning and honestly the options and quality of games have progressed so much.

And then I see people not just going along with that incessant greed but actively defending it. Are you all shareholders? lol And the tired ol' excuse of 'it's a business!'. Because earning earning unfathomable amounts of money isn't enough, they must earn all the money in the universe (and monthly).

Just because someone points out that something is a reasonable pricepoint and explains how markets work.. doesn't mean they're shills. Has SE done some questionable things? Sure. Would I trust them to make the best decision for MY interests every time? Hell no. Are they currently running a absolute money sink of a game? Nope.

On an unrelated note, Starbucks' coffee is disgusting. There, I said it. lol

People who drink starbucks don't actually like coffee. They like starbucks drinks. Like drinking candy bars. They haven't run a business on black or simple cream and sugar drinks for a while.

Let's be real here. The prices could double overnight and we'd still have plenty of people here defending it, because that defines a fanboy. Fair enough. To each their own. But don't expect other people to not rattle that cage of yours every time that happens.

Rattle the cage? Sure. Whine that you cannot afford something that is currently a reasonable and market accepted price? Nah, you're getting backlash.

[JTF-Taru]

snip

Comparable for what purpose? Items sold in the FFXIV Online Store are made for your FFXIV characters. Other items that cannot be used by your FFXIV characters because they are made for other games are irrelevant regardless of what they cost.

It's not subjective, it's objective. People know what DLC costs and comparable items are not usually this expensive. Companies make their own products and people compare similar items from different companies. According to your logic, no one can ever compare similar phones, cars, chocolate, clothes or anything else made by different companies because they aren't precisely identical.

None of the thousands of YouTube videos comparing mobile phones (or anything else) with similar specs. are valid according to you. None of the industry magazines comparing different brands with similar builds are valid according to you. No one in the history of the planet has ever accurately compared anything according to you because the things they were comparing weren't precisely identical, therefore comparisons aren't allowed.

This is ridiculous and wouldn't be accepted in any other walk of life. If you think otherwise, go and post on 100 YouTube videos of someone comparing phones or whatever that comparing things isn't allowed because the products aren't branded the same and aren't identical and the production costs aren't mentioned etc... and see what reactions you get.

Anything that sells in the Mog Station has comparable DLC in many other games. The concepts are well know (clothing, emotes, mounts etc.) People are entitled to compare like for like and the ones here are more than you'd expect to pay. Which is why so many people are speaking out about this.

Goodness gracious, way to miss my entire point. Nobody needs Mogstation items to play this game. SE even made that point very clear on their banner once you hit the Mogstation page that the items are OPTIONAL ITEMS. If you're arguing just to argue, you're doing a very poor job at it.

I made no insults. The fact you think I did is another you problem. Not me.

Nobody missed your point. You didn't make any valid points. The thing you said was specifically responded to and rejected. The notion that there is a difference between things you need and don't need isn't valid. The concept of being ripped off applies equally to both. Didn't you read where I discussed that? You certainly did make insults. If you can't remember what you wrote and (as illustrated above) you can't remember what I wrote, then it's fairly clear who has the problem and who is arguing for the sake of it.

[linayar]

It's not subjective, it's objective. People know what DLC costs and comparable items are not usually this expensive. Companies make their own products and people compare similar items from different companies. According to your logic, no one can ever compare similar phones, cars, chocolate, clothes or anything else made by different companies because they aren't precisely identical.

No, by my logic, the comparison is only valid if you're going to quit the game over this, otherwise it's useless.

But if you're comparing optional items on the store over which game to play, then your problem is not really with the store items, but with the game itself.

But if you're going to continue playing the game, then the comparison is irrelevant. What are you going to do? Play another game just so you can buy their cheaper store items while still also playing FFXIV but not buy its store items? I mean, you can do that, but that doesn't affect the store items in FFXIV.

[JTF-Taru]

snip

That makes absolutely no sense at all and doesn't relate to my comments. You originally claimed no one can compare FFXIV DLC to any other DLC as no other DLC is FFXIV DLC so the comparison isn't like for like.

I pointed out that's nonsense as by that logic, you can't compare any 2 brands or models of anything, like phones or cars or whatever as they will always be different.

Nothing you have said here negates that. What does quitting the game have to do with that point being valid or not?

Saying people can't compare DLC from different companies as they are not exactly the same is ludicrous.

Every day, people compare things. On here, on YouTube, on TV, in magazines, on other forums, face to face etc. Saying no one can ever compare 2 things that aren't identical is illogical as if 2 things are identical, why would you compare them? You can only compare things that aren't the same and people have been doing it since the human race began. Why would this concept not apply to FFXIV DLC when it applies to anything else in existence?

You CAN compare things that aren't made by the same company and judge if one is better value than the other. This is part of life and people do it everyday in every country. Do you not accept this or are you seriously still claiming that no one is allowed to compare FFXIV DLC prices with other DLC prices as they aren't both FFXIV DLC?

[linayar]

You CAN compare things that aren't made by the same company and judge if one is better value than the other.

And that's my point. So what are you going to do when you find out another game's DLC is "better value." Quit this game for that other game? If not, then what has your comparison done? Nothing, it's useless.

When you compare two phones, you're choosing between which phone to buy. When you compare two DLCs from two different games, there is no choice to be made since they're from two different games. Better value in another game doesn't translate to the other game.

EXAMPLE:

Right now, WoW made appearance change free, but so what? Unless you play WoW, that won't do anything to you or your FFXIV character. You pay for fantasia if you want to change your FFXIV character. A cheaper service/DLC in another game is meaningless in dictating prices for this game unless you're willing to quit the game over those prices.

[JTF-Taru]

*snip*
Someone running a game company out of a basement in Kansas can charge less than the person running the game out of an office in Tokyo. Cost of living, office space, supplies, etc. is much less.

What you are doing here is making excuses for companies with high overheads charging more for their content. If you chose to have a plush office in an expensive area, that doesn't in any way mean I should pay £20 for something you should be selling for £5.

Your argument isn't then that the items aren't over-priced. It's admitting they ARE over-priced and you're saying we should understand why and just pay the money. No one who isn’t a serious fanboy is going to do that.

The arguments in the rest of your post have already been replied to and refuted multiple times. Check out the earlier posts.

*snip*

Something being over-priced has nothing to do with quitting the game or not. You claimed no one is allowed to compare things that aren't identical. I pointed out this isn’t true as every minute of every day, somewhere on this planet, people compare the prices of different things. Provably so, when you can go onto YouTube and literally see 1000s of videos of people comparing different things, often judging one to be worse value than the other.

So do you appreciate this simple notion yet or do we have another post of exactly the same denials to look forward to in response to this one?

Just because someone doesn't intend to quit FFXIV doesn't mean they cant compare. Comparisons provide good discussion points in general, it's a bit narrow minded to say you cant compare.

Yup – I’ve been telling linayar this for pages but he / she doesn’t listen to anyone who doesn’t agree. It’s just such a ridiculous, illogical (and of course narrow minded) thing to say – telling people they have no right to compare 2 things.

*snip*

Copy and paste here anything from my last post to you that was insulting. There isn’t anything. And it is perfectly fine to compare DLC from different genres or from companies with different business models. A simple piece of DLC has a base time and cost and requires the same people to make it no matter whether it's for a fighting game or an MMO. If the MMO company has a business model that requires them to over-charge for items to make a profit, again, all you're doing is admitting the items are over-priced, but you're demanding everyone accept that. You’re just rehashing tired old arguments that have no merit.

[JTF-Taru]

*snip giant post*
It is better to make a dollar off 1000 people than it is to make 100 dollars off 2 people.

You wrote a colossal wall of text, many thousands of characters long in which you argued with pretty much everything I said. This wall of text included the line above...which is MY main point!

That point being if SE reduced their prices, they would sell to more people, make more money and people wouldn't complain their prices are too high.

I am truly in awe of someone who can put so much time and effort into trying to prove someone wrong whilst simultaneously managing to negate everything they wrote by agreeing with the main point of the person they are arguing with…

You don't need a majority

You spent ages telling me you do need a majority but now you’re prepared to acknowledge you don’t. Couldn’t you have just done that in the first place and saved all the unnecessary posting?

By an average maybe, just because of sheer volume of microtransactional games there are out there. .

There you go agreeing with me again… Two for two? Is it some code you have that people have to point things out precisely 27 times before you’re prepared to admit they have a point?

But compared to similar games and utility it's around market price.

Some are around the same price, some are cheaper, some could even be more expensive. But we’ve gone over this multiple times. The response is still the same as it was before which is that if you manage to find 3 or 4 other companies also over-charging, it doesn’t make what they are all doing right. It just means you’ve found a handful of companies that are over-charging. No one ever said the Mog Station was the only site to over-charge for things.

You could say people have a negative view of starbucks prices and i would agree..

THREE agreements in one post?! And this one only took 12 pages of you arguing to get to…

*snip*
but people still PAY for the products, showing that the market supports the pricing

Oh dear, we were doing so well… It’s already been explained multiple times why this reasoning is flawed. Please go back and read the replies. I’ll pick this up with you again on page 47 when you’ve decided to finally change your mind.

If you keep *snip*ing my comment I cannot tell what you are replying to

It’s a public service. You just keep posting the same stuff over and over, filling the page and bloating the thread.