Online store prices are outrageously high!

[Kes13a]

well, to be objective, which is to supply facts as opposed to just opinion...

The WoW cash shop, which is another subscription based game with a cash shop for OPTIONAL items

Mounts range from 32 to 38 CAD (doesnt matter how old there are the price has never changed)

appearance change is 19 CAD
race change is 32 CAD
pets/minions are 12.50 CAD

SO, honestly, I fail to see where they are incredibly out of line for pricing on comparable items (in some cases like fantasia, a lot better). So, until you demonstrate some kind of proof for your position that they are making cash hand over fist, I will have to continue to view this as little more than a bit of the player base that would be likely to complain -regardless- of pricing simply because it isnt free.

[LittleImp]

well, to be objective, which is to supply facts as opposed to just opinion...

The WoW cash shop, which is another subscription based game with a cash shop for OPTIONAL items

Mounts range from 32 to 38 CAD (doesnt matter how old there are the price has never changed)

appearance change is 19 CAD
race change is 32 CAD
pets/minions are 12.50 CAD

SO, honestly, I fail to see where they are incredibly out of line for pricing on comparable items (in some cases like fantasia, a lot better). So, until you demonstrate some kind of proof for your position that they are making cash hand over fist, I will have to continue to view this as little more than a bit of the player base that would be likely to complain -regardless- of pricing simply because it isnt free.

You can buy everything in the WoW cash shop with ingame gold.

[Rymm]

You can buy everything in the WoW cash shop with ingame gold.

Since when?

Edit:
So I JUST checked WoW. Nothing is purchasable with in-game gold. The purchase page for mounts, pets, everything looks like this-


You can buy a game-time token for cash and sell it for gold through the special Auction House menu made just for those transactions.
Some of the pets are tradeable (i.e. you can resell them to another player for gold, after you purchase them for cash) but they are the minority and they still need to be initially purchased from the store. With real money.

[LittleImp]

Since when?

Edit:
So I JUST checked WoW. Nothing is purchasable with in-game gold. The purchase page for mounts, pets, everything looks like this-


You can buy a game-time token for cash and sell it for gold through the special Auction House menu made just for those transactions.
Some of the pets are tradeable (i.e. you can resell them to another player for gold, after you purchase them for cash) but they are the minority and they still need to be initially purchased from the store. With real money.

WoW tokens can be redemeed directly into $15 usd of Blizzard Balance. You just purchase one in the Auction House and right click it to do so.

You can purchase a WoW Token from the Shop for real money and sell it on the Auction House for gold, or you can purchase a Token from the Auction House and redeem it for 30-days of Game Time or $15 of Blizzard Balance.

Not only can you buy everything in the WoW Cash shop: You can buy basically any other game in the battlenet store as well this way. Many players purchase expansions and other titles this way.

[Rymm]

WoW tokens can be redemeed directly into $15 usd of Blizzard Balance. You just purchase one in the Auction House and right click it to do so.


Not only can you buy everything in the WoW Cash shop: You can buy basically any other game in the battlenet store as well this way. Many players purchase expansions and other titles this way.

But the token must still initially be purchased for real money. The person who ends up with the item may pay with gold but Blizzard still gets the exact same amount of real money from the transaction, making them no less "greedy" than FFXIV's shop.

Edit:
In fact, upon reviewing the WoW store again, it might actually be worse, given that you are stuck with purchasing one static amount; an amount that in their entire store, only evenly matches up with two things (a month of game or an appearance change.) Nothing else is $15, which makes it difficult to make one-time purchases- you are always going to have to buy more Blizzard balance than you actually need. Forcing you to purchase their currency at certain set amounts that don't easily line up with the item prices is a method that several games use as an under-handed means to get you to spend more.

[LittleImp]

But the token must still initially be purchased for real money. The person who ends up with the item may pay with gold but Blizzard still gets the exact same amount of real money from the transaction, making them no less "greedy" than FFXIV's shop.

Edit:
In fact, upon reviewing the WoW store again, it might actually be worse, given that you are stuck with purchasing one static amount; an amount that in their entire store, only evenly matches up with two things (a month of game or an appearance change.) Nothing else is $15, which makes it difficult to make one-time purchases- you are always going to have to buy more Blizzard balance than you actually need. Forcing you to purchase their currency at certain set amounts that don't easily line up with the item prices is a method that several games use as an under-handed means to get you to spend more.

The WoW system found a way to accommodate both those willing and unwilling to spend real money, with the added bonus of reducing third-party RMT activity in the process. Greed or no, it's a clever system that almost certainly makes them more money in the long-run, all the while placating players like the OP. If someone wants to spend money, they can. Otherwise, there's an alternative route to the same content for people willing to do a little extra grinding, and blizzard still gets their take. They can even play the game completely on someone else's dime. It's a much more accommodating system, and is a more reasonable format for a subscription based MMO imo.

[Gameovers]

The WoW system found a way to accommodate both those willing and unwilling to spend real money, with the added bonus of reducing third-party RMT activity in the process. Greed or no, it's a clever system that almost certainly makes them more money in the long-run, all the while placating players like the OP. If someone wants to spend money, they can. Otherwise, there's an alternative route to the same content for people willing to do a little extra grinding, and blizzard still gets their take. They can even play the game completely on someone else's dime. It's a much more accommodating system, and is a more reasonable format for a subscription based MMO imo.

Doesn't that entire system crash if lets say noone buys the token? People still have to spend money for it to work perfectly, which if you go by this playerbase is still a no go.

[linayar]

The WoW system found a way to accommodate both those willing and unwilling to spend real money, with the added bonus of reducing third-party RMT activity in the process. Greed or no, it's a clever system that almost certainly makes them more money in the long-run, all the while placating players like the OP. If someone wants to spend money, they can. Otherwise, there's an alternative route to the same content for people willing to do a little extra grinding, and blizzard still gets their take. They can even play the game completely on someone else's dime. It's a much more accommodating system, and is a more reasonable format for a subscription based MMO imo.

Is that why there is more gil sink in WoW than in FFXIV, so that people would be incentivized to buy tokens? If so, I hope even more that SE never copy this token idea.

[JTF-Taru]

snip

I never said they were making cash hand over fist. In fact I said the opposite. I think they are throttling sales due to their high prices.

And I never said anywhere I wanted the DLC to be free. Just not so expensive.

Why don't you answer what I say instead of trying to put words into my mouth I didn't say?

well, to be objective, which is to supply facts as opposed to just opinion...

The WoW cash shop, which is another subscription based game with a cash shop for OPTIONAL items

Mounts range from 32 to 38 CAD (doesnt matter how old there are the price has never changed)

appearance change is 19 CAD
race change is 32 CAD
pets/minions are 12.50 CAD.

That isn't being objective. That's called seeking out and cherry picking one study / example that fits the narrative you want to push, while ignoring hundreds / thousands of examples that don't fit your world-view.

Gaming is full of games that have much cheaper DLC.

If someone offered you £1,000,000 to find 50 examples of games that have cheaper DLC than FFXIV and gave you 24 hours to do it, you're telling me you'd just sit there refreshing the WoW page, wringing your hands that you're going to lose the money?

I'm pretty sure you'd find 50 games and in a lot less time than 24 hours. So just stop with this...

People know what DLC costs and FFXIV is above the norm for what you'd expect to pay.

What's even worse is that you deliberately chose one company with high prices to compare against.

You could have picked The Elder Scrolls Online for example. Its mounts (for PS4) range from $9 to $25 CAD, but (assuming you're telling the truth and WoW is $32 to $38 CAD), you spent a while searching for the dearest DLC you could find to try and push the notion that FFXIV prices are decent.

What I don't understand is why linayar isn't jumping down your throat telling you that you can't compare WoW DLC with FFXIV DLC as they aren't both FFXIV DLC and therefore aren't comparable.

If someone bet you $1000 of your own money they could find 10 games with cheaper DLC than FFXIV would you take that bet? You're confident they'd lose, right? I'm thinking you wouldn't take that bet...

And for the record, 2 companies that over-charge are still over-charging. Same with 3 companies or even 4.

There is a general problem in video games with low content and over-priced merchandise.

Too many loot boxes, too many 'Ultimate' editions, too many remasters and remakes, too many games released with half the content locked behind a paywall.

There is a growing backlash against all of this and people are getting fed up.

I get that in video game communities, especially MMO ones, there are people who would buy a used sock if it came with a picture of a chocobo on it.

But the majority of people just don't feel like that.