Plots everywhere demolished and open!

[Shougun]

ESO just uses the "free" monthly crowns as an excuse to jam pack their cash shop full of items. Their "limited time" sales for both lootboxes, and just general items, are a horrifying business practice. It's bait. They get your sub-fee and players will presumably dump their free crowns on certain limited items, or lootboxes, then when the next limited sale pops up they have to spend real money OR miss out, with the "limited time" header looming. They are preying on people. The exorbitant prices are just further proof. The free crowns are just there to get you into the cash shop. It's a ploy. SE on the other hand, has a cash shop with fairly reasonably priced items - in comparison to other MMOs, that isn't advertised heavily, and it's not even actually in the game. It doesn't get updated every single week, and everything sold there is there to stay, and you don't have to HOPE you get something in a lootbox. You pay up front, and you are good. I like how SE has handled their cash shop.

I do think SE should offer more, new sub rewards, however, credits to the mogstation is a debatable issue, in my opinion.

When it comes to housing. ESO has very good instanced housing. You can even see the property on the map. You can walk to it on the map - so it's there, but it's not. The scale is massive, and the amount of customization therein is amazing. SE could take notes from this, I will agree with that point, and that point alone - when it comes to ESO housing. Players could have properties even greater than having a large plot.

I would add one point and then concede one.

A) I view ESO from afar, in the sense that I hear people talk about it, watch videos on content people reference (so I'm not entirely unaware when talking lol), and I tried the beta. I don't actively play / have played the recent game. I also only view other MMOs to see what can encourage FFXIV to be better (or SE's next mmo, since I think that far as well). So like there are some parts of the garrison system in WoW I think are quite awesome, and other parts that clearly it's own player base thought were poorly tended to and implemented. So other games is for sampling the best concepts, I've not the interest to go and improve their feature for them lol. We're at the ice cream sundae buffet bar

B) Conceded here is that you can definitely abuse players by making hilarious tier 'deals'. $200 for Odin mount, but for the month of July at the same time we release this other content that it'll 'only' be 25$! (Hyperbolic example lol).

The point to me is theoretically if FFXIV had similar structure to now in terms of game content IN game, and yet they add some say houses, perhaps some other FF content mounts and ouftits (more than they do now), their dyes they already have, retainers sure, etc all purchase-able with a monthly token item that would simply be a win for us. Not a loss.

Win for SE as well in terms of customer reception of the shop, and potentially financially as well if they had ways to pay with a mix of token and cash (so then you could make something cheaper). "I wont pay 8$ for that emote but I'd pay 3$ Or I want it and it'll cost me nothing extra because I'll just simply stack my sub token and use that". Adds some more value to the idea of staying subbed even if you're taking a break BUT also doesn't hold you hostage like our current houses do (if you stop you just stop collecting 'crowns', nothing is taken away). Technically it'd probably be crysta but I really want the mogshop to use mog currency like kupo nuts or poms or something lol (also want to see mognet built in game, with extra in game mog content and then back door hidden scene for an in game shop where you could test wear / ride stuff). Bribing the moogle with the kupo nuts so moogle boss Ms. M doesn't see you walk out of the shop with the item paid only in nuts lol.

Like I said though I'm using the lens of looking at ESO as if it was also a P2P like FFXIV. Given the circumstance of P2P of FFXIV I see getting tokens as a pure win. If you view ESO as a F2P (B2P) and then add on top all the weird sales you are mentioning (loot boxes), etc, then I guess I can see your angle of it being bad.

But since I'm looking only to make FFXIV better (well at least from my perspective lol, I'd like it better for everyone including the devs but naturally there is a bias of desires).. so I have a hard time seeing the crowns as some evil (assuming they keep similar structure to now and don't pull "500% off house now only 250$". There is obviously some caveats lol.

Personally wouldn't call 30$ mounts reasonable btw, but I get you were making a comparative statement . Like saying Apple products are reasonably priced XD... The amount you think it's worth vs it's worth vs what you would actually pay.


Edit: To your last post on instanced housing made available in game, I was posting under the assumption that it would either be extra slots or for special themes not 'the only way' to get a house. Although if the token system was generous enough I might not be annoyed still, but the best gameplay implementation would be one that allows the shop to supplement the experience and not be "the experience". Akin to retainers or something. Or like if they added retainer customization and then sold some special glamours that made your retainer look like your favorite waifu/manfu. I would give zero Thal Balls if they sold Cloud's appearance as a retainer, or a little bit more annoying but still 'fine' is being able to purchase more retainers (although I hope SE doesn't let that system ruin their thoughts on making better inventory systems, like crafting bags or whatever), but then if the only way to obtain any retainer what so ever was via the shop I'd be like "WOW. That's awful".