Will past emotes tied to merchandise ever be sold again?

[Packetdancer]

Okay so Most People: "yeah I paid 250 bucks for this sweet animation for my video game character to do. It came with some statue I guess" Said it before and I'll say it again, that's bass-ackwards logic right there.

It no doubt is back-asswards logic, but SweetestLily isn't actually wrong: demonstrably there are many people who do precisely that. I wouldn't say it's even a majority of people, but it is a definite non-zero number; that's why there are a lot of resales of the various statues on eBay with a note of "does not include bonus code".

I bought the Omega statue -- and only that one -- because I love those raids, and I love Amano's art. And as my order was late enough in the queue that it got postponed and shifted to after they fixed the production quality problems, I have no regrets about having this statue on my desk. Similarly, my friend is an enormous Odin fanboy, and he has the Odin statue proudly on display. (Because, well, Odin fanboy.)

Would I love to have some of the other emotes? Sure! Enough so that I would order statues I would not put on my desk? No, not really. Not because I can't afford them, but because that's a stupidly large expenditure for an in-game emote.

But I do definitely know people who were talking about ordering the Omega statue because they wanted the emotes. I think that's mildly insane given the cost, but... I mean, if you've got the money, do what makes you happy? I guess?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I even heard some of the statues were poorly made and the faces looked horrible (think it was the omega statue this happen too and I'm pretty sure theres a video about it on youtube).

To be fair, this was a unique problem with the Omega statue that arose with the production company; previous statues are really pretty nice. I don't own any of them, but as mentioned my friend has the Odin statue.

And to SQEX's credit, as soon as it became clear the production Omega statues were not up to the quality of the prototypes, they shut down all shipments and made the manufacturer re-tool everything.

I watched my order go to "Shipment Pending", then the first wave of reaction videos came out, and my order shifted back to "Pre-Ordered" and sat there for weeks before it became "Shipment Pending" again. But the statue that eventually arrived is one I'm happy to have on my desk, in contrast to the demonstrably flawed first set.

[TMW001]

i just want the *eat pizza* emote

I'm still mad about Grubhub screwing so many people (Myself included) with that poorly managed promo.

[Packetdancer]

I can't see releasing years-old digital items as a detriment to them financially. Why would they sell a code alone for 250.00, the statue was the item with an MSRP. The code cost virtually nothing to produce and the cost of labor creating the item or emote is paid for probably by 5 statues at worst. I feel like something is twisted here that people are thinking the emote was the point of the sale instead of the physical item that exists in real space and can even be resold.

SQEX have historically balked at making any "limited" content -- mounts from past PvP seasons, things tied to regional promotions, emotes from collectables, etc. -- available by other means. (The exception being that a given years' seasonal event stuff is always put up on the Mogstation when the same seasonal event rolls around again a year later.)

Leaving aside whether this is a good idea on their part or not, I suspect that given all past evidence, the answer to the question the thread poses is "Probably not."

That said, I kind of wish that if the thing was only obtainable in the past, they would have a limit on the time for which it was exclusive. Say, a thing tied to a PvP season is exclusive for two years, or five years, or "until the next expansion", or whatever. After that they could reuse it for, say, another PvP season. (Or tie it to a different event. Or... y'know, whatever.)

There are few things in gaming more frustrating than joining a game and seeing a cool thing, then discovering you cannot get the cool thing because it was only available for just a couple of months four years ago or something similar.

I'm not 100% certain the statue emotes qualify in that, admittedly; supposedly they're still available, because supposedly there are still future manufacturing runs of those statues which will be on sale. And if they're really actually still selling the statues, then sure, keep the emotes tied to the product. (But, y'know, also maybe actually do manufacturing runs.)

But if they're not actually going to do another manufacturing run of these, and the emotes are thus otherwise unobtainable now? Then honestly, yeah, just call it good and consider making the emotes -- at least from the oldest statues, to start -- available via other methods.

I'm still mad about Grubhub screwing so many people (Myself included) with that poorly managed promo.

Legitimately so. That promotion was handled so badly.

[TaleraRistain]

That said, I kind of wish that if the thing was only obtainable in the past, they would have a limit on the time for which it was exclusive. Say, a thing tied to a PvP season is exclusive for two years, or five years, or "until the next expansion", or whatever. After that they could reuse it for, say, another PvP season. (Or tie it to a different event. Or... y'know, whatever.)

But then they wouldn't be able to have a raid series where they couldn't have the mascot of said raid series ever available as a minion because it had been a minion for pre-ordering ARR. Still think they should have just given us a cape version since that wasn't what the original had.

[hagare]

The question is that will the people who bought said item for said emotes complain that their purchase is cheapened if SE releases them at a fraction of the price. Is it justified since there is no figure tied to it? Do they have a point that rare items should be rare?
*scratches chin curiously*
*raises a single eyebrow*

that's not even a real question

I everyone could buy the omega emote could you imagine what Limsa would look like?

IT?
cann we get tim burton to play?

[Packetdancer]

But then they wouldn't be able to have a raid series where they couldn't have the mascot of said raid series ever available as a minion because it had been a minion for pre-ordering ARR. Still think they should have just given us a cape version since that wasn't what the original had.

...I'd honestly forgotten that the Cait Sith minion was a preorder bonus. Yeah, that's annoying.

I have mixed feelings on preorder bonuses. I like things like the earring that helps you get jobs to the previous expansion's cap prior to the expansion releasing; those are meaningful as a preorder bonus because they directly figure into getting ready for the expansion. But minions/glamour/whatever being tied to a pre-order forever, as opposed to a "collector's edition" you can upgrade to at any later time? Meh.

I just dislike "this thing was only available at this point in the past, and if you weren't here you don't get it" lockouts on content. Both because it's disheartening to players who join a game later, and because it plays on people's overall FOMO of "I might want this thing in the future, but I won't be able to get it, so I better get it now just in case!!!"

Content that you have to work towards but still can get, I have no problem with; if you want an Ultimate weapon, you can work to clear an Ultimate. It's not like they run out of weapons to give out. If you want the Demi-Ozma mount, you can go work through Eureka and do the Baldesion Arsenal. Etc.

But stuff where it's like "sorry, you missed out forever with no alternate path to get this thing" just... ugh. Whether that's tied to an event, or to a companion product that's simply no longer being made. (E.g. sold-out statues, out-of-print soundtrack editions, etc.)

[TaleraRistain]

...I'd honestly forgotten that the Cait Sith minion was a preorder bonus. Yeah, that's annoying.

I have mixed feelings on preorder bonuses. I like things like the earring that helps you get jobs to the previous expansion's cap prior to the expansion releasing; those are meaningful as a preorder bonus because they directly figure into getting ready for the expansion. But minions/glamour/whatever being tied to a pre-order forever, as opposed to a "collector's edition" you can upgrade to at any later time? Meh.

I just dislike "this thing was only available at this point in the past, and if you weren't here you don't get it" lockouts on content. Both because it's disheartening to players who join a game later, and because it plays on people's overall FOMO of "I might want this thing in the future, but I won't be able to get it, so I better get it now just in case!!!"

Content that you have to work towards but still can get, I have no problem with; if you want an Ultimate weapon, you can work to clear an Ultimate. It's not like they run out of weapons to give out. If you want the Demi-Ozma mount, you can go work through Eureka and do the Baldesion Arsenal. Etc.

But stuff where it's like "sorry, you missed out forever with no alternate path to get this thing" just... ugh. Whether that's tied to an event, or to a companion product that's simply no longer being made. (E.g. sold-out statues, out-of-print soundtrack editions, etc.)

Same. I find that stuff stupid. I guess it's more common in places like Japan. There is some measure of it here in the US but not normally with digital-only items, just things like a real collector's edition with physical limited items.

The whole thing with Cait Sith was just idiotic. Here we have something that is screaming to be a minion but it can't be because it might upset anyone who pre-ordered ARR and got that special forever exclusive minion. I remember in the threads about it that they didn't even want us to get a *different* minion with a cape like Cait Sith appears with in Void Ark but doesn't have as that original pre-order minion. I don't give a good darn if goodies I got for pre-ordering or an event or whatever get made available later. I got it as a bonus. They paid real extra money. We both get to enjoy it.

[Zomkei]

I know about 15 ppl at most with the statue. 4 in my old fc. All 4 of them told me the only reason they wanted it was for the emote and they either resold or gave away the statue and kept the code. I even heard some of the statues were poorly made and the faces looked horrible (think it was the omega statue this happen too and I'm pretty sure theres a video about it on youtube). Its an age old tactic with some companies. Attach something cool and flashy that people can use to show off and the main point of the sale will sometimes get overshadowed by it. I do think that these items should never become unavailable though. The statues should keep being produced.

i don't believe this at all. i bought shiva and omega, and wish i got odin and the other one but couldn't afford it at the time. i forget i even have the emotes, but the statues look fantastic.

also, yes, the first orders of the omega statues had messed up faces, but if you do even a minute's worth of research you will see that they were replaced because Yoshi P hated the quality.

[Asako]

I love the statues. I bought both the Ultima one and the Omega one. The Ultima one looks so good and really high quality whilst the Omega one felt really really cheap. Still waiting for them to release a Ravana, Suzaku or Diabolos statue. They would be bought instantly.

[DixieBellOCE]

Just sell the emote for $15 in the mogstation, if people complain about paying $300 for a statue then that's their problem. The emote was just a bonus.