Will no longer purchase optional items in response to statue emote

[Cinnamonpop]

I'm...finding it hard to feel bad for you. Sounds like you didn't even have a place for statue. or even wanted it, so you spent $400 on an emote. The statue is the thing you are supposed to be buying. The emote is a little bonus, not the thing you spend four hundred United States Dollars on.
[...]

Curse the corporation all you want. The onus is on you.

While I somewhat understand, just because I did not have a plan for the statue yet does not mean I was not going to plan to do something with it. I have many friends who are collectors of physical goods (I'm personally not a materialistic person). A couple with birthdays coming up even. I was thinking about giving it to them, but hadn't one hundred percent decided. Perhaps I could get a display for it. Maybe start a collection from here. Once again, due to my disability, I have to burn my money anyways. Due to fortunate circumstances, I am not having to spend my money on bills or food for the next 2 months. The holidays have just occurred and I have received money from family that I am meant to spend on myself despite not being materialistic (hence why they gave me money instead of any items).

That being said, I understand completely what you mean. This post is less about "woe is me" though, and I apologize if I made it seem that way. The reason why I gave so much information is that I wanted to let people know where I come from, and how despite my love for the game I do not approve of their decision. I genuinely, GENUINELY think given how much people love and support the game that Square Enix should not try to take advantage of their playerbase for no reason. No other statue before this has made it's reward single character only. What reason is there for this change other than to try and give as little for as much money as possible? (and all of this is ignoring Square Enix's dubious quality when it comes to figures to begin with).


Plus I... literally lost nothing from this, as Square Enix was quick to issue my refund. The person who helped me was even kind enough to say that after they confirm my cancellation, after warning me that they can't promise it will be around after, that they would deliver my concerns to the company as I implored.

I once again apologize if my post did not come across as intended. I just didn't want to appear as someone who was complaining just to complain, or that I am ungrateful for the hard work of those at Square Enix, because I genuinely care about them probably more than I should lol.

I just think it's important to speak up, and encourage others to do so too. I'm not asking for more than what Square has given in the past, I'm asking that they stop diminishing what they give.

[RaideDuku]

While I somewhat understand...(snip for length)

That is...a fair and reasonable response...a oddity in these forums. It still boggles the mind that someone would $400 for an emote of all things, I suppose a quick look at ebay would shatter that delusion of mine (EIGHT GRAND FOR AN OMEGA CODE!?). Well. I'm glad you were able to cancel it and get your money back, and apologize if I came across as harsh. Hopefully you've learned an important lesson. You can enjoy a game. You can even be thankful for it. You can feel those things for the individuals that worked on that game. At the end of the day, however, a corporation (for most games in the Triple-A space) made that game. No corporation is worth your love.

[shiraneko]

That is...a fair and reasonable response...a oddity in these forums. It still boggles the mind that someone would $400 for an emote of all things, I suppose a quick look at ebay would shatter that delusion of mine (EIGHT GRAND FOR AN OMEGA CODE!?). Well. I'm glad you were able to cancel it and get your money back, and apologize if I came across as harsh. Hopefully you've learned an important lesson. You can enjoy a game. You can even be thankful for it. You can feel those things for the individuals that worked on that game. At the end of the day, however, a corporation (for most games in the Triple-A space) made that game. No corporation is worth your love.

Having played many mmos and mobile games, it's not a surprising thing at all for people to spend this much. It's a normal thing, even. Many of my friends who play mobage easily toss hundreds/thousands a month on mobile games like Genshin, Granblue Fantasy, Honkai, etc. In many F2P MMOs like Elsword, the whole culture/endgame was around obtaining and showing off loot box costume collections and people whaled so much for them. This continues into modern F2P MMOs such as Lost Ark, where they take every opportunity available to them to make you feel like trash if you don't spend money. So yeah, it's not surprising to me that people would spend thousands on an effect or emote. Most of these people aren't rich either, they just choose to do that with their disposable income. I'm not saying that it's right at all, but it's a common mindset. This is why I was never that bothered by FF14's monetization. It's nothing in the sea of trash around it. People who complain have probably never seen how bad the spending is in other MMOs.

[Raoabolic]

Having played many mmos and mobile games, it's not a surprising thing at all for people to spend this much. It's a normal thing, even. Many of my friends who play mobage easily toss hundreds/thousands a month on mobile games like Genshin, Granblue Fantasy, Honkai, etc. In many F2P MMOs like Elsword, the whole culture/endgame was around obtaining and showing off loot box costume collections and people whaled so much for them. This continues into modern F2P MMOs such as Lost Ark, where they take every opportunity available to them to make you feel like trash if you don't spend money.

And is this the future/present you want this game to have? At least the free games have a (flimsy) excuse why they bleed their playerbase dry. Either remove the subscription or stop pulling F2P nonsense, SE. Pick a lane and say on it! Eh, it doesn't matter at this point though, there are plenty willing to throw money at cosmetics so what incentive does CBU3 have in making content when they can reuse meshes and slap a new texture over it for 20 dollars!

[shiraneko]

And is this the future/present you want this game to have? At least the free games have a (flimsy) excuse why they bleed their playerbase dry. Either remove the subscription or stop pulling F2P nonsense, SE. Pick a lane and say on it! Eh, it doesn't matter at this point though, there are plenty willing to throw money at cosmetics so what incentive does CBU3 have in making content when they can reuse meshes and slap a new texture over it for 20 dollars!

I'm not saying what SE does is right. I'm just saying it's the least egregious of them by far. I can see the gradual worsening of the cash shop over time, with more items and mounts, and them becoming more expensive. However, for the time being it's still by far not a problem that other "F2P" mmos have, and that's by virtue of it being one of the last remaining sub-based mmos. There are no sub-based games or B2P games like GW2 anymore because it's simply not as profitable as F2P games. The following is completely speculation as I'm not a game dev, but $15/month has been unchanged for WoW and FF14 since the 2000s (2013 for xiv). imo, with the how crazy the costs are for game development now, as well as inflation, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that $15/month might not be enough to sustain development. So it's not completely evil to me that they use the cash shop to cover some of the costs, especially since the cash shop in FF14 isn't that egregious.

[Raoabolic]

I'm not saying what SE does is right. I'm just saying it's the least egregious of them by far. I can see the gradual worsening of the cash shop over time, with more items and mounts, and them becoming more expensive. However, for the time being it's still by far not a problem that other "F2P" mmos have, and that's by virtue of it being one of the last remaining sub-based mmos. There are no sub-based games or B2P games like GW2 anymore because it's simply not as profitable as F2P games. The following is completely speculation as I'm not a game dev, but $15/month has been unchanged for WoW and FF14 since the 2000s (2013 for xiv). imo, with the how crazy the costs are for game development now, as well as inflation, I don't think it's unreasonable to think that $15/month might not be enough to sustain development. So it's not completely evil to me that they use the cash shop to cover some of the costs, especially since the cash shop in FF14 isn't that egregious.

So you admit that it's not right and then proceed to justify why it's okay? All I can say is
*honk*
*honk*
I get it, we can't go back but don't be shocked when people are upset that it's "not right".

[shiraneko]

I personally don't like that the cash shop is expanding, but I can see the argument for it given that the sub price hasn't changed amid rising development costs and inflation. I think it's better than increasing the sub price for everyone. I know people can't talk anymore without being snarky clowns, but being able to converse with other people whose perspectives are different from yours is a good skill to have lmao