Why I don't like the idea of paying for extra retainers.

[Merciless]

A surprising number of players on these forums seem to love the idea of spending $2 a month for extra retainers with justifications spanning the entire spectrum. I'm going to my best to refute every one I've found so far, so please read this entire post before you find one point you want to nit pick.

1. First, and most importantly in my opinion, is that retainers are not just extra storage space anymore. If these retainers can only do exactly what retainers can do before 2.2 then I don't have as much of an issue here. But once 2.2 launches retainers will turn into something more than just extra storage and market slots, they'll be able to go on ventures. These ventures can gather unique items exclusive to retainers so presumably someone with more retainers has a higher chance of getting these items. I would consider that an advantage for players that decide to pay extra money.

Now the counterpoint to this would if you only allowed two retainers to go out on ventures at one time. This would basically put everyone on even grounds regardless of whether they bought extra retainers or not. Some people argue that because these ventures need "venture tokens" players wouldn't be able to afford to send more than 2 out anyway, but these tokens can be bought for GC seals, 5 tokens for 1,000 seals, so running out of tokens is not a major hurdle.

2. Another point a lot of players make is that in FFXI people paid extra all the time for the storage space in the form of mules. I would argue that was because the subscription model was set up with that in mind. Here the "Standard" subscription includes 8 characters which is plenty of storage and includes 16 retainers in total (once you unlock them for every character). But there is no easy way to transfer these items between characters without some middleman or FC chest. We're basically being asked to pay a $2 monthly convenience fee to save us from having to transfer items back and fourth between our characters.

What I would rather they do is give me the option to trade some of my extra character slots that I will never use into retainers on my other characters. SE will save having to store character data for characters that are never played in exchange for retainers that will actually benefit the players.

3. It's paying real money for an additional storage space and could easily lead developers to introduce more and more items players will want to store. Whether it's using new items for future crafting recipes instead of using existing ones or adding 12 new pieces of headgear with each event that can't be stored in the armoire.

4. The server cost of additional retainers justifies the $2 monthly fee. This argument is the worst in my opinion. As I said above for $15 you can get 16 retainers, in addition to the character data for 8 characters. So how a retainer can justify a $2 monthly fee on it's own is impressive.

You have to remember that the most expensive thing (server wise) that a player does in any MMO is to actually log in and play the game. If you can justify SE charging $2 a month for a retainer to compensate for their server costs then what next? Do you think someone that plays 5 hours a day should pay more than someone who can only get on for 2? I don't want this game to turn into my phone companies data plan, with different pricing tiers depending on how much data I use a month.


For anyone who actually made it through that wall of text I thank you and hope we can have a civilized discussion in regards to the points I made here.

[Delsai]

Why I don't think we don't need another thread on this.

1.) Already plenty of threads full of "Opinions" on the subject.


2.)

[RavenL]

Why I don't think we don't need another thread on this.

1.) Already plenty of threads full of "Opinions" on the subject.


2.)

Well everyone needs to be a special little snowflake and make their own topic about it.

[TrystWildkey]

Well everyone needs to be a special little snowflake and make their own topic about it.

Yes, and apparently everyone else just waits for new threads so they can jump in and be the first few with a snarky comment.

Go hug a lalafell instead, sheesh.

This guy has points, good points that I can't dismiss just because *sarcastic tone* he had the nerve to post a new thread *end sarcastic tone* so his good points wouldn't be lost in among the snarky ones.

Yeah, I'm against the retainer fees too. Only because of the venture system. If it was just storage, that wouldn't be so bad. BUT, when you allow these extra retainers to go gather things that can only be gathered by the retainer then you're giving an unfair advantage to the people that can pay to have more retainers.

If you are against this, please, please for the love of all that is holy, do NOT cave in and buy one extra retainer. We all think things like "Well, me buying just one retainer won't make a difference, so many people are upset at this feature that it'll show in the numbers." BUT, if everyone thinks that, then no one is protesting by not making the purchase.

To be clear: I am against this because the venture system allows you to get items that cannot be obtained any other way. This is a way to pay for an advantage in-game. This has no place in a subscription based game.

[Phaydra]

~snip~

Not all of his points are correct. Extra retainers via extra sub cost are part of the original sub design. You even get one more free retainer then the original design. You may not like it. You may not agree with it but this is and always was part of the game. You already have more free inventory space then the game was designed around. Most people are being as greedy as they accuse SE of being.

[TrystWildkey]

Not all of his points are correct. Extra retainers via extra sub cost are part of the original sub design. You even get one more free retainer then the original design. You may not like it. You may not agree with it but this is and always was part of the game. You already have more free inventory space then the game was designed around. Most people are being as greedy as they accuse SE of being.

Allow me to restate: I'd have no problem with this if the retainers were ONLY for additional storage. I have a problem with this because additional retainers gives you an advantage in obtaining items that can only be obtained through ventures.

I think you may not have read the patch notes about the venture system.

Let me elaborate: According to the notes on this feature, you choose the class of your retainer and it levels up. You can change the class, but you'll start back at level 1 if you do. Two retainers means you can have only 2 classes at max level available for ventures. One War/magic, one gatherer maybe. So, you can get some of the items available only through the venture system.

However, if I pay to have 4 retainers total, that means I can have one war/magic, one miner, one botanist and one fisher. Once I get them all to level 50, I'll have an immediate advantage over anyone who doesn't pay for the extra retainers. I can get any type of item available through the venture system without having to change class and re-level my retainer.

Again, if it was ONLY storage, I wouldn't even care. BUT, they are allowing you to pay for a feature that will allow you to obtain unique items at a higher/faster rate than the people who don't pay extra. This has no place in a subscription game.

[Mardel]

I was going to beat a dead horse, but this gif will have to do.

[SirSaber]

Why I don't think we don't need another thread on this.

1.) Already plenty of threads full of "Opinions" on the subject.


2.)

This.

And also:

-Don't wanna pay?
-Then don't.

[Cid_Grim]

I was going to search for a gif of beating a dead horse, but i figured someone would beat me to it.

[Rhas]

I was going to search for a gif of beating a dead horse, but i figured someone would beat me to it.

I was thinking of using this one myself