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.)

[Cid_Grim]

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

[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.

[WHS]

I don't know how or why but Yoshida specifically said in an interview that Americans were in favor of microtransactions and wanted them. It was recent one and I'll keep digging till I find it to source cause it is very important. The problem is asking to buy Fantasia on the Mogstation and wanting to be nickel and dimed to death for every exciting game feature is not the same thing. One is purely a cosmetic purchase which really affects no one. The latter is much more of an issue as the OP pointed out might give some players who can pay more to play an unfair advantage.

I only can see paying for cosmetic upgrades because they have no potential to harm anyone. I am as well against being asked to pay for things I should have included in my sub model already. These extra retainers need to be something we can earn in our current subscription. Not sure how to do this but earned is a good word for it. Not given.

Do we really have a pay to win argument here? Looks like it might be getting there soon.

[Djeserit]

....players who can pay more to play an unfair advantage.

Do we really have a pay to win argument here? Looks like it might be getting there soon.

I would like to point out that venture tokens will have a soft cap on how quickly you can earn them. Yes you can grind seals and continue to earn more nonstop, but for easily gotten tokens, there is a limit on how many you can get per day. This gives an even greater advantage to people who level alts for extra retainers, because not only do they get that, but double the amount of easy venture tokens per day.

Are you going to claim, then, that having standard sub instead of basic is pay to win? Because standard sub has even more advantages than buying extra retainers.

You are just trying to use slippery slope fallacies and strawman arguments to argue against something that was policy on the launch day of 1.0

[Gextiv]

1. I fully agree, however small an advantage retainers bring to the table. An advantage is still an advantage. In my opinion, that advantage is enough to warrant the game pay to win.

[Mardel]

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

[Felis]

Are you going to claim, then, that having standard sub instead of basic is pay to win? Because standard sub has even more advantages than buying extra retainers.

don't forget the ones who have 2 legacy accounts.

[Ecks007]

blahblahduncare

I must know. What anime is your sig from? That looks like one heartwrenching cry. I have to watch whatever that is.