Cash shop confirmed

[VeryLaZ]

So your ok with having to buy the game first then pay monthly to continue playing the game, and the after that fork up more cash if you want some things in the game? You can be happy thinking that SE only sees you as a cash machine but I'm not. I don't want them trying to entice me with shiny things for even more of my money when I already give them money every month.

In the end what is our monthly subscription really for?
Companies win me over by putting their fans before their wallet

All companies think of consumers as cash machines...it's the world we live in my friend. I have the choice to play this game or not, and to buy a mount, or not. If I didn't like it I would simply move on to something else.

[Catsby]

Some peeps are getting way to worked up over this, and thinking about it way too much. It's an OPTIONAL service, don't like it? Don't spend any money.

SE is a company and it's products are made to make money/profit. This is a way for them to do it...get over it.

In the end...it's just a video game, so lets all just have some fun riding around in our Sleipnir Mounts.

No. This is a cash grab and the game will suffer for it in the long run. Many older MMOs had no trouble sustaining themselves on monthly subscriptions and expansion sales so there's absolutely no reason why FFXIV cannot do the same. If you are the type of person who likes to stay with an MMO for longer than a year I guarantee you will notice the change in community and content and you will hate it.

[Asierid]

No. This is a cash grab and the game will suffer for it in the long run. Many older MMOs had no trouble sustaining themselves on monthly subscriptions and expansion sales so there's absolutely no reason why FFXIV cannot do the same. If you are the type of person who likes to stay with an MMO for longer than a year I guarantee you will notice the change in community and content and you will hate it.

Many older games are not around, nor even come close to the numbers that games which do have shops have. They also were cheaper to run, since they had smaller numbers. Optional services do nothing to change the community as they are available to everyone.

Next.

[KenzieLynch]

Many older games are not around, nor even come close to the numbers that games which do have shops have. They also were cheaper to run, since they had smaller numbers. Optional services do nothing to change the community as they are available to everyone.

Next.

You know, acting obnoxious doesn't negate legitimate points that players such as myself and Catsby have raised. You can say 'next' all the live long day, but it doesn't end the discussion.

[Asierid]

/sigh

Because there is no argument here. You can sit here and say you pay money all night long, that's fine and dandy, I do too. And quite frankly, yes it does negate the points. Let's look at numbers:

Again, WoW's sub numbers have risen since they re-worked their shop.
Rift was saved from certain closure by opening theirs.
Tera survived as well after opening theirs.

That's just 3. 2 of them are free to play and even have game changing items within the shops. Wow doesn't and still is rising.

So. I am waiting for the facts as to why this is bad. I say it again. Next.

[Eagleheart]

No. This is a cash grab and the game will suffer for it in the long run. Many older MMOs had no trouble sustaining themselves on monthly subscriptions and expansion sales so there's absolutely no reason why FFXIV cannot do the same. If you are the type of person who likes to stay with an MMO for longer than a year I guarantee you will notice the change in community and content and you will hate it.

*scribbles in notebook* playerbase... fundamentally changed... by... fantasias and pumpkin heads for sale... *scribbles*

Markin' the day as 10/19/14 for this prediction. (<.< ) I'd say upcoming endgame/FC content and battle changes would be more relevant to the future of the game than a halloween costume for five bucks, but hey, I'm wacky like that.

[VeryLaZ]

No. This is a cash grab and the game will suffer for it in the long run. Many older MMOs had no trouble sustaining themselves on monthly subscriptions and expansion sales so there's absolutely no reason why FFXIV cannot do the same. If you are the type of person who likes to stay with an MMO for longer than a year I guarantee you will notice the change in community and content and you will hate it.

I can see your point. I hope this doesn't happen. This is my first MMO so I don't see the trend first hand as many others do from playing other MMO's.

[kyuven]

No. This is a cash grab and the game will suffer for it in the long run. Many older MMOs had no trouble sustaining themselves on monthly subscriptions and expansion sales so there's absolutely no reason why FFXIV cannot do the same. If you are the type of person who likes to stay with an MMO for longer than a year I guarantee you will notice the change in community and content and you will hate it.

I'd like to point out that history has long shown that optional services for premium fees have never actually hurt an MMO's financial viability. In many cases it has actually SAVED it.
FFXIV is in a very small minority of profitable subscription based MMOs. WoW, FFXIV, FFXI, ESO, EVE and Wildstar are pretty much it right now. And y'know what? Most of those have some form of cash shop. Hell, FFXIV already technically has a cash shop: We can pay for extra retainers and Fantasias.

[Catsby]

I'd like to point out that history has long shown that optional services for premium fees have never actually hurt an MMO's financial viability. In many cases it has actually SAVED it.
FFXIV is in a very small minority of profitable subscription based MMOs. WoW, FFXIV, FFXI, ESO, EVE and Wildstar are pretty much it right now. And y'know what? Most of those have some form of cash shop. Hell, FFXIV already technically has a cash shop: We can pay for extra retainers and Fantasias.

Nobody said it would hurt the financial viability. The argument was that the long term player experience suffers when development resources are assigned to premium systems. It's not that easily perceivable because many people don't stick around very long to watch for it and don't actually understand what it takes to produce whatever ends up in a cash shop.

[Catsby]

They may just try to sell dumb little conveniences such as extra inventory space, fantasia, or a free teleport crystal but chances are it will be glamour pieces. You might not think this is bad right now but in truth it's severely damaging to the game over time. With every glamour piece that is added to a cash shop it's 1 less added to a drop pool, crafting log or NPC vendor and that's 1 less bit of incentive you have to engage in that content. The direction of the game also tends to get greedy because players give in and buy everything. Eventually you have pieces of gear that look better than what you can earn by playing.