Cash shop confirmed

[Seraphe]

Okay here goes.

I pay my subscription fee every month to play the game. So far I've spent a good chunk of money into the game and I'm sure so have others. What most people see is just a new item added to the game. Okay it costs $?/€? but that's okay as long as this is a one time thing - yes? No.


Even if this would be intended as a one-time thing it wouldn't stay like that. Cash shops generate money. Very much money. For little effort. All you have to do is design the items and put them up in the cash shop. No Story. No Quest. Now there's no doubt that a new shiny mount will generate a lot of $€$ for SE. Put it up for $15 - people will buy it. Put it up for $50 - people will buy it. Hell you can even put it up for $1000. People will still buy it. This leads to SEs marketing guys. They'll think "hey.. if they pay for an ingame item.. Why not bring more of them?" And like that you'll have a good cash shop going. Even if it doesn't affect FFXIV that much... think of the next FF MMO if they will ever release one. Will it be F2P because cash shops = money? Or will we have evolved to MMO = sub + p2w?

The worst thing about it is that many players are bored and just log in every tuesday.. so instead of designing enjoyable content around the said item they just put it up for sale.

Vanity. Meaning if you like it, buy it. If you don't, then don't. Considering the majority of the people would have one character and do a one time purchase, it isn't event remotely enough to support the game on it's own. The F2P games can show you this, the cash shop has to have things that players need, and they need them to be bought over and over in order to make any decent money from it.

Way to blow things out of proportion.

It is enough to support the game. Hell even our Sub fee gives them revenue. That's why it bothers me. I'm paying to play a game. I expect 100% of the game to be available to me. (Things can be locked behind a very hard fight if you want. I don't mind if I don't have everything then.) But setting up another $$$$ wall when I already pay monthly sub for the game - Nope.

tl;dr
Cash shops are bad for the game and all future SE games/mmos.

[IveraIvalice]

We are either with you or against you is it? Yikes.

So let me get this strait. You pay your money for a product (XIV Sub) that people who don't pay can not play. This is fine. Someone else wants to pay for a product (vanity item) that people who don't purchase can't have. This is seemingly bad?

Yeah that's bad, you don't see it? We pay for the game already. Doesn't matter what they are selling, if it's vanity or important items, it's all things that we should be able to get in game because we already pay monthly. The "monthly" part of that means it should cover any new content that gets released but they are trying to take even more of our money for things that can be included in game for effort and not real money. I don't want to pay extra money for a couple minions or housing furniture or whatever.
I don't want to pay monthly for a game that I still can't get everything unless I pay even more money.

[KenzieLynch]

I have to be honest, I don't like it.

This is purely anecdotal, but this month I have been rocking my howling eye costume that I got last year at the first Halloween event of 2.0, and running around the city states having fun. It's fun to have an item that not everyone else has, and making people laugh in surprise. It's my mark of having been with the game for a year, and when I saw that the Halloween event this year didn't include this item as a reward I was thrilled that Yoshi-P and team understood how I felt and how it's important to allow players a sense of identity. It's the same feeling as having a really rare mount you got lucky rolling on, and this dynamic is such a huge part of what makes an MMO. Of course I was wrong about the costume, as they will now sell it in the cash shop. I feel that the random money they will make from this is worth less than giving the player the sense of "you were here, you got the item. That's your memory and your mark and it won't be available again."

Recently I have been having this feeling of, what is the point? A player can join the game now and achieve what I have achieved in 1 year (which isn't a terrible amount, but still), in about 2 weeks. As of today, I know they can also just buy whatever I have collected as well. Personally, I'm a long haul kind of guy. I am careful with how I spend my time and money, but when I do invest in something I stick at it. Well, even i'm having doubts about the direction they are taking this in recent months. I hope you understand that i'm not trying to sound like a special panda, but making the point that a long-term sub is worth more than a quick buck. Also, the gap in time for veteran rewards is increasing, and when you compare the reward for subbing to the game for 365 days versus the Odin mount you can now buy in the cash shop...well yeah.

I'm not ringing the bells of doom or anything, I'm just saying that I would like Yoshi-P and team to consider that when a player joins an MMO they are effectively creating a home (away from home). A long term sub is your guaranteed revenue for the years to come, and in return you need to have respect for the time they have spent, which includes giving them a sense of accomplishment over the long term. I don't want to know that a player can join the game and have everything I have within a couple of weeks, and I don't want to see items constantly brought back from timed events for new players who weren't even around to just buy on a whim.

Why should I bother taking part in the latest seasonal event? Why should I bother farming leviathan for a chance at a cool mount when the coolest mount is now up for purchase on the cash shop? I know this is all sounding very 'special panda', but as someone who had planned to sub to the game over a long period of time, I need to know that I won't look back and see a lot of my time was wasted because I have nothing to show for it. Yes I know it's just a videogame, and I know it should be about pure fun, but I feel as though an MMO means a little more than that. End rant

[PEANUT]

Eh, I mean if the cash shop offers items like "Vials of Fantasia", then sure, great idea! But if it offers mounts/minions/gear etc. then I am kind of against it. I mean if this was a F2P game and not a P2P game then sure, add a cash shop with tons of cool stuff to buy to help financially support the game, but when you bought the game initially and are paying monthly, it's not cool to charge extra for mounts/minions/gear etc. unless they make it dirt cheap.

[IveraIvalice]

"Want your newly purchased minion to dance and sing when you are idle? for another small fee it can be yours"

>.>

[Black91CRX]

In any case, people need to chill out until they actually see it. Threatening to unsub before you even see it just makes you all look like a bunch of babies.

[HiawathaNimah]

If they wanna go that route, fine. FREE TO PLAY HERE WE COME

[Dyne_Fellpool]

In any case, people need to chill out until they actually see it. Threatening to unsub before you even see it just makes you all look like a bunch a babies.

Except they've already listed several of the items that will be for sale, including a Sleipnir mount and some minions. You can already see it.

Plus, I've seen it before. In other games. "Vanity items only" is always how it starts and it just slowly grows from there. But hypothetically, even if it stayed "vanity only" forever thats still already too much.
For the minion collector, this IS pay to win. For the mount collector, this is pay to win. Lots of people play the game for lots of different reasons besides "get best stats possible" and these reasons are all valid.

I just cancelled the automatic renewal on my subscription. This is a sad day, I was legitimately hyped for 2.4 and 3.0

[VeryLaZ]

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.

[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.