Isn`t just vanity. Is 2 diferent experiences and thats why is bad.

[Kinseykinz]

Edit: Additionally, people are blowing this entirely out of the water in regard to the concept of "double-dipping". You're paying what, $12 a month or so to play a game? Wow, really looks like you're busting your bank accounts for that one. If you wanted even a fraction of the vanity content this game has in F2P games you can expect to spend over $100 a month on some other games. What's an additional $20 every few months (if that) to support a developer for a game you enjoy a lot? Surely you can put aside a couple of McDonalds meals to do that. You might even get a bit healthier! Stop complaining.

Yeah, I have the money.

But lets see, 12ish dollars a month for the sub...just from me=$144 a year.
In addition to that, my husband also plays (and since we're talking player bonding...and bonding takes 2, this is true of ANYONE consuming this specific content), so there's another 144 a year.... so now we're up to $288 a year, just to sub to the game.
Maybe, that's all we're willing to pay...when that same money could also be invested in other things...such as a long weekend camping trip, or 5 console games, or my Child's entire haul from Santa etc.

So yes, when you look at it as a monthly thing, it's not so bad....but when you consider that you pay every month...and we don't get new content every month this game starts to get pricy...quick. Furthermore, we're just one household....multiply out the 144/year x the amount of people playing and it doesn't take a genius to realize they are making enough to more than cover the development and staffing costs of this game.

But, here's the other thing to consider.

We all pay roughly $12 a month in subs. So buying lets say, the Odin mount...just a mount=2 months of game subs. Really? A Mount? I could be 1/2 way to buying a new console game for that....or take my child to the museum.

Now obviously, I didn't buy the mount. Because I think it's about 22 dollars overpriced for a pretend pixelated pony. And if others want to buy it...well, they can waste their money how ever they want.

But a pony isn't content.
A minion isn't content.

A wedding ceremony, albeit an 'upgraded package' starts being 'buying content'
And what's more disturbing, is if it's successful will it open the door to more content being treated in this manner?
Because first it was account services (fine), then a couple extra mounts/minions (little less fine but still /meh), now 'upgraded content package' (which if all it is is a mount+minion+ dress still /meh)

More on point: If a simple mount was 24 dollars, then a Mount+Minion+clothing (even if that's all the 'gold package' is), is likely closer to 40-50 dollars....that's the likely cost of the expansion.

...but SE also has a history of telling us one thing....and then drastically changing the plan. So no one trusts them to be upfront with everything.

When they sold the Thancred minion on the cash shop, everyone knew that was the only thing people were getting. And no one expects that 6 months from now, those that bought Thancred will get a special teleport or something. But the marriage thing is more vague. Since it has already been stated that some additional perks are being planned for Player Bonding...it is reasonable to question 'will those perks be in the 'standard' plan or only upgraded versions' If I only do the standard...and if those options are later added only to the 'cash shop' versions, can I upgrade if I desire or am I stuck?


Basically, this time around, they aren't selling something as cut and dry as a minion/mount or player service such as a world transfer. As 'Player Bonding' is actual playable content...there are questions as to how this all actually will play out/implications down the road if additional perks/content is added to this content etc. Also, everything else sold on the Mog Station up until this point was as simple as: buy it>log in>check Mog Mail> use item. This package, by its very nature is more complicated in that. Do both players have to buy it or one? Do you have to tell SE whom you're sharing it with? Do you need their acct info to do so? How long do I have to wait for my package/ceremony if I pay? What happens if we decide not to go through with the ceremony...do we keep the items? If I have multiple characters on my account do the items apply to all my characters? (as have some Mog Purchases in the past), or do I have to pick a specific one?

It's just a much more complicated mess than 'Here is a cute Thancred, for 3 dollars you can have him' And typically, the more complicated something is...the more likely SE is to overlook key details or screw it up. Yet another reason, many simply don't trust them.

[Its_Elodie]

The only thing that baffles me about payable in game content in addition to a subscription fee is why some people think it's ok to pay extra for it, and actually WANT to. Why don't you want to get the most possible for your money? Isn't what you work hard for every day worth anything to you, or is it just ?

The payable marriage option topic has indeed been beaten to death in this forum. I think it's ridiculous to give us watered down content in an attempt to extract yet more money from us each month because they want to prey on the people who enjoy the social aspects of this game, not just raiding. I'll see how far they decide to go with it and if its a continuing trend I'll unsubscribe. Money is the only thing they understand. If they enjoy killing off the people who enjoy the social aspects of this game it'll leave a much leaner base to maintain their subs, and good luck with that.

[TrystWildkey]

They've just gone too far in my book.

My subscription ends in 9 days and I will NOT be renewing.

People keep saying they're ok with cash shop as long as it's not pay to win. Define 'win'. Winning in an MMO is different for every player. Winning to me would have been collecting all of the vanity gear, making furnishings for a house so I could constantly rearrange it, getting married and having a 2 person mount for me and my sweetie. So for me, this is already 'pay to win'. And I'm done.

The never-ending gear treadmill, the personal housing farce, the paid retainers to begin with and now, marriage.

Nope. Nope.

"They only pay attention to subscriber numbers" Ok
"If you don't like it, unsubscribe." Ok.

Unsubscribing, see ya.

P.S. For those of you who are totally in favor of a cash shop, do me a favor? At the end of a year, total up the money you've spent on this cash shop and take at least a full minute to think about whether or not it's really been worth it.....

[WHS]

@OP I hit like on your comments to start this thread and I agree with what you have said. I support this thread.

[SinisterIsBack]

how many threads are you going to create on this topic? Quit flooding the forums with this stuff because you have said your peace more than 10 times already. Enough is enough.

[LunaHoshino]

Winning in an MMO is different for every player.

False. Every game, be it a board game, a video game or an MMO, is designed with specific, set conditions for 'winning.' You can argue "but this is winning for ME" all you want, but that doesn't make it true. Heck, you could say that 'winning' for you in chess is going around the chessboard in a certain pattern. The vast majority of people who play chess (and those who make the rules for the game) aren't going to agree with you.

In FFXIV's case, 'winning' has a very clear definition: progression in the story. Note how many aspects of the game are gated behind story content and how you can't even access them until you have reached certain parts of the story. You can't arbitrarily change the definition of 'winning' that was decided by the game's creators when it was first developed because that isn't how YOU play the game.

They have kept their word: there is no P2W content in the cash shop.

As for whether or not it's been worth it for me... let's see. I've spent $5 on a ghost costume so far. That's less than most drinks from Starbucks, and you only get to enjoy those for 15-20 minutes at most. I can play around with the ghost costume as much as I want whenever I want. Seems like a pretty good value to me.

[Vondoomervil]

They've just gone too far in my book.

My subscription ends in 9 days and I will NOT be renewing.

Unsubscribing, see ya.

What will we do without you? ..... No one will miss you.

Btw not for or against the shop. I'm also not dramatic enough to leave because of it, I assume you're 12 years old to be acting like such a baby. See ya

[Roris]

It's like I just read a typical bad Sonic edgy fanfic condensed into a single two line post.

Unsubscribing, see ya.

Most likely will follow the same path, except I have about 3 more months left, probably won't return until a ways into the expansion. Seeing the direction the game is going towards I wouldn't be surprised if it goes F2P a couple of months after the expansion launches, so win/win.

[BlaiseArath]

<o>

I must disagree. Almost everything in an MMO can be considered a challenge or endeavor and in that meaning, a victory to it, or defeat. Beating Ifrit means you won, perhaps getting married means you won, perhaps collecting every mount means you win, collecting every minion is its own victory, unlocking all the achievements in one category could be seen as a victory as well. Clearing the coil of Bahamut, a win. Clearing all of Crystal tower, a win. Clearing the main story, also a win. There are many wins in an MMO, as each victory is its own.

Winning by definition just means you claim victory, if your challenge is to get all the mounts, by doing so you are victorious and win. An MMO doesn't really follow the "Theres a beginning and end" that normal games follow, they're designed to continue and be played for the forseable future, if you want to argue that completing the storyline is "Winnig" the game, or argue beating coil is "winning the game", I'll argue those are tangible goals and indeed completing those is a victory and a win, but they are not the only ones.

And for the final nail so to speak, the most common definition of "Win".

acquire or secure as a result of a contest, conflict, bet, or other endeavor.

I would consider gathering all Mounts or Minions something you can secure after an endeavor, or the act and challenge of collecting them all, an endeavor. and I'd definitely consider marraige an endeavor. What a person considers the end result of these things is up to the individual, for instance... after marriage some might find divorce to be the victory, look before you leap...

P.S does this mean i think the cash shop, as it stands now, is Pay to Win in the way its commonly considered? No, most people define pay to win as simply paying to gain an advantage over other players. However, I must consider that for a player whos goal is to obtain all vanity or mount/minions, the cash shop would provide an advantage over them.... But I do not believe winning is so narrow as you would imply. That is my only real debate on this post. Victory has many conditions and is as vague as fun.

[AdamFyi]

I think everyone is overreacting over this whole Eternal Bond system. We have very little information to go on from about the actual system and how it plays out. For all we know, the Gold Plan would just give you the mount and minions through the Mog Mail! It's fairly early to assume that both plans would be significantly different from each other, and it is also too early to assume that it won't. However, going through the information we do have, it may be safe to assume that the giant cake and the details on the clothes themselves are different between plans. There is also a good chance that the mount and minion are also possible gifts for going with the gold plan, but again, way too early to assume.