I want an official response.

[ShanaShirayuki]

Please explain to me where I can get illvl 135 weapons and ilvl 130 armor besides coil. I'm sure there would be plenty of players all over it.

Win.

10char

[Laerune]

Bah, I did not play FFXIV last year so I missed the reindeer suit for my Lalafell. Now its on the cash shop for real money.

[RaizeGraymalkin]

Minions are content?

This. And you say they are ignoring the feedback from players? If anything they are giving what they want. More stuff in the shop. It's a vocal minority that doesn't like it.

[kyuven]

I remember when Eq2 had about this much stuff in the cash shop, it slowly but surely became 50% of the production was cash shop exclusive. It started the same way back when it was still a sub game.

I wouldn't go so far as saying having a cash shop is the end of the world, but on a sub game nothing in a cash shop should be exclusive, every item in it should be available in game, be it rare drop or time consuming quest. Cash shop imho should be a shortcut for non-p2w items.

Ironically enough most F2P games with extensive cash shop have a means to trade in-game currency for cash shop currency, with exchange rates dictated by the players (though there's rumors that the devs will "push" the market if it becomes unfavorable one way or another)
EQ2 isn't one of those games. EQ2 also never pulled in the numbers FFXIV is currently pulling in.
A better comparison would be WoW, as much as I dread the comparisons. WoW has a cash shop. They've had a cash shop for years. Hell I stopped playing in early Cataclysm and the cash shop was already old hat by then. They also gated "content" with their CCG in order to encourage people to buy it.
WoW is definitely not dying any time soon.
"But FFXIV is a lot newer than WoW! WoW went for X number of years before selling items in the cash shop!"
Uh, yeah. The market changes. Games get more expensive to produce and run. Sometimes you need to sell a few things on the side to supplement the income and make absolutely sure you can afford to keep pushing updates. Especially since this game has one of the least expensive p2p fees on the market.
Hell you use EQ2 as an example. Do you remember how many "content packs" EQ1 and EQ2 had? EQ2 actually had the "bright" idea to try to release very small content packs and charge for them. They were QUITE small, and this was in addition to annual full priced expansions.
Well, game companies can't do that anymore, and don't feel they should. Microtransactions of absolute fluff such as minions and wedding ceremonies are more profitable, and allow them to release bigger content patches as well as supplement the development costs of expansions. Like it or not our money is being used to mostly pay maintenance, server fees, and for the unpaid content we DO get.
I am not at all surprised that the cash shop goes big around the same time the expansion is announced.
Also, if you don't like the cash shop, quit. It's not going away, complaining about it won't make it go away. The only way to make it go away is to not give them money.

[Dayne]

Ironically enough most F2P games with extensive cash shop have a means to trade in-game currency for cash shop currency, with exchange rates dictated by the players (though there's rumors that the devs will "push" the market if it becomes unfavorable one way or another)
EQ2 isn't one of those games. EQ2 also never pulled in the numbers FFXIV is currently pulling in.
A better comparison would be WoW, as much as I dread the comparisons. WoW has a cash shop. They've had a cash shop for years. Hell I stopped playing in early Cataclysm and the cash shop was already old hat by then. They also gated "content" with their CCG in order to encourage people to buy it.
WoW is definitely not dying any time soon.
"But FFXIV is a lot newer than WoW! WoW went for X number of years before selling items in the cash shop!"
Uh, yeah. The market changes. Games get more expensive to produce and run. Sometimes you need to sell a few things on the side to supplement the income and make absolutely sure you can afford to keep pushing updates. Especially since this game has one of the least expensive p2p fees on the market.
Hell you use EQ2 as an example. Do you remember how many "content packs" EQ1 and EQ2 had? EQ2 actually had the "bright" idea to try to release very small content packs and charge for them. They were QUITE small, and this was in addition to annual full priced expansions.
Well, game companies can't do that anymore, and don't feel they should. Microtransactions of absolute fluff such as minions and wedding ceremonies are more profitable, and allow them to release bigger content patches as well as supplement the development costs of expansions. Like it or not our money is being used to mostly pay maintenance, server fees, and for the unpaid content we DO get.
I am not at all surprised that the cash shop goes big around the same time the expansion is announced.
Also, if you don't like the cash shop, quit. It's not going away, complaining about it won't make it go away. The only way to make it go away is to not give them money.

I wasn't comparing two games at all, i was comparing two cash shops, yes SoE has tried a great many different way to make money off Eq2, most did not work, the one that did was the cash shop, and it very much started out this way. That is what the comparison was for, the game is irrelevant, the number of players is also irrelevant, the greed of the company is very relevant though(SoE imo easily being near the top of the greed list). Although i don't see SE as a greedy company i have seen this slippery slope before.

My main point still stands, i am paying a sub, i want access to every bit of the game even if i don't intend to use it, a shortcut(not p2w) doesn't bother me though. What people tend to miss is they don't hire new devs to make this stuff, they just assign current ones to stop making sub content and start making shop content. Which over time will hurt the game.

Edit* Also Eq2 does have a system to trade in game currency for cash shop points. The Kronos

[SekhmetM]

I wouldnt be upset about the dyes and exclusive eteral bond stuff if they just added a gil option...

Gil sinks are good and it would provide another reason to save money.

[ruskie]

I would say this person posted a reasonable compromise....

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-for-cash-shop

[Sinsain]

This. And you say they are ignoring the feedback from players? If anything they are giving what they want. More stuff in the shop. It's a vocal minority that doesn't like it.

It isn't the vocal minority that doesn't like it. Alot of people are trying to figure out where this cash shop will go. Minions are content, they were before the cash shop so why would the suddenly cease to be content after the cash shop launches? If people are interested in coil then its content for them to enjoy, if they are interested in minions they its the exact same.

People play this game for many different reasons. They added the glamour system and now are charging people for the full use of it (dyes in cash shop).

Its a simple question so people can either continue to pay for this game knowing what will be added for certain, or leave immediately because they aren't happy with it.


regardless of what our opinions are on this situation I want to know for certain how far this cash shop will go, (what content will be in the cash shop), and i'd like to know soon so I can figure out if its going to get worse and cancel my sub earlier. not this sit and wait approach

[Felessan]

It seems like you decided to completely ignore the feedback you've been receiving about the cash shop. Even more so because not only are the Eternal Bond items listed, but some new ones as well, like the Wind-Up Urianger.

There is as much of argument defending or at least acknowledge of cashshop as people attacking it. So it's not really clear what devs should listen to.

then people against this sort of stuff have become.... well the minority, even if technically is not true

You do have numbers supporting your claim, do you?
Actually cashshop usually a very popular across the wide casual crowd and that usually don't care about "collecting every single minion" or being gated by paywall for fluffy items. WoW makes around 1/4 of its revenue on such items that clearly shows that they are popular and in demand.

When it relates to the game that they're paying monthly to play, yes, it is mandatory.

This is called extra and extra are not mandatory to be included in basic package. And you subscription only gives you entitlement to basic package.

What are the devs going to say? "lol sorry we don't care?" or *insert generic PR response here*

Probably "Sorry guys, this feature are so popular that we decided to ignore your opinion".

[PotatoTree]

It boggles my mind people are ok with this in a subscription game.

Well I hope all you supporters enjoy your triple triad in the cash shop too.