Pre-emptive "I told you so" regarding the cash shop.

[TrystWildkey]

Allow me to tell you a story.

Once upon a time, SE announced plans to introduce extra retainers via a cash shop.

Most of you were perfectly fine with this.

A few of us looked at this 'feature' with caution.

We were cautious because we were speculating that this could lead to all sorts of additional features and items being placed in a cash shop.

I was personally cautious for that reason, but also because I felt that this was edging towards pay to win. True, the main purpose of the retainers was additional storage. However, retainers have the ability to bring back rare and powerful gear and items through ventures. Allowing someone to pay for additional retainers allows them to pay for more opportunities to receive rare and powerful items through ventures. Additionally, more retainers collecting more materials gives those players more items to sell on the marketboard and more slots with which to sell them.

How is that pay to win? It's not technically pay to win as many of you define it, but it does give a distinct in game advantage. More ventures, more gathering power, more gil earned on market boards. That gil could then be spent on crafted gear, materia for crafted gear or materia for relic weapons, maps for alexandrites.

I cautioned people who were wary of the idea of a future cash shop to NOT pay for the retainers. Sure, it's only a couple of bucks, but, it endorses the idea of putting things on a cash shop. Buying those retainers told SE that you would pay for just about anything they put up there.

Those of us that were cautious posted our fears and speculation to the forums. We were summarily dismissed, told to go away and/or get over it. I'm sure that many of the people who didn't want a cash shop still forked over the cash for retainers. They either figured that it would stop at retainers, or that enough people wouldn't buy them that it wouldn't be that big of a deal if they did. (Guess what, everyone else thinks that way too, so a lot more people than you would expect probably ended up buying those retainers.)

Ok, fine. I at least held to my principles and refused to purchase any extra retainers. I had paid for many months in advance and wasn't about to waste that subscription time/money, so I kept playing. But, there was a slightly sour taste in the back of my throat.

That sourness continued to increase as I kept playing. Not just paid retainers, but the never-ending gear treadmill, each patch bringing in content that on the surface was new, but felt like the same old thing. You're still running the new dungeons for tomestones, and still cashing them in for gear. Same content, different skin.

And then housing. Oh housing. What an unholy mess that was and remains. Especially for anyone playing on a legacy server. (Needless to say, I've still not raised enough gil for a house of my own.)

I started to see a trend, where things were promised, discussed, planned and advertised to us, and then their implementation always had some sideways slant that soured the taste.

Patch 2.45

Weddings are coming! Yes, finally, some content that I can enjoy without being depressed by the gear treadmill. New content, and a 2 person chocobo that had been advertised oh so long ago.

Nope. You gotta pay real cash money for that 2 person mount that was advertised and hyped for so long. And then comes the inevitable exploit. People buy the plan and sell it in-game for gil. Oh, it's not technically against the ToS, and depending on how you rationalize it, it's also not technically RMT. It's also not technically pay to win, even though someone could take that gil and buy high iLevel crafted gear, materia for the relic quest, materia for crafting gear melds. But, hey, it's still not pay to win, right, right?

Oh, what's this? Dye is now cash shop?? Oh, and what's this? There's a thread about dye where some people are saying that this shouldn't be in the cash shop? (that thread was eventually deleted)

But, dye is optional, no one is forcing you to buy it and it's not pay to win, so why should you care? Suddenly that mentality goes out the window when SE puts something that you DO care about on the cash shop?

It's all just vanity anyway!

Yep, and for a percentage of the player base, vanity is important. If it wasn't important it wouldn't be a feature in the game. For those of us that don't raid, vanity and collecting mounts and minions is one of the reasons we keep logging in and paying a monthly subscription.

Closing statements:

Yes, it is vanity, and yes it is technically optional. BUT, for some of us these things are an important and even integral part of this game that we're paying monthly for. To have these items that are part of why we enjoy the game suddenly be optional paid items, makes us angry, upset, unhappy, dissatisfied, etc. We come here to tell SE that.

Eventually, something is going to be put in the cash shop that you DO care about. You are then going to voice your displeasure, but SE will not care. By then, the cash shop will have been an overwhelming success. It will be an overwhelming success because oh so many of you see an item think "It's just a few bucks" and buy it. You're not seeing how your actions will encourage them to add even more content (Yes, it is all content) to the cash shop.

When that day happens, remember this thread.

I told you so.

TL;DR - Sure, the stuff that's in the cash shop now doesn't matter to YOU, but, eventually since you support the cash shop as it is now, something that DOES matter to you will be added and by then it will be too late.

Post Script:

I can't wait to see what the forums look like when Gold Saucer is announced for release, then a week before release you all find out just how many facets of Gold Saucer are going to require cash money.

I won't be able to log in to the forums by then, this is my last day as a paid subscriber. But, I will be able to look at the forums. And when that happens your tears will sustain my tiny Lalafell body and evil laughter will ring high to the heavens.

And yes, this post DOES deserve to be its own thread. It is my closing statement to the masses. Yep, just this once I believe that I'm a special snowflake. Reading the thread is optional. You don't have to read it. :P

[Stihllodeing]

Calm down a little, you'll be back.

[ReplicaX]

Retainers are not part of the cash shop. They were intended to be implemented in 1.0 originally as an additional service added onto your subscription. It pre-dates ARR.

Your point only holds true to Fantasia if anything at all.

[SinisterIsBack]

can I have your stuff??

[Squintina]

But is it really pre-emptive if there are already people saying "I told you so" :P?

[Galactimus]

Allow me to tell you a story... this is my last day as a paid subscriber.

[Venos]

.... I hope they don't fix it, really getting sick with the extra nonsense and exaggerations over the cash shop BS.

[Gilraen]

Oh no, people are treating specifically targeted cash shop items and selling them to players for gil, what ever will we do. Marriage and dyes won't change the way the game is played. Sure, the gil gained by selling dyed gear and marriage bracelets has been admittedly spent on buying crafted armor to bring up peoples' iLs but that doesn't beat Coil for you or give you fully upgraded relics. I can't say the cash shop has been the best idea, but I've seen worse. So far all they've given us is all manner of vanity items, even the marriage items are just glorified vanity.

[zar]

This forum is so ZzZzZ. Nothing but cash shop bitching here all day everyday. Go lurk any other forum for FFXIV and they are actually talking about the game. Can we get back to that, please? Thanks.

[Thistledown]

I'm having a blast trying to sell marriage bracelets on Tonberry. If anyone's interested, let me know.

The more they release unpolished goods for cash, fatter everyone's virtual wallet will be.