I agree. Ever since the out of left field Fanfest Cash Shop announcement I've been very hesitant with the direction the game is going. Eternal Bond was a long awaited hype "thing" that was relegated to Cash Shop, let's be honest people were doing it for the unique personal mount (it was shown/announced long before the recruit-a-friend one) and various other things expected for the system..the "free" version is a joke considering subscriptions went into designing this system. Having to pay more for promised items is a huge slap in the face, this coming from a guy who doesn't even use the vanity system, uses any mount other than chocobo, or really all that into minions...but for me it's a principle thing.

However a thing I have been looking forward to is Gold Saucer and with the way things are headed it's going to have so much locked behind the ca$h shop that I can't even look forward to it anymore. A little more transparency, heck any transparency, would go a long way.