Seriously SE???

[Zumi]

This shouldn't be an excuse.
Expansions should have no reason to cost more than the games they're expanding on.

The cost of the game itself.
The subscription fee.
The cash shop items.
The additional retainers.
The wedding ceremonies.
The special edition upgrades.
Square is using this game to milk as much return as they can and I'm not really sure why people are so okay with it. With every addition, I hear "Oh it's just a small thing. / It's just a visual trinket. / Oh it's not that much."

Why the unfaltering support of a practice that takes from you with little clear overall return?

SE wants to make money on their game. Microtransactions in mmos is just how the genre has evolved and gaming in general. This isn't like 10 years ago where you payed 1 sub fee and got everything. Now if you want extras you have to pay more. You are not required to buy the extra stuff if you don't want but its there mainly to make them money which is the goal of any game company.

[Gramul]

SE wants to make money on their game. Microtransactions in mmos is just how the genre has evolved and gaming in general. This isn't like 10 years ago where you payed 1 sub fee and got everything. Now if you want extras you have to pay more. You are not required to buy the extra stuff if you don't want but its there mainly to make them money which is the goal of any game company.

I get that. But my question is, why have we allowed it? Why are we okay with companies charging us more and more for less and less?

[Andevom]

SNES games used to cost around $80, just sayin'.

[kyuven]

I get that. But my question is, why have we allowed it? Why are we okay with companies charging us more and more for less and less?

Because we understand that content is expensive. The content in paid-for expansions has actually increased, not decreased. A standard actually set by WoW (which has included, at a minimum, a dozen new zones and dungeons a level cap increase, and a new race and/or class with each expansion) and Guild Wars.
There was a time, an expensive time, when MMOs would charge $30 for an expansion that was basically some new zones and equipment.
For example, EverQuest's Scars of Velious and Shadows of Luclin expansion probably contain between the two of them the amount of content we'll be receiving during 3.0. Each of those retailed for $30, and neither included a level cap increase. In fact the major selling point for SoL was the introduction of new character models, something WoW and DAOC basically just gave away for free.
So yeah, things have gotten better as to what is acceptable to charge $40 for, not worse. We're getting THREE new jobs! The only other game I know of that's done that in a single expansion was FFXI, and they didn't include a new race. Basically, we're getting in one expansion the same number of things WoW players got in three. For about the same price as one.

[Gramul]

Because we understand that content is expensive.

But is it really expensive enough to justify the subscription fee, the cost of retainers, the overpriced reskins and nicknacks, content that could otherwise be won, various services like fantasia and server transfers, weddings, special edition upgrades, and expansion packs that cost more than the game itself from a company with many various sources of revenue?

It's not so much the price of the expansion pack itself, as costly as I think it is. It's that they do it on top of the mounting pile of financial mousetraps that have crept their way into this game and the industry as a whole. It's getting rarer and rarer to buy or subscribe to complete games anymore and it's very depressing and frustrating to see people offer little to no resistance or protest.

[kyuven]

But is it really expensive enough to justify...

Depends on you.
If you don't like it, you have an option to not pay for it.

Thing is, more people will pay for the expansion then sleipnir. And more work went into it.
Everything else is there to get some extra money to keep the game profitable.
It's a business.

This isn't about me. It's about the industry as a whole and its relationship with its customers.
Simply abstaining from purchase tells them nothing when they can just rely on the whales to support their decisions. And those that don't just get screwed over time and time again.

This is the way the industry works. Due to inflation, increased costs, and the need by players for new content, there needs to be extra cash flow. P2P MMOs have averaged about $15 a month for the past 10 years, despite inflation, rising costs, an economic recession, rising demands for "new stuff" from the playerbase. They need more cash flow to stay afloat. Expansions have always been part of this. Someone a few years back did the math and suggested we should be paying $20 or more a month for P2P MMOs adjusting for inflation and technology costs going up.
Your monthly fee is not enough. Either deal with that, or quit. This genre is expensive.
We're not "getting screwed" otherwise the entire industry has been screwing us for 20 years, and someone would have come up with a better way by now. They haven't.

Everything they've put in the game (and things that have not) has already been paid in advance.

Thus you're paying for the NEXT round of content.

[Gramul]

Depends on you.
If you don't like it, you have an option to not pay for it.

This isn't about me. It's about the industry as a whole and its relationship with its customers.
Simply abstaining from purchase tells them nothing when they can just rely on the whales to support their decisions. And those that don't just get screwed over time and time again.

[Kaze3434]

It's not so much the price of the expansion pack itself, as costly as I think it is. It's that they do it on top of the mounting pile of financial mousetraps that have crept their way into this game and the industry as a whole. It's getting rarer and rarer to buy or subscribe to complete games anymore and it's very depressing and frustrating to see people offer little to no resistance or protest.

it feels like you are comparing this game (an mmo) to other games(going to use destiny as an example). while both did not ship complete(subjective in the case of 14 as mmos are games that grow and have new things made all the time, not held back and then made dlc.) its wrong to say they are doing the same thing.

[Nominous]

I get that. But my question is, why have we allowed it? Why are we okay with companies charging us more and more for less and less?

What do you mean less?

3 New Jobs (MORE than ARR if I remember correctly)
1 New Race
Entire scenario on the scale of 2.0, if not larger.
2 new Primal fights, one with a creature never before seen in FF, made specifically for XIV.
Airships. The ability to build them, and have personal airships. This is a huge addition.
Flight, and different methods of exploration.
1 New City State, possibly more?
Like 2 more Beast Tribes if I'm not mistaken? I'd imagine there will be content involving this.
A 10 level cap increase, with many things we've not yet even learned about what comes with it.
They said to expect about as many dungeons that were on 2.0 launch, which is crazy to do from scratch. Some of the dungeons we had on 2.0 were just revamped old ones.

There's probably a ton I'm forgetting about, but that list already... for something that's only 40 bucks, is pretty great. Jumping in at the base level, you'd be paying like 20 bucks for ARR, and 40 for Heavensward. 60 dollars, which is comparable to any full release game today. Most games we have right now give you like, 30-50 hours of baseline enjoyment, with some games offering multiplayer experiences for replay value that extends into maybe 300-500 hours before you're pretty sick of it. MMO's give you at least 100 hours or more of baseline enjoyment, just capping one character and learning the game. That's not even considering you go into crafting, coil, leveling any more than one Job (which you most certainly will for cross-class) etc etc.

I'm having troubles seeing where there's anything to complain about. 'We' aren't okay with companies charging more and more for less and less. 'People' are increasingly more and more ready to make a big issue out of things because we're given a bigger platform to do so than before. Why do we allow them to charge us 15 dollars every month to play a game on their servers? Why do we allow them to put a Cash Shop in the game? Why do our characters hair clip with things? Why can't we have everything for free? Like... if things were how everyone on THIS forum wanted it to be, the game wouldn't be up and running, because SE wouldn't be funding them to do it.