Option to get off steam

[Raist]

The short answer is no, they can't. In order to get the privilege to sell the game on the Steam platform, they (SE) have to abide by Valve's licensing rules. Steam is considered it's own platform on the PC and is the primary reason this is done is sales. Valve knows how many thousands and thousands of players use their product daily and sold the idea to SE for a cut off the top (how it always works). SE is just as bound as we the players are due to contract licensing, almost without a doubt. All Steam games are this way. Most users are unaware, since they bury in the bottom of their end-user license agreement. But technically, every Steam user, accepted and acknowledged this restriction upon setting up their Steam account.

It still stands though that you should be able to link a standard PC license as a separate platform just like you can with the Sony consoles. Sony has some very screwy licensing going on there as well--and yet you can link your character data (which is technically SE's property and not yours or Valve's) to those other platforms. There should be a remedy for this scenario as well. Your Steam license would still be viable. Just like with the consoles, the standard Windows license would be in parallel and actually installed in a separate directory, using it's standalone launcher to update, and all that other good stuff. It simply should be licensed just like the other platforms.

[PetiteMalFleur]

It still stands though that you should be able to link a standard PC license as a separate platform just like you can with the Sony consoles. Sony has some very screwy licensing going on there as well--and yet you can link your character data (which is technically SE's property and not yours or Valve's) to those other platforms. There should be a remedy for this scenario as well. Your Steam license would still be viable. Just like with the consoles, the standard Windows license would be in parallel and actually installed in a separate directory, using it's standalone launcher to update, and all that other good stuff. It simply should be licensed just like the other platforms.

I agree with this ^^

I read through the use agreement and it clearly states the product key cannot be used outside of the Steam account it was applied to. This should not prohibit players from being able to use a new product key to play off of Steam. Unless SE has some exclusivity contact with them there's no reason why an account can't be disassociated with a fresh purchase of the game.

[PotatoWafflez]

One thing I'd like to know is if you bought the steam version, since steam supports mac games does that mean that the steam version is a cross-platform license?

As in it would let you run the steam version on both a pc and a mac or would you be out of luck if say your pc died and you decided to buy a mac?

Meaning you you'd have to get the mac license and would you also be locked out of you Steam bound FFXIV account or is the Mac version totally separate and would work the same way as PS3/PS4?

IMO there are too many licences for this game and they should have just had a Console and a PC licence at most. Its not like we can play the game on multiple platforms at the same time with one account anyway. I was okay with the licenses when I thought the expansions would be a flat upgrade and upgrade all your ARR licences but since that clearly isn't the case, I see no point in buying a game 3 or 4 times over just to have to rebuy it over again to access expansion content on a license I already paid for just to be able to play that content on the rare occasions I don't have access to my PC.

[ZAsha_Tia]

OK since this is my first MMO on a PC I am still a little confused by the problem here. If someone can explain the issue it would help me a little.

Long story short my current account is not "Steam" since I've been playing since pre-access. I bought a Steam version later so I can play using Steam and chat with friends. After hearing all the complaints, I recently used the Steam product code and created a new account under Steam to see what all the fuss is about. I don't see anything that would indicate that it is "Locked" to Steam other than the new Steam Pay option (Figure 1).



I do not have Steam on this computer and I re-downloaded the Amazon version of the game and see if I can log in using that. I was able to log in and play with no steam using the "Steam" account. If someone can please explain it to me would help. I am attempting to make a YouTube of what I have here so I can explain it better.

P.S. Now something that just came to me. Maybe your Steam account is locked to your SE account meaning if your logged in as someone else in Steam you can not log in to your SE account. This would be the same as the PS3 and PS4 versions that I also have locked to my account. But as far as I can tell, if you have a copy that is just pure PC XIV then you can use your account.

[Windfall]

I don't know i got really lucky I played beta and I bought my game originally From SE. When i changed computers I forgot where i bought it from so i bought a new copy from steam. When i found out that the physical version was not compatible i deleted streams version and downloaded the other version again. You can download the other versions and play on that one but you would not get any in game items since you would register it under another account. All our character are bound to those account. Even though i had a second copy of the game on steam my character would not get the items from any expatiation or upgrades bought through steam. The content however would still be playable. I hope that helps to answer some as to why they cannot just leave steam.

[Raist]

OK since this is my first MMO on a PC I am still a little confused by the problem here. If someone can explain the issue it would help me a little.

Long story short my current account is not "Steam" since I've been playing since pre-access. I bought a Steam version later so I can play using Steam and chat with friends. After hearing all the complaints, I recently used the Steam product code and created a new account under Steam to see what all the fuss is about. I don't see anything that would indicate that it is "Locked" to Steam other than the new Steam Pay option (Figure 1).



I do not have Steam on this computer and I re-downloaded the Amazon version of the game and see if I can log in using that. I was able to log in and play with no steam using the "Steam" account. If someone can please explain it to me would help. I am attempting to make a YouTube of what I have here so I can explain it better.

P.S. Now something that just came to me. Maybe your Steam account is locked to your SE account meaning if your logged in as someone else in Steam you can not log in to your SE account. This would be the same as the PS3 and PS4 versions that I also have locked to my account. But as far as I can tell, if you have a copy that is just pure PC XIV then you can use your account.

Notice how your Mog Station has buttons for adding console licenses? The licenses are platform specific--you can't use a console key to activate a PC install. You have to have a key that is for the specific platform. Notice you have no button to add a Windows specific key--it is because you applied a Steam key. On my Mog Station I have the reverse--a Windows key was applied so there is no option to add a Steam key.

Just like with the consoles, the keys for Steam and Windows are specific to their platforms--however they did not add the option to register them separately like you can with the consoles. So you can't add BOTH a Steam and a Windows key to the same account--but you CAN add both a PS3 and a PS4 license if you wanted, as they have the options listed separately. And here's the rub---you MUST buy the expansion to match your existing license. So, if you installed a Steam license you have to buy the Steam expansion (same goes for Windows)--as you have to be applying keys along the same platform path, and Windows and Steam are considered their own individual platforms when it comes to their license keys even though they are both PC versions of the game.

In the past when they put XI on Steam, this was not the case. A Steam license was a PC license for the purpose of registering the client. So long as you had a valid PC's license bound to your SE account, you could access the XI content across both PC platforms--whether it was a Steam key or Windows. With XIV--they locked the license key to each specific platform path: PS3, PS4, Steam, PC. The problem is they have not provided the option to register each of them all independently. You can do a PS3, a PS4, and then only ONE of the two computer options--Steam or Windows, but not both.

[ZAsha_Tia]

Notice how your Mog Station has buttons for adding console licenses? The licenses are platform specific--you can't use a console key to activate a PC install. You have to have a key that is for the specific platform. Notice you have no button to add a Windows specific key--it is because you applied a Steam key. On my Mog Station I have the reverse--a Windows key was applied so there is no option to add a Steam key.

Just like with the consoles, the keys for Steam and Windows are specific to their platforms--however they did not add the option to register them separately like you can with the consoles. So you can't add BOTH a Steam and a Windows key to the same account--but you CAN add both a PS3 and a PS4 license if you wanted, as they have the options listed separately. And here's the rub---you MUST buy the expansion to match your existing license. So, if you installed a Steam license you have to buy the Steam expansion (same goes for Windows)--as you have to be applying keys along the same platform path, and Windows and Steam are considered their own individual platforms when it comes to their license keys even though they are both PC versions of the game.

In the past when they put XI on Steam, this was not the case. A Steam license was a PC license for the purpose of registering the client. So long as you had a valid PC's license bound to your SE account, you could access the XI content across both PC platforms--whether it was a Steam key or Windows. With XIV--they locked the license key to each specific platform path: PS3, PS4, Steam, PC. The problem is they have not provided the option to register each of them all independently. You can do a PS3, a PS4, and then only ONE of the two computer options--Steam or Windows, but not both.

And see until the expansion comes out we don't know what codes go where. What I will do is <Sigh> buy an extra Heavensword and try to install it. It looks like it still maybe the case where (on S.E. side) that The only thing that matters is that your on a Windows version.

Here is the you tube and let me know where I made a mistake please.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQaiZbCQO7k