Why no "Plexx" system?

[Riinata]

<snip> Actually, it doesn't work at all. It happened in RIFT. It happened in WS. It's happening in WoW and every other game that has this feature. Anytime that a game allows you to buy in game currency it allows you to bypass content. If anything, this feature would be less devastating to FFXIV than other games due to content being gated behind content. But a horrible idea nonetheless.

Why would any game designer think it's a great idea to let players bypass playing their game? Even if that means you need to play in order to acquire in game currency? That's the way it's supposed to work. Selling tokens only serves to bring in more money for the company and allow cyclical players their quick fix before they move on.

There are better ways to deal with RMT spam.

Ummmm.... EVE does it perfectly fine. Quit being ignorant.

[BlaiseArath]

How are y'all calling this pay to win? Its more like pay for convenience.

The player using this system is not going to be better than anyone else playing this game. No special in game items are being bought here that would change game play mechanics for those using it.


It is already easier to earn better gear that can not be bought. If they were to pay a group of people to carry them through runs they are still behind the curve cause they had to rely on others already capable of 7 manning the content.

Even if you say that using the gil to earn it faster while not being better is "pay to win" how does that effect us? They can't do anything with that gear they earned quickly.

As for PvP, which this game barely offers, everyone's ilvl has been synced which would cancel out the person who "paid to win" and decked themselves out quickly.

Honestly it seems like you're forgetting crafting as classes. Someone who RMT's these items and sells them for the large amount of gil they'd be worth would have a much easier time leveling a craft from 1-60 than any one who does not just by the sheer amount of material they would be able to afford. Same for those rare minions which people so often claim hunting is "Content"(I don't). I'm not saying that alone means we shouldn't have a plexx system, just that there are cases where it would be pay-to-win. Though perhaps your definition of such is just a little different.

Though Crafting is basically a large useless circle-jerk with Fieldcraft now because SE went full retard with how useful their gear should be compared to raid gear... but you know, whatever... trying to have their cake and eat it too.

[Darkova]

Honestly it seems like you're forgetting crafting as classes. Someone who RMT's these items and sells them for the large amount of gil they'd be worth would have a much easier time leveling a craft from 1-60 than any one who does not just by the sheer amount of material they would be able to afford. Same for those rare minions which people so often claim hunting is "Content"(I don't). I'm not saying that alone means we shouldn't have a plexx system, just that there are cases where it would be pay-to-win.

I see your point with the crafting. Though at the same time they are not buying the materials itself, they are using the gil to buy materials already farmed by players. Even though this would fall under pay to win in the sense they can level up crafting quicker, they are pretty much "paying to catch up" since they relied on the market already being in place. However, I'm not saying this shouldn't be an issue taken into consideration.

[CodeCass]

I believe I remember something like this in ArcheAge....not sure if I'd want it in FFXIV though...

[Riinata]

So as a former EVE Online player and major economist from that game, I can say that this so-called "economical destruction" has never occurred in EVE Online even though PLEX prices are currently pretty damn high. But not once has it resulted in the "creation of currency." What the system does is you have someone buy an item that is sanctioned by the developer as fair (PLEX in EVE for example) with real money. That person sells that item on the market for in-game currency and when it gets bought, the seller gets another player's currency. It is never generated by the system. In EVE, this item can then be used by the buyer to extend their subscription to the game. It's not creating currency nor is it destructive or "pay-to-win" in any way. To all those who argue that it is, I suggest you check out EVE's PLEX system. It is a fine example of how to implement a feature like this without breaking the game.

[Havenae]

"PLEXX" systems only work when the entire game revolves around thegame's economy. Like EvE. Plex wouldnt work here (as it hasnt worked in every other game besides EvE who have tried it) because the economy in this game (as well as those others) is more of a side attraction, or separate from the game's true purpose which is gear acquisition through raiding.

Simply put the economy has to be an exceptionally strong one to support a plexx or 'play to pay' type of system.

[Fendred]

A question to all the detractors:

Wouldn't you rather have all that real life cash being spent on gil to go towards developing FFXIV:ARR instead of funding organized crime?

I mean, this isn't a hard thing to understand. The market for digital currency is never going away, so it can either be harnessed for the good of the game or by criminals.

Also, Guild Wars 2 does perfectly fine with selling its in game currency on its item store.

[DarkLiriel]

For the love of the Twelve, why would someone suggest plexx at all? This is.. the worst system that has EVER been invented on the net. You're basically wanting this to turn into wow 2.0 based on your bullets 1 and 2.

They've already stated that they will never do this, because it goes against some countries' laws that the game is available in, thus they would have to discontinue the game and shut those servers down in order to do it. They wont. Ever. Do this.