Why no "Plexx" system?

[Culfinrandir]

It is NOT pay to win! People would be buying GAME TIME from the seller on the market.
That being said, it ain't gonna get rid of RMT who are selling currently non existent ingame gil

So what does the seller of the GAME TIME get? Gil... What can that gil be used for? Buying better gear, buying runs, buying things that other people without a lot if gil can't... Looks like winning, smells like winning, is winning.

The very definition of Pay to Win is by using real world money to buy something in a game that gives an ADVANTAGE that you'd otherwise not have or have had to work hard for. This is pay to win.

[Dererk]

This game should never be paid to win you buy game time and sell it reasoning to get rid of rmts won't happen we need a better way to report stuff so SE can actually do something about it faster.

[Darkova]

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.

[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.

[Mythian]

This would be classed by many as Pay to Win. It could also cause legal issues under various laws (I mainly know EU & UK legislation).

Pay to win would mean someone would have to get a major advantage by purchasing these that no one else can get. It is a gameplay subscription. You get literally nothing else but gametime for it. If someone else in the game wants to purchase it because they can't easily afford their subscription otherwise but the person selling it can do so then there is nothing but one player paying for another players subscription going on. What are they getting that is going to help them win that you can't get? Crafted armor or weapons? You can get those too. You can even farm all the items yourself and get someone to make them. Everything in this game besides what is specifically on the Mog Station or from past events is able to be gotten by anyone else. You don't get to call it pay to win if everyone can get everything already without doing this.

EVE Online already proved that isn't true in even the most remote way possible. EVE PLEX are sold worldwide to even the EU and UK with absolutely no legal issues whatsoever. PLEX is considered a content subscription and is therefore 100% legal in both EU and UK. This would be considered the exact same thing and therefore would be held under the same laws. Good try though.

[Nyghtmarerobu]

I am strongly against this. Economy's are very fickle, and any small jostle can easily make the gil not valuable, or make it more valuable. Its best to just leave this sort of thing alone, because lets face it, you won't know the actual in-game repercussions until it is allowed to happen.

[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.

[Bodicca]

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

Paying for convenience is equally bad. This is an MMORPG. It's not supposed to be convenient or played out in a week. It's supposed to be a journey. A true MMO is one where players progress by putting in the play time and effort to achieve gear, skill, and yes, in-game currency. That's the entire point of the game. I would hate to see FFXIV go down that road that WoW has taken over the years: buying level 90's, tokens for gold, gear, and so on and so forth. It's nothing more than a solo player game in a multi player setting. And it's god awful.

Let's not ruin one of the last true MMORPG's.

[Havenae]

Paying for convenience is equally bad. This is an MMORPG. It's not supposed to be convenient or played out in a week. It's supposed to be a journey. A true MMO is one where players progress by putting in the play time and effort to achieve gear, skill, and yes, in-game currency. That's the entire point of the game. I would hate to see FFXIV go down that road that WoW has taken over the years: buying level 90's, tokens for gold, gear, and so on and so forth. It's nothing more than a solo player game in a multi player setting. And it's god awful.

Let's not ruin one of the last true MMORPG's.

This post made me laugh. There's so much irony here.

Coming from an old gamer who played the Ultima Online when it first launched, played EQ when it was relevant, Ascheron's Call, ect.. Timesinks were never enjoyable. Convenience is not as equally bad as Pay to Win unless that convenience is pay to win. Which generally means you buy your gear, you buy you high level you buy stuff to augment your character. It's never usually associated with buying playtime, which is really all this is designed to do. Plex systems are no more than additional revenue for a game that is stolen by RMT companies.

RMT transactions are going to happen regardless of what you do. Even in the hay day of games like Everquest, Lineage, FFXI, ect.. RMT was present. The question is.. would you rather that money go in to the pocket of some asian based farm company complete with bots and tell spam that are quite literally making an unliscensed profit off of the game and destroying the game's economy? Or would you rather it go into the developers pockets? Not to mention the resources they spend on combating RMT that they could use elsewhere. RMT would still exist, but it wouldnt be near as problematic as it is currently.

Not only that but it affords players the ability to play the game to pay their way in.

This isnt a system that destroys or ruins games. It doesn't take away from the journey or take the point away. It works very well for a game that is accurately designed for it to work. FFXIV might not be that type of game But if it made SE some more revenue and curtailed the RMT issues this game faces then I'd be fine with it as long as it worked out well. The problem is, as I stated previously This game's economy is too weak for it, and that's just a starting point. I won't even touch how multiple servers and everything else would affect the system to a degree to render it an unstable payment method at best.

As for WoW.. I hate to burst this bubble and bring you this Sunday Paper, but this game's already went down that road. Your third to last sentence, describes this game to a TEE.