So steam FF14 & retail ff14 diff games?

[xsieg]

I originally purchased ff14 ARR through steam. made my way into gamestop one day to get rid of some old games. I was not originally going into gamestop to purchase heavensword, I was going to sell old games and get some cash or credit.
I purchased the heavensword ce I guess retail version (which at the time I didnt even know there was a difference between the steam and retail versions).

After finishing all the quests in ARR i went to the mog station to put in my code on my receipt (which is a 20 characters long CE code) but it says that the code is invalid. I tried activating my product on steam, and I tried entering my code into the pre order code screen in mog station instead of the expansion code screen.I found a couple solutions online the first being: steam version and retail version are different, have to re purchase through steam. Second solution was that the person just kept entering key and it eventually worked.

[Rufalus]

Yes Steam service account must use addons through Steam, and non-Steam service account use non-Steam addons such as physical retail copies.

[xsieg]

UGH! Why is it so difficult for them to add a purchased product? Doesn't all the steam information sync with the mog station? I don't understand why my account can't be credited with heaven sword and then just allowed to download the game outside of steam. I mean, really if the steam version is so damn locked then this needs to be made more clear. I am really sore about this. I'm not at all angry for your response so don't take any tone in my writing as an attack on you. I just find this completely ridiculous. I will not be returning to the game if this really is the case. Anyone else to confirm?

[Vandril]

Anyone else to confirm?

It's true. Dumbly enough, the Steam and Non-Steam versions of the game and expansion do not mix.

I will not be returning to the game if this really is the case.

It seems silly to quit a game over a mild technical difficulty, but...

Bye.

[Odds_Ends]

Ï was too a little surprised by this, same as I was surprised that you need to buy another copy/license if you want to play on a mac or windows (depends on who you started on)
So if someone likes to play FF14 on both windows and mac, you need two licenses.
(I can understand that you need to buy it separate for for PS3/4)

The game itself is the same no matter what by the way, but HW from steam can only be used with ARR from steam and the other way around for the none-steam "version"

[Niwashi]

UGH! Why is it so difficult for them to add a purchased product? Doesn't all the steam information sync with the mog station?

I agree it's a ridiculous limitation. SE and Sony managed to work together well enough to ensure console players can alternate between whether they want to purchase through the PlayStation Network or get retail boxed versions, and can alternate between both between the game and expansion. I don't know what occurred between SE and Valve that prevented a similar arrangement for Steam. And I'm not really sure why SE would have allowed release through Steam in the first place without these issues being worked out so it could work seamlessly with other versions.

And given that it does have such limitations, the original ARR game on Steam (as well as its free trial) should come with big prominently-placed warnings about how it's not compatible with retail version upgrades.