Bought on Steam

[Braxton92]

Hello,
I bought FFXIV on Steam, and I had a frustrating time trying to pay for subscription with my credit card versus paying with steam money (what ever its called)..

So, HOPEFULLY, it'll bill that card when the time comes. I had to contact customer support and they told me that it looks all set in that area (being that it should bill that directly)...

It made me think... Will I need to buy future expansions through Steam as well, or will my account work regardless and I can just obtain stuff at my favorite store at the time, and pay for my subscription however I want?

I just bought the game a few days ago, and just wanted to know.

[worldofneil]

Will I need to buy future expansions through Steam as well

Yes.

The code you got from Steam permanently flags your account as Windows (Steam) so all future expansions must also come through Steam. It's not possible to convert an account from Windows Steam to Windows Non-Steam or vice versa.

Technically though there's no difference, the game client is the same for both (all patches are done through the client, not through Steam), it's just the licence code was difference/flags the account internally.