To clarify my thoughts on the matter, since the last half of this thread has been a gigantic mess:

1) IMO, a P2P MMO should not have a cash shop outside of account services (fantasia, name change, server change, etc). I feel it is double-dipping your paying customers. XI managed fine, why can't XIV?

I get that times change, and perhaps I just need to accept that even P2P MMOs will now have cash shops (much like the hated DLC in other games). Perhaps that is the new way, but it does not mean that I have to agree with the practice.

Since the cash shop is here to stay, I would have liked to see it implemented in the following way:

2) Have items be obtainable in-game at some point before moving them to the cash shop. Give your players the chance to do an event to get the item instead of making items cash-shop exclusives. This would make it feel much less like a cash grab and that items are intentionally being withheld from the game.

Obviously none of us will know the thinking behind SE's decision to place exclusive items in the cash shop. Would these have gone to game if it didn't exist? Would they have even bothered creating the items if they couldn't sell it? Who bloody knows. The "why" does not change the overall feel to me.





My usual disclaimer - this is not including promotional events/items such as fan fest, RL plushies, OST cds, etc.