Mog Station is overpriced.

[Kosmos992k]

There are plenty of optional extras that are in game and part of the subscription. Do you support reducing the subscription cost and moving all of them to pay-for items? At what point is there a line drawn?

I do not think the game sub should be upped, they already make a lot of revenue off of it. "increase the prices of the game subscription to satisfy your dislike for optional extras sold at a premium?" makes it sound like a very selfish thing. My point is that this is a double-dipping shady business practice. Square, obviously, can do what they want. I am expressing my discontent on their forums, so that they are aware that they are creating discontent with this business practice.

No, I do not support that at all.

For me the 'line' is a combination of the % of game items sold through the store, and the type of items sold through the store. The % must remain trivial compared to the number of in-game items that exist, and the items for sale should never affect game play. Further, Glamour is a core element of the game, so items in the shop should only be exceptional, premium items.

As I said before I would like to see the Chinese Dress (for example) obtainable in game, but have it not be dyable, for example. So the garment is still available to anyone in game, but the premium version is in the shop.

I do not like the way that past event items have been added to the shop either. I don't think they should be there. I see this as more of an issue than things like the Chinese Dress.

Where I got my information may have been wrong then. While I was aware that the issue was with the infrastructure and archiecture of the game, the resources I had found when looking into said the issue was compounded by the PS3 support and the fact that such sever upgrades wouldn't be possible with it still being supported. My apologies for the misinformation then.

There was always a lot of talk about the HUD/UI restrictions on the PS3, and it probably comes from that because if you expand inventory, that impacts the HUD/UI. However PS3 supports the extended inventory view, and I'm certain the devs could have simply implemented paging in that view to handle the increase without impacting the HUD significantly.

[Keramory]

Honestly if I was younger, it would probably bother me alot more. Not saying young people have the wrong mindset, it's just I've become far less involved now that I'm older.

When I was younger, I was a completionist when it came to gaming. Wasn't very good at it half the time granted, but I inspired to it. When the mog station first came out, I immediately said "well, there goes collecting everything". PvP rewards made that worse. I love PVP but getting top 10 for anything is just silly.

That said, I find the prices absolutely silly. My gf bought a mount that was what... 15-20 dollars? Wut?

[Kaurie]

That's kinda how it works for big companies. It's essentially a single entity that branches out into various markets. Where one department/branch makes money for their product, the funds are moved to the pot.

Think of it like you would Apple. Do you really think that a single big sale product like the iPhone keeps every single penny of sale exclusive to that division? That it doesn't get distributed among other products, services, stores, etc that cost the company money (likewise for other products and their profits potentially going to the iPhone).

SE decides how the money is used. SE is not only about FFXIV. They're not only about Final Fantasy. Hell, they're not even only about developing video games (as mind blowing as that might be to some). It's all just one big pot and everyone, including the XIV devs, want their part of it.

The better that the net income is for XIV, the more money that SE will probably be willing to give them (as seen with Stormblood's budget). Revenue doesn't mean much if expenses are so high that actual profit is minimal, which thankfully doesn't seem to be a dark cloud for XIV, though it pales in comparison to the mobile market. FFRK, for example, seems to have done more for the company in short time than XIV did lol.

The cash shop in XIV simply serves as a means to prove profitability to the company, rather than a tool to simply make people hate on the devs lol. Just a bit of reality checking in there. The more likely that money can be made, the more likely they'll get a better budget to make the game that we play better, though obviously some cash shop or merchandising is inevitable.

Obviously, I understand this. However, thank you for the business lesson.

I should note, that I also think Apple has incredibly poor business practices, and do not support their products. So, it is kind of funny you used them as a comparison.

No, I do not support that at all.

For me the 'line' is a combination of the % of game items sold through the store, and the type of items sold through the store. The % must remain trivial compared to the number of in-game items that exist, and the items for sale should never affect game play. Further, Glamour is a core element of the game, so items in the shop should only be exceptional, premium items.

As I said before I would like to see the Chinese Dress (for example) obtainable in game, but have it not be dyable, for example. So the garment is still available to anyone in game, but the premium version is in the shop.

I do not like the way that past event items have been added to the shop either. I don't think they should be there. I see this as more of an issue than things like the Chinese Dress.

OK, so your line is "trivial" which is undefined and means something different to everyone. What is trivial? 1% of glamours? 0.1%? 0%? 5%? For me, the line is at 0%, and obviously you have a higher threshold, but what if someone else has a higher threshold than you? What if someone has a 50% threshold?

[CGMidlander]

For the price of the outfits (and a few other things) in the Mog Station, one would think that they would be account-wide, rather than character specific. Unfortunately that isn't the case.

[Kasathar]

..., so items in the shop should only be exceptional, premium items.

All that mentality does, is create or further promote the notion that there are second class citizens within our community that either decide not to obtain those items or cannot afford them for whatever reason. This is the kind of stuff that makes "Free to play games" the dumps they are. That goes for their communities and also their cash shops.

[Kosmos992k]

I think a decline if prices go up is a market guarantee, but some sales are also assured. There will always be people who are entirely dedicated to their entertainment, even to almost questionable levels (though also arguably funny).



For anyone this hardcore into fandom, you do you. Very interesting to see what's actually out there and what dedication can bring lol.

Idolm@ster >> Love Live! >> K-ON! >> AKB47

The image looks to be K-ON...

XD

[Kosmos992k]

All that mentality does, is create or further promote the notion that there are second class citizens within our community that either decide not to obtain those items or cannot afford them for whatever reason. This is the kind of stuff that makes "Free to play games" the dumps they are. That goes for their communities and also the cash shops.

How?

For months the cost of the Thavinarian bustier was out of reach for most average players. Most players will never acquire the raid gear or all the EX mounts and minions or weapons. There re already plenty of examples of 'second class' citizens in the game. Making a drama out of a tiny number of items in the cash shop doesn't serve your argument - IMHO.

[Aronys]

If I was unemployed, I'd be miffed, sure. But at the moment, I work and spend €20 on the sub + retainers. And can still afford an occasional outfit. You don't have to get it immediately if you can't afford it. It's not like they put a new outfit every week. I bought the Chinese outfit, and I bought the new one and the last thing I bought before that was the Moogle mount, which was a few months before that. I can spend €10-€15 every few months on these things. Better to spend it on this and have it forever on my character than spend it on alcohol and drugs like some people do.

Look, there will always be some items that are out of your reach. For instance, I'm not getting the Odin statue because it's too expensive. I don't get a lot of the stuff from the merchandise store because the shipping is too much. Or if I do, I ship it to a friend in the UK who then ships it to me, which makes it much cheaper. I'll live without some items and if I get some, I'll be happy.

[Clover_Blake]

I do not like the way that past event items have been added to the shop either. I don't think they should be there.

Why not? People who attend the events get them for free, and people who didn't can pay for them and support SE, which in turn means that SE gives us more things. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

For the record, my lalafell didn't exist back when the cute Valentione dress was released. However, thanks to the dress being added to the cash shop later on, she could get it. I for one support adding those items there, as I tend to make new alts that missed the past events *laughs*.

[Shyngo]

I Just wish SQEX Realized that we alredy pay U$15,00 sub per month just to have access to the game, i agree that a cash shop is a necessary evil. But omg, going over 10 bucks for an outfit is not acceptable for a sub based game.