Can Cash Shop be a bit more reasonable

[Chiramu]

The pricing on the cash shop has had no material effect on the number of subs, and as long as it stays that way SE can do whatever the hell it wants with cash shop pricing (getting the sub money AND whatever the market will bear on the cash shop). Successful business strategy 101.

Greed does bite your arse eventually.

[Auteur]

Short of a GM entanglement incident (like what occurred in EVE) or a CS-Go style gambling scandal, haven't seen gaming communities cause enough of a storm purely over cash shop pricing to actually hold developers accountable. And have yet to see a Wells Fargo type incident in MMOs.

[Belhi]

Let's get hypothetical! /darkwingduck.

The major patches are basically paid DLC. Assume (I hate that word) that a person is paying 15 USD per month (or convert to your local currency). Is each patch (which again is just DLC you're paying for) worth 45 USD (again, assume each patch is on the 3 month cycle)? I dunno if it's true or not, but alot of people may think that patches are just "YAY! free content!". Is the content from 3.4 really worth a 45 USD DLC?

If not, then shouldn't the cash shop crap...I mean items (as useless as it is) be a part of those 45 USD patches? I dunno the answer here, just something to think about.

My short answer to that is yes.

My longer answer is that a quick look at the marketplace shows that SE's product is quite competitive. On top of that I get easily 45 dollars worth of entertainment out of it. Further, that money also allows me access to servers that allow me to play the game with friends on the other side of the world as well as reliable and fast (in my experience) technical support if I have problems.

I could flip that around and point out that you could only pay one month sub every patch and see most of the content if that's all you were after. In that case its 15 dollars a patch.

Again, I find what I am provided for the money I give value for money. I have never had to get anything off the Cash Shop to feel I have had a full and satisfying experience.

Here is a question to counter. If the cash shop didn't exist and so none of the things on it were available would you still be willing to pay for the game?

[Lucke]

Here is a question to counter. If the cash shop didn't exist and so none of the things on it were available would you still be willing to pay for the game?

Yup. I have not spent a single cent on the cash shop and never will. All the items on the shop would be nice to have in game, but I don't NEED to have them. But again, that's just me. No doubt people feel different.

[Chiramu]

Here is a question to counter. If the cash shop didn't exist and so none of the things on it were available would you still be willing to pay for the game?

If the game is fun most people wouldn't care if there was a cash shop or not.

Edit: That, wow, sounds like shots fired XD. I didn't mean it that way. I just meant I wouldn't give a shite if I was enjoying the game. I also didn't care earlier in FFXIVs life, I wanted to support the game, I bought additional retainers and thought it all justified to support the game. Now it's just me, I can't justify the money spent(especially with the weak AUD I have to spend with).

[Melorie]

May be true, but that's not my situation at least. I'm against exclusive items in the mogstation in general and I prefer them in game. I have nothing against event items, services such as fantasia and transfer and maybe even recolours, but exclusive items is a delicate matter. I like the game - well, I play it after all - and I love fluffy like mounts, minions and glamours in general. But I already pay the game. Because, as I said, I like the game, I like playing it, I want to have goals inside of it. Some people's goals is getting a better gear, I prefer the cosmetic route. For me, glamour is content just like raids and dungeons (I like those too, mind you), they are not less important.

[Belhi]

May be true, but that's not my situation at least. I'm against exclusive items in the mogstation in general and I prefer them in game. I have nothing against event items, services such as fantasia and transfer and maybe even recolours, but exclusive items is a delicate matter. I like the game - well, I play it after all - and I love fluffy like mounts, minions and glamours in general. But I already pay the game. Because, as I said, I like the game, I like playing it, I want to have goals inside of it. Some people's goals is getting a better gear, I prefer the cosmetic route. For me, glamour is content just like raids and dungeons (I like those too, mind you), they are not less important.

I feel it is worth pointing out that in many cases the cosmetic items that aren't event items likely wouldn't have had the resources spent on their development if the cash shop didn't exist. When deciding wether to allocate resources to create these items, in most cases, I think you would find they first projected what profits they felt they would likely get from it and weighed the development cost vs. the returns. In reality, any item that doesn't either come from a previous event, isn't a service or isn't part of a exclusive offer, likely wouldn't be available anyway even if the cash shop didn't exist.

I want my value for money. If I didn't get that from FF14 I wouldn't be playing it. If I am not getting my money's worth then its a problem. On the flipside though, as long as I am getting my money's worth, I am not going to hold SE attempting to generate more revenue against them as long as it doesn't inhibit the value of the content I get and as long as they don't try and force me to pay extra to properly enjoy what I have already payed for. We get quite a lot of glamour items every patch. There are usually at least 3 new sets, give or take and a number of additional extras.

Now value for money is a subjective thing. For people who aren't happy with what they are getting their issues are perfectly valid. However I doubt the Cash Shop not existing would remedy those issues.

[DamianFatale]

I'm a total whale. I've spend over 1000$ on this series over the past year or so..

[Jynx]

I'm a total whale. I've spend over 1000$ on this series over the past year or so..

This game in particular or multiple games(I'm aware of several phone games that cash grab on nostalgia)? There is a difference if your looking to be defined as a "Whale".

[Kohta]

It comes down to acceptance, Fantasia for $10, no problem, but when you have cash shop exclusive aesthetics, whether it be hair, clothing or colors; that could be placed into the game for MGP/Events/etc. It goes a little to far.
A game like TERA, it would be expected, it's free to download and play. However; FFXIV costed me $60 at 1.0, then I had to buy the damn game again at 2.0, and I have to pay a $15 a month subscription. It should be an insult that the front page news is "New Optional Items" ($10 Hair) ($20 Outfit) ($30 mount) but the icing on the cake is the Final Fantasy X themed outfits for paying $30.00 to watch a live stream... that will be free to watch in some form or another shortly after the broadcasting. You're paying $30 to look like a Grand Summoner who in reality can't summon more than a green farting toe nail. That's okay, I'd give a F2P my money and get a lot more out of it any day at this rate, I am slowly breaking away from this game as the true colors seep through the paper.