Is our sub fee not enought

[Reynhart]

/sit
/doze

/em is also RP's friend, since the game can't possibly include every idea roleplayers have to express themselves

[Vhailor]

I can understand putting past events items on mog station, but new emote/glamour/mount that goes straight to mogstation while not giving active sub a chance to obtain them in game is just pure greed, and whats even worst is that most item are solely single character, or if u have alt or future alt u will have to buy it again.

Until, and unless, users punish SE for this, they'll continue doing it.

Personally, I've sort of just tried to ignore it. It is absolutely greedy, but SE is hardly alone here; every company has realized that many customers don't mind being nickel-and-dimed to death to acquire all the content for a game they've supposedly already paid for. They also know that those who do dislike the feeling, tend not to boycott the game over it, particularly where MMOs are concerned.

Just a sad reality of capitalism. It's the gaming equivalent of a movie theater telling you that you can't bring your own soda into the building, and then turning around and charging you $7.00 for their own fountain drinks. Doesn't make it right, and it doesn't make it fun - but as long as the average person goes with the flow, it's really not worth digging in your heels.

Edit / PS - One thing I do that makes me feel a bit better about the situation is avoid spending anything myself. Additionally, I tend to look down on players using the mounts / emotes / etc. that are purchased on the Mog Station. Not in a 'they're a bad person' type of way, but more in a 'wow, that person actually fell for an utterly transparent money grab; glad I'm not them' type of way. I know it doesn't actually make a whit of objective difference, but it makes me feel better personally.

[Harukochi]

i mean, its called OPTIONAL ITEMS for a reason

does it impact your gameplay in a significant way? no, its just something you OPTIONALLY choose to have for aesthetic.
was it at some time free? yes, you paid for sub for that time period, you get the items that come with it.

[Reinha]

Genuine question. Are the people opposed to the cash shop also opposed to digital collector's editions? For reference the Stormblood CE includes a mount, a glamour piece and a minion and costs 15€ on top of the expansion price. Exactly the same kind of things the cash shop offers. I was prepared to buy the CE but I think I can actually get some things I desire more for less money from the Mog Station.

What about bonus or promotion items that come with other products or services? I recall that buying plushies, magazines, SE games, Amazon purchases, streams, a statue and a soundtrack (and possibly other products) being the only way to obtain certain items or emotes in-game and more often than not they cost far more than anything in the Mog Store. Should these bundles exist or should the physical products be kept separate and all digital items be put in game for everyone to enjoy instead?

The argument I hear from a lot of people is that our sub already pays for all digital items. I'm just so confused why there seems to be an outrage about the Mog Station and not things like 30€ Caith Sith ears. Isn't it just as much of a cash grab? Personally I would like to have that item but I don't think it's that valuable. I think a lot of people had the same feeling when their only way to get the maid outfit was to buy expensive physical crap they have no use for.

So in short, my questions are

1) What separates all these other exclusive digital items from the Mog Station business? I'm looking for moral reasoning derived from the common premise that our sub should pay for all in-game items and emotes.
2) Why there is barely any outrage on exclusive bonus items and literally no outrage on CE items? This question is more about why people feel more strongly about some things than others even though they are very similar. (The link is a thread about wanting to obtain a bonus item separately for money, and no one pointed out it should be in-game for free.)

[Reynhart]

What about bonus or promotion items that come with other products or services?

Don't worry, these are even more absurd.
People complain that they have to pay a lot of money for a specific emote or minion...totally ignoring the fact that the money was for buying a book, an OST or a figurine...

After all of that, I think the real question is a little bit different : Is your sub not enough to have fun ?
If your answer is "No", then you only have you to blame.

[Jandor]

Genuine question. Are the people opposed to the cash shop also opposed to digital collector's editions? For reference the Stormblood CE includes a mount, a glamour piece and a minion and costs 15€ on top of the expansion price.

I'd be more at ease with the mogshop if they stuck to a release schedule of '1 mount, 1 minion, 1 glamour for roughly €4 to €6 each' once every 2 or so years.

[Endemerrin]

Whether or not the money generated from the mogstation goes directly back into XIV is entirely irrelevant. If XIV is generating more income, SE is going to be more willing to increase it's funding, bottom line. It doesn't get any more simple than that. If something is doing great financially, you're going to invest further to multiply those earnings. Just look at Stormblood - the budget was tripled over Heavensward.

Cash shop purchases directly influence that, as they net a lot of profit for SE. By purchasing from the mogstation, you are directly influencing the game moving forward in a positive way. Keep that in mind.

And of course, as has been mentioned countless times before, you don't have to buy anything from the cash shop. They already add a ton of content to the game in the monthly updates, one or two emotes every half year or so is a drop in the bucket compared to the actual content you get for paying your sub.

[Zojha]

If something is doing great financially, you're going to invest further to multiply those earnings.

Mhm...actually no.
This is the standard for those kinds of things:
.
(Boston Consulting Group Matrix)

FFXIV mooost likely is currently being milked in favor of future stars - the whole triple budget thing still needs a reliable source.

[Endemerrin]

FFXIV mooost likely is currently being milked in favor of future stars

You're assuming FFXIV is a cash cow, though. I'd argue against that. XIV's profits have only being growing, and they even made specific note of XIV's success after Heavensward's launch.

It would make far more sense for them to reinvest further into FFXIV until a point where it's deemed that it's growth has plateaued.

[Zojha]

XIV's profits have only being growing [...]

XIV's profits or the profits from supporting merchandise (Cash shop, plushies etc)?

I mean, I lack official numbers as much as the next guy, but judging from the unofficial censi, we don't have a substantial growth in subscribers and consequently no growth in subscription revenue. If then profits are growing regardless, chances are they are coming from supporting merchandise and from a business perspective, SE would likely rather invest in that, while keeping the game itself on a maintenance budget solely intended to keep the people buying the extra stuff interested in the game, so they keep buying extra stuff. That's not an uncommon milking strategy. And this is the moment where every conspiracy theorist can let their confirmation bias run free, because now we can speculate whether SE actually has done that of late or not.

I'll leave that to others. To me, SE's strategy regarding FFXIV seems very cashcow-y right now, but hey, we can keep our fingers crossed I'm wrong!