Is our sub fee not enought

[Aniond]

If I like the items offered in the Mog House then I buy them. 15 dollars a month is nothing. I love this game and the time I put into it therefor I purchase the items to support SE. The more funding they receive the better the content. I have never seen a developer as dedicate as Yoshi is.

[Seig345]

So this argument has recently made me start comparing this game to a theme park... You pay to get in, and there's stuff you can do as many times as you want without having to pay extra (most rides, perhaps limited time events with free prizes and such), while there's other things such as carnival-like games, food, and merchandise (apparel, accessories, keepsakes/souvenirs, etc) that not only cost you extra per each play/item, but some might argue they cost you more than similar items sold in regular stores would cost you (aka; too much). Since you're stuck in this rather large park, unless you brought food with you and you're willing to carry it around or walk all the way back to your car to eat it, some might even argue that the bumped prices are entirely due to having you at the mercy of convenience, also referred to as price gouging. All of this despite the fact that you paid for your ticket/season pass to get in, since it does not in fact cover everything you see/encounter in the park. Definitely some similarities in there, such as rides/duties (both involve waiting in a line/queue), the cash shop items being the souvenirs and overpriced food, etc.

Now, this game is developed using something referred to in the gaming community as a "theme park formula". It's not entirely 1:1, but am I taking this theme park comparison thing too far? Outside of MMORPGs, the business model itself is definitely oldhat, and the overpriced food and souvenirs are typically just an expected/accepted trope of the theme park scene. Typically it's only little jimmy or susan who's throwing a fit when their parents won't buy them that 6-foot stuffed panda bear.

I'm not necessarily using this to excuse or argue against the cash shop stuff, just a sort of comparison I've been thinking about today.

[Stormrider]

snip

While I like the comparison. Theme parks are pretty upfront about what is covered with entry fee. Also info on what extra costs might be as well. Do you think that SE will be that forthcoming about what will be extra, what charges would be, and what monthly fees cover. Some free to play games are way more honest then 14 is about pricing.

If the company truly outlined the conditions for cash shop. Cost, resources, when it will be added, how it will be implemented (single or account). People wouldn't probably be as upset. As a consumer they would make the decision acceptable with the info provided or not and leave.

[Seig345]

While I like the comparison. Theme parks are pretty upfront about what is covered with entry fee. Also info on what extra costs might be as well. Do you think that SE will be that forthcoming about what will be extra, what charges would be, and what monthly fees cover. Some free to play games are way more honest then 14 is about pricing.

If the company truly outlined the conditions for cash shop. Cost, resources, when it will be added, how it will be implemented (single or account). People wouldn't probably be as upset. As a consumer they would make the decision acceptable with the info provided or not and leave.

I would argue that the free to play model is designed specifically around their cash shop items, so it would make more sense to place exacting focus on said items to make sure anyone willing to spend the $ has maximum exposure to everything the cash shop has to offer.

In Final Fantasy XIV; none of the items in the cash shop are in any way a primary feature of the game. You can argue that different people play this game for different reasons, and have their own views as to what aspects of the game are primary to them; but that doesn't supersede the primary focus of the game's developers or publisher (While both are technically SE in this case, Yoshi-P and his team don't have 100% influence over all aspects of the game, including the cash shop).

[NolLacnala]

snip.

You're not wrong. I've been referring to SE as digital Disneyland since they announced the cash shop.

[mylam]

Oh boy, I just came back to the game after a long time off and I didn't even realize there was this whole micro-market now. This thread is pretty interesting in it's entirety and I can understand both sides of the debate.

Personally, I don't see an issue with the cash shop. From what I browsed, there's nothing in there that you need to progress in the game. Are prices for some things crazy? Yes, probably to most. But that doesn't mean that SE are crooks. It's an avenue for more money in their pockets, and it's tough to fault them for that.

I played The Old Republic for a little while and that game is way more "forceful" in how you spend money. You can play for free, but it's so limited the you want to sub just to give yourself the convenience to play how you want. There's armor and weapons that you can buy that's actually beneficial to your character, not just some asthetics.

So as far as what you get for the sub in this game, I think it's great. You get full access to everything that matters.
Would I eventually buy something from the cash shop? Probably. Like an extra retainer or something. But at the end of the day, it's optional items and with or without it, your gameplay won't suffer.

[Yonanja]

I'm just waiting for when the cashshop contains all the armors, and the dungeons and tomes just gets you some "stat slab" you put in your equippment slots. I wonder if all the pro-cashshop people would be ok with that? And let's put all other mounts except the chocobo on there as well while we're at it. Afterall, it's just cosmetic and completly unneccessary to play and enjoy the game.

Hyperbole of course, but I don't see such a scenario as being totaly unrealistic in the end.

[bswpayton]

I'm just waiting for when the cashshop contains all the armors, and the dungeons and tomes just gets you some "stat slab" you put in your equippment slots. I wonder if all the pro-cashshop people would be ok with that? And let's put all other mounts except the chocobo on there as well while we're at it. Afterall, it's just cosmetic and completly unneccessary to play and enjoy the game.

Hyperbole of course, but I don't see such a scenario as being totaly unrealistic in the end.

I wouldnt actually care we already have unsync and thats essentially like giving stuff away if you have the patience same difference.

[Alleo]

Everything in this game is content. I love glamour, pets, mounts and I am not that interested in fighting or raids. Yet if I want a complete pet set (which I cant have anyway thanks to all these nice timed-exclusive real life stuff..) I have to pay money even after paying my sub. I am fine with features like name changing, Fantasia or world transfer. And I am also a bit okay with old seasonal stuff in there..(but the prices..) but I am not fine with getting more and more cash shop exclusive items because even though we dont have to buy it..if we want it, there is not other way than paying money. (I am kinda bad since I did buy mounts and pets from the cash shop..but if you are a collector its really getting hard..)

So if people are fine with those things being in the cash shop. Would you be fine too if they put the raid in there? Like if you want to raid you have to buy a DLC from the cash shop? I mean its content like mounts and pets are and its not done by a lot of people anyway. (And it must costs quite a lot to create it) Or would this be not fine because suddenly it would be something you want in the game?

And if somehow FF14 can only give us more inventory or housing or anything else if people buy from the cash shop..welp that can turn bad quite fast because this means that the subs themselves are not enough which means that if subs are going to drop or stay the same, we will see more and more items in the cash shop..but every customer has a line and the company should do quite well to not cross it because if they need the CS and people will just stop paying out of protest or even stop playing the game..well you will have a bad financial situation really fast. Never forget that without customers you will not earn money and in this times its probably not really easy to hold them.

[TaranTatsuuchi]

Reading this makes me feel dissapointed...