Problem with "Optional" Items in the Cash Shop

[Berethos]

Otherwise, why put any of that obtainable in the game at all?

To keep people playing the game.

Think about it - if they put a bunch of stuff just a credit card away, it disincentivizes players from sticking around to buy/craft/built/obtain/loot in the game through day to day gameplay...which happens to require a subscription fee to do.

Basically, the mobshop needs to not get in the way of the game itself, and offering too many of the optional stuff in-game would get in the way of the game. If it can't do that, then it harms the game, which in turn harms itself.

[odintius]

The day I'm on a main story mission and it prompts me with a message that to continue with mission I need to visit the mogstation to purchase (item) I'll be right there with everyone else saying wtf. Until then my wallet is safe >.>

[RaijinSupreme]

iirc the 2.x Hildebrand trials didn't drop anything besides the rewards tied to the Quest chains themselves, right?

I don't really disagree with you, they'd almost certainly never do this, but with the kinds of defenses people have for the Mogstation there doesn't seem to be any reason they couldn't and people apparently wouldn't get that upset.

Understandable, I just refuse to live in fear of what they could do when there has been no indication that they would. There's a ton of things that they could do to potentially ruin this game. If i stayed that paranoid, I'd probably just stop playing altogether

So far the mogstation has been purely cosmetic, and iirc it was the main reason why the EU was able to get their own servers. As long as things stay that way, then im cool. IF however they do decide to lock ACTUAL content (not dress up items and such, but fights, and anything with a cutscene) behind that paywall, then I'd get upset.

[Felis]

iirc the 2.x Hildebrand trials didn't drop anything besides the rewards tied to the Quest chains themselves, right?

Explain to the devs why a extreme version of the Hildibrand trials would be a good idea and then there will be weapons in it.

[Aramina]

The greater and much more interesting question is: "why would they let us pay to not have to even play it?!" because that's what cash shops are all about

How do cosmetic items in the shop make people play less? That doesn't even make sense.

adding to post because I hit cap...

What? it's simple -- imagine if the birds and ponies were only available in Mogstation. Bam! no one does old extreme primals outside of Wondrous Tails, which didn't even exist until several months ago.

That's how taking stuff that might serve a purpose in-game and locking it behind a paywall can affect who plays the game and how much time they spend doing it.

But they aren't in the cash shop. If we are still playing the "what if' game then sure.... but I was replying to the "...because that's what cash shops are all about" when it is clear that is *not* all they are about since that doesn't happen now.

[Yallaid]

How do cosmetic items in the shop make people play less? That doesn't even make sense.

What? it's simple -- imagine if the birds and ponies were only available in Mogstation. Bam! no one does old extreme primals outside of Wondrous Tails, which didn't even exist until several months ago.

That's how taking stuff that might serve a purpose in-game and locking it behind a paywall can affect who plays the game and how much time they spend doing it.

[Lathander81]

This is a fair but you are missing one key point. People play a sub game because I dont have to worry about thing being taken out to sell to me. Now look at this...eastern inspired items right before the expansion??? Why are these not in the expansion that people are paying for on top of a sub?? Could at least been in a collectors edition??? Also a $7 emote thats already in the game if you are a certain race??! The bombdance as 2 dollars and that was a full dance. They are walking down the path p2p with free to play features. Its not right for people who pay a sub, people who have addition retainers because they for some reason cant add space in the game, or for people who buy the expansions to have to pay for $18 for a two piece outfit!

[Cynfael]

The cosmetic cash shop has inspired fear, dread, and moaning since it was first announced, and yet we have not seen the devs stop introducing new cosmetic content into the game client proper.

While one could argue that these items could simply be placed into the game under the base subscription model, one could also argue that, without the additional revenue provided by the cash shop, the budget to implement some of the original cash shop content would not exist, and we wouldn't be seeing it regardless.

Unless one of us here has a direct line to the people at SE who work with this sort of thing, we have no way of knowing.

As for items like the Eastern-themed additions popping up immediately prior to launch, that's just intelligent marketing. People who are content to wait until 4.0 will no doubt have access to a ton of that sort of content already built-in, even if the cash shop items remain technically unique.

[RaijinSupreme]

What? it's simple -- imagine if the birds and ponies were only available in Mogstation. Bam! no one does old extreme primals outside of Wondrous Tails, which didn't even exist until several months ago.

That's how taking stuff that might serve a purpose in-game and locking it behind a paywall can affect who plays the game and how much time they spend doing it.

well technically, that's not likely to happen either. The birds and the ponies is the only reason why the replayability for the trials are so high. If they were available in the mogstation,

1) they probably wouldnt be as sought after, and wouldn't hold the same prestige they do now, and
2) its another reason why people would stop paying the subs, which would lead to less money being made by SE.

So essentially, its less profitable for SE to put those things, and other collectables like it, in the mogstation at any point.

[Claviusnex]

so by this line of reasoning, if they opted to keep a Trial fight behind Mogstation, we wouldn't have any right to complain because it's completely optional and doesn't impact the game/make it pay to win?

I think you made quite a leap. However a trial is playable content so putting it behind the mogstation would be going P2P in my mind. I believe this even if the trial wasn't part of any quest line. That is a far cry though from glamour, emotes or mounts. There are plenty of those available in the game so I see no reason to complain.

This is not a specific reply just my general opinion. At times I get the feeling that the main complaint with the cash shop is sour grapes. I can't afford it or refuse to use it so nobody else should be able to either. I say who cares. The point if the game is the playable content and the rest is just window dressing.