Carbuncle mounts have arrived!

[Squintina]

They look cool, but I'll be voting with my wallet by not buying it.

We already pay for the game and the expansions. The sub is supposed to pay for server costs and new non-expansion content. This should have been some in-game achievement or farmable reward. I wouldn't care if it was in the cash shop in addition to the game, so people who don't want to farm can buy it, but having it cash-only (at 24$ per color!) is a slap in the face. I can afford to buy both (or more if they did it), but it's a matter of principle. I'm already paying for this game. Adding an in-game way isn't giving it "for free", because the sub is not free.

Some people view it as an upgrade, like leather seats on a car, I view it as several hours of gameplay (farming) taken away from me.

But then again I'm pretty much against anything that's cash-only and not a service, so I'm biased.

So I'm not angry at people for support SE and buying it, and I'm not angry at SE for putting it on the cash shop, I'm annoyed at it being cash-ONLY.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

So I'm not angry at people for support SE and buying it, and I'm not angry at SE for putting it on the cash shop, I'm annoyed at it being cash-ONLY.

I suspect if they did, people would still complain because of the inevitably tedious grind. It would be something to incentivize queuing into MSQ roulette once people can't rush ahead without everyone else or an enormous amount of leveling roulette.

[Kazgrel]

I suspect if they need, people would still complain because of the inevitably tedious grind. It would be something to incentivize queuing into MSQ roulette once people can't rush ahead without everyone else or an enormous amount of leveling roulette.

While true, I agree with the poster you had quoted in the sense that simply having some sort of option to obtain most all things on the cash shop via playing the game site would be nice. Obtain some massive amount of Odin Mantles and turn them in for Sleipnir, for example. People will complain one no matter what, of course.

[Stanelis]

I suspect if they need, people would still complain because of the inevitably tedious grind. It would be something to incentivize queuing into MSQ roulette once people can't rush ahead without everyone else or an enormous amount of leveling roulette.

And what about providing it as a reward for doing something fun instead of, immediately, thinking about gating it behind something tedious ? And people wonder why MMORPGs becomes less and less popular by the day.

[BillyKaplan]

And what about providing it as a reward for doing something fun instead of, immediately, thinking about gating it behind something tedious ? And people wonder why MMORPGs becomes less and less popular by the day.

Because they're giving you something otherwise obtained through real life money. If that came to pass they would be paying you. It would be a job.
That said, people's definition of fun is subjective.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

And what about providing it as a reward for doing something fun instead of, immediately, thinking about gating it behind something tedious ? And people wonder why MMORPGs becomes less and less popular by the day.

Per the person I quoted, this would be an alternative to purchasing it from the mogstation. If I could do a short quest, what incentive do I have to give them $24? You also realize these types of micro-transactions are not unique to MMOs, yes? Every genre has them in some form or another nowadays.

[Alleo]

Per the person I quoted, this would be an alternative to purchasing it from the mogstation. If I could do a short quest, what incentive do I have to give them $24? You also realize these types of micro-transactions are not unique to MMOs, yes? Every genre has them in some form or another nowadays.

There is still a difference between a short quest and an horrible grind. Make it something that might take a bit of a dedictation (something like one relic step or the whole weapon) and you will have people that might like to buy it but also people that are willing to grind for it without it being horrible or taking years to finish.

Also you could simply give us one color ingame and the other in the cash shop. Those that dont care about collection all mounts will be happy for that one one mount and the others that want a whole collection or just a different color can buy it. This way they will still earn money but give people the chance to own it ingame. Just like they did in the past with the birds and the magitek mounts.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

There is still a difference between a short quest and an horrible grind. Make it something that might take a bit of a dedictation (something like one relic step or the whole weapon) and you will have people that might like to buy it but also people that are willing to grind for it without it being horrible or taking years to finish.

Also you could simply give us one color ingame and the other in the cash shop. Those that dont care about collection all mounts will be happy for that one one mount and the others that want a whole collection or just a different color can buy it. This way they will still earn money but give people the chance to own it ingame. Just like they did in the past with the birds and the magitek mounts.

To be fair, most of the relic steps are a horrible grind. We've had FATEs will abysmally low drop rates, Books that required doing specific content, light farming which essentially resulted in spamming Garuda or A1S for several hours and etc. Bear in mind, I'm not advocating this be the alternative. I'm merely saying if they ever did make cash shop exclusives obtainable in-game, it will almost certainly be locked behind an arduous grind. They want our money and aren't going to make an alternative method of getting these $24 mounts easy, otherwise most people aren't going to buy them. The majority of cash shop mounts are either re-skins or old event rewards. Only three are truly exclusive. Releasing one for "free" and only putting palette swaps on the Mogstation won't net them a fraction of what they have likely made now. At the end of the day, that is their concern.

If I were to offer my own alternative. I'd say use the achievement certificate system. Such and such points allows you to purchase certain things from the Mogstation. Granted, I have little doubt the amount required would be... high, but it's still an option.

[Alleo]

If I were to offer my own alternative. I'd say use the achievement certificate system. Such and such points allows you to purchase certain things from the Mogstation. Granted, I have little doubt the amount required would be... high, but it's still an option.

I would love this because it would give achievements a better use. (Since veterans will probably own lots of the rewards already) But imo if they do that they should decrease the amount needed for veteran rewards to make it fair for those that dont own them.

[Stanelis]

Per the person I quoted, this would be an alternative to purchasing it from the mogstation. If I could do a short quest, what incentive do I have to give them $24? You also realize these types of micro-transactions are not unique to MMOs, yes? Every genre has them in some form or another nowadays.

And that's precisely why most F2P mmo are rip off (by either making you buy stuff in the cash shop or making you grind countless hours to get stuff), and FFXIV is walking down that road with XP and story skip potions.

It's just as if I were to build a theme park while putting the entrance 10 km away from the rides, and forbidding you the use of a car to go from the entrance to the ride. So that's you either would have to walk a long time to reach the ride you paid for or pay an extra to skip all the walking (which would be the microtransactions in MMO).

Nobody would go to such a theme park in real life.