The virtual currency "Moogle Coins" in the FFXIV Companion app must be removed

[Ghastly]

Yeah this really feels like they need to fund the FFVII remake on the backs of FFXIV subscribers.

[Penthea]

Am I the only one not mad at this? The app and the servers it interacts with need to be funded somehow. Okay ideally it would be free, but lets be real here. It appears the app can do some advanced stuff. Most apps with this level of advancement have some sort of cost whether it's real money or advertisements.

The app doesn't appear to be remotely mandatory. Sure premium has perks but they look minor to me. Double the chocobo saddlebag size is nice but personally if I wanted more storage I'd pay for another retainer, not the app. A retainer has more storage and much more utility than a saddlebag. The app also increases the cap on retainers by one but most players aren't at the cap at all.

I'd say most players would struggle to argue that they need the app. I'm only going to get it out of curiosity, not because I need it. It literally does nothing I can't already do myself.

[Mikki]

Am I the only one not mad at this? The app and the servers it interacts with need to be funded somehow. Okay ideally it would be free, but lets be real here. It appears the app can do some advanced stuff. Most apps with this level of advancement have some sort of cost whether it's real money or advertisements.

The app doesn't appear to be remotely mandatory. Sure premium has perks but they look minor to me. Double the chocobo saddlebag size is nice but personally if I wanted more storage I'd pay for another retainer, not the app. A retainer has more storage and much more utility than a saddlebag. The app also increases the cap on retainers by one but most players aren't at the cap at all.

I'd say most players would struggle to argue that they need the app. I'm only going to get it out of curiosity, not because I need it. It literally does nothing I can't already do myself.

Or how about they just not have an app at all? This is an MMO which needs to be played on decent computers or a PS4. Why the hell do we need an app? I'd rather not have it at all, especially if this is what we're getting. Did anyone even ask for this? Jesus.

[Penthea]

Or how about they just not have an app at all? This is an MMO which needs to be played on decent computers or a PS4. Why the hell do we need an app? I'd rather not have it at all, especially if this is what we're getting. Did anyone even ask for this? Jesus.

Well you're not punished for not using it so if you don't like it don't use it. As I said already there is nothing about it that makes it mandatory.

I get the feeling the app may be more aimed at the japanese market. Their school and working hours tend to be far longer than in the west, so I can see how they might get great use out of it.

[Mikki]

Well you're not punished for not using it so if you don't like it don't use it. As I said already there is nothing about it that makes it mandatory.

I get the feeling the app may be more aimed at the japanese market. Their school and working hours tend to be far longer than in the west, so I can see how they might get great use out of it.

No, you ARE punished for not using it. Maybe to YOU it's no big deal but as a "market board PVPer" who already competes with bots it's absolutely a huge punishment to me. I'm studying for my degree in Japan and guess what? I'm at lab all day, so my time is limited as you mentioned. But that doesn't mean that I want to pay for some stupid app so I can update my stuff during lab. I'M WORKING, I shouldn't be playing on some app on my phone anyway. But now, as it stands most people update their price only when they're online. So at least when I get the chance to play, it generally isn't so bad. I can list an item and keep it up at the same price for hours. I can only imagine how much more often people will be updating prices with these new changes...it's really going to suck.

You can say it doesn't punish you but when your enjoyment comes from crafting/gathering, then yes. It does. There's just no reason for this. Paid items should not give advantages. Who do you think has the advantage in market board PVP? The player who can update whenever with their phone or the player who can only update when they can get online? Sure there will always be people who have no life and play all day but they're kind of a minority compared to people who only play a few hours a day. No big deal. But when literally anyone who is willing to pay $5 extra gets that advantage while those who are already at their limit of spending power at the sub + retainer fees....well, to me that's not right.

[LaylaTsarra]

But now, as it stands most people update their price only when they're online. So at least when I get the chance to play, it generally isn't so bad. I can list an item and keep it up at the same price for hours. I can only imagine how much more often people will be updating prices with these new changes...it's really going to suck.

You can say it doesn't punish you but when your enjoyment comes from crafting/gathering, then yes. It does. There's just no reason for this.

Can't you do this with the free app as well or am I missing something? This isn't some new announcement I think we knew this was coming for quite some time. And yeah it's a given in my opinion that undercutting and price cutting will become a lot more commonplace. One thing you can be sure of it that things will cost a lot less and people will make less money.

[Penthea]

You can say it doesn't punish you but when your enjoyment comes from crafting/gathering, then yes. It does.

A significant amount of my enjoyment does come from crafting and gathering, which has made me a very wealthy player, and I still say I won't feel punished for not using the app. I frankly don't check my auctions often enough to need it. I put stuff up for sale and recheck prices three times a day at most. I log in to play the other content in the game, not do "mb pvp" as you call it.

[Seyoun]

...but as a "market board PVPer"

You had me at "market board PVPer" <3

Back when the app was just in the rumor mill I dreamed of undercutting on the road, during lunch, randomly in the middle of the night, on the toilet - I was going to unleash HELL. But the way they're implementing it places me in the same position I found myself in back when I encountered my first microtransaction system back in GW2.

I look at things in terms of value for money exchanged and what that says about how a company regards its customers. In the case of GW2, I concluded their itemization model was consumer-hostile. Then I had a hard decision since I LOVED that damned game: I could stay and just not purchase gems or I could leave.

The problem with staying was I'd still be a material accessory to the business model. Players who do buy microtransactions wouldn't stick around for empty maps, dead WvWvW, and ghost-town cities. So even as a non-paying player, I'd share responsibility of the predatory practices of the company by helping create the community needed to keep the interest of players who did buy microtransactions. I dropped GW2 because I did not want to be part of that. I signed up for the ARR beta and never looked back...except for when blue/red scripts and concealed nodes dropped back in HW. That made me rage-quit for about a month and play the F out of some Monster Hunter 3G.

I'm watching what happens with this App very closely since it looks like there's a real possibility that I'll be put back in the same situation I was in just before I quit GW2. These words, from the liveletter screencaps on page 4 of this thread, are particularlly worrying: "Additional services for use with coins will be added in the future based on user feedback"

[Alleo]

Well you're not punished for not using it so if you don't like it don't use it. As I said already there is nothing about it that makes it mandatory.

I get the feeling the app may be more aimed at the japanese market. Their school and working hours tend to be far longer than in the west, so I can see how they might get great use out of it.

They still probably used FF14 budget for that. A budget that could have been used for more ingame content. WoW had a Auction app which was completely free. Saying that its not bad just because its not mandatory does not make a good argument imo. I mean savage is not mandatory for this game (dont need it to finish MSQ) yet I am quite sure that people would have problems if they sold it for money.

[reiichi]

Am I the only one not mad at this?

While I don't like the idea of needing special currency to use the app to buy/sell/adjust prices, it otherwise looks pretty good. I'm not sure if I'm willing to pay for premium, but the free features are around what they'd told us we could expect. We're getting a way to chat, a calendar, and we even got inventory arrangement. I'm not sure what else people would want in a companion app.

Especially since everything the app does, people could just do on their computer/ps4 while playing the game. It'll definitely help me be less productive at work.