Just say no

[Ilyrian]

Yes, this is another thread - and hopefully one of many.
I encourage you to post your own one.

What SE is doing with this new patch is a cynical and divisive move, aggressive and thoughtless. The one thing that we all have in common is we love Final Fantasy and are happy to subscribe to FFXIV because we enjoy this game and in turn are happy to pay SE for this product.

This game has been on the edge of exploitation for a long time - so close to the nonsense they've been pulling (or at least trying to) with the other arms of the company but until now it hasn't been as blatant.

This is bad and should be called out.

I don't know what to do - I won't pay for the app, yet I don't want to be in a game that sets this up as a thing. I don't think it's right - and I think as a community if we let it slide it will be the first step on the way to the end.

This is a bad day for this game, for us and our community.

[Mikki]

I completely agree. We need to stand up and be loud.

However, after talking to my boyfriend (Japanese), I'm disheartened to hear... the Japanese community is mostly POSITIVE about the announcement. 75% of people polled said they would be happy to pay for the app and some even said they would pay MORE. When I expressed my concerns to my bf, he told me that the player base they target in Japan is mostly adults with a steady income, where this is their only form of entertainment and so they have no issues to pay for it and have the traditional mindset of Japanese people where paying more = quality.

So we really need to push back hard if we want to make it clear that the western player base won't stand for it. But seeing the feedback from the Japanese community.... I'm not sure if it will make a difference. :/

[Nightroad]

We can shout and rant as much as we want , but they will ignore us.....

All we can really do , is vote with our wallet.

[Jybril]

Well with what Mikki said is true, we can forget about doing a damn thing. Homefront comes first.
Japanese love mobile anything as it's their forte and preferred way of gaming and stuff anyways.

[Vhailor]

Don't support the app. Don't support the Mog Station. Hell, don't support SE's other titles - both published and internally developed - or at least not at full price. That's what I'm doing. After all, my subscription is likely helping fund their development costs for other titles anyway; why shouldn't I wait for a discount?

Peer pressure is also valuable here. The items on the Mog Station are appealing partly because they elicit 'oohs' and 'aahs' from fellow players. "Hey, where'd that glowing Carbuncle mount come from? It's awesome!" Instead of reacting this way, either keep quiet or, politely, shrug and point out that you don't support shameless cash grabs. Get people thinking.

So we really need to push back hard if we want to make it clear that the western player base won't stand for it. But seeing the feedback from the Japanese community.... I'm not sure if it will make a difference. :/

A negative backlash could theoretically push SE to limit the Mog Station efforts to Japanese servers. Blizzard does this with some of their titles; the Asian versions are very much distinct from NA / EU versions in terms of monetization efforts. It shows an astuteness that SE simply lacks.

Honestly, though, I'm still leaning toward the idea that this is simply corporate greed at work, be damned player feedback. They've done similar monetization shit with other titles they've published, too; timed Xbox exclusive for the second Tomb Raider game, a companion mobile app and crappy tacked-on DLC for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, etc. Those are titles marketed at NA and EU audiences more than Japan, and yet they're still tone-deaf. I suppose it's possible that they are well and truly ignorant of cultural differences, but I suspect they're intentionally abusing these practices to make a quick buck.

[Lilseph]

Speaking of which, what's the reaction of the JP community in regards of this APP?

[Mikki]

Speaking of which, what's the reaction of the JP community in regards of this APP?

I just said in the second post, lol. It's positive. :/

[Minerva-Redwater]

I'll be downloading the app, it's optional to pay you don't *Need* to pay. The features even for the free plan is worth it.

[Belhi]

I suspect long threads with many posters would probably hold more weight than many short and threads, most of which will drop off the first page pretty quickly.

Honestly I understand the need for supplementary revenue streams. Subscription revenue is constant and reliable but hard to grow without raising the cost of subscription which greatly limits the ability of a development team to grow or improve the features and content of a game. Some people seem to treat it like some vast ocean of wealth but it isn't. MMOs are very expensive and frankly some of the most cost to profit ratio poor products a game developer can produce. There popularity has been on the decline in the west as well which only makes them less appealing to investors. Thus if consumers of these games want more from them, then there will be the need to improve revenue to cover the higher expense.

Not all monetisation is bad. Some is healthy for the game. It needs to increase the funds that the game can use to pay for further development. However its definitely an area that easily leads to problems and monetisation that is bad for the game. Personally I feel this App might be stepping over that limit. For a long time the retainer system has been... questionable but this feels somewhat more blatant and open to development that may make it worse. This is an area SE really needs to handle carefully and I think they missed the mark here. The App isn't a breaking point, at least for me, but it does take their monetisation methods in a direction I find concerning.

[Musashidon]

just so you know SE bases feedback on the size of a thread not the number of threads.

so instead of making a lot of threads you want one huge thread, which is normally what happens when the playerbase is out raged (example pretty much every time new housing is released)

right now there has been almost no outrage 2 threads that are only 15 ish pages with maybe a total of just 10 people argueing back n forth.

it's currently not enough to make a dent.