Online store prices are outrageously high!

[ElciaDeiLinus]

They seem pretty reasonable to me. $38 for a mount still beats $100-200 for a mount in ESO (if that, since it's largely loot box rng you may pay even more). You're going to be paying that or more for outfits in most games.

Also, you're going to pay to reduce thousands of hours of grinding and bypass myriad massive problems that other games put in just to make you pay- like items that remove xp loss from death penalties, teleportation items, items to instant rez you, items to increase xp gain/item drops because the game is designed to give so little that even while paying for all of them you're just barely at the rate FFXIV has at standard.

That's really the big win here- FFXIV isn't designed around a cash shop, which makes it an oasis in the endless sands of MMOs that put more development time into their shop then the game itself.

If the cost of having a game with content updates, in game cosmetics, and actual development time is a small, unobtrusive cash shop with prices that are at worst industry standard, and without RNG creates- I'd much rather stick with a sub model and small cash shop then see the game go f2p and stop putting out content updates like basically every other MMO.

SWTOR comes to mind- oh sure, it's great that it's f2p, but they've put out about as much content since they went f2p a decade ago as FFXIV puts out in a single patch. GW2 takes about three times as long to put out new content, and barely has patch updates between xpacs. ESO puts out frequent small patch DLC, all at a cost, and is supported by absurdly priced RNG and housing items in the $100s. BDO puts out a new grind spot once a year with a chunk of story missions- but it's all a thinly veiled ruse to have you grind new things- requiring all those scrolls and xp boosts and the such (and even with it all you're still grinding forever to accomplish anything).

Ultimately- in those games you can feel the cash shop, the game doesn't work without it. In FFXIV- the cash shop is unnecessary, it doesn't chunk out parts of the game to sell to me, it doesn't create bad game design to sell me the solution- so I'm quite fine with it being as it is now.

[StriderShinryu]

Are they too pricey for items in a game we have to buy to play and then pay a subscription to keep playing? Absolutely. Are they going to go down any time soon? Absolutely not.

[ZattanaWen]

Honestly, I hated the prices at first too, but I rationalize it a few ways.

First, I've been playing this game for over two years, and compared to many others, I'm still a relative newbie. I've already spent hundreds of dollars simply playing the game. Adding on another $40 for a cool mount that I could ostensibly be using for another two years doesn't seem an excessive burden in that respect.

Second (and more specific to me), while I've been playing FFXIV, I haven't really been playing many other games. So I have saved a bunch of money on new games that I otherwise would have bought had I not been playing FFXIV.

And finally, we all waste dollars here and there on pointless crap we don't need from time to time. Most people have a personal indulgence (starbucks, smoking, drinking, eating out a lot, etc.) that takes some of their money away each week. No better way to justify spending $40 on a FFXIV mount than by pulling the money from this personal indulgence budget. Skip a few trips to starbucks. Drop a pack a week for a few weeks.

People scoff at the notion of paying that much for a digital item that you "don't really own", but we probably will get more use out of it than a lot of other things we spend our money on.

[Ayuhra]

I think the prices would be fine...if they were account bound. 15$ for a one character outfit is just insane.

[Absurdity]

I think the prices would be fine...if they were account bound. 15$ for a one character outfit is just insane.

May I introduce you to WoW's 25$ race changes? Or maybe the 30$ faction changes? Or a nice 60$ (last time I checked) level boost for 1 character?



I can however agree that something like mounts and maybe minions should just all be account wide, increase the prices a bit for all I care as long as I would have it on every character, if I ever decide to make an alt.

[Ayuhra]

May I introduce you to WoW's 25$ race changes? Or maybe the 30$ faction changes? Or a nice 60$ (last time I checked) level boost for 1 character?



I can however agree that something like mounts and maybe minions should just all be account wide, increase the prices a bit for all I care as long as I would have it on every character, if I ever decide to make an alt.

WoW's character services are over the top but cosmetics are all account bound. There are no mounts, minions/pets or transmog/glamour pieces (for that one brief time WoW tried to sell those) that go to just one character. Yes, WoW is more focused on alts. You need to reroll to play another class. But still... FFXIV clearly has the ability to make things account bound. New characters of mine still get preorder stuff in the mail the moment the I make them.

The only things that shouldn't be account bound on Mogstation are the obvious things: Dyes, Eternal Bonding, jump potions, retainer jump potions, fantasias

[Jin-]

May I introduce you to WoW's 25$ race changes? Or maybe the 30$ faction changes? Or a nice 60$ (last time I checked) level boost for 1 character?



I can however agree that something like mounts and maybe minions should just all be account wide, increase the prices a bit for all I care as long as I would have it on every character, if I ever decide to make an alt.

Or WoW's free to change gender, face, eye color etc...

[Evrardoux]

And don't forget: These items were released at these prices during a huge economic recession with no end in sight for large swathes of the developed world.

[Ilenya]

And don't forget: these items all released at THESE prices DURING a global RECESSION caused by a pandemic.

And? They are all OPTIONAL items.

[ZattanaWen]

And don't forget: These items were released at these prices during a huge economic recession with no end in sight for large swathes of the developed world.

I can assure you that there is nobody on this planet who gives less of a crap about the price of an optional online-only flying carpet than people who were struggling during the recession.

I don't know what you thought your point was.