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  1. #1
    Player
    starmike's Avatar
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    Voliska Talisaar
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    Do you need to pay for one desktop client (Mac/PC) if you have the other?

    Hi all,
    I wanted to put XIV on my MacBook Pro for when I'm away, and I already have it installed on my PC gaming rig. With pretty much any MMO, you pay for one license and can use both Win and Mac clients. However, when I installed XIV on my Mac, it asked me for my registration code, despite accepting my login/pw. Do I have to pay for the Mac version and all the expansions? That seems silly since they game is probably just C++/C# and like I said, other games allow you to use either client.

    Thanks
    (1)

  2. #2
    Player
    Enkidoh's Avatar
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    Enkidoh Roux
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    Balmung
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    Yes, the Mac version is a seperate version to PC (Windows) so it requires a seperate license that needs to be purchased (same with the PS4 and PS5 versions if you also want to play on console).

    You can use your characters and everything across platforms though when you've bought a license for each platform.
    (0)
    Quote Originally Posted by Rannie View Post
    Aaaaannnd now I just had a mental image of Lahabrea walking into a store called Bodies R Us and trying on different humans.... >.<

    Lahabrea: hn too tall... tooo short.... Juuuuuust right.
    Venat was right.

  3. #3
    Player
    starmike's Avatar
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    Well that's just ridiculous. Every other MMO that does cross-platform doesn't force you to pay for two clients. It's probably just an Obj C wrapper around the core C++ anyway.

    Do you have to pay for each expansion also, or just the main client?
    (1)

  4. #4
    Player
    Valkyrie_Lenneth's Avatar
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    Mar 2011
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    Lynne Asteria
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    Jenova
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    Quote Originally Posted by starmike View Post
    Well that's just ridiculous. Every other MMO that does cross-platform doesn't force you to pay for two clients. It's probably just an Obj C wrapper around the core C++ anyway.

    Do you have to pay for each expansion also, or just the main client?
    Can install windows on your mac to get around that if you want, otherwise, need to buy licenses for it, just like Playstation.
    (2)

  5. #5
    Player
    DPZ2's Avatar
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    Dal S'ta
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    Gilgamesh
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    Quote Originally Posted by starmike View Post
    Well that's just ridiculous. Every other MMO that does cross-platform doesn't force you to pay for two clients. It's probably just an Obj C wrapper around the core C++ anyway.

    Do you have to pay for each expansion also, or just the main client?
    The expansion prices will have to be considered. Be aware that SE clients are the only true 'cross-platform' MMOs out there, where the term indicates players are not restricted to a particular set of realms.

    The clients for Mac, PC and PS4/5 are definitely more than C++ wrappers.

    There is no extra cost to play from two different PCs, although you cannot play on both at the same time.
    (2)

  6. #6
    Player

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    pigzig pigzig pigzig pigzig pigzig pigzig pigzig land
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    yup
    mac version isnt even a real version too, its just running in wine
    (2)

  7. #7
    Player
    starmike's Avatar
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    Voliska Talisaar
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    Quote Originally Posted by _Pigzig View Post
    yup
    mac version isnt even a real version too, its just running in wine
    ....is it? I have Wine. Hmm...
    (0)

  8. #8
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    Packetdancer's Avatar
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    Khit Amariyo
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    Quote Originally Posted by _Pigzig View Post
    mac version isnt even a real version too, its just running in wine
    I suspect part of the reason it's a separate license is because Codeweavers does a lot of the Mac version's maintenance for them, and they need to pay Codeweavers.

    Because it's not the exact same Windows client as the normal Windows download; it is a variant compiled with optimizations for Codeweavers Crossover -- which, itself, is a WINE variant that has a lot of gaming-specific optimizations. For instance, stock WINE -- at least last I checked, though this may have changed -- does not support Metal on MacOS by default, so any DirectX emulation in WINE takes some performance hit; Crossover uses DXVK to translate DirectX into Vulkan 1.2, and then MoltenVK to translate Vulkan 1.2 into Metal, thus allowing the client to still use hardware graphics acceleration. So while as far as I know, FFXIV should run under WINE successfully, but I suspect the performance will not be quite as good as the Crossover variant is.

    Which doesn't change the fact that it's annoying to buy what is functionally more or less just the Windows client (and a Crossover license) a second time.
    (1)
    Quote Originally Posted by Packetdancer
    The healer main's struggle for pants is both real, and unending. Be strong, sister. #GiveUsMorePants2k20 #HealersNotRevealers #RandomOtherSleepDeprivedHashtagsHere
    I aim to make my posts engaging and entertaining, even when you might not agree with me. And failing that, I'll just be very, VERY wordy.

  9. #9
    Player
    starmike's Avatar
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    Voliska Talisaar
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    What about my second question - do I have to pay for just the main Mac client, or each expansion?
    (0)

  10. #10
    Player
    Valkyrie_Lenneth's Avatar
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    Lynne Asteria
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    Jenova
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    Quote Originally Posted by starmike View Post
    What about my second question - do I have to pay for just the main Mac client, or each expansion?
    You have to buy the same things you buy for windows. So to play now, complete edition, to play endwalker, then you need to buy that too.
    (1)

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