Retainers and lootbox gambling

[Raven2014]

I assume that is to help push the sales of the retainer level up stuff on the store. Buy a bunch of retainers, pay to get them leveled, then try and get what you are after in ventures. Repeat. I would never spend that money on the process but they have that stuff for sale so I am sure someone is.

Which realistically at that point I suspect a person would be debating waiting the weeks to level them slow, spending a lot of money to do it fast for a chance, or going a more dangerous route to get the funds to buy what they need off the market board.

You must be really flexible with the amount of stretching you're doing.

Like ... if you want to stretch it enough, just about everything can be inferred to have some nefarious intend behind it. Level jump is a service that has been around since the beginning of time and literally every single MMO has it. Also, the nature of the medium is always more char = more chance = more accessibility to content. I have 4 max level alt. Sure, that'll give me more free retainers but also:

- I can gear savage/tome 4 times as fast.
- I never have to grind for craft/gather materia 'cause just doing weekly I would be swimming in them with like 10-15 minute effort a week.
- I have so many tome to buy mat that I sell for profit.

And I don't even have to spend a single penny more than people who play 1 char.

And ... bunch of other stuffs. The reason lootbox is often frown at because it's very singular in its purpose. With lootbox you either getting what you want or you're burning your money, repeatably. Having alt or extra retainer give you a whole set of service that's not even remotely the same.

[Meowdyj]

Would say essentially venture coffers are a form of lootboxes. Players doing quick ventures hunt for these as they give random dyes, most preferably jet black or pure white.

[hydralus]

Specific issue comes up with items that can only be obtained via ventures. Like Young Water Lilies.
These can only be gathered by retainers.
The only way to get MORE retainers is spending real money.

Spending more IRL money, equals more 'rolls' on the venture lootbox, and a higher chance on getting an item you cannot get anywhere else.

Is this pretty much a lootbox scenario that other games get bashed for?

Yeah it is. Anyone saying otherwise is just coping. Is it as predatory as some games? Nah. Is it a lootbox system? Absolutely. But I don't think anyone's going to lose their rent check for paying for extra retainers.

Now fantasia addiction is a real thing.

[Venur]

Retainers just shouldn't cost real money in a game where you must buy the game and pay a monthly fee. Its a F2P feature usualy.

[UkcsAlias]

No because you get two free. (Three if you pay for the remote app). Loot boxes are typically scorned (Diablo immortal) when they are the ONLY way to get things in a game. Besides your own example shows these are all cosmetics. Basically no player power comes from it.

Most games that offer lootboxes, also offer free ones. This is not diffirent here.

But the effective way to measure here is how much gil it generates. And each retainer for that reason does generate some. So on that part it is a pay to win or lootbox mechanic where paying gives advantages. But a key aspect is: you dont need the retainers to obtain most items as they can be put on the market. And retainers are usualy still significantly slower at generating gil than crafting/gathering can generate. Sure they do take some of your time for this, but getting actual money also does.

But i do not see it as a lootbox mechanic because the retainers involve more features that matter more (selling slots and inventory). The ventures are just a bonus and a way to supply some resources. And it involves similar rng to trial/raid runs into getting rare items (except not demanding skill).

Lootbox mechanics often involve psychological issues in them, which cause people to retry and become jaleous etc. That is the reason why they are a problem. And in this game the treasure maps are closest towards a lootbox (and when buying with gil are truly a gamble). But this is also an expectation in an RPG. An rpg without random loot will just not feel satisfying to play as it makes the entire thing predictable/linear.

[Deveryn]

Retainers just shouldn't cost real money in a game where you must buy the game and pay a monthly fee. Its a F2P feature usualy.

They're mainly there for extra storage, which is a luxury more than a necessity.

[Toutatis]

They're mainly there for extra storage, which is a luxury more than a necessity.

If you are into crafting, it is very hard to only have 2 retainers. They also keep adding currencies to the game which fills up extra inventory space too. I created alts to get more retainers for storage.

[Deveryn]

If you are into crafting, it is very hard to only have 2 retainers. They also keep adding currencies to the game which fills up extra inventory space too. I created alts to get more retainers for storage.

Currencies have little to no impact. If you're talking about things like trial totems, that's a focus issue. Handle them one at a time and there's no storage problem to be had.

I'm into crafting and I had one extra retainer for a couple months as I got myself up to speed. I fish and I've never had an issue with storage as I focused on each region.

Someone will inevitably bring up dyes to which I'll respond that I keep pigments on hand and have all the tribes unlocked.

[Venur]

They're mainly there for extra storage, which is a luxury more than a necessity.

Well myself I use them to have all 3 gathering class and more selling slot. But even if it was only for more storage, it still something you usually see in F2P not in full P2P models.

[Hanaya]

If you are into crafting, it is very hard to only have 2 retainers. They also keep adding currencies to the game which fills up extra inventory space too. I created alts to get more retainers for storage.

this is me lol, I have 5 retainers and their inventories are all maxed out with crafting mats, random currencies/totems, and housing items since I ran out of space in my house storage.