As of right now, the policy in place for item restoration is one lifetime restoration per account. I certainly understand the value of having a policy like this in place, to save GM's time and to prevent abuse. In fact, I fully support a policy. That being said, the current one-time-only policy is inadequate for players.
Context
I recently purchased my new pair of credendum pants for my ninja. I accidentally purchased the 'aiming' version of the pants instead of 'scouting'. The entire right side of ninja gear is 'aiming', so at the moment of purchase I was confident I was making the right choice. After attempting to restore the item, I was told that I couldn't because I already used my one-time item restoration... in 2015.
I get it, I am the one who made the mistake in the first place. I am responsible for the initial mistake. Yet, this is a relationship between player and company and I feel that Square Enix isn't holding up their end of the bargain with their player base.
Systemic Flaws
This system penalizes players unnecessarily, and Square Enix needs to either change the policy or adopt a refund system similar to other MMOs.
As of now, there is no system in game to exchange an item purchased with tomestones or other special currency back to the vendor. Every other modern MMO has this feature built-in to the game. This is a quality of life change that should be included in the game-- and yet it is not. That means the burden to make up for this quality of life should fall to the game creators, not players. [For those unaware, systems in other MMOs have important qualifiers to getting this refund. E.g., within a two-hour timeframe, and it cannot be soulbound.]
While I understand the need to be careful when making purchases like this, expecting perfection in a game that doesn't demand it in any content except the highest level is unfair. This is my hobby, not my job. Sometimes, I'm going to make imperfect decisions. This is even more true for the end-game gear purchasing system in FFXIV. Many of the item systems are convoluted and item sprites look identical/similar in vendor windows. Again, the QOL isn't great in some of these item purchases systems, so my question is where the burden should fall.
The last thing is that as a customer, it's extremely disheartening to spend hundreds of dollars on this game over the last 8 years (and before!) on every expansion, subscription services, additional services like retainers, mogstation purchases, etc., and then to be told that the team will not be restoring my item. It really, really doesn't feel good. Is it really so burdensome for SE to do an item restoration once a year? once an expansion? In my 11 years of playing, I've only needed this service twice.
Splitting into two posts, for length!