"Add all DLC to Cart" - Mogstation Cash Shop is akin to a Train Simulator Price Tag

[KenZentra]

Train Simulator. Regardless of what release of the game, the price tag is what has made that game series notorious. Some releases with all DLC included could be $2000, $3000, or even more than $10,000 in a game about trains. Crazy right?

On the FFXIV Mogstation, there are about 695 Items you can purchase at this time of writing. (12/18/2023)


The most expensive option is 5 Vials of Fantasia at $45.
Second is the Lunar Whale Mount at $42
Third is 5 Copies of Tales of Adventure: One Retainer's Journey III at $40.50

The least expensive is the base wedding plan, since it is free. Otherwise, its tied with single pots of dye at $1.00 USD.

If you bought at least 1 of everything available to purchase (this includes single items and sets that could include those single items, totaling 695 items), it would cost around $5,417.36 USD.
If you bought at least 1 of every Online Store Exclusive Item (this includes single items and sets that could include those single items, totaling 281 items), it would cost $3,290.96 USD.
If you bought every level boost and story skip (this includes single items and bundles that could include those single items, totaling 26 items), it would cost $546 USD.

Im currently working on what each category costs rather than the total of everything together.

What are your thoughts?

Personally, I think its awful that so much is in the cash shop. We have so many avenues for items to be introduced to the game. Such as that one vendor in Gridania that uses the currency you get from achievements to get rewards. Another point, many of the glams do not support Viera and Hrothgars, which you'd hope that if you paid real money for something it'd be held to a higher standard.

Many of these items can be put on the Marketboard for in-game currency, creating a way of buying gold though it has an additional step to that whole song and dance, but more or less being official RMT. I was mistaken, I thought the Dye on Mogstation and its counterpart on the Marketboard were the same.

[Musashidon]

Many of these items can be put on the Marketboard for in-game currency.

which items can? most items are made specifically untradable and unmarketable. i guess maybe the dyes they sell?


secondly it doesnt bother my in anyway its more revenue for the game to insure its continued updates.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I don't think anything on the Mogstation can be sold on the market board.



The dyes from it are different items from the ones sellable.





Also, a lot of those items are useless to many. I have every event item from playing the game. All my jobs are already leveled.





So this post is somewhat disingenuous.

[TheMightyMollusk]

If you don't like it, don't buy it. Nothing in the shop is necessary to play the game.

[Stormpeaks]

If you don't like it, don't buy it. Nothing in the shop is necessary to play the game.

"you can either look terrible or you can shell up the money, you dont need to look good in the game you can just look terrible for free !"

[ty_taurus]

"you can either look terrible or you can shell up the money, you dont need to look good in the game you can just look terrible for free !"

I am absolutely in the camp of wanting more unique glamour sets to be rewards in-game rather than simply mogstation items, but I'm not against mogstation glamour entirely either. I don't agree that the only way to look good is to "shell up the money." There's a lot more variety with in-game sets than there are mogstation sets. I do use some mogstation sets myself, but I also use sets off the mogstation as well. It's just not being charitable to suggest that the all the gear available in the game is entirely terrible and there are no exceptions, which is what this sentiment implies.

[Avoidy]

"you can either look terrible or you can shell up the money, you dont need to look good in the game you can just look terrible for free !"

This is a wrong way to go about the critique imo, because it just opens you up to people saying (truthfully) that there are nice glams in the game.
The real issue with the cash shop is that this game is already buy to play and subscription based with an extremely minimal/scarce content rollout schedule (a major update every 4 month means 3 updates a year). Some games go free to play but have a cash shop full of skips and mounts and pretty clothes to fund its regular updates (maplestory for example). Some games are buy to play and then have optional monthly subs that you can use to get extra benefits while also having a cash shop with outfits and time savers (bdo for example). But then you have other games, like this one, where they have the audacity to really try and have their cake and eat it too. These people want you to buy the base game, buy the expansion when it comes out, pay every month, *and* there's a cash shop, while the content rollout resembles a game that's preparing to enter maintenance mode. That's my point of contention at least. There are 3 monetization methods discussed here: b2p, monthly sub, cash shop. Most games do 2 out of 3. Square does all 3 and then where does the money go? People say they're fine with it because the money is going back into the game, but is it? Content rollouts taking longer, jobs getting dumbed down, more and more stuff being arbitrarily removed from the dev cycle, whole staff departments pulled to work on other games. Like let's be real; XIV money is used to fund other projects. Which is normal for a company to do, but some of you guys haven't realized it yet or choose not to.

Anyway that's the issue imo. This game's got 2 solid monetization methods, but it opts for a third while the game's pretty sparse and could just use that content in the game. And then the money they generate seems to just go anywhere but here.

[TheMightyMollusk]

"you can either look terrible or you can shell up the money, you dont need to look good in the game you can just look terrible for free !"

I've never bought anything from the shop except for a pack of fantasias, and my glams are fine.

I swear, if hot takes were spices, yours would be flour.

[KenZentra]

secondly it doesnt bother my in anyway its more revenue for the game to insure its continued updates.

I suppose that makes sense in a way, but overall we either have as much content as we usually do or less of it. So I'm not sure where this money is going in terms of keeping the game alive? Is that not what a subscription is for?

Also, a lot of those items are useless to many. I have every event item from playing the game. All my jobs are already leveled.

There are plenty of items that have not been released through an event, and just because you say they are useless to many does not make it true. Customizing a person's avatar and by extension their houses/apartments is what many say is the "True Endgame". Jokingly or not, how you look in-game is a big deal to nearly everyone and by extension their housing decor. Just because you have everything leveled, or even already own everything does not mean the size of the cash shop isn't an issue.

If you don't like it, don't buy it. Nothing in the shop is necessary to play the game.

Even if you put aside cosmetic only items which are important even if they are not necessary, boosts are in the shop which expedite the process of leveling and even story progression. You could argue that alone makes it pay to win in way, as a newer player will not have access to areas that make leveling crafters, gatherers, and even Jobs easier, as well as access to some of those jobs.

Not that I think anyone is outright, but I don't see how anyone could justify having $5,400+ worth of stuff on a cash shop.

[Musashidon]

I suppose that makes sense in a way, but overall we either have as much content as we usually do or less of it. So I'm not sure where this money is going in terms of keeping the game alive? Is that not what a subscription is for?

in short no. if maybe this was a game studio that only had this mmo i could say sure but this is SE it has to hit a quota and make money to help future projects outside of this game that is the reality of it or the game will eventually be considered dead and the last thing we want is FF11 were you pay a sub for a left for dead game.