Will no longer purchase optional items in response to statue emote

[Cinnamonpop]

I apologize for coming into the forums to post something so negative and long, but as this is important to me I have come to share it.

Edit: Because my story gave the wrong impression to a lot of people I want to say that I have already been given a refund. This isn't a woe is me post. This was me attempting to explain no matter how you may feel about something (in my case, a deep admiration for those who work on this game), you cannot be complicit when a company tries to take advantage of you. Should you do so, they will continue to take and take. I apologize that my story and not giving all information around the thought process of my decision and my life gave the wrong impression.

Tl;Dr: Companies will continue to cut the content they give to you bit by bit should you accept it each time. I think it's important to speak out when they do this. If you agree, please consider sharing your opinions below.

I won't go into my whole life story, but I want to express that this game has meant a lot to me over the years, and I will never stop loving it. Even though I have a lot of complaints over the game, I try to focus on the positives, out of thanks to all staff members who continue to work hard to bring this game to life.

Because of my appreciation, and despite my poor financial standings in life, I try my best to purchase optional items, ranging from the online store to merchandise. I believe a large reason why this game continues to only get better is not just from the increased experience of those working on it, but also from how much it gives Square Enix financially. The best way to support it is through giving more money is how I genuinely feel.

However, Square Enix is a company, and like any company it will attempt to take advantage of it's customers. The emote attached to the new statue being single character instead of account-wide is, to me, proof of this. It is already bad enough that this is the case for other physical purchases, but for this to be the case on such a steep purchase...

Despite my financial standings, and lack of a way to properly store or display this statue, I was willing to buy it out of my love for this game, and because the stars aligned to me having extra money I HAVE to spend (I'm on disability in the US, we are not allowed to have more than 2,000 dollars within our bank accounts at any given time, even if a circumstance giving us a financial increase is temporary).

I, in my foolishness, immediately bought the figure, believing the emote would be account wide like all the other figures. I have a lot of alt characters I actively play, which is one of the major reasons I could justify purchasing this. With this reason gone, and my personal stance against allowing companies to push the boundaries of what their customers will accept, I immediately put in a request to cancel the purchase.

We already buy the expansions. We already pay the monthly sub. Some of us, myself included, even buy the additional retainers every month, despite it being an extremely concerning practice. We purchase items that were once free in game, sometimes at a great cost when it comes to furniture items. We purchase items limited to just the online store. We purchase physical merchandise. We give so much support to this game, and I know the dev team tries to give us just as much in return. I love and appreciate them for that. The never ending quality of life updates, them listening to our direct concerns and addressing them directly at fanfest. I will never be unappreciative of these things.

All that said however, this decision on this figure to me is too far. There was no reason for it. When you take into consideration all we give to the game, there isn't even a reason for this on the smaller purchases, such as the art books and cds. If I was around when that change was made, I would've stood up against it as well.

When it comes to the financial decisions, you give companies an inch, they will take a mile. Companies will never be our friends, despite us being the ones they depend on. The only way to keep the quality and quantity of what we receive from Square Enix is directly tied to what we're financially willing to give them.

After I drain my remaining crysta on my account and receive the upcoming artbook my friend preordered for me as a gift, I will no longer be making even digital purchases for this game and I will be reducing the number of my retainers. Not until Square Enix either changes their decision on at LEAST the figure and issues an apology, or they give a proper solution such as making the emote purchasable on the online store in the future (and have it be an account-wide emote. If you can do it for mounts, I'm sure you can find a way for emotes). I will now refrain from purchasing any physical merchandise until they do the same for artbooks and cds.

Though this would not be required to regain my financial support, I would implore that after a certain amount of time, perhaps years, these items become available in the online store. The omega emote is listed at 5,000 USD on ebay because the statue is out of print... I know these things are meant to be bonuses, but bonuses to items that will never return is upsetting, especially to fans who come after. I would implore either doing another run of these items, or just putting their rewards on the store.

Thank you to anyone crazy enough to read all of this. You're a real one fr fr.

[Cinnamonpop]

(comment basically deleted because I didn't know you could get around text limit. Thank you xbahax92 for letting me know!)

[xbahax92]

First of, you can bypass the limit by editing your post.

Second, I'm with you. The emotes should be account-wide, even if they're just meant a small bonus.

[Oizen]

I'm not buying it because $400 for an emote is stupid and Endwalker as a whole wasn't all that good.

[Bonoki]

I'm not buying it because $400 for an emote is stupid and Endwalker as a whole wasn't all that good.

Meanwhile people on twitter are bragging about how they are preordering several statues for each of their characters. I always just assume those people are planning to scalpe the statues but honestly, I think some are serious too.

[RaideDuku]

I'm...finding it hard to feel bad for you. Sounds like you didn't even have a place for statue. or even wanted it, so you spent $400 on an emote. The statue is the thing you are supposed to be buying. The emote is a little bonus, not the thing you spend four hundred United States Dollars on.

You claim for love of...a video game? No video game, no matter how good, deserves that. Then you failed to do your research, and got burned. All for what? A pretty emote in a video game? Why for something that isn't even real. Something so...transient? One day, you'll either quit or the game will turned off. Then what? Then you have a plastic statue that you don't even care about. That, by your post, sounds like you're gonna toss in the garbage, since you don't even have anywhere to keep or store it. All for pixels and polygons that one day will dust and gone.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bit fan of online stores, doubly so if the game has a monthly fee. Unfortunately, in this hell blasted, corporate dystopian landscape that is this planet, sometimes you have to pick the thing that's the least shite. Hate to say it, but FFXIV is the one of, if not the, least shite. Not in defense of a corporation. Just simple observation from someone that's played MMOs for 20 some odd years.

This is your folly. Square Enix didn't put a gun to your head to buy the statue. They are a corporation, and do not deserve and couldn't care less about your "devotion" other then how much money you can give them. This is standard for ALL corporations. They will not love you back. They will not thank you. This thing is not something need for living. This is not something on the shop that costs $10 or so and buy on an impulse. $400. That's (a least a good chuck of) rent for a month. That's groceries for a month. That's...a lot of things more important than a 8 second animation.

Curse the corporation all you want. The onus is on you.

[Boblawblah]

Despite my financial standings, and lack of a way to properly store or display this statue, I was willing to buy it out of my love for this game, and because the stars aligned to me having extra money I HAVE to spend (I'm on disability in the US, we are not allowed to have more than 2,000 dollars within our bank accounts at any given time, even if a circumstance giving us a financial increase is temporary).

I, in my foolishness, immediately bought the figure, believing the emote would be account wide like all the other figures. I have a lot of alt characters I actively play, which is one of the major reasons I could justify purchasing this. With this reason gone, and my personal stance against allowing companies to push the boundaries of what their customers will accept, I immediately put in a request to cancel the purchase.

I hope you've learned a VERY important life lesson here, but somehow I doubt it.

[Cinnamonpop]

I'm...finding it hard to feel bad for you. Sounds like you didn't even have a place for statue. or even wanted it, so you spent $400 on an emote. The statue is the thing you are supposed to be buying. The emote is a little bonus, not the thing you spend four hundred United States Dollars on.
[...]

Curse the corporation all you want. The onus is on you.

While I somewhat understand, just because I did not have a plan for the statue yet does not mean I was not going to plan to do something with it. I have many friends who are collectors of physical goods (I'm personally not a materialistic person). A couple with birthdays coming up even. I was thinking about giving it to them, but hadn't one hundred percent decided. Perhaps I could get a display for it. Maybe start a collection from here. Once again, due to my disability, I have to burn my money anyways. Due to fortunate circumstances, I am not having to spend my money on bills or food for the next 2 months. The holidays have just occurred and I have received money from family that I am meant to spend on myself despite not being materialistic (hence why they gave me money instead of any items).

That being said, I understand completely what you mean. This post is less about "woe is me" though, and I apologize if I made it seem that way. The reason why I gave so much information is that I wanted to let people know where I come from, and how despite my love for the game I do not approve of their decision. I genuinely, GENUINELY think given how much people love and support the game that Square Enix should not try to take advantage of their playerbase for no reason. No other statue before this has made it's reward single character only. What reason is there for this change other than to try and give as little for as much money as possible? (and all of this is ignoring Square Enix's dubious quality when it comes to figures to begin with).


Plus I... literally lost nothing from this, as Square Enix was quick to issue my refund. The person who helped me was even kind enough to say that after they confirm my cancellation, after warning me that they can't promise it will be around after, that they would deliver my concerns to the company as I implored.

I once again apologize if my post did not come across as intended. I just didn't want to appear as someone who was complaining just to complain, or that I am ungrateful for the hard work of those at Square Enix, because I genuinely care about them probably more than I should lol.

I just think it's important to speak up, and encourage others to do so too. I'm not asking for more than what Square has given in the past, I'm asking that they stop diminishing what they give.

[Cinnamonpop]

To quote a reply I just gave to someone else:

Plus I... literally lost nothing from this, as Square Enix was quick to issue my refund. The person who helped me was even kind enough to say that after they confirm my cancellation, after warning me that they can't promise it will be around after, that they would deliver my concerns to the company as I implored.

I once again apologize if my post did not come across as intended. I just didn't want to appear as someone who was complaining just to complain, or that I am ungrateful for the hard work of those at Square Enix, because I genuinely care about them probably more than I should lol.

Oh sorry, I don't know how forums work and I'm not sure if this appeared correctly. This is to address Boblawblah.

[Saraide]

Yea I'm not paying 300€ or whatever for 1 emote and statue that will probably arrive with sword and wings snapped off.