SE Please implement a Chonoscroll/PLEX system in FFXIV: ARR

[Kiroh]

Yet you admit that the FTP types wouldn't join the game otherwise...

Take it however you want, what I said was there is no ADDITIONAL benefit to the developers other than the fees they would have normally collected for the accounts. Which is what some people have claimed.

[GodseijuroHiko]

Ok, let me explain very clearly why this is a horrible idea.

1.) It does absolutely nothing to support the developers, as some people seem to believe. The amount of these used by players who purchase them is directly proportionate to the about of people who buy them to sell to the people who purchase them. No new revenue is generated for SE, it simply shifts the subscription fees from one player to another. Which leads me into...

2.) It allows for a F2P option in this game. Not only does this open the community up to every 12 year old with internet access, it also encourages (even more than now if humanly possible) greed and competition between players and exploitation of game resources. (If you think RMT are bad, wait until you have 500 other players undercutting everything you try to sell to pay for their subscription.)

3.) It does nothing to stop RMT, absolutely positively nothing. If they can't make money selling game currency and U/U drops are the best gear in the game, you think they'll simply throw up their hands and say "whelp, we can't sell currency anymore, time to leave" instead of, oh I don't know, SELLING THE U/U DROPS maybe? RMT can and will sell anything in any game that players put a value on. If SE removes the value from gil, they'll just switch to selling items and powerleveling. That you believe RMT will somehow magically go away, or even decrease in number, is naive to say the very least. RMT don't care about how they make money, they will find a way to make money.

Read the entire thread. No one here said RMT will go away. The only people here are those that pretend we don't already have an RMT problem, and those that are willing to deal with current RMT and don't want SE to legalize it so they can maintain some sort of "moral..something.." It does hurt RMT. Also, I know people who won't play every month and will only be able to play if they have the spare cash that month to play. I learned about this in Tera and this is what they do to continue playing. Guess what, they continue to play because someone else paid their sub. This isn't a lets get rid of all RMT. This is a hey lets screw RMT over while benefiting SE and some of the player base. Since I don't wan't to spend my RL on fake money or need to pay my sub with gil, I don't benefit. I'm going to make an ass out of myself and assume that most of the against fall in that same boat with me and just don't want to admit to it. I would hate to lose my friends for a month of playtime just because that month they're strapped for cash. I see a lot of truth bending here.

[Zantetsuken]

There will be new subscriptions, just not a guaranteed monthly payment towards the game devs. It really is a broken system, even if the items were un-tradable, it would still cause for financial instability as it is not guaranteed that every subscription would be paying every month. With this, you are recycling that item, which generates no revenue at all.

Fair enough.. when the players get sick of spending gil, they might quit.. or they might start to pay...

Either way, its additional revenue coming into SE -- and potentially quite a bit if they get hooked.

[strallaalaa]

they are opposing gil buying in general, people enjoy investing time into playing a mmo and don't like seeing someone else in same gears or position in a game cause he payed. but in general they can just buy it from rmt out of game, but making it even easier for everyone in game is worse. it becomes pay to win. it becomes SE selling tons of things even if just cosmetic threw this system like gw2. i'm not paying a monthly fee to deal with these types of things.

[Kiroh]

Wow the mental gymnastics I see trying to defend this system are astounding and idiotic...

If anyone here thinks this will harm RMT, you clearly have not checked any RMT sites or played any other MMOs in the history of ever.

RMT do not make money because they sell currency, THEY MAKE MONEY BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR ITEMS IN THE GAME THAT HAVE VALUE TO THE PLAYERS.

[axemtitanium]

Ok, let me explain very clearly why this is a horrible idea.

1.) It does absolutely nothing to support the developers, as some people seem to believe. The amount of these used by players who purchase them is directly proportionate to the about of people who buy them to sell to the people who purchase them. No new revenue is generated for SE, it simply shifts the subscription fees from one player to another. Which leads me into...

I would respectfully disagree. At absolute worst, the number of "paid for" subscriptions would stay the same. On the other hand, the OP brings up the valid point that it definitely speeds up and simplifies the process of "paying", because it's an in-game mechanism rather than using the unequivocally terrible Square Enix Account Management System. This would make it easier, not harder for people to impulse-buy subs, and if Amazon One-click is any indicator, this would lead to more sales.

2.) It allows for a F2P option in this game. Not only does this open the community up to every 12 year old with internet access, it also encourages (even more than now if humanly possible) greed and competition between players and exploitation of game resources. (If you think RMT are bad, wait until you have 500 other players undercutting everything you try to sell to pay for their subscription.)

The lower the price that the subscription-item costs, the harder it is for RMT to profit from the game, so market competition (or undercutting, as you put it) here is good. It also lowers the amount that PLEX-buyers can make from spending cash, which is also good for "fairness". Also, the "F2P option" here is certainly NOT available to any 12-yo with internet access because it requires time and dedication to actually make the money needed to buy the subscription-item.

3.) It does nothing to stop RMT, absolutely positively nothing. If they can't make money selling game currency and U/U drops are the best gear in the game, you think they'll simply throw up their hands and say "whelp, we can't sell currency anymore, time to leave" instead of, oh I don't know, SELLING THE U/U DROPS maybe? RMT can and will sell anything in any game that players put a value on. If SE removes the value from gil, they'll just switch to selling items and powerleveling. That you believe RMT will somehow magically go away, or even decrease in number, is naive to say the very least. RMT don't care about how they make money, they will find a way to make money.

Please see the last paragraph of my post.

[GodseijuroHiko]

Ok Ok! I get it now. People want to keep FFXIV pure. Pure: No 12 year olds, no gil sellers, no gil buyers and most of all, universal fairness. Seems reasonable. With that in mind, lets continue~

[axemtitanium]

Great post. Good to see someone that understand the system and can argument about it logically between all the fearmongering of those that don't even try to understand it.

If you like it, you should link or copy it in the OP so it's not buried on page 17

[Mamakat]

So... because I asked which side he would be on of the system he is fighting so hard to sell people on, and what in game price he would pay for it... I attacked him? Ok. I think it was a valid question, and I'm not sorry.

I'll ask everyone here that is in favor of this system: If you were going to buy this item, how much would you be willing to pay for it, in game? If you're going to sell it, what is your $10/$15 worth to you in gil?

[axemtitanium]

There will be new subscriptions, just not a guaranteed monthly payment towards the game devs. It really is a broken system, even if the items were un-tradable, it would still cause for financial instability as it is not guaranteed that every subscription would be paying every month. With this, you are recycling that item, which generates no revenue at all.

Actually, you pay for the PLEX item up-front, not when it's used. Thus, if there are 100,000 PLEX items on the market (bought at $10 each), Square has already made $1,000,000 even if that game time never gets used. Obviously they will get used eventually, but it makes no difference to SE if they're used or not. The item disappears after use so there's no way to "go back" on the purchase. And why would you pay gil to buy the item if not to use it or sell it? It's not doing you any good languishing in your inventory.