I have read through the first some odd pages of this thread, so I have to apologize in advance if this has been raised already. But, I have to get to work soon and I'm dying to ask the question below.

I have played TERA and other MMORPGs myself, and I have seen the PLEX system in TERA. I have not played any other game which had a PLEX system, so I will just use TERA here as an example since it's been raised so often. I think it is much easier to farm gold in TERA than it is to farm gil in FFXIV. Because most of the top-level gear in FFXIV is untradable and only obtained through instances such as primals and raids, the rate at which one can earn gil in FFXIV is different to that of TERA. I remember just mindlessly killing anything around my level for a few hours and I would have some gold I can spend in TERA, but in FFXIV you are limited to ways of making fast money. Whether you choose to gather, meld, sell materia or farm using DoW/M, I still think the two games are hard to compare because of the vastly different ways you have to go about making money in them. Actually, I would argue even further that it is hard to compare FFXIV to most other MMOs I've played. In most games, monsters drop gear/money directly that you can sell or pocket for money. In FFXIV, you have to level DoL, DoH or at least a job you can take to spiritbond to gain cash.

I believe SE has already said that materia will be changing in ARR. Given that materia is one of the largest source of income presently, I expect there will be lots of changes to the economy in ARR. There are a lot of questions that one cannot answer for at the moment as far as a PLEX system goes. How do you price these PLEX items? If you price them too high, veterans will benefit more than others. If you price them too low, you are likely to cause a disturbance within the economy. What is "just right?" Given that FFXIV is a complex game, and likely to become even more complex, you don't simply sit there and kill any monster to make money like you do in other MMOs. While everyone does have the freedom to take up crafting and gathering, not everyone has the time to do this. Yet, without a gathering or a few crafting jobs, it is really difficult to make money. You can spiritbond but we don't know how materia will handle themselves in ARR. If you choose to ignore DoL/DoH, then you have to farm monsters for crafting materials to sell. You will have to compete for these camps in ARR, and I imagine on a much larger scale than you have to do now.

Are we then splitting the game into those with money can just sit and relax while watching their bank grow, but those without have to farm and compete? We are creating very different experiences, and I don't think that is how a good MMO should be. There are a lot of MMOs like that thanks to a pay-to-win system (cash shop) or whatever other form of real-money system in place, and they phase out overtime. They have no lasting appeal because of the ability to pay to win.

I like the idea but I think it is premature to assume it will work out well in FFXIV. FFXIV is a unique MMO where many aspects doesn't follow traditional MMO roots. I'd hate to wake up one day and find that a Final Fantasy game has been infected with a cash shop or cash shop-alike system. PLEX is a cool concept, but maybe it is more the more traditional MMO setting where anyone can make a feasible income without having to commit to crafting/gathering. The way it is right now, I believe a PLEX system will allow those with crafting and gathering jobs to completely dominate the market, because they have the ability to make a large sum of gil very easily. While it is fair in the way that everyone can level these jobs, not everyone has the time to do so and I believe the economy will not be balanced. Imagine crafters buying out every chronoscroll on the market and just re-selling them for profit. What's there to stop them since you have to allow these scrolls to be tradable?

It would certainly benefit me as I have nearly all DoL/DoH maxed, but I think it would cause a lot of newer players to turn away to other games, and since I love FFXIV, I would rather just not have a PLEX, at least for a long while.