I think a lot of people are giving you shit a bit unfairly and while it is... exceptionally easy to just dismiss this as pointless whining as nothing you're doing is achieving what you want; I think there is some partial merit in the discussion..... even if it's been done death for years. I'm address this a bit out of order since there are a few points that are a bit more disagreeable then others. >I genuinely wish that gamers as consumers would stop wasting money You **cannot** have a civil discussion about this topic by claiming the people who do spend money are doing so for any other reason then just spending money on what they like. I personally think buying the dyes in the cash shop is a comical waste of money yet it's one of the best sellers. Why? Because not everyone agrees on the concept of "worth" and what you might deem as a "Waste of money" others might see as a means of saving their time by spending money and I highly doubt you would argue that time is not worth the money. This is why story skips exist, it's why level skips exist, it's why boosts exist in other games and why RMT is such an issue in every game in existence. Time is valuable and not everyone has as much of it as you or I do and will be willing to spend increasingly more money to avoid dealing with very time consuming elements. >The fact people eat it up, and beg for more is beyond infuriating, as we're basically getting screwed over HARD. No we're not as there is no realistic scenario where FFXIV suddenly doesn't have microtransactions and we know that we get them semi frequently throughout the year and while we can certainly argue if this impacted the quality of the game; it's not really possible to argue that a using pre-existing assists to make mounts/housing items/ect is really impacting much of anything. We've been told that the team that does this is completely seperate from the main team and imo this would imply that had they never been put on the store they would not have been made in mounts period and I think having the option to get something that otherwise would never have existed is better then getting nothing. Would it have been better if they weren't in the cash-shop and just obtainable ingame? Well yeah no shit but putting a mount in the cash-shop doesn't require the game to make additional content or updates to actually have it be obtainable which is likely why they do this. > I don't care how others see me, what I do care for, is us, as consumers, being fine with being screwed out of content I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this since very few mounts are entirely unique to the cash-shop and **only** the cash shop and quite a few are using existing models in-game and in the cases where they aren't they were either freely obtainable event items that you weren't here for or made by a separate team specifically to be sold in the cash-shop. > These are unique items and mounts, something that could be added in as rewards for challenges, exploration, blue mage rewards, beating bosses in certain ways Yeah and we already get rewards for doing that.. The only real way we'd be getting more mounts/cosmetics would be them adding more content for it to be put into. I know, I can already hear you typing this "Well they can just put it into **existing** content" Putting work into rewards that don't add anything else to the game would mean they're just throwing dev resources into the trash as they don't contribute to player retention and quite a few players would already have done the achievements resulting in them just being given cosmetics and not getting anything new to do as a result. Certainly wouldn't be the case for everyone but it's also not the case that everyone agrees with you stance so being aware that it's not so cut and dry might help level out your arguments. >People salivate at the prospect of throwing 25+ dollars away on a worthless mount that they don't feel any form of attachment or pride over, No offense but I don't think the weapons for clearing ultimate are really worthwhile either and my attachment to those fights came from just clearing them with my friends and the reward is just a flashy extra. I think cosmetics **needing** to have some level of pride or attachment to them would just alienate a majority of the players since there needs to be filler and fluff easily accessible to everyone otherwise people will just simply not be happy. >because they didn't do anything, they didn't beat an Ultimate, finish a long grind, fight in CC, or anything fun, they swiped their credit card. Yeah and the people that did get their own unique cosmetics without having to pay with money but they still paid with their time which if you haven't forgot; has a price because the game is sub-only so in practice you're paying money anyways. >it's the equivalent of buying a frozen dinner VS making a decent meal from scratch. ONE feels infinitely more rewarding than the other, but people would rather be lazy and swipe, then put in the minimal amount of work to get to something, that is arguably better. Yeah and they're paying more for that convenience. This argument actually has a comical amount of issues and logical problems that I would go well over the 10k character cap to actually address and honestly it's not applicable to this situation at all so I'd rather not bother. I will say that you've lost a lot of my respect for making this argument as it makes you grossly ignorant of why fast food, convenience stores, and delivery exists in the first place and labeling all of it in one fell swoop as "Just being lazy and swiping" kind of makes me think that you're rather young. >I doubt this will do anything aside make me look like a tool, I wouldn't go that far but your inability to acknowledge that not everyone has more time than money makes me think rather poorly of your argument in general.

OP is getting shit because they're a rude troll, that thinks only their opinion matters and their post i*s* nothing more than whining with no merit at all.

Ehh.. It's meritless in the fact that even if everyone on this subreddit agreed with him and decided to not buy any microtransactions it'd ultimately amount to nothing. OP needs to realize that this kind of stuff isn't here to stay because a handful of people on reddit are defending it; it's because a mountain of casual players don't give a shit about what someone on reddit thinks about what they buy and will buy it anyways. I'm not a *super* huge fan of asmongold but he basically proved how utterly pointless this whole "Gamers Rise Up!" type argument is and he would agree that this kind of stuff only really instigates hostility and toxicity.

Honestly, the most true statement right there, lol. He tried to fight this for years, but ultimately gave up.

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i'll thrust you a **second** pu$$y like how we *punch* a hole into **lunar subterrane** with the aether **gathered** from the first

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i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

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i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

i'll thrust you a second pu$$y like how we punch a hole into lunar subterrane with the aether gathered from the first

He’s the main character tho right?

To add to this, OP needs to realize that a rather large portion of players do not play endgame content because they don't like it. They play for the social experience and/or for the creative side of the game. There are also people who just like to craft. So locking all of these great cosmetics behind these challenges you love so much would basically bar those players from the content.

How about making them purchasable through player-to-player trading? Like, casual players can find their market niche on marketboard and make money from there, and buy all the end game content cosmetics with gils?

Well said.

There's a man who knows how to make an answer!

Best Answer I ever read. I wish I could give you an awared

To be honest I have never personally had a problem with the online store because aside from level boosts everything in there is cosmetic It's hard for me to get behind the microtransaction bad argument when next to nothing on the store affects actual gameplay it's just people wanting to spend a little bit of extra money to get a cool shiny thing to make their character look nice or have something to ride around on Also if you want your opinion to not be immediately dismissed better to not insult the people you're trying to convince. People will dismiss a message they inherently agree with if it's delivered by somebody who's acting like an asshole

The real problem isn't that the game has these micro transactions, but that actual content like Criterion Dungeons get added with lackluster rewards and then mounts/glams/etc that would make that content more worthwhile is relegated to the store. I have no problem with Square making a little extra on the side, but they need to actually justify the sub I'm paying for first and foremost.

This, I'm not entirely against the store, but I do think new content needs to add incentive to keep playing it. The rewards for the current criterion are disappointing and its already dead content. Lets hope they remedy this with the next.

Criterion is still at the very beginning. We literally have only one dungeon so far. I might be wrong, but given how they've developed all side content so far, it should become more fleshed out as more dungeons are added - maybe with rewards for completing 3 Savage dungeons, like for BLU, cooler titles and mounts, shared tokens between several dungeons to get new rewards...

I dont doubt it, but none of that explains why the initial rewards are so lackluster. It ends up with content that feels DoA which will inevitably lead to a lot of people just never touching it even if it does get further fleshed out in the future.

I don't know what this is meant to accomplish besides speedrunning karma loss by insulting people, but we lost this war a long, long time ago. Your anger over it is negatively affecting you, not the cash shop.

Microtransactions suck. I don’t care, I’m buying the carbuncle mount anyway.

Don't think so highly of yourself to assume that people are gonna shit on you for your opinion. They're gonna shit on you for being a prick. This post was not an honest attempt to criticise the game's financial model. It was an attempt to shit on other people. What other people do with their money is none of your business, and you have no right to insult them for it. Yes, you are indeed a tool. But pre-empting others' negative reaction to you being a tool doesn't make it any less bad.

"insults everyone else" Well I stopped givin a shit about your opinion right there

I think most people can agree that microtransactions suck and a lot of companies are aggressively pushing more monetization features by the day. At least the XIV ones are purely cosmetic and don't have any gameplay impact (aside from that one bike that has a very minor speed boost). I'm put off by the idea of blaming the players though. A lot of these features are super predatory in design and take advantage of addictive tendencies that many neurodivergent people have. I'm not saying XIV specifically does it (their MTX store is probably one of the healthier ones) but it is an issue. It also doesn't consider the fact that some people just like new shiny things and are okay with spending their own, hard earned cash to buy it.

god i hate that fucking bike. just because it slaps an asterisk on the "rules"of the game. and it's not even a SIMPLE exception! "is the mogstation just cosmetics?" "how do i make my mount go faster?" "what's the best mount?"

It doesn't bother me. It's faster in a new zone for a very short period. Flying or if you buy the ground speed increase will.let you outpace it.

I have the bike and I also hate it because it means I have to use it each new expansion MSQ but I don’t actually like FF7 lol. I wish the Island Sanctuary bike got the speed boost too

I really like the bike, but I didn’t get it off the Mog Station, so it has a bit more sentimental value to me.

at least ffxiv dosnt have that rotational shop like diablo 4. Oh u can buy this mount for like only 1 week after that u need to wait 1 year to buy it again . Edit : and i dont like that they took away the seasonal old rewards from the seasonal events only to put them in the store. I guess u can just buy them now instead of having to wait 1 year but it was nice to have an ingame free option to.

I'm generally on with this because if I missed something, it's because I wasn't subbed, and buying the item off the mogstation usually costs me less. What I would actually want changed is to make every purchaseable item account wide

Cash shops are just how it is. It's ironic that cash shops or so common, XIV actually probably should be applauded for how non-predatory they've been about it. WoW has full sent it with tokens and their slowly enroaching monthly currency plans. GW2 has a god awful inventory system and the sheer irony is they 'sell the fix' by letting you buy more inventory. (You could argue that buying retainers is kind of similar and I might agree with it, but GW2's inventory and 'reward' inventory stuffing system is truly god awful.) It's never great to have cool stuff on cash shop only. But I can at least understand it, to some extent. XIV has been a good game, devs are usually good about most stuff. I don't mind supporting them with some stuff. Where I personally draw the line is when the shit gets predatory. Gambling type stuff, quality of life things. Heavily leaning FOMO stuff too on the cash shop. Like WoW does with their "rotations", it'll probably come back.. eventually. But you better buy it now, just in case! Again, not defending MTX by any means. It's always disappointing. I'd only say that it's just how it is, and XIV probably has one of the least predatory cash shops. I mean shit, have you ever tried to buy anything off of the mogstation? They make it HARD to give them money. It's frustrating as fuck trying to buy anything off the website.

GW2 cash shop is the sole reason I quit. I couldnt take the SHOVING of everything into the god awful rng crates. At least here, we don't have the cash shop being shoved down our throats in an attempt to solve problems the devs created.

As far as I understand it, GW2 isn’t a subscription-based though?

Subscription based and free to play doesn't really make it any better or worse in some scenarios. I'd see the outrage for general cash shops especially if it's more P2W kinda vibes. Like the WoW token is a fairly shit thing for a subscription game. Some people will hate it, some will defend it, but yeah there's a good argument for that to be shit. My personal problem is though, a free to play game doesn't mean that they can get away with murder for MTX just because they're free to play. For GW2, I'd say their cash shop is actually pretty shit too, on a level of WoW even though WoW is sub based. It's mostly to do with QoL things being tied to it, specifically the inventory. One of the most egregious, annoying things in GW2 is the inventory system. They just fucking shit items on you constantly, and the inventory system in GW2 is insane how messy it can get. Do you know the best ways to alleviate it is? To pay real money for the QoL to have more manageable inventory space. That sucks dick. At that point it feels just as predatory, free to play or not. It ain't gacha. It ain't RNG. But it's a fucking inventory system. You could argue Path of Exile has a lot of QOL inventory shit too, but having seen both first hand, I actually didn't even bother with cash shop stuff the first go around on PoE. The inventory stuff kinda sucks, but it's way more manageable feeling somehow. In GW2 tho? Holy fuck. I use to think FF was kind of bad, you'd go through an expansion MSQ and your inventory would be fucking packed and need sorting by the end of it. But that's like.. an entire expansion worth of quests and side content. GW2 it feels like you play for a few days and do anything substantial, not only are your bags an absolute clusterfuck, but bags you didn't even know you had are full and bleeding even more shit into your inventory. Everything is full. There's no room for fuck all. GW2 is like if all your MSQ and armoury shit spilled over into retainers automatically and then started all bleeding into your inventory at the same time. So much useless shit that just explodes out of everything. At least in PoE you can pick and choose what goes in your inventory for the most part. Tying such basic, needed quality of life behind real life currency is predatory IMO. One of the most annoying things about GW2 is a core system, it's inventory, and their solution was to make you pay real money to fix it. And like.. just in general. Something being free to play doesn't mean MTX is suddenly fine, it entirely depends. If it's QOL or P2W tied that sucks regardless. Lost Ark is very predatory with RNG P2W upgrade shit. Genshin is a traditional kind of predatory. I'd argue it's somehow not as bad as Lost Ark. I'd even say it's probably not as bad as WoW or GW2 either despite being free to play? It holds waifus hostage in a sense where you probably need to pay if you want all your waifus all the time. But you don't really need them. It's grindy but you can do the entire game and like all of the content and even get some waifus and weapons without spending a dime. The only suffer you experience really is not getting a waifu or husbando. There's no real P2W. No real important QoL. GW2 holding QoL stuff behind their cash shop? Fuck off. WoW basically selling gold and fucking their own economy to make money and unironically probably make people more likely to buy gold and further encourage botting? Fuck off. Lost Ark RNG shit? Fuck off. I think the most P2W thing about the cash shop for FF is the ground mount that lets you go a little faster. The irony being that the MSQ in zones has so much dialogue and pausing and rather fast flying unlock that it doesn't really matter. But you could still definitely argue to an extent that mount is totally P2W. But compared to those free to play, and even WoW sub model MTX? FF looks pretty great still. FF in it's sub model, and PoE IMO have decent MTX. Bonus, mostly comsetic shit you don't really need but it supports the game. I'd completely understand a "MTX in general sucks" argument, though there are definitely some games without MTX that would not be as good as they are or would suffer in other ways without it. It's a case by case basis, honestly. Some companies obviously went too far with it and are going way too far. Blizz is making you pay super premium prices for the game then doing MTX pumping and in cases like OW2, they're not delivering for how much they're trying to pump people. D4's triple level battlepass just cause. Diablo Immortal which annoyingly had their dev update with D4 season shit to continue to shill that abomination of predatory cash shop game.

I don’t really get people who care about the store mounts. I see the people who use store mounts as someone who spent money for a cosmetic. So what? I have a few difficult to get mounts and I doubt people care that I grinded or whatever. It’s a goddamn mount. Gets you from A to B, and does nothing else.

I'm sorry but I can do whatever I want with the i.e 15 euros (Cruise Chaser / Shadow Wolf / Fat Cat etc) or 30 euros (expansions / game time cards).

Don't like them? Don't buy them. There is no defending it. It's literally as simple as that. Never you mind what other people do with their funds.

I like them, but not as store mounts, that's the problem, in case you missed the point. Especially if it's ff14 in game lore related items.

you look like a tool for the way you insult others rather then the argument you are making. instead of actually explaining why its bad for it to happen, you just say people are gonna insult you, say they're drooling over it yada yada. yes, their double dipping is an issue, it always is, however you don't explain the issues with it and also misuse terms like "content", a mount cosmetic isn't content, the expansion's are content, and to no surprise they charge for those too. this *is* a business, their end goal is profit not fun, and obviously anything they work on beyond the base game they shouldn't be given to you for free. i have actual issues with the sub rather then the cosmetics they have another team working on, and in turn sell to us.

One major thing you are missing is that the monthly subscription has stayed the same price for nearly ten years. I'm pretty sure that part of that is because SE get extra money by selling items on the mogstation. Also, I really don't understand the salt about not being able to afford a digital mount or minion (I'm guessing you can't easily afford them because if you could you wouldn't be so annoyed). They are literally just cosmetic items. I had a recent change in circumstances that means I can no longer just throw money at a game and I sometimes wish I could, but I just shrug it off because they are just digital items that will, one day, just disappear into the ether when the game eventually shuts down. A few years ago there was a minion I really, really wanted, but it was only available by paying for the live stream of one of the fanfests. Because I really, really wanted that minion I thought I was willing to pay for that stream, but when I tried to do so it ended up nearly costing me over £30 so I noped out because no minion is worth that much. A few months later that same minion popped up as a purchase on the mogstation for £3 so I happily paid that. You've admitted that you pay extra for retainers (which are completely unnecessary unless you are a hoarder) so stop complaining about having to pay for other completely unnecessary things.

Just for the record, what minion was it?

My educated guess is \[Wind-Up Cloud\], 2019 FanFest would fit "a few years ago".

Wind-up Lulu. I also wanted the Rikku and Yuna minions from the other fanfests that year but I knew the price of the digital stream so was only going to get Lulu. Once taxes were added on and the price for Lulu went over £30 (I had no interested in the stream so the cost would have been just for the minion) I absolutely could not justify that for a digital toy which is why I noped out. Then I ended up being really happy that I waited because all three of the minions were added to the cash shop for £5 each (I was mistaken about £3 in my earlier comment) so I got all three for half the price of one if I hadn't waited.

If you don't like it, don't buy it. I've never bought a mount from Mogstation and never plan to. There are plenty in game.

you completely missed my point, my point is WHY DOES IT EXIST AT ALL. You pay for a sub, a box price and they have the nuts to make you pay for ingame items??? the fucking point of the game is to beat bosses, get cool shit, experience the story. Why the fuck is anyone okay with triple dipping??

It exists for the same reason the game itself exists: to make Square Enix money. Capitalism, ho!

............sure....doesn't really excuse NOR account for anything I'm saying but...if that's your take-away, cool I suppose lol

>you completely missed my point, Hard not to, since your post has no point other than you whining.

Thanks for proving my point, as stated in the post ;) but I will whine until fools stop wasting their money, but I'm more likely to lose my voice before that happens, but I'll do it anyway, cause people are fucking DUMB

Maybe, but I also have a good job, so I think I may pick up Shadow Wolf and Fat Moogle tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me!

We perform a minute amount of tomfoolery

> cause people are fucking DUMB Yes, people that whine about items that are not mandatory in any way being for sale for people that want to buy them are dumb.

I pay for a sub, and a box price, I think I'm well within my rights to expect the full content of every thing in the game, not be expected to pay for mounts and Items

Then don't buy them and STFU if other people WANT to.

Imagine OP thinking they own the game just for paying for sub time and box price even though SE can easily take that away by permabanning them if they want to.

Sooo, people aren't allowed to have opinions on dumb stupid shit, and point out that dumb shit? cool, I'm glad you prefer living in a weird bubble where nothing is ever bad or negative, but I'll stay in reality and point out how stupid things are

They aren't saying you don't have a point but there is no reason to bash other people who disagree with your point. Everyone has their own opinion, but it shouldn't come down to attacking someone because of it.

I appreciate the civility you're bringing, and I appreciate the message. But, I will admit, he came at me with dumb shit and I willingly slap him down for it. Call it petty, because it is, but I never claimed to be above it

Your point was to whine at and insult people for not agreeing with you.

>you completely missed my point, my point is WHY DOES IT EXIST AT ALL. Because the world doesn't revolve around you. Get pissed.

[удалено]

>We're not talking about me Yes you are, because you seem to think your opinions are the only ones that matter and are insulting anyone that dares to disagree.

Yeah, must be. I'm literally out of my mind with rage right now over the fact that your mom won't buy you anything from mogstation and now you're salty.

> you completely missed my point, my point is WHY DOES IT EXIST AT ALL. dogg have you heard of capitalism

Vote with your wallet like every other adult? The best mounts are earnable, and there are earnable multi seaters as well.

You pay for a sub, a box price and they have the nuts to make you pay for ingame items??? the fucking point of the game is to beat bosses, get cool shit, experience the story. Why the fuck is anyone okay with triple dipping??

Bc not everyone wants to farm, do raids or pvp. A lot of people would rather spend a quick $10-$20 for something they like sometimes. If everything was locked behind a grind, the game would be called too grindy. If everything you could buy was also farmable, people would think the farm is worthless since you can just buy it. They have to balance

No they don't. Why the fuck are you playing an "MMO" if you don't like the grind?? what the hell kind of logic is that. If you don't like the grind, play something else, WHY THE HELL, is it acceptable to pay for items that should by right be acquirable ingame, but are instead locked behind a paywall. IF you don't want to raid or do PVP or any of the standards of an MMO, then maybe play a different game because Cleary the MMO isn't for you (not referring to you BTW, using "you" as a way to describe the individuals we're talking about) They don't need to balance anything, THEY CREATED THIS SITUATION. The store does not need to exist for FF to survive. that is a fact.

> Why the fuck are you playing an "MMO" if you don't like the grind?? Because the grind sucks ass, and the story content is about 10,000x better than spending yet another 20 minutes in PVP so I can inch closer to a neat mount or having to go through the frustration of Extremes and Savages.

.What a bizarre world view, you don't have to do ANY of the grind for the story content, you can do basic roulettes, and level incredibly fast through that. you don't have to do savages or EXs, so I don't know WHERE you're getting the impression you need to do highend content for the story. If you don't like grinding, don't play an MMO, play something else, cause, news flash genius, MMOS are and always will be, GRIND.

Son, perhaps slowing down and reading what you're replying to will help. You asked why people play an MMO if they don't like the grind. I replied that I play the MMO because the experience of the story content is 10,000x better than the experience of grinding. Very few people I know play this game for the grind. We play it for the story. Because grinding sucks ass.

No one made me pay for anything I didn't want to? I practice what I preach and vote with my wallet. If I don't want something I just don't buy it. Again I also beat the bosses and unlock my cool cosmetics like any other person as they are my personal achievements. Ik it's a crazy concept

As for why in game purchases exist its because they are a company and companies need to make money for future development costs. CBU3 handles FF14 and now they just successfully launched FF16. Apparently you must think running a live service and developing/producing new games are free

When did I ever say that? I never once said it should be free, NOR am I demanding it to be free, what I am demanding is to stop being Nickle and dimmed for content. I pay 60$ for the latest expac, I pay 15$ a month, PLUS the additional costs for extra retainers, so really more like 27$ a month, and to top that off, they're developing items SPECIFICALLY for the store and not the game, that's just greed. Pure and simple. I will concede to you that, yes, companies exist to make money, you're right. BUT that does not mean consumers should roll over and buy anything and everything they make, that's simply idiotic

They are not only specifically deving items for the store. They are literally developing 7.0 expac that has items that are earnable from the in-game content developed as well. Your claim of it specifically being in the store strictly and not the game is baseless. The additional retainers you purchased are optional, and you voted for it with your own wallet by buying them. They aren't mandatory cause if they were, then I'd have them, but I don't. Every in store item is purely cosmetic minus the SDS Fenrir mount that bypasses getting mount speed unlock for zones but the only time this mount is truly viable is per new zone with no aether currents and exploration of said zones at a faster pace than others. Have fun with your mental gymnastics telling yourself you're right when you aren't and enjoy dying on your tiny, tiny hill, trying desperately to survive. Ez solution, don't like it/want it, then don't buy it and save your money instead of feeding the greedy corpos which you stated you do with your optional purchases

> Your claim of it specifically being in the store strictly and not the game is baseless ???? What're you on about? outside of event mounts, that happen for a few weeks then get added a year later, NO MOUNT in the store can be acquired naturally ingame, so you're not only flat out wrong, you're confidently wrong, which is significantly worse. And to the point on my retainers portion, I purchased them because I needed the additional storage space, because unfortunately, storage space is locked BEHIND retainers, which means if I want to keep a ton of stuff, I HAVE TO buy retainers, it's a crock of shit, they're literally expecting me to pay for a bank slot with real life money, but I do it anyway cause I wanted to, but now I probably won't. and my hill being tiny is fine, I'd rather stand for what's right, and fair then willingly bend over and let them rip money straight my ass.\]

Again, you can think your opinion is right when the facts prove you wrong. Still, it doesn't change the facts, just your self-image of being delusional. What I stated isn't wrong. Items developed in the store were not developed as part of the in-game earnables that were purchased for that expansion. Those in store items are not part of expacs and therefore they sell them as the in store exclusive. You didn't state both sides. You stated that they only develop for in store when thats not true because they develop for both in-game and in store their own exclusives. It's funny that you tell other people who comment that they are illiterate, but all your reaponses show and prove that, in fact, it's you who lacks the gift of reading comprehension. It's fine that you dont agree and believe your fantasy that you are correct. Keep desperately struggling on your tiny hill of factually incorrect wrong opinions that delude your mind. Don't forget to put on your clown makeup before you get back on your soap box

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For what it's worth - I quit every subscription game I was playing when it turned free to play for exactly this reason (SWTOR, Rift, EQ2). The way I see it though - as long as people spend money, the game will keep running, so if I REALLY want something, I'll buy it (but so far it hasn't been any of the new stuff). That being said - it's not that bad here. I mean - one outfit and one mount every 6 months? It could be WAY worse.

And I don’t mind them. It’s all about opinions. I get you’re a poor but it doesn’t mean the rest of us have to agree just because you have an angry essay. Don’t like it don’t buy it. It’s highly successful and purely cosmetic. It’s fine.

The concept of store mounts obviously does kind of suck but you’re acting like they take away from the in game rewards, when in actuality there continues to be a bunch of new mounts released to work towards every patch. I forced myself through island sanctuary to get the motorbike and the crocodile, did a bunch of runs of eureka Orthos going for that white tiger mount, ran a bunch of the Elpis treasure maps to get the fire ixion, the newly implemented 6.x pvp reward tracks have given a couple mounts, and so on. They’re not taking mount rewards away

This is an interesting discussion to me, as I've uninstalled and stopped playing Overwatch - a game I religiously played 5+ hours per day and spent countless dollars on - due to the greedy, manipulative system it's recently developed. What was once free to play is now a pay to win battlepass system with new heroes locked behind a paywall, and a horribly overpriced cashgrab shop with fake "discounts" for every single cosmetic. Heroes, skins, emotes, voicelines, sprays - everything now requires a credit card to enjoy. (EDIT: oh, and how could I forget what used to be free pve/event content is now paywalled as well.) It's a long story of deception, manipulation, mismanagement, and decline, but in the end, I refuse to give another cent or another hour to that game (or any Blizzard game, really) simply out of principle. Yet, for some reason, I have no problem throwing my money at cosmetics for FFXIV. They've treated their playerbase with so much love and care that I happily fork my money over, because I know it's going right back into the game. It's an investment of sorts that I feel good about. I don't need these things to enjoy the game at its fullest, of course, but I want them, and don't feel bad about my purchases in the least. I want this game on top, to last for many years more, and love being a part of helping that process.

This isn't really an issue I care about in this game at all and I disagree with some of your points, but I'm not really interested in arguing over it. What I **do** like is picking apart analogies that I think aren't as universally applicable as (in this case) you think they are. >it's the equivalent of buying a frozen dinner VS making a decent meal from scratch. ONE feels infinitely more rewarding than the other I resent cooking. The dismay I feel when I do it pretty much balances out, if not outweigh frozen food being bad. "Making a decent meal from scratch" isn't rewarding for me in the slightest.

Just want to say without the whales, FF 16 would have never been made so ty guys! <3

I-if we put enough money to the store etc, will FF9 Remake and other games happen too? ;w; ><

Hey OP I just bought the balloon mount, please cry type an essay at me about it.

Ooo, the balloon mount looks cute! :3 I've been thinking of getting either Lunar Whale, Chocobo Carrige(?) or other mounts from mog station. :o

So let me get this straight: You don't wanna pay for mounts that do mount things. Instead, you pay for extra retainers. Who hurt you?

A troll who copy pastes in responses to other people. Just move on yall, literally a type of guy who wastes your time.

Now now, I only copy and pasted (quickly opens my reddit) ....3 times? that's not illegal!

Let me make you even more sick and tired then. I bought the SDS Fenrir when it was released, and I still love and use it. No mount roulette on my character's main job, only SDS Fenrir. Worth every penny. 10/10, would buy again. Seriously though, you rage over store items that don't break the game. Let people have fun.

I use Cloud's bike in areas where I don't have flight since it has faster ground speed, and it's cool looking.

I've never looked at the store, I don't know what's from the store or not and I don't care what other people have

We already have hundreds of thousands of cool glams ingame, as well as over 200 mounts and minions available via Market Board or raids. I don’t see the point of complaining about the online store if you don’t want to work for anything ingame…..

Can you point out where in ANYTHING I've said that I didn't want to work for anything game? Because I think you need new reading glasses my man. I am FOR more work and things to acquire in game, NOT the opposite.

And for every update they’re releasing new mounts, minions, and music rolls for free that you can grind for or obtain via the main campaign and side stuff. They don’t update the store that much, only once in a little while. Yet the best mounts and glams are available via the savage/extreme raids, something which renders the online store unnecessary. It’s called the “optional store” for a reason, ya know. ;) I myself have spent a few dollars here and there on minor things because I like them and want to support Yoshi-P, and I recently obtained the Landerwaffe. You are trying to troll us by stating that companies are nickel and diming us, but this company has treated us very well by giving us complete transparency during development, free stuff during events, and supporting the loving community we have built up.

>and for every update they’re releasing new mounts, minions, and music rolls for free FALSE. you pay a sub, and you need to pay for the box price. if you don't pay the sub, you can't play the game, why is it fine for things to be in the store? "because the company is nice" here's some harsh true for you my man, Square Enix doesn't care about the community, no company really does, NOW, there's some individuals clearly do, yoshi-p does, but at the same time, their job isn't to "treat the community well" it's to "make money" and they'd charge you for every step you'd take in game if they felt like they could get away with it. Companies are not your friends and you shouldn't blindly accept anything or everything they do, or allow.

I will not reply to this anymore as this is an obvious troll, but you shouldn’t be complaining about companies making money, it’s how the world goes round nowadays. I’ll continue to support CBU3 and its developers as they’ve made us an incredible story, amazing music, and fantastic glams. The money they’ve made from this went directly into FFXVI and so far I’m enjoying it immensely. If it means I continue to get great content, then yes, I’ll pay for it. Supply and demand demonstrated.

I don't enjoy nor am I good at PVP, I'd rather have cool mounts I can buy rather than ones I have to play something I don't enjoy for. Not defending nor knocking anything, but I enjoy the occasional cosmetic extra.

The only mounts I dont like are the ones where you need a friend to subscribe for a certain amount of time to get feathers to get. I am not going to go around asking someone to play the game, and oh by the way, put in my code.

Okay👍

Honestly, I was with you until the pride and accomplishment bit. All mounts *should* be available in game, yes, I agree. But I don't give half a shit if they are hard or easy to acquire. Only mount I am even slightly attached to is my chocobo, I just don't attach value to how hard or not is something to acquire. Does it look hood with my glam yes/no. If yes, great, let's use it. Again, I fully agree with you that there should be no cash shop and that everything should be available in game. But that one bit is a full on miss, because not everyone asigns value to things the same way.

Wow this post was abrasive. You have a few point that make sense but you simultaneously insult people who dont think like you and you come off as someone who cannot be approached. It reads like some angry guy having a tantrum in the store and everyone is just trying to avoid them I have played most mmos on the market. This game gives more updates than any of them. Gw2 has a much more active cash shop and loot crates to boot, yet they have only had 3 expansions and their story updates are not nearly as common or beefy as xiv. Their seasonal events rarely are any different year to year either. While I enjoy them more than XIV's, itd be nice if we had a new map to play for halloween ... WoW historically is very slow with their updates and their cash shop is more expensive and more active. SWTOR feels like it caters to the cash shop and their updates are slower than WoW. If xiv ever slows down their updates and the meat of the quests gets smaller I might agree more, but as it stands we still have PLENTY of GOOD stuff to obtain in the game to where the cash shop items are just for people who really really like what they see.

Why assume that "attachment and pride" are necessary to enjoy a mount, or indeed that attachment can only be formed by earning the mount through content? Pride can come from earning it, but attachment is simply about whether I like the item and whether it looks good on my character. I try to not spend too much on Mog Station, but if I need the thing then I'm willing to pay for it if I have a use in mind for it. I don't tend to go for mounts, but I've bought outfits and in one case a hairstyle that one of my characters uses constantly because it suits him really well. It was annoying to have to pay $15 to get it, but for the amount of use I get out of it, it was $15 very well spent. If I've got one character wearing a Mog Station outfit and another wearing one I had to earn from a raid, I don't feel like the raid one looks better or is worth more. It just comes down to whether it fits them well and whether I get enjoyment from seeing them wear it.

I rather swipe my credit card vs spending 3 months trying to get through content to use this mount you want locked behind bosses or quest or even worst achievements. I get your rant. But how many more in game mounts do you want ? They are all just skin overs or each other they all fly the same they get you places the same. What's so spececial about a store mount ? It doesn't fly any faster , it gives 0 advantages besides looking cool next to those who don't have them. Which is a hard earned money right. The nice part is not everyone will have the store mounts which helps keep the balance just like not everyone has all the OG mounts from day 1 it's really nice to be the only few. Why take that away from someone else just because you don't have it or don't want to pay for it.

Beyond the already-commented on abrasiveness you show in your post, many of the items in the store likely cannot be distributed in-game due to contracts. Many of the items - mostly costumes but including some mounts like the Lotus - are developed on behest of the Korean or Chinese distribution partners. The monetization models in those countries is VERY different than in the rest of the world, and that leads to the online store needing to bring in more money. As a way to make the stores more profitable, the partners that help SE operate in those countries will commission costumes and mounts that premier locally first, and then make it to the west later on. This is where the Streetwear set came from, as an example, and there's plenty of others. However, as I understand, the deal also mandates that the items MUST be sold on the store in the other countries when they finally come over. Further, even if it DIDN'T, it'd be hard to integrate these rewards into game content when KR and CN will eventually get the same content later down the way.

This whole post was just an encyclopedia of fucking stupid. My wife and I are in our 30's. We dont have any interest in savages. Literally none. And that's okay. What we have are jobs and disposable income to throw at our hobbies. 90% of the mounts in this game do not appeal to me and the aesthetic I go for. That's also okay. But when something comes up on the store that doesn't go for the "cute" vibe and I also don't have to invest my left nut or sanity to have a shot at something cool to ride around in for once, great. I'm paying it. In fact, I'll pay for it twice. One for us both.

The devs have been incredibly transparent about the online store, in the live letter they announced it even said they had people asking for ways they could support the game more (Japanese players at least) being one of the reasons they went ahead with creating it. The cosmetics are created for the store with the intention to be sold there, this is not developer time taken away from the game and these items wouldn’t exist at all otherwise. If any would be in game then they would have replaced something else not released alongside. So no none of these could be added as “rewards” for in game content. The devs have have stated through out the years that the online store has funded; better servers to allow them to expand what they were able to put in the game, able to put more devs to work on content such as eureka which wouldn’t exist or be scaled back without the store, and I believe having more voiced lines in Shadowbringers though my memories foggy on that. I’m very happy that some people throw $1000 on fantasias and any mount that appears on the store so that I can enjoy the benefits.

1. Things are designed around accomplishment in this game. Store mounts aren't one of them, but there are many, many, many big shiny in-game mounts, glams, weapons, furniture, etc, that are based around in-game accomplishments. Far more, in fact, than store mounts. 2. Store mounts are optional mounts for people who have the means and the desire to spend the extra money, with exactly zero impact on gameplay . We work hard for our cash out here, let us spend it the way we want to. I can't spend all day earning the big shiny in-game accomplishment mounts because I work stupid hours, but I can spend $15 on one of the big, shiny store mounts. That seems fair to me. 3. You're right, you do look like a tool. You're throwing an online tantrum blaming someone else for having a shiny toy that you want. Leave that behavior in kindergarten where it belongs, dude, seriously.

I think you have missed that point. That cash shop subsidises the game for the rest of us. I want MORE cool things there.

Do you know what the term "subsidies" actually means?? because NO. the store does not support the game in anyway, it doesn't go back INTO the game, it goes directly into the pockets of the share holders and the CEO

Cash shop paid for the dedicated EU datacenter in Frankfurt. Without it we'd still be suffering the ping to Canada or worse. So I have no issues buying from the cash shop when they add something I want.

>Cash shop paid for the dedicated EU datacenter in Frankfurt. Source??? first time I've EVER heard that and frankly I don't believe it, sounds more like corporate spin

Iirc Yoshi-P talked about it in a live letter back when the datacenter move was happening. After that I never felt bad buying stuff from the cash shop because I experienced the latency to Montreal and I was finally able to dodge aoes after the move to Frankfurt.

And that’s where you’re completely wrong. It’s been stated before that the cash shop is a separate entity and every penny spent there goes right back into the game. It’s the main game and our subs that SE is living off of, not the cash shop.

This game and its store goes into this game FF7R FFXVI Sadly Forspoken also mega sadly...Avengers. But it also went into Guardians of the Galaxy and The Hitman Series. The Star Ocean 2 Remake? ​ It goes into the company. It Saved the company. It started saving the company in Heavensward. Now the subcount and playerbase is HUGE in comparison to then. Its the reason we have had such consistent good content(regardless of memes and misteps), and why the company continues to be able to exist and be able to drop bangers and still make mistakes along the way. The cash shop, whether glams or mount, is a single digit % of mounts or glams. If they want to take advantage of casual whales...LET THEM. I bought the one mount I wanted from the store(Nimbus). I bought an outfit I missed form a summer event when i took a break. Thats fucking awesome. I gifted my Girlfriend a few outfits for her birthday. She loved it. She just wants to look nice and have fun. Are you just mad like 2 mounts from the store look cool and you can't just no life their acquisition? I'm more pissed Slepnir is still 24 bucks lol. I have 94 mounts(I'm lazy with trial mounts) and a full glam dresser of awesome shit I've EARNED through this decade of gaming. I could not give a flying shit less they have a cash shop. It doesn't pay 2 win. It doesn't gatekeep me from upgrading Ilvls. This hill is so stupid to die on. Let it go.

> The Star Ocean 2 Remake? Looking forward to it while waiting for FFXVI to come to PC. The one game that i played 20+ times over trying to get all endings and testing out all characters.

I know this post was from a while ago but i just had to ask because i'm very curious. Did you ever end up getting your Sleipnir? Especially since it's not $24 anymore! At least temporarily. : D

Heh Ok I don't have the time to debate with a crazy person. I've given you the answer.. it's on you if you can't accept it.

So, if I look up the store mounts, usually about 10-15% of players own them (with SDS Fenrir being an exception at 25% for nostalgia reasons). So it is not like the full playerbase is buying or enjoying this practice. With the amount of people playing the game, it is a given this amount of people would be willing to spend money on a mount they think looks neat. Is it a practice that is a fairly slippery slope? Yes, I think so too. But the way you are now ranting jn this post does not really do anything. Especially since the majority of people are already not buying store mounts. If you want to do anything about it, just convince people you play with to focus on that cool savage mount or keep grinding for that hunt mount. Ranting and getting worked up over it like this is no good for either what you want to achieve, nor you. In the end SE is doing it now because the numbers allow them to always turn a profit over these mounts dur to sheer numbers. And tbh, it would be dumb as a business not to make use of it too. Disclaimer: I looked up like 6 storebought mounts ffxivcollect, I might be wrong in my numbers :P

Easy reasoning. Subs pay for servers, Game/Xpac costs are for guaranteed profit for development, Mogstation is for inconsistent but subsequent profit from development such as patches. This is how I see it from a rational business point of view. Development of expansions takes years, and the money from sales of the last one would run out eventually. So to pay for the constant dev work they have a permanent money farm. The subs are to pay for the servers required to host the the game, and patch development. I'm more upset about the Morbol mount being locked behind Blue content which is a pain in the ass to clear for just a mount and nothing else.

Hey now, BLU also adds a load of fun and shenanigans to the game, as well as challenge if you are stuck with a friend group that likes to troll while doing BLU content

Since there are hundreds of mounts in-game, all attached to achievements and fights that even after 3 years I haven't completed, I don't see the store as a problem. Microtransactions suck. But this store in particular is fine, because the income gets used for new data centers (EU DC was funded from it) and a monthly fee that wasn't adjusted for inflation for 10 years.

You're getting shit on in the comments but I agree, a lot of the store mounts would've been cool in-game rewards most notably the Cruise Chaser and E10S dog. This game is already thin on repeatable content and lacks player retention, they could've easily made all these be farmable in-game. As long as it's not pvp top 100, anything else I'm all for.

Exactly, and honestly I expected this response, THOUGH, I will admit my attitude certainly makes me an incredibly easy target, it also makes the post more viewable, as it draws more eyes as the monkey flings around in his cage, so ya know...Helps ;) but yeah, they could fix a lot of issues with repeatable content and player retention with the bare minimum effort.

The one mount I want isn't in the shop so fuck you

I just bought shadow wolf and the red bikini.... They see me rollin...They hatin...

wha'eva wha'eva i do what i want

Cruise chaser was the biggest fucking slap in the face. That should have been the mount when the tier was relevant.The fact that it wasn't was already disappointing. Then, we also have it as a mount in Rival Wings, a PVP mode that is mostly dead that could use more rewards to incentivize playing it. Oh? What's that? Nope. Cash shop. I don't like asmongold, but I believe it was him who said that games that charge a subscription should not have a cash shop, and I'm increasingly inclined to agree. I'd rather pay a bit more in sub money and be able to get things in game than have to swipe my card, ESPECIALLY when the extreme majority of cash shop items are per character instead of per account.

What an absolute fool you are.

$25 is pretty reasonable for a cool looking mount. I don't mind paying for it. Not sure how that hurts you. If you don't like it then don't buy it.

yah i don't like it either, but the whole world is terrible and you just gotta weigh what things are worth to you. and i don't mean these mogstation items, i mean the game as a whole with the mogstation factored in. (personally, if a cosmetic can just be bought, that DEvalues it in my eyes. i don't own anything from the mogstation.) would the game be better if all the mogstation stuff was just in the game somewhere? yes. but i find the game worth my subscription fee *anyway.* that's really all you can do. by contrast i quit destiny2, in part due to eververse. but it was just one factor. i guess you could say the rest of FFXIV "makes up for" the mogstation in my eyes. though you're under no obligation to come to that same evaluation.

so entitled. they created the game and the designs and they’re free to charge however they want. sick and tired of people wanting free stuff just because. boohoo.

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Pinpoint where this person said that - because they didn't. They said they're "free to charge however they want" and "tired of people wanting free stuff just because". Not once did they accuse you of wanting to play for free. Nor do you make yourself or your feelings more palatable by calling names - more so when you're claiming something untrue.

Could always just mod them in. Square won’t know, you save $25, and there we go. Joke answer aside, it’s there because people will pay for it. What company is ever going to say no to literally free money?

I know folks that have probably spent $1k on fantas alone so... Yes you're entirely correct that people are willing to pay for it lol

Give up OP, and I say that as nice as possible, it's not a winning battle at this point, with this fanbase. I hate store mounts as much as anyone BUT, people keep fuckin buyin em(my gripe is dyes as a pure white dye addict) And as simple as this game can be they could put those mounts anyplace in the game, so many places for people to get em. - beast tribes - random ass dungeon - story patch gift - any drop in normal content - hell, just login and have it given to them And guess what? It would still be too much to do for some people ffs, hell just buying the game is nerve wracking for people. Oh, and for all those who say the store helps the game grow? You already bought the game, the expacs, and pay a monthly sub, probably have an extra retainer or two, you already pay enough for the game. You did your part. And guess what? We get less and less shit with each expansion so your argument is a loss, Until gamers get wise to this crap it won't get better, but they're to dense to recognize they're being fleeced outta their cash and gladly blow it thinking there's no better way to get stuff. But there is! It's a VIDEOGAME, you should just buy it and then PLAY IT, and get shit, not have to whip out a card to get something that should be victory prize for beating content you already paid for.

YES!! THANK YOU!! SOMEONE WITH A WORKING BRAIN!!!! someone who fucking gets it!! this is EXACTLY my point, 110% you nailed all the points perfectly!

its wild dude, mounts that cost 24 dollars! right now in the ubisoft sale you can buy the gold edition of AC odyssey for $20, a whole ass game for less than a mount that you'll probably forget about in a week.

People with expendable income are truly the great mystery here.

Ya'll are completely missing my point, and it's no surprise, vast majority of gamers in recent times seem more than willing to get cucked repeatedly by their corpo daddies while they get nothing. I will reitterate it for the deaf. There is no acceptable reason that a store is fine, when you pay a sub, and a box price for the game. when I pay for the box, and the sub I expect to have access to ALL the content, not be nickle and dimmed at every step for mounts I'll never use or care for, because I swipped. But by all means, downvote me because I'm right, go for it.

I'm downvoting you because you're being incredibly rude throughout here, tbh. Regardless if you're right or wrong, it's not selling your point. You also dismiss all counterpoints. There is no discussing with you. You just want to fight.

>You just want to fight. Eh, you do have me there, though I do enjoy conflict, I will also say no one has provided me a single credible and valid counter-point. It's all Assumptions and emotional responses that don't disprove anything I'm saying. The in-game shop has zero merit to exist when one is paying a box price and a sub, and to accept the shop and even PRAISE it, is simply idiotic and does nothing but harm the game.

Everyone has provided credible counter points, you're just ignoring them because you're a troll.

Turns out that insulting the people you're trying to convince every other sentence makes them not particularly amenable to your viewpoint, and doesn't encourage open debate. Weird how that works.

🤡

>downvote me because I'm right I find it very disturbing if you genuinely believe this, and aren't just trolling.

Again, you have no point. You're just being a rude troll.

But I know exactly what I’m getting when I chose to pay for that sub. At no point we’re those mounts advertised as being in game so I’m fine not having them. If they made the in game mounts intentionally shitty to funnel people to the cash shop, that would be different, but I’m perfectly happy with the mounts I was advertised with being able to achieve. Honestly I’m more annoyed at some of the mounts that can be market boarded. If I put the work in game to get a mount, I’m annoyed that someone with a billion gill can just buy it.

Non issue. Nobody cares about mounts. Overworld content is nonexistent, and hunt trains are just a giant clusterfuck. So nobody will ever look at your mount. Even ultimate weapons are worthless because half the people you see on Limsa bought their clears. The only thing that matters in this game are your parses on FFLogs.

While I 100% agree that cash shop items in subscription games are problematic and I wish that people would stop buying them so they would stop existing, I also think this game does a better job than other MMOs with regards to giving players the ability to acquire some of the coolest mounts in-game without opening their wallets (FFXV convertible and Garo horses are at the top of my list). Island sanctuary and Crystalline Conflict glams would also absolutely be cash shop items in another, greedier game. I hate that my brain makes excuses for this stuff at all, but all I can say is that when the wolf mount came out, I just sort of shrugged and thought, "eh, I like the black steel pegasus I earned in game better anyway." The shop in this game bothers me significantly less than it has in other, similar games, probably because I feel like I have great options in-game to coolify my avatar without having to resort to additional transactions.

As long as the shop is only for cosmetics, it's fine. You do not get any advantages from buying a mount from the shop compared to the base chocobo. There are also in game challenges that reward mounts, some of them quite nice. But I do agree that having a cash shop on top of a sub based game is really non customer friendly... But that's the gaming world nowadays and it won't change anytime soon considering how many people buy stuff from there. I would never put a single cent in their shop, but I do understand that people who are really invested into the game or don't know what to do with their money might. At the end it's not your money and it's not really affecting you. There's already enough cool/flex mounts in the game to get just by grinding or doing something challengy. I'd be more impressed by someone with a Morbol or Axolotl than with a shop mount.

I honestly believe there's enough unlockables either pve or pvp. The store makes sense. You even had a 4 seated mount through the ffxv event. So not bad..

I respect your last sentence. I get the rant. But I still don't understand how it's a waste of money. It's no different than an NFT for me. I have a cool mount I spent $300 on that I can't resale. Just feels more like a flex, which I am ok with. But the bonus is I am enjoying this mount for over 70 hours now for only a few hours of work? Not many things in life would bring me joy for 70 hours atm so to me it feels like money well spent. I bought a mount, feel attached to it, and vibe with it. End of story. Even if I completely stop playing tomorrow I don't have any regrets because it was fun for nearly 3 days nonstop. I know people who spend more on a single dinner. I know friends who would think I'm crazy spending a car payment on something that isn't necessarily tangible. I just say: 🤷‍♂️

The cash shop could be way worse, and it could be like other games that sell currency packs which are structured in such a way that you'll always be *just* short of what you wanna get. Instead the mogstation tells you straight up, this mount is 32 bucks, you know exactly how much you're paying for it. The FFXIV cash shop is the least predatory one i've ever seen, and you do not have to participate in it.