In terms of micro-transactions, the only game that is fair to compare with FFXIV is WoW because it's the only other big modern game with the same business model (B2P + subscription). Other modern games are either F2P or B2P and don't require a subscription (for which you pay at least 130$ a year).
So let's compare the WoW Cash Shop to FFXIV.
I'll list how many items for the main categories there are in the Cash Shop from each game (Mog Station and Blizzard store) and then also compare that number with how many of those items there are in total (ingame: FFXIV, WoW).
Cash Shop First Item release date:
FFXIV: 2014
WoW: 2010
Mounts:
Mog Station: 21
FFXIV: 210
Blizzard Store: 17
WoW: 425 (358 currently obtainable)
Minions/Pets:
Mog Station: 33
FFXIV: 737
Blizzard Store: 17
WoW: 1279
Glamour: (not counting seasonal!)
Mog Station: 81 (52 full attires)
Blizzard Store: 0
Some (few) of these Mog Station items are from events. Take note that WoW also has events and a bunch of mounts and items that are no longer obtainable. They don't offer them in their Cash Shop and let the players who did get them enjoy the rarity/exclusivity of their item.
Other than these categories: WoW offers 2 Cash Shop toys (to be used permanently). 1 is a usable fireworks effect, the other one is a transmorpher beacon which allows you and others to glamour wherever you want. The only other major thing WoW offers are WoW Tokens, but arguably these are consumer friendly since they are bought and sold by the players themselves ingame for either subscription (saving irl money) or ingame gold (buying other people their subscription), thus the only direct way Blizzard profits from this is by reducing RMT. Other than that the net amount of subscriptions stays the same (players who buy tokens, basically pay for the subscription of other players)
Now it's FFXIV's turn, beside glamour FFXIV still has much more to offer in their Cash Shop which WoW doesn't even have categorized, namely: Seasonals, Housing, Dyes, Emotes, Chocobo Bardings and Orchestrion Rolls. These all amount to more than 240 items (many of which below 5$). Note that WoW also has seasonal items but they don't offer them in Cash Shop, instead let players enjoy the exclusivity.
But wait, we may be ignoring the elephant in the room, which are ADDITIONAL RETAINERS which you can HIRE. These Retainers offer you more inventory space, ability to sell more items at once and additional means for acquiring gil (ventures).
Then there are the additional services which both games offer (appearance change, level boost, ...) which don't provide more content ingame. The WoW ones are admittedly more expensive (sometimes double) than FFXIV.
With this comparison, I believe I can safely claim that the FFXIV Cash Shop is indeed greedy and unnecessarily expansive.
Continue reading...
So let's compare the WoW Cash Shop to FFXIV.
I'll list how many items for the main categories there are in the Cash Shop from each game (Mog Station and Blizzard store) and then also compare that number with how many of those items there are in total (ingame: FFXIV, WoW).
Cash Shop First Item release date:
FFXIV: 2014
WoW: 2010
Mounts:
Mog Station: 21
FFXIV: 210
Blizzard Store: 17
WoW: 425 (358 currently obtainable)
Minions/Pets:
Mog Station: 33
FFXIV: 737
Blizzard Store: 17
WoW: 1279
Glamour: (not counting seasonal!)
Mog Station: 81 (52 full attires)
Blizzard Store: 0
Some (few) of these Mog Station items are from events. Take note that WoW also has events and a bunch of mounts and items that are no longer obtainable. They don't offer them in their Cash Shop and let the players who did get them enjoy the rarity/exclusivity of their item.
Other than these categories: WoW offers 2 Cash Shop toys (to be used permanently). 1 is a usable fireworks effect, the other one is a transmorpher beacon which allows you and others to glamour wherever you want. The only other major thing WoW offers are WoW Tokens, but arguably these are consumer friendly since they are bought and sold by the players themselves ingame for either subscription (saving irl money) or ingame gold (buying other people their subscription), thus the only direct way Blizzard profits from this is by reducing RMT. Other than that the net amount of subscriptions stays the same (players who buy tokens, basically pay for the subscription of other players)
Now it's FFXIV's turn, beside glamour FFXIV still has much more to offer in their Cash Shop which WoW doesn't even have categorized, namely: Seasonals, Housing, Dyes, Emotes, Chocobo Bardings and Orchestrion Rolls. These all amount to more than 240 items (many of which below 5$). Note that WoW also has seasonal items but they don't offer them in Cash Shop, instead let players enjoy the exclusivity.
But wait, we may be ignoring the elephant in the room, which are ADDITIONAL RETAINERS which you can HIRE. These Retainers offer you more inventory space, ability to sell more items at once and additional means for acquiring gil (ventures).
Then there are the additional services which both games offer (appearance change, level boost, ...) which don't provide more content ingame. The WoW ones are admittedly more expensive (sometimes double) than FFXIV.
With this comparison, I believe I can safely claim that the FFXIV Cash Shop is indeed greedy and unnecessarily expansive.
Continue reading...