They're not just as much a part of the game as "levels and dungeons". Unless you also consider costume DLC part of FF13-2 or Tales of games, when they clearly do not affect game progression, game mechanics, or provide instances in which game mechanics are exercised. The minions don't do the above either. Are you actually evaluating a game and gameworld overall based on a few cosmetic items in a cash shop?
I am honestly more then a little bit surprised that you of all people are making these claims with how much time and effort you have put into the non making fite and leveling parts of the game in gardening. My exact problem with things being sold is that they take no ingame mechanics or in world logic to get, and disagree fully with your claim that they do not represent a form of progression or utilize game mechanics. There is and should be more to an mmorpg world then just killing things as a way to progress, and how your character looks/minions you have is part of that. Do you really believe that the only actual important part of the game is combat and results of combat? I wouldn't find that odd since I'm sure it is the opinion held by the majority of players, and one of the things that has led to just about all instances of even travel in mmorpgs to be viewed as things you just skip to get to the real game. That however is another subject.
Also yes, I think dlc costumes in Tales games is full bullshit too. In older games getting a new outfit and cool things like that would be the result of a side quest or knowing where to buy it from or some other in game method that made the game better. Much like how getting vanity gear/minions/what not now in FF14 comes from crafting/questing/chest drops/gardening. I ask you again. Why is it okay to cheapen that part of the game by letting you just buy it, but not another? The lack of charging for things that should just be a natural part of the gameworld is the first and last reason why I prefer subscription mmorpgs. It continues to disappoint me how willing people are to pay on top of a sub for things that could and should be integrated into the game.
Everything that isn‘t Coil and even then only the current one isn‘t progression. 95% of the game currently exists as nothing but stepping stones and vanity. Granted this is largely attributed to the game‘s verticality which is another whole problem but as it stands what‘s NOT on the table for the cash shop?
Like I seriously don't get how you jump from mounts/minions/vanity gear to buying your way into start of endgame (or stepping stones as you put it). Yelling slippery slope, slippery slope, doesn't mean the slope is actually slippery. There has been zero indication that there is anything on the table outside of vanity stuff.
I am honestly more then a little bit surprised that you of all people are making these claims with how much time and effort you have put into the non making fite and leveling parts of the game in gardening. My exact problem with things being sold is that they take no ingame mechanics or in world logic to get, and disagree fully with your claim that they do not represent a form of progression or utilize game mechanics. There is and should be more to an mmorpg world then just killing things as a way to progress, and how your character looks/minions you have is part of that. Do you really believe that the only actual important part of the game is combat and results of combat? I wouldn't find that odd since I'm sure it is the opinion held by the majority of players, and one of the things that has led to just about all instances of even travel in mmorpgs to be viewed as things you just skip to get to the real game. That however is another subject.
Also yes, I think dlc costumes in Tales games is full bullshit too. In older games getting a new outfit and cool things like that would be the result of a side quest or knowing where to buy it from or some other in game method that made the game better. Much like how getting vanity gear/minions/what not now in FF14 comes from crafting/questing/chest drops/gardening. I ask you again. Why is it okay to cheapen that part of the game by letting you just buy it, but not another? The lack of charging for things that should just be a natural part of the gameworld is the first and last reason why I prefer subscription mmorpgs. It continues to disappoint me how willing people are to pay on top of a sub for things that could and should be integrated into the game.
I guess it depends on the quantity, and if I feel the shop system has a noticeable impact on future content. If they make every future mount/minion, or even a majority, bought only then yes that would bother me. But there's no reason to believe they would do anything close to that, as you mentioned yourself, a metric ton of stuff in this game is designed with a vanity reward at the end rather than anything else. This won't ever stop being the case as people will simply stop playing. So it comes down to a sense of balance. If some people want to pay a little extra to get a wind up Hildibrand I really couldn't care less, I don't see how this is any different from a pre-order/collectors edition/CD/art book/whatever deals they have done. A ton of people buy that stuff just for the in-game vanity, and if they don't mind cutting out the middleman I won't care either. Look at the people who bought an entirely new subscription just to get that two seat chocobo.
As for immersion, or a sense of cheapening the world, I feel like that happened a long time ago when we were killing titan in bikinis and vendors from the past were selling me wind up toys of their future selves. It's not something I take seriously, and like I said before from a gameplay perspective there will still be plenty of content like this in game for people who don't want to buy into stuff. It's not like the content they create for the shop will have taken much from other areas of development either, how easy minions/mount model reskins are to do is why we had so much of this crap in the game already.
Oh and not FF related and all but seriously fuck Bamco for how bad Tales DLC has gotten. That's a clear case of content that would of been standard removed just to fleece their fans out of more money. It was still tolerable with Vesperia/Graces as there were quite a few in-game still, but Xillia just removed any pretense and was a giant middle finger. Now Zestiria has freaking hi ougis as preorder dlc? Just awful.
Also fuck me for still buying the games anyway.
edit - shouldn't have to say this but to be clear I don't consider the Tales bullshit as an indicator of where FFXIV could go, simply because Tales has a lot of content that isn't designed around a carrot on a stick for vanity like FFXIV is. If they actually moved all that stuff behind a paywall you'd see people quitting in droves.
I am honestly more then a little bit surprised that you of all people are making these claims with how much time and effort you have put into the non making fite and leveling parts of the game in gardening. My exact problem with things being sold is that they take no ingame mechanics or in world logic to get, and disagree fully with your claim that they do not represent a form of progression or utilize game mechanics. There is and should be more to an mmorpg world then just killing things as a way to progress, and how your character looks/minions you have is part of that. Do you really believe that the only actual important part of the game is combat and results of combat? I wouldn't find that odd since I'm sure it is the opinion held by the majority of players, and one of the things that has led to just about all instances of even travel in mmorpgs to be viewed as things you just skip to get to the real game. That however is another subject.
Also yes, I think dlc costumes in Tales games is full bullshit too. In older games getting a new outfit and cool things like that would be the result of a side quest or knowing where to buy it from or some other in game method that made the game better. Much like how getting vanity gear/minions/what not now in FF14 comes from crafting/questing/chest drops/gardening. I ask you again. Why is it okay to cheapen that part of the game by letting you just buy it, but not another? The lack of charging for things that should just be a natural part of the gameworld is the first and last reason why I prefer subscription mmorpgs. It continues to disappoint me how willing people are to pay on top of a sub for things that could and should be integrated into the game.
It's too bad they didn't play Shiva, though. You know everyone wanted to hear it, and considering the patch is going live in a little over a week [and will likely be leaked before then] it's disappointing.
I am honestly more then a little bit surprised that you of all people are making these claims with how much time and effort you have put into the non making fite and leveling parts of the game in gardening. My exact problem with things being sold is that they take no ingame mechanics or in world logic to get, and disagree fully with your claim that they do not represent a form of progression or utilize game mechanics. There is and should be more to an mmorpg world then just killing things as a way to progress, and how your character looks/minions you have is part of that. Do you really believe that the only actual important part of the game is combat and results of combat? I wouldn't find that odd since I'm sure it is the opinion held by the majority of players, and one of the things that has led to just about all instances of even travel in mmorpgs to be viewed as things you just skip to get to the real game. That however is another subject.
Also yes, I think dlc costumes in Tales games is full bullshit too. In older games getting a new outfit and cool things like that would be the result of a side quest or knowing where to buy it from or some other in game method that made the game better. Much like how getting vanity gear/minions/what not now in FF14 comes from crafting/questing/chest drops/gardening. I ask you again. Why is it okay to cheapen that part of the game by letting you just buy it, but not another? The lack of charging for things that should just be a natural part of the gameworld is the first and last reason why I prefer subscription mmorpgs. It continues to disappoint me how willing people are to pay on top of a sub for things that could and should be integrated into the game.
I agree with you.
I don't really like the idea of a cash shop for things like cosmetic gear/mounts/etc.
The fun to me is being able to acquire that stuff in game. I wouldn't run a dungeon a hundred times for slightly better gear because I don't really care, but I would to get a cool ass mount. That's why I prefer subscription based MMOs to F2P generally, I want the cool stuff to be rewards for playing the game, not rewards for spending more money.
All I can say is I hope they don't go too far with it.