I am going to play devil's advocate here and say that companies love to justify microtransactions because "some people don't have much free time to catch up to everyone else". Following this logic i will say that not everyone has much free time to subscribe for long enough so now its easier for them to get their vet rewards.
NOTE: At least SE is nice enough to give vet rewards. Other companies would rather sell those items to you.
On the fence. As one of the "Veterans", I had everything from the old system. I wasn't particularly interested in receiving most of the costumes. Infact, it was a pain having to find somewhere to store them because my retainers were full and so was my AC.
Personally, I don't understand why they did it. Doesn't seem like an incentive to keep subbing to get these costumes, you sub to play the game. Reducing the requirement sounds silly, but so does complaining about it.
It served as a badge to show off to the community.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Square Enix is making some changes to some of its veteran rewards, the item bonuses awarded based on how long you keep up an active subscription to Final Fantasy XIV.
Cloud´s attire, previously rank 10 with 720 subscription days, has been shortened to 60 days Zidane´s attire, previously Rank 13 with 1080 subscription days, has been shortened to 150 days.
Wild Rose´s attire, previously Rank 11 with 840 subscription days, has been shortened to 240 days.
Leonhart´s attire, previously Rank 14 with 1440 subscription days, has been shortened to 330 days.
Nothing like being a day release subscriber and managing to unlock some exclusive fashion for your loyalty just to have it devalued and given to pretty much everyone else and their mom a few months later.
At this point i am not sure if i am dealing with Square or with EA.
You sound exactly like someone I met in EVE a year or so ago who was upset when CCP started selling skill extactors/injectors.
He felt in cheapend his "achievement" of always have an EVE account (and only one account) since Day 1.
Even stranger, in all that time playing EVE he had never joined a player corp nor done anything but solo mine and craft.
He could build a Titan, except he never went to null sec where he could actually manufacture one.
I think the comparison is a bit unfair. As i see it, skill injectors are catch up methods for new players to be able to compete.
It would be the equivalent to new patches bringing new tome/catch up gear. I never opposed to that because i understand it´s necessary for the flow of the game.
Those costumes, however, were there unique and exclusively to reward long time subscribers for paying for so long, and they are not really a vital game feature.
They were a "badge" that basically indicated that the player was a long time veteran.
Not only that, but the costumes and other veteran rewards obviously served as an enticement to make players not unsuscribe even when they were too busy to play often because it still unlocked new stuff that you wanted for your account.
And now this has been given away for peanuts. Veteran fashion is given to non veterans, it makes no sense and it was unnecessary.
Not like FF lacks other costumes to offer to new customers.....
Yes, except maybe they feel it's more important to try to keep existing players subbed longer. Iduno, I kinda think it's better to be surrounded by people who are dressed like you then be the best dressed among the only few left.
I stopped playing this a good while ago but this is a good change IMO, the whole vanity reward thing for having subbed for X time was a stupid idea to begin with.....
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Square Enix is making some changes to some of its veteran rewards, the item bonuses awarded based on how long you keep up an active subscription to Final Fantasy XIV.
Cloud´s attire, previously rank 10 with 720 subscription days, has been shortened to 60 days Zidane´s attire, previously Rank 13 with 1080 subscription days, has been shortened to 150 days.
Wild Rose´s attire, previously Rank 11 with 840 subscription days, has been shortened to 240 days.
Leonhart´s attire, previously Rank 14 with 1440 subscription days, has been shortened to 330 days.
Nothing like being a day release subscriber and managing to unlock some exclusive fashion for your loyalty just to have it devalued and given to pretty much everyone else and their mom a few months later.
At this point i am not sure if i am dealing with Square or with EA.
OP - MMOs are about pleasing masses for higher profits even if it means losing a few vets.
SE is a business - giving vet rewards on a shorter cycle gets more players to sub - this is financially better than risking losing a few long subscribing vets over this.
AAA MMOs are about money in the end, never forget that
Bottom line - never think in terms of "is this the right thing to do for the players" - instead always think in terms of "is this going to make them more money?" - once you shift your mindset to that, you will understand why these types of decisions are done.
ey, blizzard is making leveling alot ezer now with world scaling which as a whole is awsome but as a company i think a lost of money, i alone spent 300$+ on char boosts past 1-2 years but last few toons on test realm i leveled all the way withen a few days.. so i think its going to make char boost sells skyrocket downwards..
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NOTE: At least SE is nice enough to give vet rewards. Other companies would rather sell those items to you.
Personally, I don't understand why they did it. Doesn't seem like an incentive to keep subbing to get these costumes, you sub to play the game. Reducing the requirement sounds silly, but so does complaining about it.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.