Still waiting for the story to get brilliant. Stormblood has been the most boring, slow revolution plot I've seen. At least in WoW the Suramar rebellion ended after 20 hours.
In the threads I've read it's not the buying part that they have issues with, it's getting access to their purchased content and they just call it "buying issues" or whatever. Because it's all part of the buying process, they throw the two parts together.
Regardless, it's a more convoluted mess than it needs to be. I've never had issues with it, except not understanding why I need to read a detailed set of instructions to do something that's intuitive literally everywhere else.
The Steam Autumn Sale dug into my pre-expansion playtime, so now I have only 2 evenings to do 3 patches worth of content. I hope I can finish in time, because i definitely do not want to be trying to find a group for ShB content wile everyone else is doing Endwalker content.
I think the main problem with Stormblood's plot is it starts off as an Ala Mhigo expansion but really wants to be a Far East expansion. So much more work seems to go have gone into the far east.
So instead of continuing to build (or rebuild) the resistance, they pretty much reboot the plot but in the east. Then though, because they want to tie the plot back into the start, it gives the far east a sort of half-hearted conclusion to go do a finish in Ala Mhigo. Oddly enough the finish is pretty decent.
Last edited by Myradin; 2021-12-01 at 08:10 PM.
It *is* weird indeed.
As I obviously can't remember what happened last time (since it's been quite some time) I'm still not certain if I'll get another key to insert or if my pre-purchase code is my actual game code?
Because I'm pretty sure it isn't - or at least wasn't in the past.
And that by itself is already extremely weird, why make an distinction between pre-purchase and a normal purchase and not like... I don't know connect it together because I'm aparently not allowed to refund anyway as soon as I insert it.
If I order the game now, and I insert a key, it's automatically a pre-order and I should get access to it.
If I order the game at a later time, it's not and it doesn't matter if that key would in theory also grant access to the pre-order.
Is it just for the items?
Not to mention that I bought from the official site last time(Shadowbringers) and it sent me to like 2 or 3 different sites to get my key... pretty sure I got a key-code for a key-code during that process as well.
But what do I expect from a country that still uses a disk to transfer data with. *shrug* And I thought fax is outdated.
Last edited by KrayZee33; 2021-12-01 at 11:22 PM.
I understand too, somewhat, why it's separated but plenty of other companies do early access without that mess. What I don't understand is why it's so convoluted. It uses a completely different platform to purchase and access the code you need to then use to register it on your account to gain Early Access.
It's weird.
Soooo this just dropped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez9S8PS2E3I
It's kinda funny how much more pleasant threads get if you ignore November 2021 or December 2021 registered accounts.
How is this different from getting a code from GoG, Gamestop or wherever then entering it to your account on another platform (Steam, PSN, Mogstation, etc.)? Often times the store is a different platform from the registration location.
It might not be the BEST system, but it's one that is easy for SquareEnix to prevent preorder issues/refunds by requiring an actual code at the time of launch instead of going back through the system and removing access which can (and has in the past for other games) cause issues.
Typically when buying from those sites, doing that is very intuitive. You go, you buy, you get a code. Done.
Then, you take that code and go to you SE account enter the code. Done.
With FFXIV pre-orders and early access, you go to the site, click a link which takes you to another site, which is where you make the purchase. After you make the purchase, literally at another time not usually right after you make the purchase especially if it was done as soon as pre-orders became available, they send you an e-mail with a link to yet another site where you have to go and get the actual code.
And remember, this is JUST the Early Access code, not the actual Expansion registration code.
You then go and enter the Early Access code into your account, which again ONLY gives you Early Access.
At some point between when you pre-ordered and launch they'll actually charge you for the purchase of the Expansion...because they don't do that when you put in the pre-order, for some reason.
At some point during Early Access you'll get yet another link to the SE site which will then provide you the code for the Expansion Registration which you then have to take and enter into your account so you can continue having access to the Expansion after Early Access ends.
All that said, if you just read all the instructions they give you, you'll be fine. But there are a LOT of instructions.
It's a system that is far more convoluted than it needs to be is my only point. I understand why they do it. I just wish they'd simplify it.It might not be the BEST system, but it's one that is easy for SquareEnix to prevent preorder issues/refunds by requiring an actual code at the time of launch instead of going back through the system and removing access which can (and has in the past for other games) cause issues.