FFXIV handles it “okay”, in that you get a large portion of glam in game and the cash shop stuff is largely excess. There are a few cases where it would have been better to have the reward in game, but for the most part I feel like I can play the game without needing to buy anything.
The impression the community gets is the cash shop is a begrudging feature that SE higher ups mandate to keep cash flow going (because XIV is funding most of SE’s other projects)
It makes sense, especially with the direction Remake started to go. And the original Crisis Core was getting to be very dated by now, so a refresh was welcome
Fyi we won’t get the first wing of the XI ally raid until 7.1 (3ish months after 7.0, so September/October/November 2024) and even then it will only be one third of the total story. Totally fine if you still sub, but you might not get much value out of it until 7.3 with the second wing some time in 2025
Take it slow at a lower level dungeon to get the feel for things. Sastasha and Tam Tara are great ones to start on. Go in with duty support NPCs if you are nervous about performing with others. In my experience, if you preface the instance with “hi bear with me, I’m new to tanking”, people are very forgiving and will even give pointers :)
Oh, I actually like my gsp 500 too :( it’s lasted me for years, has a nice long cable, and gives decent audio quality after I got a pci-e audio card to boost levels. I’ve always preferred a combo headset over separate headphones and mics because it’s less to juggle, but so many out there are cheap garbage. Guess I’ll have to find a new solution whenever these die on me