Jump to content

Micro-transaction Shop. Yay or Nay?


essell

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 267
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Only if I can get some hard to grind things, like crystals with rarest colors and specific stats, maybe some cosmetic items, mounts, etc.

 

Who do you think makes things hard to grind so you opt to buy them?

 

Come to the forum and try and get the grind reduced if it is too hard for you but don't ask if you can just buy your way out of it something you have already brought once.

 

Think it was Lotro.. for some shop items they made the grind extremely difficult on purpose so you have to buy from the shop whilst they could still say also availble for no cash in game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm already paying a monthly fee to play the game. You cannot have it both way's. If the game ever go's F2P Ofcourse shops with microtransactions should be added. But as long as we have a monthly fee i say NAY!

 

So you are quite happy that your monthly fee goes to pay for features that a few other people might like but you aren't remotely interested in?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they sell fluff how does this hurt anyone?

 

I will easily spend 100 dollars a month on a game I enjoy (more at times).

 

Items that have NO effect on your game play.

 

-name changes

 

-race changes

 

-mounts

 

-blank orange weapon models

 

-blank orange armor models

 

-race unlocks

 

-extra storage

 

-exclusive companion skins

 

-pets

 

-World Scrolls (work like fleet scrolls)

 

All of these things would bring in more revenue without negatively effecting your game play, not counting jealousy.

 

People who refuse to purchase the fluff will be happier because Bioware will be able to use that additional revenue for future content.

Edited by illgot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen these mentioned in various threads with many different opinions, so let me ask the question.

 

Do you want a micro-transaction shop added to SWtoR? And Why?

 

I ask "why?" because I'm very much in favour of these kinds of shops and I'm not sure what people's objections are. I'd love to hear from the people who don't like them and find out why.

 

I should say I like them, so long as they don't offer anything you *need*. Just optional extras. Like the costume parts they sell in City of Heroes, or the different looking ships in Startrek online.

 

If there was a zone in the game you could only access if you bought a 'pass' item in the store, I wouldn't be in favour of that.

 

Special colour crystals

Different looking mounts

Maybe different style starships (Same ability as the originals, different look)

Special Companion appearances

 

I think I'd be fine with those and I would actually buy them.

 

This is probably all moot of course, all MMOs have these shops eventually and mugs like me become their customers, but I would like to understand the pros and cons before we get that far.

 

What do you think?

 

MT shops are generally put in to games that use a free to play structure. Games that have added them in while keeping a pay to play structure have failed very quickly, usually overnight.

 

So my answer would be yes - If the game is made free to play, otherwise I'm against it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MT shops are generally put in to games that use a free to play structure. Games that have added them in while keeping a pay to play structure have failed very quickly, usually overnight.

 

So my answer would be yes - If the game is made free to play, otherwise I'm against it.

 

because Blizzards World of Warcraft soon failed when they allowed people to pay for name changes and server transfers, and really failed when they released their first micro-transaction mount and made over 2 million dollars in the first four hours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nay!!

 

It smells like F2P, and selling stuff that SHOULD be included for free as a way to press out even more money is just leaving a bad feeling.

 

If i pay a subscription of the usual MMO-pricing, 10-15 eur, i want to have access to the whole game. Might be okay to lower the subscrition to, say 5-6 eur and supplement it with a shop of vanity stuff.

 

As soon as the shop sells buffs that affect normal play, its bye bye for me.

Edited by Kheldras
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nay!!

 

It smells like F2P, and selling stuff that SHOULD be included for free as a way to press out even more money is just leaving a bad feeling.

 

If i pay a subscription of the usual MMO-pricing, 10-15 eur, i want to have access to the whole game. Might be okay to lower the subscrition to, say 5-6 eur and supplement it with a shop of vanity stuff.

 

As soon as the shop sells buffs that affect normal play, its bye bye for me.

 

you realize that by creating simple fluff content they can increase their revenue a great deal which in turn allows them to hire more people which gives you more content faster?

 

I along with many others out there can easily spend 100 a month on micro-transaction items. Bad taste in your mouth? How bad is that taste when major content is released much sooner and with better features because they can hire another 10-15 people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm for it , I even paid for the mini pets and sparkle pony in WoW ( looks cute with my Gnome ) and I also bought costumes in Champions Online . I really see no problem with it as long as they are cosmetic items , but once they start giving unfair advantages then that's when it becomes a problem .
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Microtransactions are an inevitability in this game because it is price discrimination, which is the most profitable pricing model (and it's not even close). Hopefully, as some have suggested, they will make all microtransaction items available to be earned without real money as well as with real money. Some of us will spend 20 hours to get a mount and others will spend $25. This way, Bioware can make ~$100 a year from the average player and $200-$10,000 of other players. Yes, some players will spend thousands of dollars on this game a year.

 

If you didn't know, EA is already partnered with a microtransaction company by the name of livegamer. They helped Sony do microtransactions for their games. Now you have two kinds of microtransactions. You have a store with mounts, potions, appearance gear, etc. It is guaranteed that we will see that in the future. But there is also the exchange system (player to player) that livegamer has produced for Everquest 2 and other Sony games. This is the equivalent of the Diablo 3 real money auction house, except you had to mail your items to a website, instead of buying items in the game. They make this palatable by making some servers exchange servers and others non exchange servers. So, they would make new exchange servers and you could transfer there free of charge if you want to participate in such an environment.

 

To make an exchange palatable in Diablo 3, there is hardcore mode, which does not participate in the real money auction house ("pay to win"). Every smart developer finds an exscuse such as this. EA/Bioware can do seperate servers or who knows. Besides, you can't sell Rakata gear on the exchance anyway can you? So it isn't a clear "pay to win". It is just pay to get a shortcut (prototype/mastercraft gear).

 

But lets be clear: As more and more games see the success ($$$) of Diablo 3, they will implement these systems and most players will not care. And they shouldn't care, because everyone who doesn't have their head in the sand knows that there is already a black market in every game in existence. Diablo 3 hardcore mode will have a black market. This game has a black market. Everyone gets a "Hi my friend buy 1m gold for $9" mail daily. You can buy any piece of gear for 5 million credits. You can buy a fully geared rakata character. Do you expect EA/Bioware to ignore the millions of dollars in commissions it could be making? Maybe for now the answer is yes... It is only a matter of time though.

 

Here is why: You know why WoW sold 4 million mounts? It isn't because 4 million players bought them. The real reason is that less than 1 million players bought them and many traded them for in game currency. Yes they were tradable and Blizzard was genius for that. If we all understand that 2% of the players are probably as rich as the other 98% of us then you also understand this is why EA/Bioware has to move to microtransactions. You expect EA should let Activision have a higher profit margin per customer so that you can live in ignorance? And that is only the appearance/mount store side of the equation.

 

In my opinion, WoW will add an exchange soon (~1-2 years) after D3 becomes a success. They will placate the angry voices by lowering subscriptions 10-25%. You might wonder why it makes sense money wise as they will lose ~$10million or something a year on the face of it.

 

Well, WoW is going to have to move toward free to play anyway. By lowering the sub cost they will hold on to more subscribers and keep them away from games such as this one. The free to play model derives all of its money from xpaks and microtransactions. Wow can be a hybrid of that and continue to dominate.

 

This is the future. If you want this game to prosper, this is the way it has to be. Many people think real money taints the experience because someone paid to win. That happens regardless. Knowing that, do you want this company to be able to compete long term or not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

subscriptions have been 15 dollars since the late 90s.

 

That's almost 15 years of no price change in a market where the cost of producing and running a MMO has constantly increased.

 

I am shocked that by now we aren't paying 20-25 dollars in subscription fees. We pay Netflix 9 dollars to watch a few movies, we pay 12 dollars to go sit in a theater to see a new movie, but we only pay 15 dollars to play a game for an unlimited amount of time each month?

Edited by illgot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How many subs now? 1.7 million. TBH I would hope $25.5 million dollars a month was enougth for a few bits and pieces without having to resort to a chash shop for quick cash boosts.

 

Yes $25.5 million is how much they raw profit they are making EVERY month.

 

that would be $306 million a year... You reckon that might cover some stuff and not have a MT shop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd happily pay for cool items such as

 

mounts,lightsaber crystals, pets, companion skins, race change, faction change etc.

 

Buying these is purely optional. I gain no advantage over another player by having these. Purely cosmetics only.

 

All the naysayers are probably more conserned about their own egos and just being stupidly jealous as hell instead of really caring how a cash store would affect the game.

 

BECAUSE I CAN'T HAVE IT THAT ANOTHER GUY SHOULDN'T HAVE IT EITHER.

 

Bioware. Give me cash store asap!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...