Legacy Micro-transaction?

[illgot]

If we are going to do MT's, I would like to purchase invincibility. I would be willing to pay $10 for it. I would also like to have an instant teleport to any coordinates in game. Some gear that is better than top tier raid/pvp gear would be ok too. I have the money why not allow me to buy this stuff.

 

I do not think they will sell that. More like fluff and legacy unlocks.

 

Personally I'm waiting to purchase new outfit models, weapon models, mounts, and colour crystals from a cash shop more than legacy unlocks.

Edited April 26, 2012 by illgot

[Jenemi]

Just because it's stupid to you, doesn't mean it's stupid to someone else. If I think your user name is stupid, does that automatically make you think it's stupid as well?

 

Again, it's all relative and based on, ready for this ... PERSONAL CHOICE. If someone wants to spend $100 on something that you don't want to spend it on, that is their PERSONAL CHOICE.

 

Yeah, agreed.

 

I honestly don't have an issue with micro-transactions as long as people can get them some other way (Unless it's a big thing where it's kind of obvious it's not free). Other ideas are things that aren't too big a deal like maybe an ability to unbound things (or change from bound to bound to legacy so nobody can make an easy profit through it) or turn any item to be orange/customizeable (although it'd become bound/bound to legacy then--again, so no easy profits). Things that make things easier without something ALL-NEW that would be kind of unfair for those who can't pay.

 

But really, as long as it's optional and is essentially a personal thing/nothing brand new (unless you can get it some other way ingame), how does it ruin the game for you just because it's a subscription game offering uses of RL money to get something?

 

Like the OP, I also have a lot of trouble saving up ingame money (The repetitiveness of dailies is actually something that can ruin the game for me--I can't deal with that and I've tried. While I can manage to convince myself for saving for a specific ingame item, just for "credits sake" is not enough for me to not want to just start smashing my head against something), though I do try, and I think an alternative would be nice.

 

I think, if people are honestly upset that they would do this when you can get it with credits anyway and saying they'd cancel their subs for micro-transaction anything, that it's a bit overkill.

 

However, I wouldn't want to (although I'd probably pay) see mounts, pets, and/or special outfits through a cash shop unless you can get them some other way. Similarly, I'd hate to see any kind of random-anything in relation to the cash shop.

 

Regardless, there are some exceptions--like legacy name changes or server transfers which would obviously be real money only.

Edited April 28, 2012 by Jenemi

[Ruuprect]

I do not think they will sell that. More like fluff and legacy unlocks.

 

Yeah, but I dont want to work for my stuff and it would just be easier if I could buy it. I can afford it so it should be sold to me, I DEMAND THIS NOW.

[-Kraxis-]

JUST SAY NO to Micro-transactions!

 

Corporate GREED has already damaged the gaming industry enough.

 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

[Fiachsidhe]

And Blizzard's cash shop is the prime example of a cash shop which doesn't hurt anybody, considering as to how it are just vanity items. It's been like that for years, never did it get turned into a pay 2 win situation.

 

As for DLC, keep in mind that game development changed in the course of the years. Development became more expensive as development teams increased in size, the scope of the projects in general increased and the level of standard expected from today's games skyrocketed through the roof.

 

Sure, a 2 million dollar project doesn't really need much additional income anymore after 500k copies are sold. However, times changed. Project costs increased exponentially, whilst sales figures did not. If for every 20 million AAA title they'd be selling 5 million copies, then sure no biggie. But they often tend to struggle selling 3 - 4 million.

 

That entails an entirely different perspective on income for people handling finances. How do you battle this? Well, in the old days of gaming running even to relatively high production costs was achieved by high game pricing. Cartridges going around for the equivalent of about 90 - 100 Eur these days. An alternative is to offer additional content seperately for those willing to put down some extra money.

 

It doesn't matter whether that's DLC in SP games, or cash shops in MMO's.

 

In the end of the day, employees working at BioWare and EA want to be able to feed their families and children as well. That doesn't work if people keep on expecting high budget titles handed out for practically nothing.

 

Blizzard's cash shop is prime example of a group of men so greedy that the hundreds of millions of dollars they receive every year, isn't good enough, and sees fit to charge for things that should be in game. True it doesn't hurt anyone, but what cash shops actually hurt people? Blizzard as of lest year, was sitting on over two BILLION dollars in capital. Don't try to excuse this greedy crap with times change nonsense.

 

If there is one thing I've learned about gamers, is that they will say ANYTHING to justify dropping more money on anything gaming, even when they can get it for free, as doing so requires time they just don't care to spend.

 

Really, if you're playing an mmorpg, chances are you'll be playing it for years if you like it. So basically, people want to pay for all this crap, so they can go back to complaining about having no goals and nothing to do. Maybe this stuff was designed for the long term. I don't know, all I know is gamers are getting so lazy, it's disgusting. It's a game for crying out loud.

There are tons of things people with deep pockets already get advantages for, why ruin gaming with that noise too? we've gotten to the point where even recreational activities can be bypassed by throwing money at it?

[illgot]

Yeah, but I dont want to work for my stuff and it would just be easier if I could buy it. I can afford it so it should be sold to me, I DEMAND THIS NOW.

 

sadly the feature you want are not available anywhere in game and would break every basic game mechanic the game is developed around. You may have to just settle for fluff which has very little if any effect on the game or other players (except jealousy of course).

[illgot]

Blizzard's cash shop is prime example of a group of men so greedy that the hundreds of millions of dollars they receive every year, isn't good enough, and sees fit to charge for things that should be in game. True it doesn't hurt anyone, but what cash shops actually hurt people? Blizzard as of lest year, was sitting on over two BILLION dollars in capital. Don't try to excuse this greedy crap with times change nonsense.

 

If there is one thing I've learned about gamers, is that they will say ANYTHING to justify dropping more money on anything gaming, even when they can get it for free, as doing so requires time they just don't care to spend.

 

Really, if you're playing an mmorpg, chances are you'll be playing it for years if you like it. So basically, people want to pay for all this crap, so they can go back to complaining about having no goals and nothing to do. Maybe this stuff was designed for the long term. I don't know, all I know is gamers are getting so lazy, it's disgusting. It's a game for crying out loud.

There are tons of things people with deep pockets already get advantages for, why ruin gaming with that noise too? we've gotten to the point where even recreational activities can be bypassed by throwing money at it?

I can no longer tell if you are trying to be sincere or trolling.

[Fiachsidhe]

Just because it's stupid to you, doesn't mean it's stupid to someone else. If I think your user name is stupid, does that automatically make you think it's stupid as well?

 

Again, it's all relative and based on, ready for this ... PERSONAL CHOICE. If someone wants to spend $100 on something that you don't want to spend it on, that is their PERSONAL CHOICE.

 

True, but just because you don't think it's stupid, doesn't make it less stupid.

Stop screaming PERSONAL CHOICE like it's a 'get out of scrutiny free card' It's like people who shout "opinion!" when they can't argue a point..

Especially when that choice potentially affects all the other players by modifying the way the game is run, and has time and again proven publishers increasingly abusive methods.

 

Seriously, go ahead and put a cash shop in and see what happens. Or ask Cryptic how their own double dipping scored them the lofty position of quickest conversion to free to play. Bioware hasn't pissed off enough fans with DA2, ME3, etc. I'm sure suddenly charging for extra crap will really go over well.

 

It's called double dipping and most consumers recognize it for what it is. Pure greed. Your PERSONAL CHOICE can also be a STUPID CHOICE, whether or not you think it is.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Fiachsidhe

[Fiachsidhe]

I can no longer tell if you are trying to be sincere or trolling.

 

If you're going to bow out of this, fine. But don't use such a flimsy, transparent bit of cliche flamebait to do it.

[Screaming_Ziva]

True, but just because you don't think it's stupid, doesn't make it less stupid.

There you go again. Just because YOU think it's stupid, doesn't mean it IS stupid.

[Fiachsidhe]

There you go again. Just because YOU think it's stupid, doesn't mean it IS stupid.

 

I see you're out of arguments and are cherry picking. I guess you're done too. Typical, most people who argue in favor of this kind of stuff generally have one, maybe two arguments and when that fails, they just repeat a strawman.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Fiachsidhe

[Lokai]

Wow what happened to just earning the credits and getting what you want? No need for RL money when ingame credits work. Heck do all the dailies on Ilum , Corellia and Belsavis and you can have 5 million in under a week.

 

not everyone wants to spend 2-3 hours a day or more doing dailys... just FYI dailys are the most BORING thing in the world to do and i agree with the OP. I'd drop 10 bucks for some unlocks or 2 dollars a race no problem... i'd much rather use my credits on things are much more useful like crafting materials...

 

Frankly i liked idea behind legacy but more i look at it more it just seems a massive waste of space...

 

1: why are races locked at all? taking me HOURS and HOURS of game play just to unlock chiss for other classes its silly and slowly turned me off of legacy.

 

2: most of legacy perks are either useless, or will be rarely used at all... almost none of it has a lasting impact on the game SO why is it so expensive? while i dont care that it is i also refuse to pay 1.5 mill for a 2minute reduction to fast travel... its stupid =P

 

over all legacy was a good concept executed poorly and massive price tags slapped on stuff have very little impact. As for the race unlocks...just proves one thing that...races should never have been locked to begin with.

[Ruuprect]

not everyone wants to spend 2-3 hours a day or more doing dailys... just FYI dailys are the most BORING thing in the world to do and i agree with the OP. I'd drop 10 bucks for some unlocks or 2 dollars a race no problem... i'd much rather use my credits on things are much more useful like crafting materials...

 

Frankly i liked idea behind legacy but more i look at it more it just seems a massive waste of space...

 

1: why are races locked at all? taking me HOURS and HOURS of game play just to unlock chiss for other classes its silly and slowly turned me off of legacy.

 

2: most of legacy perks are either useless, or will be rarely used at all... almost none of it has a lasting impact on the game SO why is it so expensive? while i dont care that it is i also refuse to pay 1.5 mill for a 2minute reduction to fast travel... its stupid =P

 

over all legacy was a good concept executed poorly and massive price tags slapped on stuff have very little impact. As for the race unlocks...just proves one thing that...races should never have been locked to begin with.

 

Then this is probably not the game for you, in fact MMO's in general are not for you.

 

Not sure why people think every game should be catered to them.

 

Edit: I have never done a daily and have plety of credits.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Ruuprect

[Fiachsidhe]

not everyone wants to spend 2-3 hours a day or more doing dailys... just FYI dailys are the most BORING thing in the world to do and i agree with the OP. I'd drop 10 bucks for some unlocks or 2 dollars a race no problem... i'd much rather use my credits on things are much more useful like crafting materials...

 

Frankly i liked idea behind legacy but more i look at it more it just seems a massive waste of space...

 

1: why are races locked at all? taking me HOURS and HOURS of game play just to unlock chiss for other classes its silly and slowly turned me off of legacy.

 

2: most of legacy perks are either useless, or will be rarely used at all... almost none of it has a lasting impact on the game SO why is it so expensive? while i dont care that it is i also refuse to pay 1.5 mill for a 2minute reduction to fast travel... its stupid =P

 

over all legacy was a good concept executed poorly and massive price tags slapped on stuff have very little impact. As for the race unlocks...just proves one thing that...races should never have been locked to begin with.

 

Well then instead of petitioning to have it available for a five bucks? Why not petition for things to simply be easier to get, or require less time? Or I don't know, maybe WAIT for something in a long term game that you don't need right this minute? Maybe giving yourself a long term goal, rather than throwing your wallet at whatever you feel you don't have to do what everyone else does for?

Edited April 26, 2012 by Fiachsidhe

[Ruuprect]

All of you that want MT's because you dont have enough time to play to grind credits. When you play a game like Skyrim and you find it is taking to long to finish do you go on the Skyrim forums and ask Bethesda to give you end game items for cash so you can complete it faster. And if so what do they tell you?

[Fornix]

Blizzard's cash shop is prime example of a group of men so greedy that the hundreds of millions of dollars they receive every year, isn't good enough, and sees fit to charge for things that should be in game. True it doesn't hurt anyone, but what cash shops actually hurt people? Blizzard as of lest year, was sitting on over two BILLION dollars in capital. Don't try to excuse this greedy crap with times change nonsense.

 

Two billion? And your point being?

 

In 2011 Apple had roughly 77 billion lying around in cash assets. Samsung had roughly 12 billion lying around in cash assets. Microsoft had roughly 10 billion lying around as well.

 

Money is required in order to be able to make investments and take risks. If such companies wouldn't have these sort of figures at hand, do you think TOR would even have been there? No matter where the true figure for TOR lied, whether that be 50 million, 100 million or over. Who in their right mind would lay down 50 million on a product if they only had 80 million in the bank? It'd be financial suicide in case the project was a miss.

 

If there is one thing I've learned about gamers, is that they will say ANYTHING to justify dropping more money on anything gaming, even when they can get it for free, as doing so requires time they just don't care to spend.

 

This is plain and simple economics truly. If it takes 10 hours ingame to gather 1.5 million in cash; vs 10 hours of working in real life which gives a net result of approximately 180 Eur then quite simply put if you could purchase the item / whatever ingame for less than 180 Eur it'd be a waste of time to farm for it regardless. And farming isn't quite what I entain as gaming. Next to that, as such prices will never be 180 Eur it makes it even more of a no-brainer to just spend the minor sum of money for those little benefits you don't want to go through a multi-hour long grind for.

 

Unlocking a certain race, play-time till 50 on a faction you might not even want to play with? Roughly 150 hours? That's over half a months salary you could make right there in that time. Instead you'd be wasting it, farming?

 

Really, if you're playing an mmorpg, chances are you'll be playing it for years if you like it. So basically, people want to pay for all this crap, so they can go back to complaining about having no goals and nothing to do. Maybe this stuff was designed for the long term. I don't know, all I know is gamers are getting so lazy, it's disgusting. It's a game for crying out loud.

 

Indeed playing. And playing games should be a form of leisure. It shouldn't become a secondary job forcing you to farm through redundant tasks which don't harm anyone. Sure money shouldn't start giving ingame benefits as it comes to PvE/PvP combat, crafting, or whatever. But in terms of visual appearances whether that be a non-combat pet, character race unlocks or whatever then there's no harm done.

 

There are tons of things people with deep pockets already get advantages for, why ruin gaming with that noise too? we've gotten to the point where even recreational activities can be bypassed by throwing money at it?

 

Farming is not a recreational activity, it's a job, and a very crappy paid and not to mention dull one whilst we're at it. If that can be bypassed by spending a little extra cash just to get that certain race unlock for example I'm all for it.

[Calsetes]

Seriously, go ahead and put a cash shop in and see what happens. Or ask Cryptic how their own double dipping scored them the lofty position of quickest conversion to free to play. Bioware hasn't pissed off enough fans with DA2, ME3, etc. I'm sure suddenly charging for extra crap will really go over well.

 

Champions wasn't the quickest game to swap to a free-to-play format - that was DC, which did it in less tham a year. Champions' MT shop was actually somewhat decent, even after the free-to-play change, until they started doing more and more grab-bags and less perks for subscribers.

 

I'm all for a cash shop, done right, in this game. Something like a server transfer, or a character rename token, or a legacy rename token, or character slots, or unlocking the different races for use after reaching the prerequisite legacy level (which would still require one to get to Legacy 5.) The other stuff... might be a little bit too powerful to have as MT unlocks in addition to in-game cash requirements.

 

They just can't go anywhere near the "buy this orange armor" or "here's a grab bag" or "buy some healing stuff!" items. Path to the dark side, they are.

[AriTrk]

awesome topic

game is so flawless, no problems with fps,performance, super balanced classes, awesome server populations with super faction balance etc

yeah lets talk about micro-transactions

[Fiachsidhe]

Champions wasn't the quickest game to swap to a free-to-play format - that was DC, which did it in less tham a year. Champions' MT shop was actually somewhat decent, even after the free-to-play change, until they started doing more and more grab-bags and less perks for subscribers.

 

I'm all for a cash shop, done right, in this game. Something like a server transfer, or a character rename token, or a legacy rename token, or character slots, or unlocking the different races for use after reaching the prerequisite legacy level (which would still require one to get to Legacy 5.) The other stuff... might be a little bit too powerful to have as MT unlocks in addition to in-game cash requirements.

 

They just can't go anywhere near the "buy this orange armor" or "here's a grab bag" or "buy some healing stuff!" items. Path to the dark side, they are.

 

I was thinking of Star Terk Online.

The things you mentioned aren't really cash shop things, I mean they can be if put in a cash shop, but you're really talking about services. Services that are charged for to avoid abuse. I'm fine with that. Though I don't know why charging for a Legacy name is necessary.

[Shaidown]

there are plenty of games that are buy to win, if thats what you want then go play those.

 

/This

[glowingice]

the day bioware started this is the day i leave the game, if you feel that you need this, thin your playing the wrong game.

[Fiachsidhe]

Two billion? And your point being?

 

In 2011 Apple had roughly 77 billion lying around in cash assets. Samsung had roughly 12 billion lying around in cash assets. Microsoft had roughly 10 billion lying around as well.

 

Money is required in order to be able to make investments and take risks. If such companies wouldn't have these sort of figures at hand, do you think TOR would even have been there? No matter where the true figure for TOR lied, whether that be 50 million, 100 million or over. Who in their right mind would lay down 50 million on a product if they only had 80 million in the bank? It'd be financial suicide in case the project was a miss.

 

 

 

This is plain and simple economics truly. If it takes 10 hours ingame to gather 1.5 million in cash; vs 10 hours of working in real life which gives a net result of approximately 180 Eur then quite simply put if you could purchase the item / whatever ingame for less than 180 Eur it'd be a waste of time to farm for it regardless. And farming isn't quite what I entain as gaming. Next to that, as such prices will never be 180 Eur it makes it even more of a no-brainer to just spend the minor sum of money for those little benefits you don't want to go through a multi-hour long grind for.

 

Unlocking a certain race, play-time till 50 on a faction you might not even want to play with? Roughly 150 hours? That's over half a months salary you could make right there in that time. Instead you'd be wasting it, farming?

 

 

 

Indeed playing. And playing games should be a form of leisure. It shouldn't become a secondary job forcing you to farm through redundant tasks which don't harm anyone. Sure money shouldn't start giving ingame benefits as it comes to PvE/PvP combat, crafting, or whatever. But in terms of visual appearances whether that be a non-combat pet, character race unlocks or whatever then there's no harm done.

 

 

 

Farming is not a recreational activity, it's a job, and a very crappy paid and not to mention dull one whilst we're at it. If that can be bypassed by spending a little extra cash just to get that certain race unlock for example I'm all for it.

 

So the old "Someone else is doing it, so it's ok" defense.

1. Microsoft and Apple are NOT video game companies. They make far more, than a single mmorpg. I would maybe consider this a valid argument, if Blizzard didn't do jack all but WoW, for almost a decade.

 

Even still, people hate the crap out of both, and there is almost no alternative save Linux, and since game companies are in MS's pocket, expect a lot of compatibility issues with game's on PC. How many threads on every game do you see asking for Mac versions?

My point being, that some businesses are in a position to get away with it, but only fools thank them for it.

I mean you're using them as an example, as if people for years haven't been protesting, and petitioning either company to stop being *****. Hell Linux was created, to give an escape from MS and Apple.

 

You're saying this like Microsoft isn't the only game in town, for reliable online PC gaming.

That's why they can get away with it, and I don't see many people asking MS to screw us MORE. Which is what you're advocating with EA.

 

2. Economics don't really matter, when what you want, is a luxury. The only thing you're thinking about, or concerned with, is what you get for yourself right this minute. MMORPGs are about grinding, grinding rep, grinding quests, grinding dungeons, grinding currency, etc.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with you about one thing, DAILIES SUCK BALLS. I quit WoW to get away from dailies. I hate them with a passion.

 

But instead of asking for a potentially abused, and game breaking cash shop (potentially further down the line), I'd rather just ask Bioware to tone it the f*** down with the prices, because they are absolutely ridiculous. OR, suggest alternative cash sink methods.

 

The prices for Legacy bonuses are asinine, but I guess since they're account wide, and you can get 200-400k per day by doing an hour or two of dailies, it's not as big a deal, when you're unlocking the ability to bypass five minutes of running. Especially if you have a bunch of people doing them with you (not everyone has this luxury though, but it's an option). How about alternate means of unlocking things.

 

Bioware borked their economy, there is no denying that, people have literally millions of credits, and nothing to spend it on and BW's great idea is to copy Blizzard, and just make a few things really expensive.

 

Rather than making special content and activities, that are a fun way of spending money, like a casino, maybe a vacation planet designed for shore leave full of mini-games, housing, buyable/craftable cosmetics, etc.

Bioware took the lazy, joyless way out, and you're asking them to bypass their solution, and allow the problem to continue. Because you haven't provided one alternative beyond "give it to me for cash!".

 

Putting this stuff in a cash shop is the laziest, worst solution to any given problem, and that goes double for a game run by EA.

 

3. Farming is a recreational activity (just ask Korean mmo players), it's just not a very enjoyable one. I agree, if I'm gonna do drone work, I'll get paid for it. Not Pay for it. But that's the game, that's mmorpgs. Hell that's RPG's period.

 

I'm not saying these prices are acceptable, I'm saying we need better alternatives than a cash shop.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Fiachsidhe