Nerro Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Honestly, if this game is heading towards micro-transactions, I'm heading out the door. They'll start with small appearance items and it will snowball from there. If this is indeed their plan, I'm as good as un-subbed. Bad idea BW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psythos Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 If they add anything to mt that I can't get in game then I will cancel because that is flat out BS. I've been following since the site popped into existence, preordered the CE and been patiently waiting for my free server transfer since I can't play on my server because there is nobody. Anything they put for mt better be for sale at the CE vendor and be reasonably priced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comstrike Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 *edit* also it states they lost 400k subs according to the march report. How did they know 2 full years before this that they would lose 400k subs? Really you believe this? Because it was a well established fact that EA/Bioware bought the industries leading back-end software, used to manage account/in-game micro-transactions and permissions. IE: the same system that presently manages the access to CE and Security Fob items. The back-end to manage MTs has been baked into the game for years. The Yahoo article is poorly written. I've always been inclined to expect MTs at some point, and yeah, I play LOTRO, so I'm fine with that coming here. They are peeving folks with the core game, annoying many with making it clear transfers are optional until mandated. I can entirely see them add MTs as soon as the fall. They'll do free transfers, until servers are empty enough, then make it possible to move to ANY server, but for a fee. Which you can pay in-game perhaps. New name? Pay. New look? Pay. Cosmetic gear? Pay. Slot for cosmetic gear? Pay. Not sure why it even seems in question. It will happen. Find me any source at EA/Bioware that will state in plain terms it will "never" happen. It can't be done. New financial quarter coming in July. Figure late July/August they have to come clean with how bad things got since the end of February. They could be down to the 800,000 to 900,000 range by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggomy Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 But do they sell items that cannot be found in-game, that would give one player an advantage over another? It's a trick question. Thats not end game gear tho. The guy specifically said he wanted to buy raid gear instead of earning it. Even f2p games with large stores like LOTRO do not sell the raid gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comstrike Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I'm not going to attempt any half @ss percentages off the top of my head, but I hate F2P games with MT"s and I would venture to say a lot of people feel the same way. I mostly see people that play F2P games just bouncing from one game to the next with no real loyalty or connection to the community. If that's the future it sounds pretty bleak. I respect the sentiment, but the fact remains this is a business, and profit keeps the servers on. In that regard, even if some people hate F2P, most kvetch more than actually unsubscribe, in the cases of the peer games that are in question here. Indeed, if X number of people quit the game, EA isn't going to give a darn if they know they will still attract so many part-time players, and those who pony-up the cash, that they earn two, three, or four times as much. Cosmetic gear slots? Gear dyes? Facial changes, hair changes? Cute emotes and non-combat companions? Decor for your eventual guild and personal ships? If anything, I think the game will thrive in that such a shift would add the "sandbox" option in a back-handed, for profit, kind of way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggomy Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Because it was a well established fact that EA/Bioware bought the industries leading back-end software, used to manage account/in-game micro-transactions and permissions. IE: the same system that presently manages the access to CE and Security Fob items. The back-end to manage MTs has been baked into the game for years. So because of this they knew 2 years in advance they would lose 400k subscribers and go f2p at an exact date. You are saying they planned the entire time to lose the 400k subs and go f2p in July? Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vis-Tecum Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 A cash shop is a bit of a problem unless they make a means to grind out the CS currency by other means. I personaly wouldnt be as unhappy about that. I just dont want all the items that actualy have time and effort going in to the design have to be bought with real money only while the in game rewards are the same low quality [as in time and effort in design not its ingame use] items we have now. I dont think anyone would pay real money for the quality of any of the pets or armor skins we have in game currently, maybe the new aratech mounts but the coolest pet in game right now is the midnight rakling and I dont think people would pay for that quality of a item. but then I guess people were buying the taun fawns on e-bay but I think that one looks better than the in game ones my point is if they put better quality items up for sale before we get some in game that is not O.K. while paying a sub in my opinon now if they want to go free to play then thats a diffrent story and it can collect dust in mediocrity like the rest of the free 2 play games and prove bioware was not able to play with the mmo bigboys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardwear Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) It's not skipping understanding, It's skipping grinding. If I don't understand my class i will still get killed. I'll just speak for myself. the grind = undestanding From a pvp point of view I learn by repitition. If I skip the grind then I skip the understanding. grind - consider strength/weakness - reasess - rinse repeat Edited June 14, 2012 by Hardwear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoobie Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 They could be down to the 800,000 to 900,000 range by now. Could be...then again, news of this transfer may bring some folks back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggomy Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 now if they want to go free to play then thats a diffrent story and it can collect dust in mediocrity like the rest of the free 2 play games and prove bioware was not able to play with the mmo bigboys Pretty sure this has already been proven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islander Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 So because of this they knew 2 years in advance they would lose 400k subscribers and go f2p at an exact date. You are saying they planned the entire time to lose the 400k subs and go f2p in July? Really? It was a contingency they planned for. Come on now. This is a multibillion dollar company. They didnt get this way by being short sighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shingara Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Let me ask something, has wow selling sparkle ponys hurt wow ? so why will it hurt here ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anarchistic Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Honestly, if this game is heading towards micro-transactions, I'm heading out the door. They'll start with small appearance items and it will snowball from there. If this is indeed their plan, I'm as good as un-subbed. Bad idea BW. Feel the same as I have stated many times, Star Trek went Free to Play within a year (I feel sorry for the life time subscribers) and was also brought out by Perfect World Entertainment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoobie Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Pretty sure this has already been proven. How's that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfninjajedi Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) Edit: Nvrm. Edited June 14, 2012 by Wolfninjajedi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vis-Tecum Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) Pretty sure this has already been proven. they could turn it around and prove themselves but not with free 2 play or microtransactions, they would have to gain back players with fun content and features worth paying a sub for Edited June 14, 2012 by Vis-Tecum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfninjajedi Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I think i'll wait till someone from BW confirms this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kthx Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) EA expects to earn significant revenue from additional features and through micro-transactions by selling in-game based items. Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ea-showcase-games-e3-143015708.html Anybody can write a story on Yahoo Finance. This is not journalism: It is an opinion piece by an investment analyst. I would call it "analysis", except there is no attribution given for the assertion in regards to microtransactions. tl;dr: I am highly skeptical of the veracity of this claim. Edited June 14, 2012 by Kthx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vis-Tecum Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) Let me ask something, has wow selling sparkle ponys hurt wow ? so why will it hurt here ? because wow has alot of content, in game items people want, and a game with a community that stands on its own bioware has a new unproven game that is lacking content and features, bleeding subs, and has a large unhappy player base that bioware is trying to push over the edge. combine that with so many people wanting to see this game fail and the bad press everywhere and microtranactions could kill the game. unless it goes free to play, then like I said gets filed away in mediocrity, loses its triple A status and becomes the biggest fail in mmos ever and could possibly kill quality story and voice overs in mmos along with the subscription model Edited June 14, 2012 by Vis-Tecum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardwear Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) I respect the sentiment, but the fact remains this is a business, and profit keeps the servers on. In that regard, even if some people hate F2P, most kvetch more than actually unsubscribe, in the cases of the peer games that are in question here. Indeed, if X number of people quit the game, EA isn't going to give a darn if they know they will still attract so many part-time players, and those who pony-up the cash, that they earn two, three, or four times as much. Cosmetic gear slots? Gear dyes? Facial changes, hair changes? Cute emotes and non-combat companions? Decor for your eventual guild and personal ships? If anything, I think the game will thrive in that such a shift would add the "sandbox" option in a back-handed, for profit, kind of way. I agree there will be plenty of people that subscribe to this type of business model atleast initially, but as you can see by just this thread alone (and I've seen countless threads like this over the years) there are plenty of people who won't. F2P still translates to me as "let's just get whatever we can get" business model. Edited June 14, 2012 by Hardwear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comstrike Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 So because of this they knew 2 years in advance they would lose 400k subscribers and go f2p at an exact date. You are saying they planned the entire time to lose the 400k subs and go f2p in July? Really? No, I mean that three years ago, they expected to eventually open the game to MTs anyway, because that was something the industry was heading towards. It is better to do that up-front on a technical side, than to wait. When LOTRO did it, they had to stop new development and basically rebuild the game for the new model. Here, they already have the server/client built to order. They likely are having to repackage content for the model, sooner than expected. It would answer why they aren't pushing real content updates and are stuck on system and stat adjustments. They new there would be a post-launch drop, they just didn't think it would be this big, or this fast. They knew at some point in the games development they were going to gun for enhanced revenue. I honestly think they were expecting to do CE and tiered editions of the core client, effectively skipping the politically charged issue of MTs, by front-loading things the way they did. Pay more, have access to more. They already crossed that line at launch, folks didn't bother calling it what it was. At this point, if they are taking a beating already, they may figure they should just cut losses and go all-in with making a change. People who don't want MTs will find every reason and fantasy to explain away why it won't happen. They did that for LOTRO, and were very simply wrong. In the end, it is about money, and making more of it. Subscription models are great, if you can make it work. This game is failing on that front. Free to lvl 15 might seem like a "trial" but then they structured LOTRO's conversion not unlike that, if under differing terms and structure. Originally, at a given point, you weren't supposed to be able to progress. Given how shallow this game is, lvl 15 is a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leggomy Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 No, I mean that three years ago, they expected to eventually open the game to MTs anyway, because that was something the industry was heading towards. It is better to do that up-front on a technical side, than to wait. The point is the info they are using is not from 2010 its from E3 in 2012. I dont understand all this other gibberish but fact remains they were not quoting some 2 year old article about f2p and microtransactions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comstrike Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I agree there will be plenty of people that subscribe to this type of business model atleast initially, but as you can see by just this thread alone (and I've seen countless threads like this over the years) there are plenty of people who won't. F2P still translates to me as "let's just get whatever we can get" business model. I respect the comment. That said, this is an MMORPG forum, do we need to debate how vitrial and over wrought things get in such places? People who are happy or that don't care, are the least motivated to post online. It is those who hate, dislike, or object, that tend to be the most vocal. I freely embrace the fact that many won't like it. I simply put forward the time proven fact that they don't matter. However many SAY they will quit, most don't. Indeed, most not only quit, but what the AAA grade MMOs earn is so much, that they'll simply accept losing those who do leave. Which, as unkind as this sounds, means those who say they'll quit, ultimately are too few and thus don't matter. I listened to soooo many people try to tell me that this game would have SOOOOO many people that MTs/F2P would NEVER happen. Didn't work out that way. Though few of us saw this mess coming the way it did, all it really means is the same thing is going to happen sooner rather than later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardwear Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 People who are happy or that don't care, are the least motivated to post online. It is those who hate, dislike, or object, that tend to be the most vocal. I freely embrace the fact that many won't like it. I simply put forward the time proven fact that they don't matter. However many SAY they will quit, most don't. Indeed, most not only quit, but what the AAA grade MMOs earn is so much, that they'll simply accept losing those who do leave. Which, as unkind as this sounds, means those who say they'll quit, ultimately are too few and thus don't matter. I respectfully disagree. I think you underestimate the damage F2P and full on MT's would cause to this game. It would no longer rank as AAA grade. I listened to soooo many people try to tell me that this game would have SOOOOO many people that MTs/F2P would NEVER happen. Didn't work out that way. Though few of us saw this mess coming the way it did, all it really means is the same thing is going to happen sooner rather than later. Not saying your wrong, but I can't really subscribe to the doomsay just yet it's still just over 6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comstrike Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 The point is the info they are using is not from 2010 its from E3 in 2012. I dont understand all this other gibberish but fact remains they were not quoting some 2 year old article about f2p and microtransactions. Maybe I misunderstood what you were saying then, could be the time of night, or transferring toons, restarting guilds, etc. Some interesting thoughts on MTs from EA's CEO: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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