I expressed my displeasure at the "stripper outfit" and promised that if I stay in the game, I buy my avatar something decent. And I did:
Interestingly, the suit changed my personal perception of my character. She looks much more battle-ready and serious in that suit. However I kept the normal armor look for the city, it serves well as a "shopping dress":
I threw $60 on the game and bought not only the suit, but +8 slots for all Calpheon, Serendia and Balneos cities (720 pearls), a dog (which can detect suited enemies and pick up gold), a bed (60 energy/hour replenishment) and +150 weight limit for my main. You might be surprised that I throw money on a game, but counting with the usual $15/month, that's mere 4 months of subscription. Over the eight years of WoW, I paid 1200 euros (it's cheaper than $15 if you subscribe for half year).
Did I buy power? Yes. The suit is strong in PvP, so is the counter: the dog. The extra slots are practically contribution points (no need to buy storage), the weight limit increase speeds up everything from questing to industry. The bed is a significant increase of energy. Am I happy about this monetization? No, I'd still prefer subscription, or pure buy-to-play games where people who play have equal chance (while those who can't buy the game simply don't play). However the results are clear: the players value in-game items higher than game access, so developers have no choice but to sell games cheap (or even free) and then make money on selling power or "prestige" items.
Does this mean that I'll play pay-to-win mobile games? Of course not. There is a clear difference between being able to buy a capped amount of power for money comparable with a year of WoW subscription and being able to buy power infinitely. I don't think I could gain any more power by spending more on BDO. 2 beds don't recover energy faster than one. I have to accept the new pricing of games because they aren't going to go away. Subscription is dead.
Interestingly, the suit changed my personal perception of my character. She looks much more battle-ready and serious in that suit. However I kept the normal armor look for the city, it serves well as a "shopping dress":
I threw $60 on the game and bought not only the suit, but +8 slots for all Calpheon, Serendia and Balneos cities (720 pearls), a dog (which can detect suited enemies and pick up gold), a bed (60 energy/hour replenishment) and +150 weight limit for my main. You might be surprised that I throw money on a game, but counting with the usual $15/month, that's mere 4 months of subscription. Over the eight years of WoW, I paid 1200 euros (it's cheaper than $15 if you subscribe for half year).
Did I buy power? Yes. The suit is strong in PvP, so is the counter: the dog. The extra slots are practically contribution points (no need to buy storage), the weight limit increase speeds up everything from questing to industry. The bed is a significant increase of energy. Am I happy about this monetization? No, I'd still prefer subscription, or pure buy-to-play games where people who play have equal chance (while those who can't buy the game simply don't play). However the results are clear: the players value in-game items higher than game access, so developers have no choice but to sell games cheap (or even free) and then make money on selling power or "prestige" items.
Does this mean that I'll play pay-to-win mobile games? Of course not. There is a clear difference between being able to buy a capped amount of power for money comparable with a year of WoW subscription and being able to buy power infinitely. I don't think I could gain any more power by spending more on BDO. 2 beds don't recover energy faster than one. I have to accept the new pricing of games because they aren't going to go away. Subscription is dead.
18 comments:
If you dislike stripper outfits, then why not simply make a male character instead of spending money on the item shop?
Unfortunately the classes are gender-locked. There is no female barbarian or male "paladin" (the valkyrie I'm playing)
Why on earth did you buy that stupid +storage in city? Are you aware, that it doesn't raise the max limit of 194 slots? It's useless... you'll have max storage in a city which you call base and the rest of the storages doesn't matter.
@Destabilizator: ??? It gave a full row of slots in Serendia, Calpheon and Balneos.
Who cares about the max limit, I'm lightyears from it? And how can someone get max storage in a city?
Also, all my storages (including Olvia and Glish and Trent) needed upgrades since the workers fill them with all kind of stuff.
@Dest
Contribution not tied up in storage can be used elsewhere. What you say is relevant only if someone cares just for storage space (i.e. you reach the cap and then you have contribution left over you won't use).
I don't think subs are dead. As long as wow is making 7 digits monthly, they'll be fine.
Sub-based business model is also more stable than f2p business models. It definitely hass higher lifetime earnings per player than f2p models and it also insulates the developer from the mood swings of the community better.
Subs, however, are harder to make proper use of than f2p. Harder to really get the numbers up. The only reason subs worked for WoW to begin with is because they already had a decade of megahits on their resume at the time of release.
@Maxim: except WoW isn't a subscription game anymore as you can play the game "for free" by farming a game token. Your payment only removes this grind.
WoW is also the epitome of Stockholm Syndrome in gaming. We adopted it when it was new and exciting and how people can't get away from it.
If WoW was released today (same content, better engine, sub model), I doubt it would stay afloat for more than a couple of years.
@Gevlon i don't think it is fair to call a game that pulls in most of its revenue in the form of subs "not a subscription game". Just because the game decided to reward its most most active participants with free game time (as only those can really foot the 80k gold per month bill) doesn't make it "not a subscription game".
this might interested you Gevlon.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/4kcctz/i_have_an_entrance_to_hard_knocks_home_wormhole_i/
There is still Evil in EVE.
Kinda sad to use a modern style military camouflage suit in a fantasy game.
Would be nice to see a stylish combination of gaudy and useful
Something like Neuschwanstein is for architecture.
Stuff that Gothic Knights were wearing or Line Infantry or Samurai or Husars...
"and being able to buy power infinitely."
Are there any games like that?
@Last anon
Depends on your definition of "buy power" and "infinitely".
Clash of Clans (and all of Supercell games in general) always have stuff to buy, but at some point you are no longer buying anything permanent and essentially only buying consumable stuff. You don't to buy this stuff to compete at any reasonable level, but it does improve your chances quite a bit.
Many MMOs have the concept of "sharpening" (or "forging" or similar) where you can improve your gear to a certain level via a progressively higher amount of mats (often with progressively lower chances of success per attempt). In these cases, the maximum level of "sharpening" is usually capped for balance reasons. However, reaching it requires either years of play, or thousands of $s, so for many people it feels like infinite power purchasing.
@Anon... Clash of Clan, other smartphones based games like that
On storage you can use the 3 horse slots of your stable for wagons. It is not perfect but doesn't consume CP.
I use wagons. But they can only be used for "put it away" stuff. If I completely empty the warehouse, the workers will fill it with stuff in an hour.
Goons just lost the last system to MoA. Even if you delete the comment, you can still celebrate with us.
We just made history!
From: Gen Eve
Sent: 2016.05.22 23:43
To: Gevlon Goblin,
https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/4kl4xu/mordus_angels_has_just_destroyed_the_final_gsf/
http://evemaps.dotlan.net/alliance/Goonswarm_Federation ZERO sov!
I feel good after 6 hour fleet.
o7
--------------------------------
We just made history!
From: Gen Eve
Sent: 2016.05.22 23:38
To: Mordus Angels,
Mordus Angels just destroyed and took over the LAST SOV SYSTEM GOONIES HAD!
LIGHTS ARE NOW OUT!!!
THE EVIL EMPIRE IS NOW OFFICIALLY TOPPLED!!!
Great job MOA Killazzzzz
Gen
07
Respect
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