When do we start paying to play?

[Mechzz]

So will the cash shop be open from day 1 of beta?

Never been in the beta of a F2P, and not sure what to expect.

How would it work when the game gets reset or they decide my fake fur tiger skin camo or salty nuts hood ornament will not be in the release version?

Or will they let us play for free and take all our customisations away when open beta starts?

[Bags]

I know one company with a cash shop gave people e-currency during the beta to test the shop then reset it for the launch.

[Zekeen]

So will the cash shop be open from day 1 of beta?

Never been in the beta of a P2P, and not sure what to expect.

How would it work when the game gets reset or they decide my fake fur tiger skin camo or salty nuts hood ornament will not be in the release version?

Or will they let us play for free and take all our customisations away when open beta starts?

The game is FREE TO PLAY, cash shop is for sidegrades and customizations. There is no information if the cash shop will be out when Beta starts or if we will get to take a full look at cash shop items during beta without having to pay for them.

[Figment]

I know one company with a cash shop gave people e-currency during the beta to test the shop then reset it for the launch.

Wargaming did that as well I think, they gave away free gold and had a higher silver and experience income during beta as far as I'm aware of (wasn't there though).

Then everything got reset at launch.

[Coreldan]

It sorta depends on their approach. If they plan for a long beta, they will probably want SOME revenue in the process. Ideally though company probably doesnt want to start asking for money in a beta, though.

The way APB did it to test the cash shop and transaction processes was a 100% rebate. So when they put the cash shop up, they promised that you get 100% of the used points back at the end of beta or so. Naturally theres the "trick" that they already got your money and will only rebate the points. So I bought 60€ worth of premium back then, so I had a premium for a long time, then I had the same 60€ worth of points rebated that I then used slowly for other cool stuff they added to the cash shop.

That said, I dont mind putting money into the game already in beta, as long as it's not lost/compensated fairly in some other way. I dont even mind if say.. I buy some cool headgear, lets say a beret. During the beta process characters are wiped, I don't mind as long as each of my new chars after the wipe still has the beret :D

[Gandhi]

Tribes opened the cash shop during beta and didn't reset anything at the end. But if SOE decides to do the same I hope they at least reset characters and refund purchases back to Station Cash at the end of the beta, since progression means a lot more here than it does in Tribes. That way they could mess with XP rewards and progression rate without fear of destroying the balance of the game on launch.

[Notser]

Tribes opened the cash shop during beta and didn't reset anything at the end. But if SOE decides to do the same I hope they at least reset characters and refund purchases back to Station Cash at the end of the beta, since progression means a lot more here than it does in Tribes. That way they could mess with XP rewards and progression rate without fear of destroying the balance of the game on launch.

Isn't the point of Planetside 2 that a person who's been playing for 5 years won't have any advantage over the 5 min other than experience. I hope they use the Tribes model where beta counts toward retail, Hi-rez reset the profiles very late into closed beta when it was pretty clear the large changes were done.

[SKYeXile]

Tribes opened the cash shop during beta and didn't reset anything at the end. But if SOE decides to do the same I hope they at least reset characters and refund purchases back to Station Cash at the end of the beta, since progression means a lot more here than it does in Tribes. That way they could mess with XP rewards and progression rate without fear of destroying the balance of the game on launch.

^ that x 1000, its fucking stupid when companys go from beta to live by title only and dont reset characters, get men to make the game, with the balls to put a game out for real rather than hide your POS product behind "but its beta" blanket.

[Figment]

^ that x 1000, its fucking stupid when companys go from beta to live by title only and dont reset characters, get men to make the game, with the balls to put a game out for real rather than hide your POS product behind "but its beta" blanket.

Wargaming is especially weird in that respect: they're still in version 0.7.3 with World of Tanks while already working on the next games.

That's right, not 1.7.3 or 7.3, no, 0.7.3!

Basically, they made expansions into patch updates to version 1.0.0

[SKYeXile]

Wargaming is especially weird in that respect: they're still in version 0.7.3 with World of Tanks while already working on the next games.

That's right, not 1.7.3 or 7.3, no, 0.7.3!

Basically, they made expansions into patch updates to version 1.0.0

yea they're weird, ill say its just because they're russian. as far as im concerned the games live and if they do reset everything thing at this point...FUCK THEM IN THEIR STUPID ASSES.

[Shogun]

i have participated in many betas and i have seen all aproaches.

cash shops tested with limited free e-currency (wipe at release)
cash shops where everything was up totally for free (wipe at release)
fully working cash shops during beta with real money (no wipe or refund with shopcurrency)
and even rewarding the testing of special game or shop systems by giving exclusive (mostly cosmetic or charslot) rewards after the beta.

soe can take any of these routes. there are just 2 things that they have to make sure:
don´t make people pay for xp boosts during beta and wipe without compensation!
don´t leave players in the dark about what you gonna do!
other than that you are free to choose whatever system you like.

i wouldn´t mind if there is no charwipe at all. (because high xp doesn´t give a big advantage on the field) but it would be ok to wipe just to remember the testers what beta is about, and that beta doesn´t equal free sneakpeek gaming.

[Figment]

yea they're weird, ill say its just because they're russian. as far as im concerned the games live and if they do reset everything thing at this point...FUCK THEM IN THEIR STUPID ASSES.

They won't reset anymore. They're just working to the "full version as intended" bit by bit.

Considering the amount of money they made, there's no way they're going to reset anything. They are "quite generous" in compensation when tanks get replaced along the way with new slots and extra tanks. Of course, it's at no real cost for them so they wouldn't care.

[IMMentat]

IMO if its testing, then give people test currency and wipe all chars at the end of the test.
If its release test, then take peoples money but refund the tokens spent on actual release.

Keep players informed as to the plan as often and publicly as possible (on the front screen not the patchnotes).

[LegioX]

I would gladly spend 60 bucks on side/customize grades for this game. Hell thats the price you pay for a game these days anyway.

[Semisel]

Well, if SOE is true to their word on all weapons being sidegrades, and I believe they will keep to that promise, then does it matter if beta players are allowed to keep their items / Station Cash? Also, there's no mandate suggesting that one continuing policy must apply for the entire beta, open or closed; an early dry run of the shop to flush all of the bugs and such out would be of course expected, but that could be followed up with an official opening of the shop, even while in beta, once it's functional and relatively watertight.

[Rbstr]

I will absolutely not pay for equipment in a beta unless it is explicitly stated that it will carry over at launch or we get our money back.

[Athanasios]

on another level, i would expect that the player who's going to be seriously involved in the game (as with any F2P), will give about 20-30 euros the first year.

after the first year, it depends on the new content added in the game.

the above excludes promoting packs, such as "Founders' Pack" for MechWarrior Online (~80$).

[KTNApollo]

Probably will have a balance of a few hundred Station Cash given to us that will be wiped after beta.

[Coreldan]

on another level, i would expect that the player who's going to be seriously involved in the game (as with any F2P), will give about 20-30 euros the first year.

after the first year, it depends on the new content added in the game.

the above excludes promoting packs, such as "Founders' Pack" for MechWarrior Online (~80$).

I personally sorta reflect everything against WoW in this way. I had no problems paying 13€/month for it for several years, so I certainly wont have a problem supporting a game I like with an equal amount of money per month, regardless if they are free2play.

Given, the situation is a bit different now cos I study in university with no real income anymore, but that was sorta my motto when still working full hours. I still try to support fe. APB with a fair amount of money, even if I'm tight'ish on money.

[LightningDriver]

You guys have 3 chances to guess who's going to buy the zebra print camo for driving around a lightning. :D

[Blackwolf]

You guys have 3 chances to guess who's going to buy the zebra print camo for driving around a lightning. :D

Fuzzy Lumpkins?