Nickel and Dime

[Horrid]

New to PS. Been reading the forums here for a bit getting acquainted with what PS and PS2 is.

I think the game will be great, mixing fps with mmo aspects win win in my book.... however...

What really worries is the f2p model. I know no information much has been released other than its f2p and they promise "no pay to in features". But i have played my fairshare of f2p games that promised the exact samething and i will tell you, a company adds those things in in a sublte way everytime.

Sony maybe differenty, Higby and the crew may be different..i can only hope.

A 2nd point i would like to make about f2p, and i think some have mentioned this as a possiblity, is the ability to pay a sub and have access to cosmetic items and the like or somthing to that nature.

Maybe im to draconic in my thinking when i say, if 10 to 15 bucks a month is too much for someone to pay a sub and have access to everything in the game, cosemtic and the like, then perhaps people should rethink their priorities in life and not play until they can.

Companies can make money from a 10 15 mnth sub fee, the problem is to many are money grubbing from the OCD nature of the gaming community that is about imho....do dont let them fool ya and say that cant make a profit from subs...

Anyway...not here to rant to much :lol: but do hope the game turns out well,


Over and out...from a new PS semi-fan.....

[Malorn]

New to PS. Been reading the forums here for a bit getting acquainted with what PS and PS2 is.

I think the game will be great, mixing fps with mmo aspects win win in my book.... however...

What really worries is the f2p model. I know no information much has been released other than its f2p and they promise "no pay to in features". But i have played my fairshare of f2p games that promised the exact samething and i will tell you, a company adds those things in in a sublte way everytime.

Sony maybe differenty, Higby and the crew may be different..i can only hope.

A 2nd point i would like to make about f2p, and i think some have mentioned this as a possiblity, is the ability to pay a sub and have access to cosmetic items and the like or somthing to that nature.

Maybe im to draconic in my thinking when i say, if 10 to 15 bucks a month is too much for someone to pay a sub and have access to everything in the game, cosemtic and the like, then perhaps people should rethink their priorities in life and not play until they can.

Companies can make money from a 10 15 mnth sub fee, the problem is to many are money grubbing from the OCD nature of the gaming community that is about imho....do dont let them fool ya and say that cant make a profit from subs...

Anyway...not here to rant to much :lol: but do hope the game turns out well,


Over and out...from a new PS semi-fan.....

Please watch this:
Extra Credits: Microtransactions (The Escapist) - YouTube

[ArmedZealot]

lik dis if u pay evrytime

[Horrid]

You know ive seen that vid before..and again it rings what ive said about cash shop f2p and experiences ive had true...

Fact is, greed runs f2p models pure and simple, no amount of videos will hide that fact.

Now like i said if they keep the pay to win crap out of the game then its all good....but again i advise in my experiences which are many, it doesnt hold true in the free to play business mode.

[proxy]

Fact is, greed runs f2p models pure and simple, no amount of videos will hide that fact.

Greed runs every "for profit" model.

F2P will work for PS2 because it will keep populations up with a never ending stream of new and returning players with its ease of access. PS2 needs F2P as far as I am concerned.

[Neurotoxin]

Subscriptions are almost gone. The shift to F2P across the entire industry has been making it tougher to run games with a subscription fee. Sure they could ask for a subscription, but the goal is constant battle and servers that are always full and active, and to allow as many players as possible to join the action.

With major hardware requirements and decent connection requirements, it is also nice to let everyone try before they buy to see if they can even run PS2 to begin with.

They may have premium subscriptions that give free access to all aesthetics (like you said) or do "Monthly Threads" packages where the user can buy all the aesthetic items for 31 days at a time.

Cosmetic is different than equipment though. Equipment that is purchased and unlocked is available for certifications to be spent on it. I definitely don't feel that all weapons should be available for $15 a month.


Here's what I'd put into a monthly premium subscription:

- Full access to aesthetic items.

- 50% resource and experience boosters.

- Queue Advancement - Be ahead of all non-Premium users when getting through server or continent queues.

- Test Server Access (try the latest build before it releases)

- 500 SC (since subscriptions probably won't be paid in SC, only money)

- Maybe 10000 Auraxium as well.

[Malorn]

F2P is a good monetization model and it keeps games healthily populated. Players are the content. When you lower the price to play you increase player population. The model also allows you to spend as much or as little as you want.

Yes, they can screw it up by selling power, and that's a topic that has been discussed many times and they've assured us many times that they will not sell power. Their current business model as we understand it can be found here from Matt Higby himself:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetside/comments/s37ri/controversy_whether_the_system_is_going_to_be_p2w/c4aq4bf

I've addressed this a few times in interviews in the past, but here's the basic gist. Planetside 2 has three fundamental types of items:
•Power adding items - items such as grandesgrenades, med kits, certain types of implants (like a run speed booster), these items fundamentally alter player power and are acquired exclusively with resources earned in game
•Playstyle items - these are sidegrades for vehicles and weapons, these switch up playstyle, and as much as possible are balanced against one-another to not add absolute power. These are available for Resources earned in game or Station Cash.
•Non-gameplay affecting items - things like cosmetic skins, resource or xp boosts, etc. These don't have any impact on moment-to-moment gameplay and therefore player power and are available for Station Cash

So, as you can see, anything that gives any gameplay impact of any kind is always going to be available through gameplay. You wont be able to unlock a gameplay affecting item exclusively for Station Cash, there will be an in-game acquisition path as well, you're just bypassing (or shortcutting) it by using Station Cash.

Additionally, none of our item sidegrades really give a discrete power advantage, and those items which do (such as grenades, etc) are available exclusively for in-game resources. So, while you can unlock different playstyle choices with Station Cash, you're not really buying an advantage overall, you're just unlocking different situational breadth.

[Exmortius]

i gladly paid to play ps1 when it was being run well and supported. i think pretty much every ps1 vet would agree that they would too. seeing how amazing this game looks atm i'm sure many of the former peeps are lining up to have higby pillage their wallets. am i wrong? anyone? anyone ? >.>

[Saifoda]

Bottom line: Companies need to make money. That's how this whole thing called "economics" works (in a monetary system, anyways); there are way more pros than cons on the ftp model as opposed to subscription. Ultimately it's going to be cheaper for people unless they want to buy things. This game can be totally and completely free, or you can pay for extras that you want (or for weapons/etc... that will be available anyways, but just get them faster).

[mirwalk]

Gotta have F2P on the game. Makes it real easy to talk people into at least trying the game out. Which without a big legacy behind it will be necessary to pull in new blood.
Also if I tire of the game I can walk away and a month come back without wasting more cash. This will give better populations on the servers.
Some players like in BF3 are ok with purchasing a box, but wouldn't pay a sub. Since there are alternatives you only buy into <--- or like TF2 you don't have to, you don't want to offer a slightly better game and have people say that they don't want to keep paying.

I think this will really move forward the game. And if you can't get camo besides purchasing for SC then I see some real sales at the start. I had a hard time picking out some people with camo during the streams, I think a lot of people will be buying those.

[Sabot]

They've told us so many times they will not sell power... at least not power that you can't aquire by also only playing the game... might take longer, but you don't have to pay for it you don't want to. They get that question over and over by gaming press and the answer is always the same. And I do believe them when they say it, not only becuse they seem like such a great bunch of people that actually care about the game, not only making money off of it.

But once a company breaks "promises" of that nature, they don't only lose money from players leaving the game, they lose money from loss of trust in every other area of the company, so to speak. It's in their best interest, imho, to stay true to the whole 'not selling power' deal... both for the games sake, and the companys sake.

But I for one will buy stuff on the market just to support them, even though I don't have to.

[Neurotoxin]

Don't forget merchandise. Dog tags, hats, shirts, window clings, posters, empire-specific SOE Authenticators, just for starters.

They could even go as far as custom bike helmets, bumper stickers or automotive decals, costume weapons and armor, miniatures and models and figurines, etc.

If each item comes with 500 or 1000 station cash, it'll sweeten the deal even more for customers. Some amount of the money goes back to the cost of producing the merchandise, some goes to paying for PS2.

[therandomone]

lik dis if u pay evrytime

I dont think anyone can like this if you type like that everytime

[RoninAfro]

I dont think anyone can like this if you type like that everytime

don't, every time. If you're going to correct someone, at least make sure you get it right. :P

[ArmedZealot]

don't, every time. If you're going to correct someone, at least make sure you get it right. :P

lols. It's a joke guys. I was making a funny.

Calling SOE money grubbing for making the game F2P is uncalled for. This guy deserves to have some humor thrown at him.

Of course SOE is money grubbing, they are a company aiming to make money. We don't fault them for that.

[Rexdezi]

Please watch this:
Extra Credits: Microtransactions (The Escapist) - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWMBeLrZoyw)

that was a very interesting watch :) thank you :)

[Exmortius]

ooooo man i would love a TR dog tag. i'd wear that like everywhere :) those will probably sell like mad.

[RadarX]

Subscription based MMO (or non-box FPS) are now a rare exception versus most products going free to play. It's profitable for the company but most important is it provides you with options for your budget. Of course a subscription is simpler, but it's not the model most folks are used to these days.

[likwidneo]

@OP

I've been playing PS1 since launch, still subbed, and I can tell you my first thought when PS1 came out was "this game is awesome and revolutionary, but it should be free to play and they should try and monetize the game in some other way." lo and behold 9 years later...

the problem with PS1 or 2 is that unlike most non-instanced MMO's, you NEED heavily populated servers to make this work. I did more than my fair share of named monster camping on Final Fantasy XI and sometimes i'd sit there and wish there weren't 30 people next to me competing for something that spawns every 8 hours. The MMOFPS is exactly backwards. the game requires a heavy body count for it to be a great experience to their paying customers.

the problem at that point then becomes, "why should i pay 15 bucks a month for this game when i can pay 60 once for cawadoody or battlefailed and milk my money for what its worth?" thats what any shooter player who hasn't actually given the game a chance and subbed for a month will say. you just can't truly wrap your head around the planetside experience until you actually sit down and get it in your hands directly. Cheesy, I know, but it's kinda like The Matrix. "No one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

[Werefox]

Like I suspect a lot a PS1 veterans here I was in the last fortnight of open beta for PS1. Anecdotally, the transition between the last day of open beta and first day of subscriptions seemed like half the people vanished overnight. I also suspect that 'can't find anyone to shoot at' was one of the leading contributions for population decline on servers over the following months and years.

For better or worse, a significant number of people are either not in the position to pay subscriptions or are fundamentally opposed to them. I was overjoyed when I heard PS2 was going F2P, not because I'm particularly biased for or against F2P, but rather because it gives my real life friends no excuse to giving it a try. And if they are playing, I will play well beyond where I would otherwise stop.

[Exmortius]

right on i totally agree. being free and if word of mouth from vets push it along with a bit of good marketing even if just done with youtube channels it should really take off. when people see the actual gameplay footage after launch people are going to poop themselves at how much is happening. this is really a one of a kind franchise even 10 years later. there is nothing else close to what this game provides. it's completely unique. more teamwork than anyone can imagine in a game.

[shryne]

It is a matter of perspective. If you do not have to pay for Planetside 2 (the game) then you can spend 60 dollars in customizations and anything else they sell. Either way you spend the same total and don't have to worry about a subscription renewing ;)

[Saifoda]

....
But I for one will buy stuff on the market just to support them, even though I don't have to.

^ Ditto there. Just hearing Higsby's story of Florida --> California "can I have a job? I love this" story tells me all I need to know about the company's integrity...as far as being a consumer/player is concerned.

[Saifoda]

....
the problem at that point then becomes, "why should i pay 15 bucks a month for this game when i can pay 60 once for cawadoody or battlefailed and milk my money for what its worth?" thats what any shooter player who hasn't actually given the game a chance and subbed for a month will say. you just can't truly wrap your head around the planetside experience until you actually sit down and get it in your hands directly. Cheesy, I know, but it's kinda like The Matrix. "No one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

^^^^^ I'm getting that tattooed on the boner you just gave me.

[Brusi]

opinions are like spelling, no one can fucking get it right.

[The Degenatron]

But I for one will buy stuff on the market just to support them, even though I don't have to.

Me too. I'm subbing PS1 right now just for the chance to play early. As soon as I'm in PS2 and the store is live, I'm moving that sub money to PS2 purchases.

[Ikeda]

One question would be once you buy something like a skin etc. from the cash shop do you own it permanently or is it one of those money grab things where you have to renew your ownership of it every month the same way some of the greedier F2P cash shops work. Don't think they've specified that yet.

[SGTalon]

I hope that SOE and specifically the Planetside 2 team makes PILES of money off this game.

I mean Scrooge McDuck piles of money.

Maybe then the rest of the gaming world will get on the bandwagon and start making GOOD games again.

I also sure hope that the PS2 team gets profit sharing. They deserve it.

Yay Capitalism!

[Malorn]

Smed will have a money bath from this game. Every day.

[Grognard]

The main reason I dont play PS1, is because the pops dropped too much. I loved the large scale battles. F2P, in my opinion, will bring those pops back, and even more than before.

I fully intend to pay (for me and my daughter) in excess of $100 for this game, its just a given. Probably in the first year if my girl sees skins for new shoes... So, the nickle and dime effect will be by my choice, and I'm ok with that, since they are not shoving it down my throat.

You cant put a price on making your kid happy, nickles, dimes, or dollars. Live a little... ;)

[Karmic Revenge]

You cant put a price on making your kid happy, nickles, dimes, or dollars. Live a little... ;)

:thumbsup:

[Dragonien]

Well I think this game will take my money and life:D

Yeah! I'm good with that :):):):):):)