Paying for Planetside

[Madfish]

I've been somewhat confused how buying one time purchases of horns for your helmets and pink zebra skin for your prowler is going to pay for the maintenance and ongoing development for PS2.

I realise free will lead to a vastly higher population (the long tail of the market!) - and now-a-days population means a lot to senior management. At least, it does where they will be subjected to advertising and marketing (such as facebook). But will that be enough to sustain the game?

As a PS fan, are you planning to pay for a monthly recurring pack (XP boost or whatever) just to renumerate the team? Or are you going to scrimp it? (You're probably NC if you do, free loaders).

How would you feel if contemporary advertising crept in 12 months down the line? This base is sponsored by Mercedes Benz!

As a last paragraph comment (all alone at the end, no one will read me. If you did, Hi!) is the game free, or one off payment for the game? I've seen mixed messages.

[Sabot]

It's free... no payment for the game.

Also: Gigantic player base + small, sane micro-transactions when the players him/herself wants = winning.

It's been proven more than once, so I'm not worried.

[Zenben]

If I'm not mistaken, when EQ1 went from purchase + subscription to F2P they saw a huge jump in revenue. The population of that game is still pretty solid considering its age. Attracting more people with a free game means more people are tempted to buy a couple things, which is more than they would have paid if they decided to skip the game altogether.

[Stew]

I've been somewhat confused how buying one time purchases of horns for your helmets and pink zebra skin for your prowler is going to pay for the maintenance and ongoing development for PS2.

I realise free will lead to a vastly higher population (the long tail of the market!) - and now-a-days population means a lot to senior management. At least, it does where they will be subjected to advertising and marketing (such as facebook). But will that be enough to sustain the game?

As a PS fan, are you planning to pay for a monthly recurring pack (XP boost or whatever) just to renumerate the team? Or are you going to scrimp it? (You're probably NC if you do, free loaders).

How would you feel if contemporary advertising crept in 12 months down the line? This base is sponsored by Mercedes Benz!

As a last paragraph comment (all alone at the end, no one will read me. If you did, Hi!) is the game free, or one off payment for the game? I've seen mixed messages.

they are planning to get 500 $ out of some people 0 $ of some others 10 $ some others and so on ....

and yess the game have to have a massive numbers of players to actually survive so thats why they have to make a solid but welcoming planetside 2 experience thats why they planned the mission systhem thats why they dont want to force the team work but encourage it thats why they will sell Golden pistol etc..

people will enjoy the game and will pay for some few article they really like but if 1 millions people pay for at least 30 $ in 1 or 2 years the game will actually worth the investment because some people will spend 500 $ and more others will spend 10 $ or less but overall their will be benefits if the game is acessible and fun ! if not the game will slowly die

and remember their is no distribution cost their is not transport or printing cost its 1000 % digital download

[AgtPanda]

The way I see it is...

Normal P2P games are what, 60 bucks one time plus DLC for greedy EA?
That 60 bucks per player is enough to sustain some devs for a while.
In a F2P market, where money paid is a choice,you will get some people buying nothing and others spending 5 or 10 dollars on camos, while others still spend over $100 on equipment to pimp out their online persona.

I would like to think that averages out to a reasonable amount per customer, a reasonable pay check for the devs, and with the whole MMO thing going on with patches and more stuff being added to the cash shop... People will pay more money for the cool newly implemented stuff. It's worked for other games. Check out LoL for instance, a skin is being released that has been extremely hyped and will get even the most conservative players paying a bit of cash for a cool visual element added to their game.

And to answer the one time payment thing... No. It's completely free to play unless you want to spend cash on cool visual things!

[GreatMazinkaise]

I'll drop the cash on some cosmetics and the premium subscription, presuming that the gameplay is actually rewarding.

The current horns are too small... need to buff that during beta.

[Mechzz]

Hi Madfish, the game has no up front costs you'll be glad to hear.

Agree with Mazinkaise on the horns. If you're going to have horns, they should be big fecking horns!

On a related point, I've now watched the Sony hall presentation from E3. The presenter said that hood ornaments for vehicles had "nearly" made it to E3, but not quite. So that's why we're waiting for Beta, none of that HA nonsense! - come on T-Ray!

[Kran De Loy]

Once you buy something in an FTP game, it becomes easier to buy a second item, then a third and so on.

So yes, I see microtransactions keeping the game floating easily and the SOE Devs obviously know that selling power over the store is one of the fastest ways to scare off players and thus potential paying customers.

However the Devs do not own the company. This is the part where many previous games (FTP or otherwise) have been able to go so inevitably extremely wrong. While SOE hasn't made that mistake yet as far as I know, SOE has unfortunately made similar terribad decisions that have previously thrown many of their franchises into sad shells of their previous potential.

Happily nothing even near the level of EA's shenanigans over the last decade.

[Sensator]

Free to play has been proven to give smaller and more niche games a much larger revenue stream than subscription based games. This is why so many games switch to F2P after they fail to reach the 'needed' number of players to reach a profit margin.

[Mechzz]

Free to play has been proven to give smaller and more niche games a much larger revenue stream than subscription based games. This is why so many games switch to F2P after they fail to reach the 'needed' number of players to reach a profit margin.

I'm hopeful that the "pay" aspects in PS2 will work well, since it has been designed that way from the start. Bolting it in after the fact can be quite awkward imho.

[Otleaz]

Nexon, an exclusively free to play model publisher has reached "behemoth" level at an alarming pace recently.

They left Activision-Blizzard in the dust in terms of profits and have been buying out competitors like crazy. They even attempted to buy EA.

When you ask, "Why would this game go free to play?" Look at Nexon. They are the reason for this free to play craze that has been going on.

[Phellix]

Put it this way, i have a crap ton of friends who wouldn't buy this game otherwise and therefore would not put any money into it, but since it's free to play, they'll all at least try it out.

That's how they hooked me on league, and ultimately why HON needed to turn to FTP

[Mr DeCastellac]

This is extremely scaled down, but maybe it will help to explain it.

You could get 1000 people that pay $60 for your game, plus $15 a month.
Alternatively, you could get 10,000 people to play for 'free'.

I haven't researched many statistics, but I do know that after making one purchase (say, $5), consumers are extremely likely to make multiple purchases. I've found myself doing this for many games, in fact. I think I'll just buy one thing, and I end up with a plethora of cosmetic items.

Like I said, I haven't researched this, so these estimations are probably way off. Anyone who buys something is probably going to buy more, so let's say they end up buying an average of $5 worth of items every month.
It may not seem like much in the beginning, but over time, they will be making way more from the F2P model.

I'll try to put it into an equation.
So, paid method: f(x)=(60+15x)*1000
The free method: f(x)=5x*5000 <- Assuming half of the people buy cosmetics.

Now, keep in mind here that I suck at math. But I graphed it, and assuming I'm correct, after about 10 months, the free to play model would be making more money. That doesn't sound right, but oh well, you get the point.

Additionally, if they keep coming out with content, people will keep finding new things that appeal to them or they may just want to keep up with the newest items, so they will keep getting sales, which eliminates the "Buy everything in the store" factor.

TLDR: In the long run, the F2P model makes more money than a start+sub model.

[Kran De Loy]

Also about that mixed signals on the FTP or Subscription: Pretty sure such information is posted somewhere in the Wiki, but the game will be FTP. Period. However there is still a chance that there will be a completely voluntary Premium month package or something like that. Again the devs know that selling power is a huge no-no, so if they do implement a premium package or whatever it would be called it would be interesting to see what's in it.

[Mechzz]

Also about that mixed signals on the FTP or Subscription: Pretty sure such information is posted somewhere in the Wiki, but the game will be FTP. Period. However there is still a chance that there will be a completely voluntary Premium month package or something like that. Again the devs know that selling power is a huge no-no, so if they do implement a premium package or whatever it would be called it would be interesting to see what's in it.

Exactly Kran. If there is a sub package, I'd need to see how it compares cost-wise with buying the same things loose. I won't get it if it's full of stuff I wouldn't buy on its own merits, but if it gives (say) a free xp boost with a reasonable amount of station cash for extras then it could be good value.

[ChipMHazard]

Quantity would be my guess. It seems like there will be a lot of cosmetic items, and possible booster packs, in the store.
I certainly see your point about how to make sure you keep making a profit over a longer period of time, but it seems to work really well in other free to play games (although a game like LoL does sell booster packs).
I don't really think we need to "worry" that much about SOE making a viable F2P store model since they most certainly have enough experience in making them.

[Madfish]

Great responses guys, you should be pitching to investors!

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

[Serotriptomine]

I haven't been paying attention to the CS aspect of the game.

Do cosmetic items remain, permanently?
Or is it that 3-7-30 day nonsense like most other games?
Same question in regards to weapons I spose.

[Mechzz]

Great responses guys, you should be pitching to investors!

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

We're just looking for something to discuss besides how bad the NC music is!
:)

[indirect]

Once you buy something in an FTP game, it becomes easier to buy a second item, then a third and so on.

So yes, I see microtransactions keeping the game floating easily and the SOE Devs obviously know that selling power over the store is one of the fastest ways to scare off players and thus potential paying customers.

However the Devs do not own the company. This is the part where many previous games (FTP or otherwise) have been able to go so inevitably extremely wrong. While SOE hasn't made that mistake yet as far as I know, SOE has unfortunately made similar terribad decisions that have previously thrown many of their franchises into sad shells of their previous potential.

Happily nothing even near the level of EA's shenanigans over the last decade.

Name one SOE game that sells power.

Oh you can't...

[Nemises]

One other thing to consider....
In the mmo world, numbers beget numbers..

The most popular game (with the most players), by proxy attracts the most new players...usually because of the "my friend told me about this game..." , or "I saw this vid with like 400 guys shooting tanks!!!" effect..

F2P means your gonna at least try it...remove the initial barrier and WAMMO, it doesnt matter if only 10% of people make ingame purchases..

10% of 1000000 people beats 100% of 10000 if ya know what I mean

[Bags]

I haven't been paying attention to the CS aspect of the game.

Do cosmetic items remain, permanently?
Or is it that 3-7-30 day nonsense like most other games?
Same question in regards to weapons I spose.

Permanent, AFAWK.

[Serotriptomine]

Glad to hear it.
I'd have been pretty disapointed if my spray on camo job of the velico-teddy-heart-cannon was only 30 days. >:[

[Murdoch]

Yep its all about maximising you ARPU.

With Sub you limit the top end what people can pay and also put off people from trying out your game. F2P with RMT allows opens up the game to anyone to try and then spend money if they so wish.

One thing you will see often with RMT shops as well is that people are more likely to spend more than a sub over a given time period as often the payments are so small and spread out that they dont often tally up the numbers in their head.

I wouldnt be supprised if they actually launch with a hybrid model being free and offering a subscription of some type. We already see this in EQ & EQ2 with silver and gold membership options along side the free to play.

[JimmyOmaha]

I hope there is a voluntary subscription for accounts.

Otherwise I'll be purchasing boosts to XP and resources pretty often. Seeing as cosmetic stuff won't interest me after I find my look. And I'd really like to support the dev-team. :]

[Dart]

They've already (apparently) confirmed they're selling exp and resource boosters (which is a little to choose to 'pay to win' for my liking; the more you pay the faster you level) SMS those twerp items will be their biggest earners.

[Dart]

Yep its all about maximising you ARPU.

With Sub you limit the top end what people can pay and also put off people from trying out your game. F2P with RMT allows opens up the game to anyone to try and then spend money if they so wish.

One thing you will see often with RMT shops as well is that people are more likely to spend more than a sub over a given time period as often the payments are so small and spread out that they dont often tally up the numbers in their head.

I wouldnt be supprised if they actually launch with a hybrid model being free and offering a subscription of some type. We already see this in EQ & EQ2 with silver and gold membership options along side the free to play.

And for those with more than a casual interest in the game, the subscription option often works out cheaper.

[Dreamcast]

League Of Legends.

They make all their money from skins and selling boosters....and they are pretty rich.

[HEISTT]

I hope there is a voluntary subscription for accounts.

Otherwise I'll be purchasing boosts to XP and resources pretty often. Seeing as cosmetic stuff won't interest me after I find my look. And I'd really like to support the dev-team. :]

Just when you think you found your look, new content (camos etc) will be released that is often times a step up from your previous gear. I'm not worried about the F2p-model, I do hope this game is able to maintain a large player base for a long period of time.

[Zekeen]

When Team Fortress 2 went free to play, they reported some GIGANTIC leap in revenue, like 500%, or maybe it was 1500%, in any case, they make a hell of a lot going F2P.

[ringring]

Well, I sort of worried about this at first but then I thought, hang on the experts on this will be SOE themselves as they already have game that are FTP.

They also have bean counters with massive spreadsheets and shareholders/owners to account to so I bet J Smedley and co. have thought about this a lot harder than I have.

[Timey]

If the premium or whatever monthly sub is done right a lot of people will get it. I know I will.

[Furber]

Yeah I've been a bit concerned about this too. Seems like most of the cosmetic stuff is either silly, or camo. I'd like to see more "variant" type skins, for instance, a different approach to the look of an NC MAX. The character model could even differ slightly (but keep the same hit box, for balance). We'll have to see what happens, I really hope they can profit off F2P.

[maddoggg]

Just look at team fortress 2.
It sells only cosmetics and yet it's earning a lot of money.
A lot of people will be buying from SOE store.
I would personaly put about 60$ in the game just to support the devs.

[echogamer]

I realize free will lead to a vastly higher population (the long tail of the market!) - and now-a-days population means a lot to senior management. At least, it does where they will be subjected to advertising and marketing (such as facebook). But will that be enough to sustain the game (http://dotmmo.com)? I think yes, they may find some new ways to make money on the game.

[Madfish]

The free to play model also excites me for the excellent reason of playing with friends (which is what it's always been about!).


My friends will ALL be able to join in. A first. Most would bitch about being skint or whatever. No excuses now!
We won't be limited in squad size (I don't have 10 online consistent friends, let alone 30 for a platoon!). With the likes of the excellent BF3 you're still stuck with 5 person groups and limited slots on a server - it's a logistical nightmare getting everyone in the same game.


This is going to make it a mainstay for our gaming night - and I'm sure I'm not alone.

[FuzzyandBlue]

As a poor, married, college student, I have just about zero disposable income, the F2P model is perfect for me (mainly because I can't shell out even 10$ for a game).

I can say at least in the near future I wont spend a penny on this game. If I spend a lot of time with it, and enjoy that time, I will more than likely want to support the devs by throwing a few dollars at the game when I can.

[Rhyfelwrr]

Free to play : League of Legends/ Heroes of Newerth model which is what they are copying.
Pay for customizability, pay for xp boosts

Pay to Win: World of tanks
Modelling the game so players are heavily pressured into using real world money to even be on par with players that are also paying.
Paying to spend less time grinding, paying for customizability, paying for very small subtle advantages, paying for better tanks, paying for skins, paying for stat redistribution without penalties.

Pay to Play: You should know some.

I hated the fact that in a recent interview into the progress of the game, the CEO of World of Tanks was basically explaining how the company will be making money in the next patch.
"Oh yes, this is our new premium tank, its an upgraded version of the regular tank, gets a better gun, armour and manouverability, and is more often put up against weaker enemies.... We are sure that the public will like it."
Add Nauseum.

What im trying to say is that, I hope that planetside 2 stays true to it's word and remains a free to play model.

[WNxThentar]

I've been somewhat confused how buying one time purchases of horns for your helmets and pink zebra skin for your prowler is going to pay for the maintenance and ongoing development for PS2.

I realise free will lead to a vastly higher population (the long tail of the market!) - and now-a-days population means a lot to senior management. At least, it does where they will be subjected to advertising and marketing (such as facebook). But will that be enough to sustain the game?

As a PS fan, are you planning to pay for a monthly recurring pack (XP boost or whatever) just to renumerate the team? Or are you going to scrimp it? (You're probably NC if you do, free loaders).

How would you feel if contemporary advertising crept in 12 months down the line? This base is sponsored by Mercedes Benz!

As a last paragraph comment (all alone at the end, no one will read me. If you did, Hi!) is the game free, or one off payment for the game? I've seen mixed messages.

You'd be surprised at how much money they can make. EQ2 over tripled it's subscriber base after going F2P and is by all accounts making BUCKET loads.

Its a reality that micro transactions work. Even if you don't buy anything at the start you'll probably eventually dump some money into it. Just look at how much money stupid Facebook games actually make.

To your final question, the game is completely free. Free download, free play. There are a good number of people that are asking for boxed sets to be sold just for the fact we like getting something in our hands too.

I'm hoping those dog tags will make it onto the marketplace :)

[LillRutger]

They've already (apparently) confirmed they're selling exp and resource boosters (which is a little to choose to 'pay to win' for my liking; the more you pay the faster you level) SMS those twerp items will be their biggest earners.

They arent really selling power. They are selling versatility. Instead of having select roles you can play that you have invested your certs in you will have access to more certpoints and therefore a larger variety of roles you can specialize in. I heard a mention that you would ghet at most a 20% advantage in a fully certed role vs. someone fresh to the game, that isn't very much considering the scope of this game, in a 50vs50 battle it will most probably even out between the factions.

tldr: xpboosts doesn't give you more power but more versatility in choosing your loadout.

[Vashyo]

Planetside 2 has so much quality and content that it will most defo attract people to invest on additional stuff and speed up their leveling if they dont have time or the patience to unlock stuff.

They will also add new stuff regularily and I'd wager just one camo will pay someone's salary for months, and if they also have occasional sales for items, even more skimp people are willing to invest.

lets say they have a camo that costs 1$ and they have a playerbase of 1 million (most likely will have more. :D ) if atleast every 10th person buys that camo they would net $100,000 dollars.

[mirwalk]

Well first part of the F2P model is that it allows for the bigger gaming population. Since PS2 is all about the huge battles, you need these players to keep the whole thing going. If you can't get a decent battle going you will see the game die, as it loses its fun. F2P attracts players and lets old people log in for some random fun after they stop playing like mad.

A lot of people like me will play a game for 2-3 months then burn out on the game and leave. Not fun enough to keep playing a sub. However with F2P I can jump back in the game whenever I feel like it so while originally I was playing most nights, it allows me to scale back to 1-2 nights every 2 weeks.

Since vehicles and grenades cost resources, I think you will see a lot of people buying the boost packs so they have easy access to them. If you don't then you will lose a little effectiveness. Not much I think, but for an extra buck or two... most people will shell out a little cash.

I even have some station cash sitting on my account. I will probably drop some money to open up a few camos and some weapons when it starts. Just a oohhh shiny that makes me want to drop 5-10 bucks on instead of grinding up to it.

[The Degenatron]

I will reallocate my $16 a month PS1 subscription fee to PS2 (either as a budget for micros or boosters, or as an optional subscription if that exists).

I'm also NC, and you WILL die for your slanderous remarks.

[wraithverge]

OK, a brief lecture on how F2P makes money.

Say the game pays $10,000 a month for their server architecture, maintenance, moderators etc, for a single server. Say each server has 6k players on at any given time. Assuming that the average gamers plays 8 hours a week to make the math easier, that comes out to about 144,000 players a server. 5/100 buy stuff, 1/100 of those will buy over $50 worth of stuff (VERY low-balled, I believe zinga reported that 1/2000 players spent over a grand a month on stuff).

so 7,200 spend $5 a month, or $36000 a month.
72 buy at LEAST $45 extra a month, or $3240.

$39,240, -10k in expenses = $29,240 profit per server, and please keep in mind the numbers were low-balled and flubbed for the most part, actual profits probably a LOT higher.

As long as you can keep maintenance low and playerbase high, F2P makes a LOT of money. So hopefully that clears up the economics behind F2P games, and why they work so well.

[berzerkerking]

The way I see it is...

Normal P2P games are what, 60 bucks one time plus DLC for greedy EA?
That 60 bucks per player is enough to sustain some devs for a while.
In a F2P market, where money paid is a choice,you will get some people buying nothing and others spending 5 or 10 dollars on camos, while others still spend over $100 on equipment to pimp out their online persona.

I would like to think that averages out to a reasonable amount per customer, a reasonable pay check for the devs, and with the whole MMO thing going on with patches and more stuff being added to the cash shop... People will pay more money for the cool newly implemented stuff. It's worked for other games. Check out LoL for instance, a skin is being released that has been extremely hyped and will get even the most conservative players paying a bit of cash for a cool visual element added to their game.

And to answer the one time payment thing... No. It's completely free to play unless you want to spend cash on cool visual things!
This guy gets it. :cool2:

[RedKnights]

It's doubters of the non-pay-o-win, F2P model that have left huge openings for the market for companies like Riot, wargaming.net, Valve, and even SOE to create suberbly deisgned games with superior ongoing support compared to the big guys, EA and Activision who do not have the vision or balls to take a risk and switch to a diffrent way of doing things.

Luckily, the people at SOE are ahead of the curve, with the first AAA designed for F2P shooter, from the ground up.

I said I wouldn't 'buy things' as well when I played LoL. Anything that affected gameplay was in-game only. Champions were either or. And cosmetics were cash only. I said I wouldn't buy things, but in the end I probably have spent about 50 dollars in a year of playing it. I know a lot of people who have spent a LOT more.

The fact is, even if you pay nothing, as Higby stated, you are an ASSET to the game, you're part of that game, you're making the population of the game high, and for that reason people are able to have more fun, attracting more customers.

It's hard to get people to commit so a subscription-based game, just look at TOR and the original APB. No commitments, with an option to pay if you really like something is absolute, sustainable-business gold.

Every person, from free-loader to subscriber is a participant in the narrative of Planetside 2. And that is why it works.

[GreatMazinkaise]

It's doubters of the non-pay-o-win, F2P model that have left huge openings for the market for companies like Riot, wargaming.net, Valve, and even SOE to create suberbly deisgned games with superior ongoing support compared to the big guys, EA and Activision who do not have the vision or balls to take a risk and switch to a diffrent way of doing things.

Very true, especially titles like Team Fortress 2 and Tribes:Ascend (which has teetered on the brink of P2W, but at least has better gameplay than most of these AAA titles).

[Grapes]

Just look at League of Legends. Granted, it's not a MMO, but they're making a ton of money by just selling skins, boosts and heroes the same way Planetside 2 will, as they said they've been inspired by the LoL businessmodel :)

[Mr DeCastellac]

They've already (apparently) confirmed they're selling exp and resource boosters (which is a little to choose to 'pay to win' for my liking; the more you pay the faster you level) SMS those twerp items will be their biggest earners.

http://i.imgur.com/NpaEs.gif

I thought you were joking at first, but then it occurred to me that maybe you haven't been reading up all about Planetside 2.

Allow me to explain.
There are 3 classifications of items:


"Passive Items" are things like camouflages and skins. You will have to earn StationCash to buy them.

"Assertive Items" are what you're talking about, with experience and resource boosters. From what I understand, you're worried about these being 'Pay to Win' items. The thing is, these items don't directly affect your power any more than having more certs than another player did in Planetside 1. Also, one important thing to note is that you can buy these things with either StationCash or in-game currency.

"Aggressive Items" are things like vehicles, weapons, et cetera. These do directly affect your character's power, however you have to buy them with the in-game currency. They cannot be bought with StationCash, otherwise it would truly be "Pay to Win".


I hope this helps you understand the monetary system in Planetside 2 a little better. :)

[Xyntech]

XP boosters are not selling power. You can still get the same unlocks for free, and those unlocks are sidegrades. There is the +20% power factor on a few upgrades, but these are probably going to be pretty cheep specialization options, so while paying players may get more of these quicker, a free player will be able to upgrade their favorite classes and weapons to this +20% power level relatively quickly.

The closest thing we've heard to selling power so far is a resource booster, which would give you a higher percentage gain of resources. This could be a problem if it allows for greater capacity to spam grenades. We know that vehicle timers are still in though, so I'm curious to see how the resource system functions, to see how much or little a resource booster would affect balance.

Beyond that, it's all cosmetics and convenience and sidegrade options. Hopefully they stay smart and keep it that way. If the game has a high enough number of players and a large enough income, hopefully they will be too scared to rock the boat and offend/scare off players by adding more P2W features. If the game starts tanking and not making enough profit/losing players, I could see them trying to go P2W to make a few extra bucks, but the game would already be dying/dead at the point, so no great loss. I'd have already long since mourned the game and moved on if that happens.

[Rexdezi]

I shall be paying for exp boost to support SOE (I'd buy camo but I hate camo on games like this... just so unnecassary... just like in CoD(4) I would never put camo on my weapons... hate the stuff)

[TheDrone]

XP boosters and the ability to buy weapons you could also buy with ingame resources isn't pay-to-win.

It's in effect selling time.

I'd get the XP and resources eventually by normal play, but by spending a little money I have saved myself some time.

[DarkChiron]

I think a big part of helping them make money is going to be having sales and package deals for their content. Everyone loves getting a discount, even if it was for something they didn't have a great deal of interest in. People will often not buy several things separately, but if you combine them all together for a discount, it helps encourage a purchase.

Basically, if they look at what League of Legends does and go with that kind of model they'll probably do well. It will likely also determine on how much new content they can put out with any regularity.

[Saifoda]

http://i.imgur.com/NpaEs.gif

I thought you were joking at first, but then it occurred to me that maybe you haven't been reading up all about Planetside 2.

Allow me to explain.
There are 3 classifications of items:


"Passive Items" are things like camouflages and skins. You will have to earn StationCash to buy them.

"Assertive Items" are what you're talking about, with experience and resource boosters. From what I understand, you're worried about these being 'Pay to Win' items. The thing is, these items don't directly affect your power any more than having more certs than another player did in Planetside 1. Also, one important thing to note is that you can buy these things with either StationCash or in-game currency.

"Aggressive Items" are things like vehicles, weapons, et cetera. These do directly affect your character's power, however you have to buy them with the in-game currency. They cannot be bought with StationCash, otherwise it would truly be "Pay to Win".


I hope this helps you understand the monetary system in Planetside 2 a little better. :)



Actually, on the "aggressive items," you CAN use station cash, BUT there are no items that cannot be bought without auraxiam or other resources. You can just get them faster by paying cash. Other games like War Inc etc... (ftp/pay to win models) have certain items that can only be bought with cash and are always bigger and badder than the in-game currency purchases.


For example, you're a medic or whatev and u want a new rifle, u can buy one for, say, 3,000 auraxium, OR with 300 station cash (which comes out to, what a couple bucks I think? I might be totally off on that -- but you get the idea).

[RSphil]

i think APB has a good idea. you can pay for a premium account which gives bonus cash and xp ect and also but stuff from their market which is a little crappy tbh. nothing really worth buying.
if planetside goes this route id be happy to pay for a premium account as this game is amazing looking and it will help keep it going for years to come.

[TheInferno]

1 cent = 1 station cash, I think, so 300 = $3.00

I think XP boosters are actually cash only, but that's fine by me, because as Xyn said, it just gets you ahead faster. The things like vehicle timer reducers and reload speed are auraxium only, and sidegrade weapons can be bought with either.

Resource boosters do seem a little... eh, but I'm sure if it's something like "Get 5%-10% more resources" it'd be fine. That also depends on how much 5% or 10% is, though, and what that can get you.

Depending on how much I play I might buy a booster, or I might just buy cosmetics. I think I'll get weapons with just Auraxium if I can stand it. They'd be trophies of war, then.

[RSphil]

i'll defiantly be buying cosmetics and i'll prob get a booster or 2 as my job means i wont be able to play as much as i want.

[Meriv]

COnsumables

I'm huge fan of f2p since it opens markets where a subscription fee is too much. But right now i am worried because while checking a video looking for arguments to explain why a LA can't get a sniper rifle i realized that in the infiltrator in his bag didn't had just clayrimores/explosives but healing packets too, now i think i saw that PS1 has something similar but what they could do if the estetics+boost don't get enought money is to sell consumables items(i am imagin healing packets for example).(In wot case for example it increase tank turret speed by 10% it isnt a lot for normal players but with at high end game it counts a bit, or the ones that repairs all you damage modules)

[TheInferno]

COnsumables

I'm huge fan of f2p since it opens markets where a subscription fee is too much. But right now i am worried because while checking a video looking for arguments to explain why a LA can't get a sniper rifle i realized that in the infiltrator in his bag didn't had just clayrimores/explosives but healing packets too, now i think i saw that PS1 has something similar but what they could do if the estetics+boost don't get enought money is to sell consumables items(i am imagin healing packets for example).(In wot case for example it increase tank turret speed by 10% it isnt a lot for normal players but with at high end game it counts a bit, or the ones that repairs all you damage modules)

They specifically gave those as examples of what they won't do, so I'm not too worried about that.

[PsychoXR-20]

Actually, on the "aggressive items," you CAN use station cash, BUT there are no items that cannot be bought without auraxiam or other resources. You can just get them faster by paying cash. Other games like War Inc etc... (ftp/pay to win models) have certain items that can only be bought with cash and are always bigger and badder than the in-game currency purchases.


For example, you're a medic or whatev and u want a new rifle, u can buy one for, say, 3,000 auraxium, OR with 300 station cash (which comes out to, what a couple bucks I think? I might be totally off on that -- but you get the idea).

What he is calling "aggressive" items are the physical item itself, not the ability to use that item.

Grenades, vehicles, possibly MAX's can ONLY be bought with in game resources. Sidegraded weapons are "unlocked" with Auraxium or Station Cash, but to actually pull out a vehicle costs in game resources, and only ingame resources.

[Meriv]

They specifically gave those as examples of what they won't do, so I'm not too worried about that.

Thanks for the info

[NCLynx]

I've been somewhat confused how buying one time purchases of horns for your helmets and pink zebra skin for your prowler is going to pay for the maintenance and ongoing development for PS2.

I realise free will lead to a vastly higher population (the long tail of the market!) - and now-a-days population means a lot to senior management. At least, it does where they will be subjected to advertising and marketing (such as facebook). But will that be enough to sustain the game?

As a PS fan, are you planning to pay for a monthly recurring pack (XP boost or whatever) just to renumerate the team? Or are you going to scrimp it? (You're probably NC if you do, free loaders).

How would you feel if contemporary advertising crept in 12 months down the line? This base is sponsored by Mercedes Benz!

As a last paragraph comment (all alone at the end, no one will read me. If you did, Hi!) is the game free, or one off payment for the game? I've seen mixed messages.

I'll likely be both paying for whatever monthly thing they have, as well as station cashing the hell out of my account. I've waited to long and been to excited about this game to not dump money into it.

[Burnzblood]

I don't know about you guys but when Sony had the "Triple Station Cash" sale several months back, I jumped right on that.

$25 for not 2500 SC but 7500!! They will probably do somthing like that again, and its nice to support the team and be ready to buy w/e we need on day 1.

Anyone confirm with devs yet how will will test the Store in Beta?

Like give us Beta Bucks like D3 beta??

[Daffan]

I'd do a subscription just for some benefits. I don't really mind for cosmetics but other stuff is always OK to me, cause you know heaps of other people will have boosts too.

[Chinchy]

I don't know about you guys but when Sony had the "Triple Station Cash" sale several months back, I jumped right on that.

$25 for not 2500 SC but 7500!! They will probably do somthing like that again, and its nice to support the team and be ready to buy w/e we need on day 1.

Anyone confirm with devs yet how will will test the Store in Beta?

Like give us Beta Bucks like D3 beta??

Did you know they have a max limit of 50,000 SC? I didnt until I hit it at that sale xD

[GhettoPrince]

Anyone know when the next sale is? Or is it just something you have to check in every day for?

[Rivenshield]

I fail to understand how they're going to make the bugger pay for itself without at least charging for the client, like any other FPS on the market. Full stop. Fifty bucks in, then you're home free -- unless you *want* to spend more.

[DiabloTigerSix]

Free to play : League of Legends/ Heroes of Newerth model which is what they are copying.
Pay for customizability, pay for xp boosts

Pay to Win: World of tanks
Modelling the game so players are heavily pressured into using real world money to even be on par with players that are also paying.
Paying to spend less time grinding, paying for customizability, paying for very small subtle advantages, paying for better tanks, paying for skins, paying for stat redistribution without penalties.

Pay to Play: You should know some.

I hated the fact that in a recent interview into the progress of the game, the CEO of World of Tanks was basically explaining how the company will be making money in the next patch.
"Oh yes, this is our new premium tank, its an upgraded version of the regular tank, gets a better gun, armour and manouverability, and is more often put up against weaker enemies.... We are sure that the public will like it."
Add Nauseum.

What im trying to say is that, I hope that planetside 2 stays true to it's word and remains a free to play model.
The worst thing about Pay to Win games is how they make you feel once you pay. From my experience from playing Battlefield P4F and Combat Arms, every encounter with a player with basic equipment feels extremely unfair and makes me feel bad.

Everybody likes to think of themselves that they're good players, but when you have accuracy or DPS advantages over those who don't, this is impossible as it makes you feel like a cheater. About as fun as slaughtering puppies.

[Mr DeCastellac]

EDIT: Ah, I just saw the other post from someone responding to this, and it occurred that you may have misunderstood my point of the "agressive items". Like they said, I was referring to the item itself, not the unlock for it.

Actually, on the "aggressive items," you CAN use station cash, BUT there are no items that cannot be bought without auraxiam or other resources. You can just get them faster by paying cash. Other games like War Inc etc... (ftp/pay to win models) have certain items that can only be bought with cash and are always bigger and badder than the in-game currency purchases.


For example, you're a medic or whatev and u want a new rifle, u can buy one for, say, 3,000 auraxium, OR with 300 station cash (which comes out to, what a couple bucks I think? I might be totally off on that -- but you get the idea).

I don't think so. They wouldn't let you buy items that give you direct power in a one-on-one conflict. The entire goal of the cash shop is to bring in revenue without selling power.

The things you can buy with either station cash or in-game currency are things like boosters and cert points (assertive).

It wouldn't make sense to pay real money for a vehicle that would normally cost a quite small amount of in-game resources. No one really knows since beta isn't out, but I think you have to buy weapons individually, not pay to unlock them. That's how it is with vehicles for sure.

Don't confuse it though, you do have to have the cert that unlocks it, but I think you pay a small amount of Auraxium for each one you buy afterwards.

[DarkChiron]

I don't think so. They wouldn't let you buy items that give you direct power in a one-on-one conflict. The entire goal of the cash shop is to bring in revenue without selling power.

The things you can buy with either station cash or in-game currency are things like boosters and cert points (assertive).

Unlocking upgrades is in-game resources only.
Unlocking 'side-grades' is in-game resources or real world cash.
Unlocking cosmetic items is real world cash.

They've said that was the case for awhile now. The only way you can purchase the direct upgrades with real world money is indirectly through boosts.

[Roy Awesome]

I've been somewhat confused how buying one time purchases of horns for your helmets and pink zebra skin for your prowler is going to pay for the maintenance and ongoing development for PS2.

I realise free will lead to a vastly higher population (the long tail of the market!) - and now-a-days population means a lot to senior management. At least, it does where they will be subjected to advertising and marketing (such as facebook). But will that be enough to sustain the game?

As a PS fan, are you planning to pay for a monthly recurring pack (XP boost or whatever) just to renumerate the team? Or are you going to scrimp it? (You're probably NC if you do, free loaders).

How would you feel if contemporary advertising crept in 12 months down the line? This base is sponsored by Mercedes Benz!

As a last paragraph comment (all alone at the end, no one will read me. If you did, Hi!) is the game free, or one off payment for the game? I've seen mixed messages.
You would be suprised, but there really hasn't been a free to play game that has done 'badly' in the traditional sense of the word.

The thing about Free To Play, is that people just keep spending money on it. some people spend upwards of $500 on a single game. Why? Because they want to. Those people more than make up for the handful that spend nothing.

[GuyFawkes]

You would be suprised, but there really hasn't been a free to play game that has done 'badly' in the traditional sense of the word.

The thing about Free To Play, is that people just keep spending money on it. some people spend upwards of $500 on a single game. Why? Because they want to. Those people more than make up for the handful that spend nothing.

So true:rolleyes:

You will always find the odd few . I tried Atlantica online for a short while , and there were people spending hundreds each time a new feature was added to the market , new mount , new costume etc.

Also, just to add . While the dev team we currently have, is all for balance and have the best intentions for the game at launch , once it is launched we have no idea of what marketing team will be in place thereafter.

Within almost no time at all, when ps1 was released , a lot of the familiar names we were accustomed to were moved over to other projects like eq2 . I expect the same to happen this time , eq3 was mentioned a long while ago . In-house designers are moved to where the work is .

Once you have Marketing teams in place , things can get a bit blurry. Recently in eq2 , they added a poll in game , asking a number of questions if you the player would like full hp/energy potions to be added to the market and would you buy them. Most people I knew replied no . Not a size-able snapshot , guaranteed but I rarely saw a comment in favor of them in the chat . Yet they still added them into the game because people will buy them .

Sure, the vocal minority here may talk about balance and no pay to win ethos. But to the plethora of randoms that come to play ps2 ,if the Marketing team see the potential of buying 5000 auraxium for 500 sc , they will sell bucketloads. ''Damn, no resources left because I keep smashing reavers into a wall'' they can either work for more or get some instantly via sc .

Just look at the number of people wanting to be powerlevelled in other games . Laziness is the new norm. If a game is challenging and requires effort and/or skill to be involved in the real meat and bones of it , things soon get brought in to satisfy the lower end , since they are , by default the majority and the real cash cows .

[TeaLeaf]

I'll probably be investing money into getting through the progression system faster. I don't really like progression systems, but it's obviously necessary for a F2P game.

[demonicale]

As much as the game is "free", i WILL be doing some micro transactions to support this game and the great developers who made this game.

I see it as a "thank you" :)

And the fact i'm a nice guy haha