Smed on Station Cash Costs [First Details on SC Costs!]

[Hamma]

Some new Smed Tweets:

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266221564553478144

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266221840387682304

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266221927775997952

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266222419386183680

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266222525263015936

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284110052483072

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284252251955201

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284252251955201

[Rahabib]

anyone want to put this into english?

So you dont buy weapons in station cash only buy them with certs? whats the tiers mean?

[Mordicant]

I am thinking he means in beta you can't buy with SC. Maybe? Let me consult my star chart and dance to the Sleeping ones.

[Mastachief]

Yeh you cannot buy them with SC whilst in beta but you can buy them with Certs whilst in beta.

Once live the Tiers are shown, so i would expect the rocket pods to be 700SC.

[FridayUK]

Yes, no Station Cash in beta, but it looks like we'll get to see the pricing.

The tiers will be the different prices for different unlocks - with cheaper unlocks at 250, more powerful ones at 700 (I'm guessing cosmetic things will be mostly cheaper and decent weapons mostly more expensive - with other weapons and fancier cosmetic things tending to fall at 500).

[Chefkoch]

Very confusing tweeds indead :/

So 450 Cert Weapons will cost aprox 7 $ if i get this right ?

Lets hope the skins are cheaper :D

[PoisonTaco]

I see 48-96 Cert items being 250 SC, 250 cert items being 500 SC and the 400+ cert items being 700 SC.

[bullet]

anyone want to put this into english?

So you dont buy weapons in station cash only buy them with certs? whats the tiers mean?

Basically they're putting the weapons in the store sometime soon (while we're still in beta) that they're going to Launch with on November 20th. You won't be able to buy them with Station Cash until November 20th because they are doing a complete wipe before November 20th. But until November 16th, you can buy them with certs.

Why they have different tiers for "sidegrades" though is confusing to me. If they all give about the same effect, just different play styles, why are they priced differently? :huh: I hope the price difference is because pistols are cheaper than rifles or something along those lines.

[TravisGamer]

This sounds like its gonna be an expensive free to play game.

[Storn]

Good Info!

[Tatwi]

Without triple Station Cash...

$2.50 for a weapon = 1 loaf of bread or 1.5 cups of coffee. OK.

$5 for a weapon = 30 minutes of work at min wage or paper back book. I suppose.

$7 for a weapon = 30 minutes of work at a better than average job in my region or a Big Mac meal or half of a month of WoW. Totally not going to pay that.

I would pay (and have paid) $20 for a mount or a prestige house - if it was absolutely awesome and I was going to use it all the time. In PS2 this would translate into a new vehicle chassis or MAX suit. Call me "cheap", but I wouldn't pay more than $2.50 for anything else, especially the side-grade weapons in PS2 (because the default weapons are perfectly fine).

The crazy part?

I would spend $50 on 20 things long before I would spend $20 on 4 things. If SOE wants me to spend my money, they're going to have make my dollar go farther.

[Rahabib]

ok I think I get it. The tiers are the levels of "side grades" so items/weapons will be $2, $5, or $7 (USD).

I think thats not too bad on the pricing as its basically grind for a day or pay $2 for 48 certs items. If there are items more than $7 though thats over priced. $7 is pushing it, especially since there are so many high level items to get - this game will get expensive fast. As stated above - I probably will never buy anything without triple station bonuses.

[PoisonTaco]

I wouldn't mind spending $7 on a weapon, but this is where the training range would really help. A new weapon would give me a new way to play the game, not to mention it would come with a whole new line of certs for me to unlock. So you get different gameplay plus progression. Though I'd really hate to spend that much on a gun I don't like. So this is where I'd like try before you buy.

That being said I think that the 400+ cert weapons will be $7, with most being $5. Is this pricing structure going to hold true for cosmetic items or are those going to be different price ranges?

[Ghoest9]

I will happily buy 2 or 3 of these weapons on release day - if they add a way for color blind people to tell enemyies from platoon and squad mates.

[Tatwi]

if they add a way for color blind people to tell enemyies from platoon and squad mates.

They really need to address this issue. A lot of people are color blind, which is due to genetics, not some dumb/lazy thing they did to themselves. Adding a slider for the RGB color balances of the character models would allow the colored parts to be "tinted" to something that is unique per faction for the color blind player (rather than assuming every color blind person has the same balance, because they don't).

[EVILPIG]

Without triple Station Cash...

$7 for a weapon = 30 minutes of work at a better than average job in my region or a Big Mac meal or half of a month of WoW. Totally not going to pay that.

I would pay (and have paid) $20 for a mount or a prestige house - if it was absolutely awesome and I was going to use it all the time. In PS2 this would translate into a new vehicle chassis or MAX suit. Call me "cheap", but I wouldn't pay more than $2.50 for anything else, especially the side-grade weapons in PS2 (because the default weapons are perfectly fine).



So you'd pay $20 for a house or mount that is "awesome" and you'd use all the time, but not $7 for a weapon that is awesome and you'd use all the time?

Ok.

[sylphaen]

So you'd pay $20 for a house or mount that is "awesome" and you'd use all the time, but not $7 for a weapon that is awesome and you'd use all the time?

Ok.

If you plan to use it all the time, you ever buy just one weapon, right ?

[james]

Here comes p2w, 7 dollars for a weapon, You will not be able to sell a side grade, for 7 dollars when other side grades are 2. I gurantee tier 3 will be the best stuff

[Hamma]

Another Update:

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284110052483072

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284252251955201

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284329032896512

[Rahabib]

they really need to broadcast these by something other than twitter

[PoisonTaco]

Cosmetics will go from 50SC to 1200SC

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/266284329032896512

[Rago]

:nono: Fix the Beam to Flying Disco Balls and i Buy one:D

At the State some things (some not all) are i want to test the Stuff out before i buy a Non Leathel wp which is totally useless...7 not even 2.

Well see what members get maybe we get a Free Flower :P

[Tatwi]

So you'd pay $20 for a house or mount that is "awesome" and you'd use all the time, but not $7 for a weapon that is awesome and you'd use all the time?

Ok.

Weapons are situationally useful. Mounts and houses (and cosmetic items) are eternally awesome, in all circumstances. Additionally, houses have a ridiculous amount of associated emergent game play and "replayability". Finally, mounts represent a significantly larger amount of development time (art, animation, etc.) than simply slapping some different stats onto an already existing weapon model and changing a color here and there, so I don't mind paying more for a mount.

[SixShooter]

Did they ever finalize the plans for memberships? Seems like it would be a pretty good deal considering the cost for boosters. I've pretty much got planned out which weapons I'll be buying on day one and thanks to the double and tripple SC offers this year it looks like I already have more than enough with plenty left over.

[KALU]

Very much looking forward to spending all my SC i've added up over the last year...

:)

[Tooterfish]

Very much looking forward to spending all my SC i've added up over the last year...

:)

Same! I am happy with the pricing. SOE has had multiple 2x and 3x sales on SC lately, which I'm sure will continue. Not too shabby.

[TheMarz]

Here comes p2w, 7 dollars for a weapon, You will not be able to sell a side grade, for 7 dollars when other side grades are 2. I gurantee tier 3 will be the best stuff

How is this pay to win, it honestly does not take that long to get enough cert for a weapon. You can unlock the same gun by just playing the game, it'll just take a little longer.

[james]

How is this pay to win, it honestly does not take that long to get enough cert for a weapon. You can unlock the same gun by just playing the game, it'll just take a little longer.

I'm sure 700 certs is going to take a while, otherwise there is no reason to spend money

[artifice]

I think the overall prices are kind of high on the weapons. I think $5 is the most I'd spend on a weapon.

[TheMarz]

I'm sure 700 certs is going to take a while, otherwise there is no reason to spend money

I believe it is 700 SC for top end guns not 700 certs, either way you are given the OPTION to grind out x number of certs instead of buying them with Station Cash. If it was pay to win than there would be no other way to get those guns other than cash.

[Dagron]

The prices are around what i expected, as i imagine very few weapons will be $7, most will be $2.5 or $5 so it's not so bad.

Now $12 for the top cosmetics, i dunno... those better be some pretty awesome models and not just textures.

[Hamma]

Did they ever finalize the plans for memberships? Seems like it would be a pretty good deal considering the cost for boosters. I've pretty much got planned out which weapons I'll be buying on day one and thanks to the double and tripple SC offers this year it looks like I already have more than enough with plenty left over.

http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/Membership

[james]

I believe it is 700 SC for top end guns not 700 certs, either way you are given the OPTION to grind out x number of certs instead of buying them with Station Cash. If it was pay to win than there would be no other way to get those guns other than cash.

A photo from his tweeter. The thing about p2w is that you need to use cash, even tribes was debated to be p2w do to how long it took to unlock anything without money. I didn't play enough of the beta to really know how long the certs took to get.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A7HutIbCcAEzFmV.jpg

[Ruffdog]

The prices are around what i expected, as i imagine very few weapons will be $7, most will be $2.5 or $5 so it's not so bad.

Now $12 for the top cosmetics, i dunno... those better be some pretty awesome models and not just textures.

12 Smed Creds to get the Firebat back? Tempting!
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetside-universe.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D46897&ei=XcabUKa-GNK20QXJ6IHoCA&usg=AFQjCNH-TPwoCdY-lsXLlhQYGXVZWcaWNA

[Mordicant]

A photo from his tweeter. The thing about p2w is that you need to use cash, even tribes was debated to be p2w do to how long it took to unlock anything without money. I didn't play enough of the beta to really know how long the certs took to get.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A7HutIbCcAEzFmV.jpg

I can average 50 certs a play session and I am terribad. Granted I thinking I saw they are moving from 1cert/250xp to 1/500.

[Tooterfish]

I can average 50 certs a play session and I am terribad. Granted I thinking I saw they are moving from 1cert/250xp to 1/500.

Same here, I am accumulating cert points at an uncomfortable rate. I don't want to unlock the entire game in a month of casual play. I play MMO's for the rewards of hard work. With that said, I hope hard work pays off in a prestige way that can't all be bought. I want to stand out like I do in MMORPG's that let people know I'm an internet-badass! :hass:

[Geist]

To all the people who say that different prices = P2W, it's not. IMHO, based on what I've seen of current weapons, the more specialized a weapon is, or the bigger difference in stats between the default weapon and the new weapon, the higher the cost in certs and Station Cash.

For example, a TR player wants to get a weapon that is closer to a NC weapon(higher damage, slower RoF, smaller capacity), he will pay more for a weapon than something that is just higher RoF, less accurate.

With real examples, Buying the T5 AMC (http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/T5_AMC) Carbine is more expensive than the LC2 Lynx (http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/LC2_Lynx) Carbine, but the Lynx is still better in CQB than the AMC.

[Tooterfish]

To all the people who say that different prices = P2W, it's not. IMHO, based on what I've seen of current weapons, the more specialized a weapon is, or the bigger difference in stats between the default weapon and the new weapon, the higher the cost in certs and Station Cash.

For example, a TR player wants to get a weapon that is closer to a NC weapon(higher damage, slower RoF, smaller capacity), he will pay more for a weapon than something that is just higher RoF, less accurate.

With real examples, Buying the T5 AMC (http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/T5_AMC) Carbine is more expensive than the LC2 Lynx (http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/LC2_Lynx) Carbine, but the Lynx is still better in CQB than the AMC.

So what you're saying is that weapons aren't priced by their level of increase in performance, but rather the difference of that performance in relation to your default weapon.

[james]

Same here, I am accumulating cert points at an uncomfortable rate. I don't want to unlock the entire game in a month of casual play. I play MMO's for the rewards of hard work. With that said, I hope hard work pays off in a prestige way that can't all be bought. I want to stand out like I do in MMORPG's that let people know I'm an internet-badass! :hass:

If thats the case then there may be a major flaw in the business model if its easy and quick to get whatever you want for free, there is no reason to pay

[Geist]

So what you're saying is that weapons aren't priced by their level of increase in performance, but rather the difference of that performance in relation to your default weapon.

Actually, yes. You're basically paying for weapons that fit your playstyle. Personally, I like killing enemies from pretty far off, so I bought the SABR-13 (http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/SABR-13) so that even though I'm less effective close range, I can hit targets farther away. That's a pretty big difference from the Cycler that has the highest RoF out of all default empire ARs, and I paid a pretty large premium.

If I was comfortable with the Cycler by itself(which I am, it's a great weapon), I wouldn't have to pay much at all.

[Rahabib]

I can average 50 certs a play session and I am terribad. Granted I thinking I saw they are moving from 1cert/250xp to 1/500.

a "play session" is a bit too variable. Basically I play for 2-3 hours and make about 50 certs (with a bit of med farming). So the status-quo is about 25/hr (again farming). Now thats going to be halfed to 12/hr. (maybe 15/hr if you farm or play air or use a membership). But for the sake of argument and ease on the math, lets round that down to 10/hr but will account for the rounding later. This is for the sake of the average gamer, and no I dont care how big your epeen is.

so it will take roughly 5 hours (4 if you farm or pro) to get a tier one unlock. Thats ok.

it will take roughly 25 hours (22ish if you farm or pro) for tier 2 unlock - at this point isnt a weeks worth of grind a bit much to ask? Keep in mind thats one weapon!

it will take roughly 72 hours (68ish if you farm or pro) to unlock a tier 3 weapon. If you play 3 hours a night thats 24 days of grind to unlock. Thats no other weapons, no other certing, just straight grind for one thing.

I think with these prices SOE is expecting people to just give up and pay for the weapon. I mean honestly who is going to grind for a tier 3 unlock? Anyone who really wants those weapons will just pay for it. $7 is ok but that adds up fast.

So yea, SOE is making money. They call them "side-grades" but they are upgrades. Some may call it "pay to win" I wont got that far, since you can grind it out, but there will be a slight difference in the haves and have nots. I got some station cash stashed aside and will buy some weapons, but lets be realistic, no on is going to actually grind for tier 3 items.

[Mordicant]

Yeah my play session is about 1-3 hours. I just didn't want to revel how terribad I am (might just be in my head).

[VaderShake]

I would think there will be minimal cost/certs to most weapons when the game is launched and then a gradual ramp up in cost and certs and new things are added over the next few years.

[Sturmhardt]

I pretty much expected these prices. As long as they don't bring out a new Super-OP weapon every 2 months so everyone buys it, it that's fine with me. Then you can buy yourself some weapons and some cosmetic stuff and be happy about it, I don't want to need to buy new stuff all the time. Only if the stuff is cool, not because the new weapon is so much stronger.

[EVILPIG]

I'm sure 700 certs is going to take a while, otherwise there is no reason to spend money

700 certs = 350,000 XP

175 Base captures.

1400 Outposts.

[SixShooter]

http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/Membership

Thanks man. I had not seen the updates with removing the the pool cap and replacing it with SC. I like the change.
:cheers:

[sylphaen]

As long as the game works... I remember someone mentioning an example of chess and F2P. Would people play a chess game where you have to unlock/pay units before getting the full game ?

The worry I have when I see F2P games is to see an incomplete game which only become interesting once you reach "end-game". In that sense, Tribes Ascend was not truly playable unless you paid. It was more of a shareware version. Hopefully, PS2 is not the kind where you have to grind for gear to become competitive since it would be disappointing. (and why I left WoW)

We do have (somewhat) access to all playstyles from the start and were promised a competitive environment for both free and paying players. I hope this will be true !

I did not like Tribes Ascend because, yes, they had to make money but I was not willing to buy a game I was trying with a single class unlocked. PS2 does not make that mistake since certs improve what everyone has but I hope they will provide subscription services more about convenience than gameplay items (which is always a risk for item inflation like WoW).

I like character progression but I do not want it to be the gameplay. By convenience, I mean cross-server characters (which ties with the character customization focus), the priority access on a server, favorites, friends benefits, etc...

Things that a free player could live without but would love to have.


Edit: just to further clarify what I meant by using the PS1 example. I did not have money for a while and created a reserves character. Being limited to BR 6, I could still enjoy the game but was poised to resub to fully enjoy it and be more helpful to my outfit.

If I was limited to 2-3 favorite set-up and access to more equipment/situations than those favs could face, subbing for more favorites would be awesome. Buying more favorite slots could also fill the gap.

I think recerts should be possible: unlimited (with a time limit) if you have a sub, pay-per-recert if not. If weapons can be bought with SC and cert points, Im not sure if they could track the cert points or refund those back though.


Anyways, just ideas for "convenience" rather than straight up items or in-game "boosts". Maybe it would help focusing on the metagame rather than balancing items and their price vs. value.

[Ritual]

I think they should lower the price of boosts to be equal to what you would get out of membership.

A month long of experience boost's costs more then the membership cost and does not even include the boost to resources, 500 station cash, priority login, early access to new camo. So buying the boosts seperatly from a membership is 3X? more expensive then the membership.

I dont think boosts are going to be a very popular seller. Rather they definatly wont be good value.

:rolleyes::cry::cool::eek:

[Azarga]

$5 for a weapon = 30 minutes of work at min wage or paper back book.

offtopic
Oh shi... I only get $2/hour and that's for processing our citizens' private data, which someone calls "involving high levels of responsibility".

[Rahabib]

a "play session" is a bit too variable. Basically I play for 2-3 hours and make about 50 certs (with a bit of med farming). So the status-quo is about 25/hr (again farming). Now thats going to be halfed to 12/hr. (maybe 15/hr if you farm or play air or use a membership). But for the sake of argument and ease on the math, lets round that down to 10/hr but will account for the rounding later. This is for the sake of the average gamer, and no I dont care how big your epeen is.

so it will take roughly 5 hours (4 if you farm or pro) to get a tier one unlock. Thats ok.

it will take roughly 25 hours (22ish if you farm or pro) for tier 2 unlock - at this point isnt a weeks worth of grind a bit much to ask? Keep in mind thats one weapon!

it will take roughly 72 hours (68ish if you farm or pro) to unlock a tier 3 weapon. If you play 3 hours a night thats 24 days of grind to unlock. Thats no other weapons, no other certing, just straight grind for one thing.

I think with these prices SOE is expecting people to just give up and pay for the weapon. I mean honestly who is going to grind for a tier 3 unlock? Anyone who really wants those weapons will just pay for it. $7 is ok but that adds up fast.

So yea, SOE is making money. They call them "side-grades" but they are upgrades. Some may call it "pay to win" I wont got that far, since you can grind it out, but there will be a slight difference in the haves and have nots. I got some station cash stashed aside and will buy some weapons, but lets be realistic, no on is going to actually grind for tier 3 items.

Quoting myself here. FYI, I played for 4 hours last night post patch and found that I was about right on with my assesment. I made 43 certs or approx. 10 certs an hour. I think thats about average (some e-pros will make more obviously and farmers will too). So SOE really does expect you to waste 72 hours to get a decent unlock.

considering an average of 4 hours each play session thats 18 days - if you unlock nothing else. IMO thats a bit too much to ask the free players to grind.

The good news is, they have lots of 15 cert items to unlock and you can do about 2 each play session, which is about right. If the average day is approx. 4 hours long (for those of us who have jobs, families, responsibilities, and hobbies outside of gaming), tier 3 unlocks are asking a bit much.

The tiers really should be:
50 (1 day)
200 (4 days)
500 (~10 days)

That's at the mark where I would still pay but also grind one out every now and then (that statement sounded much dirtier than it should). Hell you could even keep the same payments (2.50, 5.00, 7.00) and I would be willing to pay knowing it still saving me 10 days of grind and knowing that SOE isnt milking me.

Personally, I have decided not to spend any station cash until things settle down anyway. With tweaks etc. its not a good idea to spend money on something and then the next day it sucks.

[SFJake]

Hey look, they're selling weapons at approximatively 300% over the acceptable price. What is it WORTH? Nothing close to these prices. LOL at any stupid game that thinks ANY weapon is worth 7 fucking dollars. Fucking twats.

[derito]

While weapons are probably too expensive (considering they now require cert points and not auraxium) this is no reason to be such an ass.

[Boomzor]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A7HutIbCcAEzFmV.jpg

Is it only me reacting to the different values for SC compared to their cert costs?

Look at the Shadow or Stalker. There you're getting near 96% cash-cert ratio.
Then look at the Gauss Saw S. Down to 50% value for your money.
EM6... 20%.

Are you for real?

[typhaon]

I'd try and temper your rage about SC prices.

It's a market. SOE will surely recognize what sells and what doesn't... then adjust prices accordingly.

If something is truly priced incorrectly - then nobody will buy it... or, they will just use certs. There's nothing to get upset about - we're all playing by the same rules.

Save the anger for weapon/vehicle balance, etc..

[diLLa]

The standard guns are better than the unlockables in most cases anyway..