Paying for Planetside

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Mr DeCastellac

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]

Originally Posted by 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)

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

[PsychoXR-20]

Originally Posted by Saifoda

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.