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

[SixShooter]

Originally Posted by Hamma

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.

[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.

[Azarga]

Originally Posted by Tatwi

$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]

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by james

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..