Re: Planetside 2 Store - 10 minutes of required viewing for SOE

[artifice]

Originally Posted by Hamma

Care to provide examples for those who don't play that game?

In EQ2X, you are basically restricted in everything. You are limited in the amount of platinum you can have, you have to pay real money to use the the broker, you can only choose a handful of races and classes, and other stuff. The only way to get rid of all these restrictions is to pay $15 per month (so much for f2p).

You also literally buy power out of the item shop. More than any other F2P game I have seen.

Also, unlike other F2P games, you cannot earn the item shop currency (Station Cash) in game.

Basically, if you watch that movie above and took the list of everything not to do, SOE pretty much does it all, and to extremes.

Regular Everquest 2 isn't nearly as bad of course, but you can buy stuff like +100% experience potions.

[Hamma]

Well I dont think buying shorter training times or XP bonuses are buying power really.

But besides that it looks very much like what LoTRO did. EQ2X seems to be the extreme side of things in terms of micro transactions, hopefully they will take what they learned from that and tone it down a bit in PS2. From what I've heard I don't foresee EQ2x happening in PlanetSide.

[artifice]

Originally Posted by Hamma

Well I dont think buying shorter training times or XP bonuses are buying power really.

But besides that it looks very much like what LoTRO did. EQ2X seems to be the extreme side of things in terms of micro transactions, hopefully they will take what they learned from that and tone it down a bit in PS2. From what I've heard I don't foresee EQ2x happening in PlanetSide.

Er, I meant you can literally buy items out of the cash shop. All crafted items can be bought in EQ2X with real money.

[Skorne]

I think buying your way to quicker training is definitely buying power especially when you can actually gain up to a 20% advantage 1 on 1 in PS2. Might as well condone stat padding too because they are both ways of artificially speeding up skill/unlock gain with less effort than everyone else.

If it's in the game I won't be.

[Lunarchild]

I don't mind them selling speedups, however they should not do so at launch! Actually, they should sell them per "tier", allowing people to speed up low level certs when the majority of the players have them and grading up with that. This will ensure that it is indeed selling convenience rather than power.

Other than that, I know PurrfectStorm watched it: @PurrfectStorm: Great video! =]...:

[Traak]

Can I plunk down 10 grand and become CR12 Master of the Universe, or even a Dev?

Oh, that's right, just going to Fan Faire gave you CR5... Okay, fifty bucks then .

[Lunarchild]

Originally Posted by Traak

Can I plunk down 10 grand and become CR12 Master of the Universe, or even a Dev?

Oh, that's right, just going to Fan Faire gave you CR5... Okay, fifty bucks then .

I'm sure they'll make someone available for you to bounce dev ideas to for a week if you hand them 10 000$ for it ^^

[Malorn]

Well all we have to go on at this point is what they're telling us.

Smed is telling us clearly "we will not sell power."

So you can either believe him or not. If you don't believe him I dont' really know what to tell you. Clearly you have the fear of them lying to us. Because they did something different in the past doesn't mean what they're telling us now isn't true.

SOE has jaded many people in the past by mismanaging things, I'll give you that. Perhaps a weak economy, having to lay off a bunch of people, and not being the dominant player in the market has caused them to look at things differently. Necessity is the mother of invention, and all we can do at this point is believe what they're telling us is true unless we have a reason not to. Did they ever tell us that they weren't going to sell power in the EQ store? Is that why you don't believe them now? Or are you simply going on the fact that they did it before? Its not uncommon to make mistakes the first time you jump into something and learn from it.

On my own forums I put up a poll where I asked folks what they thought about PS2, and I also asked the same question with a bunch of other folks. The majority impression is that PS2 looks great, but they look at SOE's track record and have an overwhelming fear that they either won't deliver on what they're telling us or they'll screw it up in some other way. I have a little of that fear, but I'm also a true planetside fanboi so I will believe it out of sheer hope because I have nothing to lose by believing them. I have a lot to lose by dismissing the game before I even see it in action, and I have a lot to lose by not contributing to feedback, so here I am doing that.

And as Hamma said, selling leveling time isn't selling power. It's selling convenience, which is a great thing to sell. You don't have to buy that convenience and you will be fine.

[Hamma]

I should also point out how Smed was very insistent on getting the news out that they will NOT sell power, you can't post that in text.

What's funny is the people that go "It's SOE" also would say "It's EA" or "It's Blizzard" few game companies seem to be able to escape people saying that crap.

[Bags]

Blizzard doesn't sell power. At least, not to my knowledge.

[Forsaken One]

I want to know if its going to be possible to sub. and if so. whats going to be the difference of subs and non subs? also will subs have free unlimited access to the customize stuff sold in the store?

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by Bags

Blizzard doesn't sell power. At least, not to my knowledge.

I'm not referring to this specifically I am just referring to in general. People love that statement.

"I'm really excited for Game X but sadly it's being developed by company Y"

Fill in the blanks for any game in existence

[Sifer2]

Originally Posted by Hamma

I'm not referring to this specifically I am just referring to in general. People love that statement.

"I'm really excited for Game X but sadly it's being developed by company Y"

Fill in the blanks for any game in existence

Yeah except in SOE's case the reputation for screwing stuff up is a lot more justified. Some would ask how you could **** up an MMO based on Star Wars probably one the most valuable IP's of all time. They did find a way. Unless we want to buy into the it was LucasArts they imposed their will on SOE's vision excuse.


Honestly i'm willing to give them another chance just cause Planetside 2 sounds for the most part awesome. But i'm still skeptical. Especially in regards to cash shops since I have never met a cash shop I liked. Sadly they are becoming as standard a feature in MMO's as group chat almost. So in this case I guess I don't have much of a choice except to continue to ignore the modern MMO genre or put up with it for this game. I wont for long though if it sucks.


I also laughed at people above saying the speed up wasn't selling power. One guy said it should just be disabled at launch. Cause I guess its ok so long as we vet players can get our leveling out of the way first so no one can pay for a 20% boost over us.

[Malorn]

Originally Posted by Hamma

I'm not referring to this specifically I am just referring to in general. People love that statement.

"I'm really excited for Game X but sadly it's being developed by company Y"

Fill in the blanks for any game in existence

Very true. Longtime fans dislike the developer because inevitably at some poing in the game's lifetime the develoepr does a few things the player doesn't agree with.

Funny thing about WoW - people used to have huge regard for Blizzard as being high-quality pre-WoW. They released a stellar MMO that set the standard for all others. Now there are people so jaded to Blizzard that they flat out deny ever even playing WoW as if it is some sort badge of honor to not be tainted by having played that game. It is now cool to have not played WoW...blows my mind.

[Hamma]

Gamers are a strange breed.