News: Chinese Interview with John Smedley

[Smed]

Answers inline

Originally Posted by Sirisian

So we have microtransactions for only aesthetic things and the game is free to play with no boxed copy at all?

This is a huge change to what I expected. It brings up a lot more questions than it answers.

1) Is the game still going to be microtransactions for aesthetics or are we going to be purchasing classes?

We see a variety of things you can buy.. honestly we're still working it out so none of this is set in stone. However here's a scenario that might happen.

Gun X is sold for X Station Cash. Gun X is a variant to another gun in-game with some positives and some negatives. Maybe you can still get the game through normal gameplay but it's hard. However the only thing I can say 100% sure is that Gun X is no better than another gun in the game.. it's simply different in some way that makes it something some people may want to buy. TF2 is an EXCELLENT example of this IMO.

2) How will the game continue to make money over time? What will you be offering to sell to people other than aesthetics? New classes? Or is that it? Will we be purchasing training bonuses and experience boosts?

Still thinking this through - In theory we want people to be able to buy convienence, but not power. This is still a shooter at it's core. So could you buy something that speeds up your offline skill training? sure.. I could see that. But not selling classes.

We're trying to figure out a way not to sell content per se... We don't want to follow the "sell an expansion pack" model with this game. We want to keep all players together at all times when it comes to what they can do without paying.

I understand if you can't answer these immediately for a few months, but they're some things I'm curious about.

(I'm still in the subscription only boat which is apparently sinking).