News: Some Info about Items from the Shop

[captainkapautz]

Found this just now on Reddit.

Sounds really nice and rather balanced as far as cashshops go.

[SKYeXile]

quoting for the lazys:

I've addressed this a few times in interviews in the past, but here's the basic gist. Planetside 2 has three fundamental types of items:

Power adding items - items such as grandes, med kits, certain types of implants (like a run speed booster), these items fundamentally alter player power and are acquired exclusively with resources earned in game.

Playstyle items - these are sidegrades for vehicles and weapons, these switch up playstyle, and as much as possible are balanced against one-another to not add absolute power. These are available for Resources earned in game or Station Cash.

Non-gameplay affecting items - things like cosmetic skins, resource or xp boosts, etc. These don't have any impact on moment-to-moment gameplay and therefore player power and are available for Station Cash

So, as you can see, anything that gives any gameplay impact of any kind is always going to be available through gameplay. You wont be able to unlock a gameplay affecting item exclusively for Station Cash, there will be an in-game acquisition path as well, you're just bypassing (or shortcutting) it by using Station Cash.

Additionally, none of our item sidegrades really give a discrete power advantage, and those items which do (such as grenades, etc) are available exclusively for in-game resources. So, while you can unlock different playstyle choices with Station Cash, you're not really buying an advantage overall, you're just unlocking different situational breadth.

[Atheosim]

Sounds about right, but what I really want to know about is the subscription model...

[Goku]

Originally Posted by Atheosim

Sounds about right, but what I really want to know about is the subscription model...

I wouldn't expect anything more then extra perks (like XP bonus, more character slots) and the ability to spend like $5.00 a month at the station store. Probably won't be worthwhile like having access to the whole station store.

[Atheosim]

Originally Posted by Goku

I wouldn't expect anything more then extra perks (like XP bonus, more character slots) and the ability to spend like $5.00 a month at the station store. Probably won't be worthwhile like having access to the whole station store.

Why wouldn't having a subscription provide access to the whole station store?

[Goku]

Because it ruins the F2P with a cash store option. What is the sense is people spending more then $15 a month on stuff if they had access to everything in the store? Isn't going to happen I'm afraid. Besides I am sure there are going to be items $15+. Those crazy vanity items.

[Atheosim]

Originally Posted by Goku

Because it ruins the F2P with a cash store option. What is the sense is people spending more then $15 a month on stuff if they had access to everything in the store? Isn't going to happen I'm afraid. Besides I am sure there are going to be items $15+. Those crazy vanity items.

I don't see how having a subscription would limit your cash store options. If anything, I can see there being a reduced price on cash shop items for subscribers...

[Goku]

Oops I think you have me confused. I mean you won't have everything in the station store itself for free, not blocked from it. I can see a discount option being nice too.

[Atheosim]

Originally Posted by Goku

Oops I think you have me confused. I mean you won't have everything in the station store itself for free, not blocked from it. I can see a discount option being nice too.

Ahh, I see what you're saying.

I'm thinking that there will be benefits/perks available exclusively to subscribers, otherwise, like what you said, it wouldn't be worth it.

[CutterJohn]

A sub has to offer something in excess of whats in the store to be viable, else eventually paying monthly to unlock stuff will cost more than simply purchasing stuff to begin with.

My bet is a sub just packages all the recurring perks from the store(+XP/Cert training) together for slightly cheaper, and maybe offers some unique graphical options.

[Atheosim]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

A sub has to offer something in excess of whats in the store to be viable, else eventually paying monthly to unlock stuff will cost more than simply purchasing stuff to begin with.

My bet is a sub just packages all the recurring perks from the store(+XP/Cert training) together for slightly cheaper, and maybe offers some unique graphical options.

We'll see. This is a somewhat difficult question which I can assume is why we haven't heard any details on the premium membership model yet.

[Shogun]

it was already known, but this is the clearest and most detailed clarification on the non subscription part.

no space for misinterpretations here. no cryptic maybes, just pure facts. and the cash shop seems to work exactly like the community has asked for!
when smed first talked to us about the cash shop, he was still talking about some sidegrades being cash only.(about a year ago, think it was mostly smed or smed and higby)
a lot of us didn´t want ANY gamechanging sidegrades to be cash exclusive because playstyle changes are considered selling power, even if they are tradeoffs. this uproar was heard and now we got a shopmodel confirmed, that has the best of both worlds.

i am fine with anything buyable for real money, as long as there is a method of getting it via gameplay. and cosmetical stuff being cash only, is right, too.
so basicaly all you can buy for real money is time. you skip the need to play for ressources and can get your stuff faster. but that doesn´t make you more powerful in a 1 on 1 and the freeplayer can get the exact same setup, only a little later.

if they keep this system as it is now, this is the best and fairest cash shop system i have seen so far! (haven´t played LoL)

a 15$ sub should give you 15$ station cash monthly and some other random bonus.
it should give a little more than just spending the same amount on the shop without sub, because a sub means you are paying every month. this should be rewarded to lure people in. if it gives you less than spending the same amount of money directly in the store, people might think it isn´t worth a shit and would prefer to spend money on their liking. resulting in unregular payments. reliable subscription income is always good, because people don´t unsubscribe if they cannot play for some weeks, but without a sub the income will die on such events.

unlocking everything to subscribers in contraproductive because it limits the possible income from subscribers. with a "get 15sc for 15$" model subscribers can still spend some more money if they want to.

[SKYeXile]

They said that a sub will offer you resources while not online, and yes thats resources, not cert points.

that was only in one interview though, could always be misinterpretation.

[Atheosim]

Originally Posted by SKYeXile

They said that a sub will offer you resources while not online, and yes thats resources, not cert points.

that was only in one interview though, could always be misinterpretation.

I remember Higby saying that there would be a relatively low cap on resources to prevent players from ever feeling like they have enough.

[That one noob]

I, for one, am quite upset that I am going to have to waste resources in order to get my burrito.