wow, so governments actually cracked down on companies for lockboxes, well, the article hinted at a "Domino" effect from japan, to Europe, maybe U.S. is next in line to banning lockboxes and chance boxes.That is,however, if PWE can adapt to that;as from what I have read, most of their income is from the lockboxes. On a side note, it also said that this was popular in eastern culture, but why would PWE put something that could be banned in western culture, IN a game that was made in the U.S.A., when most of us dislike gambling?
thx m8, using your link as a sig
@the_banished_one
Just a simple Sig
Why is it so hard to make it interesting?
You know, when the waterhead at the local wal-mart is bagging my groceries and decides it'd be a good idea to put a thanksgiving turkey on top of a carton of eggs, I don't go and blame the owner of wal-mart, I blame the waterhead.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Many businesses, including, it seems, Cryptic, take this to mean that they thus don't need to retain 80% of their customers and so adopt a 'take or leave it' approach to customer relations.
What many very stupid business people fail to realise is that losing 80% of your customers is at the very least cutting your sales by 20% and more than likely to cost you the few remaining customers as nobody wants to buy an unpopular product.
I used to have an Orion slave girl, then PWE 'perfected' her, now all I have is this lousy signature
Many businesses, including, it seems, Cryptic, take this to mean that they thus don't need to retain 80% of their customers and so adopt a 'take or leave it' approach to customer relations.
What many very stupid business people fail to realise is that losing 80% of your customers is at the very least cutting your sales by 20% and more than likely to cost you the few remaining customers as nobody wants to buy an unpopular product.
In reality, it means that cutting your populace by 80% reduces your sales by 80%- the remaining 20%, as you point out, will be influenced by the mass emigration and many of them will stop buying for one reason or another. This will leave you with about 20% of the remaining customers making about 80% of the remaining sales in an ever dwindling cycle. Loss of customers may look good on paper, but it is only very rarely sustainable.
How do they expect to get my money if all they produce is gamble bags that I have an adamant moral/ethical position against buying? It has been months since I have seen something in the Z store that I would consider buying and all that time, my stipend has continued to accumulate making it more and more unlikely that they will produce enough quality merchandise to burn through my stipend and convince me to spend actual money. For that matter, due to a continued lack of new story driven content, I have been more and more disinclined to even log in. And if I'm not even logging in, why would I bother spending even my stipend much less any actual money.
Yeah .. the last i bought in the Z-Store was the Wizard Set .. im sitting on nearly 6000 ZEN now
and don't see anything interesting to spend them.
I played CO back when it first came out and have been a CoH player for about 8 years. But with CoH going away in a few weeks I've been playing CO again for the past week. I love the character customizations and the ability to fire off multiple attacks at the same time (e.g. shoulder cannon, and tactical missiles), but have found that while I love my toons, the content itself is pretty lacking. Found myself flying around with this great toon and thinking that there wasn't a whole lot to do. Been doing the alerts nonstop and the UNTIL Sky Command but beyond that, some of the other regular missions (well, I'm sure I don't have the best build) require a team to complete and that's hard to find sometimes.
I think Cryptic should look at maybe having optional allies in a mission to help those that want to complete it but most importantly, they really have to work on content. If they don't plan on doing so, I don't want to invest in yet another MMO that's going on life support and soon to die.
Could be wrong but I don't see a great deal of zones or content added since launch, there's some but not a whole lot (well except adventure packs but you have to pay/be gold..and I am gold but was thinking in general).
Could be wrong but I don't see a great deal of zones or content added since launch, there's some but not a whole lot (well except adventure packs but you have to pay/be gold..and I am gold but was thinking in general).
I agree not much content has been added since launch and it SERIOUSLY needs some major addition after this long, but ALL current content including adventure packs and comic series is free to everyone, they used to be gold/pay but were made free some time ago.
Excellent! So at least the adventure packs have some good stories..did one on a team the other day that was fun (whiteout).. with CoH/CoV coming to an end, I hope most of them will come over like I did
I think Cryptic should look at maybe having optional allies in a mission to help those that want to complete it but most importantly, they really have to work on content. If they don't plan on doing so, I don't want to invest in yet another MMO that's going on life support and soon to die.
Life Support? Oh, you mean that thing Champions has been on since On Alert hit live?:rolleyes:
Come now don't you know the Korean Gamble Boxes are the in thing right now? Who cares if there is rumors of other countries ruling them illegal and promoting underage gambling. pfft.
I dunno - to hear some folks tell it, CO's been on "life support" since beta...
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
Come now don't you know the Korean Gamble Boxes are the in thing right now? Who cares if there is rumors of other countries ruling them illegal and promoting underage gambling. pfft.
/end sarcasm
Gashapon's been a thing since Astro Boy was in diapers. If Bioware/EA and Lucasarts's corporate lawyers think lockboxes are A-OK for their flagship MMO, I'm not sure what else I can say.
Gashapon's been a thing since Astro Boy was in diapers. If Bioware/EA and Lucasarts's corporate lawyers think lockboxes are A-OK for their flagship MMO, I'm not sure what else I can say.
Big greedy companies and their corporate layers will always think that whatever makes them money in the here and now, and is not currently illegal is A-OK. It's not like we can reasonably expect businesses that are out to make money to exercise restraint. That's what lawmakers are for.
That doesn't mean that there's nothing wrong with lockboxes or that there won't be some sort of regulation placed on them at some future date. It just means that they're a big gray area for the time being, and they're also a big money maker, so we can expect that game companies are gonna use them till the day that government agencies start raining down on them (if that day ever comes to pass).
That being said, I haven't played SWTOR in around a year and haven't tried their F2P version yet, so I can't comment on their lockboxes. But they also have them in DCUO and GW2, for example. The difference?
In DCUO they're apparently kinda uncommon (I haven't played much in months, but I played for a couple of hours this Sunday as a free player and I didn't get a single drop) and subscribers don't have to pay extra to open them. In GW2, they're VERY rare (I've only gotten a handful of them in HOURS of continuous play these past two or three weeks), are only handed as special rewards, and you know what also drops as a special reward of equal rarity? That's right, the freaking KEYS! (I have gotten a similar amount of those as well--without dropping a single cent in their cash store).
In CO, they rain down in droves. Every other drop you get is a lockbox and you can easily get a dozen boxes in 15 minutes approx. There are certain items in the game can ONLY be gotten through the boxes (that's not the case in other games as far as I know, though I'm not 100% on that), and the drop rates for those items are ridiculously low. The ONLY way to open them is to buy a key from the store. And even if you use z-points purchased using Q, someone, somewhere in the planet had to give Cryptic money for you to buy those points off them, so every box that opens is ALWAYS money in Cryptic/PW's bank.
So even if lockboxes are starting to become common they're not the same here as they are everywhere else (so I suppose we can expect some businesses to exercise some restraint... just not Cryptic/PW).
Well I think almost all content in game can be played without getting the stuff from the lock boxes.
Whatever the price they set, if there are players who will pay then that's all good for the players and the company. The company gets to earn and hopefully that profit goes back into improving the game otherwise that will be bad.
The tanks are probably not moving the keys as fast as the legion gears and they will have to rethink their business strategy.
What if everyone boycotts the boxes and decides that SCR gears are sufficient and there is no need for a jet or tank? I am actually fearful that CO may become CoH and I will lose the only game I still play.
I do not mind spending on this game, on new shinies, but I also wish that what I spent and what the other players spent will in majority be funneled back to maintaining and expanding our game.
I do not mind spending on this game, on new shinies, but I also wish that what I spent and what the other players spent will in majority be funneled back to maintaining and expanding our game.
^This goes hand in hand with my original point that started this thread. Instead of funneling the money players spend on new shinies back into CO development it gets tossed into making other games. Proof? Look at the size of our Dev team.
Why spend money on a game that has no future? It feels like a big waste to me if I do.
Pair that up with the fact that anything NEW is locked into a Lockbox scheme and your REALLY stopping me from giving you my money. I'm proud to say I've never purchased a single gamble bag or key, and I will continue to live by that.
I'm just glad I paid for a Lifetime Sub when the game was still in Beta, or I'd probably have stopped playing the game altogether.
Sadly, as long as ANYone spends real money on keys, lockboxes are not going away.
What I would really like to see is for PerfectWorld to GUARANTEE that the money all of us spend on CO stays in CO... the money from Zen purchases that are "applied" to CO accounts should be earmarked for supporting CO, not PWI's other games. I really couldn't give a flying fig about NW, why should my money go to a game I'm never going to play? :mad:
Unfortunately, businesses never work like this. All revenue just goes into a common pool, and after basic expenses (and executive salaries!) are paid for, the executives dump the money on whatever pet project they feel like... as long as there's something left over to pays stockholders a dividend (or the stock itself doesn't tank), what do they care?
Target1one
"ENOUGH!!! You are ALL of you BENEATH me! I am a GOD, you dull creature, and I will NOT be BULLIED by--" -- Loki
*SMASH* *SMASH* *SMASH* <pause> *SMASHSMASH* "... puny god..." -- Hulk
How do they plan to keep customers when they keep ticking off subscribers who then quit playing and advise other potential players not to sub or bother signing up.
I have to advise friends against LTS because as an LTS player, I am now bound into a game where my characters are nerfed without reason and have no econimic leverage to keep Cryptic in line. All of Cryptics games are becoming nothing more than second job grind fests to fill their pockets by getting non-paying players to grind for loot that they perceive as free which in reality is payed for by cash from paying customers.
I want to play this game, but on principle, cannot support the game until all is made right.
Repair the damage done to Enrage and Aggressor so I can play my characters without having to spec into specific specializations to get almost what I lost.
Player and forumite formerly known as FEELTHETHUNDER
I have to advise friends against LTS because as an LTS player, I am now bound into a game where my characters are nerfed without reason and have no econimic leverage to keep Cryptic in line.
That is an unfortunate problem for LTSes but, you do get many advantages that other players don't. I think it balances out. The reason I think it's a mistake for people to get a LTS at this time is that with the current state of this game, I'm not too confident that it's going to last more than another one or two years which would mean that was a waste of money to get a life time subscription.
All of Cryptics games are becoming nothing more than second job grind fests to fill their pockets by getting non-paying players to grind for loot that they perceive as free which in reality is payed for by cash from paying customers.
I can honestly say I don't see why people insist that this game is such a grindfest. If you're referring to the Q grind from doing dailies, it takes about 15 minutes tops to run three alerts, another 15 minutes or so to do a Gravitar, and around half an hour for Nemesis Confrontation. If you're camparing it to a real life job then, yes, that's way below minimum wage but, this isn't work. It's working towards earning digital rewards on an online game so that comparison is a little silly since it won't put food on the table or a roof over your head. If someone isn't having fun with it then why do it?
As far as whether or not the zen that people grinding questionite for is really free or not, I'd be willing to bet that a large sum of what's on the exchange comes from people with subscriptions that don't have anything they want on the zen market. That means it would just keep piling up if they weren't putting it on the exchange so, I do see that as free. I'm sure some people do buy zen specifically to put on the exchange as well but, don't think that's nearly as common since what it can be used to purchase is far more limited and chances are those are the same people that are already subscribing and getting a stipend. If they want to throw more money at Cryptic than they already are, that's their choice.
How do they plan to keep customers when they keep ticking off subscribers who then quit playing and advise other potential players not to sub or bother signing up.
If the MMO market was making enough bank on retaining subs, there wouldn't be an explosion of F2P, cash shops, and lockboxes to begin with.
If the MMO market was making enough bank on retaining subs, there wouldn't be an explosion of F2P, cash shops, and lockboxes to begin with.
I'm probably going to get flak for this but, I think a good sized part of the problem is the customer base itself. It's been my experience that a lot of MMO players are somewhat fickle and grow bored with something quickly. One trait the vast majority have in common is they want the new shiney, whatever the new shiney is. It can be content, a costume piece, some sort of gear or device, or a whole new game all together.
Anyone that's spent a long time on any one game has seen it plenty of times. Whenever a new item comes out people flock to it and you see it all over the place. A few weeks later everyone goes back to saying they're bored and there's nothing to do. If new games come out, they cancel their sub and go check out the new game. This is why we see junk items pumped into cash shops on game and why some companies push out unfinished products that they don't complete and instead focus on their next crap game. As much as I dislike the direction that MMOs are going, all they're doing is shifting their strategy to make the most money off their target markets.
I'm probably going to get flak for this but, I think a good sized part of the problem is the customer base itself. It's been my experience that a lot of MMO players are somewhat fickle and grow bored with something quickly. One trait the vast majority have in common is they want the new shiney, whatever the new shiney is. It can be content, a costume piece, some sort of gear or device, or a whole new game all together.
It's been my experience that mmo players are just like any other type of gamer, or the same as anyone engaging in any sort of entertainment medium. If you go to the movie theater, and all they're playing is Twilight... okay, so maybe you watch Twilight one night. If you come back a week later, and they're still only playing Twilight, and you don't want to watch Twilight again, does it mean that you're fickle and easily bored? Let's say the theatre lets you watch the movies there for free and you only have to pay for popcorn and soda, but still only Twilight week after week. Now are you fickle and easily bored because you don't want to repeatedly watch Twilight for free? Oh but hey, we have cheese popcorn this week! Next week, 20% off butter!
The problem isn't with the customer base; you can't say that we're wrong because we expect to be entertained while engaging in an entertainment medium, and you can't blame us if we get bored of doing the same thing over and over again ( especially if that happens over the course of several years). You can't ask your customers to change themselves so they enjoy your product more... well you can, but you better have one hell of a good product for them to be willing to do that ( see people getting up early to go on raids and quitting bad habits because they're getting in the way of their play time ).
At some point, when a company stops producing the entertainment and only produces the "shinies", you have to wonder if you're playing a video game, or shopping in a jewelry store masquerading as a video game. It's naturaly that if you come to the latter conclusion that you feel a bit disatisfied. You could just leave, but if you look through the CO crowd you're going to find a lot of players who are just really connected to this brand and who just don't want to leave; you know, like a dog... even if you don't feed them, they'll stick around and make puppy dog eyes at you pleading for food.
It's bizarre to me that anyone would say "well if you don't like it you can just leave" to people who are really really trying to like it as hard as they can.
The problem is with the product. Or rather products... the incredibly inflated number of products. There's just too many of them; we can all thank world of wow for that. They put that 11million player pile of cash out there for everyone to look at and salivate over, and suddenly everyone was in a hurry to put out the next big thing that would take a bite out of that pile. Eventually everyone got over their hopes of being "the wow killer" and became satisfied with occupying niches. Some of them, it seems, have gotten a bit too comfortable in their niche.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
I'm probably going to get flak for this but, I think a good sized part of the problem is the customer base itself. It's been my experience that a lot of MMO players are somewhat fickle and grow bored with something quickly. One trait the vast majority have in common is they want the new shiney, whatever the new shiney is. It can be content, a costume piece, some sort of gear or device, or a whole new game all together.
I've worked enough customer service and been a customer myself enough times to get out of the habit of blaming the customer. In my mind, its two factors:
1.) Ultima Online begatting the success of EverQuest begatting the success of World of ******** begatting eleventy billion other MMOs satuaring the market. MMO supply is incredibly high.
2.) The economy crash of 2008 driving MMO demand down, and said demand never fully recovering once tablets and social games started taking your casual customers.
Cross the two and you just don't have enough people with $15 a month to keep all those games profitable enough. F2P and cash shops can mitigate that, but that requires a constant stream of new content to keep the cash shop humming, i.e. constantly putting more money back into the game. All the while your game continues to fall behind the newer shinier entries entering the market.
Enter Pay4Power and the lockbox. Now you can generate content at the same cost, however now you've opened up a gateway to unlock the wallets of those willing to spend way much more than just $15 a month. Who knows how long that bubble might last, granted that it is a bubble, but now you're sitting on a comfortable profit again.
Enter Pay4Power and the lockbox. Now you can generate content at the same cost, however now you've opened up a gateway to unlock the wallets of those willing to spend way much more than just $15 a month. Who knows how long that bubble might last, granted that it is a bubble, but now you're sitting on a comfortable profit again.
I'm baffled how pay4power games even get new customers. The second I see that a game is pay2win I run screaming for the hills XD
For that matter, how do lockboxes even work out to make anyone any money? Seriously, were we ever in a recession if people have the money to spend on this junk?
It baffles me that these, apparently, wealthy people would spend their time playing the cheap games when they clearly have the money to play the quality stuff.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Seriously, were we ever in a recession if people have the money to spend on this junk?
Complicated subject, off-topic for these boards. Go ask your local (non-Austrian school of; preferably Keynesian school of) economics professor for an explanation if you seriously want an answer to this.
It baffles me that these, apparently, wealthy people would spend their time playing the cheap games when they clearly have the money to play the quality stuff.
Some people like Supers. There were three Supers MMO games; now they are two.
Some people like Champions. There is only one Champions MMO.
If you like something and wish it to continue, financially supporting it is the right and proper thing to do.
__________
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer; you are the product being sold.
Dollar, dollar, bill, yo. Cash rules everything around you and me.
I'm baffled how pay4power games even get new customers. The second I see that a game is pay2win I run screaming for the hills XD
For that matter, how do lockboxes even work out to make anyone any money? Seriously, were we ever in a recession if people have the money to spend on this junk?
It baffles me that these, apparently, wealthy people would spend their time playing the cheap games when they clearly have the money to play the quality stuff.
Having been once young and impulsive myself, and still being rather impulsive in my older age, its not inconceivable to see someone doling out cash without any consideration of budget. Heaven knows how many games, books, and toys I've put on eBay or returned to Gamestop, and I still have piles of them in my attic.
This is where I note that you are posting on a message board about a pay-to-win game and that you appear to still be here.
This is where I ask how exactly you define "pay-to-win", given that PvP isn't exactly the driving force behind this game (certainly not the way it is in, say, World of Warcrack), and thus no matter how much you pay, you're not, by any definition of which I'm aware, "winning" at anything. I mean, all the content of the game, such as it is, can be completed just as well by a Silver who's never dropped a dime on Zen as it can by a Lifer who's been pouring cash into the game like a lottery winner...
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
It's been my experience that mmo players are just like any other type of gamer, or the same as anyone engaging in any sort of entertainment medium. If you go to the movie theater, and all they're playing is Twilight... okay, so maybe you watch Twilight one night. If you come back a week later, and they're still only playing Twilight, and you don't want to watch Twilight again, does it mean that you're fickle and easily bored? Let's say the theatre lets you watch the movies there for free and you only have to pay for popcorn and soda, but still only Twilight week after week. Now are you fickle and easily bored because you don't want to repeatedly watch Twilight for free? Oh but hey, we have cheese popcorn this week! Next week, 20% off butter!
I never said that people should be satisfied with doing the same thing over and over. I think you're taking an extreme interpretation of my words. You can look anywhere on these forums and you'll find posts from me saying they need to add new content to this game. Actual content, not shinies for people to rush to spend cash on.
The problem isn't with the customer base; you can't say that we're wrong because we expect to be entertained while engaging in an entertainment medium, and you can't blame us if we get bored of doing the same thing over and over again ( especially if that happens over the course of several years). You can't ask your customers to change themselves so they enjoy your product more... well you can, but you better have one hell of a good product for them to be willing to do that ( see people getting up early to go on raids and quitting bad habits because they're getting in the way of their play time ).
I never said that the entirety of the problem rests on the shoulders of the players but, to even try to pretend that they're not at least partly to blame by letting themselves be repeatedly suckered by jumping at any new game that comes out and buying up whatever is put in front of them with regards to games or cash shops is just being dishonest with yourself.
It's bizarre to me that anyone would say "well if you don't like it you can just leave" to people who are really really trying to like it as hard as they can.
I think you're taking what I said out of context. For starters, my comment was to someone else's about this game becoming a second job for players. Anyone looking at this game like a job instead of as entertainment really should consider finding some other way to enjoy their free time. It's meant to be fun, not work so why do it if they're not enjoying it?
The problem is with the product. Or rather products... the incredibly inflated number of products. There's just too many of them; we can all thank world of wow for that. They put that 11million player pile of cash out there for everyone to look at and salivate over, and suddenly everyone was in a hurry to put out the next big thing that would take a bite out of that pile. Eventually everyone got over their hopes of being "the wow killer" and became satisfied with occupying niches. Some of them, it seems, have gotten a bit too comfortable in their niche.
This I agree with wholeheartedly. The problem is also with the product. It's also the fact that the people producing those products thought that because one game became larger than anyone ever thought possible that they now have to accomplish the same. In addition to that, there's the problem caused by people making games pushing out shoddy unfinished products because they bank on the assumption that their potential customers will rush to try it and give them cash hand over fist to do so. You know what else is part of the problem? They're right.
This is where I ask how exactly you define "pay-to-win", given that PvP isn't exactly the driving force behind this game (certainly not the way it is in, say, World of Warcrack), and thus no matter how much you pay, you're not, by any definition of which I'm aware, "winning" at anything. I mean, all the content of the game, such as it is, can be completed just as well by a Silver who's never dropped a dime on Zen as it can by a Lifer who's been pouring cash into the game like a lottery winner...
I can spend real currency to purchase advantages (freeform characters, eight-slot vehicles, four-slot gear, rank nine mods, etc) otherwise unavailable to those who don't make purchases over and above the costs necessary to play the game.
I can buy "power".
That said power is not necessary to enjoy playing the game is irrelevant to the fact that I can purchase it. In addition, that said power can be acquired by selling my playtime to other players is also irrelevant to the fact that I can purchase it outright. (Questionite is a time-limited currency. Exchanging refined questionite for zen is selling your time for money; at a typical wage of $0.40~ per hour.)
It is worth noting that I don't have a problem with this, merely that I find it hilarious when people say they don't play pay-to-win games while playing a pay-to-win game.
__________
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer; you are the product being sold.
Dollar, dollar, bill, yo. Cash rules everything around you and me.
all the content of the game, such as it is, can be completed just as well by a Silver who's never dropped a dime on Zen as it can by a Lifer who's been pouring cash into the game like a lottery winner...
If you had left the words, "just as well," out of that sentence it might have been accurate. The inclusion of those three words makes the entire thing inaccurate.
The advantages provided by having a higher G cap, more character slots, and of course access to FreeForm character building, mean that a subscriber has an insurmountable advantage over a non subscriber.
That said, the advantages gained are not particularly bad, IMO, because, as you say, at least the Silver has the ability to play all of the game's content.
This is where I note that you are posting on a message board about a pay-to-win game and that you appear to still be here.
Complicated subject, off-topic for these boards. Go ask your local (non-Austrian school of; preferably Keynesian school of) economics professor for an explanation if you seriously want an answer to this.
You're going to have to point out where the pay2win comes into play in champions. Even in pvp, I don't believe I've ever seen anything you could buy out of the store that would help you win. Trust me, if there was such a thing, people would have been screaming their heads off about it in the hero games forum, and it's never been mentioned there. Reminds me of another game where someone tried to point out a "+10% xp for 5 hours" item as being an example of pay2win.
Also, don't bother trying to be the "on-topic" police for these forums, unless you're looking for a whole lot of effort for zero results.
I can spend real currency to purchase advantages (freeform characters, eight-slot vehicles, four-slot gear, rank nine mods, etc) otherwise unavailable to those who don't make purchases over and above the costs necessary to play the game.
I can buy "power".
That said power is not necessary to enjoy playing the game is irrelevant to the fact that I can purchase it. In addition, that said power can be acquired by selling my playtime to other players is also irrelevant to the fact that I can purchase it outright. (Questionite is a time-limited currency. Exchanging refined questionite for zen is selling your time for money; at a typical wage of $0.40~ per hour.)
It is worth noting that I don't have a problem with this, merely that I find it hilarious when people say they don't play pay-to-win games while playing a pay-to-win game.
The things you listed are either not an advantage in pvp whatsoever, or provide such little advantage in pvp as to be laughable. If someone has an advantage over you while fighting some npcs, what does that really have to do with you? Is it really considered winning if they do some more damage to the npcs than you do? Your understanding of pay2win leads me to believe you may have never actually played a pay2win game, because CO is not one of them by any measure.
I never said that people should be satisfied with doing the same thing over and over. I think you're taking an extreme interpretation of my words. You can look anywhere on these forums and you'll find posts from me saying they need to add new content to this game. Actual content, not shinies for people to rush to spend cash on.
I never said that the entirety of the problem rests on the shoulders of the players but, to even try to pretend that they're not at least partly to blame by letting themselves be repeatedly suckered by jumping at any new game that comes out and buying up whatever is put in front of them with regards to games or cash shops is just being dishonest with yourself.
I think you're taking what I said out of context. For starters, my comment was to someone else's about this game becoming a second job for players. Anyone looking at this game like a job instead of as entertainment really should consider finding some other way to enjoy their free time. It's meant to be fun, not work so why do it if they're not enjoying it?
I'm probably going to get flak for this but, I think a good sized part of the problem is the customer base itself. It's been my experience that a lot of MMO players are somewhat fickle and grow bored with something quickly. One trait the vast majority have in common is they want the new shiney, whatever the new shiney is. It can be content, a costume piece, some sort of gear or device, or a whole new game all together.
Anyone that's spent a long time on any one game has seen it plenty of times. Whenever a new item comes out people flock to it and you see it all over the place. A few weeks later everyone goes back to saying they're bored and there's nothing to do. If new games come out, they cancel their sub and go check out the new game. This is why we see junk items pumped into cash shops on game and why some companies push out unfinished products that they don't complete and instead focus on their next crap game. As much as I dislike the direction that MMOs are going, all they're doing is shifting their strategy to make the most money off their target markets.
Don't take it personally, I'm just disagreeing with some of the ideas you put forth, and agreeing with others.
The part about "if you don't like it leave" was preemptively responding to what a common response would be. Sometimes I think ahead, has nothing to do with you.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
If someone has an advantage over you while fighting some npcs, what does that really have to do with you? Is it really considered winning if they do some more damage to the npcs than you do?
That's exactly the question I'm asking. Ash, you state the things you get as a Gold give you an "insurmountable advantage" over a Silver. "Advantage" in what way? If you can spank the Argent Counteragents on Monster Island a few milliseconds faster than I can, how does that really constitute and "advantage", since I can do it too, just slower?
There's no reward for running through the missions faster, you know...
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
It baffles me that these, apparently, wealthy people would spend their time playing the cheap games when they clearly have the money to play the quality stuff.
In the realm of MMO's, quality stuff... what would that be?
_________________________________________________
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
I dunno... Tera I guess. They have lolis and bear people.
Tried that one. If anything, their open world quests were as or more boring than any other game I've played. Each to his/her own I guess, as neither lolis nor bear people interest me. More and more, MMO's are feeling like a wasteland.
_________________________________________________
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
Tried that one. If anything, their open world quests were as or more boring than any other game I've played. Each to his/her own I guess, as neither lolis nor bear people interest me. More and more, MMO's are feeling like a wasteland.
Maybe you're just getting old and outgrowing video games. Time to take up golf?
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Maybe you're just getting old and outgrowing video games. Time to take up golf?
I don't even know what loli means and I'm 23. I'm assuming it's one of those Dragon Ball Z words based on your avatar. Personally I thought this was a super hero game, but I digress. Carry on, thread!
That's exactly the question I'm asking. Ash, you state the things you get as a Gold give you an "insurmountable advantage" over a Silver. "Advantage" in what way? If you can spank the Argent Counteragents on Monster Island a few milliseconds faster than I can, how does that really constitute and "advantage", since I can do it too, just slower?
There's no reward for running through the missions faster, you know...
If player A can defeat foes more quickly than player B he will accumulate resources, of a variety of sorts, more quickly and so will have an advantage in the various in game markets where those various currencies are used.
Since resources can be, and frequently are in MMOs (and in real life), used to generate more resources this effect compounds over time.
As to millisconds....I don't measure performance at that level. I do know that there is a forum thread where another player is voicing a complaint about the fact that other players' ability to kill mobs in alerts too quickly for him to be able to get an attack off is taking the fun out of the experience. He made the post after teaming with me. If you don't do a certain portion of the damage, perhaps because I killed the entire spawn before you could get off an attack, then you don't get drops.
EDIT: To clarify, I do think that CO is pay to win, but do not find the matter to be all that problematic here. As you say, everything can be played successfully, without mind numbing grind, without the pay to win aspects.
Wow, guys, let's be realistic about things, the game company needs to earn.
Zens can be traded for in game with questionites although I know someone is bound to say but someone, somewhere has to pay real cash for the zen to trade you.
My only real contention is what pricing should we be looking at for the company to profitably continue to operate the game and conitnue to churn out good "content" for its playerbase.
Where is the equilibrium point to price its products?
Selling cheap to encourage more sales sounds good for all players but set it too low and everyone can probably grind enough questionites to trade for zen. Price it too high and players complain. This is really a tough call.
I said this before and I shall say it again. I am prepared to pay for new shinies in game just so to keep it going. I do not want CO to end up like CoH. At the same time, I hope we get our money worth in terms of content. Do not just keep churning out money making gimmicks.
As it stands, this degree of customization was something that could be done by the team without needing them to spend months (years?) without any other releases.
This is of course nonsense. It's nothing but an excuse designed to deflect conversation and try to put an end to it.
STO had the system being requested at release, and it had less than a year before it was released. That's on top of ground and space combat, the alien creation system, all the missions, the rather sizable amount of art assets that already existed at launch. It also had plenty of content being developed and released while the Foundry was still being worked on. The Foundry is a lot more complex, code and design wise, than customizable vehicles. At the time, it arguably had a smaller dev team than Champions has now.
The past few months, I've been working on a game that has a modular, customizable vehicle system with a friend. Right now it's just him and me. He's doing the art, I'm doing the code. It took me less than a week to code the system. The customizable vehicles were added in as an afterthought and it was still easy to do. The UI for it could use some polish, but the pieces fit together beautifully, and some of them are animated, like wings that unfold and whatnot. We also sighed in relief that we weren't having to do it with rigged meshes. Vehicles are rigid, so you don't have to rig them. If they were rigged, it would have been a LOT harder.
Our success at implementing the customizable vehicle system for our single player game is that the art is being done from the ground up with an eye for modularity. The vehicles as they are now in CO probably wouldn't do too well as modular because the art wasn't designed for it. The art would have to be redone.
If player A can defeat foes more quickly than player B he will accumulate resources, of a variety of sorts, more quickly and so will have an advantage in the various in game markets where those various currencies are used.
Since resources can be, and frequently are in MMOs (and in real life), used to generate more resources this effect compounds over time.
You think having more resources is winning? ...are you Donald Trump?
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Comments
thx m8, using your link as a sig
@the_banished_one
Just a simple Sig
Why is it so hard to make it interesting?
Debatable,
at this point ATARi is the lesser of two evils.
You know, when the waterhead at the local wal-mart is bagging my groceries and decides it'd be a good idea to put a thanksgiving turkey on top of a carton of eggs, I don't go and blame the owner of wal-mart, I blame the waterhead.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
I can, because I am one.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
This was awesome while it lasted
_______________________________________________
Perhaps, but that isn't what it means.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
Many businesses, including, it seems, Cryptic, take this to mean that they thus don't need to retain 80% of their customers and so adopt a 'take or leave it' approach to customer relations.
What many very stupid business people fail to realise is that losing 80% of your customers is at the very least cutting your sales by 20% and more than likely to cost you the few remaining customers as nobody wants to buy an unpopular product.
In reality, it means that cutting your populace by 80% reduces your sales by 80%- the remaining 20%, as you point out, will be influenced by the mass emigration and many of them will stop buying for one reason or another. This will leave you with about 20% of the remaining customers making about 80% of the remaining sales in an ever dwindling cycle. Loss of customers may look good on paper, but it is only very rarely sustainable.
Not really seen what Atari did to Eden studios the AFTER they made they Test Drive Unlimited and that game was awesome and a hit >_>
When PWE gets ahold of a studio they let the peeps do what they like as long as the add lockboxes .
Shutting down VS Lockboxes . Lockboxes are the lesser evil.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
Yeah .. the last i bought in the Z-Store was the Wizard Set .. im sitting on nearly 6000 ZEN now
and don't see anything interesting to spend them.
I think Cryptic should look at maybe having optional allies in a mission to help those that want to complete it but most importantly, they really have to work on content. If they don't plan on doing so, I don't want to invest in yet another MMO that's going on life support and soon to die.
Could be wrong but I don't see a great deal of zones or content added since launch, there's some but not a whole lot (well except adventure packs but you have to pay/be gold..and I am gold but was thinking in general).
Thanks!
I agree not much content has been added since launch and it SERIOUSLY needs some major addition after this long, but ALL current content including adventure packs and comic series is free to everyone, they used to be gold/pay but were made free some time ago.
Life Support? Oh, you mean that thing Champions has been on since On Alert hit live?:rolleyes:
/end sarcasm
Remember the first time CO had a heart attack and had that Free-For-All brand pacemaker put in?
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Birth defects? God damn, this analogy's gettin' kinda dark.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Gashapon's been a thing since Astro Boy was in diapers. If Bioware/EA and Lucasarts's corporate lawyers think lockboxes are A-OK for their flagship MMO, I'm not sure what else I can say.
Big greedy companies and their corporate layers will always think that whatever makes them money in the here and now, and is not currently illegal is A-OK. It's not like we can reasonably expect businesses that are out to make money to exercise restraint. That's what lawmakers are for.
That doesn't mean that there's nothing wrong with lockboxes or that there won't be some sort of regulation placed on them at some future date. It just means that they're a big gray area for the time being, and they're also a big money maker, so we can expect that game companies are gonna use them till the day that government agencies start raining down on them (if that day ever comes to pass).
That being said, I haven't played SWTOR in around a year and haven't tried their F2P version yet, so I can't comment on their lockboxes. But they also have them in DCUO and GW2, for example. The difference?
In DCUO they're apparently kinda uncommon (I haven't played much in months, but I played for a couple of hours this Sunday as a free player and I didn't get a single drop) and subscribers don't have to pay extra to open them. In GW2, they're VERY rare (I've only gotten a handful of them in HOURS of continuous play these past two or three weeks), are only handed as special rewards, and you know what also drops as a special reward of equal rarity? That's right, the freaking KEYS! (I have gotten a similar amount of those as well--without dropping a single cent in their cash store).
In CO, they rain down in droves. Every other drop you get is a lockbox and you can easily get a dozen boxes in 15 minutes approx. There are certain items in the game can ONLY be gotten through the boxes (that's not the case in other games as far as I know, though I'm not 100% on that), and the drop rates for those items are ridiculously low. The ONLY way to open them is to buy a key from the store. And even if you use z-points purchased using Q, someone, somewhere in the planet had to give Cryptic money for you to buy those points off them, so every box that opens is ALWAYS money in Cryptic/PW's bank.
So even if lockboxes are starting to become common they're not the same here as they are everywhere else (so I suppose we can expect some businesses to exercise some restraint... just not Cryptic/PW).
Whatever the price they set, if there are players who will pay then that's all good for the players and the company. The company gets to earn and hopefully that profit goes back into improving the game otherwise that will be bad.
The tanks are probably not moving the keys as fast as the legion gears and they will have to rethink their business strategy.
What if everyone boycotts the boxes and decides that SCR gears are sufficient and there is no need for a jet or tank? I am actually fearful that CO may become CoH and I will lose the only game I still play.
I do not mind spending on this game, on new shinies, but I also wish that what I spent and what the other players spent will in majority be funneled back to maintaining and expanding our game.
^This goes hand in hand with my original point that started this thread. Instead of funneling the money players spend on new shinies back into CO development it gets tossed into making other games. Proof? Look at the size of our Dev team.
Why spend money on a game that has no future? It feels like a big waste to me if I do.
Pair that up with the fact that anything NEW is locked into a Lockbox scheme and your REALLY stopping me from giving you my money. I'm proud to say I've never purchased a single gamble bag or key, and I will continue to live by that.
I'm just glad I paid for a Lifetime Sub when the game was still in Beta, or I'd probably have stopped playing the game altogether.
What I would really like to see is for PerfectWorld to GUARANTEE that the money all of us spend on CO stays in CO... the money from Zen purchases that are "applied" to CO accounts should be earmarked for supporting CO, not PWI's other games. I really couldn't give a flying fig about NW, why should my money go to a game I'm never going to play? :mad:
Unfortunately, businesses never work like this. All revenue just goes into a common pool, and after basic expenses (and executive salaries!) are paid for, the executives dump the money on whatever pet project they feel like... as long as there's something left over to pays stockholders a dividend (or the stock itself doesn't tank), what do they care?
Target1one
"ENOUGH!!! You are ALL of you BENEATH me! I am a GOD, you dull creature, and I will NOT be BULLIED by--" -- Loki
*SMASH* *SMASH* *SMASH* <pause> *SMASHSMASH* "... puny god..." -- Hulk
I have to advise friends against LTS because as an LTS player, I am now bound into a game where my characters are nerfed without reason and have no econimic leverage to keep Cryptic in line. All of Cryptics games are becoming nothing more than second job grind fests to fill their pockets by getting non-paying players to grind for loot that they perceive as free which in reality is payed for by cash from paying customers.
I want to play this game, but on principle, cannot support the game until all is made right.
Repair the damage done to Enrage and Aggressor so I can play my characters without having to spec into specific specializations to get almost what I lost.
Player and forumite formerly known as FEELTHETHUNDER
Expatriot Might Characters in EXILE
As far as whether or not the zen that people grinding questionite for is really free or not, I'd be willing to bet that a large sum of what's on the exchange comes from people with subscriptions that don't have anything they want on the zen market. That means it would just keep piling up if they weren't putting it on the exchange so, I do see that as free. I'm sure some people do buy zen specifically to put on the exchange as well but, don't think that's nearly as common since what it can be used to purchase is far more limited and chances are those are the same people that are already subscribing and getting a stipend. If they want to throw more money at Cryptic than they already are, that's their choice.
If the MMO market was making enough bank on retaining subs, there wouldn't be an explosion of F2P, cash shops, and lockboxes to begin with.
I'm probably going to get flak for this but, I think a good sized part of the problem is the customer base itself. It's been my experience that a lot of MMO players are somewhat fickle and grow bored with something quickly. One trait the vast majority have in common is they want the new shiney, whatever the new shiney is. It can be content, a costume piece, some sort of gear or device, or a whole new game all together.
Anyone that's spent a long time on any one game has seen it plenty of times. Whenever a new item comes out people flock to it and you see it all over the place. A few weeks later everyone goes back to saying they're bored and there's nothing to do. If new games come out, they cancel their sub and go check out the new game. This is why we see junk items pumped into cash shops on game and why some companies push out unfinished products that they don't complete and instead focus on their next crap game. As much as I dislike the direction that MMOs are going, all they're doing is shifting their strategy to make the most money off their target markets.
It's been my experience that mmo players are just like any other type of gamer, or the same as anyone engaging in any sort of entertainment medium. If you go to the movie theater, and all they're playing is Twilight... okay, so maybe you watch Twilight one night. If you come back a week later, and they're still only playing Twilight, and you don't want to watch Twilight again, does it mean that you're fickle and easily bored? Let's say the theatre lets you watch the movies there for free and you only have to pay for popcorn and soda, but still only Twilight week after week. Now are you fickle and easily bored because you don't want to repeatedly watch Twilight for free? Oh but hey, we have cheese popcorn this week! Next week, 20% off butter!
The problem isn't with the customer base; you can't say that we're wrong because we expect to be entertained while engaging in an entertainment medium, and you can't blame us if we get bored of doing the same thing over and over again ( especially if that happens over the course of several years). You can't ask your customers to change themselves so they enjoy your product more... well you can, but you better have one hell of a good product for them to be willing to do that ( see people getting up early to go on raids and quitting bad habits because they're getting in the way of their play time ).
At some point, when a company stops producing the entertainment and only produces the "shinies", you have to wonder if you're playing a video game, or shopping in a jewelry store masquerading as a video game. It's naturaly that if you come to the latter conclusion that you feel a bit disatisfied. You could just leave, but if you look through the CO crowd you're going to find a lot of players who are just really connected to this brand and who just don't want to leave; you know, like a dog... even if you don't feed them, they'll stick around and make puppy dog eyes at you pleading for food.
It's bizarre to me that anyone would say "well if you don't like it you can just leave" to people who are really really trying to like it as hard as they can.
The problem is with the product. Or rather products... the incredibly inflated number of products. There's just too many of them; we can all thank world of wow for that. They put that 11million player pile of cash out there for everyone to look at and salivate over, and suddenly everyone was in a hurry to put out the next big thing that would take a bite out of that pile. Eventually everyone got over their hopes of being "the wow killer" and became satisfied with occupying niches. Some of them, it seems, have gotten a bit too comfortable in their niche.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
I've worked enough customer service and been a customer myself enough times to get out of the habit of blaming the customer. In my mind, its two factors:
1.) Ultima Online begatting the success of EverQuest begatting the success of World of ******** begatting eleventy billion other MMOs satuaring the market. MMO supply is incredibly high.
2.) The economy crash of 2008 driving MMO demand down, and said demand never fully recovering once tablets and social games started taking your casual customers.
Cross the two and you just don't have enough people with $15 a month to keep all those games profitable enough. F2P and cash shops can mitigate that, but that requires a constant stream of new content to keep the cash shop humming, i.e. constantly putting more money back into the game. All the while your game continues to fall behind the newer shinier entries entering the market.
Enter Pay4Power and the lockbox. Now you can generate content at the same cost, however now you've opened up a gateway to unlock the wallets of those willing to spend way much more than just $15 a month. Who knows how long that bubble might last, granted that it is a bubble, but now you're sitting on a comfortable profit again.
I'm baffled how pay4power games even get new customers. The second I see that a game is pay2win I run screaming for the hills XD
For that matter, how do lockboxes even work out to make anyone any money? Seriously, were we ever in a recession if people have the money to spend on this junk?
It baffles me that these, apparently, wealthy people would spend their time playing the cheap games when they clearly have the money to play the quality stuff.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Many small numbers, added together, make one big number.
Complicated subject, off-topic for these boards. Go ask your local (non-Austrian school of; preferably Keynesian school of) economics professor for an explanation if you seriously want an answer to this.
Some people like Supers. There were three Supers MMO games; now they are two.
Some people like Champions. There is only one Champions MMO.
If you like something and wish it to continue, financially supporting it is the right and proper thing to do.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer; you are the product being sold.
Dollar, dollar, bill, yo. Cash rules everything around you and me.
Having been once young and impulsive myself, and still being rather impulsive in my older age, its not inconceivable to see someone doling out cash without any consideration of budget. Heaven knows how many games, books, and toys I've put on eBay or returned to Gamestop, and I still have piles of them in my attic.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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I never said that the entirety of the problem rests on the shoulders of the players but, to even try to pretend that they're not at least partly to blame by letting themselves be repeatedly suckered by jumping at any new game that comes out and buying up whatever is put in front of them with regards to games or cash shops is just being dishonest with yourself.
I think you're taking what I said out of context. For starters, my comment was to someone else's about this game becoming a second job for players. Anyone looking at this game like a job instead of as entertainment really should consider finding some other way to enjoy their free time. It's meant to be fun, not work so why do it if they're not enjoying it?
This I agree with wholeheartedly. The problem is also with the product. It's also the fact that the people producing those products thought that because one game became larger than anyone ever thought possible that they now have to accomplish the same. In addition to that, there's the problem caused by people making games pushing out shoddy unfinished products because they bank on the assumption that their potential customers will rush to try it and give them cash hand over fist to do so. You know what else is part of the problem? They're right.
I can spend real currency to purchase advantages (freeform characters, eight-slot vehicles, four-slot gear, rank nine mods, etc) otherwise unavailable to those who don't make purchases over and above the costs necessary to play the game.
I can buy "power".
That said power is not necessary to enjoy playing the game is irrelevant to the fact that I can purchase it. In addition, that said power can be acquired by selling my playtime to other players is also irrelevant to the fact that I can purchase it outright. (Questionite is a time-limited currency. Exchanging refined questionite for zen is selling your time for money; at a typical wage of $0.40~ per hour.)
It is worth noting that I don't have a problem with this, merely that I find it hilarious when people say they don't play pay-to-win games while playing a pay-to-win game.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer; you are the product being sold.
Dollar, dollar, bill, yo. Cash rules everything around you and me.
If you had left the words, "just as well," out of that sentence it might have been accurate. The inclusion of those three words makes the entire thing inaccurate.
The advantages provided by having a higher G cap, more character slots, and of course access to FreeForm character building, mean that a subscriber has an insurmountable advantage over a non subscriber.
That said, the advantages gained are not particularly bad, IMO, because, as you say, at least the Silver has the ability to play all of the game's content.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
You're going to have to point out where the pay2win comes into play in champions. Even in pvp, I don't believe I've ever seen anything you could buy out of the store that would help you win. Trust me, if there was such a thing, people would have been screaming their heads off about it in the hero games forum, and it's never been mentioned there. Reminds me of another game where someone tried to point out a "+10% xp for 5 hours" item as being an example of pay2win.
Also, don't bother trying to be the "on-topic" police for these forums, unless you're looking for a whole lot of effort for zero results.
The things you listed are either not an advantage in pvp whatsoever, or provide such little advantage in pvp as to be laughable. If someone has an advantage over you while fighting some npcs, what does that really have to do with you? Is it really considered winning if they do some more damage to the npcs than you do? Your understanding of pay2win leads me to believe you may have never actually played a pay2win game, because CO is not one of them by any measure.
This is what I was responding to.
Don't take it personally, I'm just disagreeing with some of the ideas you put forth, and agreeing with others.
The part about "if you don't like it leave" was preemptively responding to what a common response would be. Sometimes I think ahead, has nothing to do with you.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
There's no reward for running through the missions faster, you know...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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In the realm of MMO's, quality stuff... what would that be?
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
I dunno... Tera I guess. They have lolis and bear people.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Tried that one. If anything, their open world quests were as or more boring than any other game I've played. Each to his/her own I guess, as neither lolis nor bear people interest me. More and more, MMO's are feeling like a wasteland.
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
Maybe you're just getting old and outgrowing video games. Time to take up golf?
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
I don't even know what loli means and I'm 23. I'm assuming it's one of those Dragon Ball Z words based on your avatar. Personally I thought this was a super hero game, but I digress. Carry on, thread!
If player A can defeat foes more quickly than player B he will accumulate resources, of a variety of sorts, more quickly and so will have an advantage in the various in game markets where those various currencies are used.
Since resources can be, and frequently are in MMOs (and in real life), used to generate more resources this effect compounds over time.
As to millisconds....I don't measure performance at that level. I do know that there is a forum thread where another player is voicing a complaint about the fact that other players' ability to kill mobs in alerts too quickly for him to be able to get an attack off is taking the fun out of the experience. He made the post after teaming with me. If you don't do a certain portion of the damage, perhaps because I killed the entire spawn before you could get off an attack, then you don't get drops.
EDIT: To clarify, I do think that CO is pay to win, but do not find the matter to be all that problematic here. As you say, everything can be played successfully, without mind numbing grind, without the pay to win aspects.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
Actually, I gave up golf for video games.
I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.
Willie Nelson
T.U.F.K.A.S. (the user formerly known as Scarlyng)
Wrong on the CO forums since November, 2008
Zens can be traded for in game with questionites although I know someone is bound to say but someone, somewhere has to pay real cash for the zen to trade you.
My only real contention is what pricing should we be looking at for the company to profitably continue to operate the game and conitnue to churn out good "content" for its playerbase.
Where is the equilibrium point to price its products?
Selling cheap to encourage more sales sounds good for all players but set it too low and everyone can probably grind enough questionites to trade for zen. Price it too high and players complain. This is really a tough call.
I said this before and I shall say it again. I am prepared to pay for new shinies in game just so to keep it going. I do not want CO to end up like CoH. At the same time, I hope we get our money worth in terms of content. Do not just keep churning out money making gimmicks.
This is of course nonsense. It's nothing but an excuse designed to deflect conversation and try to put an end to it.
STO had the system being requested at release, and it had less than a year before it was released. That's on top of ground and space combat, the alien creation system, all the missions, the rather sizable amount of art assets that already existed at launch. It also had plenty of content being developed and released while the Foundry was still being worked on. The Foundry is a lot more complex, code and design wise, than customizable vehicles. At the time, it arguably had a smaller dev team than Champions has now.
The past few months, I've been working on a game that has a modular, customizable vehicle system with a friend. Right now it's just him and me. He's doing the art, I'm doing the code. It took me less than a week to code the system. The customizable vehicles were added in as an afterthought and it was still easy to do. The UI for it could use some polish, but the pieces fit together beautifully, and some of them are animated, like wings that unfold and whatnot. We also sighed in relief that we weren't having to do it with rigged meshes. Vehicles are rigid, so you don't have to rig them. If they were rigged, it would have been a LOT harder.
Our success at implementing the customizable vehicle system for our single player game is that the art is being done from the ground up with an eye for modularity. The vehicles as they are now in CO probably wouldn't do too well as modular because the art wasn't designed for it. The art would have to be redone.
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → Ⓑ Ⓐ
You think having more resources is winning? ...are you Donald Trump?
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.