Business is Profit, Profit is pursuing arbitrary numbers that humans have been taught to believe in at the expense of others, so the concept of business is broken cause people perusing their own interests at the expense of others also dividing with this world of privileges because of the system we're in, so logically humans are broken as well.
I take this quote from a review that I agree with.
"customisation is so linear; everyone is after the optimal dps:survivability ratio with 0 reliance on other players = autonomous gameplay... Players don't need each other anymore... which in my opinion is a bad thing."
"..yes microtransactions, monetizations, gains of service are popular, they make a lot of money basically a TON of money, inconceivable amounts of money.
But it's important to remember that a lot of this money comes from a very small percentage of the audience, the so called "Whales" who spend massive amounts of money on in-game purchases and that to me looks like game publishers are building entire empires on sand.
It's not the most reliable, not the most stable business model, is it?, to go all-in on a handful of peeps and... when that bubble bursts, I feel like it's gonna be very, very ugly..."
POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
Strictly-online games need recurring income to stay online and relying solely on a monthly subscription to do that isn't financially feasible any longer in this age. It makes sense why the F2P business model is something that companies want to hang on.
There are a gazillion games on the mobile market currently that locks every bit of progress behind a time wall, expecting you to wait up to 24 actual hours (or longer) for an upgrade or similar function to be unlocked unless you pony up cash to bypass it, if you really want to point out a F2P system that absolutely caters to whales.
However this isn't found in CO. Character progress and major playable content aren't locked behind paywalls or time walls. A free player can play every bit of content from start to finish without paying a single cent. CO's F2P system is pretty generous in comparison to other examples out there that are objectively have the main purpose of trying to squeeze you of every dollar and cent you have, especially the recent practice of putting microtransactions in premium-priced games. If the case is to be made about how the focus on whales ruins things for the non-whale players, those are the more fitting examples to harp on.
Sorry but you can't honestly expect intelligent people to believe that the only way to keep a game financially stable is by way of this kind of terrible business practice, when OTHER F2P GAMES ALREADY DON'T RELY ON IT AND DO FINE.
Other F2P games are structured differently. Certain games can probably get away with giving access every kind of archetype or class freely but I'm very sure there are some portions of content locked behind some sort of paywall, just to name an example.
And no, I'm not inclined to believe that there are MMORPGs out there that are completely free to play without any sort of microtransaction shop and ingame system. The server upkeep costs don't pay for themselves.
They have microtransactions but not ridiculously priced ones. Who is going to pay 30 bucks to make ONE rank 8 mod into a rank 9 but a whale? Maybe if it bought a 4 pack of catalysts for that 3000 zen it would be worth it to those without too much money to spend.
Neither rank 8 or rank 9 mods are crucial to have to perform in the game. Heck, they're not even needed for cosmics.
If the system required that you have such mods as some sort of gear gate that you need to qualify to do stuff like cosmics, then that would make a strong argument for a system intended to give people a lot of incentive to whale, but that isn't the case here.
Neither rank 8 or rank 9 mods are crucial to have to perform in the game. Heck, they're not even needed for cosmics.
Upgrading a single mod from r7 to r9 is typically a less than 1% benefit; the only ones that are clearly stronger than that are damage type cores (usually over 1%, though always less than 2%) and confronts (depends on your setup, in my builds it works out to around a 3% real threat increase). This is not negligible, but it's also by no means essential.
Okay. The entire industry is eagerly listening: What do you propose they do instead? And no, Fatty Bo Baddy's video will not suffice. The world is full of people who will point out problems all day - but nobody cares about them, people only care about the rare few who actually have a solution and are willing to endure risk to prove that it works before they expect anyone else to start using it. You are clearly a member of the former party.
In case your response is "Lower the price of catalysts", I'll go ahead and throw baby-level economics at you again: The prices haven't lowered, so somebody is buying them. It shouldn't really bother you that that somebody isn't you.
Essential or non essential isn't the point the point is they're targeting stuff at whales only when it could be making so many more sales by targeting a much larger audience, and hence making as much or more money than ridiculous prices get them.
Actually, it is the point. The problem with chasing whales comes when it makes the game bad for non-whales. There's really only one pay experience in CO that dramatically affects the quality of the game -- freeform vs AT -- and it's not really priced towards whales.
A -Lot- of people will disagree with you that the game isn't bad for non whales. Including many people I know who won't touch CO becuase of how bad the model is compared to even other cryptic games like STO.
I've played multiple F2P games that go all out in getting people to whale, like locking game progress behind 24 hour timers unless some sort of payment is made, or using that payment to add to a finite number of "turns" to play the game per day. Since I consider those systems a whole lot restrictive and is opposite to the kind of gameplay freedom I experience for CO as a F2P game, I doubt those many people really know how "bad" a F2P model can get.
A -Lot- of people will disagree with you that the game isn't bad for non whales. Including many people I know who won't touch CO becuase of how bad the model is compared to even other cryptic games like STO.
Are you under the impression that I'm a whale? I've never actually purchased Z (just stipend). I've never purchased an upgrade catalyst (most of my gear has r7s). There are dumb things about the way catalysts are priced (lower ranked cats should either not exist or be way cheaper than they are), but the fact I'd need to spend money to have r9s is not a problem.
Mm, what the **** ? Suscribe, get freeform, 15$ a month, that's not targetting the whales, the only overpriced stuff I see is like retcon tokens or retrain tokens, R9 are not necessary and it just target the perfectionnist people who can acquire these R9 whitout paying real money for it, farming 3k zen when you are at the point where you want R9s is not hard.
A -Lot- of people will disagree with you that the game isn't bad for non whales. Including many people I know who won't touch CO becuase of how bad the model is compared to even other cryptic games like STO.
Well I'm not going to try to talk for "a -Lot- of people" the way you're trying to do, I'll just talk for myself, someone who was a "non-whale" for years. Not only did I stick around with CO for years because of how much their F2P model allowed me to enjoy the game, I've actually dropped many many other F2P games because their models just seemed lacking in comparison. I've said for a long time that CO has spoiled me too much for other F2P games to compete - unless the industry starts adopting CO's standards in regards to F2P it's unlikely I'll ever really gravitate to another MMO ( of course the gameplay is also fairly responsible for that ). The only issue this game has ever had in getting me to spend money was because I didn't have any to spend.
CO is about the worst example you could have used for this. CO barely even tries to get money out of people. They go the other route, what you could call the correct route, which is making stuff that people want, and staying away from stuff that people need.
Strictly-online games need recurring income to stay online and relying solely on a monthly subscription to do that isn't financially feasible any longer in this age. It makes sense why the F2P business model is something that companies want to hang on.
There are a gazillion games on the mobile market currently that locks every bit of progress behind a time wall, expecting you to wait up to 24 actual hours (or longer) for an upgrade or similar function to be unlocked unless you pony up cash to bypass it, if you really want to point out a F2P system that absolutely caters to whales.
However this isn't found in CO. Character progress and major playable content aren't locked behind paywalls or time walls. A free player can play every bit of content from start to finish without paying a single cent. CO's F2P system is pretty generous in comparison to other examples out there that are objectively have the main purpose of trying to squeeze you of every dollar and cent you have, especially the recent practice of putting microtransactions in premium-priced games. If the case is to be made about how the focus on whales ruins things for the non-whale players, those are the more fitting examples to harp on.
Yet in order to make a great DPS character by the community's standards, you need to spend money on lockboxes in the hopes of getting that one ultimate or a voucher that allows you to redeem one.
Except for, like, lockbox ultimates, all the whale stuff in this game is cosmetic, so idk that it really matters.
Definitely does. Doesn't matter what it is. I'm worried about something that I'm not sure most people get, I mean yeah you can get globals and buy so-and-so, but, and I don't presume to know this 100 percent, but, they don't seem very diversified as a business. Diversification is often the most overlooked aspect(and basic, borderline elementary factor) of business. I'm worried that PWE will tunnel-vision on the profits of lockboxes and keys, and forget about diversification.
Buffing everything to stupid high levels and nerfing everything to piss poor levels yields the same results, but not the same community reactions.
Yet in order to make a great DPS character by the community's standards, you need to spend money on lockboxes in the hopes of getting that one ultimate or a voucher that allows you to redeem one.
Not even remotely true. Ultimates are aoe abilities and are not required for a "great dps character" by the standards of any content in game.
You don't have to spend a single cent to open a lockbox, as you can acquire cosmic keys by farming Questionite.
Also "the community's standards" are actually pretty low on that issue. Unless you have some small part of the community that you personally belong to that is demanding more of you, in which case I say bail on those tryhards and come to the Cosmic HQ community.
Still a mystery what that principle is. Also you still haven't provided an alternative, so you don't really appear to be standing on anything. From here it looks like you just want Catalysts for cheap - in that case you'll have to convince the people buying them to stop. I think I know who they are btw... and they need a bigger classification than whale
And no, I'm not inclined to believe that there are MMORPGs out there that are completely free to play without any sort of microtransaction shop and ingame system. The server upkeep costs don't pay for themselves.
Yet in order to make a great DPS character by the community's standards, you need to spend money on lockboxes in the hopes of getting that one ultimate or a voucher that allows you to redeem one.
Not really. I always just use resources to buy ultimates I want off the auction house. I have most of them unlocked and the only time I buy keys is when I can use arc points (from that silly arc client daily "quest" thing. Note that I haven't even done that in nearly a year, which means I open lockboxes almost never.
I've played multiple F2P games that go all out in getting people to whale, like locking game progress behind 24 hour timers unless some sort of payment is made, or using that payment to add to a finite number of "turns" to play the game per day. Since I consider those systems a whole lot restrictive and is opposite to the kind of gameplay freedom I experience for CO as a F2P game, I doubt those many people really know how "bad" a F2P model can get.
This, and in addition to those things, the biggest whale-chaser games have "events" that are based strictly on recharging and/or consuming the paid currency which leaves F2Ps out completely. Cryptic's games are nowhere near that level of exploitation.
If people want to see how bad F2P games can get in terms of free vs whale inequality, I invite you to head next door to a few other PWE games, such as Forsaken World.
Actually the fact that you have to spend money to make rank 9s with any reasonable chance of success is indicative of how bad our fusion system is.
Do you really need rank 9 mods though? I mean, I agree that the fusion system is utter garbage, but rank 9 mods strike me more as a luxury and relatively small power increase rather than something you absolutely need if you want to participate in the hardest content.
The only ways that I see this game being offputting to nonpayers is the concept of premium ATs, the price of FF slots, and both the resource and retcon token costs. None of those are really whale issues, either. The way I see it, if a few insecure people want to whale their way to all R9 mods so they can admire how much bigger their numberpeen is, they can knock themselves out and in return, they have my thanks for subsidizing this game for everyone else.
(Hopefully) Useful CO Resources: HeroCreator (character planner), Cosmic Timers/Alert Checklist, Blood Moon Map, Anniversary Cat Map, and more (eventually, anyway).
I am and have always been a completionist to a degree. I like having my gear complete (yet, I’m still not all Justice)
I have bought and sold in AH rank 8s and ranks 9 catalyst...and I’m not crying in the corner from insecurities. This is only for one room, Ratty.
Ever other toon runs merc and rank 7s....rank 8+ and legion if they are lucky.
Do I feel like I’m the baddest cat because I have rank 9 ascii and DUC and rank 9 dual mods? Absolutely not. I know there are builds that do much better with much less.
I am and have always been a completionist to a degree. I like having my gear complete (yet, I’m still not all Justice)
I have bought and sold in AH rank 8s and ranks 9 catalyst...and I’m not crying in the corner from insecurities. This is only for one room, Ratty.
Ever other toon runs merc and rank 7s....rank 8+ and legion if they are lucky.
Do I feel like I’m the baddest cat because I have rank 9 ascii and DUC and rank 9 dual mods? Absolutely not. I know there are builds that do much better with much less.
So...get off my blow hole.
I..don't think that was targeted towards you? That's great you do that for however many toons you have, though
Buffing everything to stupid high levels and nerfing everything to piss poor levels yields the same results, but not the same community reactions.
I'm going to have to strongly disagree with the OP's post. CO IMHO is one the most generous F2P games out there. No pay wall blocks to leveling or progression. No paywall blocks to what type of gear you can use. No paywall blocks to end game content... and the list of generosities goes on. If it's expensive to take optional mods to max rank -- that's a sacrifice I'm more than happy to make. It would be whale chasing if those mods were essential (in the form of gear checks) to participate in end game content. There's none of that in CO, which we should all be quite thankful for.
You linked to a video created by one of the worst human beings alive. You know that right? Extra Credits is pretty much the Spirit Science of video game You Tubers.
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!
Jim Sterling didn't really touch on the real reason why "it's just cosmetics" is a foolish argument. Video game companies know damn well the power of customization for western gamers and use that to get people into spending money. Too many people don't realize how companies manipulate their customers.
The basic in-game economy heavily favors people that simply throw real money at the game over people who actually bother playing the game. We can't even use extra event currency to buy items to sell on the AH since everything was made BoP. Which only punishes the people who gain globals by playing the game and not the people who simply sell cash shop or lockbox items.
Not being as much of a slimbag as the worst slimbags in the industry is not a compliment.
Jim Sterling didn't really touch on the real reason why "it's just cosmetics" is a foolish argument. Video game companies know damn well the power of customization for western gamers and use that to get people into spending money. Too many people don't realize how companies manipulate their customers.
The basic in-game economy heavily favors people that simply throw real money at the game over people who actually bother playing the game. We can't even use extra event currency to buy items to sell on the AH since everything was made BoP. Which only punishes the people who gain globals by playing the game and not the people who simply sell cash shop or lockbox items.
Not being as much of a slimbag as the worst slimbags in the industry is not a compliment.
So by using this logic, the people who put actual money into the game to get globals are somehow doing something that's supposed to be frowned upon, because the poor, poor players who don't pay for anything, who stick to an exclusively free experience, have to suffer the inconvenince of grinding for globals the alternative way, even though it's something reasonably expected for a F2P player who chooses not to pay for anything. Those poor free players at least bother playing the game like it has any real moral significance right? The people paying for stuff aren't playing the game properly and putting their hard work into the game like the hardworking free players, those lazy butts.
Those scummy people with credit cards and disposable income who are showing support for the game and making the game service remain commercially viable, how dare they. How dare they screw over the free players like that.
Every year I have to spend vastly more sums of money on many other things than I do on CO (some of the books I need to buy are $200). I don't mind dropping money on CO at all since waht I do sped (even though LTS) is such a tiny sum compared to other expenses. I still chuckle about the people who claim they don't like the game (or some aspect of it), but play for years as silvers. Good thing there are people spending real money on the game to support them. I wonder how much of the player base are homeless people or teenagers without jobs?
Good lord, nobody said we should frown upon spending money on the game, all that's been said has been common sense about pricing items to provide a satisfying experience for players of more income brackets.
Nobody can make a logical argument on why a single rank 9 mod should cost 30 dollars, JUST to upgrade from a existing 8 ESPECIALLY since there's "so little difference"
Because there's so little difference. The logical argument has already been made.
Upgrading a rank 8 mod to 9 makes so little difference that it isn't a must have. You don't miss out on not having a rank 9 mod. There's no sense of urgency or absolute importance to get a rank 9 mod. The game isn't structured in the way that you need that very very small buff. Powerful, very capable builds can be done without rank 9 mods.
Whales typically splurge money on stuff that they feel they got to have, that they feel that they'll truly miss out big time if they didn't buy the stuff, or to overcome some mechanical barrier placed in the game with the sole purpose of getting people to spend money to get over said barrier. A rank 9 is far, far from being that.
Nobody can make a logical argument on why a single rank 9 mod should cost 30 dollars, JUST to upgrade from a existing 8 ESPECIALLY since there's "so little difference"
The logical argument is actually pretty easy to make and is rooted in common sense and basic economics: If people are buying something, don't lower the price. You only lower the price if people aren't buying.
The way I see it, if a few insecure people want to whale their way to all R9 mods so they can admire how much bigger their numberpeen is, they can knock themselves out and in return, they have my thanks for subsidizing this game for everyone else.
It's always cute when the "lower end" players try to make themselves feel better by pretending the people doing better than themselves are only doing it because of some character flaw. The same mentality that leads girls to call each other sluts cause they're jealous that the one girl gets more attention than they do, or leads poor people to imply that a guy with an expensive car is "compensating". Sour grapes or something like that.
Anyways back here in reality, everyone I know who has bought those catalysts is well aware of how irrelevant the stat increase is. To them the catalysts are basically a Donate button that lets them dump money into the game - so yes, you should be thanking them for helping to keep the game afloat. The only one I ever saw brag about it was Caliga, and that's just his act.
From up here it looks like the only one thinking about those people's epeens is you... so I'd say get your mind out of the gutter
This argument is flawed and makes no sense about arguing why a Rank 9 catalyst is needed. It is not needed to do anything in game, doesn't help out in the gear. No one needs Rank 9 mods, but some want it. The point is, making up a flawed argument about spending $30 on a Rank 9 catalyst is a waste of time. I don't even know why I bothered to comment but I did. Why? Because the person who created this post has no actual reason for it, all you did was just point out that YOU want to have Rank 9 mods, not that it is needed.
|| Main Tank || DPSer || Healer || CCer || Altoholic || @shadowolf505 in game ||
So by using this logic, the people who put actual money into the game to get globals are somehow doing something that's supposed to be frowned upon, because the poor, poor players who don't pay for anything, who stick to an exclusively free experience, have to suffer the inconvenince of grinding for globals the alternative way, even though it's something reasonably expected for a F2P player who chooses not to pay for anything. Those poor free players at least bother playing the game like it has any real moral significance right? The people paying for stuff aren't playing the game properly and putting their hard work into the game like the hardworking free players, those lazy butts.
Those scummy people with credit cards and disposable income who are showing support for the game and making the game service remain commercially viable, how dare they. How dare they screw over the free players like that.
Cry me a river.
Cryptic is putting something into the game that sucks on purpose to get people to spend money. There is a difference between spending money on a game because you enjoy playing and spending money on a game to bypass something that sucks to do.
Being snide just shows you don't understand this.
You linked to a video created by one of the worst human beings alive. You know that right? Extra Credits is pretty much the Spirit Science of video game You Tubers.
No kidding, I still hate their Perversion Subversion video. The Persona 5 part of it is full of lies and misinformation about the characters and their situation, taking thing out of context and misblaiming characters tropes
POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergiesPlaying since 1 February 2011 98+ Characters (7 ATs, 91 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
Cryptic is putting something into the game that sucks on purpose to get people to spend money. There is a difference between spending money on a game because you enjoy playing and spending money on a game to bypass something that sucks to do.
Being snide just shows you don't understand this.
I understand how it works perfectly fine.
Restrictions and incentives have to exist to get people to spend money in a F2P game. A F2P game obviously favors paying players than those who don't. F2P game systems obviously favor paying players than non-paying ones.
And at some point a free player now and then who pays for nothing is going to feel marginalized compared to people who do. At some point certain free players are going to become bitter towards people who can afford to invest money in the game to get a fast track or certain privileges. At some point certain free players are going to blame players with credit cards screwing with their gameplay experiences. Yeah. I understand this very well.
Also the whole criticism of people spending money to bypass something that "sucks to do" or anything else for the matter just comes off as an indication of not understanding F2P works. Exchanging real currency for ingame currency has always been a norm and staple in F2P games, be it to get virtual goods or to bypass grind mechanics. Heck, I've come across real exorbitant exchange rates in other games compared to what we have with the cosmic key ZEN cost to globals market rates.
You get what you pay for, and if you play exclusively for free and find things in game "sucking on purpose" with what you paid for (which is zero), there are probably better F2P alternatives out there to consider.
If r9s were a lot better than r8s then the game would be much closer to pay to win. If you enjoy the game, for free or otherwise, it's probably a bad idea to ridicule the act of spending money on it since that money supports the game.
Came in late so I gotta catch up. First of all, I definitely agree with Gradii that this game (and all games) should be taken back to Pay to Play. F2P sucks. You want to use someone's work? You pay them for that.
As far as allowing people with money to pay for my fun? I am ALL about that. For example, I love to go on cruises. One of the reasons is because it is one of the most cost-effective way to get a good vacation. The reason they are so inexpensive is because of the casinos. I go on my cruise, sail around the Caribbean (or whatever), and wave a thank you to those people losing tons of money in the on-ship casino. My cruise is so inexpensive thanks to all the money those folks are losing.
In much the same way, the only reason so many people can play for free (or really, really cheap) is because of the whales, all those people spending real dollars on stuff you don't really need to be successful in game. All the people who spend nothing or just a few bucks a month should thank the whales!
Again, I agree with gradii, the F2P model sucks. All those moochers who don't pay anything have a negative effect on the rest of us. They didn't pay anything, so they generally have no respect for the game or the other players, and they have no motivation to actually put together a decent character. They show up at Cosmics in their random costumes with their junk-geared non-optimized ATs and mooch even more. I completely agree that F2P is broken and we need to go back to P2P.
- - - - -
SIGNATURE:
Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.
The bottom line of the video posted in the OP is that "The game should cater to its average consumer." Turns out, this is exactly what CO's doing right now.
This'd be more pertinent if the game was being actively advertised. Actually, it also would be more pertinent if they weren't introducing new ATs for each powerset overhaul that's being done. I could say the same things for the events as well, which are all pretty easy and require just a basic grasp of the gameplay mechanic of blocking to really succeed in. That said there hasn't been a major expansion created recently since Eidolon that really hardlines veteran cosmic playstyle, which in of itself has plenty of community pillars within it that are fully willing to accommodate and communicate with new players, provided they're listening (and cosmic content really pushes for the healer-tank-dps team formation. Aside from tank, most ATs can match FF versions of those roles pretty well if they're equipped right).
That aside, this game is old enough to go to Elementary School. I doubt its aging graphics and engine that sometimes decides to not work properly on Windows 10 computers is going to really bring in many new players, other than those who have some vested interest in the game's subject matter or its community. There's also the fact there's just core gameplay decisions made in this game that make it a good deal more complex in terms of items, equipment, and character building that make it a little more complicated than your standard modern MMO setup, not to mention the dense UI. People who enjoy this game know its mechanics, perhaps a bit too well.
Going back to P2P means locking out the freemium players who don't subscribe but make microtransactions. We're too far into development at this point to do a complete 180. It didn't work out for the game when it was still on P2P years back, it won't work now.
Unless the MMO is a unique anomaly like EVE Online or is carried by an immensely popular IP like FF XIV, P2P is not worth the risk.
gradii
Posts: 11,716 Arc User
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwI0u9L4R8U
Comments
I take this quote from a review that I agree with.
"customisation is so linear; everyone is after the optimal dps:survivability ratio with 0 reliance on other players = autonomous gameplay... Players don't need each other anymore... which in my opinion is a bad thing."
From Turning Players into Payers (The Jimquisition)
There are a gazillion games on the mobile market currently that locks every bit of progress behind a time wall, expecting you to wait up to 24 actual hours (or longer) for an upgrade or similar function to be unlocked unless you pony up cash to bypass it, if you really want to point out a F2P system that absolutely caters to whales.
However this isn't found in CO. Character progress and major playable content aren't locked behind paywalls or time walls. A free player can play every bit of content from start to finish without paying a single cent. CO's F2P system is pretty generous in comparison to other examples out there that are objectively have the main purpose of trying to squeeze you of every dollar and cent you have, especially the recent practice of putting microtransactions in premium-priced games. If the case is to be made about how the focus on whales ruins things for the non-whale players, those are the more fitting examples to harp on.
And no, I'm not inclined to believe that there are MMORPGs out there that are completely free to play without any sort of microtransaction shop and ingame system. The server upkeep costs don't pay for themselves.
If the system required that you have such mods as some sort of gear gate that you need to qualify to do stuff like cosmics, then that would make a strong argument for a system intended to give people a lot of incentive to whale, but that isn't the case here.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
So don’t give me that garbage about how much something should cost.
Okay. The entire industry is eagerly listening: What do you propose they do instead? And no, Fatty Bo Baddy's video will not suffice. The world is full of people who will point out problems all day - but nobody cares about them, people only care about the rare few who actually have a solution and are willing to endure risk to prove that it works before they expect anyone else to start using it. You are clearly a member of the former party.
In case your response is "Lower the price of catalysts", I'll go ahead and throw baby-level economics at you again: The prices haven't lowered, so somebody is buying them. It shouldn't really bother you that that somebody isn't you.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
CO is about the worst example you could have used for this. CO barely even tries to get money out of people. They go the other route, what you could call the correct route, which is making stuff that people want, and staying away from stuff that people need.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I hardly use ultimates and they are also in the AH...and you can use globals to them....so
42 40s, LTSer.
You don't have to spend a single cent to open a lockbox, as you can acquire cosmic keys by farming Questionite.
Also "the community's standards" are actually pretty low on that issue. Unless you have some small part of the community that you personally belong to that is demanding more of you, in which case I say bail on those tryhards and come to the Cosmic HQ community.
Still a mystery what that principle is. Also you still haven't provided an alternative, so you don't really appear to be standing on anything. From here it looks like you just want Catalysts for cheap - in that case you'll have to convince the people buying them to stop. I think I know who they are btw... and they need a bigger classification than whale
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Not really. I always just use resources to buy ultimates I want off the auction house. I have most of them unlocked and the only time I buy keys is when I can use arc points (from that silly arc client daily "quest" thing. Note that I haven't even done that in nearly a year, which means I open lockboxes almost never.
This, and in addition to those things, the biggest whale-chaser games have "events" that are based strictly on recharging and/or consuming the paid currency which leaves F2Ps out completely. Cryptic's games are nowhere near that level of exploitation.
If people want to see how bad F2P games can get in terms of free vs whale inequality, I invite you to head next door to a few other PWE games, such as Forsaken World.
Do you really need rank 9 mods though? I mean, I agree that the fusion system is utter garbage, but rank 9 mods strike me more as a luxury and relatively small power increase rather than something you absolutely need if you want to participate in the hardest content.
The only ways that I see this game being offputting to nonpayers is the concept of premium ATs, the price of FF slots, and both the resource and retcon token costs. None of those are really whale issues, either. The way I see it, if a few insecure people want to whale their way to all R9 mods so they can admire how much bigger their numberpeen is, they can knock themselves out and in return, they have my thanks for subsidizing this game for everyone else.
Was that jab necessary?
I am and have always been a completionist to a degree. I like having my gear complete (yet, I’m still not all Justice)
I have bought and sold in AH rank 8s and ranks 9 catalyst...and I’m not crying in the corner from insecurities. This is only for one room, Ratty.
Ever other toon runs merc and rank 7s....rank 8+ and legion if they are lucky.
Do I feel like I’m the baddest cat because I have rank 9 ascii and DUC and rank 9 dual mods? Absolutely not. I know there are builds that do much better with much less.
So...get off my blow hole.
42 40s, LTSer.
You linked to a video created by one of the worst human beings alive. You know that right? Extra Credits is pretty much the Spirit Science of video game You Tubers.
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!
The basic in-game economy heavily favors people that simply throw real money at the game over people who actually bother playing the game. We can't even use extra event currency to buy items to sell on the AH since everything was made BoP. Which only punishes the people who gain globals by playing the game and not the people who simply sell cash shop or lockbox items.
Not being as much of a slimbag as the worst slimbags in the industry is not a compliment.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
Those scummy people with credit cards and disposable income who are showing support for the game and making the game service remain commercially viable, how dare they. How dare they screw over the free players like that.
Cry me a river.
Upgrading a rank 8 mod to 9 makes so little difference that it isn't a must have. You don't miss out on not having a rank 9 mod. There's no sense of urgency or absolute importance to get a rank 9 mod. The game isn't structured in the way that you need that very very small buff. Powerful, very capable builds can be done without rank 9 mods.
Whales typically splurge money on stuff that they feel they got to have, that they feel that they'll truly miss out big time if they didn't buy the stuff, or to overcome some mechanical barrier placed in the game with the sole purpose of getting people to spend money to get over said barrier. A rank 9 is far, far from being that.
Anyways back here in reality, everyone I know who has bought those catalysts is well aware of how irrelevant the stat increase is. To them the catalysts are basically a Donate button that lets them dump money into the game - so yes, you should be thanking them for helping to keep the game afloat. The only one I ever saw brag about it was Caliga, and that's just his act.
From up here it looks like the only one thinking about those people's epeens is you... so I'd say get your mind out of the gutter
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
42 40s, LTSer.
Cryptic is putting something into the game that sucks on purpose to get people to spend money. There is a difference between spending money on a game because you enjoy playing and spending money on a game to bypass something that sucks to do.
Being snide just shows you don't understand this.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
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!
Restrictions and incentives have to exist to get people to spend money in a F2P game. A F2P game obviously favors paying players than those who don't. F2P game systems obviously favor paying players than non-paying ones.
And at some point a free player now and then who pays for nothing is going to feel marginalized compared to people who do. At some point certain free players are going to become bitter towards people who can afford to invest money in the game to get a fast track or certain privileges. At some point certain free players are going to blame players with credit cards screwing with their gameplay experiences. Yeah. I understand this very well.
Also the whole criticism of people spending money to bypass something that "sucks to do" or anything else for the matter just comes off as an indication of not understanding F2P works. Exchanging real currency for ingame currency has always been a norm and staple in F2P games, be it to get virtual goods or to bypass grind mechanics. Heck, I've come across real exorbitant exchange rates in other games compared to what we have with the cosmic key ZEN cost to globals market rates.
You get what you pay for, and if you play exclusively for free and find things in game "sucking on purpose" with what you paid for (which is zero), there are probably better F2P alternatives out there to consider.
You are shooting yourself in the foot.
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Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
As far as allowing people with money to pay for my fun? I am ALL about that. For example, I love to go on cruises. One of the reasons is because it is one of the most cost-effective way to get a good vacation. The reason they are so inexpensive is because of the casinos. I go on my cruise, sail around the Caribbean (or whatever), and wave a thank you to those people losing tons of money in the on-ship casino. My cruise is so inexpensive thanks to all the money those folks are losing.
In much the same way, the only reason so many people can play for free (or really, really cheap) is because of the whales, all those people spending real dollars on stuff you don't really need to be successful in game. All the people who spend nothing or just a few bucks a month should thank the whales!
Again, I agree with gradii, the F2P model sucks. All those moochers who don't pay anything have a negative effect on the rest of us. They didn't pay anything, so they generally have no respect for the game or the other players, and they have no motivation to actually put together a decent character. They show up at Cosmics in their random costumes with their junk-geared non-optimized ATs and mooch even more. I completely agree that F2P is broken and we need to go back to P2P.
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Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.
This'd be more pertinent if the game was being actively advertised. Actually, it also would be more pertinent if they weren't introducing new ATs for each powerset overhaul that's being done. I could say the same things for the events as well, which are all pretty easy and require just a basic grasp of the gameplay mechanic of blocking to really succeed in. That said there hasn't been a major expansion created recently since Eidolon that really hardlines veteran cosmic playstyle, which in of itself has plenty of community pillars within it that are fully willing to accommodate and communicate with new players, provided they're listening (and cosmic content really pushes for the healer-tank-dps team formation. Aside from tank, most ATs can match FF versions of those roles pretty well if they're equipped right).
That aside, this game is old enough to go to Elementary School. I doubt its aging graphics and engine that sometimes decides to not work properly on Windows 10 computers is going to really bring in many new players, other than those who have some vested interest in the game's subject matter or its community. There's also the fact there's just core gameplay decisions made in this game that make it a good deal more complex in terms of items, equipment, and character building that make it a little more complicated than your standard modern MMO setup, not to mention the dense UI. People who enjoy this game know its mechanics, perhaps a bit too well.
Unless the MMO is a unique anomaly like EVE Online or is carried by an immensely popular IP like FF XIV, P2P is not worth the risk.