Poll: The Whale thread

joncans

There is a lot of resentment for players who opt to pay to improve their NW experience. Whether people spend money to improve their PVP performance, or ride a mount. I personally have paid $165 US on this game. I'm an adult, father, and work. I don't have time to grind for months. I enjoy the game, and I would have spent that money on other titles, so I elected to pay for this game which I enjoy.

I also want to dominate in Domination and having uber gear gives a real edge. Other players were doing it, I saw what they had, and spent money to get up to par. Granted I don't have the money for Greater, Rank 8's an above, and perfects, but I have full Timeless, Rank 6's, and faster mount. No vorpal's or tenebrous for me. Currently I am saving up to get a Greater or above Soulforge, that's about the extent of my 'grinding'.

Share your reasoning as to why you spend money, or those who don't feel free to hate on us 'whales'.

beckylunatic

I bought the Guardian pack during open beta because I felt it was good value and knew I'd be likely to roll enough characters to get a lot out of it in the long run, plus I was supporting a project that interested me.

I finally bought some Zen during the recent sale because again, good value. I haven't used it all though.

That said, when I see posts by people who say they have spent thousands (and are generally really upset about it), my overall reaction is befuddlement. I mean, your entertainment budget should be whatever you can afford and then you're free to drop that on whatever gives you joy in life, but... the key word is budget.

seneca671

I bought the Guardian pack because I thought the game sounded cool and wanted to support it with an initial buy (sadly, I blew my 600K AD on lockboxes like a goofball). I haven't regretted it - the mount and starter weapon have been worth it.

I don't think I count as a whale - I've spent maybe $10/month? I have limited time, and like the model because since I only play 5-6 hours a week, I get to invest exactly where I want. I think of it as a subscription that I tightly control. As long as I'm having a good time, I'll purposely put $10 - $15/month into the game to support it.

ETA as a casual player who does mostly PVE, there's very little to spend money on. Maybe I'll get a bag, or Leadership assets.

morsitans

If you liken yourself to a club owner, then yes: paying money for success is the norm.
If you liken yourself to a player, however, the analogy doesn't hold up so well: pro athletes do everything they can to be the best, and then get paid a humungous amount for being the best. They don't pay large sums of money to get faster legs or anything, because that would defeat the object.

And of course, everyone always likes to see plucky underfunded underdogs beat giant rich teams, because everyone instinctively feels that MONEY shouldn't be a viable substitute for actual skill. Even though it basically is.

So that's probably where most of the dislike comes from.

kiralyn

Doubt I'd ever be considered a whale, since I've never put more than 20-40 into a f2p game. I just like to give a bit of money to the devs of games I end up liking and playing. It's only fair.

As to what I usually buy.... I tend to focus on permanent utility things (character slots, bags, shared account banks) and costumes. Depends on what's available in each particular game.



...this is actually a problem I'm running into with some f2p mobile games, now that I have a tablet. I want to give them a bit of $ to pay back for the nice game they've given me - but in most of those games, the only thing you can buy is consumables and/or cheats. Like Plants vs Zombies 2.... I don't want to unlock earnable rewards sooner, I don't want to skip ahead in unlocking zones, etc. I want to give them some money for their game, but there's nothing they're selling for me to buy.

seneca671

kiralyn wrote: »

...this is actually a problem I'm running into with some f2p mobile games, now that I have a tablet. I want to give them a bit of $ to pay back for the nice game they've given me - but in most of those games, the only thing you can buy is consumables and/or cheats. Like Plants vs Zombies 2.... I don't want to unlock earnable rewards sooner, I don't want to skip ahead in unlocking zones, etc. I want to give them some money for their game, but there's nothing they're selling for me to buy.

I've had similar problems: how do you donate to a game through the in-game store, when you don't want it to impact your gameplay, but only some minor convenience?

goddessunique

I'm not a whale, I'm a mermaid.:)

joncans

goddessunique wrote: »

I'm not a whale, I'm a mermaid.:)

It's a business term which started in Vegas for 'hi-rollers' and has now ascended into the video game world, specifically MMO's which offer micro transactions. But yes, you can be mermaid :cool:

arontimes

I've spent $419.97 on this game, of which $100 was on impulse and which I regret. The $319.97 was well worth it, though.

zebular

Moderator Notice:
Pay to win arguments are not allowed (Rule 3.08), thread cleansed.

adinosii

Well, I might be a whale - I've spent somewhere over $300 on the game, mostly on vanity and convenience stuff...I fully support the idea of paying to make my gaming experience more enjoyable - however, I don't pay for gear or enchants.

So, what did I spend my money on?

$8 for the green tiefling cleric - as it is account wide, I use it for every non-DC alt.

Galeb Duhr for my first/main character (a DC). Used it while leveling - and still use it while soloing in Feywild or foundries.

Bags, bags, bags.

A pile of keys to open enough lockboxes to get trade bars to buy a Twilight nightmare - yeah, that's the vanity part. I wanted one, so I spent what it took for me to get one. In the process, I got a bunch of other stufADs and f, of course, including a number of Adventurers from the leadership packs, which helped me get Leadership profession to 20 pretty quickly .

That's it....I have no idea how typical this is.

goddessunique

adinosii wrote: »

Well, I might be a whale - I've spent somewhere over $300 on the game, mostly on vanity and convenience stuff...I fully support the idea of paying to make my gaming experience more enjoyable - however, I don't pay for gear or enchants.

So, what did I spend my money on?

$8 for the green tiefling cleric - as it is account wide, I use it for every non-DC alt.

Galeb Duhr for my first/main character (a DC). Used it while leveling - and still use it while soloing in Feywild or foundries.

Bags, bags, bags.

A pile of keys to open enough lockboxes to get trade bars to buy a Twilight nightmare - yeah, that's the vanity part. I wanted one, so I spent what it took for me to get one. In the process, I got a bunch of other stufADs and f, of course, including a number of Adventurers from the leadership packs, which helped me get Leadership profession to 20 pretty quickly .

That's it....I have no idea how typical this is.

If you knew back then what you know now, would you do that again?

yerune

goddessunique wrote: »

If you knew back then what you know now, would you do that again?

I've spent about the same, plus the Founders Pack. Looking back with what I know of the mechanics of the game, I would have spent less (especially on respec tokens ), but I reckon it's just the price of this game. I accepted the potential lack of longevity of a F2P game and I try to keep every Zen Store purchase with that in mind. So I don't buy Zen when I think the game is going in the wrong direction (your mileage may vary). As of a couple of weeks I've only used Zen for a couple of green wards.

runebane

When I first started playing I spent about $200 on the game. A bit later I was given a $25 game card I used on it as well.

Most of it I pretty much wasted. Bought 2 companions, 2 mounts (before they reduced their prices), and 2 bags of holding. Spent about $20 on appearance tokens getting my characters to look like I wanted. And the rest went into character slots. If I had it all to do over again, I'd still spend the money. But I would have bought the $200 founder's pack instead. For the account wide companion.

Just throwing that out there. I in no way consider myself a "whale". Those people spend thousands. I don't have a problem with spending money on games (or people that do). I've spent that much on games in the past. But sadly, I just don't have the budget for it at the moment.

manholio

morsitans wrote: »

If you liken yourself to a club owner, then yes: paying money for success is the norm.
If you liken yourself to a player, however, the analogy doesn't hold up so well: pro athletes do everything they can to be the best, and then get paid a humungous amount for being the best. They don't pay large sums of money to get faster legs or anything, because that would defeat the object.

And of course, everyone always likes to see plucky underfunded underdogs beat giant rich teams, because everyone instinctively feels that MONEY shouldn't be a viable substitute for actual skill. Even though it basically is.

So that's probably where most of the dislike comes from.

I think the angle on this that some folks are missing is that you want Whales in your game. It's probably Whales who are buying your high ticket AH postings. The Pay 2 Winners benefit you if you are selling expensive gear/mounts/enchants on the AH. Who else can afford that stuff?