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SOE Allows Purchase of In-Game Items In Everquest I, II
Zonk points out some big news for fans of the Everquest games; Sony Online Entertainment has rolled out a system which allows the exchange of real money for items used in the game. Sony is making use of a transaction system called Station Cash which charges your credit card in exchange for a virtual currency which is then spendable on the items. Massively has a walkthrough of how it will work, and shows some of the items up for sale, including vanity armor, non-combat pets, and potions that make various aspects of your character better. "Each of these types of flasks comes in a tier. Tier I flasks increase XP by 10% and cost $1.00. Tier II flasks increase XP by 25% and cost $5.00. Tier III flasks increase XP by 50%, and cost $10.00 each. All flask tiers last for 4 hours on use, and more than one can't be used at a time." Further details on the system are available in the FAQ and the Terms of Service. This comes alongside news today that upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will not be subscription-based, but entirely based on micro-transactions instead.
I'm imagining a game between two people determined by how much they spend on the game. Oh wait, they already did that with Magic The Gathering.
God spoke to me.
So, they are basically second life now ...
until (succeed) try { again(); }
Some people have money.
Some people have time.
The only problem would be the game representing it self to be something it wasn't.
It hasn't been a remotely "fair" game since the day it was released.
From 1999-2003, if you had 8 hours a day free and could get off before 3pm EST, you got every good camp (before anyone else got home) and got every rare spawn. I never saw "Venril Sathis" until I chewed on the Dev's ear at the Dallas Fanfest and finally convinced them to add random timers to the spawns- which were previously fixed at 24 hours- and the servers usually were rebooted during the afternoon in those days.
Even today, People who can play 8 hours straight have a 100% chance of getting most rare spawns in one sitting, while someone who plays 2 hour sessions may never see the rare spawn (and probably can't get the rare spawn camp).
And fairly early, some wealthy players took the other route-- you can play 40 hours a week-- or you can just drop $500 and get a fully developed character from someone who played 40 hours a week (the hourly rate was often ludicrous-- probably 70 cents an hour). $700-$900 for a character with 100 days played (2400 hours).
Then there was the Legends server-- scheduled spawns, and "The best guild money can buy".
I had a good time playing- I learned some important life lessons, and my guild leading experience lead to my current team lead job (and awareness that being a manager is probably not worth it).
But I know a lot of folks are going to feel put off because of the money-- and that's just an arbitrary opinion. Having $1000 to spend is no more unfair than having 40 hours (hell- some played 80 hours) a week to play. The game was never rocket science-- I was in one of the top ten guilds for six months and it was almost identical to the casual guild I spent years in- except the people their played 6 hours a day, 6 days a week instead of 4 hours a day, 3 days a week.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
You can't actually tell people they can directly buy XP increases. You have to setup something to obscure the issue and pretend it has a legitimate usage...
*cough* WoW recruit-a-friend *cough*
So, they're intentionally making the game a grindfest so that they make more money? How can anyone argue that isn't asinine? You buy the game, you pay a subscription fee, but it's only REALLY fun if you pay 10 dollars every 4 hours.
Well the gameplay mechanics themselves required what we refer to as 'grinding'.. At least as far as developers for Verant could see in the days of EQ. I really can't comment on EQ2, but EQ1 was released at a time when MMO's remained unproven. And fans were as committed as ever to prevent real world money equating enhanced game experiences. And it still holds true today, Bliz has been taking baby steps in direction of micro transactions but thus far has remained with Name Changes and Character Transfers. It's not surprising to see an old busted series like this being milked by those who own it, but to suggest they designed the game to encourage micro transactions is just plain wrong. Granted after the 7th or so expansion I quit playing so I can't comment on later developments.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
I'm not familiar enough with EQ's economics or it's loot mechanics but were I playing the game I'd be seriously concerned with the impact this would have on it's mudflation. I'm guessing at this point SOE, they are still running it right?, does not really care enough. (And from what I've heard they have never really cared that much at all but...) And are going to thinly veil this as something that won't have any 'real' impact.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
So when you spend money in-game does Sony pay tax on that?
So, basically this is an upgraded version of Station Exchange, except that it's active on all servers?
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Take it from an actual EQ2 subscriber, the items being sold are fluff items. Nothing more.
You've already been able to buy tons of fluff items with their Legends of Norrath card game (booster packs often contain in-game items to use and trade). This is no different, only more direct.
Blizzard isn't innocent either, they're planning the same thing. http://www.thegrouchygamer.com/?p=157#more-157
You realize Blizzard is planning the exact same thing right?
http://www.thegrouchygamer.com/?p=157#more-157
Title says it all. John Smedley has screwed up the management of SOE so badly that there is nothing new coming out any time soon. So, in hopes of increasing getting some more cash flowing in in the meanwhile, he has sold out the very people who stuck by him.
SOE (read Smedley) has consistently screwed over it's customers. Somehow they still managed to hold onto a small but loyal customer base. This is a slap in the face to those people. SOE will see a short term burst of cash-flow, but realistically, they just blew their own foot off. There already abysmal subscription numbers will plummet, as their loyal customers realize that SOE just became the very same gold seller they try so hard to fight.
SOE is doing this as a stop-gap to fill the time until they can get FreeRealms out the door. But, word on that is that it's also a cluster-fsck.
Nice job John! I'll give you about 1 year before Sony hangs you out to dry given the recent economy and downsizing.
Changing your race and class is a fair bit different to selling XP (and let's be honest here, this is more or less what they're doing.)
Nexon Cash
In Everquest, experience potions already exist and are on occasion available from mobs, quests, and the trading card game as a loot item.
There is also a veteran reward available that allows you to get double experience for 30 minutes, once a day. It's commonly called the death buff. It seems whenever you use it, you die.
In any case, they are not introducing anything that is not available already in the game. Fancy graphics and pets and 1 charge potions.
I don't see it as a big deal. I've played EQ since beta (98) and this doesn't bother me at all.
Exact same thing? I didn't complain about the vanity aspects of what Sony is selling, and I won't complain about it from Blizzard either.
The bonuses that Blizzard gives players from things like Blizzcon or Collector's editions don't change the gameplay at all. What Sony is selling is something that actually changes the gameplay and gives you an advantage over other players.
In many venues they have what I would call certain signs of death. This is one of them - basically the idea that whoring oneself more will somehow make them viable.
In some cases - those truly a whore - more and more selling of oneself is only a logical conclusion. After all, when you are the "best" (be it a person who can sell their body) one can name their price, but then as you slide you have to be willing to sell for less as your "worth" drops (say, loose your beauty).
There is a difference here - graphics sell to a large extent but there is also the time spent in game that can not be transferred (in the whore analogy, well your own parts transfer in whatever state they were in at the end of the last encounter - however in a MMO you will start out as a total newbie). As such things like this may very will get a boost of last breath revenue and I can not blame them for doing it.
Of course, I would also say at this point the fact that EQ is still alive enough to whore itself out is amazing. I mean, this is like a 140 year old chain smoker alcoholic deciding to whore themselves out for another few years of life.
And, lastly, the game isn't a person so the "whore" analogy fails miserably there and we come back to shareholders stake in the claim. While some will want to say that is a "whore" the rest of us with a 401k realize that this isn't so. Shareholder's worth is an important thing.
I can't say I applaud this decision. Even were I a shareholder I bet there will be more loss than gain in this case. At the point any game is revenue based as to win, those that have no chance to win will quit (and that is 99% of your player base). For the last few months I guess you may maximize profits and I suppose so.
------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
The problem I see here is the xp modifiers. When you can give another guy more advantage in a game because he pays more money is just wrong. When you hit the online playing field in these types of games everyone is equal from the beginning. Now it will be the rich kid who has the advantage.
I like what Battlefield Heroes is doing. Free game (not released yet) but you can buy outfits and other stuff like that. BUT you dont get any advantage in the game.
ImperialAges is another game that is browser based that I am playing right now. Free game and you can buy the VIP package but it will not give you an advantage in any way.
In fact, Blizzard already DID what you're mentioning there. You can transfer your character for 20$ or you can change the character name for 8$.
However, I'm not sure anyone complains about Sony selling vanity pets or vanity armor. Personally I don't care whether anyone is running around in a black dress they bought for 10$. I also couldn't care less if someone changed their hair style or color for 20$.
I DO care though when some player is able to get better gear or progress faster. A new hairstyle doesn't destroy PvP. A new, better armor, attainable only through micro transactions, DOES destroy PvP and with it the game for a lot of people.
It's genius! Some people will get pissed off and cancel, and some will cough up the dough and continue playing. This way, SOE uses fewer resources and (maybe) turns even more of a profit.
Later on, they will start consolidating servers (through the guise of Free Character Transfers, and later forcibly).
Then, they'll release Everquest 3 and hopefully draw even more of the population off of EQ1&2.
I'm actually not being sarcastic here. I think it's a pretty clever way to ramp down an aging and/or failed MMORPG.
(and yes, I really wanted to make a Profit??? joke...you're welcome)
of course, this is just a toe in the water before they'l put in a mechanic enabling you to buy temporary extra damage on your opponent in a fight for more money. swipe your credit card now if you need to take out the biggest baddies!
As another person mentioned, some people have time, some people have money. These items have been available in the game and can be purchased already with stutus that you gain from city quests or PVP. So it isn't like the items are new and no one could buy them. But now someone that doesn't play 80 hours a week can also benefit from grinding to get money in real life. Eniuin
"Sony to lay off 8,000 full-timers, 8,000 others"
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10118970-92.html
They are also going to fuck people's sense of achievement. I read in Predictably Irrational (or Freakanomics, I forget which) that as soon as money is put on the table, people consider it a financial transaction, and disregard any intrinsic motivators (which is why it's really bad to tell your date how much the dinner cost, unless they would not be offended if a stranger offered them that amount of money for any favors you were expecting). Formally putting a price on XP will tell gamers what their time was worth, and lots of them will be pissed off that the price was too low.
While I can understand why you feel the way you do, your statement is wrong.
First, a large amount of tournament play is "Limited" - that is, you use sealed product to play with, rather than your own cards. There are different variations that test different skills (Booster Draft vs. Sealed Deck), but both are extremely skill intensive, and an individual's collection has no bearing on their performance.
In "Constructed" events - events where you play with cards from your own collection - it's often possible to outplay or outbuild the decks loaded with expensive cards at the casual or semi-competitive level. Tarmogoyf, a card that was selling for upwards of $50 on the secondary market, was an extremely powerful and efficient creature, but it could still be addressed by standard creature removal spells, such as Terror and Deathmark. Budget decks can often be around 90% as effective as the more expensive decks.
At the ultra-competitive level, the cost of cards caps out and everyone ends up spending around the same amount of money on their decks (probably around $500 if I were to buy all the individual cards on the secondary market). While this does create a barrier to entry, I've never heard people complaining about paintball or racing as "determined by how much they spend on the game." Most hobbies have equipment, if you're looking at competitive level Magic, players invest in their decks, but everyone caps out on cards so money isn't a determining factor.
Finally, players will often loan and borrow cards among their friends, further lowering the cost of acquiring cards to create a deck.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
You're missing the point. While this stuff might already be in the game, you have to work for it in some fashion. There's some sort of reward / penalty risk you actively have to seek out. They've bastardized that with, "give us money and you have it without working for it".
Part of the fun in any game is accomplishment. Once you take out incentives to accomplish something, the game has taken a turn for the worse. It loses a lot of value with individual players and in a sense, the entire community.
Blizzard are indeed selling gameplay-changing features for those who are willing to pay extra. They are just trying to be subtle about it.
The Recruit-A-Fried feature gives a massive xp and level boost. No matter how you look at it, this is a gameplay-altering benefit that is rewarded for giving Blizzard extra revenues.
it touches important points. this seems like a blatant 'we'll make extra money off you without giving any extra fun' case.
Read radical news here
character transfer is not a game changing feature or service. it just changes your character's realm/server.
Read radical news here
This is not the same thing. Having a brand spanking new hairstyle and different facial tatoos or earrings is not going to level you up faster or make you hit harder. Blizzard is still not selling weapons or items for cash yet... and I'll stop playing when they do.
"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it..."
-- Andy Warhol
In WoW or WAR I am on the same turf as everybody else. My character isn't limited to my bank account, my status, my job, be it good or bad. This maintains the fragile illusion of these games, that you are in fact someone else. This shatters completely as soon as you bring reality (in this case money) into the game. Be it micro-payments or macro-payments, the alternate reality is broken and dead. Spock no longer just have a little beard, he also has purple hair and moonboots.
This is just a combination of poor games and greed. Instead of improving the product (or replacing it) or being happy with what you got, they hope to make more money this way. I won't fall for it myself and I hope others won't either. This decision was taken by someone with dollar signs in front of their eyes, not someone who dreams of Jedis, Orcs, and Elfs. I only play games made by and ran by fellow dreamers.
You're missing the point. While this stuff might already be in the game, you have to work for it in some fashion.
Nope. To get the XP buff you just need to pay 12 months worth of subscription and you get it. Same with several other buffs, just longer subscription periods.
The recruit a friend doesn't really give an advantage necessarily. The experience bonus only functions when partied with your friend and even then only when you're within 4 levels of each other.
Regardless, the experience bonus only functions up to level 60. The bonus doesn't affect end game, it only allows players to reach end-game quicker so that they can play it with their friend. That was one of the things that irritated me about FFXI. I played on the same server as some of my RL friends, but I never did anything with them because they were too busy leveling their main job or didn't have lower level jobs at my level.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Anyone get a flashback to the "Itchy and Scratchy Land" episode of The Simpsons:
[Homer and family are at at Itchy and Scratchy Land gate buying tickets.]
Homer: One adult and four children.
Woman: Would you like to buy some Itchy and Scratchy Money?
Homer: What's that?
Woman: Well it's money that's made just for the park. It works just like regular money, but it's, er..."fun".
Bart: Do it, Dad.
Homer: Well, OK, if it's fun...let's see, uh...I'll take $1100 worth.
[Homer walks in and sees all the signs: "No I&S Money", "We Don't Take Itchy and Scratchy Money", etc.]
Homer: Aw!
-Valen
"Tier I flasks increase XP by 10% and cost $1.00. Tier II flasks increase XP by 25% and cost $5.00. Tier III flasks increase XP by 50%, and cost $10.00 each. All flask tiers last for 4 hours on use, and more than one can't be used at a time."
What has MS service contracts got to do with this game?
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
My dad is a huge EQ addict. He also has quite a bit of disposable income.
In short, there goes my inheritance.
I had a character at 34 before starting back at 1 with my wife via recruit-a-friend. It really doesn't change allot of the gameplay. You don't have to quest as much...that's about it. Infact you level so much that most of the time you're flat broke just from the cost of skills/armor. But it all goes away at lvl 60, so you still have 20 levels at the normal pace to go.
Man is the lowest-cost, 150-pound, nonlinear, all-purpose computer system which can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.
Tier I flasks increase XP by 10% and cost $1.00. Tier II flasks increase XP by 25% and cost $5.00. Tier III flasks increase XP by 50%, and cost $10.00 each. All flask tiers last for 4 hours on use, and more than one can't be used at a time."
FFXI has been doing this for free (at the cost of some in-game numbers that you can easily get doing normal XP leveling) for a long time. 50% extra XP for 3 hours for 1000 max XP (which means you get a total of 3000 using it), and there are a couple of other rings with different rates and times. Depending on how you get your XP, it could be used up in one hour, or you could go all 3 hours without finishing it off (which is why the other rings exist).
3000 xp is half a level in the 20s. There is also a 16-hour cooldown time, and a limit of 7 charges per week for this item, but that's still better than forking over 30-70 bucks to $ony.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
I'm on a private server!
Seriously, who willingly hands over money to Sony when there are better alternatives? Just buy titanium edition ($20 at circuit city or $9 used at half.com or amazon.com), install, don't patch (use special launch command), pick server, ???, profit!
Oh and it runs fine under wine to boot. Best part is I can look at the server side code and submit improvements that help everybody else!
P.S. Thank you EQEmu and Project EQ!
Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
"A new, better armor, attainable only through micro transactions, DOES destroy PvP and with it the game for a lot of people."
Not if that armor is available to everyone. Then it is meaningless because the game rebalances.
Well, it certainly would be available to me too, if I played that game.
And I certainly wouldn't buy it! So yes, it would destroy PvP for me...
I think being able to buy those items is going to encourage the usual business trade off of "how do we increase sales of achievement potions?" -> "Let's increase the grind!"
Same can be said for any item. If it was purely graphical stuff (non combat pets, new hairdo's, non-stat clothes), i can look the other way. But stuff that directly short circuits (admittedly broken) gameplay mechanics, for money, no way.
But they didn't set the price low. $10 for four hours is worse than those ring tones that cost $3 and then expire. Assuming games still cost about $50, you're paying 1/5 the cost of the game for something that lasts four hours.
I think, if anything, they're teaching people drug culture. You're paying for a nickel or dime bag that will give you a temporary performance boost. Then four hours later you're back to your old self except you don't have any money now.
So by this mentality, people would prefer the older saggy woman vs the lipo'ed, surgically enhanced, younger woman? Money does give you an advantage, and it always will. As much as people would like it to be so, working harder doesn't necessarily mean working better.
They are also doing this in the original Everquest. Like Wii points, the money ratio is a penny a point.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
It's not a death buff. There are players that will take unnecessary risks to get xp while that buff is active.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Spend an extra hour playing or spend an extra hour at work for overtime pay for that 50% potion.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's been almost a year since I left that game, just in time.
In my couch cushions.
Money is already on the table though and the motivators you refer to are eroding already. It's everywhere you can buy game currency or pay someone to level a character for you. It's just not Sony's table and, since it's happening anyway, they want it.
The value of a game is something the individual assigns themselves. If they feel that an optional feature of the game cheapens the experience, then they are free not to use it ( and perhaps be smug about ). For me, I may envy them but that does not mean they are in the wrong. Since this is a money based argument, I'll use another money based alteration of a online game as an example. Multi-boxing. Do I wish I could do that? Yes. Do I think it makes their experience a hell of a lot easier? Yes. Does it cheapen my sense of accomplishment? No.
This comes alongside news today that upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will not be subscription-based, but entirely based on micro-transactions instead.
This on the other hand, does not seem to make it optional and I may just have to give it a pass after I look into it more.
I've lost all my marbles except one & It's fun to test angular & centripetal acceleration in my skull
They're selling drugs, aren't they?
I'm not a MMORPG player, but I have followed some of this. I don't really see this so much as a bad thing. There is a whole cottage industry out there "farming gold" in these games; doesn't it more or less break the gold-farmers monopoly on the market for Sony to provide a "legal", readily-available way to get currency within the game?
www.ige.com
None of the top comments even mention gold farming. Every MMO game that I'm aware of has the farmer element. Sony is just cutting them to the quick.
But that aside I just kind of shrug at this. I was an EQ2er for a while but gave it up. Sony fouled their own game. First they lost a ton of people to WoW who thought that EQ2 was too hard than they lost more people when they dumbed it down to WoWs level and lost more people who wanted a hardcore gaming experience. That's where they lost me.
Oh well, I still have EVE. Who knows how long that will go until someone aside from the gold farmers learns to foul it up in some fashion.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Yes, but you have to brave the dungeons of a pasty geek to get said money.
And while you're at it, please recover my frisbee that went into the back yard. I will reward you greatly.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
Update: Shacknews has updated its story to state "no statements have been made about the Star Wars business model," and attributing Mr. Riccitiello's comments to a misunderstanding. For the time being, then, this appears to be unsubstantiated information.
"gives you an advantage over other players"
But you're not competing with other players are you? So what difference does it make to you if your character levels more slowly than someone else's? How does it affect your enjoyment of the game if someone else pays for levels when you level "naturally"?
I don't play Everquest or or WOW or any other MMORPG because I find their gameplay extremely boring, so I could be wrong, but I don't think that PVP plays a very big role in either of those games, so someone else's levelling ability really has no effect on your path through the game, and subsequent enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the game, does it?
Not if that armor is available to everyone. Then it is meaningless because the game rebalances.
It's available to everyone willing to pay additional money for the armor. If I don't want to pay more money than the monthly subscription, then I am not able to get the better gear, and am at a disadvantage.
Let's see, around
$17.00 a month to play ( 'bout $200.00 a year per account x how many million accounts ? )
$40.00 every 6 months to buy the newest expansion.
and now some folks might spend a hundred a month to level faster or have a "Pet".
Next Sony will be 'building' homes for each character and charging a monthly rent to live in said 'home',
charged directly off of ones credit card on file, of course.
multiply all the above by however many millions of active accounts there are.
No wonder Sony is not in line for bailout money.
If it has tires or tits, it will give you problems.
As a former player of the extreme technical variety of those games and many others, it basically has come to this: EQ1 and EQ2 are in their death throes, and this pathetic gesture on their clearly pedantic marketing division just goes to show that no matter how much you try to do something 2 and a half years or more too late, the results are the same. Pathetic. Thank you though for making us lots of games in which the true fun wasn't in the retard long camps or rich boy rare spawn circle jerks. but assembling us a piece of code in which to utterly push the limits with ferreting out every single and utterly bizarre exploit imaginable. Also, lest we forget, making us a mob that was not killable, well, until we killed it...............MiM rules, coding sell out hacks drool....Loading, Please Wait
I am no longer interested in taking over the world, I just want a modest corner of the Solar System
I believe that Microtransactions are the way forward for MMORPGs.I am looking forward to Knights of the Old Republic Online,not just because of the merits of the game, but because of this
pricing model.
Subscription pricing encourages developers to use several annoying and non user friendly methods to keep the player in the game world including long travel times, Spawn camping, Itemisation as a prerequisite for advancement,Grinding and other non customer friendly game mechanics.
Microtransactions on the other hand encourages Development of new content as a priority, and no requirement for any of the issues listed above. A Microtransaction based system also levels the playing field between Rich and Poor allowing people who could not afford a steady 15US a month subscription to still enjoy the game and to pay as they are able. I believe those seemingly arguing on behalf of the poor are actually arguing against the potential loss of their in-game Status Symbol items.
City of Heroes/Villains has shown that a MMORPG developer can go beyond itemisation and present characters that are directly derived from player creativity and imagination, while still maintaining a sense of Achievement through the display of Badges and Titles to represent Achievements on the character.
Players have sadly been conditioned to accept these masochistic game mechanics in MMORPGs and have unfortunately accepted them as the only possible solution. I am very pleased that developers are moving away from those Machiavellian methods of turning a profit and are expanding into a more holistic relationship with their customers and their time investments in their game worlds.
-Gel214th
A few years ago, they vehemently fought against EQ Plat sellers and now they're joining them in the name of the almighty dollar. Funny how priorities and principles change at the drop of a (wizard robe and) hat.