Question about NCSoft

MysticRyu

Hey everyone!

I played Auto Assault for a really short while, and guild wars for a bit longer.  I stopped playing guild wars with the expansion releases.  The thing is, I think the expansions were awesome.  They were really good, but...  You seemed to need them to advance at all in the game.  If you didn't have htem, you wouldn't do well.

Normally, I wouldn't have so big a problem with this.  In the case of Guild Wars, thoguh, they made the "expansions" stand-alone games so that they coudl sell them for $50.00.  This isn't really meant to be an ethics thread, but I didn't relaly hink that was right.

So I quit.  Not a huge deal.  At the time I also had WoW and EQ.  But I'm curious to know if ALL NCSoft expansions are priced that way?  I like their games, but I don't want to pay $50.00 for their expansions.  Especially if there are going ot be many of them, and close together.

So, does anyone know?

Thanks ahead of time!!!

~Ryuu

Edit:  I just wanted to make it clear that I know Guild Wars has no monthly fee.   But making up for that by charging a lto for expansions doesn't seem right to me.  It's more of an issue of morlas more than the actual price.

Gameloading

Guild Wars is the only one that has paid expansions (Hence the game is free). Lineage gets free expansions, Lineage 2 gets free expansions, City of heroes and Villains get free expanions, and Auto Assault.



The only games that will have "Expansions" will be NCsofts new downloadable free games, such as Dungeon Runners and EXteel.

MysticRyu

Ahh okay.  Thanks

I was thinking about starting up at L2.  Would that be a good idea this late into its cycle?  Am I going ot be so far behind that it wouldn't even be worth trying to play?  And do people here generally think it gets fun fast, and stays fun for a while?

Thanks again!

~Ryuu

elvenangel

Thats actually standard with all games not just NCSoft, unless its a free content update and only a few games do exclusively free content updates (but then you pay 15 a month to play those).  

GW charges you nothing to play it, its free but they still have to make money in order to run their servers and pay developers to create and update the game.   It makes sense they charge for the new software considering its a decent to high quality game compared to true F2P games with item malls attached to them.  

Not all of NCSoft's games are this way, it just depends on the game and its quality and the development company making the game(NCSoft isnt' the core developer to alot of the games they host).  Take Dungeon Runners for instance, its completely free to download and free to play, but if you want the really nice items AND a bank to put things in you have to pay 5 dollars a month.   The graphics are mediocre, its completely instanced except for town, you can't sell stuff or trade money with players, and its basically a giant diablo game with no central story (but its completely fun for a random super casual game).

You get what you pay for in all honesty.   Sometimes crap happens and you pay good money for something shitty but thats just the facts of life. 

MysticRyu

Well I don't ahve a problem with say, $20 or $30/expansion.  But $50 just surprised me.  Liek I said it's not so much an issue of whether I could afford it or not, as much as the way they set it up to be able to charge a lot more than other games for an expansion.  Guild Wars is the first game I've seen do that.

Talyn

ArenaNet (Guild Wars' developers) said all along they were trying a new business model -- no monthly fees, but would release new campaigns or expansions every 6 months or so to pay for their business. So far we've had two additional campaigns released since launch (Factions and Nightfall) and they're working on the first expansion (Eye of the North) to release later this year (at a cheaper price since it's an expansion not a campaign), then development will go fully into GW2 which sounds like it will be a true MMORPG this time but using the same business model (with the exception that it will be expansions only, no campaigns unless they change their mind).

Factions and Nightfall are full-price because they are full, stand-alone games (campaigns) that do not require any of the other GW campaigns. Not everyone playing GW has all three, some only have one of them. Plenty of people in my guild only have Factions or Nightfall and have never played Prophecies.

Eye of the North will be GW's first (and last) actual expansion, and will require that you already own one of the campaigns (doesn't matter which one) and will cost less since it is not a full stand-alone game, it's strictly additional end-game content and bringing much of the Prophecies story and events to a close and introducing the new races, etc. we'll be playing in GW2.

As for L2, I'm giving it a try (only when I'm bored) on an allegedly legit free server hosted by L2 GMs and, while I'm sure L2 players with actual experience will disagree, my initial impression is Silkroad Online with a monthly fee and Unreal Engine. Otherwise, the very little I've been in L2, the gameplay is the same as SRO -- typical Asian grindfest, no real content.

Gameloading

Originally posted by MysticRyu

Well I don't ahve a problem with say, $20 or $30/expansion.  But $50 just surprised me.  Liek I said it's not so much an issue of whether I could afford it or not, as much as the way they set it up to be able to charge a lot more than other games for an expansion.  Guild Wars is the first game I've seen do that.

Thats because Guild Wars does not charge a monthly fee. I honnestly don't understand your complaint. No matter how you look at it, GW is cheaper then other MMO's. Its expansions are a bit more expensive, but it doesn't change a monthly fee.

Triumvirate

As was mentioned, each was also a stand-alone game (like City of Villains is to City of Heroes).  On top of that, most games stick with the $15/month charge.  In 1 year that means you pay $50 for box +165 for subscription (assuming it's the first year, so only paying 11 months).  That means even buying all guild wars stand-alone campaigns you still saved money comparatively. 



The typical expansion usually runs about $40 from what I've seen (on release, that is).  And with those they force you to already own the original game, Factions and Nightfall could play by themselves so it's a bit different.

johnmatthais

hmm...well, as cheap as guild wars may be, an old saying comes to mind in my head "you get what you pay for" mainly because as fun as PvP was in GW, you didn't get a choice who you got matched up with unless it was GvG but there was also the fact that GW can't really be considered an MMORPG...i don't mind instancing but, NC did the same thing with DR as GW...they turned towns into hubs...or as some others may see it, "graphical lobbies" where you can choose to make 4 people (or in NF and Fa, 8) teams and go out and hunt or just do it on your own...from then on it's a grind...and there are loading screens every time you go into a new area (which adds to not so much being an MMORPG...not quite but it does help in factoring that decision) but if you don't mind that kind of game, then be my guest to play it but, it's just not my cup of tea...i guess i just enjoy a challenge more than a huge grind