I've already spent another $200 post launch and that is way more than I've ever done before. Yet, I know guildies who have spent over $1500 so far. While the game may not be pay-to-win per say I do feel the prices are still a bit high and there's too many features only gain-able from the cash shop (horse skill change coupons for example).
It's a very strange business model that doesn't cross the line, but is still rather shady/dubious and not all that player friendly. Like costumes/cash shop purchases being mostly character bound rather than account. The only reason I and many I know put up with such business practices is simply because how good the game is, if this was a bad game there would be a hell of a lot more complaining. Also definitely needs to be a cd on the use of tears, may be the most p2w feature out there since level is so important in pvp and you loose xp on non gvg deaths.
Haxus Council Member 21 year MMO veteran PvP Raid Leader Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
I would pay for a subscription and have everything unlocked. I don't like the way BDO has monetized pvp advantages such as ghillie costume and Elions Tears (which negate XP loss in pvp).
If you really like the game you have to do a personal evaluation. If you see yourself playing this game for a long time then there should be no hesitation when it comes to the cash shop. In principle I feel cash shops are evil but this is the nature of the beast nowadays. I reason with myself and realize if this was a sub game I would be spending about 15$ a month give or take. So dropping coin in the CS for something I want a few times is not mentally crippling.
The more they get away with now, the more they will try to get away with in the future. Just go back 3 years and look at the difference between the MMORPG genre and how it is now, then go back another 3 years.
Its only going to keep escalating, they are going to milk more and more from you as long as they are supported and they are going to continue to increase the amount they charge and what they charge for.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
I have bought three pets and a costume, so around 80 AUD. That week I just didn't buy any takeaway food.
I work hard in life and can afford some luxuries in life. It can't be all work and no play. Also I'm good at budgeting my money, like I said before, never had a problem with spending 30 bucks a week on take away food which lasts me 30 mins so why get all fidgety over a costume that looks good with a 10% xp bonus? When you are 51+ that xp bonus is worth a lot more than a meal.
The ghillie suit I will never buy. Looks ugly and is unnecessary. The advantage in pvp it gives is for noobs. I constantly am able to Pk people who atk me with it at high level grinding spots anyways. Gear and level > ghillie suit.
I love this game and am happy to support it with my wallet.
To the article writer: you obviously want to spend in the game so just do it. Just don't go to the cinema that week. It's called budgeting. Being an adult lol x
The prices are high, but compared to other hobbies, still within "reason" so to speak. I haven't spent much on the pearl shop other than what would have been my normal $15/month sub, but if money were no object, I could see how people have spent as much as they have.
Daum/Pearl Abyss should make much more of their cash shop purchases account-wide, and they'd most likely see a big jump in short term and long term profits as it would get more people to play the game as well.
When you have high quality games like Guild Wars 2 which offer a lot of account-wide stuff in their cash shop, it doesn't make sense for BDO to do this over the long haul, unless they actually ARE counting on whales for short term and long term profit growth.
All you players justifying the high prices and buying shop items anyways is exactly why they won't lower the prices at all this year. They are making BANK off you guys. Said straight from the dev's mouths.
this is why the game will continue to get content updates consistently
Nope I tried BDO can't stand the game I am already looking at a new game called (Crow Fall) as by the time I would spend $100 a month playing BDO in 9 months I could have a (Large Castle) all to myself + charge people taxes and free gold income in Crow Fall if the game was good.
So Invest in BDO, no thanks not at those prices if Crow Fall is good would rather invest there.
I brought the $50 package and so far I haven't spent anything in the cash shop. Nothing in there I need at present but if I did I would treat it like a sub and only spend on average $15 a month.
I severely dislike all you people who support these prices (ok, maybe not severely). But whatever, it just means I'll never play it. I was gonna wait until they came to their senses with those prices, but people obviously don't care that much and just throw their money at them .
Sorry man but it's so little money that it's difficult to "stand on ceremony". Especially since I would have no problem paying $15 or $20 for a sub if that's the case.
And since I'm a believer in paying for my entertainment I pretty much evaluate what I'm getting vs the price and make my decision based on that.
Yeah, I would prefer if they charged full AAA price and offered a sub option that allowed me to play optimally rather than a lower priced boxed coupled with shady systems that force the cash shop on you for an optimal experience or any sort of major customization.
From what I've read, I seriously can't see an upside with this payment model for the actual players.
Havent bought anything yet. And I dont really think the cash shop is that bad. But I'm one of those weird players who doesnt care if someone else buys an advantage.
I'm completely addicted to this game, but I won't spend money in the cash shop until the game matures a little more and Pearl Abyss actually puts forth some effort as right now it's a pretty shoddy system. What concerns me are the things you normally take for granted when it comes to cash shop purchases. Want to buy some leveling scrolls? Make sure to do it on the character that needs it because you can't pass it to your alt. Oh and the buff that you get from it? Wears off on death. Want that cool blue dye? Turns out it could be 13 different shades of purple because it's random what you get. Depending on your armor set you could have 14 different slots that will accept dye, and you can't even consistently buy the color you want?
And the problem isn't just how expensive they are. It's a cost vs value argument. Would you spend $5 for a stick of gum? Most people would consider $5 to be trivial, but they wouldn't spend that amount on a stick of gum because there's more value in $5 (you could buy a pack of gum). $14 for a blank CD, $20 for a cup of coffee at the gas station? The point is why does it cost $1 for every 1 single inventory expansion? This wasn't a graphical artist designing a piece of costume. It's an automated script that runs at time of purchase that tweaks an arbitrary value on your character sheet that's intentionally kept low so you will spend that $1.
Everyone will have to find their own sweet spot on what they feel is valuable enough to spend their money on. Judging by the tons of players I see wearing costumes in the major cities it seems like Pearl Abyss is doing pretty well.
Kane72 said:
BDO is the best game I've ever played and I will support their shop. I've bought convenience items so far - a pet and quite a bit of storage and inventory space as I do a lot of crafting and economy stuff. I have to look when people mention 'level' as I am not on a leveling mission, in fact I wish I could turn off leveling as I'm enjoying the game so much.
The fact it is B2P and quite inexpensive at that means I want to support the game's development and keep it going, so happy to spend a 'sub' in the shop each month.
Dude summed it up. Nothing to add besides I gladly, willingly, happily spent money in the cash shop after only having paid $30 to play forever to begin with.
Havent even bought the game yet. I might if they make it a little more appealing. I know there is a rabid fan base for it but ot buying into the hype
When they stop letting people stay online AFK 24/7 and have a less PvP focused approach I might try it. But Like I said before I suspect the game will have run its course and be fairly empty by then.
I brought the $50 package and so far I haven't spent anything in the cash shop. Nothing in there I need at present but if I did I would treat it like a sub and only spend on average $15 a month.
Most people complaining about costumes and pets haven't even played the game. It's not hard to press "r" whenever there is some sparkling stuff coming out of a corpse. The camo outfit does next to nothing for a competent player, hostile players are lit up in red anyways. Stop making excuses when you die in pvp and actually try to get better. There definitely should be more armor varities, but you are not walking around in rags...stop making stuff up. The cash shop items aren't even enticing unless you want to look like a half naked prostitute.
The real money maker is inventory/warehouse slots. If you're focused on professions you will be forced to dump a ton of cp into storage which gets expensive as you expand your network. At a certain point the $2-3 for 8 bank slots just becomes too tempting. The inventory and weight limit is even worse. There are a ton of junk items and mats you'll be stuck carrying around and the inventory is very limited initially. You will unlock slots slowly, but it gets annoying having to constantly sell/destroy crap. Even at an extremely overpriced $1 per slot you'll probably be tempted to buy.
I severely dislike all you people who support these prices (ok, maybe not severely). But whatever, it just means I'll never play it. I was gonna wait until they came to their senses with those prices, but people obviously don't care that much and just throw their money at them .
People just find that the overall package is good. I have no problem spending the money to buy the box game and then the prices in the store are fine overall because there is zero cost per content addition and zero cost per month. Then compared to something like Guild Wars 2 where they charge for expansions the cost is not all the expensive after all. Besides there really is zero in the cash shop that you MUST have or can not play the game.
One month after NA release and they have already pushed out an expansion that increased the size of the game world by 30 % or more. And did not charge a single penny for that expansion. Unlike some other games where they would have charged you $30 $40 $50 for that amount of content.
I brought the $50 package and so far I haven't spent anything in the cash shop. Nothing in there I need at present but if I did I would treat it like a sub and only spend on average $15 a month.
This is what I am likely to do.
It's honestly the best way to go, there's nothing in the cash shop I've felt pressured on. Yes spamming the r button after pulls is a bit annoying, but I did that in DAoC for years so it doesn't bother me. As others have mentioned, pets really don't feel like a necessity, yes they give an advantage looting during the fight, but they also require the time to feed them. You can have workers gather the stuff for you but, pressing R isn't that big of a deal to me most of the time.
As far as inventory goes, if you're like me and enjoy when you earn progression you'll be fine, it feels good to unlock a full bag of inventory slots through actually questing for it. If you're good at not spending money on things that aren't required for the end goal you won't have to worry about a thing really.
I may come off a bit biased, but for only $30 the weather system is worth the price alone, same with fishing boats, and islands. The $50 version gets you a few extras but the pets are $9, horses are caught or bought from other players in game with silver at the player horse market. Tier 3 horses aren't expensive and can be purchased by time you're level 20-30 with no issue. The horse whistle is nice but it's not something you need. So you may end up feeling better about using the $20 for other things in the shop or just saving it for the next update. I don't think you can go wrong either way, as long as you like the game.
The more they get away with now, the more they will try to get away with in the future. Just go back 3 years and look at the difference between the MMORPG genre and how it is now, then go back another 3 years.
Its only going to keep escalating, they are going to milk more and more from you as long as they are supported and they are going to continue to increase the amount they charge and what they charge for.
so you prefer to use the cash shop while paying a sub? gotcha...
Comments
It's a very strange business model that doesn't cross the line, but is still rather shady/dubious and not all that player friendly. Like costumes/cash shop purchases being mostly character bound rather than account. The only reason I and many I know put up with such business practices is simply because how good the game is, if this was a bad game there would be a hell of a lot more complaining. Also definitely needs to be a cd on the use of tears, may be the most p2w feature out there since level is so important in pvp and you loose xp on non gvg deaths.
21 year MMO veteran
PvP Raid Leader
Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
Saving all my loyalties to see what goods can i get with them. I'll get some inventory with real cash when i need them.
The more they get away with now, the more they will try to get away with in the future. Just go back 3 years and look at the difference between the MMORPG genre and how it is now, then go back another 3 years.
Its only going to keep escalating, they are going to milk more and more from you as long as they are supported and they are going to continue to increase the amount they charge and what they charge for.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
MAGA
I work hard in life and can afford some luxuries in life. It can't be all work and no play. Also I'm good at budgeting my money, like I said before, never had a problem with spending 30 bucks a week on take away food which lasts me 30 mins so why get all fidgety over a costume that looks good with a 10% xp bonus? When you are 51+ that xp bonus is worth a lot more than a meal.
The ghillie suit I will never buy. Looks ugly and is unnecessary. The advantage in pvp it gives is for noobs. I constantly am able to Pk people who atk me with it at high level grinding spots anyways. Gear and level > ghillie suit.
I love this game and am happy to support it with my wallet.
To the article writer: you obviously want to spend in the game so just do it. Just don't go to the cinema that week. It's called budgeting. Being an adult lol x
Daum/Pearl Abyss should make much more of their cash shop purchases account-wide, and they'd most likely see a big jump in short term and long term profits as it would get more people to play the game as well.
When you have high quality games like Guild Wars 2 which offer a lot of account-wide stuff in their cash shop, it doesn't make sense for BDO to do this over the long haul, unless they actually ARE counting on whales for short term and long term profit growth.
So Invest in BDO, no thanks not at those prices if Crow Fall is good would rather invest there.
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From what I've read, I seriously can't see an upside with this payment model for the actual players.
And the problem isn't just how expensive they are. It's a cost vs value argument. Would you spend $5 for a stick of gum? Most people would consider $5 to be trivial, but they wouldn't spend that amount on a stick of gum because there's more value in $5 (you could buy a pack of gum). $14 for a blank CD, $20 for a cup of coffee at the gas station? The point is why does it cost $1 for every 1 single inventory expansion? This wasn't a graphical artist designing a piece of costume. It's an automated script that runs at time of purchase that tweaks an arbitrary value on your character sheet that's intentionally kept low so you will spend that $1.
Everyone will have to find their own sweet spot on what they feel is valuable enough to spend their money on. Judging by the tons of players I see wearing costumes in the major cities it seems like Pearl Abyss is doing pretty well.
Kane72 said: BDO is the best game I've ever played and I will support their shop. I've bought convenience items so far - a pet and quite a bit of storage and inventory space as I do a lot of crafting and economy stuff. I have to look when people mention 'level' as I am not on a leveling mission, in fact I wish I could turn off leveling as I'm enjoying the game so much.
The fact it is B2P and quite inexpensive at that means I want to support the game's development and keep it going, so happy to spend a 'sub' in the shop each month.
Dude summed it up. Nothing to add besides I gladly, willingly, happily spent money in the cash shop after only having paid $30 to play forever to begin with.
When they stop letting people stay online AFK 24/7 and have a less PvP focused approach I might try it. But Like I said before I suspect the game will have run its course and be fairly empty by then.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
The real money maker is inventory/warehouse slots. If you're focused on professions you will be forced to dump a ton of cp into storage which gets expensive as you expand your network. At a certain point the $2-3 for 8 bank slots just becomes too tempting. The inventory and weight limit is even worse. There are a ton of junk items and mats you'll be stuck carrying around and the inventory is very limited initially. You will unlock slots slowly, but it gets annoying having to constantly sell/destroy crap. Even at an extremely overpriced $1 per slot you'll probably be tempted to buy.
One month after NA release and they have already pushed out an expansion that increased the size of the game world by 30 % or more. And did not charge a single penny for that expansion. Unlike some other games where they would have charged you $30 $40 $50 for that amount of content.
As far as inventory goes, if you're like me and enjoy when you earn progression you'll be fine, it feels good to unlock a full bag of inventory slots through actually questing for it. If you're good at not spending money on things that aren't required for the end goal you won't have to worry about a thing really.
I may come off a bit biased, but for only $30 the weather system is worth the price alone, same with fishing boats, and islands. The $50 version gets you a few extras but the pets are $9, horses are caught or bought from other players in game with silver at the player horse market. Tier 3 horses aren't expensive and can be purchased by time you're level 20-30 with no issue. The horse whistle is nice but it's not something you need. So you may end up feeling better about using the $20 for other things in the shop or just saving it for the next update. I don't think you can go wrong either way, as long as you like the game.