Gaming blog In An Age is tracking the recent saga of PlanetSide 2's implant system, noting that the team quietly nerfed the drop rate of free implants and downwardly adjusted the power of tier 1 through 3 implants in order to push sales for the new tier 4 implants. Implants offer temporary buffs or abilities for characters and require an energy cost to activate.
SOE President John Smedleydefended the move on Twitter: "Sorry, but we are actually trying to make money. I don't consider it a money grab." In a later tweet, he clarified that the team "made the drop rate [for implants] too high a while ago."
I will side with you OP. Too often corporations are getting away with greedy/sleezy tactics, then their (insert general stereotypical political affiliation) gamer buddies come to defend their business practices as (Well, if you don't like it, then don't play it.)
It just like is the greed at Wal-Mart, at all the other places that make money. They see $$ not customers. They see the people buying the products, even the people working for them as beneath them. Only thing any of us are good for to them are $$.
OH BUT DRAGIM THEY ARE A BUSINESS AND MAXIMUM PROFITS...PROFIT MARGINS...STOCK HOLDERS..BLAH BLAH! Yeah well the whole system is a effed up peice of bullhonkey. Sure that is what "we are told is important", what we "learn through society" that is important.
But if that is true then photoshopped celebrity pictures that are near impossible to attain is what is important. Kanye West and His Wife's ass is what is important.
Greed is greed no matter what way you slice is. If a company is going to use deceptive tactics, smoke and mirrors, promise something then renege on it; then they deserve to be blasted, put in the public spot-light and otherwise exposed.
I am tired of these companies, and people in general taking advantage of one another in order to get a few more $$. It is sickening. I don't mind people making money off of me, but there has to be a point in which the greed outweighs the happiness you are providing.
There is such a thing as too much greed. You can say "You would do the same thing", but I would not. You do not know me. You can pretend to know me, which is nice, but you do not.
Believe it or not there are people all over the world who aren't greedy, sleazy, tricky people. Especially with SoE's track record. Will I still play their games? Probably. But will I still talk smack and expose their greedyness? You betcha buddy. A man's got to eat (play games).
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
Originally posted by cribett Oh look said company fiddles with drop rates to increase cash shop usage ... along with probably every other game as well.
So because all the other companies do it, it makes it OK/acceptable now? Jesus what is the world coming to.
These companies truly are winning this war. Sheep. Half of you are sheep. Just lay down and accept your fate. Ugh, so sad to read some of these comments.
What is next? "Well, all the other companies take your first born, what is the big deal?" "All other companies charge those extra $2 transaction fees on every purchase, what is the big deal?"
"Well, all other companies have DAY 1 DLC. What is the big deal?"
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
I will side with you OP. Too often corporations are getting away with greedy/sleezy tactics, then their (insert general stereotypical political affiliation) gamer buddies come to defend their business practices as (Well, if you don't like it, then don't play it.)
I am tired of these companies, and people in general taking advantage of one another in order to get a few more $$. It is sickening. I don't mind people making money off of me, but there has to be a point in which the greed outweighs the happiness you are providing.
Isn't that a perfect defense? We are talking about entertainment here. Companies are not extorting money out of you for a necessity in life.
So if you are tired of them, don't do business with them. What is it to you if they have willing customers?
Now I am not a whale ... but if there are whales who are happy giving these companies their money, why should anyone stop them?
I will side with you OP. Too often corporations are getting away with greedy/sleezy tactics, then their (insert general stereotypical political affiliation) gamer buddies come to defend their business practices as (Well, if you don't like it, then don't play it.)
I am tired of these companies, and people in general taking advantage of one another in order to get a few more $$. It is sickening. I don't mind people making money off of me, but there has to be a point in which the greed outweighs the happiness you are providing.
Isn't that a perfect defense? We are talking about entertainment here. Companies are not extorting money out of you for a necessity in life.
So if you are tired of them, don't do business with them. What is it to you if they have willing customers?
Now I am not a whale ... but if there are whales who are happy giving these companies their money, why should anyone stop them?
These whales are not giving them money out of generosity they are doing it because they expect something in return and the successful games give that to them. Be it a advantage in PVP or just a faster/easier path in PVE they are buying an advantage that in multiplayer games does affect everyone else. Free or even paying players who constrain their spending are affected by these tactics one way or another even if it's subtle such as being passed over for high end content groups because they where not as well geared out as the whale or even worse when content is created assuming everyone has spent x dollars on the cash shop and those who have not need to grind repetitive content just to be able to do it.
Cash shops and the whales they attract change how developers create, support and expand content in games. They change the motivation factors that drive games and how we as players interact with them. I really don't know how anyone can dispute that fact at this point. Now maybe you are ok with how they are changed and that's fine but accept that not everyone else is.
These whales are not giving them money out of generosity they are doing it because they expect something in return and the successful games give that to them. Be it a advantage in PVP or just a faster/easier path in PVE they are buying an advantage that in multiplayer games does affect everyone else. Free or even paying players who constrain their spending are affected by these tactics one way or another even if it's subtle such as being passed over for high end content groups because they where not as well geared out as the whale or even worse when content is created assuming everyone has spent x dollars on the cash shop and those who have not need to grind repetitive content just to be able to do it.
Cash shops and the whales they attract change how developers create, support and expand content in games. They change the motivation factors that drive games and how we as players interact with them. I really don't know how anyone can dispute that fact at this point. Now maybe you are ok with how they are changed and that's fine but accept that not everyone else is.
all true .. but the point is that it is a free market. If you are not like it, you do not have to participate.
There is nothing "acceptable" or "unacceptable" .... when you say it is "not ok" .. it means that you do not prefer it. Personally i am not a whale, but I can understand why someone may "like" the system. And i also do not see a reason why anyone else should tell what devs and whales what they can or cannot do.
You all can bash me all you want. I understand what is a fair value for a product, and doing things behind the scenes like adjusting loot drops so people will have to spend real $$ on it is shady, especially when you do not tell the people playing the game.
Yes, I accept that people are in business to make money. Why does Walmart pay it's employees so bad while they rake in the money? Because they are greedy. There is a fair value for things and there is a poor value for things.
You all are becoming slave to the corporations and accepting whatever crap they put in front of you. You all are the reason for cash shops, the reason for day 1 DLC, the reason that the gaming industry is heading down a path of greed rather than entertainment.
It is your fault because you accept this type of business strategy. You feed into it. Hell you even defend it when you are the one getting screwed.
I mean to each their own as I keep saying. However, you are all making the bed that we all have to sleep in, and unfortunately you are allowing the bed makers to sell us beds with bed bugs in them, then let them charge us money in order to remove them.
Somehow before cash shops, before DLC, SOMEHOW games were made, and somehow people made money. This cash shop money grab bullspit needs to stop.
Look at gaming from 20 years ago and compare it to now. When you paid $50 for a game, you got the whole effin game. Not "well, yes you pay $65, but day 1 we will release this SUPER COOL CONTENT! 4 maps you can buy for $15! Why we didn't release it with the game for free on the disk?...well, because we know you dumbasses will buy it!....Which you all do.
That is why the system is not changing for the better. The Whales, the Fan Boys, the people who do not realize what is going on will blindly keep paying, keep playing.
Why the eff do you think Candy Crush Saga made so much money? Cash shop smoke and mirrors trickery bullspit. And mobile gamers are too dumb to realize they are falling into the trap so perfectly.
People are impulsive, people are addictive, people are dumb with money, people are...human. We all are different, but unfortunately too many of us are the same and perpetuate this market strategy in which they offer as little product as possible while charging the most money they can for it.
In business, there is also a thing called "Business Ethics"...general guidelines that help business to run ethically. I am guessing that as time goes on, these ethics are being thrown out the window.
Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations.
Sure "I can not play", but I understand that me, not a Whale, not a big spender of Cash Shop items, not a DLC buyer, I don't matter to them. As a result: I am free to form and share my own opinion. Post in forums about how I dislike the business practices. Maybe change 1 mind. Maybe make 1 person realize (Wow he is right, they are nickel and diming us) You can not like it, but I feel what these companies are doing is shady and greedy.
You all are free to spend your money as you please. I just wish you would quit spending so much and effing it up for the rest of us by falling into their trap and spending all this effing money.
Granted not all games are this way. Not all companies are this way. But just like the world is filled with every type of human imaginable, I assume there are every type of business practice imaginable out there as well. Some shady and greedy...some actually are good and provide a fair exchange of goods/services.
Bottom line: The Whales and Cash Shop junkies are who the devs are going to cater to. They will design a game in a way to best pull money out of people's pockets. Thus we are in such a trashy state of gaming today. You never get the full game anymore, on PC or console. There is always something withheld, something to charge us later for, always something to keep you Cash Shop junkies buy buy buying; and it effs things up for the rest of us.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
I have my doubts that most "whales" in F2P MMO are actually rich people. If I was rich I would be driving around in a Ferrari and going on holidays, not play MMO.
They're regular people spending tons of cash on games. What boggles my mind is, why? Why not spend those hundreds of dollars on a PS4 and the tens of games you could buy with them instead of a fake sword in a game.
Why do you care? It is their money? If they want to flush it down the toilet, it is their right.
While it is their "right", it certainly is not "right to let them do so.
Sometimes people need to be protected from themselves, this is one of those situations.
This is exactly the same discussion with alcohol. Surely if you can prove a particular person who are addicted and need help, feel free to guide him to AA.
But you are going to prevent everyone to buy a drink occasionally? Why do you have the right to prevent an adult who make his own money to spend it on anything he wants? You are ONLY using the "protect them from themselves" excuse because you don't like how devs change their games to cater to whales. New flash, devs have no obligation to make games you like, or sell you the whole game for $15 a month. It is a free world. You don't have to play their games. There are other entertainment out there.
If i want to buy a $500 bottle of wine every month, are you going to say that i am a wine whale, and I need to "protected from myself"?
Why then can we not freely smoke marijuana, do crack cocaine, put heroin into our veins, kill ourselves? Because we need to be protected from ourselves. Sure I would love to walk down the street and smoke a joint, but I can't because someone feels it needs to be regulated because god forbid I do something to myself that doesn't affect anyone else in the world but me.
This is why cartoon characters can no longer endorse cigarettes or alcohol. This is why they say "Drink Responsibly", this is why they give us warnings and attempt to protect us from ourselves.
These companies are feeding off of the addictive nature of humans and laughing all the way to the bank. I would bet they spend more money on psychological marketing; trying to figure out what is the best manner to extort money from their players... than they invest in actually making/coding their own game. (This is half sarcastic, but if a story came out like this I would not be one bit surprised)
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
As a Planetside 2 player I have no problem with this at all.
I have no issues getting the implants I want and also have no issues with them trying to make money off implants. I have not thrown anything into Planetside for implants at all and not needed too. I started playing again after the drop rates where lowered so I did not have any stock of them.
I know some games that charge over $3000 for a weapon that 1 shots people if Planetside ever did this I would leave instantly but to be fair their monetization is not that bad at all. I wish some people would follow SOE in this but maybe this is because I actually play Planetside 2 and do not just read news articles why I have no issue because I have experienced it from a consumers point of view.
That's like EQ2 its on number 11 expansion and every expansion cost around $40 to $60 and if you want any kind of inventory space on your character or to use a special weapon or a master skill it cost extra and for the upcoming MMO from SOE so far they look like money pits. I guess ill be watching more rerun episodes of Game of Thrones on TV instead of playing MMO's ,
"Looks like 2015 will be the year of the TV ...................and not a good gaming year".
Yeah what is this crap. I want to be entertained for free with my Obama Games. Someone else should subsidize my ability to play a game for free. This blows....
What some people fail to realize or are completely ignorant to is that this whole "Cash Shop" model isn't so much based on whales but based on sheer numbers. This is why it does NOT work in nearly all games (especially MMO's) unless incorporated in such a way that the vast MAJORITY of it's players feel they DONT need to use it. Instead of feeling the NEED to use it, they WANT to use it to support the game and get some goodies for their character.
Seems to be a very difficult concept for some of you to grasp given the "well that's just how it works mentality" or "companies need to make money mentality" Sorry to break it to you, that isn't how it works. The sheer fact that companies adjusting drop rates (like SoE did) to try and squeeze more cash out , should tell you it's wasn't working to begin with because they weren't making enough money. If they were making money they wouldn't have changed it.
When you even attempt to look up the top grossing F2P games, all you get is a search filled with mobile games. League of Legends will pop up but as most people should know, the cash shop provides no advantage what so ever (imagine that).
When you look some of these top grossing games like Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, Kardashian Hollywood, Game of War; all these games rely on sheer numbers. It's said that roughly only 1% of people ever use the cash shop; however, when there are hundreds of millions of people playing these games, all the company needs is 1% of people making purchases to make money hand over fist.
Now when you insert other "F2P" games that have been on the hot seat as of late like Archeage or in this threads case Planetside 2; neither of these games have hundreds of millions of players. I would hope even the most ignorant of white knights can agree on that. Hell, Archeage would even be lucky to have 500,000 actual players at the moment (not bots)
So the question is, how exactly are these games expecting to make any headway in revenue relying soley on micro-transactions? There aren't enough people playing. There never was nor will there ever will be.
So unless a company comes along and creates a F2P MMO that will draw in tons of people like League of Legends (which shows to have 27 million people playing daily), they should never ever be making it F2P. Archeage and Planetside 2 should have never have been F2P.
Until companies like this realize it's a completely failing business model unless they have the playing numbers to back it, they will continue to lose money and be flash in the pan games.
So unless a company comes along and creates a F2P MMO that will draw in tons of people like League of Legends (which shows to have 27 million people playing daily), they should never ever be making it F2P. Archeage and Planetside 2 should have never have been F2P.
Until companies like this realize it's a completely failing business model unless they have the playing numbers to back it, they will continue to lose money and be flash in the pan games.
What are you talking about? There are plenty of f2p games, no where close to LoL numbers, and doing well.
Marvel heroes, PoE, STO, NWO, Rift, .... and many more are thriving, and adding content. If all of them are "failing", shouldn't all of them be out of business, instead of adding content?
Sorry, I figured the gist of my post also pointed to games not being paid to win hence the League of Legends being highly successful. League of Legends did it right, PoE did it right. Not sure about 2 of the others you pointed out, but Rift shouldn't even be on your list.
The first part of my post stated players feeling they want to spend money vs them feeling they have to. Makes a monumental difference on whether or not a F2P model will work.
How might some of those top games I mentioned look if players felt they had to spend to keep up?
Not even sure why people complain about a shop in the F2P game how else are they suppose to make money? If you dont like that players can buy them self's a good character then play a P2P then you will not have to deal with this problem that you see.
Also people are lazy now or don't have enough time to invest in lvling and gearing a character. so they buy things to make it easier for them. I can not fault anybody playing a F2P game and spending money on the game. I dont even care about the advantages that you get either its a F2P game.
So if you want to get away from that play a P2P game is my only advice.
Also on a side note in a F2P game it is a lot easier to spend way more then 15$ a month then it is in a game where you only spend 15$. Star Trek Online for example a ship cost $20ish but you buy some crew for another 10$. A week late you buy some keys for 20$. That comes up to around 50$ you spent this month. Now on a game like FF14 you pay 15$ this month and then nope just the 15$.
The game needs to make money somehow. No game is 100% free.
SOE basically implemented monetized power creep with the implant system. And instead of questioning the severity of this (how effective these implants are), we're arguing over whether or not it's accessible enough.
Perhaps it's just me, but I'd think that a much better line of questioning would be directed at how effective they are in the game. Because it would be better to have a system that is a minor (negligible) advantage, with a crap drop rate; than a system with major advantages driven by how much you pay into it.
I love how everyone ignores THE point that it's not about sub vs f2p, but how scummy it is That soe tried to hide it. Sure they are allowed to make money but do it in a non-shady way.
This is what you get with f2p. You don't really think other f2p games don't do the exact same things, right? If they have a cash shop, of course they do. Considering that the way you get most items in Landmark is from cash shop, is this really a surprise? SOE started this with EQ2.
added gif someone replied with in another thread, thought it was funny
personally I don't get people defending this, luckily I don't have to deal with this kind of stuff in FFXIV
We're not defending it. We're trying to illustrate why F2P games are friggin stupid and by design there to fleece people.
But hey, keep living on that mythical planet where you THINK shit is actually free.
wasn't defending F2P, silly pancake, kind of the opposite
Apologies, i noticed the FFXIV thing this time around. Sorry im just so used to all the f2p guys on here constantly spouting their BS so i kind of reacted lol.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Comments
no idea if the point to rage about should be "an increased droprate in planetside"
or
the fact that there actually drops something in planetside now.... seriously. wtf has this game become.
and for the record, ain't SOE asia based? gl with your US laws ^^
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
I will side with you OP. Too often corporations are getting away with greedy/sleezy tactics, then their (insert general stereotypical political affiliation) gamer buddies come to defend their business practices as (Well, if you don't like it, then don't play it.)
It just like is the greed at Wal-Mart, at all the other places that make money. They see $$ not customers. They see the people buying the products, even the people working for them as beneath them. Only thing any of us are good for to them are $$.
OH BUT DRAGIM THEY ARE A BUSINESS AND MAXIMUM PROFITS...PROFIT MARGINS...STOCK HOLDERS..BLAH BLAH! Yeah well the whole system is a effed up peice of bullhonkey. Sure that is what "we are told is important", what we "learn through society" that is important.
But if that is true then photoshopped celebrity pictures that are near impossible to attain is what is important. Kanye West and His Wife's ass is what is important.
Greed is greed no matter what way you slice is. If a company is going to use deceptive tactics, smoke and mirrors, promise something then renege on it; then they deserve to be blasted, put in the public spot-light and otherwise exposed.
I am tired of these companies, and people in general taking advantage of one another in order to get a few more $$. It is sickening. I don't mind people making money off of me, but there has to be a point in which the greed outweighs the happiness you are providing.
There is such a thing as too much greed. You can say "You would do the same thing", but I would not. You do not know me. You can pretend to know me, which is nice, but you do not.
Believe it or not there are people all over the world who aren't greedy, sleazy, tricky people. Especially with SoE's track record. Will I still play their games? Probably. But will I still talk smack and expose their greedyness? You betcha buddy. A man's got to eat (play games).
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
So because all the other companies do it, it makes it OK/acceptable now? Jesus what is the world coming to.
These companies truly are winning this war. Sheep. Half of you are sheep. Just lay down and accept your fate. Ugh, so sad to read some of these comments.
What is next? "Well, all the other companies take your first born, what is the big deal?" "All other companies charge those extra $2 transaction fees on every purchase, what is the big deal?"
"Well, all other companies have DAY 1 DLC. What is the big deal?"
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
Isn't that a perfect defense? We are talking about entertainment here. Companies are not extorting money out of you for a necessity in life.
So if you are tired of them, don't do business with them. What is it to you if they have willing customers?
Now I am not a whale ... but if there are whales who are happy giving these companies their money, why should anyone stop them?
These whales are not giving them money out of generosity they are doing it because they expect something in return and the successful games give that to them. Be it a advantage in PVP or just a faster/easier path in PVE they are buying an advantage that in multiplayer games does affect everyone else. Free or even paying players who constrain their spending are affected by these tactics one way or another even if it's subtle such as being passed over for high end content groups because they where not as well geared out as the whale or even worse when content is created assuming everyone has spent x dollars on the cash shop and those who have not need to grind repetitive content just to be able to do it.
Cash shops and the whales they attract change how developers create, support and expand content in games. They change the motivation factors that drive games and how we as players interact with them. I really don't know how anyone can dispute that fact at this point. Now maybe you are ok with how they are changed and that's fine but accept that not everyone else is.
Implants used to be so common nobody was buying them. With the change they might actually sell.
Hardly news worthy.
all true .. but the point is that it is a free market. If you are not like it, you do not have to participate.
There is nothing "acceptable" or "unacceptable" .... when you say it is "not ok" .. it means that you do not prefer it. Personally i am not a whale, but I can understand why someone may "like" the system. And i also do not see a reason why anyone else should tell what devs and whales what they can or cannot do.
I guess my point is: When is enough, enough?
You all can bash me all you want. I understand what is a fair value for a product, and doing things behind the scenes like adjusting loot drops so people will have to spend real $$ on it is shady, especially when you do not tell the people playing the game.
Yes, I accept that people are in business to make money. Why does Walmart pay it's employees so bad while they rake in the money? Because they are greedy. There is a fair value for things and there is a poor value for things.
You all are becoming slave to the corporations and accepting whatever crap they put in front of you. You all are the reason for cash shops, the reason for day 1 DLC, the reason that the gaming industry is heading down a path of greed rather than entertainment.
It is your fault because you accept this type of business strategy. You feed into it. Hell you even defend it when you are the one getting screwed.
I mean to each their own as I keep saying. However, you are all making the bed that we all have to sleep in, and unfortunately you are allowing the bed makers to sell us beds with bed bugs in them, then let them charge us money in order to remove them.
Somehow before cash shops, before DLC, SOMEHOW games were made, and somehow people made money. This cash shop money grab bullspit needs to stop.
Look at gaming from 20 years ago and compare it to now. When you paid $50 for a game, you got the whole effin game. Not "well, yes you pay $65, but day 1 we will release this SUPER COOL CONTENT! 4 maps you can buy for $15! Why we didn't release it with the game for free on the disk?...well, because we know you dumbasses will buy it!....Which you all do.
That is why the system is not changing for the better. The Whales, the Fan Boys, the people who do not realize what is going on will blindly keep paying, keep playing.
Why the eff do you think Candy Crush Saga made so much money? Cash shop smoke and mirrors trickery bullspit. And mobile gamers are too dumb to realize they are falling into the trap so perfectly.
People are impulsive, people are addictive, people are dumb with money, people are...human. We all are different, but unfortunately too many of us are the same and perpetuate this market strategy in which they offer as little product as possible while charging the most money they can for it.
In business, there is also a thing called "Business Ethics"...general guidelines that help business to run ethically. I am guessing that as time goes on, these ethics are being thrown out the window.
Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations.
Sure "I can not play", but I understand that me, not a Whale, not a big spender of Cash Shop items, not a DLC buyer, I don't matter to them. As a result: I am free to form and share my own opinion. Post in forums about how I dislike the business practices. Maybe change 1 mind. Maybe make 1 person realize (Wow he is right, they are nickel and diming us) You can not like it, but I feel what these companies are doing is shady and greedy.
You all are free to spend your money as you please. I just wish you would quit spending so much and effing it up for the rest of us by falling into their trap and spending all this effing money.
Granted not all games are this way. Not all companies are this way. But just like the world is filled with every type of human imaginable, I assume there are every type of business practice imaginable out there as well. Some shady and greedy...some actually are good and provide a fair exchange of goods/services.
Bottom line: The Whales and Cash Shop junkies are who the devs are going to cater to. They will design a game in a way to best pull money out of people's pockets. Thus we are in such a trashy state of gaming today. You never get the full game anymore, on PC or console. There is always something withheld, something to charge us later for, always something to keep you Cash Shop junkies buy buy buying; and it effs things up for the rest of us.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
Why then can we not freely smoke marijuana, do crack cocaine, put heroin into our veins, kill ourselves? Because we need to be protected from ourselves. Sure I would love to walk down the street and smoke a joint, but I can't because someone feels it needs to be regulated because god forbid I do something to myself that doesn't affect anyone else in the world but me.
This is why cartoon characters can no longer endorse cigarettes or alcohol. This is why they say "Drink Responsibly", this is why they give us warnings and attempt to protect us from ourselves.
These companies are feeding off of the addictive nature of humans and laughing all the way to the bank. I would bet they spend more money on psychological marketing; trying to figure out what is the best manner to extort money from their players... than they invest in actually making/coding their own game. (This is half sarcastic, but if a story came out like this I would not be one bit surprised)
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
As a Planetside 2 player I have no problem with this at all.
I have no issues getting the implants I want and also have no issues with them trying to make money off implants. I have not thrown anything into Planetside for implants at all and not needed too. I started playing again after the drop rates where lowered so I did not have any stock of them.
I know some games that charge over $3000 for a weapon that 1 shots people if Planetside ever did this I would leave instantly but to be fair their monetization is not that bad at all. I wish some people would follow SOE in this but maybe this is because I actually play Planetside 2 and do not just read news articles why I have no issue because I have experienced it from a consumers point of view.
That's like EQ2 its on number 11 expansion and every expansion cost around $40 to $60 and if you want any kind of inventory space on your character or to use a special weapon or a master skill it cost extra and for the upcoming MMO from SOE so far they look like money pits. I guess ill be watching more rerun episodes of Game of Thrones on TV instead of playing MMO's ,
"Looks like 2015 will be the year of the TV ...................and not a good gaming year".
What some people fail to realize or are completely ignorant to is that this whole "Cash Shop" model isn't so much based on whales but based on sheer numbers. This is why it does NOT work in nearly all games (especially MMO's) unless incorporated in such a way that the vast MAJORITY of it's players feel they DONT need to use it. Instead of feeling the NEED to use it, they WANT to use it to support the game and get some goodies for their character.
Seems to be a very difficult concept for some of you to grasp given the "well that's just how it works mentality" or "companies need to make money mentality" Sorry to break it to you, that isn't how it works. The sheer fact that companies adjusting drop rates (like SoE did) to try and squeeze more cash out , should tell you it's wasn't working to begin with because they weren't making enough money. If they were making money they wouldn't have changed it.
When you even attempt to look up the top grossing F2P games, all you get is a search filled with mobile games. League of Legends will pop up but as most people should know, the cash shop provides no advantage what so ever (imagine that).
When you look some of these top grossing games like Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, Kardashian Hollywood, Game of War; all these games rely on sheer numbers. It's said that roughly only 1% of people ever use the cash shop; however, when there are hundreds of millions of people playing these games, all the company needs is 1% of people making purchases to make money hand over fist.
Now when you insert other "F2P" games that have been on the hot seat as of late like Archeage or in this threads case Planetside 2; neither of these games have hundreds of millions of players. I would hope even the most ignorant of white knights can agree on that. Hell, Archeage would even be lucky to have 500,000 actual players at the moment (not bots)
So the question is, how exactly are these games expecting to make any headway in revenue relying soley on micro-transactions? There aren't enough people playing. There never was nor will there ever will be.
So unless a company comes along and creates a F2P MMO that will draw in tons of people like League of Legends (which shows to have 27 million people playing daily), they should never ever be making it F2P. Archeage and Planetside 2 should have never have been F2P.
Until companies like this realize it's a completely failing business model unless they have the playing numbers to back it, they will continue to lose money and be flash in the pan games.
What are you talking about? There are plenty of f2p games, no where close to LoL numbers, and doing well.
Marvel heroes, PoE, STO, NWO, Rift, .... and many more are thriving, and adding content. If all of them are "failing", shouldn't all of them be out of business, instead of adding content?
Sorry, I figured the gist of my post also pointed to games not being paid to win hence the League of Legends being highly successful. League of Legends did it right, PoE did it right. Not sure about 2 of the others you pointed out, but Rift shouldn't even be on your list.
The first part of my post stated players feeling they want to spend money vs them feeling they have to. Makes a monumental difference on whether or not a F2P model will work.
How might some of those top games I mentioned look if players felt they had to spend to keep up?
We're not defending it. We're trying to illustrate why F2P games are friggin stupid and by design there to fleece people.
But hey, keep living on that mythical planet where you THINK shit is actually free.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
wasn't defending F2P, silly pancake, kind of the opposite
Not even sure why people complain about a shop in the F2P game how else are they suppose to make money? If you dont like that players can buy them self's a good character then play a P2P then you will not have to deal with this problem that you see.
Also people are lazy now or don't have enough time to invest in lvling and gearing a character. so they buy things to make it easier for them. I can not fault anybody playing a F2P game and spending money on the game. I dont even care about the advantages that you get either its a F2P game.
So if you want to get away from that play a P2P game is my only advice.
Also on a side note in a F2P game it is a lot easier to spend way more then 15$ a month then it is in a game where you only spend 15$. Star Trek Online for example a ship cost $20ish but you buy some crew for another 10$. A week late you buy some keys for 20$. That comes up to around 50$ you spent this month. Now on a game like FF14 you pay 15$ this month and then nope just the 15$.
Once you have the ship and crew though you may choose not to spend any money for the next 3 months.
FFXIV has a cash shop now.
The game needs to make money somehow. No game is 100% free.
SOE basically implemented monetized power creep with the implant system. And instead of questioning the severity of this (how effective these implants are), we're arguing over whether or not it's accessible enough.
Perhaps it's just me, but I'd think that a much better line of questioning would be directed at how effective they are in the game. Because it would be better to have a system that is a minor (negligible) advantage, with a crap drop rate; than a system with major advantages driven by how much you pay into it.
Apologies, i noticed the FFXIV thing this time around. Sorry im just so used to all the f2p guys on here constantly spouting their BS so i kind of reacted lol.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche