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Does BDO have one of the most fair cash shops in an MMO?
TheScavenger
Member EpicPosts: 3,321
Hear me out why I think this.
BDO doesn't have pay to win items. Sure has some stuff that is kinda toward that route, but invisible name plates are minor and I turn those off anyway, since they heavily ruin immersion. You can't actually straight up buy power.
Unlike LOTRO (which USED to have an awesome cash shop (minus everything locked), but over time the cash shop became so important that its what they mostly focus on. Its a huge cash shop game now)...but unlike LOTRO, you can do anything in the game without having to buy for it. There is no huge immersion breaking popup that says "THIS IS LOCKED! GO TO CASH SHOP AND SPEND 2 DOLLARS FOR EACH QUEST!"...like some kind of crappy las vegas casino. LOTRO might as well be called Planet Entropia Middle Earth.
And then GW2 cash shop is probably my 2nd favorite. But, and here is the HUGE reason why I think BDO is the best of them all. You can BUY everything on the cash shop...hear me on this...let me emphasize....you can BUY EVERYTHING on the cash shop on the market and its really easy to get gold, so its really easy to buy cash shop items.
Every outfit, every "bonus" (like veteran bonus for 30 days), EVERYTHING, you can buy right on the marketplace. You never need to step foot in the cash shop. Having a problem buying something due to it being bought fast? Stay up a bit later than usual with less competition, and you can snag pretty much anything within seconds. Even then, I have bought 3 veteran bonus (so 90 days) on marketplace even at peak hours. And on the marketplace they are so cheap, that its actually cheaper than buying it on cash shop.
Imagine that. An MMO where its CHEAPER to buy a cash shop item in-game than the actual cash shop.
Not even GW2 goes that far. GW2 doesn't let you buy cash shop items for cheap. It DOES let you buy crystals for in-game gold which let you buy cash shop items, but they are insanely expensive. I played 3 months and couldn't even get close to doing that. BDO its so cheap on the market, within 15 days I was already buying multiple cash shop items on the marketplace.
This is why I believe BDO has by far the best cash shop of any MMO. Someone of course has to buy the item (company does need to make money after all), but the buyer then pays LESS than what the person bought, because the items are so cheap on the marketplace.
On top of that, its not pay to win at all. Some minor bonuses, but again, they are minor. And the nameplate one isn't even an issue for me, since I turn those off as they are ugly lol. And really don't care about nameplates. Maybe its cause I play FPS games on servers without nameplates on (like Arma 3), and I am not lazy and ignoring what is around me, but always keeping an eye out for other people and studying the environment.
In any case, everything on cash shop in BDO (even the camouflage clothing, which looks ugly btw compared to the awesome outfits for each class)...can be bought right on the marketplace. So for those who complained early on about nameplates being invisible because of the camouflage armor piece, its actually a mute argument. Buy it cheap on marketplace in the game since gold is so easy to get
That means the only "bonuses" (even if its minor) can be bought right on the in-game market. That includes the pets and what not too, that give bonuses in certain areas, like the desert part of the map.
The only MMO I ever played where I can buy every cash shop item on market. AND cheaper to buy with gold than actual money.
BDO doesn't have pay to win items. Sure has some stuff that is kinda toward that route, but invisible name plates are minor and I turn those off anyway, since they heavily ruin immersion. You can't actually straight up buy power.
Unlike LOTRO (which USED to have an awesome cash shop (minus everything locked), but over time the cash shop became so important that its what they mostly focus on. Its a huge cash shop game now)...but unlike LOTRO, you can do anything in the game without having to buy for it. There is no huge immersion breaking popup that says "THIS IS LOCKED! GO TO CASH SHOP AND SPEND 2 DOLLARS FOR EACH QUEST!"...like some kind of crappy las vegas casino. LOTRO might as well be called Planet Entropia Middle Earth.
And then GW2 cash shop is probably my 2nd favorite. But, and here is the HUGE reason why I think BDO is the best of them all. You can BUY everything on the cash shop...hear me on this...let me emphasize....you can BUY EVERYTHING on the cash shop on the market and its really easy to get gold, so its really easy to buy cash shop items.
Every outfit, every "bonus" (like veteran bonus for 30 days), EVERYTHING, you can buy right on the marketplace. You never need to step foot in the cash shop. Having a problem buying something due to it being bought fast? Stay up a bit later than usual with less competition, and you can snag pretty much anything within seconds. Even then, I have bought 3 veteran bonus (so 90 days) on marketplace even at peak hours. And on the marketplace they are so cheap, that its actually cheaper than buying it on cash shop.
Imagine that. An MMO where its CHEAPER to buy a cash shop item in-game than the actual cash shop.
Not even GW2 goes that far. GW2 doesn't let you buy cash shop items for cheap. It DOES let you buy crystals for in-game gold which let you buy cash shop items, but they are insanely expensive. I played 3 months and couldn't even get close to doing that. BDO its so cheap on the market, within 15 days I was already buying multiple cash shop items on the marketplace.
This is why I believe BDO has by far the best cash shop of any MMO. Someone of course has to buy the item (company does need to make money after all), but the buyer then pays LESS than what the person bought, because the items are so cheap on the marketplace.
On top of that, its not pay to win at all. Some minor bonuses, but again, they are minor. And the nameplate one isn't even an issue for me, since I turn those off as they are ugly lol. And really don't care about nameplates. Maybe its cause I play FPS games on servers without nameplates on (like Arma 3), and I am not lazy and ignoring what is around me, but always keeping an eye out for other people and studying the environment.
In any case, everything on cash shop in BDO (even the camouflage clothing, which looks ugly btw compared to the awesome outfits for each class)...can be bought right on the marketplace. So for those who complained early on about nameplates being invisible because of the camouflage armor piece, its actually a mute argument. Buy it cheap on marketplace in the game since gold is so easy to get
That means the only "bonuses" (even if its minor) can be bought right on the in-game market. That includes the pets and what not too, that give bonuses in certain areas, like the desert part of the map.The only MMO I ever played where I can buy every cash shop item on market. AND cheaper to buy with gold than actual money.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Comments
Unfortunately, you can't buy the camo outfits on the marketplace but other costumes you can not sure why but this is the case.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
You talk of cash shops and marketplace, but fail to mention the actual cost!
In most MMOs I can play my session of 2 - 4 hours and be done. This one forces a player to have the highest PC specifications for a game as well as build a dedicated system and leave the system on running 24/7 or lose out as far as workers go.
Thanks to Anti-Cheat protection in-game, a lot of games will not start while BDO is minimized in the background. The result is sacrificing a PC for this game.
I am a person who actually tracks and record power consumption. Leaving the system on for the entire night for a month caused the system itself to actually consume eight times more power. If I wanted to play another video game, I had to run a second computer with the specs to play other games, which meant having another system + monitor on.
It felt like I was running a server again!
The Cash Shop in the game was ridiculously expensive for a costume. So much so that as a cosplayer myself, it costs less money for me to buy the materials and craft more than half of the costumes for myself in real life.
Let me write some math.
Suppose as an Average between high and low consumption, an SLI PC consumed around 500w of power every hour. This average includes factoring in Speakers (sound system), and Monitor power consumption too as BDO is the most consuming MMO out there on max settings but its also the prettiest...
Suppose we decided to use this average on paying 20 cents per kilowatt, counting delivery charges.
.5 (kilowatts) x 24 (hours in a day) x 365 (days a year) x .2 (cost per kw) = $876 per year to keep this system active, not counting the other PC I have to run if I want to play games that do not agree with running while BDO is running minimized in the background.
If I only ran a system for 6 hours a day and averaged 300 watts of power since not every game I play is extremely intensive and I am not always running some hungry process in the background, the calculation is:
.3 x 6 x 365 x .2 = $131.40 (a year to run this system)
In other words...
Just playing BDO itself and accomplishing everything that the game has to offer will cost a player far more than playing any other game in existence right now in this genre.
Also, good luck proofing your PC if you are going to leave it on for 24/7.
Anyone knows that there is a big difference in structural integrity required in prepping a machine suitable to withstand the stress of heavy 24 hour operation as opposed to the typical 4 - 8 hour light stress operation most PCs are built for.
I loved the game while I played it...
but even if I didn't spend a single cent on the cash shop itself...
My Electric Bill spoke for it...
BDO is fun, its fun enough to play without a game in the back ground.
The game intentionally has every hurdle it could and then a way to pay to reduce it.
No other game has experience loss and durability loss on death that you can pay to negate.
No other game has both weight AND inventory space that you can pay to increase.
That's not even mentioning how there is a variety of ways to negate all of those things I mentioned, from maids, to straight up buffs to your character, to RNG pets.
The game isn't pay to win in the old way, it's a new kind of horror.
This is a gambling game, it literally lulls you into spending a lot of money over a long period of time, making the best things locked behind the fact you can 'only' buy them with real money.
With things like Horse skill change coupons and the extreme RNG on pets...
This is a whole new kind of online casino.
It's not the most unfair monetization model, but it is by far the most intrusive and insidiously annoying one I've ever encountered.
That's coming from someone who hate Cash Shops and usually avoid games that use it as a main revenue model.
For people who says BDO is P2W, you really don't know what you are talking about.
I play the game and get free inventory space from quests, weight upgrade through training, and Artisan Memory (repair) with Loyalty points.
So far I only spent the money for the Client and bought 2x costumes (because I felt bad for having so much fun for nothing), but now you can even buy costumes on the AH with in-game money (So far I bought 4 in the AH, no real money involved).
Now not even the costumes.
People that say that, want it instantly despite it's possible to get trough some quests or event for free.
and of course one can save up their loyalties for certain things.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Ignoring P2W based on converting real money to ingame money and focusing on the advantage you can get by using the cash shop, BDO has very little in that regard. A pet that loots for you? An outfit to make you more attractive? A bit more inventory space? All of these things can easily be done without.
The only thing that even resembles P2W in the cash shop is the Value Pack and its lower cost when using the auction house. When you compare the benefits you get with a premium subscription in most other MMO's, you will find a 20% (or something like that) discount when using the auction house is pretty minor.
Personally I buy the value packs when they are on sale and buy a few of them to carry me over until the next sale. My friend purchased 3 boxed sets when they were on sale for $10 each. He uses two for his life skill toons and one for his PvP toon. He has not spent one dime in the cash shop and has just as much inventory space as I do on each of his toons. He just spends his loyalty wisely and focuses on maximizing his energy and contib points. He might not make as much as I do when he sells his special potatoes on the auction house, but he is farming with two toons and out producing me which more than makes up for it.
I am just now starting to look at maybe getting a costume for my Tamer because I want to, not because I have to.
Most have not played a real P2W game where you have to spend money to be able to play and enjoy the game.
I know the PVP crowd will decry the "cammo suit is P2W", but it looks stupid and you can really just hide with it. No big deal. Its not how I or anyone I play with plays so its a non issue.
Additionally if you dont want to spend IRL money you can get pretty much everything from the market, at low prices, and silver is not hard to gather in this game.
With no sub I limit myself to 15-20 max in a month but I dont even do that most months.
But you are forgetting that you are not injecting the Economy with new resources, you are just transferring resources from a player to another.
The player that is selling Silver is getting poorer (in-game) by transferring the Silver to the buyer, so it all balances out.
For one person that gets more powerful, another become less powerful.
There is also nothing a Whale can buy that I can't have for free, as there are no items that are exclusive to the Cash Shop like in other games, where you are actually forced to buy essential items from the CS to stay competitive.
In BDO the Whale just cut few corners, he is never going to have a clear advantage over the average player.
And by the way, no one is claiming that BDO has a perfect Cash Shop, what we are saying is that it's the most fair (also ESO is quite good too).
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
If one can sell marketplace items on the open market for in-game currency, my only question to answer the OP would be the power level of freely tradeable items. This is for any title really but especially true for a PvP based MMO.
People just need to be honest and say they don't want to spend money at all. People are cheap as !#$% or poor, one of those.
Maybe it has something to do with using the word "free" ...you think?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
. . .when they are pretty much the same. . .
Google "Betteridge's law of headlines" and you will find this:
So: no, it does not.
You can't buy and upgrade the best legendaries in WoW with gold. You have to go out and get them.
In BDO, given infinite silver, your level 1 hero could wear the absolute best gear on the server.
Anyway, this isn't the worst part of BDO's monetization (currently). The bad part is taking out things like armor customization, auto-loot or implementing a weight system or an RNG horse skill system or etc etc etc, all which can only realistically be circumvented by the cash shop, or (graciously apparently) via other players who used the cash shop.