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Crowfall - Crafting Changes and the Damned Dirty Word - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Crowfall - Crafting Changes and the Damned Dirty Word - MMORPG.com
Crowfall tantalizes us this week with their next major patch a day after they drop the most recent one. Pre-Alpha patch 5.3 went live Tuesday and Wednesday’s Q&A was about patch 5.4. In a move that surprised exactly no one, Crowfall has adopted the industry’s rotten golden goose: microtransaction. Yea, I said it and yea it tasted as bad as it sounds.
Comments
Remember those good ol MMOs that had microtransactions and scamming practies? I sure don't....
Oh sure, we hear of plans. Plans to introduce feature after feature. Plans to have scheduled expansion patches. Plans to have.....well you name it and one or more of the recent offerings will have broadcast it as their intended feature content. 'Soon to be in the game, just a bit more crowdfunding is needed'
Then what happens? Take a look through the past couple of years and see the slide from long term mmo's with sound business plans to fly by night wonder offerings, paraded at you with fantastical promises.
The compromise with b2p games is usually that the cash shop is fair and does not intrude on gameplay. Let's see if Crowfall stands by that.
It's time for the devs to reveal what hid on the surface
Halloween 'n Thanksgiving is now in the past
A timely question asked; will this fall of crows last?
'Twas the days of marketers stumping and wallet grapple
The usual time for gamers to eat the sour crabapple.
I know they appreciate the beauty of distraction
Then and only then they revealed their plans for micro transaction.
I've been keeping an eye on Crowfall since the Kickstarter three years ago. I've watched every single YouTube video update and read every article, so I'm very much a fanboy but at least I'm informed. The devs aren't just some upstarts with lofty dreams and promises built on nothing. They are hardened veterans who are very much the old school gamers from the demographic they're building the game for. They know how to make the game, they know very well what their technical and financial limitations are, and in my eyes they are keeping their word to the T. Only the impatient are complaining about release time.
Every third party news site passing along their updates seems to elicit this knee jerk response from children without perspective. These guys are making a new type of MMO on a budget, and in a reasonable amount of time considering the target scope and quality level. They are directly avoiding the bland WoW formula without flying into the sun like Darkfall.
At this point, the game is fluid, concise, and mostly functional near the end of pre-alpha. The devs are smart, funny, cool and absolutely hate FTP and PTW. MTX isn't inherently evil if approached legitimately for cosmetics or DLC.
The game isn't done yet, and they have to pay the bills. They do not have 50 million just laying around to fund another WoW or Everquest clone. I hope in two years, the game is very successful and popular, then all the naysayers are eating their words with a tall glass of STFU and a seasoned side of I Told You So.
Has nothing to do with cash shops...
And then, on top of that, they are REMOVING the expensive items from the cash shop.
Also, this cash shop isn't some new thing. The original Kickstarter plan mentioned every bit of this.
To sum up: they are not adding anything. Microtransactions (for cosmetic stuff) has always been a part of the plan. What's changing now is they are REMOVING items from the store, NOT ADDING ANYTHING.
Games are going away from subscription because a majority of players don't want to pay for the subscription. Just because WoW and FF14 have some numbers doesn't mean anything either, that just means the type of player interested in those games is willing to pay... for those games. Look at any games message board and it will be flooded with "Hey when is this going free to play? I really like the game I just don't see myself paying a sub these days" It's more common than you think.
Game companies don't move to free to play with a cash shop because it's "better" than a subscription, they do it because they'll actually get players, which the end result is "better than if they hadn't"
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
A few CAN I'm sure like Guild wars? ESO? Some Steam MMO's fuction soley on BTP even.
Why did this game not go that route with BTP, DLC + optional sub? cause they are whaling plain and simple.
Has there been any extra content announced for this game similar to DLC or expansions that would justify an ongoing flow of whale funds? So far all I've seen is the base game that they are trying to get ready for the public.
The notion that MMO's after release costs millions to maintain is an illusion and anyone involved in the industry knows this but aren't saying because that'll curb investment into new projects.
Cash Grab.. right
They are actually building a pretty sweet game. To do so, requires money. None of items being sold to this date give anyone an advantage. You can choose to spend extra money on the game or choose not to. The way I am seeing it, if we can get a company to build a solid game like crowfall is shaping up to be, let them get the money to do it. Nothing that I have seen tells me they are stealing money, or spending it on unnecessary things.
I generally do not like cash shops very seldom have I spent a dime in one. If I really like a game/developer, and see something in a cash shop I think is cool, then I may drop a few $ to support the game. If a game has pay2win items of any sort, I simply will not play that game.
You cannot fund an MMO without either sub fees (which have pretty much stayed the same price for 15 years) or via some form of cash shop/micro transactions.
Plus, Guild Wars 1 did have microtransactions. Costumes, bonus mission packs, bank space, character slots, AI hero slots based on your characters, and more were sold. Granted there was no cash shop integration into the game that I can remember, but microtransactions did exist.
Just so you know, history is on the side of the naysayers.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Now there's a pretty low bar to jump.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
the most experienced Indy development team to date... shows how much you don't know. This game is already fun with many missing mechanics.
And I said "can" if they had to just like with every other MMO even WoW but they don't cause of greed and not because they are strapped for cash. If they never added microtransactions their expansions would probably be higher quality than the bare minimum they churn out these days. As a developer why would they spend money to develop content for an expansion when they can just add two mounts or pets to the cash shop and make almost the same amount of money.