There shouldn't be any grinding nor should you be able to obtain weapons purchasable via in game grinding, you want cosmetic options or slightly different weapons? Pay for them, it's how the game makes money. In terms of weapon unlocking normally, about four to five hours of casual gaming and probably an hour or two of hardcore.
I'm not sure I see where you're coming from but suffice it to say I wasn't replying directly to you. It has a lot to do with the topic though because if weapon acquisition methods exist outside the RTS, whether through RNG or work (grind) then that does devalue the RTS variant, especially while earning RTP. The more versions available through other methods the less dramatically the RTS' statistical variation is pronounced, but you still have the option to farm it if you're a collector. And that's why I raised my point, is any one configuration worth that much given a plethora of other avenues: If there are 10 comparable but unique Plasmaguns in the game; 1 is free at cert acquisition, some are random rewards, most are rewards that can be predictably acquired in 5-10 hrs and 1 is solely RTS and takes 20-30hrs of RTP grinding, are players going to lose their absolute shit ? To what I think you're saying Luc, the likelihood of BHVR going with a purely cosmetic RTS is extremely unlikely. I don't agree with the premise that cosmetics-only is the only way to go anyway. I think an impenetrable pay-wall and no recourse to attain the items in-game without spending a small part of your life online is the worst mistake, B2P or F2P. I agree with you guys on perception but I can't draw the line because no model is, or has thus far, proven perfect. Not for a sizeable MMO that's provided the sort of post-launch content I'm looking for from EC. If by "slightly different" you mean different in any meaningful statistic way in a PvP game permanent exclusivity ='s endless bitching and bad press.
Now, I'm not saying its perfect, but I think that LoL comes pretty close, all things considered. They've managed to make a purchase system for their champs that feels fun, like you're collecting figures or something, as well as a solid skin monetization, unintrusive boosts, and a reasonable grind time if you don't feel like spending (or have spent but just want to do it on skins or something). People complain about a lot of things in LoL but the monetization hardly ever seems to be one of them. If EC could come close to that by providing player skins, visual gun variants, and then a LoL like grind/buy system for unique heroes, I think that could work out pretty well. As for the remainder I concede I may have misunderstood your point. The question is how (and if) guns will be managed outside the RTS. I think it's a little weird because there aren't a lot of hybrid systems to compare it to: in PS2, all the weapons are in the store and grinding is basically equivalent to purchasing power for noncosmetics, whereas games that have a distinction between purchased and non-purchase guns tend to be either cosmetic-only purchases or are blatantly and intentionally P2W. And those examples are really just for F2P games and don't account for the additional stickershock that would come with a B2P game. So yeah it's weird and there's not a lot to compare it to. It should be easy for the devs to clear up though, and I hope they do so soon for everyones sake.
Which is why Miguel said, "We listened to you. We don't want to be pay to win. Therefore all sides grades available in the RTS will be attainable in game without pay." He then mumbled some on figuring out how long it should take, bench marking against other games.
Yeahhhh I'm gonna need a signed and written out confirmation on that before I trust it. Miguel has said a lot of things. Plus it doesn't contain any information on how they're actually going to implement it.
On this particular front i believe its a simple miscommunication, they are most likely adding that point in to let people know that the RTS weapons can in fact be customized just like normal weapons. The RTS weapons will most likely come with a special trait loaded in automatically and can be further souped up with the customization options normal weapons of its type get. The real question is if the "premium" weapons and gear will have something like additional custiom slots over the regular weapons to compensate for a permanent effect.
Since we get things in reward boxes, I don't see why we can get RTP tokens in them as well. So, reward boxes might drop 3 random things, with a chance to drop a RTP token. These can be of different rarities; Bronze token, drops most commonly, equates to 100 RTP Silver token, not as common, equates to 500 RTP Gold token, rare drop, equates to 1000 RTP I prefer surprise rewards to grinds. I never farm for things. I also believe the devs will need a lot of money in server running and maintenance costs, so I'm in favour of them making money (and not having things so easily acquired just via in-game). Besides, there will be gun unlocks in game, in addition to more blingy RTS versions; so you will be able to get your regular plasma gun, and unlock (for example) a Ryza-Pattern Hotshot Plasma Gun in game, and/or purchase the (for example) Apollo Pattern Plasma Gun. The Hotshot is the in-game equivalent of the Apollo, but the Apollo has more bling. The Hotshot can also unlock skins, both in game and through the store. No pay to win if they make it so certs must be paid to use store variants. Note: all numbers are debatable.
Don't know about "surprise rewards"... In warframe, on login screen each day you get some random reward... And there's one particular reward I haven't seen for months now... while my friend is getting it every week and sometimes twice per week... I personally wouldn't like that kind of surprise here as well.
I know what you mean with Warframe. Always had shitty luck when it comes to random rewards, as usual I have to work about 3x harder than my player friends Michael has indeed said they want to have RNG as a factor in gear acquisition (drops?) but he's also referenced a plan to share items between squad mates. As usual it's been too long without an update on the details and I'm assuming you can't share tree/cert unlocked wargear or the RTS variants but I guess you and I might benefit from our luckier friends.
This sounds like grind for surprise. Saw a suggestion for offline "rewards" that was time based, sounded sound: ------------------------ I think it will be really hard to copy LoL due to the games differences. (correct me if im wrong) In LOL everyone can play everyone i guess, and LOL adds (about) a new hero/ character about every month, how will EC be able to keep up with that progression of new playable character content? If its possible, sure go ahead. Another thing is that EC would have to make 4+ new characters each time, LOL only needs to do one, as in EC we got multiple factions.
