I'm pretty sure we're on the same page now, yeah. I agree with you about experience boosts. Not sure I agree with you here, Araghast. I don't have to deal with it at all. There's always a choice; I won't play Eternal Crusade. I don't like to say it, but the simple fact is that if there's any elements of the game which don't sit right with people on a moral or financial level, they'll just not play it. Unfortunately I think the cash shop does more harm than good to a community - agreed that it's great for the coffers of the developer and publisher, but cash shops are an absolute minefield of issues for the players. This thread is testament to that.
I think players have priorities for what should not be in a game store and how a game should make revenue. The compromise between letting the game make a profit and letting the community enjoy the game can be tricky, which is why we are fleshing this out. I think my view of experience boosts is more like this: Level 10 player with no boost | VS | Level 20 player with no boost | Winner? | Level 20 Level 10 player with no boost | VS | Level 20 player with a boost | Winner? | Level 20 I think he won because he is a higher level, whether or not he boosted to that level. I don't particularly care if he boosted to that level, but some players do. If we can make a compromise: Experience boost could be dependent on player proficiency perhaps. Another idea is for boosts to only apply a limited number of time per account/character; the goal would be to help the new players I guess. Any other ideas?
Well there is that option of not playing outside of the box thinking there. You are indeed correct in your statement regarding cash shop it does ALWAYS more harm then good, its content being gated within a shop. Before cash shop or subs, we always had the sequel system, play the first game, loved it perhaps saw good sales, they make a "Part 2" or even "Part 3" you have seen some of them, Darksiders 1 and 2, Dead space 1 2 3, bioshock is pretty much 1 and 2 then 3 but branded differently. Then we got one game, and it is so popular people did expansions, huge chunk of content but at an lesser price to add to your already existing enjoyment and they came out a few times a year if lucky. Suffice to say only one game managed the principle, Guild Wars, i got no idea how many expansions they did, but there were a ton of them, and interesting enough it worked for them, today they have a cash shop, because it takes more effort to fork out expansion after expansion instead of just cutting out potential expansions and throw it into the cash shop. So if one expansion adds a 30 new dungeons 2 new large maps, and lets say a new race for regular expansion price lets be generous and say 30 bucks, sounds somewhat reasonable. But if we cut it up into cash shop items. we get. 1 new Race, 10 bucks = WOW so cheap! Dungeon Starter set 15 dungeons for 15 dollars = 1 dollar a dungeon wtf why not! its even cheaper! Dungeon Deluxe Set 30 dungeons for 25 dollars = i get twice as many and i save 5 dollars! Unlock new zone Grassy fields = 15 bucks. Unlock new zone Iceworld = 15 bucks. Twice the fun twice the map get both = 25 bucks. so if we want everything and as cheap as possible, we get. 10+25+25 = 60 bucks. Twice as much and we feel like we struck a bargain, and dont forget about everything else, weapons, armours gets introduced into cosmetics instead of an expansion, and the cash flows right into it all. Doing it without milking the consumers on a monthly basis like some animal laying eggs once a month, or tricking someone into thinking you are making a bargain but you just paid twice the amount of what you would do if it was an expansion. Hence pay for the game, then pay for expansions is golden and fair towards your consumers, depending on how big of expansion you price it accordingly. But business got to profit, and hence we got cash shop and subs, who would have guessed subs were less profitable in most cases then a cash shop in the end. Boost for rested XP. Its a sort of compromise that manages it a bit in how fast you can use an xp booster, like slowing down the effects of an boost but still being effective. Rested xp is a boost to xp when your offline, if your offline for 5 hours, you gain the next 40,000xp with 2x the bonus rate, what if you could boost this to be then 60,000xp if you had a boost form the cash shop to it, numbers are high for sake of explanation. I want to flesh out the idea a bit better but i got to go to bed, need to sleep a bit for my job tomorrow.
Two level 1's are fighting and grinding out experience One has a boost, the other doesn't. Level 1 with no boost vs Level 1 with boost. Fairly even. Either one could win. Fast foward to tomorrow No boost level 1 is now only level 2. However, Level 1 with boost is now level 3. Suddenly a boost gives a player a combat advantage over others because he was able to unlock better gear quicker, giving him flexibility to adapt to more combat situations than the one who did not pay. If those two were to rematch, the one without a boost would arguably have a higher chance of losing. The gap only grows as the one without the boost falls behind further and further. Now take an entire squad. 20 people per side. No boosts for either side, battle is pretty even. However, give each team a day to advance in progression. Give one side an XP boost, and the other doesn't. Suddenly one side has an advantage over the other because they were able to unlock wargear quicker and achieve higher levels via spending money. Obviously there will be variations between the two because some people might not be able to play long, and others might be able to play twice as long. Same basic principle still stands. This only escalates when Developers add a horrific grinding mechanic at a certain point that slows down leveling even more, coercing you into buying an XP boost to keep up with progression.
@ Araghast I strongly agree that in-game stores can bleed players dry for additional content. However, I think that expansions can be designed to feel worthwhile in conjunction with an in-game store. Perhaps the difference between microtransaction content and expansion content should be defined. In my opinion, major plot lines and additional factions should fall under expansions. Some microtransaction things could include PvE dungeons or something. Access to new gear or advancement options should never be sold; Guild Wars 1 expansions include exclusive player skills that required cash, which can enable pay-to-win.
@ Freke I agree that experience boosts seem to be an advantage when you compare players over time, but in the middle of combat, only each player's current level matters, not what it was yesterday or tomorrow. This is why I might not classify experience boosts as pay-to-win, but again, it still depends on the game design for my opinion. Otherwise, from your perspective, then yes they have an advantage of gaining power faster than you over time. This doesn't really matter to me, but once again, I know it does to some players.
This chart shows that experience boosts would not be pay to win in an unlock system. I think EC is an unlock system. I think a number of players have accepted this chart.
