Comments on: What are you willing to pay for?

By: Tesh

Tesh — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:48:25 +0000

Mmm… Wizard 101. Such a lovely system, where you can either sub or buy “Access Passes” which are effectively little Guild Wars content purchases, forever accessable thereafter. Smart, smart, smart.

…which leads to what I’d pay for. Content access. I love Guild Wars. I love Access Passes. I *will not* pay for a subscription where I’m paying for time-constrained access. It’s simply not worth it to me. (Though I do make a mild exception for Puzzle Pirates badges, since they only decay on the days that I log in.)

Wizard 101 has more of my money than WoW (or any sub game) likely ever will.

Oh, and addressing your list, I don’t mind if players can buy gear, so long as it’s available to buy with in-game money as well. That way, players can either buy it with cash or by earning money in-game. Wizard 101 used to do that, and it was brilliant. Exclusivity either way bothers me.

I’d also be OK with being able to buy instant level-capped characters in “average” gear. It’s another way of bypassing the leveling grind, and if “the game starts at the level cap” anyway, why press people into a sub mold as they grind through the leveling process if they aren’t interested in it?

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:07:17 +0000

I would pay for character templates in games to avoid leveling, especially games centered around end-game PvP.

By: Endraal

Endraal — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:20:58 +0000

I’d pay for bots.
I wouldn’t mind if people bought xp potions or whatnot for themselves.

By: Anarchous

Anarchous — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:23:54 +0000

I think you are pretty spot on when it comes to this topic. I wouldn’t even mind if you could buy special items or toolbox to kit out you gear designed especially for you.

In all reality people with money just buy the gold or toons anyways. So, isn’t that the same as offering cool items in game from the developers?

I do have to say that the name lock should be in game. Especially dev’s should enforce the fing naming by laws in their Eula. How immersive is it when you see people named Asshat McNutter and my favorite XCXCXCXDS. It is totally retarded and I am sure it could be shown that most people who have those toons are tools or gold sellers.

By: Ferrel

Ferrel — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:14:31 +0000

Satire? =)

By: Buuncha

Buuncha — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:54:50 +0000

I don’t like the F2P idea simply because I am wealthy and have become accustomed to having my ass kissed by service-industry professionals vying for my wallets attention in a way that makes it obvious to all the poor people that I would buy and sell their entire family tree 9 times over for +5wis to my new booties.

I do like run on sentences and long walks on the beach.

By: Korrow

Korrow — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:41:41 +0000

I don’t mind F2P games for the most part.

I will not play a game where you can just buy end game gear. As for the bonuses during leveling up, I agree. I enjoy the ride, but on the 5 or 6 char through the game, shortcuts become important!

I love Wizard 101 model. You can open it all up for 6.95 a month, or you can unlock certain zones with crowns that are bought with RL money. This allows you to buy for your experience, especially if your on a limited budget.

Really but the gold standard is Pay to Play… atleast I know with Pay to Play there is someone trying to make changes to the game for better or worse, and if I don’t like those hcnages, well my dollar rules bottom line and I can unsubscribe. With F2P games, If I leave it is no big deal really.

By: Ferrel

Ferrel — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:55:03 +0000

Yeah… I totally didn’t think number one through. I’m glad I have you Ubba! So number one would be a bad idea unless, you know, developers knew it was me! My ego could only be so lucky.

The mini-expansions were okay really. The first one “Blood something” wasn’t that great but Split Paw and the Asian themed ones rocked!

By: Ubba

Ubba — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:32:51 +0000

I absolutely agree with the item tracking Adam, but not so much with the name locking. What would you do if some dude locked Ferrel on all servers before you got the chance to get home from work on launch day? A better way would be to only allow you to have one “Ferrel” across all servers, or am I wrong? I remember your number 5 there from EQ2, that did not work very well back then, did it? I think the problem was that not enough people in the right level range bought the Adventure pack or whatever SOE called it, making it almost unbearable to get a group together.

I am willing to pay extra for these services:

1. I would be willing to pay for more bank slots, some free2play games have this, but I would accept it in “real” games too. 1$ for 10 extra slots pr. month is ok and maybe 2$ for 20 and 3$ for 40 slots.

2. Summon Companion/bot stone/crystal/whatever. Pay 5$ for 24 hours bot-help, excellent for off-time questing etc. Banish the Bot/Companion and you still keep the remaining time. Limited to 2 or 3 bots at the same time and sellable ingame. May not work in groups.

3. Summon to location. Pay 5$ extra pr month to add a new function to your world map; click & instant relocate. May not work in battle and has a cooldown after battle.

Ubba