The future of MMO business

[Heat]

Now we all know that we have several models of MMO business:
F2P, P2P, P2W.

Now we know that sometime F2P and P2W come together in some MMO’S.

But when you have a sub every month to play a game (P2P), you don’t expect to pay more than the monthly sub.

I’m not talking about the retainers of the FFXIV that we have now, I’m talking about what’s next?

The elder scroll online have the collector edition that will let you play as an imperial in any alliance with unique bonuses, crafting styles, gear and more.

Here is the link:
http://elderscrollsonline.com/en-uk/joinus

If you buy the standard edition you can’t do that. So they locked an entire race, crafting style and more bonuses like EXP rings behind a pay wall.

WoW had this mount that if you want it you need to pay real money to get it.

SE added retainers that if you want you need to pay 2$ a month, some people say its not P2W and some say it is P2W, but if we accept this now, what’s next?

What does that tell us? Does that mean that in today’s world of MMO we will have companies that will dig deep in our wallets and have cash shops to a P2P MMO games?

Is this going to stop here or is it going to be P2P + cash shops + P2W?

Here is a clip that explains what I’m talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lRi-aku1nw

[MyuZero]

Just be reasonable. Increasing inventory slots eats up memory, probably memory that is needed for other tasks. To increase your total available inventory space even if it is your retainers it'll cost them money to increase. $2 a month is not that bad. You're paying for something extra. Ice cream doesn't come with every meal. You'd have to get it separately. Same thing with server transfers. It's extra. You don't expect that they should give that service away for free do you, just because there is a monthly fee? How is paying for extra retainers P2W? Are those people suddenly going to have a better chance at clearing turn 9?

[Heat]

Just be reasonable. Increasing inventory slots eats up memory, probably memory that is needed for other tasks. To increase your total available inventory space even if it is your retainers it'll cost them money to increase. $2 a month is not that bad. You're paying for something extra. Ice cream doesn't come with every meal. You'd have to get it separately. Same thing with server transfers. It's extra. You don't expect that they should give that service away for free do you, just because there is a monthly fee?

If i accept this (and i dont) then whats next?
what if they come tomorrow and ask for more? like hers an expansion but the new race/class/job is locked for the people who pre-order it or pay extra 20$, would you accept this?

and dont tell me they wont do it, WoW did it, ESO did it.

[MyuZero]

Honestly, if it is included in the 3.0 expansion with a bunch of new stuff in it. $20 would be a steal. From my prospective though I came from a world where expansions are very common. Look at Starcraft and Starcraft 2 (and the 3 expansions that are planned with it). Or how about Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. I know these aren't games that require a monthly subscription but the content is kept behind a pay wall. You don't get to play the new stuff unless you pay for it which is what we're talking about here. Most of these games cost the same as a brand new game especially if you look at Starcraft 2 and the new expansion for Diablo 3 that came out the same week as our 2.2 patch. If I think it's worth it and I really want to play it I will buy it. It's as simple as that. I don't need to buy the expansions for the new content but I will chose to because I want it.

[Crankysorc]

Then you make the choice to pay for it or play with what you have.
Expansions on games usually cost money anyways since it's a good chunk of new stuff, and if done right, makes it feel like a completely new game.
If a company decides they want to keep an aspect behind a pay wall, that's their choice. As long as it's not something previously included in sub/base game cost, I don't see the problem.
ESO's paid race gets a mount slower than the first horse you can buy and crafted armor which I think only makes it look different, not change stats. You can also buy the armor from someone playing the race if you really like how it looks. Big deal.

[Thorauku]

You'e overthinking too much.

[Heat]

You'e overthinking too much.

ATMA grind, what can i say

[Djeserit]

If i accept this (and i dont) then whats next?
what if they come tomorrow and ask for more? like hers an expansion but the new race/class/job is locked for the people who pre-order it or pay extra 20$, would you accept this?

and dont tell me they wont do it, WoW did it, ESO did it.

...And yet, SE has been running another MMO for 11 years now, and never did it. So it's not necessarily going to happen just because WoW did.

[Thorauku]

ATMA grind, what can i say

Huh?

/10char

[TheUltimate3]

The only future I care about is some damn Full Diving.

Let me Full Dive.