Acceptable Cash Shop Items: Suggestions!

[ShinkuTachi]

Would you prefer actual collage level course learning in video game design and market.

[Rose_Vilehart]

oh god as much as i love this gif i know what anime it is from and lets just say that what has been seen cannot be unseen

[HakuroDK]

As long as the items don't unlock game content like dungeons or quest chains, and they don't grant gear with stats (except for stuff like the Bomb Earrings which grant a flavor-esque +2 Fire Resist that's pretty much negligible in the grand scheme of things), then I'm fine with a cash shop.

Vanity gear sets? Sure! Items like Fantasia that edit things that cannot necessarily be edited, but generally don't affect general gameplay (i.e. Namingway Cards for character/FC/Chocobo/Retainer, Holy Symbols of Twelve to change Patron Deity, etc)? Why not? Special housing items that look pretty? I can't see a reason why it would be a bad thing.

Hell, when I was still playing DCUO, there were even a few QOL items in the cash shop, like a one-use Summonable Repair/Mail/Bank NPC, and I don't see anything wrong with those either, because everyone has access to those same things if they go into towns.

[Bloodclaw]

Hell, when I was still playing DCUO, there were even a few QOL items in the cash shop, like a one-use Summonable Repair/Mail/Bank NPC, and I don't see anything wrong with those either, because everyone has access to those same things if they go into towns.

I sort of see an issue with this because time management is a game mechanic. Your paying to spend more time in the thick of it the good content. Sort of like paying for skipping lines at a roller coaster.

In an odd way it would be like power leveling. Paying cash to level faster with not needing to go back to town.

[HakuroDK]

I sort of see an issue with this because time management is a game mechanic. Your paying to spend more time in the thick of it the good content. Sort of like paying for skipping lines at a roller coaster.

In an odd way it would be like power leveling. Paying cash to level faster with not needing to go back to town.

There's a bit of a difference, at least with DCUO vs FFXIV. In DCUO, quests were largely controlled via communicator and could be turned in the same way from anywhere in the game world. In FFXIV, you always have to turn in quests at an NPC with very very few (if any) exceptions, so you always have to go into town. In fact, the best kind of leveling (at least for DoH/DoL) is through Leves, and you're always in town that way.

Mail isn't used frequently at all unless you're an RPer or transferring items from one character to another or something, so that would be virtually harmless.

Repair NPCs would be a huge boon for folks who do raid or run EX Primals, because there's always that one guy who didn't repair their gear before they went in and, 9 times out of 10, if the group leaves the instance, at least two or three people will just flat-out drop the group, possibly ending the run altogether, because of that one guy who didn't repair gear first.

Bank NPCs... fair enough, those would probably not be a great idea.

But I don't think it would be like power leveling. Not really. And for most players, many of these QOL things would be a waste of money.

[Bloodclaw]

There's a bit of a difference, at least with DCUO vs FFXIV. In DCUO, quests were largely controlled via communicator and could be turned in the same way from anywhere in the game world. In FFXIV, you always have to turn in quests at an NPC with very very few (if any) exceptions, so you always have to go into town. In fact, the best kind of leveling (at least for DoH/DoL) is through Leves, and you're always in town that way.

Mail isn't used frequently at all unless you're an RPer or transferring items from one character to another or something, so that would be virtually harmless.

Repair NPCs would be a huge boon for folks who do raid or run EX Primals, because there's always that one guy who didn't repair their gear before they went in and, 9 times out of 10, if the group leaves the instance, at least two or three people will just flat-out drop the group, possibly ending the run altogether, because of that one guy who didn't repair gear first.

Bank NPCs... fair enough, those would probably not be a great idea.

But I don't think it would be like power leveling. Not really. And for most players, many of these QOL things would be a waste of money.

As I said before, I have a very ridged view of games and mechanics. Every restriction is an obstetrical designed to challenge the player to deal with. Time management in included. In ESO people are pissed because horses cost a shit ton of gold and the areas are huge, making getting anywhere in the game take time. This is pushing people to pay the $20 for the free horse.

Time is what makes the difference between a player have 4 level 50 classes and 8 level 50 classes. So when you start putting convince items to be bought, you mess with the time aspect of the game, taint it even, as you are paying to win it. I just could not agree with these in a cash shop.

[Malamasala]

There are many ways to do cash shops. And every cash shop that offers unique "you can only buy it" merchandise, is going to end up making people quit that want it, but do not agree with the price. This is why it is beyond insane to suggest vanity cash shops.

People quit TERA because half the appeal of the game was the Elins. (There is a reason they just released a new class that was Elin only). And cash shops where horribly abusing these Elin players. (25 dollars for ONE swimsuit, account and character locked)

Scarlet Blade was also going downhill fast because the company insisted on selling 200 dollar vanity gear or 10 dollar RNG boxes. Every weekend it was "Spend 200 dollars this week, and get a free vanity suit". Can you imagine that? They expected you to pay 800 dollars per month, if you wanted to enjoy vanity. 8 freaking hundred dollars.

People hate being ripped off. People hate paying for their items of interest while others get them for free. The only way to make a cash shop that does not bleed customers, is making sure it only sells in-game character/account bound items. Like for example Ifrit weapons, 5 dollars.

[Malamasala]

As someone who kept track of the TERA forums, I know a bit more of the details.

BHS was completely ignoring the localization teams, and where just making the game the way they wanted it. They removed the enchantment (upgrade gear) selling NPC from the game to force their Korean players to use the cash shop. This had the direct effect that the localizations also got their enchantment source removed. EME had big troubles trying to figure out how to solve it. They were stuck handing it out at home-made events and the default low drop rate from raids (that was still in the game). Just before going F2P they actually moved those enchantment items into the cash shop, which was probably the killing blow for people to leave. In the EU version it was even worse though, because they listened and did not add it to cash shop. Which meant in EU you had to grind SLOWLY entire weeks and months to upgrade your gear. Plenty of people cried out on the forums that this was so boring and slow they wanted cash shops with the enchantment items.

BHS latest move of removing the old vanity system in favor of the new one is also interesting because it ties in with our glamour. They started adding "multi slot pieces" and ran into the issue that free slot vanity + multi slot pieces = a mess. If you have a head + body piece, and vanity only head, what should happen? So they scrapped the old vanity system and went with the "FF14" solution of making sure all vanity is of the same size. In this case, all vanity is full body. (Actually this is worse than FF14 system, but at least not as complicated)

So now we have TERA and FF14 showing us that there is no dumber armor design, than multi slot armors. Hopefully post 2015 we'll never see a MMO with that system again.

[Lumidus]

My main gripe about tera was when they sold all the mounts and weapon skins. For ffxiv, im sure they will make a killing on minions. Lots of people upgrade to collectors edition for the little bonuses.

[Shadex]

Absolutely nothing. We pay a subscription for a reason. Devs should never ever put anything in a cash shop in a sub game with the rare exception that it be 100% attainable without paying and offer zero game benefit beyond visuals.