Cash shop confirmed

[Fyrebrand]

There is not one single person who bought/subscribed to this game for "access to the servers only." You are here for gameplay and content. If you had no expectations of anything but basic access to the servers, you would not even be here.

You know what they should do? Advertise what our purchase/subscription money actually entitles us to, according to the Terms of Service, right on the back of the box:

* Experience unprecedented access to all the servers, in true HD! Gilgamesh, Faerie, Balmung, Coerul, Excalibur... and more!! (More than one character per server costs extra)

* Create a character, choosing from any of 5 different races! (Warning: Actually playing character not included)

* Access cutting-edge game features, such as Installation, Update and Maintenance News, Cash Shop, and Forums!


It's funny, I distinctly remember seeing a bunch of trailers and promotional materials that shows things that very closely resembled game content. There were quests and stuff, story scenes, boss battles... But how can this be? Those things are game content, which no purchase or subscription can actually buy. How does one obtain those things? They look cool. Do I have to buy something else, to get Terms of Service that entitles me to play a game?

There's all this talk of new dungeons, rogue/ninja class, Hildibrand... how are people able to play these things!? They aren't in the Terms of Service!!!

[tocsin]

SNIP!!!

Your original Purchase price bought you that. you know, that 30-40 dollars you paid up front, before even starting to subscribe?

and agreed. SE provides us with a lot more content for no added cost than we are entitled to. The Ninja job and all of the new content after 2.0 could have, and perhaps should have cost us extra money. It would be good business.

also, please don't tell me what I did or did not purchase the game for. I purchased the game to access the servers that my IRL friends were on, in order to socialize with them in a more cost efficient way. whatever content there is, has been only a bonus to my social experience.

[polyphonica]

In the end, this whole thing basically amounts to a subscription price increase. But, rather than just saying "we're going to raise everyone's subscriptions by $5/mo. to cover our steep on-going development costs and the infrastructure improvements we need", they've chosen instead to add more optional services so that people who want the extra things pay and everyone else continues to pay the old rate. It's basically just a different way of raising the extra funds (i.e. usage fees vs. tax).

The issue basically comes down to whether you believe the funds raised are going to go directly back into the game, as they pledged, or whether you think it's purely to line some shareholder's pocketbook. Since we don't really have the numbers or know the true costs, we can't really know. People have a view that "my $15 should be enough to cover everything", but that's the price that Blizzard set 10 years ago when WoW launched, and even they added an optional item cash shop since then.

Obviously it makes sense that customers complain about price increases no matter what form, but it's probably true that this way of masking it causes less waves than a global subscription price increase would. We'll have to wait and see if the game on the whole reaps the benefits of the added funds.

[Mjollnir]

Fair point, though if I'd wanted the Blizzard experience, I would have subscribed to WoW.

[Hysterior]

if one single mount is twenty dollars, how much the 2.4 expension goimg to be...?

[polyphonica]

if one single mount is twenty dollars, how much the 2.4 expension goimg to be...?

I'd guess $39.95 or $79.95 for the CE with the action figure. I suppose they might have a digital deluxe too.

[Xakery]

[Jandor]

I'd guess $39.95 or $79.95 for the CE with the action figure. I suppose they might have a digital deluxe too.

And then another $40 to get all the stuff they took out of it to put in the cash shop.

[tocsin]

How many times can I upvote this?

[Xakery]

How many times can I upvote this?

As many times as you want!

There is so much butt hurt rage in this thread. If ya'll just beg your mommies to raise your allowance and hang out in your refrigerator to calm your tits, you'll be fine. Until then, I'm going to get water. It is so salty in this thread.