Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Cash Shop Implementation
From what I read there will be a cash shop for purely cosmetic items. I'd prefer we didn't have them, but if Intrepid insists than they should be implemented in an immersive way. It would be a shame for there to be a dedicated icon in the UI to open up a cosmetic cash shop. The best way to implement it would be a physical shop keeper that only pops up once a node has reached the village state. Moreover, I would feel much more at ease if the cosmetic items in the cash shop were purchasable with in-game currency even if it's tagged with a very high markup. The idea of any content (even cosmetic) being walled behind microtransactions leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What do you guys think?
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They have already said that there will be a number of cosmetics available in game, and the armor as we have already seen looks great unlike other games which clothes you in horribly looking armor if you don't spend real world money.
As far as limiting it behind node development, again no. The entire purpose of the cash shop is to keep the game funded and running.
"The entire purpose of the cash shop is to keep the game funded and running." Is this a quote from Steven? Last I read, he said he has the funds to personally see the project through and even the KS was just for bonus features. And the future dev would be funded through our subs... I don't see why the cosmetic shop has to be something that accessible at all times for the game to maintain profitability.
"We’ve got private backing that will allow us to produce a core viable product. What Kickstarter will allow us to do is expand our scope and give our team flexibility and room to breathe."
Also, I don't think you understand how expensive game development is. Consider the companies that use a box price for their game AND have a sub. Take WoW for example, Battle for Azeroth sold 3,400,000 copies in one day. At $44.99 a copy that's $152,966,000.
Ashes isn't charging a box price, which means they have to offset development and maintenance (servers, ISP, staff payroll, utilities, rent, etc) from the monthly sub and cosmetic cash sales.
As far as having "The Black Tuxedo" for sale from both the cash shop and for in-game currency, Intrepid will sell far fewer black tuxedos if they can be bought with gold. The uniqueness, the appeal to the cash shop items is that they will be limited enough by their exclusivity.
For how much Steven says he is catering to all us older MMORPG enthusiasts whom have been "forgotten" and how much emphasis there is on no P2W, it just seems to me that it would speak volumes by simply saying the game won't have microtransactions at all. For me, I'd rather pay via traditional methods (box & expansions & sub) than have cosmetic shop. It just seems more in touch with the idea that this game is trying to revitalize the roots of the MMORPG genre.
They've already disclosed what the business model would be, so that ship has sailed. They aren't going to be able to change that at this point.
As far as micro-transactions, there is a huge difference between "micro-transactions" and a cosmetic cash shop. Microtransactions come with boosts, advantages, etc. The cosmetic cash shop is simply that: cosmetics
The game with a flat $15 a month sub, that will bring people to the game more than it would if there was a box price and a monthly sub.
Of course, the ones that appeared in KS, Summer, and early access packs should remain locked.
I know that game is F2P, so its not quite the same but I suppose I'm just saying its a slippery slope.
My point. A cosmetic cash shop that provides no p2w or convenience, no gifting allowed, no purchases of things in the shop for in game currency, removes all incentive to RMT. No paying for your sub with in game currency, removes RMT. Take the possible ways that people with the agenda of finding ways of even getting a single dollar out of Ashes in the form of real money and you cut down on all the toxic bot and gold seller behavior that plagues the mmo market.
Now we have seen plenty say that the company will spend more time developing cosmetics for sale than the ones they can earn in game for the price of their sub. They have promised parity. All the other promises that Steven has made seem to be fine to these people, but they doubt him on this. We see the "He's rich, game has been paid for, he don't need anything more than my less than 50 cents a day sub!" Intrepid while started with the best intentions in mind is a business. If they look at the return on a sub model and think that supplementing it with a cosmetic shop works better for them to keep development and staff salaries, and even allowing Steven to make money (the horror!) from his and his teams work, than a box price and then putting out a rushed out the door "expansion, only $60" every 6 months, I am more than fine with it. Constantly in posts here you see those with an agenda claim numbers pulled out of their ass. So before the next "all the players want this!" or "a majority would support this, but not that!" posts that pops up, realize these forums are an extremely small slice of the customer base, and for all the "I review on Yelp, so I am a reviewer, hear me roar!" entitlement attitude, you truly are a fart in a hurricane.
Another genuine question I have, has Steven confirmed that cosmetics bought will be account bound? Admittedly a stretch, but it would be unfortunate if people could buy cosmetics for cash and sell them in game for gold or w/e the in game currency is.
It would be different if this was a game like, oh, Neverwinter Online, which I do like to play by the way. But you basically can’t participate in end-game content without paying cash for stuff. People do get turned off by stuff like that which is true pay-to-win.
But AoC will not have that. It has completely optional stuff that gives your gear, mount, pet, boat, house, etc. a different look. That’s it. “Whales” will spend thousands because they have disposable income they want to use to get exclusive-looking things, and their choices save you money because you don’t have to buy a box. Why would you not want that?
But your right, people will be turned away from a box price of course. So the way I see it, is you have some people whom are turned off by box price and those whom despise cash shops.
IMO... I believe that the more hardcore MMORPG players will not be the ones turned away from the box price, and this is the audience which Intrepid should cater to most. It's these players which keep an MMO alive and kicking for the long haul. It's the MMORPG's of the past 5 - 7 years which have put the "whales" and casuals first, and it's the primary reason so many people say the genre's dead.
If you want to know what the shop will have, just look at everything that’s already being offered. Kickstarter, the summer packages, the monthly stuff in the store. That’s what the store will have. Just go look.
The hardcore gamer is not a good target audience because it’s too small. You don’t make that your audience if you want a successful game.
And I ask for an example, because just about every MMO will claim only cosmetics and they never stay true to that vision. Sorry I'm a skeptic, I just have every MMO of the past decade lingering in the back of my mind. And to your point concerning what's been offered, the "head start" which was a part of the kickstarter could also be called P2W, and many content creator's have even agreed to that point. But the only reason we let it slide is because there will be non-head start servers.
A cash shop opens the door to a grey area and I don't care what Steven has promised in that regard. I'm not saying I won't play or anything like that, but the cash shop is a deterrent is the only point I'm trying to get across.
"I now think that an optional cosmetic shop is a better alternative than a forced charge for all of an expansion's content." - That is understandable. Personally I'd rather pay for x-pac's if I had to choose (do we really have to choose?), but not because I think that's the cheaper route. I know for a fact that it's not the cheaper route. I just don't like people attaining items via microtransactions simply because it's not earned via in-game means. For me, it cheapens the whole experience.
I have attained some awesome looking gear from slaying an epic world boss, and there you are.. in equal measure with your $10 costume. It irks me to say the least.
I don’t see a grey area. You’re prejudiced against cash shops clearly. What is it, specifically, about buying a unique-looking cloak or horse that’s a grey area? Grey in what way; what’s the “black” that it’s tainted by? Pay to win? How is it straying into that?
I’m not trying to seem confrontational or anything and I apologize if I’m coming off that way. I don’t mean to tear your post apart or anything, but there are just different points I don’t understand in your post, that’s all.
I am prejudice against cash shops, I won't deny that at all. It's burned me a lot of times. The grey area comes in the form of various convenience items. Saying the cash shop is not P2W, but selling things like early access, more inv slots, xp boosts, etc. It opens a door which always divides gaming communities into its P2W or not really P2W groups.
And even if Steven stays true to his word and my instinct tells me he will (don't get me wrong, I want this game to be great), it does not detract from the fact that I don't like CS for the reason's previously stated: it breaks immersion, its promotes ads, it promotes silly garbage like that teddy bear mount, and its unearned gear. And anyone who says "its not your character, what do you care what I'm wearing" can respectfully GTFO. A large part of an MMORPG is decking out your character in cool gear and showing off said gear. It's the reason we have titles and trophies. We want the world to know what we have competed for, what we have achieved... not what we have bought.
And slightly off topic, I feel we as gamers have been illusioned into thinking cash shop/micro transactions are simply the nature of games in the modern age and that we should just take them for granted, or that it is impossible for a game to stay afloat without them.
- soz for wall of text