Jahlon wrote: » The reason they have a cosmetic cash shop is because they are keeping the barrier to entry low. Instead of having an initial $59.99 purchase (ala WoW, FFXIV) and then a monthly fee of $15 they are just doing the monthly fee of $15 and an optional cash shop. MMORPGs take millions upon millions of dollars to make. Intrepid needs to have some mechanism for ensure they can not only cover the initial $30,000,000 - $40,000,000 core viable product cost, but also that they can make enough money to keep the game going with a robust expansion schedule. Also keep in mind games like WoW and FFXIV they cover all that development cost for the expansions with the expansion pack price. So when WoW sells 3.4 million copies of an expansion pack in one day and they make $203,966,000 in one day of sales, that is a lot easier to cover the development cost vs having to get 13,333,333 sub months worth of subscribers if your expansion costs $200m and you are only bringing in the money via subscriptions.
Aeri wrote: » Pretty sure in at least one interview, Steven has said that gear dropping in the game will look quite good, and will definitely no be so trashy that you absolutely have to get an outfit from the cash shop to look good.
Sangramoire wrote: » Jahlon wrote: » The reason they have a cosmetic cash shop is because they are keeping the barrier to entry low. Instead of having an initial $59.99 purchase (ala WoW, FFXIV) and then a monthly fee of $15 they are just doing the monthly fee of $15 and an optional cash shop. MMORPGs take millions upon millions of dollars to make. Intrepid needs to have some mechanism for ensure they can not only cover the initial $30,000,000 - $40,000,000 core viable product cost, but also that they can make enough money to keep the game going with a robust expansion schedule. Also keep in mind games like WoW and FFXIV they cover all that development cost for the expansions with the expansion pack price. So when WoW sells 3.4 million copies of an expansion pack in one day and they make $203,966,000 in one day of sales, that is a lot easier to cover the development cost vs having to get 13,333,333 sub months worth of subscribers if your expansion costs $200m and you are only bringing in the money via subscriptions. Very understandable though I'm not arguing to get rid of the cash shop or anything like that so that money would still be coming in for Intrepid Studious regardless, albeit it might be a little bit less than it would if some of the cosmetics aren't as cool as they could be but it would be a trade-off to say keep an extra 3.4 Million subscriptions for an extra 6 months than they otherwise would have. Meaning that on those 3.4 million subscriptions they would make 326,400,000 that they otherwise wouldn't have. That's assuming the player base numbers that WoW has of course since that's what we're basing the example off of. These are also arbitrary numbers as there is no proof that people would stay exactly 6 months more on average. It could be more it could be less. Also, the money coming in from people staying subscribed longer only has to offset the money that is lost due to the cosmetic shop not having as cool cosmetics which I don't think it'd be too much because it would allow for a lot of recolors to be sold some with potentially different glows or effects on the cosmetics you got from in-game drops. It's really difficult to tell which monetization direction would be best but I think it's worth looking into it.
Jahlon wrote: » Sangramoire wrote: » Jahlon wrote: » The reason they have a cosmetic cash shop is because they are keeping the barrier to entry low. Instead of having an initial $59.99 purchase (ala WoW, FFXIV) and then a monthly fee of $15 they are just doing the monthly fee of $15 and an optional cash shop. MMORPGs take millions upon millions of dollars to make. Intrepid needs to have some mechanism for ensure they can not only cover the initial $30,000,000 - $40,000,000 core viable product cost, but also that they can make enough money to keep the game going with a robust expansion schedule. Also keep in mind games like WoW and FFXIV they cover all that development cost for the expansions with the expansion pack price. So when WoW sells 3.4 million copies of an expansion pack in one day and they make $203,966,000 in one day of sales, that is a lot easier to cover the development cost vs having to get 13,333,333 sub months worth of subscribers if your expansion costs $200m and you are only bringing in the money via subscriptions. Very understandable though I'm not arguing to get rid of the cash shop or anything like that so that money would still be coming in for Intrepid Studious regardless, albeit it might be a little bit less than it would if some of the cosmetics aren't as cool as they could be but it would be a trade-off to say keep an extra 3.4 Million subscriptions for an extra 6 months than they otherwise would have. Meaning that on those 3.4 million subscriptions they would make 326,400,000 that they otherwise wouldn't have. That's assuming the player base numbers that WoW has of course since that's what we're basing the example off of. These are also arbitrary numbers as there is no proof that people would stay exactly 6 months more on average. It could be more it could be less. Also, the money coming in from people staying subscribed longer only has to offset the money that is lost due to the cosmetic shop not having as cool cosmetics which I don't think it'd be too much because it would allow for a lot of recolors to be sold some with potentially different glows or effects on the cosmetics you got from in-game drops. It's really difficult to tell which monetization direction would be best but I think it's worth looking into it. So good response, but you literally pulled 3.4 million subscriptions out of thing air with no backing, reason, rationale, etc. I don't think people are going to leave the game over cash-shop cosmetics. This isn't WoW where there's literally nothing to do between expansion packs. Ashes is a living breathing world. There is always something to build.... ...or something to burn down
Snow Fall wrote: » I love cosmetics...can't help it...its the female in me..I totally support the cash shop. I want to look good when getting player killed for looking so good. I will be one of those players that drive you nuts when I change clothes and mounts so many times.
Snow Fall wrote: » I can see where your coming from. A mix of both would be good in the game, you want people to work towards the new hotness of looks, yet some like myself will also get motivated to stay in game longer and show off that costume/mount from the store probably advertising along the way getting more sales from other players. I will want to play longer just to see the new eye candy I just got. If its meh in design/color I will most likely not get it.
Snow Fall wrote: » I wanted to add also, if I am correct on this, as a player you can mix and match individual pieces as well? This would give even more variety to the game as far as looks, combinations, and dyes go. Only things I think we can't mess with would be mounts and pets..That would be a flat skin. And running around on say a purple some sort of mount would not bother me if I stopped by a riverside and another player buys it instantly from the shop and puts that same mount on to stand next to me. This kind of stuff never bothered me. I often have people copy my looks in game, so to me imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
debase wrote: » As Jahlon said above, if this were any other game, you would have a box price. Just pretend that you have $40-60 that you don't need to spend on the box and can buy what you most desire in the cash shop.... or don't and keep the money. To me, if Intrepid does a good job balancing in-game and cash shop cosmetics, they turn a bigger profit... which can in-part be put back into making more content. I want Intrepid to be able to pay the bills because that ultimately translates directly back to me as the player in the form of more content.
