Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place 5+ days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Phase II testing is currently taking place 5+ days each week. More information about testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
Mr. Sharif has put up millions of his own dollars which he could have used to retire, and risked them all to make a game that he loves, so that others can play as well. He's made hundreds if not thousands of real promises to employees, vendors, banks, not to mention all those who have Pledged, or will Pledge.
The burden of keeping those promises falls on his shoulders, and his ability to keep them will depending largely on cash flow. Every dollar spent on cosmetics now is that much longer his investment can carry Ashes forward.
The game was entirely fully funded.
Mr Sharif did this seemingly because he wanted to make the best mmo. The best mmo doesn’t have a cash shop.
There are other alternatives to monetization. He doesn’t have to do cash shop model and people who will be purchasing his product on a monthly basis can give alternative ideas on the forum he created to get said customer feedback and ideas.
People literally increase prices on items in order to curb sales when supply temporarily can't meet demand. This basic fact goes across all products in all industries across the world.
Seriously, go to any Economics101 paper, and this will be covered in the first 10 minutes.
Maybe you should write a paper on it.
Could you explain how they will “lose players” by having the price of their product at say $20, or any other price higher than $15, at launch of a brand new game? They have no players to lose at release, so they will only be gaining players. Also, don’t people tend to be more willing to pay more than average for products of better quality. If this mmo is aiming to be of higher quality than the current ones, shouldn’t the cost be more?
At best, this line of inquiry can be killed off by simply pointing out that we are talking about ASshes having fewer subscribers with a $20 fee than it would have with a $15 fee - regardless of when the increase in cost happens - and it is an increase in cost because we have already been told it is $15. Not always.
As I have said several times though, this isn't the point. I've said before I am personally fine with Intrepid charging $20 a month. However, as I have also said - that will mean fewer subscribers than if they stick to $15.
I don’t agree the second part. Just because a product is cheaper that does not always equal more sales… there are plenty of cheap products that do worse in sales than more expensive counter parts.
Also, I don’t think when things are in development it is fair to hold onto word of mouth initial anything, including sub cost. No one has paid it yet and the game isn’t out.
Regardless, none of this changes my mind on cash shops so we can probably just stop this debate, Noaani. It was just my opinion after all.
A product being more expensive equals less sales. Cases where this doesn't happen are so rare, they become academic research topics.
Keep in mind, you are not arguing with me here - you are essentially arguing with the entire field of economics.
People should focus more on what is being accomplished here, there are so many good things about this game. Its okay not to agree with every aspect of it and if you really cant stand it..dont. As was said, there are other games.
I for one am really looking forward to finally playing this game and wearing awesome, storebought cosmetics or crafting my own if i find the time for it.
Have a nice day everyone!
Hahahahahaha! Hahahaha! Hehehe! Ahahahaha!
Ahem.
Ahahahahahahahaha.
Ahem ahem.
Right, if you've made your own thread about this, and have seen other threads about this, and still think that the reason it's defended is because people have already bought them, then there's absolutely no hope for you whatsoever. Maybe you should ask whoever helps you to get your shoes on in the morning to pre-read your forum posts. Or possibly whoever pre-chews your food for you.
Right, back to the laughing.
Aaaahahahahahahahahaha.......
You definitely don’t sound like the person I was talking about when you make this kind of response, no not at all. You don’t need to get so defensive and childish about this… it’s just a forum post, mouse boy. Go crawl back in your smelly hole and laugh with all your rodent friends if it makes you feel better, but don’t tag me in your shit posting.
Actually there are studies that show consumers will pay more for a single expensive item, such as an ashes of creation monthly fee, than they will for a combination of cheaper ones, such as cosmetics.
So no, not the “entire field of economics” I really am just arguing with a know-it-all who likes to tear down other’s opinions instead of just sharing his own separately on the ashes of creation forums. Which was my mistake, I won’t respond to the things you say to me anymore.
That's the beauty of a Cosmetic shop. It's entirely optional.
Used or not used, the statement was EVE has no cosmetics. That is therefore wrong.
And it absolutely matters if it's an MMO or not. It's not the same to spend 60€/$ on a game and play multiplayer -- or even getting a Free to Play game and having cosmetics -- than it is to have a subscription based game with cosmetics.
The entire revenue stream for the company making the game is greatly different, and the design philosophies for the game will greatly differ.
Also, I therefore expect you won't be playing the game? You seem to be against the cosmetics. I figure you'll be spending time with some other activity then. If so, what reason to be on these forums? Proselytizing your position?
So does the game being fully funded mean he doesn't get to maximise the profit from his investment? Was this all some charity case in favor of MMO players?
Consider too that the game is not out for at least 2 or 3 years at a minimum. He's basically paying everything out of his own pocket. And that's been the case for what now? 5-6 years?
The Cosmetics and Alpha/Beta keys are the company's sole revenue at this time.
Best mmo does have a cash shop actually. Look at any top mmo on the market. Welcome to 2022, be thankful this one doesn't have p2W unlike every single other mmorpg. If you want to support it that is up to you else you can support every other mmo that goes p2w.
A free trial period is the best way to have the lowest barrier of entry and if the game is good enough, people will pay a reasonable price to sub after becoming invested.
There are studies that show consumers will pay more for a single expensive item, such as an ashes of creation monthly fee, than they will for a combination of cheaper ones, such as cosmetics. So, no, cosmetic shop is not necessarily the best monetization model for funding future expansions.
Where is the data to show that having sub price at launch slightly more expensive than $15 is "detrimental" to a player base? There isn't because you don't have a player base until the game is already launched and people are playing the game. They aren't increasing their price until the game is launched and people are paying a set price and then they would be increasing it at that point.
I was speaking to an "ideal" best mmo that meets the needs of all it's consumers without putting any strain on player experience (as in my opinion, any form of cash shop), which seems to be Stevens dream with this. I was not talking about current mmos.
1. Where does your line draw on where he should stop maximizing his profit? Seems to be p2w for a lot of people. For me, it's cash shops in general. Would you be okay if he sold out this game to maximize his profit? What if he sells to a company that adds p2w in the already implemented monetization model of cash shops? Atleast he maximized his profit, right?
2. I understand their current revenue is cosmetics, and I don't care about that. My whole opinion has been about once they are making revenue from subs and the game is released.
You could have a gameplay/combat demo as a completely separate entity, but then I'm not sure how many people would buy the game (especially at $20) just based off of that.
Guild Wars 2 offers a free period, so does WoW, and Runescape has free to play... there are tons of mmos that offer this in different forms and it works just fine. Actually getting to play the game and becoming invested in my character made me pay for all three of those subs at one point in time. All mmo games have bots and there are other, better measures to stop them.
Also, yes, there's always gonna be bots, but you can either limit their amount or not care about it. Having a full free trial with no restrictions would be the latter option. And it would make GM's work even harder than it already will be.
AoC's market/gearing/crafting design are fully interconnected and keep all tiers of mats/gear valuable. Gear will also not be soulbound, so if you can grind countless mats with a free bot and then sell it on the market - you're devaluing the work of others (a classic with bots).
GW2 doesn't have that as an issue cause its gear is way more horizontal afaik and I'm not even sure about its trading/soulbound systems. WoW pretty much operates on soulbound shit and even still it has bot problems. And I dunno enough about Runescape, but if it's f2p then it obviously has its own designs that fit that monetization scheme.
There are studies that show consumers will pay more for a single expensive item, such as an ashes of creation monthly fee, than they will for a combination of cheaper ones, such as cosmetics. There really isn’t an argument that can convince me to like or want cash shops. Also, no one is addressing the very real possibility that an already implemented cash shop as a monetization model means p2w down the road if the game is sold. Everyone here acts like they work for intrepid’s financial team XD
We are talking about how many people will buy one item at $15 vs the exact same item at $20.
The answer is; fewer.
In an ideal world id be rich and have my own company.
Just because it’s the current model doesn’t mean it’s the right one to use. Yea, it makes a lot of money because it exploits people with fomo, gambling, loot box dopamine, and the like. Hence, why I think cash shops are crap shops. Instead of exploiting people for huge profits, you could just charge a reasonable amount for your product. Especially if you want your product to be long lasting and offer a high quality experience.
Heh - isn't this the exact same impasse where we ended this conversation last time?
It's clear you're fundamentally against a cosmetic shop - totally fine - but Ashes will have a cosmetic shop, that ship has sailed. So just seems like you have to make a decision about what you want to do. Not sure what other outcome you're expecting out of this conversation...