Skyforge Monetization Detailed
With the Skyforge forum debacle regarding monetization stirring up quite the discussion, the team at My.com said they would be discussing monetization soon. Today, a few key issues were addressed regarding the free to play MMORPG's cash shop concerns. While the whole monetization plan isn't spelled out in full yet, today's post does touch on a few key concerns players have, whether it assuages those concerns I'll leave for you to decide in the comments below.
First up, The Allods Team details their main ideas when it comes to monetization:
Players should not feel like they have to invest a nearly unlimited amount of time in the game to stay competitive.
These seem like ideas we would all agree with as free to play game players. Obviously, they can't run the game for free and need to make a profit and most of us don't have a problem with that concept. The problem comes in when you feel like you simply HAVE to pay to enjoy the game in a reasonable fashion. We don't have a problem with having to pay by itself, either. Most of you reading this are in the same boat I am. You play both free and not free games. You are happy to spend a box price for a game you enjoy. When you blur the line between those two products though, we get a little testy.
The post goes on to address a few concerns player have currently. First, no content is locked behind a cash purchase. All in-game activities are free. Yes, the Argent currency is a cash currency, but you can buy Argent through the marketplace with credits if you don't want to spend real money. The BIG question here was power. Can someone investing money reach higher Prestige levels? Yes and no. Yes in the respect that they can progress a bit faster than a free to play player, but no in the respect that credits simply can't bypass the caps put in place on your Order, your Ascension Atlas progression, and your weapon enhancements. Even if you opt to spend money and progress to higher Prestige levels faster, content groups you with people of similar Prestige levels, so you won't be in a league of your own anyway.
Guilds looking to participate in the Pantheon Wars should also know that the content is tiered to find groups of similar skill and "level.
It's an interesting read but I don't know how I feel about it. I'm still in the boat of having to wait and see what the grind is like without paying before I decide if it's truly a player-centric model.
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About the Author
Mike “Magicman” Byrne has been a part of the MMOBomb family for years and serves as the site’s current Editor-in-Chief. His love for MMOs and gaming in general has led him to covering games for numerous gaming websites including Gamebreaker TV and XIV Nation where he proudly displays his fanboy flag for FFXIV:ARR.
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benkeia says:
Well after playign rusian OB ive concluded a few things
- dont get me wrong there will be many complains but the game there looks AMAZING many things are fixed, progression is alot smoother, they have better mechanics for many things definetly a better version of the game :thumbsup:
- playing the US version is useless both for players and devs, we arent testing anything like the real OB launch version they already have.
- our feedback is meaningless, game is completely different, things like the atlas has being changed, spark rewards, even stupid things like being able to pick up drops while in combat are already there (if you ever complained about those things dont feel special when they change them, cause they where gona do it anyways without your feedback)
- we are testing a sub par outdated version of the game, actually we are not even testing, ( my theory is the US CB is just an excuse to get people hooked up with the game and get them to buy packs) the whole "beta" thing is just a complete lie.
-I would even dare to say that most things people say in this forum never get to the ears of devs, (and was never intended to be that way)
- I wana give some cheers to the ones who came up with the idea of doing US CB im pretty sure they are great marketers
As for me, in my honest opinion, game is... BAD! Landscapes are good though. But game was pretty boring for me, and as I like to say - UI is awful =) (like it was modded by some unskilled kid).
1) If you playing 6-10 hours per-day, after 3-4 days you will spend all your limited points (credits, atlas points, upgrade points) After it you can play with different character's for upgrade class points but it's so BORING or upgrade your cult
2) Repetitive gameplay. When you start over and over and over and over same dungeon with same mob's this really crazy. You even dont have time relax like in other's MMO. When you can go in 1 dungeon - done it , go do some quests and back in dungeon, here you MUST all time go in dungeon to get atlas points (they are different colors on map after 30 minuts all time)
3) Party system SO BAD. You can't trade, you can't complecte mission if your friend not hit mobs it will no count for him. You always have different point's on maps for atlas and this annoying.
4) Forget about new class. You will unlock it if you spend 1+ week, or donate
So i guess. New LIMITE system it is next-gen for MONETIZATION. After 2-3 weeks i am sure we will get new packs with atlas points or new classes for money,
Already 4 days OBT and ppl dont know what to do, coz we have spend our Limits and it's nothing to do in game right now.
P.s Again sorry for my english. I kust want you guys done wast your time on this game.
P2W will burn them down.
Still glad i bought guild wars 2 and its getting an expac. B2P > P2W/sub.
I'm not impressed, and given how these idiots are fighting to defend this system, I'm just going to ignore the game until they decide to fix all the frelling issues it has. If not? Well, it's Allods Team. I don't expect anything from that team of failures, not after the shenanigans when Allods launched.