Microtransactions Shop for SWTOR: confirmed or not?

Here's a question:

Suppose they only sold the best LOOKING gear in the game in a micro. Say a new orange robe that cannot be crafted but when people see it in game go, "Wow, nice robe dude! Where'd you get that?"

It's certainly no 'advantage' item in that anyone with $10 or $20 can get them in addition to their $15/month sub.

Would you be okay with them selling that or do you think people paying each month should have the right (ability) to be able to craft that as well through a hard to get drop in Nightmare mode?




Before anyone makes some dummass comment about "Aesthetics blah blah" or something, we all know that a large part of playing the game (or ANY game) is acquiring looks for your toon. Most people spend a ton of time on that just trying to get certain crystals, certain cars, or certain hats from bosses so we know there is a huge demand for it.



The question is: Should that be included in the subscription price for $15 or not?

i can tolerate too much SP elements in TOR,but as subs. i cant tolerate $ cash shop..if ever that crap come in game it ll be time for leave without back...brw f..k F2P

The former is what the CE shop was speculated to be and that was overtly denied. The latter is just out of the question, entirely.

Source?

That's what I thought. Thanks for playing your guess is as good as mine.

Get rid of BOP and go player to player sales. It's the future.

It's actually the past.

I do not think it is uncommon to see things like server transfers costing money (hopefully not initially while they're working on population issues, but generally thereafter). Name changes, legacy name changes, etc. are other things I think could perhaps come with a price tag. If they didn't I would suspect that people would abuse those free systems and it could be chaotic. But, that is just a guess. I also have no problem with the sale of vanity items or mounts that server no purpose whatsoever other than being aesthetically pleasing.

I am not subscribing to any conspiracy theories here or throwing my "I will quit! Do what I say!" card on the table, however, I would like to say that if SWTOR ever did go to a cash shop for things like gear, weapons, in-game enhancements, or more character slots (which, in my opinion, are needed to get the most out of the legacy system) it would not be to my personal liking and I might re-evaluate my choice to continue to support and play this game.

Things like this are the reason why I will not play games such as The Secret World which use a subscription model with micro transactions. Does the game look enticing? Sure. But for me, I feel like if I am subscribing to your game I am committing to paying x amount of dollars to play your game until it no longer suits my interests and you, the game developers, are committing to further developing the game until it is no longer profitable for you. If they come out with a big development that expands the universe, I am okay paying a one time fee for that expansion and continuing to subscribe to the game for the smaller developments.

If I play a game that is free to play, I am committing to buying the game without a subscription fee. I am agreeing that in order to support the game I may be enticed to buy additional items that will benefit my characters in game and may, perhaps, make them better, faster, or stronger than they would otherwise be without them. Hence the enticing part.

I get a sickly snake oil salesman feeling when you start to mix the two. It feels ... dirty.

If µtransactions happen, I think LOTRO has a nice model where you buy Turbine points that are redeemable for crafting recipes, cosmetic items, custom mounts, etc...

paid server transfers, character appearance resets, renaming, those are all micro-transactions.

Those will definitely happen.

What Bioware has not confirmed is the sale of any other items. Now back when TOR was first announced they released the idea they were toying with a micro-transaction model and people freaked out.

There is still a stigma about micro-transactions even though it has proven to be extremely profitable and have little impact on a game if done right.

just one example, Blizzard made over 2 million dollars in the first four hours of their Celestial Steed mounts release. This was just a basic flying mount that scaled to the users skill. It was also account wide and only cost 25 dollars.

When I read the thread title, Cash Shops, I thought what a lot of people probably thought. That you wanted the stuff you pay for like in F2P games that directly have an impact on game play like items and abilities.

What your talking about is like the paid character services in WOW. Thing like character transfers, renaming your toon, faction changes, etc ...

I do feel that these services should have a small fee associated with them. Take character transfers for instance. If it were free to transfer a toon anywhere, then people would be transfering toons like crazy. The character recustomization should have a fee associated as well. It makes character creation mean a little more if it is more permanent. If you have to pay a fee to recustomize your character, then you will take more time to make good choices when you are first creating your character.

Paid services are not BW "shooting themselves in the foot" as someone said earlier in this thread. The key is that the services that are paid CANNOT be anything that has any effect on gameplay.

A server transfer has no effect on how your toon performs in the game. Changing your character's name, sex, or appearance has no effect on gameplay. Selling high end epic drop items or BoE item would have an effect on gameplay. See the difference?