If Bio/EA used microtransactions, what do you want/not want to see?

I think it does. If you can perhaps theoretically increase the playerbase (more activty), increase revenue (more money / more attractive to lure new players and keep old ones), and increase the amount of frequency of patches everybody wins - as long as it's not done poorly or cheaply.

It's far too late for core-changes but there needs to be some ingenuity here.

Some content/feature is actually worth it even if you have to pay for it, just sayin'.

Paid character transfers. Do not want to see this, at least not until the servers are merged and the ghost towns consolidated.

But it makes more sense if you think - cheaper extended play for long time players.... more friends will stick around... more content maybe.

I think to have think like Account Feature (banks etc), something quality like extra companion quest, or maybe even new class (like wow).

As they release new content all the old content becomes standardized and you end up just paying every year or whatever that major content comes.

That's my view anyway, I'm sure they could ruin it easily and start offering stat-buff and the like.

Micro transactions are a way of fleecing the customers. Given the cost of using MT to experience all the content cost a substantial bit more than the subscription model for a user. If MT were introduced and they bought advantages not available to a subscriber I would be finding something else to do with my limited spare time. While my individual value from the subscription model is not very high due to the limited number of hours I get to play per month it is still better than the cost of trying to access all the same content via MT.

EA/Bioware is on very shaky ground. They're already in patch cycle hell (c'mon EA/Bioware learn to build a proper test harness and do regression testing, have your release managers grow a pair and say 'we're not releasing this patch as scheduled as it isn't tested/is failing testing'). They don't need to be spending developer time on making a MT system when each patch is breaking existing systems, what's going to happen when their latest patch wipes all the items from a character that someone has paid real money through the MTs.

This is narrow minded and simplistic. No game can "Fleece" anyone. Wait, no, I take it back - Dark & Light managed to... But that's another story for another time and totally unrelated!

A proper microtransaction based game can be played fully for free - any extras are inconsequential and not necessary for the experience. The best example is to date League of Legends. If you play competitively or casually, you can still play and enjoy the game whether you spend nothing or far above $15 a month.

If you are incapable of not spending money on microtransactions, that's nobody's fault but your own. If the game requires you to pay to truly experience the game, you've got a case, but at that point the game is more Pay to Win than Free to Play, and that's not what we're talking about.

I think if you cannot see why lotro's implementation of in game shop is cheap and tacky then you would be more than happy in any F2P game.

Personally when I play games I don't want to feel like I am in a star wars/lotro superstore. I want to feel I am playing against a world and not the business model. I prefer the business model to be hidden away as much as possible.

I have a job which pays me a salary, not pocket money from my parents where I spend $5 on a sparkle pony. Yes I am the same when I go to a themepark. I buy the all day all access ticket because I like the freedom to go where I want to go without thinking of the cost.


So if they did go the freemium model then I would like a way sot hat I could pay my subscription and the whole store thing be completely transparent to me so I would not even know it was there which could be done completely client side.

If they would go by LOTRO model, they would have custom orange gear and exclusive vehicles. The problem with this is that usualy those vehicles tend to look a lot better then whatever we can earn by paying our sub and questing/grinding. Wich for me makes me quit the game.

If it follows the model of EQ2, not only would we have the coolest mounts on cash shop, but also any decent looking orange gear, and it would make me quit even faster.

Introducing micro-transactions on top of the subscription is likely to reduce the existing playerbase, if anything; unless they went for a hellish F2P model.

This.

If I am paying fifteen bucks a month for the game, I better be able to get all the content dang it. The only acceptable MT route in my mind is sell short cuts like in Battlefield 3. You can either actually have fun and unlock the items, or you can buy a shortcut and have them unlocked for you. Either way, you should be able to get all the content you pay for, if you want to pay extra for things you can get just by putting a little effort in, fine with me.

My problem with microtransactions is that companies like EA seem to forget how the video game market works. You need to make sure the customer WANTS to buy your product, instead of feeling like they are forced into it to get all the content they have already payed for.