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EA's Stance On Microtransactions


Cavell

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Just for folks wondering what's potentially in store for TOR's F2P model, I thought I'd offer EA CEO John Riccitiello's musings on microtransactions:

 

 

The highlight for me?

 

When you are six hours into playing Battlefield and you run out of ammo in your clip, and we ask you for a dollar to reload, you're really not very price sensitive at that point in time...We're not gouging, but we're charging.

 

Something to think about.

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Yep, I can see it.

 

You get to that final door before the last boss in the raid. Everyone clicks on the door and gets a $ over their head. The game opens up a dialog asking you for $1 to continue the raid...

 

Definitely possible in this game's future.

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I think this is some of the things people for f2p are failing to take into consideration.. this is EA doing free to play. If their original ideas don't produce the desired revenue, this game will turn into a pay to win game guaranteed.
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Yep, I can see it.

 

You get to that final door before the last boss in the raid. Everyone clicks on the door and gets a $ over their head. The game opens up a dialog asking you for $1 to continue the raid...

 

Definitely possible in this game's future.

 

Worse yet EA's spin doctors will be going on about how it's a revolutionary step and that they are leading the way of the future of the f2p model.

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I remember all the platitudes that Cryptic Studios gave about how their Cash Store was going to be "nothing but cosmetics and fluff"...

 

Then, they did a test. They took one of the ultimate fan favorite ships (Excelsior) and put it into the shop. And they made it better (tactically) than the in-game Sovereign class.

 

People were hooked, and in-general they overlooked the P2W aspect, because they loved the Excelsior.

 

It went downhill from there, and when the F2P finally hit, every ship going into the store, was better than same-tier in-game ships.

 

The same will happen here. We'll start of with cosmetics and fluff, then they will test us, and see how we react. If the results are favorable, they will open the floodgates, and it'll be all downhill from there.

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I think this is some of the things people for f2p are failing to take into consideration.. this is EA doing free to play. If their original ideas don't produce the desired revenue, this game will turn into a pay to win game guaranteed.

 

Every F2p game I have played eventually became p2w. Invariably items that were only available through either tedious grinding (if you were lucky) or through the cash shop (statistic boosting items that, unless you had.. you would always loose engagements) or pets (Think Phoenix in PWI) that gave the user an incredible advantage over non cash shop using players unless they spent hours and hours grinding coin to buy the items from players who paid for them to eventually get a Phoenix (I was the second player on my PWI server to acquire the Phoenix... it was an instant win in fights against almost anyone else in Territory wars until they became more common, there were ways to neutralize some of it's advantages but.. if you came up against a Venomancer with a Phoenix.. you could basically expect to die... quickly).

Edited by Saitada
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LOL.. you guys are hilarious. :)

 

There is absolutely no support for what you are saying in the context of an MMO, but I am entertained.

So you're saying that just because EA is known to try and gouge the **** out of customers in their single-player games, they're unlikely to do so in their MMOs?

 

Interesting.

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So you're saying that just because EA is known to try and gouge the **** out of customers in their single-player games, they're unlikely to do so in their MMOs?

 

Interesting.

 

But EAware has said it wont happen. So it must be true.

 

Just like everything they've said the last 5 years has been...

Edited by DahLliA
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LOL.. you guys are hilarious. :)

 

There is absolutely no support for what you are saying in the context of an MMO, but I am entertained.

 

Oh really?

 

Go check out Star Trek Online. You'll quickly learn about the ugly, hideous, downright evil side of F2P MMO.

 

Once a game goes F2P, it's primary (if not sole) source of revenue is Cash Shop. And since they need steady sales in the Cash Shop, that means anything and everything is on the table in terms of Real Money Transactions (RMTs) even to the point of the things people need for day to day play.

 

Playfield access passes in AoC anyone?

 

You might want to do a bit more research into the world of F2P/P2W MMOs, given your statement.

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LOL.. you guys are hilarious. :)

 

There is absolutely no support for what you are saying in the context of an MMO, but I am entertained.

 

LOL You are Hilarious. My experience, in the context of MMO's that have gone F2P or that started out F2P shows me that with out fail.. they become pay to win. Even games like PWI where every item in the cash shop can be purchased from other players (who bought them) using in game coins, in effect became pay to win, because if you didn't have them. you lost.

 

That is years of gaming experience and well over $2000 dollars spent by me to prove the point to myself that this is the actual case in these types of games. I'm not complaining about the money I spent. I can afford it. But I have found that the type of people who flock to F2P games are not the type of people I care to associate with. They are generally rude, and immature individuals who's parents obviously didn't teach them even the basics of good manners.

 

Having endured such behavior in PWI, AION and STO, as well as NFS:World (I enjoy driving around the city, and ignore the players) and BF3, I simply won't put up with it in SW:TOR and if/when that begins to happen I will let my sub lapse, uninstall the game and never look back.

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Stop fearmongering - thats not the F2P model they are using.

 

This isn't baseless fear mongering though, many people are talking from both experience with other MMOs and just general knowledge of what EA are like. If you don't like people being worried about where this game's future lays, I suggest you stop reading the forums.

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Don't worry. They'll probably wait a year or so.

To kill the game then? Most MMO developers have come to the conclusion that this is a bad way to charge players, even many Facebook games changed in recent times... but yes EA has a well deserved bad reputation and BioWare has already made so many mistakes that this might be possible just another one the make (probably the last one).

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To kill the game then? Most MMO developers have come to the conclusion that this is a bad way to charge players, even many Facebook games changed in recent times... but yes EA has a well deserved bad reputation and BioWare has already made so many mistakes that this might be possible just another one the make (probably the last one).

It wouldn't shock me if Bioware's done after this. DA2 was a roundly-criticized crapfest, ME3 sold brilliantly but alienated an awful lot of Bioware's longtime fans, and TOR goes F2P without making it a year, seeing over a million subs drop in the meantime. Their track record's been abysmal since the buyout.

 

Either way, Bioware's not the one calling the shots on this game. Bioware's not even a separate entity from EA.

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The only company I trust with a F2P model is ArenaNet and what they have done with GW1. There store has been cosmetic and convenience for years. Never has it strayed from that. They have the same model with GW2 and they will stick to their guns with cosmetics and convenience because they always have. The thing I am stoked about with this game is that I will never have to pay a dime for it again as long as I live. I started playing this game for the stories that I liked in KOTOR. This game's best part is the story lines. I will hop back into this game 6 months after playing GW2 and I will play it like i play KOTOR 1 and 2 every year, and then I will put it down and play something else.

 

There is a weird thing with MMO's that makes us think we have to play them for years on end. we don't. This game was not designed to be played for years on end and maybe that is the problem.

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My main issue with F2P is not microtransactions themselves. It can be done well. My problem is with the mindset of the one in charge. It does not impress.

 

The only company I trust with a F2P model is ArenaNet and what they have done with GW1. Their store has been cosmetic and convenience for years. [...]

 

This. I don't mind microtransactions, especially if I feel I've gotten more than my money's worth out of the game, and the CS stays Pay2Pretty only. I already didnt trust EA, but this just cemented that as a fact. Well done OP. I also quoted that, and posted a link on GameFAQs, in hopes others will see it, and spread it around. Just trying to help out EA. :p

Edited by Katsuragisama
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LOL.. you guys are hilarious. :)

 

There is absolutely no support for what you are saying in the context of an MMO, but I am entertained.

 

It absolutely boggles my mind that you can have audio of the CEO in charge of the game we're playing and discussing (if you can call majority of what happens on these forums "discussion"), and you can claim it has no relevance to the situation and laugh it off.

 

I'm not positive where all this will end up, but to act as if there's no valid reason for concern is astounding.

 

"Honey, HONEY WAKE UP! There's a man outside our bedroom window with a hockey mask an a knife!"

 

"Go back to bed woman, there's no evidence he's going to come in here..."

Edited by mightylawngnome
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