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BHS Introduces Premium Item Cash Shop for K-TERA

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Comments

  • Sector13Sector13 Member UncommonPosts: 784

    Originally posted by Deron_Barak

    Originally posted by Sector13


    Originally posted by Deron_Barak


    Originally posted by Sector13

    Another attempt to bleed money from their small niche of a fanbase. Make you pay and sub and add a cash shop, wow, why even bother with P2Ps anymore?

    Because the purchases aren't required?

    They aren't required in F2Ps either but people still complain about them ... or is TERA different just because it's the game you happen to like atm?

    Come now Sector, you knew what I was refering to.  In case you didn't here is a short explaination:

    P2W, otherwise known as "Play to Win", is a term used when an MMO's items shop contains items that give a tactical advantage to the buyer over players that choose not to buy them.

    Items from a shop that do not fit this description are refered to as "Vanity Items".  These can be special looking mounts, weapons and armor that are for looks and other items of a "visual only" nature.

    "Required" has to do with being at a disadvantage if you don't purchase P2W items, that's why people complain about them though they should expect it from a F2P title.  If an MMO with a sub model does it they will never get my business.  I don't think any company is stupid enough to try considering it's harder to release a sub game and any bad publicity can be disasterous.

    Depends where you draw the line with P2W and Required. There are plenty of F2Ps that only have vanity and convinence items but people still call them P2W. I don't see how a Chronoscroll is any different from a P2W item but people are more then willing to defend it for some stange purpose. The idea that there are items in the game that are only available by paying IRL money should be considered a bad thing ... but since it doesn't make your character better then it's ok? Don't see how that is any different then DLC, especially in a game you have to buy and then pay a sub for. They expect you to pay for even more content on top of that. Wow, it must be nice to be in love with a game so much that you don't mind that they rip you off. I wish I had that kind of money to just throw away.

  • BeackerBeacker Member UncommonPosts: 440

    Originally posted by Sector13

    Originally posted by Deron_Barak


    Originally posted by Sector13


    Originally posted by Deron_Barak


    Originally posted by Sector13

    Another attempt to bleed money from their small niche of a fanbase. Make you pay and sub and add a cash shop, wow, why even bother with P2Ps anymore?

    Because the purchases aren't required?

    They aren't required in F2Ps either but people still complain about them ... or is TERA different just because it's the game you happen to like atm?

    Come now Sector, you knew what I was refering to.  In case you didn't here is a short explaination:

    P2W, otherwise known as "Play to Win", is a term used when an MMO's items shop contains items that give a tactical advantage to the buyer over players that choose not to buy them.

    Items from a shop that do not fit this description are refered to as "Vanity Items".  These can be special looking mounts, weapons and armor that are for looks and other items of a "visual only" nature.

    "Required" has to do with being at a disadvantage if you don't purchase P2W items, that's why people complain about them though they should expect it from a F2P title.  If an MMO with a sub model does it they will never get my business.  I don't think any company is stupid enough to try considering it's harder to release a sub game and any bad publicity can be disasterous.

    Depends where you draw the line with P2W and Required. There are plenty of F2Ps that only have vanity and convinence items but people still call them P2W. I don't see how a Chronoscroll is any different from a P2W item but people are more then willing to defend it for some stange purpose. The idea that there are items in the game that are only available by paying IRL money should be considered a bad thing ... but since it doesn't make your character better then it's ok? Don't see how that is any different then DLC, especially in a game you have to buy and then pay a sub for. They expect you to pay for even more content on top of that. Wow, it must be nice to be in love with a game so much that you don't mind that they rip you off. I wish I had that kind of money to just throw away.

    The Chronoscroll is suppose to be used to take away from the RMT. Also I don't see it being a big deal since Person A can purchase it for real money and then person B can then pay for it with ingame gold. Essentially you can be the person buying the scrolls for ingame gold you farm and never pay for a sub thus it is free. What is wrong with that? Chronoscrolls are not pay to win by any means. Some people would rather purchase a scroll and sell it to make some money in game. Others just want to spend ingame gold only. Both sets of players benefit really and it is not making either of these people pay to win.

    http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/introducing-chronoscrolls  There is a link to educate yourself on them.

     

  • Deron_BarakDeron_Barak Member Posts: 1,136
    The only thing I don't like about Chronoscrolls is that there doesn't seem to be a cap to how many you can own or a "cooldown" once you do. Time will tell if it does what it's supposed to do.

    How much P2W Chronoscrolls is depends on what you can buy with the gold. Last time I checked people were complaining that crafted items were not as powerful as looted items. Also, items from dungeons are going to be BoP so those two things means that the amount of P2W Chronoscrolls will be is close to nothing.

    As far as vanity items go I also thought it was a rip off of subscribers until I thought about the numbers. Would one of the featured items take a whole month to make for one person? Probably not. If BHS sells 200 mounts at 25.00 a pop that's $5,000... I'm sure the items will pay for themselves and more.

    Is it nice to get more development than the 15.00 I pay every month? I'm sure it will be.

    Just not worth my time anymore.

  • PivotelitePivotelite Member UncommonPosts: 2,145

    Originally posted by Deron_Barak

    The only thing I don't like about Chronoscrolls is that there doesn't seem to be a cap to how many you can own or a "cooldown" once you do. Time will tell if it does what it's supposed to do.



     

    They said there will be a cap on how many you can buy per X amount of time I believe, it was in one of Taugrims interviews.

     

    Also Sector, anyone who wants to buy gold in any game will and its not that hard to do, at least now people can buy from the source, benefiting the company and someone in game can get a free subscription, benefiting that player and the person that would have instead bought gold is at less risk of being scammed by a third party site. So all in all, it seems much more beneficial than gold sellers providing the gold to gold buyers.

    image

  • stormseekazstormseekaz Member UncommonPosts: 168

    *facepalm*  Ugh this makes me so happy that I canceled my En Masse preorder about a week ago...

    I'm becoming really afraid that every single game is going to have a cash shop now.  The thing that bothers me most about it is that cash shops prey on people's addictive personalities.  Its a shameful thing for companies to do.

  • Deron_BarakDeron_Barak Member Posts: 1,136
    A person blaming someone else for their problems is pointless and only hurts themselves.

    Just not worth my time anymore.

  • rexzshadowrexzshadow Member Posts: 1,428

    Originally posted by stormseekaz

    *facepalm*  Ugh this makes me so happy that I canceled my En Masse preorder about a week ago...

    I'm becoming really afraid that every single game is going to have a cash shop now.  The thing that bothers me most about it is that cash shops prey on people's addictive personalities.  Its a shameful thing for companies to do.

    Almost every single company does it not just games lol.

  • Sector13Sector13 Member UncommonPosts: 784

    Originally posted by Beacker

    Originally posted by Sector13


    Originally posted by Deron_Barak


    Originally posted by Sector13


    Originally posted by Deron_Barak


    Originally posted by Sector13

    Another attempt to bleed money from their small niche of a fanbase. Make you pay and sub and add a cash shop, wow, why even bother with P2Ps anymore?

    Because the purchases aren't required?

    They aren't required in F2Ps either but people still complain about them ... or is TERA different just because it's the game you happen to like atm?

    Come now Sector, you knew what I was refering to.  In case you didn't here is a short explaination:

    P2W, otherwise known as "Play to Win", is a term used when an MMO's items shop contains items that give a tactical advantage to the buyer over players that choose not to buy them.

    Items from a shop that do not fit this description are refered to as "Vanity Items".  These can be special looking mounts, weapons and armor that are for looks and other items of a "visual only" nature.

    "Required" has to do with being at a disadvantage if you don't purchase P2W items, that's why people complain about them though they should expect it from a F2P title.  If an MMO with a sub model does it they will never get my business.  I don't think any company is stupid enough to try considering it's harder to release a sub game and any bad publicity can be disasterous.

    Depends where you draw the line with P2W and Required. There are plenty of F2Ps that only have vanity and convinence items but people still call them P2W. I don't see how a Chronoscroll is any different from a P2W item but people are more then willing to defend it for some stange purpose. The idea that there are items in the game that are only available by paying IRL money should be considered a bad thing ... but since it doesn't make your character better then it's ok? Don't see how that is any different then DLC, especially in a game you have to buy and then pay a sub for. They expect you to pay for even more content on top of that. Wow, it must be nice to be in love with a game so much that you don't mind that they rip you off. I wish I had that kind of money to just throw away.

    The Chronoscroll is suppose to be used to take away from the RMT. Also I don't see it being a big deal since Person A can purchase it for real money and then person B can then pay for it with ingame gold. Essentially you can be the person buying the scrolls for ingame gold you farm and never pay for a sub thus it is free. What is wrong with that? Chronoscrolls are not pay to win by any means. Some people would rather purchase a scroll and sell it to make some money in game. Others just want to spend ingame gold only. Both sets of players benefit really and it is not making either of these people pay to win.

    http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/introducing-chronoscrolls  There is a link to educate yourself on them.

    I love that fans keep linking like I don't know what they are. Though it seems you guys would rather be ignorant the understand the meaning of P2W is. It's facepalm worthy to see how you can defend this practice and not at least quesiton it. A person pays money for an in game item for gold, spending real money for in game gold that gives them an advantage over other players ... that's what P2W is ... but whatever, trying to convince blind fans is no different then talking to brick walls, but at least brick walls serve an actual purpose in life.

  • Sector13Sector13 Member UncommonPosts: 784

    Originally posted by Pivotelite

    Originally posted by Deron_Barak

    The only thing I don't like about Chronoscrolls is that there doesn't seem to be a cap to how many you can own or a "cooldown" once you do. Time will tell if it does what it's supposed to do.



     

    They said there will be a cap on how many you can buy per X amount of time I believe, it was in one of Taugrims interviews.

     

    Also Sector, anyone who wants to buy gold in any game will and its not that hard to do, at least now people can buy from the source, benefiting the company and someone in game can get a free subscription, benefiting that player and the person that would have instead bought gold is at less risk of being scammed by a third party site. So all in all, it seems much more beneficial than gold sellers providing the gold to gold buyers.

    So, a company says RMT through them is ok, so RMT is ok all of a sudden? It's just a company using another method to get money from you instead of another source. I swear, BHS and EME are just going to throw anything in the cash shop and not care cause you guys are so loyal over this game that it's not even funny. They can do anything and you'll find a way to defend it. They could give away max level characters and you guys would find a reason to defend it.

  • GanatharGanathar Member Posts: 143

    I don't like the idea of TERA having a cash shop, even if it's only for cosmetic items. However we are getting ahead of ourselves, EME dosen't have to put this CS in the NA version. http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/EMEs-Response-to-Koreas-Item-Shop-Announcement?page=1#post-191786

    I just hope they don't put it in the game. Sure it won't affect me much but still...

  • XasapisXasapis Member RarePosts: 6,337

    The only thing that we know is included for now in the western version is the chronoscrolls, which is the EVE's Plex equivalent or GW2 ... something equivalent.

    TSW, we know for a fact that it'll include some sort of cash shop. Tera, not so much.

  • Shroom_MageShroom_Mage Member UncommonPosts: 863

    Don't know if this is indicative of anything, but...

    http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftera.hangame.com%2Fshop%2Fpopup%2FtcatInfoAdd.nhn&act=url

    If I'm understanding Google's (poor) translation correctly, they appear to be selling non-cosmetic items for T-cats.

    "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

  • rexzshadowrexzshadow Member Posts: 1,428

    Originally posted by Shroom_Mage

    Don't know if this is indicative of anything, but...

    http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftera.hangame.com%2Fshop%2Fpopup%2FtcatInfoAdd.nhn&act=url

    If I'm understanding Google's (poor) translation correctly, they appear to be selling non-cosmetic items for T-cats.

    there seem to be some convience item like prevent crystal from breaking, on the spot rez item, reset cooldown on dungeon, make none enchantable item enchantable, guild hp and mp buff, and i think an item that locks your item so it can't be traded? So far nothing game breaking, the equips be total waste of money considering how easy they are to get. Still i prefer hats instead =X

  • itgrowlsitgrowls Member Posts: 2,951

    LMAO this is soooo ironic in so many ways. Hi, TERA fans, yeah that's right your game now has a store as well. yep.

    I await the day they add potions or scrolls for minor game enhancements so we can see the ten thousand posts about it in the forums about the evils of have 1 hour experience enhancement and how it will be game breaking, rape and pillage and cause whole cities to become a pillar of dust.

    Yeah that post about the items, am i missing something or are they actually selling weapons. Kinda makes me smile a bit more if they are considering GW2 isn't image

  • LeucentLeucent Member Posts: 2,371

    Originally posted by itgrowls

    LMAO this is soooo ironic in so many ways. Hi, TERA fans, yeah that's right your game now has a store as well. yep.

    I await the day they add potions or scrolls for minor game enhancements so we can see the ten thousand posts about it in the forums about the evils of have 1 hour experience enhancement and how it will be game breaking, rape and pillage and cause whole cities to become a pillar of dust.

    On top of that, they have a monthly sub, lol.

  • itgrowlsitgrowls Member Posts: 2,951

    Originally posted by Leucent

    Originally posted by itgrowls

    LMAO this is soooo ironic in so many ways. Hi, TERA fans, yeah that's right your game now has a store as well. yep.

    I await the day they add potions or scrolls for minor game enhancements so we can see the ten thousand posts about it in the forums about the evils of have 1 hour experience enhancement and how it will be game breaking, rape and pillage and cause whole cities to become a pillar of dust.

    On top of that, they have a monthly sub, lol.

    yep and they seem to be selling weapons! which GW2 isn't, Isn't that speshal!

  • GanatharGanathar Member Posts: 143

    Originally posted by Shroom_Mage

    Don't know if this is indicative of anything, but...

    http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftera.hangame.com%2Fshop%2Fpopup%2FtcatInfoAdd.nhn&act=url

    If I'm understanding Google's (poor) translation correctly, they appear to be selling non-cosmetic items for T-cats.

    T-cats are obtained buy subbing to KTERA. Now that the CS has been implemented in KTERA, a small amount of T-cats is provided for every cosmetic purchase too.

    Of course we don't know what will hapen in EU/NA TERA, Knox said that EME are discussing about the idea of T-cats that are only gained through subbing in one of his posts.

  • GanatharGanathar Member Posts: 143

    Originally posted by itgrowls

    Originally posted by Leucent


    Originally posted by itgrowls

    LMAO this is soooo ironic in so many ways. Hi, TERA fans, yeah that's right your game now has a store as well. yep.

    I await the day they add potions or scrolls for minor game enhancements so we can see the ten thousand posts about it in the forums about the evils of have 1 hour experience enhancement and how it will be game breaking, rape and pillage and cause whole cities to become a pillar of dust.

    On top of that, they have a monthly sub, lol.

    yep and they seem to be selling weapons! which GW2 isn't, Isn't that speshal!

    Where did you see weapons? I only saw some glasses and a mount in the CS.

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435

    I'll be surprised if going forward every MMORPG doesn't have some form of cash shop, regardless whether it launches with a sub or not.

    As long as it doesn't cross over to P2W (which I realize is different for everyone) or start to heavily influence the game design so that you feel really compelled to buy from it I'm OK with it.

    This title is not likely to thrive on just subs alone, even here in the west so having a cash shop is pretty much expected.

    Wouldn't even suprise me to see it go totally F2P within 2 years.

     

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    The evil side of me kinda laugh at some people here who just bashed GW2s cashshop for a week only to find outnow that TERA is as bad...

    But it really is a shame because Tera is not a bad game and itemshops have nothing to do in a P2P game.

    I was really considering getting this game actually, I had rather fun in the beta but I will not but games with both subscriptions and itemshops. I have continued to play games in the past that added it because I already was addicted (I am not proud over that though), but I will stay away from games who have them at launch.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    Originally posted by Kyleran

    I'll be surprised if going forward every MMORPG doesn't have some form of cash shop, regardless whether it launches with a sub or not.

    As long as it doesn't cross over to P2W (which I realize is different for everyone) or start to heavily influence the game design so that you feel really compelled to buy from it I'm OK with it.

    This title is not likely to thrive on just subs alone, even here in the west so having a cash shop is pretty much expected.

    Wouldn't even suprise me to see it go totally F2P within 2 years.

    I would go further and say if people don´t protest soon every game will have a cashshop including FPS and RTS games.

  • XasapisXasapis Member RarePosts: 6,337

    Let me get this ... a cash shop is introducing a couple cosmetic items in the Korean version of the game, right? Where does it say that said cash shop will be also introduced in the west?

     

    Btw, if it was like Aion (when it was P2P), aka some silly looking weapons and costumes, I can't really call it cash shop. Even worse, the items mentioned have a time limit? Who would buy them with a time limit? (time limit is the reason I won't be purchasing the deluxe digital edition of GW2 btw).

  • itgrowlsitgrowls Member Posts: 2,951

    Originally posted by Ganathar

    Originally posted by itgrowls


    Originally posted by Leucent


    Originally posted by itgrowls

    LMAO this is soooo ironic in so many ways. Hi, TERA fans, yeah that's right your game now has a store as well. yep.

    I await the day they add potions or scrolls for minor game enhancements so we can see the ten thousand posts about it in the forums about the evils of have 1 hour experience enhancement and how it will be game breaking, rape and pillage and cause whole cities to become a pillar of dust.

    On top of that, they have a monthly sub, lol.

    yep and they seem to be selling weapons! which GW2 isn't, Isn't that speshal!

    Where did you see weapons? I only saw some glasses and a mount in the CS.

    on one of the translated page it mentions vouchers for different levels of weapons and armors. they call them gift vouchers but if they can be traded in for in game gear, they might as well just sell the weapons and armor on their site and be done with it,

  • PivotelitePivotelite Member UncommonPosts: 2,145

    Originally posted by Sector13

    Originally posted by Pivotelite

    Originally posted by Deron_Barak

    The only thing I don't like about Chronoscrolls is that there doesn't seem to be a cap to how many you can own or a "cooldown" once you do. Time will tell if it does what it's supposed to do.



     

    They said there will be a cap on how many you can buy per X amount of time I believe, it was in one of Taugrims interviews.

     

    Also Sector, anyone who wants to buy gold in any game will and its not that hard to do, at least now people can buy from the source, benefiting the company and someone in game can get a free subscription, benefiting that player and the person that would have instead bought gold is at less risk of being scammed by a third party site. So all in all, it seems much more beneficial than gold sellers providing the gold to gold buyers.

    So, a company says RMT through them is ok, so RMT is ok all of a sudden? It's just a company using another method to get money from you instead of another source. I swear, BHS and EME are just going to throw anything in the cash shop and not care cause you guys are so loyal over this game that it's not even funny. They can do anything and you'll find a way to defend it. They could give away max level characters and you guys would find a reason to defend it.

     Sector, please keep trying to troll harder. I am not in favor of the cash shop, even if it is cosmetic. I do not want them in any game and I have expressed myself on the official forums about it, saying I do not want to see it brought over from Korea. But if you somehow fail to see the benefit of chronoscrolls over third party gold selling you just lack common sense. If you can not stop the problem, which of course you can't, look how easy it is to sell and get gold in WoW for example, then why not try to curb the problems that RMT through third-parties causes by using chronoscrolls.

    image

  • AmbrosiaAmorAmbrosiaAmor Member Posts: 915

    Part I omiited since it was posted for another forum thread.

     

    Part II: New translation given about an hour ago





    http://translate.google.com/translat...dd.nhn&act=url





    Here are the 2 main reasons (explained in part III and Part IV) as to why I think they are adding the cash shop (vanity items for now: high chance of evolving this service to introduce other options) on top of their P2P model.





    Part III. Population issues





    Server Merge:



    BHS Korea: 37 -> 35 -> 15 -> 13 -> 6 (6 being theoretical)



    There are currently 13 servers in South Korea. From the folks I have asked mainly from BG (others outside of BG)who have played K-TERA up to level 58 (some with multiple 58's) I have been told that for the most part the majority (at least 2/3) of the servers are always or almost always green (translates to light population) while only roughly 1/3 of the population being labeled in yellow (translates to normal population). I think they also have the red icon signifying heavy or full population, but from the few charts I was able to gather from Inven, it would seem that is has been a long time since they have hit that high. A couple of folks have told me that some servers are so light that they can easily do another merge and cut it down to half (hence why I placed 6 as theoretical).





    NHN Japan: 10 -> 3 -> 2 (2 being actual)



    Japan only has had one server merge compared to BHS, but this one was rather major. The servers are able to handle I think upwards to close to 3000 players per server. They decided to reduce it to 3 to keep the player base at optimum levels for this reason. Unfortunately this has not helped. Even though the population stabilized at around 7500 after the merge, there has still been a considerable amount of decline from the last couple of months. Considering that the Japanese players do keep a statistical website that takes in Hourly... yes Hourly roll calls, I can safely say that they can drop the servers down to 2. 2 servers are clocking in at around 1550 players, while the 3rd is hovering around 950. For the first time in NHN TERA history, the Japanese population dipped below 4500 this week, during evening prime time playing hours.





    That leaves the remaining 2: Frogster and EME



    Frogster: /Facepalm



    Horrible company all around going from customer service to censorship/banning in the forums to all the way to the top. This will probably have a negative impact on the game in the long run if they don't change their business practices. When Scapes wrote in the old forums that Frogster was going to handle the EU side of things, 65 pages of rage ensued. So much was the backlash that Daniel Ulrich (Director of Product Management) extended an olive branch to quell the masses. We will see how it goes but I have no faith in them to be honest. Nothing more needs to be said here.





    EME: Good so far



    Half of EME is made up of former NCWest, while the other half come from numerous backgrounds. I may give them the benefit of the doubt since NCWest pretty much had their hands tied behind their backs, but NCWest didn't do anything to really improve their image as well. So far they have been doing a good job. We will have to see how the relationship between BHS and EME unfolds and also see how EME handles the game as well as complaints and constructive criticism from the player base.



    As you can see things are looking very grim for NHN. For BHS I would say they are borderline: from doing just O.K. and below average. If the new update does not considerably regain some of those lost subscriptions, chances are they will continue to add more options/items to the premium cash shop and be aggressive overall with the premium service.





    Part IV-A: P2P versus F2P versus Cash Shop (Vanity and Play to Win)





    I will try my best to simplify this, since my posts are very long and going into detail here would make it ginormous. The P2P model comes in 2 formats (generalizing here) and both have been in decline since 2005. A. $4.99-$10.99 P2P model: for all intent and purposes, this model is practically dead. Of the 40 or so that used this model, I only know of 4 that have released a game in the past 3 years. B. $12.99-$15.00 P2P model. This model has also been in serious decline. There have been around 60 or more MMORPG games that "used" to be in this range (Note: not all at the same time period).



    The majority however have fallen into the following categories A. Some have closed down. B. Some use a hybrid model that have premium monthly subscriptions but also a F2P model for those that don't want to pay a monthly fee. C. Have completely transferred over to the F2P model because the company cannot sustain their initial P2P venture. Roughly 75% of those that have followed the "strictly P2P" model have become extinct (or drastically changed their model). There are less than 30 MMORPG games that follow this model and more and more are transitioning to the F2P model.



    This model is becoming so unpopular that the only games operating under the strictly P2P model that have been released from 2010 until now are the following: Rift, SWTOR, Xyson, FFXIV (although everything is riding on Version 2.0 and Yioshida has said he is open to the F2P model in a recent interview) and I am sure I am missing one other game. So there are 5 in total. Besides combat (which I thoroughly enjoy) I really don't see a reason [besides money] why you would add a cash shop on top of a P2P model (which is rapidly becoming unpopular).





    Part IV-B: Theme park versus sandbox versus East and West versus the Code Word: TREND





    Long title. As we all know TERA is strictly a theme park MMORPG. The thing is that at the moment, there are over 550 MMORPG games and the vast majority fall under the fantasy role playing sub genre. For this game to stay P2P for a long time, it will need a good player base that sticks with the game. We all know that you don't need 12 million or 6 million or 3 million players to keep a business afloat. However, with that said, you do need a stable population that will not have a mass exodus after the first 3 months (something that plagues fantasy theme park MMORPG in recent years). The last time a P2P Korean game was "embraced" by the NA/EU market was "probably" Lineage II, and that game came out in 2004.



    I am not sure if there will be enough NA/EU players to stay for the long haul. We already know the die-hard fans will... but what about everyone else? There is nothing wrong with a niche game, but if it becomes too niche, it can and will become a problem from a business standpoint. MMORPG trends have shown that games nowadays become F2P at a much rapid rate. Compare games that came out in 1996-2004 versus 2004-2009 versus 2009-present. It used to take games a decade (or more to go F2P) then it went down to 5 years, then 4, then 3 and now some taking under 3 years to go F2P such as Aion (again talking strictly about the NA/EU market).



    On top of that recent upcoming fantasy based theme park games (some being very popular in Asia and/or NA/EU) have gone the F2P route or might. Phantasy Star Online 2 just announced this week from a media conference that it will be using the F2P model with a cash shop. In a recent interview Massively had with NCSoft they asked what payment model they were going to use [regarding Blade & Soul] (since Lineage II and Aion are F2P in North America). So far they have not finalized what business model they will follow which leaves it up in the air. Recent trends have shown that many companies cannot sustain a P2P model in the long term and are forced to become F2P or a hybrid model with a cash shop (usually starts with vanity items but has a high risk of eventually evolving into a P2W later down the road).





    Part V: My "member" is emotionally invested in this game and the flavor of the month issue.





    Tits. Yes we know. They make the World go round and round. The graphics are nice, but let's not kid ourselves here, a good portion of the guys here are in it for the tail. There is nothing wrong with a 1 track mind (I guess). Will there be a mass exodus of people after the 3 or 6 month mark, will combat be enough, or will the feeling of been-there-done-that surface? I really wanted to enjoy the storyline (the way it was told as well as how the lore was unfolded) and the voice acting. Unfortunately they have been subpar. They are not horrible, but they could of been done much better in greater detail. I was not expecting it to be at the level ala Shawshank Redemption, but I was expecting a little bit more than mediocre.



    The die-hard fans may come with the knee-jerk reaction of: who cares about the story anyway, EME never really advertised the game based on the story but (for the most part) based on the combat. Sure that is fine and dandy, but it would of been nice if the voiceovers and lore and quests were done better: it would of definitely of not hurt. Part of the problem I see in the official forum (White Knights) is that some folks are emotionally invested in the game: mainly because they want to catch the tail or because they have waited over 2 or 3 years for TERA and they absolutely abhor anyone that tries to rain in on their parade.





    *By the way, don't you guys just love how fast news/information travels exponentially faster in 2012 compared to let's say, 2002? Companies need to be extra careful (and quadruple check) what they say because if you don't... well then you get bloopers like the quote I have in my sig.*

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