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Invitation to discuss the UWO cash shop.
NortonGB
Member UncommonPosts: 279
As you may know Netmarble/Gpotato get the running & support costs plus any profit only from their cash shops.
UWO is based on the popular growing Free-to-Play business model now widely adapted by hundreds of successful mmorpg's.
Some changes have already been made, however you are invited to discuss & post your views about the cash shop items here or on their official forums in GA voice section.
Please don't post if you don't play F2P or have no intention to, we encourage all those that currently love UWO as there are now many to post 
Comments
Please excuse the double post but it would appear that apart from Vetarnius nobody wants to discuss it for whatever reason.
Let's see if we can get some kind of reasoning for how F2P works going here.
All players can play for free in UWO and most items or ships can be produced free by high level crafters that they sell in bazaars or to their guild mates.
If someone has spend some $$ buying a free from attack for a day why not? If that's how he/she wants to play why not? There are still plenty of merchants in-game for Pirates to pick on.
UWO is extraordinarily well balanced in this respect, far better than Potbs where PVP players have practically cleared the red zones of merchants! PVP players or Pirates can be as elite as they want, but when they prevent or sink merchants too much it can have a severe negative on the populations who are usually 80% PVE in western games.
Koei have allowed for this in UWO by creating safe zones in all of Europe & more dangerous waters go safe for up to a week.
We all know cash shops are there for a reason and that some of the items give advantages, I don't find this to be unreasonable as the games employees deserve to be paid.
So the main issues as far as I see it is when the cash shop items are seen to un-balance the game, like the huge lottery bonds did which have now been removed. I personally do not find the other items like 30% speed, skill or exp bonus to be game breaking but for the casual player an option for 30 or 90 days would be worth buying, 7-days is too short if you have a busy life.
It is fair that cash shop users have some advantages IMO, I usually budget or limit my cash shop expenditure to around $15/month.
What I feel many are confusing the cash shop with are the many end-game goals that still exist in UWO that they have not seen because of the silly amounts observed on the port investor leaderboards which in-fact don't ruin a traders day to day business.
Merchants still get fame, higher court ranks & many prizes or benefits for investing in ports. Playing a merchant class from time to time (as you can switch classes in-game) is also a good way to fund PVP or maritime. You can play one all the time if you want to get rich.
You can learn more about it here.
edit: Don't forget this is only one aspect of UWO, the amount of content or quests for adventurers is huge, maritimers usually end up creating their own wars to enjoy assisted by scheduled monthly battle campaigns with great sea battles.
There is no end in UWO, it is an never ending journey of many long voyages of discovery that takes patience with your friends of a similar "Age of Sail" poineering spirit.
Yo-ho-ho, land-lovers & scallywags beware, it could change your world!
I nominate this guy to win that 3DS. Out of all the posters I've seen, you've put in the most effort.
I cant imagine Wolfe playing with a 3DS XD he dosent even use a G-Potato account you need to use a G-Potato account hehe
hehe why not, I still play with my PSP sometimes but I must confess I'm into more sophisticated pc mmorpg's nowadays.
Pokemon for the win!
Despite all current attempts to make UWO work on a mobile phone or-epad I think it's future developement is best done for the more powerful pc home or cybercafe gaming market.
op:the main issue with most f2p(say excluding uwo (just so we dont bicker)
is the fact that most f2p pull the gambler string
what player call p2w
check silkroad onlline great game but say you want to max everything it will cost you very big bucks to get there trial and error and all
oh in the end you might reach your goal but on average you will leave the game before reaching your goal!
that is why f2p model have a hard time in subscription area like usa
arenanet tho is showing the way tho and f2p will probably adopt a thing similar but till then f2p will need to prove
they can make gaming fair then people wont mind to pay to play!
/agreed, there is still too much of a gambling element in the UWO cash shop which although I'm not against the premium ticket lottery it would definitely pay Netmarble/Gpotato to offer all the items individually to purchase separately IMO.
Many gaming companies are still learning how to get the most out of their cash shops, it's good to see at least one or two that are now taking the initiative.