B2P and Cash Shop is now acceptable?

MorpheusMJW

Hello all,

Usually the business model of a MMO is either F2P with cash shop or subscription model with lower cost purchase. I haven't seen barely any mention on this on the forums, other than when the prices were first announced, so does that mean it is now acceptable to charge £50-120 for an MMO and then tap a cash shop on as well?

 

I could be more forgiving if the cash shop was just more bank slots like in GW1, but paying for character slots, when I have just purchased a £50 game is a bit greedy in my opinion. Add to that genuine advantages (regardless of how large or small and I know they can be very small advantages) people can get from purchasing consumable items, it seems ridiculous to me to even have these items, Arenanet already stand to make around £100million just for box sales alone (a conservative difference between the amount of prepurchases and beta accounts active)

 

I can already imagine people posting 'The cash shop is optional and the advantages aren't even that significant'. Regardless of how significant they are, people have the option to run 25% faster than me, even after me paying £50 for a game.

Its like paying £40 for FIFA and then they have a cash shop for all players in squad to run 25% faster, doesn't seem fair for me. I think the initial purchase should make it so everyone is on a level playing field. Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to playing, but this is the only thing that disappoints me.

 

So what do people think, is it now acceptable to charge £50+ for a game and then adding a cash shop?

Roxtarr

Considering subscription games have cash shops, it's only common sense that a B2P game would have the same thing.

TheDarkrayne

BTP with cash shops has been around for a long time. Any BTP that offers DLC you have to pay for works exactly like a cash shop. Avatars on Xbox live, extra multiplayer maps, new characters, extra content, new character costumes, new weapons etc. etc. Pretty much every BTP has them these days.. they are ALL BTP with a cash shop.

meari

Originally posted by MorpheusMJW

Hello all,

Usually the business model of a MMO is either F2P with cash shop or subscription model with lower cost purchase. I haven't seen barely any mention on this on the forums, other than when the prices were first announced, so does that mean it is now acceptable to charge £50-120 for an MMO and then tap a cash shop on as well?

 

I could be more forgiving if the cash shop was just more bank slots like in GW1, but paying for character slots, when I have just purchased a £50 game is a bit greedy in my opinion. Add to that genuine advantages (regardless of how large or small and I know they can be very small advantages) people can get from purchasing consumable items, it seems ridiculous to me to even have these items, Arenanet already stand to make around £100million just for box sales alone (a conservative difference between the amount of prepurchases and beta accounts active)

 

I can already imagine people posting 'The cash shop is optional and the advantages aren't even that significant'. Regardless of how significant they are, people have the option to run 25% faster than me, even after me paying £50 for a game.

Its like paying £40 for FIFA and then they have a cash shop for all players in squad to run 25% faster, doesn't seem fair for me. I think the initial purchase should make it so everyone is on a level playing field. Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to playing, but this is the only thing that disappoints me.

 

So what do people think, is it now acceptable to charge £50+ for a game and then adding a cash shop?

Let's see... WoW, Tera, Secret World... pay for game? check. Subscription? check. Cashshop? check.

I think you should post this in The Pub as it seems more a genre issue.

 

I don't have issue with GW2 cashshop as it currently is.

sammandar

Originally posted by GrumpyCharr
Considering subscription games have cash shops, it's only common sense that a B2P game would have the same thing.

Agreed. Also consider the fact taht Anet specifically made their CS NOT P2W (fremium). GW2 being B2P, many would have expected Anet to have made the CS P2W; in order to increase their profits. Most of the items in the CS are cosmetic, with a few exceptions such as lvl'ing/karma temporary boosting abilities.

As for character slots, I think 5 slots is sufficient, considering there are 5 races; allows players to have one of each. If you want more no one is stopping you from getting more. Instead of cutting corners in order to allow to you have an infinite number of characters (no game allows that), or by making the game P2P, Anet decided to make certain elements of the game to cost extra in order to streamline the game, make it more affordable and retain quality over quantity.

I personally don't see myself needing more than 5 character slots, however, if I do, I'll be more than glad to pay up for them.

Nadia

Originally posted by MorpheusMJW

So what do people think, is it now acceptable to charge £50+ for a game and then adding a cash shop?

people think its acceptable for sub games to have cash shops?  because most sub games do ..

Caldrin

Sadly cash shops have become part of nearly every MMO.. and DLC for nearly ever other type of game they are both banes on the gaming industry..

Ramanadjinn

Originally posted by MorpheusMJW

 

So what do people think, is it now acceptable to charge £50+ for a game and then adding a cash shop?

 

yep, has been for quite a while.

IPolygon

WoW has a sub fee, b2p and a cash shop. I don't see any problem.

Unknown

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Originally posted by MorpheusMJW I can already imagine people posting 'The cash shop is optional and the advantages aren't even that significant'. Regardless of how significant they are, people have the option to run 25% faster than me, even after me paying £50 for a game.

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There are no run speed boosts on the cash shop.

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Originally posted by MorpheusMJW So what do people think, is it now acceptable to charge £50+ for a game and then adding a cash shop?

---

I'd much rather pay for a game and have a tame cash shop than pay for a game and pay a subscription fee.

 

WolfHaart

I dont see a problem with this really. Sure, if it was B2W I would not agree. But for now, I dont see GW2's cash shop as B2W, more like B4T (buy for time) which lets you speed up some progress. I focus on the Karma bonus and such items. Could be a good thing for those people who dont have much time to play but still wanna make some progress.

And besides, a cash not does not mean you have to use it to be able to play the game. At least not in GW2. For now... (you can never predict the future)

Reizla

Originally posted by meari

Let's see... WoW, Tera, Secret World... pay for game? check. Subscription? check. Cashshop? check.

I think you should post this in The Pub as it seems more a genre issue.

 

I don't have issue with GW2 cashshop as it currently is.

Can't agree more.

To me a MMO is either B2P+Sub, F2P+CS or B2P+CS. Things like the games you mentio having B2P+Sub+CS are milking it too much, and I skip the CS completely

Oziius

Are there really items like speed boost in there?

Oberholzer

I think most games and whatever payment model they have will feature a cash shop of some sort going forward, it seems they are successful and no company is going to pass on more money.

L0C0Man

Originally posted by Praetalus
Are there really items like speed boost in there?

There wasn't last time I checked, but then again, I don't plan on using the cash shop at all so I really haven't followed it much (didn't even bother getting the free gems the previous BWEs). There were potions to get more XP from kills, and to have better chances in crafting IIRC, but there wasn't an actual speed buff, unless they added it in the last BWE or stress tests.

Nadia

Originally posted by Praetalus
Are there really items like speed boost in there?

speed boosts are not on cash shop -- but mystic keys are

 

theres been many speculative discussions about how often mystic keys will drop in game

Lobotomist

We never had such system before , and it was never questioned here.

Subscription + Cash shop - was decreed un acceptable by majority here ...

B2P is whole different beast. And lets just suppose that B2P and P2P need same income.

So cash shop is equal to subscription.

And if you dont need to use it - than its win win situation for both parties.

L0C0Man

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by Praetalus
Are there really items like speed boost in there?

speed boosts are not on cash shop -- but mystic keys are

 

theres been many speculative discussions about how often mystic keys will drop in game

We'll have to wait and see. There have been reports of people getting like 10 boxes and only one key, personally I had 2 keys dropped and no boxes on last BWE. I'll just use whatever keys I get as drops and sell the rest..

VermilioNomy

As many others stated... it seems kinda normal to me. As long as it's not B2W... it doesn't bother me.

Don't forget that B2P = 1 time payment and that's it, unless you wish for extra things which you can buy from the CS, things that don't give you an advantage over someone who isn't willing to spend a buck more besides the box-price. A game as big as GW2 must have unimaginable production/stability/work costs... for them to not have P2P is rare when you consider which other games are sub-based.

Keep in mind, you're not obligated to buy anything from the cash shop unless you want to.

Dreamo84

Only problem with cash shops is people don't know if they make extra content for the cash shop. Or if they just withold content then charge extra for it.

I think if everyone knew for a fact devs were making extra content for the cash shop funded by the cash shop, no one would object.

Rider071

never checked the cash shop while in the beta. I still haven't checked the cash shop while playing GW 1 all these years.

in response to the OP...

GW 1.

Been around for a very long time. I believe the initial expac is actually F2P now, check it out and see how the cash shop affects A-Net games. I have never seen an impact myself.

terrant

My goodness, an original topic what has never been on these forums before. Zounds! Seriously though...here's how we should be looking at it. It's not about whether the model is p2p, f2p+CS, B2p+CS, or gods help us all p2p+CS.

 

It's about value.

 

For the amount of money that you end up paying for the game (including box price, sub, and/or micro-transactions), do you feel the amount and quality of gaming content you recieve, as well as the overall gaming experience itself, are worthwhile?

 

If yes, play the game. Be happy. If not, find something else.

 

/all payment method threads ever.

jpnz

People generally don't have issues with buying DLC / costume packs in multiplayer etc.

So yes, this has been acceptable by the majority of gamers for a very long time.

This isn't exactly a recent development.

Tonin109

Originally posted by MorpheusMJW

Hello all,

Usually the business model of a MMO is either F2P with cash shop or subscription model with lower cost purchase. I haven't seen barely any mention on this on the forums, other than when the prices were first announced, so does that mean it is now acceptable to charge £50-120 for an MMO and then tap a cash shop on as well?

 

I could be more forgiving if the cash shop was just more bank slots like in GW1, but paying for character slots, when I have just purchased a £50 game is a bit greedy in my opinion. Add to that genuine advantages (regardless of how large or small and I know they can be very small advantages) people can get from purchasing consumable items, it seems ridiculous to me to even have these items, Arenanet already stand to make around £100million just for box sales alone (a conservative difference between the amount of prepurchases and beta accounts active)

 

I can already imagine people posting 'The cash shop is optional and the advantages aren't even that significant'. Regardless of how significant they are, people have the option to run 25% faster than me, even after me paying £50 for a game.

Its like paying £40 for FIFA and then they have a cash shop for all players in squad to run 25% faster, doesn't seem fair for me. I think the initial purchase should make it so everyone is on a level playing field. Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to playing, but this is the only thing that disappoints me.

 

So what do people think, is it now acceptable to charge £50+ for a game and then adding a cash shop?

have you ever heard about DLC? for video games? like battlefield etc etc? you want more maps then buy

you want some new outfits for street fighter ? then buy  , you want new contents quests or whatever then buy

were you born yesterday ?

i see this post as a troll like you're shocked about that , move on ........

Rider071

A-Net has made expansions over the years for GW1, and charged for the expansions.

They have also given free content away over the years 'beyond-[expansion name]'.

I don't think the cash shop has ever directly been responsible for any expansions, but I wouldn't have objected to it.

Oziius

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by Praetalus
Are there really items like speed boost in there?

speed boosts are not on cash shop -- but mystic keys are

 

theres been many speculative discussions about how often mystic keys will drop in game

That's cool, the OP used speed boost as an example so I was just checking.. Cause something like that would certainly give you an advantage in pvp. I personally don't mind the ash shop until they start putting stuff in there that gives an edge. I don't mind xp potions but buffs for combat/speed would be out of line.