It seems as if the majority of the gaming genre is going down the toilet fast. Sure there are still good companies out there that do not trye to screw you over. Example...
1. Valve - Every game is reasonably prices, they are polsihed and people love their games.
2. Runic Games - $20.00 for a Dungeon crawl and it is a quality game!
3. Gearbox Software - Borderlands was sweet and they didn't screw people over on dlc. Infact Borderlands was so good that people are craving for more DLC.
4. Bethesda - Awesome games, reasonably priced and they do not attempt to screw people over with additonal fees of anykind.
While the "horse armour" and most other Oblivion DLC (with the possible exception of Mehrunes' Razor; it's a new dungeon and new gear for under five bucks) have diminished my faith in Bethesda's ability to produce relevant, quality DLC, everything here is, frankly, quite true. The Shivering Isles was enough content to make an Oblivion fan drool; that nullifies the horse armour; Torchlight was a proper, full-blown action RPG for $20 (and Diablo'll be $60); and the Zombie Island and General Knoxx DLCs for Borderlands were pure quality.
However, I'd like to draw attention to Valve in particular. Take a look at Team Fortress 2. It's a competitive multiplayer shooter. It's balanced almost perfectly. It has tons of maps, even more mod-added maps, six game modes and unlockable weapons for almost every class, plus a crafting system which can create unique items. At launch, it had a few maps, no unlockables, a handfull of Steam achievments and four game modes. Everything else was added over time by Valve, for free. That's enough content for at least one expansion, or three console-style DLCs.
There's another reason to love Valve. I know I'm sounding like a fanboy here, but I take it you've all heard of The Orange Box? Five games in one box, and I got it for less than $40 a month after launch. It contained HL2, HL2 Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and TF2. Now that is value for money.
I'd like to talk about another competitive multiplayer shooter. It's called Modern Warfare 2. While it boasts many, many game modes and quite a few maps, as well as unlockable weapons, I lost faith in it quickly after the first map pack came out. It cost 1200 MS points. 10 pounds. For five maps, two of which are from the original Modern Warfare. And Activision have already talked about charging people to play their titles online, and, frankly, I don't see why they won't except their biggest money-spinner from this service if it's put in place
It's slowly becoming more expensive to be a gamer. And it sucks. Arse.
The Orange Box was awesome and quite frankly still is. So much value for a gamer on that cd and tons of replayability.
The way I feel about RMT is this: Can I play through the game, achieving the goals presented in-game, and get 99.9% of the stuff by in-game means? If yes, then no problem. Does purchase of item X by player A mean that player A now has a competitive edge over me because of spending money above and beyond purchase and subscription? If yes, then we've got a problem. Thus, for now, if Blizzard wants to sell fluff, fine. Fools and their money are easily parted. Capitalism at its finest.
"You'll never win an argument with an idiot because he is too stupid to recognize his own defeat." ~Anonymous
It was only a matter of time before game companies figured out they could get a lot more money than the little we give them now. They really are giving us a great deal of entertainment for the price of some kids weekly allowance. For FIFTY cents a day we get nearly 24 hours of game access (some games do daily reboots).
I have no problem paying a higher monthly fee or even cash shops...if we start seeing better games that cater to a smaller target audience. $16 a month is a heck of a deal for a quality game with some features I like and some features I dont care for. But if someone came along and offered me a quality game with ALL the features I like, I would gladly pay a higher subscription or cash shop.
I think I'd angrier about the fact that it takes at least 200 hours (if you're moving quickly and/or know exactly where you should be going and what you should be doing) of gameplay before you can even start playing the actual game than a $10 flying ghost horse that's almost completely cosmetic in nature.
All MMOs are just money holes, I don't see what there is to get so worked up over. If you don't want to spend money on it then don't, no one's making you.
Playing: *sigh* back to WoW -------- Waiting for: SW:TOR, APB, WoD --------- Played and loved: Eve and WoW -------- Played and hated: WoW:WotLK, Warhammer, every single F2P
Pirating. Support the independent games, screw others. I'm a gamer at heart, been all my life, but this kind of crap ain't gonna fly for me. Hell, I will not even pirate since they can sue me for billionz of dollarz, I'll just walk in to a store and nick one of their boxes that's worth 40€.
Every time I read your post, I die a little inside...
It is a free world. Blizzard did not promise your sub will give you access to everything they create in the future. They can charge whatever they want to for whatever additional stuff they deem appropriate.
OTOH, you are free not to purchase it, or even stop subbing.
Complaining is just useless.
Personally i am going to go buy the new pet & mount now. Why? Because i LIKE them .. and i can afford it. How I spend my money is completely my business.
After some thinking, I really don't have an issue with how Blizzard is doing it as long as it doesn't negatively impact other parts of the game.
These games in general, and WoW in particular, are all about the 'peen. Cash shop items have zero prestige value - everyone knows you bought it in the cash shop 'cause it looks cool and you could. From this perspective I don't see a conflict of interest between people who choose to purchase the optional and exclusive things in the shop and people who go out and get completely different fluff items by doing content.
It seems as if the majority of the gaming genre is going down the toilet fast. Sure there are still good companies out there that do not trye to screw you over. Example...
1. Valve - Every game is reasonably prices, they are polsihed and people love their games.
Steam is good, if you're in the US anyway (sorry Euro players. You get boned on conversion )=) but need I remind you of L4D2?
2. Runic Games - $20.00 for a Dungeon crawl and it is a quality game!
Torchlight is amazing....I'll give you this one.
3. Gearbox Software - Borderlands was sweet and they didn't screw people over on dlc. Infact Borderlands was so good that people are craving for more DLC.
.....fuck no. Are you forgetting all the bullshit prior to release? The BS delay with the PC version so they could sell more console copies (oh but its for optimizing! *that never happened*), Day 1 DLC announcement, completely ruining online for the PC version because they used the laughably horrible Gamespy matchmaking rather than doing it proper, and the various other crap that gearbox/2k pulled on the PC users? I still haven't bought a single DLC pack because I regret getting the game in the first place at this point.
4. Bethesda - Awesome games, reasonably priced and they do not attempt to screw people over with additonal fees of anykind.
Horse....armor....
I agree with you though, the genre/industry has been getting hosed for a long time, something many of us have been complaining and pointing out for quite some time, but time and time again people roll over and take it, and each year it gets worse and they wonder "Why ;;!" Why? Because you tools still buy their shit!
It seems as if the majority of the gaming genre is going down the toilet fast. Sure there are still good companies out there that do not trye to screw you over. Example...
1. Valve - Every game is reasonably prices, they are polsihed and people love their games.
Steam is good, if you're in the US anyway (sorry Euro players. You get boned on conversion )=) but need I remind you of L4D2?
2. Runic Games - $20.00 for a Dungeon crawl and it is a quality game!
Torchlight is amazing....I'll give you this one.
3. Gearbox Software - Borderlands was sweet and they didn't screw people over on dlc. Infact Borderlands was so good that people are craving for more DLC.
.....fuck no. Are you forgetting all the bullshit prior to release? The BS delay with the PC version so they could sell more console copies (oh but its for optimizing! *that never happened*), Day 1 DLC announcement, completely ruining online for the PC version because they used the laughably horrible Gamespy matchmaking rather than doing it proper, and the various other crap that gearbox/2k pulled on the PC users? I still haven't bought a single DLC pack because I regret getting the game in the first place at this point.
4. Bethesda - Awesome games, reasonably priced and they do not attempt to screw people over with additonal fees of anykind.
Horse....armor....
I agree with you though, the genre/industry has been getting hosed for a long time, something many of us have been complaining and pointing out for quite some time, but time and time again people roll over and take it, and each year it gets worse and they wonder "Why ;;!" Why? Because you tools still buy their shit!
This will continue over and over till The Industry pushes too far and even the most complacent of consumers push back and withhold their money.The Industry will crash as it did in the 80s and the cycle will begin again .This seems to be a ongoing "free" market phenonema not limited to video games.
There is more choice than ever before for online games. Cost as well as the quality and nature of the game are all factors considered before buying a game.
As a benchmark when comparing costs (f2p and p2p), I generally look at paying no more than the equivalent of $15/month US subscription plus $30 US for a major release of new content. There are many quaility games in this price range. Everyone has their own bechmark as to what they consider value for money.
I also agree that entry costs are a major barrier to playing some games. Paying full price for a game and its many expansions up front is an expensive gamble. You do not know if you will even like the game until you play or if your interest will last for more than a month or two.
I do not agree that microtransactions are necessarily bad, The real issue is whether or not you are getting value for money, considering the choices available in the market.
When Blizzard starts to add other stuff than pets to the store, I might choose to never return.
I don't like cash shops because of the fact that others have an advantage over me just by spending money. I am a bit ambivalent about adding MOUNTS to the store already, as they usually cost gold ingame or some other effort.
I could do nothing but laugh about a game that would charge a monthly fee + has a cash shop offering "XP Potions", special gear and so on.
The "cash shop" approach can work, but the prerequisites for it to work require an ethical company behind it and an effort to keep it from interfering with the actual game itself (IE: Cosmetic items rather than purchasing power/money). It has a legitimate justification, it allows the game to be "free" and experienced by whoever cares to, but somebody obviously needs to get paid. As long as they're not being goaded into the cash shop by bullshit game mechanics that are intentionally crippled to encourage CS use, it can work.
However, there is no justification for it in a game that is still under development (in the case of console/single player games) as simply cutting parts out of your game, saying it was "out of scope" and then selling it back to people doesn't fly, nor is there any room for this black market cash shop crap in subscription MMOs, as it is essentially the same thing where in you are paying them monthly to develop content they're selling back to you again. The problem is in this "double dipping" approach that is nothing more than an attempt to see how far they can push people and extort money out of them before they finally say enough is enough and stop buying it.
Comments
The Orange Box was awesome and quite frankly still is. So much value for a gamer on that cd and tons of replayability.
The way I feel about RMT is this: Can I play through the game, achieving the goals presented in-game, and get 99.9% of the stuff by in-game means? If yes, then no problem. Does purchase of item X by player A mean that player A now has a competitive edge over me because of spending money above and beyond purchase and subscription? If yes, then we've got a problem. Thus, for now, if Blizzard wants to sell fluff, fine. Fools and their money are easily parted. Capitalism at its finest.
"You'll never win an argument with an idiot because he is too stupid to recognize his own defeat." ~Anonymous
It was only a matter of time before game companies figured out they could get a lot more money than the little we give them now. They really are giving us a great deal of entertainment for the price of some kids weekly allowance. For FIFTY cents a day we get nearly 24 hours of game access (some games do daily reboots).
I have no problem paying a higher monthly fee or even cash shops...if we start seeing better games that cater to a smaller target audience. $16 a month is a heck of a deal for a quality game with some features I like and some features I dont care for. But if someone came along and offered me a quality game with ALL the features I like, I would gladly pay a higher subscription or cash shop.
I think I'd angrier about the fact that it takes at least 200 hours (if you're moving quickly and/or know exactly where you should be going and what you should be doing) of gameplay before you can even start playing the actual game than a $10 flying ghost horse that's almost completely cosmetic in nature.
All MMOs are just money holes, I don't see what there is to get so worked up over. If you don't want to spend money on it then don't, no one's making you.
Playing: *sigh* back to WoW
--------
Waiting for: SW:TOR, APB, WoD
---------
Played and loved: Eve and WoW
--------
Played and hated: WoW:WotLK, Warhammer, every single F2P
Pirating. Support the independent games, screw others. I'm a gamer at heart, been all my life, but this kind of crap ain't gonna fly for me. Hell, I will not even pirate since they can sue me for billionz of dollarz, I'll just walk in to a store and nick one of their boxes that's worth 40€.
People are just silly complaining.
It is a free world. Blizzard did not promise your sub will give you access to everything they create in the future. They can charge whatever they want to for whatever additional stuff they deem appropriate.
OTOH, you are free not to purchase it, or even stop subbing.
Complaining is just useless.
Personally i am going to go buy the new pet & mount now. Why? Because i LIKE them .. and i can afford it. How I spend my money is completely my business.
After some thinking, I really don't have an issue with how Blizzard is doing it as long as it doesn't negatively impact other parts of the game.
These games in general, and WoW in particular, are all about the 'peen. Cash shop items have zero prestige value - everyone knows you bought it in the cash shop 'cause it looks cool and you could. From this perspective I don't see a conflict of interest between people who choose to purchase the optional and exclusive things in the shop and people who go out and get completely different fluff items by doing content.
I agree with you though, the genre/industry has been getting hosed for a long time, something many of us have been complaining and pointing out for quite some time, but time and time again people roll over and take it, and each year it gets worse and they wonder "Why ;;!" Why? Because you tools still buy their shit!
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!
This will continue over and over till The Industry pushes too far and even the most complacent of consumers push back and withhold their money.The Industry will crash as it did in the 80s and the cycle will begin again .This seems to be a ongoing "free" market phenonema not limited to video games.
There is more choice than ever before for online games. Cost as well as the quality and nature of the game are all factors considered before buying a game.
As a benchmark when comparing costs (f2p and p2p), I generally look at paying no more than the equivalent of $15/month US subscription plus $30 US for a major release of new content. There are many quaility games in this price range. Everyone has their own bechmark as to what they consider value for money.
I also agree that entry costs are a major barrier to playing some games. Paying full price for a game and its many expansions up front is an expensive gamble. You do not know if you will even like the game until you play or if your interest will last for more than a month or two.
I do not agree that microtransactions are necessarily bad, The real issue is whether or not you are getting value for money, considering the choices available in the market.
When Blizzard starts to add other stuff than pets to the store, I might choose to never return.
I don't like cash shops because of the fact that others have an advantage over me just by spending money. I am a bit ambivalent about adding MOUNTS to the store already, as they usually cost gold ingame or some other effort.
I could do nothing but laugh about a game that would charge a monthly fee + has a cash shop offering "XP Potions", special gear and so on.
The "cash shop" approach can work, but the prerequisites for it to work require an ethical company behind it and an effort to keep it from interfering with the actual game itself (IE: Cosmetic items rather than purchasing power/money). It has a legitimate justification, it allows the game to be "free" and experienced by whoever cares to, but somebody obviously needs to get paid. As long as they're not being goaded into the cash shop by bullshit game mechanics that are intentionally crippled to encourage CS use, it can work.
However, there is no justification for it in a game that is still under development (in the case of console/single player games) as simply cutting parts out of your game, saying it was "out of scope" and then selling it back to people doesn't fly, nor is there any room for this black market cash shop crap in subscription MMOs, as it is essentially the same thing where in you are paying them monthly to develop content they're selling back to you again. The problem is in this "double dipping" approach that is nothing more than an attempt to see how far they can push people and extort money out of them before they finally say enough is enough and stop buying it.
Bans a perma, but so are sigs in necro posts.
EAT ME MMORPG.com!