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Guild Wars 2: Micro-Awesomeness
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
One of the most controversial words these days in MMOs is "microtransaction". The idea of microtransactions always stirs a lot of emotion. In today's Guild Wars 2 column, we explore the thought of microtransactions in GW2. Read on and let us know what you think in the comments.
ArenaNet had a nice system for Guild Wars where they used micro transactions to sell mission packs. ArenaNet has said that they will be using micro-transactions for Guild Wars 2, but they didn't want players to have an advantage over others just because they spent a few extra dollars. This is a real game, not one of those Facebook click-fests that pulls our money out of us by inconveniencing us. To get back to the mission pack, it takes place in the lore of the game, using a different character with skills the game gave you. You controlled the character to see an event that took place in the games past. What was great about this mission pack was that it really expanded the universe.
Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Micro-Awesomeness.
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You should not have the top gear in the game, and have finished all main quests within the first month of the games release. That’s just too short of a game.
Comments
Skill unlock packs won't be needed because all skills will be available to the player in Competitive PvP. I'm guessing what we will mostly see is mission packs.
This is not a game.
I think micro-transactions are completely fine as long as it doesn't lead to buy to win. Cosmetic gear, potions etc are great as long as it doesn't provide an edge in pve/pve.
Anything to supplement this game I am all for, I just wish it would launch already =P
Oh, you really are touching a sensitive nerve in your last paragraph!
I played the original GW but never bought anything that came after it because I always planned carefully where to waste the few money I had (that's why I only played F2P games or in private servers) but I know for sure that the micro-transactions worked really well for both players and devs.
But Micro-transactions aren't the only way of getting more content and real updates to the game. There were a lot of free updates in the game and the expansions are usually released 6 months or 1 year after the last one. That's what is important in the game, players can just play the version they have, whenever they want and if they want more they can just buy the expansions like they buy a new game. Micro-transactions were just a less expensive way to have more content and were also something more to do for those players that want more and more.
About the Skills pack for PVP, I doubt there will be any in GW2. It doesn't make sense since you already have all of them when you play with it in Competitive PVP (Conquest), and for PVE, Personal Story and WxWxW you get more skills while leveling. But don't forget another feature in this game: Traits. That might be something they can use for Micro-transactions. And there are a lot of aestethics, character slots and other things they can use for it too.
In my opinion, have mission packs where a player would use one of the characters from the books and do their story would be a cool idea too.
Personally I think micro-transactions are ok for costumes/pets/non game balance altering things.
As far as content goes, I think all players should be equally entitled to it. But the way it worked in GW1 was that you bought expansion packs.
I'm guessing in GW2 it will be the same.
I'm worried however that they will introduce 'mission packs'. I really don't want this since this will then segregate the community into haves and have nots.
By mission packs I meant stuff which is group content.
Solo content as a mission pack is fine. Grouped isn't.
Did the Guild Wars trial and couldnt get into it. But I am looking forward to Guild Wars 2. I am fine with micro-transactions as long as its not a way to get an advantage, as the person says above. While I personally like the tab/hotkey type of tactical combat I am looking forward to this dynamic event real-time combat of GW2 to switch it up.
they ll use similar to guild wars one ,you dont want to pay ,no issue you ll farm the free skill ,if you already own all the toon but skipped a lot then you can buy the skill(will probably be like this
regular skill pack per expension
elite skill pack per expension
and all the rest similar to gw1
some might wghine.but trust me it is the most forgiving store transaction system i have ever met !i havent met one pvp player complaining having to buy the skill set!why?because you could get the same stuff relativly easy by going pve.
and often people do it because they re bored .it is a very good system for hardcore pvper and softcore pvper!
dont get me wrong some will complain ,there are always critic!but this way is still the best way to make a living and satisfy all side
The original GW didn't have any micro-transactions that gave an advantage over others. I don't see GW2 doing it any different. Not worried.
Exactly.
It does not matter how many time you try to tell these people who have had no experiance with ArenaNet or GW that MT gave no advantage to game play.
ArenaNet have said it will be no different with GW2.
Many have been brainwashed by PTP mmo.
I'm fine with games coming out with DLC to give the game more lifetime. What makes me mad is when DLC is released the same time the game is released and DLC that gives you weapons and gear.
Take Kindgoms of Amalur for example. They just sold a weapon and armor pack for DLC which gives your characters the weapon set and gear instantly. Why wouldnt they create a long thought out sidequest that you could do in order to get these gears? They are basically saying the game is already beatable but throw more cash at us for no reason.
I believe DLC should not be released in the first month of a game's release because it sounds like the game wasn't finished. $60 for retail is plenty of cash and if the developers dont know how to use their sales wisely then the gaming industry is already in the stink trap of your sink.
-I am here to perform logic
I'd rather see any bonus content that adds to the game's current story be free, such as the Guild Wars Beyond content we are getting now, but of course that doesn't mean they can't have expansions. I'd rather see the expansions, however, be large and world-altering, while bonus missions can run from leading up to an expansion or just adding some more to a current thing.
Those Bonus Missions worked because they filled in the blanks or offered a new perspective on what we as player characters, weren't alive for or weren't around to experience. Two examples of such being the mission with Palawa Joko, as well as the mission that details Gwen's survival post-searing and during her enslavement.
It's a rather convoluted slope, however, dealing with GW2 and the idea of "bonus missions", because the way they were initiated in GW1 was through an NPC going to an instanced zone, which means doing the same in GW2 means limiting the playerbase when it comes to those areas.
That kind of day-one release DLC is their way of removing the previously existing cheat codes and actually charging you for these "cheat codes", the new cheat code being your credit card.
The DLC that extends gameplay is welcome (it's pretty much an expansion pack, but with less content and different pricing) but it kind of makes me feel ripped off when it was already included on the game disc to begin with and only required the unlock code to be downloaded.
Now, back on topic, we unfortunately already know GW2 will be taking a more aggressive approach on MT because the announced transmutation stones are a more aggressive form of MT, even though it is only of an aesthethical effect, it is an item you could potentially be purchasing lots of, far different from unlock MTs which would be content. (GW1 originally featured only skill unlock packs and the PvP access kit, the rest of the MT was made available as far as I remember only after they already announced their plan with GW2 which pretty much meant they would be no longer making new campaigns/expansions for revenue, which definitely meant they would need to find their revenue for GW1 with MT).
IMO I am against item DLC and think only unlock DLC should be made available. You won't purchase an item, but a mission pack that will reward you with the item in the end. We need to remember the game will have no monthly fees, so they will need to sell something to make money and I believe that should be content.
This
I will agree in that it should not be things that will make the game a buytowin game, I do hope that they will follow their *vision* and only sell cosmetisc things.
And I will also be fine if they sell expansions, just aslong as you aren't "forced" to buy it.
The trouble is in PvE, where the 'winning' is scoring gear and developing your character in all ways, even cosmetic items are 'pay to win'.
IMO, anything that allows a player to develop his character without actually playing the game is a bad thing to be selling. This includes cosmetics and anything else.
Everything that has value in the game world should be played for, otherwise these games are just virtual shopping malls with chat rooms... Just IMVU with a fanasy skin.
Playable DLC is more then fine by me though, I love exploring, learning,and hopefully beating new parts of a game I love.
I just hate this new culture that has been brain washed in to a lot of folks by the industry that it's ok to buy cosmetics and not to buy playable content. As gamers, for us it should be the other way around.
I think the original GW2 will be a combination of:
B2P: Complete with x1 char. -> play another mmo atst
Play >1 char, dabble in pvp-structured, pvp-world
I think Post-Content may take the form:
A) EXPANSION - long release time but lots of content, more B2P price-like
C) MT's - These might be present from the get go: instant release time - lots of small things, varied eg cosmetic, very cheap and convenient.
-> All sounds like a great service to me and should helpt that 1. might be a bit quicker than the olde level-grind mmorpgs.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
So your saying that someone that buys a costume that changes your appearance and has no affect what so ever on stats will give you an advantage in the the game, because it is not something that you got playing the game. This is the kind of logic that makes me want to beat people for being stupid. A costume that changes looks is not going to make you "win" anymore at the game then if you looked like you did without the costume. Which shoots down your logic of a costume or any cosmetic item that does not affect your stats, droprate, or gives you a buff in the game being a "pay to win" item.
For PPM MMORPGs, I have and will always be against Micro-Transactions.
An item simply being aesthetic and giving no "advantage" is poor excuse. People play MMOs for a variety of reasons. If someone who yearns to look cool has to pay real money to do so, then I call that a problem.
There are mmo's out there that have microtransactions and a monthly sub, so i don't see how people can criticize ArenaneT for having microtransactions. When Blizzard does microtransactions everyone thinks it's brilliant, any other company does it and they're the devil.
EXCEPT! And here is the bloody kicker. You aren't buying gear, you are buying a costume. Guild Wars 1 has several costumes for sale, every F2P MMO in existance has costume pieces with and without stats associated with them on sale.
Using your same logic, World of Warcraft's entire item shop is "pay to win" because you are buying absurdly priced pets and mounts that can't be earned otherwise. Hell! Because World of Warcraft has achievements for gathering pets and mounts, those pets/mounts are even more of an advantage over those who don't want to pay out $25 for a stupid horse.
Essentially, every MMO out there is apparently pay-2-win by your comment.
The only whine or complaint I have ever seen about costumes in any of the many games I've played, none are about being able to buy them. Instead it ends up being the prices being absurdly high.
This is what ruined EQ2 for me
Micro transaction. The person with the most $$ in real life gets the best of the game.
Yea, I will admit that I am in a lower income bracket, got kids to feed and bills to pay ..and I think a Game that is going to be as epic as GW2 should go ahead and charge $15 per month so all can have the same expierence
You fail to understand, and in doing so you fail to 'shoot down my logic'.
I didn't say cosmetics help you win, I said that by buying them you are buying what would have otherwise been played for and that is a bad thing for gaming/
You are buying the 'prize'. Selling prizes is not what gaming is about, playing to win/ earn them is.
Selling prizes changes the very nature of the game you are playing into a shopping mall... moving it into the far more nebulous defintion of an 'entertainment product' rather then a game.
It will turn all 'games' into IMVU.
I think your stretching your point beyond reasonable logic. You are insinuating that the only way to look cosmetically different is to buy a cosmetic pack/gear. There is enough variety and quantity of gear that it isn't going to be a big difference. Especially also considering that ability to change 3 color channels in gear as it is.
I'm confident that there will be enough gear available in game that i won't feel the need to purchase anything cosmetic. I've played the original game and have had experience with Anet and feel they are decent people and not greedy leaches who'll gimp gameplay for profit.
Archlinux ftw
I understand your logic, but really. What makes a bunny that shoots rainbows out it s ass value to me. It s not paying to win, in any way shape or form. No sub, DLC, expansions, thats how they re making money. So a few items here and there that have no relevance to the game at all, is not a big deal or winning at anything.
A company needs to make money somehow, and if GW2 needs to make money off people that need to have rainbow shooting bunny, then let them.
Nothing stops you to spend those 15$ in microtransations and to get things you want, why it is better to pay blindly for things you might or might not like ? If they will keep they policy same as in gw1 i dont fear that gw2 will be buy to win.