the reason ive not bought star citizen is, i am not sure how long from a starter ship to another better ship will take
The only figure we have to go off so far is CR's statement that it would take 60 hours of play time to earn a $225 Constellation Andromeda (a 4 person ship). Single seater ships should be significantly less. Big ships like the Idris or the Bengal carrier may take months.
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I imagine that if the game is B2P like GW2, there will be a Cash Shop to provide some ongoing revenue for the Developer ?
It's also very likely that there may be some form of subscription plan with benefits like increased XP gain or reduced insurance costs, etc. ?
The question is not IF there will be a Cash Shop and microtransactions, the question is how bad will it be ? Impossible to predict at this very early stage, but I'm expecting the worst whilst hoping for the best.
I refuse to believe that in this day-and-age of pervasive Cash Shops and "creative monetization", SC will sell you a game box and then "not allow you to give them any further cash". Anyone that believes that is seriously delusional.
"His Voyager Direct explanation letter was music to my ears, and if there was any doubt as to where he stands on cash shops and pay-to-win, it was erased courtesy of this particular sentence. "I'm very opposed to having a game where any of the items, outside of your initial game/ship package, can be only purchased with cash. I hate the bifurcation of items in most online games, even when they are just for flair items. I want Star Citizen to allow players to earn everything they need in-game for ships, upgrades and even flair," he wrote.
In other words, SC will have a client cost and an optional cash shop. And it's the best kind of optional cash shop, i.e., one that is actually optional because there are no store-exclusive items."
Well they have a cash shop now where you can buy assorted items for your hangar as well as weapons for your ships. It's this side of things I don't like about the company and feel it reflects badly on what they may try to monetise in the future. They're getting a huge amount of funding and yet they are still trying to stiff their backers by having a cash shop in a fraking (pre-)alpha.
We know that UEC (United Earth Credits) will be purchasable, I believe the rate is $1 = 1000 UEC. A daily cap of 25,000 UEC with a max wallet size of 250,000 iirc, so potentially a person could purchase $750 of UEC a month..
"His Voyager Direct explanation letter was music to my ears, and if there was any doubt as to where he stands on cash shops and pay-to-win, it was erased courtesy of this particular sentence. "I'm very opposed to having a game where any of the items, outside of your initial game/ship package, can be only purchased with cash. I hate the bifurcation of items in most online games, even when they are just for flair items. I want Star Citizen to allow players to earn everything they need in-game for ships, upgrades and even flair," he wrote.
In other words, SC will have a client cost and an optional cash shop. And it's the best kind of optional cash shop, i.e., one that is actually optional because there are no store-exclusive items."
Have fun
The MMO game trends in the last few years have made me extremely cynical and jaded i.r.o. pre-launch promises.
It's very easy to make strong moral statements when your game is "earning" $1M every 2 weeks without even being released. That trend will not continue indefinitely. It cannot, because spaceship sales end at launch.
Where will the money come from after launch when no more spaceships are being sold for real money ? I doubt players are going to be spending $2M per month on new paint jobs for their expensive ships... Given the scope of SC, there will still be a great deal of development required after launch. It needs money.
Well .. CR now has about 30 M$ buffer. Plus whatever he earns from .. you know ... SELLING the game ;-) at launch. That would be another 50 M$ or so per million copies sold. That will allow for a few years of continuing development and/or about a decade of running the servers. And he will still have some profit left.
People have to realise that money doesn't come flying to you if you have nothing to offer.. This is their way to keep the money flowing and as a none paying customer, I am completely fine with that.. If people like to pay, I can just join a guild later where the members have paid for the ships and I can be part of it. I couldn't care less to be honest!
Well .. CR now has about 30 M$ buffer. Plus whatever he earns from .. you know ... SELLING the game ;-) at launch. That would be another 50 M$ or so per million copies sold. That will allow for a few years of continuing development and/or about a decade of running the servers. And he will still have some profit left.
Have fun
I don't have the slightest doubt that the "~$30M buffer" will all be gone by the time launch rolls around. That is just the way things work. Unspent budget is a heresy.
I'm looking forward to the eventual launch of SC, and I'll spend money on it, but only once the monetization plans are clear and the launch date is set. I'm confident that there's already sufficient funding to build a great game, my money is not needed anymore to ensure the survival of this project.
All we need to know is that the developer has decided to differentiate players by how much they spend and that is not acceptable in my books and will never support such a system.
You SHOULD have to 100% earn your ships,it is exactly like playing a Fantasy game,you earn your crafts,your gear you don't just go ahead and buy whatever you want.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
All we need to know is that the developer has decided to differentiate players by how much they spend and that is not acceptable in my books and will never support such a system.
You SHOULD have to 100% earn your ships,it is exactly like playing a Fantasy game,you earn your crafts,your gear you don't just go ahead and buy whatever you want.
sorry but you don't get it. Or don't want to get it.
others do. Next time do research on how things actually work before you post
All we need to know is that the developer has decided to differentiate players by how much they spend and that is not acceptable in my books and will never support such a system.
--> Huh ? Where did you get THAT impression ? Chris Roberts has stated many times in interviews that all backers for him are equally important, as fans and as playtesters ! And basically every journalist who has met him stated that they believed that he also means what he says.
--> It does not matter wether one pays a basic 30 $ for the starter package or they sink 15.000 $ into the "Completionist" package (0 left ;-) those were available as a gimmick and you get ALL ships in the game ;-) and a day with Chris Roberts). You are NOT - I repeat NOT - buying ships. That is the BIG mistake that so many people make. You are supporting an idea, a project. Many of the backers want a change in the way computer games are made (and have stated so numerous times).
--> Early backers get more information, yes. But all this info you can already find in SC WIKIs and Blogs and Maps. Early backers can fiddle around with some items sooner than others, yes. But hey, thats their right ... they believed in this idea sooner than others. But i have not bought one of the 4 ships i am currently flying around with in Arena Commander dogfight module - and i can still experience their flight characteristics. So where is the difference you speak of ? And later - in the game - i may have to play 20ish hours to buy one of those single seater ships. I put hundreds (thousands ?) of hours into some games ... 20 or 60 hours of gameplay for a new ship does not really scare me (60 was the number stated by CR for buying a Constellation, the ship i currently own)
You SHOULD have to 100% earn your ships,it is exactly like playing a Fantasy game,you earn your crafts,your gear you don't just go ahead and buy whatever you want.
--> And in the final game that is exactly what will happen. You will earn those ships 100 % in the game. It has been stated that you CANNOT buy complete ships for real world cash IN THE GAME. You will only be able to buy some ship upgrades (and those you can easily buy with in game money too ... there will NOT be two categories of items, one exclusively available via real world money like you find in SWTOR for instance ... and this has ALSO been officially stated).
--> Yes, some will have more fancy ships than others at game start. A difference that wont matter anymore after 2, maybe 3 months at most. I guess some competitive multi-game guilds will AT MOST need a few weeks to get the biggest available ship in game FOR BRAGGING RIGHTS.
--> And i am playing a few Fantasy MMOs too, usually through Lifetime memberships. Many of those have in game cash shops waaaay more money-grabbing than ANYTHING you may ever heard about Star Citizen. Big difference there is : you get items you CANNOT get in game through normal playing. That will not be the case in SC - has has been clearly stated by CR. So much for the fantasy games being "100% earning" games.
Together with your previous 5000 UEC that means you can buy quite a few of those weapons IF YOU WANT (no one forces you ... and one does not really need em for dogfighting IMHO). Weapon prices starts at 4000.
Together with your previous 5000 UEC that means you can buy quite a few of those weapons IF YOU WANT (no one forces you ... and one does not really need em for dogfighting IMHO). Weapon prices starts at 4000.
Have fun
The 4$ guns are worthless. You have to spend top dollar if you want to stay in front: 16$ guns.
The 4$ guns are worthless. You have to spend top dollar if you want to stay in front: 16$ guns.
Only if you suck as a gunner ;-)
Every weapon fits a certain style of flying and/or gunning. Find the correct one for your style ... wether its "spray and pray" or "wait til you can see the white in their eyes, then do the alpha strike ..."
Comments
I imagine that if the game is B2P like GW2, there will be a Cash Shop to provide some ongoing revenue for the Developer ?
It's also very likely that there may be some form of subscription plan with benefits like increased XP gain or reduced insurance costs, etc. ?
The question is not IF there will be a Cash Shop and microtransactions, the question is how bad will it be ? Impossible to predict at this very early stage, but I'm expecting the worst whilst hoping for the best.
I refuse to believe that in this day-and-age of pervasive Cash Shops and "creative monetization", SC will sell you a game box and then "not allow you to give them any further cash". Anyone that believes that is seriously delusional.
At this point this is only speculation.
Officially this is the stance regarding cash-shops (scroll down to Voyager Direct statement):
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13241-17-Million
And this is a summary by a gaming journalist:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/09/08/stick-and-rudder-on-star-citizens-cash-shop/
"His Voyager Direct explanation letter was music to my ears, and if there was any doubt as to where he stands on cash shops and pay-to-win, it was erased courtesy of this particular sentence. "I'm very opposed to having a game where any of the items, outside of your initial game/ship package, can be only purchased with cash. I hate the bifurcation of items in most online games, even when they are just for flair items. I want Star Citizen to allow players to earn everything they need in-game for ships, upgrades and even flair," he wrote.
In other words, SC will have a client cost and an optional cash shop. And it's the best kind of optional cash shop, i.e., one that is actually optional because there are no store-exclusive items."
Have fun
Well they have a cash shop now where you can buy assorted items for your hangar as well as weapons for your ships. It's this side of things I don't like about the company and feel it reflects badly on what they may try to monetise in the future. They're getting a huge amount of funding and yet they are still trying to stiff their backers by having a cash shop in a fraking (pre-)alpha.
We know that UEC (United Earth Credits) will be purchasable, I believe the rate is $1 = 1000 UEC. A daily cap of 25,000 UEC with a max wallet size of 250,000 iirc, so potentially a person could purchase $750 of UEC a month..
current max wallet size : 150.000
A buggy costs 15.000 UEC
And you get free UEC as a backer/subscriber from time to time so you dont have to spend any real world money for those weapons you spoke about.
Have fun
The MMO game trends in the last few years have made me extremely cynical and jaded i.r.o. pre-launch promises.
It's very easy to make strong moral statements when your game is "earning" $1M every 2 weeks without even being released. That trend will not continue indefinitely. It cannot, because spaceship sales end at launch.
Where will the money come from after launch when no more spaceships are being sold for real money ? I doubt players are going to be spending $2M per month on new paint jobs for their expensive ships... Given the scope of SC, there will still be a great deal of development required after launch. It needs money.
Well .. CR now has about 30 M$ buffer. Plus whatever he earns from .. you know ... SELLING the game ;-) at launch.
That would be another 50 M$ or so per million copies sold. That will allow for a few years of continuing development and/or about a decade of running the servers. And he will still have some profit left.
Have fun
People have to realise that money doesn't come flying to you if you have nothing to offer.. This is their way to keep the money flowing and as a none paying customer, I am completely fine with that.. If people like to pay, I can just join a guild later where the members have paid for the ships and I can be part of it. I couldn't care less to be honest!
I don't have the slightest doubt that the "~$30M buffer" will all be gone by the time launch rolls around. That is just the way things work. Unspent budget is a heresy.
I'm looking forward to the eventual launch of SC, and I'll spend money on it, but only once the monetization plans are clear and the launch date is set. I'm confident that there's already sufficient funding to build a great game, my money is not needed anymore to ensure the survival of this project.
All we need to know is that the developer has decided to differentiate players by how much they spend and that is not acceptable in my books and will never support such a system.
You SHOULD have to 100% earn your ships,it is exactly like playing a Fantasy game,you earn your crafts,your gear you don't just go ahead and buy whatever you want.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
sorry but you don't get it. Or don't want to get it.
others do. Next time do research on how things actually work before you post
This may also be interesting reading:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/204192/Beyond_crowdfunding_Chris_Roberts_urges_you_to_turn_backers_into_fans.php
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-citizen-passes-55-million-creator-says-thats-/1100-6422684/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-citizen-and-crowdfunding-an-interview-with-ch/1100-6421207/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/aaa-vs-indie-an-interview-with-star-citizens-chris/1100-6421235/
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Lol, i recall only 5000 free. Which is a quatter for the price of a gun in store.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14209-Letter-From-The-Chairman
extra 10.000 UEC for free for everyone
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/voyager-direct/weapons
Together with your previous 5000 UEC that means you can buy quite a few of those weapons IF YOU WANT (no one forces you ... and one does not really need em for dogfighting IMHO). Weapon prices starts at 4000.
Have fun
The 4$ guns are worthless. You have to spend top dollar if you want to stay in front: 16$ guns.
Only if you suck as a gunner ;-)
Every weapon fits a certain style of flying and/or gunning. Find the correct one for your style ... wether its "spray and pray" or "wait til you can see the white in their eyes, then do the alpha strike ..."
Have fun