As I have pointed in previous posts,get used to it,every single MMO from now on will have a cash shop no matter wether its subscription,F2P or B2P.Not all may start with them but ALL will have them.
Its just not a good business model to not have one and thats what it is, a business to make money.
They care more about making $$$$ than making a good game.
It is important to understand that the person in charge of the cash shop does not consider stepping stone gear items with great stats to be pay to win so they will be in there. If you consider saving 1 to 6 month of grind time pay to win then Funcom would disagree. I donb't know where you get your inside scoop but TSW is an evolved cash shop from AoC with the same team who did that one doing this cash shop.
http://conanvault.ign.com/static.php?page=Barbarian type of stuff is available on Age of Conan's cash shop with the PvP levels removed and that game requires a sub to do anything at level 80. If you are playing a lot on a EU populated server it only takes about a month to get to level 5 PvP but if you are playing casually then it will take a long time because PvP mini games don't happen often and farming nodes alone in shrines of bori is boring.
The developers there said the same thing. However, since it is the same guys running the cash shop and it will likely mean more gear items.
The same guys just released a new PvP server with the purchasable item shop rank 5 armor on day 1. So that imo is pay to win. The business people are running the cash shop so if rank 5 PvP armor sold well then gear with stats will be added.
Cash shops are lame anyway, if you want to make more money make a better game and increase the rates of a monthly subscription (hasn't happened in 10 years) or get more players 400,000 was good for EQ in 2002 so 1 million + should be fine today. These cash shops really counter the reasons to play an MMO but they worked well in asian markets because asia doesn't pay our sub prices anyway. Cash shop plus subscription, how bad can the projections for this game be?
I'm not so peeved at TSW but the idea in general GW2 and D3 are adding them as well.
Did you play AoC?
If you did, you would know that the PvP gear was not good gear for PvP, like wise the starter weapons were only good for the starter zone, by the end of the starter zone you could allways have something better. They did cut the grind by 10% though, but that is not a deal breaker of an item and IMO not pay to win.
nice try though
Yes and it doesn't seem like you did since they added the cash shop. Also, PvP gear is way better for PvP because most USA servers can't make it very far past tier 2 and on a fresh start server they were 100% OP. So here are the item comparisons to enlighten you.
T3 PvE is the same as T2 but adds a few more stats, all 4 servers in america don't go past that.
It should be easy to see by anyone, my grandma never played a video game in her life but she could probably look at the stats and tell you that the item shop PvP gear beats T1 and T2 and T3 raid gear due to + PvP stats.
I started playing AoC with a F2P account, so yes what I said is true. On the PvP gear you listed, the items in the cast shop are not good PvP gear, its only OK starter gear that you will grind out of in a week or two.
On the cash shop starter gear (the Tortage cache) not an item in it was better them the night quest reward.
I'm a little surprised so many people are defending this concept considering the amount of hate for F2P + Cash shop on this forum. But if you look almost every mmo has been sub + pay for extra features such as name changes or server swaps, or items, and sometimes even more than that. So this is not new, I agree it does seem like a bit of a money grab but Funcom does have to try to recoup some of it's development costs. Luckily you don't have to buy from the cash shop and the items have been said to not effect gameplay so in the end it shouldn't be a deal breaker for anyone, its simply do or do not.
Funcom is pretty much adopting the SoE style of marketing. Which isnt a good thing. Highly restrictive 'freemium' models and milking games with subscriptions and cash shops concurrently.
Having played SoE games in the past (mostly EQ1 and EQ2), its definitely a deal breaker for me. What ends up happening is that all the cool appearance items and mounts end up on the cash shop, and average 'meh' ones are available in game. More development time gets spent on milking the cash shop than developing new content and appearance gear for all the paying subscribers. Its a terrible path to go down.
Its a shame too, because I quite like the setting and gameplay ideals in TSW.
It is important to understand that the person in charge of the cash shop does not consider stepping stone gear items with great stats to be pay to win so they will be in there. If you consider saving 1 to 6 month of grind time pay to win then Funcom would disagree. I donb't know where you get your inside scoop but TSW is an evolved cash shop from AoC with the same team who did that one doing this cash shop.
http://conanvault.ign.com/static.php?page=Barbarian type of stuff is available on Age of Conan's cash shop with the PvP levels removed and that game requires a sub to do anything at level 80. If you are playing a lot on a EU populated server it only takes about a month to get to level 5 PvP but if you are playing casually then it will take a long time because PvP mini games don't happen often and farming nodes alone in shrines of bori is boring.
The developers there said the same thing. However, since it is the same guys running the cash shop and it will likely mean more gear items.
The same guys just released a new PvP server with the purchasable item shop rank 5 armor on day 1. So that imo is pay to win. The business people are running the cash shop so if rank 5 PvP armor sold well then gear with stats will be added.
Cash shops are lame anyway, if you want to make more money make a better game and increase the rates of a monthly subscription (hasn't happened in 10 years) or get more players 400,000 was good for EQ in 2002 so 1 million + should be fine today. These cash shops really counter the reasons to play an MMO but they worked well in asian markets because asia doesn't pay our sub prices anyway. Cash shop plus subscription, how bad can the projections for this game be?
I'm not so peeved at TSW but the idea in general GW2 and D3 are adding them as well.
Did you play AoC?
If you did, you would know that the PvP gear was not good gear for PvP, like wise the starter weapons were only good for the starter zone, by the end of the starter zone you could allways have something better. They did cut the grind by 10% though, but that is not a deal breaker of an item and IMO not pay to win.
nice try though
Yes and it doesn't seem like you did since they added the cash shop. Also, PvP gear is way better for PvP because most USA servers can't make it very far past tier 2 and on a fresh start server they were 100% OP. So here are the item comparisons to enlighten you.
T3 PvE is the same as T2 but adds a few more stats, all 4 servers in america don't go past that.
It should be easy to see by anyone, my grandma never played a video game in her life but she could probably look at the stats and tell you that the item shop PvP gear beats T1 and T2 and T3 raid gear due to + PvP stats.
I started playing AoC with a F2P account, so yes what I said is true. On the PvP gear you listed, the items in the cast shop are not good PvP gear, its only OK starter gear that you will grind out of in a week or two.
On the cash shop starter gear (the Tortage cache) not an item in it was better them the night quest reward.
But once again, nice try
Uh they had Rank 5 PvP gear for sale with no previous PvP requirements. No its not the best in the game, but you certainly dont get there in a week. More like a month of grinding. And anyone in less than Rank 5 gear is an instakill for someone with a full Rank 5 set.... and Rank 5 is able to be moderately competitive with Rank 10.
So basically if you wanted to PvP competitively and not just be cannon fodder for a month, you had to buy the armor set.
Don't know why you are worried about it, it's nothing but cosmetic items as armor has no influence over your stats, only other items such as weapons, talismans and the like. It's also easier for game services like name changes, server swaps, etc. to be used through the cash shop rather than the websites for the games. *shrug*
Half of Age of Conan's revenue comes from the cash shop so if anything I could see them adding more items with stats because that is more money! In a game with flat leveling, epic item stats would be overpowered due to no level restrictions and gear level deciding player level.
I dispise cash shops as a mean to progress.
Wow, Funcom said the EXACT same thing about the Cash Shop they implemented in Anarchy Online.
I love how Means is appologizing for the "Confusion". Dumb players. Sheesh. When Funcom told Anarchy Players "let me assure you that the general guidelines we set out years ago of not selling power for money is still very much in force."They thought that meant Funcom wouldn't sell Power. I mean really. How could they not see it. LOL
I guess there is a difference when Means said the above quote one week, and the next, say "some items we will be selling may potentially contribute to relative player power."
WTF Funcom.....Really now.
So that means Funcom is 2 for 2 huh? Both their games, they said the Cash Shop would be Cosmetic items only and in both their games, they end up selling P2W items. Nice.
So maybe they lied about their other 2 games, but at least they aren't lying when they say TSW's Cash Shop will be Cosmetic only......Right?
Originally posted by Dethevan Don't know why you are worried about it, it's nothing but cosmetic items as armor has no influence over your stats, only other items such as weapons, talismans and the like. It's also easier for game services like name changes, server swaps, etc. to be used through the cash shop rather than the websites for the games. *shrug*
The cash shop comes from age of conan's model where epic items with stats are sold. The developer's said it would just be cosmetic there as well. http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/191/view/forums/thread/322479/page/1 Half of Age of Conan's revenue comes from the cash shop so if anything I could see them adding more items with stats because that is more money! In a game with flat leveling, epic item stats would be overpowered due to no level restrictions and gear level deciding player level. I dispise cash shops as a mean to progress.
Wow, Funcom said the EXACT same thing about the Cash Shop they implemented in Anarchy Online. http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?t=583660 I love how Means is appologizing for the "Confusion". Dumb players. Sheesh. When Funcom told Anarchy Players "let me assure you that the general guidelines we set out years ago of not selling power for money is still very much in force." They thought that meant Funcom wouldn't sell Power. I mean really. How could they not see it. LOL I guess there is a difference when Means said the above quote one week, and the next, say "some items we will be selling may potentially contribute to relative player power." WTF Funcom.....Really now. So that means Funcom is 2 for 2 huh? Both their games, they said the Cash Shop would be Cosmetic items only and in both their games, they end up selling P2W items. Nice. So maybe they lied about their other 2 games, but at least they aren't lying when they say TSW's Cash Shop will be Cosmetic only......Right?
TSW will have no P2W-items for a very simple reason... all the best items (weapons and chakras) are crafted by players and clothes don't have any stats at all to begin with.
So what P2W-items they could possibly sell in the shop?
Don't know why you are worried about it, it's nothing but cosmetic items as armor has no influence over your stats, only other items such as weapons, talismans and the like. It's also easier for game services like name changes, server swaps, etc. to be used through the cash shop rather than the websites for the games. *shrug*
Half of Age of Conan's revenue comes from the cash shop so if anything I could see them adding more items with stats because that is more money! In a game with flat leveling, epic item stats would be overpowered due to no level restrictions and gear level deciding player level.
I dispise cash shops as a mean to progress.
Wow, Funcom said the EXACT same thing about the Cash Shop they implemented in Anarchy Online.
I love how Means is appologizing for the "Confusion". Dumb players. Sheesh. When Funcom told Anarchy Players "let me assure you that the general guidelines we set out years ago of not selling power for money is still very much in force."They thought that meant Funcom wouldn't sell Power. I mean really. How could they not see it. LOL
I guess there is a difference when Means said the above quote one week, and the next, say "some items we will be selling may potentially contribute to relative player power."
WTF Funcom.....Really now.
So that means Funcom is 2 for 2 huh? Both their games, they said the Cash Shop would be Cosmetic items only and in both their games, they end up selling P2W items. Nice.
So maybe they lied about their other 2 games, but at least they aren't lying when they say TSW's Cash Shop will be Cosmetic only......Right?
I imagine things change when a game goes "free to play" as those 2 did. That 's understandable. Your concern is understandable.
If the game is good like every indicators says it will be, and knowing how the mmorpg community feels about pay to win, it would make no sense what so ever to add pay to win items.
So to sum it up. If the game is good. No pay to win items. If it goes free to play, then you get pay to win items.
Don't know why you are worried about it, it's nothing but cosmetic items as armor has no influence over your stats, only other items such as weapons, talismans and the like. It's also easier for game services like name changes, server swaps, etc. to be used through the cash shop rather than the websites for the games. *shrug*
Half of Age of Conan's revenue comes from the cash shop so if anything I could see them adding more items with stats because that is more money! In a game with flat leveling, epic item stats would be overpowered due to no level restrictions and gear level deciding player level.
I dispise cash shops as a mean to progress.
Wow, Funcom said the EXACT same thing about the Cash Shop they implemented in Anarchy Online.
I love how Means is appologizing for the "Confusion". Dumb players. Sheesh. When Funcom told Anarchy Players "let me assure you that the general guidelines we set out years ago of not selling power for money is still very much in force."They thought that meant Funcom wouldn't sell Power. I mean really. How could they not see it. LOL
I guess there is a difference when Means said the above quote one week, and the next, say "some items we will be selling may potentially contribute to relative player power."
WTF Funcom.....Really now.
So that means Funcom is 2 for 2 huh? Both their games, they said the Cash Shop would be Cosmetic items only and in both their games, they end up selling P2W items. Nice.
So maybe they lied about their other 2 games, but at least they aren't lying when they say TSW's Cash Shop will be Cosmetic only......Right?
I imagine things change when a game goes "free to play" as those 2 did. That 's understandable. Your concern is understandable.
If the game is good like every indicators says it will be, and knowing how the mmorpg community feels about pay to win, it would make no sense what so ever to add pay to win items.
So to sum it up. If the game is good. No pay to win items. If it goes free to play, then you get pay to win items.
Anarchy Online is not truly Free to Play. It's more like an unlimited trial with limited access.
Now, the poster above actually has an acceptable arguement....But I guess time will tell. I know that When Funcom says one thing, you have to wait for them to change it, retract it or some how tell you to your face that you were the one who misunderstood the level of Gray they were implying when the said Black and White. But in Anarchy, not everything in the shop is P2W. Funcom has this other subtle practice. When players start complaining about issues in the game, Funcom has responed by implementing workarounds available in the cash shop instead of fixing the game itself. I'd be more concerned about consumable items in the CS than P2W items.
It's not something that will stop me from playing. As it is, I don't really care about P2W in a PVE environment unless it becomes an ssue with grouping where you can't get invites to a group uless you have paid items...Again, I don't see that happeing here. Other than that, the concept of TSW..The theme the background looks like fun. And I am a HUGE crafter. So, TSW is on the list of upcomming games I will try....But not until after it's released and I can see for myself that the game is acceptable.
I was seriously considering buying this and then I seen the XP boosters in the cash shop. Game over.
Of course, they go with the "convenience items only" line that every other free to pay uses. Sure you don't need the XP booster you just have the inconvenience of grinding for hours to gain your XP.
I was seriously considering buying this and then I seen the XP boosters in the cash shop. Game over.
Of course, they go with the "convenience items only" line that every other free to pay uses. Sure you don't need the XP booster you just have the inconvenience of grinding for hours to gain your XP.
You felt the need to resurrect this post just to say that?
A) I can't even find the XP potions in the ingame shop.
It was stated those would be purchasable ingame.
C) Anything you could possibly do at endgame will give you XP. PvP? XP. Endgame dungeons? XP. It doesn't stop accumulating until you've maxed your faction rank and unlocked every skill. You'll be at the endgame content long before that happens.
I was seriously considering buying this and then I seen the XP boosters in the cash shop. Game over.
Of course, they go with the "convenience items only" line that every other free to pay uses. Sure you don't need the XP booster you just have the inconvenience of grinding for hours to gain your XP.
You felt the need to resurrect this post just to say that?
A) I can't even find the XP potions in the ingame shop.
It was stated those would be purchasable ingame.
C) Anything you could possibly do at endgame will give you XP. PvP? XP. Endgame dungeons? XP. It doesn't stop accumulating until you've maxed your faction rank and unlocked every skill. You'll be at the endgame content long before that happens.
Why start a new thread when there is an existing one?
I have no doubt that everything in the game will give you XP. What would be the point of an XP booster if it didn't?
I was seriously considering buying this and then I seen the XP boosters in the cash shop. Game over.
Of course, they go with the "convenience items only" line that every other free to pay uses. Sure you don't need the XP booster you just have the inconvenience of grinding for hours to gain your XP.
You felt the need to resurrect this post just to say that?
A) I can't even find the XP potions in the ingame shop.
It was stated those would be purchasable ingame.
C) Anything you could possibly do at endgame will give you XP. PvP? XP. Endgame dungeons? XP. It doesn't stop accumulating until you've maxed your faction rank and unlocked every skill. You'll be at the endgame content long before that happens.
You're right, there's no XP pots in the game - and actually, they've specifically said there wont be added any. When Funcom introduced the addon packs to a purchase, there was XP boots available. People raged that this was a clear sign, that there'd be XP pots as well in the cash shop, but developers made it clear that we shouldn't worry, since there wouldn't. And so far, that's true.
So krinaman is just saying bullshit for the sake of bullshitting. Man, these people.
You're right, there's no XP pots in the game - and actually, they've specifically said there wont be added any. When Funcom introduced the addon packs to a purchase, there was XP boots available. People raged that this was a clear sign, that there'd be XP pots as well in the cash shop, but developers made it clear that we shouldn't worry, since there wouldn't. And so far, that's true.
So krinaman is just saying bullshit for the sake of bullshitting. Man, these people.
I went to buy the game. One of the options when buying the game is to buy XP boosters. They are selling you XP boosters. I'm not sure how that equals me BSing anyone.
You're right, there's no XP pots in the game - and actually, they've specifically said there wont be added any. When Funcom introduced the addon packs to a purchase, there was XP boots available. People raged that this was a clear sign, that there'd be XP pots as well in the cash shop, but developers made it clear that we shouldn't worry, since there wouldn't. And so far, that's true.
So krinaman is just saying bullshit for the sake of bullshitting. Man, these people.
I went to buy the game. One of the options when buying the game is to buy XP boosters. They are selling you XP boosters. I'm not sure how that equals me BSing anyone.
Being able to buy an addon pack to your purchase, that gives you 5(?) XP pots once, is not the same as having unlimited XP pots for sale in a cash shop. So yes you're bullshitting, since as I said, there's no XP pots in the cash shop.
You felt the need to resurrect this post just to say that?
A) I can't even find the XP potions in the ingame shop.
It was stated those would be purchasable ingame.
C) Anything you could possibly do at endgame will give you XP. PvP? XP. Endgame dungeons? XP. It doesn't stop accumulating until you've maxed your faction rank and unlocked every skill. You'll be at the endgame content long before that happens.
Why start a new thread when there is an existing one?
I have no doubt that everything in the game will give you XP. What would be the point of an XP booster if it didn't?
An existing thread about the cash shop, which is ingame. XP potions aren't in the cash shop. They're only available as account upgrades, out of the game. A new thread would have been relevant.
You missed my point though. Take WoW for instance: Once you hit the level cap and you're doing your endgame thing, whether its PvE raiding, 5-mans, achievement hunting, or PvP, you're doing a lot of it, and there's no equivelant to exp since you're capped. In TSW, while you're doing the endgame content, you're still earning exp, because there's still skills to buy.. for a while at least.
Being able to buy an addon pack to your purchase, that gives you 5(?) XP pots once, is not the same as having unlimited XP pots for sale in a cash shop. So yes you're bullshitting, since as I said, there's no XP pots in the cash shop.
Okay, this is getting kind of silly. I seen that they will sell you XP boosters for money and decided to not buy the game.
To me any store that sells you stuff for cash is a "cash shop". Apparently you guys are making a distinction between a ingame store and out of game store. In that case, the out of game store will sell you XP boosters. I have no idea about the ingame store as I have no access to it.
Okay, this is getting kind of silly. I seen that they will sell you XP boosters for money and decided to not buy the game.
To me any store that sells you stuff for cash is a "cash shop". Apparently you guys are making a distinction between a ingame store and out of game store. In that case, the out of game store will sell you XP boosters. I have no idea about the ingame store as I have no access to it.
You'll be hardpressed to find any mmorpg that doesn't sell something ingame for cash outside the game. But good luck finding one, I can't think of one off the top of my head..
It seems the questions answer was already known prior to creating this thread.
Also seems some people are getting quite imaginative with funcoms past business models, nothing was ever pay to win. You would never want to use anything from the cash shop for any other reason other than its better than the items you start the game with and with pvp its better to buy those and compete against endgame characters decked out in max out pvp gear than to waltz in there with your pve set, your still getting stomped but will be able to perhaps do slighly better than without.
In case this is the first time youve heard of funcom, and dont know what to expect, ill explaint.
Game launches as box+sub. A year or two after launch, they release expansion. Shortly after expansion is out all origional content goes free as a trial if you will...expansion costs the box+sub. Already explained what the CS includes, mostly deco crap, some xp stuff, and entry level gear (either starter gear or entry level pvp)
The beauty of this system is down the road it doesnt screw over vets, and it allows fresh meat into the game, who will never have an advantage over a subbing player.
Some might not like this, luckily the game is optional to play. If some people would rather buy a box to a f2p game then buy expansion skills in the cash shop along with everything else like inventory space and pvp seige weapons...by all means they got a game like that comming out soon enough.
If you want a totally free game (all content no box price) then pick up Aion, it needs players and the cash shop is pretty light on the pay to win (i would say absent of it) Probably the best F2P game out there in terms of quality of the game and cash shop advantages.
And for people who think this will go free in a matter of months because they dont like it (but will play the second its free) remember that not even AoC with its horrible launch, nor AO which is 11 years old and like 6 years behind on a new engine are free games...and AoC took years to go free with the origional content (probably delayed to from actually fixing the sad state it launched in)
I wont sit here and argue with people who like diffrent business models...its pointless, as is this thread, since everyone knows the game has a box+sub+ deco CS just like most themeparks. Its not the first to do so and wont be the last.
I'd have no issue with B2P+CS, but a sub and CS? I don't know, it just screams "greed" to me. Besides, a CS is a slippery slope; it starts with cosmetic items and then when everyone is used to that, the devs try and sneak in some XP boosts and some gear as well... I mean it's profitable so why not do it?
And yes yes, I know devs need to make money etc etc. It's just that it's possible to make money and still at least look like you care about the game and the players as well. Supporting a company that comes off as greedier than the rest usually leaves a sour taste in the mouth, no matter how good the game is (I'm sure TSW is a pretty cool game, which is why a lot of people seem to defend the business model).
To me, a game that charges a sub should never add extra "optional" expenses on top of that sub. Buying stuff from a store contradicts the whole idea about an RPG - anything that is not acquired by actually playing the game, be it cosmetic or not, just feels lame and shallow. But I guess that's the times we're living in and we all need to adjust, right?
Not sure why it is such a issue AO has a cash shop in it also and ppl still sub to it as do alot of other games .Doesn't really bother me tbh I don't have to buy anything from the cash shop and my chars progression isn't gonna be limited or having to have anything out of the cash shop.If they make profit from it good for em just won't be from me.
I have no problems with cash shops. I any ways avoid it unless i get some bonus points to spend on it. Cosmetics are fine and if people can afford it, good for them.
Being able to buy an addon pack to your purchase, that gives you 5(?) XP pots once, is not the same as having unlimited XP pots for sale in a cash shop. So yes you're bullshitting, since as I said, there's no XP pots in the cash shop.
Okay, this is getting kind of silly. I seen that they will sell you XP boosters for money and decided to not buy the game.
To me any store that sells you stuff for cash is a "cash shop". Apparently you guys are making a distinction between a ingame store and out of game store. In that case, the out of game store will sell you XP boosters. I have no idea about the ingame store as I have no access to it.
This is getting kind of silly, yes - you're still not getting it.
There's first of all no out of game cash shop, there's only a in-game cash shop, and that cash shop doesn't sell XP pots.
Now, what I said was, that when you buy the game, you've an one-time offer if you want to buy any additional packs to your basic purchase of the game. These can only be bought once (1 time). One of these packs includes a few XP bots, and that's it. It's only a few, that will help you the first hours of gameplay, nothing more. So they're not selling XP pots in any cash shops, but giving the option to buy a little 'boost' for the first little while.
Comments
As I have pointed in previous posts,get used to it,every single MMO from now on will have a cash shop no matter wether its subscription,F2P or B2P.Not all may start with them but ALL will have them.
Its just not a good business model to not have one and thats what it is, a business to make money.
They care more about making $$$$ than making a good game.
Honestly I feel a mall/catalog type cash shop to buy clothing (clothing is cosmetic) fits in perfectly with the tsw real world feel.
I have never spent a cent in any cash shop but a mall full of 99c shirts an jackets and such, I'd be all over it
I started playing AoC with a F2P account, so yes what I said is true. On the PvP gear you listed, the items in the cast shop are not good PvP gear, its only OK starter gear that you will grind out of in a week or two.
On the cash shop starter gear (the Tortage cache) not an item in it was better them the night quest reward.
But once again, nice try
Funcom is pretty much adopting the SoE style of marketing. Which isnt a good thing. Highly restrictive 'freemium' models and milking games with subscriptions and cash shops concurrently.
Having played SoE games in the past (mostly EQ1 and EQ2), its definitely a deal breaker for me. What ends up happening is that all the cool appearance items and mounts end up on the cash shop, and average 'meh' ones are available in game. More development time gets spent on milking the cash shop than developing new content and appearance gear for all the paying subscribers. Its a terrible path to go down.
Its a shame too, because I quite like the setting and gameplay ideals in TSW.
Uh they had Rank 5 PvP gear for sale with no previous PvP requirements. No its not the best in the game, but you certainly dont get there in a week. More like a month of grinding. And anyone in less than Rank 5 gear is an instakill for someone with a full Rank 5 set.... and Rank 5 is able to be moderately competitive with Rank 10.
So basically if you wanted to PvP competitively and not just be cannon fodder for a month, you had to buy the armor set.
Wow, Funcom said the EXACT same thing about the Cash Shop they implemented in Anarchy Online.
http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?t=583660
I love how Means is appologizing for the "Confusion". Dumb players. Sheesh. When Funcom told Anarchy Players "let me assure you that the general guidelines we set out years ago of not selling power for money is still very much in force." They thought that meant Funcom wouldn't sell Power. I mean really. How could they not see it. LOL
I guess there is a difference when Means said the above quote one week, and the next, say "some items we will be selling may potentially contribute to relative player power."
WTF Funcom.....Really now.
So that means Funcom is 2 for 2 huh? Both their games, they said the Cash Shop would be Cosmetic items only and in both their games, they end up selling P2W items. Nice.
So maybe they lied about their other 2 games, but at least they aren't lying when they say TSW's Cash Shop will be Cosmetic only......Right?
TSW will have no P2W-items for a very simple reason... all the best items (weapons and chakras) are crafted by players and clothes don't have any stats at all to begin with.
So what P2W-items they could possibly sell in the shop?
I imagine things change when a game goes "free to play" as those 2 did. That 's understandable. Your concern is understandable.
If the game is good like every indicators says it will be, and knowing how the mmorpg community feels about pay to win, it would make no sense what so ever to add pay to win items.
So to sum it up. If the game is good. No pay to win items. If it goes free to play, then you get pay to win items.
Anarchy Online is not truly Free to Play. It's more like an unlimited trial with limited access.
Now, the poster above actually has an acceptable arguement....But I guess time will tell. I know that When Funcom says one thing, you have to wait for them to change it, retract it or some how tell you to your face that you were the one who misunderstood the level of Gray they were implying when the said Black and White. But in Anarchy, not everything in the shop is P2W. Funcom has this other subtle practice. When players start complaining about issues in the game, Funcom has responed by implementing workarounds available in the cash shop instead of fixing the game itself. I'd be more concerned about consumable items in the CS than P2W items.
It's not something that will stop me from playing. As it is, I don't really care about P2W in a PVE environment unless it becomes an ssue with grouping where you can't get invites to a group uless you have paid items...Again, I don't see that happeing here. Other than that, the concept of TSW..The theme the background looks like fun. And I am a HUGE crafter. So, TSW is on the list of upcomming games I will try....But not until after it's released and I can see for myself that the game is acceptable.
I was seriously considering buying this and then I seen the XP boosters in the cash shop. Game over.
Of course, they go with the "convenience items only" line that every other free to pay uses. Sure you don't need the XP booster you just have the inconvenience of grinding for hours to gain your XP.
You felt the need to resurrect this post just to say that?
A) I can't even find the XP potions in the ingame shop.
C) Anything you could possibly do at endgame will give you XP. PvP? XP. Endgame dungeons? XP. It doesn't stop accumulating until you've maxed your faction rank and unlocked every skill. You'll be at the endgame content long before that happens.
.. But in a good way.
Why start a new thread when there is an existing one?
I have no doubt that everything in the game will give you XP. What would be the point of an XP booster if it didn't?
You're right, there's no XP pots in the game - and actually, they've specifically said there wont be added any. When Funcom introduced the addon packs to a purchase, there was XP boots available. People raged that this was a clear sign, that there'd be XP pots as well in the cash shop, but developers made it clear that we shouldn't worry, since there wouldn't. And so far, that's true.
So krinaman is just saying bullshit for the sake of bullshitting. Man, these people.
I went to buy the game. One of the options when buying the game is to buy XP boosters. They are selling you XP boosters. I'm not sure how that equals me BSing anyone.
There is only some cosmetic clothes in the cash shop you can also get in the game world. No need to buy anything.
No need to cry the sky is falling over some cosmetic items.
TSW is a very well done MMO and I prefer monthly subs to the sham "free to play".
Being able to buy an addon pack to your purchase, that gives you 5(?) XP pots once, is not the same as having unlimited XP pots for sale in a cash shop. So yes you're bullshitting, since as I said, there's no XP pots in the cash shop.
An existing thread about the cash shop, which is ingame. XP potions aren't in the cash shop. They're only available as account upgrades, out of the game. A new thread would have been relevant.
You missed my point though. Take WoW for instance: Once you hit the level cap and you're doing your endgame thing, whether its PvE raiding, 5-mans, achievement hunting, or PvP, you're doing a lot of it, and there's no equivelant to exp since you're capped. In TSW, while you're doing the endgame content, you're still earning exp, because there's still skills to buy.. for a while at least.
.. But in a good way.
Okay, this is getting kind of silly. I seen that they will sell you XP boosters for money and decided to not buy the game.
To me any store that sells you stuff for cash is a "cash shop". Apparently you guys are making a distinction between a ingame store and out of game store. In that case, the out of game store will sell you XP boosters. I have no idea about the ingame store as I have no access to it.
You'll be hardpressed to find any mmorpg that doesn't sell something ingame for cash outside the game. But good luck finding one, I can't think of one off the top of my head..
.. But in a good way.
It seems the questions answer was already known prior to creating this thread.
Also seems some people are getting quite imaginative with funcoms past business models, nothing was ever pay to win. You would never want to use anything from the cash shop for any other reason other than its better than the items you start the game with and with pvp its better to buy those and compete against endgame characters decked out in max out pvp gear than to waltz in there with your pve set, your still getting stomped but will be able to perhaps do slighly better than without.
In case this is the first time youve heard of funcom, and dont know what to expect, ill explaint.
Game launches as box+sub. A year or two after launch, they release expansion. Shortly after expansion is out all origional content goes free as a trial if you will...expansion costs the box+sub. Already explained what the CS includes, mostly deco crap, some xp stuff, and entry level gear (either starter gear or entry level pvp)
The beauty of this system is down the road it doesnt screw over vets, and it allows fresh meat into the game, who will never have an advantage over a subbing player.
Some might not like this, luckily the game is optional to play. If some people would rather buy a box to a f2p game then buy expansion skills in the cash shop along with everything else like inventory space and pvp seige weapons...by all means they got a game like that comming out soon enough.
If you want a totally free game (all content no box price) then pick up Aion, it needs players and the cash shop is pretty light on the pay to win (i would say absent of it) Probably the best F2P game out there in terms of quality of the game and cash shop advantages.
And for people who think this will go free in a matter of months because they dont like it (but will play the second its free) remember that not even AoC with its horrible launch, nor AO which is 11 years old and like 6 years behind on a new engine are free games...and AoC took years to go free with the origional content (probably delayed to from actually fixing the sad state it launched in)
I wont sit here and argue with people who like diffrent business models...its pointless, as is this thread, since everyone knows the game has a box+sub+ deco CS just like most themeparks. Its not the first to do so and wont be the last.
I'd have no issue with B2P+CS, but a sub and CS? I don't know, it just screams "greed" to me. Besides, a CS is a slippery slope; it starts with cosmetic items and then when everyone is used to that, the devs try and sneak in some XP boosts and some gear as well... I mean it's profitable so why not do it?
And yes yes, I know devs need to make money etc etc. It's just that it's possible to make money and still at least look like you care about the game and the players as well. Supporting a company that comes off as greedier than the rest usually leaves a sour taste in the mouth, no matter how good the game is (I'm sure TSW is a pretty cool game, which is why a lot of people seem to defend the business model).
To me, a game that charges a sub should never add extra "optional" expenses on top of that sub. Buying stuff from a store contradicts the whole idea about an RPG - anything that is not acquired by actually playing the game, be it cosmetic or not, just feels lame and shallow. But I guess that's the times we're living in and we all need to adjust, right?
Not sure why it is such a issue AO has a cash shop in it also and ppl still sub to it as do alot of other games .Doesn't really bother me tbh I don't have to buy anything from the cash shop and my chars progression isn't gonna be limited or having to have anything out of the cash shop.If they make profit from it good for em just won't be from me.
I have no problems with cash shops. I any ways avoid it unless i get some bonus points to spend on it. Cosmetics are fine and if people can afford it, good for them.
This is getting kind of silly, yes - you're still not getting it.
There's first of all no out of game cash shop, there's only a in-game cash shop, and that cash shop doesn't sell XP pots.
Now, what I said was, that when you buy the game, you've an one-time offer if you want to buy any additional packs to your basic purchase of the game. These can only be bought once (1 time). One of these packs includes a few XP bots, and that's it. It's only a few, that will help you the first hours of gameplay, nothing more. So they're not selling XP pots in any cash shops, but giving the option to buy a little 'boost' for the first little while.