Serious question about Albion being P2W on release.

injenu

My brother and I are pretty close to purchasing Alpha access; We've been looking for a full loot mmo for quite some time since our last disappointment in this niche genre of full loot pvp, that being Darkfall Unholy Cluster F**k. We basically go all the way back to UO Atlantic Shard, among others like AC Darktide server, Shadowbane when it wasn't a laggy piece of shit and the list goes on. We found out about Albion online, and from what we've seen and heard, it's a Godsend, blending in a lot of the aspects I recall from UO, with purposeful guild vs guild combat as well as the player driven economy. We're basically sold, however, there was just a few concerns regarding the potential P2W aspects:

1. Micro-transactions will hopefully be done correctly because that's the companies revenue model, which is fine... My question is will there be anything that you can buy that gives a bonus to actual performance. Like an item that is no drop that gives speed bonus or some stat increase, etc. 

2. Difference between premium and non-premium accounts - Is there a huge advantage of being a premium account? Is there any performance related stat-boost like more mana, health, or something of the sort? 

3. Are there going to be a botting issues since there's static resource gathering nodes, etc.? 

Other than that I'm pretty excited about the game.

Thanks,
Valyrre ig, injenu on mmo

waynejr2

didn't you get the memo?  all games are now p2w!

Bluddwolf

A subscription based game costs $15.00 x 12 = $180 per year.  Most items on an MT shop are cosmetic, but even if they have some game advantage, they usually cost a lot less than $180.  

Maurgrim

How is this P2W?

You can buy gold for real cash sure and sell it for silver, but whats the point you cant use the armour and weapons anyway you have to have the skills to use them in the first place and no amount of silver you have will change that.

You still have to skill up.

Chrisbox

Would love to get a more in depth response to these questions as well.  

Bluddwolf

Originally posted by Maurgrim

How is this P2W?

You can buy gold for real cash sure and sell it for silver, but whats the point you cant use the armour and weapons anyway you have to have the skills to use them in the first place and no amount of silver you have will change that.

You still have to skill up.

That is actually not even the best way to gain silver.  Crafters can be self sufficient and even turn a profit from refining / crafting and then salvaging.  

Gather tier II and III materials.  Refine Tier 2, then Make Tier II gear.  The Salvage the Gear, it returns half the mats but more silver than it cost to refine the raw mats  and craft the item.  Not only do you make silver from this process but you also raise your refining and crafting skills. 

Selling Gold for Silver grants you no skill advancement and less silver in the long run.  I'd save the gold for something else that may come down the line.

 

biscuitsawce

All we can do right now is wait to find out more about the game's business model. As it stands, even the devs are confused on what to do (this issue is not as bad as you think) BUT the devs are listening to the players on the forums and they seem to care about the future of the game. We can only wait and hope for the best.

Orkistra

Dem peanuts

Edremis

biscuitsawce said:

All we can do right now is wait to find out more about the game's business model. As it stands, even the devs are confused on what to do (this issue is not as bad as you think) BUT the devs are listening to the players on the forums and they seem to care about the future of the game. We can only wait and hope for the best.

The devs should listen carefully to the community on the forums because a lot of them want things like p2p (knowing than f2p is 100% confirmed), diferents servers (free and sub servers) and others things than can ruin the game.

I also hope for the best to this game.

Luiden

Put it this way, if it's not a subscription based game then there is a near 100% chance it's pay 2 win.  If the business model is so complicated that even the devs don't do know what to do then it will be pay 2 win.

There are very few if any games out today that are not P2W once you get through all the bullshit that developers put into the game... ie, spend real life money on gold, which can then be transferred to this other currency, which can then be used to buy bonuses only on the 3rd passing of the moon each quarter of the year etc.  It doesn't matter, rich players will figure out how to spend their money to gain an advantage in the game.

What players simply want is to pay a monthly fee and get everything the game has to offer.. period.  If 15 bucks isn't enough then charge 20 or 25.. I don't really care I can easily afford it.  I just want to play a video game and enjoy it, not spend 50% of my timing shopping and browsing some in game store like it's Amazon.

Ezxistence

The first red flag... is any game that sells alpha/beta access with preorder purchases.

2nd red flag would be if its korean. 

3rd red flag... Free 2 play

butchogrande

Problem with the Business Model - and that will come clear when it goes live in maybe Arpil - is:

• Paying means more resources = More Money More Buying / Crafting Power
• Paying means faster Progression = Faster able to enter High Tier Areas
• Paying means less gind = Faster in Everything

So P2W is there in the Form of PayToProgress Much faster than anybody. Let it put in an example:

Player A: Normal Player in a Guild with normal Players,
Player B Premium Player in a Guild with Premium Members

They Both play 3 h of Albion every day, and want to make a Duel at Day 1, Day 7 and Day 30

Day 1 will be mostly Equal 
Day 7 Player B will have all Resources to Buy or Craft T4 Weapons  While Player A sitll stucks in T3
Day30 Player B will have got Access to high tier Terretories, a Private Island wit serveral Farms and Labourers, He will most likely in T5 or higher and has access to every Aspect of the game. Player A has no Island, very little money, no Labourers, most likely not access to higher tier Resources due to lack of Learning points of Tools,...


This gab is growing even further

ZigZags

Anytime you can pay money other than a monthly subscription fee for everyone, its pay to win. That doesn't mean the game isn't good. The game is excellent and allows you to economic pvp people like crazy, PKing is awesome and painful to die. Like really painful. This game will be a sleeper hit of 2016 no doubt. 

Spiider

P2W element will be most evident on the start since lands will be grabbed by those with most money on auctions. Silver silver silver. All the shops in the game are now completely overprices, some even having 700% markups on their services (if you played you will know what I'm talking about). And the ones with most silver will be able to advance a bit faster than the others. Eventually people will be able to catch up but it will be tougher since those who came first will have grabbed it all.

On this note this game is faaaaaar to small for its hype and number of people that will play it. Waaaaay to small, tiny maps, tiny dungeons that are overcamped already and static nodes that can also be camped to hell.

Will it be fun? No clue, I just know that a solo player is better of somewhere else. Unless you find a huge and organize guild you might be completely frustrated.

flizzer

First warning sign for me is open world PvP gankfest game.  

deveilblad

Well... Let's just say that premium accounts get 50% more resource and 50% more ''xp'' (called Fame in the game)... so yeah, I guess it's pretty P2W, you can buy premium with silver (in game money) though, so it's P2W, but you can NOTP2W too... lol

Slapshot1188

A sub getting better (faster) gains is not P2W.  Being allowed to toss in unlimited funds on top of a sub however.. is.

Sephiroso

Bluddwolf said:

Originally posted by Maurgrim

How is this P2W?

You can buy gold for real cash sure and sell it for silver, but whats the point you cant use the armour and weapons anyway you have to have the skills to use them in the first place and no amount of silver you have will change that.

You still have to skill up.

That is actually not even the best way to gain silver.  Crafters can be self sufficient and even turn a profit from refining / crafting and then salvaging.  

Gather tier II and III materials.  Refine Tier 2, then Make Tier II gear.  The Salvage the Gear, it returns half the mats but more silver than it cost to refine the raw mats  and craft the item.  Not only do you make silver from this process but you also raise your refining and crafting skills. 

Selling Gold for Silver grants you no skill advancement and less silver in the long run.  I'd save the gold for something else that may come down the line.

 

You're still losing silver in that scenario. You're losing the silver from simply not selling the mats, or selling the T2 gear that you salvage.

ZigZags

I wouldn't call the game P2W after putting in some significant time in Beta. The premium status will help you progress faster but there is still a viable place for free to play players. It is highly likely a f2p could pass up a premium player based on the amount of time they have to invest. You cannot just pay $, gear up and smash faces. It doesn't work like that.