Champions Online: Monthly fee AND Microtransactions?!

I have just found out in a handy e-mail from Cryptic that not only might they be charging a monthly fee for Champions Online (as of yet unnanounced), but will also be charging us extra for some items within the game, on top of charging us for the game itself. Information was in the 'pre-order bonuses' and read as follows:

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Amazon

The High Roller Pack is perfect for players who insist on the finest accoutrements for their avatar. With three unique, exclusive apparel options (harlequin headpiece, black knight helmet, grenade chest strap), and an additional five in-game micro-transaction dollars, you'll have plenty of options to push your "High Roller" look.

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Apparently they're called 'Cryptic Bucks' or something along those lines. This and this alone has encouraged me to steer well clear of this game. I understand how MMO's work and accept fully that there is sufficient justification for a monthly fee as long as the game is updated enough. I also accept that we need to pay for the retail version of the game as this is where the company gets the bulk of it's initial profits from. But why do I then need to pay to unlock content that I paid to own and am now continuing to pay to use? How happy would we be if, upon beating Naxx 10 or Ulduar 25 man raids in WoW, a message box popped up saying 'Congratulations! You have unlocked X loot! Please visit our website, www.wow-raid-loot.com with your credit or debit card to purchase this item'?

I think microtransactions can work if the content is sufficient, and subscription fee's ensure the company keeps the game fresh to keep us all playing, but both? That's just greedy Cryptic. I could fully understand if they had a Free to Play game that included microtransactions (although Hellgate:London tried something similar and fell on it's a*se) but as of yet, they haven't announced it.

Will any of you be happy to pay £29.99 for a game, then a potential £8.99 a month subscription if you then had to fork out even more to unlock all the content the game has to offer? I remember people kicking off when Guild Wars charged £9.99 for the bonus missions pack and that's without a subscription fee...

Yeah, this is why I'm avoiding Star Trek Online. As much as I would want to finally play it I will be avoiding it.

I think we've been screwed in the sense of Cryptic know that people that play games like this and CoH/V want their character to look awesome. Knowing this, i dont think it's fair to charge us full retail price for a game that is basically a glorified trial copy. I just think it's greedy to charge retail shelf price, monthly transaction AND microtransactions. I don't see any game content they can put in that will justify making us pay extra outside the monthly sub to access.

Sony Online Entertainment also does this with with Everquest 1 and 2. Micro payments are how free games make money. I hope this fails.Nerkcon

[QUOTE="Nerkcon"]Sony Online Entertainment also does this with with Everquest 1 and 2. Micro payments are how free games make money. I hope this fails.zomglolcats

Thereis nothing that says Cryptic (or any other MMO provider) could not offer "game effect" items at any time. If they can have MTs they can sell ANYTHING. It does not matter what someone representing the company says today because policy can change on a dime (pun intended). Even though it was not envolving MTs, does anyone remember SOE and the Star Wars Galaxies fiasco? And you want to trust these people why? Frankly, I will not pay for the boxed game; pay a subscription and then turn around and have MTs thrown in my face. I don't care how "good" the game might be. My guess is that some OTHER company will see this as an opprotunity to offer a similar game and use the fact that they do not offer MTs as one of many positive selling points.

Well thats just greedy lol. But I have no problem with monthly payments (as long as its worth it eg WoW), and to be honest I am not to keen on micro transactions as normally the games just dont have the kind of quality to them (in an mmo, ). But I defiantly would not be prepared to do both in one game.

[QUOTE="zomglolcats"][QUOTE="Nerkcon"]Sony Online Entertainment also does this with with Everquest 1 and 2. Micro payments are how free games make money. I hope this fails.Nerkcon

As soon as I got that email, I cancelled my pre-order. When talking about monthly fees and MTs, I can deal with one or the other, but not both. Guess Ill just have to stick with WoW for my MMO needs then. At least until SW:TOR comes out.