@FuriousHamst3r You do have access to all the content from the very beginning. Check the official GW2 wiki, the item mall is detailed fully in there. The only thing in there is costumes and other junk that no one really needs. I'm more concerned that Anet won't make enough money off it, because they're handling it with kid gloves to try not to offend anyway. Fortunately, they seem to be banking more on adding more content to the game like they did with GW2 (expansions with box prices) to really make the profit, with the item mall just the icing on the cake. The only thing in the item mall I will be buying is 3 more character slots, you start with 5 but I'm an alt-fanatic and that's not enough for me, haha.
@sammoth I actually think GW2's item mall is better than LoTRO's. They don't sell ANY gear, they don't restrict levels/game modes, nada. That said, LoTRO is still a great payment model, as is DDO for that matter. Overall, Turbine is definitely up there as one of the few that have gotten it right, in my opinion. Even though they sell gear, it's only really good for lowbies to get a leg up, and it's also very cheap and affordable. It generally doesn't compare to what you can get ingame through effort, which is how it should be.
@mulder_000 That's a good point, but not really something that's spilled over to the RPG genre. So far. I remember the blowout over those map packs, I've never gotten into FPS so I couldn't comment, but it did worry me. I don't think it really works for the RPG experience though, we need a lot more than a new map to run around and blow each other's brains out in. The only game really walking the line right now is ME3 but they've also given a lot of stuff away for free, and it's debateable whether that could be called an RPG in the first place (imo, it's no more an RPG than Borderlands is, which people refused to believe was one. That's not a bad thing, I own and love Borderlands).
For me, that's one of those things where it COULD happen, and it's worrisome, but I'm not going to bomb people on what they ~might~ do. Still, it's good to have the discussion so, if they're reading, they know how people feel about it. Things like day 1 dlc and those rehashing of games (*cough* CAPCOM *cough*) are getting a lot of bad press and many companies are now talking about reigning in the practice. Hopefully, that actually takes.
@Kayweg Eve's a different beast; it has no competition. Very few other games have attempted gameplay similar to it and none have done so successfully. Perpetuum found a community eventually but it wasn't much of one, and overall that kind of purely space-faring gameplay targets a niche audience. Eve not only doesn't have competition, it also probably won't have one for a while. It's not much different from a monopoly, and when you have that, you can charge whatever you want.
I think Lye was referring more to MMOs in general, which may as well be an entirely different genre from EVE. There, there's much MUCH more competition and because of the choices available, that particular majority of MMOs would be hard-pressed to justify a sub.
@travo0159 I've heard that before, but I don't know that I agree. It wasn't the combat that bored me, I rather liked it. I sort of liked the combat in the original FF14 pre rebirth as well, it felt like an MMO evolution of turn-based combat from single-player FF games that I adored. The problem is really the pacing, everything in FF MMOs moves at an incredibly sluggish pace. Takes forever to get somewhere, forever to level up, forever to make money, etc. You can play all day and feel like you've accomplished nothing. I think I'm just too old for that, I don't have the time to sit and play for 8 hours just to walk away and say "Well, that was a bust." I can see where some might like that slower-paced gameplay, but that doesn't speak to the gaming majority. I can't say for certain that I do either, honestly, but gaming trends are pretty obvious.I think FF11 ~tried~ to find a decent pace, but failed. It started very slow, then they introduced an expansion (I forget the name) that allows you to get a character to cap by leeching very quickly, but then you don't feel like you actually deserve it, not to mention you likely don't have a clue how to play your class. There needed to be a balance and for me, FF never found it.
@DuoMaxwell007 Except FF11 is also boring as hell. I actually had a sub and never made it past level 13. Even with a group to level with, what's the point to a ton of content if it's all yawn-inducing? I'll grant you that DCUO was lacking in content, though, but I wasn't really a fan of that game overall so I'm probably not the best judge there.
@jessie82 In one weekend, without touching anything in the cash shop (except chef's costume, just for fun) I got my Mesmer to level 35. The level cap is 80, with a flat leveling curve past level 20, meaning the time it takes for you to get from 30 to 40 is comparable to the time it takes you to get from 70 to 80. If ANYONE spends money in GW2 cash shop for exp boosters, they're being short-sighted. IMO, the leveling is already too fast. I'll probably have my first level 80 character within 2 weeks of release, but fortunately there's still ~tons~ of content to do even if I'm at level cap. And ALL of that content is free.
As for the only other contentious item in the ball, the bag/bank slots; separate from bank slots is an entire free bank space for your craft mats with literally unlimited storage. Your inventory space on your character starts with 6 bag slots, and you can craft larger ones. By the time the beta ended, I could craft 20 slot bags. That's over 100 inventory slots, and my crafting was still "novice" so I'd get even more eventually. Except, I didn't need to, because you can send your crafting materials to your bank from ANYWHERE in the world, anytime, for free, meaning even with the starter bags you'll probably never run out of room. Trust me, that GW2 cash shop is as non-dependent as a cash shop could possibly be.
B2P is THE way games should be done from now on. You do it with single-player games that have multiplayer, right? Not only has Anet said server costs are low and nothing like what publishers make them out to be, but it's obvious to anyone with common sense. Diablo games have had Battle.net servers running for MANY years, has anyone paid money beyond the box? Nope. So why do you have to do it for an MMO? Especially since most MMOs, in addition to that box price and sub price, also charge you a box price for expansions. I can't believe how much people don't see that it's a rip.
@Odins_Fury Yeah I know. You may not 'own' the game, but that character is yours to play as long as you like. I would never do sub again, because I don't like the idea that I can no longer play characters I worked hard on just because I don't want to pay a sub anymore. After paying a sub for years, you've already contributed many hundreds of dollars. At what point are you allowed to feel like you've earned that character? It was never a fair sub model, and never will be. Glad to see those days are gone.
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