SOE focus on Station Items for sale will not be profitable

[Deornwulf]

I doubt that any of the suits who make the decisions about focusing the Dev time on Station Cash items will actually read or even acknowledge the content of this post but I'm going to rant anyway.

There are lots of very nice items available for purchase through the SC Store. It's obvious that some very creative people spent a great deal of time making these items for the game. The prestige houses, the furniture, the appearance items, all of it nice enough looking for players to want to purchase them...if they actually stay long enough with the game to appreciate the items.

That is where SOE is failing and possibly short-changing themselves out of future profits. The Dev team does not spend enough time on things that don't require station cash to purchase, things that are necessary to keep players playing the game. Sure, someone will try EQ2 out as a Free-To-Play account, maybe buy a few things if they like it. However, eventually, the player will grow tired of everything new or really nice added to the game being sold via the SC Store and quit.

For example, hundreds of appearance items have been added to the store while Tailors have gotten nothing added to their recipe books that even comes close. Cool Furniture and building blocks have been added to the store while Carpenters got to make some jewelry. So many prestige houses have been added that the Devs had to consolidate all of the portals into a single object yet nothing new was added to houses with the new Freeport. (All of which are very basic boring variations on the same theme.)

Basically, I wish the Dev Team and the corporate bean counters behind the decisions would realize that it's important to add some of the appearance type items or new housing to the game for free as hooks to keep the players wanting to stay around long enough to keep spending money in the Station Cash Store. In fact, new things could be added in a manner that encourages players to spend more SC.

Imagine if 8 new housing floorplans were added to Freeport and Qeynos with totally new choices for appearance upgrades (Walls, floors, ceilings), along with addition appearance upgrade sets being offered strictly through the SC Store. players would be tempted and likely purchase those upgrades for their houses. The same strategy could be done with appearance items and furniture, add half of a set as new tradeskill recipes and offer the items that complete the sets for sale on the SC Store.

It's a business strategy of having "loss leaders" that bring the shoppers into the store making it more likely that they will spend money. There is more the the F2P Model than just offering everything up for sale, there have to be hooks that keep the shoppers coming back for more. 

[Durgstyler]

I just recently came back to this game after leaving in 2004. Im just overwhealmed (and thrilled) of the ammount of content the game has to offer. I've spent 4600 SC (one bag and one expansion to get mercs) and I got gold membership.

I think this game has so much more to offer for solo and relaxed players who arent necessarily only playing to get higher stats on their gear and higher crits.

If they are taking away dev time to make these vanity items, i can understand. You should see my house its hilarious... just garbage here and there cus i didnt wanna destroy the furniture... I still got loads of furniture in /claim as I've bought everything except DoV.. I will buy it tho eventually I think.

[Deago]

You can have multiple homes now etc.. Prestige housing with large areas etc...

Just saying incase you did not know from return.

Good luck!

[IvyBlackrose]

to the contrary soe is actually making money faster than they can spend it with their cash shop items....my only issue is the prices are a bit higher than i like for virtual items, for example the new wings in the cash shop...they are absolutely gorgeous but I simply cannot justify to my wife spending 20 dollars on something that will someday be gone because it is virtual(crafted out of thin air) BUT she would have no problem whatsoever if those same wings were only 10 bux and not only that but i could probably justify spending for two sets of wings for two toons at 10 X 2 = 20 rather than the 20 X 1 = 20... kind of like the AOD expansion I wasnt able to justify to her spending 40 dollars on it, but if it were only 20 dollars I would be able to get it......

[Valdaglerion]

When players with expendable income fail to enjoy the game and walk away the marketplace wont mean much.

SOE should really at this point put everything in game on marketplace and everything on marketplace in game for purchase with either plat or as quest rewards.

Let those with more expendable income subsidize game development without isolating the players of either gaming style. Some people can play daily for 8+ hours, most cant. Keep pandering to those who can and they will continue to lose players that cant.

[Tayne]

I've been playing EQ2 for seven-plus years. Still not bored. I can't imagine how someone new, coming into a game with virtually thousands of quests, rich lore, free in-game stuff like crafting and collections and quested/raid gear would get bored and leave. If they do, then perhaps it's just a matter that this game's style just isn't for them -- and that's fine. But for most players, this game offers an almost bottomless series of choices and discoveries that they will stay and play.  The hook is already there -- has been for many of us who have been playing since 2004 -- or we'd be long gone by now.

The market stuff is just fluff. You don't need to buy a thing to enjoy the game fully -- well except for maybe the DOV expansion, but you don't even need that really until you hit your mid-80s. The rest of it are perks that a player can CHOOSE to either buy or ignore.

[agnott]

Jayne@Kithicor wrote:

The market stuff is just fluff. You don't need to buy a thing to enjoy the game fully -- well except for maybe the DOV expansion, but you don't even need that really until you hit your mid-80s. The rest of it are perks that a player can CHOOSE to either buy or ignore.

Do you think anyone will come into the game and see people flying around and just say  "oh thats just fluff ..I don't need that"?

[Tayne]

agnott wrote:

Jayne@Kithicor wrote:

The market stuff is just fluff. You don't need to buy a thing to enjoy the game fully -- well except for maybe the DOV expansion, but you don't even need that really until you hit your mid-80s. The rest of it are perks that a player can CHOOSE to either buy or ignore.

Do you think anyone will come into the game and see people flying around and just say  "oh thats just fluff ..I don't need that"?

Yes, but you need to be level 85 to fly .. and you CAN get one for free via a quest (assuming you've bought DOV -- which you kind of need for end-game stuff when you finally get to that level -- and by that time you'll have figured out whether this game is for you or not, and if buying DOV is worth it to you or not -- at least I would hope someone would! )

Still, you don't NEED to fly to enjoy the game, y'know?

[Felshades]

IvyBlackrose wrote:

to the contrary soe is actually making money faster than they can spend it with their cash shop items....my only issue is the prices are a bit higher than i like for virtual items, for example the new wings in the cash shop...they are absolutely gorgeous but I simply cannot justify to my wife spending 20 dollars on something that will someday be gone because it is virtual(crafted out of thin air) BUT she would have no problem whatsoever if those same wings were only 10 bux and not only that but i could probably justify spending for two sets of wings for two toons at 10 X 2 = 20 rather than the 20 X 1 = 20... kind of like the AOD expansion I wasnt able to justify to her spending 40 dollars on it, but if it were only 20 dollars I would be able to get it......

You got a point.

And honestly... if it wasn't profitable they wouldn't be putting out new items constantly...

lol.

[Xenxex]

Need unattuner on market place.

[Deornwulf]

Meridia@Crushbone wrote:

IvyBlackrose wrote:

to the contrary soe is actually making money faster than they can spend it with their cash shop items....my only issue is the prices are a bit higher than i like for virtual items, for example the new wings in the cash shop...they are absolutely gorgeous but I simply cannot justify to my wife spending 20 dollars on something that will someday be gone because it is virtual(crafted out of thin air) BUT she would have no problem whatsoever if those same wings were only 10 bux and not only that but i could probably justify spending for two sets of wings for two toons at 10 X 2 = 20 rather than the 20 X 1 = 20... kind of like the AOD expansion I wasnt able to justify to her spending 40 dollars on it, but if it were only 20 dollars I would be able to get it......

You got a point.

And honestly... if it wasn't profitable they wouldn't be putting out new items constantly...

lol.

And the farmer can get a great deal of money selling the dairy cow as meat...and then he has no more cows.

My point is to not stop putting out items on the marketplace, it's that the suits need a more sustainable business model by introducing new items in the game that spur one to spend on the marketplace to make those things better.

[Tayne]

Deornwulf wrote:

My point is to not stop putting out items on the marketplace, it's that the suits need a more sustainable business model by introducing new items in the game that spur one to spend on the marketplace to make those things better.

Seven-plus years for a MMO is pretty significant -- and clearly indicative of sustainability.

Deornwulf wrote:

The same strategy could be done with appearance items and furniture, add half of a set as new tradeskill recipes and offer the items that complete the sets for sale on the SC Store.

Your suggestion of offering crafters/adventurers half of anything would create a huge uproar. The worst thing you can do is offer folks half of a complete package -- because then they feel ripped off, like they're forced to actually fork out money to complete something.

So Bob is able to craft the table and lamps of the new "Equestria" series of furniture, but to complete the room he has to buy the bed with real cash? Whereas now he has the choice of buying the entire bedroom suite, or not. Even worse: Bob has the recipe for the pants and cuffs for an appearance item, but he has to fork out real money to buy the chest piece? Gah, no.

The half-offer feels too bait-and-switch to me, and I suspect others would feel the same way.

[Snowdonia]

IvyBlackrose wrote:

to the contrary soe is actually making money faster than they can spend it with their cash shop items....my only issue is the prices are a bit higher than i like for virtual items, for example the new wings in the cash shop...they are absolutely gorgeous but I simply cannot justify to my wife spending 20 dollars on something that will someday be gone because it is virtual(crafted out of thin air) BUT she would have no problem whatsoever if those same wings were only 10 bux and not only that but i could probably justify spending for two sets of wings for two toons at 10 X 2 = 20 rather than the 20 X 1 = 20... kind of like the AOD expansion I wasnt able to justify to her spending 40 dollars on it, but if it were only 20 dollars I would be able to get it......

Just gotta wait for the next double SC event.

[Tayne]

I want a Snowdonia designer bot to decorate all my homes. /nod

[TwistedFaith]

What's annoying me is seeing weekly station cash/marketplace items being added to the game but ZERO actual content. The expansion was a disgrace and since then all we have had is a stream of marketplace rubbish.

EDIT: Ohh look as I type this, I see dominio has posted a video about a new armour set and new houses coming to marketplace! 

[Rainmare]

Jayne@Kithicor wrote:

Deornwulf wrote:

My point is to not stop putting out items on the marketplace, it's that the suits need a more sustainable business model by introducing new items in the game that spur one to spend on the marketplace to make those things better.

Seven-plus years for a MMO is pretty significant -- and clearly indicative of sustainability.

Deornwulf wrote:

The same strategy could be done with appearance items and furniture, add half of a set as new tradeskill recipes and offer the items that complete the sets for sale on the SC Store.

Your suggestion of offering crafters/adventurers half of anything would create a huge uproar. The worst thing you can do is offer folks half of a complete package -- because then they feel ripped off, like they're forced to actually fork out money to complete something.

So Bob is able to craft the table and lamps of the new "Equestria" series of furniture, but to complete the room he has to buy the bed with real cash? Whereas now he has the choice of buying the entire bedroom suite, or not. Even worse: Bob has the recipe for the pants and cuffs for an appearance item, but he has to fork out real money to buy the chest piece? Gah, no.

The half-offer feels too bait-and-switch to me, and I suspect others would feel the same way.

actually I think more what he was saying with that scenario is the carp makes the bed/chair/vanity table, the SC store gets the bedside table/sconce/mirror

as in the capr gets the 'essential' components of a set, and the SC store gets the 'addatives' to that set.

[Zepor]

Deornwulf wrote:

Meridia@Crushbone wrote:

IvyBlackrose wrote:

to the contrary soe is actually making money faster than they can spend it with their cash shop items....my only issue is the prices are a bit higher than i like for virtual items, for example the new wings in the cash shop...they are absolutely gorgeous but I simply cannot justify to my wife spending 20 dollars on something that will someday be gone because it is virtual(crafted out of thin air) BUT she would have no problem whatsoever if those same wings were only 10 bux and not only that but i could probably justify spending for two sets of wings for two toons at 10 X 2 = 20 rather than the 20 X 1 = 20... kind of like the AOD expansion I wasnt able to justify to her spending 40 dollars on it, but if it were only 20 dollars I would be able to get it......

You got a point.

And honestly... if it wasn't profitable they wouldn't be putting out new items constantly...

lol.

And the farmer can get a great deal of money selling the dairy cow as meat...and then he has no more cows.

My point is to not stop putting out items on the marketplace, it's that the suits need a more sustainable business model by introducing new items in the game that spur one to spend on the marketplace to make those things better.

This is probably the best and most accurate representation of what Sony has done to the game.  They already sold the cows, they are on the truck to the slaughterhouse.  They don't care about money in the long run, they know the game is dying.. they are just squeezing out every drop they can.  The game will never fully die, almost every online game *EVER* released is still up and running with a tiny dedicated fanbase. 

That's EQ2 now.

[Castegyre]

TwistedFaith wrote:

What's annoying me is seeing weekly station cash/marketplace items being added to the game but ZERO actual content. The expansion was a disgrace and since then all we have had is a stream of marketplace rubbish.

EDIT: Ohh look as I type this, I see dominio has posted a video about a new armour set and new houses coming to marketplace! 

This is actually part of the reason why I eventually left CoH. I know a lot of people around here thought that game sucked because it didn't have the same hamster wheel to run on they were used to at end game, but at one time the dev team and the community was one of the best of any online game I had ever played. I started playing it just after launch and kept playing it off and on until almost a year ago. It's the only game I've played over the years more than EQ2.

But something happend around the time Cryptic split and NCSoft took over through Paragon Studios. They used to have Issues (Game Updates) released on a fairly regular basis and often those Issues would have some sort of costume bits in them. Playing dress-up with costumes is a huge deal in that game and one of the main reasons a lot of people loved playing it. Kind of like housing here. Then they came out with the Wedding Pack to earn a little extra money and people ate it up. $10 for some unique costumes and emotes seemd fair enough to help the devs generate a little money to keep the game going, so people were willing ot buy it.

Skip ahead a few months and suddenly, more costume packs. Then they were like clockwork, one after another, $10 each every few months. Before long there were no more free costume bits in the Issues. One time from the release of the Wedding pack to the time I quit playing did they add free costume bits and those were just skins to apply to what was already there. It became common that if you wanted new stuff for your look you had to pay $10 for the new costume pack because that was the only way you were going to get it.

This game isn't quite that bad yet, but I can see it heading that way.

[Felshades]

Deornwulf wrote:

Meridia@Crushbone wrote:

IvyBlackrose wrote:

to the contrary soe is actually making money faster than they can spend it with their cash shop items....my only issue is the prices are a bit higher than i like for virtual items, for example the new wings in the cash shop...they are absolutely gorgeous but I simply cannot justify to my wife spending 20 dollars on something that will someday be gone because it is virtual(crafted out of thin air) BUT she would have no problem whatsoever if those same wings were only 10 bux and not only that but i could probably justify spending for two sets of wings for two toons at 10 X 2 = 20 rather than the 20 X 1 = 20... kind of like the AOD expansion I wasnt able to justify to her spending 40 dollars on it, but if it were only 20 dollars I would be able to get it......

You got a point.

And honestly... if it wasn't profitable they wouldn't be putting out new items constantly...

lol.

And the farmer can get a great deal of money selling the dairy cow as meat...and then he has no more cows.

My point is to not stop putting out items on the marketplace, it's that the suits need a more sustainable business model by introducing new items in the game that spur one to spend on the marketplace to make those things better.

Funny. Over here in California the price of milk has gone belly up and farmers have made more profit selling their herds for slaughter, and then using part of the proceeds to... buy more cows.

And this is the future of MMOs. Cash shops. Like it or not, it's the most profitable business model atm, and it's here to stay.

[TwistedFaith]

Castegyre wrote:

One time from the release of the Wedding pack to the time I quit playing did they add free costume bits and those were just skins to apply to what was already there. It became common that if you wanted new stuff for your look you had to pay $10 for the new costume pack because that was the only way you were going to get it.

This game isn't quite that bad yet, but I can see it heading that way.

Well imo the last few months have been hands down the worst of EQ2s lifecycle. I have played since launch and I have never felt so frustrated with the game at present. If it wasn't that I don't want to screw my guild over and quit the game when they are struggling to find new players to replace the ones that have already quit then I would have left myself.

More than anything, I feel the whole focus on marketplace items has got so far out of hand it's bordering on crazy. I never used to care about the marketplace stuff, but over the course of the past six months it has been nothing but a endless stream of marketplace stuff and just no actual content.

I check the forums daily to see dev posts, and they all seem to be about addressing marketplace problems, never anything about fixing really basic stuff that has been broken for ages. As for the producer, quite honestly I think he's full of it, and reminds me more of a used car salesman than a producer. 

This leads me to my major complaint, where's the damm new content! The expansion pack was awful awful awful, I don't care what anyone says, the expansion was shockingly bad and a insult and slap in the face to the community. Just look at the dungeon creator, what a complete waste of time. Nobody I know on Butcherblock is running player made dungeons, they have gone the same way as battlegrounds and the arena. Look at the freeport update, it's nice but really in terms of actual content it's pointless. 

What happened to new content, where are the new dungeons, when we get something it's always a redo of a previous zone with a few different mobs, it's cheap and all seems a major afterthought.

[Felshades]

Castegyre wrote:

TwistedFaith wrote:

What's annoying me is seeing weekly station cash/marketplace items being added to the game but ZERO actual content. The expansion was a disgrace and since then all we have had is a stream of marketplace rubbish.

EDIT: Ohh look as I type this, I see dominio has posted a video about a new armour set and new houses coming to marketplace! 

This is actually part of the reason why I eventually left CoH. I know a lot of people around here thought that game sucked because it didn't have the same hamster wheel to run on they were used to at end game, but at one time the dev team and the community was one of the best of any online game I had ever played. I started playing it just after launch and kept playing it off and on until almost a year ago. It's the only game I've played over the years more than EQ2.

But something happend around the time Cryptic split and NCSoft took over through Paragon Studios. They used to have Issues (Game Updates) released on a fairly regular basis and often those Issues would have some sort of costume bits in them. Playing dress-up with costumes is a huge deal in that game and one of the main reasons a lot of people loved playing it. Kind of like housing here. Then they came out with the Wedding Pack to earn a little extra money and people ate it up. $10 for some unique costumes and emotes seemd fair enough to help the devs generate a little money to keep the game going, so people were willing ot buy it.

Skip ahead a few months and suddenly, more costume packs. Then they were like clockwork, one after another, $10 each every few months. Before long there were no more free costume bits in the Issues. One time from the release of the Wedding pack to the time I quit playing did they add free costume bits and those were just skins to apply to what was already there. It became common that if you wanted new stuff for your look you had to pay $10 for the new costume pack because that was the only way you were going to get it.

This game isn't quite that bad yet, but I can see it heading that way.

MMOs as a whole are going that way.

Here's how the model works.

Guy sees game box. Box says "free to play!". Guy thinks "oh hey I don't have to pay monthly to play this.. I'll give it a shot." Guy plays game. Sees cash shop. Sees something shiny he likes. Figures eh, I can fork out a buck fifty for this shiny looking sword(or insert your favorite little item here). Then he sees another he likes. Then something else. Then something else. Guy ends up paying more than the 15 a month sub that would have been paid if the game used that model.

The microtransaction free to play model feeds off the gambling addiction type behavior. People get addicted to buying little things and keep buying more and more and more.

That is what they want you to do. They don't honestly care if you stick around, because for every one that leaves, another will take their place. That's how f2p games roll. They're not after loyal fanbases.

Look at FarmVille, for example.

Its one of the most successful, most popular Facebook games right now. It brings in MILLIONS. Quarter 1 of last year they lost over half their playerbase(83 million in spring 2010 to 39 million Q! 2011) and they still brought in over 230 million dollars.

In the first three months of the year.

And while you can play the game perfectly fine free... if you want to do anything substantial, you fork out cash. And people do it. A LOT.

[Felshades]

TwistedFaith wrote:

Castegyre wrote:

One time from the release of the Wedding pack to the time I quit playing did they add free costume bits and those were just skins to apply to what was already there. It became common that if you wanted new stuff for your look you had to pay $10 for the new costume pack because that was the only way you were going to get it.

This game isn't quite that bad yet, but I can see it heading that way.

Well imo the last few months have been hands down the worst of EQ2s lifecycle. I have played since launch and I have never felt so frustrated with the game at present. If it wasn't that I don't want to screw my guild over and quit the game when they are struggling to find new players to replace the ones that have already quit then I would have left myself.

More than anything, I feel the whole focus on marketplace items has got so far out of hand it's bordering on crazy. I never used to care about the marketplace stuff, but over the course of the past six months it has been nothing but a endless stream of marketplace stuff and just no actual content.

I check the forums daily to see dev posts, and they all seem to be about addressing marketplace problems, never anything about fixing really basic stuff that has been broken for ages. As for the producer, quite honestly I think he's full of it, and reminds me more of a used car salesman than a producer. 

This leads me to my major complaint, where's the damm new content! The expansion pack was awful awful awful, I don't care what anyone says, the expansion was shockingly bad and a insult and slap in the face to the community. Just look at the dungeon creator, what a complete waste of time. Nobody I know on Butcherblock is running player made dungeons, they have gone the same way as battlegrounds and the arena. Look at the freeport update, it's nice but really in terms of actual content it's pointless. 

What happened to new content, where are the new dungeons, when we get something it's always a redo of a previous zone with a few different mobs, it's cheap and all seems a major afterthought.

Another thing to note:

The marketplace team is not the same team that's making content for this game. Different people. You're yelling at the wrong folks. Marketplace guys do not do game content in what you'd like them to do, and theyre not going to pull people off a profitable project to make content when they have another group doing it.

[Castegyre]

Meridia@Crushbone wrote:

TwistedFaith wrote:

Castegyre wrote:

One time from the release of the Wedding pack to the time I quit playing did they add free costume bits and those were just skins to apply to what was already there. It became common that if you wanted new stuff for your look you had to pay $10 for the new costume pack because that was the only way you were going to get it.

This game isn't quite that bad yet, but I can see it heading that way.

Well imo the last few months have been hands down the worst of EQ2s lifecycle. I have played since launch and I have never felt so frustrated with the game at present. If it wasn't that I don't want to screw my guild over and quit the game when they are struggling to find new players to replace the ones that have already quit then I would have left myself.

More than anything, I feel the whole focus on marketplace items has got so far out of hand it's bordering on crazy. I never used to care about the marketplace stuff, but over the course of the past six months it has been nothing but a endless stream of marketplace stuff and just no actual content.

I check the forums daily to see dev posts, and they all seem to be about addressing marketplace problems, never anything about fixing really basic stuff that has been broken for ages. As for the producer, quite honestly I think he's full of it, and reminds me more of a used car salesman than a producer. 

This leads me to my major complaint, where's the damm new content! The expansion pack was awful awful awful, I don't care what anyone says, the expansion was shockingly bad and a insult and slap in the face to the community. Just look at the dungeon creator, what a complete waste of time. Nobody I know on Butcherblock is running player made dungeons, they have gone the same way as battlegrounds and the arena. Look at the freeport update, it's nice but really in terms of actual content it's pointless. 

What happened to new content, where are the new dungeons, when we get something it's always a redo of a previous zone with a few different mobs, it's cheap and all seems a major afterthought.

Another thing to note:

The marketplace team is not the same team that's making content for this game. Different people. You're yelling at the wrong folks. Marketplace guys do not do game content in what you'd like them to do, and theyre not going to pull people off a profitable project to make content when they have another group doing it.

I think most people understand that there are different teams of people working on different parts of the game for the most part with MMOs, but the knee-jerk reaction is to see a trend and blame the developer as a whole for it. Sometimes it's not even the dev team who deserves the blame in part or as a whole, but the people with the money who are telling them what to do. Which I would suspect is the problem here, SOE is the one calling these shots more than the EQ2 staff themselves. That would explain a lot of the out of touch stupidity.

[Blissa2362]

I think what you guys fail to realize is that a good 80%+ of the f2p players are here to just do that. Play for free and not spend a dime. Its the long term commitment guys that are willing to fork over cash hand over fist because they have a attachment to the game.

As others have stated SOE is digging their own grave with this game. The only new things they add to the game are SC only. Sooner or latter (Sooner if you ask me) the loyal fanbase is going to get board with the game and move on because nothing ever changes.

Seriously how many times can you run the same content over and over and over before your board out of your mind. If people were happy playing the same content over and over. Developers wouldnt be able to sell new games.

Once SOE drives away its loyal fanbase the profits are going to tank and maybe even the game. As it stands right now SOE has the worst name in the MMO community and by abandoning its loyal fanbase. They are only adding fuel to the fire!

[Jovie]

I just wish there was something worthwhile to buy in the store.

Guild levels, guild hall amenity boosters, harvest rare packs (bring this back please), the ability to have more than one merc running at one time, etc....

I am not interested in fluff outside the guild halls.

[isest]

OK guys you don't get whats happened with the game.  It has been dumbed down to the point you really don't need a group.  Now they done away with subs and made it to where anybody who can stomach free to play with all its limitations available to play. The only folks who need subs are old time raiders like me, or folks who cant stand the limitations of free to play.  The rest of the folks get subsidized off the station cash shop, and the subs.

Like it or not soe has changed the demographic of who they want playing this game, unfortunately I don't seam to fit into the demographic of who they want playing the game as I ignore the station cash shop.  The station cash shop is the new currency and money maker for soe. Smedley tweeted the other day that since free to play went live they had a 200% increase in station cash sales.  Obviously folks are buying the stuff, heck we got one person in guild who buy s everything they put in there, she has a special title because she got every mount in game and in the store.

What has happened is we become free-realms eq2, and that's what they want, they want folks to get appearance items, get all the mounts and stuff.

Too bad they are not reinvesting the money in the game and fixing broken parts of it,  Heck soe the other day sold the publishing rites to some  company in Europe to publish their games for them, thus cutting off the Europe guys from us.  Kind of like it used to be for lotro with code-masters, except worse.

To be honest, what I think is going on is were being used to test out stuff they are going to do with eqnext.

The station cash shop is here to stay, and as long as folks are spending cash in it that is where the development team is going to stay, sad thing is once a while back when sj became our producer he said "we don't have separate teams for the cash shop and for the regular game", and it sure shows, after all look at that terrible excuse of a zero content xpac they tried to pawn off on us.

[agnott]

Meridia@Crushbone wrote:

And this is the future of MMOs. Cash shops. Like it or not, it's the most profitable business model atm, and it's here to stay.

This is what I find hysterical. You spend 50, 100, 200 a month on the market place and then state this model is here to stay and you think your behavior has nothing to do with it.

That is comedy gold.

(here is comes  ...I know you don't use the market place)

[Rijacki]

Rainmare@Oasis wrote:

Jayne@Kithicor wrote:

Deornwulf wrote:

My point is to not stop putting out items on the marketplace, it's that the suits need a more sustainable business model by introducing new items in the game that spur one to spend on the marketplace to make those things better.

Seven-plus years for a MMO is pretty significant -- and clearly indicative of sustainability.

Deornwulf wrote:

The same strategy could be done with appearance items and furniture, add half of a set as new tradeskill recipes and offer the items that complete the sets for sale on the SC Store.

Your suggestion of offering crafters/adventurers half of anything would create a huge uproar. The worst thing you can do is offer folks half of a complete package -- because then they feel ripped off, like they're forced to actually fork out money to complete something.

So Bob is able to craft the table and lamps of the new "Equestria" series of furniture, but to complete the room he has to buy the bed with real cash? Whereas now he has the choice of buying the entire bedroom suite, or not. Even worse: Bob has the recipe for the pants and cuffs for an appearance item, but he has to fork out real money to buy the chest piece? Gah, no.

The half-offer feels too bait-and-switch to me, and I suspect others would feel the same way.

actually I think more what he was saying with that scenario is the carp makes the bed/chair/vanity table, the SC store gets the bedside table/sconce/mirror

as in the capr gets the 'essential' components of a set, and the SC store gets the 'addatives' to that set.

An even better way to do it is to have 3 colour sets on Marketplace,  a 4th colour set in-game craftable, a 5th colour set for sale by an NPC (i.e. a faction merchant or some such). Sure, if it was done like that there would be at least one complainer about the 'best' colours only being on Marketplace, but you will always have someone complaining.

[Nrgy]

TwistedFaith wrote:

What's annoying me is seeing weekly station cash/marketplace items being added to the game but ZERO actual content. The expansion was a disgrace and since then all we have had is a stream of marketplace rubbish.

EDIT: Ohh look as I type this, I see dominio has posted a video about a new armour set and new houses coming to marketplace! 

The game gets non-SC content added in chunks not in a trickle format such as SC marketplace items.  When GU's and Expansions are release they have much more total content than a couple of new flash armor sets or mounts.

The next GU will again add a large amount of non-SC content, as did the last.  I know many people don't find value in AOD making it an optional X-pack a good thing.  DOV is also technically optional, but less so than AOD IMO.

DOV 2.0 will contain far new land mass, items and house items than have been added via the SC cumultively since the last GU / X-pack.

[thewarriorpoet]

Marr all mighty, not this AGAIN. This well intentioned thread is wrong for two very simple reaons. First, the SC items are netting SOE a huge ROI. Second, the modelers and graphic designers who make SC items are not the same software programmers and content writers who make traditional content (new zones aside, of course do use personale from the first group, but once the art assets are rendered the bulk of the work, I'd wager, is populating and scripting a zone; not to diminish the awesome artwork this game has even with its ages old graphics platform).

SC items are small and quick. You are seeing more of them for two more very simple reasons. People do want them, as evident by the bucket loads of money they are spending on them, and since they are quicker to produce why not make MUCH MORE of the product which has a faster turn around time and comes with a higher markup. This doesn't mean they are not making new content. So SOE is only making the bare minimum of content to keep you around the buy SC stuff. Trust me, that's not a whole lot different then what they were doing before, only not instead of trying to the bare minimum to keep you around for your sub they also want your SC.