Friday with Means - November 12th, 2010 - Changes large and small

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Originally Posted by Tanana

I see no difference between selling VP for people to purchase OFAB items in game then allowing people to buy BoC, RBP, AI Armor sets..anything..from the ingame store.

This is the very definition of selling power.

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You can already purchase those items ingame with creds that you purchased from a 3rd party site... so FC taking some small steps by selling a few things is no different except for that part where you can't trust those 3rd parties.

You could always argue that the minority are the only ones using such pay sites but, if that was the case why are there so many of them. I would much rather give my money to FC in this case as I atleast know the cash I spend is going to go back into the game I love.

Meh... to the people worrying about booster packs: I can already ding +100 in 4-6h of playing AO and that is solo. A mix of SL and RK leveling... And that's with just updating my gear along the way so I can kill stuff before it kills me.

A lot of people complaining you can ding 220 quite fast (and have been complaining about this for quite a while, even before dailies which just makes it easier) - XP guns, XP imps, XP boosters (for who hoarded those), paying for kites and then getting friends to powerlevel you in Inferno. This kinda makes level boosts moot since you can get 200 easy enough (especially if you have friends that can help you).

Still mixed feelings about VPs sold in the shop, but since Ofab is not THAT great overall, I can go with that.

Does it set a precedent? Yes, it does. Does it means the sky is falling? No it doesn't. Would FC undermine it's business by making AI armor and BOC available in the shop at affordable prices? No, they wouldn't especially since AI armor and BOC's can't be acquire through (just an example) doing nothing at all, like deploying turrets in decon room, wall-humping, tagging well versed PVP-ers and ninjaing all VP sticks from their kills or other non-combating behaviour in BS - indeed, great EFFORT for all that.

This reminds me of some 200-something crat the first time the testing PVP playfield opened that was just running after the miners despite people almost 3-shotting the guy - all the time he wouldn't fight back at all, but just stay there so he would get killed and then go back to looting miners. At some point I think he actually said "I dunno why you guys keep killing me, you already are getting too low a score from me to make a difference", though after a few days he was bragging about having made some +200-250k VPs that way, besides the special edition items.

The people that would buy lootrights for +1bil (for BOC), they could already get it by buying credits. People buying AI armor sets for +1bil could already get the cash from a lot of other sources.

So FC's shop is nothing deal-breaking. Prices are not low and the jerks affording +70$ for 1 bill creds, already bought their cash. So you don't have to feel cheated on the shop deals. Nobody is getting instant 220/30/70, unless they ebay it.

Also, from what I have seen, most whines about the cash shop come from people that already opposed change in the past, change that the community overall liked (or approved) and, at their time, didn't cause "I quit!!!! The sky is falling" threads despite the complaints.

What this game needs is fresh blood. And the shop might help some of the fresher blood (used to newer games) to actually stick to AO. I had some friends trying the game, hitting the 140-170 bracket (before dailies) and saying all! This is getting boring!". With the dailies, with rebalancing, with making other stuff easier (aka LESS TIME CONSUMING), AO might get a better new customer retention rate.

Would you care if a lot of the newer people were actually noobs on their first chars (GASP!!!) when they'd ding their first 220? More easier kills for the PVP crowd until the newbies would learn in-depth game mechanics; more people to team with (GASP!!! again); more people to level with on their alts from +100 (since they'll ALL buy the +99 level boost) instead of noobs saying ALL LEVELING!!

So, from both a player standpoint and a business-like view, the FC shop is nothing deal-breaking.

560+ posts and over 25 000 views in one week...for a nine year old game. Pretty hawt!

The amount of "I quit" ragethreads is actually close to 0 for this update :p

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Originally Posted by Mastablasta

The amount of "I quit" ragethreads is actually close to 0 for this update :p

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Yeah most people already quit.

Yeah but I think they mentioned something along the lines that "I quit" posts will get moderated in the forums.

Quitters play more then non quitters.

well from what i can see it seems like max lvl u can buy up to is 199 not a big deal as a dedicated player with kites, outside tank, or good team can hit 200 in 3-5 days anyway. and if i read correct u must have invested time to power lvl at least 1 toon to 220. however and this may have been covered in a post i skipped, does that mean froobs or people that only have AI/LE (no sl so no 220) cant buy lvls?
its the item store that im curious about if its going to contain collector nodrops because those items are rarely mob raided except by specific orgs. (tara/mercs/bio domes/HI) no reason for FC not to take advantage of the china farmer example and make some creds to hopefully further the game development. it will bring more parity to toons across lvl ranges as far as utility items is my guess.

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Originally Posted by Psikie

well from what i can see it seems like max lvl u can buy up to is 199 not a big deal as a dedicated player with kites, outside tank, or good team can hit 200 in 3-5 days anyway. and if i read correct u must have invested time to power lvl at least 1 toon to 220. however and this may have been covered in a post i skipped, does that mean froobs or people that only have AI/LE (no sl so no 220) cant buy lvls?
its the item store that im curious about if its going to contain collector nodrops because those items are rarely mob raided except by specific orgs. (tara/mercs/bio domes/HI) no reason for FC not to take advantage of the china farmer example and make some creds to hopefully further the game development. it will bring more parity to toons across lvl ranges as far as utility items is my guess.

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lol I actually think it would be fun (and likely very profitable for FC) to have the Bronze Boxes or w/e sold in the items shop. A whole new generation of gambling addicts...

From my point of view the update enables a 2 class society in AO. I don't know if it is the end, but I personally do not like the item shop.

Even if for many people prices are too high, for some they don't. What do I care if I have to pay $ 100 for getting level 199, if I don't care paying $ for money at the credsellers and if nobody would buy money there, they would not exist. It must be a profitable business, otherwise they would not offer it for AO.

The only thing I couldn't buy so far were NoDrops/Quests and Levels. Now I can buy levels and tokens.

I.e.

$ 100 - 199 Toon
$ 200 - 2 Billions for Combined Armor
$ 100 - 2500 Tokens
$ 50 - VP for my toon to buy Ofab and other little things (weapons)
$ 50 - other like XP boost and so on

So lets say I pay $ 500 for a playable toon, I only have to do some quests and raids, compared to something I would have needed days before. Even some players may not be able to afford it someone who has not much time and has a good job may think about.

Another thing is that it will boost the Credseller business, no one will buy a naked 199 toon, you NEED decent money to equip that toon. Where do you get it, if you don't have it at that point on an Alt ?

Just my thoughts, but lets see what happens...