Psyte

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I'll never need to purchase one, ever .. but I see no problem with charging the people who want to change powers so frequently. If they want it, they can a) wait b) Pay for it.

Hooray Options.

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What about the people who want it, but cannot pay for it? Or cant afford it? It only creates a greater gap between the haves and the havenots. Any content that is not given to everyone only makes a wider gap.

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They have freespecs, VR respecs, IO recipe respecs and respec trials, same as always. The $10 respec is a tax upon players who are impatient, who must "have it now," or just want a convenient 5th option.

There's still free-specs, VR respecs and trial respecs to consider - all of which are more common/easier to get than the respec recipes.

Why pay $7 and risk a whole host of issues (banning, CC fraud, etc), when you can get a team together and do a trial, or use a VR respec or free-spec?

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Free as in Guild Wars's ability to respec at any time free? COH's character creation is a LOT more involved and simply cannot be done that fast/conveniently.

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In my dream world, you could respec your build just as if you were using Mids to plan your build. No need to redo your entire character just to move one slot around.

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That's a nice idea, actually. No idea how it would be implemented, mind you, but that's a nice idea.

Oh - and for system specs. Great you can run such a demanding game. A lot of us can't. Most people, in general, can't. My point was the hardware requirements are going to make the new games inaccessible to a lot of folks.

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Why not sell 100 million Inf for 9.99$ Whats stopping them from doing that?

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RMT/Spammers would beat that price if they had to, and you'd make many things on the consignment house virtually unbuyable to anyone who DIDN'T purchase influence.

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"Why not just make Respecs FREE?

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Free as in Guild Wars's ability to respec at any time free? COH's character creation is a LOT more involved and simply cannot be done that fast/conveniently. But I vaguely recall the idea of allowing you to have an "extra build slot", so to speak, was being tossed around. Not a promise or anything, but it had been thought about. Could be wrong. I'd rather see that - one charcter, but with a PVE build and PVP build... Or two different specilizations. Or a general build and a specialized build ("Changing gears" depending on task). That could be nice.

If we had the ability to respec at any time, for free and at whim, a small portion of the playerbase would die of happiness, obviously. A lot of us wouldn't care. I'm afraid there would be a portion of the playerbase who aren't really knowledgeable about the game who'd constantly respec their characters trying to get be uber or feeling like they messed up, never learning how to use their powers, getting frustrated the whole time. Also, I'm afraid that there would be some obnoxious players who will basically try and force people to respec to meet some "golden ideal" they have of how the game should be played. I've got friends who play other MMO's and this happens more than it should - meet "spec" or be shunned.

"ur speccd rong n00b"

"l0l g1mpd"

Build-based descrimination does exist in COH, sadly (my poor friends with Storm!). Free, on-demand respecs might not help any, and would make the jerks that much more vocal. Over-worried? Maybe. But I try not to underestimate the human capacity for stupidity and obnoxiousness.

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In the neer future several "Competitive" games will hit the market. With flashy new graphics, New storylines, New powers, New everything. And this game will remain 4 years old and grow to 5 years old so on and so forth.


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Quick note: Don't think for a moment that those upcoming competitors won't have higher system requirements than COH. People understandably get upset when an update causes their performance to go down on their machines, and I don't know about you but I've got a lot of friends who are playing on older or less powerful machines who are still playing COH, settings turned down, because they like it so much (low FPS and all). They won't be able to play those competitors, guaranteed. If they could've upgraded their machines (or bought new ones), they would've done so already.

MMO's can go on for years - some of the old ones are close to the 10-year mark, even with a 10 million pound gorilla in the market in the exact same genre. MMO's don't get "old" the way normal games do - they keep going as long as people want to play and they're profitable. That's it.

Its worth noting that 10MPG also lost subscribers to a new game, but has gotten a lot of them back. Why? Because new games have new game problems. COH is stable, mature, well built, and way past major nerf-ages.changes of old. The competitors to COH still have to go through all that, and they way they're setting up their games? Yeah, there's every possibility they'll have far more issues balancing their games than COH ever did. I'm not even going to look at the "competition" until they're at least a year old, maybe two, and have hopefully stabilized.

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I see no reason why they cant just open up the microtransaction store.. where people can buy just about everything in game and just drop the sub fee.

We can pay NCNC for ingame currency and for better prices than the RMTers.. we could buy recipes we want.. we could buy all the current stuff they are selling.. and even more.

Just really seems like this is where its headed..

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The free through microtransaction games I've seen are all made with a lot less content, a lot less new development, and on the whole are lower-budget games than COH. And to make that a viable revenue stream? They'd have to change drop rates, increase prices on vendor items, possibly repeal XP smoothing (how many of those titles are ultra-high-grind?), RMT Influence/Infamy would very likely shoot prices on the consignment houses through the roof, etc. Otherwise? There's no way it would be able to replace what a subscription fee provides them (and certainly wouldn't be as reliable a source of income). That wouldn't be acceptable, and those kinds of changes could likely drive a lot of people away.

These optional and unnecessary services and products NCSoft provides right now allows them to bring increase revenue, which allows them to increase the amount of money COH has for development, without raising our subscription fees OR lowering the quality of what they're doing. I'd rather they continue as they are than attempt to make the entire game microtransaction based - I simply cannot see that being able to pay for everything at this level of quality and development.

@Perfect_Pain
NCSoft isn't selling enough items to sustain the game, much less grow the game, on microtransactions alone. And have you played some of the games that are free with only microtransactions? I don't want COH turning into that!

The Wedding Pack got VEATs into i12, ahead of schedule and budget (scheduled/budgeted for i13). That was certainly a plus! People and development cost money, and as Randy Pitchford (CEO of Gearbox) said, "The difference between some games that have a great promise but don't quite fulfill it and the really great games is often about budget allowing the commitment to quality that most game makers have."

NCNC has a great commitment to quality. The "cash store" lets them improve their budget without raising fees. I don't see a problem.

When it comes to MMO revenue, I've always looked at it this way:

Microtransaction-based.
Advertising-based.
Subscription-based.
Expansion-based.
Hybrid (2 or more of the above).

Many MMO's out there would be Subscription/Expansion hybrids. Many MMO's/games are at least microtransaction, but some include advertising and very occassionally optional subscriptions.

COH/COV eliminated the Expansion (er... expanshalone) element, but is Subscription/Microtransaction/Advertising. What is pretty awesome is the Microtransactions/Advertising revenue streams are optional. I can opt out of ads and I choose not to buy. I like that I'm given the choice which is why I leave the ads on, and of course they're selling things I want and have asked for so I'm likely to buy. And as I recall this money is slated for NCNC developing COH, which I am entirely cool with.

I know some folks are looking at this and going OMGGREED, but keep in mind that some of these things we've asked for, and for the services that other MMO's do happen to offer as well, we've got it pretty cheap. Two other MMO's will do server transfers for $25 and $50 whereas we pay a low, low price of $10, for instance.

The devs are steadily giving us what we have been asking for, giving us things for free (VR slots!), aren't removing competing resources (respec trials, freespecs, vr respecs), and have even improved our options to pay for stuff (Paypal). I am quite happy with their responsiveness, and look forward to seeing what else they have coming up in the future.

Hint: I would not mind seeing a paid expansion. Just sayin'

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Merchants will price something high in order to imbue it with more perceived value, which may or may not be going on here at COH, but no one ever prices anything to discourage people buying it. If you want to discourage people buying it then you don't offer it.

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Microsoft does this with Windows. Get it with a new computer or buy it retail for hundreds of dollars. They make it available stand-alone so those who simply must have a copy without getting new hardware (or want to get the upgrade) pay a hefty sum, making getting a new computer more attractive (which their various OEM partners no doubt appreciate).

NCSoft sells their games online for the same, if not more, than retail or other online stores. If you must have it? Its there. But it makes buying their games from other places more attractive from a price perspective, and I'm sure their retail partners appreciate it.

You can buy a case of soda from Costco pretty darn cheap. You can also buy soda from a convenience store or vending machine for a lot more. Same drink, different price.

Its a convenience/impatience tax, really. If you have to have it *now* and the other options aren't immediately available, viable or desirable for whatever reason, there you go.

SlickRiptide, that actually makes a lot of sense.

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I wonder how $10 compares with the cost of buying 50M inf (Respec recipes still cost somewhere in this range right?) from some gold farmer?

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There's no chance of your credit card account getting stolen, your account banned, or contributing to the financial gain of an industry that commits credit card fraud, account theft, rampantly spams in games, and forces developers to waste time and money trying to stay "one step ahead" to protect their customers and community, in addition to having to scale back what can and can't be done trial accounts.

*shrugs after reading stuff*

I don't like the respec trials, hence I don't do them. Not everyone will have VR respecs available (none awarded or all used). A character might not have a freespec, or the inf to afford the recipe.

Most of my characters have plenty of respecs available to them, but one or two don't. So, this is a nice (but pricey) option to have. Time = Money. I'd be paying money because I don't want to spend the time. Its just a respec!

Although I would pay to autocomplete Positron's TF

While a bit higher-priced than I would personally care for ($4.99-5.99 would suit me better), I simply applaud this. Thank you.

If you guys even allow NCCoins to be used for transactions, that would make me quite happy. It would be great to buy NC game cards and use them as prizes/gifts, letting the recipient decide between gametime or NC Coins for use with all of COH's for-sale offerings (transfers, respecs, slots, etc).

FYI - for my SG's anniversary party three 30-day time cards were given away in lucky-number/drawing along with influence, enhancements, etc. So I'm not talking a hypothetical "people might" type thing. I've done it, and I'll do it again

As someone who pre-ordered COV and got the CE no less, all I can say is "excellent." I have no issues with this. Regardless of how you got the helmets (pre-order or VR), they're still a limited, prestigious item. And I certainly can think of a lot of people who didn't pre-order COV who were longtime COH players and have VEATs now, so I'm double happy for them

As someone who's been asking for more ways to be able to pay for things, I'm quite thrilled. I'm already looking at this as a way to gift people money to get COH goodies (although they'll have to have Paypal account first). I am a little disappointed in that I wish game time and NCCoins were covered by this option (and, in turn, NCCoins could buy COH items), but its one more option I didn't have before.

I'm excited and NC_Hawksteel at the Exteel boards said that NCSoft has some exciting stuff coming up in the future in regard to payment options (of which I'm sure this is just one), so I'm very much looking forward to the day I can easily and conveniently give any of my SG-mates a costume pack they've been wanting or money for a transfer/rename without having to jump through a ton of hoops.

Yay! Thank you!

My thoughts? Let the game creator, in addition to the normal settings you get, have the option to set:

* All powers - just what it sounds like. This should not be default.
* Travel Powers only suppressed. - Maybe default?
* CTF Only Powers - Suppress all powers EXCEPT the nice batch of temp powers you're given that only work in the given game (similar to what Guild Wars does for its mini-games).

I figure the flag could be a clickie, but give off an aura like the Shivan samples do when you're collecting them in Bloody Bay. Also note that the Shivan samples are awarded to the player(s) that beat a carrier, so that might be carry-overable.

As suggested earlier, having the flag should carry some sort of debuff, the very least of which should be travel and stealth suppression. A carrier's teammates must defend the carrier, not trust that the carrier will make back to base somehow. Maybe it could fix the character's speed, defense, resistances, etc? I'm not sure. But *something* has to be done to the carrier to force the issue on the team; defend or lose.

Likewise, perhaps King of the Hill could be similar? The "hill," as it were, might provide its own debuff of some sort. Leave the control area and the debuff wears off or goes away. Defenders would have to rotate who's in and out, and force them to proactively defend the control point rather than "We'll stay here all nice, buffed and well defended so you can't every get us out." The Circle of Thorns giant aurating crystals might be a good example of how this could be done.

I'd love to see more maps on the provision at some point new game modes where to go with them.

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As I read it, you get anywhere from 2 to 6 free slots when it goes live. It's not 2 per server, it's 2 free (but still 2 more than you had before). So if you get all 6, you can add one slot each to six different servers, or can add three each to two servers, or any combination you want.

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Sorry, but Posi said this:

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Thus, existing players will be eligible for up to 4 additional character slots at the launch of Issue 12.

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I'm seeing a lot of folks assuming that 2 free + 4 vet rewards = 6 slots total. But Posi's statement contradicts this. Can we get a clarification please, Positron?


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His first point mentions all current subscribers will get 2 free slots, regardless of how long they played/VR's.

His second point is about free slots given out as Veteran's Rewards, which is independent of being a current subscriber. Joe Average player could get 3 VR-free slots even though he's not currently subscribed (they'd be awarded if/when he came back). He cannot get the 2 free mention in Posi's first point because he is not a current subscriber. When Posi says "up to four", it is because the maximum number of VR-awarded slots right now is four, not that the total number of free slots (free+VR) is four.

So, every current subscriber will get 2 free slots when i12 hits. Then, if they have any VR-awarded free-slots (which are being retroactively awarded), those will be given as well. Those of us who fully intend to be active when i12 hits are saying we're getting (2 free + X-many VR free) slots.

(qr) Way to go devs. Looking at your plan you just lost my $20, since that's the number of slots I wanted to buy but will be getting free (2 free + 2 VR). I fully expect you to bring out more stuff like the Wedding Pack and GVE Goodie back for me to buy in order to make up for this, and I won't stop my subscription until you do!

TAKE MY MONEY!

I just want to know if due to popular demand this becomes an actual feature

Ooooh how my brain hurts - thank you!

And I'll pay $500 (in Monopoly money) if you can get an official Adam West and Burt Ward Batman onomatopoeia pack

I'll have to admit the Coralax are a surprise to me... how did they end up there?

QR - Will there be an arena? It is Rome, after all

Also, putting a repeatable mission contact under the guise of a event scheduler or even a trial contact ("Sure, we'll put you up against XYZ for the crowd") would be cool. Heroes and/or Villains, in the arena, fighting for... (insert McGuffin), fame and glory.

(qr) Well, this just cemented my desire to subscribe to COH a year at a time. Thank you!

Thank you for the schedule! I posted it on my SG's forums so hopefully our members can plan around them (to be there or not be there, as the case may be). Its very, very appreciated!