A Note on Microtransactions

There has been a lot of grief caused by NCSoft/ArenaNet's expansion of their game store. People are worried about exactly what they will be made to buy, and what it implies for Guild Wars 2.

I'd like to start by pointing out that the original Guild Wars business model (no subscription fees or microtransactions) was revolutionary for a top quality western MMO. Nobody had done it before, and nobody has done it since. If they feel they need to expand that business model into basic microtransactions then it's not like you can say 'Well X game gets along fine without doing that!'. Up until now we have all been riding the coat tails of ArenaNets success, enjoying a free MMO, and it remains free for those who don't choose to spend more.

Assuming they continue with their current model, any new player will be able to buy GW2 and play through all of the content without spending a dime over the box cost. They will get to enjoy the full game, and sink however many hundreds or thousands of hours into it. The things they wont get off the bat will be secondary functionality, with no real effect on actual gameplay.

The people who do decide to sink money into the in-game store will be helping to fund development of additional content. The ones who chose not to can just sit back and enjoy the extra content anyway. Even the people who choose not to take part in microtransactions will still be reaping the benefits of it.

There are only two situations where I could see it as a problem:

- Buying power. Essentially how the Korean microtransaction model works. You can go into the in-game store and buy a weapon more powerful than your opponents so you can beat them. I am pretty certain ArenaNet realizes doing something like that in the western market would be suicide.

- Buying actual game content. Technically this doesn't fall under the umbrella of 'microtransaction', because it is too big. Still, it's a deviation from the 'only have to buy the box' business model, so it's worth mentioning. So far they have only done this with the Bonus Mission Pack, which I wasn't crazy about, but they haven't done it since. I would much rather they keep actual game content (by which I mean additional zones, quests, missions etc) free.

For as long as they stick to avoiding those two situations then it is a win/win situation for anyone. Every player gets to reap the rewards of more money flowing into development. It will fund the release more free content updates, for everyone. It will pay for more programmers to fix bugs and develop new content. It will pay for more artists to make more armor sets and weapon skins. Right now it is helping contribute towards development of Guild Wars 2.

All of the content in this recent update, all of the development time that went into it, was probably paid for by the future promise of revenue from the additional microtransactions. Put simply, if it weren't for the additions to the in-game store I doubt the free content in this update would have been nearly as impressive.

If you decide that you don't care about something in the store enough to buy it, whilst also enjoying the lack of any subscription, it seems a little silly to be up in arms about it. Sure, some prices should probably be tweaked (some of them should DEFINATELY be tweaked...), and I'm sure they will be. This is essentially a practice run for ArenaNet and NCSoft, to trail ideas on this community and improve the business model for the roll out of Guild Wars 2, whilst also helping fund development.

The point I would like to make yet again is that every player, regardless of whether you choose to spend money or not, will benefit from a well thought out and well implemented microtransaction system. I have faith in ArenaNet not to make bad decisions about what they choose to sell, and I am happy to spend money in the in-game store knowing it is helping to support a fantastic developer.

/applauds

Well thought out and reasoned post.

I would rather pay for the box or pay a monthly subscription than pay for microtransactions. I like the idea of paying a set amount for total and extended content. If a developer is unable to provide content for the game I've purchased because of their model, that's their broken model, not mine.

Micros are a slippery slope...and we're seeing it now with Guild Wars....so many components of the game are now purchasable. No need to play the game to "earn", "discover" or "unlock" when you can just pay ten american dollars for it.

You can not please everybody

I am happy the game has changed lots over the years and this update is no different really but i still play because it's still fun.

The day it is not fun i will not play.

Just want to say (I'll read more carefully later, have to go now): be careful of what this could mean in the future. IF this update/product is very successful, Anet will listen even less to fansites and more to this particular market of GW players. It only makes business sense. But you know better than I do that following the market trend may mean loosing a bit of your "spirit" (e.g. move away from skill-based).

I don't have a problem with one business model or another, if that allows Anet to survive and me to play the game. What I'm worried about is that this update/product sounds "big" not from the content side, but from the business side. What kind of message is this sending to the community (in addition to the "you asked for it, now you can buy it")? I'm NOT asking Anet to ban the word "sell" from their lingo, I even said I'd be happy to buy a storage pane, if only I knew what they're doing with this. If only the CR/Ms were involved in the discussions by providing us a better insight into what's happening with GW1.

I still have a lot of faith in Anet, a lot. They haven't cheated us, they're still quite trustworthy. But...

I know JR was trying to make this thread for protecting the idea of purchasing new content and such, but we have to weigh the values here to see if any of it is really worth it. See I would have agreed more with the decision to bring them out if we could have them in package deals (like makeovers being unlimited or all 4 slots for a certain amount), but when you bypass what other competitors are doing in their respective properties, people will complain and they'll be quick to judge that it's just not worth wasting money when the equal amount could go towards another game.

I'm not going to make any criticisms here, but I'll note that Anet may need to think things over a bit before they take another step like the one they did just now. Making money to support their development is one thing, but we need to keep things in line here without setting off the whole community.

I must start by saying that I agree with most of what you posted.
There is an old saying "Money (GW Players Market) talks, Bologna (Forums) walks." Who would you listen to if you were ANET.

I'm failing to see how they would differentiate between the two markets? It's not like there would be a special forum set up for people with platinum accounts.

Now that's just discriminating....

I meant that if I were ANET I would use the purchase figures as opposed to what they would read on a fansite forum.

I really don't know why people are complaining, but then again, I've been playing Warcraft for 2 years, where monthly fees are 15$, server transfers are 25$, name changes are 10 and character changes are 15.

And barber shop visits are 50 copper, not $10.

I think a lot of people forget where some of these things come from. The possibilities to adjust/change the look of a character and character names is something that a number of people like myself have been wanting for a long time.

Anet did respond saying that it was a costly thing for them to do and people like myself had no problem with paying for these things. No I get the options and I have already used them. I gladly paid for this and am happy I got the option.

As the OP already indicated none of these things have an effect on how powerful your character is and thus don't give any unfair advantages in game. Furthermore I agree that Anet are a company and not a charity and I know all these changes take up a good amount of programming time to incorporate into the game and I full well understand that they want to charge for things that were not originally part of the game design and where they had to invest time into realising them.

I just gladly spent 22 Euro's and I got all my characters where I want them to be. Certainly worth it to me.

Now that I remember, we had someone from that game help out in the development of GW, so it's no coincidence we're seeing that here.

It all makes sense now.

This. I'd be cool paying a subscription if it'd get me better skill updates and free stuff such as the recently added changes.

Oh please.

I would expect that barber shop visits will cost in game money rather than real money when you already pay 15 bucks a month.

Secondly, 10 bucks gets you up to 25 changes. You get 5 credits and per credit you can change up to 5 features. Not that bad of a deal for a game without monthly fees.

Meh, I'd pay 10$ for Blizzard to have created some decent new hairstyles for Orcs. Payed a monthly fee for years (I took a break in '06), and all my character got was rehashed ugly Undead spikes.

I'd happily pay a subscription too, but it's not for everyone.

You've got to appreciate that a significant chunk of the people tempted to try out Guild Wars do so because there is no monthly fee. It also has the benefit of letting you put down and pick up the game whenever you want, without losing money. Then you have to consider the many people who have multiple accounts, and how that would be much more expensive.

Think of it this way. If I had been paying a $15 monthly fee, I would have given ArenaNet $720 by now. Actually it would have been $1440 with both accounts, but let's just take a more average case.

I haven't done the math, but I'm fairly sure $720 is enough to buy me all of the expansions, bonus mission packs and unlock packs, and rename/change the appearance of all of my characters as many times as I could possibly want.

Lack of monthly fee is more than just an interesting business model, it is the attraction that brings a lot of new players into this game. By using microtransactions instead of a sub they let you choose what you spend your money on.

hehe...gokku hair for orcs please!

I like the changes in the update, but also think some prices should perhaps be tweaked. But we'll see. I've read somewhere the new SW: Old Republic game will be micros as well. But a lot of games have that now. As others have said, as long as it doesn't give people with big pocketbooks an unfair advantage, I guess I can't complain. I'm not particularly fond of the system though.

I'm glad GW doesn't have a monthly fee. It's one reason I've played it so long. Others I paid a fee for, I ended up playing less and quit some months into it for various reasons. I won't go back to pay-to-play. If they all go that direction, I'll go back to my consoles.