GW1 micro-transactions business model

That's kinda the point. Any form of fees will make A.net more money... at the expense of some of their future customers. Those people... will leave. How many actually leave might be small... but it will be some.

Yes, but imagine your guild mate saying: "I quit because I'm able to buy costumes!".

) Funny how you play with words. More likely you'll hear: "I quit because I have to use my credit card to get an elite armor skin (aka costume)".

) Funny how you play with words. More likely you'll hear: "I quit because we're optionally able to buy a Christmas deal that changes the appearance of our character but no other advantages whatsoever (aka costume)".

Again though... since it can be applied over existing armor and used in combat... it really is no different from an actual armor set.

Sure, its just cosmetic, but so is 15k armor.

Talk about word manipulation.

What you should have said was this:
"I quit because I have the option to use my credit card to get an elite armor skin (aka costume)"

Like the difference between elite armor and common armor? What if ANet removed Obsidian Armor and made it available in the store for $15? Would you use that same argument?

Funny how I only play GW for elite armor skins. I'm a bitch like that. I only play for looks. And I'm not afraid to say it. There. You play for the numbers and maths. I don't. I've always found the flying numbers to say how much damage you do and take very unaesthetic.

So do you mind?

You can put in elite armor to HoM and they function exactly like normal armor, whereas costumes covers everything but has no effect.
They also contribute to a "100% completion"

Also, anet would never put obsidian armor into the ingamestore simply out of principle. What developer removes content unless it's broken!?


I don't see the point of your argument. Are you suggesting ANET should remove costumes from the game because armor are mainly cosmetic changes? Because that would be really stupid.

At one point they differentiated themselves from the market by not being subscription based and not being an item mall.

And now? There is probably more money to be made in the traditional way and they set up their item shop. GW2 better be damn good, and they hopefully don't go overboard with the RMT stuff.

At release they would not even have considered RMT an option. Who was against it, who now thinks differently about that? I would really like to know if Jeff Strain saved us from this crap for years. No idea if he did that, but ArenaNet was for a long time against such sales. Or they just did not know to set up an item shop, no idea.

Now Strain is gone, and I wonder who got this genius idea to switch the business model more and more towards RMT. I blame NCsoft executives and ArenaNet for caving in.

And Anet is treating you like the bitch you admit yourself to be. So why are you complaining - or surprised?

Yes.

But here's something to think about: do you really value $9.99 over the time it takes you to get Obsidian armor? Somebody who earns even US minimum wage would actually save a significant amount of time by buying the armor with real money. Anet would actually be doing players a favor by moving the armor to the store.

I think the genius idea was simply the situation of scenario.
Guild Wars sales are going down, down, and down; Plummeting. Everyone already has an account and they have no source of money.


With family to feed too, I'm sure the choice whether to make a shop or not was obvious. Not necessarily because it applies to their philosophy, but because they have to.

Why would you buy a 15k armor and cover up with a generic costume that most people have? In the same manner, if you want to brag that you could afford an obsidian armor, why cover it up with a costume that looks like everybody else who have bought it in the store?

The major flaw in your argument is assumming 1. The costume skin is elite. It is not, 15k armor skins are the elite in the game, not this cheapo thing where even a newbie can afford one. 2. You assume that it is nicer than ALL the possible armor in the game and many of us dont think that is the case.

In the end, it is ANet's stupidity to try the free-to-play model and gain a bunch of bad rep trying to support themselves through micro transactions. They should have followed the subscription model and most people would be fine and dandy with that.

Sure the cheapo players would leave, but ANet can still build themselves up with a new set of player base that dont mind paying to play like Aion or WoW. The free-to-play player base here just wants everything to be free and that is not realistic. In the end, ANet gets a heap of bad rep from their own players even though they DID provide their players with more value for money than most subscription based MMOs, over the years.

However, as a customer, I am glad I got that benefit from ANet. Too bad they screwed themselves over to provide that benefit.

First off, some of these comments..."brave and virtuous". Gag me with a spoon, please. They're not fighting a war, they're selling freaking pixels, for the love of God.

I have to say the costumes probably didn't really detract much from the actual content work, so that's probably not a big issue here. If this keeps going, it COULD get in the way. Look at the enormous lag(I'm not talking about wintersday, I'm talking about ever since EotN came out), the massively delayed skill updates, general maintainence, stuff like that. Those problems sure haven't been alleviated as time has progressed. They're starting to add more and more stuff like this; name changes, make overs, gender changes, costumes. It sort of does feel like a KMMO at times when I look at the advertisements on the character screen all the time.

There's nothing wrong with offering content like the costumes in and of itself; big deal, someone wants to spend $10 on a little dress, let them do it. That's their business. The problem comes when there are things that are blatantly wrong with the game and those issues are being ignored for said costumes. That, and the fact when you mention, "Hey, it might be nice if ANet delivered the bi-monthly update bi-monthly instead of every 4 months instead of working on cosmetics", a billion people come out of the woodwork and tell you to RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO off for having the slightest criticism, makes it a rather frustrating experience.

I don't understand how they came up with the pricing. Also they are coming out with more costumes in the future right? most likely to milk you guys more

@ntherblast : yeah it looks like they'll be comming with more costumesThey'd probably loose "a lot" (still a minority) by going with a more micro-transac route with GW2. And I wouldn't be that surprised if some elite skin were buyable. But they'd probably get more money, that way.

So in the worst of cases, the choice is either single player freeware with a forum.
PvP games hosted on one of the player's comp (like most multiplayer modes, last time I played in multiplayer at least), pay-for-costumization-games (micro), or good ol' P2P MMO. My facorite choice is the freeware, then single player, then P2P.

Publicity is the real killer.

Out of curiosity, so how much is a micro-transaction? Because in my head the biggest micro I can imagine is just bellow 20$.

Then again, 7$ is expensive for simple model.

Blizzard, it has removed 2 old content raids that people still actively did for fun.

$2 or less. While I'm against the whole micro-transaction process on principle (no not because I can't afford it, but rather that business model ALWAYS changes how future games are made and marketed), I could understand $0.99 per costume, which would end up with a lot more buyers and overall ANet would see more profit.

Plus, a cheap (actual) MICRO-transaction that wasn't insanely overpriced would also do more for customer relations, and wouldn't seem such a slap in the face, especially when Regina says things that I can only imagine Sarah Palin saying, in that smug, self-assured fake tone that generates sympathy, while having at the same time a underlying current of utter contempt for those dumb enough to buy into their scheme.

When you posted that you consider $20 still "micro" I LOL'd literally. You can get full games at any major supplier (EB Games, etc.) for $19.99!

Maybe its just me who thinks that $10 for two cosmetic skins is WAAY overcharging. But that's not even the main problem. The real issue is that this process sets a precedent that will alter how the game is maintained and any future games are developed.

It won't be long til you see Nike and Gatorade billboards in GW, and everything except the base game will cost money.

To be honest I don't know how anyone justifies paying $10 for an extra storage slot or costume, you're talking 1/5th the cost of a full game like Prophecies. Just insane.

If Anet promise to spend the money they earn from GW1 on the GW1 I think you would be nice and you could think of it like a donation for GW1 when you buy a costume. Think that would get even more people to buy the upgrades/costumes/whatever.