SOE opens an item shop for Everquest and Everquest 2.
More details on Kendricke’s blog.
Internet explodes. Good thing they have experienced community managers!
My thoughts? I’ll be brief. I don’t think this is appropriate for a subscription MMO. If SOE were to take EQ or EQ2 free to play? Sure. But item shops in a subscription-only MMO are… well… they cause Internet explosions. And if I were an EQ player, I’d be pretty horked, too. Especially since EQ is all about PvE progression, which from my brief reading appears to be for sale to the highest bidder now (well, XP-wise anyway – do the XP potions work for earning AA points?).
But they’re not the first, they won’t be the last. Item shops work. Item shops will, I suspect, do very well in Freerealms, SOE’s promising new free-to-play MMO. But retrofitting them to older MMOs? That’s the kicker. It will be interesting to see if the community adopts this or revolts.
(links ganked from Moorgard, because I suspect he came up first in my GoogleReader.)
#1 by Kwakiutl on December 9th, 2008
GREED IS BAD.
#2 by TPRJones on December 9th, 2008
As long as you can also get the same effects from other sources, I think it would be fine. This is just providing a cash option for those with more money than time.
As one commenter points out at Kendricke’s blog, the XP boost effects are available on some veteran reward items. So the other way to get the bonus is to just play for a long time. Or you can pay a little and get it now. No biggie as far as I’m concerned.
#3 by Arkenor on December 9th, 2008
Wow. All those slippery slope arguments we made when the Exchange servers launched turned out to be right.
Wheeeeee!!! See you at the bottom!
#4 by Chris F on December 9th, 2008
I would play EQ2 again under this model – but, as Scott said – without the monthly fee. Heck, I would probably pay for those handy XP potions too to help ease the grind. SOE would get my money again! Alas.
As TPRJones pointed out, time is the only factor in modern day MMO land, not money. Here money can be used to substitute the “time” model, which isn’t such a bad thing.
Remember, MMO’s are mostly solo player games anyway until the “end stuff” – who cares how you get there?
#5 by chas on December 9th, 2008
Meh, for me… as this should only offend people that were deluded / duped into thinking that leveling and loot was a comparative achievement ( one that could be measured against another’s similar gain as a determining factor as one’s worth ).
Of course, that ‘keeping up with the joneses’ mentality is probably shared by the majority of Americans…. so let the internet explode away.
Many of us (though still a minority)- frequently time-deprived players- have already shrugged off all that crap as meaningless achievement- more a sign that someone with more has more free time to waste online. Once you accept that, it doesn’t matter whether it’s “time” or “money.” Any comparison is just as meaningless.
#6 by Mordiceius on December 9th, 2008
Chas, your logic is flawed. RMT in a game like Everquest or even WoW is a terrible idea because it promotes lack of skill.
If I leveled a character from 1-80 in WoW, I will know how to play my class. Someone who just buys a level 80 will not. So I could get grouped up with someone who just bought a character and has no idea how to play the class and then it starts interfering with MY playing experience.
If you want RMT in a game, create RMT only servers. Keep subscription players with subscription players and RMT players with RMT players.
#7 by Loredena on December 9th, 2008
Mordiceius — your reasoning is sadly flawed. There is no skill. Seriously. No skill required. If I take my husband’s level 80 mage in EQ and go solo him for a week, I know how to play him as well at 80 as I would have had I leveled him myself. And EQ was HARD. Seriously hard.
WoW? Well, I left for 18 months, came back to a hunter class that had been completely redone, repicked all my talents and was off and running.
Heck, even EQ2 with it’s odd conglomeration of classes, and heroic opportunities, isn’t hard to learn to play properly.
It isn’t the class that’s hard. It’s knowing how to play in a group that’s hard. Buying a level 80 and grouping will get no worse results than leveling to 80 solo, and then grouping for the first time.
#8 by TPRJones on December 9th, 2008
Lack of skill? Seriously?
As Loredan points out, there is little to no gameplay skill involved in most MMOGs. Sure there are things you should know, like general tactics for your class, but those are easily learned. I suspect what you really mean is that the player needs to learn the politics involved in participating in a raiding guild, and that’s another thing entirely. I don’t think I’d classify Catassery as a “skill” though.
#9 by chas on December 9th, 2008
Again though, “skill” in raid-running isn’t a prerequisite for leveling. Time is all it takes.
Raid guild membership itself isn’t even a good measurement of any skill. Many cease to participate n them just because the ‘politics involved in participating in a rading guild’ takes up more hours than we care to waste in our limited window of recreation time.
The value is ONLY meaningful among others that play as you do for as long as you do… if you have comparable investment in the play, you can use the achievements as a metric of skill.
What breaks down is that people delude themselves into thinking that “EVERYONE ELSE PLAYS LIKE I DO.” I don’t give a flying rat’s hindquarters about how fast you raced to 70 because I’m not TRYING to race there and I spend less than a quarter of the time you do online. Since I’m not running the same race as you, any comparitive value breaks down.
And since I already accepted that we’re not competing, the fact that someone can use money to advance or get trophies too…. no big deal.
#10 by Sheepherder on December 9th, 2008
He’s referring to grouping.
Which makes his point null, because in WoW I can ding 80 without grouping and without learing anything at all about threat, pulling, CC, or effective DPS rotations. It’s probably the biggest failure of MMO’s to date, that they teach you the very basics such as controls but don’t bother touching the aforementioned mechanics unique to MMO’s.
#11 by JayDub on December 9th, 2008
If someone groups with me, and they didn’t kill the same 11,209,938 mobs I did in order to reach the same level I did, say if they only killed 7,894,029 because they used experience potions and the like, it ruins my gameplay.
I can totally tell when people have done things like use experience potions, as opposed to people who just have never grouped very much before.
I use my mystic third eye to see into their mind and see the dirty blackness of CHEATING in their soul, provided I am wearing my tinfoil hat that is.
Oops what I meant to say was… I doubt anyone is going to know if someone has used the marketplace to buy items to help them level up.
Having said that, I will enjoy watching the internet explode just as I do everytime something like this happens.
I wonder why I get concerned for people who have been in car wrecks on the side of the road, and force myself not to stare because I feel like it’s an invasion of their privacy (despite being on the side of a public roadway) at a time when they are very vulnerable.
#12 by sinij on December 9th, 2008
God have mercy on our mmorpg-gaming souls, if this succeed we will be into decade of suck.
#13 by Taymar on December 9th, 2008
do the XP potions work for earning AA points?
They’ve put out a new potion specifically for AA points. It’s the only potion that must be bought, there’s no other version of it around.
#14 by Baredil on December 9th, 2008
Even the grouping/raiding mechanics don’t require 80 levels of play to learn. Most of them can be picked up in a few play sessions and a bit of internet research, if you’re of a mind.
#15 by Naladini on December 9th, 2008
In EverQuest, XP potions are xp potions and the player decides how to handle the split of experience, with the bonus applying to either venue.
Things may change but the existing offerings are insanely feeble and really no different than similar potions/items that are currently available via other RMT means. (eg. Legends of Norrath boosters, Expansion Pack Promotions, etc).
The only major change is with the potion effects. It seems that potion effects will now persist through death. I assume thats to avoid a situation where somone drops $10 on a potion and then dies to a “bug”.
The “items” being sold are right in line with the Living Legacy promotion I believe, and are a function of your character’s level when you buy the item (read: designed for alts / mid-level characters).
So … at least so far, there’s really nothing earth shattering in the mix. I’m actually disappointed that they didn’t push the envelope a bit with their offerings, it seems they took the “safest” possible route with the initial store load.
#16 by D-0ne on December 9th, 2008
I giggled.
#17 by Viz on December 10th, 2008
TPR, it may not be complicated… but there sure are a hell of a lot of people who aren’t capable of doing it.
#18 by Freakazoid on December 10th, 2008
Well, I play eq2 and decided to pick up the NWN2 expansion instead of the EQ2 expansion.
I was thinking about letting my account lapse just out of bordem, but now I’ll let it lapse because of this AND bordem!
#19 by Dan Gray on December 10th, 2008
I think they should have gone one of two ways with this:
1) Limit items in the shop to purely superficial stuff. Pets, no-stat fancy clothing, whatever. Things that the hardcore socialites and RPers will enjoy.
2) Open the shop up to sell anything in the game, but ditch the subscription model entirely.
Trying to keep people subscribing whilst also offering advantages to those who spend more in the shop is probably a poor move.
#20 by Delmania on December 10th, 2008
I think the title to this is very appropriate. This could be very well the start of the rise of the ultimate MMO money machine: pay to play and pay to advance, and consumers will eat it up.
The MMO genre, despite being young, is really wearing thin on me. This may be very well the nail in the coffin.
#21 by Tesh on December 10th, 2008
Whether you pay in time or in money, progress is individual. Who cares how other players manage to get to the holy grail “endgame”?
The level/loot treadmill is far more of a cash grab than any business model that has the potential to increase the use base and earn the company more money.
#22 by Metzger on December 10th, 2008
But can I use real world cash to buy ingame Station Cash to use the ingame system to order a real world pizza without ever leaving my PC?
#23 by Saylah on December 14th, 2008
I imagine veteran players would be incensed but the day I can purchase a higher level character would be a great day and bring me back to EQ2. No other game as met my crafting fancy like EQ2 but I just-cant-stand-leveling its content. I’ve tried and tried. I don’t want to level just to be able to harvest in the necessary zones to be an EQ2 craft and run a little shop.
Until playing Wizard 101 I had ZERO interest in Free Realms. But now I see what a real casual game is like that is a setting I enjoy which is fantasy. It has all the trappings of the standard MMOs I’ve played but a different combat mechanic and it is truly casual. If FR is along these lines with more options it will be a good time.
#24 by Muckbeast on December 16th, 2008
And the flaw in your logic is that WoW promotes skill in the first place.
WoW is about pure time investment. Skill has almost nothing to do with it. No death penalty, minimal ability to affect outcomes through skill instead of gear/spec/class, and the end result in a low-skill oriented game.
#25 by Pika on December 16th, 2008
I enjoy customizing my character more-so than probably most people. Sadly, I have a full time job and family that stops me from being “all that I can be” in online gaming.
While I may not have time, I occasionally do have extra money that I don’t mind spending to keep up with “Jr. Jones’s”. The kiddies got the time, I got the money, selling virtual items seems like a great way to even the playing field as well as enhance my enjoyment of the product, thereby enhancing retention.
There will be those who say such mechanics “detract from the purity” of the game, or some such nonsense. To which I reply: yes, internet gaming is serious business.
#26 by Oz on December 16th, 2008
If it’s just fluff stuff, and exp potions are, truly, fluff stuff, then couldn’t care less. I bought one of those flying bikes in AO simply because it was fun fluff. Did it make me better than anyone else? Perhaps – I could travel a ton easier now as the flying requirements are next to nothing – but beyond that, nada.
The idea of selling fluff while already charging a monthly fee is, in a way, briliant. You can miss items in your expansion, like Sony typically does, and then sell it later at a premium. Say the Auction area of EQ (whatever it’s called, I forget it’s been years) was offered on a microtransaciton level instead of the free patch ~4 months after Luclin (despite being advertised on the box). Would you pay? Probably.