Microtransactions

[ven]

I don't see the problem with microtransactions either. If the issue with the shoppe is having to keep track of purchased items forever, why not implement cheaper but disposable microtransaction items? As one the posts above suggested, additional options for village and character customization could work really well. Say we can buy a lantern with purple ambient light, a prancing horse statue, or a creepy impaling stake for $ 0.15 each: we buy it once, install it, and you never have to worry about that again. It doesn't pass over to a new world, we don't get it back if it's destroyed, and other people can steal and use it if they want.
The same should work for tattoos, skin color, hats, armor skins etc. I don't even see the problem with shop items that give some advantage, like more unique gilding items, faster butchering tools, or old weapon requests like daggers. $ 0.40 for a single-use dagger recipe doesn't seem unbalanced or pay to win to me.

Expanding on that:

Instead of costing $5.00-15.00, all current and previous hats could be available for $0.20 each, with the downside of being transferable and disposable.

And additional items should be sold at the shop too, for instance:

Weapon skins: fancier weapon cosmetics; dark, bright, red, golden and rusty blades; black, white, engraved armors, and so on (for example, at $0.20 each).

Village decoration props, exclusively aesthetic. Everything we've suggested past year: stone fences, animal statues, lightning color, spikes, beheading stumps etc., also for something like $0.01-0.20 each.

Character customization: the option of creating obese, tall, tattooed and darker-skinned characters should cost something too. If that messes up the equipment models too much, we could pay just for different faces.

Single-use recipes for shields and weapons: dagger, hammer, halberd, tower shield.
I'm particularly fond of ^^this idea. It's not unbalancing and the recipes have the potential of becoming an important trade item. Besides, since global average item qualities are constantly growing, it's expected that people will regularly repurchase these recipes for better equipment.

And since the community likes to pay for advantages, and since subscription has already set a precedent, we could also buy recipes for hand tools that affect the speed of certain tasks - butchering knife, woodsman's axe, one-handed sickle, great scythe, etc. Assuming you're not already planning to create kingdom edicts to the same effects.

[NotJimmy97]

I don't know if I necessarily like the idea of shelling out money for individual pieces of furniture. I think what might work better is something like this: you pay for various quantities of some kind of magic dust. Using the magic dust, you can make some of those special furnitures, with whatever other material requirements they have.

The only thing that makes me wary about this is that people will trade for this, and it opens the door to a system where the people who pay the most into the game have the most economic strength. That's sort of P2W, yes?

Jorbtar gotta make money somehow though. I like this idea with some reservations. +0.5

[VDZ]

I don't even see the problem with shop items that give some advantage, like more unique gilding items, faster butchering tools, or old weapon requests like daggers. $ 0.40 for a single-use dagger recipe doesn't seem unbalanced or pay to win to me.

Just because nobody directly dies from the transaction does not mean it's not pay to win. If it's an advantage you can only get by paying, it's pay-to-win, as you'll be at a disadvantage if you don't pay.

Yes, LP bonus and 'convenience' are also pay-to-win, but they are limited in the sense that you get everything by buying a subscription and there's no need to pay beyond that - you could consider the non-subscription account a 'trial' of sorts in which you don't get the advantages of paying the normal fee for the game.

Pay-to-win microtransactions are another story entirely, though. Suddenly paying a reasonable monthly cost is no longer enough, and to not be at a disadvantage I need to spend an unknown amount of extra money (at the devs' discretion; if they need money, they can just leech you dry by raising the prices or introducing even better items, and you'll have no choice but to pay up or you'll be at a disadvantage compared to other players).

I'm all for cosmetic items that can be bought for real money, but no pay-to-win bullshit please.

[ven]

I can't see what the problem is with this being pay to win. The hand tool bonuses shouldn't be too unbalanced either. It's not like faster harvesting speed is ever going to let you keep up with a botting faction like Dis - even if that faction decides not to buy any of the hand tools. The same with weapons: buying a dagger or a halberd recipe won't make you survive a fight you were already going to lose. They would be there for different moves, fighting styles, and personal customization.

Besides, Stya has already told the forum how one can raise small amounts of money easily by performing microjobs on the internet. Prices as low as $0.20 wouldn't be a barrier to anyone, unless they're already on a 12 hour/day working schedule and couldn't nolife to be competitive anyway.

[wolf1000wolf]

Even if there were microtransactions, due to payment processor/transaction costs... the game/devs would need to be like everyone else and have the minimum payment be, say, $5 = 500 coins.

Then the coins would then be used to buy whatever.

That said, these proposed microtransactions really do seem like pay-to-win. That would hurt more than help.

[2d0x]

Note that the $15 for American and Russians - are very different amounts. And people can easily spend a lot of small sums, but is unlikely to pay a one-time large sum.

[GenghisKhan44]

I think this might be a solution: making it possible to get what I'll call "microcurrencies" for free - with a bit of effort. Here's an example.

Mind you, the things that would be sold would have to be aesthetic, or optional - something like the current convenience bonuses you get when you subscribe. I don't see anyone complaining about those, so I think microtransactions and microcurrencies could be a viable way to increase the game's profit.

On the same game, Puzzle Pirates: the doubloon servers are always fuller than the subscription servers. Always have been, always will be. People like the illusion that doing five hours of work to get 1 hours' worth of doubloons is a good use of their time. Eventually, though, some conclude it's not worth making $2.50 an hour, even in in-game currency, and are willing to shell out $20 for once. Maybe even sell some of their doubloons that they have an excess of to players who want them.

Seems like a win/win to me.

Note that the $15 for American and Russians - are very different amounts. And people can easily spend a lot of small sums, but is unlikely to pay a one-time large sum.

Exactly why microtransactions are a good idea.

Yes, LP bonus and 'convenience' are also pay-to-win, but they are limited in the sense that you get everything by buying a subscription and there's no need to pay beyond that - you could consider the non-subscription account a 'trial' of sorts in which you don't get the advantages of paying the normal fee for the game.

I don't see why microtransactions need to be any more "Pay-to-win" than the current system.

or introducing even better items, and you'll have no choice but to pay up or you'll be at a disadvantage compared to other players

Again, no difference between this and the dangers of subscription. They have three tiers of subscription, after all. Imagine what they could do with those other two tiers in the hands of desperate enough players...

I don't know if I necessarily like the idea of shelling out money for individual pieces of furniture. I think what might work better is something like this: you pay for various quantities of some kind of magic dust. Using the magic dust, you can make some of those special furnitures, with whatever other material requirements they have.

The only thing that makes me wary about this is that people will trade for this, and it opens the door to a system where the people who pay the most into the game have the most economic strength. That's sort of P2W, yes?

It can be. Around here, economy is mainly used to get better weapons and armour, which usually only high-tier smiths can make. That's also a danger faced in Puzzle Pirates, where captains and the affluent often pay huge sums of money to get mansions, familiars, etc. Even weapons that can make winning puzzles easier, and ships that are bigger and have more cannons (but they require people to man them).

If done properly, where only a slight advantage is given - or where the advantage requires many people (like a knarr) or already very high stats (or perhaps loses its point after a certain level, a noob helper) - I don't think it need make the game lopsided.

Everyone complained about subscriptions and verified accounts at first. I think microtransactions would be the same way, but would actually be as good an idea if not better.