If Blade and Soul was BuyToPlay?

[Echidna]

With only Outfit cash shop as Black Desert? This will be better?

[Leyren]

Probably not. This is a style which nowadays doesn't get that much attention. You'd have a pretty small player base, which is very problematic for 6v6, random dungeons, or 24m raids (which basically make up the complete endgame).

[Tekoek0911]

NO, i disagree, most players are f2p (dosent spend money on games) like me. so keep it free 2 play

[Grumpypants]

It's not quite that simple with Black Desert Online.

 

The good...

 

Firstly, the cheapest B2P option is £6.99, which is cheap. So, to simply play the game is not costly.

 

On the playerbase, I don't have figures, but judging from forum activity, it's a lot more active than BnS, especially since it went on Steam.

 

The not so good...

 

Outfits are very expensive, and they are the only option to customize your look in the game. The basic game armours all look the same, outside of a few different models, such as boss armour, and if I remember right you don't even have helmet models on basic armour.

 

You can buy some cash shop outfits from the in-game marketplace dirt cheap, but it's an utter lottery whether you get them - BDO has a bizarre bidding system where you have around one minute to bid from the moment premium items are placed, then you need random luck against potentially hundreds of other people - the price is fixed and doesn't go to a high bidder. Sellers are also limited on how many they can sell. You also need to be physically at the marketplace, so you can't do other stuff while trying to get an outfit.

 

Outfits aren't the only thing that can be bought for real cash in BDO either. It's not as P2W as BnS, but there are items in the shop that give a huge boost to the endgame enhancement system.

 

Specifically talking about outfits, I prefer BnS, even with the broken exchange and greedy price hike on outfits such as Loose Cannon. You have much more choice.

[Gennady]

Buy to play and pay to play models are almost dead. It seems that free to play is more profitable model for publishers. And I think that it is better for players as well - poor people can play for free (well, invest their time) and relatively wealthy can buy stuff. The only negative thing I see is that amounts that one can pay are limitless while time is limited. That allows people who has some extra money to be much-much stronger than others. And no way for free players to catch up (because they can't invest more than their free time and more than 24hrs - sleeping - eating per day). But I've never heard about any game that limits payments.

[FrozenB]

On 8/27/2017 at 1:38 AM, Echidna said:

With only Outfit cash shop as Black Desert? This will be better?

haha...have fun finding people with decent gears for 24m raid that can be online at the same time.

[GuineaGamer]

On 8/27/2017 at 6:42 AM, Tekoek0911 said:

NO, i disagree, most players are f2p (dosent spend money on games) like me. so keep it free 2 play

There is a broad base of F2P. That is all well and good, I just don't understand why people wouldn't want to help out with a game they enjoy. Like it is cool, or hip to not spend money on something. I hear people say all the time in faction chat or region "This guy is a whale." So someone spends money on a game they enjoy, and it actually pays for your game as well. How do people think that games are made, managed, new content, server cost? Someone has to pay to keep these type of games running. I don't care what a person says, you can throw in $12 a month for premium and that would help. I know most people drink soda, or Starbucks coffee. So maybe if you can't afford $12 a month, cut out a soda or two a day to afford it. Really just ranting tekoek0911, not attacking you personally. I just see this a lot. Like people being proud that they do not contribute to a game, but are more than happy to reap the rewards. It is a shame that games have gone F2P, that is the only way to get more players to a game so that people who do spend money have others to play with. It basically comes down to, people will always want something for nothing. Rant over.

[Gennady]

On 22.09.2017 at 6:50 PM, GuineaGamer said:

I hear people say all the time in faction chat or region "This guy is a whale." So someone spends money on a game they enjoy, and it actually pays for your game as well.

Problem of whales is that they are too powerful. For f2p player, to get that level of gear one needs to play more than 4 hrs per day, every day. And by "play" I mean "grind", not casually chat or fight on arena. Being strong is good - new content is for high-ap people, 6v6 is for high-ap people (worst that they may derank) while being low-ap sucks. That's why people don't like whales. But the fact that someone spends money in game is not a problem. High prices (I mean, you can't be a whale with 10 or even 100$ per month) and unlimited amount of what one is allowed to pay is a problem. That creates gap. For example, on second day of Gunslinger expansion there already were people who had hm 9+ and baleful pistols (and not stage one). Regular f2p player will need months to get that gear. Paying player may throw few hundreds (or maybe more, I don't know how much is needed to make baleful without grinding) and have everything in a day. And then paying player kicks f2p's ass in 6v6. What reasons f2p player has to like whales after that? And f2p player probably is not very wealthy in real life, too. How they (or maybe I should say "we" because I'm not a whale either) are supposed to react?

I believe that idea of f2p is "pay with your time or with your money" but it doesn't work because one can't "pay" more than 24hrs per day (and that's unrealistic, human needs to sleep and eat and work) while other can pay as much money as they have.
 

On 22.09.2017 at 6:50 PM, GuineaGamer said:

I know most people drink soda, or Starbucks coffee. So maybe if you can't afford $12 a month, cut out a soda or two a day to afford it.

There are people who don't drink Starbucks cofee everyday, believe that or not. Like people from poor parts of Europe. In my country a lot of people never go to restaraunts because it's expensive for them. If someone has a PC, it may be something cheap and many people do not upgrade it often. But we have cheap Internet (unlimited starting from ~3$/month). After living in such environment and condition one isn't ready to spend money on games even if they can afford.

[GuineaGamer]

6 hours ago, Gennady said:

Problem of whales is that they are too powerful. For f2p player, to get that level of gear one needs to play more than 4 hrs per day, every day. And by "play" I mean "grind", not casually chat or fight on arena. Being strong is good - new content is for high-ap people, 6v6 is for high-ap people (worst that they may derank) while being low-ap sucks. That's why people don't like whales. But the fact that someone spends money in game is not a problem. High prices (I mean, you can't be a whale with 10 or even 100$ per month) and unlimited amount of what one is allowed to pay is a problem. That creates gap. For example, on second day of Gunslinger expansion there already were people who had hm 9+ and baleful pistols (and not stage one). Regular f2p player will need months to get that gear. Paying player may throw few hundreds (or maybe more, I don't know how much is needed to make baleful without grinding) and have everything in a day. And then paying player kicks f2p's ass in 6v6. What reasons f2p player has to like whales after that? And f2p player probably is not very wealthy in real life, too. How they (or maybe I should say "we" because I'm not a whale either) are supposed to react?

I believe that idea of f2p is "pay with your time or with your money" but it doesn't work because one can't "pay" more than 24hrs per day (and that's unrealistic, human needs to sleep and eat and work) while other can pay as much money as they have.
 

There are people who don't drink Starbucks cofee everyday, believe that or not. Like people from poor parts of Europe. In my country a lot of people never go to restaraunts because it's expensive for them. If someone has a PC, it may be something cheap and many people do not upgrade it often. But we have cheap Internet (unlimited starting from ~3$/month). After living in such environment and condition one isn't ready to spend money on games even if they can afford.

That is true, not everyone Drinks specialty coffee or soda everyday. It comes down to not WANTING to spend the money. I am sorry if you live in a van down by the river and steal your internet from the queen. I do not have a lot of money either, I just prioritize it. Most people rich or poor won't spend money on something they can get for free. That is human nature, not the nature of your financial lot in life. I am sorry, but if you can't spend 4 cents a day on a video game, you probably shouldn't be playing them chief. The fact is, you don't have to or anyone for that matter. This is why games die, people don't spend money on them. That is just business. Not because someone is poor or rich, it is because they choose not to contribute.

[Gennady]

In steam I can buy the whole game with 60+ hours of gameplay for $30 and in B&S $20 it's just one outfit. I prioritize too, you know. I won't join wallet competition just because game is dying. I'm a customer and not a sponsor. And nobody is obliged to pay just because "omg game is dying". It's company's problem that many people do not feel paying rewarding. If game has nothing interesting to sell than let it die. When I first heard about b&s, I thought it would be p2p and I actually wanted it to be p2p. But company decided to go with f2p model instead. So now I do not feel obliged to pay even one cent. I have premium though, because of wardrobe and discounts; and couple of outfits because I wanted those outfits.

 

And your talk about coffee and "wanting to spend money" is total bullshit. If you never experienced poor life, you have no right to judge.