Valve is also the evil behind the keys. I’m sure they don’t really care for the transaction claims because they get so many from the keys itself. But that’s off-topic.
Where do you expect the border of vanity ? What is the “game-content” itself and where does vanity starts ? I know that one (like you) might pay a lot with monthly fees too, but that is something that can be calculated really easy (like you did now) but the expenses on vanity items might not so easy to calculate over time (i really don’t know what i’ve spend on CS:GO items in the past 3 years … a lot definitely …).
As long as does not directly affect the gameplay it is technically vanity, with the latest update about armor it could just as well be a extra variation to the armor as ther already exist variations of each set piece.
On the other hand you can play the game without the vanity items meaing that it becomes an extra fee you choose instead of not being able to play the game without paying.
I think a lot of this boils down to different interpretations of “vanity item”. As @Thorbjorn42gbf said, I think most of the disagreement is over boosts and buffs, and I think most of us can agree that we don’t want that in boundless. I also think there is some skepticism over gambling systems like chest/keys and random rewards. I am 100% for vanity skins and items that I can pick and choose. I do not want any form of hidden costs or exploited costs.
I always love this discussion it generates such an endless torrent of debate. My preference is for a system that’s fair, transparent, and offers no advantage over others. My only wish for Boundless is that the developers choose a system that is all of those things, and then stick to it. The one guaranteed way to make me as a customer never play a game again is to be inconsistent and underhanded with pricing models.
No I definitely also don´t like bought skins. Improving the appearance of your character is an as big part of the progression as gaining a higher lvl and skins are therefore nothing else than a bought skip in progression for me.
I think in the same way. Rather a fee than vanity items in any form.
And i think a (voluntary) fee is going to come in the form of rented servers.
This plus chargeable account services (character name change, readjusting the appearance of your char. etc) are hopefully enough to keep the game running. Don´t forget that the dev team of boundless is a lot smaller (~20) than the dev team of (for example) GW2 (~200) and that the needed sever capacity will be distributed across privately rented and offical servers.
Now there is a differenece between keeping the servers going and having a steady income ^.^ Something that is important for a team to be able to do further developement and create new games at a later date.
Interesting take on skins there. I have never considered character skins as a form of progression before, but rather as customization because they have zero effect on gameplay- only apperance.
If there is no progression of skins and all basic varients of skins are available from the beginning, do you still consider paid for skins as “progression”?
If there is no reason to play/collect/hunt for skins (or good looking skins) i’d miss a huge part of a RPG. In my opinion skins show progression in the easiest way … if you have the “cool” looking shiny / burning / glowing armor you need to be “bad-ass”! In other RPGs i’v always searched good skins and saved money to buy them or tried to collect them (eg. in TES)
Probably not. But I definitely don´t like skins in MMORPGs nonetheless.
Imo the only acceptable kind of skins in MMORPGs are hilarious/fun ones like certain ones in ESO (wedding dress/suit, chef´s outfit, clown, etc.)
I think Heroes of the Storm has a nice approach to skins. The Master Skins, which are progression based, are (arguably) visually-improved versions of the basic skin. Skins for real money are just fun, silly thematic variations of the character.
I have no issue with skins in the game for either character models or armor models or extra vanity items (think like a scarf or something, as an example). With 4800 different item pieces present in 1.0 I don’t think people will have trouble finding a suitable look.
We’ve had this whole argument before where people were upset with the idea of an exclusive race for higher tier backers and the argument basically boiled down to people being upset because it was exclusive/out of their reach. Which is the purpose. Items/Equipment/Skins that are bought for vanity or whatever should make you want to buy them. I see no point in the “aesthetics progression” argument, especially when the point above is taken into consideration.
Ok I think I now see where you guys are coming from! I don’t mean gear skins like wearables. I mean model reskins like fur patterns, color, tattoos, or head appendages for the base character model. Your progression would still be reflected by what you equip. I think boundless’s wearables system is a great opportunity to show off vanity skins like tribal tattoos, fur patterns, and other base-model features.
I would be “more ok” with that but still would not like it.
Imo there are a many better options for cash shop items:
Rented additional character slot(s)
Makeover kit (change appearance of a character)
Character name change
And if that + rented servers doesn´t acquire enough money they could always patch in character/wearable skins retrospektiv, I would just not like to see them right from the get-go.
Do like Minecraft Realms. Offer to professionally host private servers that people can connect (or not connect) to other private servers and interconnect them to official Boundless host worlds. Also, I like how War Gaming uses in-game gold to do small perks (experience and silver coin bonus for premium subscribers). Some premium items (never the best, but people can jump right into higher level items).
I’ll host my own private server on my Google Fiber 1 Gbps very low latency network on very fast server. Most people will not want that option so professional hosting (affordable) would be a popular option.
All “official” servers will be hosted by Wonderstruck, though I think you can run unofficial servers your self. I think, anyway. A dev will correct me if I’m wrong.
I personally feel a cash shop should do all of those things plus some, but I think this is a good place for a compromise.
As @Vastar said this would be ok, but in general i don’t like it too.
That’s also called “buff” and it’s one of the things i don’t like too. Everything you have should be acquired through “work” and not with lazy shortcuts.
this should be good to keep the game / servers running but for a “regular income” (planning safety) they still need fees IMO. Maybe @ben or @james can tell us something about the long time game funding of B<. There are also questions about the pricing of private servers that have not been answered yet.