This week on Free to Play Weekly: Outspark shuts down, RaiderZ details its upcoming expansion, Scarlet Blade reveals PvP plans, Dragon Nest EU beta emerges, and more!...
Should MMO Companies Sell Gold? (ASK Ep 12)
This week's show comes ACTION PACKED with questions about games selling their own gold, VR and MMOS, the MMO Trinity, and a whole load of other topics! Be sure to submit YOUR question!
Ask MMOBomb is an MMOBomb.com weekly exclusive where we answer questions from our viewers. While questions should be Free to Play games related, they don't always HAVE to be if you question is something we think viewers REALLY want to know. So feel free to ask anything you want! Questions are chosen from YouTube, Facebook and our website comments on the previous episodes, and emails sent to magicman@mmobomb.com. Get those questions ready and let's have some fun!
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Do you think more future MMOs will go with cross genre?
i see a rising trend in this like Tera has elements of shooter controls with fantasy or some games using sci fi in a fantasy world and i think the question need to ask is
Will cross genre games be the newest normal in the mmo scene?
Question:
which energy drinks do you recommend for the long haul gamers mmo or otherwise (i generally clock 100 hours a week if i don't have work or college)
I agree DC Universe does controllers well, I enjoyed playing it. I have a Logitech controller and it works well. Vindictus I think it worked well while fighting.
On a side note I think Vindictus has the best fighting style of any MMO specifically because you can pick boulders and what not up and throw them and it has other cool aspect like the character that can use chains to pull the beast you're fighting down. I wish other Devs would bring that type of vercitality into MMO's.
Mario had gold coins as a way to push the character to other platforms in the game. A sort of risk taking jump to get those 10 extra coins, or just leave it and move on. More coins meant 1 extra life possibly, but not really needed to pass a level. Usually perfectionist wanted every little coin collected, kind of giving a game withing a game. Sonic the Hedgehog had a similiar system etc. Other games replaced this value with other items like pizza and or crystals.
RPG came out and started in barter systems with coins. and evolved into todays MMORPG economy system, it was not until today that your real bank can be attached to this in game economies and that gold farmers in asia set up shop supporting thousands of overworked students based on your desire to trade for in game goodies.
NOw let us stop. Where do these coins come from? Dead boars, quests, etc. They mold around the idea of modern work force. Work for something and get rewarded. This can be very apparent in games like TERA, where coin is so limited you cannot complete all the craft and travel you might want to do. This effects in game items. as well. And generally has a healthy auction house for in game items. Vanilla wow was essential on building this coin as well. Other games, cash is nothing and so much of it can be acquired, that it seems like it is just a standard code in the development and the game has bee re-engineered to by pass that and focus on other things (WoW today, Perfect world, etc..) These games usually avoid the gold collection and skip right to the resource: Cash shop currency or other items to farm. It seems they all juggle an engineered dance around the cash shop.
- Look at Star Trek online or Forsaken world, this multi currency business is so rediculous. It is obvious patches over patches of games designed to use a "Reputation point" like farm in currency to keep you (A) Grinding in repeat content or (B) Paying your way out of it with real cash.
Honostly, TERA, secret world, and all these games that have a in game gold scale that slowly increases as you level and allows you to et just the right items for you r level or grind a few things out, is ok, but does hinder a little in progression.
I say, REMOVE ALL CURRENCY. Just drop the headache. Drop the calculations, drop the economy breaking principles that turn gamers away. Drop it, and gold spammers even go away.
Keep the crafting elements. and keep cash shop elements if you wish (potions, etc, can all be purchased with cash if you like) And create new tings based on NEW OUT OF THE BOX IDEAS.
One thing I can think of is scaled to level items. So, if oyu look at most games, there are shops that have things scaled to level and price: So that yummy 10K HP potion is 5gold and requires level 10 to have it. I obviously will have 10gold at level 10? That depends on the game designers intent. He either wants you to rinse and rpeat a Level 10 dungeon, usually putting you at level 20, and come back later to purchase this item. Giving you this sor tof reward feeling. BUt by then a level 20 potions i ready to use at a new price...and we usually just save the cash and move on, or we use the potion...the point is, REMOVE the gold, and use a meter "ready to drink" showing that the item cannot be purchased unless we prove to the NPC we are dungeon worthy...kind of like reputation...essentially, if the gold is removed, and the INTENT of the game designer is not hidden behind gold, that cuts out gold spammers, and abuse of cash shop (publisher greed). Or just give the item at level 10.
I usually enjoy games that scale everything to level. I mean hey, we are moving from point A to B right and not coming back? Those old dungeons rot unless we have an alt right? So why place this cash game and just scale it to DIRECT levels? I love games that offer new items and potions etc as I move to new towns at higher levels.
Older games like WOW vanilla had the example of good in game gold, because it matched the environment and lore. In game gold can give that "I am living in the middle age" ambience to games if done right. In WoW Vanilla, you found white items, from level 1, in major cities you came back to at all levels for several pieces of gold. IT was silly, but it showed people were still COMING back, to older items. Allot of things were not scalled to level. Allot of people put a value on items sometimes 5 levels lower than them, because they had a use still. Item use + value + non level scaling = GREAT use of GOLD. But look at wow today...you can just get rid of the economy (LOL) and have everything scale to level and faction as that is basically what is happening. After the 2nd expation, I never had a need for gold again. And we started to see the broken economy of items jumping up to 999999999999gold on the auction. Just no. It is over. The age of gold is over (unless your another run of the mill asian wow clone trying to milk that Vanilla nastalgia).
Look at MOBA, it uses cash on the go...some kills give bigger cash, but all in all, it is a SCALE war to match your level, and mid and end game tactics.
FPS is another rank + cash scale feature.
Take a look at your mmorpg, ask yourself, would it survive if gold was taken out, and level scaling, or factioning was in place. Most likely yes. Then you will have no gold spamming. And no broken economies...oh but wait...some one is not profiting... The publisher wanting you to exhange your real cash for gold itmes (Allods, PErfect world, all PWE titles. etc etc etc.) As long as greed is there, your gonna have this. Take out greed, insert creativity, and you have better things in your cash shop to worry about that people WILL ACTUALLY BUY.
You are welcome, when you companies profit from my ideas, send me my check in the mail.
With the limited amount of endgame content RaiderZ had to offer (before expansion) what do you think should be included in mmorpgs to keep players buisy once they reached the level-cap? (Gear-grind, PvP, professions, repeatable quests, events, ....)
First of all i would like to tell you MM about inflictious question i do not think that will matter since companies show their greed WITHOUT putting gold in their games since betas/alphas are pay to get in the 2 most common examples would be neverwinter and dirtybomb
Also a lot of f2p games show their greed anyways by their ridicilous prices in their cash shop even if its fashion or items that will make your gear op like enchant items and so on
About my question you pretty much covered what i was going to ask u next(aka if FF's will switch from p2p to f2p ever)I will take your opinion as someone who is actually more experienced then me cause i never really played any FF mmos and all i've done so far is watch FF videos while you actually have played 11(and i quess u'll most likely get 14 as well)Thank for your answer appreciate it
About wildstart i would really love to see how it is but i wont until i get a cb date or alphate date cause honestly(and please dont be offended)i dont wanna end up like you MM losing my excitement and be like meh ok wherever it comes out i will try it out(considering that already happened for 2 games already)
Also i really prefer seeing ur pc that seeing u freezing to death just sayin :P and i like the whole 4 screens covering all your vision idea its pretty cool if you have a big enough desk lol
Awesome work as always keep up the good work and a little advice MM breathe bro we want you alive if u go away whos gonna do mmbomb live/ask mmobomb and f2p cast?
I feel like when i play these games with !/? i get tunnel vision and im just running back and forth on a track, never stopping to take the time to interact with the living world of the game
People talking about virtual reality only because "Sword Art Online" was really good anime and they would like to play games that looks like that i'm mentioning this anime because i know that you are not anime guy.
and did you ever heard about ESF:Final (Earth Special Forces)
With the recent changes to repair costs..anyone not buying and selling cash items will be left behind.And I really think that a repair item in the cartel market is coming.
Also what is the name of the song in the intro of the vid?
Only 1 questions this week: Do you happen to have heartburn or acid reflux? I see you do little like half burps all the time. I do the same and its from bad heartburn. If so, I feel you pain brother!