I don't think the people who don't want xp pots say it because they want an advantage. They just don't want to be forced into that advantage because of thier competitive nature. You can still be about the journey and level at a reasonable speed.
For me it's more of a preference but I actually rather just pay a sub and have no cash shop. I don't have the time to keep up with the hardcore folks. I just don't think I need xp pots either.
I dont want nor will I user xp pots. I want to experience the games I play not shortcut my way to the end. I'm arguing for the acceptance of xp pots
with regards to EQN and this thread about it only. They are a reality of corporate produced games because of this:
What the fuck is "enough money?" No such thing. ... You can bet, however, that SOE will do everything in their power to make this game accessible to the masses that will actually recoup their investment.
I'm on board with a game close the EQ model, but this isnt the thread for that crusade even though it has the letters in the tread title. Gaming and MMO gaming went mainstream and the companies that created the genre are all about the $$$ now. So given that, I'll be happy with sandbox elements and hopefully a slow progression that doesnt invalidate 90% of the game at cap (hopefully no cap!). I'll overlook the parts of their revenue efforts I dont like and be ok with it (or quit if they annoy me too much, but that's something to decide once they announce them).
We need a new indepent dev team that somehow gets ahold of 50mil to make a game in the spirit of EQ without selling out.
With things like bag/bank space, my acceptance of it is basically dependent on how many they give you for free. GW2 is a good example of this; they give you a good number of slots off the bat, and you'll never feel like you *need* to buy new slots, doing so just feels like a convenience, not a necessity.
GW2 did well in this regard, though I dont like the automatic shared bank (automatically full on new alts then). TOR went the other way and basically said "pay $ for storage space or quit" shortly after level 10 (on entirely new F2P accounts, pre-F2P accounts kept their unlocks).
The current debate boils down to people not accepting that the are a large group of people who consider an MMO a "full time" hobby (meaning they go to work, then come home and play the game, rinse repeat) over a casual game (they play 2-4 days a week)
If you look at the current promo Sony is running which is requesting EQ players to tell their EQ story. You will see there are players who really live their social lives in the game. Whether you agree or disagree with the way they are living their lives, denying it's existence is unacceptable. If you want to be that player who grinds to max, then plays only on raid nights that's fine, go play a wow-clone. Those are the games that are made for you. There is a large population of players who want a more EQeque game whether you like it or not.
I think we agree on wanting an EQ-like experience. Can I get a non-defensive honest answer to this: Do you honestly believe SOE is not going to max revenue streams on this project here? You must realize that maxing profits doesnt bode well for an EQ-like experience.
I don't remember the values but I didn't feel like GW2 xp boosts were any useful and worth their cost. Probably because base xp was good to begin with(modern wow lvling curve, 2days and a half played to cap or whatever it was). On the other hand, I wouldn't have considered playing planetside 2 without xp booster cause they doubled your xp and that made a huge difference. Also it's a full pvp games so xp that unlocks upgrades=winning. I didn't feel it was too much of an issue however cause it was only like 15$ a month or some shit and well, I'm fine with paying that for a mmo. Still for the most part I'd say Planetside2 was very much pay to win. Sure it was still a FPS so a retard would still be a retard even in a good tank, but at equal skill level someone with the best equipement would beat someone without for obvious reasons.
GW2 I don't know, I wouldn't say it was pay to win and only thing I bought was a couple of bank bags or whatever, which was convenience since I could have just used mules instead, and never felt like spending anything else on the game. I guess there was an advantage to paying for farming karma faster or leveling faster or whatever but it felt it had such a small impact it wasn't relevant to me. Some other people would be more sensitive to it I'm sure.
You can probably design an item shop without xp boosts if you wanted though. Limit characters > char slots, usual inventory/bank slots, consumables that are available ingame but can get them for real money, shit like that. I guess you could have premium access to certain bonus areas and shit like that too, kinda like DLC, and then 2-3months later it goes available to everyone and you add more. I would absolutely hate such a system but it's technically not pay to win.
GW2 didnt give you much reason to race anywhere to begin with (though people did of course, it's the only way).
Planetside 2 didnt feel P2W to me, but then my definition for that is things you can *only* get with money or excessive grind. A guy saving himself 1000 certs for a weapon (still needs thousands more to "cap" that build) doesnt have an advantage only $ can budge. He saved himself time. That's what xp boosts are doing. I see that for some in that thread that is already P2W and for them pretty much all current games are P2W (including EQ1/2). Depressing outlook, especially considering that Smed fancies the PS2 model and probably uses it as the base for EQN.
Funny enough EVE is obvious P2W according to you all, they faciliated character and gametime sales long ago and its still grey market stuff in mainstream MMOs. It's also the game giving the biggest thrill or feeling of accomplishment for success.
Ugh.
