I was reading another thread (Ideas to make devs money) and was struck by something. It was relayed that @sirrian was disappointed by sales of bunny ear cosmetics. Which got me thinking.
What if each race had something to offer in the way of a stat/resource boost?
For example Humans are resourceful. So, no stat bonuses but a 5% bonus to all resources gained.
Wargare gain a +2 to attack
Now those are not great but they are FREE. Races that are purchased can have BETTER bonuses.
Bunny Ear Race- +2 magic and Agility
Dwarven Race- +5 armor and a RNG multiplier to gold earned
These are merely examples and I do not suggest hat they are in anyway balanced. But my question is this-
Would something like this cause you to be more willing to purchase optional Races?
Considering how much Death Knight Armor is out there, I can help but think… YES!
I would think this would be something the devs would completely steer away from. Simply because it fuels the fire for the P2W conversation, and i’m not sure it wouldn’t be.
The armors now are fine because they increase materials only, but you still have to get the troops from rng. Let’s be honest though, I’ve seen plenty of people say this game is P2W now. I just disagree with that at this time. The devs have done a fine job of tip-toeing that line so far.
This is something that you can purchase that would directly give you a performance boost instantly. (pvp)
No denying that it would probably give avatar sales a huge boost though. lol (please more avatar packs)
I think the problem is that could be viewed as directly P2W. With the hero armor and the like that are currently for sale, the line is a little more blurred. You’re not paying to win so much as you are paying to gamble to hopefully win (p2g2hw?) as there is no direct line from purchased item to advantage currently in the game. Sure buying traitstone packs can help you trait up a great card to give you an advantage but you could also use those traitstones to trait a mediocre card, too. So you can’t just throw money at the screen and win.
With stat improving races, that would no longer be the case. Sure the advantage might start small but just like with the cards themselves, the power curve would gradually increase to entice people to buy better and better races.
Also, as an aside, I would have purchased one or both of the Hero race packs if they each included male and female avatars or if (and this is probably even more so) they had chosen more exciting races to start with. A daemon character, an undead character or a construct would all have appealed to me much more than a dwarf and a bunny rabbit. (I’m not hating, some people like those and that’s fine but I can’t imagine either appealed to that big a percentage of players. They were poor choices to try the concept out on, in my opinion).
Hmmmm… no not fond of this idea. As others said, a step in the wrong p2w direction. Also may lead to more complexity and things for new players to remember which aren’t obvious in UI. Also makes for monotony when every player looks the same, as patently one bonus will end up being used / sought by end game players.
o.O Weird. I see those things all the time. Thought they were good sellers. I’d have probably bought the Dwarf one if it let my main char count as a dwarf. Would definitely buy a Goblin one if it let me count as a goblin.
While granted I don’t mind them, they’re gender exclusive and are just rather unappealing options (to me).
When I first suggested appearance options, I thought more in line with what Nexon does in most their games, the ability to purchase additional cosmetics for the classes you already have.
Maybe allow me to make my lizard-man frilled. Unique species headwear or markings. Turn your Raksha into a puma or cheetah. Fun stuff like that. Whether in add-on packs or as individual items, either is good.
I appreciate the attempt, but short bearded men aren’t my go to species and I’d rather avoid any connection related to women with animal ears. (The Lapin’s also feel uncomfortably detailed in comparison to every other race.)
I’m still all for new species, but maybe something for the races we already got would be nice too.
(3 Styles + Bald does not an engaging character creation make.)
@ALL thanks for your reseponses. Allow me to defend myself thusly…
It was late… and I was tired…
There. Glad I got that off my chest. I agree completely! I do not want a P2W scenario here in GoW and the devs have done a wonderful job of skirting that line VERY effectively. Racial bonuses could tilt the scale. SO allow me to direct a few more questions at you all and see what comes back.
IF those bonuses did not apply to PvP, but only PvE areas (Explore, Challenge, Quest, Arena) would it change your opinion?
I don’t understand this and am genuinely asking: Why DIDN’T the devs make the races for both male and female? Obviously there must be both genders for the race to exist.
Would you be more inclined to purchase if it came with BOTH Genders?
Finally my staple question- Currently the packs are priced at $9.99 and include RNG items to justify the price point. Would the removal of those resources and a reduction in price to say $2.99 for JUST the cosmetic make you more inclined to purchase?
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, or at least 1,3, and 4. Just trying to gather some info that the devs might find useful!
Yeah it would be fine if it included bonuses for those areas IMO. That’s pretty much the ideal add-on that doesn’t break anything, and would add incentive for buying them even more.
Not really sure either.
Yeah both genders would be fine.
If they keep the packs the same price, i’ll buy them. If they made them cheaper, i’d buy them. I just want more choices. I was thinking it might be better for them to offer packs that come with 5 different cosmetics in it. If they included all the gems, etc., I think it would jack the price up way too high. There’s no way i’m paying more than $20 for a cosmetic pack. If it came with 5 different cosmetic sets or items at least I’d pay that amount. I think that’s out of the price point that most people want to pay though.
For my situation I want to keep upgrading my VIP level, so $20 would be fine for me.
So $5-$10 separately or $20 for a cosmetic bundle of sets. I know Sirrian is keen on certain price points though. As he’s said in the past, nothing is cheap to do for them.
My thinking behind the bundle of 5 avatars or custom items is they wouldn’t have to guess what people want as much. Put 5 different things in a pack, and if someone wants 1-2 things even from that pack, they’ll buy it. Or sell them separately for when people just only want that single thing. At half the cost.
My understanding is this was just supposed to be a trail but, according to Sirrian (and I’m going by memory here) he agrees they overpriced them. I believe that this was more their publisher’s call (the price) than the dev’s.
100% for sure. I tend to use avatars that are my gender but I’m not a stickler and for some reason only getting one gender feels like I’m only getting half the product.
Yes, 100%. The small amount of resources included in the packs do not appeal to me. 100 diamonds is nice but I’m not going to open my wallet for that.
Outside of them making specific mythics available for real $$$, I’m pretty much done spending money on this game. At least until they start addressing some of the issues…
Sadly I have to agree; there are so many bugs and missing features at this point that I don’t have a huge amount of confidence I’ll get much enjoyment out of any additional money spent on the game…but I really want to be proven wrong. My fear is that Guild Wars will be realeased and have some interesting new mechanics but won’t fix any/most of the issues players have been dealing with for months/years and will just add even more issues. Hopefully I’m wrong and Guild Wars is awesome and also has a bunch of fixes/improvements that the community has been waiting for.
I expect Guild Wars to be yet another “instant gratification” mechanic that makes the grind more intense and the actual strategy even less prevalent. Volume, volume, volume.
For full disclosure, I am in a similar boat. I am VIP 5 when I thought I would never spend money on this game to begin with! But the community, the content, all of those things led me to want to support the devs. After nearly $200, I am more that comfortable saying I have lent my financial support.
BUT-- I must admit that if price point were adjusted or the PvE bonus were applied, I would be very inclined to make a purchase.
And for the record:
YES, PvE bonuses would not shift the balance to P2W and would encourage me to buy
Don’t know, that’s why I asked.
Please include both… it just makes sense…
I would love for this to happen, please allow me to buy WHAT I WANT and don’t tell me I HAVE to purchase additional resources.
