Monthly Development Update – 31st July, 2013

[Freqflyerdnt]

I sold a couple of 1k packs for 375m recently.

Made 1.8b, but I would not use this method to buy AI armor(for a 220) I did buy an extra piece or two of 225 CM for my enfo.
This was for a variety of other things. Symbs and the like.

Going by how much I sold what for, (18k points for 1.8b) and apparently I'm 'nab' cause I sold too low. You can work it out. Something like what ? 80-100k Points for a set of CSS/CC
W/E.

Not important to me. 1b for 1k tokens is a bit silly anyway.

[Windguaerd]

Don't bother arguing about the game guys, not worth it anymore. Go play a different game for the next year, drag all your AO friends with you and wait for the engine to get here then give it another chance. Til then, pretty much everything else is a waste of good gaming time.

[Kakes]

Don't bother arguing about the game guys, not worth it anymore. Go play a different game for the next year, drag all your AO friends with you and wait for the engine to get here then give it another chance. Til then, pretty much everything else is a waste of good gaming time.

QFT Unfortunately.

[Rurounin]

Don't bother arguing about the game guys, not worth it anymore. Go play a different game for the next year, drag all your AO friends with you and wait for the engine to get here then give it another chance. Til then, pretty much everything else is a waste of good gaming time.

Some of us play for the game it is, not for the game it will be, I'm having about as much fun as I have had during all the time I have been playing, and I'm very happy to be one of few that can still enjoy it for what it is

[Snakebite]

We also had an issue with some armors showing way too much melons because of transparency issues. Hehe. (Sorry guys, I fixed it!)

WTB more mellons...

[Hardcore]

Don't bother arguing about the game guys, not worth it anymore. Go play a different game for the next year, drag all your AO friends with you and wait for the engine to get here then give it another chance. Til then, pretty much everything else is a waste of good gaming time.

Yeah, you go ahead and do that, meanwhile i'll play ao as i always have.
Take your negativity elsewhere.

[MachSchau]

So, we can pay to win eh? I've been thinking about this - Quick quiz.

1) If you were to sell an itemshop item for ingame creds, which one would give best creds for your funcom points? Breed change? Token packs?
And,
2) How much real life cash would actually be needed to get the billions of IG creds to deck out a 220 in AI armor symbs and possible LRs?

Fyi, its 30€ for 3600 FC points, the price of a 1K token pack.
The only pack i saw on GMI was 800M, though I dont know if that is realistic. Breed change looks to float around the 400M mark?

I know my RL bank balance can't afford that. I am genuinely curious for all this righteous indignation over the "P2W" of the itemshop, just how much actually goes on? And of course even if this hypothetical 'bought 220' existed, the large amount of euros/dollars is actually going to FC which would (hopefully) help prolong the life of the game we all play. Thoughts?

I will give you two modes of pay to win. The legit way, and the third party way.

The legit way is you use the FC store and use your currency to sell the items to players for in game credits and you use those credits to buy nodrop loot and leveling. Keep in mind with the examples I am giving you is that you are basically not playing the game, but having others play it for you and you just log on to loot/afk level.

Ok I would also like to state that when I did these calculations it was almost a year ago so I dont remember numbers exactly and didn't factor in a few different scenarios. If you bought the important items on the item shop (garden keys and whatever) and bought third party credits (at the time it was 1b for about 20 USD, now I think its about 13 USD for 1b) and bought levels all the way to 220, including research it would cost you about 1000-2000 USD (2000 towards the more extreme end I think), this does not include AI levels.

If you used strictly the item shop to generate yourself income and used the previous example, it would be a lot more, maybe 2000-3000 (since 1b would cost you more real life money than using a third party site).

I am not in game to run all the numbers and whatnot but if anyone is up for a math challenge feel free to run the scenario to get something more precise. Also, I think people still sell accounts and while I dont know the price for one I would imagine it would be cheaper to buy one of those that is partially complete than it would be to shell out all that money for a new toon.

[Psikie]

WOW what a thread. I am surprised this is an issue. I would have thought that as soon as nano cans were introduced this would have been the flamed. All things considered, the logic can not be denied about trader shop addition. Fixer grid, portable gmi/banks all fall into the same prof luxury that is now avaialble to all.

AO is not hard to figure out, every thing starts out exclusive then opens up to avg players.

Case in point, pande/apf raids, were on a timer and best org that made it to the end...that was it for the day. Now it's instanced and anyone can go.

Cities used to be limited to insanely rich and lucky to get a plot, then they became instanced and some folks had 3-4 i-cities.

Everything in AO over time gets easier or requires less effort. Call is P2P or power creep.

I mean seriously how annoyed were traders all the time being asked, hey can u sell this bag of monster parts for me?

[wonderland]

What is the projected shutdown date for Anarchy Online?

[Dysfunction]

I will give you two modes of pay to win. The legit way, and the third party way.

The legit way is you use the FC store and use your currency to sell the items to players for in game credits and you use those credits to buy nodrop loot and leveling. Keep in mind with the examples I am giving you is that you are basically not playing the game, but having others play it for you and you just log on to loot/afk level.

Ok I would also like to state that when I did these calculations it was almost a year ago so I dont remember numbers exactly and didn't factor in a few different scenarios. If you bought the important items on the item shop (garden keys and whatever) and bought third party credits (at the time it was 1b for about 20 USD, now I think its about 13 USD for 1b) and bought levels all the way to 220, including research it would cost you about 1000-2000 USD (2000 towards the more extreme end I think), this does not include AI levels.

If you used strictly the item shop to generate yourself income and used the previous example, it would be a lot more, maybe 2000-3000 (since 1b would cost you more real life money than using a third party site).

I am not in game to run all the numbers and whatnot but if anyone is up for a math challenge feel free to run the scenario to get something more precise. Also, I think people still sell accounts and while I dont know the price for one I would imagine it would be cheaper to buy one of those that is partially complete than it would be to shell out all that money for a new toon.

I did research as well after reading this, and it'll actually cost at MOST $400 for other means... its still way too much for this game imo

[Quilluck]

...because it already contains other profession specific items/nanos...

That slippery slope, it keeps on slipping.

[Gimpynoob]

My suggestions:

1-If you like the game the way it is and think that the item shop is fine then stop posting on the subject because you already have what you want and will have more of it in the future.

2-If you like the game the way it is but dont like the item shop then stop posting on the subject and go enjoy the game while you can until the amount of "ready-to-use" toons becomes to much for you.

3-If you dont like the game the way it is now and think the item shop should not exist because it is an easy access to things that should be available trough gameplay only then stop posting on the forums and go find another game. I'm sure it was good while it lasted but now it is GAME OVER!


The management strategy of this game is so clearly one of "milking vets" that I dont know what to say to all the fools* who keep whining.
Seriously! What makes anyone think that the game will ever be fixed and the current policy of keeping the game unplayable to push players into buying stuff with RL money from FC will ever be changed?

Edit: When I say"milking vets" I obviously meant forcing each and every player to use the item shop when they want to level or equip any toon. *Unfortunatly for FC the only vet playing the game is that one guy who plays the toon he has since pre-alfa and doesn't need anything from the shop. Don't know why FC 's developers even bother, silly FC developers.*

*Yeah, I know, I'm one too most of the time.

[Mastablasta]

The management strategy of this game is so clearly one of "milking vets" that I dont know what to say to all the fools* who keep whining.

Really? Wouldn't that require me to be spending vast amounts of money in that shop? I haven't bought anything in it but that discounted pack for points I had mostly through subscribing forever.

[Delfarce]

Really? Wouldn't that require me to be spending vast amounts of money in that shop? I haven't bought anything in it but that discounted pack for points I had mostly through subscribing forever.

considering the current prices in the calculations and using "forever" you have easily already committed over a thousand dollars us to funcom.

I'd go with vast amount there.

I used to be against pay to win, and I stopped playing for years after crappy policy changes but have realized that this game is still one of the best out there and if pay to win is what it needs then pay I shall.

funcom absolutely sucks that they can't decide if they want to commit to upgrading the graphics or balance and change the play of the characters or keep the same director or...

regardless it continues and I'm glad it does. it just completely sucks that each of these updates for the past 5 years have said the exact same thing.

[Mastablasta]

But over a 12 year period, it's not so bad. About the same as buying 2 games a year. Except, with AO I have total played time of like 1000 games.

[Armus]

@ The subscription price discussion.

Yes the sub price is very high. It does imo get reasonable if you factor in 1 year subs. However, for ppl with 3-4 accs, who are average joes like myself, it's just too damned much money to fork out to be able to get the lower sub price. So we end up paying monthly.

IMO it could/should work like this: After 3 months your sub is lowered to the 3 month level, after 6 months to that level and after a year to the lowest level. This would happen ONLY if you have no gaps in your sub (no, 1 day gaps due to credit card troubles wouldn't screw it up, but anything over a week would).

This would be a fair solution to veterans and it would be a very powerful incentive to keep players ig. If you are a new player you could still opt for the longer sub period and you'd buy yourself the lower price from the start ofc.

[Elithas]

@ The subscription price discussion.

Yes the sub price is very high. It does imo get reasonable if you factor in 1 year subs. However, for ppl with 3-4 accs, who are average joes like myself, it's just too damned much money to fork out to be able to get the lower sub price. So we end up paying monthly.

IMO it could/should work like this: After 3 months your sub is lowered to the 3 month level, after 6 months to that level and after a year to the lowest level. This would happen ONLY if you have no gaps in your sub (no, 1 day gaps due to credit card troubles wouldn't screw it up, but anything over a week would).

This would be a fair solution to veterans and it would be a very powerful incentive to keep players ig. If you are a new player you could still opt for the longer sub period and you'd buy yourself the lower price from the start ofc.

I don't see how this idea makes any sense from the business standpoint... but maybe bonus points could be given based off consecutive subscription length, something akin to a system everquest uses. I guess I'll say it before someone else does too... if I couldn't afford a longer sub for a discount, I might reconsider holding 3 or 4 accounts open... but of course it is your money, and you are going to do with it when and what you will.

[Armus]

I don't see how this idea makes any sense from the business standpoint... but maybe bonus points could be given based off consecutive subscription length, something akin to a system everquest uses. I guess I'll say it before someone else does too... if I couldn't afford a longer sub for a discount, I might reconsider holding 3 or 4 accounts open... but of course it is your money, and you are going to do with it when and what you will.

Maybe it's not always a question of can't afford, but more a question of.. holy crap, am I paying THAT much for ao? It becomes much more apparent if you have to pay for a year in advance.

The kicker for FC would ofcourse be that ppl might twink twice before they cancel, if they know that they will lose their low price, or have to pay for a year in advance to get it back.

[Windguaerd]

Some of us play for the game it is, not for the game it will be, I'm having about as much fun as I have had during all the time I have been playing, and I'm very happy to be one of few that can still enjoy it for what it is

Bless your gaming heart.

[Windguaerd]

Yeah, you go ahead and do that, meanwhile i'll play ao as i always have.
Take your negativity elsewhere.

I was one of the most public, strongest supporters of Funcom for over a decade, played since beta 2000. I've earned my right to my own opinion regarding the game, if you don't like what I said, close your eyes.