I know this is kind of an alien concept, but you could actually just not play the game if all you're doing is farming to maintain the subscription.
Isn't that kind of like just playing solitaire because you're by yourself, and since you're by yourself you should play solitaire?
You gotta seperate the two. You pay a subscription to play the game. You pay extra for convenience. As a concept I can't find fault with that, but I know that purists will disagree. Contrary to other games the Itemshop is not pay-to-win. MB on the other hand might fall into that category, but let's not start another discussion about that
I've never spent neither credits nor real life money on GRACE - I farm credits to equip alts. I was merely commenting on the fact that a GRACE is relatively cheap from the perspective of having a full income and the fact that a pint of beer in town would cost me roughly the same amount of money where I live.
Avari 220/30/80 - Araghos 220/30/80 - Shishido 220/30/7x - Araninn 220/30/80
Originally Posted by Tergx
Not really, since I was on a rather long break from 2009ish. Doesn't really matter to me what the process was as long as it's not pay-to-win now. If there was a giant lobby effort to make it that way then kudos to you
I generally find the itemshop somewhat overpriced. If it was a bit cheaper I might utilise it once in a while (bazzit quest anyone? -.-), but as it stands I've mainly used some accumulated FC points from subscriptions to buy a bit of VP on alts.
Avari 220/30/80 - Araghos 220/30/80 - Shishido 220/30/7x - Araninn 220/30/80
Originally Posted by Tergx
Agreed, and it worked well for many years. However it is still 2016 and the subscription model just won't work for this particular game on the long term. Heck, I am amazed to find it still somewhat alive, but it is pretty much the same veterans keeping their favourite game alive. Even though the froob experience is fun and actually has been improved I am more and more convinced that complete F2P or Buy2Play (while retaining the froob "demo") is the way forward.
Both require courage to implement though, as either one you pick, you stop the more-or-less steady stream of cash coming from subs and pray that the new model will work. Assuming AO becomes F2P it will be reliant on microtransaction revenues. It requires a large playerbase. Maybe it is my optimism but I see a small chance of having an increase in the number of players if AO hits Steam with a F2P model (probably not gonna happen though).
The Buy2Play model seems to be more viable though and I think it will be able to attract some "oldies" back for one last cash shell-out. If it works then new content could be added using the TSW business model (ie. purchasable quests basically)
Both of these are risky, but I think still better then the slow but certain death of the sub model (yea yea people have been saying these for 6 years and AO is still not dead, but it didnt rise from the ashes either)
However I do not think that FC with its financial problems is going to do anything risky :/
Too bad because I have an aching to come back
Edit: here is the solution: make the game completely free and appeal to the Norwegian government to fund it's maintenance as being a cultural heritage
"The Company will continue to support the
current Live Games as long as they continue to
contribute positively to the Company’s results."
Thats reassuring
source: http://cdn.funcom.com/investor/2016/...Q16_Report.pdf
Edit: Based on the financial summary, FC performs a little worse than breaking even atm. Yeah I know it reports significant losses, but if you take out depreciation out of the picture the losses are not so scary, and there is an OKish cash position. Seems Conan Exiles will really have a large impact on the future outlook
Edit2: I digged around a little more (hey it's my profession after all!) trying to find cases of excessive executive compensation or anything showing classic examples of corp. greed. Didnt find anything. Fun fact: EA's CEO costs more than all the 102 people employed by Funcom in 2015 including the CEO + all the contractors. In fact just one injection of EA CEO's remuneration of 2015 would pull FC as a whole out of the financial muck
Edit3: ...and EA's executive compensation is moderate at best by big corp standards
Last time I was in Norway, Lillehammer in 2009, it was ±90NOK for a single & mix, so it doesn't surprise me that grace costs around the price of a beer these days...
220s "Wakizaka", "Sneakygank", "Wakimango", "Wakisolja", "Tardersauce", "Bushwaki", "Midgetgank", "Bugfixxx", "Ramsbottom", "Paskadoc"
200s Chrisd, Malema, Delbaeth
TL5s Youfail, Bugfixx, Riothamus, Johndee
Proud President of Haven | TL5 PvP
Some might say it is molten gold in a metaphorical sense
But yea, a pint in town is easily 8€ for the cheapest (which I'd never buy) and 10-13€ for something I'd actually enjoy drinking. Did I mention that in Norway a "pint" is often 0.4L instead of the more accurate ~0.5L?
Avari 220/30/80 - Araghos 220/30/80 - Shishido 220/30/7x - Araninn 220/30/80
Originally Posted by Tergx
13€ for 400ml? that's insanity! i grumble if i have to pay £5 for a real pint (591ml) in some fancy bar downtown london...
LoL I am happy as I can buy 8x500ml Carlsberg pack for around 4 euro in my local supermarket
That means 0.5 Euro for 500ml can...
Awikun 220/70/30 Ranged adv - my Main that I hardly ever log
Awisha 220/70/30 Shade - Can solo 95% of all bosses
Cratawi 200/70/30 Crat - S7/DR Solo farmer
Awiken 220/70/30 Eng - Pvm Eng
Nukiwa 200/70/30 NT - almost forgotten (awaiting retwink)
Awidoc 200/70/30 Doc - 200 fun pvp twink
Awix 200/70/30 Fix - 200 fun pvp twink
Awienf 220/70/30 Enf - tanked every single boss (and still lives)
Soldawi 220/70/30 Sol - Pvm Sold
Awima 150/xx/xx Ma - best S10 MA farmer
Doctorawi 220/70/30 - Pvm Doc
Awienfo 200/70/30 - Atrox with Pande red belt and 2xQL300 hammers
Macierewicz 220/70/30 - Pvm Crat
Zlakobieta 220/70/30 - max complit +top tradeskiller
A pint in in a pub or bar in the US is typically $5 for a decent beer-- prob $6-7 in NYC or any other place where the rent is higher . There's always lower end ones for $3 or $4. A six pack (12 oz/355ml) of the same beer in the supermarket is $8. Then there's the industrial might of our beer industry-- 30 pack of 12 oz cans $18. (from the weekly sale advert)
330ml of high quality belgian beer is around 5.5 GBP in a posh hotel restaurant in the UK. Still being robbed blind, but at least not as severe as before Brexit. Love them exchange rates. UK should exit Europe more often!
I brew my own beer. It ends up costing around 22 cents Australian for 500 mL.
Time for another batch I think.