Zeylon Rho
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Test Alliance Please Ignore
3650
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Posted - 2014.02.28 21:16:00 -
[1] - Quote
I was thinking about this earlier, because the only real draw in spending AUR for me in the past was BPOs. I don't really think the economic implications of STD/MLT gear are that big, but the appeal for me was mostly in snagging a unique look that you'd always have. It's harder to justify paying money for a cosmetic item that will a) go away forever when you die or b) may lose its original cosmetic appearance.
At any rate, assuming I'm not alone at feeling vastly less interested in procuring more ephemeral sorts of items (to say nothing of some lingering issues with some BPOs), one has to ask what one WOULD feel inclined to pay for. After all, it's a F2P game and sales of "some" kind need to drive it. People that were previously willing to pay for something like the Vet/Elite packs are presumably seeing less of interest now in that respect, and that's not the sort of revenue stream whose loss is good for Dust in the long-term. Ideas get kicked around in the forum sometimes, and I thought I'd mention them,
APPEALING:
Nova Knife's thread about AUR-based exchange of one BPO for another more racially appropriate one.
--this presents a great opportunity to correct what was one of the largest issues with the BPOs that were released... their slant towards the pre-release race/role combos. Not everyone is into Caldari Assault or Gallente Scout. With the upcoming suit release, this present an even greater range of possiblities for people to have suits that reflect their play-style.
Race change/Avatar Change/Starter BPO change/Citizenship Change
--These are interrelated and recurring requests. Many of us (including myself) made race decisions back when we were explicitly told it didn't matter (impacted nothing, not even forum avatars, "starter" BPO was determined by earlier class choice, etc.), or without knowing anything about the empires. Later all of this changed drastically and we lost the fit we had for our chosen "class" and received starter fits and avatars for the race we'd picked long ago.
For both RP reasons, actually being aware of the differences, and minor preferences - there's a lot of us that would like to "switch" races in some way - even if it's a one-time thing. I don't know if you'd want to limit this to people that chose before it mattered, but it's something people care about. There's several elements here though. Changing what "race" we are in the game files is one thing, and it some ways the bit on the character sheet is possibly the least important. Race also impacts: living quarters, starter fits, and Avatar. There was also a proposal for FW to enable "citizenship changes" which presumably could do all or none of these things, and could be free or cost AUR.
Point basically being is that there's a market for this sort of thing which wouldn't be detrimental to balance.
Living Quarter Upgrades
--This gets kicked around occasionally. People would like to be able to bling out their quarters. Depending on who you talk to, it seems like they want paint jobs, pets, stripper poles, interactive devices, larger living spaces. I'd hope this wouldn't be "all" AUR honestly, it seems like having AUR upgrade size and then having ISK upgrades sections, fixtures, decorations, etc. or vice-versa would be a on the level of the sort of balance you'd want to try to strike with stuff like that. On a related note is the idea of station-changing in general, which considering it just means traveling elsewhere in the EVE universe, probably should not be an AUR transaction.
NOT APPEALING:
Cosmetic expendable items.
--Experience has made me wary here. Take the Burnscar, whose only purpose was as a cosmetic AUR weapon (You still need PRO-level skill to equip it, and it didn't have improved fitting). It was supposedly defined by a Ruby-Gold appearance. As you can see in those screenshots, it no longer has that. So, a limited, expendable, item only useful for cosmetics... no longer cosmetic.
These are just a few opinions, obviously. There was a similar thread about this in General earlier this month. I avoided some of the more controversial ones (and all respec discussion is supposedly locked in that one thread anyhow), but I'm curious what else people would feel ok paying for. I can get that "game is broken, don't give them money, arghhh" sentiment (check my sign for some of my own frustrations), but as a practical matter a F2P game needs a revenue stream. How would you prefer for CCP to be taking your money, in theory?
Dren and Templar equipment stats, wrong since release.
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