pure instagib
1
   |
Posted - 2012.12.18 22:47:00 -
[1] - Quote
Nova Knife wrote:If they were to do what you suggest, every aurum item would likely get hiked up a bit in price if they were to ditch the concept of the UVT.
There are millions of games advertised as "free to play" but are actually not. Look at the people who already complained about some of the AUR items as a knee-jerk reaction. If the first thing new players find is that they need to pay to talk, they'll probably think, "free my ass" and peace out.
I read the devs comments you posted, and they are in a difficult situation if the voice chat becomes a large expense, and it sounds like it will. Accounting-wise, if the devs make a slight increase to AUR items, or slight decrease in how much AUR is sold per purchase, it probably won't matter for most players. If you're spending 7k AUR on speakers, but you no longer need to buy them, it shouldn't matter if the amount paid for AUR items increases by 7k! That being said, I have no idea about marketing for this and how people will react. If people feel like they are getting a better deal for something, they'll be more likely to buy it. (There's so much research on this, it's really interesting, but I won't post it here ;) The tendencies people have to make or justify making certain decisions is rather interesting).
If the devs are unable to provide voice chat for free in corps by increasing the price of other AUR items, and intend to make them readily available for ISK on the market, my suggestion is that they give starting players a free one month UVT. Definitely nothing shorter. This will allow players to try the game. If they don't like it, they will probably use voice chat a little, or not at all. If people have been playing for a month and like the game, they'll probably be more willing to pay a small amount to continue using voice chat.
Again, with the current system, forcing a new player to pay for a core feature of the game so early is going to make them think it's not free to play. I can't speak for everyone, but I feel like current beta testers would be happier if (for right now) they could purchase UVTs for ISK over the marketplace, or allow players to trade items, so one player can give another some speakers. |