Comments on: In the F2P world of the future, we will all be consumed

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:30:05 +0000

If they keep battle records as accurate as is indicated in Tobold’s interview, I wonder if they would openly publish or address the stats on how many battles are won because of this gold ammo?

By: Pliffmaster

Pliffmaster — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:42:47 +0000

Not really, WoT has gold ammo which is the same thing as selling player power and in fact worse in that it is effectively player power ceiling unachievable by any other means. As there is no ingame economy because there is no such thing as trading among players, it is exclusiv to cash users and those lucky few who fight successfully in clan wars. Considering the fact that it is unfeasible to play with anything higher than tier8 without premium in the long run, premium could also be considered selling power as advancement beyond a certain stage is next to impossible without it. The tier8 heavies are also a power for cash thing as the tier8 grind is otherwise a fairly lengthy endeavor. So WoT sells player power on three levels: Gold Ammo, Tier8 Heavy Tanks, Sustainability of Tier8+ vehicles. Interestingly at least the former two give rise to the most complaints with the players.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:47:42 +0000

“the Russians quietly conquered the best part of nullsec”

So, they were smart conquerors. Well done, guys. Gotta pick the right fights.

By: Samus

Samus — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:41:21 +0000

“none of the offending content has been removed and monocle sales are up to 184. A few extra items have been added to the cash shop including cheaper eyewear. A lot of bitter vets threatened to quit and a handful may have actually quit.”

I think you are somewhat missing the point. The price point of the monocle isn’t wrong morally, it’s wrong financially.

184 sales? How much does that bring them in on a larger scale? How much revenue did they lose over scaring off some of their veterans?

I am hesitant to believe CCP came out ahead on this. How much more would they have made if the monocle was 1/10th the price, and 10+ times as many people bought it, and no one quit over it?

By: Jonathon Barton

Jonathon Barton — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:09:35 +0000

Sped up slightly – not enough to be a backup singer for Alvin and the Chipmunks, but some…

By: Stabs

Stabs — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:01:52 +0000

Oddly I think CCP may have won the Monocle War after all. Now that the player base has been “listened” to whatever that means no one is rioting or even unhappy, none of the offending content has been removed and monocle sales are up to 184. A few extra items have been added to the cash shop including cheaper eyewear. A lot of bitter vets threatened to quit and a handful may have actually quit. And while the Americans were rioting, rage quitting and refusing to log in the Russians quietly conquered the best part of nullsec.

CCP has localised in Japan and signed a deal with Nexon to promote them there. I suspect that will have a far bigger impact on player numbers. We already have a couple of Japanese corps in our alliance.

By: spinks

spinks — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:37:43 +0000

I’m with you, and I wish more video bloggers would put up transcripts for readers who can’t or don’t want to watch the video.

By: Petra

Petra — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 11:30:32 +0000

I don’t do podcasts or videoblogs – I don’t have the time for them.

Blogs, Twitter, forums etc – I can easily catch up on them from my phone on the train to work or in the office while wolfing down my lunch at my desk. If I’m in front of the computer once I am home I will be either playing a game or doing something else that requires concentration.

Also, I prefer text as a medium. It allows me to quickly go back over something if I wanted to pull out a piece of information or double-checking something for a reply I’m doing.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:30:13 +0000

World of Tanks gets this just right, I think. Up to about tier 5 tanks, you can get by quite easily without paying anything, but after that the grind is such that paying makes things significantly quicker. At about tier 8, you almost HAVE to pay in order to not lose credits each round. The trick is, by that time you’re much more invested into the game, so you’re more likely to want to pay anyway.

WoT does allow you to pay for better ammo, which theoretically gets you a small advantage in battle. However, it’s priced such that it’s really a huge waste of money, as the actual difference it makes is fairly minimal – when you miss 50% of your shots, you’re basically throwing money away.