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I hope EA does NOT take a page from BigPoint Games!
Mondain38
Posts: 235 Member
To find out what I mean, just go to www.drakensang.com and sign up for a free account to try it out. You will find that, although "Drakensang Online" is, indeed, free-to-play, it's VERY MUCH "pay-to-win"! This is because nearly EVERYTHING in that game costs Andermant-- which, although they can be dropped by monsters and rewarded for quest completion, the easiest way to get a lot of Andermant is by buying some with real money! And, there's an all-too-good reason for wanting lots of Andermant: it's because the following items can be purchased with Andermant ONLY:
1. Crystals of Truth -- Needed to identify items. Even better: the more powerful an unidentified item is, the more Crystals of Truth are needed to identify it! >:(
2. Health Potions -- Yes, VERY unfortunately, even HEALTH POTIONS require Andermant to purchase! They CAN'T be purchased with in-game coins!
3. Glyphs of Power -- needed to upgrade your character's equipment to keep up with his/her experience level. Although magic items can be melted down into GoP, the most practical way to get lots of GoP is by buying them with Andermant (and thence: with real money).
4. Tyrmon's Seal Fragments -- needed to unlock sealed dungeons. Yes, that's right: several of "Drakensang Online's" dungeons are SEALED; and the only way to unseal them is with Tyrmon's Seal Fragments. Each Tyrmon's Seal Fragment costs 400 Andermant, and can be used only ONCE. Also, after you exit the dungeon, it's re-sealed so that you have to use ANOTHER Tyrmon's Seal Fragment to reenter that dungeon.
And I'm not even talking about the usual micropayments for such "game enhancers" as Elixirs of Experience or Elixirs of Luck (which increase the rate of magic item find).
I'm afraid that if EA takes a page from BigPoint Games, then each copy of "The Sims 4" that we buy from a store would come only with the BARE-BONES basic things! Of course, this would mean that EA would take a 180 in terms of TS4 being OFFLINE only. This is because TS4 would need to always be ONLINE to let players buy SimPoints (the premium "The Sims" currency) with real money. Also, items that cost SimPoints could be accessed only if TS4 is connected to the Internet. Now, then, I theorize that if EA gets ideas from BigPoint Games, then the following items will cost SimPoints instead of Simoleons:
1. The VAST majority of foods because ALL food ingredients would have to be purchased with SimPoints! Want to get around this by fishing and gardening? Forget it. This is because all fish baits and all food crop seeds would cost us SimPoints to buy, too. Oh and we also wouldn't be able to simply re-plant what we harvest (as we can in TS3). Instead, you have to buy new seeds for SimPoints EVERY TIME you want to plant a new crop. So, what would be the one type of meal that does NOT cost the player any SimPoints? Quick Meals, that's what. The problem with Quick Meals is that they don't provide Sims with food-related Moodlets.
2. Most clothes would have to be purchased with SimPoints, too.
3. Ditto for ALL hairstyles, save for TWO: one for males, and one for females.
4. Whenever you want to add a story to your Sims' house, you would have to pay SimPoints for that.
5. At least half of all traits would be PREMIUM traits, which means that to use them, you would have to spend SimPoints to buy them.
6. Want to send your Sim children to private school? Great. Oh yeah, you have to pay for that with SimPoints.
7. Career Track levels 6-10 would be PREMIUM levels. Yes, this means that, in order for any Sim to reach a job level higher than Level 5, you'd have to pay SimPoints. And, you have to pay SimPoints for EACH beyond-level-5 job rank for EACH Sim.
1. Crystals of Truth -- Needed to identify items. Even better: the more powerful an unidentified item is, the more Crystals of Truth are needed to identify it! >:(
2. Health Potions -- Yes, VERY unfortunately, even HEALTH POTIONS require Andermant to purchase! They CAN'T be purchased with in-game coins!
3. Glyphs of Power -- needed to upgrade your character's equipment to keep up with his/her experience level. Although magic items can be melted down into GoP, the most practical way to get lots of GoP is by buying them with Andermant (and thence: with real money).
4. Tyrmon's Seal Fragments -- needed to unlock sealed dungeons. Yes, that's right: several of "Drakensang Online's" dungeons are SEALED; and the only way to unseal them is with Tyrmon's Seal Fragments. Each Tyrmon's Seal Fragment costs 400 Andermant, and can be used only ONCE. Also, after you exit the dungeon, it's re-sealed so that you have to use ANOTHER Tyrmon's Seal Fragment to reenter that dungeon.
And I'm not even talking about the usual micropayments for such "game enhancers" as Elixirs of Experience or Elixirs of Luck (which increase the rate of magic item find).
I'm afraid that if EA takes a page from BigPoint Games, then each copy of "The Sims 4" that we buy from a store would come only with the BARE-BONES basic things! Of course, this would mean that EA would take a 180 in terms of TS4 being OFFLINE only. This is because TS4 would need to always be ONLINE to let players buy SimPoints (the premium "The Sims" currency) with real money. Also, items that cost SimPoints could be accessed only if TS4 is connected to the Internet. Now, then, I theorize that if EA gets ideas from BigPoint Games, then the following items will cost SimPoints instead of Simoleons:
1. The VAST majority of foods because ALL food ingredients would have to be purchased with SimPoints! Want to get around this by fishing and gardening? Forget it. This is because all fish baits and all food crop seeds would cost us SimPoints to buy, too. Oh and we also wouldn't be able to simply re-plant what we harvest (as we can in TS3). Instead, you have to buy new seeds for SimPoints EVERY TIME you want to plant a new crop. So, what would be the one type of meal that does NOT cost the player any SimPoints? Quick Meals, that's what. The problem with Quick Meals is that they don't provide Sims with food-related Moodlets.
2. Most clothes would have to be purchased with SimPoints, too.
3. Ditto for ALL hairstyles, save for TWO: one for males, and one for females.
4. Whenever you want to add a story to your Sims' house, you would have to pay SimPoints for that.
5. At least half of all traits would be PREMIUM traits, which means that to use them, you would have to spend SimPoints to buy them.
6. Want to send your Sim children to private school? Great. Oh yeah, you have to pay for that with SimPoints.
7. Career Track levels 6-10 would be PREMIUM levels. Yes, this means that, in order for any Sim to reach a job level higher than Level 5, you'd have to pay SimPoints. And, you have to pay SimPoints for EACH beyond-level-5 job rank for EACH Sim.
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Comments
That would be horrible! If I had to pay real money for career advancement, food and hairstlyes, for pixilated characters I'd just stop playing.
I do know from an interview awhile back where it was announced plants will now drop seeds that can be reharvested.
If that should turn out to be the case,the solution will be simple: I would not buy such a game although some will and that is their choice.
If the Exchange is in the game and not on a website, and or if a 'store' isn't on a website but in the game this time, I think we will wind up having to buy a lot of content as microtransactions this time around and maybe not even get EPs and or premium features unless we spend a lot more money per piece.
Want to have an open venue? buy a community lot from the ingame store to be able to unlock one in your world....type of thing.
Just saying.
Or want to 'unlock' new interactions, new venues, new community lots in your world..or even be able to build one...buy something from the ingame store or 'earn' the reward to 'unlock'.
I think it could be very much a very well mananged microtransaction game more so than we ever dreamed TS3 is.
People have been saying this for a loooong time. Since EA opened the store in TS2 and was going to add ads to the game.... We all saw it coming~ The Store in game.
I've always been sad and depressed about that.
I'm trying to wait unit we hear more about the game, but if there is even a chance the game will turn out like this, I just don't see myself buying it
The auction house was, IIRC, confirmed to be another piece of misinformation by a magazine article.
Pretty much, the gaming magazines have been responding to a lack of information with blatant lies to keep readers interested. So they've gone the way of the evening news.
However, I do remember them saying something about an in-game platform for downloading items...
number 1. You mention Pay to Win.. How do you "win" the sims, its an open sandbox with no end.
number 2. How does someone buying items for their OFFLINE game effect your play?
I can understand how P2W can effect MMO's and other online games because everyone is playing together reaching a common goal.
The sims is an offline experience with no end goal, people can buy items from the store that has no effect on your game.. so I'm sorry but this thread is irrelevant to the sims.
btw, the sims freeplay has a system of paying real money to progress faster in the game. because its a FREE game thats how they make their money.
But my point still stands.. You can not "win" the sims so people silly enough to pay for it can not and will not effect your game.
I hear you and share the same concern as I am sure do others. I've noticed that EA was putting less in the EPs and SPs than they used to and then selling what should have been included in the store although that seems to have improved a little with Maxis back in the game.
Back in my sims2 days people would point out to me how expensive the eps were, and I would aptly reply that the sims was actually a very inexpensive hobby because once I bought the packs I was done. And, I'd play alot, maybe too much. (they probably should pointed out that I was wasting my time instead) But, with s3 they have a point, because I spent way too much in the store, $560 to be exact, I bought my last round of simpoints yesterday and they are to have to last me for 16 months. I can't feed my addiction anymore. 8)
But, I've decided that with s4 it's got to be different. Maybe if I wait a few years I can get the store stuff when its on sale, or something.
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Consider this scenario: let's say you find a hime cut (a popular women's hairstyle in Japan) and you want to put this on eight of your female Sims. And, let's say that the hime cut costs 75 SimPoints. In the scenario, you would have to pay a total of 600 SimPoints! This is because you would have to buy EACH hime cut SEPARATELY (75 X 8 = 600)! This also would mean that, if you want to get a premium dining table with four matching premium chairs, and the table costs 300 SimPoints and each chair costs 100 SimPoints, then you would be looking at paying 700 SimPoints: 1 table (300 SimPoints) and 4 chairs (400 SimPoints) = 700 SimPoints. I don't know about you all, but *I* would NOT want to see a SimStore in which the purchase of a SimStore item entitles you to but ONE instance of that item!
EA has, indeed, done this sort of thing with "The Sims Social"; BUT this was PERFECTLY understandable in that game, because it was "free-to-play", unlike the upcoming "The Sims 4". For a game that we have to actually BUY (so there's an upfront cost), this kind of nickel-and-dimeing would be an UNFAIR business practice!
This would be akin to a pay-as-you-go amusement park with an UNFAIR twist: each guest gets fleeced for $40 or more at the gate as he or she enters. And then, the guests STILL must buy ride tickets to get on any of the rides! Normally, you would encounter double-digit gate admission prices only at those amusement parks that have the "Pay-One-Price" business model (in which each guest gets charged admission at the gate, but then he or she can ride as many rides as many times as he or she wants). That is akin to what single-player PC games have traditionally been like: pay one price at the store, and ALL of the game's contents would come with that price. At a typical pay-as-you-go amusement park, the gate admission is typically either VERY low (such as $1) or free. I am NOT going to pay full price for a "The Sims 4" game that includes only the bare-bone basics and then charges real money for ALL the fillers and even what should be BASIC features (such as the ability to build multiple floors in a building)!
If "The Sims 4" DOES turn out to be like this (I sure HOPE it doesn't!), then it will be the PC equivalent of "Final Fantasy: All the Bravest"! That particular game, which is for the iOS (which is the operating system in iPhones and iPads), is not even free-to-play (it costs $4 to buy). Yet, it BEHAVES like a free-to-play app by nickel-and-dimeing its players with LOTS of premium items (you even have to pay for extra lives in that game!).
Agree, Athena. Just because I plan to buy TS4 base game, does not mean I will continue on with the series or be piece-mealed to death again, if that is the plan of EA (and I'm almost positive it is). I will wait to see where the series goes and, perhaps way down the road, I may then (or not) add stuff but ONLY if on sale. Gotta stop feeding the monster!