No one wants to play a fantasy game that reminds them they're broke.

People play fantasy games to escape reality. Who wants to play a game that reminds them they're broke? No one. That's who.

At the point we launch and after anything in the store, including and especially deeds, should be obtainable with (massive amounts of) in-game gold (IGG} AND the cash shop.

It's the only way new players will stick around. There will be plenty of people that will still pay real life money for these things. Trust me.

Funding is necessary, of course. But who wants to play a funded, empty game? At some point the Devs and the Founders will need to accept that the founding and pre-launch cash was there to get the game published and launched. They have their head start, a thousand-fold. Let's release the content to the players to game for it at launch.

I really hope the dev team starts to concentrate on the player base out there and not just those with a lot of spare cash to throw into virtual goods before release.

The bottom line is, if we want a highly populated (eg. residents to fill all those inns people spend the big bucks on) you have to make the game attractive to the average gamer. High-dollar "end game" stuff isn't going to cut it. It needs to be actual end-game stuff...for playing the game. I daresay it will actually prove a boon to the economy.

We also need to remove ALL items sold for real money that at all effect gathering/crafting and combat. All of them.

If what I suggest does actually come to pass, on release day all accounts should have their gold zeroed out. Nothing else, just their gold.

And no, people selling their cash-bought stuff for IGG is not the same. The system in place will ALWAYS favor the RL wealthy person. That must change for the future longevity of this game.

This would also negate half of the negative press and reviews out there already, easily, and people would be forced to reevaluate their opinions.

 

As I posted in the other thread, I think we should be able to buy gold COTOs in-game for 3500 gc (the value they hold for lot tax purposes). Also, all items in the add-on store (except for charity items) should be available from COTO merchants in-game.

 

I'll sell you ALL the Gold COTOS you want for 3500 gp.

Laz

 

Hey sorry to make you repeat yourself. I felt SO strongly about this I made it it's own thread. This needs to be talked about. And yes, if COTOs are a thing in the released game, yes they should also be able to be purchased with IGG.

Really, however, my proposal negates the need for COTOs at all.

 

Well, I personally don't need any COTOs, It was just a general idea going forward. I know that people would still buy COTOs from other players if they're cheaper but having them officially available for in-game gold would help to eliminate that RMT stigma.

 

I think being reminded that I'm broke actually makes me work harder to get all the items I want in game which while time consuming is completely possible. The system is fine how it is and drives a very robust player marketplace. This is better as it allows the players that actually play to reap the benefits of their time and investments rather than removing the possibility by removing the trading. I would think that we want players to play this game under the same rules we started with rather then changing them to grab players that wouldn't put in the time otherwise.

 

No one said the possibility of trading would go away OR the ability to still purchase store items with real money. Sorry, but the reality is a lot of people can't "just work harder" for virtual goods.

 

I agree with the OP. But at the same time, the median age for SOTA is 40. I am guessing that there are not a whole lot of that nitch with equipment good enough to play this game that cannot afford a little bit of the wasteful spending. In fact, I am betting some enjoy the opportunity to do it. We are all equal and as long as we can find a way to feel equal, all is good.

 

It is not the duty of a for-profit company to adjust the rules due to your personal problems with lack of game time or funds. While you say the trading would not go away the value of the goods does which in turn would make trading less profitable and lower it's likelihood of continuing.

 

Yes, the demographic here is older, comparatively to the PC gamer market in general however there are millions and millions of people playing video games with high graphics requirements on Steam.

 

Did you just say that someone who can't afford a bunch of virtual items has a personal problem? Really?

 

In UO, the thing that kept me playing for the first 4 months was saving up for a house, then saving for a tower took what seems like years, but then a 16x16 etc. Jealousy of the 16 castles on my shard was pretty crucial to my interest in the game economy so I don't think the disparity is totally a bad thing...

But the markets are totally different.

in UO, the gold market was the only serious way to transact real estate or rares, and you needed it for a constant supply of gear.

With SoTA there are 2 extremely easy Real Money Transaction methods of buying and selling: the add-on store, and the forums.

Trading property for gold, on the other hand, is not even supported by the game client. The market is divided into 125 markets. The gold economy is so constrained by all kinds of economic philosophy mechanics, which are cool and whatnot, but make RMT hecka low friction by comparison. Gold will always be a minority market as long as the RMT market is so convenient.

The fix could be cutting off the RMT market. Or the fix could be integrating RMT more integrally in the game but with a tax, and try to get trade volume back into the game and more fluid on gold markets than RMT markets. But the best fix in my opinion, would be abandoning some of the arbitrary economic constraints; anything that restores the gold market as the primary market. A global auction house with the right parameters would do it.

Gold can also be seen as a measure of the value of putting effort into a game.

 

Most certainly. It means they are valuing something else over the virtual goods. They are either valuing the time it takes in game to make the gold to buy them or they are valuing some real life purchase more then an in game purchase with their money.

 

Ok but that doesn't take away the fact that the game highly favors wealthy players.

 

considering nothing in the end game requires High dollar, there is no P2W here.

NOTHING in the store actually give any advantage to real game play - NOTHING. (+5 crafting - joke / wait anyone can use 95% of the tables LMAO)

All your idea does is mean those that can walk thru all content at will have it even easier to corner whatever economy is ever created, if ever there is one.

 

While I like some of your ideas, a global auction house is really not fitting in the society created here. People want to have their vendors, as do I. It's an immersion and social thing and a foundation (one of many things) of being a "spiritual successor to UO." I, for one, would be very, very sad to see auction houses go in.

 

I know several players with vast estates that didn't spend any money buying them. They simply worked in game to get the gold to buy them. The game allows players with money to buy the items that like weins201 stated eloquently have nothing to do with the end game but they can also be worked for.

 

That depends on how you define "game-play." Owning property in this game is considered part of "winning" for most. It just doesn't feel that way because people can just buy it with real money. It's easily the most desirable thing to own and clearly something that should be gamed for. This is a video game, for those that may have forgotten.

 

Oh are you talking about when the Devs were giving away like 60-80 deeds a raffle to a tiny playerbase?

 

Brit West Bank was an auction house. It captured most of the market volume.