Portalarium Currency Sales (Please Read) -- (Dev) Replied

A Prize horse may bring you lots of money and riches in the long run, but when it comes to being friends you will be shunned because you have paid to win.

 

I am not sure I see the downside, if I pay to win I still win. Having non-paying RPers cast their soft rocks in my direction, is far far from a deterrent.

 

I remembered a great resource for resolving any confusion about what has been promised. This website forsakenvirtues.com has everything ever said about this game and it is well formatted. Go forsakenvirtues.com if you're confused about any of this stuff.


forsakenvirtues.com

 

@Isaiah*MGT470*

This is a viable concept, it doesn't inflate the economy, it allows players to make medium sized transactions(not micro trans) to buy expansion content with in game currency...

It is actually anti pay to win, basically everyone here that donated past 400$ has pretty much "payed" to win since past that you start getting monumental advantages. This system actually helps the new players "catch up" especially if they keep this post Kickstarter tier system...

Every "British Bar" you buy can go towards upgrading your tiers, you can buy them with 15 USD or with in game currency.

 

I just hope Lord British accepts user comments but doesn't deviate too far from the game "we pledged" for durring kickstarter. That's the game we want.

Here's a good reference point because this is what was promised that brought in the $2Mil durring kickstarter and I hope Lord British isn't swayed far from it.

http://forsakenvirtues.com/

 

@Isaiah*MGT470*

Quote from that website:
?Micro-transactions? have been touched upon by the team. They say that they are NOT planning on nickel-and-diming people with small transactions, and they are not planning on ?selling power.? RG has been emphatic on this. However, if they create complicated new content such as a new skill ?Alchemy?, they may release this at a charge since it requires considerable developer time to create."

(source: http://forsakenvirtues.com/category/features/game-information/ )

The system I proposed is not .5 cents or .10 cents it is 15 dollars this sits exactly within RG's explanation of the system.

So this is exactly what you backed the game for.

 

Hey Isaiah, why leave chat right before I psuedo-quote B?

Sir_Mishri
B said, the size of lots: something we discussed back and forth and ive done protyping this week and based on the houses we need to build and size it seems like based on the scope of the different houses we are going to have different lot sizes
[10:53] Sir_Mishri
it is going to be determined by the deed, but we can't fit a castle in the same footprint of the house
[10:54] Juvez
he is gone
[10:54] Sir_Mishri
the lot needs some extra free space, not just totally fill up, we might have some options where you can fill it up, but we are prototyping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEUMEHQKPM8

That video, 26:49 mark is where i paraphrased him.. this was posted april 25... if you have newer information let me know.. this is just a little over 2 weeks old. otherwise I stand by my statement that foresakenvirtues.com is not complete or up to date.

 

I haven't had time to read this thread but just saw the last message - Mishri, are you suggesting that my site does not have the information about castles possibly needing a larger lot size? My FAQ was indeed amended after that chat to include that information.

"NOTE: A later chat indicated that deeds that include keeps and castles may in fact need to be on larger lots"

If I'm taking this out of context, nevermind.

 

It sounds like you think other things are wrong/missing from the site, so it would benefit the community if you contribute or contact me to let me know. "Standing by your statement" that my site is incomplete without letting me know what would make it better doesn't really benefit the community, and that is the sole reason I spend my time working on it. I am happy to hear suggestions as I have a real world and family to tend to and can not lurk around the forums hours a day.

 

the quote says, they will have different lot sizes, no longer same size lots. you can watch it and skip to that exact mark and listen to it.

To me it means, that we will have different lot sizes in different spaces, not just castles, that was just an obvious example. You can ask clarification if you want but at this time this statement from your website doesn't appear accurate.

"They are planning for lot sizes to be the same throughout all villages, towns and cities ? only the structure on the lot will vary in size and grandeur. (NOTE: A later chat indicated that deeds that include keeps and castles may in fact need to be on larger lots ? waiting for confirmation on this.)"


So again, this comes down to interpreting what people mean when they say things. We just have different views on it I guess.


Your website is an excellent resource, but my point is that the developers are a better source for accurate information because no matter what we put up there will be our own personal bias based on how we interpret their dialogue.

 

Fair enough... I still think B was saying that it is currently a concern for the larger buildings and doesn't necessarily mean that village lots will differ from town lots, etc. They seemed pretty set on the same lot size idea until they realized they probably can't squeeze a castle into the same lot that would hold a 1 room hut. :3 I'll always encourage people to listen to the source over my summaries, though.

 

I was under the assumption that Castles would have their own island, and not be subjected to the city/town/village plot size. I also happen to think that Dame Lori's interpretation of what Portalarium says is spot on and quite accurate. It is possibly the best and has more information available than I have seen anywhere else, besides the plethora of accessible videos. Thank you Dame Lori, for all your hard work.

Getting back to the topic on hand here,

The image of any monetary system other than that of market trade, player trade, and npc trade will ruin this game. In the case that the system of pay-to-win does make its way into the game, a whole lot of individuals would be infuriated. Could we get an official response on this model? I believe we were told that microtransactions will take the form of major transactions more-so than micro. For instance: buying a new land, or feature, with real cash, not leaving amounts of British Bux to spend on what-have-you. I am very passionate in the view of no microtransactions, but functional aspects that do not blend into the gameplay itself that need to be purchased before play is fine by me.

The main topic describes a model that is comparable to most F2P models, especially in regards to money hungry EA and their microtransacting capers.

FireLotus, is there going to be any kind of microtransactions in-game? and if so, what will they be concerning as far as features? At the very least, what do you think about the whole "purchase this in-game money with real money" idea?

 

What? you guys are completely unwilling to go back and listen to it? I even gave you the link and the exact time to start it.

B says, and I quote, "based on the houses we have to build and sizes and how they fit in town, based on the scope of different houses we are going to have to have different size lots, it is going to depend on the deed, the property deed"
then he gives the obvious example to make a point. the castle wont fit in the same footprint of a house. moving forward once we start building the concept house we'll figure out what are the proper spaces that fit along each of the deeds and what is the biggest we can have each one of these. along with the house we have crafting things as well so we can't totally fill it up.
We're going to have to fit these castles and these things in these plots so yes they are going to have to be different sizes.

I don't see how that can possibly mean all lot sizes will be the same, even in village/town/city lots. It didn't say only for castles any point. he said they would have to be different.

 

@DavenRock-MGT470

Hey man FireLotus is busy, and she is not one of the developers, she is the community manager.

I do not think it is appropriate to ask/demand specifics like that, if you are interested in specifics go comb through all the information that has been released by the developers if she was allowed to answer the question - it has probably already been released somewhere on the world wide web.

She is already busy as it is, and she is probably on a NDA unless the developers tell her to relay something to the community.

@ Other Things.

This thread has become slightly derailed lets try to get back on the thread topic!

@Summary of the Topic so Far!

This is how the system works for everyone skipping to page 4!

Basically at this point there is no NPC that will redeem the ?British Bars? into ?British Bucks? to do this you have to use the escrow system built into the game lets call it a ?market? to sell your ?British Bar? which is worth 15 USD but worth absolutely nothing in game, to ?British Bucks? which is worth absolutely nothing in the real world, but it is worth money in game.

This is 100% inflation proof no money is being created, it is just a commodity that is being traded from one player to another.

Player A wants a 15 USD expansion and has loads of in game money that he earned just like everyone else.
Player B has USD and wants in game money to buy things with.

We help both these players! Without inflating anything, it is basically just leveraging players willing to spend money.

There are NO downsides that would negatively effect someone that is not using this system.

There is 1 main downside for someone that is using this system, that would be at launch there will be little to no value to a ?British Bar? since nothing will be available to buy with it most likely. However, over time with more expansion content and goods to buy with real money it will slowly grow in perceived value, this offers an excellent time for traders to take advantage of this opportunity and all the arbitrage ( buy low, sell high) possibilities with this system. I believe this will make it so the ?British Bar? currency is always worth some in game ?British Buck? currency.

 

Firelotus was knighted during the 24 HR KS campaign, she is now known as Developer Firelotus

 

@Monkus : What exactly are the "British Bars" for? (other than expansions)

I used cosmetics as an example but you said not for stuff like that.

 

The main problem is assuming that gold is the "currency of advancement". You can easily break this whole cycle by making gold pretty much useless to a character. I really hope the LB is not planning another WOW clone where you can basically face roll across the keyboard to see your e-peen grow or just pay money to jump ahead to the end (which I never understood). The enjoyment should be the path forward not the end goal with a new star over your head.

In essence this is a self solving problem... If they design a game where gold farmers can make money selling gold to people then the game is already an epic fail and would not be worth playing anyways, since you would just be playing another WOW clone.

 

@onore : UO had gold farmers, no?

Listen, its unlikely you will stop people from selling in game currency for USD.

Best work around:

Make certain gear/items/loot only obtainable via in game mechanics. (Can't trade or sell them) Bind on Acquire items, etc.

Try to keep costs of things (NPC releated) low enough so a casual player doesn't have to purchase gold with $$$.

Have a great crafting system in place. If the players have more control over the creation of items, there is a better chance prices will remain at acceptable levels.

 

The other key component : Decrease the amount of gold coming into the game.

* Realistic loot drops (Wolves drop pelts , rats nothing, etc) - Not everything will drop gold, but resources and salvageable items.

* Do not allow large amounts of gold to drop in general (Avoid the camping of one mob because it drops more gold over time than others)

This way farming scripts will be less effective as well.

 

Conceptually the discussion (On the posts that were on topic and reasoned out) has been pretty interesting to follow.

However, past the conceptual stage of hypothesising on the economy, pay to win and RMT we really need to know more about the game mechanics. We don't know what role currency will play in the game, how it fits into character adveancement or how it affects in game activities.

I think most will agree the impact of a RMT system will have different ramifications depending on he overall role currency will play. If there are cash sinks at late game content, getting extra income through RMT may be viewed by some as unacceptable.

If currency is fairly inconsequential beyond decorating a house or various vanity activites perhaps it won;t polarise so bad.

So instead of asking for an nswer right now I think everyone can be happy they are able to air their ideas and concerns knowing the Devs will read/be aware of them.

Until we know more, a lot is speculation. Speculation is fun too, but lets rein in some of the demands and threats.