It occurred to me that thanks to the free Avatar Builder, it will be possible for people who have not purchased the game to accrue cash shop currency. And that led me to wonder: is there any reason why such people should not be able to buy the game in said cash shop, using said currency?
The answer obviously depends on whether the amounts spent, amounts received, or benefits received per dollar spent, change at all if you do this. The game purchase price is supposed to come with several months of subscriber status, which includes a hefty stipend, opening up the possibility that this method does skim off MWM in some way.
I'm pretty sure this does not change the equation, but I could be wrong. If I'm not though, it might be a good idea for the team to put the game itself into the cash shop. The AB would allow people to save up money to buy the game in the form of their cash shop currency.
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[center][color=#ff0000]Interior Map Lead and UI Designer[/color][/center]
Personally, I think they should charge for the AB but then allow purchasers who want the game to credit their purchase price. So instead of the game being $50.00 or whatever the AB is $5.00 and the rest of the game is $45.00. That way potential players can see what they can do before buying the game. the AB can also be a revenue stream for the game pre-launch. I understand the need for a free hook to draw players in but giving it away for free with no commitment to buy doesn't appeal to me.
I'm sure their marketing guys will figure it out one way or the other.
I remember when Star Wars was cool...a long, long time ago...
I thought the AB should be free, just like the first taste from a drug dealer to get people hooked.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
I'd happily pay $5 for the Avatar Builder. Not only will it help fund the game we're all looking forward to, but it will allow the Devs to bring out the "Amerikatt Shoulder Kitty" costume piece/perk that much sooner! *giggles melodiously*
[center][color=purple][size=16][b][I][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78N2SP6JFaI]Just a cat from another star![/url][/I][/b][/size][/color][/center]
I figured it'd be freely available to all the KS backers so they can, as syntaxerror37 suggests, wave it under the noses of all their friends and be smugly superior.
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[font=Pristina][size=18][b]Hail Beard![/b][/size][/font]
Support [url=http://cityoftitans.com/comment/52149#comment-52149]trap clowns[/url] for CoT!
It will be free. With a cash shop attached. That will do fine for revenue. I also checked and was told that yes, there will be a free trial option for the game itself. So people will be able to TRY the game for free, which I consider very important (so I was very relieved to hear it).
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[center][color=#ff0000]Interior Map Lead and UI Designer[/color][/center]
Great Idea OP.
An excellent suggestion, which bears closer scrutiny. One of the original ideas of the development process was to release functions for the game incrementally - starting with the character creator, then adding the mission/base designer, and following it up with a gradually expanding world. Such an approach would allow us to focus on ensuring that each component was of the highest quality before releasing it to any of our players.
Since we've also promised mobile iterations of the AB, to the best of my knowledge, it would be almost trivial to design around this concept. That said, it would need to be examined closely, because there may be some practical difficulties in the implementation.
It is only when we stand up, with all our failings and sufferings, and try to support others rather than withdraw into ourselves, that we can fully live the life of community.
[color=#ff0000]Business Director[/color]
As a Quality guy, this part pleases me. I am in the minority but I would rather play a game where everything works right the first time even if that means it rolls out more slowly. I don't remember a CoX release where someone didn't scream foul during all of the fixes.
Nothing like bug-checking your work with 100,000 eager players all beating on it with clubs...
I remember when Star Wars was cool...a long, long time ago...
I can't shake the feeling though that most of the people willing to pay $5 for the creator are the ones already sold on the game and planning to get it. How many people who aren't sold on the game pay five dollars just to find out? Although I did put down five dollars for City of Heroes to get into public beta testing, after a friend told me about the game.
But that's something a bit separate; I also wanted to play a game where I got in early on in the game's life.
Longtime City of Heroes player, longtime writer. :) Working in Nebraska.
COT: Mission tips writer, studying Cinema 4D animation program
The way I got my wife into the game was by letting here make a character on my account. The next day she went out and bought the game. The costume creator as a free app is perfect to get new blood interested in the game.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
You've got what we're thinking.
Technical Director
Read enough Facebook and you have to make Sanity Checks. I guess FB is the Great Old One of the interent these days... - Beamrider
"Hey! Hey buddy! C'mere. *sniff* Have a taste of this..."
Spurn all ye kindle.
I actually really like this idea. It would allow us to become familiar with each function of the game and "grow" with it, without being overwhelmed with a fully realized world, all while testing each component to make sure there arent any hidden problems lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce when they're least expected! I hope this idea hasn't been scrapped, it really appeals to me!
(Guess the quote function isn't working.....I was commenting on Terwyns post about them releasing separate functions)
If you see the text you're quoting surround by "quote=(person quoted)" and "/quote" (both in [brackets]) where you're typing your reply, then it's working. If not, you can add it in manually, if you want to. Since your post has "Reply to # 8" on it, I think you actually hit the Reply button. ^_^ I'm not sure why the Quote button doesn't look like the Reply button...
I, too, am eagerly waiting to test out the Avatar Builder. And any other components they want us to [s]beat on with clubs[/s] test ^_^.
Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
[url=https://cityoftitans.com/forum/foradains-character-conclave]Foradain's Character Conclave[/url]
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Avatar courtesy of [s]Satellite9[/s] [url=https://www.instagram.com/irezoomie/]Irezoomie[/url]
Never had time to go into the quote module to give it the same look as the other buttons.
Technical Director
Read enough Facebook and you have to make Sanity Checks. I guess FB is the Great Old One of the interent these days... - Beamrider
Something that I think should be emphasized is that there appears to be a substantial misconception about MMOs, even among those who work in the genre. Many developers and publishers appear to think of MMOs as a product good. It seems to make vastly more sense to view it as a service to me. This is for numerous reasons, but the first and foremost is that the value someone gets from interacting with the City of Titans world, either through playing through content or simply interacting with other players, is primarily intangible. No two people will derive value in exactly the same way (unless, of course, they happen to be a family that only ever plays together, then it is a little more plausible), so it is necessarily important to ensure that it is possible to find value in pretty much anything one chooses to do within City of Titans. The dearly departed Paragon Studios understood this very well.
This, of course, has a substantial influence in the basic design principles we use in building the City and its surrounding world. The key advantage of approaching things from this perspective is that it requires a certain degree of feedback and accountability between us, the service provider, and those who make use of the resultant service. The approach we are hoping to take reflects this philosophy rather closely, because as the available features and functions grow and evolve around its audience, we will have the benefit of real-time feedback in regards to what works, what doesn't work, and what people desperately want to see next. In the long run, that means we save time, effort, and money due to having much of the guesswork removed from the equation.
It should be noted that we have a surprising array of academic and educational backgrounds involved in the production side of things, so we have things down to a science in many ways. There's a reason why we're evolving the game organically. I myself am an anthropologist and historian specializing in the narrative origins and functional mechanics of human belief structures - which, of course, should come as no surprise given what my role in the project is.
It is only when we stand up, with all our failings and sufferings, and try to support others rather than withdraw into ourselves, that we can fully live the life of community.
[color=#ff0000]Business Director[/color]