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Reader Comments (38)

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:06PM Dril said

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Take it with a pinch of salt.

At one point there were never going to be microtransactions in EVE: look how that turned out.

We'll see.

It's a start on a hillclimb that should never have been neccessary in the first place, but there's a long way to go yet.

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:19PM (Unverified) said

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@Dril

Personally I'm still a fan of CCP, but how they handled this whole situation has definitely cooled my support for the developer. Sort of used to companies like Apple, Sony, et al being arrogant jerk-offs with their customers, but having CCP being so dismissive was a bit of a let down.

It's like having a good friend who one night decided to act like a total d*ck. Sure you will probably still invite him for a night of beer and wings with the guys, but now you'll think twice before doing so.
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Posted: Jun 26th 2011 10:16PM GaaaaaH said

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@Dril
That promise was nearly exactly one year ago, so we'll see how long this one lasts.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 4:37AM (Unverified) said

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@Dril

Even better the 2008 April fools joke from CCP was EvE getting micro-transactions like talked about in the leaked issue of Fearless.

It is clear this isn't being driven by rational game design based on players needs and demands but for purely economic ones. Either CCP desperately need to fund Dust514/WoD or the owners are trying to suck massive amounts of cash out of the company.

Either way, anyone who thinks they can scam EvE players (the most scam aware players in the market by virtue of the cut throat nature of the game), with virtual shirts that cost more then real shirts, is a clueless moron.
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Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:18PM Brendan Drain said

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Respected CSM delegate Trebor Daehdoow has posted to confirm that "gold ammo" in the devblog was shorthand for "any non-vanity item".
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1540116&page=9#252

This is an extremely important first step. Not only did Arnar recognise that there was a breach of trust with the players, but he confirmed no plans are in the works currently for non-vanity items and is flying the CSM out to sort the mess out. The player protests worked, they got the most reasonable possible course of action out of CCP (albiet a little late) and we'll all get to see the outcome after the meeting next week.

Disaster postponed, hopefully indefinitely.

Posted: Jun 27th 2011 12:53AM smg77 said

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@Brendan Drain

Trebor is a bit of a moron. I'd wait until we hear what Mittens has to say.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 5:26AM Brendan Drain said

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@smg77 Funny, I'd say the exact same thing with the names switched around ;)
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Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:19PM nilsmmoblog said

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Funny blog post they have there. Unfortunately that was _very predictable_.
The player will wait and see what CCP _actually does_.

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:20PM Eamil said

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It's a start. I'll be watching to see how they respond to this and other issues going forward. EVE isn't my kind of game but I've been hoping World of Darkness would be, and I'd rather not be proven wrong. I have to say I'm not encouraged by the fact that it took them this long to come up with an official response to the "yellow question."

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:29PM HokieKC said

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CCP got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and now they're saying the right things to avoid a meltdown. It will be interesting to see what happens in terms of microtransactions and 'pay to win' options.

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:51PM (Unverified) said

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@HokieKC

You got that right, they could have done that in the first place very quickly

"There are not and never have been plans to sell 'gold ammo"

Ya that's BS, they just got busted, and now just straight up lying to backtrack.
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Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:36PM Wensbane said

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This is a very intelligent (and predictable) way of buying some precious time.

While they meet with the CSM, they can figure out exactly what compromises to make, without deeply affecting their (obvious) goals. In the end, nothing meaningful will change.

I know full well that CCP is desperate (key word) to find additional forms of revenue. We all do, in fact.
With three large projects on their hands, they have simply bitten off more than they can chew - much like Cryptic, I suppose.

So, what saddens me the most is that they appear unable to exercise some basic honesty, about the whole thing.
Again, we all know that they're struggling, and I think most of us would be willing to make some small sacrifice, in order to save a company that has given us such an amazing and unique product.

Want me to pay 16€, instead of 15, until you can get back on your feet? Fine, just be honest for once, and I'll do it.
Once Dust and WoD are released (hopefully to excellent reviews) you can get your additional revenue from that and restore the old subscription fee. I'll even consider it an investment!

Just don't treat me like some mindless drone.

Posted: Jun 26th 2011 5:55PM nilsmmoblog said

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@Wensbane

They could just have added a donate button. There's a high chance I might have given them a substantial amount. But adding MT to EVE, then lying about it .. wrong choice.
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Posted: Jun 26th 2011 6:13PM sortius said

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@Wensbane

I agree with your sentiment, but CCP have been making stupid amounts of cash from GTC to ISK trading for years. If they are going broke there's something seriously wrong.

I have a feeling they've not invested wisely and, as you said, overstretched their resources. After the Iceland crash they had a drive to get more cash (buy GTCs and trade them), that worked great. Moving to the Cryptic style subscription plus Play2Win Store is a really bad sign. It starts off with merely cosmetic stuff, but there's no chance it'll not become P2W.
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Posted: Jun 26th 2011 6:47PM DeadlyAccurate said

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@nilsmmoblog I think there are laws in some countries about donating to businesses. It may not even be possible.

If they'd introduced the vanity items as player-craftables while at the same time raising the sub fee by a buck, there wouldn't have been nearly as many complaints. Everyone understands that prices have to rise on occasion. No one could reasonably expect the $15/month sub to last forever.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 6:10AM (Unverified) said

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@Tempes Magus

How does Blizzard push MT more than Cryptic? They have a few pets and a few mounts on a store that isn't even advertised or accessible from the game.

If WoW did Cryptic style MT you would have your basic racial mounts and to get access to the other 100+ mounts you would need to buy them from the ingame item store. Instead Blizzard sell a whole two mounts via their store.

Now Blizzards account services are arguable way over priced, but that is a different issue.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 11:39AM (Unverified) said

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@Tempes Magus The C-Store is a huge rip-off and they deserve a bad reputation for microtransactions. The kinds of things they sell in the C-Store are the kinds of things I expect the devs to release to the community for free, at least, if I'm paying $15/month.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 4:16PM Space Cobra said

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@Tempes Magus

Nah, STO is not too bad. Mainly vanity items and there aren't any $25 dollar items. They do have packaged deals/bundles, that are basically "buy 4 and get 1 free" deals that are more deals and discounts.

AND they have fairly regular times throughout the year they discount items from anywhere to 20% to 50% off. No discount periods in WoW for sparkle ponies.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 4:17PM Space Cobra said

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@Space Cobra

Oh, and CO also have those limited time discount events/offers, too.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2011 4:19PM Space Cobra said

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@Space Cobra

And STO's monicle (re: Borg Eyepiece) is NOT $70! Plus you get a whole Borg and other different Borg arrangement besides a Locutus monocle to play with!

;P
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