The Secret World's business model to feature subs and cash shop

@Chiren
oh look, a kneejerk reaction. How rare

"omg it's a cash shop.. RUN!" lol

When every new MMO in the next two years and beyond all have these, and the new players playing don't remember a time when they didn't have them, we hope you'll have fun playing with yourself on consoles. Oh wait.. consoles have cash shops too.

@Chiren

Aww... it wants to have subs AND a cash shop... isn't that precious? Yeeeeah... I'm gonna avoid this game like the plague. Thankfully, I already had zero interest in it, so this won't effect me too much. Screw these sub games that think they deserve a cash shop. They take all the cool stuff and put it in the cash shop, even though you're ALREADY paying a frelling sub...

@real65rcncom

No that's not the case. Its "A sub and a cash shop. What a ripoff."

@hereafter
I don't mind them being in the store so long as there is a way to earn store credit in-game or some credit is given each month as part of your subscription. This allows everyone access to the items, although people who want to spend additional money can get everything they want sooner or with less effort. So there's still an incentive to spend money, but options for those who prefer only to pay their sub.

@aurickle

Age of Conan doesn't allow you to earn store points in-game, and the monthly stipulation of points for subscribers is quite small. It would take you three or four months of saving the monthly allowance (60 pts) to afford the cheapest item in the cash shop.

That said, we don't know if TSW will follow this model.

@Jef Reahard
Understood. I wasn't arguing that what TSW is going to do is either good or bad because we don't have all the details yet. I was simply stating my position on the subject in general.

If TSW uses the same approach that AoC does, then you know from what I said above that I will not be impressed. If they do what Turbine has done, then you know I will be okay with that. If they do something else entirely, my position on it should still be clear. :)

@aurickle

Yeah, I just wanted to get that info into the thread. I'm with you, though. As much as I enjoy AoC, I'm not a fan of the business model at all.

@hereafter "The assets are already built and implemented, just put them in the game we're paying for every month, you hosers."

sounds good, but you do realize that they would have to raise the monthly fee right?

the cost of making an mmo has gone from a few mill to tens or even over a hundred million dollars, yet monthly fees haven't gone up to keep pace. I'm guessing the people who make those assets and implement them in game want to get paid in more than your personal thumbs-up.

where do you think they are going to get that money from?

I would far rather have my sub be $15 and pay extra for what I want, than have it cost $30 a month and have content I don't care about forced on me. I get enough of that from the TV and phone companies thank you very much.

@fallwind lol @ "the cost of making an mmo has gone from a few mill to tens or even over a hundred million dollars, yet monthly fees haven't gone up to keep pace." that has to be a joke right?What exactly has changed that makes you think it should cost more because so far pretty much every mmo plays the same and only a few are starting to move towards breaking the same mold and 1 of which has no sub fee at all.

@fallwind

But we as customers have no way of knowing if cash shop items are there so they can pay artists or if they're there to make extra money on top of subscriptions. There's certain content that we should expect when paying both box price and a subscription every month and the thought of missing out on meaningful customization options without paying extra is upsetting.

Ultimately, what matters is the actual ratio. A lot of default customization with a few cool, novelty cash shop costumes is acceptable. Bare-bones customization with basic clothing options wrapped up in MTs is not; i.e. if at launch there's 5 tattoo options in game and 20 in the cash shop, there's a problem.

@KvanCetre

While I didn't harp on Blizzard, I'll explain it to you. Blizzard was one of the early adopters of the hybrid system. Subscription plus a cash shop. At the time many people were obviously angry. Rather sadly people went ahead and bought plenty. Even goiing as far as paying $25 for a mount. This let other MMO's realizem hey, we can do this too. World of Warcraft is the biggest player around, if they could get away with it so could other games, It's now come to the point that we expect there to be a cash shop, the only question is will it sell fluff items or potential gamebreakers.

@Interitus WoW? a cash shop early adopter? you dont get to try many games do you?

@fallwind I was speaking of Western MMO's, stop trolling.

@cotheer
Says the guy with a LotRO logo for his avatar?

Yes, LotRO has multiple options in addition to subscriptions, but lifetime subscribers and VIP's have exactly what you're saying here is lolz.

Don't get me wrong; I'm with Nerves (below) in being turned off by how Turbine has handled their cash shop. I just find it ironic to read your post while looking at your avatar.