Kill Ten Rats authors have previously come out for selling RMT fluff, and have featured games that use that funding model. What games will sell you more character slots? Guild Wars does. Sword of the New World effectively does so, selling slots for in-game currency that you can buy with meatspace dollars.
For the player, this offers convenience and potential savings. All your characters are associated with one account, so you have one monthly fee, you need not re-buy the expansions, and any special account upgrades (RMT fluff, veteran rewards, etc.) apply to your new characters. Keep all your characters on the same global name in City of Heroes.
For the developer, this has some advantages over trying to sell second accounts. You have fewer of the problems that arise from people using multiple characters at once, many who will not but another account will pay a one-time upgrade fee (maybe multiple times), and you get that money now. Policing for discipline is easier when the player is not a hydra. The only ongoing cost is storing more characters per account (perhaps not insubstantial).
Let’s say $5 for one additional slot per server, and you must buy at least four at a time to prevent transaction costs from eating the money. Alternately, you could have several subscription options, some of which offer more character slots or other premium services, but you would need to decide what to do if a guy with a 16-character account wants to cut back to a non-premium account.
: Zubon
Previously, I discussed some of the reasons why I prefer to solo through most MMO content. This got me to thinking about something I’ve noticed since switching back from World of Warcraft to Guild Wars. Players in World of Warcraft, despite the ease with which the game can be soloed, seem to be far more likely to form pick-up groups than players in Guild Wars. I began to think about why this might be. I’ve come to the conclusion that this, like so many other things in life, is determined by a number of factors adding up to an individual’s experience within a game. Continue reading ‘How Players Are Affected By Solo Activities’
Akela Talamasca at Massively posted today about why he enjoys soloing through his favorite MMOs. This is something that I find myself enjoying as well and I’d like to share a few more reasons why it can be fun.
Akela lists his reasons as such:
Feeling of being a hero, not a nameless part of a team.
Inability to trust other players.
Time management.
For my situation, the first two certainly apply. I enjoy being the star of the show and I detest when other players lower my enjoyment of a game. Time management isn’t a big concern for me, as I tend to be the one scheduling the guild events and trying to get everyone together.
Continue reading ‘Why I Play Multiplayer Games By Myself’
A week ago, I noted the degree to which Explorers can chew through content. Explorers explore not only geography but also mechanics, so complex play options with many interactions can keep us going for a long time. For a great example of this, head over to Van Hemlock and see what he has been doing with Guild Wars. With hundreds of skills available, but only one skill bar available at any given time, Guild Wars provides lots of options for builds. He has been taking single skills and making builds around them, then taking them out for test runs. Read some of his posts to see how those are working out.
: Zubon
I’d like to take a look at the past for a moment here. There are a lot of rumors of a Diablo 3 being announced soon, benefitting from the new and improved features coming to Battle.net with StarCraft 2. Details on those features have yet to surface, so all we have is conjecture. But what about the classic title, Diablo 2? Is it an MMO? Continue reading ‘Is Diablo an MMO?’
[Guild Wars] Picked up two copies of Guild Wars Nightfall the other day. My wife and I are migrating over from World of Warcraft. It’ll be nice to play something totally new for both of us. I’m not sure what our character names will be but I’ll post a comment below when I do. The [BLOG] guild is mostly empty now, but if anyone is looking to join up with us and understands that they might never see us online, let me know. Otherwise, if we can find an established, mature yet casual guild we might be interested in joining it.
I’m really starting to like the way Guild Wars structures it’s gameplay costs to players. It seems to be pretty friendly to casual time-restricted players like me. Even factoring in the costs of all three boxes, I’ve still paid less that I paid for WoW in about the same amount of time. I also feel no pressure to log in, because I’m not paying for each month. I like it.
- Ethic
[Guild Wars] Our guild in Guild Wars is growing at Blizzard-like speeds, 400% in just a week. Fine, we have 4 people now. If you want to join us, in Prophecies or Factions, send me an email telling me your character name and I will invite you, or leave it in the comments if you prefer. You do not need to be online in order to be invited.
We have characters in many levels and in both games. If you just want to goof off and aren’t concerned about levels, come join us. We only want to have fun and don’t care about XP or who wins a PvP battle. We will be buying a cape soon and when we can afford it we will get a hall too.
- Ethic
[Guild Wars] In my neverending quest to find something fun to do in my spare time, I have joined up with two fellow bloggers to create a new guild in Guild Wars. Hopefully we can be stupid and have fun and not become slaves to the grind.
The guild we started is called: Bold Legion of Geeks [BLOG]. My character is “Brother Ethic”. We are starting out fresh and are looking to have fun. If you want to join, find us or leave a comment here. It costs 100 gold to invite each person (is there a limit?) and my funds are somewhat limited so please be patient.
For now this is the original Guild Wars, not Factions. Perhaps we will expand into Factions if we are having too much fun (I do own it and it already). If you already play and are rich and want to donate to the “buy BLOG a hall fund”, feel free. Otherwise, say hello next time you see one of us. Or join us! One of us! One of us!
- Ethic