Two-handed weapon set

They have stated that instead of boosters we would have the option of buying individual pieces (just want ninja run?) or a bundled set.

Another possibility is that premium/free has to pay for it directly, while VIP's gets to use their monthly stiped *shrugs*

My impression is that the monthly stipend is basically supposed to cover us buying most (if not all) of the stuff they release, so the end-result ends up being the same (with maybe some savings from having a VIP account)

That sounds more like a "Free to VIPs for this issue then it changes" type of deal.

I've bought all the other boosters (well won one, the mutant pack I believe it was) and this includes the Emote Pack. So I'm not against buying them, but like I said, the wording sounded more like "free with the issues" and nothing hinted at for having to pay for any of them.

They could have things cost less Paragon Points for the VIPs to make it even out, or have it so the VIPS don't have to pay as much as Premium/F2P.

Like Powerset costs 2400 PP. For VIPS it costs 800, so they'd have to save up 2 months or pay the 400 and then buy an additional 400.

I don't see this needing "balancing out." They give the VIP'ers a stipend for the store. Some new things will be part of the store, bought with the stipend, some will be free to VIP's. As long as the "free to VIP's" plus what I can buy with the 400/mo stipend is roughly equivalent to what I'd have expected under the old payment model, I'm being treated rather fairly.

I'm just worried, were as before I was getting new powersets for free (not counting the ones which came with the paid expansion, but I put those in a different category) with my monthly fee, I'm now either going to have to wait to get them (save up PP) or pay out extra to get them now.

I don't expect a powerset to cost more than 5-10 dollars worth of PP, but still never had to actually pay for any of the new sets (and I bought GR twice for one account, so it's not like I havent wasted money to get faster access to powersets).

Sweet! I'm so getting a dozen desk calendars then!

Haha! Although, to take this little side tangent a bit seriously...
We've actually used our Amex points to get a couple of hundred dollars of Home Depot Gift Cards.
Of course, we put all our bills through the card in order to best take advantage of that, but still... They've worked out well!!

*and now, back to your regularly scheduled program*

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

Smart. We've got a ton of airline miles just sitting around waiting to be used. Problem is life just hasn't afforded the time to really put those to use.

Meanwhile, I can guarantee that I'll be using my PP points. Couldn't resist most booster packs. Now that I can use quasi-play money while in game to unlock all sorts of costume goodies that will hopefully be released in a more steady stream? You bet I'll keep spending them points. And if the extra $$$ I throw at my account to buy out the store of all cosmetic whoosawhatsits ends up being about the same $30 or so a year I'd spend on boosters, it's all the same in my book. Even better if I get more whoosawhatsits per year over the older booster model.

I like the idea of not having to wait anymore for them to get enough similar content together to actually put out say an "animal pack 2" or some stuff. Frog head, feet and hands with a nice spotty amphibian texture ready for release? Sweet! Put it up on the market. Opera Gloves with no other related costumes? Oh well, put it up on the market. etc.

Now the idea of how we'd get more stuff in this system makes sense to me.

Excellent examples! If one aspect of development can be finished by a team more quickly than another team's aspect, they don't have to wait for their items to be lumped together before being released...

Hmmm...

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

This actually brushes up against the biggest factor making it impossible to come up with a good estimate of how much an item will cost when paid for with points; the cash cost to buy points.

If 1 point sells for 1 buck (it definately wont), our "monthly stipend" is insanely valuable. If 10 points sells for 1 buck (they won't), then it's still a huge value. If 100 points sells for 1 buck (very likely), then our monthly stipend is "less than half of a super booster." If 1,000 points sells for a buck, don't expect the stipend to buy much of anything at all.

We can pretty much make the assumption that existing Super Boosters, when they're put into the store, will cost $10 or MORE in points to maintain that profit in the new system. It's also a good guess future Super Boosters will have a similar (if not higher) price point.

Right now, the bean counters are putting the finishing touches on their final projections for how to make the game definately produce specific sum of money every year. To do that, they want to get AT LEAST a monthly sub (about 15 bucks/mo) from every existing player and AT LEAST 3 Super Boosters (about $2.50/mo) from every existing player and possibly a slight increase over that. They don't care if I give it to them, you give it to them or Frank-who-just-joined gives it to them. They don't care if it's from point purchases or sub+points. All they care about is that over the year a player spends at least $210 and preferably more.

To hit that goal, they want the 400 Point stipend to be "worthless" without seeming "worthless." They want us to appreciate the 400 points, but also have to buy into the Point Purchases on a regular basis to get more stuff and to buy in at a much higher level to get the REALLY good stuff in addition to the basics and the good stuff.

The developers will fully support that goal, but from another angle. Yes they want the game to make money, the more of it the better; after all, it's how they keep their jobs. But they also want us to want to spend money on the game, even if it's above and beyond what we are now. So it's in their best interest to "hold back" the best of the best and drop it into the store so everyone has to spend something on it in addition to producing store items that we'll want beyond what was once "issue content." It's in their interests to burn up the 400 point stipend every month so we're "forced" into point buys regularly to get the awesome shineys but to do so at a low enough rate that we don't notice the increase in the cost of the game. They'll rely on the "well, what's $5 extra this month" every month rather than "ohh man, to get the stuff I want is going to cost $20? Forget that...." every 4 months.

It's just business. They'll act in their interests. With any luck, OUR interests will stay alighned with theirs for a long time.

Bleh, I have 20k points, and that's enough to...get a DVD? A $20 wristwatch? Nothing worth anything, anyhow.

Jurassik want to know why doze need two hands. Me still waiting for Buick/Shield combo.

My calculation when Freedom hits will be: in an span of 3-4 months (normal time between issues) I will have accumulated 1200-1600 PP. If the VIP content from that period + what I can by with that amount of PP = normal content of 1 issue, I think it will be fair.

If it is a more we are getting the short stick, if it is less we are good to go.

I would pay money directly to every member of the powers team to see Jurassik using Shield Charge.

Build him a shield out of old locomotive cowcatchers.

That would be awesome.

Especially if it did something stupid like +50 points of knockback in a 50' radius.

I'm with you on that one. I'd love it if they released so many new powersets that I had to think about which one(s) to get.
Haha, so totally unlike most current melees, who halfheartedly swing at the enemy now and again when the whim takes them?

two things first @#$%ING AUTO LOG OUT!
second thing, which is a more condensed version of what i had just typed before..well, point one. there is a precedent of a similar game using a similar system and this far it has lead to huge benefits for people who maintain their current subscription style. it also indicates a model for pricing where extra points, while not able to get everything, will cover the majority of non-consumables. we already did pay extra for consumables under the current system (respecs, more ma slots) so i suspect that if they have followed a similar situation, this will work out to the strong benefit of continued subscribers.

I can't be the only one who read this and thought it sounded dirty.

DP?

huge weapon?

C'mon!

Actually, both those weapons predate the development of plate-armor. (Crossbows first appears in asia in 4th century B.C. and a precursor was known in ancient Greece, we don't get real plate-armour until the 13th and 14th centuries)

The longbow likewise is much older, the oldest variants being found in Scandinavia and dates back to the viking age.

In fact, it seems like while long and crossbows would pierce mail, they'd have trouble with plate (which was ludicrously expensive anyways and so not used very much)

Which is not to say you couldn't kill a man in plate with a longbow: Shoot the horse and chances are he'll break his neck when he falls off.