In-game store (visibility, sales, etc.)

In-game stores give me some cause for concern. One reason is because sometimes the demands of marketing and the desires of players come into great conflict. I just wanted to bring up some issues which I have seen elsewhere and see where people stand. It would be nice to get some discussion on them before i21 is on our doorsteps. I speak of this as a former customer of Turbine who left after cringing at multiple decisions made in implementing and expanding their in-game stores.

1) Intrusiveness of the in-game store:

I understand that an in-game store must be visible and that players must be aware of the opportunities it offers them. Personally, however, littering a game with store links and buttons and reminders can be very painful for me as a player. Personally, I think the store should be accessible but out of sight unless requested. If this is not palatable to marketing, at least make the store less intrusive for VIP players than for non-paying players.

2) Sales

I normally like sales as much as the next person. That said, sales tend to make suspicious and stingy. I realize that in-game items have no inherent value, and frequent and sometimes drastic sales only acts as a further reminder ("look how cheap we can make this! it costs us nothing" har har har). Personally, I would prefer that CoH continue to deal with sales and specials just like it has for the booster packs. With the booster packs, they only go on sale occasionally, and, even then, well after the item was introduced. That way, I can happily buy new shinies the day they come out, without worrying that next week's sale will make me grind my teeth.

3) Limited time items

Do not want. Even for holidays. Avoid at all cost.

4) Permanent boosts

This shouldn't even need mentioning, but it must be said: Please don't introduce permanent boosts in power to the store. I don't care about temp powers, travel powers, and the like. What I mean is things like permanent stat boosts and store-only enhancements. There is no excuse for this (not even our stipend).

Sorry to be a bit suspicious, before I have even seen how the store functions, but I think we should all approach this with some healthy concern.

These are perfectly valid concerns to have, and one that I personally believe you'll be pleasantly surprised with once we open beta up to everyone that the new in game store, or as we call it, The Paragon Market, is pretty unobtrusive and not "in your face" at all.

A lot of consideration and time has gone into the design of the store and it's different UI elements. We're doing everything we can to make sure that it represents the City of Heroes experience.

As to the specific items in the store, you'll all have a chance to provide feedback once we open up beta to the general public. We're looking forward to your thoughts.

Good to know, I would hate it if ingame store popped up continuously.

I have high hopes for CoX.

Excellent post, OP.

Beta updated with a 1.8 GB patch today, I fired it up and noticed the following in the console output: "mall-beta.playspan.com" So I guess that's an indication as to who's probably doing the back end payment & transaction stuff.

What I'd probably do is stick it in the standard Menu (you know that has costume selection, opening up the options menu etc.) in the same manner as Spiral Knights (where you scroll down through various options and the 'buy energy' is merely the bottom one).

I think there would be a benefit from making the store part of the game world, even if it's just npcs located in all in-game stores alongside menu access.

In fact stuff like costume pieces could be picked up from a vendor in Icon, perhaps have some of those mannequins displaying some of the new shinies. It would help with immersion a little.

----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
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I dunno, a "physical" in game store might be cute. Might also be obnoxious.

Personally, if Paragon Studios want to put their money where their mouth is, then having the Paragon Store be a specific building at a specific location with a unique interior and maybe some kind of low-key lore justification would be the way to go. The Merit Vendors are a prime example of how NOT to do things. They look like someone jammed his foot on the Random button (which may well be true), there are about thrice more of them than are actually needed, and just putting NPCs out in the overworld is cheap, lazy and all around a poor show. Merit Vendors are pretty much just random-button characters slapped into the world with no effort put into them.

If Paragon Studios want this to be a bold new venture that opens with a bang and wows new players and existing veterans alike, they need to put a LOT of polish on everything they introduce, such that even people like me won't have much to complain about. They can't afford to be cheap, lazy or in a rush with this thing. Striking a good balance with how visible the in-game store is is important in this regard. It shouldn't be ubiquitous and come off like adware, but at the same time it shouldn't be completely meta-game and just an option in a menu somewhere. Put in the hours, put in the money and provide something that will wow people who use it.

Paragon Studios' recent history is... Concerning. They've consistently put polish, quality of life and luxuries on the backburner in favour of cranking out more content that often comes out buggy, unwieldy and limited in scope. For this changeover to succeed, they'll need to at least open with an addition that feels like effort went into more than booting it out the door, and that it was polished and perfected, especially since a lot of that stuff will be things people will be expected to pay for. Make it shine, guys, not just "exist."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

First, I like the concept of the store and here is the reason.


No freaking security check and confirmation of your identity needed if you have somehow changed ip since the last time you accessed your account. Unless you need to refill your supply of points or however that works. But for most long time vets the 400 points a month will probably be sufficient because we already have all the vet rewards or a large amount at any rate. And if you actually do need to buy points ahead of time you could buy them a huge chunk at a time and avoid needing to visit the account page multiple times.

But as to the way the store works I would slightly prefer that it be a drop down menu that allows me to access the store. That way if I'm on a team and see somebody with a cool new costume part or temp power I won't have to wait until I'm through playing and have possibly forgotten. I just have to wait until the team has a brief downtime and click through to the store. It could even help out in situations where a player finds that their particular power set is pretty much useless against a particular enemy. Team stops long enough to let that player buy a temp power that will be useful. Of course you are only going to see this situation at low levels.

A physical store won't be quite as good for the company either. It cuts down on impulse buys. For instance people who own Kindles wind up buying a lot more books than people who don't and that's mostly because of easy impulse buying.

A mall in Atlas Park would be a very cool way of showing up the stuff in the store - like the Icon dummies showing off the costume parts.