So...about tomorrow...

doesn't matter will buy anyway

because Dev is short for Devious

The whole reason we have to pay for this via the Paragon Market is BECAUSE it's not part of a paid expansion. In effect we've had to pay extra for just about every new powerset we've ever gotten. In the past the only way we usually got new powersets were as parts of paid expansions. Because this powerset is being offered on its own it needs to be paid for on its own. There's really no mystery to it. *shrugs*

Quite. I won't have enough points to buy this with my free points until the end of November. Not that I care much, as I think I'm the only player out there who wasn't foaming at the mouth for Street Justice. I just think it's a crappy business model.

but I'm not made out of money! they're giving us too much, too soon!

But we got plenty of powersets for "free": Archery, Trick Arrow, Shields, Willpower, Sonics, etc. I'm not even counting proliferation.

Now, it looks like non-Premium, non-Expansion sets will be few and far between. So far, Time Manipulation has been gratis, and Beam and SJ we have to pay for. Of the upcoming sets I'm aware of, both will be Premium: Titan Weapons and Staff.

I'm not a fan of for-pay sets, but I'm no fool and I realize it makes more financial sense for NCSoft to do this. I would be better at waiting for my free points to stack up if they didn't keep throwing new costumes and sets at us.

All a part of The Plan™.

I got Archery and Sonic for the cost of my subscription back in Issue 5, which was a free issue and not a paid expansion. Paying extra for power sets on top of a subscription is indeed new territory. Awful new territory.

I feel that a paid player should get the whole game for the cost of their subscription (like we used to, accept paid expansions), and don't give me this crap about my 400 "free" points a month. You know what I'm talking about, and being purposely obtuse isn't cute or clever.

It's completely unacceptable* for the game to provide me TOO much content. They should stop doing that at once!

* I sincerely hope it was obvious I was being totally sarcastic with this post.

It's not "new territory" at all. For the handful of powersets we got "for free" there have been plenty of others tied to paid expansions. This just happens to be one of the ones we have to pay extra for. Stop being so dramatic about this.

I never said we had to pay for ALL new powersets in the past. I'm just making the very obvious point that there have already been other powersets we DID have to pay extra for. Street Justice just happens to be another one of those... big deal. *shrugs*

Unfortunately, that's not profitable anymore. They need money to keep the game running and giving away every powerset free to subscribers just doesn't generate enough cash.

Even if it's not a matter of "profitability" I'd almost rather have to pay extra for these occasional big things on the principle that it will allow them to develop even MORE stuff than they would have been able to if they kept giving us absolutely everything for "free".

Most amusing complement I've ever been paid on an outfit, from @Ukase regarding my Blue Eyed She-Devil Anson Maddocs "Fallen Angel" homage:
"She gives my ex-wife a run for the money."

Or.

A discount. 50% Off. Both sides win a little.

My opinion of it depends on the pace and quality of releases.

Right now, we've seen a lot more new powersets in a short time than we have seen for quite some time. The past release schedule has definitely not included to giving us multiple new powersets every issue. If the devs continue to pump out interesting powersets faster than we can save up points for them, then I think that's a net win. It's a bit more complicated than this, since they may also be producing new costumes and what-not that are also for sale. But if the total supply of stuff I produce continues to arrive at a pace and quality that makes me want to buy it rather than wait for it, I think their model is a success for me and for them.

If, however they lower the pace of releases*, or they start pumping out lackluster sets, I'm going to move into your camp. In the very short term, I see the "for purchase" items as getting quality for the money. It will be possible, however, for them to change my mind so that I feel more like it's just a money grab, instead.

* If they lower it to the point that I can just afford things with my monthly stipend of points then it's no longer a money grab, but it would somewhat devalue having moved to a microtransaction model. The model would make sense for Premium accounts, but VIP ones would pretty much be what they always were before.

I like this idea, though I think it'd be more like 20% off.

Edit: On second thoughts, some people would just sub for a month, buy everything at the reduced price, then let their sub lapse.

We've gotten new powersets as part of paid expansions, which is a bit different.

When you factor in what was given with CoV and Going Rogue, there was quite a bit more bang for your buck.

I remember when Dual Blades was considered a huge coding achievement with being able to hold 2 weapons and that was included with our subscription.

I have no problem with charging for consumables and "fluff" but charging for powersets in this way and at this price point is something I don't agree with.

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Don't worry... that'll happen next week when it goes on sale -after- everyone rushed to buy it today.

I remember when I had for a crapload of whole new power sets. It was called City of Villains.

So how is this a crappy business model? Pay $50 for an entire expansion or a few bucks just for a power set.

I said and thought the same thing. Some people feel overly-entitled these days it seems.

Most amusing complement I've ever been paid on an outfit, from @Ukase regarding my Blue Eyed She-Devil Anson Maddocs "Fallen Angel" homage:
"She gives my ex-wife a run for the money."

I would simply argue that part of what you were paying for when you bought those expansions were new powersets. Of course we can quibble about what fraction of that expansion cost was specifically for the powersets in question, but that doesn't change the fact that at least part of your money went towards paying for powersets.

Having to pay for individual powersets in the Paragon Market is just a different formulation of the same scheme we've already had in this game. Paying for powersets is not a "new" thing - it existed long before the Market came around.

Frankly it's existed since Day One of City of Heroes, lest the drama queens forget.

Most amusing complement I've ever been paid on an outfit, from @Ukase regarding my Blue Eyed She-Devil Anson Maddocs "Fallen Angel" homage:
"She gives my ex-wife a run for the money."

With CoV, I paid $30, and got a bunch of stuff other than powersets, but when you break it down, even if all I payed for was powersets, they ran $2 each, as opposed to $10 for these new sets. And with things like proliferation and the roll-in of CoV to the rest of the game, these sets were effectively free (after all, even if I didn't buy anything, my Controller didn't need to pay extra to get Thermal Radiation in the first round of proliferation).

I'll be buying Street Justice anyway, because I have the points set aside for it, but people might not complain as much if things were more reasonably priced.