And some Champs Online Dev Diary bits:
Champions Online will support micro-transactions, but contrary to the concerns of some people, the game is not ‘based’ on them. There are the basic tenets for our micro-transactions:
- The vast majority are aesthetic items, such as costume pieces, action figures, emblems, etc.
- A very few are account-level management tools, such as being able to rename a character
- Micro-transactions should never limit your ability to enjoy the game or reach the level cap
- Any micro-transaction that has a game effect can also be earned in the game through play
Also, it’s important to note that the overwhelming majority of micro-transactions are account-wide. This means if you buy a costume piece or an action figure, every character on your account gets it.
Finally, many of the pre-order programs that we’re finalizing now have cryptic points associated with them. This is a way for us to allow our players to choose their own pre-order reward(s) which falls into our whole customization concept for Champions Online.
I’m not a huge fan of micro-transactions, even within the parameters given above. But at least the parameters are the right ones.
Once a hero reaches the upper-most levels of recognition (level 40) they can begin going on UNITY missions. These represent the most dangerous operations heroes can go on, and will be even more challenging (and rewarding) for teams of heroes. Each day UNITY transmits a list of five different global hot-spots that require high-powered attention. Once these missions are completed, a sixth custom mission is revealed. Completion of these missions earns the hero commendations within UNITY that then allows them to receive special upgrades or enter into high-end team areas with appropriately high-end rewards. There are also many goals within Crafting, Nemesis, PvP, and Perks that are designed to reward long-term Omega System players. And of course, we’ll be adding more elements in this vein all the time.
Some distinct efforts to keep things exciting at high levels. That’s a Good Thing.
We’ve currently set the character creation limit in beta to eight (8) characters. This is certainly not the uppermost number of character slots an account can have as we’ve designed rewards in the game that open up more character slots on an account level. In short, players will easily be able to earn more character slots just by playing.
I like the idea of character slots being opened up through play. On the other hand, I like the idea of having unlimited alts (cough), so …
I really hate this trend of sub+mts. But the genie is out of the bottle, the numbers don’t lie. CoX today is making more money than it did when it had a much larger player base. MTs are why.
I’d almost prefer they dump the mts and just up the subscription to $19.99 a month. But the truth about mts is, people will pay way more than the subscription in mts. With a flat subscription, your revenue is capped. With mts, sky’s the limit. So, they’re here to stay, and they aren’t being replaced with higher subscriptions.
I miss the old days but what are you gonna do?
I’m inclined to agree. They’ve clearly taken a page from the airlines — keep the prices low and start charging fees for everything.
I think it does make a difference in terms of what you charge for. The bullets above sound good; as long as you can have fun play without microtransactions, I’m okay with the trend, but it is something open to abuse.