General Discussion

I actually like Blizzard's point on all this.  You won't be able to fight the ebayers all the time.  Fight them where and when you can.  But in game, to get the best gear you HAVE to be a raider or die-hard pvper.  There is no other choice about it.  Sure, you can "buy" some really good gear, but it will never be the best.  Why spend all this time whining that Dr Phil bought his epic sword of doom?  Sure, he may have a slight advantage over you for a very brief point in time, but you... the die-hard raider/pvper will ultimately remain king/queen in the game.  

Like it or not, gold sellers bring players to our games and money to the bottom for the developers of said games.  Personally, I'd rather see Dr Phil buy his epic sword of doom straight from Blizzard or SoE instead of via the IGEs of the world.  Companies won't reduce time sinks because that will cost them money.  An easy way to do that is to keep the best items available only to the die-hard raiders/pvpers, yet have an item mall where anyone can go and buy what they need to keep them playing the game.  More and more, people have more money than time.

You have players that play 40-60 hours a week and they want to keep their "right" to being the best via the gear they have.  I won't argue, they have earned the right to wear that gear.  On the other hand, you shouldn't force a player that has little time to play, out of a game.  The goal is to grow subscription numbers, not to keep games limited to just the few that have 40-60 hours a week to play and farm what they need.

Originally posted by Shannia

I actually like Blizzard's point on all this.  You won't be able to fight the ebayers all the time.  Fight them where and when you can.  But in game, to get the best gear you HAVE to be a raider or die-hard pvper.  There is no other choice about it.  Sure, you can "buy" some really good gear, but it will never be the best.  Why spend all this time whining that Dr Phil bought his epic sword of doom?  Sure, he may have a slight advantage over you for a very brief point in time, but you... the die-hard raider/pvper will ultimately remain king/queen in the game.  

Like it or not, gold sellers bring players to our games and money to the bottom for the developers of said games.  Personally, I'd rather see Dr Phil buy his epic sword of doom straight from Blizzard or SoE instead of via the IGEs of the world.  Companies won't reduce time sinks because that will cost them money.  An easy way to do that is to keep the best items available only to the die-hard raiders/pvpers, yet have an item mall where anyone can go and buy what they need to keep them playing the game.  More and more, people have more money than time.

You have players that play 40-60 hours a week and they want to keep their "right" to being the best via the gear they have.  I won't argue, they have earned the right to wear that gear.  On the other hand, you shouldn't force a player that has little time to play, out of a game.  The goal is to grow subscription numbers, not to keep games limited to just the few that have 40-60 hours a week to play and farm what they need.

 

That would be true if people didnt sell their items once they quit.

What I’m going to describe comes from WoW.

Imagine someone who has a work (that means that he/she can afford to buy almost
any amount of gold or equipment) and just wants to play the game for 3-4 hours per day.
He/she wants to participate in raids, thus spending gold (or farming herbs and staff) to
buy his/her consumables. He/she doesn’t want to farm anything or to gain the perfect
gear – just to participate in raids. This person is “forced” to buy gold, just because the
“stupid” game design says: “in order to raid 4 hour per day you have to farm 3 hours.”

I haven’t got a job yet and I’m not buying gold or anything; but I know gamers that they
do and I can understand why.

PS. Changing the game’s design is the only way to affect the prices/demand
of gold/items. Exactly what Bliz did with the huge nerf of alchemy @ tBC.

That same a$$hat is paying someone to bot a character for 24 hours a day and putting someone into a login que, or not allowing a real player to transfer to that server and play with their friends due to server caps, etc etc.  Or he is paying someone that hacks players accounts and steals the gold/items.  Maybe he is giving his cash to a company that exploits a gold duplicating bug that is crashing the economy making EVERYONE pay more for goods and services.

You see this isn't victomless and the person who wants to skip playing in a virtual world should just go back to single player games.  If you don't want to play they game, then find something else to play.  If you don't have enough time to play then cut back on other in game activities. 

In WoW for example I can farm gold for an hour and pay for my entire weeks expenses of raiding.  There is no excuse to buy gold except being lazy.

Originally posted by markoraos

 

I don't see why it shouldn't work in a "normal" MMORPG setting...  You can have a persistent world with PvE without linear progression and associated grind. I can see GW-style "you begin at max level" progression work perfectly in a MMO.

In fact, in a multiplayer game this model would work much much better than linear progression which is inherited from single-player rpgs and which is, frankly, not suited to a multiplayer environment at all.

EVE is another step in the right direction - a new player can become competetive raher quickly if he concentrates on one set of skills. Older players have more breadth regarding the ships and roles they can use but the sharply exponential cost of raising higher skill levels effectively ensures that even the relative noobs can be useful if they play smart.

Linear games are suited well to the multiplayer environment.  The success of the current linear games (over the more lateral games I might add) should demonstrate this.

Personally, I enjoy the games that are a mixture between the two extremes.

Originally posted by Barge

or devs could create a system in which itemization is not king

or people could just enjoy the ride to the top instead of being consumed by having the best stuff

The first MMO I personally played... wasn't based on items (UO at least at first).

I pvp'd in stuff I crafted myself and used to loot a lot of "invuln" armor and the similar pieces for weapons (been forever so I forget the top magic tier name for those.. maybe slaying..)

Gear didn't seem to make a difference.. tho pvp types would pay a ton for those "rare" magic items andI was more than happy to sell them .. as I would never use them.

But maybe we should come up for a replacement name for ebay... since they will delist any virtual auction sale they become aware of.  (this is a policy they've had for a while now.. due to the massive amount of fraud related to virtual sales.)

Originally posted by Hufftoth

In any game where the gear a persion can buy is a lot better then what he can get solo or in a small group within reasonable time. People are forced to either buy gold or use a unreasonable amount of time in order to catch up with the crowd.

 

I think that if the MMO companies worked better on implenting quests and encounters that enabled alts and people coming back to the game to gear up to a level where they could participate in whatever they wanted too. There would be no point in buying gold.

If the best gear enables you to do 1500 DPS, the average gamer should be able to get up to 1350-1400 DPS in a mather of days.

 

 

 

I know it is probably hard to get anything out of my rambling but anyhow, anyone have any thoughts on this?

So wanne short cut easy way to have also uber gear so you can pawn a guy who realy EARNED his gear by playing, its just a call for legit cheating thats all.

And the dps thing LMAO its realy sad this crying:P

Its never excuse to say when you cant play so much i need to be aloud to buy my gold/gear, you just wanne cheat simple.

Originally posted by forest-nl

 

Originally posted by Hufftoth

In any game where the gear a persion can buy is a lot better then what he can get solo or in a small group within reasonable time. People are forced to either buy gold or use a unreasonable amount of time in order to catch up with the crowd.

 

I think that if the MMO companies worked better on implenting quests and encounters that enabled alts and people coming back to the game to gear up to a level where they could participate in whatever they wanted too. There would be no point in buying gold.

If the best gear enables you to do 1500 DPS, the average gamer should be able to get up to 1350-1400 DPS in a mather of days.

 

 

 

I know it is probably hard to get anything out of my rambling but anyhow, anyone have any thoughts on this?

Omg this is so funny, whining about, i can play much so i cant get my uber gear, cry cry cry then shout ingame and on forums HE HAVE UBER IWANT I WANT NOW, and complain that other guy have uber gear becouse he play alot.

 

So wanne short cut easy way to have also uber gear so you can pawn a guy who realy EARNED his gear by playing, its just a call for legit cheating thats all.

And the dps thing LMAO its realy sad this crying:P

Its never excuse to say when you cant play so much i need to be aloud to buy my gold/gear, you just wanne cheat simple.

He HAS Uber... not He HAVE Uber

because... not becouse

because he plays a lot... not because he play alot.

Wana, or Want to not Wanne...

Have also uber gear? I have nothing on that

it's really sad this crying .... not its realy sad this crying

It's never an excuse... not its never excuse

allowed not aloud