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[Zalis]

How do microtransactions differ from expansions? That's the part I don't get.

Micro-transactions can be only a few dollars. Expansions/DLC tend to be more significant, like $15-30, depending on the game/publishEAr.

I've held off buying the additional missions for Saints Row 3 because it seems they are over-priced. Too little additional content for the price tag. Is that the usual problem with map packs?

IMO, yes. Look at CoD again... You pay $15 for maps that you KNOW everyone will be playing, so you feel pressured. (keep in mind this is already a $60 game) Selling maps is a horrible practice, because it divides the player base. For your single-player DLC, I think Saint's Row 3's affordable way was to get the Season Pass thing. Individually-priced DLC can't match that.

Or they could just put the whole game in at launch. That's something I miss... Selling DLC is part of why I get leery of D3's always-online DRM. Industry trends, etc.

[Alaris]

Season pass is 20$, the DLCs are 7$ each for 3 of them. So the season pass only saves you 1$ and gives you an additional costume and maybe a car if I remember correctly.

Still, that's 7$ for 2-3 missions maybe a bit more vs 15$ for a single map. I think the problem is less about the practice, and more about the pricing.

Always-online is a bad practice though. I say drop the DRM, and start paying attention to your actual paying customers.

[RD]

Microtransactions, DLC, and Expansions are different.

Microtransactions usually just supplement your gaming experience: Buying powerups for example.
DLC is small new content: Maps are one example.
Expansions are like a whole new game, used to continue stories from the original.

It's gotten a bit muddier, with DLC that continues stories (Dragon Age) or adds skins or weapons (Just Cause 2, Saints Row 3). To me, the latter two things are more Microtransaction-y, but I think they just call them DLC so gamers don't cry.

[Alaris]

I think they just call them DLC so gamers don't cry.

Makes me lol that this would work.

If you reduce everything to fun / $, really, the name shouldn't matter. The only real trade-off is between smaller transactions where you can pick & choose, and larger ones where you get a bulk discount.

Having to buy WotLK and Cataclysm just so I can play Worgen seems a really expensive slap in the face, given how unlikely I'll even get as far as the 2nd expansion. That's once case where buying just the race would have been a good option for me.

Of course, big greedy companies like to see how they can tweak the content/price to get the best income with minimal effort.

[RD]

Makes me lol that this would work.

You're a psychologist: You shouldn't really be all that surprised. Anyway, it's called marketing.

Having to buy WotLK and Cataclysm just so I can play Worgen seems a really expensive slap in the face, given how unlikely I'll even get as far as the 2nd expansion. That's once case where buying just the race would have been a good option for me.

But those are expansions. They're packaged with stuff you HAVE TO HAVE like the new raid content (because you're tired of the old raid content) and level increases. (I don't actually know what is in the WoW Expansions, but that's what EQ usually did).

If Blizzard created a new boss / zone and tried to sell it for $10 as DLC, players would lose their minds. Or even worse, if they added an in-game store (I don't think they have one?) that allowed you to buy these new bosses / zones / whatever and called them microtransactions. Those kinds of things only work in F2P games and the reason F2P games took SO LONG to catch is is because they used to be so inaccessible for free players. These days, successful F2P games give you ALL the content for free, but limits the highest-end things. They let you buy a class or race or zone or WHATEVER for a decent price, a ONE-TIME price.

[Alaris]

You're a psychologist: You shouldn't really be all that surprised. Anyway, it's called marketing.

I'm not surprised, I'm amused. People do need to learn to make better decisions, and that includes consumption.

I'm really for a no-nonsense approach to marketing.

But those are expansions. They're packaged with stuff you HAVE TO HAVE

Well, Blizzard is a poor judge of that, because those things I have to have now come prepackaged with a lot of junk I would probably never get to use or at least not use until a loooong time from now.

These days, successful F2P games give you ALL the content for free, but limits the highest-end things. They let you buy a class or race or zone or WHATEVER for a decent price, a ONE-TIME price.

Ah, I want to hear more about that.

Races are mainly cosmetic I imagine, right? Classes I imagine offer new gameplay but otherwise are not required in groups because their function can be replaced by others, right?

How do they limit highest-end things?

[Zalis]

TA gives you the original 3 Tribes classes initially (light/med/heavy), and the 6 new ones need to be unlocked via gold or for reasonable amounts of XP. It's not a ridiculous amount, and most of them are variations on the original classes, so it's not a big deal. Honestly, I think the starter classes are good for learning the game, and players wouldn't learn the mechanics as well without playing them first.

Within reason, I don't care what can be purchased, so long as it's not overpowered and there's also an option to unlock it with earned xp.

[RD]

In EQ, the races are not just cosmetic; they have different stats. Though, as I understand it, these days it doesn't make too much of a difference.
In LotRO the races get different racial traits (passive / active skills you can earn).

As far as classes replacing group functions, that really depends. In LotRO, all the classes are very different, so there are only a couple of options for each role. In EQ, there are a few options, but they only give you four classes and four races (I think it's Warrior, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue), so if you want anything more interesting, you have to pay for it. In LotRO I think you get all the classes free except the ones that come with Moria.

I don't know how to explain the limits that well. In EQ there are these things called Alternate Advancement (AA) which make your character stronger and are a second kind of level. I think it takes the experience of level 40 > 41 to get one, but that may have changed. Then you spend them to increase your stats, get new spells, lots of things like that. If you are a free member, they limit the number of AAs you can have.
Most F2P MMOs limit bag space or bank space or amount of money you can have, too. For someone who plays casually or never gets to the end-game, it's not usually an issue, but if you're going to be raiding and stuff, it could be troublesome.
In LotRO I think there was something with Legendary Items, too, but I never got high enough to encounter it. And those are difficult enough on their own to understand.

[Tender Wolf]

New Sims 3 stuff pack announced! I guess after all the bad hype EA was getting about the Katy Perry one, they decided to release another one before the next expanion. Set for release in July, the next stuff pack is Diesel.



To be honest, I'd never heard of Diesel before. My first thought was that they were doing another Fast Lane-type stuff pack only with semi trucks. lol I don't own any of this stuff in real life, but I guess they're going the Ikea route again and putting actual real-life stuff into a virtual world. Here are some screens of some of the items:









Speaking of the next expansion pack, rumor has it that it will have werewolves (like I said, you can't have vampires without werewolves!!!), witches, fairies, zombies, and probably some other supernatural creatures. Nothing is confirmed yet by EA, but one of the patches leaked a werewolf face slider in Create A Sim, and SimsVIP has a list of leaked animations, effects, etc. *crosses fingers*

[JoeKnowMo]

The Grim Dawn KickStarter reached its funding goal as well as all stretch goals. :D I plunked down for the co-op bundle with the expansion.

Here's the stretch goals that our money is going to help create:

[UNLOCKED] $350k - Dual wielding pistols (feature tech and new animation set)
[UNLOCKED] $360k - 25 extra pieces of unique item art
[UNLOCKED] $375k - Additional end-game boss monster (total of 2) lurking somewhere out there in the darkness for you to find...
[UNLOCKED] $385k - 25 more pieces of unique item art
[UNLOCKED] $400k - A new environment set that you'll get to decide on. We'll create a thread on the Grim Dawn forums to discuss ideas with fans, then select the best ideas and create a poll for you to vote the one you want most.
[UNLOCKED] $412k - 2 additional monster types (models and animations)
[UNLOCKED] $425k - Three large, high-level dungeons, each with its own theme and named hero monster. The dungeon entrances will randomly appear in the world.
[UNLOCKED] $450k - Savage two-handed melee weapons (includes animations and all the art required to create an entirely new item type)
[UNLOCKED] $465k - Additional end-game boss (total of 3) to encounter in some dark and dangerous corner of the world.
[UNLOCKED] $480k - New survivor town hidden in the remote wilderness for you to discover. Will include a new faction group and new quest-lines to unlock once you've gained their trust.
[UNLOCKED] $480.5k - New and higher-quality developer beer, as requested by many after the sad beer in Update #10. Surely this will help enhance the quality of all our work!
[UNLOCKED] $490k - 2 additional monster types (models and animations) and another 25 extra pieces of unique item art
[UNLOCKED] $500k - A new dungeon art-set with a choice of catacom... scratch that! Not exciting enough? Fans have suggesting visiting the Aetherial or Chthonic home-worlds and we're down for that! We'll post a thread on the forum to gather other ideas and then put it up to vote in a poll. ; )
[UNLOCKED] $520k - SURVIVAL MODE! We'll create a new gameplay mode that will be free for all backers (KS or Website Pre-order). In survival mode players will fight to stay alive against increasingly difficult waves of monsters. It will release sometime after the game so as not to delay development.
[UNLOCKED] $535k - A new faction and story-line! This stretch goal was determined by a fan poll thanks to William Potash for having the idea to run that!

What I love is how some of the goals rely on fan voting. I also like how they specifically stated that they will not begin working on the expansion until after the game releases.

If you've held off on D3's due to its server side persistent character storage (what people are mistakenly calling "always online DRM") then Grim Dawn will probably fill that niche. Of course, TL2 releases soon and Path of Exile will switch to open beta at some point this year. My gut feeling is that GD will have a high longevity due to the expansion and mod tools. It's gotten attention from several gaming sites after going on KickStarter and releasing on Steam will only help.