I learned yesterday that Rift - another F2P game - is charging for its next expansion. This expansion includes a new level cap, several new zones, new abilities, and so on. It is only available as a cash purchase, without an option for using the tradeable "cash-equivalent" currency, putting it firmly into B2P territory.
This got me thinking about what that expansion will offer vs what AoY offers. AoY provides a new faction and a few new queues, and the faction is basically an extended tutorial (which you can only replay by starting a new character) for an existing faction. I don't count the new ground animations because they are broken (along with many other ground animations since AoY hit, actually). I don't include the "temporal agent" stuff, either, because it is 1) only available as a limited-time recruitment event, 2) a shopping list for completing old content, and 3) actually the Delta Recruit event, according to many sources in the game (I bet there were some heated words in the office over that).
Rift's expansion, while not F2P, is absolutely vast by comparison.
Cryptic, do you think that AoY compares favorably to other expansion packs in the MMORPG industry? Would you feel justified in charging $40 - the industry standard price for paid expansions - for AoY?
This got me thinking about what that expansion will offer vs what AoY offers. AoY provides a new faction and a few new queues, and the faction is basically an extended tutorial (which you can only replay by starting a new character) for an existing faction. I don't count the new ground animations because they are broken (along with many other ground animations since AoY hit, actually). I don't include the "temporal agent" stuff, either, because it is 1) only available as a limited-time recruitment event, 2) a shopping list for completing old content, and 3) actually the Delta Recruit event, according to many sources in the game (I bet there were some heated words in the office over that).
Rift's expansion, while not F2P, is absolutely vast by comparison.
Cryptic, do you think that AoY compares favorably to other expansion packs in the MMORPG industry? Would you feel justified in charging $40 - the industry standard price for paid expansions - for AoY?