Tree of Savior Forum

How to Cash Shop w/o P2W

Suggestions
#2

Lol, expiring cosmetics are the bane of my existence. Puzzle pirates used to do it in the saddest way - you were literally left with rags once something broke down.

I’m all for cash shop crafting materials (basic field stuff only), as sometimes, you just want your new weapon now. They should be untradable, though, as not to flood the market. Some would say it’s pseudo-pay2win, but really it’s pay2gettherefirst. Same with free teleport services. However, this might be a big issue depending on the mechanics of the hidden classes. We’ll have to see about that.

#3

I believe we already have a big discussion thread about P2W somewhere :smiley:
Nonetheless, your suggestion is good as well. As much as I hate items with expiration date (since I don’t have much time to play :cry:), it actually makes sense and also encourages people to buy more. Maple Story has done it for ages :dizzy_face:

#4

Yer ppl all have their own ideas on what makes a good cash shop and dosent hurt the game. I dont think every idea needa its own thread though… <_>

#5

What about like 10% exp bonus or 25%? Something small that’s not overpowered?

#6

Personally I’d be fine with XP boosts but I’m sure a lot of players will complain, especially if there are “guys guys quick whoever gets to x level first wins!” events.

1 Like
#7

Well, I thought about something like periodic small xp bonuses for anti-bot matters. Here, look:

Suggestion for Anti-bot Measure from Emil Chronicle Online example:

So, if everyone would have it, what’s so bad about selling 10% boost bonuses? With having cooldowns like “You already used one xp boost, please wait 24 hours to use another”, maybe that would balance things out

#8

Yeah, goes with my pay2gettherefirst idea. I agree, I see no issue with this, unless there is a limit on the amount of people who can have a hidden class (please don’t make another thread about this, but I’m bringing it up for this context). Then it’s pay2win, depending on how good the classes are, or at least, pay2exclude.

#9

Im in favor of EXP boosters. They only allow players to get to high-end content faster, but since every player can get there without paying it isnt considered P2W.

#10

NO ABSOLUTELY NOOO to non-permanent costumes. The only time i spent IRL money on games are on permanent costumes.

1 Like
#11

What you can sell in a Cash Shop:

  • Cosmetics(especially good money-makers are Anime-themed sets, epicly heavy armors, decent erotic dresses and other themed items like Succubus,Ninja etc.)
    [see Mabinogi]

  • Pets(if they offer minor stuff like animations/effects that’s a plus, if they give combat bonus it’s within P2W)

  • Progression Boosters (Exp booster, Money booster etc.)
    [see League of Legends]

  • Comfortability (Faster Travelling, Mounts, Teleportation, improved overview or easier management of any features that are not detrimental for the full game experience)
    [see Tera]

  • Freely obtainable(perhaps rare) Housing items
    [see Phantasy Star Online 2]

What you can NOT ever sell in a Cash Shop:

  • Equip with stats or extra Slots of anything that increases stats

  • Consumable stat-increases

  • Crafting materials

  • Chest keys/Chests with rare drops

  • Exaggerated boosters(for example much more than +200% EXP in a game with heavy grind [which this game most assuredly will be])

  • Cash Shop-Exclusive housing items

  • The Story

  • Access to content like Map areas, dungeons and the corresponding Monsters, Weapons and items available in these areas.

  • Any temporary (time-limited) items

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Follow this guideline and you will not be within the P2W zone, otherwise resulting in damage to the image(which is a huge success factor in todays harsh global market).
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1 Like
#12

In my experience, players are less likely to invest into time-limited cosmetics… And time limited items as such, for the most part. The reason? A noticeable part of F2P playerbase is comprised of people who do not commit to the game on a regular basis. This is especially true for old Ragnarok Online fans, who (considering how much time has passed since they played RO) are for the most part, employed and perhaps, even married with children by now. Which, unfortunately often means that they can no longer play every day - and are much less motivated to buy items that are bound to expire in a week’s time.

If there are cosmetics in the cash shop they should act as unlockables, but not as pay-to-rent stuff. I don’t mind paying for a weapon skin/costume/shop-exclusive dye set. Or a fancy-looking mount/pet. Or some gimmick to facilitate faster/easier travel (teleportation?). Or for exp boosters, for that matter - I’d rather welcome those so that I have means to catch up to people who play more often. But paying for something I may or may not be able to use in a week’s/month’s time is rather meh.

And please, PLEASE no “Pay2Win” grade stuff. If given a choice between p2w and subscription fee I’d go for latter any day,

#13

erm, I bet they’re gonna sell chest keys anyway. I don’t see it as a problem since you can obtain chest keys ingame as well, but if you want to unlock every chests you encounter then you gotta shell out some cash :relieved:. And it depends on what kind of items you can obtain from chests as well, hopefully not some OP end-game gears :scream:
If those “housing items” are just decorations for your barrack then I see no problem. It doesn’t affect you or anyone gameplay at all. If you want your barrack to look cool then yes you gotta pay for it.
They can have optional time-limited cosmetics as well. Players can either choose to rent a costume for cheap or pay for a costly permanent one :grin:

#14

Mounts are exploitable and can constitute p2w in select circumstances. Even if mounts are disabled upon entering combat (thus removing a tactical mobility advantage), this still provides an advantage in longterm guild war or world boss scenarios by allowing cash players to return to combat between deaths more rapidly.

There’s not any particular reason why crafting materials shouldn’t be available in the cash shop, assuming that by “crafting materials” we mean readily obtainable low-end materials that are merely sold in bulk in the shop for time convenience. If the materials are normally rare or very difficult to acquire (max-level raid boss drops etc.) then they should not be in the Cash Shop because doing so would effectively remove game content by making said raid superfluous and undermining classes / builds / players otherwise dedicated to taking down raid bosses specifically to acquire such materials.

#15

Hmmmm, I’m probably not in favour of crafting mats for cash. Mainly because “readily obtainable” items like this but with a bulk demand are responsible for a lot of gold/silver (whateva) flowing down from rich/lazy high lvl people to poor or lowish people. Also it could mess with the supply and demand of crafting players. As long as the farming bots are kept down, this area is full of opportunities for player>player social, world and economic activity. This is a F2P game, there should always be a whole army of new, noobie and mid lvl players to fill the AH with common mats.

#16

From my experience, chests in cash shops are usually some kind of gacha system where players spent a lot of money in order to get a rare costume, mount, with some trash items addition.

#17

And those boxes rack in TONS of money for the devs/publishers. I know 'cause I’m also a sucker for those gachapons (from Maple Story to Elsword to those X-Lengend games :cry:).

#18

Absolutely. But as long as the costumes do not give high bonus status, I’m fine with that or else it’ll be absolute pay 2 win.

#19

or just some minor boosts like HP +50, Str +2, Def +5, All stats 1%, etc. Seems totally fine to me.

#20

I’m not really sure about that. Even if the bonus stats aren’t that high, if people can equip more than 1 costumes with that similar bonuses then that is the same as high bonus stats.
But as long as the costumes are also obtainable without using cash (maybe we can get it from certain hidden quests), I think I’m fine with that.

#21

Oh God! Expiry of fashion is the last thing I want. :tired_face: