I don't think people really understand the cash shop, at all.
Items that change the game in any way (alternate equipment and the like) still drop as they always have. If you do not wish to wait on luck, you can purchase it. They are not upgrades, but side-grades, so it won't break the game because some people have them sooner then others. Hats, which are completely cosmetic, will still drop for the most part. Hats produced by the community will be sold in the cash shop exclusively, with a portion of that money going back to their creators.
It's literally doing nothing to break your game, which has continuously given you major, free content for the last three years, unabated.
Kinda funny how most reactions to this are of understanding and acceptance, while the exact same thing for EA Tiger Woods has always seemed to be a major point of contention. Maybe this is just an overall shift towards acceptance, or perhaps it's more accepted with this because it is a beloved game made by a beloved company. *shrugs*
In any case, I've always been fine with cash shops as long as they do not break two rules --
#1) Do not RENT items. This trend seems to be fairly exclusive to Korean games at the moment like Gunbound where you pay real money to buy something for a limited amount of time. That is absolutely ridiculous and feels like a huge scam. Yes, a fool and their money are soon parted, caveat emptor, etc. but it's still a sleazy way to do business.
#2) Do not reward people for not playing your game. That is to say do not make cash stores the only way to get an item that enhances ones skills / character / etc. Vanity items or different skins for weapons / mounts / whatever are fine, but don't offer some weapon or item that is better than what can be acquired in-game without having to fork over real cash.
I have been trying to log in to see what it was exactly, but every time I did it was off line. Reading this thread, and finding out that it's just them nickle and dimming the unlocks, just sowered that game for me big time. It cheapens the hours and hours people put into earning those unlocks, and devalues the whole point of the system.
First time in a long time that I have been disappointed by Valve. I remember being excited when they announced the wallet thing thinking it was going to be for gift cards, but it makes me sad to see that it was developed for this crap.
Log in to comment