(05-29-2013, 04:56 AM)Taem Wrote: Post I Replied To:
Quote:That's all fine and dandy, but will PoE be successful enough to financially continue? How many people are playing the game, and more importantly, spending money on it? I've never seen a game where so many people I know have spent that much time on it, yet so little money.
Don't get me wrong, I love PoE. It's a mature, complex, and rewarding game. I play a lot, whether it be races, hardcore, or softcore. But already the population seems to have shrunk many times over, and the people I do have contact with aren't spending money on the game (I usually give the devs $20 a month, but I don't even want to buy anything from their micro-transaction shop).
Lol, that was my post you replied to and quoted here. When the forums changed someone took Monty so I had to use another name. I do not play MXL anymore but I still lurk the forums. I see Sigma has been halted and they're starting from scratch? Anyway...
As much as I love POE I try to take a step back and see what others are doing. I asked a vast majority of people on my friends list what they've spent on the game, and considering how much I've seen them play it was pittance. I've listened to several interviews with the developers of GGG and they did say they had some serious financial backers and they've done well so far, but they've also expressed interest of supporting the game for ten years, and at the current model I do not see that working.
Even though GGG said they would not charge for upcoming content, I think it would be a smart move. People are itching for more acts, and why not charge for it? They already have three free acts. Chris Wilson has said if he could go back and launch PoE again, he would probably charge for the base game. The more I think of it the more it makes sense. I mean if you know about ARPGs and how they work, and hear generally good things about PoE, I think most people would pick up the game for 10-20 US dollars. If you have no idea how ARPGS work and you install this free to play game, I can't see that many people taking interest in it. It has a brutal learning curve and not everything is explained too well.
I think your idea of "gold" is smart and would be very profitable for the company, but personally I'd rather not have it in game. But I understand where you're getting at, and I think to sustain a free to play game of this scale, something along that feature would work.