ArenaNet: Mike O’Brien on Microtransactions in Guild Wars 2
Mar
22
Written by:
3/22/2012 12:39 AM
As promised, yesterday, we took a glimpse of how the microtransaction system of Guild Wars 2 is going to work. Mr Mike O'Brien explained several things regarding the goals and the mechanics of the in game economy.
The content of the microtransaction store seems to be still under thought. ArenaNet's perspective though on this subject always remains the same.
No pay to win model! Cosmetic stuff, account services and time-saving convenience items are things that are considered as the basis of the store. All in all, this follows the same principles with the one used in Guild Wars.
Currency in Guild Wars 2 has 3 forms. There's
coin which is the in game gold that players can farm and trade,
karma which players can earn by participating in events but cannot trade to each other and the new addition of
gems. These can be bought from the store for real money and used to purchase microtransactions. The main point of yesterday's blog post though relies on the following aspect.
Gems can be traded for gold and gold for gems.
As Mr O'Brien claims, the whole model is very similar to EVE Online’s PLEX system. ArenaNet approached this system in order to minimize the chances of real-money trading (RMT) companies showing up in game. There's much to doubt and more to espouse in this way of thinking. So, i won't exactly express my own opinion, till i witness it in action. The main reason is that i haven't experienced such a way of handling microtransactions ever before. For now, i'm gonna chill out and listen to the
calmer.
|
We have always taken our responsibility to players seriously with the original Guild Wars, and we will continue to do so with Guild Wars 2.
We believe the foundation I’ve described here is the right foundation
for us to build upon, and we look forward to sharing more details with
you in the future as we nail down our microtransaction content. |
Check out what the president of ArenaNet shared with all of us yesterday,
here.
What's your position on this hot topic? Leave a comment below or post in the corresponding
thread of our forums to let us know what you think.