Why am I getting the feeling I can't afford anything anymore?

[NoiseHERO]

wait a minute...

the only difference between gear and costumes are electronic numbers... D:

Don't be hatin' on the costumes, even though 90% of them look like crap so far IMO... (for guys at least)

[Eternal255]

The only real questions when playing a free-to-play game are:
1). Does it entice you enough to spend the money?
2). If so, which features do you think are worth paying for?

If #1 is no, then stop playing the game
If #2 is the clothing, well this game has a really shitty "skins" feature which you have to gamble for. Obviously other people do it and put up things they dont want or just want to make meseta. So go buy a shop. Buy a shop, make 2-3 mil (however much it costs) and more (which you WILL make in one month of having a shop, easily) and buy the items you want with meseta.

Shop is 700-800AC ? Vs gambling for the skin ~200AC a shot? So you're much better off getting the shop, selling things over the month and getting what you want while having lots of meseta to spend later as well.

[Alenoir]

If #2 is the clothing, well this game has a really shitty "skins" feature which you have to gamble for.

Not just this game. Most, if not all, F2P games uses a random box system to get people to spend money. At the very least, weapons and units with high stats are not being put in scratches in this game, unlike some other games I've seen.

[hbmizzle10]

I doubt they'll change this.
They need money.

they don't. they are are not even broke anymore

[Alenoir]

they don't. they are are not even broke anymore

Video games, maybe. The slot division still lose a lot of money.

[Eternal255]

Not just this game. Most, if not all, F2P games uses a random box system to get people to spend money. At the very least, weapons and units with high stats are not being put in scratches in this game, unlike some other games I've seen.

oh idk, only other one i played was LoL so im not sure how they work exactly. but my idea is still the same, you're better off buying something thats a guaranteed thing and using it to get something else you want (and if you're at this point of the game, im assuming you know how markets work so you should be able to use it right)

[Stormwalker]

This part stood out to me and it highlights the big problem I have with this game right now. This is something every F2P game company needs to ask themselves and if the answer to either of these is "no" or "nothing", something is wrong.

1 is a no for me. I can't justify throwing money into a gambling system. That's only one aspect of the game, and I have no issues with the idea of paying for shops or skill trees or whatever, but the existence of the gacha system and how actively they're trying to make the game unbearable for free players and new players, even premium players to an extent...I can't justify financially supporting those actions.


F2P games can be great if they're managed right. It's just very clear to me that Sega has no idea how to properly run it yet.

For what it's worth, I completely agree with you about the gacha/AC scratch system. I refuse to pay into it, because I don't think it's worthwhile. That said, I understand why Sega does it this way.

See, if people could just buy costumes for themselves, it really *would* be the pay-to-win scheme that some people claim all F2P games are. Why is this? Because if you could just buy costumes, people would buy them and list them for pretty much the same meseta prices they're going for now (or even higher. After all, a lot of costumes listed now are only on the player shops because someone got one they didn't want...) and at that point you're basically legit RMT. Cash for meseta. On top of that, only the most popular costumes would ever show up on player shops, because why would someone pay real money to sell a costume that wouldn't demand a high price on the market?

The only way you could prevent this would be to make costumes untradeable. But if you do that, then the only people who would EVER have a costume would be the ones who bought them with real money. Some would argue that this is an acceptable solution. I might even agree with them (in fact, I do). This is the way City of Heroes did it, after all. On the other hand, those players who like costumes but really can't afford to spend money on every new costume that comes out might not prefer this solution!

By not allowing the player to specifically buy the costume they *want*, you guarantee two things:

1). People will resell the costumes they don't want, ensuring a flow of costumes into the player shop system.

2). People will not be able to reliably transform real money into meseta through the AC scratch.

Both of these goals are desirable for SEGA, and to an extent they are desirable for the player community, too.

That said, you don't have to play the AC scratch. As long as someone--or, rather as long as *enough* someones play it, the game economy takes care of the rest by distributing the costumes back into the community through player shops.

It is entirely possible to get any costume in this game just by running a player shop and having some patience. It's not going to happen instantly, but in a way, that is part of the fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm no master market manipulator, and I don't intend to become one. But getting drops, checking prices, seeing which ones sell, putting aside money for the thing I want.... I feel as though I have *earned* these costumes, rather than just buying them. This makes the game more rewarding to me.

As far as I'm concerned, Premium isn't money I'm spending to buy stuff. It's money I'm spending to play the game, to have the full experience of playing the game. At first I had my doubts about whether it would be worth it, but the fact is, having Premium changes the game experience considerably for me, and I can't fathom going back.

Your mileage, as ever, may vary.

Postscript:
Actually, I have another suggestion regarding how to handle the AC Scratch items, though I don't know if SEGA would be agreeable to it (I'm not sure how it would work out for them, revenue-wise. Financial analysis is not my thing.)

My suggestion:
Eliminate the AC Scratch. Put all the AC Scratch items into a new FUN Scratch (FUN Scratch Gold, perhaps) with a higher cost. Given FUN accumulates rather quickly, this cost would have to be fairly high. Continue the double-FUN benefit for Premium to encourage people to buy Premium. Maybe even increase it to triple or quadruple.

Purposes this serves:
1). It adds incentive to buy the Premium service by making it seem more worthwhile to those who aren't interested in the MyRoom or the extra storage space (i.e., convince more people who are just buying MyShop passes now to go in for full Premium).

2). Maintains the random distribution of costumes into the game economy, but in a way that does not require players to directly spend real-money for each chance at a costume.

3). Allows even a player who pays nothing at all to have an outside shot at a costume. Eventually, the free player will get costumes they don't want and have incentive to at least buy a MyShop pass.

4). Encourages people to do things that build FUN, which is the purpose of the FUN scratch to begin with.

Like I said, i don't know how it would work out on the money side... it's just a thought.

[Alenoir]

@FUN Gold idea
Probably won't make them as much money. I remember hearing (and seeing it myself) other people pour anywhere from $30 to a few hundred USD into a random box in other games. I assume it's the same thing in this game. With the amount of costumes I see in player shop when I search for them, it seem to support the assumption.

[Macman]

Simple: directly bought costumes aren't tradable. Gacha costumes are tradable.