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This has been discussed to death. Quick version is that right now, Carbine gets money from creating content enough to justify the average player paying a sub. Under PvE they get it by creating content that focuses on the whales who will fund everyone else's ability to play. And to quote Vic: "I don't want to be milked".


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You forgot to include the other difference between RMT-based models like CREDD and B2P-based models, so in the interests of a fair comparison, here it is. The person who is playing the game without paying any money themselves has to farm plat for hours to earn their CREDD token. That means that they have to value the game enough to farm plat for hours without valuing the game enough to pay $15 for it--because if they valued the game enough to pay $15 for it, they'd be conventional cash subscribers. There is a minimum level of in-game time spent farming resources that must be sustained continually in a RMT-based model like CREDD in order for a CREDD-based subscription to not lapse out and fail. It's trivial to reach for hardcore players who spend several hours a week playing--but not nearly as much for players who aren't so dedicated to the game that they spend lots of time paying attention to where the phat lewt is located and learning to make plat efficiently and effectively. And if they DO lapse out at any point, the RMT-based player cannot re-enter the game without spending more cash on it. In contrast, a B2P player who has bought the game is free to leave whenever they get busy with other things, come back whenever they want, and pick right back up where they left off at any time. And what that means is that in a B2P game, migrating players are free to come back and check the game out again at any time, at which point they have the potential to re-enter the revenue stream at a cash shop. In a RMT game, migrating players must pay a cover charge and re-enter the revenue stream just to get back in to check things out again. B2P is much friendlier for people to leave and come back to than RMT is.


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I'm going to try and respond to your edited post here, so that I didn't miss it. I'm slowly reaching the point of spreading too thin with all of the posting I've been doing the past few days. (Damn gf's best friend being needy and taking up all of my gf time!) I believe Wildstar PvP captures a market share of people that enjoy MMOs as well as PvP, and don't like to invest themselves across multiple games. People get attached to their character / characters. People get attached to their online persona / their online friends. People play MMOs for all different sorts of reasons, competition and mmo strategy being one of them. The thing that Wildstar apart from other mmos is that it feels like good PvP. When I swing my sword, I don't have to have a target, because I'm swinging a huge sword. Guild Wars 2 captures that in a sense, but has its own issues. Where WoW trends to all classes having similar but different skinned / animated abilities and CC, Wildstar feels as if each class feels fluid, and is different. For instance, with the warrior, swinging their sword cleaves damage. Kicking is an instant kick to the face that knocks someone down. Leap is a jumping ability that actually does what you'd expect it to do. GCDs change based on the ability, etc. The combat is fast paced, and each role servers a purpose, and has its own strengths and weaknesses. Honestly though EsperXIV, the thing that keeps me here is the potential. Some people see warplots, and see a massive zergfest which just jumps from point to point. I see potential for roaming groups of 5 to go for points, PvP competitive PvP at each point, and then regroup when it is time to invade the base. I see the potential for large scale team play aspects that aren't being realized yet. I see ways to bust the zerg ala DAoC / Warhammer Online, and I see ways of competitive small scale PvP like WoW 2v2/3v3 arenas all in Warplots. 2v2 / 3v3 arena have the potential to be ultra competitive. With the availability of AMP / Ability Points now, easy change AMPs and LAS, etc, matches can get very interesting and very meta. People have the opportunity to try new things. There is no more boosting to 1800, then selling that account on playerauctions under the same account name you stream wildstar with. There is no more grinding noobs just for gear. Right now, combat is a little too fast paced. Movement speed is just a little bit too high, and TTK is certainly about 20% too low. Damage and healing need to move back toward release values, and PvE gear like Genetic Failsafe need a trade-off, or that PvE one that shield overloads for 10s need to go from PvP. Cleanse needs a priority system change. Further, this game is entertaining to watch. Screen shake makes it feel like you're bashing the target in, or getting lit up yourself. Battlegrounds provide goal oriented pvp combat. I'm sorry this isn't a better description of why I like this game, but I'm sure I'll have another one fleshed out soon in another post somewhere.


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I don't really know how you can apply morals to this kind of thing... As to your other question. I do see it as harmful to go around saying "everything is fine! Do not look at the $ numbers! The last drop was awesome, and our guild had new players apply! They finally turned it around, WS is growing!". In short, you can't fix something if you don't recognize it's a problem. As far as the opposite goes, I see a lot of people trying to bring up the dire situation the game is in with the intent to discuss what to do about it, but time after time getting derailed by those saying that everything's fine, the population drop was WoW's fault, the game is already good enough after the last drop, all we need are players to see how great WS is. That's patently untrue, WS is still loosing interest daily. Not recognizing that is what is stopping us from actually making the next step, trying to figure out what we can do to help. So no, the "sky is falling" predictions are not "wrong" nor are they harmful. Once we can actually move past acceptance we can start working on the problem, but as long as people keep covering their eyes saying that everything is fine that will never happen.


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You obviously picked the wrong faction :D


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No one is saying that "everything is fine". Those of us pointing out that, by certain measurements at least, the game seems to be slowly recovering are in now way blind to things WildStar still needs to improve. We're simply countering other people's assertions that the population is in a death spiral. Adding a half dozen new player guild members every day is not a death spiral.


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Yep- only needs to hook a couple of whales. I want no part of that. My zones are all a lot more full than he showed. Oh well- this kind of press may end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. I sure hope not.


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