Real Money For Weapon Slots?!

[LilDisaster]

i realized a while ago that you need platinum for the weapon and warframe slots which i find is ridiculous because you guys emphasize that one should have full free-to-play experience.  I don't want to pay real money for that. i'd rather pay with a bunch of credits.  I hope you guys can consider this and fix this

[Vahlak]

You have the chance to acquire every item in the game, just not at the same time.   You have to realize they have to make some kind of money or the game will die, right? 

[Un1ted]

I agree but unfortunately we are in the minority, my friend. Seems most people that spend money on this game are perfectly fine with paying for slots, instead of having any options to get them in-game in any way.

[iPrevenge]

It's as if you guys think the world runs on bubble gum and happy thoughts.

[Vahlak]

I agree but unfortunately we are in the minority, my friend. Seems most people that spend money on this game are perfectly fine with paying for slots, instead of having any options to get them in-game in any way.

Slots are not required to play the game, they are merely a luxury.  If you want them you get them, but you don't need them.

[Mickey1779]

Every account comes with 50 platinum, how you spend that platinum is your choice.

 

You can buy a third warframe slot as well as 4 extra weapon slots with your starting platinum without even putting a cent into the game.

 

If you need more than 3 warframe slots and 8 weapon slots it is probably time to consider putting a few dollars into the game imo.

[Yargi]

Although I would like being able to get more slots with credits, I know that the devs have to make money somewhere. I'd rather have them make slots real-money only than start taking other things (like weapons or warframes) out of the credits list.

[Aver]

It's as if you guys think the world runs on bubble gum and happy thoughts.

cant i just dream it works that way and not have reality knock on my door for just one day? please...

[Ghobe]

Oh boy this topic again.

 

Look, if you made the mistake of not using the starting platinum to buy slots, that's your fault.

If you've used up both frame slots, and all 8 weapon slots, chances are, you've probably invested enough time into the game to seriously consider dropping $50+ on it, because you're obviously enjoying it. $50 too much? How about $30, $10, or even $5? Heck you can always wait until you get the 20%/50% off daily plat reward. Though going founder goes a long way towards getting you quite a bit too.

 

The game deserves at least $1 for every 1 hour of enjoyment you have received from it.

 

If you bring the argument that you should be able to get everything in the game without paying....you CAN! You're just arguing for being able to have EVERYTHING all at once, even though you're still going to use at most 3 frames and 9 weapons more than likely >.>

[DaftMeat]

Every account comes with 50 platinum, how you spend that platinum is your choice.

 

You can buy a third warframe slot as well as 4 extra weapon slots with your starting platinum without even putting a cent into the game.

 

If you need more than 3 warframe slots and 8 weapon slots it is probably time to consider putting a few dollars into the game imo.

QFT

[DaftMeat]

Oh boy this topic again.

 

Look, if you made the mistake of not using the starting platinum to buy slots, that's your fault.

If you've used up both frame slots, and all 8 weapon slots, chances are, you've probably invested enough time into the game to seriously consider dropping $50+ on it, because you're obviously enjoying it. $50 too much? How about $30, $10, or even $5? Heck you can always wait until you get the 20%/50% off daily plat reward. Though going founder goes a long way towards getting you quite a bit too.

 

The game deserves at least $1 for every 1 hour of enjoyment you have received from it.

 

If you bring the argument that you should be able to get everything in the game without paying....you CAN! You're just arguing for being able to have EVERYTHING all at once, even though you're still going to use at most 3 frames and 9 weapons more than likely >.>

QFT2

[Jairtheshadow]

well i just started playing this game and spent the first 50 on slots and just played the game until i wanted a new warframe...spent 10 on plats and shortly after spent another 10 on more slots..it's really worth it..i love this game and it's the first mmo that i've really enjoyed playing.

[RaventhePirate]

I'd say an easier way to fix this problem might be to allow for smaller real $ transactions. No one would care even if someone complained about having to spend $1 on a game that they have already spent the time to craft enough warframes/weapons that they'd need the extra space. $5 is extremely low, but $1 is insane.

[neKroMancer]

To be frank, the alternatives are a lot more horrendous than slot. If they give you free slots then something else equally profitable will take it's place.

What would you like to pay for instead of slots?

- Remove all cosmetic items from alert and make them plat only?

- Remove all potatoes and make them plat only?

- Some frames/weapons as plat only?

- Subscription-based game?

While I understand that it's annoying to have some sort of 'soft' barrier in the game that F2Pers can't cross with grind, the alternatives are rather horrible. To be frank, even if DE give players more slots via mastery system - there will never be 'enough' slots to hold everything. Buying it with credit is just silly since credit has low value and subjected to change in the future.

[Onbashira]

Look, if you made the mistake of not using the starting platinum to buy slots, that's your fault.

How dare someone new to the game not already know the what is the most useful thing to buy.

 

There are other ways DE can make money from this game that feel less restrictive.  Or they can fundamentally change the way the game is now and make it so filling up an armory isn't the only sense of progress.

Making cosmetic items plat only is a good idea.  Cosmetics are usually the bread and butter of F2P cash items.  But Since the helmets and skins change stats there aren't any actual cosmetic items.

[Phatose]

Well, if they made that mistake, there are several ways to fix it.  You can reset your account, or you can make another.  It means restarting, yes, but mistakes should come with consequences.

 

Beyond that, Warframe is already quite generous.  Slot restrictions are very very common in F2P games, both it terms of characters available (TOR and Tera, the 2 I have direct experience with, limit you to 2 per server) and in inventory slots, typically in the form of the game's bank - which is essentially WF's armory.  Team Fortress 2 is far more limited - you get all 9 classes, but only 50 inventory slots shared between all items for all classes, and you can't trade, so what you get is very much luck.

[Onbashira]

Yes but one dollar into TF2 and you can trade for life.  Its 20plat per slot and there are 16 frames.  Also frames are not like whole characters so the comparison to character slots in mmos is tenuous.  Additionally, the argument that spending the plat on anything but slots is a mistake that comes with consequences is completely asinine.  There should but be more starting slots and no starting plat if that is the sentiment.  People are going to feel burned when say they messed up at their chance to have vaguely more than a pittance of the game's available equipment at any given time.  And instead of resetting their account or spending money they are just as likely to stop playing the game.  And player retention is a serious issue.

[Phatose]

Increasing starting slots would only delay a player who's going to abandon the game for those reasons, not stop them.  Actually trying to stop them is likely pointless anyway - players of the variety are going to abandon the game eventually anyway, and are unlikely to be useful to the community.  We are, after all, talking about players who aren't merely in it for fun - if that was all they needed, they'd sell a frame or a weapon.

 

The idea that the goal is to amass as much as possible is the problem.  Warframe doesn't actually have a goal. 

Edited July 2, 2013 by Phatose

[Cpl_Facehugger]

i realized a while ago that you need platinum for the weapon and warframe slots which i find is ridiculous because you guys emphasize that one should have full free-to-play experience.  I don't want to pay real money for that. i'd rather pay with a bunch of credits.  I hope you guys can consider this and fix this

You are getting the full f2p experience. You've just gotta sell your weapons to make room for new ones. Which is annoying, but there's no content excepting Excal/Skana/Lato prime that's actually locked behind paywalls.

I mean, I support the idea of giving a slot every two mastery levels or something, but an awful lot of the arguments people are making here are really very entitled and fail to take into account the fact that DE needs to pay their bills in order to remain in business and keep on pumping out content and updates.

 

There are other ways DE can make money from this game that feel less restrictive.

For instance...?

I mean, what, removing the cosmetics from the alert pool? I could get behind that, but I suspect that alert helmets aren't taking a major bite out of DE's revenue. Removing potatoes from the alert system? Making void keys pay only?

Edited July 2, 2013 by Cpl_Facehugger

[Ghobe]

How dare someone new to the game not already know the what is the most useful thing to buy.

"Ignorance of the law is not exception to the law."

 

Making cosmetic items plat only is a good idea.  Cosmetics are usually the bread and butter of F2P cash items.

Although the former is correct, the latter is not. The cosmetics are typically burst and only if they are actually expensive($50-$200), they are actually NOT what makes the biggest money for a f2p company. Do some more research before making claims like this.

 

 

 

Its 20plat per slot and there are 16 frames.

I don't know anyone that plays this game that plays all 16 frames, hell I don't know anyone that actually keeps more than 5. Does that mean they don't exist? No. Does that mean these players haven't played EVERY frame from 0-30? No. Have those people experience all of the game? Yes.

 

Gameplay is not limited by slots. This is like buying inventory chests/bags/whatever in any other game. It is NICE to have, but it's far from required.

 

Also frames are not like whole characters so the comparison to character slots in mmos is tenuous

Wrong. Frames are just like characters, there's just no level limit/restrictions on weapons tied to your "character" but rather the level of your account. This is not the first game to do stuff like this.

 

Additionally, the argument that spending the plat on anything but slots is a mistake that comes with consequences is completely asinine.

That wasn't the notion. The notion was that if you complain about wanting more slots and you spent your starting plat on not slots, then you are the one at fault.

 

There should but be more starting slots and no starting plat if that is the sentiment.

Except there are other viable options if they want(2 potatoes for example).

 

And instead of resetting their account or spending money they are just as likely to stop playing the game.  And player retention is a serious issue.

Players that are this finicky, you don't want anyways.

[Onbashira]

"Ignorance of the law is not exception to the law."

 

Wrong. Frames are just like characters, there's just no level limit/restrictions on weapons tied to your "character" but rather the level of your account. This is not the first game to do stuff like this.

 

Players that are this finicky, you don't want anyways.

What are those games where leveling up different classes and switching them out is expected?  ToR has a classic class system where one is expected to remain the same class until end content.  A single frame does not grow as one goes from Mercury to Pluto it stops growing long before someone reaches end game content.  If frames were like characters or even classes why are the built and sold like equipment, switched out like equipment, and improve the same as equipment.  The only comparison I can think of is if in the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance series if characters had limited slots to retain abilities they learned from classes, and would have to relearn them if those abilities were sold for space.

 

As for the law, the law should be for the good of society.  Slot limits can scare away potential customers.  DE should look into it if they can.  If they already have I will stop discussing this subject.  But regardless of how finicky someone is DE is not in a position where someone's money isn't good enough for them.  They should be mindful of practices that could prove discouraging to new players.

[Ghobe]

What are those games where leveling up different classes and switching them out is expected?

Best example I have is Mabinogi where you're constantly resetting your level back to 1, but you're able to continue using any equipment you find no matter how powerful/modified it is. All the while you're still gaining skill points that carry over with each reset.

 

A single frame does not grow as one goes from Mercury to Pluto it stops growing long before someone reaches end game content.

Just because it hits rank 30 does not mean it can't grow anymore. It starts requiring some fertilizer(forma) which comes from what can pretty much be considered our end-game for what we have right now(Void/Alert).

 

If frames were like characters or even classes why are the built and sold like equipment, switched out like equipment, and improve the same as equipment.

That's like any game...sort of. You switch to your tank to tank, you switch to your healer to heal, they improve as you use them and are enhanced by the equipment(mods) you put on them. Just because you don't have a shoulder slot, does not mean that the mods are not equipment. Just because there aren't tiers of identical mods, does not mean that they are not the equivalent of gear. It's like a hole vs a house for shelter, very different in specifics, but the same at the root.

 

Slot limits can scare away potential customers.

Slot limits never scare away customers. Slot limits scare away free-only players that will never spend a dime on your game.

 

But regardless of how finicky someone is DE is not in a position where someone's money isn't good enough for them.  They should be mindful of practices that could prove discouraging to new players.

A player that is unwilling to buy a frame/weapon slot is also typically unwilling to buy a frame/weapon, color palette, sentinel, cosmetics, etc.

[Onbashira]

But its not like any game.  Say, getting a healer and a DPS both to 85 and logging out of one to log in another for a raid is a completely different context from taking your mods out of your Loki to put them in a Frost for a defense mission.

Also mods could just as easily be said to be the equivalent of slotted gems that don't lock into the slots.

 

Slot limits never scare away customers. Slot limits scare away free-only players that will never spend a dime on your game.

 

A player that is unwilling to buy a frame/weapon slot is also typically unwilling to buy a frame/weapon, color palette, sentinel, cosmetics, etc.

You sound really sure of these claims.  Where are the statistics you're drawing these conclusions from?

[Ghobe]

But its not like any game.  Say, getting a healer and a DPS both to 85 and logging out of one to log in another for a raid is a completely different context from taking your mods out of your Loki to put them in a Frost for a defense mission.

How? Both your Loki and Frost need to be the same rank to use the same mods. The only thing here is that unlike your WoW example there, the equipment can be used on your other character.

Also mods could just as easily be said to be the equivalent of slotted gems that don't lock into the slots.

Gems are just another form of gear.

 

You sound really sure of these claims.  Where are the statistics you're drawing these conclusions from?

It's actually one of the preferred ways of doing game design in the f2p market. See this article, specifically the section about Progress Gates, subsection Soft.

 

If you're looking for something more official and professional, sorry but that kind of specific information is not given out to the public by companies.

[Onbashira]

How? Both your Loki and Frost need to be the same rank to use the same mods. The only thing here is that unlike your WoW example there, the equipment can be used on your other character.

 

 

Gems are just another form of gear.

I got my Ember from one to thirty in a day.  A new character in another game can't use the old character's weapons to run Xini a few times for loads of xp.  And exactly, its mostly semantics.

 

Soft gates are described as time and resource barriers.  This is the foundry with its rush costs or just outright buying items to bypass farm time.  What slots are is reward removal.  The lv30 potatoed frame needs to be sold in order to get more stuff, losing all that hard work put into it.  Unless the person pays for more slots.  The article doesn't say how successful these techniques it describes are, it probably can't, but I do know that Zynga which is mentioned a few times as making games using those monetization methods had its CEO almost in tears over the financial state of the company not too long ago.