General Discussion

I'm so looking forward to Age of Conan and Warhammer but during the wait and based on the last few games I've played, I've noticed something.

Preorder a DELUXE version game and play early!  Buy now and get special bonus items!  A parot for your shoulder, matey!  An 8 slot pouch, fellow WoW or AoC friend!  Rejoin EQ and recieve a regen ring!  Preorder Lord of the Rings and get etc  etc etc!

OR join a game at release or afterwards and buy some gold from someone.  Buy gold?  WHAT?  That's so wrong!  Hate those gold-farmers!  Umm, yet you don't hate the companies that take your money for 'special' items?  You pay them an additional 40 dollars for the deluxe version so you can have a wooly mammoth to ride on, or a sword that's good through lvl 21?

In previous years, I saw the gold farmer outrage.  Where's the outrage about unfair advantages given to people that spend extra money for 'deluxe' versions of the game?  Based on my conversations with developers and fellow gamers, the outrage of the 'gold farmers' came from children whining and hardcore players.  They think its unfair to give casual players that have to work for a living an unfair advantage because of, 'omg', having money.

Anyways, I posted this not because I'm a casual gamer(i'm hardcore), but because I think its unfair that people can pay an extra amount of money and get items and a headstart without reprieve VS people that buy gold from someone getting castrated by follow game players.

Um, I'm pretty sure the people who hate gold farmers are also against the concept of micro-transactions.

I know I am.

Well the simple truth is, you do not get a true advantage in game by having a regen ring that last a couple levels, or a wooly mammoth yeah you get around faster and you regain health a bit faster, but alot of themoney you pay is for the "swag" that comes from Collectors edition. its exactly that, collectors, for a nominal fee you get specific items, or objects either in game, or out of it cause you paid a fee for the developers to make make your experience more special.

to me it looks like your indirectly encouraging/ or promoting gold farming. which in of that self I and many people frown upon. where as the regen ring, or wooly mammoth or 3day access only gives you temporary advantage, gold farming gives you advantage yes,it allows knocks the game out of wack. but you dont work for it like those people who started and actually played and earned that gold ont ehir own. buying gold  there is no skill involved, no learning experience, no time accrued in game.even worse gold farming eventually over time ruins the economy and slowly the game. it eats away at the game like a cancer, a tumor growing bigger, items becoming pricer, base items at lvl 10 becoming 3-5x more expensive than what they were because people have "gold" that they didnt earn to buy these, creating a vicious cycle of greed.

I dont mind a person having alot of gold, but I do mind them buying it for a fee from some sweatshop like environment that asian or whomever (not singling out any given race but lets be realistic now) it creates an environment of unfairness where you the casual gamer who has a nice bank account can just drop like $200 on 2000 or 3000 gold in game, and end up creating a influx of gold that shouldnt be there normally. what you do my friend is create a imbalance in the economy. LIneage2 comes to mind, EQ2 also comes to mind with platfarmers and master spells costing ridiculous prices now. theres are all the result of you the casual gamer creating a demand cause you dont want to work for the gold in game. I work for a living as well, but I find the time, either through crafting, killing a hard mob gaining the item and perhaps selling it on the market to a person if I cant or dont want to use it.if you dont have time, dont play the game, messing it up for the rest of us.

truthfully we can debate about  gold farmers until your blue in the face. i personally believe gold farmers are a cancer in MMO's. and so do most people have true love for the genre. you seem like a promoter of gold farming, and just whining cause you dont want to plop down $80 for collector's edition for AOC but yet IM sure your willing to spend $200-300 on gold to get whatever you need artificially. in that game only real advantage you get is 3day access. whoopty doo. thats not alot, and thats not gonna mess up the economy. gold farming will. when i pay $80 for AOC im not looking at the 3 day acess Im lookingh at the nice Items Im getting bonus dvd, leather map. book, mammoth for rolling around in style. but most important factor? that money goes str8 tot he developers themselves, not into the wallet of some 20 year old asian kid controlling some 3rd party sweatshop in the middle of bejing. that money goes to the developer and back to us allowing them to give a salary to a artist, a programmer, a QA tester, etc. which in turn comes back to us, in bug fixes, quest/content, art, programming performance boosts.

so....where is your mind and loyalities at bro?

Originally posted by Sineath

I'm so looking forward to Age of Conan and Warhammer but during the wait and based on the last few games I've played, I've noticed something.

Preorder a DELUXE version game and play early!  Buy now and get special bonus items!  A parot for your shoulder, matey!  An 8 slot pouch, fellow WoW or AoC friend!  Rejoin EQ and recieve a regen ring!  Preorder Lord of the Rings and get etc  etc etc!

OR join a game at release or afterwards and buy some gold from someone.  Buy gold?  WHAT?  That's so wrong!  Hate those gold-farmers!  Umm, yet you don't hate the companies that take your money for 'special' items?  You pay them an additional 40 dollars for the deluxe version so you can have a wooly mammoth to ride on, or a sword that's good through lvl 21?

In previous years, I saw the gold farmer outrage.  Where's the outrage about unfair advantages given to people that spend extra money for 'deluxe' versions of the game?  Based on my conversations with developers and fellow gamers, the outrage of the 'gold farmers' came from children whining and hardcore players.  They think its unfair to give casual players that have to work for a living an unfair advantage because of, 'omg', having money.

Anyways, I posted this not because I'm a casual gamer(i'm hardcore), but because I think its unfair that people can pay an extra amount of money and get items and a headstart without reprieve VS people that buy gold from someone getting castrated by follow game players.

Do I mind that player XXX has the super deluxe cape that can only be gotten from buying the deluxe edition which cost XX dollars more than the standard edition?  No.  Why?  Because it's legitimate.  The item generally doesn't affect game play, i.e. makes the player significantly more powerful or kills the market so players who just want to have fun can not afford those really nice in game drop items due to the fact that they would have to farm gold for months to make the amount necessary to pay for it.  Gold farmers are in breach of every games ToS and EULA.  What they do is illegal and the people that go to their sites are playing illegally.  Not to mention that 9 out of 10 times, the site they are advertising in-game(using DDOS tactics to advertise while we are on the subject) is generally nothing more than a CC capture and key logger trojan installer, so they are not safe.

So yes, fry you gold buying bastage.  You are doing nothing but supporting the illegal market that is out there, Mr. Criminal.  You are also supporting DDoS attackers who ruin game play with their barrage of advertisements in-game and tying up devs/GMs with banning their accounts constantly rather than dealing with real game issues.

I'm against anything that gives players an artificial boost. Limited edition items/collectors edition stuff should only ever be convenient/fun; it should never affect game balance.

For example, I'm fine with a collectors edition giving away an in-game statless item aimed at RPers, a non-combat pet or a differently textured mount; etc.. but an item that gave +20 strength or something, I'd be vehemently against.

  Gold farmer money and profits goes to ruining your game. You are paying them to bot more , to find ways to increase thier profit , at your expense. Youre a fool to give them one dime , I ve worked for them , I can tell you , while they are decent human beings, they will eat you if it gives them a profit.

      MMORPGs are niche market currently , nothing is gonna be as big as WoW anytime soon. Development cost and investors , breathe fire on you , so you do something to even out cost. Collector packs do this without unbalancing the game. You recover more development cost up front , sometimes enough to ok another investment to work on an expansion.

    Special Editions also do more than bring in money, a well design box and the lure of something nobody else has could bring in new MMORPG players or people who dont play games but would try a game if it looked good.

   And to end , life is never fair , MMORPGs arent made for you to leveling playground. Much like in real , 99% of people are better than you at something , and you better at something than someone else. While someone might spend 70.00 on a special edition box set , nothing stops you from doing so , and most items (like the LOTR , or Archlord ones) are good for a few levels.

    Some like Eq2 , are simply eye candy.  I tell you this much , I bought EQ2 special package when Fae came out for the special house items and free veteran rewards (its was 2 month items but it was like 30% total for those 2 potions which rocked like hell.)

i also hate players who farm golds because they can get easily some rare items without even having a hard time hunting it..

The point was not that I'm into gold farming.  I was trying to say how spending 40 dollars extra gives you ingame items( that help you level) and a 3 day headstart(which is HUGE being able to sell rare items on auction for few months after release), is no better than gold farming.

Little history on gold farming.  Became an issue 6 years ago.  I remember back then Mark Jacobs(half a year before DAoC came out) stating that he understood the benefits of gold farming and listed them.  Admittedly, he said,'I don't see it as a problem but of course, our rules concerning it will be based off the majority's opinion of it as time goes by'.

Now, I guess it might slip by for most of y'all but the new 'issue' should be these extra things people are getting by paying more.  Either way, mark my words, it'll be a high player issue in a year or two when it changes from 'a lvl 21 sword' given to newbies in PotBS to a mammoth(speed buff), ring of regen, and 3 day headstart in AoC to 'gold farming sold by Blizzard' added to WoW in 2 years.