Originally posted by Lavec

Originally posted by VassagoMael

If after 5 characters you are thinking "man I really need another 3 characters" you have too much free time.

Ok fair enough not everyone will need more than 5 but it won't make much difference it will still cost about $170 to upgrade you bank and bag slots for 5 characters.

170 is roughly a year subcription to another mmo.  so i dont think it's overpriced.

Originally posted by Lavec

Originally posted by Vannor

Originally posted by Lavec

Sure you will say that I can buy gems for gold but someone has to purchase those gems for me to buy them right?

No, not at all. A lot of people have this excahnge system totally mixed up. You will ALWAYS be able to buy gems with gold and vice versa. If no one bought any gems for 4 years you would still be able to buy gems with your gold.

Players do not sell the gems they have bought to other players. Not directly and not indirectly. It all just goes back into the system.

Thanks for the info Vannor. Do you have a source for this? I'd like to know how they determine the price then.

- Do they release a certain amount of gems per day/hour whatever and sell them at the demand price, i.e. if they are selling well up the price, if they are selling less lower the price kind of thing?

It's a pull and push system, supply vs demand, that determines the price, much like the vendors in GW1. If lots of gems are selling, the price for gems will start going up and the price for gold will go down. If lots of gold is selling, the price for gems will go down and the price for gold will go up.

- In GW1 commodities would run out if they sold out (I assumed because people won't selling them to vendors to increase their stock but maybe they also generated some), is this the case here or would gems always be available at market price?

As far as we know they are always going to be available, nothing has been said or seen to suggest otherwise. If they have an infinate amount on sale for real money then it would be a very bad idea for ANet to limit the amount available to those that buy with gold. I don't think ANet are stupid enough to do something like that, the game would probably fail. It would pull the game down to cheap FTP levels (like Perfect World). That's just my opinion though.

- Does the buying of gem with real money have any effect on the price?

I'm not sure whether or not the amount of gems bought with real money affects the exchange system. As far as I know it doesn't directly. But if those that bought them traded them for gold then it would. 

- Will there be a ceiling price so it doesn't get out of hand once there is an abundance of gold in the economy and otherwise make it impossible for new players to afford gems before they too become millionaires?

No mention of this either. I'd assume there is though, but that's just me being optimistic.

I don't think there is a proper source for this, not a properly detailed one. The press release they gave was vague on the details, it's also pretty old now. There was proper confirmation that this is how it works in the first 'general public' closed beta weekend, the one before prepurchase. I can't remember any direct quotes and there is a chance some details might have changed, it's in beta afterall.

For a cash shop to work in lieu of a subscription it must have some items that the majority of players will want to buy. These are the "must have" items and are in the cash shop so that it will be successful as a funding model.

- Bag slots

- Character slots

- Bank slots

- Transmutation stones

That is why they are there, they expect most people will want these and will want to spend money on them (or buy gems for gold to get them).  The rest of the cash shop items don't really fall into the "must have" list but will be the occasional purchase for people.

its been proven that the CS model can make a hell of a lot more money than the sub model. There are stupid iphone and facebook games rivialling some sub based mmo's for profit.

$202 does seem quite a bit for 8 characters maxed out bank slots.

Are you wanting this in the first month? Or going on a traditional subscription rate $15/month model this would take a year equivilant.

Originally posted by Lavec

Originally posted by VassagoMael

If after 5 characters you are thinking "man I really need another 3 characters" you have too much free time.

Ok fair enough not everyone will need more than 5 but it won't make much difference it will still cost about $170 to upgrade you bank and bag slots for 5 characters.

Mate! Don't forget! Players can take up tailoring I believe.. and crafting decent sized bagslots! But I honestly thing the 3 locked slots is not required, If you buy or craft the best bag slots available in game + default size.. this is more than enough.

Bank Slots I believe are also more than enough. Maybe 1 upgrade is okay, but I don't see the need to max these out.

Over the 3 betas I've never had any issues with exceeding all my available inv/bank slots.

Aswell as being able to send stuff back to the bank, don't forget also that you can sell anything from anywhere through the trading post.