Zatozia just posted that "Station Cash" is now going live, and you will be able to buy stuff for your character.  Anyone know what kind of stuff might be there?  The link she provided is broken.

Zanderon wrote:

Zatozia just posted that "Station Cash" is now going live, and you will be able to buy stuff for your character.  Anyone know what kind of stuff might be there?  The link she provided is broken.

What?

Sure it isn't an EQ2 thing?

" Station Cash, Sony Online Entertainment’s new virtual currency, is now live in EverQuest and EverQuest II. Station Cash can be used to purchase items that will provide convenience and customization in game, providing everyone the opportunity to create a unique gameplay experience.

Want to learn more about Station Cash? You can learn more at the Station Cash website, and by reading the Station Cash FAQ. Please note that Station Cash will not be available for customers in Europe until Wednesday, December 10th. "

It's in the forums here, not EQ2.

Zatozia wrote:

Station Cash, Sony Online Entertainment’s new virtual currency, is now live in EverQuest and EverQuest II. Station Cash can be used to purchase items that will provide convenience and customization in game, providing everyone the opportunity to create a unique gameplay experience.

Want to learn more about Station Cash? You can learn more at the Station Cash website, and by reading the Station Cash FAQ. Please note that Station Cash will not be available for customers in Europe until Wednesday, December 10th.

 

 

EverQuest® Bottle of Adventure

EverQuest®II Flask of Achievements

EverQuest® Consigned Armor Bundle

EverQuest®II Handy Servant

EverQuest® Stone of the Serpent

EverQuest®II Flask of Adventuring

EverQuest® Bottle of Alacrity Pack

EverQuest®II Seafury buccaneer Armor Crate

EverQuest® Goblin Skull Fetish

EverQuest®II Flask of Tradecrafting

 

Station FAQ wrote:

Station Cash is Sony Online Entertainment's new virtual currency that players can buy to fund a virtual wallet. Once a wallet has been funded, Station Cash can be used to purchase premium in-game items through the in-game Marketplace in EverQuest® and EverQuest® II.

While in game you'll be able to access the Marketplace where you will conduct all your purchases from your Wallet using Station Cash. To access this feature the command /marketplace will open the interface window. Once you have a credit card on file you can easily add Station Cash to spend on either EverQuest or EverQuest II.

There are many types of items  available for purchase and delivered directly to your character in game. There is security safeguards with Station Cash as well as additional measures so that your purchases will be delivered to your inventory.

A valid credit card is required to fund your Station Wallet, instructions  on how to add a credit card to your account is available for your convenience.

Station Cash wrote:

Is Station Cash refundable?
Station Cash is non-refundable.

Is Station Cash transferable?
Station Cash is non-transferable and currently non-giftable; however, SOE is working on features to allow players to gift Station Cash to other players and friends in the future.

It sounds as if Station Cash may give some players an unfair advantage. How is SOE preventing this?
The EQ and EQII development teams have chosen items carefully in an effort to avoid a disruption in gameplay balance. Rather, Station Cash (and items purchased with SC) are intended to allow for convenience and added customization. Such items provide players with a unique gameplay experience for nominal fees. We understand that some players may not choose to purchase items, however, the option is available for all, leaving the choice in each player's hands.

Does this mean SOE is fundamentally changing the business models of EQ and EQII?
No, this is simply a means to give additional options to our player base.

How much does Station Cash cost?

Currency	USD	AUD	DKK	EUR	GBP	NOK	SEK	CHF	JPY
100SC =	$1.00	$1.60	Kr 7,00	€1,00	£.80	kr 7,00	10.00 Kr	CHF 1.20	￥100

SOE reserves the right to modify these conversions at its sole discretion at any point in time.

Buying in game xp pot/gear/familiars with real life cash.... discuss.

*****

Well, being in the EQ1 forums announcements doesn't always mean something.  But I do see the specific mention of both games, so I'm convinced.

I bet its an alternate way to get defiant gear or LoN gear or something.

 they are

Haha, late April fooles joke?

Goodbye if this is true though, we pay for this game enough already.

BlueShaded wrote:

Haha, late April fooles joke?

Goodbye if this is true though, we pay for this game enough already.

Bye you take care.

I'm very disappointed they are going in this direction.  Very disappointed indeed.  What's next, SOE run PLing services?  Pay 10 bucks and they will grant you a few levels?  Pay 100 bucks and you get a max level toon? 

This is a sad day for online gaming.

Is it me or did they just break their own EULA

Rytan_the_Wyrmlord wrote:

We have no plans what so ever to do actual sales of in game items, and I'm personally very opposed to the idea for EverQuest.  I think microtransations can be a valid business model if planned from the ground up for a game, but it would be very very bad for EQ.

-Ryan

Money has to come from somewhere.

Nolrog wrote:

 

I'm very disappointed they are going in this direction.  Very disappointed indeed.  What's next, SOE run PLing services?  Pay 10 bucks and they will grant you a few levels?  Pay 100 bucks and you get a max level toon? 

This is a sad day for online gaming.

 

I remember one of the big honchos getting super giddy by the success of the LoN micro-transactions and saying it's the future of SOE. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this.

What I think it humorous is that the purchasable exp potions will help to enable paid powerlevelers... and the armor bundles. I mean, yikes, man. /sigh

Raa wrote:

Money has to come from somewhere.

If the problem is the cost of producing and keeping the game functioning, I would rather pay a couple extra dollar a month than have this stuff in EQ. In reality, LoN looked like a "neat" side addition for spare case on SOE's side. LoN and this together looks like "milking your customers for every penny" to me.

Sadness.

Ok, looking at my marketplace in game, it looks like all LoN pots, weapon ornaments, 2 familiars, and the armor packages like we get with /claim.

minimind wrote:

Nolrog wrote:

 

I'm very disappointed they are going in this direction.  Very disappointed indeed.  What's next, SOE run PLing services?  Pay 10 bucks and they will grant you a few levels?  Pay 100 bucks and you get a max level toon? 

This is a sad day for online gaming.

 

I remember one of the big honchos getting super giddy by the success of the LoN micro-transactions and saying it's the future of SOE. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this.

What I think it humorous is that the purchasable exp potions will help to enable paid powerlevelers... and the armor bundles. I mean, yikes, man. /sigh

What's the status of LoN now though? Is it still selling like it used to? I know I spent a ton of money in the beginning, but haven't bought anything in eons.  I wonder if others are the same.

What is the benefit for EQ?  Smed, are you going to give us those long promised new character models now in return for this? Or is this just another ploy to milk the life out of EQ and force people into other, non-SOE games. 

most games that offer services like this (you know, the 1000s of korean-based mmo's that have 500 customers each) are free-to-play, and use this sort of thing to keep afloat financially.

of course, we'll still be paying monthy fees.

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. They aren't forcing me to buy any of this stuff.

I lived without LoN items; I can live without station cash.

I do know that a number of you succumbed to LoN - you can thank youselves for this new development. My conscience is clean.

EQ items available for purchase (from http://www.station.sony.com/stationcash/):

Bottle of Adventure - looks like xp potion

Consigned Armor Bundle

Stone of the Serpent

Bottle of Alacrity Packs

Goblin Skull Fetish

No clue on what a number of these do ... no info available yet from the usual sources.

Edit: Station Cash?  looks to be a far better place to express your outrage/comment on this development.  My apologies for posting to this thread info available in the other...

Blimey. £8 for 2 hours of an extra 50% experience - that values those Potions of Adventure at £2 a pop, or £4 for a shot of Lesson of the Devoted. 

$10 = potion for 50% extra xp for 2 hours...

UGH

Eleena_TT wrote:

$10 = potion for 50% extra xp for 2 hours...

UGH

You and I both know people will buy them.

In droves.

k9wazere wrote:

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. They aren't forcing me to buy any of this stuff.

Less experience of everyone who doesn't buy XP potions isn't a big deal until you're a few lvl's behind your friends and reality kicks in. Which is that SoE will do anything in their power to get as much money from their players as possible even if it means selling out and bypassing their own EULA rules.

EQDev Blog post added

lol, pathetic.

Retron wrote:

Blimey. £8 for 2 hours of an extra 50% experience - that values those Potions of Adventure at £2 a pop, or £4 for a shot of Lesson of the Devoted. 

 

LOLROFLMAO.

Just irresponsible to add this to EQ generally.  I really wish they had selected a single server for a test platform first ...

Disgusting.

Not sure why but this give me a "sinking" feeling in the pit of my stomach, Its a slippery slope

I am guessing Plat will be next - at least that may get rid of the plat spammers I would guess.

Hope the make a server where this buying xp and upgrades is not available

Shameful

Conscience? It's just a game. Don't they sell new models of cars for some Playstation III game seperately? I read somewhere the cost to get all of the cars was some huge number in the hundreds. Well, anyways, it's a business model, and it will exist so long as customers pay.

I never paid a penny for LoN, and I doubt I will pay for this. But, I did pay to move a character from one account to another once. That's really not any different, so I have no room to complain.

This years Vet award - $100.00 in your sony wallet <sigh>

Quite frankly, I am disgusted. After 10 years and 950 days played, I have never before felt the urge to quit EQ but the direction the game is taking sickens me. The game has become tarnished, and I feel a little dirty and embarrassed playing since I logged on.

*sighs heavily*

I can't imagine the devs wanted this. I imagine it was dictated from above.

If that's the case, and I hope it is, then I feel for you guys. We've all been put in awkward positions by our management, and we all know that holding on to your job is priority number one.

"9. ............ You may not buy, sell or auction (or host or facilitate the ability to allow others to buy, sell or auction) any Game characters, items, coin or copyrighted material."

Difference is the EULA says YOU.. meaning players.  Station Cash is from SOE.

The EULA still stands - it controls the players, not the administrators/owners of the game.  Minor but vital difference.

Not that I agree with Station Cash in principle.

BobV wrote:

Not sure why but this give me a "sinking" feeling in the pit of my stomach, Its a slippery slope

I am guessing Plat will be next - at least that may get rid of the plat spammers I would guess.

Hope the make a server where this buying xp and upgrades is not available

Why is that?  I can see if the made certain armor that could only be purchased, and the down the road made the game only playable if you had that armor equipped, but if it's just about some people buying xp and upgrades, I say more power to them.  It wouldn't be something I'd do, but if it enhances someone elses gaming experience, go for it.

Someone gaining experience faster than me or having better gear than me has never made me jealous.  Some people have more time to play than me, some people have more plat, some people are more inclined to raid.

I see no problem with it, unless they start balancing the game towards it.

wutfor wrote:

Conscience? It's just a game. Don't they sell new models of cars for some Playstation III game seperately? I read somewhere the cost to get all of the cars was some huge number in the hundreds. Well, anyways, it's a business model, and it will exist so long as customers pay.

I never paid a penny for LoN, and I doubt I will pay for this. But, I did pay to move a character from one account to another once. That's really not any different, so I have no room to complain.

This is a P2Play game. It's not supposed to have an in-game item store, LoN was bad enough.

Monthly patches, 15$ a month, and now pay for items. Uhhhhhh....hm, lol, I have nothing reasonable I can say about this. It would be too vulgar.

A few years ago there was a suvey about people's feeling toward SoE selling in game items.

At that point, most people said : NO.

I really do not think that the times have changed anything since.

I wonder what will happen when some child "borrows" his parents credit card and starts buying the stuff...

BlueShaded wrote:

k9wazere wrote:

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. They aren't forcing me to buy any of this stuff.

Less experience of everyone who doesn't buy XP potions isn't a big deal until you're a few lvl's behind your friends and reality kicks in. Which is that SoE will do anything in their power to get as much money from their players as possible even if it means selling out and bypassing their own EULA rules.

Depends whether they're friends or just people you play with.

If they're friends, they'll agree not to use potions if you don't want to use them, because they won't want you to fall behind.

Or they'll use them anyhow, and pull ahead, but never expect you to do the same, and they'll still group with and help you anhow, regardless of any difference.

If they aren't really friends, but more people you play with, then you might find yourself out in the cold - replaced by someone who uses the pots to level faster.

That, as they say, is life.

Know who your friends are.

haha wait till they spend $10 on a exp potion then have a noob train them.  Well that was a well spent $10 for 30 seconds of increased exp.

k9wazere wrote:

Doesn't seem like a big deal to me. They aren't forcing me to buy any of this stuff.

 

I lived without LoN items; I can live without station cash.

 

I do know that a number of you succumbed to LoN - you can thank youselves for this new development. My conscience is clean.

I can't remember agreeing with k9 in the past - in fact, I read most of what he says with a grain of salt, knowing I'll probably disagree - but I agree here.  It's just like LoN - no one is forcing us to buy anything with this new development.  If people choose to indulge, they're more than welcome, but I'm just as welcome to choose to continue to play the game the way I always have.

*shrug*  This isn't a huge deal.  If it nets SOE the money to make some of the changes to EverQuest that the playerbase wants, is it really all that bad?

dang wireless keyboards..

"I can see if they made certain armor that could only be purchased, and then down the road made the game only playable if you had that armor equipped"

EVERUNTESTED wrote:

haha wait till they spend $10 on a exp potion then have a noob train them.  Well that was a well spent $10 for 30 seconds of increased exp.

the ss says it persists through death

This is disgusting.

Obviously the lead designer has 0 input anymore.