What could you see yourself paying for?

[Kempeth]

What kind of features could you see yourself paying for with real money? What do you think could be done that's interesting without breaking the balance?

Me...

• Armor coloring - But not on individual pieces (they never last long enough to be worth it). But you could define your own dye kit and then buy and equip it. That would be cool. And you could store them and buy multiple ones for more variety...
• Permanent Stash size increase - Or better yet: Permanent shared stash. Just make some way that if I delete a character that I don't have to loose every payed thing on it...

[ombra]

• exp boost (related to play time) but i don't hope the game is too grindy without them
• increased stash (permanent)
• armor colour
• hair style
• items for faster/quicker leveling, but i don't want to see the best loot of the game especially at max lvl in the store
• increased luck potions (related to play time)
• transformation potions
• mounts (permanent) -> buying more for a certain time is extremely annoying (e.g. ROM )
• all kinds of accessories

[Webbstre]

I would pay for...

• A permanent mount (if it wasn't TOO expensive)
• A Remort/Retirement feature on the MMO
• A really REALLY EPIC multiplayer map, if it came with a cool boss and lots of/higher level loot for my group
• Permanent increases to stashes, single and shared
• Added special effects (visual) for my skills, if they cost an extremely small amount... like the leftover 50 cents of currency from a big purchase.

[jamesL]

I would pay for...

• A really REALLY EPIC multiplayer map, if it came with a cool boss and lots of/higher level loot for my group

that's what I was thinking of
something like this maze PvP map you all were discussing here
http://www.runicgamesfansite.com/rgffor ... 3443#p2674

[ombra]

I would pay for...

• A Remort/Retirement feature on the MMO
• A really REALLY EPIC multiplayer map, if it came with a cool boss and lots of/higher level loot for my group
• Permanent increases to stashes, single and shared
• Added special effects (visual) for my skills, if they cost an extremely small amount... like the leftover 50 cents of currency from a big purchase.

Very interesting points! Especially the epic map thing. But thats the same direction hellgate wanted to go (pay for content), and everybody was against such an approach. But i liked it. I know that that the difference is the micro transaction system though...

[WingedKagouti]

Maps with:
-Increased XP
-Increased Drops
-Complex stories
-Unique bosses with interesting combat patterns
-All of the above

A large shared stash. Possibly placed in a non-rented house that could be furnished with non-RMC items.

The ability to swap the model for an item to another of the same type. Along with recolorization and adding particle effects.

[AttackGorilla]

It would be awesome to rent an Admin to host a 1 hour session on instanced play for your party. The admin would act as GM to make an ultra awesome and real-time customized adventure.

[jamesL]

the ability to appear naked, but keep all my armor mods and bonuses

[shake]

i'd pay for everything said so far but mostly +luck and +exp stuff

[Trappski]

I'd probably pay for most features in a game. If the price is right.

[hadati]

permanent bind on account mounts that all your chars share

Gems that go into slots in your weapons that make them glow and do different procs or dots

Extra bag space

Premium guild house with bindstone, bank, NPC vendor

One prestige class BUT this would only be unlocked once you had a level capped character and possibly completed a very long quest chain or meta-achievement.

Respec stones

Different pets that accompany you and take your stuff to town to sell

[Webbstre]

I would pay for...

• A Remort/Retirement feature on the MMO
• A really REALLY EPIC multiplayer map, if it came with a cool boss and lots of/higher level loot for my group
• Permanent increases to stashes, single and shared
• Added special effects (visual) for my skills, if they cost an extremely small amount... like the leftover 50 cents of currency from a big purchase.

Very interesting points! Especially the epic map thing. But thats the same direction hellgate wanted to go (pay for content), and everybody was against such an approach. But i liked it. I know that that the difference is the micro transaction system though...

The maps I was thinking of wouldn't be like permanent areas, but rather a one-time dungeon you and your group could teleport to for a unique adventure. While maps with higher magic find were talked about being a potential sale item for Mythos, I don't think I would have bought any because I don't go out of my way to pay for enhanced loot. However, some really well designed special levels, maybe about half randomized, with proper bosses and mini-bosses and special traps and challenges for a group to work through together... well I'd join a guild and put money in to play maps like that.

[Kempeth]

Very interesting points! Especially the epic map thing. But thats the same direction hellgate wanted to go (pay for content), and everybody was against such an approach. But i liked it. I know that that the difference is the micro transaction system though...

One of the main reasons why I was against the Hellgate-Method was that you didn't have access to your pay stuff if you stopped paying. If you found some special armor in a pay level and then stopped paying you couldn't use that armor anymore. I'm no longer the type for subscriptions...

Like Webbstre said, if you sell the maps on a one use basis and get to keep everything you find there then a lot more people will think: Ok let's give this a try.

[*]XP increase
* Magic/Special find increase
* mounts (permanent) -> buying more for a certain time is extremely annoying (e.g. ROM )
* Respec stones
* It would be awesome to rent an Admin to host a 1 hour session on instanced play for your party. The admin would act as GM to make an ultra awesome and real-time customized adventure.
* A Remort/Retirement feature on the MMO
* Added special effects (visual) for my skills, if they cost an extremely small amount... like the leftover 50 cents of currency from a big purchase.

Cool ideas!

The retirement feature sounds interesting. You could make name an heir (or multiple) who gets all that character's paid stuff (like a permanent mount, unused maps, etc): To my overly emotional sister Jenny I bequeath...

More ideas for additional maps:
* puzzle maps where you've got to solve puzzles (as in Zelda games) like pulling switches or moving crates in the correct sequence to proceed.
* multiplayer pve maps with big battles

Guild Halls:
Your guild could start in a small shack and you could increase it in size and style numerous levels: House, Large House, Mansion, various sizes of castles. You could increase the size with ingame items like gold and improve the looks with real money.
* Lets say by default your castle looks old but you could upgrade to white marble or a pitch black stone, maybe even a mixed pattern.
* You could improve the beds or just some and assign the quarters according to guild rank.
* You could integrate you guild logo into the game (after review of course) and display it on the guild hall banners.
* You could make guild robes (social clothes) with your guild logo that you can put over your armor.

[patratel]

i think people keep forgetting f2p games can get really expensive. the game should be enjoyable without spending money, or spending more than a p2p game. i really dislike stash/inventory renting.. inventory issues usually frustrate me. i'm not against xp,luck potions, as long as they don't last very long. I don't think maps should differ for free or paying players, because if those maps have better xp,drops, quests, the other maps will become redundant( see what happened in warrior epic.. they keep having a flavor of the month map, until they nerf the xp in the next patch)
->what i'd like to see is a type of (optional) monthly subscription, similar to dungeon runners, requiem, cabal, where you get some xp boost (25-50%), some drop rate bonus(10-20% is fine), and some different perks. Please don't make everything cost money! I hate it when basic stuff is restricted in a game(mailing option etc.)
-> stuff you could sell in the item shop: you could sell smiley(similar to perfect world or celestial destroyer), something related to the shout option in chat, fireworks, vanity items, coloring equipment(but only if you want to make custom colors, or special models), the ability to import pictures for guild emblem or trinkets, special mounts, that aren't needed in normal gameplay ( reindeer, elephant, etc.)

[Bechhold]

Char slots.

[prestige]

i think people keep forgetting f2p games can get really expensive. the game should be enjoyable without spending money, or spending more than a p2p game. i really dislike stash/inventory renting.. inventory issues usually frustrate me. i'm not against xp,luck potions, as long as they don't last very long. I don't think maps should differ for free or paying players, because if those maps have better xp,drops, quests, the other maps will become redundant( see what happened in warrior epic.. they keep having a flavor of the month map, until they nerf the xp in the next patch)
->what i'd like to see is a type of (optional) monthly subscription, similar to dungeon runners, requiem, cabal, where you get some xp boost (25-50%), some drop rate bonus(10-20% is fine), and some different perks. Please don't make everything cost money! I hate it when basic stuff is restricted in a game(mailing option etc.)
-> stuff you could sell in the item shop: you could sell smiley(similar to perfect world or celestial destroyer), something related to the shout option in chat, fireworks, vanity items, coloring equipment(but only if you want to make custom colors, or special models), the ability to import pictures for guild emblem or trinkets, special mounts, that aren't needed in normal gameplay ( reindeer, elephant, etc.)

I agree with most of what you say. I dislike the idea of purposefully crippling some basic function of the game (i.e. inventory, mail, etc.) just to sell things to remove that handicap. Give us a free game that's worth playing, then sell things that provide bonuses on top of that.

I don't agree with the optional subscription thing. What you and I agree on is we want the level of gameplay benefit from RMT items to be capped, so that the game doesn't encourage or "force" players to buy ungodly amounts of stuff to remain competitive. Instead of having monetary benefit cap out at a subscription, there are other ways to put a control on it. Here's an example of what I'd propose:

Shirt example
Characters have a shirt slot. But the only shirts that drop in-game have weak enchantments like "+3 strength." The RMT store sells shirts with more powerful enchantments. Note that it only sells shirts; it does not sell other kinds of weapons or armor. So the store has a variety of shirts for $5 each. One's a PvP shirt with +critical hit and +speed or something. One has +15% magic item find and +HP. Another has +20% experience and +5 to stats.

Is everyone going to want at least one shirt? Yes. But is someone with 10 shirts getting 10 times more benefit? No, because although they have more options, they can only wear one shirt at a time. There's only one shirt slot. This is the kind of "slot based" RMT benefit control I advocate.

Of course vanity items with no gameplay benefit needn't be controlled in this manner.

[Webbstre]

* It would be awesome to rent an Admin to host a 1 hour session on instanced play for your party. The admin would act as GM to make an ultra awesome and real-time customized adventure.

This would be what I would spend the most money on! I LOVED GM-driven events back when I played MUDDs.

[Pierricbross]

I remember Mythos was going to go in the direction of real-money maps that could be shared within the community. So that seems like it could be a distinct possibility.

[Kempeth]

i think people keep forgetting f2p games can get really expensive. the game should be enjoyable without spending money, or spending more than a p2p game. i really dislike stash/inventory renting.. inventory issues usually frustrate me. i'm not against xp,luck potions, as long as they don't last very long. I don't think maps should differ for free or paying players, because if those maps have better xp,drops, quests, the other maps will become redundant( see what happened in warrior epic.. they keep having a flavor of the month map, until they nerf the xp in the next patch)
->what i'd like to see is a type of (optional) monthly subscription, similar to dungeon runners, requiem, cabal, where you get some xp boost (25-50%), some drop rate bonus(10-20% is fine), and some different perks. Please don't make everything cost money! I hate it when basic stuff is restricted in a game(mailing option etc.)
-> stuff you could sell in the item shop: you could sell smiley(similar to perfect world or celestial destroyer), something related to the shout option in chat, fireworks, vanity items, coloring equipment(but only if you want to make custom colors, or special models), the ability to import pictures for guild emblem or trinkets, special mounts, that aren't needed in normal gameplay ( reindeer, elephant, etc.)

F2P games only get expensive if they are designed that way that you get a significant gameplay benefit.

Example maps: If you make the standard maps dead boring so that everyone either quits or starts buying maps then that's a bad RMT design. If the normal maps are enjoyable and the additional ones are just different then that's not going to force to pay.

If a bought map increases the chance to find magic items but you can hardly find one special item in hours on the normal maps then that's again a bad design. But if the map just increases the chance a bit and the items itself aren't any better then you can easily go without paying.

Inventory: If you can buy huge storages that's one thing but whether or not you need it depends on whether you have a pitiful Diablo 2 stash or something where you can actually store an adequate number of items.

[guilt]

I would pay for these:

* Specialized Set of Items giving Unique Uber Skills .. It is hard to get them but it is not impossible to get them. If
a character keeps at least one set item, the game, along its course would try to get more set items for the player once
the player reaches a certain level. At the end of the game, the player should feel happy that he played the whole game and
kept the set items and he has a new skill and he can increase its level.
* Preferential Conversion of existing character levels to new RPGs. You wouldn't want to play from scratch all the time.
If I was a level 75 alchemist, I could convert it into a Level 15 alchemist in the online version. I'm guessing this should be
coupled with a proper anti-cheat mechanism.
* The basic game should have a pretty long campaign. It should keep a person engrossed for at least two weeks
of continuous gameplay. (D2 - Lord of Destruction typically takes a week to finish)
* Inexpensive official expansion campaigns yielding new classes and quests where you can use your
existing characters and build their levels.
* Ideally, never having to play the same game again in a higher difficulty. (I wouldn't be playing Diablo if I got great
items in the first round. It sucks to play the same levels over and over again in Nightmare and Hell modes)
* Simple combat system. I shouldn't have to press too many hotkeys for performing a spell.
* Great storytelling and awesome in-game cinematics (not CG!) . Diablo II has both.

If all of this is there, I'm willing to go up to $40 for this.