Endless Journey should have a limited bank box. No bank box is a bad idea.
Not having a bank box is really silly and will create ill will among players who want to try it out. the Facebook comments show as much. Just limit the amount of stones/items an EJ bank box can hold. Make sure it's reasonable enough to be usable, but limited to the degree that any enthusiastic player will soon enough run into storage problems and consider subscribing. That's the way other games do it.
A qua lemmúr wíste, an zen anku vol verde wís.
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But honestly, it just depends on what these storage lockers are going to look like. Not enough information yet.
Oh, btw...
EA don't care that Broadsword gives you all you think you need to do EJ .. they care about the bottom line... the purse strings get thin they pull the plug... they don't give a fig if the game is full of players. If your not paying your way EA will sunset UO so fast you might not even have time to say goodbye to anyone...
Remember that when you think that sales from the in game store add up to the subscriptions they loose to EJ...
EA can tell UO to go FTP, but Broadsword has to implement it..
Can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink..
At least they tried..
"Can Endless Journey accounts board and place ships?
Endless Journey accounts may board regular and if purchased, High Seas ships. Endless Journey accounts may not place a ship."
I get that they want to make money....I am not saying GIVE them an entire 125 item bank box...but start them off with SOMETHING....even a 20 item box is better then nothing.
Larisa a new player who buys something from the in game store will have an empty pouch outside the beginner junk.. and you have to admit 90% of the new players dump that stuff all over haven. Heck I have had to replace scissors and daggers of newbies who didn't think they needed them. The new items in the store if purchased will outfit the player and give them a start, add in a bug you got a good deal of space for keeping a new character going... EJ is for giving them a way to play to get the feel of the game... not a perma life style. We want them to join we the playing public once the get that far to be playing to that extent.
How are they going to know that they can even GET a blue beetle, let alone how and where? If they DON'T purchase the deluxe starter pack, a REAL new player is gonna keep a lot of junk armor and weapons until they find a mediocre suit and weapon to play with...I remember when Origin first came out and we got the last luna spot, we had that house FILLED with junk armor and weapons just so we had the options to build a half-way decent suit....you can't DO that with NO storage.
I started a new character on Test..a mage...I start with a bag of regs, 3 spell scrolls and 1000 gold. Now I know most people just wanna get into the game...not spend a week sifting through a hard-to-manage non-wiki trying to find out what to do with the things that I have.
Okay so I finally figure out that I need to put the scrolls into the book I have in my hand and manage to figure out somehow that I have to click on a banker and target the gold in my pack to put it into a virtual bank...awesome.
So what are these regs for? How do I get more? Remember I don't really want to spend any money YET...I want to figure out the game first to see if I want to invest in it...so I don't buy the deluxe starter pack....we'll go with both scenerios' though just for you!
Running around trying to figure these things out and I notice a message on my screen that says my focus has increased....wait, what's that? Do I wan't that? How do I fix that? *stumbles around until I find where my character skills are and how to make that stop* okay awesome...well I only have 15 spells in my book so I need to find more...where do I find more? I know! I'll check the wiki! ~types in mage spell scrolls~ and gets many results that have nothing to do with mage spell scrolls...though the third one down does sound sorta helpful...an introduction to spellcasting...click on it and finally find out how to get more spells..yay!~
So now I have to find an npc that sells them...find that and realize I already have 90% of the ones that they sell....so now I have to hunt monsters...but I need regs to do that..which means I need more gold....which means I need to fight monsters..which means I need more regs....*sigh*
I stumble upon random regs laying on the ground and spend 2 hours picking them up so I can spend a half hour casting fireball and lightning at things to get MAYBE 2000 gold to buy more regs...rinse and repeat....
Now remember I have NO clue what LRC is...nowhere in the spellcasting guide does it MENTION LRC or what it is and what it does so I don't even KNOW that I can find an LRC suit....say screw it and look at the deluxe starter pack and do some research on that...figure out somehow what LRC is (Not going into details because this is turning into a freakin book!)
Okay so I say WHATEVER and spend the however much real cash on the starter pack...now I have a nice metal chest that I have to carry around with me because it might be useful down the road (Remember I'm a NEW player and have no clue I can get more)
So I put my fancy new clothes on and equip my fancy full spellbook but I don't need the rest of this stuff...necro/chiv/bushido/ninjistu/mysticism books....don't wanna throw them away cus I just spent money on them...guess I'll have to carry them around...
So I check out the cool hunting atlas...and go to the New Haven Mines..or try to....~fizzle~ Hmm...
Ohh I have 100 charges on here? I'll use one of those! (Hopefully I'll figure out how to recharge it later)
Recall to the mines...see a sign New Haven Mines, Enter at own risk! Oh fun!
Walk in and enter into COMPLETE darkness...OMG I CAN'T SEE! THAT THING IS TARGETING ME! Hurry and run back out and figure out what I can do to be able to see...find the nightsight spell...WHEW! (Now again remember I am a new player and don't know that I can pull the spell icons out of my book and put them on my window...so every time I cast a spell I open my book and find it...yeah that's a pain! Need to spend a few more hours on the wiki I guess)
So cast nightsight, go back in there and try to cast some spells and fizzle a million times either get frustrated and log out..it SAYS in the book that this place is the least difficult! Or go back to the wiki to figure out how to raise my magery.....if THAT doesn't get someone to quit and they actually raise their magery enough to go in there and fight and start collecting stuff that they have no clue if they are going to need later on down the road, their backpack is gonna get full REALLY fast....yes the starter suit is decent but it's not great and if they happen to figure out how to look at other people's paperdolls and see the amazing suits people are wearing they are gonna want that...but in the beginning, having a cluttered backpack with stuff that you may or may not need is not fun.
As of right now I have 26 items in my backpack, half of that I don't need (The books) but don't want to toss them because I spent money on them...want better armor and figure out I can sell the junk I get to an npc but spend half my playtime recalling back and forth because my backpack is full....
yeah I know tldr.....I'm just saying that giving EJ a SMALL amount of free storage will go a long way.
Merus
Not giving a bank box might sound mean but I look at the potential of it killing UO. Too many have wanted UO to go F2P that this is their idea of a good push to it...
There is no way in hell that the in game store will cover 12 months of subscriptions per player account. I don't care what they offer. With the exception of selling Plat.. that is the only way I could see them make more money.
Now I can see them being given a rental box of 25 item space for a set fee running at a monthly rate. This will cove the idea of dying and loosing all they got.
This (and previous) dev teams are killing what made UO fun in the name of absurd ideas to prevent abuse through game mechanics rather than through GM oversight and banning offenders. It is short sighted. Make the game FUN. Make playing ENJOYABLE. Then ban those who abuse it. But no... we get stupid after stupid. NO ONE is going to carry ever single item they need to play UO in their backpack and stay playing this game... NO ONE! Basic storage is a necessity, and as far as I know, there is not a single item based game, FTP or not, that does not offer some sort of basic storage. Players should subscribe to UO because they are having fun, not so they can finally save an item in a bank box incase they need it later.
Your not seeing the bigger picture.
Many can live out of a bank box their entire play time in UO.. I know this one guy who for over 20 years has never over stuffed his bank and has no desire for a house...EJ he said would be perfect for him to stop paying EA.. his words This is his way to shaft EA for years of bad business.
The first minute players heard that EJ was in the offering there was talk on the Chat of how they needed more info so they too could stop paying and enjoy playing in a F2P way.
That was not what EJ was meant to do...
I do understand your point. The idea of renting a storage box for 25 items or more* might not sit well with you. I look at it from the other players who pay side. We pay to keep UO going. UO being over 20 years old was not made to go F2P as that style came into being nearly 15 years after its inception. The suggestion that the in game store will make up if not pass the monetary side of an account and its monthly fees per year will not hold water. They would need to make something you would need to buy all the time ..and then that would get old.. fast.
I read back about a year on the newspaper of a study of people who went to the F2P games and the savings they got verse the paid subs of the average online game.
Like UO most paid subs ran roughly 12.99 to as high as 22.00 a month
The F2P as said was free but to really get into the game you needed to "buy" items to move up or wait super long periods to be able to do more in the game... This was gauged over a year of play for both styles. The F2P group spent on average per year nearly double the paid sub games players did. When asked were they happy at the findings the F2P group started to point out that friends had quit a lot and they couldn't understand why till then. They realized they were nickeled and dimed to death to do what they wanted.
I myself have played a f2p ... I never bought into the buy this and get the next phase 5 days faster then everyone bit... I didn't spend a dime with them... and they had millions of players when I started by the last time I logged in they had less then 100k on line.
In my mind UO would have to stuff the in game store with things you can only get in game by way of the EM Events.. or worse.. and charge super high soverigns .
If you want EJ players to subscribe it should be because they are enjoying the game and want access to more fun... not a stupid bank box so they can finally stop carrying around every UO possession they own in their backpack. Stupid restrictions like absolutely no free place to store items defeats the whole point of EJ.
No I guess I need state this in a more simpler manner.
Numbers will be of a hypothetical manner*
Lets say for giggles EA brings in 12,99 each on 50k subscriptions per month for a total of 649,500.00.... ( if you count in the 90 day accounts )
Now lets add in that EJ will reduce this by 1/3 which is 216,500.00k
How long do you think EA will let slide this amount of loss? mind you I do think the sales of in game items more then the normal influx at first might dull the first month or two of cash. It the long run I seriously doubt EA will let it fly long.
Bank box and requests for more of general subscription privileges such as boat placement..etc your asking for all it takes to play. A bite here a bite there adds up.. look at it from a paying subscribers point They get almost all the same things as a sub gets from paying.. if they all got their wish's. EJ was not to make the game f2p as many are reading it to be, On the contrary it was to give the new and returning a way to work back into being a normal Subscriber giving them an open end to try UO out again with the hopes they stay and join the rest of us.
Cheers MissE
It's really a no-brainer to just give them a small 15-20 slot vault for free...that's really not much to ask for...they'll end up paying for more storage through the store, that's a guarantee because anyone who plays this game knows how important storage is so they'll make their money.
What will the Vault storage consist of and price?
Will we be able to access our bank box to get stuff out and if so how many times?
For all we know what is on TC1 may be wiped and we get an all new EJ. LOL
There a few ways they can do this.
for
Treasure Hunters