The whole F2P notion has gotten out of hand

Secret World Legends General Discussion
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So, I want to buy some character slots and a subscription. Heh. How? Spending money on the game should be easier than downloading the client. Y’all are running a business, aren’t you? Tried Funcom account management. Nope. Tried Funcom help/faq. Nope. Tried google. OK, reddit says do it from in game. Nope. Oh, wait, gotta get a character into the game. Nope. Gotta level the character up … ><

This is just crazy. Y’all gotta learn to ignore the “gimme free or gimme death” crowd. Sure, they kick and scream a lot, but so does cthulhu-fodder. Y’all have to eat at some point. If it’s worth trying out for a few weeks, the least I can do is buy lunch for one of the devs with a month subscription.

Please add options to the account management site for setting up and handling subscriptions and one-time infusions. Your share holders will thank you (and so will those hungry developers).

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Hard to help unless you give some real info on your problem. At a guess I would say you are playing on steam? If so you may need to turn on the steam overlay in order to purchase stuff through steam.

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The general pattern they have gone for with the cash shop is “The item is purchasable where you would use it”.

So clothing can be purchased in the dressing room, Sprint in the Sprint window, Chest Keys when you open the chest, etc.

Can’t check atm but that would lead me to guess that Character Slots would be purchasable in the selection window where you click on your character (after game login, but before actually entering the game). Not sure about monthly subscriptions… for a direct with FunCom account I would have guess the FunCom account management page. it just may not be in an obvious location (FunCom specializes in non-intuitive UIs)

But as Wabbajack says, if you are playing through Steam then most options will be in the Steam Overlay.

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I understood the problem as you need to be logged into the client to buy anything, and even then you need to progress your character before the shop is available.

I’ve always found it baffling that I can’t buy stuff (aurum and game time and expansions) from the webpage.

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Thanks y’all for being so quick to help, but (I think) it’s not necessary. I was simply chiding Funcom for an absurdly counter-productive business practice.

As I mentioned indirectly in the original post, the solution seems to be to level a character past the prologue, sub, buy slots, then delete that character. I already know I want it gone, but it’s faster to level and pitch than remake and level. At least I hope it is. I had assumed it was over when my last char hit L2 and saw other real players, but looks like there’s more.

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I’m just not clear on why you need to buy extra slots before creating a single character.

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It’s not just buying slots. The game won’t allow you to buy any aurum at all, if you have a new account.

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I think they removed a few things because of the potential for fraud and gold sellers. For instance you can’t transfer MOFs or objects to other players (not even account wide) which was a function in old TSW. I am presuming the time bound aurum function is one of those safety guards they put in place.

What I don’t know is if the time bound aurum relates to those that have monthly subscriptions (I have a lifetime membership) from the start.

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I did some testing after creating another account & looking more closely at my existing accounts & I think I’ve got a better idea about how the purchase lock works.

So, the way it appears to work is that new accounts are restricted to buying a maximum of $5 or 5 EUR a day.

Also, due to a strange bug, if you click the button to buy Aurum & then cancel the purchase, then you get locked out of aurum buying for the day.

And, because the patron cost is more then $5, so you can’t become a patron either.

Also, I don’t know when or how the restriction gets removed. Possibly, if you buy $5 Aurum one or a few times, then eventually your account will get unlocked for unlimited purchase.

I’ve got an alt on another account who is at level 44 & I can’t buy more than $5 Aurum on that account, so it doesn’t seem to be based on levelling up the character.

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That’s a weird bug you’re reporting. On the plus side, you should still be able to use the Exchange to swap MoFs for Aurum.

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I understand this completely.
I missed out on the whole GrandMaster thing by two days. My pay at the time was every 4 weeks, the announcement came suddenly and even with the granted extension period, still didn’t allow me to have enough set aside to buy. So i also needed to purchase a subscription here in SWL. I am not a patron until recently and have found this to be one of the hardest things to do in game - However easy it becomes after - THIS is one of the major reasons anyone trying this game gets pissed off about.

Buying another character also comes with needing to use Aurum as it’s only option, buying 1000 Aurum is only available through the Auction House/Exchange UI - which is unable to accessed until a certain point in game. I’m not exactly sure when that is anymore, but during this time when missions have went into nearly a 4 day CD already that is when someone would choose to buy a sub -being unable to do so - would send them straight to another game, to which they might not return to SWL at all.

Giving money to them should be a easy, my first point of reference was on my online account page, nope - no way to purchase it there. Yet you can view transactions on the account - so my mind also thinks, do they want this money or not. I had to ask in game where to find it, but as a new player, you can’t even do this so it took a long time before i could.

A simple option like any other website, should be on the account page. You can’t expect someone to try this game with it’s hideous restrictions and for them to enjoy it before they are able to purchase anything. The very least a subscription on the account page where they register.

Please add the option of payment to the account page, somewhere the general public at large would be able to see by the usual means and a familiar manner. Not hidden, nor done in a way that FunCom “Thinks” the user should.

Account management should be one of the easiest and most simplest of things for prospective new players (and old) should be able to do and see. You are asking us to use the in game option, which to some isn’t very obvious, nor accessible it seems from the start, nor does it seem to be the safest - since there are many gold spamming sellers in game, that NEVER used to be present until the end days in TSW - so in game payment options to me don’t appear to be very safe. Fixing that also would be beneficial, after all, if your company isn’t getting anything out of them - why are they not being dealt with? If they can get in past your security, whats to say our information isn’t able to be taken out by them? Just a thought on how that could be viewed by others -

The account page is where anything account related such as char slots, subs & Aurum purchase should be. Visible, Secure, trusted and simple. I am not using Steam, the in game option of buying anything account related comes with it’s own restrictions. Allowing someone to purchase a sub or another char slot on the char selection screen - with cash, as well as Aurum - should also be an option.

Options, Options, options - the more you have - the better your game will be.
restrictions, limitations, lock outs - turns a player to look elsewhere.

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14

It seems to me that SWL monetization is basically a fool’s take on certain F2P paradigms like “don’t just go for quick sales early” (because that’s not actually a sustainable model, as it does nothing for retention, which is required for whaling) and “most of the revenue comes from whales”.

For some reason, in this game that becomes “make early sales forbiddingly difficult” (and if fraud prevention really is the reason for that, Funcom really need to bloody go and find a more competent, trustworthy payment processor than HiPay) and “who cares about revenues from non-whales” (seriously, what kind of bad crack do you need to smoke to think the terrible agent booster/Hexcoin system won’t discourage repeat purchases from people who’re not ‘throw more money at the problem’ whales?).

On top of all that, the non-existent proper store, the lack of previews for some things (e.g. sprints, pets), charging one of the highest prices I’ve ever seen per character slot despite the game’s strong alt-unfriendliness, just so many mind-boggling decisions.

it’s… uh… Funcom is a publisher unafraid to explore business strategies off the beaten paths of monetization, willing to take a risk to create new revenue opportunities.

Yupp, that sounds like a good investor relations excuse for it. Let’s just hope those investors won’t find my saying, “I spent triple digits on useless stuff in other games this year that might have gone to Funcom if they weren’t so much better than everyone else at making me feel like they’re just trying to rip me off.”

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NO there is no $5/day limit – at least not for me. I pushed my latest disposable test char past the tutorial and, yup, it unlocked in-game purchases. I sub’d (patron) and bought Aurum right away. However, the barrier was almost enough to inspire me to leech and only play one faction’s story as a F2P. It’s a very long tutorial for a new player.

Why more slots? That’s how I play MMOs. I make chars (lots and LOTS if possible), then come back and play them later or when the whim strikes. I really REALLY hate being locked away from alts. Each one is a very distinct character with it’s own little backstory. I’ve got a list of 19 potentials with minor personality tidbits I thought about trying in SWL, for instance. And, I gotta murder all but 3. (Shh. Don’t let them know.)

Based on my personal MMO history, the better the game supports alts, the more cash I spend. Typically I max out around 8 or so, but there was one where I had almost 30 and likely spent $2-3k on skins. Had tremendous fun until they got some weird bee in their bonnet about alts and killed off alt-play, which is when I left.

As a contrast, FFXIV only got my sub cash. It has fantastic art, play, and story, but FF is adamantly “one char only”. For me it’s “one char, one skin”. No (or few) alts means no reason to buy skins. For SWL, lack of a shared bank is likely what will end it for me when I finish the 3 stories. No shared bank is toxic for me.

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16

Interesting.

All my accounts are Steam accounts, so it could be an additional restriction for Steam users.

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I think new steam accounts have all kinds of fraud prevention restrictions in place.

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It could easily be steam side, since payment needs to go through steam, on steam accounts

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I’m glad you raised the issue. Since the move to SWL in game purchases seem a bit “clunky”. Albeit this was partially resolved with the addition of the shopping cart icon. Also not all of us play through steam either and have had different experiences. Seems to be two issues really, the possible restrictions for steam users and the way transactions are completed. Have fun in the game :slight_smile:

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That is a sentiment I agree with 100%. I mean, even with all the new clothing in SWL, I’m not really buying anything. My main is a char that mostly sports looks I had settled on in TSW.

I actually have this idea for a male alt I want to do, which could see me spending a lot of Aurum (never seriously ran a guy in TSW, so don’t have anywhere near enough clothes for one). But am I going to buy an overpriced character slot in a game that tries real hard to make alts unfun and is 100% rip-off in places (cf. char bound vs. account bound agent booster stuff)? Sorry, Funcom, no sale.

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Agree on the alt-unfriendliness.

I really hope they’ll bring back the faction tension that was present way back in time. That was the point of the game wasn’t it? Pre-launch of TSW we had the FB game with the faction fighting.

I miss my other alts from TSW, and definitely spent more money in TSW, than I likely ever will in SWL unless they improve monetization (agent system is horrid).

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The worst thing about the agent system is the sheer vortex of spiraling RNG for high level missions.

First you have to find/farm/buy the “right” agent to do a mission.
Second you have to get the right item to boost their stats (Bonus RNG here, since you can pay real money to fail, or do this entire list for the agent items).
Third you have to get the mission to pop.
Fourth you have to succeed at it.
Fifth you have to get an outstanding on it for the “actually useful” reward: Agents and Cosmetics.
Sixth…ish for the cosmetics, you have to hope you get one of the ones you Actually want/can use.

So, that means, assuming all chances being equal (which they are not) you have six tiers of RNG to B.S. your way through to get any specific reward out of the system aside from Distillates to instantly delete.

I have been trying constantly to get the Agent Vanity Reward Bags, taking every mission that pops which I can actually hit the base requirements for. I wanted the Shocking Steps Sprint. I have done somewhere in the ballpark of 30 of those missions (So ~300-400 Agent Resources used, counting what you get in return) and only actually succeeded Once…and when I did, I got the Platinum Shotgun…one of the three weapons I never actually use…

Now, this rant got a little out of hand I suppose…but it really speaks to the whole F2P system. You have to make rewards take obscene amounts of time, effort, and luck, because otherwise all your customers will run away? Because no one ever quit a game out of sheer frustration right?

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