RIFT - Cash shop changes and purchasing artifacts

[theWocky]

It was bad enough, in my opinion, when they made 100 set "mount reward" available for credits - the exact same mount.

You will now soon buy artifacts with credits / real money.

For those that don't know, artifacts appear in various places in the game and there are even "artifact hunting pots" (consumables) and it forms part of a collectables mini game. Artifact Hunters / Players trade artifacts and sell on AH so that they and other players can complete sets.

There are currently 1400 sets of artifacts - in excess of tens of thousands of individual artifacts.

Rift Players - am I not correct in that stating that artifacts are still a major driver of the economy and source of plat income for F2P players - through the AH?

Good luck grinding that in-game plat for REX. One more step to make the game less F2P friendly.

FULL ARTICLE: http://riftgrate.com/2016/02/09/purc...ct-wings-more/

ARTIFACTS
* Twisted: The Guffin Plot, I have 1 white rarity artifact left to get = 63 Credits
* Exarch Invader Tide Artifacts, I have 1 green rarity artifact left to get = 180 Credits
* The Gorge, I have 1 white rarity artifact left to get = 45 Credits
* Nightmare: Rough Raptor's Recipies, I have 1 purple rarity artifact left to get = 1800 Credits

150 credits = US$1 last I remember.


Kudos to them for just going ahead like this and milking their wealthy whale player base with their unashamed boldness.

Can't fault their brilliance in design to make plat harder to farm to buy REX (credits) off the AH and play on the OCD that "instant gratification" effect that can only be achieved by money.

@RiftGame #RIFT #TrionWorlds - the finebro's of the MMORPG world.

[Deleted]

Rofl what are they doing

[Fencers]

I do not think a video game's economy should be any barometer of it's "F2P-ness". Virtual economies are totally made up- there are rarely any actual commodities, a system change in gameplay can effect the market, players can change their minds, etc, etc.

It just doesn't mean anything really- video games are about gameplay. Devs have no real reason to preserve the costs of foo-foos on Faeblight.

[justinhalfout]

Well,this is the sort of thing they should be monetizing in my opinion since it's just fluffy crap,having said that,as an ex player and big collector of artifacts as i was,i made more than my fair share of plat selling shineys and spending the proceeds on completing my own sets, and know quite well some people hunt them down to make a living,it does indeed reek of yet another one of their schemes to make plat much harder to get.

[Edge-]

Half of me is fine with this because realistically, it's a system which is largely inconsequential to the rest of the game and had no impact on player power.

But given the rest of the changes they've been making, especially with the semi-recent introduction of multiple artifact hunting potions (which I would imagine that, despite their "metrics" that people spend a ton of time artifact hunting haven't been selling well) that they're looking to find even more tools to use for monetization for the game.

Not much of a fan of this given the full context.

[Ahovv]

Half of me is fine with this because realistically, it's a system which is largely inconsequential to the rest of the game and had no impact on player power.

But given the rest of the changes they've been making, especially with the semi-recent introduction of multiple artifact hunting potions (which I would imagine that, despite their "metrics" that people spend a ton of time artifact hunting haven't been selling well) that they're looking to find even more tools to use for monetization for the game.

Not much of a fan of this given the full context.

Believe it or not, I used to be big on artifact hunting. It was actually fun memorizing the spawns and searching weird locations that others weren't aware of. You focused on checking the world, not your minimap.

They screwed up artifacts with the introduction of tracking vials. Instead of being actually somewhat fun, it became another grind to check your minimap, just like gathering plants/ore.

Now, even worse, they are adding yet another bypass for in-game content. I'm not saying in any way that artifacts are mandatory or otherwise "pay to win," but it just feels like another piece of content has been destroyed in spirit.

That being said, I'm not surprised at all they went this route. I'm sure more negative changes are on their way.

[StrawberryZebra]

Half of me is fine with this because realistically, it's a system which is largely inconsequential to the rest of the game and had no impact on player power

Being able to finish your collections for a small fee seems reasonable enough to me. As a monetisation tool they're much like cosmetics in that they have no effect on game play. While I've never been into collectables, I can see the appeal they hold for others.

1800 credits for a single artifact however is extortionate, almost to the point of preying on the peoples need for completion.

On its own the change is fine, the pricing is totally off, but on the idea is not too bad. Taken in with the rest of the recent model changes, it makes me wonder where its going to stop. 500 Credits to unlock the skill to ride mounts? Maybe you'll have to spend an increasing amount of credits everytime you use a porticulum? At the rate things are going I wouldn't be surprised if Trion have a Patreon set up by the end of the month. And then charge you credits to allow you to donate extra money to them.

Rift might be doing reasonably well as Free to play MMO's go, but I get the impression Trion as a company are struggling to tread water.

[Deleted]

Like said previously, the change itself makes somewhat sense because it's nothing affecting power. If they had just done this, and boosted patron (like smaller AH cut, more rested xp than f2p) and ditched adding earslots to credits only, ditched removing rested xp and ability to queue for specifics as f2p it would be reasonable.
However considering all the changes they made, one start to wonder where it will stop.

[theWocky]

However considering all the changes they made, one start to wonder where it will stop.

Latest Patch notes:
RARE ADVENTURES COME TO MINIONS!
Now when adventuring, special rare adventures can appear, signified by a special icon! When completed, these rare adventures offer extra bonus loot in addition to their normal rewards. They can also be shuffled away for free, should you wish to do so.


From the forums:
New Dreamweaving Crates are VERY P2W (and buggy) : http://forums.riftgame.com/general-d...p2w-buggy.html

- The rare minion missions cost credits to complete - 45 credits for a 15 minute mission and 135 credits for an 8 hour

[Edge-]

http://forums.riftgame.com/general-d...ml#post5174863

Some pricing from the team. Apparently the more rare ones can run upwards of $20 -_-

Also, altering the title of the thread so it's less baity/more clear.

[Deleted]

Latest Patch notes:
RARE ADVENTURES COME TO MINIONS!
Now when adventuring, special rare adventures can appear, signified by a special icon! When completed, these rare adventures offer extra bonus loot in addition to their normal rewards. They can also be shuffled away for free, should you wish to do so.


From the forums:
New Dreamweaving Crates are VERY P2W (and buggy) : http://forums.riftgame.com/general-d...p2w-buggy.html

- The rare minion missions cost credits to complete - 45 credits for a 15 minute mission and 135 credits for an 8 hour

Omg, I'm actually speechless. It seems like BiS items are rewarded from them as well. It's as p2win as possible can be. It's pretty obvious now that Trion doesn't give crap about player feedback, at this point they can even stop pretending to do it.

[Clymene]

INTREPID: HAMMERKNELL

Caches from boss kills now have a chance to drop an unstable version. The unstable versions are locked but when opened have a guaranteed chance at an item drop along with other loot.

Ouch, guess Trion wants people to buy keys to gear up.

[Edge-]

Ouch, guess Trion wants people to buy keys to gear up.

Honestly, I'm kinda ok with that if they have better loot. But that's just because I have dozens upon dozens of keys sitting unused in my bank.

As long as the normal versions continue to drop at a reasonable rate it seems fine to me.

[Clymene]

Honestly, I'm kinda ok with that if they have better loot. But that's just because I have dozens upon dozens of keys sitting unused in my bank.

As long as the normal versions continue to drop at a reasonable rate it seems fine to me.

According to the rift forums, the Planar Stabilizer keys only come from credit minion adventures are store-bought with credits, they are not the old lock box keys. Also, the new ones drop in place of the old ones, not in addition to. So the drop has been nerfed, up to you to see if that is a reasonable rate. Anyhoo, sad to see a good FTP model go the way SWTOR.

[StrawberryZebra]

Anyhoo, sad to see a good FTP model go the way SWTOR.

SWTOR's almost seams reasonable by comparison. After checking out some of the changes with the latest hotfix I'm extremely disapointed with Rift right now. Trion seem to think that saying "you can buy it with REX" shields them from any criticism for these changes and while that may, technically, be true its a deflection away from the real issues people have.

I suppose they should be thankful they didn't link all the AH's together as well as chat channels, otherwise I'd have been sorely tempted to just buy every single thing listed in it as a protest. I can't go picket Trion HQ, but I could shut the AH down almost completely for a couple of hours. Its quite possiably the only way I have left of getting their attention. Oh well, uninstalling Rift is easy enough, its not as dramatic but it'll have to do.

[thewallofsleep]

I do not think a video game's economy should be any barometer of it's "F2P-ness". Virtual economies are totally made up- there are rarely any actual commodities, a system change in gameplay can effect the market, players can change their minds, etc, etc.

It just doesn't mean anything really- video games are about gameplay. Devs have no real reason to preserve the costs of foo-foos on Faeblight.

I generally agree with you here, as artifacts are kind of pointless. It does suck that the economy may suffer and that F2P folks may lost a revenue stream, but whatever. The problem I see is that this is just another thing they are making purchase able with real money, along with the gear thing from a couple weeks ago. Difference with the gear is that now those can ONLY be bought with money. Rift seems to be really suffering and changes like this won't inspire players to stay.