More than a month and a half after launch, Cryptic has finally put some useful items for sale in their microtransactions store (the C-store).
4 additional characters slots = 1200 points ($15)
Full retcon = 1000 points ($12.50)
Character rename = 280 points ($3.50)
2 additional costume slots = 400 points ($5.00)
The store also has some costume sets (240 each), emblem sets (80 each) and figurines (80 each) available.
Months ago, Cryptic had a minor public relations nightmare when news came out that Champions Online would have a monthly subscription and a cash shop. Far too many people blew it out of proportion, flooding forums with rants and declarations that they would never play CO. They all thought that CO would have a cash shop that’s similar to many free-2-play games that depend on their cash shops for money.
I was never worried. The C-store is exactly as I always thought it would be. The items available are on par with the cash shop offerings in other popular games like Guild Wars and City of Heroes.
The costume items are a bit expensive, but the prices for everything else seem reasonable.
I was a bit worried about how much Cryptic was planning to charge for a full retcon, but now that it’s finally available, I think the price is fair. $12.50 to completely redo your character’s powers and talents? Sounds good to me. If it was any cheaper, far too many people would constantly redo their characters.
I’m sure that skeptics will say that Cryptic is going to constantly screw with the powers, forcing people to buy full retcons with every major patch.
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I remember you posted about Micro Transactions before and I did not quite catch what they were, until I read this post and now its sunk in.
I don’t have a problem with it at all except maybe respecs for your toon. I wonder can be earn any of these without paying but by grinding quests or points somehow in game?
Heck I don’t care what people want to buy as long as it does not give a huge advantage as in items or something unattainable any other way.
Hmm…the only item in the C-store that can be earned ingame is the retcon (respec).
If you are max level and want to do a full respec, it costs nearly 900 G, which is a huge amount to earned ingame.
I’m sure that Cryptic will give out more free retcons and will probably eventually add some ingame way to earn them as well. I even think the $12.50 cost is a good price point. It’s cheap enough that people can retcon when needed, but not so cheap that everyone will retcon with every patch.
Overall, it looks like the player response to the items in the C-store is generally positive.
I doubt Cryptic is ever going to have items that grant ingame bonuses similar to the items you might find in a F2P cash shop (like exp boosts, potions, etc.) Even if they do, I don’t really mind. The game is easy enough already. If people really need extra boosts, that’s fine witme.
Greetings
I was glad to see it. It was missing. Now it’s there. Chalk up another positive for Cryptic.
I think they are doing a really good job, and things like this give me hope for future content.
I’m glad to see they are still adding costume pieces. While they do have the greatest character creator I’ve ever played with, I still found a few things that were missing. (Still holding out for a Sheild Weapon for Uncle Samson!)
And I still don’t understand why you can’t see the different weapons you have to choose from in the creator. But these are still small complaints.
I still haven’t had time to level one character to 40 so I doubt I will need extra character slots for a while anyway. And if they take a cue from other games, when you buy an expansion, they give you a few extra slots. Here’s to hoping there are expansions… several.
The only thing I see as a problem now is PvP. I still don’t see why they don’t have more maps. The more I’ve played, the more I understand why “Cage Match” and “Stronghold” are built the way they are, but I still hate that the walls and other structures interfere so much with you being able to see what is going on around you. It would be reallly nice if you could zoom out.
I agree that Cryptic is generally moving forward and doing a good job.
Unfortunately, I get the sense that CO isn’t the best funded project and Cryptic is making do with limited resources. Hopefully the newly introduced C-store items will help boost their bottom line, so they can give us more content.
I think there are a decent number of people who already filled out their 8 character slots and were dying for more. Right now, this game promotes creating more characters, instead of sticking with just one. There isn’t enough level 40 content to merit investing in just one character. It’s more fun to reroll a completely different toon and redo the content.
I have a level 40, 28, 20, 20, 14, 10…something like that. I haven’t played all that much the last few weeks either. I’m sure there are people with a bunch of 40’s already.
PvP is a big problem right now, unfortunately. There are too many horribly imbalanced and broken powers. The minigames are rather flawed.
But they are working on PvP. Powers are getting fixed…slowly, but surely. Blood Moon is introducing a new map where one player starts out as a zombie and other players turn into zombies if they die. All of the maps will be available for all levels too.
Well now wait…you must be able to earn points in game, because I did not purchase the preorder. Yet the other day I bought 2 action figures, that would be 160 points and right now I have 640, so that means I had 800. So where did I get all those points. You must earn them during game play some how. I did just buy another thousand so I could by 4 more slots and the beast machine costume, which I’m fine with. Everyone keeps complaining that its as much as a monthly fee, but it is also permanent so, I think it’s a good price. All the games charge for stuff like that and most charge more. Stop your whining and either pay it or don’t.
Well, I’m not complaining about the prices. I’m fine with it. I think Cryptic’s prices are reasonable. I expected the retcon price to be far higher, so I’m actually quite happy about the prices.
Hey, how did you earn points ingame? I still only have my 400 that I think came with my preorder. Maybe some perks grant points? I should do a little research.