How this game will survive

This game looks great... action RPG's are my thing, and I've played them all.

My concern is how long the game will last. If the only thing they are making money from is the sale of in game items, then they are really banking on the greed of players wanting better loot. While I have no doubt there will be lots of players wanting to pay real money for in game items, if that plan doesn't really catch on or last long enough this game will dissappear pretty quick. I mean, lets face it... the offer of a "completely free game" is great, but what if (big what if... I know) nobody bought any in game items? This game won't last a week because the company won't have the money to keep servers going, paying it's employees, etc. Isn't this a really risky move?

I guess I'm just curious to see how this is all going to work... I really hope this game succeeds, mostly because it'll feed my action rpg addiction. :)

You underestimate people's desires to buy stuff.

If the game is good and addicting (which it is), people will be emptying their wallets in no time.

I'm a little more fiscally conservative but obviously socially liberal about things, nothing wrong with my personal structure, but if you go to Leagues and read my "Sponsored Leagues" thread you'll find it interesting.

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Septile wrote:

You underestimate people's desires to buy stuff.

If the game is good and addicting (which it is), people will be emptying their wallets in no time.

Well here's hoping you're right... cuz this game looks awwwwesome!!!!

I dont usually buy stuff in games( ever since PWI..I loved that game...then it went to shit :<) but this one is going to be an exception, simply because I want to support GGG ^_^

I feel the same; I've never spent money on an online game...but this will be the exception.

Agreed, people will buy stuff. Even us overly conservative types end up letting go of a few bucks for something that strikes our fancy. If its a few bucks here and there it doesn't hurt as much because you aren't 'required' to part with your money... and you actually spend more than you think, and feel better about it. Look at Turbine's D&D (a little different because it offers player advantage items) but the model was so sound that they changed Lord of the Rings Online to the same format.

The only game I bought stuff for was EA's Battlefield Heroes, and I had spent $20.00 before I knew it but imo its no big deal to support a game that is fun and you want to stay around. I will have no problems supporting PoE, and plan on keeping an eye on the store and eventually buying something, if not right away =)

Personally, i'm the type of person that prefers to pay a monthly fee as opposed to paying for in game perks.

To be honest i'm a little worried I may spend too much on in-game stuff, you wouldn't believe the money i've spent on in-game stuff on games i've been hooked on even for like a week lol.

Even if the game used a one off payment system for an account like Heroes of Newerth, I would be happy with that.

All in all, i'm going to pay for whatever, let me loose.

It's not really "perks" in PoE though. The worst it will probably get in terms of perks could (maybe) be something like adding excess storage if they decide to do that.

I don't think they're going to have much of an issue. Now that competition looks weakened, more players are going to drift this way. Is it me or PoE website went down today for a short while? Lots of traffic? People are taking interest in PoE because it's unlike any other F2P game out there... it's truly Free To Play, or Fair To Play as GGG likes to call it. You can't buy anything that will give you an in-game advantage over everybody else. If people are enjoying the game, they'll feel okay with spending a few bucks on that cool spell effect for their favorite spell. By opening their doors wide, hopefully PoE player base will be huge, which in turn will ensure that the small percentage of people that actually will spend any kind of money... in reality is pretty large. (Just think of 10% of a million... 100,000 players... and that number could be larger or smaller... o.O).

On top of that.... I see nothing bad about PoE so far and I don't have to dish out $59.99 upfront to play it. With D3 I would have to, and if I didn't enjoy it... well, too bad so sad, I'm out of luck. If I like PoE I can spend that $59.99 in small increments and not in one lump sum. Just an example.