Item Store

[Cyrannos]

Hello, i've been following this game for quite a bit now. I myself haven't been invited to the CBT yet but i do wish to be part of the community so i will lay down a few questions.

Ofcourse everyone likes free games, but the downside of being free is having an item shop.
Although this doesn't have to be a downside and maybe Drakensang will go on a different tour then most online rpg's.

My concerns are if the items in the item shop will be just visual items or items that will increase the "power" of the player.

What are the dev's looking to offer players in their item shop?

Thank you for your time.

[Buffbot]

I can't speak for the devs, but it seems to me - since there are two types of money generated in-game, gold and andermant - andermant will end up being used as a conversion tool between real money and in-game money.

The reason I think this is twofold:
- First, the items all seem to be temporary at this point - used for buying gems to socket in gear, temporary buffs to boost stats, portals to other towns, instant health potions, resurrection stones, etc. I'm assuming at some point, vanity gear will also make it's way into that shop.
- Second, with high prices and low drop rates from mobs, you will never have enough andermant to be using it to buy that stuff all the time. Unless you get it from another source (i.e. real money).
Everything in the store can be purchased without spending real money. But, it comes down to how much time you want to spend farming mobs to get the ingame money. It's been said that people either have money or time, but rarely both. This system seems like a decent compromise that plays to that idea.

For now, the drop rate of andermant is enough that I can buy gems to socket as needed and keep some potions on hand for emergencies, but I haven't got to the point of being able to afford some of the other buffs, like +30% damage for 3 minutes, or +20% experience for 1 hour.

[Cyrannos]

Thanks for giving me some information regarding the ingame item shop.
Surely hope they balance it before release, gems and 30% dmg for 3min seems a bit to op.

Maybe for PvE it would be fine, but surely in PvP? The person with the most time/money wins. Doesn't seem like a "fun" and well working system.

[Buffbot]

The thing to keep in mind is that the shop isn't limited to just people spending real world money. The only thing stopping a 'free' player from buying that stuff is time spent farming. I like having the option.

Personally I applaud them for taking the shops in this direction, rather than the more common 'premium' shops that get used in so many other F2P games, where the currency used is only attainable by purchasing it with real money. Which leaves a large number of players unable to ever buy those items.

[Cyrannos]

I'm not worried about the amount of coins or ingame items people will recieve from the itemshop. Im more worried about the impact of the items on the game.

[Buffbot]

It doesn't really sound any different to me than passive skill bonuses in just about any game I can think of. And since we so far lack any talent/perk ability system, these temporary items are filling that void, and providing something to promote repeat purchases for their cash shop as well.

That said, we're not really sure how big a role PVP is going to play in this game just yet anyway. So far, or as best I understand it and I might very well be wrong here, the only place to PVP for now is the free-for-all arena in the cities. This being so early in the beta, I'm sure there is still more planned for PVP, and we'll just have to see what comes out when it's ready.

[Cyrannos]

Aye, you might be right. Well i don't know about these talent/perk voids since im unable to play thus far. Thanks for the heads up.

PS: This forum seems pretty dead. Where's all the other people who can give an input?

[sparhawk2]

Aye, you might be right. Well i don't know about these talent/perk voids since im unable to play thus far. Thanks for the heads up.

PS: This forum seems pretty dead. Where's all the other people who can give an input?
There was really nothing left to add, Buffbot gave a full explanation.

[Cyrannos]

I wasn't asking for an explanation, just trying to get a discussion going about future item shop content.

[sparhawk2]

Ahh ok, I read that wrong.

My thoughts:

For me, the current listing looks fine for the "current" implementation for the game. What I mean by that is that the items in the shop are fine for the game that is currently playable. If they change the game a lot (I hope they do), then there will probalby be more items in the shop I want.

I want more gems with different effects, both defensive and offensive. Some examples of those would be regen, life/mana steal, stun, push back, bleed, poison, damage retaliation, damage absorbtion, movement speed, elemental damage. I want a "portal" to sell items and return to where I was in the game. Healing over time potions in addition to full heal. The shop should also accept gold/silver/copper instead of just Andermant.

[Buffbot]

Healing over time potions in addition to full heal.Just for clarification, we do have both heal over time (HOT) and instant heal potions now. Only instant heals are available in the cash shop though; HOT potions can only be purchased from NPC vendors in towns.

Still, I think what Sparhawk is getting at is that it would be nice to see both types in the cash shop.

I would also like to see HOT potions scale as you level up. Presently there is:

- Simple health potions (L1-9) heal 9HP/sec * 15 sec = 135 total healing over 15 seconds
- Small health potions (10-19) heal 23HP/sec * 15 sec = 345 healing over 15 seconds
- Health potions (20-29) heal 40HP/sec * 15 sec = 600 healing over 15 seconds
- Better health potions (30-39) heal 63HP/sec * 15 sec = 945 healing over 15 seconds
- Great health potions (40-49) heal 96HP/sec * 15 sec = 1440 healing over 15 seconds

When I was L20 with roughly 650 HP, 600 total healing was great; one potion was enough to get me back to full health and still mitigate most of the incoming damage. When needed instant potions were enough to save me when I was about to die.

Now at level 26 and 1050 HP, I need two potions and 30 seconds to reach full health. Instant potions are something I'm now using to get myself to full health, then keep spamming HOT potions, and when my health is critical I chug another instant potion.

Basically, the healing system now does not compensate for the amount of incoming damage as you continue fighting higher level mobs while you level.

I would either like to see new HOT potions added in at the 5 level mark (5, 15, 25, 35, etc), or just change the present potions to scale within that level range. There would need to be a limiting factor though, so that the scaling effect would cap once you reached the next tier of potions. Otherwise you'd never need to buy the higher tier potions.

For example, the total healing for Simple potions would scale as you level up, but cap at level 9:

- L1 = 165 HP total
- L2 = 180 HP total
- L3 = 205 HP total
- L4 = 220 HP total
- L5 = 235 HP total
- L6 = 250 HP total
- L7 = 265 HP total
- L8 = 280 HP total
- L9 = 300 HP total
- L10 = 300 HP total
- L11= 300 HP total
- etc

This way you'd need to start using Small potions at level 10 to get more HP/sec, which would in turn scale up as well as you level from 10-19.

[polishdrago98]

Dear Bigpoint.

Please, Don't make Itemshop. This game will will be better without this.

Player.

[Bolem]

Dear Bigpoint.

Please, Don't make Itemshop. This game will will be better without this.

Player.

omfg, is that a joke?

[polishdrago98]

no, I just don't want to pay for playing,

[Buffbot]

Dear Bigpoint.

Please, Don't make Itemshop. This game will will be better without this.

Player.

Forgive my ignorance here, but by what other means will Bigpoint make money to keep the game running and cover the development costs?

Besides, the whole point of a F2P game is that you aren't forced to pay with money. Instead you can enjoy all the same things, but you essentially pay with your time.