Tomorrow evening, we're going to put some unlock certificates in the store that will only be available for a limited time each month. We're going to start this with a 2-week pilot run. Items will only be available that month in the store and not repeating each year. Items will have a non-mechanical focus (at least for now).

We're going to start with the following unlock certificates.

Stufimals
WhisperCloaks
Nalfein Black Rose Decks.

We'll have every unlock tier available. These unlock certificates being available in the SimuCoin Store directly won't impact if they'll be available by other means.

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Wyrom, PM

Would people prefer to be able to shop for their RP unlocks during an entire WINDOW of time,
or
try desperately to a) hit the uncommon Xerria appearances [after first being Premium] and then b) get chosen by the spinner, and then c) luck into "nobody has used up the limited unlocks available for this year yet"?

(I grant that the third one can still happen with the SC option, but this is not like a Pay-to-Win situation that people complain about making their items more powerful. These are RP nifty-ness.)

.

Given that the approximately ninety hojillion "how to make your fortune" books that are out on the market all say, "find something that people want and sell it to them", this seems like a natural for companies that, I don't know... sell stuff.

If everyone is seriously up in arms about it, boycott and don't buy those RP fluff item upgrades. Tell your friends not to! Black-highlight everyone that you see getting one delivered! Ignore them forever, the heinous dogs! That'll teach 'em!

(Or.)

Is it really that bad? Really?

Slippery slope.


Avaia, player of

If I understand this correctly, I like the concept of allowing non-premium users to unlock gear, and I think it makes more sense to do this sort of thing with a certificate than in a merchant line. Several of the premium perks could be split off so that players can select them a la carte. Just keep the costs relatively high so they don't devalue the premium bundle.

Hopefully, in the long run, these certificates will make it easier to unlock items after the item owner disappears. The issues with fluff unlocks will be best addressed when there's no market for them. As Krakii says, if you don't like them, don't buy them.

> If they can just sell the unlocks for cash...well why bother with doing free unlocks?

Overall, most GMs who "own" cool tiered scripts like to take as many chances as they can to provide those services because it's nice to see how appreciative people are with the fluff-n-stuff that came from your brain.

I am mostly fine with the store being a way for F2P to get extra things that as a paid sub we get free and then having some extra fluff-based services also available in the store for those people with spare cash and not time, especially since right now this is for fluff. My problem will typically be if they stop offering in-game methods as well, if in-game development essentially becomes "hey, new thing we created is only for purchase in Simucoin store", or it strongly becomes P2W (pay to win) with mechanics-oriented stuff.

It's a balancing act and a slippery slope, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Wyrom is already aware and keeping a strong eye on it.

Now, I do think on some fluff items the rarity may need to be decreased, but I've not been back long enough to gauge any of that. Heck, I don't know 99% of the items people talk about when they are talking about tiered items and I'm spending a fair amount on the wiki trying to find them and then thinking about how I can get them <g>

~Heathyr

What's the reason that fluff unlocks has to be done via cash payment rather than well...in-game silver?

Why isn't this an in-game silver cert shop instead?

>My problem will typically be if they stop offering in-game methods as well, if in-game development essentially becomes "hey, new thing we created is only for purchase in Simucoin store", or it strongly becomes P2W (pay to win) with mechanics-oriented stuff.

Heathyr, if you really feel like going down that rabbit-hole I would suggest looking into the history of Duskruin Arena and the multitude of criticisms that have arisen over the years about its PaytoGrindCurrencytoWin or P2W model. There are many of us who have clanged the warning bell, foreseeing a day when micro-transactions creep into nearly every aspect of the game.

It is what it is. We are not going to change it, and I understand that. I will, however, likely "stand up" and sound that claxon every time some next little part of the game switches over to the a-cash-transaction-is-all-that-is-needed paradigm.


Avaia, player of

I like this idea. I hate having items I've bought that are locked and I know I'll never realistically be able to unlock them. Please please don't be greedy and overprice things, but otherwise I think this is a nice alternative for players and gives more choices for how to handle their items. Especially for those who rarely make it to merchants and spins.

Please note that the Stuffimals script does not indicate the Tier in the ANALYZE, so hard to know which certificate to buy.

I realize this never happened. We had some hiccups with the store earlier this month, and then it was full blown Duskruin with very little time to get this completed.

We'll resume in March and feature two items with multiple unlocks.

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Wyrom, PM