Black Gold Online changes business model for NA
When Black Gold Online's monetization model was introduced, you could say that it caused a bit of a stir. A very big stir of unhappy once-potential players. Now, Snail Games has attempted to quell the dissatisfaction by clarifying a few points, first and foremost by announcing that the previous model was geared only for China and revealing a different plan for North America. Producer Kee Zhang stated, "We're refining this new system and our top priority is [to] develop a transparent and accepted F2P model for the North American audience."
The studio insists that Black Gold's time save system is a completely optional bonus to supplement game progression; players can still acquire all equipment and materials from normal in-game means of questing, drops, and auctions. This system will not affect PvP or PvE rankings.
The system appears to work this way: The game will auto-save the player's loot index (which is based on your actions during that saved time) every hour, and players can claim that loot index -- through either the free saves or purchased ones -- in the form of a vial of time that can be traded for credits or opened for the random loot within.
