sparklepony
Latest
The Perfect Ten: Absolutely ridiculous cash shop selections
This past week, the Money Gnomes at Turbine tested the waters with the idea of selling a $50 horse in Lord of the Rings Online. Oh, not just any horse, mind you: It's a toy hobby horse. For $50. The representative who asked for feedback on the item and price-point probably caused herself internal hemorrhaging by stating, "This is not a joke." The fans responded, "Of course, and the sky is made out of blue cheese." At the very least, it allowed the more creative players to come up with humorous expressions of incredulity. The fun finally came to an end when the studio announced that the "experimental" price point was a failure. Of course, this is by far not the first time a game studio's attempted to sell a ridiculous item, an item with a ridiculous price point, or both combined. If you sell it, after all, the rubes will come. So in the spirit of a $50 hobby horse that costs something like $20 in real life to acquire, here are 10 completely ridiculous items that we've seen in MMO cash shops.
The Daily Grind: Have you ever bought a sparkle pony?
Two years ago, a marketing firm produced a study showing that 75% of gamers partake of microtransactions in their online games. Not long after that study was published, World of Warcraft enraged opponents of "double-dipping" by kicking off the sale of a $25 luxury mount that gamers pseudo-affectionately dubbed the sparkle pony. And then EverQuest II released a mount for a similar fee. And then TERA. And then RIFT. For all the hatred these high-end cash-shop mounts provoke, people are buying them -- enough people to make it a model worth copying. Some of these subscription games will sell sparkle anything. I'll fess up first: I bought myself a sparkle pony when Blizzard put the mount on sale for 10 bucks a while back, and I love it (it reminds me of celestial gear and creatures in Guild Wars, so I was weak!). But I still feel a little guilty. What about you? Have you ever bought an overpriced mount for cash in an MMO? Why did you do it, and do you feel the pang of guilt I do about supporting a double-dipping subscription game? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: What would you pay for a fancy ride?
World of Warcraft set the bar at $25 for a shiny horse. EverQuest II followed suit. You can imitate Marty McFly or Aladdin in City of Heroes for about $7.50. And for various amounts of cash in Star Trek Online, you can pimp out your spaceship with all sorts of shiny new nacelles -- or you can ride in a ship with some famous modifications. It's certainly cheaper than a sports car in the real world, but it's still part of a trend of real-world cash buying you a new vehicle. (Or carpet.) So the question should be obvious -- what would you pay for a fancy in-game ride? Are you willing to drop sparklepony money? Would you not pay more than a dollar for something that doesn't have any functional benefit over other in-game options? Or would you drop even more money on something sufficiently shiny, perhaps a horse-car that could be seen from orbit? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Road to Mordor: Figgy pudding
For those of us who celebrate the holidays, right now is an insanely busy time of the year. There are presents to be wrapped, eggnog to be nogged, and looks of annoyance to be thrown at the radio when the music station decides to play that Do They Know It's Christmas? song for the sixth time that hour. It also means that winter holidays are hitting most major MMOs, including our beloved Lord of the Rings Online. This year, the Yule Festival is marked by the addition of a whole new area -- Winter-home -- and players are already neck-deep in the quests, snowball fights and theatrical hilarity. Turbine's done a spectacular job this year infusing a lot more life and fun into the festivals, from the shrew stomping this past spring to the Haunted Burrow this fall. Winter-home is, in many ways, a perfect capstone to a terrific year for the game, and it's a pretty enjoyable event from what I've seen so far. So grab that cute Hobbit or Dwarf and join me as we travel to the merriment of Winter-home this week!
Study finds that 75% of online gamers purchase virtual goods
Are you one of the steadfast, stalwart gamers who absolutely refuses to shell out money on cash shops, microtransactions and virtual services apart from subscriptions? If so, you're in the minority -- a study by VGMarket showed that three out of every four online gamers purchased a virtual good in the past year. This shouldn't come as a surprise, however. The survey isn't strictly indicative of MMORPG gamers; it was taken from over 2,200 players who were either part of PlaySpan Marketplace, Facebook, or purchasers of Ultimate Game Cards. Still, the results are fascinating, as a whopping 64% admitted to spending money on cash-shop items at least once a month, with 9% going so far as paying for virtual goods on a daily basis. Other statistics from the survey are equally interesting. PC gamers spent an average of $37 a year on virtual goods, and PayPal is by far the most popular method of payment. Oh, and the most-purchased good? In-game currency. (There, that shouldn't be too controversial, right? Right?) You can read the full survey results over at VentureBeat!
Sony Online Entertainment introduces $25 mount [Updated]
You knew someone was going to try it. Sony Online Entertainment is making their bid for a seat on the Sparklepony bandwagon with the introduction of mounts in EverQuest II. Etheral, Sinister, and Ulteran Prowlers are now available in the Marketplace for 2500 Station Cash each, the equivalent of $25 USD. So are they worth it? Well, that is entirely a matter of opinion, but we can help you decide with a rundown of what's available. These huge felines offer a 65% run speed, and lower your maximum falling speed. You can choose a Fierce version, which will give you a +5 bonus to many physical attacks, or an Arcane version fora +5 bonus to Focus, Ordination, Disruption, Subjugation and Ministration. Each mount is bound to one character and is no trade, so don't expect to use this mount on multiple characters. They're available now, so check out the EverQuest II site for all the details. [Update: Smokejumper has posted to the EQII forums to say that the mounts will be a "heirloom" item, which means the mount is bound across the account. They are not currently flagged as such, but SOE will be correcting that with Tuesday's update.] [Update 2: Smokejumper has also gone on to say that the mounts do not have feather fall, as was stated in the online article. Thanks Conor!]
WRUP: All mounts are equal edition
This week's edition of WRUP takes its name from Basil, who kicked off this week's discussion of everyone's favorite mount with some controversy: Basil Berntsen: I'm not including a pic because all mounts are equal, unless they go faster. C. Christian Moore: Also Frostheim, WHOA. All mounts are equal? I think not. BB: Frostheim? Ouch... Chase Christian: All hunters are the same: their dumb pets pull the boss before everyone is ready, they FD to avoid a repair bill, and when the boss is dead, they roll on any weapon that drops. BB: Small price to pay, imo. I do way more DPS than you sissy dress wearers. BB (five minutes later): Wait, you play a rogue, of course. Well, I still... uh... do more DPS... provide better debuffs... can transfer threat better... I can roll on your leather. CCM: Gah, it's hard keeping track of you hunters, with your ever-changing pets and whatnot. I think there's only one solution to this problem: a level one battle to the death. But the actual participants might disagree with me. While I wait for them to see this post and sort out their problems, why not look in on what the WoW.com staff is playing this weekend? And, if you're feeling brave, join the debate and tell us what your favorite mount in the game is. %Gallery-91600%
Tuesday Morning Post: And live in harmony harmony oh love edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! By now, I'm sure you're all aware of the big news: The Sparklepony is here! The Celestial Steed went up for sale on the Blizzard store, causing massive queues and earning Blizzard hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first day alone. You either loved it or you hated it, but either way, it seems to have been a coup for Blizzard. While the pony talk refuses to die down, some people just want it to go away, and luckily for them, there have been other things of note to report. For example, there was also a bit of Cataclysm news this past week. Paladins got their day in the sun with their Cataclysm class preview (along with some extra blue clarification, of course), and we, of course, have analysis for all three talent trees. We also saw the release of a preview of Mount Hyjal, as well as a preview of Vashj'ir, a sunken city of the Naga. There was also a twitter developer chat, where we learned that we'll be able to learn 310% flight for all our current flying mounts in Cataclysm. No matter what type of news you prefer, you'll have some time to get caught up on it thanks to a 5 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime window. You can check after the break for a list of some of the other odds and ends from the past seven days as well, and, as always, keep it here for WoW news as it happens throughout the day.
