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$99.99 DLC hits Live

Gowans

Member
Yeah I'm totally confused by this.

The base game is free tho I got a premium item I couldn't use so I thought that was the catch.

I'll happily keep playing for free tho.
 

hamchan

Member
Yeah it's high because they have to subsidize the large amount of people that won't pay a cent for the game, people like me!

Still pretty ridiculous though. If AoE4 came out at $50 I would have bought it.
 

vanty

Member
Railworks 2 has $1470 of DLC. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a 'All DLC' pack on Steam, only a button to add all of the individual packs to cart.
 
raphier said:
Which is why I hate f2p. If I want the full experience then I have to pay twice times more than a regular game.

What is worse is that it is twice the price of a normal PC game for six months.
 

hamchan

Member
Manager said:
So the text says 30% off. Does that mean it costs more or is it $100 minus the 30%?

It means all the individual pieces of DLC added up over the 6 months is more than $100.
 

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
and it's content that will give players an edge, great generation for sure.
 

Manager

Member
The dev's explained it some more on a forum:
Hey guys, I'm the Community Manager on this title.
I'd love to chime in and explain a few things here.

Regarding there only being 2 free civs. We're launching with 2 civs, they both have a free to play component and they also have a premium/paid component. These are not the ONLY civs we'll have. We've announced 2 more coming out later this year, the Celts and the Persians. We'll be adding civs to this game for YEARS to come.

Having to pay 102 euros for 6 months of content. This is an option. If you buy the Season Pass bundle, you'll pay once, and receive EVERYTHING we release during that 6 months. This includes all civs we release, all booster packs, and all vanity packs. If you're a player who wants EVERYTHING, this package offers substantial savings. This is not a forced purchase. We're allowing users to purchase only what they want. If a user really only likes Horde Mode style games, they can spend $10 (or their regions pricing) and that can be their ONLY purchase in Age of Empires Online. When you make a single purchase of a Civ, you unlock everything for that civ. The entire tech tree, the advisers, larger warehouses, rare and epic gear, etc. We're not nickle and diming our users.

The online portion: The capitol city is persistent. When you're not online playing, friends can still visit your city and buy from your stores, as well as your city is still producing goods. We aren't charging for online play.

The art style: By changing the art style we were able to lower the requirements needed to run the game. Which means, more people can play it!

It's a free download and free to play. You don't have to buy a civ right off the bat to check the game out. I'd highly suggest you at least try the game before deciding you hate it. Instead of the past where you'd have to pay full retail price for a game, only to find out you dislike it (we've all had that happen), we're letting you check the game out for free. And if you chose to upgrade to a Premium Civ at any point in time, you don't have to start your city over. If you chose not to, you're not out any money.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4393153/Age-of-Empires-Online-is-scandalous.html#4393153

A guy also posted this in there:
What you seem to be missing completely is the fact that one Civ in this game is customizable to the point where it is comparable to 4 or 5 civilizations in AoE2. And that's ignoring the "campaign" and completely unique visuals.

hamchan said:
It means all the individual pieces of DLC added up over the 6 months is more than $100.

Ah of course, thanks.
 

RealMeat

Banned
Well, they are treating it like an MMO. 6 x $15 a month = $90, so it's not too far off. I doubt they'll get many takers, though.
 

Sydle

Member
It's a season pass to a bunch of content for a free to play game. Seems reasonable to me if you enjoy the game.

I wish this game was for 360.
 

DigiMish

Member
It's a free to play game using a freemium model. You're not required to get this to enjoy the game, let alone a single civilization.

Seems to me like the OP created the title for the "oohs and ahhs".
 
provo57 said:
Well, they are treating it like an MMO. 6 x $15 a month = $90, so it's not too far off. I doubt they'll get many takers, though.
i was gonna say the same thing. considering theres no entry fee, like with WoW expansions or dc universe $17 a month is fair
 
provo57 said:
Well, they are treating it like an MMO. 6 x $15 a month = $90, so it's not too far off. I doubt they'll get many takers, though.
You clearly don't understand why this system is so profitable this gen. There's a fair set of people who have lost touch with spending their money wisely.
 

BurntPork

Banned
fuck-this-shit.jpg
 

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
People are okay with this? Instead of paying $50-$60 for a game, pay $100 for 6 months worth of "content". Which I can't imagine the content being anywhere close to an MMO.
 
BurntPork said:
this..
and
Iadien said:
People are okay with this? Instead of paying $50-$60 for a game, pay $100 for 6 months worth of "content". Which I can't imagine the content being anywhere close to an MMO.

screw them...
thanks to dlc and shit like that they want me to be milked like i cow...
the the cesspit of hell with ya!
 

Stitch

Gold Member
I was just playing this and looked at the premium stuff prices.... yeah, I know it's a f2p game but come on, the prices are wayyy to high. I'm sure if they were lower more people would actually buy stuff.
 

RealMeat

Banned
TheNiX said:
You clearly don't understand why this system is so profitable this gen. There's a fair set of people who have lost touch with spending their money wisely.
I understand it. 5% of the the player base pays far too much and keeps the game profitable, while 95% play for free. It's kind of despicable to take advantage of people with addictive personalities, but if it really is $99 for everything for the first 6 months it's probably cheaper that most F2P games. I've heard of people spending way more than that.
 

JaggedSac

Member
Hey guys, I'm the Community Manager on this title.
I'd love to chime in and explain a few things here.

Regarding there only being 2 free civs. We're launching with 2 civs, they both have a free to play component and they also have a premium/paid component. These are not the ONLY civs we'll have. We've announced 2 more coming out later this year, the Celts and the Persians. We'll be adding civs to this game for YEARS to come.

Having to pay 102 euros for 6 months of content. This is an option. If you buy the Season Pass bundle, you'll pay once, and receive EVERYTHING we release during that 6 months. This includes all civs we release, all booster packs, and all vanity packs. If you're a player who wants EVERYTHING, this package offers substantial savings. This is not a forced purchase. We're allowing users to purchase only what they want. If a user really only likes Horde Mode style games, they can spend $10 (or their regions pricing) and that can be their ONLY purchase in Age of Empires Online. When you make a single purchase of a Civ, you unlock everything for that civ. The entire tech tree, the advisers, larger warehouses, rare and epic gear, etc. We're not nickle and diming our users.

The online portion: The capitol city is persistent. When you're not online playing, friends can still visit your city and buy from your stores, as well as your city is still producing goods. We aren't charging for online play.

The art style: By changing the art style we were able to lower the requirements needed to run the game. Which means, more people can play it!

It's a free download and free to play. You don't have to buy a civ right off the bat to check the game out. I'd highly suggest you at least try the game before deciding you hate it. Instead of the past where you'd have to pay full retail price for a game, only to find out you dislike it (we've all had that happen), we're letting you check the game out for free. And if you chose to upgrade to a Premium Civ at any point in time, you don't have to start your city over. If you chose not to, you're not out any money.

Reasonable.
 
Iadien said:
People are okay with this? Instead of paying $50-$60 for a game, pay $100 for 6 months worth of "content". Which I can't imagine the content being anywhere close to an MMO.

Pretty much. The "free to play" business model is probably the greatest scam in gaming.
 
I's reasonable because they are charging for content and it is totally optional. People are seriously complaining for no reason. The game itself is free and they charge for content just like other F2P MMO's have done before, nothing new. You don't want it, or don't like the price, then that is fine, you do not have to purchase it.
 
iconoclast said:
Pretty much. The "free to play" business model is probably the greatest scam in gaming.
Having not played Age of Empires yet, I can't really weigh in on this specific example. However, in theory, it depends entirely on implementation. From a game design standpoint, however, there is a fine line you have to walk. If the paid content is too good, then it deters people from getting their feet wet with the free product. If the paid content is too frivolous, then you won't generate a revenue stream.

But, back to this game, I'd have to check it out. Something tells me that I'm not the kind of power user who would ever see any benefit from an all-you-can-eat buffet of content, so complaining about the price seems unnecessary as I probably wouldn't need to buy it at $50 given the content in the free. I'm probably the unpaid customer who maybe would go for a premium civ at $20.
 

Grinchy

Banned
I've seen people drop 100s of dollars on TF2 gifts for random people on servers. I've read the stories about people buying $2000 worth of keys. People are crazy if they have money to burn and want to support a company. It seems crazy to me, but I don't see the problem with it. No one is gonna pay that much unless they really want to. Let them have their ridiculous purchases.
 
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