Allakhazam editor rages at SOE Station Cash
by Alexis Kassan 
Dec 20th 2008 at 9:00AM
Filed under: EverQuest, EverQuest II, Business models, Opinion
There has been much unpleasantness following last week's announcement by SOE that they would be introducing Station Cash to Everquest and Everquest II. But few write-ups have been so frequented (or adamant) as that of Allakhazam editor Tamat. The main gist of the argument is that this change was forced upon all servers, rather than providing the option to choose switching to a server offering these transactions. There are also concerns over how the items, available only by microtransactions, change the dynamic of play in the games. We invite all of you, readers, to tell us what your experience of the Station Cash items has been thus far. Have you used the system? Are you excited or annoyed by the gear available for money? In short, is it more fun or just funds?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
UltimateQ said on 9:07AM 12-20-2008
I think its just fine. From what I can tell with the items in EQ2, all of the gear and pets are purely aesthetic. I could be wrong though, and am open to correction.
It was pretty ridiculous, something like $30 or $50 for a set of gear, and it wasn't anything but a costume.
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Krilliun said on 12:07PM 12-20-2008
I was also thinking the same thing. Allah has their interests in the gold selling business it is very obvious. I know that RMT and gold buying aren't the same, but it is slowly shifting to that I am very sure. The more this becomes accepted by gamers the closer companies are to providing their own gold buying options. Putting those gold farming operations out of buisiness.
-Krilliun
torak said on 9:42AM 12-20-2008
Allakhazam - owned by IGE (as far as I know), a third party RTM company.
I can see where they would be upset with this.
:)
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DeathMutant said on 10:18AM 12-20-2008
I was just going to mention this. Of course Allakhazam would be upset with SOE offering RMTs -- it would cut into *their* lucrative business of gold-selling!
Brendan Drain said on 11:22AM 12-20-2008
Station cash isn't RMT (yet). Their service does not overlap in any way, shape or form with IGE. Platinum bought through RMT cannot be used to buy the items obtainable through station cash and station cash cannot be used to buy items obtainable with platinum (and thus RMT).
brent said on 10:23AM 12-20-2008
Interesting that Kazam would print such ranty complaints directed at the company that is opening up its entire database to them for the forth coming ZAM EQ2 database site.
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Rollins said on 12:48PM 12-20-2008
He's probably legitimately pissed off.
John said on 10:59AM 12-20-2008
I feel its basically SOE jumping the shark. It will forever change the way the game is played...there is no reason to give good loot for those not buying things...and I refuse to pay additional money over my monthly fee...so i would always be out of luck when it comes to getting the good loot. Not fun and no reason to put up with it.
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Vulturion said on 11:11AM 12-20-2008
Got to say that those specific complaints are pretty darn insubstantial.
Selling XP magnifiers spoils the fun of people who like to competitively race through new content releases ?
That isn't exactly a strong counter-argument to an introduction that is of great use to veterans and new players looking to catch up with established friends - which I imagine constitute almost the entire playerbase of both Everquests by now.
Of course there is no reason the new items should have to be purchased with RL money, but the items themselves seem beyond rational reproach.
I mean plenty of MMOs already have XP multipliers amongst their regular loot ( e.g. Guild Wars ) !
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Sethisto said on 3:14PM 12-20-2008
It's pretty rediculous to be honest.
This is content that could have been put in the game as drops, or crafting items.
Yet they chose to sell them to the users instead, even though the users already pay to play the game.
I can understand a non subscription based game doing this, but NOT subscription game.
It's pretty stupid. Maybe if they gave an option to aquire these items in game through dungeons or something, it would make more sense. though thats easily exploitable on SoE's side as well, making them nearly impossible to get.
The whole system has no place in an mmo with a monthly fee. That is a stupid business plan and has already caused many to quit, and many others (myself included) to cancel any ideas of returning to the game in the future. I was actually planning on heading back to norrath, since wow is getting boring. This puts a bad taste in my mouth though. I won't be returning until they get rid of this bs and add these items to the game their customers pay 15 dollars a month for.
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Dartaris said on 6:24PM 1-20-2009
This is a pretty ignorant post IMO. First of all, its all aesthetic items. If i were to be running a high end dungeon, or any dungeon for that matter, and an aesthetic item dropped instead of something that i could potentially use to upgrade my character, i'd be upset.
They aren't forcing players to buy items, and honestly i agree with their business plan. If they were selling Level 80 Gear thats better than anything you can craft or do a dungeon for then yeah, that's when you call shenanigans.
Paracelsus said on 3:55PM 12-20-2008
I don't much mind; Its only a couple of leveling potions and aesthetic stuff: I'll be worried if they start selling proper loot.
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