Station Cash, Sony Online Entertainment’s new virtual currency, is now live in EverQuest andEverQuest II. Station Cash can be used to purchase items that will provide convenience and customization in game, providing everyone the opportunity to create a unique gameplay experience.
Want to learn more about Station Cash? You can learn more at the Station Marketplace, and by reading theStation Cash FAQ. Please note that Station Cash will not be available for customers in Europe until Wednesday, December 10th.
Woah..
I went and read the FAQ, as well as took a look around the shop. Items such as armor sets, adventure potions, tradeskill potions, achievement potions and other random items are listed. I’m a little dumbfounded so give me a bit to read up some more before I post any solid opinions.
…closer to that line. and once they reach or xross that line? potions for instant level 80 and zone clearing, woot! glad i left eq and eq2 – such dumbdowned versions now.
Tis a crying shame people. Where did the purity of our EQ2 go? A dark day indeed…
I suspect that it all matters more to the pvp servers, but as I don’t pvp, I can’t express an opinion there.
Tradeskill/Combat experience potions — already available from veteran rewards and LoN loot items, and experience gain isn’t exactly slow anyway, so I can’t bring myself to care.
AA experience boost — I *think* this is available from a LoN booster, and I also think it isn’t cost effective (as it’s hard to maximize AA gain in a given time period, unlike combat/tradeskill). I do agree that this one is borderline, I just don’t think it will have much real impact. I’ll be curious to hear from ‘out in the field’ what impact it truly has (keep in mind — not being 80, I’m assuming the existing combat experience potions would improve the exp to AA conversion rate accordingly, and there’s no shortage of quests to blow through for AA as well)
Movement rate — the live event carpets were practically free, the expansion brought bears, and SoW potions are cheap. /shrug again, I just can’t get excited about this. (I’m assuming it is out of combat movement rate, though even in combat doesn’t have particularly impact my playstyle.).
I am leary, but more from a ‘what next’ standpoint than from what’s there. I’m not excited that they have done this mind you, I certainly didn’t ask for it, but I just can’t get bothered by it *in it’s current implementation*. I do understand though that not everyone agrees, and it’s clear that the AA potions are a real sticking point for some (and while right now I don’t see why, if we hear results showing it to be more exploitable than it looks to me now, I might well change my mind).
It IS moving closer to the line. It would not surprise me to see SOE selling plat through the marketplace within a year. Sony’s profit line is hurting, they ARE a business, and it is clear that there is a market for fluff items and plat both…
Like stargrace says, fluffy house pets and whatnot are fine by me, but potions that impact gameplay — even if it seem like minor aspects of it like XP gain and movement rate — those don’t sit well with me.
My opinion is that this is not quite OVER the line. But IMHO, it’s moving things uncomfortable close TO the line.
PvP servers might be different, I don’t know, but on a regular server I don’t think it’s a huge impact since they aren’t THAT hard to get (my level 75 main has 102 and I know she’s deleted tons of quests she could go back and do) But even so — unless you’re 80 (so exp converts to AA, so wouldn’t a combat potion work?), there’s not many ways to ensure a steady stream of AA for x amount of time, thus making it worthwhile. Best bet would be to save up a ton of collections and turn them in at once, which can be pretty costly. So I don’t think that’s particularly exploitable.
Of the potions though, the AA one is the only one I can see that’s potentially out of line (and I’m almost certain I saw a LoN loot card for that already).
I don’t mind cute little outfits, or house pets.
I do mind aa experience bonuses.
Especially on pvp servers.
Those aa’s are REALLY hard to level.
My initial reaction was shock, but then I looked at the items available. All told, I think they are considerably more ‘fluff’ then LoN items. The potions are the only things you can argue about, and really, they aren’t much different than the veteran rewards, so this just gives new players a way to get them too. /shrug I decided I can’t get excited about it, at least based on what they are offering right now; I might even buy a house pet, seeing as how I apparently have 150 SC to spend.