Tspoon wrote on Dec 18
th, 2018 at 5:06pm:
It's not insulting, it's not obvious to me that microtransactions are an absolute cash cow for SSG. I am sure the are a large part of the financial picture but clearly they need alternative revenue in addition to MTs and subscribers otherwise they would be releasing a lot more free content. Content drives players, players drive MT sales. I am not suggesting imminent demise of SSG, hence my ironic use of "DOOM". But the Season Pass means there are cash flow issues at SSG, whether that is more push needed for the expansion, or a trial balloon for additional revenue generating devices. My guess is MTs are gradually diminishing as a percentage of income at a slightly faster rate than reduction in the player population would suggest. That only makes sense as most of the players have been around long enough to have bought most of what they want from the store already. There is a reason why soverein pots are so expensive and semi-regularly on sale...
I agree with you about MT. Their MT model is largely around:
Convenience Consumables - Rez Cakes, Mana Pots, Heal Pots, Beacons, Bells of Opening, etc.
Power/Grind Bypasses - Raid Bypasses, Ottos Box, Hearts of Wood, XP Pots, Treasure Elixirs, etc.
QoL - Bank Slots, Character Slots, Bags
Cosmetics/Pets
I think that category 1 is largely steady, and is probably in ratio to the overall player activity level. More players running quests, more convenience items sold. Less players, less convenience items sold.
Categories 2,3, and 4 have diminishing returns over time. At some point players get through the grind, have all the bank slots and bags and such and have all the cosmetics and pets they want.
They need to keep releasing new MT items, preferrably in categories 3 and 4.
Add in potion cases, cosmetics wardrobes, new personal bank storage that works like shared bank with a lot more space for purchase (so they can ditch the TR cache), Scroll cases, etc. Lots of stuff they could do here that would not affect grind or player power but would be new revenue streams.
Add in new pets, new cosmetic sets (combine a cloak, helm, armor together for a specific matched look that is iconic in some way.) Special hirelings (how well would a Drizzt hireling sell?) I know the IP rights to him are off the table, but come up with other D&D characters. Bobby the Barbarian? Hank the Ranger? Warduke? Strongheart? Maybe some of the Knights of Myth Drannor?
People would absolutely buy that stuff. All of that will eventually be saturated, too, so you have to keep adding new stuff. Player housing is a good QoL option that becomes an MT haven for you.
All of that will keep the revenue going to fund content and systems work. And none of it requires adding grind or power creep.