Feldon If I had to sum up what effect the StationCash Marketplace has on EQ2, it feeds impatience. Vitality can be restored without waiting, Evac and Tracking potions can be found rather than grouping with individuals who have those abilities. XP potions make those little XP bars cruise along at a faster rate. Armor appearances normally available only via raiding can be acquired by anyone.
Sure there are some truly unique items, like the Prestige Houses and Furniture which are some of the best in the game. But for the most part, SC is all about time = money.
SmokeJumper responded to a thread “Skip flight school, buy your pilot license…”
Here’s our take on the questable mounts vs the marketplace mounts:
Questable mounts are in the game so that players can earn them normally and acquire all the cool abilities of those mounts without having to purchase a marketplace mount. We provide a good variety of tints and appearances of these questable mounts so that we can grant them in different ways and let different niches of players get differing appearances.
Marketplace mounts add a further variety of appearance for those that find that it reasonable to pay for that entertainment value. They are, and always have been, not required.
The quests around the mounts have, up to now, been mostly about becoming in tune with the mount (training your gryphon or becoming one with the bats). Sort of taming that mount so you can ride it. If you want a lore rationalization for marketplace mounts, consider that your character is buying them from a trainer. They come already “rider trained”. No quest required.
Outrage
So it’s a bit puzzling that players are so outraged that the flying mounts purchasable from the Marketplace don’t require a 5 day waiting quest to use them. I think SOE would receive a flood of refund demands if an item purchased for $19.50 ($6.50 if you bought during Triple SC weekend) required a 5 day quest to use. Considering the jumping and gliding mounts which will all be available via in-game quests, the StationCash mounts seem to be “nice to have” but not “must have” which is what StationCash items have always been.
Think of the Lore
We’ve been a bit confused by player demands that Pegasus and other flying mounts require completion of the Goahmari Gryphon quests before use for Lore reasons. While I appreciate the idea of helping goat people tend to their gryphon hatchery before they entrust you with one of the eggs, it seems to me that they don’t really “have a dog in this fight” regarding Pegasus, Flying Carpets, or whatever other flying mounts appear in Norrath. I don’t think they have a moratorium on flight.
Of course we’re anxious to hear your own thoughts…
My problem isn’t that a five-day period is required for gryphons and not pegasi, it’s that it’s required for grypons at all. It may make perfect sense lore-wise, but play wise it’s more than a little onerous, especially after the third or fourth iteration. (To Speak As A Dragon, anyone?)
I don’t care how natural it is. You don’t see functioning outhouses either…
The quest to fly is not a big deal. it only takes a few minutes each day and then it is done. You can do all the chars at the same time and it is really an easy quest. I don’t really care if someone wants to spend the money for a flying horse. As long as they make sure you can get it without SC then I don’t care.
Agreed if they are going to sell an insta-flight item now, then the least they could do is reduce, if not remove the quest lockout timer for the standard quests.
The only true value the lockout had was to prevent players spawn camping questmobs so soon after DoV release.
If the long realtime timesink wasn’t so bad, why was a certain exploit such a big deal right after Velious launched?
I’d be happy if something to speed the process for subsequent alts was available. (And there’s a bunch of us with a lotta alts that would affect…)
my only beef is not the time at all, I don’t mind waiting the 5 days to care for my pet in fact I think it’s kinda fun little questline. My beef is that in game I wanna fly so my choice is gryphon, gryphon, or ummmm… let me see oh yeah gryphon. Only if I wanna fork out additional cash can I get the beautiful stuff. And it is this way with ALL SC items, sure I can get furniture in game but if I want the good stuff it’s gonna cost me wallet.
I think that every EXACT item offered on SC should also be offered thru quests in game so that if I wanna bypass the quest with my wallet I can but if I don’t have a wallet to do the bypassing I still have access to all the exact same stuff.
I really don’t see the problem here. If players want to purchase a flying mount on SC rather than do the 5 day questline let them. The gryphon questline isn’t hard it’s just a timesink, and for people to complain about that (even doing it on alts) is just laughable. It’s nothing like “To speak as a dragon” used to be, so comparing it to that is nonsense. You do 1 of 5 quests over 5 days. Big deal.
Yes they probably will change this questline for the benefit of the alts in the near future, but to whine about a SC flying mount I personally think is just people crying about SC yet again. If you don’t like SC don’t use it.
Did anyone honestly think they wouldn’t put flying mounts on SC? lol 🙂
Avianna, I kinda agree with you about SC. Let the people with money skip stuff on SC. But yes, we should all be able to get those via quests. If we can be bothered. Or at least there should be a quest version of the pegasus mount ingame in the near future. Let the SC buyers have they’re mounts, but a quest version should be available to those that wanna get one. Maybe just a different colour 🙂
If what SmokeJumper says actually where totally true, it would be the quest mounts that have additional stats and SC mounts would just add a different appearance.
If I buy a pound of hamburger at the store the butcher does not make me wait for a calf to grow into a cow. The flying mounts are the same thing. If you want to quest for one you have to grow and train it. If you want a ready made and packaged mount you can buy one and pay for the convince.
I’m kind of with the complaint that some of the best looking stuff ends up on station cash. To say nothing of it being the only flying mount out of what, 7 other choices that has stats?
The truly amazing thing, if Smokejumper’s response to my post in that very thread regarding invisi-mounts is to be taken at face value, is that invisi-mounts as a solution to the Fae/Arasi Flight issue was apparently never considered.
Unfortunately, this almost certainly means there’s going to be just such a SC item, and it will be my fault. Forgive me, I knew not what I did… O.o
For everyone amazed that items paid for with real money are a bit more appealing that items you pay hard earned “plat” for…how are you going with paying YOUR rent with game plat? (assuming mom and dad aren’t still covering you).
I hope they NEVER put exactly the same appearance in game earned as is SC. I want people to KNOW I earned mine. From a power perspective, however, it’d be nice if in game earned always have stronger stats. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Striinger said:
“For everyone amazed that items paid for with real money are a bit more appealing that items you pay hard earned “plat” for…how are you going with paying YOUR rent with game plat? (assuming mom and dad aren’t still covering you).”
Does not compute. Mounts, furniture or anything else within the game are pixel items, not real ones, so it should be available for pixel money or for effort in the pixel world, ie, questing. If those items are additionally available for real money, that’s a separate matter.
who cares if someone buys their mount, time is money, i’m more interested in being able to put different mounts in the appearance slot.