User:Tennessee Ernie Ford/Rants/Are in-game advantages available as micro-transactions?

I define a purchasable in-game advantage as any micro-transaction that both:

1. Provides something that makes it easier to play (traverse Tyria, succeed at missions, achieve titles) and
2. Is not available outside the NCSoft store.

Campaigns (including EotN) can be purchased outside the NCSoft store at deep discounts; they are also macro-transactions.

Evaluation

Of the twelve types of upgrades available as micro-transactions:

• Five (5) are purely cosmetic; they provide nothing other than a change to how things look.
• Three (3) provide some time savings, but the benefits can be achieved in-game.
• Three (3) provide a very substantial time savings (allowing the player to focus more on playing than acquisition). Of these, one is available outside the NCSoft store (this is also the one that provides the most substantive benefit, the Fire Imp summons).
• One (1) provides a meaningful advantage; there is no way to achieve this outside of paying NCSoft.

Conclusions

Mercenaries aren't for everyone; the in-game benefit that they provide is weaker for veterans than for newbies. However, I believe that it is a more meaningful advantage to game play than any offered previously by NCSoft.

On the other hand, I don't think it's an over-powering advantage: mercs won't allow a truly bad player to get through the game; they won't allow an expert player to be vastly more efficient than they already are. Instead, Mercs will make the biggest difference to reasonably good players relatively new to Guild Wars...and provide additional gameplay experiences for good and expert players ready to experiment with multiple heroes from the same profession.

This type of change is very consistent with other recent changes (e.g. to titles, adding Embark Beach, 7 heroes) that eliminate some of the tedium of title acquistion. But I still wish ANet would have provided some way to offer some options for expanding the hero pool to those unwilling to pony up the money (even if it was a time-limited offer, similar to that for festival hats and/or the Anniversary storage pane).

List of available micro-transactions

Upgrade	Score§	Primary advantage	In-game?	Non-NCSoft?	Notes
Mercenary Hero Slots	5	Allows full control of 7H party composition. Reduces need to re-outfit heroes			Arguably, full control enables gimmicky builds that are OP'd.
Makeover Credits	0	Cosmetic
Character Name Change	0	Cosmetic
Xunlai Storage Panes	3	Reduces time spent managing inventory			A significant advantage to packrats. ANet offered an extra pane to anyone playing at the time of the relevant anniversary.
Pet Unlock Pack	0	Cosmetic			Can charm any pet, any time and DL yourself.
Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack	0	Cosmetic			You can farm the missions for bonus items, but you can play the rest of the game for equivalent items.
Character slots	3	Enables faster farming of zoins, certain types of other quests			Mixed advantage: once you own all campaigns, there's a diminishing return in buying more slots. The biggest advantages are: easier inventory management, farming certain quests, and more flexibility. The disadvantages are: more time needed managing and acquiring more inventory, a tendency to grind rather than play.
Game of the Year Upgrades	1 (veterans) 4 (newbies)	Much easier for newbies.			The Igneous Summoning Stone is a huge in-game advantage, but the upgrade can be puchased (at a discount) outside of ANet. (Overpowered for newbies; not much difference for anyone else.)
Skill Unlock Packs	1	Reduces time spent skill hunting, capping (and earning the requisite funds).			Strictly a time saver.
PvP Access Kit	1	Reduces time spent unlocking (and earning requisite faction)			Strictly a time saver
PvP Item Unlock Pack	2	Reduces time spent unlocking (and earning requisite faction)			Strictly a time saver
Costumes	0	Cosmetic

Score^§: TEF's subjective rating for in-game advantage:

0 = Purely cosmetic.

1 = Time saver.

3 = Substantial time saver.

5 = Gameplay change, minor.

7 = Gameplay change, substantive.

10 = Completely over-powered.