A devblog that addresses the recent events in Eve has been posted by CCP Zulu. This one is much better in tone and even says “For that I am sorryâ€.
There are no and never have been plans to sell "gold ammo" for Aurum
Note that he does not say ‘there never will be’. At this point CCP has committed to the new Aurum store. I don’t think it will ever disappear. Nor will they make a commitment that it will NEVER contain any non-vanity items. CCP Soundwave in his piece in the leaked bulletin mentioned storage for ship fittings. (Feels a bit similar to bags in LOTRO). Something like that can still happen. Or skill points or whatever.
The CSM has been called up to Iceland, but to be honest I see that as a PR stunt. I have no clue what they’re supposed to be discussing. Performance troubles in Incarna ? The Aurum shop is pretty much untouchable at this point. The CSM won’t make CCP change it’s mind.
CCP knows perfectly well that non-vanity items would make a large percentage of people leave, they might at some point in the future when Eve starts dwindling down take that risk and milk the last few dollars from their cash cow. And we won’t like it, but it’s a business after all.
U kno if we are listing all the thing CCP has not said its going to be a lot longer than just gold ammo, this is exactly the reason the community got so worked up in the first place because of wild speculation, not anything CCP has said or done.
Note this post by a CSM member. This is no speculation, CCP deliberately does not want to commit to no non vanity items.
http://tinyurl.com/3pjysg5
I dont agree with “CCP knows perfectly well that non-vanity items would make a large percentage of people leave”. Because every other game is doing this now, TF2 is selling weapons and set items etc. In a way i agree with CCP soundwave(was it soundwave? cant recall) who said these reactions are completely predictable. When i play, most of the people i talk to about it say “pfft, i dont mind”. The internet is ablaze, yes, but thats the loud minority. As long as Aurum can be traded for isk i dont see a difference from how PLEX work atm, its just a more direct source, you dont have to speculate with PLEX prices to get your isk and then get your items. Aurum will – i imagine – a fixed Euro/Dollar > isk rate. Not a fluctuating one like PLEX does today.
Not to mention. one positive outcome is to halt inflation. If you can use ISK to buy expensive useless stuff, it might help reducing the inflation. Granted, PLEX market might plummet a bit. And there might be some mudflation for certain items(if/when you can buy game-related stuff like ammo or ships or guns). But then again, im not very worried, compared to other mmo’s, the inflation is very good, and normally CCP take care with the market – excluding some fuckups ofc(PI anyone?)
Otherwise i agree, CSM to iceland is mostly a PR thing, they have to make sure they atleast seem to be(im not saying they arent, just saying) taking every precaution etc. TBH, its a very smart move, since it reinforces the image of the CSM and it makes CCP look at more open to inputs than most game developers out there. – Very tactical and smart imo.
You might be right, maybe not that many would leave, it’s hard to say. I would think quite a few would. We’ll see if it ever happens :).
Yes, many games have jumped the bandwagon of selling items. Does not make it a fair choice. And Eve was always based on fairness across players, thus the free market. Yes plex already offers items for money but its purpose is totally different. Then again you use TF2 example so the point is moot.
Also having the need to spexulate on plex market is very good thing, because it allows the free exonomy to ergulate the inflation of plex prices, where as fixed euro-aur rate wouldnt. fixed dollar-aur rate woudl be awful since dollar is fluctuation far too much to be useful currency atm.
They have said no “golden ammo” but that doesnt mean there cant be “faction pos for aur” thing that was suggested in newsletter.
It appears that CCP is currently avoiding commitment to say no to such items and this clearly indicates that there are plans for such things.
Aurum just makes it easier for RMT’ers to exploit EVE as i see it, for example
isk seller/buyer 1: i’ll work my isk up buy monocle and sell at ebay
isk seller/buyer 2: i’ll buy that from you for xyz amount of pounds/dollars/yen (whatever)
or through paypal or something along those lines.
does it not defeat the purpose of trying (and failing) to keep RMT’ers in check
if im wrong please explain why.