EHG, like any business, has to make money. Last Epoch is buy-to-play, but in order to fund the kind of continuous, seasonal development players expect from an action RPG, they need to further monetize the game. Right now, LE has a very soft monetization scheme, with a somewhat discreet in-game store selling cosmetics. We don’t (and won’t) know if EHG is making enough money this way, but if they were to further monetize the game, what would you like them to do?
For the sake of discussion, here are some common practices, from the least predatory to the most (IMO):
A better interface for cosmetics sold in the in-game store. Something like the skin equipment screen in Path of Exile – something not obtrusive, but that would allow players to easily browse and buy cosmetics.
Using occasionally the loading screen for advertising store skins, like Lost Ark loves to do.
Using notifications in the in-game shop interface to draw players’ attention to the store
A battle pass – in which players pay to unlock a reward track and slowly acquire skins as they play the game. Battle passes usually have a free track and a paid track – the free one is basically an excuse to flash a pop-up on players’ face saying “Congratulations, you just earned this ugly thing! But, if you had been paying, you would have just unlocked THIS amazing thing!”. Path of Exile and Diablo 4 do this, for example; Lost Ark has gone to the extreme of having a paid reward track and another, more expensive “premium” reward track.
Creating inconveniences to sell conveniences. In Path of Exile, for example, players are given ridiculously little stash space, and are expected to use real money to buy more stash tabs. There was a time in which PoE’s developer was planning to release a new type of stash tab per league, with each season adding another kind of non-stackable item to the game; this idea was abandoned thanks to the community outcry against it.
A subscription. I have never seen an action RPG doing this, but hey, WoW does it, right?
Pay-to-win – selling power increases in the in-game shop. Lost Ark excels at this, down to adding lottery systems in which players are meant to lose so they are incentivized to spend real money in order to skip the grind.
What, if anything, would you like EHG to add to Last Epoch?
I don’t think that’s unreasonable given it has a box price. If the monetization were massively in your face (kinds like D4’s is g8ven it also has a box price) then it’d just be a shameless cash grab IMO.
Also they’re more focusing on getting core stuff in-game at the moment rather than mtx. Transmogs are coming in 1.3 (? 4?) So I wouldn’t be surprised if that saw more stuff in the .tx shop as well.
Hellgate London.
I think we already have #1 in-game at the moment but there’s minimal reason to use it given the lack of skill mtx (at the moment) and few gear skins. I wouldn’t want to see much more given the box price and supporter packs.
if we compare it to the giant that is PoE, PoE has no buy in, but stash tabs are not free.
So we can equate LE buy in box price as just “paying for all your stash tabs forever”
So the only other way PoE makes money is through Mtx.
I think they just need to make more variety of mtx. I bought the deluxe edition or whatever for what is basically 25 bucks or something at the time, which game me 2 mtx sets and some pets or whatever. I felt like it was a really good deal, and they looked nice too. The stand alone mtx to me feels a bit too expensive for my tastes. But the same holds true for me in PoE as well. I get all my cosmetics in that game through the supporter pack system and use the points I get to buy skill mtx.
Id love to see skill mtx tbh, I love to make my skills go from bland and boring to rainbow lasers etc.
The devs didnt seem too keen on joke mtx, but honestly its a big seller for users and Id love to get some stupid stuff like “Summon Beer” Which is a for summon bear, and it is the bear in a bee costume that is also wearing a silly beer hat, or holding a beer etc. That kinda stuff is fun as heck.
I’m fine with the current form of support (MTX)
I bought the latest one in 1.0 release and wish we can see more options in future and some skills “MTX”.
I don’t really care about MTX as cycle is not forked from offline or online. I can just mod in any transmog I want. As long as there is 0 pay to win I don’t care. Why my concern is BOTS not mtx.
I don’t care about MTX as well.
I also don’t mind paying for increased stash tab per cycle. If it’s like 15$ per 3 months, for a live service game that’s nothing. If it’s one time payment (not per cycle) even better. For a game that will continuously pump new content every 3 months, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to pay for stash tabs. But we use gold to buy stash tabs, so…
Option battlepass with skins? Okay… as long as you don’t throw it at my face “BUY IT NOW”.
Big NO to the spamming adverts that pop up with promotional material. Even if its MTX.
Big NO to creating inconveniences and selling the solution. Stash tab is an exception since PoE does it, no other reason. Might be silly, but that’s what I think about it.
I don’t see a difference between battlepass and subscription if both involve MTX. I wouldn’t like a mandatory subscription just to play the game. If its optional, then it would be the same as battlepass.
I keep editing since there’s many ways to do it.
Just add a battlepass that gives you more stash tabs, throw in some mediocre MTX, and keep the premium MTX on the shop. This way you won’t just feel like spending money for the sake of it, you’ll still need to play to get to your rewards, it promotes engagement. Price it at 7-10$, and we’re done.
I don’t think EHG should implement any of OP’s suggestions, except maybe #1?
I would prefer the MTX store to remain subtle, unobtrusive, and 100% only cosmetics. That being said, I have bought a bunch of LE cosmetics, including supporter packs, and gifting copies of the game to friends.
Its silly but this works on me. I love dressing
up my paper dolls and am always excited to see what mtx’s are available to unlock in the new season/league.
D4’s battle pass is slightly cheaper than POE which is nice. Since I love LE and EHG I would welcome these changes and buy more mtx’s!
I could like a season pass as Diablo 4 with some cosmetics, titles, emote and this kind of things, nothing obviously pay to win, but basically a way to support the team with a “seasonal subscription” that in the case of Diablo 4 basically can cost around 3€ per season, based of the fact that they give you back the 70% of the cost of the season pass in the season pass, and you can use this valute in the next one for a massive discount, I would like something like this, and in general also a personalized character, to be more incentivize to buy a skin for example for a mages, that isn’t a old man
The current state of MTX advertising within LE is amazing! As someone that comes from both POE and D4 - it’s annoying when you’re bombarded by billboards or sales tactics to acquire their new MTX. LE has it subtle now and it’s great, this is important to keep.
Battlepass is not bad. As long as they’re MTX only, the only people traditionally complaining about them are ones that aren’t willing to dish out the $10 or whatever they usually are. Do you like the cosmetics, yes or no–buy or do not buy. Very simple and doesn’t require you to purchase.
Subscription is a hard pass because that just limits people out of the game. As someone that’s new, if I never played LE and it required a $15/mo base fee–I’d pass it up until it had a free month trial or something where my initial investment wasn’t potentially wasted. Games that develop a player pool can do this (and of course doesn’t mean it’s good) just that it’s easier to get people to pay once they’re sucked into the scheme, otherwise this deters new players 99% of the time. Most successful games are free (fortnite, league of legends, etc.)
Pay to win - NO, just no. No reason to talk about this. lol
EHG needs a healthy supply of financial support to stay afloat (I’d assume), and currently the MTX is of lower quality but expected of a smaller dev team. But loving where it’s heading and enjoying the game and their focus towards community feedback. Keep at it EHG! Really excited for your future!
I don’t like battlepasses, and it’s not because of the cost. I don’t like daily quests, or FOMO tactics, because it makes me feel like I have to log in each day. It turns the game into a chore.
I don’t want my entertainment to become chores, and that’s all battlepasses do for me. I would rather just buy the items I like, instead of grind one more thing.
That’s a fair point! But I would definitely say that there should be more ways to incorporate a battle pass. You’re in the boat of not wanting the game to become a chore and I love logging in daily (as long as I’m enjoying the game) and doing achievements and progression. Otherwise, the game becomes a chore for me where I have nothing else interesting to play and only log in for that “nostalgia” effect or something I’ve sunken 1000+hrs into and have to feel like my investment hasn’t gone to sh!t. Battle pass situation is tough and maybe it’s time to reinvent them and move from the traditional progression stages we so often see battle passes do.
I like logging in daily too, to LE … But not when the game is forcing me to thru forced progression, like battlepasses, or time-gating, or daily quests, etc … Just feels icky.
It depends for me on how these are implemented. I liked the dailies in mists of panderia to unlock my serpent because I knew it guaranteed me the reward.
Getting a cool mount for playing with your pet dragon both matched the theme and kept me hyped for a while. If it is dailies like in New world which are mandatory to progress as they gave a lot more exp, then I begin to hate it because I was forced to do it.
