Suggestion - Skins

[fire]

Levels as of right now do not mean all that much, since you can hit lvl 60 rather quickly. I would like to propose the idea of skins for those who would like to take it a step farther. This would be a nice addition for those who play the same tank quite often and would like to stand out.

I think there should be 5 skins per tank, lvl 1 unlocks your basic skin, lvl 60 would unlock the next skin, lvl 100 would unlock the 3rd, 150 the 4th, and for those willing to go this far, you can unlock an insanely amazing skin at lvl 250.

Because xp is linear and not exponential this is definitely attainable, and it would give a nice goal to work for that would still hold onto the standard of a game with very little stat progression.

[israphial]

+1. I loved this idea when you suggested it earlier, and it would give a bit of incentive to want to level your tanks.

[tarbomb]

Skins would be cool, as would the ability to recolor your lasers.

Perhaps as you leveled up, you'd unlock "cosmetic mod" slots, and you could purchase cosmetic modules from a store; this would result in a sink for coins to prevent unbounded inflation while reducing the impact (and annoyance) of taxes.

[sirnull]

Feb 14, 2014 13:17:59 GMT -5 tarbomb said:

Skins would be cool, as would the ability to recolor your lasers.

Perhaps as you leveled up, you'd unlock "cosmetic mod" slots, and you could purchase cosmetic modules from a store; this would result in a sink for coins to prevent unbounded inflation while reducing the impact (and annoyance) of taxes.

I have been thinking the same. What would be interesting is if you could customize different aspects of the tank using different modules. And what's even more interesting: Say I don't have enough "fashion" slots for my black spectre with white lasers and cyan smoke(or whatever). I could install one of these 3 in a "functional" module slot, sacrificing some stats to get the look I want.

PS. My highest tank is 43. ;-;

[Astral]

If they want to make the game profitable, they could add a shop in the origin where you could purchase different special cosmetic items, like colored lasers, and different neon on your tank. Just a thought, so this game doesn't get bought by Kabam

[tarbomb]

Astral: Coins will be sold for real-world cash in the future. Last time Rob talked about monetization, he said that he wanted this to be the only way that cash would flow into the game. We currently have a 10% tax on transactions to discourage muling and to provide a sink on unbounded inflation; what I'm proposing is using a cosmetic store to provide an additional sink to allow the tax rate to be lowered a bit.

[rob]

Tarbomb,

I am not in support of a Jetbolt-run store at all. Instead, all items drop as loot, even cosmetic items. If there is an item you want, there are three ways to get it:

1. Grind it til you find it.
2. Sell items until you have enough coins to buy the item from someone else.
3. Give real money to Jetbolt to get the coins you need.

Obviously, 2 and 3 can be combined.

This model is different from that used in most other games. Jetbolt never creates new items in the store, so a real money spender cannot devalue the items that others have worked for. On the contrary, real money spenders give blood/sweat/tears type players a way to monetize their efforts in-game.

I feel that the tax is a necessary and permanent part of the model. Without it, coins continually accumulate in the game, causing prices to rise forever.

Given all that, I think a reasonable model for cosmetics is to have them drop in the world and get traded around like every other item. You might need to unlock the slots first, like you do with modules. But the market for the items will be totally player-run.

[Jufda]

I like the way of handling the trading like that.
The tax is acceptable, but I think it should be pretty low. Maybe 5-6% or something like that.

There could be some tank xp or total xp based cosmetic items though. They'd appear in the invetory after the required xp is gained and the game would notify the player.
The idea of cosmetics requiring slots like modules and have the cometic items drop isn't bad either.

[amitp]

Hm, how do I want to get cosmetic items?

• Buy them with real money? It's interesting. Path of Exile does this. Rob has another monetization strategy in mind though. If they're tradable then it's compatible with Rob's goals.
• Buy them with in-game currency? Seems like a safe default choice.
• Earn them with in-game grinding, with loot drops? Also seems like a safe choice.
• Reserve them for special feats? This I think is most interesting. Non-tradable.

So here's my thinking: we normally think about how you get cosmetic items. But this is an MMO. Other people see them. I think we should think about what it means to see someone with a cosmetic item. Let's look at the above four again. What do I think when I see someone with a red flare on their tank?

• Ok, they just paid dogecoin or dollars for it. No connection to their in-game activities. The path to a red flare is the same as to a blue diamond.
• Ok, they did something to earn it in-game, but I have no idea what. Again, red flare and blue diamond aren't any different. Just personal choice.
• Ok, they play a lot. Ho-hum. Maybe red flare and blue diamond mean something different, but probably they don't.
• Ok, a red flare only went to players who took down a Traverse Gamma Destroyer. This is a huge and very difficult battle. Players who survived it did something awesome. The red flare is a badge of honor. It's different from the blue diamond.

Does this work? I don't know. The blue diamond means they soloed a Convoy. Green trailing smoke on bullets means they were beta testers. White outline means 50 worlds closed. A few are common, to give everyone a taste of them. Most are hard. These are basically achievements. They're not “linear” like levels. They're not in a boring list format like Steam and XBox achievements. Instead, they're in-game badges of honor that you can use to show other players that you did something cool. New ones can be added over time.

Basically, I think giving people a choice of colors that don't have meaning attached to them is a waste of the color space. We have simple graphics in this game. There's not a lot of perceptual space the game designers can work with. I think color is too important to just let anyone recolor themselves without adding something that's deeply tied to something in the game.

[Crunch]

Amit, I think you hit the nail on the head. Due to similar reasoning, I couldn't vote a simple "yes" on the poll. Colors and details should be mostly reserved for feats or important gameplay milestones. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any purely cosmetic currency/grind details, but it makes a lot of sense to severely limit them. E.g. making all grind-able/trade-able traits into color variations of a single feature set, perhaps glowing outlines or tank tracks. Every other alterable feature of a tank's appearance should really say something meaningful about the play history of the player, as Amit said.

[tarbomb]

Amitp probably has the best idea for cosmetics I've heard here so far. Having it work like a better version of realm's red glow would be a nice way of showing prestige in a game where a player can't easily show off his status using equips, which in turn gives an endgame goal (instead of just grinding for stats on the leaderboard).

If this is done, I think skins should work as unlocks (rather than modules) so you could toggle your tank's appearance at will. Some skins should last only so long as a condition holds (e.g. a leaderboard indicator - if you fall off the leaderboard, you lose access to that skin and your tank reverts to normal).

[zub]

I like the "eye-candy costs you money" way. As long as skins don't give you any advantage in game, it would be a waste to not use them as motivation for players to spend money.

Skins for in game achievements may sound like a good idea, but what is truly an achievement? Is it thrilling and entertaining soloing a convoy or is it mundane and boring clearing towers that makes soloing a convoy possible?