Dear Team that is running BDO on PS4,

In regards to your choice to allow cron stones in the new BDO release on PS4, i want to strongly push a wide survey of opinions (done by you via email)
to ask your player base, if this pay 2 win content should or should not (yet) be in the game.

If the game struggles to meet average income, please do say so. Otherwise, the implementation of cron stones will (as seen on the xbox) have drastical influence on player behaviour towards using real  money to progress gear.

In my humble opinion, you now have a chance to grow a new progression curve from what you release. Please reconsider your choice and remove cron stones as soon as possible or at least gather 1000+ opinions on this topic.


I really enjoy the game and did so on pc. But there are aspects to it (p2w) which will drive away or short cut to boredom players. Be clever and put player interest first, income will always follow.

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This message is not a forum discussion, but a suggestion to evaluate and maybe discuss internally. 

Thank you for reading.

I see no reason to remove them.

In general, I don't understand the stigma around "paying to win". It's more of a great equalizer if anything. If I don't have a lot of time to play because I work 60 hours a week, but can afford to use some of my disposable income to make my limited playtime more efficient that just makes the game more accessible.

What it sounds like is "I don't want people that have less time to play to have the same opportunities at end game gear as someone able to play an unlimited amount". Who cares if they grind 60 hours to make a TET in game or at their job? Either way they worked for it. If your argument is that you have neither time to play nor money to spend, well that is life my friend. There are some that will always have more access to things than you. It doesn't mean you need enjoy it less. Focus on your experience for the enjoyment of it instead of measuring yourself solely against others' experiences.

I kind of see where you're coming from, but I dont see how removing cron will make your game experience better. The last 3 tiers of enhancement are supposed to be mountains to climb. The impact of achieving them is the reward for the large risks and heavy grind you put into your gear. The easier you make to achieve this, the less the impact. 

Yes you can pay 2 win it. But the kind of money you would need to dump to do that, only a small few would even think about doing. Most people I've played with have put in some serious effort into maximizing their income generation and grind efficiencies through taking advantage of all the games mechanics to get their gear enhanced. 

This game has always been a grind. PA has some questionable microtransactions or pay model methods that I dont agree with, but crons is certainly not one of them.

To sum it all up, cause i had this type of discussions in a lot of games:

The moment you degrade parts of a gaming experience circle, you deliver negative input. The more input is delivered, the higher the chances for a player to lose interest.

BDO currently runs a business model, that is outdated and unhealthy with game play mechanics forcing people into situations, where pay for conveniance is triggered. Think trash loot amount vs. inventory space vs. CP/weight or looting and pets. It all has been specifically designed to trigger the wish for a solution that is not given via game play short or mid term.

Back to cron stones; with a new game launch and knowledge already available and people (not me btw) playing this game for pvp or war aspects coupled with gear is king, makes a very high risk downfall scenario in which players buy costumes for cron stones to get the edge on enhancing, to overpower other players.

This is a downward circle leading to elitist thinking and acting, high GS guilds only accepting p2w players (or very very lucky and dedicated ones), which in return turns the play field into a negative input experience with no way out.

This will drive away players, burn out cash and hardcore players and brands BDO a pay to win game, although it does have beautiful possibilities.

So to offer a better gaming experience for the overall health of the freshly launched game, i would highly advise to remove any p2w items and let people have the best possible experience.

In addition to that, a survey is a key method to gather data. The better the survey, the better the outcome.

Example:
1) How many players would embrace a new value pack, which has the kamasylve buff integrated and costs around 20€ a month. Likewise, the VP would be adjusted to be a rare event reward.

2) Cron stones are removed from the game, costumes do not give stones via melting.

3) Events are being held, which will offer pets as rewards. Tuned into a week long activity, players could chase different roads to achieve highest ranks; kill 10.000 monster / build 30 ships / gather 5000 logs / cook 10.000 beer you get the idea. This way, you play the game, you get a pet. No rng.

If you look at the really big picture, the better the gaming experience, the longer people are playing the game, leading to a high interest rate and steady stream of new players, leading to income possibilities. In our current time, where EA and other big names are setting the stage for a complete customer revolution and regulation of p2w mechanics, this is a red alert topic.

ANYWAY ... i just wanted to put a suggestion up, not dig into this topic again.

Well i would like to pay subscription that gives me maximum allowed weight + inventory + maids + pets for a month in some reasonable price range. Lets say 10-15 euro a month. I don't mind paying subscription for a fuller game experience. It becomes clear after short time that game is constraining you and forcing into different play without paying. Value packs are just too poor for its price and serve more as a lure mechanisms to buy stuff perma then as alternative. I do not know how i feel about artisans and stones.   However i am not willing to dump right away 300 euros since I do not know how long I will be enthusiastic about game and or if i will switch characters. So in end i will pay nothing, and game will keep luring me to spend money. But thing is, if I quit in between they will gain nothing. I guess they have some math.  

Cron stones are a huge factor and those that don’t see the problem are obvious users!

cron stones cause imbalance to the player base for those that buy out fits and those who purchase outfits to sell!

those with higher income in general whether it be to buy outfits to progress will do so faster than those on a lower income and those that buy outfits that can do so due to spending more time in the game whether online or afk lifting progress faster than those who play average playtime!

what this does is have a small minority progressing at an excellent ayes rate causing gear disparity and also being able to control the market to an extent with making higher tier gear and further pulling away in game from those with less silver, Wales are also in game through silver and not just pearls and that’s why crime should not be in game or at least bought from and converted through outfits, outfits should be vanity and not an extra currency, period!

It's a neccesary evil but my personal dilemma with this is that there is always only so many dollars I am willing to spend to be competitive at this game and there is so many players it's a warfare simulator and I have been unable to participate by being incapable of farming/buying enough cron stones to cross the tet to pen barrier except once through selling tet accessories.  It's extremely difficult and now we are starving the end game players of competitive fights so they are bored and trying to sell their accounts.   The season plus will hopefully remedy this somewhat.