Who would pay for new demi's?

By Chemdude8 on November 16, 2009 8:24:12 PM from

So I don't know about you guys, and I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for it, but personally I don't support putting money into a game I already paid for (hence no WoW). I just wonder what happens after the free demi's are released then they release the next set and try to charge for them. For them to make money of course they are going to make the new one's "special" or at least seem a bit OP to bolster everyone to buy them (potentially balancing them a few weeks later). I'm one of the players that probably won't be purchasing any Demigods, and I just wonder if this game will survive that or if people are really willing to put more money into a game that takes longer and longer to get a game going.

+4 Karma | 32 Replies

I'd pay pretty much whatever they want for any MEANINGFUL additions to the game, although ironically I have a no-WoW policy as well .

The problem is not pay-for inclusions though, its that each and every addition like that would massively split the (already almost-nonexistant) community. Imagine if Valve started selling a laser rifle for Counterstrike for $9.99 that dealt double-damage from any of the standard weapons. They'd lose fuckin millions of players overnight...

Quoting DemiSpets,

reply 1

... Imagine if Valve started selling a laser rifle for Counterstrike for $9.99 that dealt double-damage from any of the standard weapons...

Such a clearly over-powered item would never be released, and if it were then servers would beging banning it almost immediately, thus no problem would exist.

As long as the Demigods were balanced correctly, then there would be no real problem, besides the obvious bias the uneducated would have against them, with new Demigods being released as DLC. However, I'd much rather see the Micro-expansion stylings of Sins of a Solar Empire; I'd easily throw down some money for two new maps and two new Demigods, however a single Demigod would have to appeal to me entirely. If Regulus had of been DLC, for example, I'd never buy it.

Sorry to start a conversation here, but I feel like that's part of the issue, if they want to sell these Demi's then they will need people to want them. I'm not a business major, but I'm pretty sure the best way to make them appealing is to make them a little over-balanced, at least for a short while.

And that brings up a point in and of itself; say you buy the new demi, 2 weeks later they nerf it, well you bought the demi for the stats and abilities it had, but now it's nerfed say QoT style. I'm sure there will be a clause that says any and all changes can happen to any demi you buy at any time,,,

With mods everyone should be able to play everything, so does that mean the community starts making "pirate mods", or will Demi's not be something you can add in with the mods?

To address the OP, If I'm still playing, I'll pay. The reason for me is simple. The amount of detail that goes in to each one of these creations is considerable. Quite simply, they are frickin expensive to make. So the choice before us is: no new DG's ever (barring expansion pack) or we pay for new ones. The amount of money they would blow creating a detailed model, skins, animations, skillsets, voice overs, play testing.. it's just too much to be free. If the graphics were DoTA level with no voice over, it would be another thing. Part of the appeal for Demigod, for me, is that it's as much a work of art as a game. You gotta pay for that level of quality.

As to the aspect of feeling like you got cheated if they rebalance them, speaking for myself, that's not what I'm buying the DG for. Besides, by the time DLC comes around (if it does) modding and the SDK will be in. If we don't like the balance on a new DG, we can make a balance mod to address it. Pirate mods won't happen either, that one is easy to control for Stardock. New DG's could be made by the community, but it would be very unlikely as modders don't typically have access to Granny.

id pay a couple bucks for them not a ton cause im low on cash but id chip in some money not gonna lie......im thinking that theese are going to be free though and that later ones are going to cost

I'd pay. Lots of other people would too. This has been talked to death and people are interested. The question really is if SD thinks they can make a profit for the investment.

So I don't know about you guys, and I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for it, but personally I don't support putting money into a game I already paid for (hence no WoW).

Monthly subscriptions and Exapnasions packs are two different things. I don't do monthly subscriptions either. That said I do purchase expansions and DLC. If I like a game (I love DG, despite its flaws) and the expansion adds more depth and value (such as balanced new demigods and new maps) to the original purchase with a moderate cost, then it is clearly worth it to me.

I would definitely go for a proper expansion with 4-6 demigods and 4-6 maps. I could see putting down $20 for that. I've never been a fan for paid, piecemeal DLC, and subscriptions are out of the question.

Quoting Chemdude8,

reply 3

... I'm not a business major, but I'm pretty sure the best way to make them appealing is to make them a little over-balanced, at least for a short while...

As I mentioned, any clearly OP content added to a game of this nature is going to cause a backlash from the player base and people will simply refuse to play with the new content until it's fixed. Refer to HoN, DotA and LoL for evidence to this point.

The best way to make the DLC appealing is to ensure it doesn't fragment the player base; paid maps, for example, are going to split the community heavily, like what happened in CoD4 and Halo 3 when their respective map packs were released. Free Maps with pay-for Demigods won't split the player base, however Maps are very expensive to make. Instead of Micro-transactions, I'd much rather see Mini-expansion packs.

Honestly I'd rather just buy an expansion 6-12 months from now. I love how this game plays, but ultimately I think they need a big capital infusion to justify overhauling the online setup and to get a clean slate on the game review sites to get people excited again.

That being said, I would pay for mini-DLCs which have extra DGs as long as a few new, popular maps were added and playable by everyone and if I could be fairly certain people wouldn't just kick me out of their games for having the new DGs.

to be honest i'm not sure just yet chance's are i might buy the next few set's of them but at the same time i gotta agree with ZehDon i would have to take a look at the new DG befor considering to Pay for it

also what obscenitor said if the new dg came with perhap's a new map as well then hand's down i'd have to pay for it almost instantly i love demigod and want to see it's future expand not die off but at the same time not have to buy item's Map's New DG'S and more option's in a single package which is why i like the idea of adding a new map with a new DG and maybe a new item

I would only pay for them if this game has a future

and this future depends on the impact of 1.2 and the 2 new DGs

it also depends on how they plan to release future DGs........if I have to wait 8 months again I would never pay for them...

to hold this community alive GPG should release every future DG single (!!!), so they can put them out as fast as possible !

its better to release 1 new DG every 3 months instead of 2 new DGs after 6 months

this community would never survive another "black hole" of waiting !

wont pay anything!

They coudn't do it like this, the community in general would take the move badly. If they released an expansion with new Demigods and maps and a lot more Single player content I'd pump money in to it. If it was just new Demis and maps then I'd hardly pay anything for it.

im pretty sure this kind of thread was made a while ago.

buut ... not sure if id pay for any new content.

I would pay for new demigods and for new maps as well, a map pack would be really nice

If content is offered that I think I'd be able to kill some time with, odds are, I'll pay for it. I probably would pay for new DG's if it came up.

To me, there's value in extending the life of a game I enjoy and while it's nice when I do, I never expect to get that value for free.

I want more maps.

More maps would be great, if my 3d skills weren't so purely product-based I'd probably have given a go at a naturey/floating island type map. Similar to the one the scotish alien has tossed around (and has been on the GPG forum also).

Having said that, I'd still probably want more demigods first. To be pretty frank, I wouldn't pay more than $5 for a pair, but I may pay, yes.

As has been pointed out though, the only way to really grow a community is not to segregate it, that harbors bitterness. So offering paid demigods (especially if its more than a couple bucks) could have just as much of a negative backlash within the community as releasing none at all and leaving it feeling abandoned. Id really, really, like to think that with modding support GPG quality DG's will be released by the community, but the cynic in me thinks they won't measure up (fingers crossed I'm wrong!).

I'd pay $3.99 per demigod if each one came with a "home field."

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 17

I want more maps.

Please. I'll buy them. Tell GPG.

We're up to 10 demigods. Lets do 10 maps.

And please tell them to make them both 3v3 maps!

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 17

I want more maps.

I whole-heartedly agree, two new 3v3 maps would be awesome.

I would pay for new maps, even if they were just scaled down versions of the big ones.

Quoting Frogboy,

reply 17

I want more maps.

took the words right out from under my fingers.

I'd pay for more demigods, but not maps - even though I want more maps the most.

The reason for that is that I don't want to segregate myself from people who don't buy the content. If there was an optional set of maps to buy, you'd split up the already not-so-massive community.

That all said, I really prefer package deals. I'd much rather shell out $15 for a set of "premium content", than nickle'n'diming for individual little bits and bobs.

And yes, 3v3 maps is definitely on the top of my wishlist. It really seems to be the sweet spot for this game.

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Who would pay for new demi's?