I’ve downplayed cash shops quite a bit here on MMO Fallout, but I understand the people who do not like them, and why, and the factions of supporters and opposers continues to widen as new ideas are implemented. On the extreme sides you have players who won’t play a game now unless it has a cash shop, and players who will not play any game with a cash shop. There are issues over items in the cash shop being attainable through natural gameplay, or only selling vanity items or variations of existing weapons (for instance a different color/design but with the same stats).
So for some, the SyndCon experience of Planetside 2 was less about destructible buildings, space gameplay, and skill-based system, and more about the inevitable presence of a cash shop.
If a weapon can be bought in the cash store, he was quick to assure us that it would be attainable in the game as well. Definitely though, one of the things that will be sold would be customization.
In a game like Planetside 2, the cash shop ultimately comes down to a matter of skill over stats. Unlike a traditional MMORPG, will it matter that your store-bought rifle does 20% more damage if you can’t aim it properly? Or how a tuned sniper rifle won’t change the fact that the player still has to draw a bead on your head from across the valley. Watching the impact of the cash shop will be interesting, to say the least.
More on Planetside 2 as it appears.
MMO Fallout 