As far as cosmetics go: i'd pay for a set of "dyes" to recolor my own figurines (as you would do in Hero Quest/Warhammer kind of games) thus making them fell more "mine". That would add some customization to the MP part of the game apart from the different figurines, while retaining the current helm/no helm rule for clerics and warriors.
I'd pay to be able to play any adventure as often as I wanted. Call it a "Dungeon Romper Pass" or something...
This kind of reminds me how certain bands package their music or how some Linux companies distribute their OS, mainly you are paying for packaging. If there was a package for this game on a USB flash drive, with a special card with a Key-Gen code on it and maybe a 'Thanks Card', I would spend $5 USD easily. You include a USB flash drive with the game, some instructions on the game (txt file) with some behind the scene videos, and with the special game card, $10 - $15 USD. You add a Coffee Mug with it, $20 without asking.
Uh, yes, of course. I'd pay for useless tat like coffee mugs and T-Shirts of a Game I support anyday Totally forgot that
Expansions, new adventures sets (trilogys), skin options for everything, t-shirts, beer coozies, beer etc.
Just a beer can with 1 drunken rage card and 5 too drunk to fight cards in it would be a best seller no doubt
I think the scenario dev kit idea would be a great addition, yeah, breathing never-ending life into the single player game beyond the base campaign. You could also monetize the access to these player-made scenarios somehow, maybe with a one-time payment for access to everything past, present and future. So long as you tied XP and item level to the enemies in - or the challenge level of - the content (as opposed to letting players assign their own XP and item values to scenarios willy nilly) and maybe put a longer cooldown on their entry (once per week as opposed to once every 24 hours) then the balance issues that often arise from these features should be mitigated. The main question would be how player generated content would impact future content releases from Blue Manchu themselves.
I hear ya MrMojoRisin. I've waited for this game for so long, and even stopped development of a game that's pretty similar to it because I found that they were working on CH, that now I feel like I'm getting bitter being unable to play. Contest after contest of not getting a key just gets frustrating. It's so very unlike me, and it's not a sense of entitlement but likely a bit of projection of it being a game I designed (because a lot of elements do seem to be the same as the one I was designing). I have had to pull away from the news and trying to get a beta key because it just started being a bit painful. As for paying for things, at this point I'd love to be able to buy into the beta. I'd love to test it, break it, and look to help resolve some issues I feel come with the format of the game. Once the game comes out, purchasing character avatars and such I can see doing, but not likely too much beyond that. I'd really rather play and earn stuff through the game.
It depends on how good the "free" aspect is with it's generosity, and what exactly can be bought. I've played some "freemium" games before and there was a disparaging difference between those who tried to progress through the free methods, and those who dropped serious coin. I'll drop a dollar or two on some of the cool dice on the border of the play area and crap like that.
Truthfully, I'd rather pay for a complete game than be nickled and dimed to death. At least that is how most micro-transaction games feel to me. I have no interest paying individually for faster exp, classes, races, cosmetic features, housing, items, small sets of items, etc. I do realize the structure of this system has incredible long life potential through new campaigns. If new campaigns are released with new boards/maps/writing I would pay for that if they were interesting enough. I would rather pay for new campaigns (series of boards and story) or world maps (contains several campaigns) that include small sets of new items, small set of new enemies, a new class or race, new board tiles, etc. Maybe I'm old school, but I'd rather buy the package than being picked to pieces by micro-transaction piranhas. I've never really been interested in CCG due to the gambling mechanic (random cards = I might get that rare THIS time) used to sell cards. I like the gameplay of CCG games, but I'm not willing to buy into their sales model.
As is you can play the game completely free - unless you want access to cosmetic avatars or the premium adventures (which can atm be bought as a bundle - but it's beta, and all that). So, unless you really really want to go nuts on chests, it feels fairly reasonable. But yeah, I kinda agree - I generally prefer one time costs to micros, this however feels like I'll buy pizza at least once, to unlock all premiums and get a few avatars. Should still be around the price of a indie game if prices stay the same. Also, I should mention that the premium adventures are awesome and not just pizza sinks.
