It’s the apex fear of free-to-play MMO gamers everywhere, doubly so when a title is designed entirely around PvP combat: players with extra money to blow on the game will be able to buy their way to objective superiority by way of paid buffs. That was the future faced by the Planetside 2 community when Sony Online Entertainment announced its plans to bring such buffs to the game’s store.
The cries of the fans came fast and loud, and Sony listened. In a tweet that went out yesterday, the president of SOE, John Smedley, indicated that the response to the announcement of paid “implants” has caused the team to go back to the drawing board on them. Hopefully they find a solution that allows paying gamers to get something that they feel is worth their money without actually tipping the gameplay balance in their favor.
Such is the challenge of freemium game design.
Source: Game Front