Dizi wrote:Lets make it clear about "item shop".
There are no item shops in AAA subscription based games.
EQ2, They have had a item shop since long before extended. And other game come very close. WoW essentially has an item shop now with selling pets and the sparkle pony. You can buy pets in Aion now as well. I think the difference you may be in that they mostly sell fluff items though in EQ2 you can get exp boosting potions.
The question is, does it effect game play. The problem is, lots of things effect game play, how much are you willing to tolerate. Vanity pets, purely cosmetic clothing, dyes and furniture for housing surely falls into the category of not effecting game play. But it never stops there. What about mounts? That effects the game but only really in terms of being a convenience. So you can move around faster in the game with out paying for it in game. Not that big a thing. What about an exp boost potion? in a game like WoW or EQ2 I would say, not a big deal. Everybody hits max level within a few months anyway so it really only changes the time frame of when that happens. The real end game competition happens after level cap there. In a game like Perpetuum or EVE, you never get to a level cap so arguably anything that effects skill gain effects the end game.
EQ2 should be seen as a cautionary tail in terms of P2P games and items stores. All there stuff started off as fluff and 95% of it still is. But now you can also get mounts with stats, cloaks with stats and special abilities and exp potions. Did they cross the line? Did they go too far? Don't know, it is hard to say, for some they did and they don't play any more.
All I would say to avatar creations at this point would be, be careful. You cannot put the genie back into the bottle once it is out and you do have the opportunity, right now, to stay out of the item shop craze as a matter of principle. You also stand to earn some of your customers on the basis of sticking to that principle if you do. Especially if CCP ends up going "to far" with there item shop.