What do you beleive are the problem with microtransactions or are their any?

They end up costing more and the balance of game is screwed...

Microtransactions and DLC are stupid and shouldn't exist. Finish the goddamned game and then sell it!

yea, some people were whiny a lot about 6 totally unnecessary plants having to be purchased^^

I think the problem with microtransactions and dlc is, that people are feeling that they're not getting enough value for their money.

I think a lot of people, myself included, like getting the complete product. And a lot of companies are charging extra for stuff that should be in the base game.

expensive. $10-15 for a frikin skin! come on drop that to about $1-$3 and i'ed probably buy some for games i play. they just want WAY to much i feel like they are ripping off loyal customers.

I think they are good. EXP boosts make MMO's less grindy without unbalancing them. Tradeable items allow hardcore players to get premium items without having to pay a penny in cash as they will pay with free in game currency. They allow many games to be free or cheaper, that being said pay to win and dlc/subscriptions/full game unlocks as micro transactions are bad as they are frustrating, deceitful and ruin it for those who put time into the game expecting a fairly complete experience. Aesthetic items are completely ok, as are minor bonuses that do not affect competitive play (lose less gold/exp on death, lower countdown timer for PVE death). Expansions are also fair game, but I do not really consider them micro-transactions. Bite sized F2P games are also ok as long as the wait between plays is not to long (12-24 hours max). Any bonus items that are essentially required to beat a game (due to difficulty) are hard to judge. If the difficulty ramps up too quickly and essentially demands them (or requires heavy grinding upwards of a day depending on the game) then I question the developers motives, but a hard game does make no help victories an achievement in skill and perseverance. Some of my favorite games are F2P with micro-transactions such as TF2 and Puzzle Pirates.

Some microtransactions are just problematic, when they make just too easy something very hard to do and/or nescessary for a part of the gamem, of the nice gun you farmed two month for it's a crap next to the all powerfull cash gun, some "cash buffs" just fish all balance of some games.
The best king of microtransaction are cosmetic ones, and even this ones every company should make at least a few starter skins not so bad, and a few that can be achieved with hard work only.

Also, on free Vs paid games the first will aways have more people complainign about cash stuff, a free game will atract people with low purchasing power, these who many times just can't buy cash stuff and will feel downrated when see the cash users do all king of shit they can't, on another way a paid game with some cash stuff usualy will have more balance on the cash stuff and most people playing will be people open minded about spending a few bucks on a game.

Sorry for any walltexting u.u

Because although the company may profit more from them... Micro-transactions and Subscription-based games generally end up costing the people who PLAY the game more money. I think Guild Wars is a pretty good deal, you pay one time for the game, and then you're free to do almost whatever you want on there. As far as I know you don't have to pay money to do simple things like get ingredients for recipes... or expand your inventory... or play certain dungeons... This applies to Multiplayer games just as much as it applies to Singleplayer games.

The problem is when they sell you the game with the new price, and then they periodically add extra stuff which they like to call DLC, which in reality is what we old gamers know as "unlockables" or "expansions".
It's totally fine to pay for a DLC that adds a lot of stuff to the game, but not when it simply unlocks the access to it. An example would be Saints Row 3, there was a shitload of content that gamers later found that all that "dlc" stuff was actually coded into the game, and buying those would merely unlock the stuff for you to use.

I would rather pay upfront or not pay, don't want to find out later that it will cost 3 times the price of the game to unlock half of the content. With micro-transactions they tend to add pointless little things and whilst I probably don't want them anyway I hate having little bits of the game "missing" and links to buy them in the game. I don't mind big expansion style DLC so much.

misspelling ;-p

Once upon a time,
I decided to get all the Sleeping Dogs story DLC, it costed some nice money, but I was happy.
Steam started to download the update, it made me even more happy.

It was a 4kb update.
I cried.
End of the story.

If it ruins the balance of the game, I don't like them.
If it's for cosmetics only or you can get them by playing also, then go right ahead and use micro transaction to your heart's desire.

Like most things, I believe the general flavor of DLC has gone from being fun and joy-inducing to a shitty marketing scheme based on greed (release day DLC, overpriced cash shops, content sparse addons).

On the opposite side of things, I love having the option of getting more content for games I enjoy. I like to support the companies that create things I like, and I like for them to keep entertaining me. I understand it must be hard finding a balance between price and worth, and if people are willing to pay a certain amount, it makes perfect business sense to charge it.

I'm perfectly okay with additional content that was not originally planned. If a game has been out for awhile and the company says, "Hey, we should add more content for this and see if people buy it. See if people are still having fun with this like they used to," then that's fantastic. Even if it's a game I dislike, I respect them for not taking advantage of their customers.

only problem i have with microtransactions is when its core aspects of the game that only become accessible THROUGH those microtransactions.

if its extra stuff (like cheats- for sp games, weapon skins, other superfluous 'fluff'), then i have NO problem with it whatsoever.

The Top F2P Monetization Tricks

Have a read of that. Then you will understand why microtransactions worry people.

Honestly if you do a F2P game and want some cosmetics and stuff like that its fine, hell over price them if you like just don't ruin the game with 100 dollar hitbox detection weapons(Exaggeration yes I know).

I don't have problems with it per sé, but I do think it has ruined some games, especially PvZ2.

problem with microtransactions is people who find it's fine

• there is a PvZ 2 ? Didn't see it. The first one was kinda cool

1) Having microtransactions often means building a programming wall around the game, and the doing of that prevents modding (naturally), and modding is one of the things that greatly extends the life & enjoyment of a game. 2) Cut content DLC means that the game must be balanced around the content not being there, since the game must be completable without it. Which means if you buy that DLC, you just unbalanced your game. But if you don't buy it, then you don't get to see the whole game. 3)Microtransactions are often used as a marketing trick. People won't pay $120 flat out for a game. But many will pay $40 for the base and then sixteen $5 charges spaced over time, and thus end up paying $120 for a game. However, some people are really sensitive to such manipulative tactics, and it really rubs them the wrong way.

I once got pretty heavily into an online game called Heroes of Gaia(think Evony with more RPG elements and far better ccombat). It was pretty fun, and there were large wars with many people fighting each other. The microtransactions didn't affect combat balance but were nice enough to make the devs some money. Then after a year or so of playing they began to add progressively worse items to the game destroying balance to the point that the only way to be a top player was to spend hundreds a month. After that experience I'm wary of playing any game with microtransactions as even if they're not too bad they have the potential to become that way.

"I ask this because I see people complaining all the time about it and I can't seem to see the problem when it is done right."
Let me just highlight the key part of that for you :
"when it is done right."

Many companies do not 'do it right', and use it as a mechanism to milk something beyond a point of frustration. The negative reaction comes from this, and also the price-point, content level, pay-to-win elements and content denial sentiments. Done well, it is not such an issue, though can be like an annoying little salesperson constantly dangling things in the corner of your vision while you try to enjoy your game.

Micro-transactions are designed to take advantage of your interest in the game. Instead of being upfront about how much you will pay, they take money from you little bit by little bit. As you become more invested in the game you will start to spend more money and will undoubtedly end up spending more than what the game is worth. They want to hook you with a free game and then start to take money from you.

Games with online subscriptions are the biggest criminals out there. Not only do I have to pay for the game, but I have to continue paying in order to play? That's wrong. I paid good money for the game, so I should have access to all features for life with no shady additional costs involved.