Wildstar uses the traditional subscription model, which is about $15 USD/month. The advantages of a subscription model is that it is easier for the developers to make content and not hide it behind a pay wall since they have the steady income of the player’s sub. A lot of F2P games tend to hide a considerable amount of content behind pay-walls or sell minor items for exuberant prices, usually these type of additions are free inside a subscription-based MMO. The worst kind will even sells XP boosters, cooldown reducers, and even stat-enhancing consumables thus taking the game down the pay-to-win model.

Games like Guild Wars 2 that were only buy-to-play with no subscription fee still had an extensive in-game shop; though the game stayed away from selling pay-to-win items not all games are that gracious. The Wildstar subscription model may well be a necessary evil if we want to see high quality content without the need to resort to a pay-to-win model or having an extensive in-game cash shop.

However, needing to purchase the game and then pay a monthly sub might be too much for some people, even if a steady flow of quality content is provided for the subscriber. This is why Wildstar offers an alternative: CREDD, which they hope will also address another age-old problem in MMOs: gold farmers/sellers.

The Wildstar Subscription Model

The CREDD system basically lets a player in Wildstar to buy a month’s worth of game time with in-game money; these CREDDs are sold and initially purchased by players. This basically means a player who doesn’t have the patience to gather a lot of in-game cash could opt to spend real-life money to purchase someone else’s subscription time and then sell it to them for in-game currency.

Wait a minute, isn’t that a stupid idea?

I know what many of you are saying right now; someone is wasting real money for in-game currency and I fully agree. You will never see me do this. However, the truth of the matter is someone will always want to take a shortcut. The gold selling industry is lucrative and all MMOs have to deal with them. However, the REAL money economy stays in the hands of Carbine.

Before you say, “they could just buy the CREDD and then sell it for in-game gold and then sell that gold to another player at a higher price,” remember nothing stops that player from buying a CREDD and getting same amount of gold for the same price the farmer paid. In short, basic economics, the exchange of money between players will regulate the price of CREDD in the game and make it hard for it to be influenced from outside without risking more money, which I doubt many gold farmers would do since they go for low risk endeavours.

Though in theory a gold farmer could buy subscription time with in-game gold and sell the excess, or still farm with a paid subscription and sell the gold as they usually do. The farmers are going to contribute to the player economy and as such end up regulating their own prices. Since gold farmers thrive on accelerating inflation this will effectively be counterproductive for them. Lastly, people who do like to buy gold do know the risks involved with it. Giving them a way to get gold in-game via legal means will make them take that option first, thus starving the farmer firms of their prime clientele.

However, the greatest benefit is that it allows players who do have a lot of time (and thus a lot of time to rake in the gold) to spend their extra gold in getting game time and avoid paying a subscription fee.

What does this all mean in the end?

This doesn’t mean there won’t be anyone ‘playing the market’ as people try to buy CREDD low and sell high, or the gold farmers are not going to try. However, the economy will be much better buffered against external inflation pressures. The other benefit is that the players will be the main benefactors and investors of the system. Clever players will probably be able to play for free and still make an in-game profit, but like the stock market this is a risky venture that most gold farming firms do not have the patience for.

There are some who have the fear of price gouging, basically buying all the CREDD when it is cheaper and then selling it higher than the market average. Fortunately the system is somewhat buffered against it. This is because the lowest price is always sold first, and buyers of CREDD can place buy-orders which any CREDD seller can fulfill. This would require monopolising the supply and since any player can be a potential supplier, this means it is a high risk venture to even attempt it. Not many people would have that much in-game gold and even those that do won’t risk it so easily.

The big question at the end, will the prices always remain low enough that most players that try to rely on the CREDD system should be able to afford them and still have enough gold to enjoy their game? Only time will tell if this is the case.

Stay tuned for our Wildstar Review: An In-depth Impression of the leveling content.