Commentary on Micro-transaction Pricing

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soulburn a écrit :

Remember EVE online and their ridiculously overpriced cosmetic items - monocles and shit... there was a huge outrage at the beginning about the pricing, but later on people grow accustom to it and those who got those items were considered insane/rich/elite/whatever... If all items are equally affordable - then GGG will actually lose quite a lot of money. And remember there are always sales. Even in LoL legendary skins get sales...
About the currency exchange rate - I do believe its illegal in some europe countries to sell amounts of store credit that you cannot spend completely. Unless GGG has some mathematical formula to prove otherwise it can become a problem. To me personally it was never a problem, If i ever add more credit I doubt it will be less than 20$, but I see how this can be a problem for others.

Correct me if I am wrong, but couldn't you earn that by trading ISK for PLEX for something else. Perhaps its a moot point. Anyways, I don't think that they have to put everything at the same price, or put everything at a low price (if people want to pay $90 on a blue arachnid, then have at it), but everything that seems even the least bit cool costs a lot more money that I what I would want to invest in it, and being that I am smack in the middle of the target demograph, I think there are many more who feel the same. I regards to the sales, remember that everything right now is currently "on sale." I shutter to think by what rates are they discounted.

Also, a bill was presented to the U.S. Senate about 6 days ago that would make it illegal to pass on costs from card transactions to consumers. I don't think that this will get passed, nor will it most likely apply to GGG, but it is something to think about.

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zelpo a écrit :

Wow. Just wow.

Just goes to show, people will complain no matter what.

The game is free to play, and the OP takes 4 hours of his day to compose his (or hers) diatribe.

Last I checked no one was making you purchase pets in the store in order to play this game. And that's just what this is, a GAME. It's supposed to be fun, not make you spend a good chunk of your day writing a pissy letter.

Imagine how much you could of advanced a character in four hours time?

First of all, thank you for your intellectual addition to this thread. Second, nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything, but if the community of people who want to buy stuff does not grow at a proportional rate to the actual community, or does not grow at all, then the game will die. Also, I don't know where you are getting pissy from. If anything, I am concerned.

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Tomorrow a écrit :

The last time I checked, this game is FREE.

WTF you talking about GGG cheating your money.

I suspect you did not read my post thoroughly where I talked about that. Please do so.

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Slork a écrit :

90 bucks or more for those special blingbling items is absolutely ok.
there are plenty of other, cheaper items in the sea.

and its not pay to win, cause none of the items will give you an advantage in the game guys..

i mean, i would also like to drive a ferrari but can't afford one..
instead i had to chose another, cheaper car which fitts my wallet.

The point I was trying to make there was that it seems a bit odd how a simple texture recolor constitutes a $30 mark up, but I suppose a status symbol only matters because of the understood wealth required to acquire it.

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oblomir a écrit :

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mrlenko a écrit :

I think some of these items need to be cheaper to attract more sales and ultimately more money.

There's plenty of cheaper stuff in the store.

There's currently 10 pets under $5.

I know, I have one of the Royal Frogs already :p

If they want to charge large amounts for a premium pet, then that's their choice and I'm not criticizing it. I personally won't pay that much for it, and that's also ok. I'm not pissy about it at all.

I just know that I WOULD buy it if the price were more reasonable, which surely would net them more income in the long-run and having this game around with loads of content for years to come is what I have a vested interest in (otherwise I wouldn't have spent money on their store in the first place).

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mrlenko a écrit :

I just know that I WOULD buy it if the price were more reasonable, which surely would net them more income in the long-run and having this game around with loads of content for years to come is what I have a vested interest in (otherwise I wouldn't have spent money on their store in the first place).

This right here is exactly the point I am trying to make in all of this. Yes, there are people who will buy the stuff that is out there. No, nobody is forcing you to buy it and there is no loss of power opportunity in game for not buying something. But, at the end of it all, if not enough people are buying because they feel that the prices are unreasonable, then the game could tank. At the very least, the game wont be producing GGG money at its max potential.

Something interesting that I had just though of however. I suppose it would be better to enter the market with high prices and have to lower them than to enter the market with low prices and have to raise them.

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mrlenko a écrit :

I just know that I WOULD buy it if the price were more reasonable, which surely would net them more income in the long-run

Your premise is completely wrong, it would only make sense if $70 pets were the only ones available.

There's already 10 pets under $5, and there will be many more in the future, so people willing to spend smaller amounts of money already have a selection to choose from, and that selection is going to grow even larger. On the other hand, if there were no 70 dollar pets people willing to buy 70 dollar pets would have nothing to spend their money on, which would result in less income for GGG.

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oblomir a écrit :

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Ooshkii a écrit :

I just know that I WOULD buy it if the price were more reasonable, which surely would net them more income in the long-run

Your premise is completely wrong, it would only make sense if $70 pets were the only ones available.

There's already 10 pets under $5, and there will be many more in the future, so people willing to spend smaller amounts of money already have a selection to choose from, and that selection is going to grow even larger. On the other hand, if there were no 70 dollar pets people willing to buy 70 dollar pets would have nothing to spend their money on, which would result in less income for GGG.

Unless everyone wanted the $70 pet only; and weren't willing to pay for it :p
I see what you're saying though and it is a valid point, for sure.

im confused.

Does this cash shop sell upgrade or game breaking items?
Because it seems to me you have an entitlement issue, you are not required to spend a dime on this game and yet are mad they are trying to make a living in a morally unquestionable way?

fuck you sir,
fuck you with biggest pointiest sword one can find.

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oblomir a écrit :

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Ooshkii a écrit :

I just know that I WOULD buy it if the price were more reasonable, which surely would net them more income in the long-run

Your premise is completely wrong, it would only make sense if $70 pets were the only ones available.

There's already 10 pets under $5, and there will be many more in the future, so people willing to spend smaller amounts of money already have a selection to choose from, and that selection is going to grow even larger. On the other hand, if there were no 70 dollar pets people willing to buy 70 dollar pets would have nothing to spend their money on, which would result in less income for GGG.

First, please cite quotes correctly. Above you have me quoted as saying something that someone else did. Second, I don't believe the premise is wrong because of this:for a few reasons: 1) you made a strawman of my argument. I am not talking about just pets. I am talking about the price of everything. Do you want a weapon effect that you can notice, that's at least 50 pts. Do you want a pet that is anything more than a regular mob waiting to be put in a dungeon, that's at least 50 pts. Do you want a helm, that't at least 60 pts, and damn if at least two of them are barely noticeable. There is nothing cool/rad/awesome. Yes it's something that follows you around but if it looks like every other mob around you then you don't feel very special, and that is the point of these things. 2)Nobody cares if there are products out there specifically to all of the rich people who play this game, more power to GGG to milk these people so that they can make good content, but when the only stuff that looks even kind of cool is going to run me upwards of $20, then I do think there is somewhat of an issue.

Now, I will say that the Valentine day effect is reasonably priced. I wish there was a ranged counterpart, but if I ever intended on playing a character who uses those weapons (I hate melee combat and I really don't care about wands) then I would buy it.

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valarias a écrit :

im confused.

Does this cash shop sell upgrade or game breaking items?
Because it seems to me you have an entitlement issue, you are not required to spend a dime on this game and yet are mad they are trying to make a living in a morally unquestionable way?

f--- you sir,
f--- you with biggest pointiest sword one can find.

Actually, I don't feel entitled to anything (I am not asking for them to give me anything. Hell, I could go back to playing through all three of the TES games that I just got and not give a second thought about it), but the beauty of a market economy is that with entertainment industries, the consumer does not need the producer, but rather vice-versa. My concern is that there are more people like myself out there than there are people like yourself, because if I'm right, either they start dropping prices or GGG looks for new jobs.

Edit: Or I could go back to TL2 now that it has been picked up by a big modding group.

so before i read your wall of text:
do you have a degree in economics or do you run a f2p game by yourself?
or is this just another noob opinion from a person who thinks about microtransactions on their daily toilet time?