Commentary on Micro-transaction Pricing

I wanted to support the game. I gave them $20 for now so that I could pick up a couple weapon effects that show everyone else that I supported the game and I like having flashy things. Mostly I was just trying to kick them some money.

Now I'm at 80 points and can't really afford anything else that I like, so I plan on getting a couple more stash tabs, then having 20 points that I'll never spend. The trend seems to be releasing new effects at high costs and ignoring the lower point range.

If I do give more money, it will most likely not be because I want a new effect, unless there is some overhaul to make them more convenient to me like letting me put them on each character.

I paid $20 to upgrade my heart of the swarm so that I could get zerg wings on my diablo characters. Every character gets a little thing that I click to put the wings on; they look cool and show off that I supported the company (a company that doesn't need more support).


From my POV:

It's crushing to see that I have to spend $20 to get the right amount of points per dollar. It's crushing again to see such expensive item effects that I immediately translate to dollar amounts ($7.50 for horns on a helm, $20 for weapon to sparkle red and black, $90 for lightning scorpion).

Even though it's pinchy, I couldn't justify buying one at that many points.

for me it´s good to boost high packs.. but no to cut low pack

5 u$s = 50ggg
500 u$s = 550ggg

it would be nice to me

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oblomir a écrit :

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Ooshkii a écrit :

The final bit, I don't recall ever calling for the removal of the pricy pets

You did argue for currently expensive pets to become cheap, hence effectively remove pricey pets.

If that is not the case let me ask you this, if the currently expensive pets were in the $5 price range, and the cheap ones were in the $50 range, would you have a problem with that?

I guess not, but this still does not solve the problem as I have layed it out.

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valarias a écrit :

I'm NOT sorry if my passion for keeping a great game the way it rather than catering to the tirade of some entitled child.

This game is solely (excluding non-gam breaking functionals) sponsored by cosmetic items, and to suggest these items become cheap because it is too expensive to cater to the life of some few individuals who would rather donate a tooth than pay in cash seems utter non-sense to me, you might as well argue that air doesn't contain oxygen.

To exponentially compound this issue at hand is that there are affordable versions of the pet almost anyone can afford to splurge on.

Regardless of what the mod might have said, you really still have not added intellectually to this thread. To start with, you once again call me a name even though I have already refuted its use (not that name calling is a valid argument in any case). The second bit is a meaningless platitude and does nothing to argue the points I have made. The last part is about the same, and still fails to counter any of my points effectively.

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TheFifeNation a écrit :

Plus we are only 3 weeks into the existence of the Store.

This is a valid point, hopefully it either becomes, or is forced to become, a non-issue. I just hope to bring light to an issue that I feel might hurt GGG if not brought up.

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GiantPegasus a écrit :

the OP needs a business lesson. First of all the game is free lets start there. WHAT COMPANY DO YOU KNOW THAT DOESNT GIVE SOME TYPE OF BONUS OR DISCOUNT THE MORE YOU SPEND????? Think of it on large scale level yes that .30 cents seems insignificant to you but to these guys across thousands hopefully millions of players it adds up. This should be deleted because he is arguing against common sense.

Please re-read my arguments, I do not dispute their right to encourage people buying more at once.

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Charan a écrit :

The argument that 'the game is free, stop complaining about the voluntary pricing!' is completely valid but expressing it in such a childish way is really inappropriate.

I would like to contend this, not from the standpoint that it is a counter argument to mine, but because I feel that this argument tries to dodge the issue by calling it petty when this topic does actually have some deep implications. It feels like I am being told to, "sit down, shut up, and eat my peas," but I know that the peas could be poisoned. I don't want GGG to die from poisoned peas.

gonna make more comments in another reply.

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rumbl3 a écrit :

1) ROFL what F2P have you played? Calling PoE's flawed have you even bothered to check cash shops on the majority of other F2P's??? All signs point to NO.

2 and 3) Welcome to the world bud. Go to any store and tell me what you see. Generally buy more get more for cheaper. Should I go to all the stores in the area and demand they give me the same price for 1 2-liter of pop because people who are smart buy the 3 2-liter deal and get them at almost half price? What madness they will go out of business with those practices how dare they!?

5) plenty of people who started in OB that have sunk money into the game you handful with this idea no ones does needs to get that out of your head. Sorry buy you come off as cheap.

6) Once again how many F2P's have you played? lol Most f2p yeah maybe you can get more out of the shop for your cash but they also sell xp scrolls, gear, hotbars ROFL, and other P2W items.

7) Have you even play PoE at all? Serious question?

After reading some of your super wall of text that crit my eyes for 5,000. I've come to believe you either new to pc gaming or pretty new and have yet to see anything that is out there. I'm guessing you have based all of you info and ideas off of a handful of games if that.

I've been around since the mid 90's gaming. I've tried just about every single F2P that hits the market (at leat if it hits mmohut etc I love to try them out because you do find gems).
Cash shop here is a dream compared to most.

But the simple fact is after "4 minutes" of thinking some of you will never be happy it's a fact. Some of you they could give everything to you for $5 and you would still find something to cry about. /FACT

(1)Yes I have, are you referring to the various P2W games, are you referring to others? Please back up your points so that I have something to argue
(2 & 3)I have not argued against GGG's right to increment pricing to encourage higher purchases, so your arguments are invalid.
(5)I may come off as cheap, but that doesn't make this a non issue.
(6)And for the purpose of this argument, I do not compare them to such games. Once again your argument suffers from a strawman fallacy.
(7)I have a lvl 45 shadow and a lvl 16 witch.

You guess wrong, I have been involved with the world of gaming since the 90's as well, but this is a moot point: An argument is no less valid if presented by an expert or a novice. I agree that the current policy of not selling power is a good thing, but if they don't get enough people buy their stuff, then the game will tank. Also, I am not requesting all of their stuff for $5. Your commentary is riddled with strawman fallacies. /fact

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Panda413 a écrit :

How about this... any person that believes they know more about the game's real life economy than the developers should first state their qualifications before posting their opinion.

Do you have a degree in economics?

Have you ever run a business?

Do you have access to data from other online games with cash shops?

The problem is.. 99% of the people that cry about the prices have one qualification:

"I play video games and have an opinion that I value too highly."

...

If they want to share their opinion with GGG and not have their flawed perspective critiqued by the community, they should communicate privately with GGG. The reason they choose to post publicly is not for GGG's benefit, it's for attention and recognition. They want other people to agree with them as to reinforce and give credibility to their unqualified perspective.

see

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Ooshkii a écrit :

Allow me to pose a question to you. Do you know me or do you just make blind assumptions based on the fact that you believe one cannot logic their way through an issue. In any case, I have neither a degree in economics, nor have I run a free to play game with a microtransaction model, but I did co-own a for-profit minecraft server for a good year before I got out to do other things, and I have set up a real business with real investors and real profit/loss margins. So I would say that I might know a thing or two.

As for that last bit, this may be a fair point, but isn't that the point of forums? Isn't that the point of public speech? I should hope that something comes of this, but in the end I wish to present a problem I see with the system and to see if anyone can reasonably counter my arguments. Already, there has been this, and I have also found supporters to my side as well. As a final note, if something is a truth, does it lose "truthiness" based upon who presents it. No, a 1 is a 1 and a 0 is a 0 regardless where it is stored or who reads it. You can claim that I may be unqualified to present this argument, but until you refute the actual points therein, all you are doing is attacking me, not the argument.

Going to edit in more commentary as I can.

ITT: Lots of people who don't understand that the value of money is subjective.

$90 may seem "too high" to you. To another, it feels like $0.90.

If something is priced "too high" for you, then don't buy that thing. Others will, and that money goes to fund the game that you get and play COMPLETELY FOR FREE so high priced items benefit you directly - do not bitch about them. Be happy they are there, and be happy that GGG is using the money they generate to give you completely free game content.

/thread

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Kerchunk a écrit :

ITT: Lots of people who don't understand that the value of money is subjective.

$90 may seem "too high" to you. To another, it feels like $0.90.

If something is priced "too high" for you, then don't buy that thing. Others will, and that money goes to fund the game that you get and play COMPLETELY FOR FREE so high priced items benefit you directly - do not bitch about them. Be happy they are there, and be happy that GGG is using the money they generate to give you completely free game content.

/thread

You seem to have missed my entire argument. Please go reread it. /reply

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Ooshkii a écrit :

You seem to have missed my entire argument. Please go reread it.

I read the entire thread. The bulk of your argument boils down to "stuff is too expensive."

What is expensive for you is cheap for someone else.

I have designed F2P games with $199 microtransactions and watched them sell 12-24 times every day. I know how important high priced microtransactions can be to a F2P game, and clearly so does GGG.

You do not seem to, and that's okay. It's frustrating to realize that there are people out there for whom spending $90 feels like putting a quarter in a gumball machine - but they're out there, and you want them spending money on PoE so please do not complain about the price points.

Like I said, just be happy that the money is going to make free game content for you and leave it at that.

The OP'S point concerning the 46 and 96 point packages is a good one, yet people are ignoring it in favor of the easier-to-debate 'prices too high' complaint.

Fact is, rather thsn punish low-cost packages (as the current system does), they should instead reward the higher ones.

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Panda413 a écrit :

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Charan a écrit :

On the other hand, if there is a counter-argument that the pricing model might not be to GGG's advantage, I think we should be open to that too.

How about this... any person that believes they know more about the game's real life economy than the developers should first state their qualifications before posting their opinion.

*cracks knuckles*

I work in pricing consulting, using regression models to determine the maximum price consumers are willing to pay for a particular good/service. Basically, we can determine with a high level of confidence future purchasing behavior of consumers.

What people SAY they're going to do when the choose to spend resources (time/money), and what they DO is entirely two different things. This is why I personally think all focus groups are garbage, which essentially what this thread is.

Having a price point on $5, $10, etc increases its perceived value. If it was $4.99 it wouldn't have as much weight as say $5.

I agree with a $20 "break-even" point for points per dollar.

There definitely is room to optimize the prices of paid items in this game.

People whining about paying $90 for a pet simply don't get it. That pet isn't for you, it's for the people who have a higher level of discretionary income, and a propensity for "elitest items".

THIS GAME IS FREE. You don't have to pay a penny if you don't want to. I'm in the process of selling all of my D3 items to support this game, because I've enjoyed it, and I would spend at least $50 for a game of this caliber.

The formula I go with is $1 per hour played. If I can get at least that, and enjoy the game, it's worth it for me. I will be spending hundreds of hours on this game, so the amount I'm going to donate should roughly reflect that.