[Suggestion] Please make Zen Market 50% off more common

reposterz

Hi guys, I was thinking it would be great if there were more 50% off sales for the Zen market, especially for Refinement items. The price of Coalescent wards on the AH makes it hard to refine to legendary and mythic levels without excessive grinding or spending tons of real money to get the AD to support the refinement activities...

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reposterz

magenubbie said:

Better suggestion would be dropping all prices by 50% permanently. Then add some of the stuff we want to spend money on instead of the current stuff they try to force us to spend money on.

Hey man, great idea I agree!

fastrean3

@magenubbie

+1

louchristan

I have spend tons of money because I like this game but I found myself less and less likely to spend more because there is nothing worth to buy in Zen Market besides the overprice C and P wards. Besides, I get less and less exchange rate to AD for my real dollars. If they don't change that I think I will stop spending any money altogether.

tripsofthrymr

PWE has been doing F2P games for a while now. There's a pretty decent chance that they have studied their pricing model well and believe it is what maximizes returns for them.

I personally can easily afford to spend a little cash every month. I am very willing to spend to support the game. If something is a rip-off though, I'll not only keep my wallet closed but will actively tell others not to waste their cash. I run a guild of almost 150 players and am active in my alliance of 2000+, so plenty of people see my opinions on what is worthy of their money, and what is not. Many of my guild members purchased VIP on my recommendation of "if you have the disposable income, it's a nice convenience and a nice way to support the game." There are plenty of other Zen shop items that I actively dissuaded people from purchasing.

Here is a summary of my spending history with the game. Sometimes, stories from real people bring pricing spreadsheets to life. This part is posted in the hope that someone involved in pricing strategy will read it. Anyone else feel free to move on.

I spent a fair amount of real cash when the game first came out. I got the Guardian pack for the account-wide mount and other goodies, and because I figured "hey, no subscription fee and I like the game, so why not support it?"

A while later I bought a profession booster pack because I wanted to start crafting, only to realize that it would have been far, far, far, far cheaper just to exchange the same Zen on the ZAX to get AD and buy purple assets from the auction house. That was back when purple assets for coveted professions cost upwards of 200,000 AD. That same pack is still in the Zen market for the same Zen price. Have a look at the price for those same purple assets on the AH now. Anyone that buys that pack today will eventually feel absolutely cheated. Customers that feel cheated don't tend to hang around long.

Sales and coupons came and went. I picked up a pack here or there because I saw value. When VIP came along, I thought it was a very reasonable idea. It is pay-for-convenience, a sort of convenience I want in the game and can easily afford. It supports the game and gives me fair value in return. Invoked until a 15% off coupon came up and bought 6 months worth. Then came the Black Friday sale and I bought a year's worth. Now that 50% off sales seem to be 2x/year, I just renew VIP when a sale comes up. Value for my money (sale or not, to be honest). I feel happy, and PWE earns some money.

The mount changes came out. I didn't need a mount, having at this point two account-wide 110% mounts (thanks to a 50% off the blue drake sale at one point in the past... nice mount, fair price, picked it up). Thing is, I liked the innovation behind the mount changes. I realize that the actual bonus from mount insignia is very much "nice to have" and not game changing, especially in relation to the cost of another mount, but I wanted to support the game because it was moving in a direction I liked, there was that 50% off certain mounts sale, so sure why not, got a gilded spider for wanderer's fortune and because it looks cool for some of my toons.

Some things in the Zen market are "expensive" yet priced fairly enough. Those are things that add convenience or coolness factor to the game. They might be over-priced to some, but then not everybody needs them to enjoy the game. If PWE wants to price an account-wide 110% mount at 3500 Zen and a player finds that too expensive, they can do just fine on their 50% mount until an event (like the current one) lets them earn an 80% mount. They will still be slower than those that want to make the big purchase, but they can still play and enjoy the game without spending a dime.

There are things like the profession booster pack that aren't just a money grab, they actively and severely exploit the new, unknowledgeable player. When the same thing can be purchased in-game for a slender fraction of the Zen market price and without the random factor of a box, well, it is inexcusable. I am certain you have lost players over that and similar items.

Then there are things like coalescent wards. I'm sure it was originally intended that it take many, many years for players to work their weapon and armor enchantments up to perfect quality. Plenty went wrong with that strategy. You put them in invoke boxes and let players have 50 toons per account (and put AD in Leadership, so people actually purchased that many character slots). You tried to fix that by making the wards BtA. People just grabbed 4 coveted shards and made a lesser enchantment for the AH, basically at the same price the wards were going for. Or they buy 4 lessers and make a regular to resell. You introduced VIP with a key-per-day and put wards in the tradebar store. People got tons of coalescent wards that way, too. I think I have 30+ still in inventory, having splurged on keys now and then since open beta and having purchased VIP on the first day it was offered. Players in the know got all the coalescent wards they needed, while new players did the math and figured all of the older players must be pay-to-win with crazy amounts of disposable income. If they bought coalescent wards in the Zen market for 1000 Zen a pop and later found out there are much cheaper ways, they felt cheated. Cheated player = disloyal player. The Coalescent ward needs to be steeply and permanently discounted so that new players can eventually be on par with older players with around the same cash outlay.

It is totally fair for PWE to gate some advancement through Zen market items. You have never needed BIS gear to enjoy everything that PVE has to offer (PVP is a whole other animal). If you want to be BIS, you can pay cash or grind significantly. The game has always been really good in that regard. Just introduce new Zen only items for future advancement and permanently drop the coalescent ward price at least 50%.

I'm taking quite a bit of time out of my Saturday to thoughtfully write this because I do care about the game. I want it to be a financial success for PWE so that it is invested in for many years to come, and I want the game to be fun for new and old players. If you work for Cryptic or PWE, please share this post with someone in your organization that has the power to make a difference. Also, please drop me a note to let me at least know someone read and considered it. Everything told to me in confidence stays that way.

laviathons

you should have made your own topic with that post dont want it getting lost