Zen to item ratio...

sauxron · April 2013

I'm sure (at least I hope) that someone has brought this up before, but if not then it needs to be talked about. The Zen to purchase cost of items is out of control. At $50 for 5k Zen I should be able to buy 3-4 bags, a mount perhaps, and maybe a couple other creature comforts, but 4500 Zen for one mount...that's just insane. Now were getting on the lines of EVE online $90 for a hat levels. I already purchased a $200 founder pack, now you want gouge me hard for bag slots

. I dunno, maybe I'm missing something, but just seems super high to me.

rubberduckie3 · April 2013

i agree that its over priced ......just farm farm farm diamonds to convert i guess

johnny305 · April 2013

I wont buy anything til the prices go down. Just earn my stuff through gameplay.

infi321 · April 2013

johnny305 wrote: »

I wont buy anything til the prices go down. Just earn my stuff through gameplay.

yeah me neither. prices are overly steep,

cathgar457 · April 2013

sauxron wrote: »

I'm sure (at least I hope) that someone has brought this up before, but if not then it needs to be talked about. The Zen to purchase cost of items is out of control. At $50 for 5k Zen I should be able to buy 3-4 bags, a mount perhaps, and maybe a couple other creature comforts, but 4500 Zen for one mount...that's just insane. Now were getting on the lines of EVE online $90 for a hat levels. I already purchased a $200 founder pack, now you want gouge me hard for bag slots . I dunno, maybe I'm missing something, but just seems super high to me.

Considering the Zen mount is rank 3 and every character you ever make on your account can claim it, it is not really that expensive.

omgitsbees1 · April 2013

I understand that content can be expensive on Cryptics end to create, but the prices are very steep. $50 is typically the cost of a new video game on Steam, and yet we are expected to spend that much for one mount? To put it in perspective, when you spend $50 on a new game, that game cost around 20 - 30 million dollars to make. The publisher needs to charge $50 in order to make back their money. Is Cryptic basically saying that one mount costs 20 million dollars to make? What I am trying to get at, is that what we have to spend, doesn't equal what it likely costs to create this content. A mount should be more like $1 - $3 for one. Cryptic is price gouging pretty hard here. If they want players business, they have to lower the price.

cathgar457 · April 2013

omgitsbees1 wrote: »

I understand that content can be expensive on Cryptics end to create, but the prices are very steep. $50 is typically the cost of a new video game on Steam, and yet we are expected to spend that much for one mount? To put it in perspective, when you spend $50 on a new game, that game cost around 20 - 30 million dollars to make. The publisher needs to charge $50 in order to make back their money. Is Cryptic basically saying that one mount costs 20 million dollars to make? What I am trying to get at, is that what we have to spend, doesn't equal what it likely costs to create this content. A mount should be more like $1 - $3 for one. Cryptic is price gouging pretty hard here. If they want players business, they have to lower the price.

No one is expecting you to buy anything.
And you can get mounts in game with both Astral Diamonds or Gold, So there is no need to buy the Zen store mount.

healhamsta · April 2013

omgitsbees1 wrote: »

I understand that content can be expensive on Cryptics end to create, but the prices are very steep. $50 is typically the cost of a new video game on Steam, and yet we are expected to spend that much for one mount? To put it in perspective, when you spend $50 on a new game, that game cost around 20 - 30 million dollars to make. The publisher needs to charge $50 in order to make back their money. Is Cryptic basically saying that one mount costs 20 million dollars to make? What I am trying to get at, is that what we have to spend, doesn't equal what it likely costs to create this content. A mount should be more like $1 - $3 for one. Cryptic is price gouging pretty hard here. If they want players business, they have to lower the price.

That be part of why the mounts will be 'unique."
The rest of us "space poors" will stick with the free/AD mounts instead.

bigt983 · April 2013

your math is all wrong, because they have to figure out ways to get what you would pay in a sub out of you as well not just the initial game. Mounts are a pure luxury, since you can already get them in game and from the sponsor packs, so they can charge whatever they think people who want that one specific skin will pay. It has nothing to do with the cost of creating that mount. They have to figure out how to sustain their staff, maintain servers, and create new content by generating this stuff that people will pay for outside of the free game.

They are giving us the ability to create free playable content with the foundry, and I believe they said they will never charge for gameplay which is where the vast majority of their resources are going towards. You are paying for convenience and for uniqueness, not production value.

Now there is something to be said for the f2p structure vs. the pay2play sub structure as far as value goes but we have seen how sub based games have struggled even though they tend to offer more content and dont rake you over the coals via cash shops for creature comforts that you would normally earn as you progress. When you also distribute games for sale you have other costs like manufacture costs for product, distribution costs etc. that you have to cover and they would have to sell over 600k copies at release to break even at your projected cost (which is likely low compared to what some studios pay in development).

Playing wow over 5 years you may spend $400 for several years of content and expansions with 8 character slots etc. whereas some people are spending more than that at release for a f2p game in order to get some of the things they want. Mind you the vast majority of accounts and players will very likely spend very little to nothing to try the game out so they need the big spenders in order to turn a profit.

ebonson · April 2013

I don't understand why people seem to think that games like these that have real money stores will somehow be more fair than real life.
There are many things in life that cost way more than a similar item just because they have prestige or are currently popular. Life is P2W and I'm personally surprised it took games this long to find a way to bring that into their market. Something is only worth as much as another is willing to pay and seeing how people are already paying their price, PW will probably not lower it anytime soon. If you can't afford the short-cut via real money then tough luck, grind those diamonds or be happy with your welfare pony.

sauxron · April 2013

I just used the mount as an example, but there are many items that seem way to much. Such as bags at something like 1400/1500 Zen...(Cant remember the exact amounts, but I think that was it). I would say that they just need to look at some of the more necessity items like the Hearth stones and whatnot that cost a large amount of money.

cathgar457 · April 2013

sauxron wrote: »

I just used the mount as an example, but there are many items that seem way to much. Such as bags at something like 1400/1500 Zen...(Cant remember the exact amounts, but I think that was it). I would say that they just need to look at some of the more necessity items like the Hearth stones and whatnot that cost a large amount of money.

The thing is, no item in the Zen store is a necessity.
You do not need to buy anything in the Zen store to fully play the game.
And as you earn Astral Diamonds, you can convert then to Zen which will cut the cost of Zen required to buy something if you so wish.

somebob · April 2013

You apparently don't know of STO's Zen numbers.

A new starship costs upwards of $25 for one (or $50 for a three pack).

Cryptic knows all about pricing and how much players will pay. And people will gladly pay for things that they want.

I'm not a fan of it myself (seriously, a $30 costume set?!), but that's how it is.

imivo · April 2013

A mount is just a convenience item. You can get the same functionality from a mount that you obtain inside the game. I agree that bag space is a bit less optional, and I wish respec tokens were free, but they could ask $500 for some mounts and I wouldn't have an issue with. I mean, you don't stand outside a Porsche dealership and complain about how expensive they are, do you? You just go with a car that you like and that fits your budget.

sauxron · April 2013

Again, the mount was just an example, and apparently a tough one for some to understand at that. However, it is also completely preposterous that they have 3 forms of currency for one game anyway. At what point in time did they say O well gold isn't enough...add diamonds (to which isn't a bad idea) but then to add zen gold on top of that...cmon, now your just trying to scrape every ounce of lint out of the pockets of players. I obviously don't have a money problem, but I do have a problem with companies trying to gouge people for convenience items that are common items in other games.

horrorscope666 · April 2013

omgitsbees1 wrote: »

I understand that content can be expensive on Cryptics end to create, but the prices are very steep. $50 is typically the cost of a new video game on Steam, and yet we are expected to spend that much for one mount? To put it in perspective, when you spend $50 on a new game, that game cost around 20 - 30 million dollars to make. The publisher needs to charge $50 in order to make back their money. Is Cryptic basically saying that one mount costs 20 million dollars to make? What I am trying to get at, is that what we have to spend, doesn't equal what it likely costs to create this content. A mount should be more like $1 - $3 for one. Cryptic is price gouging pretty hard here. If they want players business, they have to lower the price.

That is how I look at it, I'm very frugal like that. But amazingly there are people out there that have no problem opening their wallets generously. I buy functionality that feels to me has solid value.

unimatrixalpha1 · April 2013

Even with STO, it's is one of the few games that you can play completely free without much restrictions, especially after unlocking the currency cap. The f2p model there is also the same one that we have in Neverwinter. Some will pay for the convenience and time savings of purchasing items from the Z-store. Some people will put in a good amount of time into the game to farm Astral ore which then refines to Astral Diamonds to be sold for Zen at the Exchange. You can then buy items from the Zen store, though it may take some time. Some of those items can even be re-sold in the auction house. As others have already said, none of the items in the Z-store are needed or required to play the game. It's a matter of people "wanting" those items. Some of the items will cost more, such as the mounts, because you can claim them on other toons in your account. Even if you dismiss that mount, for example, you'll be able to re-claim it.

Zen to item ratio...

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