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Freeform Slots
eviltwintwo
Posts: 351 Arc User
This has been bugging me for a while, so I'm gonna go ahead and mention it, even though I don't expect any changes.
The regular price a Silver player has to pay for a freeform slot is $50 (to get 5000 zen). Considering that many games cost less than that, maybe it's time Cryptic lowered that price a bit. Silver players would then be encouraged to buy more FF slots. Think about it--if a younger player asks his/her parents to let him/her buy a FF slot, the first thing a responsible parent will ask is, "How much does it cost?" When they find out it's $50, the parent is going to say, "What happened? I only let you play that game because it's free to play, now you want to spend money on it? NO!"
(Of course, that won't be every parent; some wouldn't care as long as the child spent his/her own money or would just buy it for the kid upon request.)
Naturally, they shouldn't be practically free, as Cryptic would still want to earn something off them. But to anyone who can't (or can't get themselves to) pony up $300 for Lifetime Subscription, it would make the slots more appealing as a purchase.
The regular price a Silver player has to pay for a freeform slot is $50 (to get 5000 zen). Considering that many games cost less than that, maybe it's time Cryptic lowered that price a bit. Silver players would then be encouraged to buy more FF slots. Think about it--if a younger player asks his/her parents to let him/her buy a FF slot, the first thing a responsible parent will ask is, "How much does it cost?" When they find out it's $50, the parent is going to say, "What happened? I only let you play that game because it's free to play, now you want to spend money on it? NO!"
(Of course, that won't be every parent; some wouldn't care as long as the child spent his/her own money or would just buy it for the kid upon request.)
Naturally, they shouldn't be practically free, as Cryptic would still want to earn something off them. But to anyone who can't (or can't get themselves to) pony up $300 for Lifetime Subscription, it would make the slots more appealing as a purchase.
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Counting with 450Q/zen, FF slot costs 2,25M questionite which is equivalent to 90x Questionite crates if they give the minimum number which is very unlikely for all boxes to give. So roughly I'd say it costs 12-14kG. Bear in mind this is by only buying Q crates but you can at the same time also farm questionite and there are also FF sales when the price halves. For someone who has played over 1 year regularly 6-7kG isn't so big amount anymore. Also freeform is pretty much ONLY big advantage for lifetimers/gold players over us silvers so they should be hard to get. Only if you want to make more than 10 freeform characters every year it may seem expensive, but still it isn't impossible if you play multiple times a week and save your questionite and zen for sale week.
I get Cryptic isn't a charity, but other games also exist and people want to feel like they're getting value for their money. When a portion of the game costs as much as or more than a full game that you can dump hundreds or thousands of hours into, it's hard to justify that purchase. The only people I see willing to spend that are die-hard fans and those with more than plenty of money.
Farming for things sucks and not everyone has the time or tolerance for tedium to do it. I agree that $50 is too damn much for a FF slot, but I also don't see that changing. I have no faith in Cryptic's business sense.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
Don't read this the wrong way, you two. I'm not offended by your replies as you both bring up valid points, at least for people who do that content. So far, I haven't been able to get myself to do those things for various reasons. I have two thoughts on this in general. (1) It's fine for Cryptic to homogenize the powersets, as these are part of Cryptic's game; however, it is not okay for Cryptic to homogenize the players, assuming all players like the same things and will do things the same way. (2) Questionite is an in-game currency. There should be various ways to get it through general gameplay, even if some of those ways are significantly slower than others. Generally speaking, it's locked behind content I don't care for or content I haven't found reason (or opportunity) to try yet.
Note that the jab at Cryptic is more at the original team than the current one. The current team is working with what they have.
This may all be redundant, of course. One day I may try that content and decide it's fine, then swim in Questionite like Scrooge McDuck swims in money. Besides that, however, I was thinking that a lower price on freeforms would benefit Cryptic, as people would be more inclined to buy a few slots immediately rather than getting them after grinding, especially since the sale price would also be lower. (Note that I'm not suggesting something crazy like $5 per slot, just something lower than $50.)
Also, I'm not a video game economist. I think it would benefit Cryptic--I could be completely wrong about that. And thanks for your replies, btw, it never hurts to get another opinion or two.
As was already pointed out, there's no shortage of great games out there which can potentially yield hundreds of hours worth of entertainment for less than the cost of a freeform slot. The value for the money just isn't there.
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I don't want anything for free, I want to be able to earn/buy things in different ways, including buying FF slots via buying zen that doesn't require $50 a pop; even people who farm questionite may sometimes buy a FF slot on sale by buying zen. The price is going to be the same for the foreseeable future, anyway; it was just a thought.
I did know you could buy Q with resources, but it's good that you mentioned that, too.
I didn't know there was a time when silvers couldn't get FF slots. That was a bad idea, followed by a good compromise. I still think the price could be a bit lower, but it's still nice that there is a way.
Cryptic doesn't want to make the most desirable part of the game available for free.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
Except that buying Zen only works when someone else is actually selling Zen. There's a really good chance that Zen was bought with real money, meaning someone did pay for that FF slot, just not the farmer. And before you say "but sub zen", it's unlikely that 100% of the "free" stipend is being dumped on the Q market when there are far more things people want in the cash shop than the Q store. The exchange rate wouldn't be so high if most cared about the Q store.
There are people that, I know this is hard to believe, actual spend real money on things even as a filthy Silver. I suspect that the people willing to spend money on the game look at the $50 price tag and opt out. Especially since FF sales don't come around all that often.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
My thought was a somewhat lowered price would benefit Cryptic by bringing a bit more money into the game. As I've stated, I could be wrong about that.
Thinking about this more, perhaps a better plan would be to leave the price at $50 normal and $25 sale, with an occasional (every 2-3 years) mega-sale at $10 apiece for FF slots. That would be a nice occasional boon for silvers, and even paying players might buy one at that price, leaving their stored Zen for other purposes.
There is also one other issue I feel is worth mentioning. If you look on the "Charge Zen" page, the increments are $10, $20, $50, $100, and $200. PWI could possibly add a $5 option to that, so someone that wants to get a FF slot without leftover Zen can get $20 worth of Zen and $5 worth for a total of $25. This isn't a Really High Priority or anything, but it might be a nice option for some. And I do like options.
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