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spyralpegacyon
Posts: 383 Arc User
Though your mileage may vary as to what sort of honor it is.
Hey TT, can we send this article up the chain as more fuel to the fire that Freeform slots might just be overpriced?
Hey TT, can we send this article up the chain as more fuel to the fire that Freeform slots might just be overpriced?
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Boy howdy.
Thanks, Massively.
We're number 1!
We're number 1!
We're number 1!
We're number 1!
We're number 1!
We're number 1!
We're number 1!
. . .wait...ohhh...that's bad this time...poo.
-=-=-=-=-=-(CO in-game handle: @WarCan )-=-=-=-=-=-
"Okay, you're DEAD, what do you do NEXT?"
A costume piece that is destroyed if you happen to be wearing it and get killed? You'd think that would be worse than the FF slot but the writer didn't seem to think so.
Cosmetics tend to get off easy because they don't usually effect gameplay in any manner.
Also, the monocle is very obviously a joke. While it's still ridiculous, it gets some leeway because of that. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't really expecting it to sell, and largely did this because "lol monopoly man."
...I just recently realized something really disturbing. We're all eating Sodapop3's "humble pie."
YEAH WE MADE NUMBER 1 er....wait, the list is for bad overpriced cash grabs......well, at least...umm...we got press from them?
Consolidate currency!
Munitions additions
Petition to take in game report spam function out
Why not to do surveys and free offers
I'm not sure what CCP was thinking with the monocle, probably for monopoly guy jokes like you said but the playerbase at the time gave it no leeway. It wasn't uncommon to find people forming fleets for the purpose of hunting down and podding anyone who had the monocle in their character portrait. It was THAT unpopular.
Unfortunately this^
The common perception in gaming is that customization doesn't matter and cash shop items are only bad if they're "pay to win". I've had this argument hundreds of times in other game boards (mostly Tera and TSW) and every time someone starts a thread about how cosmetic items are too ridiculously priced there someone has to pop in and remind us that cosmetic items dont affect gameplay so we're crying about nothing. According to them its perfectly ok that the customization crowd has to bear the brunt of financially supporting the company through extra purchases so long as competitive players don't have to pay a dime to do the same.
Still, I agree that FF slots are excessively priced here and are some of the most ridiculously priced cash shop items I have ever seen in a game. So are the Catalysts. Its unfortunate that Cryptic's cash shop had to become famous for their ridiculous prices on these particular items, when they have otherwise some of the best prices for almost everything else in the industry, particularly cosmetic items. No other game company (NONE!) charges less for cosmetic items than Cryptic, and they have reasonable prices for some of their serivices as well.
It's not the 1st time than Massively shows its lack of objectivity for Champs.
Well, 50$ is something but compared to other mmos and how many bucks you need to gear one toon, etc... I heard some insane 2000+ $$ in a character oO
So 50$ is rather reasonable... now if it was 25$, sure we may see more FF and maybe more players staying ingame?
$50 bucks for a freeform slot equals a lot more entertainment than $50 bucks for CoD.
It could be argued that spending $50 bucks for anything videogame related offline and on is a waste of money so their list is some what defeatist.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
Even that is too expensive.
Character slots are generally $10 in other games free to play games.
I don't think they're taking into consideration that there are competitors offering much lower prices.
When it comes to free to play you catch more flies with honey, and when your inventory is limitless it makes sense to just dump the honey all over the place for little of nothing.
The reason I don't buy anything in Guild Wars 2 is the price and their prices are much lower than this.
I've bought a lot from the C-store in the past few days but nothing was over $5 each. It's easier to get people to spend more online with small micro transactions than it is with large lump sums over $5.
Anything over $10 is a not so gentle reminder that we're buying things that aren't even real, essentially wasting a lot of money.
Well.
Cryptic, you're looking like the kid that ruined Christmas right now, because a lot of people don't like you.
Ahem, you're aware that here, you get 2 character slots for 1100 Zen (16 $) so that 8$ per slot...
No kidding. Absolutely NOTSUREIFSERIOUS-face inducing.
Actually I'm quite surprised to see Catalysts NOT on that list, since it's more expensive, and the costless way of getting your mod to R9... wait, is that even possible...?:rolleyes:
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
...the ultimate Contrast Moe (or not).
And maybe less subscriptions...
You can buy character slots here much cheaper than 10 bucks.
And note that a Freeform slot is also an extra slot for a character. It doesn't replace one you already have.
On top of that, this is a game that you can access all its content for free. Sure, $50 is the price of a new game, but you can play all of Champs for absolutely free.
Actually, less than that...
2 Character Slots cost 1400 Zen ($14) which is $7 per slot...
But I still don't have an issue with the $50 Freeform slot...
M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt
Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.
Laws yes!
Needless to say, Massively continues to prove why they are the laughing stock of the game journalism world, considering they keep sucking off at Blizzard's feet and pretty much snub their nose at everyone else.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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It seems a lot of people are being defensive about the game, when just about anyone you ask who actually likes CO thinks the FF slots are absurdly overpriced and gouging.
(Although, personally, I mind things like high price server transfers and the like to be much more annoying)
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Let me get this straight - you say you're going Free To Play, that I can now make a character (with, obviously, certain limitations) without having to buy a sub - but if I want to use the UI as the designers intended, I have to shell out extra cash???
Yeah, I personally find that far more egregious than letting me play the entire game for free, and only restricting what sort of character I'm allowed to make...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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That sounds like hyperbole. Have you asked around for people who have bought them? I bet it's more than you think.
You mean 3rd place in a list of 10 items where the 1st and 2nd ranked characters cost $50 and $68 dollars respectively? Yeah, that does seem pretty low... NOT :rolleyes:
No, in the way that it grants a power option for a single character in a game that has far more in it development-wise than just that power option.
While I do think the list is unorganized, "People buy them" isn't the greatest defense for over priced items. It's like telling a cop you were speeding "because I can".
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Oh I hope this doesn't start a "no, it's more like this..." analogy war.
People buying them is proof that they're priced right, is what I was saying. You can't deny that. If they were overpriced, nobody would buy them, and Cryptic wouldn't make money off them.
Freeform slot arrives, it's rejected by some because it's not exactly like being a gold subscriber.
Note that it's purchased with zen, not a credit card transaction. It is possible for you to obtain it with about 2,000,000 Questionite(turned into zen while 1zen=200Q) and never pay Cryptic a single cent.
Why should it be as fully featured as a direct vote of confidence, the monthly subscription, or a major upfront infusion of money per capita that pays for itself after about a year's time and increases production budget in a burst? These two things are money that Cryptic can count on as a business, not Zen.
A product from the Z store you can grind Q for, ending in partial or no profit? That is not sure money, and money makes a studio go 'round with publisher's confidence in the product's ability to make money.
Most of the stuff written there about CO is, well.... the words speak themselves.
Like the comparision of character creator in CO and DCUO. Yea, DCUO looks pretty....
But i guess any kind of publicity is publicity. Good or bad.
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
I think they are priced Juuuuust right...course I am a Lifer so i would never have to buy one, so i am a little biased.
Exactly^
Really. It's a monocle. Don't like it, don't get it.
(My ire is reserved for things that feel necessary but are expensive, or things that are overpowered/pay to win)
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
You know, this argument also works in favor of the $50 price of Freeform. What if Champs is somewhere on the top of the list of your favorite games? You could buy a brand-new game with that money, or you could enjoy Champs with a freeform character for that money.
For instance, I bought Guild Wars 2 for 60 bucks. I played it for a few weeks (not even a month) before I got bored with it. If I was silver and spent that money on a Freeform slot, that sure as hell would have been worth my $50 bucks a lot more than Guild Wars 2 was.
Champs is a game I've played for years now, and has been around the top of my game list almost the whole time. Guild Wars 2 lasted less than a month for me.
Something to chew on.
I suppose if you absolutely have no interest in more than one ff character, those other elements, and really value having access to a ff powerset for the duration of the game, it makes sense.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
The first is a direct profit, real money. They will always make $50 every time a silver player obtains a freeform slot.
The second is uncertain, and may net partial profit, or none at all, due to the Questionite Exchange.
Giving power coloring to a Zen store product would be a financial liability. Playing a game for x hours, days, and weeks, does not make a guaranteed cent to the publisher or the studio.
That said, how about making power coloration a benefit that unlocks after you transfer a certain number of zen to CO from your zen wallet? That ties the benefit to spending real money or completing peanutlabs surveys, which results in financial gain.
Sure, if one likes a game then it's worth spending money into this game but does it mean 50$ is objectively the best pricing for the FF slot?
If I enjoyed Champs that much I would do what I already did LONG before I blow $50 for a single FF slot without power coloring--I would buy 16 potentially infinite (+1 for every toon I lv to 40) FF slots with power coloring and a buncha other options (including the ability to make freeform characters with every single character slot I ever buy at $14 per two slots) for just 6 times that amount (i.e. I would buy a LTS). And the fact that you personally did not enjoy GW2 doesn't change the fact that you can buy a whole new game for roughly $50 (or that GW2 is freaking awesome a lots of people liked it even if you didn't
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
If Cryptic has the ability to meter such a thing, and if they have done it since Zen Wallet functionality began, this should retroactively grant power coloring, and will serve as an reachable functionality to those who did the q-grind, and an immediate grant if someone purchased the zen(or did Peanutlabs surveys. Peanutlabs pays PWE for those.) to buy the slot.
I've been thinking the same thing ever since I started playing GW2 about a month ago. And some Heroes vs. Villains WvWvW would be freaking AWESOME.
Also, I wish they'd scale open missions to character level here (scary monster tech maybe) so we could use them as some sort of Dynamic events at all levels.
"Best pricing" is debatable to us. Take a look at Cryptic's books for a definitive answer.
I never said it was a bad game, just that I didn't enjoy it too much. At first it was great, I was playing it over Champs. I spent a bunch of money on gems - character slots, vanity gear, all that junk. But it only lasted three weeks for me, then I found it terribly boring. Yes, other people like the game. Good for them.
My point wasn't about Guild Wars 2 in any way, it's just the most recent game I've bought that I dropped in that quick of a turnaround. Yes, I can buy a million other games for $50 bucks, but that doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy them over playing Champions.
As for buying a Lifetime subscription, there's plenty of people that just can't afford to drop that much money on a game all at once. I know a few people that have subscribed since launch and would love to go Lifetime, but they can't afford it.
So, fifty bucks for a mini-lifetime subscription, I still think is not too bad, especially, as Brou brought up, you can pad that cost with as much in-game currency as you're willing to grind out.
If you've got access to the surveys, even easier. I made 30 bucks' worth of Zen on those in a week... I'd only have to pay 20 bucks for that Freeform.
Then again.. I paid over $400 for Catalysts so .. my opinion may very well be voided.
After paying for over 1000 days of subscriptions and likely over $1000 of C-Store.. I am not playing the game.. at all. They got my money but not my real investment, time.
1) You don't make a direct purchase of $50 to get the Freeform slot. The slot is purchased using ZEN points that are in turn obtained from an actual monetary transaction.
2) There is an ingame resource called Questionite that can be earned in various ways and it can be converted into ZEN points.
3) Players are given every opportunity to discount the $50 price with the Questionite-to-ZEN exchange if they wanted, provided if they want to invest time and effort in doing so and don't want the slot right away.
Failure to mention these important points suggests to anyone reading the article who isn't familiar with CO that people are expected to pay a static $50 upfront to get the slot. It's blatant misinformation. But then again, if Mr. Olivetti were truly honest about facts, it would have compromised the validity of CO's entry in that top ten list. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that he's just ignorant and has researched poorly. Either way it's bad journalism.
But, realistically, the amount of time used to make a serious dent in a $50 purchase is... pretty negligable.
You'd be better off earning money from ... anything (selling a couch, I don't know... anything). Take a lot less time and effort.
Arguably it may be incomplete, but blatant misinformation is a great exaggeration.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I'm not so sure about that. You can get a freeform slot for free. In order for a competitor to offer a character slot for less they would have to pay you to accept one.
Actually its the best defense possible. By definition something is not overpriced if the market bears that price.
The only people with access to the sales numbers in order to determine the answer to that question are the very people choosing to keep the price where it is at, read as much or as little into that as you like.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
For $50, I could buy, say, Halo 4 for my XBox. And there's no way I'd still be playing it two years later, especially without paying any sub fees. (The Halo games' only real replayability lies in online multiplayer - which requires subscribing to XBox Live Gold.) OTOH, for $50 I could buy a Freeform slot, which I could re-use if I decided to delete the old toon and make a new one, and which I could then play in the online game from now until shutdown without giving Cryptic another penny.
I fail to see the comparison, really.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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In general this is true of tangible objects as well.
A $5.99 bottle of imported fashionably branded and packaged drinking water might be worth its weight in flawless diamonds to a man who is dying of thirst...but paying six bucks for a drink of water is silly to me.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
Except it extends further when it comes to digital goods as the cost of producing the actual "item" in question is practically non-existent, meaning that once you've made back R&D costs you're pulling in what is nearly pure profit.
I don't agree with the conclusions Jon Sills draws here (Not Beeg Sooprise), and instead I present this; VALVe abuses this concept regularly with their steam sales, by dropping items to astronomically low prices in order to rake in a market that they wouldn't be getting money from normally. Because the R&D is payed off by this point, there is little to no downside to pricing things at an extremely accessible level once you've made your initial investment back and maxed out most of the profits you can make off early investors and impulse buyers.
If it seemed crazy they'd sell Left 4 Dead 2 for... I think it was 7 bucks? Well, it's not. It's actually quite brilliant.
...I just recently realized something really disturbing. We're all eating Sodapop3's "humble pie."