test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
C-store needs a do over. Your competition is crushing you.
ysil6969
Posts: 42 Arc User
Your C-store items and prices need some serious work. I'll use your competitor DCUO and your other game neverwinter as examples.
For starters, character slots:
After playing neverwinter, my first impulse in champions online was to purchase 2 more character slots. Until I saw the price. 14 dollars for two slots... I was surprised to say the least. My 2 character slots in neverwinter nights cost me 5 dollars. I ended up buying 4 of them. Easy ten bucks in cryptic-neverwinters pocket. Now I won't be buying extra champions slots at all. That's far too much money. I would probably spend 15 dollars in character slots buying them 2 at a time for 5 dollars each, but 14 for 2 is pricey. And it's regressive for your end goal as a micro purchase game.
In a free to play game, this is a problem for a couple reason. A) Players that don't want to spend the money will just make multiple free accounts.
You WANT players to make alts. The more alts a player has the more costumes/travel powers/customization options they'll be enticed to buy. Your costume packs seem pretty reasonably priced. 5 bucks for a pack of costumes is good, you just need the expanded player base to buy them in bulk.
Now for a quick comparison to your competition. I tried out DCUO as well. After awhile of playing I bought their ultimate bundle for $20. This is 6 dollars more than one of your character slot purchases. This bundle granted me 4 extra character slots on top of the 2 for free. It also included dlcs and powers.
Archetypes:
You guys lock a good portion of your classes. This isn't that big of a deal. I'm in agreement with some pay for classes. But you're, again, charging far too much for them. They're 11 dollars an archetype. If they came with a free character slot, I'd say fair deal. But they don't. So you're looking at 11 dollars for an archetype, and 7 dollars for one slot. That's 19 dollars to play a third hero as a locked archetype.
You're walling people in from trying out new classes. Instead of making this an account unlock, charge 5-7 dollars for the unlock and make it per character and leave the account unlock at 11. This way if someone wants to try out a new class it's not a big purchase. and if they delete the character, they need to buy the archetype again. Once again this goes back to expanding your player base. The easier it is for people to make lots of heroes, the way they want to, the more costumes,travel,aura, and vehicle purchases that will be made.
Again to compare with DCUO. You get 7 powers for free. Fire, ice, mental, Nature, Sorcery, Gadgets, and light. You also get a set of weapons as a secondary damage ability for free. Bow, Brawling, Dual Pistol, Dual Wield, Hand Blast, Martial Arts, One-Handed, Rifle, Staff,Two-Handed. This covers pretty much every basic and almost every advance archetype you have for free. Include that 20 dollar pack I mentioned earlier, and you get electrical and earth powers and the shield weapon. So we have 2 power and 1 weapon, plus 4 character slots, for 20 dollars. In your game, this would have cost me 3 archetype unlocks and 2 character slot purchases. Grand total of $63. See the problem?
Lack of power customization in the c-store:
Power tinting not being available in your c-store is a major buzzkill. I know you want gold members, but your membership sub sucks. People don't want to go through the hassle of paying a monthly sub. Some months you have the money, some you don't. People want to spend when they have and save when they don't. Also, the fact that your gold membership still has PREMIUM THINGS THAT NEED TO BE PURCHASED is ridiculous. Sub should be full access or drop the sub completely. Power tinting/customization would be a big seller in the store if you sold it at a reasonable price, per character. To compare with DCUO. They don't have this deep of customization. That makes it unique to your game, gives you the advantage and you're not even taking that advantage.
And last but not lest, your Free form character purchase:
This is far too expensive. $50? You're asking for the price of a game for a single free form character. Again, I realize you want subbers for the constant cash flow. But when I saw the price of this it didn't make me want to sub. It made me want to never play this game again. It is your BEST feature. Half this price, and you'll sell three times as much.
Nobody wants to drop 50 dollars on a single purchase. But a lot of people don't have a problem with spending 50 dollars of a course of time. Buy one freeform slot for 25 bucks. Get bored in a few months, buy another for 25 bucks, etc. People will be more likely to drop 25 bucks on a digital purchase than 50. This free form doesn't even come with costume items, or power tint or auras... Just a slot, with a free form hero.
To compare with DCUO. They don't even have a feature like this. Which is why I'm writing this. Your customization is 10 out of 10 for this game. The game itself has sloppily written characters, story, and mediocre graphics, but the customization makes up for it. Except you've slammed all that possibility behind a very expensive pay wall. This is killing your player numbers, and preventing people who actually like the game from creating multiple characters easily. Charge less for slots, and powers, and add more customization. And when people are sitting there thinking up cool superheros, they'll be that much more likely to actually click that purchase button.
That being said, this is all IMO. Take it or leave it.
For starters, character slots:
After playing neverwinter, my first impulse in champions online was to purchase 2 more character slots. Until I saw the price. 14 dollars for two slots... I was surprised to say the least. My 2 character slots in neverwinter nights cost me 5 dollars. I ended up buying 4 of them. Easy ten bucks in cryptic-neverwinters pocket. Now I won't be buying extra champions slots at all. That's far too much money. I would probably spend 15 dollars in character slots buying them 2 at a time for 5 dollars each, but 14 for 2 is pricey. And it's regressive for your end goal as a micro purchase game.
In a free to play game, this is a problem for a couple reason. A) Players that don't want to spend the money will just make multiple free accounts.
You WANT players to make alts. The more alts a player has the more costumes/travel powers/customization options they'll be enticed to buy. Your costume packs seem pretty reasonably priced. 5 bucks for a pack of costumes is good, you just need the expanded player base to buy them in bulk.Now for a quick comparison to your competition. I tried out DCUO as well. After awhile of playing I bought their ultimate bundle for $20. This is 6 dollars more than one of your character slot purchases. This bundle granted me 4 extra character slots on top of the 2 for free. It also included dlcs and powers.
Archetypes:
You guys lock a good portion of your classes. This isn't that big of a deal. I'm in agreement with some pay for classes. But you're, again, charging far too much for them. They're 11 dollars an archetype. If they came with a free character slot, I'd say fair deal. But they don't. So you're looking at 11 dollars for an archetype, and 7 dollars for one slot. That's 19 dollars to play a third hero as a locked archetype.
You're walling people in from trying out new classes. Instead of making this an account unlock, charge 5-7 dollars for the unlock and make it per character and leave the account unlock at 11. This way if someone wants to try out a new class it's not a big purchase. and if they delete the character, they need to buy the archetype again. Once again this goes back to expanding your player base. The easier it is for people to make lots of heroes, the way they want to, the more costumes,travel,aura, and vehicle purchases that will be made.
Again to compare with DCUO. You get 7 powers for free. Fire, ice, mental, Nature, Sorcery, Gadgets, and light. You also get a set of weapons as a secondary damage ability for free. Bow, Brawling, Dual Pistol, Dual Wield, Hand Blast, Martial Arts, One-Handed, Rifle, Staff,Two-Handed. This covers pretty much every basic and almost every advance archetype you have for free. Include that 20 dollar pack I mentioned earlier, and you get electrical and earth powers and the shield weapon. So we have 2 power and 1 weapon, plus 4 character slots, for 20 dollars. In your game, this would have cost me 3 archetype unlocks and 2 character slot purchases. Grand total of $63. See the problem?
Lack of power customization in the c-store:
Power tinting not being available in your c-store is a major buzzkill. I know you want gold members, but your membership sub sucks. People don't want to go through the hassle of paying a monthly sub. Some months you have the money, some you don't. People want to spend when they have and save when they don't. Also, the fact that your gold membership still has PREMIUM THINGS THAT NEED TO BE PURCHASED is ridiculous. Sub should be full access or drop the sub completely. Power tinting/customization would be a big seller in the store if you sold it at a reasonable price, per character. To compare with DCUO. They don't have this deep of customization. That makes it unique to your game, gives you the advantage and you're not even taking that advantage.
And last but not lest, your Free form character purchase:
This is far too expensive. $50? You're asking for the price of a game for a single free form character. Again, I realize you want subbers for the constant cash flow. But when I saw the price of this it didn't make me want to sub. It made me want to never play this game again. It is your BEST feature. Half this price, and you'll sell three times as much.
Nobody wants to drop 50 dollars on a single purchase. But a lot of people don't have a problem with spending 50 dollars of a course of time. Buy one freeform slot for 25 bucks. Get bored in a few months, buy another for 25 bucks, etc. People will be more likely to drop 25 bucks on a digital purchase than 50. This free form doesn't even come with costume items, or power tint or auras... Just a slot, with a free form hero.
To compare with DCUO. They don't even have a feature like this. Which is why I'm writing this. Your customization is 10 out of 10 for this game. The game itself has sloppily written characters, story, and mediocre graphics, but the customization makes up for it. Except you've slammed all that possibility behind a very expensive pay wall. This is killing your player numbers, and preventing people who actually like the game from creating multiple characters easily. Charge less for slots, and powers, and add more customization. And when people are sitting there thinking up cool superheros, they'll be that much more likely to actually click that purchase button.
That being said, this is all IMO. Take it or leave it.
Post edited by ysil6969 on
0
Comments
Not saying to get rid of the c-store...
^ Only because it's where you buy the keys for lockboxes =p
He's new and he's spot on! This is the exact impression that new players get when they come to the game from another game like TSW or DCUO...
This part really stood out for me.
When it comes to customization CO has every other game beat hands down. But PWE does precious little to take advantage of this huge selling point.
The OP's C-store suggestions make perfect sense and I do hope someone is reading and listening. If anything is worth overhauling in the game, the C-store is.
^Pretty much this.
Or slots for characters and costumes.
And that's only provided player has serious altisis.
If only paid archetypes were worth paying for.
I'll do it easier for you.
Pure funcionality wise, ignoring fluff like the theme and look, only four premiums are worth money.
And some premiums are outperformed by freebies in their respective roles. :biggrin:
Another offender are Z-store consumables. In majority of the f2p games, consumables are priced low to draw impulse buyers and give them somenting to throw spare points at. In CO consumables are priced high, almost on pair with slots or costumes.
Compared to STO or NW, CO store is... Quite dubiously made.
The only reasonable prices we have in this game are the account costume slots, the costume sets, and the travel power skins (save for having to respec to use them).
The price structure is based on a time when most games were subbed. That model is not so common anymore.
Cut "service" prices in half (character slots, FFs, ATs, costume slots, bank slots), and cut consumable prices to one-fourth, and the C-Store would be relevant and make the game more money. Even keep prices the same for keys and catalysts.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
The cost of additional character slots also should be around this price. Cryptic does have a lot of content that's free but remember that micro transactions are what fuels free to play games and I wouldn't consider some of the prices they're asking to be "micro"
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
BINGO.
The catch-22 is that we need more players to make money or prompt PWE to invest more into this game financially, and to do that we need to be a better advertised game with more competitive prices.
I do agree the pricing is outdated. At the time the Freeform slot was created, for example, we were worried about losing too many Gold Subscribers. Given that they put a cap on damage for freeforms and kept balancing things for archetypes and making vehicles that beat player powers in nearly every facet, it's little wonder why Gold subscriptions mostly evaporated (LTS or Silver/F2P, there's hardly any monthly people left; and the Lifetime subscriptions have been slowing too). So it the $50 price tag is no longer relevant with current events. I think $25 for a single freeform slot makes more sense than $50, but even a 25% price drop is a good move (if 50% is a bit too much).
But really all the good prices in the world only matter if you also MARKET them. Gotta advertise your sales, and your game product. Bring in newbies and encourage existing players to stay on. I don't know who's in charge of marketing at PWE, but they kind of fail at their job... Just saying...
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
As for players getting items without spending money, the questionite gain in this game is ridiculously low. Zen store prices are higher then neverwinter, where you can refine 25000 AD worth a day. In this game you can only refine 8000 a day. To save up for anything good, will take you months. And to collect that questionite you actually have to have made a hero. This goes back to making it easy for players to make the heroes they want and advertising.
Worse off that they didn't do anything to give incentive to players who wanted to be on for the long term when NWO came onto the scene.
Its going to take a lot more than money and brand new advertising for this game. Its going to take effort on both Cryptic and PWE's part.
with the added bonus that;
a) your money only comes from people who buy zen, either through subs or direct.
b) they can farm Q too
c) there is stuff all in the Q store worth getting(the only place to buy stuff with Q)
d) we have had a group of people exploit farming Q so we have a major oversupply of it, which just forces prices higher, without the spikes from each new lockbox.
In Nevermind,
AD's are used for buying stuff in the AH,
training your companions fast,
levelling Crafting fast,
removing mods from gear
etc
a lot more than Q is used for here.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
The problem with your view of Q versus Astral Diamonds is Astral Diamonds are built on the fact that Neverwinter is 100% free to play, with no subscription model so the game relies exclusively on the store there so the entire game is built around that players will need that store.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
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!
Same here. When I see how much people say they spent in a F2P title(and if they are to be believed) I just shake my head why so many are adverse to a subscription. Moving from my last sub game and trying many F2P titles over the past couple years I can now say I prefer the sub model.
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+
AMD FX-6300 6-Core Processor
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1600
Intel 335 Series Jay Crest 240GB
3 x TOSHIBA PH3300U-1I72 3TB
XFX Core Edition FX-785A-CNL4 Radeon HD 7850 2GB
Current exchange rate is 375 Q per Z, Fatal Error rewards 500Q.
So to buy a 475Z costume set you would need run that mission 356.25 times at 20 minutes each or 118 hours of play.
Not the fastest Q acquisition rate I've seen but you have a point. Currently a lack of desirable items in the Q store has contributed to a relatively low exchange rate. Still some game time and those cstore real money prices are effectively reduced.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
It isn't very reasonable to expect that players should farm explicitly only to... Buy consumables at reasonable price, when CO has to compete against other f2p titles with much better run stores.
when it first came out last year, they were actually more expensive than CO on some items but since they need people to buy things there, they dropped the prices.
companions, dye packs, character slots,
yes I seem to remember that character slots were initially a lot more expensive.something like $10 each, they sure weren't 2 for $5.
bags $10 each, have they changed that yet?
CO is not set up as F2p, only F2P/subscription optional.
That's why we have stupid prices, F2P setup is designed to get people to spend as much as possible.
and yes the things you buy/can do with Q does affect the amount of zen in the market.
If you don't have anything to use it for, why buy extra Q?
I buy zen nearly every week, I don't put it on the Q exchange, there's nothing on the Q store I want.
If they changed the Mercenery gear to the same price as the levelling gear and changed it to , Your level on Pickup. I'd buy it because I don't like the "only SS's " sets.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Pretty sure they were. I was playing at launch and I remember being extremely surprised at how cheap they were.
I'll confirm that character slots on NW were $5 per 2 slots at launch. It was one of my first purchases, done a month or so after the game launched.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Same here. I saw 5 dollars for slots and bought 4 of them.
Nope. 1000 Zen ($10) for a 24 slot bag, 600 Zen for a 12 slot bag. Also, bags are per character.
Razira's Primus Database Page
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
they still have some stupid prices,
which doesn't excuse our stupid prices. You would have thought going F2p they would have dropped some to entice people to buy more.
anyway,s till trying to connect. gonna be another Saturday unable to get in
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Its also not really FTP nor sub based, and lets you become the character you dream of being in a sci fi/fantasy universe. Has constant development of entire worlds to add to their virtual universe, and rewards only skillful and well planned play.
Its known as the Entropia Universe, and set within in are several worlds each with a unique flavor.
The oldest is known as Planet Calypso with a history of more then 10 years and is a very well developed place where you start your adventures as a survivor of a crash shipped, cloned back to life in a way akin to LeeLoo in the 5th element.
You start with a generous 100 PED ( Project Entropia Dollars) and here is the big hook that will either land you, or scare you off.
Each of those PED is worth directly one dime, 10 cents of american money, and if and when you get more then 1000 ped to your name, you can choose to cash out.
People have actually managed to make hundreds of thousands of dollars playing this game, some will never make much, put a few bucks in each month and eventually give up in disgust unable to live the life of a virtual panhandler or join a clan that will actually *GASP* expect you to work for the gear and time they share with you.
Most will roughly break even over the course of their time there. What I mean is imagine if you where playing champions, had reach a point you no longer wished to play, could sale off every piece of gear, every scrap of cosmetic clothing, everything, and cash out and likely have around a total equal to all you spent on it over the time you played.
Its that last aspect that actually has kept the Entropia Universe steadily expanding, For many young adults who at the age of 14 with parental consent may link the game to a bank account with an adult co signer, and has been for some of the more famous cases lead to these young gamers being able to cash out their years of high school hobby time into a check that will help pay for their college.
Imagine if every 10-15 a month youve ever spent into an MMO could one day be cashed back out, sure it might not be a interest enhanced bank account but what it is is a way for you to get something returned on all the funds you put into your time on the game.
Now is the game the best game ever? Nope no MMO has nor will ever be, and any experienced gamer can honestly say the same, that single player games are always deeper, better polished, and frankly worth even 60 bucks if a AAA worthy game as you can keep it and go back and play it whenever forever.
But it is fun, its a hybrid of traditional RPG mechanics with abit of FPS thrown in for fighting. Its got deep and complex crafting that can actually earn players who are skilled at it more monthly then a real world mechanic job with a good company.
And you may sit there going, who would for example pay 5000 PED for a permament rocket thruster for their ship to be able to break atmo, well when you have other worlds to explore with unique loot on them, well for such adventurous souls a life not unlike han solo's await for a valued item on one world may be a kings ransom on another where only a handful of them may ever find their way. But open space is not for the faint of heart for its lootable free for all pvp in such places and no mercy is shown to the over eager young pilot hungry for space and wealth. Stay near the safety of space stations until your skills are honed.
And honestly this is why I dont play other MMOs anymore no matter how decent or different a genre they may be. As when I am gaming the RP is always in my own mind, I can be in any game, on any world in an setting and still be playing the character I want to be. I might as well do it on one that when I finally do grow bored of it and unable to bear to ever touch it again, at least I shall see some of my money and time Ive put into it, mainly as a for fun hobby, returned to me. And who knows maybe in that time, I shall yet make that golden shot kill in an event hunt, or find that uber rare material unobtanium or who knows what else and end up making a fortune while playing a game for fun!?
So I frankly speak out mostly to those who have felt detached and wounded by the loss of Paragon and the frustration of stagnation here, Seek out the Entropia Universe, Read up on their worlds, inform yourself, and if your a gamer, a grinder, a farmer, a fighter, and hunter, a gatherer, a mentor who likes to learn and eventually teach to others, then consider coming to Calypso or another of the worlds, and maybe just maybe you may cross paths with Bentely Ol'Berk Berkeley.
And for those who may get a kick, look up John Never Die Jacobs, a man who set world records, and made a fortune in game by taking the most risky of gambles and putting his home up as collateral to buy an in game space club on an asteroid and flipped it a few years later for over 600K! That place now known as Club Never Die will forever be a reminder to those of us in gaming that fate favors the bold
I would have a hard time denying altitis urges at that price point and I don't technically need to buy slots as long as I get motivated to hit 40 often enough.
All the examples you gave was a VG providing you with work. Other 'kids' who chose not to opt for such things aren't earning RL money, because they aren't treating it like work and don't hold it to the same obligations. That's the 'price' they pay, but they are fine with it.
Besides, ebaying WoW accounts and the like isn't really new or exciting info- some people don't care cause for them its just entertainment and/or they have an actual job already that gives them enough earnings and/or they don't want to get rid of their account. Plus, if more people did engage in those practices then the market would deflate such an amount that it wouldn't be worth the effort. You are banking on exclusivity for those profits, when an actual job w/ good benefits can much more reliably grant you income and a future.
Regardless, you aren't getting currency-based stuff for free. Gotta work and put in the effort to earn; that's true in-game and out (well, unless you are very fortunate, but most people aren't).
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
1, selling off game accounts on wow is a crime, though Ive never heard of it, Blizzard would be fully in thier rights to file charges with anyone deemed using an account transferred to them. The only time I have heard of it being allowed in wow is when a friend who had bought it but never got into it let a friend try it who so fell in love with it and his first character he made on it, that they contacted support, and blizzard wipe all the original characters and gear with the exception of the one toon. That is their form of legal account transfering. If you get accused of and determined by a Gm to be on an account to well developed to by yours, like failing to answer a few basic trivia facts about the game lore, they will perma ban that account with no hesitation.
Meanwhile for me the main reason to be on an MMO is to be part of a world with all the same basic functions like our own, but in some fantastic setting. If the point of playing is just myself and my personal characters power, much like we have here on CO, then it may as well just be a better developed single player game with some online co op play option like many FPS have now days.
So if an MMO doesnt have what you call work, its not even worth playing, but that work as you put it needs to ofcourse be rewarding enough to make it part of a characters daily routine without feeling like its a chore taking time away from other parts but rather a well rounded blend.
See I find it funny that someone playing a game about being a hero would act like the common illegal practice of selling game accounts was somehow acceptable and thus made games that beat that ignoble practice by making a way in game to do so within the rules somehow less special.
If there is a right and wrong way to do something should not people who like that kind of thing choose the right way to go about doing it?
yup its against ToS, but that didn't stop some players from doing just that, and reaping the rewards. The fallout was the buyer's problem to deal with. Once again the fortunate riding under the radar get something, but that's not a good long term plan, and never will be. And no, I never advised it, just mentioned that its something that's been done even on a more popular scale before. Ur being presumptuous.
Um, MMOs are about being in a large world w/ other players, not doing 'work'. I mean, if that's your outlook on MMOs, then maybe that's why you feel unstatisfied with them.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Unfortunatly comparing to other games directly doesn't work. Using the example of character slots:
Champions: They are pricey but "high value" *if* you have unlocks. Costume unlocks you keep, costume slots can be purchased en masse, hideouts are unlocked for all, nemisis gear.
Neverwinter: Cheap, and low value. There are nearly no global unlockes in the game. A few mounts, and perhaps some of the costumes you can now tranfer through the bank.
STO .. some where in between, depending on how you value ship packs. Nearly everything is bound to character, slots are cheap
And the value to use is the key, in any game, if you don't care about these things, yup just roll another FTP account.
TLDR: Champions makes its money "up front", Neverwitner .. in the back
Are you sure that it is a crime and not just a violation of the TOS ?
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
your CONTRACT with Bizzard states that you may not sell or trade it.
They can get you for breach of contract at least
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
What they actually do is just close the account permanently.
I had an account that ended up getting hacked years after I stopped playing WoW. The GM who contacted me didn't say anything about filing charges, they just said the account was closed due to someone having tried to sell it. I e-mailed them back and said "Good job!" and that was the end of it.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
erk, everything costs money, yuck. now thats a pay to win. No money, no get anywhere
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
FIRST of all, something that should make PWE execs cream their jeans: Charge more for the Teleport Items. Since all the teleport items are set to be unlimited-use already (something that it seems will never be nerfed... thank god) why not just 'officially' make the Teleport Devices unlimited-use, and hike up the cost? Right now, I could get an unlimited-use Teleport to Teammate for 400zen. Really, considering what I could do with that, you could EASILY charge upwards to 6 or 7 dollars for that, and I'd still get it. Of course, I'd also suggest putting emphasis on the fact that the teleport devices are Unlimited-Charges.
SECOND I suggest lowering the prices on a few select items, and completely removing some others. For instance, do we REALLY need the Party Ball in the Cstore for 100zen, when they drop all over the place during the Anniversary Event? NOW, if you ask me, IF you made it an unlimited-use Party Ball (not like the one we already have, where you can only target yourself, but one where you can target others, as well) then you could easily jack up the price a bit and have people suddenly buy it. I also suggest lowering the prices on the Super-Magnifier and Super-Shrinker a tad. They're items that would be bought a heck of a lot more, if not for the 900zen pricetag. Even if you lower it to 700zen, you'd see a ton more players start buying them.
THIRDLY, you should really do more Bundles. So far, the only 'Bundles' you have are the Power Armor Bundle (which comes with the Holo-Hex costume set and the Energy Slide TP), the 10 Cosmic Keys for 900zen 'bundle', and the newer Heroic Starter Pack with all the boosts. I have thought about purchasing the Power Armor Bundle multiple times, but have decided against it purely because I didn't really want/need that Costume Set or TP. Now, if you would offer Bundles with other sets, I'd be more inclined to buy the Bundle when I would have only bought the single costume set.
For instance, I've been meaning to purchase the Arabian Nights costume set, but have been putting it off for quite a while now. IF you had a 'bundle deal' with the Arabian Nights set and, say, the Flying Carpet TP, then I'd probably buy it. Maybe have the Robot Samurai set with the Electric Teleport, or the Magical Girl/Harajuku sets with the Rainbow Flight. It'd entice a lot more people to spend the extra Zen to buy the bundle, when they'd usually just purchase one of the items.
__________________________________________________
Most often Slice N Dice@zap-the-eradicator in-game.
Spoken out of clearly not reading nor trying to understand what I said about it.
In the Entropia Universe the ones winning the game are those who earn a real living from it and thus merge their need to sustain their RL selves with the love of playing in a sci fi fantasy universe as a full time activity.
The ones who have fully won are the rare few like John "Never Die" Jacobs, seriously look him up hes made the book of world records a few times for his record breaking buying and later selling of a single virtual commodity.
The average player will put it about 10-15 a month around the same as any sub based MMO to sustain themselves in game with things like ammo, fuel, buying land investments that can earn actual paying returns if you have the guts to put in the up front cash to set up things like teleport terminals for fast travel to a remote area etc.
And even those type will when they are ready to stop playing, be able to sell off their gear, and cash in their ped for some real monetary return on their investment into the game while they played.
Then there are the foolish ones who rush into it, dropping a few hundred thinking it is a pay to win game, not understanding the only way to use high end gear is to develop the skill on the character that there is no shortcut to do, only time. These folks who are the whales games like CO prey on to survive loathe the Entropia universe because it does not cater to them just buying their way to power. It can buy their way to a reasonable return in the form of rents of areas on own properties or via using terminals or the like, but even then best case scenerio it takes about 3 years for a given property investment to pay for itself, after that its all profit. Though alot early on just try the buying and selling a short time later for a modest profit.
Now for me when i first Started MMO that is what I dreamed of finding in one,a true multi world universe where skill and time investment are of paramount import, and money invested though certainly useful, and appreciated by the company itself, will only help you secure a stable in game income not just leap to the lead of the in game hall of fame for any thing.
I'm sorry but entropia universe is not even an actual game. Entropia is a full time/part time job mixed with second life minus all the perks of actually playing second life.....
Their combat is garbage, their graphics are terribly optimized, and its a grinder.
Its a grinder. And probably one of the most expensive grinders to ever come across the mmo/virtual worlds market. Thats kinda why people just play second life instead. I have no idea why anyone would ever submit themselves to the torture of entropia. They still use royalty free animation kits from when toymaker was still making mo cap in back in 05.
I don't even.....
the FF slot for 5000 Zen (it should have been 2500 Zen)
and the Rank Catalysts (does anyone ever use those?)
proves that there are some really wrong with
Not to mention that some of the Archetypes on sale are Downright HORRIBLE (From personal experience I suggest you to NOT BUY THE INVENTOR AND IMPULSE AT )
RIP Caine
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Its still pretty bad a kit, though :X Unlike the Mind, it doesn't bloom later on or anything, it just stays incomplete/underwhelming the whole time- neither being a good hybrid-dps or a reliable healer, w/ only one 'okay' debuff (mini drive) and a whole spec tree devoted to just 1-2 pets. I'd put it in the lowest tier along w/ the Fist and Impulse.
It doesn't have as bad a time grinding as the Mind, and it can get better boss dps than the Radiant's rebuke/vengeance spam, but I can't really give it much else. A res and a controllable AoE heal would help its Role a ton.
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
It is playable. It is certainly survivable.
But that's where it ends.
Essentially this AT is useless.
As a supporter is outclassed by the Mind. That's not even talking about the Radiant.
It has also no meaningful dps.
It can debuff things... Great.
Except at times this random proc with teddy bear isn't helpful at all, because it also adds massive damage resistance to enemies.
Nothing worse with the Inventor's pathetic dps when mere mooks are teddyfied. It turns already dull leveling into even more dull and grindy leveling.
That's the best description of this AT - it's dull.
Simply, when I look at the ones like the Inventor or the Impulse, I wonder why these ATs are paid ones when much better made ones like, for an example, the Soldier or the Radiant are free?
The Inventor could be more appealing if it had better passive, maybe if it was running in hybrid stance (because it is mediocre as a support, anyway) and and option to change blaster for particle rifle, thus making him more dps-y,
Over 1500 Zen is a bit much to pay only for the theme and non-optimal build, especially if for the same value you can have the Master, the Savage or the Void. Or the Cursed. They also don't have flawless builds, but they are much more potent.
Omicron - Lvl 4x - Mind
Emerald Myst - Lvl 2x - Claws/Fighting Hybrid
Epsilon - Lvl 2x - Blade
Asterius - Lvl 1x - Electric/Void Hybrid
I like my Inventor. I really want to defend my Inventor. But I can't. I don't think the Inventor is that useless but I do agree it needs some retooling. I will agree that is is dull and the one AT I get bored leveling (poor guy will never reach 40 at this rate) and could stand for some more dps. That or a res ability or better healing options.