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The Founder's Packs Anxiety Thread

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  • elveelve Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 336
    edited February 2013
    elve- Your first and your second- I stated in this thread that for the BUYER price could be what the market will bear since buyers who pay must value the pack in line with the price. I said that the problem comes in where the SELLER overprices and where those who DO NOT buy the $200 pack feel that more money than they are willing to pay is necessary to not be gimped in the game. So I agree with your point that perception is what counts but believe for NON-PURCHASERS the perception could be a negative one even up to helping cause the game to fail or not be nearly as successful as it might not otherwise be.

    Your fourth- Several people have argued that the packs are really not that much of a problem for people NOT purchasing since all the items can be gotten in game (actually not all the items can be gotten such as the 10,000 XP bonus), but even if they could, this just means the price is WAY overpriced.

    Everything is overpriced. This is how people make profit. Still the question is - how do you set a price on time or effort? If someone feels that something is overpriced then he will not buy it. Is pizza overpriced if you can make one on your own? Is the ordered one better than the one you make? Is it worse? It all depends on your personal taste, skills, time and so on.

    You cannot say something is overpriced just because you can get it any other way. On the contrary - you can gain everything in this world by alternative means. This does not mean that one particular alternative is better than another one. For example - if you have to grind for 8 hours to get some skin for your character, would you rather to that or would you rather spend $5 in the cash shop and get the same result immediately? Also how can you not make 10 000 XP in a RPG just by spending time in it? Do these 10 000 XP go over the level cap or something?
    nohaaa wrote: »
    elve it's funny that a couple of other games, including Planetside 2, charge you less than here then.

    And like i said, charging Europeans more for digital items (because of tax or whatever) which are already 90% profit is still a choice.

    Planetside's 2 european servers are based in Germany and the company getting your money is European.

    P.S. Sorry for the double post, if somebody can, would you be so kind to merge the two posts.
  • gamemoddergamemodder Member Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I am finding that me and my friends will gladly pay to support a F2P game if we like it during beta.

    It would still be cheaper than buying a retail game, and ontop of that you get to purchase what you want with the in-game credits.
  • drwarpeffectdrwarpeffect Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 71 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    elve- overpricing is not the best way to make a profit, nor is it the best way to make the most profit. You make a profit by selling over cost. You make the most profit by balancing price and volume of sales. Higher price lowers volume. My contention is that the $200 price point is either too high or the package gives too much perceived advantage, at least in the eyes of non-purchasers.

    Please understand I still plan to play the game and was planning to spend some money on it. Now I worry that they will price stuff too high and hurt the chances of game success. That is why I posted this thread.
  • deathssickledeathssickle Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I don't see any issue with the items sold.

    I can definitely see players saying it's overpriced, I won't argue that, but the payments are *completely* optional. There's really no unfair advantage sold in my eyes.

    Just because the game is free to play doesn't mean they will not tempt players with items they would like to have and despite the numerous threads crying foul there are still more blue and gold names than I can count running around the forums.

    I don't label a Free to Play Model as a fail for offering expensive items (other than a certain monocle)
    The most important point is that it isn't p2w and thereby giving an insanely unfair advantage in the game. I don't see that here.

    They have always said they would sell bags/inventory slots as convenience items. They are extremely helpful but the benefit you get from that are beyond mild. If you don't like that...well good luck finding a subscription game, let alone free to play game, which doesn't sell those types of items now.
    Other than those everything is very much cosmetic other than the "Head Start." But let's take a look at this, you access the live game five days early. Ok. In the scope of years of playing what is the importance of five days? Even a month after launch I bet you players won't be talking about how much of an advantage that five days head start gave them.

    I don't see the fail. Don't want to pay the price, I don't blame you. But by no means are you required to. If you want Beta access that badly and think the price is outrageous toss them twenty bucks. If you think the items are overpriced, they're all cosmetic or standard practice in modern games.

    I agree even WoW has a cash shop, If you dont know about that check here. If they had one of these Founders packs made they would charge $1000 dollars for what should be $200 and say it is worth $3000.

    Trust me this Neverwinter Founders Pack is a better deal than even some subscription games as far as the cash shop. Also I have never found a good FTP MMORPG that gives all the essential content free.
    I am usually Deaths Crowbar.


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  • iamtruthseekeriamtruthseeker Member, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    And don't forget that character slot!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • rsheartsrshearts Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 51
    edited February 2013
    That is because those prior Cryptic games had existing subscription fees and the Lifetime offers were created in that time. So the monthly stipend is a part of the subscription now.

    This game will have no subscription fees, at all. So they can't really offer a Lifetime Subscription.

    For $200 though, they should.

    Obviously the rest of this is just my opinion lol. It should be obvious, but this is the internet. :)

    I have been keeping an eye on this game for a while now and once word of the Founder's Packs came out I honestly budgeted $200 for the Big One.

    And then when the details emerged ... let's just say I still haven't pulled the trigger.

    Personally, for $200 what I expect is that each "larger" pack would contain everything in the "lower" packs. The items that don't stack of course wouldn't be duplicated - but they should be specifically spelled out so that everyone is crystal clear on what stacks and what doesn't (char slots, etc).

    Additionally for the cost of a Lifetime subscription in every other MMO to date, I also expect a monthly something. Whether it be the lack of paying a monthly fee (when a game has one) or in this case of a game that has a cash shop I expect to get a monthly stipend. You need to incentivise (sp?) me to stay in the game so that I then buy more in the cash shop.

    What I see in this $200 pack is essentially the same as the lower pack really. Just a couple more char slots and some more diamonds. Sure the mounts and companion-pets are different - but they exist so are essentially equivalent value.

    Basically what I am asking you, PWE, to do is convince me to give you the $200 I had set aside for you. So far, I don't see the value. You can say "if you don't see the value then don't" which is one way to look at it. But another way is that you (PWE) are losing $140 that I was going to give you!

    Still holding out, hoping to see some changes in the packs.

    :)
  • syberghostsyberghost Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 2,474
    edited February 2013
    keirkin wrote: »
    Plenty of MMOs out there are supporting them game financially on nothing but appearance items. If people were not willing to pay money in high volume for "no real benefit to gameplay" items how are these other games surviving? Just because something is not valuable to you doesn't mean that there aren't millions of other people that it is valuable to. Heck look at the "collectable action figures" market or lunchboxes or multimillion dollar modern art for that matter.

    Name three triple-A titles doing so. Again, most of the triple-A F2P titles initially sold a box, and thus got that giant up-front money surge after years of incomeless development to pay for all of that investment. It's got to be paid for somehow, you can't just wish it away. Cheap browser-based games with very short development cycles can cover this with webpage ads, and with the fact they spent a lot less to make the game. A triple-A title has years of very expensive development, with no income at all from the game during that time. They recoup it with the box sale, then fund ongoing development (which is cheaper) and maintenance with the Cosmetic and Convenience item sales.

    Neverwinter isn't locking the game behind a paywall at launch and retrofitting F2P in later. They aren't spending 18 months throwing together a Unity-engine browser game. They're building a P2P-quality game and skipping the box. Effectively, they're following Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2's model of Buy 2 Play, but without the Buy. So you tell me; how do they recoup four+ years of development costs, using only the income stream that covers post-launch expenses?

    Even if you assume that it costs the same for a year of development as for a year of operation, it's still FOUR YEARS or more with no income from the game.

    What PWE is doing here isn't odd, it's just a logical next step in the transition of the industry from "Pay 2 Play at launch, Free 2 Play after the bump" to "Free 2 Play from launch". It's a tiny evolutionary step.
  • perdidurperdidur Member Posts: 67
    edited February 2013
    The main thing keeping me from buying any Founders Packs at the moment is that I don't like paying money for the hope of things to come and a lack of solid info on the value of the items. Just how valuable are 100,000 Astral Diamonds? I have no idea. Will there ever be an Archer Ranger available and if so when? That is really the only class I ever play. How will it be implented? If I had solid info on what I could get for Astral Diamonds and if there were to be an Archer Ranger in at launch I would most likely shell out the $200 but as things stand I am tightly holding my pennies.
  • lanessar13lanessar13 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Silverstars Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    We'll have to see what AD can purchase, as opposed to Zen. I could be buy 1000 Zen, it automatically credits you with 20,000 AD (no selling necessary), and all slots, etc. are purchased with AD (no Zen currency used at all).

    That doesn't match any of PWE's other store models, though, so I kind of doubt that they will do this. But that's a personal thought, not what may or may not really come to pass.
  • asdfasdfgfasdfasdfgf Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 237 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    I bought the $200 pack but I'm the minority. I have my degree and an expendable income. I don't mind supporting gaming companies.

    Heck, we still don't know the conversion rate of 725,000 astral diamonds but I'd bet thats where a majority of the 'value' is.

    I also got the $200 pack for the guaranteed beta code for a friend. If you don't have $200 or aren't willing to spend it, stop complaining.
  • gaymer87gaymer87 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 291 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    Honestly I just think that people are becoming a little too upset about these packs. Now we have people theorycrafting, crying about all this nonesense.
    Just play the game and see what happens.
    *~Ezenkrul Kor'hedron -Drow Sorcerer~* **on hold**
    *~Serixil Kor'hedron- Drow Trickster~*
  • silvergryphsilvergryph Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 740 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    lanessar13 wrote: »
    We'll have to see what AD can purchase, as opposed to Zen. I could be buy 1000 Zen, it automatically credits you with 20,000 AD (no selling necessary), and all slots, etc. are purchased with AD (no Zen currency used at all).

    That doesn't match any of PWE's other store models, though, so I kind of doubt that they will do this. But that's a personal thought, not what may or may not really come to pass.

    I'm hoping for something like that, too. And there's actually quite a bit of precedent in the PWE cash shops. 4 of the 11 games on the Exchange Rates page show that they use a cash shop currency other than ZEN.

    It is also possible that WotC, (who have stated that they have a lot to do with the development of this game) may want them to keep to all D and D based currencies.

    But, then again, all of the other Cryptic titles in the PWE store do use ZEN. So, as you say, personal thoughts. We shall see soon!
  • elveelve Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 336
    edited February 2013
    elve- overpricing is not the best way to make a profit, nor is it the best way to make the most profit. You make a profit by selling over cost. You make the most profit by balancing price and volume of sales. Higher price lowers volume. My contention is that the $200 price point is either too high or the package gives too much perceived advantage, at least in the eyes of non-purchasers.

    Please understand I still plan to play the game and was planning to spend some money on it. Now I worry that they will price stuff too high and hurt the chances of game success. That is why I posted this thread.

    You missed the entire point of my post. To put it bluntly - you cannot say something is overpriced unless you have a base of comparison. In this case - you don't. The perceived value of stuff is always deceptive. Not everyone can shove $200 up front but also not everyone should. If you want to buy the pack but you think $200 is too much for this pack - then don't buy it. The lesser guardian pack offers pretty much the same stuff at a more reasonable price. If you think the pack is greatly underpriced - then buy it. If you cannot then buy the lesser pack that, again, offers pretty much the same stuff at more reasonable price. And if you cannot afford even that then you have to settle on that you can get pretty much the same stuff in-game if you invest enough time into the game which you would do anyway if you like the game. It is a a fine balance but you cannot say it is broken based on pretty much no information available. As I said before in another thread - the prices are comparable to other MMOs that offer collector's editions or founder's packs. For example - Guild Wars 2, Path of Exile, Warframe, Firefall. The most expensive pack on these games vary from $100 to $5000. Still you can say absolutely nothing about these games by the price of the packs they offer.

    rshearts, so you want lifetime subscription on a game that has no subscriptions? Well, this is the closest that they can go - you get priority in every single queue you are in and you get a bunch of items for all of your characters. What more do you want? Every single thing in the cash shop item for free? Only League of Legends did that and it was not for money but for a motherload of referrals. Even they do not do that now.
  • rockxoonrockxoon Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 23 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    gaymer87 wrote: »
    Honestly I just think that people are becoming a little too upset about these packs. Now we have people theorycrafting, crying about all this nonesense.
    Just play the game and see what happens.
    well its easy -> too many ppl upset = not many ppl who will play = not a good way to go for a mmorpg
    i agree with drwarpeffect, and also i think that those packs was the first step to fail and that they will do it worse in future.
    btw, i would be glad, if they will proof im wrong
  • fishgodfishgod Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I was thinking about getting the top founders pack until I saw it. I got a lifetime with STO and am happy with the monthly return i get for it. Although I don't play STO like i did for the first year its nice to be able to come back to the game and not have any restrictions and some money built up to buy stuff. I had hoped the top founders package for neverwinter would have similar lifetime perks. But it dosn't and for its price it doesn't look like its worth it to me either.

    I guess ill have to hope I get invited to a weekend beta coming up, so i can see the state of the game and then ill make a decision on any of the founders packs.
  • madsenistmadsenist Member Posts: 16 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    zebular wrote: »
    Check out the Sticky:
    [h=3]How To - Neverwinter Founder's Pack Titles[/h]
    Would be great if my account had the "permissions" option. My account is flagged as I bought the Guardians package yesterday morning and have been logged in and out several times on the forums on 2 different comps, and it still hasn't show. Can you look into this issue?
  • syberghostsyberghost Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 2,474
    edited February 2013
    madsenist wrote: »
    Would be great if my account had the "permissions" option. My account is flagged as I bought the Guardians package yesterday morning and have been logged in and out several times on the forums on 2 different comps, and it still hasn't show. Can you look into this issue?

    zebular is just a forum moderator, he can't look into your account. It'll take a red name for that, not a green.

    You should open a support ticket. I have two friends who were in your situation, and there was action support could take (and did, today) to correct it.
  • madsenistmadsenist Member Posts: 16 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    syberghost wrote: »
    zebular is just a forum moderator, he can't look into your account. It'll take a red name for that, not a green.

    You should open a support ticket. I have two friends who were in your situation, and there was action support could take (and did, today) to correct it.

    Thanks for the information!
  • ulfang1ulfang1 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    I think they are banking on the beta access as the bait for the guardian pack. The Hero of the North back is just way overpriced IMO and for those games who desperately need the Beta Access they will go for the Guardian pack. Those who can live with the risk of not getting into the beta will go for the Starter pack or not get any packs.
    NW_Guardian_main_trigger_EN.jpg
  • asdfasdfgfasdfasdfgf Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 237 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    I'm pretty sure PWE will cave based on sales after the first beta weekend if they are devastating. Resulting in either a monthly stipend for the top tier or full inclusion of all the tiers bonuses.

    All depends on how many people are willing to dish out some cash for it now.
  • volcxxxvolcxxx Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Silverstars Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Iv played Perfect World Boi/Woi/Raiderz -and im sceptic how this game will NOT be pay2win.
    Last game iv played - Raiderz - was unplayable becouse of high real-money cost of respec book. To test different build on my hard-worked char, my choice was:
    1. spend high amount of real money for reset skill book (Respec Token?) - dont remember how much but something like 20-30$
    2. reroll and level up new char and forget all time iv invested to get levels.

    And when i see in Founder Packs item called "1 RESPEC TOKEN" - it just stinks for me.

    Question: how much will cost respec in Neverwinter? I assume i will be FORCED to spend real money to respec my build but how much - (3$ or 30$)?
    And why the heck price in euro is much higher than in $? Its like 30% more in my country currency (!!!)


    And BTW - both Battle of immortals and War of Immortals (Perfect World games) were HEAVY PAY2WIN games.
    5cm82e.jpg
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  • syberghostsyberghost Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 2,474
    edited February 2013
    Respec costs haven't been announced. They cost $5 in STO, and $13.75 in Champions Online. I would expect they'd be closer to the former than the latter in this game, since STO is newer, but we have no way of knowing. I wouldn't expect them to be MORE than $13.75.
  • visionstorm01visionstorm01 Member Posts: 561 Bounty Hunter
    edited February 2013
    asdfasdfgf wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure PWE will cave based on sales after the first beta weekend if they are devastating. Resulting in either a monthly stipend for the top tier or full inclusion of all the tiers bonuses.

    All depends on how many people are willing to dish out some cash for it now.

    Ive actually played other Cryptic games and in the entire time since PWE came in I don't think I've ever seen them lower prices or add value to existing items on anything.
    ____________________________
  • kingslayer74kingslayer74 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 75
    edited February 2013
    I don't see the $200 Hero of the North Founder pack as any different than paying $200 for box seats at a game or VIP tickets to a concert. I have no guarantee when I make my purchase that the star players are going to be playing for both teams nor do I know it's going to be a thrilling, drama-filled competitive game and not some snoozer bore fest. As for the concert analogy I don't know if when I purchase my tickets if the band is going to give a nice long concert with several encores or if the lead singer is going to go psycho and cancel the show early. But either way, I'm paying a lot of money for the expectation that I'm going to get value for my money. Everyone attending the sporting event or concert can enjoy the show without having to pay the same amount I did.

    And as for the price tag of $549 value? According to who?!? Other than PWE, the $549 estimated value is complete hyperbole at this point because no one knows what the value truly is for those items that come with the HOTN pack.

    I paid the $200 first because I wanted to support the game; I want to see this game grow and succeed and secondly becuase while I would've preferred a lower cost (say $130 or $140), I don't get a choice to set the price. This is good ol' capitalism at it's finest: a company offers something to entice me to spend my money; it's up to me to decide if I feel it's worth the value or not regardless of what price they put on it.
  • lowniss40lowniss40 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Do you know how much the Astral Diamond lots are going to be? Obviously there will be micro transactions for diamond packages. If you say the value is not 549 dollars than that tells me you know how much 625,000 extra astrals will cost vs the 125,000 you get with the 59 dollar founder pack. Just checking...
  • moondiskmoondisk Member, Banned Users, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0
    edited February 2013
    Just a side note before I write this up: not trying to flame Cryptic, PWE, or your mother, I just want to express an opinion and then hear from you guys.

    Look, I get it.
    It's a pack, a bundle deal of items that would normally be bought when the game enters open beta/release.

    What completely blows my mind away is that it's a 200 dollar purchase.

    200. dollar. purchase. A purchase. A purchase made for a game that hasn't begun beta yet.

    Now I uh... I understand for those of you that are die hard fans or have a lot of free money and want to support the game from the get go. That's fine.
    It's just, normally when these sort of purchases are made, you get something more then pixels for your characters. You get... well I don't know.... physical items like statues or maps or even sound tracks. Not to mention a big box with pretty art on it and a physical disc.

    I think you see where I'm going with this. The founder's pack looks like what should've been a collector's edition for a p2p mmo. But since NWN is a f2p mmo, there won't be any physical discs or items made (aside from the few items pwe has custom made in the past).

    I don't want to seem too overbearingly cynical about this, but why are we paying so much for a bundle that would be better spent on other collector's stuff? At least physical items stay with you if the server goes down.

    It also appears to be very imbalanced and will undoubtedly give players a huge boost when the mmo officially launches.
    750,000 Astral Diamonds

    I don't know if that is in game currency or cash shop currency, but seeing someone starting off with that right from the start is already a sign of pay to win.

    At this point, I would rather pay 60 dollars and know that I am on equal footing with others then pay 200 dollars and hope it'll be enough to compete with other people at launch.

    I would rather pay to access part of the mmos than pay for equal opportunity.

    Before I am asked " If you don't like it, don't pay for it, or just leave!".

    I have a better question: How people have to be put off by this offer before you guys realize you're only competing with other paying customers?
    What's the point, paying for more for this than for a p2p or a f2p?

    Some of you most assure me this mmo won't be p2w, however the PWE label isn't very assuring of that.
    The list of mmos that pwe has are awfully very p2w.

    So let me ask you, the paying community: Why did you buy this? What is your reason? Are you happy with your purchase?
  • hedronlordhedronlord Member Posts: 37 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Dear lord. Why does everyone have such a problem with this?

    If you don't think its worth it, don't buy it. What do you care if other people do find the package worth it?
  • xearrikxearrik Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 323 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    Don't like it? Don't buy it.

    You can go out and buy a single MTG deck and be satisfied. Or you can spend $100,000 dollars and be satisfied. To each their own. If you can't believe it costs that much then its not for you. Don't try to buy a Black lotus.

    They should offer a very wide range of prices and products for all. Because some people spend ten bucks a month on their hobbies wile others spend thousands.
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  • moondiskmoondisk Member, Banned Users, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0
    edited February 2013
    hedronlord wrote: »
    Dear lord. Why does everyone have such a problem with this?

    If you don't think its worth it, don't buy it. What do you care if other people do find the package worth it?

    I want to know why people support a 200 dollar price tag for a virtual items pack.
    To me it makes no sense.

    I know it's not mandatory and optional, but it begs the question of "if this is what is available right now, what will we be seeing in the future"?
  • xaxiusshadowxaxiusshadow Member Posts: 28 Arc User
    edited February 2013
    People also need to realize that the folks spending the money on the packs help facilitate the no-box cost / no sub model they are attempting to pursue.
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