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Good Marketing Strategy or Bad? - Another argument for a "Gold" account...
markfalcone
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 4
So last night I was up due to leg pain and decided to check something I hadn't bothered to check before: How the "new" system of refinement worked with the special weapons and armor enchantments. And (it should be no surprise to anyone other than those like myself who just plain never bothered) I found that it was very costly, though I suppose not as costly as it once was.
Before Refinement came out, a person had to put together 4 shards, usually use a ward to make it come together (otherwise 1% chance) which amounted to $10 in Zen, and then get one Lesser version of the enchantment. Then you had to do this 4 times to have 4 Lesser ones to make one Normal one (another $10). Etc. Now you just have to make a Lesser one ($10), then build up to a Normal one ($10), Greater ($10), and Perfect ($10). So for $40 and quite a bit of general grinding you can create a Perfect weapon or armor enchantment.
In any gaming MMO, I can see the purpose of grinding: Keep the players wanting more by making more and more reasons to grind because it is just plain too difficult to come up with millions and millions of stories on the fly per year to keep everyone happily playing. So keeping the enchantment, and now artifact, upgrades towards some form of grinding makes sense. Though I will point out that the Blue refining stones in particular appear to be incredibly hard to get from all the grinding I've done (all upgrades on one character currently stuck waiting on finding blue refining stones while piling up purples and greens).
And in any gaming MMO, I can see the purpose of making ways to make some money out of the game such as you are doing with Zen and making more and more opportunities for players to spend it. STO has been doing likewise and I have no problem with the idea of it.
However, I feel like you are insulting my intelligence in this one.
I suppose you are only marketing to impulse shoppers, of which I am not one and I suspect that in this economy most people are not. Impulse shoppers would have no problem buying more Zen to increase the power of these enchantments; though even if I was an impulse shopper I would put $50 in Zen towards STO instead to unlock ships for multiple characters rather than $40 towards a single character's single weapon or armor enchantment. Or I would at least purchase Zen towards a particular mount I wouldn't mind having on multiple characters since that is a similar unlock rather than a single purchase. It just makes more sense.
But here is where you, as the company, are missing out: The reason this does not make you nearly as much money as it could is it does not turn non-impulse shoppers into impulse shoppers. Non-impulse shoppers will still look at your little "Transfer Zen and get a special prize" promotions and specials and simply ask "Why?" After all, you've designed the game to be accessible to anyone, for free, to get anywhere they want in the game supposely without paying a dime, and so far I'd have to say that you have done exactly that, particularly thanks to the modules. One doesn't even really need the weapon or armor enchantments to still do some serious gaming solo or in a party. Want, perhaps. Need, absolutely not.
Whereas, hypothetically speaking, what if you did create a "Gold Account" and "Veterans Rewards" program like STO and CO? From just asking around both games, I've come to the conclusiont that Zen is second only to "I love the game" in reasoning for purchasing months or the Lifetime account. To be honest, my wife and I's two reigning reasons for getting the Founder's Packs were because we love D&D that much (me more than her since I introduced her to it after college :-D) and we were hoping it would eventually be announced to be a Lifetime Account unlock since it was exactly the same price as CO's and STO's. And I suspect that this was your intent in pricing it that way; very clever. But here's where you would be getting much more money than the way you have it now:
Impulse buying would increase due to two things: Extra Zen in the community pool sitting there waiting to be used by paying members and the reasoning that this "free" Zen sitting around somehow gave each of these paying members a "discount" on something they had been eyeing but didn't consider because it didn't seem "worth it". Sure, this is purely psychological, but then marketing is all about psychological. And it works.
Just my two cents. ;-)
Before Refinement came out, a person had to put together 4 shards, usually use a ward to make it come together (otherwise 1% chance) which amounted to $10 in Zen, and then get one Lesser version of the enchantment. Then you had to do this 4 times to have 4 Lesser ones to make one Normal one (another $10). Etc. Now you just have to make a Lesser one ($10), then build up to a Normal one ($10), Greater ($10), and Perfect ($10). So for $40 and quite a bit of general grinding you can create a Perfect weapon or armor enchantment.
In any gaming MMO, I can see the purpose of grinding: Keep the players wanting more by making more and more reasons to grind because it is just plain too difficult to come up with millions and millions of stories on the fly per year to keep everyone happily playing. So keeping the enchantment, and now artifact, upgrades towards some form of grinding makes sense. Though I will point out that the Blue refining stones in particular appear to be incredibly hard to get from all the grinding I've done (all upgrades on one character currently stuck waiting on finding blue refining stones while piling up purples and greens).
And in any gaming MMO, I can see the purpose of making ways to make some money out of the game such as you are doing with Zen and making more and more opportunities for players to spend it. STO has been doing likewise and I have no problem with the idea of it.
However, I feel like you are insulting my intelligence in this one.
I suppose you are only marketing to impulse shoppers, of which I am not one and I suspect that in this economy most people are not. Impulse shoppers would have no problem buying more Zen to increase the power of these enchantments; though even if I was an impulse shopper I would put $50 in Zen towards STO instead to unlock ships for multiple characters rather than $40 towards a single character's single weapon or armor enchantment. Or I would at least purchase Zen towards a particular mount I wouldn't mind having on multiple characters since that is a similar unlock rather than a single purchase. It just makes more sense.
But here is where you, as the company, are missing out: The reason this does not make you nearly as much money as it could is it does not turn non-impulse shoppers into impulse shoppers. Non-impulse shoppers will still look at your little "Transfer Zen and get a special prize" promotions and specials and simply ask "Why?" After all, you've designed the game to be accessible to anyone, for free, to get anywhere they want in the game supposely without paying a dime, and so far I'd have to say that you have done exactly that, particularly thanks to the modules. One doesn't even really need the weapon or armor enchantments to still do some serious gaming solo or in a party. Want, perhaps. Need, absolutely not.
Whereas, hypothetically speaking, what if you did create a "Gold Account" and "Veterans Rewards" program like STO and CO? From just asking around both games, I've come to the conclusiont that Zen is second only to "I love the game" in reasoning for purchasing months or the Lifetime account. To be honest, my wife and I's two reigning reasons for getting the Founder's Packs were because we love D&D that much (me more than her since I introduced her to it after college :-D) and we were hoping it would eventually be announced to be a Lifetime Account unlock since it was exactly the same price as CO's and STO's. And I suspect that this was your intent in pricing it that way; very clever. But here's where you would be getting much more money than the way you have it now:
Impulse buying would increase due to two things: Extra Zen in the community pool sitting there waiting to be used by paying members and the reasoning that this "free" Zen sitting around somehow gave each of these paying members a "discount" on something they had been eyeing but didn't consider because it didn't seem "worth it". Sure, this is purely psychological, but then marketing is all about psychological. And it works.
Just my two cents. ;-)
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Buy them for ~160k AD on the AH instead = ~420z or $4.25/each
#justsayin
Keeping with your $10 per coal ward...
Look back at your analysis. See anything missing? If you assess the cost of a lesser enchant at 4 shards and a $10 coal ward, and ignore the shard costs (assuming you find them in game), you have a cost of $10 per lesser. You then point out you need 4 lesser enchants and another coal ward (another $10) to move up to a normal. However, you forgot the other 3 coal wards for your three other lesser enchants. It was really 5 coal wards in total (one for each lesser (4) plus one to combine in a normal). You're already at $50 just to move up to a normal, not $40 to go to perfect. Carry that through your entire analysis and you can see, no matter how you are getting your coal wards, you need a LOT fewer under the new system to obtain a perfect enchant.
Now I will agree that the system is slightly harder to upgrade do to the fact that you now need both C wards and Marks in order to upgrade. And then of course add in that they lowered the drop rate of C wards from the invocation coffer (yes, they devs said they were going to do it) and made them BoP thus reducing the amount in the market in general. And I cant say for anyone else but I rarely see Marks of potency dropping in epic dungeons, and definitely not enough to keep up with my needs. Add in the fact that everyone gets to roll on them if they drop and it becomes even harder.
Sometimes I think cryptic made the new system the way it is simply because the old system wasn't providing the AD sink they hoped it would.....but this is all purely speculation on my part.
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Now that would be amazing!
Join Essence of Aggression: PVP-ing Hard Since Beta!
Start with this:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?567591-Trace-s-Guide-to-AD-Creation-and-Wealth-Building&highlight=wealth
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Umm Bio...he wrote it. Me thinks you missed some sarcasm back there
The double irony is that I not only wrote it, but linked it in my post!
Join Essence of Aggression: PVP-ing Hard Since Beta!
Hey did you write that? Lol
Why? the last 3 or 4 times he tried this topic, it didnt.
The ONLY reason that sub options were left in STO/CO was due to legal obligations to LTS holders. Since the game never shut down during the changeover, PWE had to honor their subscription promises.
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sorry, i wasnt aware that markfalcone had created this topic more then once, though i still think it is an idea worthy of implementation.
I could have miss read OP's post but i think he is talking about it making good business sense. Sure they have stated in the past that it is a f2p game, but lets be honest though, if they can call The Hero of The North packs limited time items in closed beta ,explicitly stating that they wont exist after headstart , then when the game reaches open beta keep selling them and basically say "we never said they would disappear completely , and because they no longer offer closed beta access or head start options they are not the originally marketed product, thus the original purchasers did purchase an "exclusive" product" , they can almost certainly institute a platinum or diamond benefits program whilst still keeping the game f2p if they were convinced of the profitability of such a move.
i think it's safe to say that neverwinter will likely not change business models in the future.
"We listened because we could see how powerful the model was. Neverwinter is our first fully free-to-play game and we have no intent to ever go to a subscription model."
You know what they say about intentions:(
i think what you meant to say is "you know what they say about good or best intentions" and that's not how this was worded.
Intent:
"Intent is a mental attitude with which an individual acts, and therefore it cannot ordinarily be directly proved but must be inferred from surrounding facts and circumstances. Intent refers only to the state of mind with which the act is done or omitted. It differs from motive, which is what prompts a person to act or to fail to act. For example, suppose Billy calls Amy names and Amy throws a snowball at him. Amy's intent is to hit Billy with a snowball. Her motive may be to stop Billy's taunts."
But alas we re beginning to venture into the land of semantics from which reason seldom returns, so let me say for all intents and purposes i respect that opinions differ on this subject.:o
Though until you mentioned that there was a link in your post, it wasn't obvious. The new Arc-ish forums show links in the same colour as normal text, so you need to feel around text with der maus to find them.. Is that the triple, and can I cash in my prize and buy a pony?