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Microtransactions 101

chronomancerchronomancer Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1,223
edited June 2013 in General Discussion (PC)
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • osiabunnyosiabunny Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    That really is the truth :O

    It's so silly to spend 40 dollars on say a mount.
  • nikitaoznikitaoz Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 149 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    Nice point of view. Some certain people should watch this. Ahem... You know...
  • tarmalentarmalen Member Posts: 1,020 Bounty Hunter
    edited June 2013
    Yep....they are so egar to push you to zen sales with the current setup that I feel it will backfire long term.

    Seriously 10 dollars for one bag for one character?
  • cipher9nemocipher9nemo Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    $70 on a monocle. LOL!
    cipher_jitn_sig.png
    Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
  • xellizxelliz Member Posts: 955 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I'm sure most of us feel that the entire zen market needs to have prices cut by 50% minimum.
    Foundry - Fight Club? (nw-dluqbofu7)
    - JailBreak (in development)
  • jaymadiv#8056 jaymadiv Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    This video is awesome.
    image
  • chronomancerchronomancer Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1,223
    edited June 2013
    Never sell power.. you'll <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> off more players and potential payers faster than you can say ... P2W.
  • tang56tang56 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Never sell power.. you'll <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> off more players and potential payers faster than you can say ... PWE.
    There, fixed that for you. :)
    RIP Neverwinter 26/06/2014
  • fuumanchuuu1fuumanchuuu1 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    The over pricing of items is why I've spent very little on this game. I refuse to spend 10 bucks on a stupid bag. $5 and I may consider it. It's not that I can't afford to spend $10 dollars. It's just that I refuse to over pay for something.
  • blakeryannwblakeryannw Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Neverwinter-
    1. Eventually cut prices on many zenstore items by a significant amount
    2. Allows players to earn free paid currency
    3. Allows all players to enjoy all content
    4. Allows players to convert an expendable currency for paid currency to obtain those items
    5. Doesn't actually sell "power"

    So I really hope you didn't think this was a big slap in Cryptic's face?
    Taecyeon - Beholder - Guild Leader of CatAssTrophy
  • drk1058drk1058 Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    This video is the best for Perfect World to watch.How many other video companies are looking at Perfect World to see if the game economy can handle the prices and exchange rate Perfect World controls. If majority of the players don't exchange AD for Zen than the exchange rate will have to change less AD to buy Zen. But I do think Perfect World has an account that are setting the price on the exchange market. Keep the exchange rate high people will get frustrated on the grinding than people will just give up and buy Zen.(Perfect Worlds thing) Also with the high exchange rate and the high cost of items people will go to third party web sites to buy AD. Yes I know some will get caught but most will not. Happens in all MMO's. that have a economy. We shall all see if the prices change after the dust settles down with the economy and majority of players hit end game. If majority of players do not grind daily for AD and gold the economy will collapse and the Perfect World will lose out on a lot of money. Maybe it is the state of California regulating the prices and exchange rate and the Perfect World is just following the laws.

    edit part "Microtransactions are transactions that are less than a certain amount, usually $5, enabling customers to purchase content or services on a piecemeal basis." - See more at: http://www.vindicia.com/microtransaction-model#sthash.WuSlVIBD.dpuf
  • chai23chai23 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Neverwinter-
    1. Eventually cut prices on many zenstore items by a significant amount
    2. Allows players to earn free paid currency
    3. Allows all players to enjoy all content
    4. Allows players to convert an expendable currency for paid currency to obtain those items
    5. Doesn't actually sell "power"

    So I really hope you didn't think this was a big slap in Cryptic's face?

    1. kind of but not far enough yet.
    2. right
    3. nope. players forced to be in guild for current new content.
    4. right
    5. nope - they do sell power - buff companions only available in store, faster mounts, better enchant success (1% chance to F2P players is an absurd claim of "it can be had in game")

    Not a big slap in cryptics face - more like a video of one MMO players opinions which resonate with alot of other MMO players as far as the general feeling of good monetization tactics -vs- poor monetization tactics in the microtranz environment most MMOs are marketing in nowdays.
  • nighthalasnighthalas Member Posts: 55
    edited June 2013
    There's a low budget browser zombie survival multiplayer game where a super minigun cost $200. Some people bought the minigun. :rolleyes:
  • blakeryannwblakeryannw Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    chai23 wrote: »
    1. kind of but not far enough yet.
    2. right
    3. nope. players forced to be in guild for current new content.
    4. right
    5. nope - they do sell power - buff companions only available in store, faster mounts, better enchant success (1% chance to F2P players is an absurd claim of "it can be had in game")

    Not a big slap in cryptics face - more like a video of one MMO players opinions which resonate with alot of other MMO players as far as the general feeling of good monetization tactics -vs- poor monetization tactics in the microtranz environment most MMOs are marketing in nowdays.
    1. The game barely released, it was an initial price cut. Why are you *****ing? You don't NEED those items.
    3. 'Forced'... Uh, guilds don't cost money, your argument is really ignorant and invalid if you think that's blocking players from guilds.
    5. There's ONE augment pet in the zen store, 2 in other currencies. I'm sorry, how is that selling power? You can't use those companions in PVP, so what do you win again? Once again, ability to speed through content does NOT equal 'power'.
    Taecyeon - Beholder - Guild Leader of CatAssTrophy
  • vattaravattara Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 279 Arc User
    edited June 2013

    A great vid . It was true when first released and still true now.
  • fuumanchuuu1fuumanchuuu1 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    1. The game barely released, it was an initial price cut. Why are you *****ing? You don't NEED those items.
    3. 'Forced'... Uh, guilds don't cost money, your argument is really ignorant and invalid if you think that's blocking players from guilds.
    5. There's ONE augment pet in the zen store, 2 in other currencies. I'm sorry, how is that selling power? You can't use those companions in PVP, so what do you win again? Once again, ability to speed through content does NOT equal 'power'.

    Why are you defending 1? Nearly every item in their cash shop is overpriced. They'd make as much or more if they'd lower prices to a reasonably level. Why would I pay 10 bucks for a bag or 20 for a companion when I have to buy them for each character I play. If a bag were say $2.50 I'd probably buy 2 extra for each character but for $10 I'm not even going to get 1 for any character. I'm willing to support the game but not at the expense of being gouged and treated like some kind of mark.
  • knightfalzknightfalz Member Posts: 1,261 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    If the items are overpriced as is being maintained here, this will result in low sales. When this causes the revenue from sales to drop too low, PW will lower prices in an attempt to increase their revenue. When they feel they have set the price at a point where they will maximize profits from sales the prices will become stable. It will simply take time for the prices to adjust.
  • eviledickeviledick Member Posts: 39
    edited June 2013
    25 years in the business artist and programmer, stole entire Alliance inventories in EvE, incited war between N. expanses and RUS, world first Raggy and Ony kills. I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.. but Ive never seen a cash shop like this.

    Please don't confuse developers with publishers, they are not the same thing, at all.
    Bug Powder Dust: Chapter 1, 15 mins of Cleric friendly hack and slash, with a nod to Pratchett and G Naylor:- NW-DKHPBAVBO
  • bcomptonbcompton Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    osiabunny wrote: »
    That really is the truth :O

    It's so silly to spend 40 dollars on say a mount.

    per character and I'd agree... however when you get it for every character you ever will have its actually not too bad a price. I just wish the companions were for every character as well
  • jaymadiv#8056 jaymadiv Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    The Companions are only worth 20 bucks, MAYBE, if they are Account-Wide

    MAYBE they are worth 20 bucks then.

    Greater Bags of Holding should be 5 bucks, at most.

    and the 40-dollar mounts are absurd. account-wide or not.

    I got the 60-dollar Guardian of Neverwinter Pack, and not only did I get an Account-wide 110% speed mount, I also got 600k AD, an Account-wide Companion, an extra character slot and a bunch of other stuff as well. I also bought 2 character slots for 5 bucks. which is reasonable.

    but, I'll never, ever, spend 40 bucks for *just* a mount. if you are considering a 40-dollar mount, you may as well spend the extra 20 bucks and get the Guardian Pack, to be honest.

    At this point in time, the only thing that I am willing to buy from the Zen store, are Enchanted Keys. maybe a respec token.

    everything else, besides the character slots, are incredibly overpriced.
    image
  • chai23chai23 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    /fail. Interpreting my stance as being that negative simply because it disagrees with yours. But, here we go.
    1. The game barely released, it was an initial price cut. Why are you *****ing? You don't NEED those items.

    Im not. Its not a matter of need on the part of the player. They want people to pay for it, they NEED to price it competitively.
    3. 'Forced'... Uh, guilds don't cost money, your argument is really ignorant and invalid if you think that's blocking players from guilds.

    Guilds costing anything or not is irrelevant. You MUST be in one in order to participate. Also reading fail. If youre going to make accusations of being ignorant and invalid, please read and understand what was said first. I never stated it was blocking people from guilds. I was stating that you must be in a guild to participate in GG - which makes your argument false. Strike 2.
    5. There's ONE augment pet in the zen store, 2 in other currencies. I'm sorry, how is that selling power? You can't use those companions in PVP, so what do you win again? Once again, ability to speed through content does NOT equal 'power'.

    That's absolutely selling power if items that grant more character power are only available in the store. The fact that it is not needed is again, irrelevant. Ability to speed through content faster than someone who didn't pay is LITERALLY character power oriented.
  • knightfalzknightfalz Member Posts: 1,261 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    jmadfour wrote: »
    The Companions are only worth 20 bucks, MAYBE, if they are Account-Wide
    Anything is worth what people will pay for it.
  • treize26treize26 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    I don't understand why devs can't grasp the concept that these items cost them essentially nothing to sell. Price a bag at $10, and I won't buy any, price them at $1 and I'll buy the max for each of my characters. Sure they'd be "losing" the $9 difference in their eyes, but in reality, $1 per bag is better than the current $0 I'm going to spend on bags now, and at $1 apiece, I'd easily spend more than $10 total.

    Same with pretty much everything else on the store. Some things like account-wide mounts I can understand at around $10-20, which they may be at (?) haven't looked. But one-off items for a single character? I'm not going to even consider them at their current price.
  • jaymadiv#8056 jaymadiv Member Posts: 423 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    treize26 wrote: »
    I don't understand why devs can't grasp the concept that these items cost them essentially nothing to sell. Price a bag at $10, and I won't buy any, price them at $1 and I'll buy the max for each of my characters. Sure they'd be "losing" the $9 difference in their eyes, but in reality, $1 per bag is better than the current $0 I'm going to spend on bags now, and at $1 apiece, I'd easily spend more than $10 total.

    Same with pretty much everything else on the store. Some things like account-wide mounts I can understand at around $10-20, which they may be at (?) haven't looked. But one-off items for a single character? I'm not going to even consider them at their current price.

    this is correct.
    image
  • elessymelessym Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    knightfalz wrote: »
    If the items are overpriced as is being maintained here, this will result in low sales. When this causes the revenue from sales to drop too low, PW will lower prices in an attempt to increase their revenue. When they feel they have set the price at a point where they will maximize profits from sales the prices will become stable. It will simply take time for the prices to adjust.

    They've already done one round of adjustments, so that pretty much identified what PWE felt wasn't selling enough. Which is not to say that they're happy with the sales of the rest of the items, just that they're not concerned enough to lower them yet.
    "Participation in PVP-related activities is so low on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly basis that we could in fact just completely take it out of STO and it would not impact the overall number of people [who] log in to the game and play in any significant way." -Gozer, Cryptic PvP Dev
  • eviledickeviledick Member Posts: 39
    edited June 2013
    "Ability to speed through content faster than someone who didn't pay is LITERALLY character power oriented"

    Well they will get their come uppance when they speed past one time only Skirmishes and dungeons and miss out on achievements/items that are hard enough to get even if you deliberately slow your leveling. You didn't get the bag for 100% completion of a zone cos you over-leveled a skirmish quest? Ooops!
    Bug Powder Dust: Chapter 1, 15 mins of Cleric friendly hack and slash, with a nod to Pratchett and G Naylor:- NW-DKHPBAVBO
  • knightfalzknightfalz Member Posts: 1,261 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    treize26 wrote: »
    I don't understand why devs can't grasp the concept that these items cost them essentially nothing to sell. Price a bag at $10, and I won't buy any, price them at $1 and I'll buy the max for each of my characters. Sure they'd be "losing" the $9 difference in their eyes, but in reality, $1 per bag is better than the current $0 I'm going to spend on bags now, and at $1 apiece, I'd easily spend more than $10 total.

    Same with pretty much everything else on the store. Some things like account-wide mounts I can understand at around $10-20, which they may be at (?) haven't looked. But one-off items for a single character? I'm not going to even consider them at their current price.

    They don't care about how much you'd buy.

    They care about maximizing their profit over their entire sales.

    They have access to a wealth of data that shows how much revenue is coming in vs. the expense to generate it, on each particular thing they sell. With access to that actual data, they aren't going to find anecdotal forum posts convincing or likely even interesting, when it comes to analyzing any potential changes to the price of things.
  • knightfalzknightfalz Member Posts: 1,261 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    elessym wrote: »
    They've already done one round of adjustments, so that pretty much identified what PWE felt wasn't selling enough. Which is not to say that they're happy with the sales of the rest of the items, just that they're not concerned enough to lower them yet.

    Yes, they have, and they will make more adjustments as needed in the future, based on their analysis of how their expected profits from cash shop sales are meeting up with their actual profits.

    I expect that any changes made to prices will be based on the wealth of sales data that they have access to, rather than the posts of players, who have no access to that data and thus can't provide informed suggestions as to price changes.
  • osadamaskosadamask Member Posts: 137 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    Well thank god tenebrous enchants arent overpowered. That just might make this game pay to win.
  • mconosrepmconosrep Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2013
    knightfalz wrote: »
    I expect that any changes made to prices will be based on the wealth of sales data that they have access to, rather than the posts of players, who have no access to that data and thus can't provide informed suggestions as to price changes.

    This requires both competence and the ability to take a long-term view. Given their record on (in)effectively dealing with both exploits and other issues that will hurt their game immensely over the longer-term, this line of argument seems rather naive.....
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