Concerns About Cash Shop Pricing

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  • xoplex
    xoplex Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    wow I was excited when I found this game but while waiting for the download to finish I found this thread :(
    Oh well I guess I can use this server to practice and learn the game till the Euro server opens up.
  • bulldog
    bulldog Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    As I level up (currently level 21) it's becoming obvious that this game will soon become to expensive to play.

    The main reason is the due to the cost of silver Heirograms. The way things are going I'll be burning through 4 of these a week minimum (2 mana & 2 health). Which equates to $40 US ($45 Australian) minimum a month.

    I don't choose a game primarily on the price but there are plenty of cheaper options. Looks like I'll be going back to wow, which is only $15 a month.

    You really need to reconsider the cost of Heirograms. Can you not see that people are unhappy and are or will soon leave?
  • snicker
    snicker Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    omg... did he say??? shall i Ctrl+V it? yes... i will... omg....


    "an American citizen probably has a larger chunk of disposable income..."


    disposable? let me introduce you to www.thesaurus.com Mr. Marketing "dude"... you lost me and alot of us RIGHT THERE.

    By choosing your marketing strategy to be one of "where shall we get the biggest cash cow due to my limited education of western economics and strong influential position in this company...".... eeeek. wrong... error! so many of us are already TIRED of this.

    Don't get me wrong. I speak for many westerners when i say " we will check it out"... and "see how it goes".

    I will have you know the majority of the gaming community is NOT so rich that we just toss our hard earned dollars out the window for entertainment as you would think. Rather, we negotiate "entertainment-value"... vs. "reward".

    At the end of the day, which I might add, we have WORKED our asses off to pay our bills to be alive & "one paycheck away from homeless".... we choose where it is we play.... not your "statistics.

    I hope that didn;t come off as too sarcastic, but good god! As good as the game is... many... yes MANY of us already have been duped by monthly subscriptions, extra fees for character-xfers(server to server), expansion packs, etc... for years!

    Keep it affordable yet "attractive" and you will maintain our interest in PW. I hope this helps not only the PQ dev team, but everyone involved including the players who are taking time out of THEIR DAY, on leisure time, to even read this post... or play this game online.

    So far... so good! Hats off to PW... i am liking it!


    but please! go to www.thesaurus.com and look up "disposable".... /scowl
  • dagny
    dagny Posts: 124 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    Well said Snicker!

    "Disposable" income is right there on my list of favorite expressions with "spare change" and "extra money".. what the heck are those?
  • irbis
    irbis Posts: 294 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    tofu wrote: »
    well im not a fan of cash shop relaly
    but these prices
    are miniscule (hehe i didn't no i knew that word)
    compared to that of maplestory (GMS)
    u wanna get a single top?
    good luck prices range from 2-5$ for a 2D PIXEL top.. u wanna get a pet dragon?
    oh boy
    its about 20 bucks to raise. but unlike PW.. these pets
    DO NOTHING!!!
    thats right
    NOTHING!!! (except picking up ur items dropped from monsters)
    THEY DONT MOUNT!!!
    THEY DONT ATTACK!!! :D
    20 bucks of waste!! yet
    maplestory' cash shop income
    is huge!
    every other person will have some form of cash shop...

    but im not a fan of cash shop
    just stating a point
    hehe^^ off to lost city!!! i get lost in archosaur :(
    i was waiting for someone to drag MS cs prices here. but there are 2 main diffrences betwen maple story and perfect world
    first is the CS users advantages. in MS none, CS items (aside from EXP scrolls) give you direct advantage ingame, when in PW they are literaly requaired to play from specific level. and belive me - iwas freeloader in MapleStory for 3 years and made myself up to 129lvl Cusader(hero) without using singiel CS item. this isnt possible here in PW. freeloader have a short lifespam here
    Secund: comunity. lets face it and be real here, MS comunity contains kids and childs as a majority. the youngest player ive seen was 8yo. not saying that kids are plain dumb but yes they lack of seeining many things and they can be scamed without them knowing anything. PW is diffrent in this matter also as this 40pages long topic prove. there are many adults here and i think i can even state that the majority of PW players pay their own bills without mama/papa help. other ays said: ppl here know the value of money better.
    and last hidden point: MS is a total generic azn grind fiesta. only the 2D gameplay is unique. and suprising very addictive. theres a strong competiotion there thx to ranking system. everybody wants to be the best.
    in PW is more complex compared to MS and grind lovers are very small minority here.
    so all in one: thats why this overkill prices works fine there but are not here

    oh and about the pets. pets here doesnt fight also. only venomancer have a warrior pet. the rest are like in MS - an eye candy and show off.
    its basicly like comparing WoW to EVE. both are MMORPG but they are to diffrent to compare.
    There exist only three beings worthy of respect:
    the priest, the soldier, the poet.
    To know, to kill, to create.
    -severan
  • soukyuu
    soukyuu Posts: 809 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    bael wrote: »
    You think this Cash shop is bad wake up Go to Rohan now thats a bad Cash shop this is peanuts compared to that your just Stingy as...
    tofu wrote: »
    well im not a fan of cash shop relaly
    but these prices
    are miniscule (hehe i didn't no i knew that word)
    compared to that of maplestory (GMS)
    To both of you; you're missing the point.
    fact is, PW is not MS or Rohan
    fact is, there is another version of PW that has 1/3 of the prices an another one will open soon.

    if they don't change the prices, they're dead. and even if they change them now, they already lost a lot of customers and i doubt they will come back. some might, but not everyone.
    PW has been endless frustration for me #2
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • severan
    severan Posts: 703 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    News from the PW-EU server
    Kru (Admin)
    "We will adjust our prices based on the MY-Version. The reason is simple. A lot of you played the MY-Version before. So said it is not a new product for you.

    From a view of a customer: Why paying more for a product when you can have it cheaper somewhere else?

    Especially when you are playing an Internet game country boundaries mean nothing. So said for players it is out of interesting what the average income is in Asian or in western countries. It is also out of interesting for them if a company use this as an argument to raise their prices. Players simple looking for a good place to play with reasonable prices to pay. It doesn't matter for them in which country the game is hosted (besides of some bad pings).

    Maybe our prices are not exactly the same like on MY version. Possible that something is cheaper others things are a little bit higher. Also we will run special weekly offers like we are doing..." (on other games)

    Thanks to this some 10+ european friends quit PWI >_>
    someone from RQ forum wrote:
    Ever wondered why cabal is such a successful game ? Cash shop prices rock, online instant help is there almost anytime and yet they care of everything.
    And I'm talking of Cabal EU of course.

    way to go... 1st cash shop issues and now, no players to play around with when they do change the cash shop price.
    Sever: Lost City
    Making players RageQuit since 2004

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Hello, You have reached Severan on The RQ carebear's automated phone system
    To tell me I've got no life and I live in my mom's basement, press 1. To tell me that you are logging on your level 90 character to kick the **** out of me, press 2. To tell me that your friend is a GM and you're getting me banned, press 3. To tell me RQ is going to fail and talk more **** about RunQuick press 4. If none of these options fit your need please hold the line for idiot assistance, they will be with you shortly...
  • ultimusmagus
    ultimusmagus Posts: 33
    edited September 2008
    tofu wrote: »
    well im not a fan of cash shop relaly
    but these prices
    are miniscule (hehe i didn't no i knew that word)
    compared to that of maplestory (GMS)
    u wanna get a single top?
    good luck prices range from 2-5$ for a 2D PIXEL top..

    We're not comparing PWI to other games, we're comparing it to the same game hosted by a licensee (PW-MY). Besides, those prices aren't much different than PW's. The pet price you mentioned ($20) is midway between the current lv 40 and lv 60 riding pets's prices, so once again, no big whoop. The difference is that in PW-MY those $20 could buy you a pet, and leave you some points for charms or clothing. The next version (PW-MS) will have prices similar to MY, taking into account that we know of these prices. We've played the game before, and expecting us to overpay for something we can easily get somewhere else at a lower price is just wishful thinking.
  • poison
    poison Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    severan wrote: »
    Thanks to this some 10+ european friends quit PWI >_>

    They have lost, and are going to lose even American players to PW Europe.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • aidalyn
    aidalyn Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    New user here. I saw a web banner, reviewed your website, liked the appearance of the character customization system, and thought I'd give this game a try.

    But this topic is already changing my mind -- even before I've completed the client download. The most alarming things to learn were:
    • Cash shop consumables will affect the power of your character, and therefore are necessary to remain competitive. I was really hoping Cash Shop items would be limited to fashion, mounts, minor conveniences, and other "fluff," but major gameplay advantages concern me.
    • Estimates posted in this topic consider minimal/consumable monthly expenditures of $40 or more. That's far too much more than I plan on spending.
    With all due respect, the GDP of a country does not determine your prices. Your competitors do. I can pay a one-time game purchase and $15/month for a typical P2P game and have access to all its content. If a self-described "Free to Play" MMO such as Perfect World appears to charge more money for less content, then I'm obviously less interested in committing to it at all.
  • moyles
    moyles Posts: 48 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    aidalyn wrote: »
    New user here. I saw a web banner, reviewed your website, liked the appearance of the character customization system, and thought I'd give this game a try.

    But this topic is already changing my mind -- even before I've completed the client download. The most alarming things to learn were:
    • Cash shop consumables will affect the power of your character, and therefore are necessary to remain competitive. I was really hoping Cash Shop items would be limited to fashion, mounts, minor conveniences, and other "fluff," but major gameplay advantages concern me.
    • Estimates posted in this topic consider minimal/consumable monthly expenditures of $40 or more. That's far too much more than I plan on spending.
    With all due respect, the GDP of a country does not determine your prices. Your competitors do. I can pay a one-time game purchase and $15/month for a typical P2P game and have access to all its content. If a self-described "Free to Play" MMO such as Perfect World appears to charge more money for less content, then I'm obviously less interested in committing to it at all.

    The irony of this is that the developers are "watching" this thread and "watching" new and old customers leave and STILL!!!!!!!!! they dont comment.....such awful customer service tells you what to expect for the future of this game!
    Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.
    Laurence J Peter(1919-1988)
  • dagny
    dagny Posts: 124 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    I think a lot of people are judging too quickly.

    It is my opinion that the people running this game are ina quandry now because they set up a business plan that "seemed" reasonable at the time. They based fees on US GDP which also made some sense to them and probably other business people. In their heads they saw lots of $$ and mentally started spending what they thought they would get.

    Now before anyone starts calling them names, we all do this. When we sell a car or a house, in our minds it's worth much more than it probably is. There is no crime in trying to get a lot for your product.

    The judgment needs to wait until the owners of this game come to grips with the reality of the economics and make changes. Only then can we judge is they are greedy, foolish, or just overly optimistic.

    At the same time, the owners of the game will have to deal with the ramifications of delaying in making changes. They may well lose some very very good customers. Just as a business has a right to try to maximize profits, a customer has the right to go elsewhere.

    Hopefully they will see that maximizing profits does not always mean getting a lot from a few. Longevity will make them more money.

    I still hold out hope they will make the necessary changes, and real changes, not a token change that will cause people to flee.

    We shall see.
  • ragingwind
    ragingwind Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    I'm now convinced that certain posters in this thread who don't seem to understand the travisty of the cash shop's prices actually work for PWE. You can figure out who I'm talking about. Why else would anyone support these prices? Have fun chatting with real PWE employees. ;)

    Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe they're just ordinary players who don't care about the moral implications of ridiculous prices.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • andyboi
    andyboi Posts: 83 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    ragingwind wrote: »
    I'm now convinced that certain posters in this thread who don't seem to understand the travisty of the cash shop's prices actually work for PWE. You can figure out who I'm talking about. Why else would anyone support these prices? Have fun chatting with real PWE employees. ;)

    Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe they're just ordinary players who don't care about the moral implications of ridiculous prices.

    I disagree. They are just trying to look at it from the perspective of the company. They aren't necessary supporting the high cash shop prices, but they are trying to justify why the company set those prices in the first place. If you look at his post with a non-biased view, you will see that he's just trying to find some middleground. Its a two way street, we have our wants, the company has it's wants. In order for this to work, we both have to compromise.
  • irbis
    irbis Posts: 294 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    ragingwind wrote: »
    I'm now convinced that certain posters in this thread who don't seem to understand the travisty of the cash shop's prices actually work for PWE. You can figure out who I'm talking about. Why else would anyone support these prices? Have fun chatting with real PWE employees. ;)

    Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe they're just ordinary players who don't care about the moral implications of ridiculous prices.
    Rag lol stop watching X-files ;P
    There exist only three beings worthy of respect:
    the priest, the soldier, the poet.
    To know, to kill, to create.
    -severan
  • ragingwind
    ragingwind Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    andyboi wrote: »
    I disagree. They are just trying to look at it from the perspective of the company. They aren't necessary supporting the high cash shop prices, but they are trying to justify why the company set those prices in the first place. If you look at his post with a non-biased view, you will see that he's just trying to find some middleground. Its a two way street, we have our wants, the company has it's wants. In order for this to work, we both have to compromise.

    Sorry, but I just don't buy that. How can anyone compromise with these ridiculous prices? There is no compromise; there is no middle ground. The prices are just completely unrealistic.

    A GM said that these cash threads are also a hot debate topic for PWE employees. Why is it hard to believe that they would not post messages here?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • adrian
    adrian Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    I was playing in PW-MY (two 60+ characters). Switched to PWI with beginning of Closed Beta. Reached lvl 40 during it and got mine 10 Gold reward. Then I reached level 30 in Open Beta and went to buy some ZEN for a faster flying device. I saw ZEN prices. Didn't even log into game since then.
  • anyandrell
    anyandrell Posts: 64 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    I did spend a $50.00. If I will spend more? I have high doubts about that. I got what I fancied and that is it.

    When the high prices will bring a lack of Zen in the auction house ingame, and things will get so expensive that nobody will afford anything, there will be less new players, and instead of getting 1 million players buying $15 worth of zen a month, they will get a player base of about 1,000 buying for $50 a month. And then they will allow and encourage the botters and gold-sellers and powerlevelers so they can pay their bills.

    Make the calculation. Who wins? The competition.
  • ragingwind
    ragingwind Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    anyandrell wrote: »
    I did spend a $50.00. If I will spend more? I have high doubts about that. I got what I fancied and that is it.

    When the high prices will bring a lack of Zen in the auction house ingame, and things will get so expensive that nobody will afford anything, there will be less new players, and instead of getting 1 million players buying $15 worth of zen a month, they will get a player base of about 1,000 buying for $50 a month. And then they will allow and encourage the botters and gold-sellers and powerlevelers so they can pay their bills.

    Make the calculation. Who wins? The competition.

    LMAO! I love your post. That's almost definitely what will happen here. They've already shown that they cannot make good on their promises. What else will the company compromise on? This is just the way these people do business. Knowing that, why should any of us stay here?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • trilient
    trilient Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    I plan to stay and enjoy myself here, However I am not buying from the CS until the prices are lowered :)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    EmberGlades Vice Guild Master
    emberglades.forumotion.net
    Server: Lost City
  • xkuramax
    xkuramax Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    okay honestly stop flaming them. We are obviously all still here posting and hoping they will change. And as a past forum mod and game gm, and wow gm i know that flame post usually just get overlooked or ignored. If they don't want to lower prices its their "choice". We can all play other games becasue as of right now the only people with authority is the people paying to keep the server running. That would be the "investors, etcs" so let's just let them work out the problems.

    Also the people here are maybe extremist so they would have to put their post on the sides due to the fact that people are posting are the same people over and over again. Not 500,000 different peopel posting and complaining about it. Which is kind of sad but i guess it isn't too expensive for them?
  • ragingwind
    ragingwind Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    xkuramax wrote: »
    okay honestly stop flaming them. We are obviously all still here posting and hoping they will change. And as a past forum mod and game gm, and wow gm i know that flame post usually just get overlooked or ignored. If they don't want to lower prices its their "choice". We can all play other games becasue as of right now the only people with authority is the people paying to keep the server running. That would be the "investors, etcs" so let's just let them work out the problems.

    Also the people here are maybe extremist so they would have to put their post on the sides due to the fact that people are posting are the same people over and over again. Not 500,000 different peopel posting and complaining about it. Which is kind of sad but i guess it isn't too expensive for them?

    Who's flaming them? We're just saying what we believe. As for the same people saying the same things repeatedly, there are only some of us doing that. Even then, I keep finding new things to say. Aside from that, I see new people posting here constantly. At least half or more of the posts are from new people who say that they are immediately walking away from PWI. What does that say about what you call flaming?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • dagny
    dagny Posts: 124 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    Sorry Xarfox!

    I know you're going to move this thread, but could you please ask the "pwers that be" if we could maybe get an update? A few words? Some guidance? Let us know they know we're still alive?

    Lots of MMOs go through changes, and players are usually loyal. The key component is communication. If you look at games like Dark Ages of Camelot, the company is VERY proactive in responding to their customers and as a result, even through bad times, the player base was very forgiving.

    It's the silence that drives people away. We feel ignored and unimportant. This may not be true, but if your company actually put themselves in our shoes, they would understand.

    Obviously many of us are looking for significant changes. If we could get an update I think it would help. In the end, they may choose to do nothing, but maybe you could get them to allow you to give us a few words, some hope, a "go **** yourselves"... something.. anything...

    The silence is deafening.
  • dagny
    dagny Posts: 124 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    Well.. he did move it... but no word.. I tried folks, I tried.
  • andyboi
    andyboi Posts: 83 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    ragingwind wrote: »
    Who's flaming them? We're just saying what we believe. As for the same people saying the same things repeatedly, there are only some of us doing that. Even then, I keep finding new things to say. Aside from that, I see new people posting here constantly. At least half or more of the posts are from new people who say that they are immediately walking away from PWI. What does that say about what you call flaming?

    I see that you are very passionate about the situation. It kinda reminds me of workers going on strike. A big company did not give the proper raises to it's workers so they all decide to set a picket at the entrance and strike. In situations like that, a rep from both sides would sit down and talk in order to reach a deal. In some cases, a deal is reached. Not everyone is happy, but the bottom line is people get their job and the company gets to continue to make money. I want to believe that this situation would be treated in the same way. Might just be my wishful thinking though. Having been around and seeing quite a few number of failed mmorpgs, this certainly does not bode well.
  • voraz
    voraz Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    Many US players have played WoW before, which charges $15/month. PWI should price its items so that the average player should be paying $15/month or under to be competitive, otherwise players will just go to a regular MMO.
  • ragingwind
    ragingwind Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    andyboi wrote: »
    I see that you are very passionate about the situation. It kinda reminds me of workers going on strike. A big company did not give the proper raises to it's workers so they all decide to set a picket at the entrance and strike. In situations like that, a rep from both sides would sit down and talk in order to reach a deal. In some cases, a deal is reached. Not everyone is happy, but the bottom line is people get their job and the company gets to continue to make money. I want to believe that this situation would be treated in the same way. Might just be my wishful thinking though. Having been around and seeing quite a few number of failed mmorpgs, this certainly does not bode well.
    This is not a worker vs company situation. This is a client vs company situation. In such a case, the only result is for the client to go elsewhere. I, myself, have grown tired of chatting here. Everything here is dead. I am moving on to PW-MS.

    This is not a strike. This is an Exodus.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • medusa
    medusa Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    Here and there I have read many threads concerning the prices in the Item mall and to a certain extent, I believe that some prices are reasonable. However, I agree with majority of the people here that some items in the item mall is quite expensive. We would all love to purchase the items and enjoy the game without costing a fortune. Many of us would love to buy and try out every single item in the cash shop such as having more than 1 mount or different clothes for fashion. I have not done calculations on how much all the cash shop items total come to but i do know that it will cost above $500 to purchase most of the items. I suggest that there should be some changes done so many of us would be willing to spend more money. Some suggestions as follows:

    Change the ratio of value $1 = 1 gold.

    1) For all people who have bought zen, they should get an increase of about 1.5x or 2x in zen from how much they have bought. Im pretty sure u guys have all the records of it. shouldnt cause a problem. Ex. Person bought $50 package, u 1.5x or 2x the amount (total 75gold and 100gold instead of 50gold).

    2) For those who will be purchasing in the future, they should also get the same increase as well.

    Thus doing this, leaving prices the same in the item mall should be fine because if u change the prices instead of ratio u get the following problem:

    1) For people who have bought zen, it would be unfair for them because they bought items at a higher price than future buyers.

    I believe increasing the dollar to gold ratio would be a better idea than reducing prices from the shop. I hope changes will be made soon and maybe a reply from an official regarding the situation now. Thanks.
  • krazychimp
    krazychimp Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    So the first post was on September 3rd, and today's date is September 10th, after one week and 42 pages of post the GMs are still not convinced to change the CashShop.

    Well, see you all on PW-MS on September 15th I guess..
  • hensh
    hensh Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited September 2008
    haha, they deleted my posting ^^

    well, hope they delete my account as well :)

    as critical postings are not allowed here, i feel not only that PW is a asia grinder, i also feel some kind of chinese jugement, lol

    well, nice game, stupid administration arround.
    whatever to expect from this game, expect to pay ^^

    hf
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