Concerns About Cash Shop Pricing

Fatburger - Lost City · September 2008

kotek wrote: »

this is a jokke 40% lol still price are high and still It's least for 2week only Pointless action :mad:

hohoho why is 40% off a joke? even if its only for 2 weeks that brings prices down to malaysian levels anyway. what will make you happy? if they give you free? hohohohoho

Cat - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Fatburger - Lost City wrote: »

even if its only for 2 weeks that brings prices down to malaysian levels anyway.

Actually No it doesnt. PW MY I can buy 100 cubi for $29.10, thats roughly 33 cents per Gold.

That makes a silver heiro 99 cents

Zen on this game at 40% off still makes it cost roughly 1 Gold 35 ish silver, or roughly $1.35.

So lets see normal price on PW MY for silver heiro is 99 cents.

40% sale price on silver heiro for PWI is $1.35

That still makes PWI cost almost half as more as the PW MY. So the prices havent even been brought down to malaysian levels. And they only did it on the charms.. What the mounts, air rides, fashions, etc I dont see any kind of discounts on those outrageous prices either.

Lets do it on a bigger scale:

$29.10 for 100 cubi
I can buy 33 Silver charms for $29.10

$30 for 30 Zen

I can buy 22 Silver Charms with the 40% discount. Without the discount I can only buy 10 charms.

Thats rather a big difference, even with the 40% discount.

Kahlan - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Fatburger - Lost City wrote: »

hohoho why is 40% off a joke? even if its only for 2 weeks that brings prices down to malaysian levels anyway. what will make you happy? if they give you free? hohohohoho

I just love when level 1 players post, apparently Santa is a bit bored before the holiday season. What is sadly apparent is that Santa's math skills are pretty awful.

Please explain how if someone's prices are 300% of another's, and they lower their price byt 40%, the prices are equal?

Example:

Shirt A = $30
Shirt B = $10

Shirt A goes on sale for 40% off and now costs $18. Shirt A is still almost twice as expensive.

Learn to play, learn to add, learn to do simple math before you speak.

Ho Ho Ho.

l0ki · September 2008

You know what, I've got an Idea:

*and probably won't be implemented because kids can't understand business*

What if they just don't change the price of zen but lower the cash shop cost? like.. Make silver Charm for 90 Silver .. just lower the price of all the items in the cash shop by 70-80%.. Of course 1 gold is still 1$ but the thing is... You can buy those items for normal price at MY, but! You still have to pay 1$ for 1 gold..

same thing as lowering price on golds..

Smexxyfox - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Its been said a million times. and the admins go: /ignore

In this thread there has been at least 20 Excelent posts highting business strategies and marketing tips and so on. Mind you some of those posters are actually also ppl in their 30's and 40's that does this kinda thing for a job, but alas as of yet there has been no proper response.

Cat - Heavens Tear · September 2008

l0ki wrote: »

You know what, I've got an Idea:

*and probably won't be implemented because kids can't understand business*

What if they just don't change the price of zen but lower the cash shop cost? like.. Make silver Charm for 90 Silver .. just lower the price of all the items in the cash shop by 70-80%.. Of course 1 gold is still 1$ but the thing is... You can buy those items for normal price at MY, but! You still have to pay 1$ for 1 gold..

same thing as lowering price on golds..

Either way works for me, more Zen for our real life cash or drastically reduce the cost of Zen for items in the cash shop. Both have the same outcome.

Cat - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Smexxyfox - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Its been said a million times. and the admins go: /ignore

In this thread there has been at least 20 Excelent posts highting business strategies and marketing tips and so on. Mind you some of those posters are actually also ppl in their 30's and 40's that does this kinda thing for a job, but alas as of yet there has been no proper response.

If nothing else at least this thread is serving as a warning to other players. I have seen several post here and talked to others in game who said they were going to buy Zen until they read this thread. Then they decided against it.

As long as the let the issue go unresolved the more players who will come here and see this and the more paying customers they will loose.

This is what happens when the feelings of the players are ignored, or mocked. Word gets around and the snowball starts to roll.

Elysoun - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Ok whomever decided that richer people (or a country with high GDP) would be willing to pay more is an idiot.

Sure, there will be the odd few who would spend that much money, but look everyone whos earning over 60k a year will know how hard it is to actually earn money, and earning has little or nothing to do with spending money here. The money we are spending here is not a huge amount (its not like someone on small income trying to buy a car or anything), it's about the price. Go tell anyone on a 100k income to buy a vaccum cleaner at $1000, they will slam the door on you, it is an insult to their intelligence!

Usually higher income means the person is skilled at a certain field, and would be rather busy, I earn professional rate at over 40 an hour and averages out around 100k+ pay (before tax) a year. Now I will tell you earning that much is not easy, I have to work dam hard for the cash.

And here we have a Cash shop.. for a free game, charging some astronomical amount of money for rediculous things... look $1USD for 5 minutes of flowers? what the hell are they thinking, if you are selling that at 10C, then maybe I would actually run around sometimes with them, and if i do that 10 times you would have a $1.. instead of me sitting here ranting about it.

People earn money based on skills, professionalism, and their ability to respond, and sadly here I see none of that. It's funny how a "free" game have little or none public relations, If you are paying for a game, there would be proper support ticket systems, and a support team that at least responds within a reasonable time. And here I AM paying you money, and I DO expect some level of service.

lol here I am spending money playing and getting annoyed, but hey I do like the game, and so I will stay and pay for what I need. Once I hit 60 and find the comments about the mana drain for my cleric are true, however, I will be leaving without much thought.

There are many other games, and everyone is competing, you are still in business, imho, because everyone like this game, not because they like you as a company.. We work in cut thoat business (ISP) where you try everything you can to retain customers, if we went out and said "look, we are giving your a discount this month, but come back next months we will continue to charge you 3x as high".... well good luck staying afloat

Bean - Lost City · September 2008

This is just my take on it... I don't care too much about the price of $1 - 1 gold. The reason is that this is fine compared to the other American Free MMOrpgs out there that charge usurious rates. Please, look at all other American MMORPG and tell me one of them in which you can own a permenant cash-shop item for $1 (granted that it looks fugly for the males). The point is this, compared to MY this cash shop seems bad, but compared with their competition it seems very fair and even handed.

I don't know if anyone has brought this arguement into play, I didn't bother reading all 600 or so posts before this one so if anyone has an answer to why this game is so much worst than OTHER games, please give me feedback, enlighten me, show me the path.

-Yours,
Dr. Bean

P.S. :
Only bone of contention is how the cash shop is stocked full of fugly uniforms, please, if I wanted to cosplay as a metro-sexual asian prostitute, I would play Red Light District, "spawn moar costumes!"

Cat - Heavens Tear · September 2008

Bean - Lost City wrote: »

This is just my take on it... I don't care too much about the price of $1 - 1 gold. The reason is that this is fine compared to the other American Free MMOrpgs out there that charge usurious rates. Please, look at all other American MMORPG and tell me one of them in which you can own a permenant cash-shop item for $1 (granted that it looks fugly for the males). The point is this, compared to MY this cash shop seems bad, but compared with their competition it seems very fair and even handed.

I don't know if anyone has brought this arguement into play, I didn't bother reading all 600 or so posts before this one so if anyone has an answer to why this game is so much worst than OTHER games, please give me feedback, enlighten me, show me the path.

-Yours,
Dr. Bean

P.S. :
Only bone of contention is how the cash shop is stocked full of fugly uniforms, please, if I wanted to cosplay as a metro-sexual asian prostitute, I would play Red Light District, "spawn moar costumes!"

I never played an american game that had a cash shop. Guild Wars- one time to pay, WOW- monthly fee(i think $14?) to play, DDO- $15 a month, Astonia-$9 a month. I have never played a popular american game that had a cash shop and paying a montly fee usually ends up cheaper for most players than games with cash shops.

Now to clarify one more thing. THIS ISNT AN AMERICAN GAME. Its Perfect World INTERNATIONAL. Its for players all over the world who dont have their own version of PW yet. SO any arguements about what american games do is irrelevent.

roxy · September 2008

PWI is international server... But you have to keep in mind that the company is located here in California - therefore, the prices reflect the ' living expenses ' here. Would it make sense for item mall goodies to cost the same as PW-MY? I don't think so. It's much cheaper to live there - and that's why they have cheaper item mall goodies. We should be glad that they gave the effort to have some sort of item mall sale. It clearly shows that they care about our concerns. If you think about it, how are they going to pay their staff members if the item mall items are as cheap as PW-MY? and aside from that, this company just started, so they need good income to manage their company. ( I'm sure they've spent so much to start this server in the first place, not to mention that there are also bills they have to pay, etc. )

xauss · September 2008

Cat - Heavens Tear wrote: »

... $30 for 30 Zen

I can buy 22 Silver Charms with the 40% discount. Without the discount I can only buy 10 charms.

Thats rather a big difference, even with the 40% discount.

stay in school - remedial math is your freind

Fatburger - Lost City · September 2008

xauss wrote: »

stay in school - remedial math is your freind

hohohoho my thoughs exactly

Cat - Heavens Tear · September 2008

xauss wrote: »

stay in school - remedial math is your freind

I been out of school for 10 years and this is WHY i dont help my son with his school work, I never claimed to be a genius, but I think it was clear enough that you got the math.

If you want me to adjust it fine, you can buy 12 silver charms NOT 10 at normal prices without the discounts with $30 of Zen.

Its still a big difference between 33 charms and 12 charms....

I often find people resort to insults when they have no other intelligent argument left.

Cat - Heavens Tear · September 2008

roxy wrote: »

PWI is international server... But you have to keep in mind that the company is located here in California - therefore, the prices reflect the ' living expenses ' here. Would it make sense for item mall goodies to cost the same as PW-MY? I don't think so. It's much cheaper to live there - and that's why they have cheaper item mall goodies. We should be glad that they gave the effort to have some sort of item mall sale. It clearly shows that they care about our concerns. If you think about it, how are they going to pay their staff members if the item mall items are as cheap as PW-MY? and aside from that, this company just started, so they need good income to manage their company. ( I'm sure they've spent so much to start this server in the first place, not to mention that there are also bills they have to pay, etc. )

having a 2 week sale doesnt show they care about our concerns. its just an attempt to placate us now. What about the people who join the game after the sale is over? They no longer get that discount, what if they are upset about the prices, do they not care about their concerns too?

Im sure they will make more than enough to pay their staff members, the math on it has been shown time and time again.

Item A costs $100 so only 5 people buy it = $500

Item B costs $50 so 20 people buy it= $1000

The cheaper items sell more and thus the company makes MORE profit. These are virtual items, they cost the company nothing to make them. They are nothing but profit for the company. So the company can charge less and its all profit for them.

If they made the items cheaper they would make more profit than they are making now.

xauss · September 2008

roxy wrote: »

PWI is international server... But you have to keep in mind that the company is located here in California - therefore, the prices reflect the ' living expenses ' here. Would it make sense for item mall goodies to cost the same as PW-MY? I don't think so. It's much cheaper to live there - and that's why they have cheaper item mall goodies. We should be glad that they gave the effort to have some sort of item mall sale. It clearly shows that they care about our concerns. If you think about it, how are they going to pay their staff members if the item mall items are as cheap as PW-MY? and aside from that, this company just started, so they need good income to manage their company. ( I'm sure they've spent so much to open this server in the first place, not to mention that there are also bills they have to pay, etc. )

localisation means very little on the internet, barring pings we dont care where its hosted.

since there are few additional COSTS associated with 'creating' zen - or the items that can be bought with it (beyond the FIXED COSTS of staffing / hardware etc) the success of your business should be based on USD value of total units sold, rather than maximising $ / unit. current pricing will discourage repeat buyers, reducing future sales.

the long-term profitability of PWI has already been undermined through word-of-mouth concerns about profiteering across many forums

ciao

Poison - Heavens Tear · September 2008

I'd love to regularly help pay their salaries. I will only do so when I feel I am not being ripped off while trying to support them. I honestly hope they don't think they are going to start making a ton of profit immediately, it would be very nice if the world worked that way, but unfortunately it does not. Most releases operate at a loss at first, but make it back up in the long run. If they aren't looking at the big picture I'm afraid they'll shut the doors too early before they reach the point where the gains start to overcome the initial cost.

Crash - Heavens Tear · September 2008

the expenses of paying there employees and bils ext should not effect how much they set Zen for roxy because thats just silly,
its all about thinking about the best way to sell the Zen which will make more ppl buy it, more ppl happy and more ppl stay with the server cos they can have fun, i have bought Zen once so far and ive made sure for it to lastas long as possible cos i cant offord to buy Zen to often and spend it happily, instead i barly buy HP heiros and not have fun with Zen to dye my fashion or something

it realy is simple but yet it seems to me that there to greedy and they want as much cash out of us as possible, if this carries on ppl are gonna move servers eventualy

roxy · September 2008

Well, they're constantly monitoring this thread so do look forward to price adjustment in the future.

Hisui - Heavens Tear · September 2008

roxy wrote: »

PWI is international server... But you have to keep in mind that the company is located here in California - therefore, the prices reflect the ' living expenses ' here. Would it make sense for item mall goodies to cost the same as PW-MY? I don't think so. It's much cheaper to live there - and that's why they have cheaper item mall goodies. We should be glad that they gave the effort to have some sort of item mall sale. It clearly shows that they care about our concerns. If you think about it, how are they going to pay their staff members if the item mall items are as cheap as PW-MY? and aside from that, this company just started, so they need good income to manage their company. ( I'm sure they've spent so much to start this server in the first place, not to mention that there are also bills they have to pay, etc. )

I thought the entire argument has been PWI would make *more* money if they decrease the prices and mass sell rather than keep the current prices. The player base has no intention to make the people of Arnold poor at all.

roxy · September 2008

Well like I said, there will eventually be price adjustments in near future. ^^;

Hisui - Heavens Tear · September 2008

u made that post while I was typing mine >_>;;

roxy · September 2008

Hisui - Heavens Tear wrote: »

u made that post while I was typing mine >_>;;

Oh lol!

But yeah, I'm done posting my opinion on this thread. I'll just keep a watch!

dayzd · September 2008

/uninstalled.

Almost three weeks later, and no response. Instead we get replies from suck up moderators and GM's who only reply with "We are watching how our community reacts to prices."

After 70 pages, I think you've had enough time to see people are upset.

I will take my money, and I will go put it and devote my time to a game where 70+ pages of replys and rants aren't ignored.

Kaisuke - Lost City · September 2008

Listen PW, and listen well. I would take the time to reiterate what has been said, as all are valid points. But, frankly, I'm not even sure you would take the time to read it all. Honestly, I'm about to disolve my account and go back to World of Warcraft, as it is not out to **** me of my money, or force me to play a half capacity and be the laughing stock of fellow players. Now, I'm not trying to come across as threatening or even unriendly, but do you think we have that much money to spend? I certainly don't. The way I see it, if you don't drop the prices, and soon, noones going to play this game. That would put you out of a job. I certainly don't want to see this happen, as I enjoy this game far more than any other MMORPG out. Getting a toon past 70 is hard enough with out paying through the nose for gear and charms that, otherwise, you'd literally DIE (In game, of course) repeatedly without. I've said my peice. I just hope you can turn yourselves around before you lose too much more business. As I've stated, I greatly enjoy this game, and would NOT like to see it die.

I mean, 70 pages can't be wrong...

l0ki · September 2008

roxy wrote: »

PWI is international server... But you have to keep in mind that the company is located here in California - therefore, the prices reflect the ' living expenses ' here. Would it make sense for item mall goodies to cost the same as PW-MY? I don't think so. It's much cheaper to live there - and that's why they have cheaper item mall goodies. We should be glad that they gave the effort to have some sort of item mall sale. It clearly shows that they care about our concerns. If you think about it, how are they going to pay their staff members if the item mall items are as cheap as PW-MY? and aside from that, this company just started, so they need good income to manage their company. ( I'm sure they've spent so much to start this server in the first place, not to mention that there are also bills they have to pay, etc. )

CARE? How? they didn't meet the expectations of their customers so how would that be called CARE?

You can't say that it's cheaper to live in Malaysia if your living in Malaysia.

Supply and Demand

PWI has:

Unlimited supplies & Hugely % of Demand on Items
and so:

THE BAD! :eek:

Overpriced Items + Competition from MY and MS results to Low Income in the future

Knowing that MS will have nearly same price as the MY. % of PWI population will decrease and results to low Income

THE GOOD! :cool:

High Population due to low ping but will decrease due to Zen/Cash shop~
IT'S CALLED INTERNATIONAL PEEPZ! so make it INTERNATIONAL.:cool:
Cheap zen/cash shop will result to High Income + Proper wages to GM's and Mods + Higher Profit + Stable Business.

It's not too late.. Players are still here waiting for changes

and!

Salutations to you *Mod-Roxy* for your opinions and knowing that your reading & participating this Thread~ :cool:

PS: XD Code Geass FTW!!!

pacifica · September 2008

Like I said before, I'm sure the people handling PWI have their reasons for making the prices higher. Everyone has got bills to pay. Its not cheap to live, more so in the US. The PWI company and US players both have hurting wallets and they can both sympathize with the cost of living, having a family and/or running a company here. However, in my opinion I don't think PWI has a reason to make the prices higher. 1) It doesn't require materials, no real pieces of cloth or stones, no staff to monitor or restock, to make these cash shop items. There will never be a shortage of mall items - ever. It is just data/pixels. 2) If people say they would pay more if the prices were lowered-- (and there's a lot of people saying that), what difference does it make to PWI money-wise? It is not like PWI will be at a disadvantage if more of their products sell for less. If people would pay more then they are now - well, that would surely help PWI's expenses.

Well, I am not sure about now, but there were many players on PWI who were willing to spend $40+ a month. It really seemed like PWI was gonna be a big hit. But from the amount of posts here, those potential dollars have been lost and PWI will possibly lose more, both dollars and players.

If the cost of running staff, hardware, etc. in California is a problem, consider WoW. Activision Blizzard's Corporate Headquarters is located in California. They have been able to thrive on $15 a month per player for quite a while now without going belly-up (unlike some companies that have been around for some decades). They have much more staff (and of course, paying players) than PWI. The company doesn't have their money spread through numbers of staff members, domestic offices, or international offices like WoW does. However, here are people claiming they will pay almost twice and sometimes three times that amount. Of course, I know the number of players between WoW and PWI cannot be compared. But to PWI, the handful that claimed to spend $40 a month is a good deal considering that PWI has just started and has yet to prove itself.

If the company won't reduce their prices, I can only suggest that PWI hosts more events, like a higher drop rate event or try another boss event or at least put more items into the cash shop. I mean... hardly any events (I don't really count the sale an event), high prices, incomplete cash shop... Give players some idea that PWI is better or more unique than the others. Of course the improved translation is something, but people can easily sacrifice translations for money (e.g. moving to MY-En)- and even so, spending money on WoW would be better if people want translations and a good game.

I'm not saying I know everything, there's a reason the company is head of things and I'm not. I know that. But whether things change or not, I'll be sticking around PWI... I just won't be spending. I would love to see PWI expand and grow but there is only so much I am willing to pay (none for now because of many reasons) to see it do so.

Tres - Lost City · September 2008

At least we arent Malaysian where our currency is 1 to 1 with the ingame gold and the prices are higher..........................................................................................................

Blancheneige - Heavens Tear · September 2008

roxy wrote: »

PWI is international server... But you have to keep in mind that the company is located here in California - therefore, the prices reflect the ' living expenses ' here.

I live in Canada. The prices should reflect the lving expenses here. So why not have different pricing based on where players lives?

Would it make sense for item mall goodies to cost the same as PW-MY? I don't think so. It's much cheaper to live there - and that's why they have cheaper item mall goodies

It's also much cheaper to live in the US than in Europe, yet PW-Europe stated many times their prices will be similar to those offered in PW-MY.

We should be glad that they gave the effort to have some sort of item mall sale. It clearly shows that they care about our concerns.

(sarcastic mode on)
Thank you PWI staff! Thank you PWI staff! Thank you PWI staff! Thank you PWI staff! Thank you PWI staff! (sarcastic mode off)

If you think about it, how are they going to pay their staff members if the item mall items are as cheap as PW-MY?

The same way WallMart is paying it's employees : sell cheaper, sell more, make more profits

and aside from that, this company just started, so they need good income to manage their company. ( I'm sure they've spent so much to start this server in the first place, not to mention that there are also bills they have to pay, etc. )

That show your knowledges in economics are close to nil. ANy company that does that is programmed for failure.

So... if I was to follow your logic : If I was to open a fast food restaurant serving hamburgers, I should sell them 3 times higher than my competitors because I just opened and I need to recover my investement costs? Good bye Charlie Brown.

Blizzard invested money into the development of WoW. When they opened, theywere bright enough to set their price at the same level their competitors' game were offered. They did not made profits with the game right off the first day they opened. They recovered their investment in the long run.

When you "invest" money into a new company, you should not expect to make profits the first day you open. In fact, you should expect to loose money in the beginnings.

matthew · September 2008

Don't let Roxy fool you, this person plays on a private server, and then is going to come into this forum and act like they support and agree with PWE pricing. Just a suck-up moderator trying to sweet talk you into thinking everything is OK, because it's obvious they don't know wtf they are talking about. If everything is OK Roxy, then why you playing on a private server?

Concerns About Cash Shop Pricing

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