Why Pwi Is Worth More Money

Shota - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Let me begin by honestly admitting that I was one of the most vocal advocates for lowering the price of Zen, and this was before they made a special forum for such posts. Dagny was/is me and I'm going to take a moment to contradict myself, publicly,w ith a story. Before I do, don't get me wrong... I dearly wish the cash shop were cheaper and more of the merchandise was available. I would love to get more for my money... BUT... after all my posts challenging the owners of PWI for being out of touch and unrealistic on pricing I feel I owe them the courtesy of being fair.

I have a different playstyle than some people. On my wizzy Shota I oftentimes spent many levels harvesting mats or just grinding without worrying about questing. By my early 50's I started to be concerned that Iw as unable to get VERY important quests. I had not gotten Gouf, or Khewy, or what's worse, I was still stuck on "Aware of Harmony". Last night at 56 I found I had no quests left and nobody was offering me any. Clicking "find quests" on the quest screen offered me nothing except a daily trip to Hou Jehnsi and a weekly voyage to see Jolly Old Jones.

That was it... there was nothing else. I had scores of skills I could not get because my spiritual level was too low. I had somehow goofed or gotten bugged or something and gimped myself.

Here's where the money spent on PWI pays off. I filed support tickets and got responses from people who speak my language and can communicate with me. No offense to PW-MY, but sorry... that's not English.

In spite of customer support attempts, the problem was not able to be diagnosed.

A GM met me in-game and spent over an hour asking me questions and trying to get to the bottom of the issue. With patience and thought the GM pondered, thought, experimented .. being kind to me all the time. In the end she/he solved it and made my character whole by setting me on the path to getting myself caught up.

Like most things of value, you get what you pay for. In spite of my please for more Zen and less cost, I have been quite the supporter of the game financially, but up uintil now I have done it with a heavy heart because while I loved the game I did not see thevalue... today I saw the value. Thank you PWI.

In the end, money in the real world is getting more difficult to spare, especially with the holidays coming up and job security so iffy. At least for this school year I have job security, but next year... who knows? I do hope PWI makes some changes to help many of continue to be able to afford to really play the game full throttle and not skimp. Either way, while I desire more, I don't feel as if I am getting as much less as I did before.

Thank you for truly providing caring, attentive, and prompt customer support. I will make sure people know that PWI does deliver.

*huggles all*

Dagny

Ocane_II - Heavens Tear · November 2008

another thing is the game is gorguess and very well put together and even people who play wow have deleated it for this game, and with all that conciderd and the game itself being free and the ability to still play without NEEDING to buy cash shop items i think it makes sense why they would be so expensive, sometimes its nice to be rewarded for all your hard work and talent, if you look at most free to play games they dont have anything on PWI

Jordanfox - Heavens Tear · November 2008

.....All very good points. Covering the cost of maintaining such a game is no easy feat, but PWI manages to stay afloat while still having slightly-less-than-outrageous pricing. Kudos!

Relias - Sanctuary · November 2008

Heh when I first looked at the cash shop I was so extremely displeased by the pricing, especially for the mounts. Then I realized, hey those are PERMANENT, and I instantly loved the game. There is also nothing that is absolutly overpowering in it (yet), and thats another reason I love it so much. In the last game I played, in the high levels if you didn't buy like $50 worth of stuff or more, you weren't going anywhere fast, much less cheap. Of course in that game cash shop stuff wasn't tradable either.

On the note of tradable cash shop stuff, I must speak out some on that. I know it is good so people who can't pay RL money for it can still buy, but I am concerned for the economy. In teh last game I played that did allow stuff to be sold, the economy was ruled by the people who could sell more CS stuff. I guess my point is I pray this game doesn't fall prey to the same thing...

Hong - Heavens Tear · November 2008

If no one sells gold in Auction house, the game is dead.

Kimyrielle - Heavens Tear · November 2008

With the only known exception of open source software, you always get what you pay for. Particularly with services. In the end, PW isn't a free game. It just has another business model than conventional MMOs with monthly fees. I like PW's model a lot better, since I get to decide when and how to give them my money.

Do I shop in the cash store? Yes, I do. Do I have the feeling I am getting my money's worth back? Yes, I do. There are a few things PW lacks in comparison with other games, but also a few things it stands out, even to the big names in the business. I had to contact the customer service once too, a while back - it took them less than 30 mins to get back to me, which I consider to be great. And yes, they need to make money to keep their service going. There are a few things in the cash store I do consider a bit pricey (XP scrolls...), but I don't have to buy those.

I have played Guild Wars before coming here for three years - I still don't know whether or not they had online GMs (I have never seen one in all my time there) - and GW wasn't a free game either.

Drussella - Sanctuary · November 2008

Kimyrielle - Heavens Tear wrote: »

With the only known exception of open source software, you always get what you pay for. Particularly with services. In the end, PW isn't a free game. It just has another business model than conventional MMOs with monthly fees. I like PW's model a lot better, since I get to decide when and how to give them my money.

Do I shop in the cash store? Yes, I do. Do I have the feeling I am getting my money's worth back? Yes, I do. There are a few things PW lacks in comparison with other games, but also a few things it stands out, even to the big names in the business. I had to contact the customer service once too, a while back - it took them less than 30 mins to get back to me, which I consider to be great. And yes, they need to make money to keep their service going. There are a few things in the cash store I do consider a bit pricey (XP scrolls...), but I don't have to buy those.

I have played Guild Wars before coming here for three years - I still don't know whether or not they had online GMs (I have never seen one in all my time there) - and GW wasn't a free game either.

PW is expensive, probably the most expensive on-line game i ever played. But noone is forcing me to play the game, let alone forcing me to buy from boutique.

Guildwars has GM's on 24/7 they are just not there with a character. On general, support requests are dealt with within a day. Not free sure, but its Buy and Play. Buy the game and there are no fees. I bought all GW "Campaigns" and over the 3 years i play it now it cost me $160.-

But you realy cant compare the 2 games, they are to differant to compare. (apples/oranges or Monopoly/Risk)

Having said all that, i dont agree with the topic " Why Pwi Is Worth More Money".
Because they actualy do what they are payed for they deserve more money?

I never got a discount for smiling..... And i never got a raise just for doing my job.

Smexxyfox - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Just a quick response:

Friendlyness and curtious-ness(lol thats not a real word) isnt something you buy. Saying PWI has nice GM's because they make buttloads of money by having a VERY expensive cash shop is just making them ound greedy and fake.

It can be argued that because the GM's are nice ppl are more willing to spend more than they know is right, big up for the GM's.
In the long run though there is no excuse, some things are just way to expensive still. At least some prices where adjusted and I'm glad about that.

Shota - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Smexxyfox - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Just a quick response:

Friendlyness and curtious-ness(lol thats not a real word) isnt something you buy. Saying PWI has nice GM's because they make buttloads of money by having a VERY expensive cash shop is just making them ound greedy and fake.

It can be argued that because the GM's are nice ppl are more willing to spend more than they know is right, big up for the GM's.
In the long run though there is no excuse, some things are just way to expensive still. At least some prices where adjusted and I'm glad about that.

I don't believe this is what I said. I believe you and the previous poster read part of what I said and decided to reply based on half of the message.

I was pretty clear I would like the game to be cheaper, but I had a very good experience and as a veteran of many many MMOs I thought it was noteworthy :-)

Sereniama - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Shota - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I don't believe this is what I said. I believe you and the previous poster read part of what I said and decided to reply based on half of the message.

I was pretty clear I would like the game to be cheaper, but I had a very good experience and as a veteran of many many MMOs I thought it was noteworthy :-)

I know, I mean seriously... $60 for a wedding? That's crazy!

I want it free damn it!

Ren - Lost City · November 2008

I wish they'd lock the carebears into the carebear section.

Shota - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Ren - Lost City wrote: »

I wish they'd lock the carebears into the carebear section.

Locks "Carebear Stare" on you.

Kingpiccolo - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Ren - Lost City wrote: »

I wish they'd lock the carebears into the carebear section.

Thank you for your incredibly valuable contribution.

The services that PWI provides are great, they constantly work on localisation of the dialogues and quest notes, respond (relatively) quickly to support tickets and actively discourage things like botting, fake bidding or gold selling. The game it self is also great, with the localisation the PWI brings it is very enjoyable and really can't be compared with MY-EN. Guildwars is a really different matter because the game style is quite different, it's not truly MMORPG but more of a MMOPvP sort of thing. Also it's only free to play because of their massive income from Lineage and the way that Guildwars is programmed to eat little resource.

Twilyte - Heavens Tear · November 2008

I believe what the OP is trying to say, and I think others like myself that have had the less than wonderful experience of PW-MY customer "service" can agree upon, is that sometimes it is worth paying a little extra to actually receive some quality support.

For those of you who love to point out the short comings of this game, take this into consideration: many of the issues that have been brought up here exist in every version released to date (Gouf issues, the "new" flying in TW, marriage pricing, same sex embracing, etc, etc).

Now, imagine all of these things you are already peeved about, but factor in these as well: Guild favoritism with GMs, arbitrary bannings with NO explantion except under investigation only to be "unbanned" after critical TW is over with a favored guild, unequal punishments being dealt to "big spenders" (aka 3 day bans for multiple violations even after the staff came out and said a different policy and enforce that different policy on non "big spenders").

Add in forums where if you criticise how the game is run, how inefficient the staff is, or post proof via screenshots that certain people are doing this or that, including screenies of GMs on the same team as certain guilds DURING TW just prior to the opposition getting multiple barbs banned until the end of the TW, that any of these posts will get deleted or locked quickly and your forum account locked without warning or explanation.

Toss in a little of the hosting company becoming partners with a gold selling website, which they annouce and acknowledge themselves, and cater to the large guilds that own all the TW lands because those guilds sell a large amount of that gold to their partner for resell.

Now, imagine that world on TOP of what you currently are miffed about. Yes, the cash shop here is much more pricey. Whether or not that correlates into better service or not, I don't know.
But I do know, they do a hell of a lot better job at actually caring about the people that play this game as a whole, whether those players pay cash or not.

And, we don't have to deal with Engrish!!

liquidfusion · November 2008

Kimyrielle - Heavens Tear wrote: »

With the only known exception of open source software, you always get what you pay for. Particularly with services. In the end, PW isn't a free game. It just has another business model than conventional MMOs with monthly fees. I like PW's model a lot better, since I get to decide when and how to give them my money.

Do I shop in the cash store? Yes, I do. Do I have the feeling I am getting my money's worth back? Yes, I do. There are a few things PW lacks in comparison with other games, but also a few things it stands out, even to the big names in the business. I had to contact the customer service once too, a while back - it took them less than 30 mins to get back to me, which I consider to be great. And yes, they need to make money to keep their service going. There are a few things in the cash store I do consider a bit pricey (XP scrolls...), but I don't have to buy those.

I have played Guild Wars before coming here for three years - I still don't know whether or not they had online GMs (I have never seen one in all my time there) - and GW wasn't a free game either.

I too played Guild Wars for 3 straight years, and was there from the beginning, up until 3 weeks ago, when I transferred over to PWI. PWI is indeed a free game, and I have played all 3 weeks for free. So I do not get the idea where you say PWI is expensive game. I have not payed a dime yet... Although I plan to use the Boutique to buy alot of stuff in the future.
This game puts Guild Wars to shame... and this is the model that I believe they are making GW2 after.. Will see. But until then, this is the game that I will be playing until further notice.

HostelBreeze

Neverwas - Heavens Tear · November 2008

off the subject but, i'm also a vet of GW since it was first released. i think it is a far better game than PWI although it is not nearly long enough.

i have to say that my experiences with the GMs of this game have not been as great as the OP's. i have only tried to call a GM in game 3 times since i have been playing (about 2 months) and 2 out of the 3 times i never got any sort of response. the last time i was in a group of 3 people who were all trying to call a GM because of a problem we were having. "all" of us used world chat and the call a GM button numerous times, almost repeatedly for 2 HOURS and never got a response. it wasn't, or shouldn't have been, an "off" time for them. it was around 11am central time. this may have been some sort of fluke, no response for 2 hours, but it just really turned me off since it was not the first time it had happened although the first time i didn't try for anywhere near that long.

i may be wrong, but i think even a free game should have a reasonable amount of customer support and service. so, personally, i would not get so impressed (like the OP) when the GM is just doing what they're supposed to do in the first place. in my opinion, this game is not at all worth the amount of money they try to squeeze out of people. i've put my fair share of money into the cash shop, but have since stopped buying from it. this is just a simple "grinding" game that feeds off of the impulse buyers, especially when they hold these "special events" that are basically all about getting people to buy flashy new items. this $16 gold package with a CHANCE of getting a lion mount just disgusts me. this game is NOT worth the money alot of people are putting into it and i regret all the money i put into it as well. this is just my opinion however. i know i don't have to play if i don't like the way the game's run but, to me, it's a good "filler" game. it's something to do to pass the time while i wait for something better to play to be released.

xarfox · November 2008

Neverwas - Heavens Tear wrote: »

i have to say that my experiences with the GMs of this game have not been as great as the OP's. i have only tried to call a GM in game 3 times since i have been playing (about 2 months) and 2 out of the 3 times i never got any sort of response. the last time i was in a group of 3 people who were all trying to call a GM because of a problem we were having. "all" of us used world chat and the call a GM button numerous times, almost repeatedly for 2 HOURS and never got a response. it wasn't, or shouldn't have been, an "off" time for them. it was around 11am central time. this may have been some sort of fluke, no response for 2 hours, but it just really turned me off since it was not the first time it had happened although the first time i didn't try for anywhere near that long.

Hello Neverwas,

Sorry that no one was able to reach you during your time of need. Here's some tips for contacting a GM in the future should you ever need help:

1. Using World Chat to reach a GM is a waste of teleacoustics. Please do not spam world chat asking for a GM.
2. Spamming the GM call function will simply reset your place in the queue. This means every time you spam that function, you're putting yourself at the end of the line.
3. The best method for reaching a GM is via our ticketing system:
http://support.perfectworld.com/ticketing

Kingpiccolo - Heavens Tear · November 2008

Haha, the GM call function system is brilliant, that'll teach those people who think the are the only important players in the world. I mean seriously why would they think spamming GMs would get them anywhere? Though I think a public statement should be issued about the calling GMs using Tele thing, this could save a lot of people a lot of teles. I think most people only do it because they assume GMs are always in-game playing.

Why Pwi Is Worth More Money

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