You are correct that I'm not paying money (Which, by the way, IS NOT cash; a basic economics course is recommended for everybody. Around $300 should net you the course at a community college). I am paying resources though. If you continue to dismiss the fact that Time and Money are both resources to be spent, then you can't participate in any debate about cost. This isn't philosophy, its numbers, through and through.
Money (or cash as you continue to argue, which again, is not money) is not the only resource you have at your disposal, and if something costs a resource, no matter the resource, it is not free.
EDIT: My point, plain and clear: The cost of extra Refit ships is too high, no matter the resource you use to buy it.
Meh, im perfectly fine with the Refits being offered in the C-Store, but becouse they are also obtainable in the game. The fact that you can get all three ingame (be it a long and tedious venture) is great, becouse they might have just decided to only offer them in the c-store. Grinding makes them more rare, so there would be something to be said for a person with the gull to get all 3 w/o the c-store.
however if people want to spend their money and feel fine about taking the short cut to get at the ships then that is just peachy. I wont, i dont want all three and dont have the space for them-but some people do. Im fine withe the prices-they are about what I expected the Galaxy-X to be (there was an outrageous $25).
If you want the ships now, but think they are just too expensive then salty cake to you, and get well enough over it.
Does anyone think that the ships listed in the C-Store are ridiculously expensive?? Especialy that this game was once $60 and now its $20... Gal-X $25, Retro Fits: $15.... so on and so forth. So the whole game now is $20 and the ships are from $10 - $25... doesn't make any sense. Does anyone agree? O and we're not even talking about the 1 year or lifetime subs...
Just in case I want to point out that the money per say is irrelevant its just about the game price vs the prices of additional content... that bugs me...
Gal-X was meant to be a special item from the friend referral, so the price for it is in my opinion just right.
Retro: you get one free and it's a few weeks of work to get tokens for a second ship, so 15$ for those that are way to lazy to get it in game for free is also a good price.
You can't get the 1 year sub anymore, but as you can see here it's cheaper to go for the 6 months sub instead of paying 6 one month subs, the 1 year sub was the same.
The lifetime sub is also a good price considering that you will be able to play this game without paying a single more until the servers close down.
Does anyone think that the ships listed in the C-Store are ridiculously expensive?? Especialy that this game was once $60 and now its $20... Gal-X $25, Retro Fits: $15.... so on and so forth. So the whole game now is $20 and the ships are from $10 - $25... doesn't make any sense. Does anyone agree? O and we're not even talking about the 1 year or lifetime subs...
Just in case I want to point out that the money per say is irrelevant its just about the game price vs the prices of additional content... that bugs me...
You can't go off the upfront cost of the game to figure the price of anything in game for a few reasons - first is that it makes NO sense to sell the box for lots of money, because then you get less people playing. A lower box cost means more people are willing to pick it up and try it out, and it's the subscriptions that make the money for the game. The initial higher cost was because the game was shiney and new, it is unfortunately the price of being an early adopter of anything.
Now as for the "full ships" on the C-Store (as opposed to the ship skins) the price is about right for this kind of item. Keep in mind you can claim them on multiple characters and they can be earned some way other than through the C-Store. Now I hope i can still say that when the Excelsior/Nebula come out, but we'll see.
soooo you want it to be more free than free? I get the feeling some people would only be happy if they logged in to find these ships instantly ported into their ship list.
Even then they would find reasons to whine. Some people simply can't be pleased.
Does anyone think that the ships listed in the C-Store are ridiculously expensive?? Especialy that this game was once $60 and now its $20... Gal-X $25, Retro Fits: $15.... so on and so forth. So the whole game now is $20 and the ships are from $10 - $25... doesn't make any sense. Does anyone agree? O and we're not even talking about the 1 year or lifetime subs...
You do know that you can get the refit ships through other means than the C-Store, right? You can grind for 500 emblems to get one or you can get one FOR FREE when you hit VA1. I also don't see the point in buying multiple ships on a single character (that's what alts are for, unless you're an avid RPer). Also, you get only eight slots to play with last time I checked (although you can purchase more if you're crazy enough to want it, which I would be if the purchase was account-wide and not per-character...but that's another topic altogether).
I have no problem with items like the Galaxy-X and refit ships on the C-Store. You know why? There are other ways to get them as outlined above. It was promised that this would be the case for everything shoved in the MT store. Sure, the price might be just slightly steep, but I'd rather grind for my stuff...it would give me something to do during long periods of nothing to do.
If you are of the "I want it and I want it now" crowd, you can buy them straight away. If you are of the "I want it but I want to earn it" crowd, you can farm for the emblems (and, yeah...I agree that 500 is WAY too much...maybe closer to 100 would be within the ballpark). It's as simple as that.
Bill and I have both posted over on the Champions boards to respond to questions raised by microtransactions. I'll just reiterate what's already been copied and pasted from Bill's State of the Game address on Champions:
The vast majority are aesthetic items, such as costume pieces, action figures, emblems, etc.
A very few are account-level management tools, such as being able to rename a character
Micro-transactions should never limit your ability to enjoy the game or reach the level cap
Any micro-transaction that has a game effect can also be earned in the game through play
These principles apply also to Star Trek.
BTW, I haven't been too active on these boards over the past few months. In my role, I oversee development of both Champions and STO (as well as another mystery project); a lot of focus has been on Champions as it approaches launch. But as soon as it hits shelves (Sept. 1st), I'll be turning my "lidless eye" (gratuitous geek reference) to STO. I'm even moving my office downstairs to be with the team. Craig tells me that the STO crew met that with a lot of...excitement (or fear, not sure which). So you'll be seeing my bright shining face a tad more in the days to come.
Comments
I couldn't agree more with your view.
however if people want to spend their money and feel fine about taking the short cut to get at the ships then that is just peachy. I wont, i dont want all three and dont have the space for them-but some people do. Im fine withe the prices-they are about what I expected the Galaxy-X to be (there was an outrageous $25).
If you want the ships now, but think they are just too expensive then salty cake to you, and get well enough over it.
Gal-X was meant to be a special item from the friend referral, so the price for it is in my opinion just right.
Retro: you get one free and it's a few weeks of work to get tokens for a second ship, so 15$ for those that are way to lazy to get it in game for free is also a good price.
You can't get the 1 year sub anymore, but as you can see here it's cheaper to go for the 6 months sub instead of paying 6 one month subs, the 1 year sub was the same.
The lifetime sub is also a good price considering that you will be able to play this game without paying a single more until the servers close down.
You can't go off the upfront cost of the game to figure the price of anything in game for a few reasons - first is that it makes NO sense to sell the box for lots of money, because then you get less people playing. A lower box cost means more people are willing to pick it up and try it out, and it's the subscriptions that make the money for the game. The initial higher cost was because the game was shiney and new, it is unfortunately the price of being an early adopter of anything.
Now as for the "full ships" on the C-Store (as opposed to the ship skins) the price is about right for this kind of item. Keep in mind you can claim them on multiple characters and they can be earned some way other than through the C-Store. Now I hope i can still say that when the Excelsior/Nebula come out, but we'll see.
they should be as expensive as they are right now, ships are something that affects gameplay, it should be expensive.
Even then they would find reasons to whine. Some people simply can't be pleased.
You do know that you can get the refit ships through other means than the C-Store, right? You can grind for 500 emblems to get one or you can get one FOR FREE when you hit VA1. I also don't see the point in buying multiple ships on a single character (that's what alts are for, unless you're an avid RPer). Also, you get only eight slots to play with last time I checked (although you can purchase more if you're crazy enough to want it, which I would be if the purchase was account-wide and not per-character...but that's another topic altogether).
I have no problem with items like the Galaxy-X and refit ships on the C-Store. You know why? There are other ways to get them as outlined above. It was promised that this would be the case for everything shoved in the MT store. Sure, the price might be just slightly steep, but I'd rather grind for my stuff...it would give me something to do during long periods of nothing to do.
If you are of the "I want it and I want it now" crowd, you can buy them straight away. If you are of the "I want it but I want to earn it" crowd, you can farm for the emblems (and, yeah...I agree that 500 is WAY too much...maybe closer to 100 would be within the ballpark). It's as simple as that.
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