Cash Shop/Costumes Prices.

    I do agree that the prices are way too high. I'd expect to be able to buy a nice outfit for 10€ (12,4 USD), but even then, the game doesn't even provide you with the default clothes all characters have in the web episodes/conversations in-game. In Closers, for example, you'd get such an outfit permanent after your first mission. Then later on, if you wanted some more advanced outfits (Class advancement outfit) you could run certain dungeons to get the materials and craft a limited version that would last a few days... and is such a way that if you were to dedicate 10-20 minutes of your time or running such dungeon daily, you'd be able to renew the outfit constantly, with some to spare.


    I think the point I want to arrive at, is that even if the shop prices cannot be controlled, either because it was a consensus of the company's marketing section or whatever reason, the devs should be able to provide an alternative, reasonable, f2p way to get such items. That way, people who pays those prices will do so in exchange of time, not out of obligation... and less f2p players will leave the game in result.


    Blade and Soul, Warframe, Path of Exile, Closers, Vindictus, Guild Wars 2... all these games offer such a way, even if they are essentially different. And are plenty successful.

    im only a f2p so if i get bored then poof im gone.. i mean i whaled other games only if i know its worth it.. I was pissed off day 1 from gameforge and with that i decided this game aint worth my money.. if it reaches millions of dz then so be it..

    The simple, straightforward answer is that if you think the price is too high, then don't buy it. If you've taken rudimentary economics, you know this stuff is all affected by supply and demand. Gameforge isn't dumb and actually wants to make money, so if they notice that something isn't selling well or not producing as much profit as they desire from it, they can change the price, since they don't have menu costs and doubly since they can use OBT as a justification and pull some "testing phase price adjustments" without it seeming like they majorly screwed up. I believe more likely than not that they have some internal data on pricing that they're using for initial prices and seeing the financial responses to them. Everybody can come onto the forums and complain as much as they want, but if Gameforge is a sensible company they'll take the complaints with a grain of salt and only act on them if it justifiable to their interests. Since people who complain have a vested interest in the complaint, the number of people posting on the forums complaining about the prices are going to be much higher than those who are indifferent, since the complainers are going to see a much larger benefit if the change goes through than if it doesn't. It doesn't matter if you have one hundred people complaining here if you have a few whales buying them in bulk. Personally, I'm not buying anything since I believe the prices are too high, and I'm asking all my acquaintances not to buy anything either. And that's the best thing you can do, abstain from purchasing and hope that the loss in consumer demand puts a large enough dent in the profit from the cash shop that Gameforge responds financially.


    As for the difference in pricing, you have to understand that different countries have different regulations, tax laws etc. Normally, the prices aren't too different since the publisher is publishing the game within a geographically concentrated region, but Gameforge decided it would publish in both NA and EU, which are going to have much different costs associated with it and thus reflected in the purchasing price. Additionally, you're going with different consumer bases who have different amounts of income to purchase their currency, so the price points are naturally going to vary. You're not going to sell food in a third world country at the same price it's sold in the US, because then nobody can afford it. Granted, there's nearly not that large of a difference between NA and EU consumer bases, and the 2x price difference some people are stating seems particularly jarring. Price differences are understandable; however, if you publish across different regions that can easily communicate an extremely noticeable difference is likely to create dissatisfaction and reduce purchases. So they'll need to keep that in mind if they don't touch the rates. It sucks to be playing this game in Canada compared to EU, but hey, at least your fast food is cheaper on average.


    What I can't find any reasonable justification for is changing the layout of the cash shop. It's not like they had to program the cash shop itself; they most likely straight up received those files from the developers and then chose to roll with making a new one. The old cash shop was actually pretty significant, since it not only let you preview costumes, it let you mix and match pieces to see what it would look like on your character. Additionally, some of these costumes have special emotes that were preview-able overseas and a large drawing point of the costume, so not being able to see this special emote is going to make people apprehensive about purchasing the more expensive costumes. Personally, I don't like this new cash shop style at all and I think we're losing some benefits the old one had.


    Tl; dr Gameforge probably has reasons (correct or mistaken) for what they are doing, and complaining here will make you feel better but cross your fingers on seeing any meaningful changes.

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERWIN 5/29 WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    I think the main issue with the shop view, is obviously the steam version

    Since it opens in a overlay, i doubt it will be possible to make a 3D view.

    And making 2 different versions of a shop is just meh

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    I was ready to buy some hair colors and costumes as well, looked at the prices and said hell no. Costumes should be 10-20 depending and hair colors/styles should be 3-5. Anything else just does not make sense.

    <3

    Quote from SuicideSamurai

    I was ready to buy some hair colors and costumes as well, looked at the prices and said hell no. Costumes should be 10-20 depending and hair colors/styles should be 3-5. Anything else just does not make sense.

    I don't mind the highest-tier costumes being $25 or something similar, actually, it's mainly the way that NA's pricing means you need a minimum of $50 soulcash to actually get the stuff to buy it that concerns me. I'd need to go through in greater detail but those seem like decent starting estimates

    This really upsets me and I don't feel like Gameforge really even cares...


    Silly me for waiting for months for this game to release, only to be slapped in the face with constant server crashes and my server (NA) consistently disappearing from the server list.


    The nerve you have, Gameforge. To release this shop with such absurd pricing? Even AFTER the crap we've been dealing with regarding the server stability?


    Whoever decided this really does not care about the community. I may be Canadian and yes I'm polite but screw you guys for this.


    Edit -

    I understand that the solution is just not to purchase anything but that isn't my point. It's a slap in the face imo to expect so much from us, when literally every other mmo I've ever played (even the p2w ones like Vindy) don't hurt the wallet as much. And even AFTER the wonderful display of stability we have.


    Unreal.

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    Edited once, last by Harmony: Eh. ().

    Quote from Satan

    You are better off in buying soul cash and selling it to players in game. ez money.

    That would imply *gasp* actually spending money.


    To be fair, I don't think the current prices are absurd for free players to buy off of others. Somewhere in the price range of 16mil-25mil for a set?(Perhaps this seems astronomically large to some people, but it's not that hard to garner this much with a few weeks or even a few days)



    Unless the market somehow hits a snag where even the supplier(other players) don't want to resale it and we have an extreme jump in prices as demand soars over supply.

    Well, this is hence why we should be providing feedback. Nobody here or at Gameforge wants the game to flop, so if we're clear and concise about our concerns and why we're upset they're bound to at least listen somewhat. They care about their bottom line as well, and a monetization system that doesn't work well influences that.


    I am rather concerned about the cash shop being put up during the beta though. Betas exist more for stability than profit - that's why they're not a full release instead.


    Quote from White Rabbit

    Prices are about standard as far as MMOs these days come. inflation is a bitch

    I'd disagree, there are examples such as LoL and Warframe above that generally offer much more for less. I disagree in this being the standard, and if it can be considered a standard then it's a standard that does more to harm the players and the game than to help them. If the pricing is unjustifiable to an average user it hurts their bottom line, and we should give them the feedback to let them know there are better options.

    Quote from Zodai



    I'd disagree, there are examples such as LoL and Warframe above that generally offer much more for less. I disagree in this being the standard, and if it can be considered a standard then it's a standard that does more to harm the players and the game than to help them. If the pricing is unjustifiable to an average user it hurts their bottom line, and we should give them the feedback to let them know there are better options.

    I very much think Warframe is an outlier in the f2p with cash shop model simply because their currency is so cheap and is player driven by a huge economy that keeps it in circulation.


    I'm not that familiar with LoL, but I assume the player population is so large that any "significant" price changing would result in too much negative publicity.


    Gameforge has had a very corporate mentality that has panned out well for them. Low investment with high returns. It's difficult to change from something that has proven to be easy money to switch to a model with greater player sastifaction and questionable returns based off a small sample size of major games.

    Quote from Zodai

    Well, this is hence why we should be providing feedback. Nobody here or at Gameforge wants the game to flop, so if we're clear and concise about our concerns and why we're upset they're bound to at least listen somewhat. They care about their bottom line as well, and a monetization system that doesn't work well influences that.


    I am rather concerned about the cash shop being put up during the beta though. Betas exist more for stability than profit - that's why they're not a full release instead.

    I agree - providing feedback is important. I just hope they read these posts and listen, rather than ignore it like it seems like it's been..

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