Its just me the only person who doesnt spent money on F2P games?
Maybe im just a "kid" as the author said but , still... Its free ; i just play for fun , when i have to play in order to have fun , the game is over for me...
Allods online looks great and till now ,im having lots of fun. I plan to play as long as i find fun on it but i would never buy something i will never have (for example :digital copies of a game, items on a game and so on) but is just my personal point of view...
As soon as I see a company pull a stunt like this, I lose all confidence. Now I don't care what they do. The fact that they tried to be this greedy tells me all I need to know about this company.
Exactly. I was tempted to try Allods, just as a mess around game since it looked somewhat similar to TCOS. I however will not be trying this game now, or any game by Gpotato. They rank right up there with Aeria Games, Vestgame, and Perfect World Entertainment now.
I'm not in favor of item malls with the exception of perhaps vanity items. I believe that if your gear etc is not something you obtained in-game then what is the point? To me I see no difference in buying that cool sword on the item mall than buying gold from the gold farmers who continuallly spam our chat channels.
So the other guy has a cool sword because his mom forks out a few bucks just to keep the sniveling baddie quiet? What good is that? He didn't earn it. And now, the baddie has an advantage over others unless they fork over some cash to buy that sword too, until the new and improved one is released (repeat).
Now, OPTIONAL purchases for vanity items such as pets or maybe even player housing would be ok. None of that is game breaking or gives a player an advantage over another because of mom's pocketbook. It is the "required" items that you need to compete that I dislike.
I'm not in favor of item malls with the exception of perhaps vanity items. I believe that if your gear etc is not something you obtained in-game then what is the point? To me I see no difference in buying that cool sword on the item mall than buying gold from the gold farmers who continuallly spam our chat channels. So the other guy has a cool sword because his mom forks out a few bucks just to keep the sniveling baddie quiet? What good is that? He didn't earn it. And now, the baddie has an advantage over others unless they fork over some cash to buy that sword too, until the new and improved one is released (repeat). Now, OPTIONAL purchases for vanity items such as pets or maybe even player housing would be ok. None of that is game breaking or gives a player an advantage over another because of mom's pocketbook. It is the "required" items that you need to compete that I dislike.
Not game breaking for you, perhaps.
But what about the people who enjoy that kind of content? There are players whose enjoyment comes from obtaining vanity items, crafting or collecting items to put in their houses, etc... and they enjoy doing all that via actual gameplay as well. While you're out questing for that new sword, they're out questing for something new to put in their house. Their source of entertainment is as valid as anyone else's, especially if it's designed into the game.
In a flat-fee sub-based MMO, all of that "fluff" content would be as available to them as the armor and weapons and such would be. Neither group would have to pay any extra, nor should they.
Why is it "okay" to charge for content that one portion of players enjoy... but not okay to charge for another? That's basically saying "I don't mind if they charge $$$ for content in an Item Shop... as long as it's nothing I deem important".
This kinda reminds me of a skit George Carlin did about prisons where he noted how many will agree that prisons are important and more need to be built... "but not in *my* backyard!". Same principle here. As long as it's an inconvenience to someone else, and not them, it's perfectly acceptable. I call that hypocrisy.
When you're addressing a situation like this, you have to remember that there are many different playstyles and that others will find enjoyment or value in things that you, I or that guy over there wouldn't. They are no less entitled to the content they enjoy than we are to ours.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I currently play the game Grand Fantasia by Aeria Games Entertainment and have extensive experience regarding their cash shop, heck I have extensive experience with cash shop from multiple game publishers (perfect world, ncsoft, blizzard, gpotato, etc.) I must say the article is correct, if you want to do microtransaction correctly keep the prices low (after all it's micro meaning small transactions) and introduce a lot of vanity items that does not influence gameplay too heavily but instead provide players who bought them a little something extra. It seems silly for gpotato to overprice the cash shop items so harshly in allods online.
Rofl 7k to buy something in an item mall. I am like wow, that just proves my point about being nickled and dimed to death.
No wonder us westerners as we are called dont like that model, we can see right through the BS. However I think everybody else can see it too when you put a 7k pricetag on something. I think I read somewhere if you wanted to have an uber pimped out toon the estimate was 42k in that game.
Rofl folks can keep souting the ftp stuff all they want, it is not happening for me.
FREE2PLAY is a viable business model because it works. Instead of paying a regular subscription fee you only pay whatever you can afford even if you don't play the game for months you aren't wasting your money like what would happen if you are in a pay to play business model (so if you pay $15 bucks and only play 10 days a month that's a lot of "wasted" money).
I disagree with this point. Storage space is pretty important in a game where you're goign to be carrying around gear, items, etc. It should not be something you have to pay extra $$$ for. In FFXI, you do quests to expand your character's inventory and your primary "mog safe". You can add extra storage by putting additional furniture in your mog house. You can "rent "a mog locker in one city for extra storage. and various NPCs that will store entire sets of gear. That's all done in-game, by playing. In WoW you can buy various sized bags to put in slots to increase your character's carrying capacity, as well as a bank. EQ2 is similar to WoW. And so on. It's all handled in-game.
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
I disagree with this point. Storage space is pretty important in a game where you're goign to be carrying around gear, items, etc. It should not be something you have to pay extra $$$ for. In FFXI, you do quests to expand your character's inventory and your primary "mog safe". You can add extra storage by putting additional furniture in your mog house. You can "rent "a mog locker in one city for extra storage. and various NPCs that will store entire sets of gear. That's all done in-game, by playing. In WoW you can buy various sized bags to put in slots to increase your character's carrying capacity, as well as a bank. EQ2 is similar to WoW. And so on. It's all handled in-game.
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I disagree with this point. Storage space is pretty important in a game where you're goign to be carrying around gear, items, etc. It should not be something you have to pay extra $$$ for. In FFXI, you do quests to expand your character's inventory and your primary "mog safe". You can add extra storage by putting additional furniture in your mog house. You can "rent "a mog locker in one city for extra storage. and various NPCs that will store entire sets of gear. That's all done in-game, by playing. In WoW you can buy various sized bags to put in slots to increase your character's carrying capacity, as well as a bank. EQ2 is similar to WoW. And so on. It's all handled in-game.
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
I can make large bags and do so on a daily basis, I checked and they have a frostfeild and siniseter with 44 slots, i can craft you a sandalwood that holds 32 slots and a drong hide one that contains that 200sc when you can craft almost as good i cant see it.
I disagree with this point. Storage space is pretty important in a game where you're goign to be carrying around gear, items, etc. It should not be something you have to pay extra $$$ for. In FFXI, you do quests to expand your character's inventory and your primary "mog safe". You can add extra storage by putting additional furniture in your mog house. You can "rent "a mog locker in one city for extra storage. and various NPCs that will store entire sets of gear. That's all done in-game, by playing. In WoW you can buy various sized bags to put in slots to increase your character's carrying capacity, as well as a bank. EQ2 is similar to WoW. And so on. It's all handled in-game.
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
They are both the of the Frostfell packs (44 slots). Same size as ones you can make in game.
I was wrong about the price though....the packs are .....$20 each. (2,000 Station Cash)
Crazy times in the MMO world.
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
I disagree with this point. Storage space is pretty important in a game where you're goign to be carrying around gear, items, etc. It should not be something you have to pay extra $$$ for. In FFXI, you do quests to expand your character's inventory and your primary "mog safe". You can add extra storage by putting additional furniture in your mog house. You can "rent "a mog locker in one city for extra storage. and various NPCs that will store entire sets of gear. That's all done in-game, by playing. In WoW you can buy various sized bags to put in slots to increase your character's carrying capacity, as well as a bank. EQ2 is similar to WoW. And so on. It's all handled in-game.
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
They are both the of the Frostfell packs (44 slots). Same size as ones you can make in game.
I was wrong about the price though....the packs are .....$20 each.
Crazy times in the MMO world.
Hey, SOE is breaking records here, guess they don't feel good with Cryptic and GPotato stealing all spotlight hate.
They probably saw the $20 bags in Allods, all the heat it generated and thought "hey, we should do that too, they're too busy bashing Allods to even care about us doing that on top of a monthly subscription, we already have a lot of things on top of it anyway!".
Cash shop games are also known as "pay-2-win". Personal skill is completely irrelevant in such games, as the person with the largest pocketbook will always have the upper hand. In a PvE game, this isn't a big deal, but this type of business model utterly ruins PvP based games.
If your game is so simple that victory can be macro'd or bought, why would I want to play it?
This industry suffers more player to company disconnects than this in a plethora of other areas, for sure. On topic, it's actions like these that many who opposed Item shops were citing as a big worry about this so-called business model. Many stood around and said those folks were crazy but, lo and behold, it happened in an extremely overt manner (most companies just try to subtly ratchet up here and there) such that it is a major headliner.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
I'd really love to hear what Richard Aihoshi thinks of this whole situation. Being he's the rsident F2P advocate, his opinion piece on this is extremely relevent, IMO. I mean, Scott is great, and I love reading his posts, but a little point/counter-point from soneone that supports all things F2P would be amazing, I think.
What can he say?
Its obvious that they mishandled the item shop.
Its same question like if SWTOR would come out and ask 50$ sub.
What would P2P advocates say ?
$50 sub if you play 3 night a week is a bargain for a good game. Most of my friends spend that on a single night out.
Microtransactions are a sad enditement of pure greed, these developers will get what they deserve. No return.
And there are plenty of things you can go out and do that don't cost any money! It's a moot point. You don't advertise your games to children and then put up 7 grand items. MMos cost money, bandwidth costs money, but neither cost anywhere near the amount of money that is implied with these prices. Mmos started out as a profitable niche genre... now someone has it in their heads that we should pay more for less and like it. There is no justification for virtual items that cost NOTHING TO PRODUCE being priced at several thousand dollars.
PPL are paying those insane prices for perfumes in this game. Im sorry but maybe the devs could have found a bit more manly name for aparent MUST item in the game...
Im not using perfume !!! Whatever the freaking price !!
FREE2PLAY is a viable business model because it works. Instead of paying a regular subscription fee you only pay whatever you can afford even if you don't play the game for months you aren't wasting your money like what would happen if you are in a pay to play business model (so if you pay $15 bucks and only play 10 days a month that's a lot of "wasted" money).
You know, pretty much any business model works with the mmo genre. They practically sell themselves and cost very little to maintain. Offer a little e-fame and accomplishment and you've hooked into a very primitive part of the human brain.There are literally hundreds of mmos out there and I can name less than 5 that have ever "died". The fact is, companies are getting greedy. They think they see money that just isn't there.
You are fooling yourself if you really think f2p gives the consumer better options. In the last f2p game I played, pretty much every item I bought was on a timer, specifically a 30 day timer. Wow, just like a subscription mmo... The fact is, we are all paying for content for these games -directly and indirectly- but only some of us get to experience it. We need to come up with some new , more accurate terminology, there is nothing free about "f2p".
Originally posted by EricDanie "This often manifests itself in reiterations of the old and increasingly tired "I can't compete unless I spend money" argument. So... what's your point? If you find certain games are like that and it doesn't sit right with you, simply avoid them. But honestly, does doing so mean you're a better gamer, or a smarter one? Or does it make you an MMOG snob?" I am a snob on denial because I won't even consider playing a game that features a $7000 item that by the sounds of it will make you either godly or a scammed fool.
I'd say you shouldn't ever *try* to compete in a Cash-Shop game. If I really want to compete, that means i'll be playing the game a lot. And if i'm willing to play a lot, i'm also willing to pay a subscription fee.
I play f2p either when i'm not sure about how much time i can dedicate to gaming in a certain period, or when i want to play with my gf and/or a couple friends that are not so much into MMOs and wouldn't pay a monthly fee for a game.
FREE2PLAY is a viable business model because it works. Instead of paying a regular subscription fee you only pay whatever you can afford even if you don't play the game for months you aren't wasting your money like what would happen if you are in a pay to play business model (so if you pay $15 bucks and only play 10 days a month that's a lot of "wasted" money).
A lot of wasted money? Really?
$15 per month is peanuts, especially considering you can easily spend more than that on only a few item mall items in a single purchase.
I mean, if you prefer MTs over subs, that's fine... but to talk about $15 a month as though it's a lot of money is kinda... odd.
Even if you play, say.. 2 hours, 3 nights a week, in a typical 4 week month. That's 24 hours for the month total. You're paying about 62 cents per hour. That's cheap. You can barely buy a can of soda for that in most cases, and a can of soda won't last you an hour, unless you seriously nurse it. In a five week month, that's 30 hours at exactly 50 cents an hour.
Now look at the person who plays more actively... let's say... 3 hours a night, 5 nights a week. That's 60 hours at 25 cents an hour.
People who play *a lot*, like say 4 hours a night, 7 days a week... 112 hours a month at 13 cents per hour.
If it's the "$15 in one lump sum" that bothers someone, then maybe I can understand that, though last I heard, item malls don't let you "finance" your purchases either. But to complain about subs as "a lot of wasted money" if you can't play every day or whatever is kinda pushing it.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
There are two approaches in retail: margin dollars and margin percent. The first approach takes a dollar from a million players to get rich. The second takes twenty dollars from 25,000 players.
Do you get as rich from margin %? No. Do you get rich? Yes.
I'll play the Russian's game. I love their books. And Allods pvp looks awful swell.
Being greedy and smart will make you money. Greedy and stupid produces failure.
The is a very simple economic model. Its supply and demand where you have infinite supply with 0 incremental cost. To maximize profit, you don't just maximize the price, you maximize <price>x<units sold>. As long as cutting the price in half will more than double unit sales, you make more profit by reducing prices.
Finally, if you want happy players, you error on the side of the price being too low, not too high.
They need to take a course in basic economic. Being greedy and smart will make you money. Greedy and stupid produces failure. The is a very simple economic model. Its supply and demand where you have infinite supply with 0 incremental cost. To maximize profit, you don't just maximize the price, you maximize <price>x<units sold>. As long as cutting the price in half will more than double unit sales, you make more profit by reducing prices. Finally, if you want happy players, you error on the side of the price being too low, not too high.
Especially considering that the "product" being sold through teh item shops, is virtual, and costs nothing to produce. its not a tangible limited resource that takes time and materials to be available. They could charge $5 for the $7k item, and would still be making a profit (especially since at $5 they would easily sell hundreds, if not thousands of that item).
It's because of greedy idiots like this this that FTP has a bad name.
The sad part is that there are plenty of FTP games out there that are not greedy like this, have good games, with reasonable priced items but are lumped with these jackasses.
Comments
Its just me the only person who doesnt spent money on F2P games?
Maybe im just a "kid" as the author said but , still... Its free ; i just play for fun , when i have to play in order to have fun , the game is over for me...
Allods online looks great and till now ,im having lots of fun. I plan to play as long as i find fun on it but i would never buy something i will never have (for example :digital copies of a game, items on a game and so on) but is just my personal point of view...
Have a great day ppl
PD : Soz for my english!
Exactly. I was tempted to try Allods, just as a mess around game since it looked somewhat similar to TCOS. I however will not be trying this game now, or any game by Gpotato. They rank right up there with Aeria Games, Vestgame, and Perfect World Entertainment now.
Laudanum - Romance. Revenge. Revolution.
Crappy, petty people breed and raise crappy, petty kids.
I'm not in favor of item malls with the exception of perhaps vanity items. I believe that if your gear etc is not something you obtained in-game then what is the point? To me I see no difference in buying that cool sword on the item mall than buying gold from the gold farmers who continuallly spam our chat channels.
So the other guy has a cool sword because his mom forks out a few bucks just to keep the sniveling baddie quiet? What good is that? He didn't earn it. And now, the baddie has an advantage over others unless they fork over some cash to buy that sword too, until the new and improved one is released (repeat).
Now, OPTIONAL purchases for vanity items such as pets or maybe even player housing would be ok. None of that is game breaking or gives a player an advantage over another because of mom's pocketbook. It is the "required" items that you need to compete that I dislike.
Not game breaking for you, perhaps.
But what about the people who enjoy that kind of content? There are players whose enjoyment comes from obtaining vanity items, crafting or collecting items to put in their houses, etc... and they enjoy doing all that via actual gameplay as well. While you're out questing for that new sword, they're out questing for something new to put in their house. Their source of entertainment is as valid as anyone else's, especially if it's designed into the game.
In a flat-fee sub-based MMO, all of that "fluff" content would be as available to them as the armor and weapons and such would be. Neither group would have to pay any extra, nor should they.
Why is it "okay" to charge for content that one portion of players enjoy... but not okay to charge for another? That's basically saying "I don't mind if they charge $$$ for content in an Item Shop... as long as it's nothing I deem important".
This kinda reminds me of a skit George Carlin did about prisons where he noted how many will agree that prisons are important and more need to be built... "but not in *my* backyard!". Same principle here. As long as it's an inconvenience to someone else, and not them, it's perfectly acceptable. I call that hypocrisy.
When you're addressing a situation like this, you have to remember that there are many different playstyles and that others will find enjoyment or value in things that you, I or that guy over there wouldn't. They are no less entitled to the content they enjoy than we are to ours.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I currently play the game Grand Fantasia by Aeria Games Entertainment and have extensive experience regarding their cash shop, heck I have extensive experience with cash shop from multiple game publishers (perfect world, ncsoft, blizzard, gpotato, etc.) I must say the article is correct, if you want to do microtransaction correctly keep the prices low (after all it's micro meaning small transactions) and introduce a lot of vanity items that does not influence gameplay too heavily but instead provide players who bought them a little something extra. It seems silly for gpotato to overprice the cash shop items so harshly in allods online.
Rofl 7k to buy something in an item mall. I am like wow, that just proves my point about being nickled and dimed to death.
No wonder us westerners as we are called dont like that model, we can see right through the BS. However I think everybody else can see it too when you put a 7k pricetag on something. I think I read somewhere if you wanted to have an uber pimped out toon the estimate was 42k in that game.
Rofl folks can keep souting the ftp stuff all they want, it is not happening for me.
FREE2PLAY is a viable business model because it works. Instead of paying a regular subscription fee you only pay whatever you can afford even if you don't play the game for months you aren't wasting your money like what would happen if you are in a pay to play business model (so if you pay $15 bucks and only play 10 days a month that's a lot of "wasted" money).
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
I can make large bags and do so on a daily basis, I checked and they have a frostfeild and siniseter with 44 slots, i can craft you a sandalwood that holds 32 slots and a drong hide one that contains that 200sc when you can craft almost as good i cant see it.
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
They are both the of the Frostfell packs (44 slots). Same size as ones you can make in game.
I was wrong about the price though....the packs are .....$20 each. (2,000 Station Cash)
Crazy times in the MMO world.
"If we don't attack them, they will attack us first. So we'd better retaliate before they have a chance to strike"
Just FYI, EQ2 recently added several large storgage backpacks on their Station Cash Marketplace as well. They are nowhere near the price Allods charges, but available to those who pay.
Meh... SOE.
The company who claimed to be "protecting" their players from "RMT fraud" by introducing Station Exchange, while doing nothing to stop the "illegal RMT" they claimed to be fighting.
You can still at least get larger bags purely in-game though right? They haven't removed those, I'd hope.
They are both the of the Frostfell packs (44 slots). Same size as ones you can make in game.
I was wrong about the price though....the packs are .....$20 each.
Crazy times in the MMO world.
Hey, SOE is breaking records here, guess they don't feel good with Cryptic and GPotato stealing all spotlight hate.
They probably saw the $20 bags in Allods, all the heat it generated and thought "hey, we should do that too, they're too busy bashing Allods to even care about us doing that on top of a monthly subscription, we already have a lot of things on top of it anyway!".
Impulse buy = 7k USD... lol
Another death to just another MMO.
It seems like the genre is really begging to be put down....
Cash shop games are also known as "pay-2-win". Personal skill is completely irrelevant in such games, as the person with the largest pocketbook will always have the upper hand. In a PvE game, this isn't a big deal, but this type of business model utterly ruins PvP based games.
If your game is so simple that victory can be macro'd or bought, why would I want to play it?
Preach on Preacher!
This industry suffers more player to company disconnects than this in a plethora of other areas, for sure. On topic, it's actions like these that many who opposed Item shops were citing as a big worry about this so-called business model. Many stood around and said those folks were crazy but, lo and behold, it happened in an extremely overt manner (most companies just try to subtly ratchet up here and there) such that it is a major headliner.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
What can he say?
Its obvious that they mishandled the item shop.
Its same question like if SWTOR would come out and ask 50$ sub.
What would P2P advocates say ?
$50 sub if you play 3 night a week is a bargain for a good game. Most of my friends spend that on a single night out.
Microtransactions are a sad enditement of pure greed, these developers will get what they deserve. No return.
And there are plenty of things you can go out and do that don't cost any money! It's a moot point. You don't advertise your games to children and then put up 7 grand items. MMos cost money, bandwidth costs money, but neither cost anywhere near the amount of money that is implied with these prices. Mmos started out as a profitable niche genre... now someone has it in their heads that we should pay more for less and like it. There is no justification for virtual items that cost NOTHING TO PRODUCE being priced at several thousand dollars.
K - been reading up on this issue...
PPL are paying those insane prices for perfumes in this game. Im sorry but maybe the devs could have found a bit more manly name for aparent MUST item in the game...
Im not using perfume !!! Whatever the freaking price !!
You know, pretty much any business model works with the mmo genre. They practically sell themselves and cost very little to maintain. Offer a little e-fame and accomplishment and you've hooked into a very primitive part of the human brain.There are literally hundreds of mmos out there and I can name less than 5 that have ever "died". The fact is, companies are getting greedy. They think they see money that just isn't there.
You are fooling yourself if you really think f2p gives the consumer better options. In the last f2p game I played, pretty much every item I bought was on a timer, specifically a 30 day timer. Wow, just like a subscription mmo... The fact is, we are all paying for content for these games -directly and indirectly- but only some of us get to experience it. We need to come up with some new , more accurate terminology, there is nothing free about "f2p".
I'd say you shouldn't ever *try* to compete in a Cash-Shop game. If I really want to compete, that means i'll be playing the game a lot. And if i'm willing to play a lot, i'm also willing to pay a subscription fee.
I play f2p either when i'm not sure about how much time i can dedicate to gaming in a certain period, or when i want to play with my gf and/or a couple friends that are not so much into MMOs and wouldn't pay a monthly fee for a game.
A lot of wasted money? Really?
$15 per month is peanuts, especially considering you can easily spend more than that on only a few item mall items in a single purchase.
I mean, if you prefer MTs over subs, that's fine... but to talk about $15 a month as though it's a lot of money is kinda... odd.
Even if you play, say.. 2 hours, 3 nights a week, in a typical 4 week month. That's 24 hours for the month total. You're paying about 62 cents per hour. That's cheap. You can barely buy a can of soda for that in most cases, and a can of soda won't last you an hour, unless you seriously nurse it. In a five week month, that's 30 hours at exactly 50 cents an hour.
Now look at the person who plays more actively... let's say... 3 hours a night, 5 nights a week. That's 60 hours at 25 cents an hour.
People who play *a lot*, like say 4 hours a night, 7 days a week... 112 hours a month at 13 cents per hour.
If it's the "$15 in one lump sum" that bothers someone, then maybe I can understand that, though last I heard, item malls don't let you "finance" your purchases either. But to complain about subs as "a lot of wasted money" if you can't play every day or whatever is kinda pushing it.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
There are two approaches in retail: margin dollars and margin percent. The first approach takes a dollar from a million players to get rich. The second takes twenty dollars from 25,000 players.
Do you get as rich from margin %? No. Do you get rich? Yes.
I'll play the Russian's game. I love their books. And Allods pvp looks awful swell.
They need to take a course in basic economic.
Being greedy and smart will make you money. Greedy and stupid produces failure.
The is a very simple economic model. Its supply and demand where you have infinite supply with 0 incremental cost. To maximize profit, you don't just maximize the price, you maximize <price>x<units sold>. As long as cutting the price in half will more than double unit sales, you make more profit by reducing prices.
Finally, if you want happy players, you error on the side of the price being too low, not too high.
Especially considering that the "product" being sold through teh item shops, is virtual, and costs nothing to produce. its not a tangible limited resource that takes time and materials to be available. They could charge $5 for the $7k item, and would still be making a profit (especially since at $5 they would easily sell hundreds, if not thousands of that item).
It's because of greedy idiots like this this that FTP has a bad name.
The sad part is that there are plenty of FTP games out there that are not greedy like this, have good games, with reasonable priced items but are lumped with these jackasses.
Let the game crash and burn, I say.
You dont fail at Russian MMO, Russian MMO fails you!