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Why $150 for Alpha aint that bad
As someone who recently purchased the $150 Founder's Pack, I wanted to show you all the quick processing which took place:
- spent the last week wondering what to play...........
- been waiting for an excuse to play Archeage for over a year
- Founder's packs announced
- did some basic math
150 - 45 (assuming sub/patron is $15 a month as other games) = $105
105 - 75 (value of the coins awarded, also remember that you can use coins to purchase more patron time) = $30
It is reasonable that anyone who was really planning on playing AA was going to subscribe at least 3 months in their AA career. Let alone for anyone playing any subscription based game would spend $15 a month to access their games. If this game were purely subscription based, you would drop $150 playing for 10 months. Let alone most games still having a basic purchase of $40-$60 regardless.
$150 seems steep, but it seemingly is asking, "hey, would you put in $30 for alpha access? An oh, btw, you get to start playing the game today and functionally have 2-3 months of experience in a game youve been wanting to play."
Now, not everyone has $150 just lying around, and that part can suck and be frustrating. But that's not on them. And if you cant financially support the industry, then dont complain about them not meeting your needs. You want content, customization, a great experience and awesome world, but scoff at the idea that they programmers/designers/artists/company doesnt need a little bit of coin in return?
Comments
Its a scam.
When an in development f2p game charges for a founders pack you can at least justify it, because the game is in development and wont be getting box sales upon release. Still can border on the scammy, but it can be looked at as a form of crowdfunding.
ArcheAge is a released game with its own revenue streams. They are doing this only because they can, they know people will fork over the 150.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
People charge for beta and alpha keys all the time. Instead of giving it away for free and random people get money this time the developers make the money. I dont see anything wrong with this model. Would I pay for it? No, but I never bought beta or alpha keys before but I know tons of people buy and sell them.
There is a market for it, its just like when Diablo was charging for items in the AH. Instead of random players farming these items and making all the money Blizzard could make some money from it and help the company expand instead of filling the pockets of random people.
You will spoil your experience with Alpha, and will have to start again at Headstart.
Well don't forget the experience of actually playing the game carries over to full release as well. You'll know what to do, how to do it, and the best ways to level and play. That type of experience is huge in a competitive sandbox environment.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Its not 30. Its 150 with things you might or might not use at launch.
Also: in Rift, Patron status is just a scam to get money from people that like sub model, Im not convinced it will be different here. I wouldnt say it adds to the value without seeing the model first.
This is the first Ive ever heard of with a mature, launched game with existing revenue streams asking people to pay for a localization beta. maybe its happened before, but its not normal.
People, not companies. There is a market for buying and selling beta keys.
Also F2P games have started using this Founder thing recently for the past few years. You pay for it and you get access to beta and Alpha, AA is more than all the others have charged though but are giving quite a bit.
Syriinx, You believe this is a Scam.
So you get the bonus of me spending money to support a game you can play for free.
Sounds like you are getting the good end of the deal.
So be happy instead of getting mad someone is paying for a game for you.
This is only a good deal if you know for a fact you will play the game for at least 90 days and would have purchased from the cash shop. They are basically guaranteeing they get 3 months of patron status out of you and cash shop purchases as well. They also get you to test the game for them. Yea what a deal...for them.
This is true, not a scam. Just not the business practice I care to see. This will never be good for pc gaming, the whole early access thing has gotten way out of hand.
LOL @ OP and all people that pay for alphas at these high prices.
Companies used to pay us to alpha test their games, closed beta was always free even up to last year and still most games offer free closed beta in giveaways, etc.
You are justifying it saying its worth 10 months of gameplay, but its an alpha game that we don't even know if we will enjoy, why would I fork over $150 for 10 months on a game I am not sure I will enjoy even 24 hours?
You guys keep paying for alphas, early access and all of this crap and its only hurting us in the long run. More and more companies release games that won't be ready to be called "released" for 2 years but they rack up all this money and might never finish in the long run or deliver junk since they are lazy because they already got paid.
You made a very bad purchase, don't try to justify it with those horrible points you are trying to make, none are legit.
GAME TIL YOU DIE!!!!
It's gamers fault. They, and companies, started treating betas as demos to post videos and judge it, so why not monitize it? The game's F2P, so it's optional.
I'm fine with it, because i know i'm not spending money on these packs and i can obtain everything in them in the release version.
But getting angry at video game companies for cash grabbing everyone is something i gave up on. I only change dependign on circustances, like ESO only making it available to cross-faction if i pre-ordered.
Also, i got angry at the horse because it means more cash shop stuff to come and signals a red F2P falg. But even that i got carried it away.
What can i say, gamers are willing to pay. Companies know it, let it keep on rolling.
....and you did the same thing back on 09/21/09. So, what's your point? It offers nothing constructive. How about we stick to discussing their position on the topic they suggested instead of you trying to feed your self serving ego and challenging the validity of their opinion as a new user.
Exactly, they made it hard to get beta keys and people would later sell them. Companies want that money instead. Why should some random guy make money for winning a key. Let the company make money to hopefully help the game.
Exactly. The advantage of this game being released other places is that there is enough content to know if you were gonna play the game or not. It is an investment. Its a great deal for them, it should be. Getting those excited about the game to get in there and provide actual feedback about the game. I hope most of us wouldnt invest $150 in something we dont think we are going to benefit from.
I may not patron every month i play, but i imagine i would from time to time. Maybe around expansions or special weekends/holidays. Or maybe during the summer when work slows down (i work at a university). But people saying scam/tricks/cheat seems a bit extreme.
But I would say you are right. I am planning on play for 90 days at least.
Appreciated. And actually this is my first account. Normally i just read posts, but the general outrage over these packs prompted my two cents. But I do believe in the saying "haters gonna hate"
Here are some of my reasons see if any of these are Legit?
Charging for alphas/beta vs people getting Invites and selling them while the company gets zero.
Charging for Alphas/Betas vs random luck who gets in, if it is a game I want to test/support I have the choice to do so.
Charging for Alphas/Betas vs Free ones the quality of players is much better in my opinion. Free betas seem to have some of the worst people in them.
Charging for alphas/beta vs charging for the game up front, that way people who want to pay more do and the people who have less money to spend can get a free game.
I have played this game already over seas I know I will be playing it here for a long time, so there is no real chance of me quitting after 24 hours but that is a legit statement and I'm sure applies to some people.
I probably spent 150 bucks on the Russian version already would rather give it to Trion.
so say we all
Math is hard!!!