Ahhh dang. I think there were people who wanted to pay a higher subscription rate. I think I read some posts like, 'Are you willing to pay more for higher quality?"
Maybe some of those people who want to pay more could pay the standard 15 bucks per month and add another 10 bucks as a gratuity somehow.
Now i have to ask how much will it cost to all latin america? most if not all of us get or products from or via a reseller of USA.
So i could assume we'll get charged 15USD as we usually did in other mmo's or just because they'll be USD games... BUT they state "the rest of the countries" willl pay the EU price... wich will be just to much ...
A point i have to make is that IF people actually know something of standar geography they'll charge Mexico as NORTH AMERICA ( canda - usa - mexico ) and not the "NA" they think is canada and usa...
Neway i hope someone knows or... rather think will apply to us.
This will be slightly more expensive here in the UK than existing MMO subs - the VAT (Value Added Tax on most goods and services, 17.5% in the UK for those who don't know)) has in the past been built into the £8.99 sub price, whereas now it's added later. Don't know about the sub price in the US and Europe, but I'd be surprised if it was hugely different from existing MMO subs. To be honest I'd expected them to charge more, since that was what they'd hinted at some months ago. Guess for now the market is still calling the shots.
Fact is, the reason localized servers (or goods and services in general) have localized pricing structures is because the cost of the hardware is only one part of the cost of providing. Factors such as paying local lease (for the office space), local wages for admins/helpdesk, local utility charges etc etc. I'm sure if Funcom decided to base its European operations in Albania or Bulgaria their running costs for the Euro servers would be substantially lower, but clearly that's not what they'll be doing (for all kinds of obvious reasons). It will be based in one place, and the price in Europe will reflect that... which is bad news for some of the less wealthy states, but that's probably the case for them with all 'imported' goods.
As for those who advocate buying the US edition and paying the comparatively cheaper monthly subs, the downside would be that you'll have higher ping connecting to more distant servers. May not be much of a difference, but in a game where the combat is fast and reactive, lag will be as much of a killer as the enemy's skill. Add to that the time zone difference (Euro evening players will be on with the after-school crowd in the US) and I guess it's a question of whether it's worth paying a little more for a little more.
It will so to try and stop it yes it would be cheaper for someone in Europe to pay in US Dolla's but they are not getting it cheaper! $15 to someone living in the US is the same ammount to them as £15 is to you if live in the UK. They dont get discounted bread and milk etc lol its all relative. So it simple terms for example if a loaf of bread costs you £1 in the uk and $1 in the us its not cheaper in fact due to corruncy rates it would cost the american twice as much to by is loaf of bread if he was charged £1.
What ? Did you quit school too early? Don't know what currency exchange is? Don't know the price of stuff changes from Country to Country in Europe even if they have the same currency?
Like I said some months before, this game has no future, and one more proof of that is how their finnantial/sales staff is so junior and immature to the point of relasing this information in this way.
Ok lets start over i was trying to point out that the arguement over subscription prices is pointless i mean yes it would be cheaper for me to pay in dolla's but does that mean that Funcom shoud charge americans 18/19 dollas per month? I was trying to point out that 15 dolla's to someone who lives and works in america is the same as 15 pounds to someone who lives and works in the UK now dont go saying but if you convert that 15 pounds into dollas i get double because thats the point someone in the US cant do that!
I am Sorry Kelador, I didn't want to be rude. But I understand that people outside Europe think that because we have the same currency we all share the same economic situation. That is wrong. In Europe there are countries where the minimum wage(salary) is 300 Eur and some other countryes there minimum wage is 2000 Eur. For example, Inside the EU 1 beer in one Country migh cost 0.5 Eur and in another it might cost 2.0 Eur.
For the average person, 15 Eur for a game monthly fee is not too much, since there are other games with similar fees.
But what I think is wrong and will not be well accepted is the difference beteen the 2 prices, since the monthly fee is an electronic service not a material good , is not even subject of importation fees even if they didn't base their services here in the EU.
If they have higher costs to supply their services here,there were a lot of other ways to solve this question, but thei did it the worst way....
get over it already, its not like AoC is the only game who has this difference in prices
hell when u look at Anarchy Online, its 15 usd a month or 15 euro a month, now thats a big diff... but i still paid for it (living in Europe) cause i like it
if this game has no future then why bother posting here? bighead
MMOs currently playing: - About to play: Lord of the Rings Online Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
Posters seem to think that $10 in the US is worth the same as £10 in the UK. Obviously they've never heard of inflation. While the minimum wage in the UK and US may have comparable numbers, it doesnt reflect the high living costs UK citizens face. £15 is too much IMO.
£15 ...omg that is like $30 US. Why are you guys in the UK paying so much?
Edit: Wait...it says you can pay £8.99 GBP...that is just a wee bit more than the $15 US we pay and I think it is due to the VAT or something like that is it not?
I know it is a practice common to most MMO, but again I feel we Europeans are ripped off. $15 would be equal to about 9.50 Euro based on the current Dollar VS Euro exchange, including VAT this would be 11.50 to 12 Euro. per month not 15! I wonder why I just cant play it on US servers and then pay in US Dollar? It's "funny" nowadays they tend to focus Non-American regions based on Euro. There were days when all was focussed on Dollar but these days Dollar is way too weak so the base other regions on Euro more and more. As to the Dollar VS British Pound debate: an often used method to compare the value of money is comparing the prices of a BigMac, because thats a standardized manufactured good, which is all over the world identical. So how many BigMacs do you get for the US Dollar price compared to the UK Pound pricing, then you have a realistic value relation.
You could play on US servers with a US subscription, but your credit card would be charged more for the foreign currency conversion, making it just as expensive as the home server of your countries sub price. Bank charges suck! been there tried that.
Funny that... My bank doesnt charge me at all outside the regular "purchase" fee when using my Bank Visa card forany online purchase, be it from a english webpage charging £, german page charging in €, or norwegian page charging in KR or even american page charging in $'s.
Even funnier is that the "purchase fee" is not even 1 $...
Oh, and what are the odds for me as a Norwegian(Funcoms homeland even) being slapped with the VAT tax AFTER paying their "premium" rate for their game?
(Hint, Norway is not part of the EU, and doesnt have the VAT... But MMORPG's that charges me in Euro or any european currency always charge me VAT.. wonder who banks those moneys..)
I find it funny also, that in threads like these, I find the same americans that cry bloody murder if a beta is offered to European people before(or not at all) americans, and tell us to suck it up to american uberness when we get shafted on betas. They also cry bloody murder if anyone dare to suggest a price increase on their MMORPG's(in $'s), yet yell "suck it up you rich bastards!" when the MMORPG's charge us europeans extra for..well..being european.
As an ending, I'll say this: I've changed my mind about AoC. I planned on getting it, to play in the world of Conan and support my Norwegian developers, despite that I'm a Sci-Fi fan more than sword and majic. But when they charge me premium price and give me the same service as the american "normal" services get... Well, one huge reason not to play it... That and how they treated their Tech testers.
I'd rather play WAR than AoC now, and WAR bores me to tears, but at least they havent said that they would screw the europeans...yet.
Posters seem to think that $10 in the US is worth the same as £10 in the UK. Obviously they've never heard of inflation. While the minimum wage in the UK and US may have comparable numbers, it doesnt reflect the high living costs UK citizens face. £15 is too much IMO.
That's why it's NOT £15... in the UK it's £8.99 per month (plus VAT). It's 15 Euros for mainland European subscribers.
sorry i dont understand why: 8.99 L = 12.99 € = 14.99 D if the exchange rate is: 7.50 L= 10 € = 15 D
I dont think the exchange taxes are too expensive to up the price too much. And to this we have the VAT plus. I dont go to pay this. And I like the game.
It's not only an exchange rate issue. Different servers have to be located in different countries, and costs for these will vary depending on local costs such as lease, utilities, wages etc. You can't expect that maintaining a server in California will cost exactly the same in international money terms as maintaining one in London, or Norway, or Sydney, hence the variance over and above pure cash value.
And do you think the difference is so much??? I dont think so, sorry. You can compare the prices with other games and you find it too expensive.
I'm in the UK myself, so I didn't know what the European standard sub rates were... as far as UK and US prices, Conan will cost pretty much the same as what other MMOs charge (except in this case VAT is excluded rather than included in the price). I took a look around and I see that 12.99 Euros is a more standard fee (eg. LoTRO). Strange that Europeans are being forced to pay substantially more while US and UK players aren't, especially since Funcom is a (more or less) European-based developer. I understand now why you guys are a little pissed.
Don't blame Funcom, blame whatever country you live in if they charge VAT. I'm in the USA and we pay taxes up the ass but you see we do not pay tax on services like massages, haircuts, MMO subscriptions, etc.
So again blame whatever country you're in for charging you a tax on an intangible service!
But at the end of the day, it's only an extra £1.34 (or equivalent in Euros) over and above other MMOs, many 3+ years old. Compared to the inflation rates for everything else (petrol, groceries, property etc etc) it's hardly surprising. I can afford an extra quid a month, and I'm sure tens (maybe even hundreds) of thousands more will too. How long people continue to pay this will, of course, depend on how good the finished product turns out to be. We shall see...
Don't blame Funcom, blame whatever country you live in if they charge VAT. I'm in the USA and we pay taxes up the ass but you see we do not pay tax on services like massages, haircuts, MMO subscriptions, etc. So again blame whatever country you're in for charging you a tax on an intangible service!
True, but then you have to pay for medical insurance. We're all getting bled, just in different ways.
When we all get older and start taking over the world little by little, let's all agree to reduce taxes to a manageable number? Enough to pay for security, and cost of basic governing lol, I hate taxes as is, adding a VAT to a product sucks
I Reject your Reality and Substitute it with My Own!
The problem isnt that the price is too much. The problem is that Europe is paying more for a game that USA pay the same. It is as we are paying the money that USA have to pay. I wont go pay for they playing with my money.
If they dont want to pay more than 15 dollars why have we that pay more than the 12 euros or 9 L.
Funcom has done this in the past with Anarchy Online also.
It's in their business model, to charge the same for EU and US.
In Anarchy Online the first major uproar was when they said, that it's the same + VAT. And that you can't subscribe as an American, cause they will check for the nationality on your bankcard.
I think it will be the same with Age of Conan, plus that they check for your IP to which server to connect. Someone suggested buying the game in the US, paying in dollars and playing in Europe. He would be screwed, cause he won't be able to connect, and would still pay monthly with EU prices.
I'm a Hungarian. I have Forints (that is a currency that sucks big time). So even if I pay in dollars or in Euro I will get exchange rates. Plus we have to pay 20% VAT.
So it would be perfect for me to have AoC shipped to an american pal, who posts it me. But FC would still charge me the EU price.
Comments
I'm confused, someone help me here.
Dollars = 7 letters/symbols
Dolla's = 7 letters/symbols
So why would someone use such an abbreviation which is not an abbreviation to begin with?
I need this answered, as I have no questions pertaining to the prices or exchange rates because I already understand those.
Ahhh dang. I think there were people who wanted to pay a higher subscription rate. I think I read some posts like, 'Are you willing to pay more for higher quality?"
Maybe some of those people who want to pay more could pay the standard 15 bucks per month and add another 10 bucks as a gratuity somehow.
Now i have to ask how much will it cost to all latin america? most if not all of us get or products from or via a reseller of USA.
So i could assume we'll get charged 15USD as we usually did in other mmo's or just because they'll be USD games... BUT they state "the rest of the countries" willl pay the EU price... wich will be just to much ...
A point i have to make is that IF people actually know something of standar geography they'll charge Mexico as NORTH AMERICA ( canda - usa - mexico ) and not the "NA" they think is canada and usa...
Neway i hope someone knows or... rather think will apply to us.
What's VAT? That is screwing you EU members lol...
I Reject your Reality and Substitute it with My Own!
This will be slightly more expensive here in the UK than existing MMO subs - the VAT (Value Added Tax on most goods and services, 17.5% in the UK for those who don't know)) has in the past been built into the £8.99 sub price, whereas now it's added later. Don't know about the sub price in the US and Europe, but I'd be surprised if it was hugely different from existing MMO subs. To be honest I'd expected them to charge more, since that was what they'd hinted at some months ago. Guess for now the market is still calling the shots.
Fact is, the reason localized servers (or goods and services in general) have localized pricing structures is because the cost of the hardware is only one part of the cost of providing. Factors such as paying local lease (for the office space), local wages for admins/helpdesk, local utility charges etc etc. I'm sure if Funcom decided to base its European operations in Albania or Bulgaria their running costs for the Euro servers would be substantially lower, but clearly that's not what they'll be doing (for all kinds of obvious reasons). It will be based in one place, and the price in Europe will reflect that... which is bad news for some of the less wealthy states, but that's probably the case for them with all 'imported' goods.
As for those who advocate buying the US edition and paying the comparatively cheaper monthly subs, the downside would be that you'll have higher ping connecting to more distant servers. May not be much of a difference, but in a game where the combat is fast and reactive, lag will be as much of a killer as the enemy's skill. Add to that the time zone difference (Euro evening players will be on with the after-school crowd in the US) and I guess it's a question of whether it's worth paying a little more for a little more.
Actually the biggest downside is not the latency, it's the unfriendly siege scheduling timing.
What
? Did you quit school too early? Don't know what currency exchange is? Don't know the price of stuff changes from Country to Country in Europe even if they have the same currency?
Like I said some months before, this game has no future, and one more proof of that is how their finnantial/sales staff is so junior and immature to the point of relasing this information in this way.
Ok lets start over i was trying to point out that the arguement over subscription prices is pointless i mean yes it would be cheaper for me to pay in dolla's but does that mean that Funcom shoud charge americans 18/19 dollas per month? I was trying to point out that 15 dolla's to someone who lives and works in america is the same as 15 pounds to someone who lives and works in the UK now dont go saying but if you convert that 15 pounds into dollas i get double because thats the point someone in the US cant do that!
I am Sorry Kelador, I didn't want to be rude. But I understand that people outside Europe think that because we have the same currency we all share the same economic situation. That is wrong. In Europe there are countries where the minimum wage(salary) is 300 Eur and some other countryes there minimum wage is 2000 Eur. For example, Inside the EU 1 beer in one Country migh cost 0.5 Eur and in another it might cost 2.0 Eur.
For the average person, 15 Eur for a game monthly fee is not too much, since there are other games with similar fees.
But what I think is wrong and will not be well accepted is the difference beteen the 2 prices, since the monthly fee is an electronic service not a material good , is not even subject of importation fees even if they didn't base their services here in the EU.
If they have higher costs to supply their services here,there were a lot of other ways to solve this question, but thei did it the worst way....
get over it already, its not like AoC is the only game who has this difference in prices
hell when u look at Anarchy Online, its 15 usd a month or 15 euro a month, now thats a big diff... but i still paid for it (living in Europe) cause i like it
if this game has no future then why bother posting here? bighead
MMOs currently playing: -
About to play: Lord of the Rings Online
Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
Posters seem to think that $10 in the US is worth the same as £10 in the UK. Obviously they've never heard of inflation.
While the minimum wage in the UK and US may have comparable numbers, it doesnt reflect the high living costs UK citizens face.
£15 is too much IMO.
---
£15 ...omg that is like $30 US. Why are you guys in the UK paying so much?
Edit: Wait...it says you can pay £8.99 GBP...that is just a wee bit more than the $15 US we pay and I think it is due to the VAT or something like that is it not?
Funny that... My bank doesnt charge me at all outside the regular "purchase" fee when using my Bank Visa card forany online purchase, be it from a english webpage charging £, german page charging in €, or norwegian page charging in KR or even american page charging in $'s.Even funnier is that the "purchase fee" is not even 1 $...
Oh, and what are the odds for me as a Norwegian(Funcoms homeland even) being slapped with the VAT tax AFTER paying their "premium" rate for their game?
(Hint, Norway is not part of the EU, and doesnt have the VAT... But MMORPG's that charges me in Euro or any european currency always charge me VAT.. wonder who banks those moneys..)
I find it funny also, that in threads like these, I find the same americans that cry bloody murder if a beta is offered to European people before(or not at all) americans, and tell us to suck it up to american uberness when we get shafted on betas. They also cry bloody murder if anyone dare to suggest a price increase on their MMORPG's(in $'s), yet yell "suck it up you rich bastards!" when the MMORPG's charge us europeans extra for..well..being european.
As an ending, I'll say this: I've changed my mind about AoC. I planned on getting it, to play in the world of Conan and support my Norwegian developers, despite that I'm a Sci-Fi fan more than sword and majic. But when they charge me premium price and give me the same service as the american "normal" services get... Well, one huge reason not to play it... That and how they treated their Tech testers.
I'd rather play WAR than AoC now, and WAR bores me to tears, but at least they havent said that they would screw the europeans...yet.
That's why it's NOT £15... in the UK it's £8.99 per month (plus VAT). It's 15 Euros for mainland European subscribers.
sorry i dont understand why:
8.99 L = 12.99 € = 14.99 D
if the exchange rate is:
7.50 L= 10 € = 15 D
I dont think the exchange taxes are too expensive to up the price too much. And to this we have the VAT plus.
I dont go to pay this. And I like the game.
It's not only an exchange rate issue. Different servers have to be located in different countries, and costs for these will vary depending on local costs such as lease, utilities, wages etc. You can't expect that maintaining a server in California will cost exactly the same in international money terms as maintaining one in London, or Norway, or Sydney, hence the variance over and above pure cash value.
And do you think the difference is so much??? I dont think so, sorry. You can compare the prices with other games and you find it too expensive.
I'm in the UK myself, so I didn't know what the European standard sub rates were... as far as UK and US prices, Conan will cost pretty much the same as what other MMOs charge (except in this case VAT is excluded rather than included in the price). I took a look around and I see that 12.99 Euros is a more standard fee (eg. LoTRO). Strange that Europeans are being forced to pay substantially more while US and UK players aren't, especially since Funcom is a (more or less) European-based developer. I understand now why you guys are a little pissed.
Edit: Spelling
Don't blame Funcom, blame whatever country you live in if they charge VAT. I'm in the USA and we pay taxes up the ass but you see we do not pay tax on services like massages, haircuts, MMO subscriptions, etc.
So again blame whatever country you're in for charging you a tax on an intangible service!
Seems like the standard amount. However it's lame that europeans get screwed once again. (For you kids, Euro's are worth 1,5 times more then dollars.)
In other MMORPG you also pay TAX, the difference is that in AGE OF CONAN is as we are paying TAXES 2 times.
The price that in other games include TAXES in Age of Conan is without TAXES.
other games: 12.99 with taxes.
Age of Conan: 12.99 without taxes / 14.94 with taxes.
And to the USA is the same price. WHY???
They think we are foolish.
Have to say the pricing is a bit weird
us price is dirt cheap compared to eu price when converted to swedish crowns.
Anyway im not gonna pay that price for a mmo regardless if its a good mmmo , if they drop the prices to 12.50 euro then its a done deal
Have anyone seen the prices for warhammer yet?
-Semper ubi sub ubi!
always wear underwear
True, but then you have to pay for medical insurance. We're all getting bled, just in different ways.
When we all get older and start taking over the world little by little, let's all agree to reduce taxes to a manageable number? Enough to pay for security, and cost of basic governing lol, I hate taxes as is, adding a VAT to a product sucks
I Reject your Reality and Substitute it with My Own!
The problem isnt that the price is too much. The problem is that Europe is paying more for a game that USA pay the same. It is as we are paying the money that USA have to pay. I wont go pay for they playing with my money.
If they dont want to pay more than 15 dollars why have we that pay more than the 12 euros or 9 L.
Funcom has done this in the past with Anarchy Online also.
It's in their business model, to charge the same for EU and US.
In Anarchy Online the first major uproar was when they said, that it's the same + VAT. And that you can't subscribe as an American, cause they will check for the nationality on your bankcard.
I think it will be the same with Age of Conan, plus that they check for your IP to which server to connect. Someone suggested buying the game in the US, paying in dollars and playing in Europe. He would be screwed, cause he won't be able to connect, and would still pay monthly with EU prices.
I'm a Hungarian. I have Forints (that is a currency that sucks big time). So even if I pay in dollars or in Euro I will get exchange rates. Plus we have to pay 20% VAT.
So it would be perfect for me to have AoC shipped to an american pal, who posts it me. But FC would still charge me the EU price.