49 replies to this topic

[PappySmurf]

Well in a way your right Pika but so many topics and posts have been flushed in Ktown just about what the OP is implying as in stronger safe guards and warnings when making purchases in the UI. And about the inherent lack of quality control so new players really understood purchasing options.A warning system was talked about as in POP UPS in purchasing items like POP UP (are you sure you approve this purchase) or a POP UP saying (This item is for use on XXX mechs only ETC.)


All these ideas and hundreds more were ignored by PGI constantly for 3 years to make it easier for players to use there UI system for anything even MC purcheses.

[Appogee]

Edited by Appogee, 08 September 2014 - 07:37 AM.

[stjobe]

I think what threw the OP is that there is no way to tell in the UI that the camo you're about to "unlock" only unlocks for that specific 'mech chassis.

It's not a question of not reading, it's a question about missing information.

[Illegal Username]

UI 2.0 right here

[Quxudica]

Deimir, on 08 September 2014 - 06:45 AM, said:

No, I knew that I was paying 750 MC. I was fine with paying 750 MC for what I thought I was getting. The part that's not shown in the UI is that the Unlock function is limited to the variants of a single Mech chassis.

Ah, yeah I agree with you there. That should be clearly spelled out, or better yet just have it be a universal unlock.

[TheCaptainJZ]

"Unlock" is not misleading so much as poorly descriptive.

The only reason stuff costs so much is because the playerbase as a whole has obviously proven that enough people will pay those prices. Apparently, that's enough of a revenue stream to make PGI happy or they would change it. It also means when they have sales it's still really expensive but it doesn't feel like it so it's a psychological marketing trick.

[IraqiWalker]

Roland, on 08 September 2014 - 06:58 AM, said:

If camo skins worked on every mech, I'd actually purchase them.

As it is, I don't bother buying camo.. so PGI loses money.

Lord knows I would have spent a LOT more money on this game if the specs worked like colors do.

[Quxudica]

TheCaptainJZ, on 08 September 2014 - 11:01 AM, said:

"Unlock" is not misleading so much as poorly descriptive.

The only reason stuff costs so much is because the playerbase as a whole has obviously proven that enough people will pay those prices. Apparently, that's enough of a revenue stream to make PGI happy or they would change it. It also means when they have sales it's still really expensive but it doesn't feel like it so it's a psychological marketing trick.

I don't know if the game could have been financially succesful with a standard pay up front business model, but I really wish it had been. F2P as a concept seems great, but I'm tired of being asked to spend the same amount of money on individual items that a fully fledged intact game cost me ten years ago (usually on things that wouldn't even be an issue in a game that wasn't F2P). Also tired of seeing micro-transactions (if you can call 30 bucks for a single digital item a micro-transaction) negatively impacting the design of other wise fun games. Even systems as unimportant to gameplay as aesthetic ones. Though you could argue if they hadn't turned the mech camo and paint system into an overpriced micro-transaction system, it could have been something designed with gameplay value in mind - setting up camo templates for specific environments.

Edited by Quxudica, 08 September 2014 - 06:18 PM.

[Kiiyor]

Deimir, on 07 September 2014 - 11:36 PM, said:

Just got robbed of 750 MC because I tried to unlock a camo spec. Silly me, I didn't know that the tab which says "unlock" actually means "pay ten times the normal amount for this camo spec to apply it to THREE MECHS."

Truly, ingenious business practices PGI.

Of course, looking it up afterwards, I find that it was announced back in February of 2013 in this buried command chair post (and also mentioned briefly in one of the 'new player' videos which still hasn't been updated for the new UI). Great job hiding it there instead of making it clear in the ingame UI, or else people wouldn't fall for it.

Again, I really am impressed with the level of sheer commitment to profit it took to pull this off.

Contact support. Explain the situation, I know they have refunded stuff like this in the past, but usually on a case by case basis.

[Xmith]

PappySmurf, on 08 September 2014 - 07:10 AM, said:

YAWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN wayyyyyyyyyyyy backkkkkkkkkkk Innnnnnnnn Closedddddddddddd Betaaaaaaaaaaa

We tried to tell PGI to go 50% less on everything and 70% less on mechbays and bling items(Camo-in cockpit items-colors-etc.) as a standard practice but it was ignored as with 99% of all intelligent topics and post will be automatically flushed into the big KTOWN toilet.

Requesting that PGI make less money is not an intelligent request. It's actually a stupid request.

Edited by Xmith, 08 September 2014 - 06:44 PM.

[PANZERKAT]

Xmith, on 08 September 2014 - 06:42 PM, said:

Requesting that PGI make less money is not an intelligent request. It's actually a stupid request.

It is if they make the same amount by selling in Quantity, making more people happy. That actually works and tends to loosen their wallets more since they get more for their money spent.

[IraqiWalker]

Xmith, on 08 September 2014 - 06:42 PM, said:

Requesting that PGI make less money is not an intelligent request. It's actually a stupid request.

Actually they would have made more money if they had lowered the prices. I only have 2 -TWO- hero mechs right now, because of their high prices. If they had lowered the prices, I would have purchased pretty much all the hero mechs, probably. THAT is a LOT more money than 0 dollars. (each hero is costing more than 15 dollars sometimes, I bought 2, that should be 30 dollars. If each hero was just 10 dollars. I would have spent over a 100 dollars just on hero mechs.)

[PANZERKAT]

In electronic big box stores, for every 5 dollars of discount or free gift card you give someone they spend roughly an extra $80-100. There's a science to giving deals and if you give nothing, you get nothing. The Sales have been good, but I think they would sell more and make more if there entire range of virtual objects were less overall with obviously lesser sales % when a sale happens.

[DaZur]

Not to get into a debate over "value pricing"... but the 1/2 price nets 2 x GP myth is a fallacy...

Functional math: if something costs $20 each and trending purchase volume is 20 units per month... selling them for $10 rarely makes more money because in order to net profit you need to sell more than double your purchase volume to net the same GP.

Pricing things too cheaply results in it losing it's intrinsic value resulting in "sales" loose their "teeth" in terms of spurring value driven purchases...

[FREDtheDEAD]

Quxudica, on 07 September 2014 - 11:42 PM, said:

To be fair, unless something changed, it should show the mc cost in the "shopping cart" where it shows your total purchase price. So if you missed that, it's kind of on you (though I admit the UI is.. lackluster).
[snip]

Lackluster? *falls about laughing*

[IraqiWalker]

DaZur, on 08 September 2014 - 09:31 PM, said:

Functional math: if something costs $20 each and trending purchase volume is 20 units per month... selling them for $10 rarely makes more money because in order to net profit you need to sell more than double your purchase volume to net the same GP.

That's the problem though. You don't have a static purchase volume that justifies keeping it at that price. On the other hand, you have hundreds of potential buyers that are not buying because of the price wall. If you lower the cost to 10, your purchase volume can increase (no exaggeration here), to triple it's current size. Meaning that you will make 600, instead of the 400, if not on top of the 400.

That's the logic behind it. The guys that were going to buy it, are going to buy it anyways, even when made cheaper (in fact, they might use the extra money to buy more things), while the guys that weren't going to buy it, will actually buy it, adding to the number of sales.

[AlexEss]

IraqiWalker, on 08 September 2014 - 04:46 PM, said:

Lord knows I would have spent a LOT more money on this game if the specs worked like colors do.

No in theory you would spend a lot less... On average. (and by you i mean the customer... not you specificity)

As for your 100 potential buyers... They are smoke and dreams until they actually buy. And if they reduce the price and said 100 do not materialze. They are twice as screwed.

Guess what option that makes the most financial sense.

Edited by AlexEss, 09 September 2014 - 06:04 AM.

[PANZERKAT]

AlexEss, on 09 September 2014 - 06:03 AM, said:

No in theory you would spend a lot less... On average. (and by you i mean the customer... not you specificity)

As for your 100 potential buyers... They are smoke and dreams until they actually buy. And if they reduce the price and said 100 do not materialze. They are twice as screwed.

Guess what option that makes the most financial sense.

They aren't likely to drop now, but if done from the start, they would have made more cash with quantity and gained much good will, prompting people to buy more. There is a science to price points and discounts. It isn't some random concept. Perhaps in their case it is, but there is lots of knowledge behind what works well and what barely works. Creating a "prestige" product for a VERY niche game due to price point is....odd.

There's a reason why Darkfall, a great game always had a low population. Yes, it was a hardcore pvp game and niche, but you had to purchase the game and also pay a monthly sub. It priced out so many people with that alone. Sad really.

Edited by KOMMISSAR KITTY, 09 September 2014 - 06:34 AM.

[Tombstoner]

NeoCodex, on 08 September 2014 - 12:58 AM, said:

If it makes you feel better I was "unlocking" camo skins for about 6 chassis of my mechs (4 on sale, 2 regular price) until somebody told me that one shots are permanent on that mech and not just for a single game. Seriously, I thought he was joking. Ever since than all my mechs have some camos, since I find them ridiculously cheap now.

How it works however (why they 10x are more expensive) is that if you change your one shot to something else you cannot get it back, but if you have it unlocked you can change camos on that chassis as many times as you want.

Serously..... thats the way it works.... I'm here every weekday and i definitly missed that....one or two camo skins would be the only thing to get me to open my wallet agin. This should definitly be clarified in the mech lab.

[xeromynd]

I get that they have to monetize, but I think camo skins should be unlocked for all variants of the chassis you're buying them for. I think that's fair. (But I also understand that any chance to make money, is..well....a chance to make money and keep the game rolling)

ex. Buying the Buccaneer camo for my CPLT-A1 should let me use it on my Jester, C4, and C1

Edited by xeromynd, 09 September 2014 - 06:42 AM.