station cash and items in store

[RSphil]

hi all

anyone else look in the decals stuff in the store last night?

1000sc for decal
42000sc for camo.

decal ok its like £3 but i hope to god the camo is wrong as that is near £80 and im fucked if im paying that for camo lol.
so i hope thay still have to sort them prices out.

[Hamma]

They are trying to keep people from buying it in beta. ;)

[RSphil]

lol i hope so Hamma :P would be easier disabling it, then more people wouldn't have heart attacks:rolleyes::doh:

[Dagron]

I know these aren't the final prices because they're so absurd, but about your comment: decals ok for you costing 10 USD? Wow, i hope they don't decide to keep things expensive after they see that post. :lol:

[RSphil]

well $10 seem alot but in pounds its like £3 from i saw getting sc today. which if unlocked for account aint to bad. iv seen worse prices for some free to play games. like £5 just to rent weapons ect. we will have to see what they do. as hamma says its to stop people buying them. but if you are stupid enough to buy something during a beta when we all know accounts get wiped then its your own fault lol.

hope they are priced well and not too over the top. i plan on spending alot not only to look cool but also to support this awesome game.

[Ruffdog]

SOE are running a triple special. Normally $10 is like 6 or 7 quid.

[RSphil]

was on today and got some sc. dropped £37 :) i want camo, decals and cool stuff lol.

[haticK]

edit: nevermind, found my answer

[Mox]

They just try to leech some money. Maybe some stupit mf really buy a camo for 80 bucks. They will adjust the prices later and say it was just to hold people off from buying during beta.

[Crator]

They can put whatever price they want on cosmetic stuff. It would probably be a good idea to put it at a reasonable price that everyone can afford (perhaps leave some higher priced then others to make them more rare). If you can make something that everyone pays for vs. something that only a few pay for which one makes you more money?

[RSphil]

id say they would put most things at the same price. no one will pay a lot of cash for cosmetic stuff. guild wars 2 has it about right for stuff like that.
if the prices are too hight then they will fail and make nothing. its going to be a tough decision.

[Ritual]

Camo should cost 1.00$.

Weapon unlocks should cost 2.00$.

Weapon Upgrades like scopes and grips 1.00$.

7 day booster implants, 2.00$

1 day implants 50 cents.

1 hour implants 25 cents.


I cant explain why because it would be a three page analysis, but after much meditation this is what I have come to.

They also need to make gaining things through certs never as viable as getting a membership and using that 500 station cash each month. No matter how hardcore the player is.

A free player who pays nothing yet puts in 40 hours a week should not be on pace with someone who plays a few hours a day and has a membership.

I want SOE to make money so this game doesnt die in a year or two like PS1.

[derito]

I would be very interested in reading that 3 pages analysis.

[RSphil]

a free player with more time should be on pace with a player who plays little but pays. that is why you pay. to keep up with people who have time. if free players where just cannon fodder then they wont play and the game will die. the free players will enjoy it and hopefully then spend cash on stuff like camo. this is not pay to win so buying the weapon mods or getting through certs it makes no difference. if you make it like other free games where you have to buy stuff to get the good gear then it will die. i like how they have done it so far.

just need to the prices of camo's ect. cash shop is mainly for cosmetic and that is how it should stay. if pay to win i'll not play at all as i have not got alot of cash and it will destroy the game for new players and people with not alot of spare cash.

[Ritual]

I would be very interested in reading that 3 pages analysis.

This is how I figure it in a nutshell.

A 1.00$ camo is a fair deal. A camo is only good for one vehicle, or armor. So there are literally like a ton of them already on the cash shop. Most people are going to want an assortment and if they are priced where people can pick a few and a weapon unlock or two with a 10$ game card, they will go out and get one. Then it will progress to I mine as well pay for membership because I know I can at least unlock something or get some cool decals,camo's with that membership. If you price them too high, people will be like what is the point of spending money on membership if its only benefit is a free 50% implant. People will be alot more reserved. If I had to pay 5$ to apply a camo to my vehicle then I would probably just pick my favorite and ignore the rest. Or buy them when I had nothing else to buy (which will be never). If my 500 Station cash is barely enough for a camo then its going to feel like membership is just reducing the grind slightly instead of actually giving me something beneficial. 1.00$ is a price that would make me feel comfortable to take the plunge into camo buying frenzy. The idea basically is being able get people to buy them because hey "Its only a buck". Lets say we have 100,000 paying customers, 80% of them are going to be casual spenders and 20% might be dropping hundreds each year. Cater to the people who are modest and dont give them a chance to forum rage because "WTF SONY 5$ for a camo? Greedy sons of bitches!". Noone can complain about 1-2$ items.

Weapon unlocks at 2.00$ is fair. There are maybe 20-40 weapons already to unlock, most people will want a dozen of them. At 2.00$ I think most people would not feel it was a substantial payment. The players who play for more then a month are going to want weapon unlocks, earning them through certs is time consuming. A 5.00$ weapon unlock is going to give people pause and maybe only buy the one or two they really want. Make it a 2.00$ fee and I personally would just spend my 60$ and get a few dozen of the one's I will use the most.

The weapon upgrades again 1-2$ is fair because there are something like 100 all together. Getting them through certs will take years, so people are going to "want" to just purchase them. There is a pattern emerging here, 1-2$ is just fair. There will be dozens we want to buy, at 5$ a piece its going to be a punch in the jaw because when we look at the big picture, its alot of money to get everything we want. You want to obfuscate the big picture as much as you can and make it feel like when customers are paying money, they are getting value and knocking a chunk off the "list of things I want". So they dont feel bad about dropping 10$ here, 10$ there. They will see real gains each 10-20$ spent.

And week long implants are really overpriced at 50 cents, but its low enough of a price where people wont care. Its just a 50% gain, and if a normal person can accrue 300 certs a week, and if it takes 500 certs to unlock a weapon, that week long implant is just going to give them maybe barely enough to shave of a few days game time. 50 cents is fair and I think we would all consider implants necessary at that price instead of a luxury. I mean for 1.50$ a month we could all have implants, I can see that being successful. When you put it in that context people will see the worth of implants. I mean who wants to pay anything more then 50 cents for a squad XP bonus unless it was dirt cheap. Implants and boosters SHOULD BE THE CHEAPEST thing to get. It should be like the food and water of Planetside, everyone needs it, craves it, and survives on it. Make it like a lobster dinner and I might use them a few times a year. I also think the monthly membership should be 10$ instead of 15$.

But ultimatly you have to think "How many items do we have on our cash shop, how much of that is going to likely be bought with certs instead of money, and how much money will we get when they buy the rest". You want to make people skip the earning it part, and going straight to the buying it part. Price it to sell. You will lose the game of making money if you go for "overpricing to make up for people who buy stuff with certs".

Who has the patience to play for a few months to get a few weapon unlocks and their upgrades, when you can get them all for 10$ each weapon. Who is not going to spend to get those last few weapons, upgrades or camo, titles that you don't own when its just 20$.

If you start pricing things at 4-5$ for each thing, then the price to get that weapon line or unlock goes from the affordable range, to the OH SHIT this stuff adds up to the price of a AAA New release console game, why bother.

Any serious planetside player will go to the buy option IF its priced to sell.

And we havent even seen decals yet, titles. They want to add even more camo, more weapons, more vehicles, more sidegrades. If they price us out of the market we will just be jealous and mad that we cant afford it all.

Price to sell, price to sell. Should be a sticky note on Smedleys desk.

[derito]

You certainly have a point about asset specific camos.
However I think there are pretty important factors we should take into account : the first is the rate at wich new content will be added. Depending on how often new weapons are added players won't value them the same.
There is also bundles and discounts. If the prices are higher (say 350-500) but with discounts and bundle every week, it would be a way to get players to pay the items they really want at full price anytime. And at the same time they would be able to buy items on a whim thanks to discounts and bundles.
And then there's double (or even triple) station cash sales which lower the actual value of SC too.

If weapons are added slowly (which I hope they will for balance sake) and we get a decent discount rotation, then $4-5 could actually be a good price since once discounted they would be around your fair price.

[Ritual]

If weapons are added slowly (which I hope they will for balance sake) and we get a decent discount rotation, then $4-5 could actually be a good price since once discounted they would be around your fair price.


They should get rid of these ridiculous sales.

Who wants to invest in the money supply of Zimbabwe? Noone.

So Station Cash is not a ripoff when Smedley decides to have a sale but a ridiculous ripoff when he doesnt? I mean I would sure feel bad for someone who bought 50$ of Station Cash last week and then find out he could of got 3X more if he only waited until today.

IS that your idea of balancing and setting cash shop prices? :eek:

We should only buy Station Cash whenever there is a 3X sale? Fricken retarded. My life does not revolve around Smedley's 3X sales. I should be able to purchase things I want when I want, for a fair price and at the same rate as everyone else.

Its no wonder Smed bucks are often used in jokes.

[Ritual]

I know why they do the sales. Because their game lineup is stagnant right now, so they started this bad habit of Station Cash sales to try and coerce money out of a dwindling playerbase. Lets face it, Everquest is not what it once was.

Now that Planetside 2 is here they should make it an official policy to never have a sale again to make it fair for their consumers.

And Everquest Next will be out in a few years? So better to start the policy now.

[derito]

Actually, the discounts I'm talking about are sales à la League of legends not SC discounts. These are just an amplifying factor.
We know they intend to sell item bundles so item discounts kinda make sense.