I think I can speak to this…while you find the prices absurd, I just find them high and there are those that find the acceptable. The issue here is that we have been going through this for over 2 months now in this subjective back and forth and getting no where. All sides are frustrated and are getting snippy. So those that aren’t outraged by the new monetization plan are tired of arguing and putting it out there if you don’t like it, leave…because the sides are at an impasse and continued debating isn’t going to solve anything. The gouging crowd isn’t going to convince the acceptance crowd and vis versa.
My largest complaint in the whole thing is that every one is talking about FC’s motivation but no one is using any sort of understanding of what position they may be in. It’s immediately corporate greed and exploiting their customer base. When in all likelihood, it’s trying to pay their creditors, their parent company, their staff, their taxes and 7k people buying $10 dlcs every 3 months (if we were lucky but closer to an average of 8) isn’t cutting it. Which is why I’m trying to figure out what is the acceptable price range…all I’m getting is outrage and pointing to the older pricing as if that will magically make the company more solvent with the same rate of revenue…it doesn’t. So you don’t like these prices…ok counter offer then. Give them a real number that is higher than what you were paying that isn’t insulting.
And some people don’t go to the movies because of the ticket prices, what’s your point?
They don’t have to heat the building Funcom works in, pay cleaners etc? Everything has overhead.
Some people pay hundreds even thousands of dollars for “reskinned” shoes just because they’re limited edition or have some celebrity endorsement. And some people choose to pay money for virtual items because it fits a theme or appeals to them aesthetically. It’s of no consequence that you do not find value or satisfaction in the same things they do, and it’s of no consequence if you find the price tag attached too steep, the market will make that designation. I promise you there is a whole team at Tencent looking at the profit curve of their various online shops and deciding which price point makes them the most money. No amount of complaining is going to change that.
Except that when I get squashed by a truck while wearing my Air Jordans, anyone is entitled to take them and put them on their feet. While alive, I would let my wife wear my other pairs, but she’s a 7 and I’m a 13.
Reminds me of the time I started trying to manufacture and distribute Jordan’s for free to my friends after I bought a pair. I got hit with a lawsuit and a cease and desist.
No matter how many excuses you’ll find to justify their prices, I still think bazaar is way overpriced. Specially when the game itself is in the state that it is.
I’m not justifying anything. I’m telling you buy it or don’t. That’s how you cast your vote in the free market. You can spend your money wherever and however you like.
Profit will dictate price, not messages on this forum. There will be no public messages or parades with people shouting “Thank you dewiced for showing us the error of our ways and correcting our pricing!”
This one finds the arrangement sub optimal.
Would definitely prefer a repair restriction over an equip restriction.
That said, they did remove the illusioned loot insurance policy. That’s a stand up move.
Wanting to pay one’s employees isn’t greed.
Wanting to make lots of money and not pay one’s employees is.
While this one finds the current pricing absurd, the in game currency ratios irksome, and the way some items are marketed in the bizarre utterly duplicitous…
It is disingenuous to just call it greed.
Game developers (and the rest of the staff) deserve vacations, health care, and pensions. Just like every other worker. These things are not free and depending upon the nation they are in… These things become very expensive.
While this one dislikes many aspects and choices made in this monetization model, this one also must acknowledge that it is quite close to industry standard (ignore for a moment that Tencent controls a large swathe of the industry) and that the need to generate revenue is extremely valid.
Yeah, no. Sorry, I respect you a lot, but this is nowhere near the fair and accurate representation of the situation.
The fact is that one of those “sides” has been not just snippy but downright hostile right from the start. Anyone who has dared to come here and voice their negative opinion about any aspect of the new monetization – be that the pricing or FOMO or morality or whatever – has been met with “STFU and vote with your wallet” right from the start.
And I’m sure that, if you wanted to, you could come up with the list of the most hostile people who make sure to post their “STFU and GTFO” stuff on every thread they catch. Not that I want to name names, but I know you’re aware of this.
So no, it hasn’t been 2 months of subjective back and forth that wore everyone’s patience thin. It’s been 2 months of trying to voice our own opinions and maybe have a decent discussion with reasonable people like yourself and a handful of others – I don’t want to name those names, either – while being constantly bombarded by toxic bullshіt.
The Gouging Crowd doesn’t really need to convince the Acceptance Crowd, much less the Whale Defense Brigade.
If the so-called Gouging Crowd wants to convince anyone of anything, it’s Funcom.
When I complain about BLB, it’s because I want Funcom to know it. Instead, I get attacked by the Whale Defense Brigade and then I get dragged into a discussion with people whose idea of solid reasoning is this:
Apologies for getting snippy, but give me a break with how you’re tired of arguing with those of us who are voicing our view on how Funcom treated the part of playerbase we belong to.
When I was going to school, that would have been a low D, just barely above a passing grade. But it seems like some years after I graduated, they shifted D grades down into the 60s, which were previously a fail, in order to let more kids “pass”.
Don’t play online, don’t PvP, being able to full loot an enemy seems mostly pointless and just to act like a jerk, tbh. They should just remove looting entirely. One less toxic part of the game.
Absolutely right. People can’t express any negativity towards stuff on the forums, because you have those who have elected themselves Funcom’s Guardians, to protect the developers from anyone whose opinion isn’t “Bow down and kiss FC’s butt.”.
Please don’t take me wrong. I’m not tired of people voicing their views and I believe you have every right to continue on but imho there isn’t much more to chime in on. I have stated all I can say on the matter. I just picked up this because I wanted to lower the tension a bit (and apparently failed).
Being able to share it, like the dlc’s… for example, we are few friends, some couples playing CE, we will have to buy each things for everyone in the household… And this is expensive…
It’s not about being a white knight. At the end of the day FC made a choice, and this is what we have to live with.
You either; A) suck it up and buy multiple copies of stuff, or B) don’t buy it so they get less revenue.
They aren’t likely to change this course, however.
The options now are effectively:
They make enough money on the Bazaar to keep doing updates.
They don’t make enough money on the Bazaar, and we -might- get some updates until Dune comes out.
CE is shut down on development and those working on it are reallocated to Dune or other projects.
At this stage, I’d say get the PC version, however you can, and just go with 3rd party mods for content. There’s much more of it, it looks nicer in a lot of cases, and it won’t cost you much of anything. (Nothing at all if you’re already on PC.)
Personally, I’m going to keep with the Battle Pass, since it’s funding itself. But I won’t touch anything from the Bazaar. Since I believe it’s immoral and not worth it. And while I can fully buy out the Bazaar from now until 4 or 5 years from now without any issue at all (so don’t try to say that I’m poor and just saying this because I can’t afford it), I’m not simply because it’s against my principles.
Unless a drastic overhaul reworks the Bazaar into something a lot more tolerable, it’s just not something I will support.
That being things such as:
Prices shifting to reflect a more accurate and less inflated value.
The ability to buy exact amounts of Crom Coins based on what you want, rather than packs that always force you to keep buying more.
