I haven’t looked much at the bazaar/battle pass since they were released because a. They confuse the hell out of me (like what do you actually get with battlepass? It’s not very clear but it seems to be the chore of completing mundane tasks in exchange for a heap of mostly basic items) and b. I’ve never seen content on it that has appealed to me. Today I accidentally saw the Aquilonian bathhouse set and thought “wouldn’t mind having a bath in my base…” Looked at how much it would cost to get it and basically to get the set for 1855 crom coins (down from 2650) I would have to spend £15.99 for 2640 coins for a set of 7 basic items… Like wtf? Is that legit? I hate being rude but wow that is a massive slap in the face to all your fans that are heavily invested in this game and have supported you over the years.
Just want to point out that Isle of Siptah (an entire new map, dungeons, armours, weapons) is £15.99 so there was a time when you hadn’t completely lost your minds… My question to you Funcom, is how the hell do you justify such extortionate overpricing?
If you are struggling for money so badly to overprice simple content to such an extent, I think the biggest issue you need to address is how frequently you break your game with updates, causing a plethora of bugs across the board that probably costs your company so much time and money fixing them, and drives players away. It feels like you are trying to get your most devoted fans to cover the expense of your incompetence in managing this game. If you aren’t struggling for money then that is so much worse because you’re just being greedy af.
It’s even shadier that you’ve tried to mask it behind virtual currency. It’s shady that if this set was at original price the only way to get it would be to buy the 5040 coins for £28.99 because the pricing of it is set at 10 coins more than the lower coin package… Just wow.
And what tops all of this off is the fact you are hoping people will pay this while you consistently break your game with almost every new update you bring out. I know I already raised this point but it’s such a joke it can’t be said enough.
For the record, I bought all of your dlcs back when it was a fair trade: a bunch of content in exchange for a fairly reasonable price. Both parties benefitted. I also used to recommend this game to people whenever I met new gamers. But I won’t ever be recommending the game or spending another penny on your current sleazy business practice. What an awful way to taint a brilliant game.
I’m well aware it’s all optional content, mostly cosmetics, but if you scrapped your virtual currency and priced this stuff at a fair rate you would probably make far more sales and gain more support/fans/patience and understanding when you break the game yet again.
I don’t expect this will be addressed, or that I’m even the first to complain about this, but it really can’t be said enough. I don’t even care about the content on your bazaar, it’s just that this kind of dodgy business practice is cropping up all over the gaming industry these days and I hate seeing it appear in beloved games… I just implore anyone reading this not to encourage, endorse or buy into this kind of behaviour - virtual currency is the dumbest attempt at exploitation I’ve ever seen and it pains me that people with more money than sense must be buying into it because companies keep doing it.