I was quite mad when this pack was announced at this price, but I'm less so now. I spend some money on this game, but not nearly enough to buy this pack, and it's people like me that feel like we've lost out. Everyone knew it was going to be P2P, but people weren't expecting this price.
However...
This expensive pack is actually beneficial for two types of players. The huge spenders - the ones that can afford this pack - now have a an actual differentiator from the more moderate spenders, who were all on the same level before. This pack is also good for the F2P players. If these characters were 1/3 of the price, then loads more people would have bought them, and F2P players on the whole would be much more disadvantaged as a result.
One thing I haven't seen discussed about this is the disappointment many of us felt after so much effort was put into the build-up. The event series was very well received on the whole (by a player base that is often hard to please), and this generated a lot of excitement about the characters. We got to use them during play and unlock them (and use a whole lot of gear on them in anticipation for the 7* when the packs came out). You guys did an exceptional job of selling the characters to us, even the "packaging" (events) was great. I think a lot of people were disappointed because they were really looking forward to having these characters, so the high level of anger coming out in many of these posts is only so because everything up until the release of the packs was executed beautifully.
This is very well put. Requoted for truth.
In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie
In game guild: TNR Uprising I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
*This space left intentionally blank*
I find it amusing that people are complaining about a $1000 toon but not $250 a toon. If you are getting robbed, you are getting robbed. What does the amount matter?
I mean that really doesn't make sense, yes 250 was a lot for a group of pixels but a 4x increase is still very noticeable. If someone takes your wallet that sucks. But if they take your savings account it is worse.
I find it amusing that people are complaining about a $1000 toon but not $250 a toon. If you are getting robbed, you are getting robbed. What does the amount matter?
I mean that really doesn't make sense, yes 250 was a lot for a group of pixels but a 4x increase is still very noticeable. If someone takes your wallet that sucks. But if they take your savings account it is worse.
I hate everything about this pack and the direction of the game in general right now.
And while I especially hate the price, I hate everytime I read a post that uses the ridiculous phrase and concept of "spending money on pixels" (not singling out anyone in particular).
First of all, you're not even getting pixels if you buy anything in this game. The only pixels I own related to this game were bought and paid for from Apple in the form of my iPad screen.
As consumers, we pay for lots of things that don't have a tangible object attached to it. Netflix is an extraordinarily great product at a price point that's insanely low for the amount and quality of content you get. should we laugh at Netflix subscribers for paying for steaming 1's and 0's?
You paid to go see Rogue One in the theater and all you have 2 hours later are memories?
I bought Taco Bell the other day and all I have to show for that is a receipt for more toilet paper.
ATT just increased the cost of my data plan again. I've had it for like 11 years and if I switch to Verizon I have nothing to show for it.... doesnt that sound stupid?
There is nothing wrong with a consumer paying for consumable content in any form.
I find it amusing that people are complaining about a $1000 toon but not $250 a toon. If you are getting robbed, you are getting robbed. What does the amount matter?
I mean that really doesn't make sense, yes 250 was a lot for a group of pixels but a 4x increase is still very noticeable. If someone takes your wallet that sucks. But if they take your savings account it is worse.
I think you kind of missed the point as I go on to state that for 40 years we had video games at fixed prices for around $40. So just buying one single piece of a game for $250 means that getting the full game requires an expenditure that is a MASSIVE exponential increase over the historical price point of video games. Yet no one boycotted the game to begin with.......
So going back to your analogy, EA not only took your life savings, but that of all of your extended family and all of their friends as well....
Just wanted to add my 2 cents :
the "Citadel Pack" price does look ridiculous and I would never ever buy that (even though I do spend on SWGOH , dolphin style)
But at this point, I don't even care. Gearing the characters I already have is such a task that I won't start another one anytime soon, even if OP (and of course not at such a price)
So, all in all, I am not a targeted customer and it's fine.
People will pay to play this game, and even most of the "F2P" people have bought some small crystal packs, or the crystal subscription.
Now it's very likely that I wasn't going to buy enough packs to 7star a character even if the cost was only $200, but I may have bought a few packs to get to 5*. The point isn't that the pack cost too much for just me. It's the fact that the pack cost is ridiculous on the whole. Over $1000 to get those shards. Even at $50 they would sell a ton of 7* toons, Id consider dropping $50 to 7* krennic and Death trooper. The cost of an average console game, that's all Id spend this month, but Id buy it. But $1000? Shoot I can buy a HD TV, Xbox one and a game for that price. Insanity. Considering there is no physical product, just a database transaction. They need to get with reality and realize that these 1000% increases in price are going to shut down all spending.
Even if I could afford this pack, I still wouldn't buy it. The value is so far negative that smart consumers will pass.
But $1000? Shoot I can buy a HD TV, Xbox one and a game for that price. Insanity. Considering there is no physical product, just a database transaction. They need to get with reality and realize that these 1000% increases...
Here's a fact from UNICEF: "At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day"
So, while you think it's insane fir a whale to spend a $1000 on pixels when you could have a new Xbox and tv, 80% of the worlds population thinks it's insane that you would spend $1000 on an Xbox and tv when they could have food and shelter for 6 months.
$250 or $1000 ... equally stupid pricing in my opinion.
They could make some toons cost $5000 and it still wouldn't matter. Only in the sense that I wouldn't have to battle so many of them in the arena. Which is something I am completely fine with.
I hope whales will be happy when EA lowers the price to $500. They will most likely be thankful and happy because the price was only raised by 100% and not 400%.
It's a case of EA wanting the raise the price. Whales just need to take it, because of their addiction. Most whales aren't stup1d - not at all. Not the ones I know at least, so don't understand my post that way please.
In reality, this is a sad state of affairs, but I am completely unaffected so I can't really be mad at EA for doing this. Only maybe the "chance of 30" scam they always seem to try to trick gamlers with.
I think the new Dev just basically told us not to bother with packs because theyll be free in 2 to 3 months. Why on earth would we spend money on characters that will be farmable in a short time?
I think the new Dev just basically told us not to bother with packs because theyll be free in 2 to 3 months. Why on earth would we spend money on characters that will be farmable in a short time?
It makes them more money with their new model. Krakens and some whales will splurge.
I think the new Dev just basically told us not to bother with packs because theyll be free in 2 to 3 months. Why on earth would we spend money on characters that will be farmable in a short time?
I took his comments differently... the time structure is there, but NOWHERE is the packs we have been referencing is mentioned. This means one of two things, they will continue to put out these absolutely ridiculous priced packs after the toon is released for those needing that immediate fix (drug dealer anyone).... THEN in 4-6 weeks they will place the toons in chromium packs (let the next set of folks who will buy them there for more money).... THEN in 4-6 weeks we'll see them for FTP.
This is completely disrespectful to not acknowledge the masses concerns over where the game is heading and the outrageously priced packs that are CLEARLY being met with animosity.
I understand you cannot address every concern we the consumer bring up, but to flat out ignore something that a majority of players are advising is a huge concern is just sad. Very professional updates can come out with no problem, but addressing our concerns isn't something any member of the CG Team can bother with?
I'm not a big spender. My problem with the citadel packs has never been the price, except that it caused me to spend crystals on refreshes rather than saving for a pack or two. For me, the issue was that I didn't know if these new toons would be available within any sort of reasonable timeframe after these packs. Knowing that there is a general timeframe is great news for me. Give the krakens a few weeks of total exclusivity. Then open it up to smaller spenders. Knowing that I should be able to farm them within four months is news that lets me gear toons that might be arena viable at three or four stars.
I think the new Dev just basically told us not to bother with packs because theyll be free in 2 to 3 months. Why on earth would we spend money on characters that will be farmable in a short time?
I took his comments differently... the time structure is there, but NOWHERE is the packs we have been referencing is mentioned. This means one of two things, they will continue to put out these absolutely ridiculous priced packs after the toon is released for those needing that immediate fix (drug dealer anyone).... THEN in 4-6 weeks they will place the toons in chromium packs (let the next set of folks who will buy them there for more money).... THEN in 4-6 weeks we'll see them for FTP.
This is completely disrespectful to not acknowledge the masses concerns over where the game is heading and the outrageously priced packs that are CLEARLY being met with animosity.
I understand you cannot address every concern we the consumer bring up, but to flat out ignore something that a majority of players are advising is a huge concern is just sad. Very professional updates can come out with no problem, but addressing our concerns isn't something any member of the CG Team can bother with?
Exactly how i feel. Its the whole look over here and not there tactic almost or bait and switch. Dont get me wrong i do like what was said and the news about it but i was more wanting some info on those Citadel packs. And nothing was said so its either they are going to stick their head in the sand and hope we forget or they are waiting for someone to give the go ahead to lower the prices on them or to talk about it.
I think the new Dev just basically told us not to bother with packs because theyll be free in 2 to 3 months. Why on earth would we spend money on characters that will be farmable in a short time?
I took his comments differently... the time structure is there, but NOWHERE is the packs we have been referencing is mentioned. This means one of two things, they will continue to put out these absolutely ridiculous priced packs after the toon is released for those needing that immediate fix (drug dealer anyone).... THEN in 4-6 weeks they will place the toons in chromium packs (let the next set of folks who will buy them there for more money).... THEN in 4-6 weeks we'll see them for FTP.
This is completely disrespectful to not acknowledge the masses concerns over where the game is heading and the outrageously priced packs that are CLEARLY being met with animosity.
I understand you cannot address every concern we the consumer bring up, but to flat out ignore something that a majority of players are advising is a huge concern is just sad. Very professional updates can come out with no problem, but addressing our concerns isn't something any member of the CG Team can bother with?
Good luck on the chromiums with their very rare drop rate. I can remember some players payed up to 4k$ and didnt get a 7* Baze. That will totaly payout
Devs who speak to the masses have to be spin doctors to some degree. The recent update says they Have heard the rumblings and cannot elaborate any further. Never worked for someone who was dead set on what you thought was a horrible move before? What would you say about that decision publicly on a forum like this? Someone near the top said to spike the prices and the people who talk to us don't have the juice to do any differently. Not intended as a cheap shot at the dev who gave us the update, FYI.
The new update from TopHat is be the best dev update in a while and I think is a win for both the devs and players. We always ask for clarity/communication and as far as I can tell, this is the first time there has been any actual communication concerning rollout of new characters to various tables. Think about how much grief the devs would have spared themselves if they put out this info before and players got **** that their new aurodium toons got released to f2p in weeks. This is good news for both p2p and f2p because it lets p2p project spending and maybe get a couple packs they would otherwise ignore. From my perspective, I'm fine shelling out a few thousand crystals for shards, but won't do it when there is no way to know when the toon will be farmable. I just ignore those toons otherwise (i.e., cassian). Why spend the $100 on that bundle when for all you know, the toon might have stayed unfarmable for 8 months or more? This is also a fantastic update for f2p. Now you can gear up your 3 star deathtrooper and whoever else knowing it's not a waste of gear and they will be farmable in a predictable timeframe.
At the same time, this lets the devs get paid since there is a clear advantage to having an op toon before it hits the masses and top p2p players can continue to be ahead of the curve if they are willing to keep spending on new toons every few months. I genuinely think this communication was a nuanced approach that works on all levels, which makes it all the more surprising CG went this route given how many recent swings and misses they have had.
@CG_TopHat, hats off to you. My sincere thanks for the information.
I'm a P2P player and to date have spent probably around 3k on this game and I've been playing for slightly over a year. I was ok with spending 250-300 bucks to 7s a character and that was an acceptable time value entertainment vs monetary expense trade off for someone with my income level.
However in the recent months, the value of these packs have just been borderline (that's me being civil) daylight robbery while at the same time claiming to help P2P players get the new characters to 7s. That's a slap in the face to me who have supported this game monetarily at best. A 10% price increase annually is ok but close to 10x for this recent pack is just, I don't even have civil words for it.
Also the value of the new characters are devalued faster than before. I doubt anyone has forgotten how long it was before Rex and Sun Fac was available elsewhere. That made them extremely valuable to the P2P guys.
Now before we get into the debate whether P2P guys should always have the advantage because we are the ones keeping this game in business. I believe that F2P players should have viable alternatives but with an extremely difficult grind but an alternative nonetheless.
The meta is now shifting towards that imo where you could have a F2P arena team holding their own against the current P2P Chaze teams but with this latest release at this sort of pricing, there should be a much harder grind for F2P players to match P2P otherwise why would P2P guys continue to spend?
In my case it has actually stopped my spending in the game for the last 3 weeks. Hope CG/EA is getting this, you are turning away a P2P player with this sort of cash grab.
Due to being F2P (+- 50$/year) i don't even bother with those packs.
I can however see a huge arrow to the knee coming up here. As already mentioned P2P characters had that touch of exclusivity for months (Rex, Sun Fac, ..).
Then there was this increase in price for Baze, who not much longer was available in shard shop for a while.
And now we have this Citadel pack, which pretty much states $1000 for 2 chars and a week later (after some people dropped that cash) you get a message from the devs saying, that DT/K are going to be chromiums (probably Chaze style for $3k) in a month or so, which pretty much equals another increase in price, and then in 3 months tops they become F2P (or F2lookat like Shore).
All in all, Increasing Costs with Decreasing Exlusivity for Spenders.. Not sure how long that's going to last, but what do i care. I find 20$ for some pixels a bunch already.
I'm glad this game is f2p, I've had my run at all the ard packs for Rex, wedge, b2, etc. This new pyramid thing is amazing cause now I don't have to pay anymore I can just wait and grind.
I'm a P2P player and to date have spent probably around 3k on this game and I've been playing for slightly over a year. I was ok with spending 250-300 bucks to 7s a character and that was an acceptable time value entertainment vs monetary expense trade off for someone with my income level.
However in the recent months, the value of these packs have just been borderline (that's me being civil) daylight robbery while at the same time claiming to help P2P players get the new characters to 7s. That's a slap in the face to me who have supported this game monetarily at best. A 10% price increase annually is ok but close to 10x for this recent pack is just, I don't even have civil words for it.
Also the value of the new characters are devalued faster than before. I doubt anyone has forgotten how long it was before Rex and Sun Fac was available elsewhere. That made them extremely valuable to the P2P guys.
Now before we get into the debate whether P2P guys should always have the advantage because we are the ones keeping this game in business. I believe that F2P players should have viable alternatives but with an extremely difficult grind but an alternative nonetheless.
The meta is now shifting towards that imo where you could have a F2P arena team holding their own against the current P2P Chaze teams but with this latest release at this sort of pricing, there should be a much harder grind for F2P players to match P2P otherwise why would P2P guys continue to spend?
In my case it has actually stopped my spending in the game for the last 3 weeks. Hope CG/EA is getting this, you are turning away a P2P player with this sort of cash grab.
Good post. Not sure how else to state this so I'll break it down this way.
1. Price & Availability. You mentioned Rex and SunFac. Pre-Wedge, what other P2P character aside from Rex is still really viable in Arena? I started playing in early December and SunFac has disappeared from my top-10 and I'm sure not much else is there in the top-20+. Cody, Echo? All of these P2P characters that were either no good to begin with or irrelevant now in Arena. Clones can at least be good in raid with Cody zeta. If EA is intending to cycle P2P characters with a starting cost ranging from $500 - $1,000 and then cycle them into F2P farming within 2 to 3 month, what incentive is there to pay? You have your ultra-compulsive shoppers that will do it but that's not a large percentage of the population I wouldn't think. Why should we buy characters? Aside from character, you still have to farm zeta's in omegas, and at this point to farm two sets of zetas, you're probably close to the 2-month mark at the rate in-which zeta's drop / don't drop (depending on your POV) in the challenge. There is no incentive to buy them.
2. Once you buy the character: The character you buy is not even guaranteed to be good. Characters are incredibly dependent upon Mods. If you can't get your character up to a certain speed, then they are going to suck anyway. They should give us the characters for free and make us pay for the better mods instead because that's what it really takes, character quality is as relevant as mod-quality. As I mentioned above, everybody has a zeta ability or two. With how bad the zeta challenge drop rates are, it's about 3 weeks to farm one set of zeta. Again, you're sitting there with your newly purchased character and can't even use him for 3 weeks. Once you have the mods and zeta's for your character, they still may not even be good. I did not buy the packs because the price was ridiculous and I don't want my wife to leave me. But I did max gear DT and DK, put my best mods on them, max abiltiies, got the turn order I wanted, and found that Krennic is not that good and had to replace him. So if I would've paid for him, I would now have a character that I can't even use competitively. DT is a pretty solid character, BUUUUUT, I had to put 105 speed on him to be competitive and I could afford to give him more to be honest. Still not worth a couple hundred dollars. So kind of like what comes first the chicken or the egg, what's more important, the character or the mods?
Is it just me or does anyone else think the two new Darkside packs in the store are extremely overpriced? 2999 crystals and all you get is 4 shards for Krenic and Death with the non existent "chance" for 30. Thanks CG/EA
$30 for a total of 8 shards is RIDICULOUS!!!!!! Leave the price at 2999 but add at least 30 shards GUARANTEED with a non existent "chance" for 50.
In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie
In game guild: TNR Uprising I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
*This space left intentionally blank*
Yeah, if you could 7* for about $100 to $150 they'd make a ton. But 1200$ is ridiculous.
I think your assumption might be a bit off. There is quite a bit of data that suggests that the higher price point works for two simple reasons:
1) There are people with a large amount of disposable income (we usually call them "whales" here) - they will pay the amount...whether it is $100 or $1200.
2) There is a small group (we typically call them "dolphins" or "guppies" or somewhere in between) that might spend $n - but only is n is below a certain number - and maybe even if that price is only for specific characters that fit their current team/future team, etc.
The point is that you only need 1 of #1 to make up for 12 of #2 not spending. Obviously, EA/CG's data suggests that they have enough "whales" to spend that those that are more particular in how much or on what they spend, that the larger price tag actually yields them more money in the long run than more purchases at a lesser price point.
Many people can say "well if it were only $X, I'd buy it" - but my guess is that the smaller number of people that will buy it at $X times 10, is more than enough to cover the difference - even with fewer numbers.
In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie
In game guild: TNR Uprising I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
*This space left intentionally blank*
Replies
This is very well put. Requoted for truth.
In game guild: TNR Uprising
I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
*This space left intentionally blank*
I mean that really doesn't make sense, yes 250 was a lot for a group of pixels but a 4x increase is still very noticeable. If someone takes your wallet that sucks. But if they take your savings account it is worse.
I hate everything about this pack and the direction of the game in general right now.
And while I especially hate the price, I hate everytime I read a post that uses the ridiculous phrase and concept of "spending money on pixels" (not singling out anyone in particular).
First of all, you're not even getting pixels if you buy anything in this game. The only pixels I own related to this game were bought and paid for from Apple in the form of my iPad screen.
As consumers, we pay for lots of things that don't have a tangible object attached to it. Netflix is an extraordinarily great product at a price point that's insanely low for the amount and quality of content you get. should we laugh at Netflix subscribers for paying for steaming 1's and 0's?
You paid to go see Rogue One in the theater and all you have 2 hours later are memories?
I bought Taco Bell the other day and all I have to show for that is a receipt for more toilet paper.
ATT just increased the cost of my data plan again. I've had it for like 11 years and if I switch to Verizon I have nothing to show for it.... doesnt that sound stupid?
There is nothing wrong with a consumer paying for consumable content in any form.
I think you kind of missed the point as I go on to state that for 40 years we had video games at fixed prices for around $40. So just buying one single piece of a game for $250 means that getting the full game requires an expenditure that is a MASSIVE exponential increase over the historical price point of video games. Yet no one boycotted the game to begin with.......
So going back to your analogy, EA not only took your life savings, but that of all of your extended family and all of their friends as well....
the "Citadel Pack" price does look ridiculous and I would never ever buy that (even though I do spend on SWGOH , dolphin style)
But at this point, I don't even care. Gearing the characters I already have is such a task that I won't start another one anytime soon, even if OP (and of course not at such a price)
So, all in all, I am not a targeted customer and it's fine.
Now it's very likely that I wasn't going to buy enough packs to 7star a character even if the cost was only $200, but I may have bought a few packs to get to 5*. The point isn't that the pack cost too much for just me. It's the fact that the pack cost is ridiculous on the whole. Over $1000 to get those shards. Even at $50 they would sell a ton of 7* toons, Id consider dropping $50 to 7* krennic and Death trooper. The cost of an average console game, that's all Id spend this month, but Id buy it. But $1000? Shoot I can buy a HD TV, Xbox one and a game for that price. Insanity. Considering there is no physical product, just a database transaction. They need to get with reality and realize that these 1000% increases in price are going to shut down all spending.
Even if I could afford this pack, I still wouldn't buy it. The value is so far negative that smart consumers will pass.
Here's a fact from UNICEF: "At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day"
So, while you think it's insane fir a whale to spend a $1000 on pixels when you could have a new Xbox and tv, 80% of the worlds population thinks it's insane that you would spend $1000 on an Xbox and tv when they could have food and shelter for 6 months.
So, reality is a matter of perspective.
They could make some toons cost $5000 and it still wouldn't matter. Only in the sense that I wouldn't have to battle so many of them in the arena. Which is something I am completely fine with.
I hope whales will be happy when EA lowers the price to $500. They will most likely be thankful and happy because the price was only raised by 100% and not 400%.
It's a case of EA wanting the raise the price. Whales just need to take it, because of their addiction. Most whales aren't stup1d - not at all. Not the ones I know at least, so don't understand my post that way please.
In reality, this is a sad state of affairs, but I am completely unaffected so I can't really be mad at EA for doing this. Only maybe the "chance of 30" scam they always seem to try to trick gamlers with.
And BOOM! Look who was right all along.
It makes them more money with their new model. Krakens and some whales will splurge.
I took his comments differently... the time structure is there, but NOWHERE is the packs we have been referencing is mentioned. This means one of two things, they will continue to put out these absolutely ridiculous priced packs after the toon is released for those needing that immediate fix (drug dealer anyone).... THEN in 4-6 weeks they will place the toons in chromium packs (let the next set of folks who will buy them there for more money).... THEN in 4-6 weeks we'll see them for FTP.
This is completely disrespectful to not acknowledge the masses concerns over where the game is heading and the outrageously priced packs that are CLEARLY being met with animosity.
I understand you cannot address every concern we the consumer bring up, but to flat out ignore something that a majority of players are advising is a huge concern is just sad. Very professional updates can come out with no problem, but addressing our concerns isn't something any member of the CG Team can bother with?
Exactly how i feel. Its the whole look over here and not there tactic almost or bait and switch. Dont get me wrong i do like what was said and the news about it but i was more wanting some info on those Citadel packs. And nothing was said so its either they are going to stick their head in the sand and hope we forget or they are waiting for someone to give the go ahead to lower the prices on them or to talk about it.
Good luck on the chromiums with their very rare drop rate. I can remember some players payed up to 4k$ and didnt get a 7* Baze. That will totaly payout
At the same time, this lets the devs get paid since there is a clear advantage to having an op toon before it hits the masses and top p2p players can continue to be ahead of the curve if they are willing to keep spending on new toons every few months. I genuinely think this communication was a nuanced approach that works on all levels, which makes it all the more surprising CG went this route given how many recent swings and misses they have had.
@CG_TopHat, hats off to you. My sincere thanks for the information.
Ava
However in the recent months, the value of these packs have just been borderline (that's me being civil) daylight robbery while at the same time claiming to help P2P players get the new characters to 7s. That's a slap in the face to me who have supported this game monetarily at best. A 10% price increase annually is ok but close to 10x for this recent pack is just, I don't even have civil words for it.
Also the value of the new characters are devalued faster than before. I doubt anyone has forgotten how long it was before Rex and Sun Fac was available elsewhere. That made them extremely valuable to the P2P guys.
Now before we get into the debate whether P2P guys should always have the advantage because we are the ones keeping this game in business. I believe that F2P players should have viable alternatives but with an extremely difficult grind but an alternative nonetheless.
The meta is now shifting towards that imo where you could have a F2P arena team holding their own against the current P2P Chaze teams but with this latest release at this sort of pricing, there should be a much harder grind for F2P players to match P2P otherwise why would P2P guys continue to spend?
In my case it has actually stopped my spending in the game for the last 3 weeks. Hope CG/EA is getting this, you are turning away a P2P player with this sort of cash grab.
swgoh.gg profile
I can however see a huge arrow to the knee coming up here. As already mentioned P2P characters had that touch of exclusivity for months (Rex, Sun Fac, ..).
Then there was this increase in price for Baze, who not much longer was available in shard shop for a while.
And now we have this Citadel pack, which pretty much states $1000 for 2 chars and a week later (after some people dropped that cash) you get a message from the devs saying, that DT/K are going to be chromiums (probably Chaze style for $3k) in a month or so, which pretty much equals another increase in price, and then in 3 months tops they become F2P (or F2lookat like Shore).
All in all, Increasing Costs with Decreasing Exlusivity for Spenders.. Not sure how long that's going to last, but what do i care. I find 20$ for some pixels a bunch already.
Good post. Not sure how else to state this so I'll break it down this way.
1. Price & Availability. You mentioned Rex and SunFac. Pre-Wedge, what other P2P character aside from Rex is still really viable in Arena? I started playing in early December and SunFac has disappeared from my top-10 and I'm sure not much else is there in the top-20+. Cody, Echo? All of these P2P characters that were either no good to begin with or irrelevant now in Arena. Clones can at least be good in raid with Cody zeta. If EA is intending to cycle P2P characters with a starting cost ranging from $500 - $1,000 and then cycle them into F2P farming within 2 to 3 month, what incentive is there to pay? You have your ultra-compulsive shoppers that will do it but that's not a large percentage of the population I wouldn't think. Why should we buy characters? Aside from character, you still have to farm zeta's in omegas, and at this point to farm two sets of zetas, you're probably close to the 2-month mark at the rate in-which zeta's drop / don't drop (depending on your POV) in the challenge. There is no incentive to buy them.
2. Once you buy the character: The character you buy is not even guaranteed to be good. Characters are incredibly dependent upon Mods. If you can't get your character up to a certain speed, then they are going to suck anyway. They should give us the characters for free and make us pay for the better mods instead because that's what it really takes, character quality is as relevant as mod-quality. As I mentioned above, everybody has a zeta ability or two. With how bad the zeta challenge drop rates are, it's about 3 weeks to farm one set of zeta. Again, you're sitting there with your newly purchased character and can't even use him for 3 weeks. Once you have the mods and zeta's for your character, they still may not even be good. I did not buy the packs because the price was ridiculous and I don't want my wife to leave me. But I did max gear DT and DK, put my best mods on them, max abiltiies, got the turn order I wanted, and found that Krennic is not that good and had to replace him. So if I would've paid for him, I would now have a character that I can't even use competitively. DT is a pretty solid character, BUUUUUT, I had to put 105 speed on him to be competitive and I could afford to give him more to be honest. Still not worth a couple hundred dollars. So kind of like what comes first the chicken or the egg, what's more important, the character or the mods?
$30 for a total of 8 shards is RIDICULOUS!!!!!! Leave the price at 2999 but add at least 30 shards GUARANTEED with a non existent "chance" for 50.
In game guild: TNR Uprising
I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
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So 30 to 50 shards per pack is about right.
I think your assumption might be a bit off. There is quite a bit of data that suggests that the higher price point works for two simple reasons:
1) There are people with a large amount of disposable income (we usually call them "whales" here) - they will pay the amount...whether it is $100 or $1200.
2) There is a small group (we typically call them "dolphins" or "guppies" or somewhere in between) that might spend $n - but only is n is below a certain number - and maybe even if that price is only for specific characters that fit their current team/future team, etc.
The point is that you only need 1 of #1 to make up for 12 of #2 not spending. Obviously, EA/CG's data suggests that they have enough "whales" to spend that those that are more particular in how much or on what they spend, that the larger price tag actually yields them more money in the long run than more purchases at a lesser price point.
Many people can say "well if it were only $X, I'd buy it" - but my guess is that the smaller number of people that will buy it at $X times 10, is more than enough to cover the difference - even with fewer numbers.
In game guild: TNR Uprising
I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
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