When I saw the price of this item when doing the EotD quest, I simply said 'No, this is pay-to-win ' ... I am a 'millionaire', but I don't reward companies with my money when they intentionally introduce like this to milk people. You simply don't buy the stuff , and then you come here to the forum and make your feelings felt, I disagree with the people who say the comment is naive, it's important to call this crap out or we'll see more of it. Like the Conflagrant armor that is equivalent to T2 whose components drop off trash mobs. Big scam to get people to buy Kronos, really cheapens the game. Despite having the money to buy whatever I could need, this sort of thing messes up the risk/reward metric of the game and makes me want to play less. If something is difficult to achieve but has an ample reward, I'll do it, and that's what keeps me playing and paying, if that reward can be bought for a few dollars I will not only not buy it, I'll uninstall the game. You gotta speak with your wallet, but you should also speak out about this sort of profit model because it cheapens the real accomplishments of those who don't buy stuff, too. This expansion was a big pay-to-win fiasco and I'm unlikely to buy the next one because of it. No one would watch the olympics if athletes could pay a million dollars to start 10 feet ahead, and no one should accept that hundreds of hours of accomplishments can be bought for 10$. It ruins the experience and motivation for everyone.
wow that is too bad.. I used to buy them when they were 1000 dbc.. Just started doing TS on a new server, I wont be buying this item anymore.. What a money grab.. Hey DBG.. When something sells GREAT it's not always a good idea to jack up the price..
The title is a little misleading. There is nothing shady about posting a price and then making you as the consumer confirm the transaction before you purchase something. Shady would be increasing the subscription prices without notice and everyone on auto renewal getting charged more without knowing in advance. Is 25 bucks to much for this item? I guess it all depends on each individual and how much they value the item. For me at 10 bucks it was not worth it but then again I have never had issues farming mats for raising my skills to 300 (currently have 9 toons at 300 in the 7 base trade skills with trophies fully evolved and a toon maxed in poison/tinkering and one in alchemy). I have no issues with people objecting to the price increase because they feel it is to steep but saying this is shady is a bit overkill. In reality this game is one of the few things that has been inflation proof over the years (for the most part). I honestly cant think of anything I bought nearly 20 years ago and still buy to this day that are basically the same price. If micro transactions in game go up while our sub prices stay the same I will be a happy camper.
The problem is not the price of the item, but intentionally introducing quests which require tradeskills to complete the progression arcs, then selling this item for a high price. If you accept this, you will see much more of it... Stupid monotonous introduced into the game for the sake of selling marketplace items. Next expansion maybe all armor requires you to have high level tradeskills just to do the combine from drops. They will do whatever they can get away with, how much of a doormat / serf you want to be is your choice, this iteration may not effect you but the next may... No one should accept pay-to-win .
Hmm. Almost maxed all tradeskills here. I have done just about every TS quest I can get and I have never bought a Draught of the Craftsman. My point is that they are NOT essential.
Maybe you missed the part where I have 9 toons maxed in the seven base trade skills plus a toon for tinkering/poison and an alchemist not to mention two master researchers and my main is about 80% done with artisan's prize evolution. I own my own guild just for the neighborhood and have 60 houses currently. If anyone has a trade skill addiction I am right up there with the worse of them and yet I have never once bought this item for the simple fact I don't see the value in it for me personally. What is this addiction you speak of? I know of one person in game who cares little about progression or gear and literally everything they do in game revolves around trade skills either in farming mats or crafting. I had to explain to them what an aug was several months ago because they were that naive to gear and they have been playing non stop since 1999. Now that's an addiction and yet I don't think they have ever bought one of these (I will ask them tonight when I log in). So please explain to me what this addiction is you speak of.
Quests involving trade skills have been around for well over a decade. POP progression for starters, Eron's jeweler, Plane of war (at least need to know someone who could craft the bow or buy one) and there are plenty others along the way. This is nothing new to EQ. Do the combines and risk a failure like it has always been or pay money and avoid the hassle of farming extras. If you really believed in this crusade you would call for all potions to be removed from the market place since they can all provide a p2w scenario. Heroic characters should be removed and well anything that is even remotely beneficial. Say goodbye to anything but the standard expansion packs since those mount upgrades with the best mount buff in game and teleport items can be considered p2w. Unless you are going to go all out I don't buy what you are selling. Are you telling me you would like all of these features removed from EQ and further are you telling me that you have never used any of them? Or are you just telling me that in your own version of p2w there is a price limit and this has crossed that line?
Almost every game company has been testing the pay to win model. It’s been going on for years. Its one step forward then two steps back then repeate it all over. The op is correct to call out this behavior.
I'd wager that the people that actually enjoy tradeskills would have no use for such things. After all, they find some sort of enjoyment out of organizing houses and bags as well as moving things from one window to another for hours on end. It's the people compelled by over-powered tradeskill quest rewards who also want as little to do with tradeskills as possible that the drought caters to. It's a shortcut to avoid a burden. I've personally vowed to never do a tradeskill ever again. I don't enjoy them, and I won't suffer through them for something I play for entertainment. I also don't subscribe to the idea of buying my achievements.
1. The potion is in no way shape or form of .. The only way to trade skill.. (Thus not shady there) 2. The potion --> IS <-- a viable "option" to speed things along. There is no shady anything .. The fact is the potion is available to any who wish to obtain it for "faster" trade skiling. The shade .. Wod be if o ly "some" of the eq populatuon were able to obtqin the potion due to dbg mechanisms. How ever since it is thee same price for every one .. And it is optional for EVERYONE.. There is no shade. The people upset about it are those who.. A. Cant afford it as many times as they want it.. B. Want some thing for nothing.. C. Schemers tryna cut cost to max TSing.. To max cost of their own in game profits..
I don't buy the DoTC potions , however just wanted to say iirc .. its actually cheaper for All Access members due to the 10% off marketplace purchases.. so technically its not the same price for everyone..
Neither A, B, Or C describe me and I emphatically hate and disagree with this. I believe tying progression and accomplishments to monotonous tasks that a majority of players aren't interested in, and then giving an avenue to bypass that time sink for USD detracts from the real accomplishments of players. If you would like to address that, feel free, but don't create a strawman as I've already stated my position, which I believe is shared by many people and keeps people playing this game, If you sold raid gear for 5$, would anyone care to play the game at all? Because we are very very close to that being the reality. This is not a game defined by fascinating graphics or adrenaline, it is about creativity, hard work, teamwork, and commitment. Once you sell all the rewards for those for 5$, no one will care to play.
I agree that those who enjoy crafting are probably the last to use this tool and at the very least they would probably only use it in very specific situations. In terms of enjoyment EQ is different things to different people and I respect if someone dislikes crafting. There are days I hate crafting but I enjoy it most of the time. There are other things I don't enjoy doing so much but in order to progress I have to do them. It's the nature of a game like this. At least for those who dislike crafting the have something to help them. If someone dislikes quests they either do the quest our of pure need or they skip it. There is no easy button option available.
Price needs to be jacked up even more imo, plenty of goobers out there that will still buy it at 150000 DBC even. After all, if you can sell an expansion for $150 why wouldn't you be able to sell a potion for $150. Lets get back to the real shady behavior that I mentioned before:
