DP Marketplace / Revenue suggestion

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Froglok, Jul 23, 2020.

  1. Ngreth Thergn Developer

    Most of those scheduled events are on the in game calendar, nearly a year ahead.

    How many months warning do you actually need? 24 months?

    1. They wern't selling, so they wern't making any money.
    2. there were so many items on the marketplace that it caused "decision lock" so people wouldn't buy from so many choices.
    3. The McDonald McRib analogy has some merit. Limited time can drive some sales where "always there" may not.

    We *ARE* now rotating our stock, so some of the things that "disappeared" will reappear for a while then rotate out.
    because those *DO* make money.
    EDIT: And the few we add to achievements is because we DO want to give some things players "want" for playing the game and not as an extra purchase.
  2. Pawtato Augur


    Very few people know about the in-game calendar. People are legitimately surprised it exists.
  3. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    Took a look and I did find bonus exp listed at various times seems And the Jan 1 entry makes it seem as if we will be getting bonus exp for the first 3 months of 2021 (Jan 1 to April 1). Nice. Or the dates could refer to the previous line about hotzones although the way it is presented it seems to refer to the bonus exp. If the dates don't refer to the bonus exp it is very confusing.

    I know in the past it was policy not to announce exp bonus periods very much in advance. Since it is in the calendar do you think we can get public announcements on the forums further in advance? As has been mentioned many do not know about the calendar and if we are being told in game a year in advance a week or so on the forums should be no big deal.
    Yinla likes this.
  4. Nniki Augur

    I run into a lot of people that are aware of it but just never think to check it. Not sure how much it'd help, but maybe they could add a line to the loading screen rotation as a reminder for people to check out the in-game calendar for upcoming events.
  5. Hayzeus Augur


    This is the problem. Their expansions are not just mildly overpriced - they are *significantly* overpriced.

    They are overpriced to the point that many players balk at buying them entirely, but unfortunately DPG doesn't appear to believe their products are overpriced. Never mind that DPG prices their tiny add-on expansions higher than other gaming companies price their brand new games.

    Yes, they would sell more digital items and make more money if they priced their products more in line with their actual value. No, their leaders do not understand this.

    Yes, there are a bunch of players that will likely come online and say "sure this two-zone expansion is worth more than double the price of an entire brand new game," but those zealots will be wrong. The problem is that DPG will still use this minority as the reason why they think their overpriced add-ons should be ridiculously over-priced.

    They will sell a few copies (but less than they would want), and then they'll lament that the player base didn't support their over-priced product when, in fact, the player base WOULD spectacularly support their *reasonably* priced product.

    Note that Ngreth addressed the symptom of the lack of sales, but he didn't comment on the reason behind the symptom being due to over-pricing. Instead, he vaguely indicates that the lack of sales must be because the products are just too available and maybe should be constrained more. Avoidance in the extreme. People BUY products that are reasonably priced. Few people will pay bleeding edge prices for a laggard product. Nor should they. The laggard product should be laggard priced. That McRib is not a $20 sandwich. Nor will it ever be. So they don't price it at $20.

    (queue the zealots pointing out that "I don't have the numbers that they see so they must be right while I must be wrong" blah blah)
    Corydon likes this.
  6. Havanap Elder

    Maybe the in-game calendar could appear *as* the loading screen.
  7. Corydon Augur



    Umm, no. Come down from your high horse and have a look at the ingame calendar yourself. Then try to figure out if that data actually is clear enough. Not going to repeat what Corwyhn has posted. Take it as a hint from him.
  8. Sokki Still Won't Buff You!!


    The base expansions I don't think are overpriced at $35 ($31.50 with All Access) and judging by how many players I see in the new expansions, I think the majority of people bought it and most people bought it for multiple accounts. Brand new games are usually $50-60, so I'm not quite sure your math adds up on that claim.

    Now the Collector's and Premium Editions I feel are a little overpriced but all those get you are additional items like mounts, illusions, and port clickies, no extra content. They also offer them at 50% off towards the end of the expansion, so if you really want those items you can grab them at a huge discount if you wait to buy it which puts them more inline with where I think they should be priced to begin with, maybe even a little cheaper than they are probably worth.

    The Lack of sales comment had nothing to do with Expansions, that was in reference to Illusions/Mounts and various other marketplace items that were removed, those were all priced the same as other items of that type. Some have already been reduced in price from when they were first available as well. Mounts are all 1045 now, some of those were 2000-2500 originally.
    Yinla likes this.
  9. Riou EQResource


    The EXP bonuses, or other bonus equivalents such as rares, faction, lockouts, etc, don't actually show any amount of time in advance for Player accounts until they are actually active (in reference to what was quoted)

    I get why it isn't though since some of them do include Marketplace Discounts and probably set up this way to not get people to see it and "wait" for the next events to dump money for DBC



    So far 2k's NBA game for the PS5/ Xbox Series X (next gen console) are gonna be launching with a $70 price tag even now, so others might follow :(
    Yinla and Corydon like this.
  10. Buster_Shruggs Augur

    No need to disparage the McRib! Perhaps a Bogo@50% off, like McDonald's McRib sales, would help move more Marketplace items? :)
  11. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    I'm liking this...the only time of the year I eat at McDonald's is when Big Macs are 2 for $5
    Buster_Shruggs likes this.
  12. Corydon Augur


    I wouldn't even eat them if they were 5 for $2 (more than ever). But to each their own. I eat a lot of other crap.
    CatsPaws likes this.
  13. Corydon Augur


    Read that again, @Ngreth Thergn, and then ask me again how many months I need in advance. I just checked the ingame calendar thoroughly and there is not a single XP bonus weekend listed. Not even the one that has concluded recently. Do your home work before insulting customers. I am happy to take solid advice if I am doing something wrong. Maybe my calendar view is filtered or something. But just don't be a moron when people have valid complaints. Thanks.
  14. Froglok Augur

    I don't understand the logic and what I am hearing is "Cuz I don't wanna."

    These are digital items that have all ready been created and added to the game (meaning zero production costs).

    In that someone surely has to manage the Marketplace, there is also no "real" costs to adding these items back or into the Marketplace, even if maybe a little more time to add them (if they aren't all ready there in the Marketplace data), at least initially.

    Thus, any sales, are a essentially a 100% bonus... and sales that would not have happened otherwise. Any sale, is money made. There is also the added sales bonus that it can / will promote key ring-slot sales.

    I mean, I see stuff in the Marketplace that have been there forever... and they seem to defy all logic that they are there because they sell. I mean, Bottle of Ultravision? Surely any one of the items we speak of would outsell this, easily?

    The price point is also an issue. Again, basically zero costs to put it out there. Price them reasonably and you get more sales (1 item sold for $100 does not make as much as 20 Items sold for $10).

    Put these things on "sale" (add a timer to attract attention, put under "New" items to make sure they are seen). Players don't normally spend a lot of time looking in each section for items, but they do see the New & Timer items.

    It may not be obvious, but it adds variety and options for the players and players want DP to make revenue to EQ keeps going and so forth.
    Gyurika Godofwar and Zamiam like this.
  15. Froglok Augur

    RE: "In the end there is another reason. Each additional illusion is another chunk of memory used."

    The easy response is, add more memory then!

    However, I did notice with last Beta and since, that there seems to be a HUGE concern with adding more items to the game.I was curious if this was more of a task / work load factor than a memory factor. I was also concerned that in order to add new content / expansions, adding new items, etc., is 100% necessary (basic to the game).

    However, I do have suggestions that may help reduce this concern a bit...

    How about re-purposing / modifying existing items?

    After all there are loads of items in the game commonly referred to as "vendor loot" (no use but to sell them to a vendor for coin) or seemingly no use at all (GM's once called then "flavor" items).

    There are also loads of gear / items that have ZERO tribute value. For instance, I might be able to tribute a "Muddite Skull" -- but that No Trade Ring I just got as an old-school task reward? Nope -- worthless to the Wayfarers for some reason, but hey,. they really liked that Skull!

    How about giving everything some basic tribute value. This can help reduce the vendor load (list) by more things going to tribute or being added to the Recover list.

    How about adding a NON-RECOVER tag to items, meaning they will NOT be added to the Recover list (such as no-other-use Vendor loot and "Flavor " items).

    Items that are sold by Specialty Vendors? You think they would buy them back at about 40% sale price, to keep their stocks up... but nope! Many of them will NOT buy stuff back. How abut changing this, so they do, creating another avenue stuff may be removed from game-memory concerns?

    In the next expansion, instead of adding as load of new TS components, how about re-purposing existing components, or re-purposing Vendor and Flavor items into TS components (add the TS tag, adjust stacking, leave old loot / forage / fish tables as is).
  16. Froglok Augur


    They also need to sell them as individual items, not a package! I might want Item X, but I don't want to also buy Item A, B, C & D to get it!
  17. Ngreth Thergn Developer

    Y'all are correct that those type of events (Bonus xp, rares, faction, etc) are not on the calendar, I missed a weird setting. They are set to "display when active."
    They are around the same time each year. For example the next event that happens is the first step of fall fun and it starts the Wednesday that is inclusively between the 22 to 28 of September. And is set to repeat that every year.

    At this time I don't know if we will change the calendar behavior as an internal conversation is required.

    As for being insulting, it was not my intent. Your feelings are valid, If you have them, only stating intent.
    I was being "Snippy" (my emotion) AND trying not to be a corporate robot that only ever gives a "company line." And "FAST," thus not checking live. (those event's show on Beta, and that's how I made the mistake... I looked at the calendar on beta and there it is!) I was not attempting to be insulting. But, unintentional insults happen and I can see how some may have had hurt feelings over my comment.

    I apologize to those that felt insulted.
  18. Szilent Augur

    predicting that response, calling the people that have it names, doesn't make them wrong

    (cue the nerds pointing out that rhetorical pedantry is off-topic blah blah)
  19. Pawtato Augur

    I didn't think the minions of Zek apologized...
    Deux likes this.
  20. atchoom Lorekeeper

    SO many times i been asked where i got my very kool raptor mount , i have to tell them , sadly DB don't sell them anymore since a long time..........

    if you can get them back for a limited time or whatever , i would buy 4 or 5 for my toons.

    a post and link of the mount from nniki last year ------------->>> Raptor saddle is pretty sweet. Looks great and has great animations.
    https://i.imgur.com/r0XtMRr.gif