First Ever Mount on the Marketplace!

Discussion in 'Community News' started by ARCHIVED-Kiara, May 20, 2010.

  1. ARCHIVED-cashp Guest

    Considering Netlfix is 8.99$ a month for 1 movie out at a time and unlimited streaming...25$ for a single mount...that's 10$ over our current subscription model price...
    How is that a *micro* transaction?
    That's quite a *macro* transaction in my book.
  2. ARCHIVED-Guy De Alsace Guest

    They made a big deal about how awesome this mount was but I'm sorry, it may look good in WOW but in EQ2 its decidedly low res. The texture on the body is low rez, there's hardly any definition in the skin tone, the crappy particles are that..crappy. The animation is poor too.
    Why people went into raptures over this I'm really flummoxed.
    If you want a mount worthy of just what EQ2 is capable of, simply look at the Cavalry mounts. Detail, definition and a good animation. A mount that looks good, feels good to ride and fits in with the overall detail level of the game. The Prowler looked like someone riding a WOW mount in an EQ2 game.
    I'm sure Covic and co worked a lot on this but rule number one is dont downplay what EQ2 can do simply so it looks like WOW. The engine in EQ2 is on an entirely different level to WOW. Use it and push the limits - dont push low quality on us.
    Just my 2p.
  3. ARCHIVED-Calthine Guest

    Guy De Alsace wrote:
    Dunno what you're looking at, but my Prowler looks awesome :)
  4. ARCHIVED-wullailduo Guest

    Calthine wrote:
    Me neither....this is my illusionists mount in my normal playing resolution..
    [IMG]

    Unless he runs the game in the lowest possible resolution (my raid resolution) , then it looks 'washed out'.

    [IMG]

    But then , everything does at that setting.
  5. ARCHIVED-cashp Guest

    I just want to know why it's price is so high.
    It really just seems overpriced, what's the basis for pricing?
    Is it really just to cause artifical rarity like one of the devs said?
    If so that's just kind of silly.
  6. ARCHIVED-Uncaged Guest

    Vortexelemental@The Bazaar wrote:
    With all due respect, what is kinda silly is your continued posting across 59 pages regarding the price point of the mount. Seriously, It is what it is. 1. Available for a limited time 2. $20.00 american. 3. Not gonna change. If you truly feel it is not a good deal/worth it then don't purchase it. But to come on these forums and continue to rail against the price is insane.
    Definition being: Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In a pseudo capatalist system, let demand determine price. I see a lot of these things on my server so I figure $20.00 is just fine. Matter of fact if they sold too good, SOE might raise it next time. If it is too high for you then don't buy it. Period.
  7. ARCHIVED-cashp Guest

    Grimknight@Kithicor wrote:
    1. Yes a limited time to cause people to buy it up quickly. 2. 25$ american. 3. No, Just a gigantic free cash flow.
    Raising the price would be humorous I feel bad for any sucker giving 30$ for an item that costs probably 300$ or so dollars in dev time to make for a 10,000% profit margin.
    Sure, wanting them to make more money so the game is better is nice.
    But do I want to be ripped off on something so trivial as a mount just for it's appearance?
    Especially when it will be replaced with a new one as soon as it goes away?
    Sorry don't want my new subscription model to be 40$ a month. 15 for the game and 25 for a new mount each month.
  8. ARCHIVED-Uncaged Guest

    Vortexelemental@The Bazaar wrote:
    Well, not wanting a $40 dollar subscription per month model is a good thought on your part. But you have it all wrong. You have some options: 1. EQII goes away forever 2. monthly sub goes up to $20 or $25 a month 3. You allow the Dev.'s to try and make a buck on items that are not game changers and *YOU* are not obligated to buy.
    It seems to me that I would much prefer them to try and make money on people willing to pay it, than to force the masses to pay a higher monthly sub.. Are you honestly telling me you think people are required to buy a new $25 mount each month? There was no gun to my head. Not that I recall anyway.
    All you have to do is look on those websites selling LoN loot cards to see what the *real* market is for these type of items. Some LoN loot mounts go for over $400.00. Ohhhsss noooeessss. Now your monthly sub will be $415.00 a month. Come on now........really!@! Not to mention, did you ever consider that this is a way for SOE to combat said websites that sell those LoN cards and other such items. If you can get a coolo appearance mount from SOE for $25 dollars, it kinda destroys the thought of someone wanting to pay $400 through another site.
    Rather than all the knee jerk reactions I've read across 60 pages now, could we please think out responses before crying wolf here?
  9. ARCHIVED-cashp Guest

    Grimknight@Kithicor wrote:
    Kneejerk responses?
    Not really sure how that even applies.
    I would gladly pay 25$ a month if I got everything in game and didn't have to pay for any macro-transactions.
    These items are game changers, they are content that is not available to me despite paying to have access to said content.
    We will never escape the free to play model since it is already here, despite us still paying a subscription.
    I don't hate SoE, I could care less what they do.
    But introducing more and more items for extra free money and barring some people from owning them is just silly.
    Why should I pay for access to this game if I Don't have access to all of it?
  10. ARCHIVED-Calthine Guest

    Vortexelemental@The Bazaar wrote:
    What content do you not have access to? You cannot get some 99% fluff items unless you buy them via the Marketplace. You are not barred from any content by not having those items.
  11. ARCHIVED-Fyrion Guest

    Calthine wrote:
    Agreed, the argument of limited access is a bogus one. I can get run speed buffs and quality mounts through game play. In fact that is what I love so much about the Marketplace; it lets me add fun stuff to my game and choose how much extra I would like to donate to development of my game.
    With that said I still think the mount is overpriced for how it is presented. It's a beautiful mount (no complaints about that), but a nice deal would be to have it as a one per character item similar to veteran /claim rewards rather than heirloom. $25 is a pretty decent chunk of cash for many people and sweetening the deal for players would go a long way to engendering good will for RMT and cash shops. In fact I really wish any housing item, cosmetic fluff, mounts or similar were a one per character deal. I think it would add real value.
  12. ARCHIVED-Uncaged Guest

    Vortexelemental@The Bazaar wrote:
    Well, firstly, I never said you hated SOE. Secondly, I applaud you if you are willing to pay $25/month to have access to pots, purple hats, and furniture. I however am not willing to pay $25/month for that crap. No offense to those who like it but I would prefer to have a lower monthly sub and access to the frills if I want them.
    It is really no different than buying a new car. If you want leather, DVD, etc., you pay for it. It doesn't mean you still don't own a Chevy Tahoe, you just have to pay for the fluff. You are still playing EQII, you just have to pay more if you want a purple hat. Seems pretty simple to me. As far as content, you have access to it all.
    Honestly, the best way you can get your voice heard is to just not buy anything on SC. I don't even care if you encourage others to not do so. But the incesant whining about the cost is old. Bottom line is if the crap didn't sell, they wouldn't make more.
  13. ARCHIVED-Senya Guest

    Fyranaer@Everfrost wrote:
    I agree with this 100%. I'd have bought it if it had been 1 per character, but (just in my opinion) 25.00 is too much for one character. I have no complaints about marketplace, though. I've picked up several marketplace items. This just wasn't one of them.
  14. ARCHIVED-Uncaged Guest

    Senya wrote:
    Congradulations to you. You are one who *gets* it. This is why SC marketplace is good. You have admitted to buying several things you felt were a fair value to you on SC. Also, you have looked at the price point/reward of the mount and decided it wasn't for you. Perfect. This is how it is supposed to work.
    Same as in RL. If I feel something is overpriced and don't buy it either one of two things happens. 1. A lot of people feel the same and the price gets dropped. 2. It still sells well to others and if I really want one I have to pony up the cash for it. The free market at work.
    Cheers to you for *getting* it.
  15. ARCHIVED-Calthine Guest

    Grimknight@Kithicor wrote:
    Quoting it all as QFE :)
  16. ARCHIVED-cashp Guest

    Calthine wrote:
    Sorry if I don't believe that's how it should work. Economically speaking this entire concept is a rip-off for the consumer and a cash cow for the corporation.
    Sure, if it was /claim 25$ would not be bad. But it's not because heirloom single mount is more revenue =)
    Real life is different as well because an item has a cost to make, ship etc, to a company and then a set price and/or sale price it is placed at for a certain profit margin.
    Generally these margins are high for regular prices and go down for sales.
    Items in a cash shop such as this, exclusively even in EQ2 where we have a subscription as well deal with a no cost situation.
    We already pay 14.99$ a month for access which obviously covers any cost associated with maintenance.
    Then we pay in small single time fees for small items of which have a one time cost and no such recurring cost.
    If the item was made with 15 hours of dev time at 20$ an hour that's 300$ dollars. Once.
    At 25$ an item, that's only 12 being sold to cover that cost yet more can sell and will sell.
    Based on how many people have posted they bought them, and I have seen in game I would say it's likely over a thousand people bought them.
    That's 25,000$.
    That's a 24,700$ profit.
    Perhaps I am jaded but that just seems like a punch in the face for something so small as a mount to cost 25$,
    10$ over our subscription to be called a *micro*-transaction.
    Especially when the entire point of me paying them a subscription is to access said content.
    Yes fluff is content, whoever said otherwise?
    If I need to pay 25$ a month for full access to content and I am assured my money is going to better the game in terms of realistic content improvements instead of silly short term cash cow money influx...
    Of course I Would.
    But perhaps I am just thinking too far into the situation and should stop thinking.
    Maybe then I could be a mindless consumer accepting anything.
  17. ARCHIVED-Uncaged Guest

    Well it seems to me, that those who are making their own decisions as to what items are worth or not are not mindless consumers. Also, you have 0 as in ZERO idea how much development time/cost went into said prowlers. Including the time/cost involved in fixing the animations after they went live for certain races.
    As with most envious people in a capitalist society, it is hard for you to understand the effort, work, capital involved in creating a business, product, or brand to be able to make said $24,700 on a prowler mount. I honestly could care less if SOE was making $4 dollars profit or $4,000,000/month profit. It comes down to whether I feel the game as it is currently constituted is worth $15/month to ME. Not anyone else.
    As it is now, I enjoy EQII as is for $15/month. If that were to change, I will cancel my sub. Not really rocket science. I don't begrudge SOE, Microsoft, Apple or any other outfit all their due success and profits. I have not produced any ideas or products that compete on their scale or ingenuity so let them have their profit.
    *on a side note though* I also will not give Apple $300 every time they choose to update their Iphone. But I digress......
    I do agree with you though. You are overthinking this whole prowler thing.
  18. ARCHIVED-cashp Guest

    Grimknight@Kithicor wrote:
    I guess I just can't accept that logic.
  19. ARCHIVED-gourdon Guest

    Vortexelemental@The Bazaar wrote:
    There are two economic principles which you aren't cognizant of that drive SOE's behavior with respect to microtransactions. Both of these principles are related to the concept of monopoly. SOE has a monopoly within their marketplace and therefore those principles apply to the extent that competitors like WoW aren't a viable alternative. This is much like pharmaceutical companies with a monopoly on a particular drug, but there is an alternative drug that might be used instead.
    Idon't know if you've ever seen supply and demand curves before, so I will describe them as well as an important principle that matters to monopolists. The supply/demand model is simplistic and doesn't take into account perceptions about product quality associated with price. The supply curve is just the principle that the lower the price, the larger number of customers will purchase your product. The demand curve assumes that you can't change production capacity in a meaningful way. It assumes you're at least at optimum capacity and might be inclined to produce more. It all boils down to there will be more motivation to produce as prices go up. The supply and demand curves more or less look like an "X" and meet in the middle. Price is going down while volume goes up for demand and price is going up while volume goes up for supply. The price hovers somewhere near the crossing of the "X". This leaves profit for both consumers and producers. Consumers that buy lower than they value a product are capturing a profit much the same way producers that sell for more than theirs costs do.
    Monopolists always try to maximize profit. Instead of pricing their product near their unit cost, they place the price where sales will optimize their total profit. Further, they will endeavor to charge customers what they are willing to pay rather than charging them all the same, so long as it is higher than marginal unit cost (the cost to produce the last unit). In this way they endeavor to capture some of the consumers' "profit" from paying less for the product than they value it. Station Access and Marketplace are ways that SOE gets customers who are willing to pay more to have a slightly better experience to pay as much as they value the product. They are being what is often called discriminating monopolists. Drug companies do this by charging people in different countries different prices for the same drugs. Many "premium" versions of products are minimally better than the regular version, but cost substantially more. This is yet another scheme to get consumers to pay closer to the maximum they are willing to pay for a product.
    At the end of the day, SOE doesn't care what you think or want. They care about managing their property to maximize their profit while maintaining their future potential for revenue. It is possible that they are making mistakes and irritating customers, thus reducing their future revenue in favor of the present. However, I wouldn't suggest they take the advice of someone with very little understanding of market principles either.
    P.S. Also, if you think SOE's cost per hour for a developer is only $20/hr, then you have no idea what skilled employees get paid nor the extra costs involved. The salary is probably closer to $25-$30/hr , depending upon how experienced the person is. Finally, benefits and facilities costs put the total well north of $40/hr.
  20. ARCHIVED-celestina936 Guest

    Vortexelemental@The Bazaar wrote:
    Where did you ever get the idea that you HAVE to buy a new mount every month? You don't have to buy anything you don't want to buy. And if you do buy a SC mount, you don't have to buy another one next month - that is, unless you wish.
    There is a marketing plan that's kinda obvious - offer something for sale for 30 days. So, you have 30 days to buy it if you want it. If not, then don't fret about it. Maybe 6 months from now, SoE will offer another item for sale and will have it only offered for 30 days. If you want it - buy it. If you don't want it, then don't.
    The only peeps I can see who would miss out on the offer would be new subscribers. They may see the mount purchased under limited sales ridden by someone and ask where they can get one. Alas, they cannot since the offer has now expired.
    Other than that, if you buy a mount or any item under a 30 day offer; then you can continue using it long afterwards. After the 30 days - that mount will not go poof!