Store prices a bit high...?

But that is basically an entirely different business model where in game trading is part of the deal and where you want a low barrier to entry to compensate for the fact that you do not know what you are getting.

Have a look at hearthstone. Do you think you would be able to pay 30 cents per card if they were not random? No, the only reason you can have a very low price there is because you do not know what you are getting. If you were able to pay for the cards directly (ignoring P2W aspects) the price would match the current dust price instead. We see the same thing in physical games as well. CCG has a relatively low price per booster pack and the trading market is huge. Other games, like all the new deck-builders like Dominion, have a higher price for a complete set but then you get all the cards you need. Same with the expansions. They cost quite a bit more but you know what you get and you will not risk getting a pack full off stuff you already own or have no use for.

Valve has chosen that model because it's quite clever but very demanding. They need a trading platform for it to work. Then they need a good system to hand out random rewards. It would be more complicated in this game since we don't have set matches that end and then give out boxes like DOTA. It's smart because it's psychological. If you can't buy the fancy items directly, people might spend even more money on crates to find that one item. There's also the gold rush mentality. I've seen insane price tags on items for CS. But no one is mad about that since it's players who set the prices. If SOE tried to charge thousands of dollars for a knife, people would go mad. CCP Games tried it in EVE Online with a 70 dollar monocle and it almost killed the game.

I'd agree that it's a little high

I would be way more inclined to spend $10 on the game if it got me 2 or even 4 helmets. I could customize all my loadouts, then. But $10 for one helmet? That's too high. I'd love to see some sales figures for membersurchases. I bet their sales would escalate a good bit of they dropped the prices. I'm sure a lot of people would be way more willing to buy camo more often if they were cheaper.

I've also been playing EVE for about 7 or 8 years now and I was playing Hawken, but the games seems to have died lately. Nothing really at all from the devs for months... A shame really, Hawken has/had a lot of potential. I bought skins (camos) for my mechs there, too. I could by some "paid" credits and get a few cosmetic items that weren't over priced. $10 in Hawken could go a LOT further than it would on here..

I'm also not sure what faction I want to stick with yet. I've mostly played VS, a good bit of TR and very little NC. Trying to play NC some more to get a better feel for them. So I'm less inclined to buy items because of that, too. $2.50 or maybe even 5 for some cosmetics that may get lost on a character I stop playing wouldn't be much of a loss to me. But if I want to get just a better helmet and having to pay $10 for JUST that helmet. Not really gonna happen...

That's why my 80% off example was only looking at the 50% daily sales.

You could save even more if you waited for the seasonal sales!

If you cant afford 10 bucks worth of leisure cash to occasionally dish out on something like an in game cosmetic then you got a problem worse then just being economically despaired.

If they weren't selling they would have been lowered long ago. Enough people are willing to pay for the premium stuff. I have quite a few cash shop cosmetics, but I seem to be most proud of my freebie ones like Analyst Helmet and Beta Decal. They also sell cheaper cosmetics, quite a few of them. The ones that tend to stay at 1000 SC forever are either really frivolous stuff or Player Studio which needs to be 1000 SC or everyone's cut of the profits would suck.

Oh thank you for clearing up so much Mr Expert!

I think you completely miss the point.

I spent $80 (the price of a non free triple A game) back when a 5 times sale came out when the game launched, I still have money to spend!!! (Dat SC hoarding though.)

If I see one of those SC multiplier sales, I'll probably buy some then, But until I figure out which faction I'm sticking with, I probably won't spend anything. I'd love to support the game, but don't want to waste my money XD

Some things, like NS small arms, NS vehicle weapons, and certain cosmetics unlock across all factions if you buy them with SC. These are the most "bang for your buck" items because they essentially count three times.

For instance, if you purchase a Skyguard turret for your Lightning on any character, that Skyguard turret will be available for all your characters on any faction.

The problem I have is the exchange rate that SOE offers on it's SC.

1000SC costs $10, or £8 if you're buying from the UK.

However, if you check the FOREX website £8 = $12.86.

So buying SC in the UK is 28.6% more expensive. 1000SC should cost us £6.22.

Half all the prices and i bet sales would more than double.

I'm waiting on the 1sc sale at Christmas. I am such a thrifty person.

Smed seemed to have an epiphany over pricing about a year ago, announced some things would come down etc but nothing ever happened.

You think I missed the "point" on the BS of prices being too high based on people don't have money to spend because of the societable trends of the "dwindling middle class" or people just being poor and the in game prices somehow reflecting this trend? are you kidding me? Have you not seen the job growth statistics in the US?

That point made was basically a cop out, if you have a job then you should easily be able to drop some extra dough every once in awhile even with a minimum wage job especially if you have the ability to play this game on a PC with an internet connection... This is just common sense dude, realistically most of the people who would complain about prices are probably kids who don't have jobs ( I wonder what the solution to this would be...).

There are so many other games with insanely higher pricings compared to this one... Mechwarrior online and TF2 just to name a couple.

I'm not able to respond to your comments on other SOE titles since I don't play them, but as for the AA cash shop, you must realise that one doesn't just purchase one of those pots, they purchase - have to purchase - several a day in order to remain competitive. A consumables cash shop in a highly competitive game gives the illusion of choice, but any competitive player can tell you there is only one option of you want to play on a competitive level; pay for the consumables, or don't play at all.

Imagine this scenario: What if PS2 dramatically lowered nanite gain rates to a point where you can only buy one vehicle per 24 hours, but then introduced 'potions' in the store which instantly restored 500 nanites. You could say, oh it's totally optional to buy them, and you'd be right since you could play the game without buying them, theoretically. The problem is, the developers darn well know their player base is a competitive one, after all the game is all about being the better player in player vs. player combat, so as a competitive player you can decide to get steamrolled by people who buy these things several times a day, join in on buying them several times a day to stay competitive, or walk away. The first of these three is not an option for anyone that I personally know.

So you see, that is the AA cash shop, and you do not want that in any of your games I assure you.

Edit: And before you say "they have a 12 hour cooldown on those potions!", my response is: You can bypass this cooldown since the cooldown is character bound and not account based (while AA's version of 'nanites' is account based), making it effectively have no cooldown.

^Agreed.

Dropping prices by a factor of 10 probably won't make more cash for SoE.
For starters: what about memberships?
Right now, a member gets 500 sc/month.
drop prices by 10 and a member can buy.. a lot of things per month.
Ok, so membership grants 50 sc.. then it is worthless.

However: in my opinion, yes the prices are high.
10 bucks for a gun that is a sidegrade, without the unlocks..
5 bucks for a different color. Now, you can argue that it is only cosmetics. However, they are called camo for a reason.
TBH: I'm not sure I'd pay 5 bucks for a virtual online gun. 2.50 for a camo: sure. 5 bucks for a helmet: sure. (it'd have to be a cool hat and all that)
I might pay 5 bucks for a gun on cross faction stuff, cross faction tools, like the commisioner, the annihilator, and some vehicle weapons.
But unless it's 50% off: not really interested.

--> Give better sale-deals to non-members also.
So far, I'm F2P. For the now, I'm staying that way.
Normally, I'd consider a package deal. But besides the 2-bucks recruit pack, none interest me, and the value-for-money is too low.
How sad is that?
At least make a package where I'd use the stuff inside.


Edit: I've also read some good points about 'whales' etc, and having more expensive items to choose from. Well, I do see the point. The problem IMO opinion is that there are hardly 'cheap' items, cheap package deals.
There also are no expensive packages.

A few examples:
Star Citizen is a reasonably known game in development. There are fund raisers. If you buy a package, you will get a specific ship at launch. The bigger the package you buy, the bigger your starting ship. Now, you should be able to unlock the ship after launch, by playing and earning in game cash.
What is one of the biggest packages? 350$. For a cruiser with a small fightercraft inside.
(start is 40$ I thought)

Another example:
https://www.eternalcrusade.com/founder-store
One of the packs is 450$, and it doesn't include everything: each race still has a 'limited edition' item at 35$ each. So, if you want everything you're looking at 450$ +4*35$=590$. (everything unlockable with cash at launch that is)
And yes, a few people spend that, before there is even a demo, before the beta even.
Buut: will the 'majority' of players spend that much? Nooooo.

The point is: how much content of PS2 does 10 bucks unlock me? Not much really.
But indeed, it could be faaar worse.

If you're a solo player, maybe.

But I have only ever purchased 2 potions over the time I played. They were both exp potions for crafting and I did it because at both times I had to process 500 lumber each time. Since I wasn't going to be doing anything for the next hour (5-6 seconds per log x500 is a little under an hour of crafting). I decided I to make the most by getting double exp.

Did I have to do this? Absolutely not. Just like in PS2 I don't have to buy a boost. And you know what? I'm still very much competitive with everyone else on the server. In fact I would dare say that I'm relatively at the top of the server's food chain so to speak along with the rest of the guild I am in. We've gotten several server firsts when it comes to dungeons and world bosses. We also win the majority of war events we participate in. And we take over the Freedich Isle and exterminate any purples or reds that might try to ambush anyone.

But that is where coordination and leadership beat out any sort of advantage some cash shop potion can give. If you're a social introvert who doesn't like to work with others, no amount of money is going to help you stay competitive.

" - have to purchase - several a day in order to remain competitive."

That's the most ridiculous thing I have heard. And couldn't be further from the truth. Not only that, but those potions can be purchased for gold. Imagine for a moment if you could buy boosts in PS2 for Certs or Nanites? Thats what -that- would be like.

In fact.. I wouldn't mind that.

Steamrolled by people who buy stuff.. lol. Come over to the Lucius server and try to steamroll me.

Better yet, go download EQ1 or EQ2 (both are free, and take about 45 min to DL on a decent connection), and go see how much it costs for you to get into endgame without a membership. I think its like 500-600 or maybe even 1200 bucks to get the number of AA's needed past 85 in EQ1. EQ2 is a little bit better as all you'll need is gear/spell unlockers, and a few feature unlocks (mercs, max level, and expansions).. I think about 300-400 bucks will get you what you need.

Seriously, go check it out yourself. Educate yourself.

Fair enough. If you're looking at buying for multiple factions then wait for depot sales; it's what I do (and have been putting off grabbing all the bling I want for my Harasser for months because of it ).

My guess is that the extra price is because of handling or conversion fees, or tariffs for international trade. That, or they can't dynamically change the price to match the current exchange rate to the nearest half of a currency (ex: new SC rate would be 6.49 pounds for 1000SC).