Not at all, if you see the OP its about the presentation of the points being very "Cringe-inducing" with "Bonus Points" and an overly complicated lay-out that tells very little about what your actually getting.
So lets look at the pricing picture you posted:
What is not clear about the pricing?
You get 700 for 7.99, 1950 for 19.99 etc....
It's as clear as day
Even how they got those values is easy to see - base is 500, and the normal bonus is 100, BUT since this is a double bonus sale - you get 200, so 500+200 = 700
But even if you don't want to do this rudimentary math - just look at the RED area I bolded - it's very clear pricing.
Again am I missing something here?
Have you ever seen those "Made for TV" Advertisements?
Where they go "Hey we have this special offer, just for you, act now and youll not only get this Toast-O-Matic, but you also get the Toast-O-Matic Hand Towel ABSOLUTELY FREE!"
Its that level of cringe, the whole "Bonus" is just drummed up to make it seem like your really getting a great deal, its the most basic form of marketing, but people now a days are smarter than that.
Its not the fact that your getting an (X) number of "Bonus" points, its that the "Bonus" points exist at all.
In the base game, and not just for this promotion, you get "500 pts + 100 Bonus Pts".
Again the whole post was just about how cringe that is, its trying way too hard to appeal to peoples wallets and its easy for people to look past.
Bonus points are a very basic marketing strategy that is as old as the hills.
It's what entices players to spend money - this is standard in many cash shops.
Just like buy one get one free - it's the same principle of a bonus to entice the buyer.
Maybe you are new to cash shop monetization, but these are standard practices.
And standard practice = good practice and therefore not worth talking about?
I get Sludge's point... and so does everyone in this thread pretending not to get it. Advertising and marketing is not all equally annoying. There's a range from straightforward and honest all the way down to deliberately misleading and sleazy. I've seen much worse than LOTRO but they could do better.
So if you get his point - can you please point out what is unclear or sleazy on the pricing picture posted?
I'll let you pick which of these two is more straightforward for regular pricing:
600 points for $7.99 or 500 points PLUS 100 BONUS POINTS!!!!!!! for $7.99
And as far as sales go there's this way to do it where you still spend $7.99 and you now get 500 points PLUS 100 200 BONUS POINTS!!!!!!! but they could do it the way others do it and sell you the same 600 points for $6.99.
Too subtle?
And did I say that LOTRO is at the bottom of the sleazy and misleading scale or did I say that I've seen much worse and they can do better?
Deliberate reading miscomprehension much?
No reading "miscomprehension" at all - I read what you said about "I've seen much worse than LOTRO but they could do better."
I just don't see what they could have done "better" in that pricing sheet.
The reason why I was asking is because you said "I get Sludge's point"
I don't get his point at all.
I still don't get your point - because it's not an actual example of what is going on:
500 + 100 bonus points for 7.99
500 + 2(100) bonus (double bonus sale) for 7.99
Every purchase includes bonus points - so are you saying that "bonus points" being included is somehow unclear?
How in the world is it that unclear - it's right there in the chart as plain as day.
Heck without "bonus points" being included as part of the base price - they couldn't do "double bonus points" sales.
Why are bonus points there - because it's a marketing tactic that's been around forever - "buy now get 1 free" - buy now "get 50% off" - the idea of BONUS being given with purchase is very common in sales.
Here's a full list from wikipedia of tactics used to boost sales:
Other promotional offers
There are number of different promotional offers which retailers use to increase sales, attract new customers, and keep old customers loyal. Also, some countries have laws requiring products to be sold at full price for a specific period of time before they can be put on offer. Promotional offers are crucial in the retail industry; their many benefits play a large part in increasing sales, profit, and revenue. These promotional offers fall under different categories, and a few are listed below:
Quantity and other common promotions
Buy one, get one half price
Buy one product from category A and get another product from category B free
Buy two, get one half price
Buy three for the price of two
Buy three items for a certain fixed price
Free testers of new release products
Promotions on certain weekdays
Seasonal based sales
Discounts targeted at groups of people such as: Students, OAPs, NHS employees, Armed Forces employees, females only
Price Discount
Save X amount when you spend Y amount or more (Voucher)
X amount off selected items
X% off selected items
X% off selected items (Voucher)
Buy item X and get % discount on item Y
Delivery Promotions
Free delivery for all orders over X amount
Free delivery for any item
Save X amount on your delivery
Delivery charge for one product and the rest free
So if every retail business is allowed to use the marketing tactic to boost sales
why isn't it ok for Turbine, or game companies to use THE SAME tactics for their products?
Hmm?
Does everyone use those tactics or do some just plain sell you 600 instead of splitting them into 5+1? It's like having things on "sale" all the time... at what point do you just laugh at that shit and say "lame?" lol
If they want to emulate late night TV advertising that's fine but it's just as fine to say lame-o.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Asking for better MMO AI around here is considered "whining". Wanting MMORPGs to not be so nickel and diming people, and which MMOs obviously wanting people addicted to gambling stuff (like RNG dye boxes or RNG loot boxes) to spend hordes of cash. People here just want to see the MMO genre implode, probably to really get back to MMOs being a niche genre. I bet most people here, really actually want to see better MMOs and to do it, the MMO genre needs to implode and be reborn. So they ask for things that make it worse.
Other genres are far more advanced than MMORPGs have become. Like I pointed out in that thread I made that I linked, even games like Ark Survival are more advanced and have better AI and mechanics than most MMOs do. Its why other genres have for most part, overtaken the MMO genre. Especially in terms of how much other genres have evolved, while MMOs are still stagnant. And asking for better MMOs or mechanics, as simple as AI, is again, considered "whining". Same with complaining about the obvious money grubbing cash shops.
Complain all you want.
Just know that you complaining does not mean it is actually a problem.
and hiding your head in the sand singing "lalala" doesn't make a problem disappear in your safe little bubble.
Other genres HAVE advanced far more than the MMORPG genre has. The MMO genre has grown stagnant, and very similar to Project Entopia.
In fact, most MMOs are not very different than Project Entopia payment model.
Then go play those and stop crying about a video game you don't play.
And standard practice = good practice and therefore not worth talking about?
I get Sludge's point... and so does everyone in this thread pretending not to get it. Advertising and marketing is not all equally annoying. There's a range from straightforward and honest all the way down to deliberately misleading and sleazy. I've seen much worse than LOTRO but they could do better.
I agree for the part "they could do better." However, from sludge's original post he generalized other people who would buy into Turbine marketing as stupid (or "has-not-past-10-grades") and I disagree with that.
If you disagree with any marketing gimmick, it's fine, that's your right to do so. But to came as far as saying other people who understand this are not pass their 10 grades, I don't think that's a proper way to throw your words.
It has nothing to do with "being stupid", if you think microtransactions arent an issue for the younger generation you need to look at the news my friend.
Im lucky in that my parents saw the dangers of MT and warned me very early, didnt let me have a credit card till I was 17, and generally kept the family CC's out of me and my sisters reach.
Unfortunately that is not the case for alot of modern families, many of these games pray on younger audiences who dont have the restraint adults do.
Now is Lotro online being as deceitful as other online and F2P games? I frankly dont have an opinion on that either way, but the problem here is that when you see general Marketing practices like DMkano was talking about being used, it becomes hard to distinguish between the two.
Judging by your comment, it seemed the model is working.
And really some people are just rich, or they spend so much time playing the game, they don't mind spending large amount of real money in it.
Some people work hard in real life, and don't mind spending 500$ a month on a game they play everyday.
I personally spend like 70 a month playing pokemon go. I don't understand what's wrong with it.
Yes, but this post isnt about whether the model is working or not, I could care less if LOTRO generates mad profits or not.
The point of the post is that they have a "Cringe inducing" method of showing these "Deals". They throw around tons of numbers and "Bonus Points" to make it seem like your getting such a good deal its impossible to pass up, when you have to get the $35+ deals for it to actually be a substantial difference.
Again I have no problem with how people spend their money, I personally have spent money on Micro-transaction games and I implore people to spend how they want.
At the same time age old business practices and poorly displayed marketing ads are nothing less than full cringe to me.
If you are going to laugh at that shit and say lamo - look at black friday, cyber monday - heck ANY SALE - it's the same thing - they are giving you a "bonus discount" to get you to spend money.
Well once again, to get it back on point, no, it's not all the same thing. Some sales are good deals others aren't and some sales advertising is shit and others aren't.
I get it, in your mind there is no good taste, just profits.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
If you are going to laugh at that shit and say lamo - look at black friday, cyber monday - heck ANY SALE - it's the same thing - they are giving you a "bonus discount" to get you to spend money.
Well once again, to get it back on point, no, it's not all the same thing. Some sales are good deals others aren't and some sales advertising is shit and others aren't.
I get it, in your mind there is no good taste, just profits.
It's all a sales tactic to get you to spend money - when you feel something is a good deal - it simply means the tactic worked.
But which one would you spend money on
500+100+100 extra points = $7.99
or
700 points - regular price $16, 50% discount now only $7.99
50% discount - most would say 'that's a good deal" - guess what - you're still spending $7.99, you just feel "better" about saving so much money because the original price is way over-inflated.
Most of the sales events deals are actually the same thing - huge % savings that in reality are not all that because the original price is just crazy high, or the items being sold are high inventory and are about to be replaced with a newer better thing soon - so their value is nowhere near the "retail price" anyway.
Some are truly good deals, some aren't. Some are misleadingly advertised, some aren't. That's the whole point.
It's been a couple of years since I last played LOTRO. So tell me, are there any times when you do not get bonus points? If there are, well then their "sales" with bonus points whether single, doubled, tripled or quadrupled make some sense. But if they ALWAYS include bonus points it's nothing more than one of the oldest low-brow sales gimmicks, the "always on sale."
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
If you are going to laugh at that shit and say lamo - look at black friday, cyber monday - heck ANY SALE - it's the same thing - they are giving you a "bonus discount" to get you to spend money.
Well once again, to get it back on point, no, it's not all the same thing. Some sales are good deals others aren't and some sales advertising is shit and others aren't.
I get it, in your mind there is no good taste, just profits.
It's all a sales tactic to get you to spend money - when you feel something is a good deal - it simply means the tactic worked.
But which one would you spend money on
500+100+100 extra points = $7.99
or
700 points - regular price $16, 50% discount now only $7.99
50% discount - most would say 'that's a good deal" - guess what - you're still spending $7.99, you just feel "better" about saving so much money because the original price is way over-inflated.
Most of the sales events deals are actually the same thing - huge % savings that in reality are not all that because the original price is just crazy high, or the items being sold are high inventory and are about to be replaced with a newer better thing soon - so their value is nowhere near the "retail price" anyway.
Some are truly good deals, some aren't. Some are misleadingly advertised, some aren't. That's the whole point.
It's been a couple of years since I last played LOTRO. So tell me, are there any times when you do not get bonus points? If there are, well then their "sales" with bonus points whether single, doubled, tripled or quadrupled make some sense. But if they ALWAYS include bonus points it's nothing more than one of the oldest low-brow sales gimmicks, the "always on sale."
The bonus points are always there even when there is no sale at all. Bonus points are just a part of the base price but are listed separately to make you feel like you're getting more.
It's just an alternative way of doing like 20% off - which some stores have perpetually.
Or furniture stores having 40%-60% off year round.
Having bonus points as a part of base is no different IMO
I can agree with that since all of those are examples of the "always on sale" gimmick.
The word "bonus" still means something extra in English last time I looked and in the LOTRO cash shop it means the same amount as always.
Even laundry detergent doesn't pull this shit all the time. They do have "20% more!" promotional boxes ot bottles quite often but at least they have the self-respect to not do it all the time. And, I know truth in advertising laws have been gutted in most jurisdictions but I think they could still get some punishment (like a fine of $2 lol) if they did that.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I am not going to wade through 4 pages of nonsense but....
They have had these prices FOR YEARS so having outrage now is way over due.
They also have to make money some how theyre paying me and everyone else who bought a lifetime pass 6000 TP a year, and some of the guys still play and probably rack up a thousand or more per month just grinding them in game.
Its the old addage time or money. You get TP from just about everything in the game these days but if it takes you an hour to do a few achievements that give 50-100 TP what makes more sense?
if you REALLY want to complain about something complain about Mithril Coins they cost a lot more because they cost TP to buy. And while your at it look at the post I made about the new houses and how much those cost, even with a double sale (this TP one) and a mithril sale they cost between 8-50 bux real life money (if my memory serves).
Turbine has also put a lot more MC priced stuff in as opposed TP. I went into the new expansion for about 30 minutes just to check out the housing, still instanced (just a bigger instance) and still has hooks, So no way I am spending (even my free TP) to buy mithril coins to buy one of those.
It is still a decent game but no where near what it should have and could have been. But considering I paid 150 bux 8 years ago and what ever Moria was I think I got my moneys worth out of it. Because like I said they basically pay me to have an account. No other company does that that I know of. you dont even have to log in to get the credits.
When you see tiers like 1950 coins for $20, you KNOW the item you want is going to be 2000 coins. That is another thing that a lot of MMOs do -- they make their tiers such that you always end up with unused game currency for any useful item purchase.
Ah yes the predictable "don't like it don't buy it" (which I always read as "love it or leave it") canned pro F2P responses
Anything to not discuss whether something is well-priced or too pricey or whether intermediary game currencies are just a way to disguise the true $ cost of playing games.
It's funny that people fall all over themselves finding and buying the great Black Friday deals but they park their bargain hunting selves at the door when discussing the cost of F2P games.
When you don't play the games it's hard to care how they're pricing anything. On top of that with most F2P that's the only money they're bringing in, the more that opt out of the sub option (if there is one) I'm sure the more they raise the prices. SO I don't think it's a matter of being pro-f2P as much as it's a matter of facing the reality. It's not just about running the service and filling job positions, it's a matter of making profit... That's how they do it. The people who think it's a fair price are paying, those that don't think it is are not... Consumerism at work.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Not to mention the fact that you have to buy some things on the Squeenix store or an external website and then add a code. They have an entire cash shop they're pretending that doesn't exist (because you can't see it in game) but really means you need to log all the way out of the game to do a transaction, make sure it's applied in the right way to the right account, and then log back in to check that it processed properly.
There are two tiers of subscription, additional monthly fees for more storage, and a hidden full-blown cash shop.
Is the OP confused or does he just need to work on critical thinking and maths a bit.
Unfortunately, a good portion of the FFXIV community feels the cash shop is justified because "it helps improve FFXIV with more consistent updates over other mmorpg games on the market" without any acknowledgement from SE that the money is recycled into the game or other projects. Plus, these "consistent updates" are blown over within the month since many people have found the weekly currency grind/raid lockouts to be lackluster and unsub till the next patch. Doesn't help getting a message from the lead dev telling its community that its okay to unsub until the next patch. Also, FFXIV's cash shop has been updated monthly with many of the items not being account bound like say WoW's cash shop which rarely updates throughout the year and applies most of the stuff (pets/mounts) to the account.
And who really cares if the OP doesn't understand a limited bonus sale. Maybe the system is confusing for people new to MMOs, or that mmo. If he wants simple then maybe LoL or Dota2 is more his speed. MMOs and their weirdness can take a little effort.
The "weirdness" of MMOs has nothing to do with a poorly Marketed sale lol
Theh just put too much effort into showing you how good of a deal their giving you instead of just giving you the deal.
Rather than "here's the bonus points your getting and now we are going to double it and you would have gotten this grand total but now your getting this super great bonus deal."
They could have just said, "Buy now and you get X amount extra points."
Simply put if you have to "over-market" your deal than majority of the time it probably won't end up being that great of a deal.
Ah yes the predictable "don't like it don't buy it" (which I always read as "love it or leave it") canned pro F2P responses
Anything to not discuss whether something is well-priced or too pricey or whether intermediary game currencies are just a way to disguise the true $ cost of playing games.
It's funny that people fall all over themselves finding and buying the great Black Friday deals but they park their bargain hunting selves at the door when discussing the cost of F2P games.
When you don't play the games it's hard to care how they're pricing anything. On top of that with most F2P that's the only money they're bringing in, the more that opt out of the sub option (if there is one) I'm sure the more they raise the prices. SO I don't think it's a matter of being pro-f2P as much as it's a matter of facing the reality. It's not just about running the service and filling job positions, it's a matter of making profit... That's how they do it. The people who think it's a fair price are paying, those that don't think it is are not... Consumerism at work.
All true but I'm still trying to figure out what this has to do with sludge trying to have a discussion about his reaction to their "bonus" gimmick. People just tried to shout him down using the same cliches.
One could also interpret what you're saying as "anything someone does to make a profit is equally OK as what someone else does and neither should ever be discussed, examined or criticized" lol.
No wonder the traffic is down in these forums when so many think that MMO monetization shouldn't be debated. It's pretty well the same canned responses I got when I made a thread about the upcoming ESO gambling boxes: "They're trying to make a profit /endthread"
They haven't added monetization to religion and politics as forbidden topics in the rules here... but hey, I just had a thought, maybe capitalism IS a religion for some... you think that might be why some always want to squelch these threads?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Rue the day when devs just asked for a monthly sub and the whole game was available. How any preferred this method over the old is beyond me.
That day never existed. Almost every MMO has had some alternate form of income, whether expansions, account services, or item sales.
As for people preferring your perception of the old method -they didn't. Third party sales were rampant and selling characters/plat/gold was big business for some. Do a Google search for "ige yantis" for a window into how massive it was, even a decade and a half ago.
Castronova's book "Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games" is also a pretty accurate reflection of both the economics and the culture of virtual worlds during a period that many purists look back at with rather rosy goggles on.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
But you get more of a discount the more you but, so it's 23,000 for $200
And with this sale, you now get 33,500 for $200, more than double what you get at the base price.
Does not compute... wouldn't double be 46,000? Do you work for them?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
But you get more of a discount the more you but, so it's 23,000 for $200
And with this sale, you now get 33,500 for $200, more than double what you get at the base price.
Does not compute... wouldn't double be 46,000? Do you work for them?
It definitely doesn't compute if you choose to leave out the qualifier presented - "at the base price".
The base price being...?
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Not to mention the fact that you have to buy some things on the Squeenix store or an external website and then add a code. They have an entire cash shop they're pretending that doesn't exist (because you can't see it in game) but really means you need to log all the way out of the game to do a transaction, make sure it's applied in the right way to the right account, and then log back in to check that it processed properly.
There are two tiers of subscription, additional monthly fees for more storage, and a hidden full-blown cash shop.
Is the OP confused or does he just need to work on critical thinking and maths a bit.
Unfortunately, a good portion of the FFXIV community feels the cash shop is justified because "it helps improve FFXIV with more consistent updates over other mmorpg games on the market" without any acknowledgement from SE that the money is recycled into the game or other projects. Plus, these "consistent updates" are blown over within the month since many people have found the weekly currency grind/raid lockouts to be lackluster and unsub till the next patch. Doesn't help getting a message from the lead dev telling its community that its okay to unsub until the next patch. Also, FFXIV's cash shop has been updated monthly with many of the items not being account bound like say WoW's cash shop which rarely updates throughout the year and applies most of the stuff (pets/mounts) to the account.
And who really cares if the OP doesn't understand a limited bonus sale. Maybe the system is confusing for people new to MMOs, or that mmo. If he wants simple then maybe LoL or Dota2 is more his speed. MMOs and their weirdness can take a little effort.
The "weirdness" of MMOs has nothing to do with a poorly Marketed sale lol
Theh just put too much effort into showing you how good of a deal their giving you instead of just giving you the deal.
Rather than "here's the bonus points your getting and now we are going to double it and you would have gotten this grand total but now your getting this super great bonus deal."
They could have just said, "Buy now and you get X amount extra points."
Simply put if you have to "over-market" your deal than majority of the time it probably won't end up being that great of a deal.
Less info isn't better. With the amount of info they provide you can tell how much the non sale package costs and how much you get in the sale package. With that knowledge you can decide if the sale price is worth it.
If they said $20 gets 2000 coins how would you know if $20 got you 1999 coins before and the "sale" was a gimmick? It's only confusing if you don't like to know those things and at that point just pick a tier and click your way through and don't even think about it at all.
I think most people like to know the bonus or discount on an item.
But the Bonus only exists because its a marketing ploy! LOL
Thats what im saying, its irrelevant information. It isnt "Actually" a bonus. In the core game with out without this sale, they give you 500Pts + 100 "Bonus Points".
Its an unnecessary sales tactic haha. Im sorry but this is just funny to me now, I dont understand how anyone can know that information and defend that kind of sketchy behavior.
Here's an example for you on the flip side of it.
Imagine if you went into Target and it said "Sale" on the sign, for, lets just say, an Xbox.
And then you look at the Price Tag and it says "Sale: $410 Dollars - $10 Dollars off". But the Xbox is normally priced at $400 anyways.
So your not actually getting a sales price, your getting a jacked up base price with $10 dollars off the total to make it the original price again.
So with LOTRO your getting 600 points regardless but they market it as "500 Base Points + 100 "Bonus Points" to make it seem like their rewarding you, or giving you some extra break.
But you get more of a discount the more you but, so it's 23,000 for $200
And with this sale, you now get 33,500 for $200, more than double what you get at the base price.
Does not compute... wouldn't double be 46,000? Do you work for them?
You clipped out this part: "Or, as that ad and reality has proven (at least for this sale), the prices will drop significantly.
The base is 600 points for $8.00.
At that rate, you would get about 15,000 points for $200"
The double that Lynx is talking about is the bonus is approx double what buying points at $8.00 a pop. The bonus of 33.5k is ~double.
It was an illustration about increasing value in larger purchase tiers. And see you had to say some passive aggressive snarky comment about "working for them" when in fact you just didn't understand the math concept they were trying to explain.
Oh OK got it... similar to what they've always done with subs for 1 month vs. a year etc.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
All true but I'm still trying to figure out what this has to do with sludge trying to have a discussion about his reaction to their "bonus" gimmick. People just tried to shout him down using the same cliches.
One could also interpret what you're saying as "anything someone does to make a profit is equally OK as what someone else does and neither should ever be discussed, examined or criticized" lol.
No wonder the traffic is down in these forums when so many think that MMO monetization shouldn't be debated. It's pretty well the same canned responses I got when I made a thread about the upcoming ESO gambling boxes: "They're trying to make a profit /endthread"
They haven't added monetization to religion and politics as forbidden topics in the rules here... but hey, I just had a thought, maybe capitalism IS a religion for some... you think that might be why some always want to squelch these threads?
I'm sure the capitalist mind set plays a part. It's also what essentially coined the "speak with your wallet" phrase. Which is all anyone can really do.
I think the other part of it is, many realize our words are a wasted effort, as it's the actions that speak the loudest. I could go into any department store tomorrow and bemoan their prices, yet if people are buying, those words would fall on deaf ears. Meaning I would have wasted my time trying to argue or denounce things I have no control over no matter how much I say. For the most part, the only time the outlet lowers prices is when they're not moving the merch.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
They split it because there is set price per point. You get a larger % bonus the more you spend. you get more bonus points spending $100 than $10 ten times, but the set point rate is the same for $100 and $10 ten times. That is why they list it as two separate amounts. IT IS NOT JUST a marketing technique. Double and triple bonus points are larger rewards for spending more money, but the base rate does not change.
i.e. for $19.99 you get 1250 base plus 350 bonus. X 10 you get 12,500 base and 3,500 bonus but for $199.99 you get 12,500 base, but 10,500 bonus.
But the Bonus only exists because its a marketing ploy! LOL
Thats what im saying, its irrelevant information. It isnt "Actually" a bonus. In the core game with out without this sale, they give you 500Pts + 100 "Bonus Points".
Its an unnecessary sales tactic haha. Im sorry but this is just funny to me now, I dont understand how anyone can know that information and defend that kind of sketchy behavior.
Here's an example for you on the flip side of it.
Imagine if you went into Target and it said "Sale" on the sign, for, lets just say, an Xbox.
And then you look at the Price Tag and it says "Sale: $410 Dollars - $10 Dollars off". But the Xbox is normally priced at $400 anyways.
So your not actually getting a sales price, your getting a jacked up base price with $10 dollars off the total to make it the original price again.
So with LOTRO your getting 600 points regardless but they market it as "500 Base Points + 100 "Bonus Points" to make it seem like their rewarding you, or giving you some extra break.
Again its cringe, its sketchy, and its obvious.
You are working off the false assumption that the bonus point amounts have not changed in the past and will not change in the future. They are not a constant.
-- Whammy - a 64x64 miniRPG - RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right? - FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
That's what you get with f2p. There was a time when you could pay $15 a month plus the cost of the physical copy and get everything the game had to offer until the next expansion. Not anymore. People whined until now we get nickle and dimed to death. Welcome to the new way of doing things. This is what the whiners wanted so now we get half a game and have to pay for anything else more money than we did before.
But the Bonus only exists because its a marketing ploy! LOL
Thats what im saying, its irrelevant information. It isnt "Actually" a bonus. In the core game with out without this sale, they give you 500Pts + 100 "Bonus Points".
Its an unnecessary sales tactic haha. Im sorry but this is just funny to me now, I dont understand how anyone can know that information and defend that kind of sketchy behavior.
Here's an example for you on the flip side of it.
Imagine if you went into Target and it said "Sale" on the sign, for, lets just say, an Xbox.
And then you look at the Price Tag and it says "Sale: $410 Dollars - $10 Dollars off". But the Xbox is normally priced at $400 anyways.
So your not actually getting a sales price, your getting a jacked up base price with $10 dollars off the total to make it the original price again.
So with LOTRO your getting 600 points regardless but they market it as "500 Base Points + 100 "Bonus Points" to make it seem like their rewarding you, or giving you some extra break.
Again its cringe, its sketchy, and its obvious.
You are working off the false assumption that the bonus point amounts have not changed in the past and will not change in the future. They are not a constant.
Ok a few things.
1. No one can know whether they will change in the future - unless your secretly a time-traveler whose decided to spend his days going back in time to post on MMORPG.com - so that point is moot.
2. Here is a video from over a year ago with the same bonus point values: So unless you can show me proof that it has been different values in the past than this is the farthest back we can go back and yes its been the same.
3. What proof can you show me that the values are NOT constant? I can give you video proof that they have been the same for over a year, what proof can you give me otherwise?
Comments
If they want to emulate late night TV advertising that's fine but it's just as fine to say lame-o.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
The point of the post is that they have a "Cringe inducing" method of showing these "Deals". They throw around tons of numbers and "Bonus Points" to make it seem like your getting such a good deal its impossible to pass up, when you have to get the $35+ deals for it to actually be a substantial difference.
Again I have no problem with how people spend their money, I personally have spent money on Micro-transaction games and I implore people to spend how they want.
At the same time age old business practices and poorly displayed marketing ads are nothing less than full cringe to me.
This entire paragraph:
"The point of the post is that they have a "Cringe inducing" method of showing these "Deals". They throw around tons of numbers and "Bonus Points" to make it seem like your getting such a good deal its impossible to pass up, when you have to get the $35+ deals for it to actually be a substantial difference.
Read more at http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/458492/the-way-f2p-mmos-price-their-content-is-pure-cringe/p4#ZWgFBhzUdiCHYI4f.99"
The deal seems average, the cringe factor seems well non-existant. IMO anyway.
I get it, in your mind there is no good taste, just profits.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
It's been a couple of years since I last played LOTRO. So tell me, are there any times when you do not get bonus points? If there are, well then their "sales" with bonus points whether single, doubled, tripled or quadrupled make some sense. But if they ALWAYS include bonus points it's nothing more than one of the oldest low-brow sales gimmicks, the "always on sale."
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
The word "bonus" still means something extra in English last time I looked and in the LOTRO cash shop it means the same amount as always.
Even laundry detergent doesn't pull this shit all the time. They do have "20% more!" promotional boxes ot bottles quite often but at least they have the self-respect to not do it all the time. And, I know truth in advertising laws have been gutted in most jurisdictions but I think they could still get some punishment (like a fine of $2 lol) if they did that.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
They have had these prices FOR YEARS so having outrage now is way over due.
They also have to make money some how theyre paying me and everyone else who bought a lifetime pass 6000 TP a year, and some of the guys still play and probably rack up a thousand or more per month just grinding them in game.
Its the old addage time or money. You get TP from just about everything in the game these days but if it takes you an hour to do a few achievements that give 50-100 TP what makes more sense?
if you REALLY want to complain about something complain about Mithril Coins they cost a lot more because they cost TP to buy. And while your at it look at the post I made about the new houses and how much those cost, even with a double sale (this TP one) and a mithril sale they cost between 8-50 bux real life money (if my memory serves).
Turbine has also put a lot more MC priced stuff in as opposed TP. I went into the new expansion for about 30 minutes just to check out the housing, still instanced (just a bigger instance) and still has hooks, So no way I am spending (even my free TP) to buy mithril coins to buy one of those.
It is still a decent game but no where near what it should have and could have been. But considering I paid 150 bux 8 years ago and what ever Moria was I think I got my moneys worth out of it. Because like I said they basically pay me to have an account. No other company does that that I know of. you dont even have to log in to get the credits.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Theh just put too much effort into showing you how good of a deal their giving you instead of just giving you the deal.
Rather than "here's the bonus points your getting and now we are going to double it and you would have gotten this grand total but now your getting this super great bonus deal."
They could have just said, "Buy now and you get X amount extra points."
Simply put if you have to "over-market" your deal than majority of the time it probably won't end up being that great of a deal.
The base is 600 points for $8.00.
At that rate, you would get about 15,000 points for $200
But you get more of a discount the more you buy, so it's 23,000 for $200
And with this sale, you now get 33,500 for $200, more than double what you get at the base price.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
One could also interpret what you're saying as "anything someone does to make a profit is equally OK as what someone else does and neither should ever be discussed, examined or criticized" lol.
No wonder the traffic is down in these forums when so many think that MMO monetization shouldn't be debated. It's pretty well the same canned responses I got when I made a thread about the upcoming ESO gambling boxes: "They're trying to make a profit /endthread"
They haven't added monetization to religion and politics as forbidden topics in the rules here... but hey, I just had a thought, maybe capitalism IS a religion for some... you think that might be why some always want to squelch these threads?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
That day never existed. Almost every MMO has had some alternate form of income, whether expansions, account services, or item sales.
As for people preferring your perception of the old method - they didn't. Third party sales were rampant and selling characters/plat/gold was big business for some. Do a Google search for "ige yantis" for a window into how massive it was, even a decade and a half ago.
Castronova's book "Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games" is also a pretty accurate reflection of both the economics and the culture of virtual worlds during a period that many purists look back at with rather rosy goggles on.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Thats what im saying, its irrelevant information. It isnt "Actually" a bonus. In the core game with out without this sale, they give you 500Pts + 100 "Bonus Points".
Its an unnecessary sales tactic haha. Im sorry but this is just funny to me now, I dont understand how anyone can know that information and defend that kind of sketchy behavior.
Here's an example for you on the flip side of it.
Imagine if you went into Target and it said "Sale" on the sign, for, lets just say, an Xbox.
And then you look at the Price Tag and it says "Sale: $410 Dollars - $10 Dollars off". But the Xbox is normally priced at $400 anyways.
So your not actually getting a sales price, your getting a jacked up base price with $10 dollars off the total to make it the original price again.
So with LOTRO your getting 600 points regardless but they market it as "500 Base Points + 100 "Bonus Points" to make it seem like their rewarding you, or giving you some extra break.
Again its cringe, its sketchy, and its obvious.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I think the other part of it is, many realize our words are a wasted effort, as it's the actions that speak the loudest. I could go into any department store tomorrow and bemoan their prices, yet if people are buying, those words would fall on deaf ears. Meaning I would have wasted my time trying to argue or denounce things I have no control over no matter how much I say. For the most part, the only time the outlet lowers prices is when they're not moving the merch.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
i.e. for $19.99 you get 1250 base plus 350 bonus. X 10 you get 12,500 base and 3,500 bonus
but for $199.99 you get 12,500 base, but 10,500 bonus.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
1. No one can know whether they will change in the future - unless your secretly a time-traveler whose decided to spend his days going back in time to post on MMORPG.com - so that point is moot.
2. Here is a video from over a year ago with the same bonus point values:
3. What proof can you show me that the values are NOT constant? I can give you video proof that they have been the same for over a year, what proof can you give me otherwise?