One of the bigger controversies coming out of CBT2 was the reveal of the cash shop pricing. While some of the items were priced similar to what I had predicted in my “Which Version to Buy” article listed here, some items cost significantly more than what was previously thought. Most people were expecting pricing comparable to other buy to play games previously released, such as Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls Online, and the Secret World. What we got was more akin to free to pay pricing, with some items costing even more than what you would typically expect in some of the more expensive F2P games. While I still stand by my comments that there isn’t Pay-2-Win in the cash shop, this whole experience reminds me of when Eve Online introduced “walking in stations” in the Incarna update, and tried to charge obscene prices for cosmetic items, such as $50 for a monocle (one will only set you back a mere $5 in Black Desert Online).
To give you an example , a full costume is going to cost you $32 (we had thought they were going to run you $15). I am fine with the minor stats on costumes. I am also OK with the fact that if you don’t buy a costume, you are going to be very limited on how you can change the way your character dresses. I am not fine with the fact that such items are so severely overpriced and are character bound on top of that.
These prices, are quite simply insane. A single costume costs more than the cheapest copy of the game. I get that Daum needs to keep the servers running, and to pay for additional development, but as Guild Wars 2 and the Elder Scrolls Online have already proven, if you make a good game, people will support it. I was intending on purchasing several costumes for my main and a few for my alts over time (I like costumes, damn you Guild Wars 2), but at these prices, I’ll collect my Conqueror's edition costume and pass on the others.
Also, while I appreciate the fact that you can unlock additional inventory slots via questing and the Miles shop, they will sell a lot more inventory space by charging $1 per slot with a discount if purchasing X number of slots (currently they are $1.50 each with 8 dropping the price to $1 per). Charging $2 for a Partial skill reset? Almost $30 for all the weight limit increases? $5 for Lucky underwear? This isn’t Korea. No one is going to pay that kind of money for these items. Correction, a few will, but you are going to drive off a huge portion of the player base in the process.
Although there has been no official update as to whether or not we can expect any changes to the pricing in the cash shop in the near future, their Community Manager Jouska did have this to say:
“When it comes to a project as large and complicated as launching a MMO there are many people involved and decisions require discussion. If you factor this in with the pre-existing workload and take into account that multiple time zones are involved it becomes apparent why it takes time. Information is not held back arbitrarily, once we have the information for an announcement, the announcement will be made.”
I sincerely hope that Daum gives us an update on the pricing before the pre-order period ends, as I have heard from more than a few of you that the prices in the cash shop are, to quote Jimmy McMillan, “Too Damn High”. I also fear that people will simply refuse to buy items in the cash shop, which could put the game’s future into question and possibly cause the introduction of actual Pay-2-Win items. Hopefully Daum will get the message.
Post a Comment