Why is the in game store so expensive?

[Beefsquatch]

Hey, just came back after a long hiatus to prepare for HoT. I never really looked into the Gem Store before because it didn't really have anything interesting (about 2 years ago). But now that I'm checking stuff out..I'm noticing that shit is expensive. Around 15 bucks for the unlimited use gathering tools. Skins are also expensive. The prices are so high, it's almost a deterrent. Since their main income is from micro-transactions, it doesn't make sense that they charge so much.

[Valeron]

well you can also use in game gold to buy anything in the gem store as well

the last time I used my RL cash to buy something there was when the game first came out

[Christonya]

Hey, just came back after a long hiatus to prepare for HoT. I never really looked into the Gem Store before because it didn't really have anything interesting (about 2 years ago). But now that I'm checking stuff out..I'm noticing that shit is expensive. Around 15 bucks for the unlimited use gathering tools. Skins are also expensive. The prices are so high, it's almost a deterrent. Since their main income is from micro-transactions, it doesn't make sense that they charge so much. While Blizzard can charge as much as they want because micro-transactions aren't their main income. So yeah..thoughts?

.................. WAT? Blizzard has NO RIGHT to even have micro transactions because you're paying monthly. Every item in their store should be obtainable in the world or a promotional log in reward.

GW2 doesn't make you pay per month, so they can charge what ever they want from their store to help sustain the game...

Think about it like this: You bought gw2, and started using their servers for free. After 3 months you decide to buy the unlimited gathering tools, spending 30 bucks. You have spent essentially spent 10 bucks a month over three months to use their servers AND you could have chosen not to buy them at all.

Where as in wow, you've spent 45 bucks, 15 per month. Period. AND to get cosmetic crap, you've had to go into their store, and spend another 15-30 w/e dollars.

[Fencers]

I don't find the store to be expensive.

What people find expensive is relative. Value is not something everyone assigns equally.

Also, we must remain focused on Guild Wars 2. Do not derail this thread into game vs. game shenanigans.

Consider this a warning. We don't need to go down the "Blizzard blahblah" rabbit hole again.

[Deleted]

The true question is, Why not?

[Beefsquatch]

I don't find the store to be expensive.

What people find expensive is relative. Value is not something everyone assigns equally.

Also, we must remain focused on Guild Wars 2. Do not derail this thread into game vs. game shenanigans.

Consider this a warning. We don't need to go down the "Blizzard blahblah" rabbit hole again.

Good point, sorry, will remove the Blizz reference before it brews a bigger shit storm.

OT: While there are people who have more money to spend, and would not mind the prices, I think there is a general con consensus on what is expensive for cosmetic items. 30 bucks for 2000 gems which gets you around 2 items is pretty expensive. That's as much as the game itself. One of the incentives of GW2 is the lack of a sub fee. But when you make items in the gem store so expensive...it kind of deters your main crowd from buying stuff.

well you can also use in game gold to buy anything in the gem store as well

the last time I used my RL cash to buy something there was when the game first came out

250G for 2000 gems seems fair, but it's not that easy making gold in this game. At least from what I'm seeing. Just getting back into the rhythm of things.

[Svifnymr]

250G for 2000 gems seems, but it's not that easy making gold in this game. At least from what I'm seeing. Just getting back into the rhythm of things.

The thing is, everything varies. Some folks will drop $100 to buy black lion keys, others will never spend a dime.

Someone will come along soon enough to explain how they make 100's of gold an hour. A friend of mine that runs a lot of dungeons makes quite a good haul.

In any case, the odds are you won't be buying everything and you certainly don't "need" any of it. An outfit for $6-10 isn't a repetitive cost, if you bought $10 worth of gems every month, you'd run out of things to spend them on pretty quickly.

[Beefsquatch]

The thing is, everything varies. Some folks will drop $100 to buy black lion keys, others will never spend a dime.

Someone will come along soon enough to explain how they make 100's of gold an hour. A friend of mine that runs a lot of dungeons makes quite a good haul.

In any case, the odds are you won't be buying everything and you certainly don't "need" any of it. An outfit for $6-10 isn't a repetitive cost, if you bought $10 worth of gems every month, you'd run out of things to spend them on pretty quickly.

Fair point.

[Christonya]

Good point, sorry, will remove the Blizz reference before it brews a bigger shit storm.

OT: While there are people who have more money to spend, and would not mind the prices, I think there is a general con consensus on what is expensive for cosmetic items. 30 bucks for 2000 gems which gets you around 2 items is pretty expensive. That's as much as the game itself. One of the incentives of GW2 is the lack of a sub fee. But when you make items in the gem store so expensive...it kind of deters your main crowd from buying stuff.



250G for 2000 gems seems fair, but it's not that easy making gold in this game. At least from what I'm seeing. Just getting back into the rhythm of things.

As stated you can buy gems via gold as well. And making gold is very easy, once you know what you're doing.

All in all, if I see some thing super special in the gem store I want I will buy it, these days I don't spend IRL money though because I have enough gold. Previously however I dropped ... Maybe 20-30 bucks? Since I bought the game on some special stuff to help support anet, thats 30 bucks over some thing like a year though, all in all, I wouldn't consider that expensive at all.

OH and on the subject of the infinite gathering tools.. You need to gather some thing like 20k nodes or w/e to make it even break even. It's an investment / a convenient measure for players... Never want to run outa picks? Well for cash here's a convenient option. Intend to play the game for a loooooong time? Invest in some thing that will make you money down the road.

[Fencers]

I think there is a general con consensus on what is expensive for cosmetic items. 30 bucks for 2000 gems which gets you around 2 items is pretty expensive.

Where is this consensus located?

For the majority of game players routinely but $10 characters, $20 skins, $20 mounts, $10 guns, $15 quest packs, $30 DLC in a variety of games from League of Legends to Injustice to Crossfire.

The consensus as best as can judge from the market and the overwhelming success of the practice is that $10-20 cosmetics and additions is exactly how much many are willing to spend.

Your assertion doesn't hold water.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Fencers' is being too technical with logic; yes, it's all a matter of perspective. What he's saying though, for the chance to get a color (which Anet has cleverly barricaded behind a lockbox system with the option to sell you more dye boxes for money if you have the "impatience" to put up with grinding for them for months on end), or a virtual seasonal outfit which in most MMOs (including the original GW) you would've been given for free just for showing up at the season event or little cute armors, you have to cough more money than you might've bought the game for way back during the HoT reveal weekend. Just because other devs/games are doing it doesn't mean it's ethically right.

[Fencers]

Fencers' is being too technical with logic; yes, it's all a matter of perspective. What he's saying though, for the chance to get a color (which Anet has cleverly barricaded behind a lockbox system with the option to sell you more dye boxes for money if you have the "impatience" to put up with grinding for them for months on end), or a virtual seasonal outfit which in most MMOs (including the original GW) you would've been given for free just for showing up at the season event or little cute armors, you have to cough more money than you might've bought the game for way back during the HoT reveal weekend. Just because other devs/games are doing it doesn't mean it's ethically right.

Is there some documentation of what is the "right" and "wrong" pricing of video game items? "Ethically Right" is absurd.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Fencers' is being too technical with logic

Damn it, the end has come

[Gorgodeus]

.................. WAT? Blizzard has NO RIGHT to even have micro transactions because you're paying monthly.

Says who? Fyi, in WoW, microtransaction revenue has almost caught up with revenue from subs. For the year ending 2014, it was ~1 billion dollars from microtransactions alone. They are entitled to pursue other revenue streams that do not adversely affect the game, especially considering that $15 is not worth nearly as much as it was when WoW launched.

[Fencers]

Please stay on topic. Per the warning above- link.

Do not engage in game vs. game discussions or arguments. Comparisons are fine, the details of X vs. Y game are not necessary and derailing to the sub forums.

No more warnings.

- Fencers

[Beefsquatch]

Is there some documentation of what is the "right" and "wrong" pricing of video game items? "Ethically Right" is absurd.

Ethically right is not absurd. Gamers have complained about this type of thing for years. Just because a company can do something, doesn't mean they should.

I don't see how it's fair to have to paying 30 bucks for a DLC/features that should have been included in the main game. It's a sleazy business practice. Yes, there is some profit, but then you get that EA image.

I'm in no way shape or form comparing Anet to EA by the way...just giving an example.

[Deleted]

Good point, sorry, will remove the Blizz reference before it brews a bigger shit storm.

OT: While there are people who have more money to spend, and would not mind the prices, I think there is a general con consensus on what is expensive for cosmetic items. 30 bucks for 2000 gems which gets you around 2 items is pretty expensive. That's as much as the game itself. One of the incentives of GW2 is the lack of a sub fee. But when you make items in the gem store so expensive...it kind of deters your main crowd from buying stuff.



250G for 2000 gems seems fair, but it's not that easy making gold in this game. At least from what I'm seeing. Just getting back into the rhythm of things.

I disagree completely with the 'oh noes so expensive' stuff. Yes, it's a game. But it's still a business.
You don't have to buy the item to play. If you still want it, you don't have to spend a single penny to the game, all it needs it your time. If you don't want to spend time on it, why do you play games in the first place? There's no pay to win situation in GW2, so what is the discussion even about?

Took me 2 evenings of farming dungeons or SW to get 200g. Doesn't seem that hard to me. That's 2,5 evenings for 2k gems. Took me a small week to make my Twilight. Yeah, less than a week.
All it needs is your time. And I think if you get back in your 'rhythm', you might experience the same thing.

[Fencers]

Ethically right is not absurd. Gamers have complained about this type of thing for years. Just because a company can do something, doesn't mean they should.

Value is assigned by the market. The market is willing to buy these ala carte features at current price median.

There is no objective right or wrong. Ethics is nonsense- it's not even defined in any way, just some guy saying it's not "Ethically right". No, that is appropriately absurd.

Gentlemen please, if you are going to throw stuff like this out I need you to be good at it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_...28economics%29

I don't see how it's fair to have to paying 30 bucks for a DLC/features that should have been included in the main game. It's a sleazy business practice. Yes, there is some profit, but then you get that EA image.

What constitutes fair? Is there is application we can apply for fairness that is consistent among the millions of players of this game in nearly all media regions currently?

"Sleazy" is subjective. No worth in conversation.

Also who decides what "should" and shouldn't be in the game by default if not the developers? Is it not their artistic creation? What basis do you have for this declarative reasoning that is consistent among any developer and game publisher?

[Fadewind]

None of the items in the gemstore give you an advantage over other players. $15.00 per month gets you 1200 gems which can buy everything but the upgrade to Digital Deluxe. The single item skins are usually cheaper and unlock for all three armor types (so you're buying three skins as opposed to one).

The two major QoL additions from the gemstore are the unlimited harvesting and crafting licences. For the harvesting, you can easily calculate how many of the Orichalcum gathering tool it will take in order to cost the same amount as an unlimited one. Crafting can be calculated by how often you change a max level crafting discipline. (10c per level of crafting)

While additional bag slots, additional bank slots and increased storage capacity are nice, that can only be calculated based on personal value rather than actual mathematics.

The only things that I could consider an issue are the Living Story episodes. HOWEVER, before the first season 2 episode even came out, they said multiple times that you can get them for free just by logging in and once the next one came out that the previous episode could be bought for gems. And even then, you could ask a friend who has them to tag along so you can see the story without having to buy them. (Albeit without the achievements) That's a pretty fair model that they were open about from the very beginning.

The rest of the gemstore (and really the majority) is fluff to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. This is a very subjective thing.

Let's also not forget that there are pretty regular sales. Usually around the same time that Steam does their sales too (and the GW2 bday).

At the end of the day, Anet needs a way to make MONEY. Guild Wars 1 made money by selling various campaigns and skins. While I won't say that they have this model down pat, Anet has experience with this model. Not everything they try works. (Remember the old way to get fused weapons?) They don't ignore USEFUL player feedback. If the gemstore didn't exist, we'd have a monthly fee. They are a company and they have to make money.

[Christonya]

Please stay on topic. Per the warning above- link.

Do not engage in game vs. game discussions or arguments. Comparisons are fine, the details of X vs. Y game are not necessary and derailing to the sub forums.

No more warnings.

- Fencers

I wasn't going to bring this up but with your second response I changed my mind. When you're looking to buy a product IRL say bread, and you go to the store and find a loaf being sold for 20 bucks which you feel is too high it's only natural to then go looking at other brands of bread to compare and get a better idea of whats "Acceptable" price wise within the industry.

As such GW2 is an mmo, so is wow, therefore if you feel some thing is too high it's only natural to compare products to decide what you think is a fair price tag. I don't see how comparing this specific aspect between these two games is at all wrong nor discussing the way we pay for both games (Purely micro transactions in gw2 and a combination in wow).

Perhaps your issue is just with wow / blizzard ? If that's the case we can talk about a lesser known mmo, but generally when you look at a no name brand of chips, you'll compare them to say, doritos / lays as they are more popular then Miss vikkys.


To the subject at hand I maintain that the pricing in gw2 is fair enough, personally the issue is less with gw2's stuff being 'too' expensive and more of ALL micro transactions being hugely over priced, this goes for literally any game with them. A base skin for say a helmet shouldn't cost more then a few dollars, say 2. In gw2 you're likely spending 10. But this applies to games like LoL as well, a skin is what ? 10 ish bucks? I havn't played in a while so I could be wrong there, I just feel micro transactions are some thing the consumer let slide initially without thinking about it and as such the prices are inflated, where in reality they probably should be about half of what they are now.

At the end of the day, I think it's "ok" in games such as gw2 / LoL because what you buy from micro transactions is less about the item you buy and more about support. They're both free games in essence, so spending that money is like donating to the company for a job well done... The skin is just a little bonus to you, as a thanks.