Some like me will agree, than you get a reply from some people that call you greedy and whiny little bitch. These very nice players tell you: "Man up and buy the entire pack twice."
Got to wait for GGG to clear this one out and ride the unfortunate storm some players have to bring in apparently.
Also in my previous spoiler tags/ post in this thread I understand the sentiment with OB support packages w.r.t. closed beta support packages. The issue lies solely in these two packs being so similar.
Forum title
Supporter pet
Design an unique (now 500 off, did it not use to be 2k?)
Flying pet vs glowing pet (I do take the flying dude)
T-shirt
Micro transaction points
Sound track
At the start this would be exclusive. The idea was that the CB support package was exclusive. Over time this slowly turned into forum title and kiwi (that and probably the best part that you played one of the golden eras of the game, which was CB). Now there is only the kiwi but a similar pet is made based on the same idea. The notion for many was that exclusive pets and other pets could be found in the shop at certain prices. Apparently this is not happening. I imagined the keystone and new t-shirt would be sold in the store, did not expect this to end up in a new supporter package.
So why is this choice made? Why make almost identical support packages, recreating exclusive content again. This time for OB. To make matter worse the psych element in this one are the new weapon effects and more polished products, previously not available yet (with respect to these weapon effects, most of the current effects look like an alpha version attempt at effects). The choice is made because these sell and people buy them. Which is fine, but as such you must not be surprised that you alienate old customers.
A package with: key & t-shirt
A package with: discounted micro points and one of the new weapon effect
A package with: A Rhoa plushie!!!
They could work, probably not as great at these packages though, especially since they contain content that will become inaccessible over time. So definitely GGG is making the choice for revenue and not their old customers. This solely has focus on new customers. A tactic that might work is giving old customers a discount. Or a way to upgrade into the new product (thing GGG tend to do), but there are other elements at play for which these tricks hold no value.
The least that could have been done:
- not an unique pet, but helm effect
- not including the forum title
- not labeling and advertising this as supporter packages and exclusive content
If they were just sale packages, that would yield a great deal for money spend, but you still get access to the digital products and/ or physical products the premise is changed.
You see it is not hard to understand the feelings of people not happy with these packages. To some extent this is the first time I am also not that happy about how things have been handled. As an old customer or supporter to this game, I feel that the relation of CB supporter with GGG, the one I artificially feel (or felt), suffers from the current deal.
There is a psych effect between being a customer and being a supporter. Imagine that what is done here would be done with a kickstarter? Exactly not the best strategy, you probably alienate old kickstarters. The kickstarting risk is you aiding the developer, being part of a product while it is not yet finished or successfully launched yet (can be said about CB, but also OB, however OB is treated by many a the full game launch, since everyone got access).
You can differ with people having these negative opinions about the open beta packages, but their opinion in not stupid or unimaginable. It is quite well understandable and those who find it necessary to flame these opinions and call the posters idiots, are the true idiots themselves. Vice versa I can see how these are nice products and that people seeing have both forum titles feel even more exclusive. The hording, nature of many people. Try to have your car with as many features as possible. Or simply you are more detached and liek to support the game in various ways, not really seeking for somethign in return. Learn to differ in view... but I guess simpletons love to hate for the hating.
Hope this creates some insight for people so that the childish banter and bashing back and forth can finally stop.
thanks, good post.
Agreed :)
1) Im just waiting for an apology for them doing this and that it wont happen again...
2) Or that they will remove the similaritys in the packages(And make it all right again)
!st option, the signed stuff stays off the walls for the resentment of this issue.
2nd option, Ill put it back up on the wall proudly.
I just dont want my stuff to feel cheapened for their profits sake...Or that its acceptable to do this to avid supporters..
Regards.
I don't think you fully understand, yet.
Digital and phsysical goods have been made. The choice is already made by GGG. An apology won't do it. There is no sale strategic choice doing that. The best market solution w.r.t. old customers would be to make a discount system. Hey you spend so much in the past, due to being a loyal customer of our company we like to draw your attention to our new product, which we can sell at you for a discount. This is the very basis of selling subscriptions. GGG is known for discount tricks, they also did a stash tab deal going from CB to OB, so they do seem to value the company - customer relation.
Tricky bit here are the new customers. Normally this communique would be best done in private and through an pre-existing customer account system. A discount to old customers can be perceived now as bias. Thus the smart market move would be to sell the first 3 days at a 10% discount, such that new customers also had a discount option. This is all about how customers perceive products and their relation with a company. Since GGG are quite open and sell their products in an emotional way (thank to your support we can develop this game) you are likely to create an attached customer base (but not every customer will respond this way).
Anyways for most options it is a bit too late and the best choice for GGG is to do whatever gives them now the best revenue.
What they could announce now is that it is likely that in the future packages such as these are made more often (season package/ holiday specials) and that purely the pets and forum title stay unique, but having a forum title is not an unique.
If a discount or more open communique doesn't work for you than that is too bad. Unfortunately you and exorzist might not feel comfortable, with a deal. This is unfortunate, feeling understandable, but don't expect that things will be redone to cater to you. All you can hope for is a good deal or for a different approach by GGG in the future. It is also possible they lose customers.
I do like to note that since there is no subscription system in place or good track record, most revenue comes from new players. As the product is, people who already spend a fair amount of money will become less likely to do so in the future.
The best example on my previous post is the discussion about the ferari between tachi203 (you) and iamacyborg. Both of you clearly have a different perception on the product up now and the product you purchased in the past. Neither one of you is wrong. Who is wrong? Perhaps GGG is slightly wrong, because they failed to use marketing tricks as I mentioned to work on the customer relation.
Having options to upgrade your products would also help. This means current weapon effects get a similar upgrade, or a cheap upgrade options are possible in the future. You could also choose to sell the new style as new products. The choice here is between direct revenue and the customer experience. A good customer experience might yield more revenue on long term, while making sale choices for more revenue now, could cause bad customer experiences. My favorite topic the dual strike weapon effect. I think that is something where they can certainly reach out to customers, while probably even directly increasing their sale count as more weapon effects are bought instead of people buying the same one twice. The first option is more perceived value which means people are more likely to spend money buying credits.
Anyways I find it generally funny that after what I post the banter just continues onward. The entire discussion could be different and more mature and than probably a settlement that pleases most parties could easily be achieved.
Last edited by Ozgwald#5068 on Jun 7, 2013, 10:50:00 AM
what happens if I buy more then one supporter pack? I want the other weapon effect lol
"
Chris wrote:
"
elegance92 wrote:
Is it possible to purchase more than one pack?
I'd like to get all the effects/rhoas, but 12k is a bit of a stretch for me, I could pretty safely do one each of the others over time though!
Yes, you can definitely purchase all of the others. Thanks!
i think chris said some one on this post that the weapon effect overlaps one each other
so if you buy regal one and then divine you will only have the divine weapon effect
(i think same will happen with pets)
Chris, are you planning on adding content to the $12.5k pack? That's a lot of money for such little reward. The monster is great, but besides that there isn't a whole lot of value there more than the $1.5k bundle. At the very least give more points than 11000.
Still great job with the patches, and I'll be buying a pack for whatever I can afford! Keep up the good work GGG.
Chris, are you planning on adding content to the $12.5k pack? That's a lot of money for such little reward. The monster is great, but besides that there isn't a whole lot of value there more than the $1.5k bundle. At the very least give more points than 11000.
Still great job with the patches, and I'll be buying a pack for whatever I can afford! Keep up the good work GGG.
To be honest, 12.5k probably isn't quite enough to cover the entire development of a monster. That said, it improves the game for everyone so we are happy to do it. It's also fun to work with community members.
Consider the number of people involved and steps taken.
Concept Art, Game Design, High Poly Model, Low Poly Model, Texture, Rigging, Animation, Sound, Effects, Balance.
That is 10 people (at least!) that need to work on it, and for a multiple days for many of those tasks.
Don't forget that they also get to do the design of unique item (for which we earmark $1,000 of that) and we are also creating a real little statue of the monster too.
That said, I entirely understand the sticker shock. It's a whole lot of money! Just remember we are paying a whole lot of people for that price
