Cartel Coins are too expensive!

[Gspol]

I was actually considering buying some cartel coins because i was in-game and someone linked the new lime-green colour crystal which I wanted. But the prices are just crazy, the best offer ends up making cartel coins around half as valuable as real currency. In the UK it costs £24 for 5500 CC. This is a game! the amount of stuff you get for 5500 CC is nothing compared to the stuff you could spend £24 on! You could buy 3 months game time for a little more than £24 (It's around £27 for 3 months).

 

Bioware we should at least get 500 CC a week when we sub instead of in a month. Our monthy budget goes in an instant and so does 5500 CC.

 

The worst part is those stupid little cartel packs which don't even give you the option to choose what you're paying for! When I spend over £1 on something, I want to know what it is. If I have to continuously spend £1-2 on something over and over again to get what I want then you can see how that adds up. If the price of cartel coins was halved then it would still be a rip off but it would be a start in the right direction. I think the price of CC should be around a third of what it is now.

 

Try it Bioware, put the prices down and give us our "Monthly allowance" weekly. I've been a loyal customer, being patient through all of the bugs, the mishaps and the cartel coin extortion, only unsubbing when I could no longer afford to play anymore (before F2P came along) so I think you should change the extortionate prices of your coins, at least temporarily. Perhaps as a way of thanking your loyal customers for supporting your game because we genuinely want it to succeed because we enjoy it?

 

-Gspol

[pchayka]

They do everything good. Packs are excellent way to lure even more money from you.

 

You're not only paying to play the game (f2p is just facade, you can't play w/o paying) but then again you pay for cartel market items

 

FYI not only bioware does cartel market managing. EA is greedy as it is and surely demands more money forcing bioware to go for high prices.

 

So it doesn't seem possible for anything to change.

Edited February 13, 2013 by pchayka

[Gspol]

That's a good point but I think my point still stands that they want you to pay far too much for a bunch of mainly cosmetic items in-game. The thing that puts me off CCs is the sheer price of them. As a sub I would expect a bit more access to the entire game, perhaps a discount on cartel coins like they did with the expansion. I doubt at least a 25% discount would be asking too much considering they already get £9 a month from me and many others. IMO the whole micro-transaction part of SWTOR needs a major revamp.

 

There are so many items that were put on the cartel market which they could have done a lot more with, like with revans mask for example, they could have made a quest chain about revan, exploring some of his past or something which you could've gotten his mask and armour from.

 

I dunno, it just irritates me when I think of all the cool stuff that could be done with the cartel market but instead it's just been an online casino where you never win because you're throwing money into it but instead of a chance to make more money, you have a small chance to get a stupid little piece of cosmetic gear or a funky colour crystal.

 

I just think that if the price is so high each time you 'throw the dice' on one of those packs then you should get something worth the money you're paying. So far all I've seen is little trinket's I would consider buying if they were about a quarter of the price they are now.

 

Bottom line Bioware/EA If the cost doesn't change the quality of the items players pay for should.

[lucotas]

they are not too expensive. actually they are very cheap. maybe the iteams are expensive but the cartel coins are fine

[Arutar]

This is a game! the amount of stuff you get for 5500 CC is nothing compared to the stuff you could spend £24 on!

 

£24 are what? About 5-6 pints of beer in a decent pub? About 2 cinema tickets (maybe with popcorn)? One meal in a restaurant? - All entertainment which last for a couple of hours max.

 

Compared to that, I do not think that the price for CC is out of line.

 

And in the end, it doesn`t matter what you or i think. As long as enough people are paying the money they will not lower it (and why should they?).

 

Since none of the Carte items are essential anyway, why do you even care? - just do not buy them if you think they are not worth the money.

[Gspol]

£24 are what? About 5-6 pints of beer in a decent pub? About 2 cinema tickets (maybe with popcorn)? One meal in a restaurant? - All entertainment which last for a couple of hours max.

 

Compared to that, I do not think that the price for CC is out of line.

 

And in the end, it doesn`t matter what you or i think. As long as enough people are paying the money they will not lower it (and why should they?).

 

Since none of the Cartel items are essential anyway, why do you even care? - just do not buy them if you think they are not worth the money.

 

I'll be honest, you kind of threw me off there with the point about £24 not lasting long when spent on other things because that's a good point but I would say those other things are of much higher quality than a few silly virtual items.

 

True, it doesn't matter what I think. But seeing as this is a suggestion forum, I thought I would offer my opinion, not realising I was in the minority here. I don't think their greed makes my point any less valid though.

 

And I care because I see my money as an investment. An investment in making this game better. When I see something that I don't like in something I invest money into, I try to get it changed into something better. This is my opinion and it may not be your's but even though they offer a service, what keeps this service running is people's money. The masses may be satisfied with gimicky trinkets, but I'm not. I'd like to see a bit more effort put into the cartel market and see something that's actually worth the money they're asking for.

 

Maybe I should've named this thread something different, because my issue isn't necessarily with the prices. It's more about the quality of what I'm expected to want to buy. Too bad I only just realised that there now eh?

[Sir_Kling]

I like the cartel market in some ways.

They have made som changes to it that makes it even more "valuable" if you roll a new toon. The fact that you can redeem an item you have gotten before. ´Sure youll have to "unlock" it by CC but for a not to high price.

So i think i would say that they have made it so much better than it were by launch.

 

Tho i think the price for the CC may actually be reasonable, i think that the pricing in the Cartel Market may be somewhat odd. NSure they have "sales" now and then but still. Some are totally reasonable and some are way too expensive.

And yes, "only 4-6 pints" may not be that much, but still. It is a fair deal of money they are asking for 5500 CC.

I do not think that subscribers should get "reduced" prices just because they are subbed. We do get plenty of things. PvP, raids, flashpoints in unlimited amount. It is after all "cosmetic" thats the costly items in the Cartel Market.

 

The packs you can buy is ofccourse a way for them to make you "gamble" your money.

And if you are after a certain item, i rather get it from AH if the price is reasonable. But sure, i think the drops are a little low on some items.

And mostly you get just "junk/crap" from the packs that doesnt even sell very good on AH.

But as being pointed out before, the Cartel Market and its microtransactions is a gear in the system that makes swtor keep going. And for that i am very happy for i just love the game.

 

Oh, and yes, i totally agree with that some items "revans gear etc" could get a real nice stpry instead of just being sold like it was "nothing". nI would happily pay for it being an exclusive mini mission or something like that.

I did not for example expect us subs to get discount on Rothc when it came, but we did. And that is an expansion. Actually very generous.

And they did release the HK for free to subs too.

Well im kind of going off topic so ^^

 

Nice thread btw^^

[AlexDougherty]

the prices are just crazy, the best offer ends up making cartel coins around half as valuable as real currency. In the UK it costs £24 for 5500 CC. This is a game! the amount of stuff you get for 5500 CC is nothing compared to the stuff you could spend £24 on!

 

Because the stuff in the game isn't real, it doesn't matter how far the CC goes, since your are comparing imaginary money with real money

 

You could buy 3 months game time for a little more than £24 (It's around £27 for 3 months).

 

Bioware we should at least get 500 CC a week when we sub instead of in a month. Our monthy budget goes in an instant and so does 5500 CC.

 

I think the price of CC should be around a third of what it is now.

-Gspol

(Cut down to bits I'm addressing)

 

While I do think some of the prices are high, the entire stock is fluff and eye candy, none of it is necessary, as you can tell by the fact some of us have never added to our monthly allowance. I would like to see some prices come down a bit, but it's not the end of the world.

[Hambunctious]

The point is that all of these kinds of things were either included in mmos free to subscribers, or could be earned in game either as a random drop off some boss, or as possible loot from lock boxes that subscribers could open for free, while F2P'ers had to buy keys.

 

LOTRO, and DCUO have by far the best market systems today. Neither of them appear greedy to their customers.

 

The perception they give here is pure greed, and subscribers get the worst end of the deal. Not only do they have to pay to sub, they have to spend even more to get things that would normally be included in a subscription price.

 

If they really wanted to make money off the cartel market, they would lower prices. They would sell even more items, and not make people feel like they're being milked. It's not like there's a limited supply, everything is already made, and is available. You can make more money by selling something with an unlimited supply for $7 than for $15. If you make people feel like they're getting a deal, then you get both a positive perception, and profit.

 

As much as some of you don't want to believe it, the population is once again dying. EA has to change their ways, and stop running things into the ground for a short term windfall. They'd be better served by investing in the long term growth of this game by cultivating a much broader group of people that are willing to pay smaller prices, and earn some good will along the way.

 

They're taking the joy of playing a mmo away.

 

I can't comprehend those people who spend $200 a month on a video game. Their priorities are out of whack, and so are their brains.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Hambunctious

[Shadowcaper]

Comparing the cost of CC's to a few pints of beer or a meal at a restaurant is the wrong way to look at it, really. It should be compared to other digital products. A new computer game costs 30-35 GBP, generally. This is a complete game, with hundreds of sets of armour, weapons, an entire world and engrossing storyline, voice acting, possibly a hundred hours or more of playtime... The list goes on. For 35GBP in the CM, you get... a hypercrate. 24 randomly jumbled up fractions of armour sets, almost certainly at least 4 or 5 repeat items and usually more, most of which you don't actually want and will just sell right off on the GTN... No matter how you look at it, it's not good value

 

At least they should lower the price of a hypercrate to 5500 CC's, so you can just buy 1 batch of CC's in order to get a hypercrate, because as it stands now, you have to buy 2 batches of CC's, then you have a bunch left over. There's a fine line between standard business practice and robbery, and EA have crossed it

[Rheshalea]

It's not that the coins are too expensive, it's that the Cartel market prices are way too high, combined with the fact that it's very difficult to get more coins by just playing the game. 5 coins per achievement would be nice, for example. 5 per level, double every 10 levels?

 

I understand that a company needs to make money, and that's fine. But I already pay to play (properly), and while I do appreciate the monthly coin grant I get for subbing, I would really like if that grant could buy me more than an item pack and a half. IF they happen to be on sale.

[Shadowcaper]

Of course, the value of the CC's is determined by what you can buy for them: I'd be fine with 5500 CC's costing 24 GBP if those 5500 CC's could actually be used to buy something that's worth 24 GBP, but the way it works at the moment, the value of packs is far lower than their cost (either in CC's or real money)

[Sir_Kling]

What i find very amusing amongst for example th earmour sets, is that ther very first and old ones still costs a great deal.

And even more amusing is that when they launched the cathar race, its wasnt free for subscribers. Even if you bought the expansion you still had to pay for the cathar race in one way or another. Many things i can live with but that just seemed greedy. Some argue that you can buy it as subscriber for your CC you get every month, but that doesnt even cover it.

Best thing is "on my server" i havent even seen that many cathar players.

[trashyone]

Ok this is in no way a troll post. This is simply my opinion, When i first played this game I thought the Market Place was reasonable, but now after actually paying for a subscription and going through over 100$+ on the market last month in order to try and get Darth Malak's Jaw Piece I can see exactly what the OP is talking about. Anyone here who honestly thinks the cartel market is not expensive, I say put your money were your mouth is, because you are either incredibly naive or a fanboi, and here's why.

 

Most f2p games out there have a reasonable Marketplace. Even Korean games do. SOE's EQ2 Has a great Market Place, not only do you get 500 SC cash they also throw in 3 packs of EQ2 Cards in which all have a chance of giving you loot cards which give you Special House items and Cosmetic Armor. SOE also offers discount prices on Station Cash every month were you can buy a lot of SC cash for really cheap prices and it keeps players and fans of EQ2 not feeling like they are getting ripped off, but actually feel like the SOE developers give a damn about them.

 

As of now, It cost 39.99 for 5500 cartel coins and that won't even buy you 1 contraband pack. You need a whopping 6,912 Cartel coins for those packs. When you are even a Subscriber you still need to have your GTN Market slots unlock because it only gives you a cap of 50 items you can put on the GTN market. As a subscriber everything should be unlocked for you, no ands but or maybe's. To change your Legacy name is another 1000 Cartel coins. To change something like that should only be at least 200 cartel coins. Seriously for 39.99 you can buy an entirely new game for that on steam plus you can even buy pc games now for even cheaper, and your going to sit here and tell me that paying 40$ for cosmetic items in this game is worth it? Seriously go back to school and take an economics class.

Edited October 5, 2013 by trashyone

[Sir_Kling]

I wouldnt say the CC are cheap. But i would tho say that what makes the CC feel like very expensive is the pricing of things in the CC market.

As said before, some old things still cost a great deal. When you "unlock" an armour set for your account i was a little chocked of the cost.

 

Everything that is a little bit expensive costs a great deal of CC:s.

But yes, if you buy the biggest CC pack and still dont have enough for the hypercrate. well. thats just ugly greedy marketing from EA:s side.

But i would still rather see the cost CC as it is and the CC market prices drop instead.

[Noxsabe]

you guys can argue all day about this, as long as there a people buying them nothing will change! and why would they if people buy cartel coins and buy packs like a crazy nutter, why in the hell would BW and or EA change that income?! you want to change the prize, then start a campaign that will change the opinion of your fellow players. if sales drop then and only then will they change the prize in order to get more income. that or they close the game service. (EA has no problem in doing that)

 

F2P is a lie in every game not just in SWTOR, its a trap for weak-minded people in spending there hard urn money on a games virtual items. its amazing how many people don't take in consideration that a virtual item is NOT forever, ALL items will be LOST wen they eventually stop this game service one day.

 

i do understand that some games need the extra income to keep the service alive, and this game is no exception. personally the cost of cartel coins is "fair" BUT the cost of some items is NOT! especially the box'es, you don't even know what you buy its all about chance and that i don't like, so personally i won't buy them. i want to know what i'm buying. (amazing that gambling laws exist and kids can't gamble, yet a kid can gamble on items in this game with real money? "dads mastercard or not", looks like a loophole in the gambling law).

[JamieKirby]

Well, considering the only stuff I spend coins on are dependent on the situation.

 

If I am creating a new character, I get the class quest xp bonus, exploration xp bonus, the companion affection bonuses from items and conversations, speeder training, field, respect and the xp bonus items that you can get via the market, when I get low.

 

If I get a full adaptable set or a new lightsaber hilt and stuff like that, I pay for that to be unlocked and if I grow tired of my character's race, I do a cosmetic change.

 

I never buy the cartel packs, that is a waste of money, I wish there was more to spend cartel coins on, it would be cool if once you get your legacy to level 50, it unlocks legacy items that level with you, like weapons, armor pieces or mods or anything like that, I would buy those in an instant.

 

In the end, £24 for 5500cc is not too much, a lot of people that want everything for nothing tends to say it costs too much, but then, they also refuse to pay for the subscription.

[Angry_Android]

eh, as someone who subs, i rarely do much with coins. I recently splurged to get some coins so i could unlock some stuff but to date i've only bought 4 packs and each pack was a complete let down. the price vs what you get is just insane. Now, i have also purchased some basic armor sets and unlocked them for my account and that was money well spent. Now i have a full set of orange armor for me and companions for just about everyone (bought the eliminator set, jedi knight set, clandestine agent set, and trooper set). I do wish as a subscriber you got more than just the 500c per month. But like folks have said, it wont get fixed as long as people are buying hypercrates like their life depends on it.

[branmakmuffin]

Then don't buy them. "Problem" solved.

[Angry_Android]

Then don't buy them. "Problem" solved.

 

i dont, i just bought the four to see what the fuss was about. I just use coins for convenience stuff, unlocks, and the occasional market armor or weapon (probably going to get the cathar staff soon). i think the cartel market works fine, although i do agree that if they lowered the prices of items, or had better "sales" then people would be happier with the market and profits would be better i think. Additionally, having an occasional 2x cartel coins weekend where purchases of coins netted you double would be excellent and probably increase revenue on coins sporadically.

 

Just some thoughts.

[TheLexinator]

I believe the coins are priced well. What is overpriced, are all the virtual items that are being sold for those coins.

 

IMHO everything should get a 50% price reduction (on the "Account") items, and a 20% price reduction on everything else.

 

As it is, I only buy things on sale, and only to spend my "free" subscriber CC.

[branmakmuffin]

i dont, i just bought the four to see what the fuss was about. I just use coins for convenience stuff, unlocks, and the occasional market armor or weapon (probably going to get the cathar staff soon). i think the cartel market works fine, although i do agree that if they lowered the prices of items, or had better "sales" then people would be happier with the market and profits would be better i think

Of course customers would be happier to pay lower prices. They'd be positively giddy if the stuff were free. Would lower prices (but still greater than free) lead to greater profits? Obviously BWEA does not think so.

[USMCSolider]

They do everything good. Packs are excellent way to lure even more money from you.

 

You're not only paying to play the game (f2p is just facade, you can't play w/o paying) but then again you pay for cartel market items

 

FYI not only bioware does cartel market managing. EA is greedy as it is and surely demands more money forcing bioware to go for high prices.

 

So it doesn't seem possible for anything to change.

i have played without paying in alot of games it does make it more fun to pay to enhance your experience but you dont have to pay to play its just up to you

[Knockerz]

Edite

 

 

A necro thread.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Knockerz

[CaliJoe]

If I can make an analogy, the Cartel Market as a grocery store (because I work in grocery). Everybody who wants be there, can be there. You can go somewhere else if you don't like what they got. Rarely can you bargain, but you can definitely return something if you don't like whatever it is. So far, so good. Here's where it gets wonky. Instead of being allowed to browse the isle (lists) and see what's what and possibly make a a knee jerk purchase or many knee jerk purchases you get a box. You don't know what groceries you got in the box. You can sell the groceries individually once you open the box. But you can't know what's in the box from looking at it. There are staple items in the market, that have been there for however long and stock changes from time to time because you got to keep the market from being completely stale.

 

I understand the fairness in keeping it random. What I don't understand is that, *that* model doesn't work when you are purchasing directly for yourself. Maybe out in the world of loot drops and flashpoints and operations, random fairness is perfectly okay by me. If I am allowed to purchase items that I see throughout SWTOR directly from a vendor, I 'm all for that. If am given a box with no idea what is in it, when I am looking for a specific item or items granted by purchasing the box that random setting sets off an addiction trigger because I *want* those items specifically. It is dangerous to keep it random when you are purchasing directly for yourself because I am not getting what I want until there is a real world problem. There is a very real danger of having an addiction trigger triggered when the power of direct item sale is so much easier and safer than random box when purchasing for yourself.

 

The big issue is price. Grocery stores drop prices on certain items all the time and varies week to week. Wednesday to the following Tuesday with more specials on Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Cartel Market doesn't do that. It doesn't even come close to anything of a sale price except when items are being discontinued and that's only for a week or two at most. Okay, discontinued items bye bye. New items come in. Are they a good price? Are worth the investment? That's for "you" to decide. Are you going to purchase the item, then sell it or destroy it or give it to a companion? If anything, I think a purchase on the cartel market is an investment in time. You are purchasing an item(s), you can keep that item till SWTOR closes it's doors. It never gets old or needs repair or stales or we..it kinda breaks but you get the point. So price could be viewed as investment in an item for forever. I think the OPs issue is a valid one.The player is weighing the cost and time in real world money versus is this going to be a good investment. Unfortunately the general consensus is a big "No, this is not a good investment".

 

There is no simple fix to this because it is up to BW to set prices for the Cartel Market. I hope that the person or people that deal with the pricing in the cartel market consider adjusting the ceiling price of the 24x packets to be low enough so a purchase of $39.99US will satisfy the justification of the purchase. Currently the CM price for a 24x is approx. $55US.

 

I just thought of this. If there is a way to pick and chose what you want boxed up for (x) price and at the ceiling price or higher there is a slight and deeper discount for the box, then IMO may justify the price of the purchase.

 

Please do not jump onto this thread an go "well, you don't have buy anything because I don't !". That solves nothing, that does not contribute nothing, that just fills space because you feel to be a jerk. There are people like myself who have addiction triggers, and I don' t know anyone who doesn't have to mange their money in the real world. IMO, I like inventing my time and money into SWTOR again. I didn't stop subbing, but I did stop playing because of life. Someone said this already that it is better to have a large base of small investors than a small base of large investors. I really, really, really hope BW Austin tunes into that and changed the model of the cartel market to reflect that.

Edited January 26, 2014 by CaliJoe