Gwena Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 -shrug- I figure that the last couple of packs were priced cheaply as more of a promotional thing. Maybe to help get a good flow of not-crazy-expensive decor on the GTN while the housing hype was at its peak. Or maybe they thought it'd be a good idea to make the packs cheaper/more attractive because so many people would be spending their CC on other stronghold related things (furniture bundles, legacy storage tabs, etc). Heck, I dunno, I'm not in marketing. Sad to see the old pricing back though. I thought that the 210 CC price was much more reasonable, considering how much "junk" one can get in a pack. Aside from a couple of things, this pack is pretty much a miss for me (which is saying a lot, as I usually have a good sized "shopping list" for each pack). I'd planned to buy one or two packs for fun, but now, probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarathAnno Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 It's fundamentally weird pricing imo... I was ready to plop down my credit card fro a 35€ CC bundle to grab a pack but having to purchase CC twice raises a psych barrier that makes me wanna sleep on the whole thing lol, 35 ooookaaay I'll du it, but 70? Hmmm... It perplexes me why they don't price these hypercrates at 5.5k CC exactly, get them compulsive buyers in easily heh Agreed, although of course I enjoy paying less the break point for me really is 5500 CC. And I'll be honest if they had a $50 dollar option in the store that covered the cost of this hypercrate I'd be very tempted to take it. But irrational as it is I feel much less willing to spend the money if I have to put down $40 and then immediately go buy more, especially since the cheaper CC buys I could use to make up the difference give fewer CC per dollar spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddballEasyEight Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) Just to be clear, I'm not saying I'm upset about the price. Just that I don't feel that it makes much sense. The theories about the "rarity" being maintained are just not credible since BW doesn't give a hoot about what the GTN prices for stuff are. The theory about price vs sales doesn't make sense either since, judging from the GTN alone, the lower priced packs sold more than twice as much for about a 30% price drop. So that should have made money. It also feels strange that they increased the price in the middle of a shipment. Why not wait until after the shipment was done when there's only 2 left? That takes away the promotion theory too since the "promotion" would still be ongoing if it was that. No, I honestly can't see why they did this. (Unless it's just a test to see if the new sales numbers keep up with the old pricing returned) But I can't say I feel slapped in the face or anything either like some seem to be... Edited October 14, 2014 by OddballEasyEight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oofalong Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 True, but this discussion certainly feels the same. When we got the Ashfall Tauntauns or the increased collection prices, there were also threads asking why the prices are now so expensive, and we did not get a response then, so I don't think we'll get a response now. Like I wrote, I think that they want to keep the decorations valuable, and this is only possible if not too many players are buying them. There's no use for the devs by selling 2x or 3x times as many packs as usual now, when come a few months the market is flooded with so many items that no one wants to buy a new decoration anymore because players already have way more decorations than they can decorate and interest in GSH gets smaller. This makes sense. And, obviously BioWare is profit maximizing (and there is nothing wrong with this). Still, historically hypercrates and packs within the same wave have had the same price so it is surprising/disappointing that it changed. I would have been happier had they advertised/marked the first two shipments down to a lower introductory price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavSalco Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) I think we all enjoyed the lower pricing of the previous stronghold packs (210 CC vs 300 CC) for each pack and 4536 CC vs 6480 CC for the hypercrate. Is there a particular reason the prices were raised to the old higher prices for this pack? The packs used to cost 320CC, not 300CC, so the new price is still cheaper than the packs from the previous shipments. They didn't explain the reason for lowering the price of Stronghold packs to 200 which means they don't need to explain the increase either. All of them could have been priced at 320CC, so I don't see a reason to complain. I'm actually grateful that they gave us the opportunity to gather decorations for a fair price. I believe it was a form of promotion for the stronghold expansion that was meant to encourage people to buy CM stuff. Edited October 14, 2014 by PavSalco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkerus Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) Because they set the standard of keeping the price constant with the other shipments, perhaps? I never said they were hiding anything, nor was I stating the prices haven't fluctuated. And thanks for pointing out the obvious with identifying the price and making the informed decision on whether to, or not to purchase it So how was it shady again? Shady implies there are intentions that purposely nefarious (and this is a business so I'm not sure how you even make a judgement call on what is a fair price and what isn't). I never had ANY expectation that ANY pack would follow the same 210 price. The price is 300. Nothing shady or underhanded about that. I am pointing out the obvious because once again, this forum has a fundamental misunderstanding on buying power. The onus is on the consumer to make a decision, not the supplier. There is nothing wrong with what Bioware has done here. Bottom line. I'm not real happy about the new price either but I am not going to run off calling Bioware a shady company or claiming this is a "cash grab". I understand how the real world works and if I want to make an impact, I won't buy it. At 300 I haven't made a decision yet. Edited October 14, 2014 by Arkerus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotharofxev Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 The theory about price vs sales doesn't make sense either since, Not a big student of economics are ya/? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Wicked Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) I believe it was a form of promotion for the stronghold expansion that was meant to encourage people to buy CM stuff. So... You are saying they now wish to discourage people from buying more CM stuff? Edited October 14, 2014 by Darth_Wicked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotharofxev Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 You are saying they now wish to discourage people from buying more CM stuff? Funny. Not saying I agree with the conclusion, but still funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunafox Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 They probably sold oodles of the other packs, and figured they'd priced it too low...that those of us who like to decorate are just stupid enough to shell out when they're gouging. At the old prices, we bought several hyperpacks. At the price for this pack, and the other packs that were released before decorating, I bought 0 hyperpacks. I think this is a nasty move on their part, and they can keep their ****. I'm not that dumb. Subs should at least get it at the 210 per price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkerus Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) So... You are saying they now wish to discourage people from buying more CM stuff? Not exactly. Think about life outside of the video game for a moment. Often time, stores will run a promotional price or sale when new product is released or there is an event. After a period of time, the prices return to "normal" as the company decides it is time to return to a normal margin on the product. Edited October 14, 2014 by Arkerus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Wicked Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) I wouldn't say that at all. Think about life outside of the video game for a moment. Often time, stores will run a promotional price or sale when new product is released or there is an event. After a period of time, the prices return to "normal" as the company decides it is time to return to a normal margin on the product. Think about consistency for a moment as well. We had two packs from this shipment already. As such, people expected -- at the very least -- for every single pack to follow a similar approach, as far as the price is concerned. Such did not happen. The price for the newest pack just changed, absent warning, for no reason whatsoever. It has the EXACT same number of items as before but the price deviates just because. If they wanted to do that, they could have waited for the release of a new shipment, not opt to be inconsistent about it. Then again, inconsistency is almost a trademark by Bioware Austin. Edited October 14, 2014 by Darth_Wicked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec_Fortescue Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 (edited) Because they knew i am going to buy few of them asap because of jedi robes. I have several people buying me stuff @ credi / cc ratio. This time i had a 115k per 100cc with this guy and I was seriously expecting someething between 2k-4k cc... i log in, i check out the price.. 6.5k cc?! omg, that's almost 15 mil to pay omg. and man already bought them pcks for me so i can't back out! Edited October 14, 2014 by Alec_Fortescue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptMurphy Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 So how was it shady again? Shady implies there are intentions that purposely nefarious (and this is a business so I'm not sure how you even make a judgement call on what is a fair price and what isn't) Like I've stated a couple of times now - They haven't changed the price mid shipment prior to this point. It's simply my opinion on the matter. Nothing more, nothing less. I never had ANY expectation that ANY pack would follow the same 210 price. Bravo? I am pointing out the obvious because once again, this forum has a fundamental misunderstanding on buying power. The onus is on the consumer to make a decision, not the supplier. There is nothing wrong with what Bioware has done here. Who is this information crusade intended for? Most of the people on this thread have stated reasons for buying, or not buying the pack/hypercrate, thus impacting Bioware's decision on the price adjustment. Bottom line. I'm not real happy about the new price either but I am not going to run off calling Bioware a shady company or claiming this is a "cash grab". I understand how the real world works and if I want to make an impact, I won't buy it. At 300 I haven't made a decision yet. I never said they were a shady company; I said it was a bit of a shady move. If I believed Bioware was a shady company, trust me, I wouldn't even have the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jankiel Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Greed is the path to the dark side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunafox Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Greed is the path to the dark side And no one is greedier than Bioware/EA. They must be swimming in cookies...that or they've run out, and are figuring on how to make us buy them more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDymond Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 While I'm not frothing-at-the-mouth PO'd about this, I think a statement from BW on the mid-shipment price change would be appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannatra Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 And no one is greedier than Bioware/EA. They must be swimming in cookies...that or they've run out, and are figuring on how to make us buy them more. errr i would think Activision is greedier than EA judging by recent decisions made by said company... (yes im looking at you Destiny....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotharofxev Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Zenimax takes the cake. And the pie and the ice cream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt-Snake Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 i reckon they wont say or change the prices for the new pack until they rack up the money. then they will say we'll adjust the price to be more in line with what you {consumers} are use to.. that's how Eaware works, jack up prices randomly get paid while ppl complain and then after they made enough money from the early buyers they will comment on this issue.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannatra Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 i reckon they wont say or change the prices for the new pack until they rack up the money. then they will say we'll adjust the price to be more in line with what you {consumers} are use to.. that's how Eaware works, jack up prices randomly get paid while ppl complain and then after they made enough money from the early buyers they will comment on this issue.. considering the price used to be 320 per pack then it was reduced inexplicably to 210 then back up to 300 which is STILL cheaper than it used to be i dont see how its a "jack up the price" type deal here... yes its more expensive than 210 but its still cheaper than 320. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec_Fortescue Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 they will justify it with "really cool and one-pack exclusive" items for strongholds like the altar with cool creepy ambience and them statues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primetheous Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 well they kinda shot em selfs in the foot with me as I normaly buy 2x hypercrate but I only bought 1 this time within my budget so they lost out 3-4k CC this time with me ah well bought some new guitar strings with money saved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozepp Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 well they kinda shot em selfs in the foot with me as I normaly buy 2x hypercrate but I only bought 1 this time within my budget so they lost out 3-4k CC this time with me ah well bought some new guitar strings with money saved Yea, for the price of the previous packs I was going to actually buy a crate this time around to get some decorations for the stronghold I have. (I havent really gotten into my stronghold yet) Though when I saw the price being raised I decided to pass on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essence_of_Light Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Bioware, I am disappoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts