'Bargain'

[Metalsquire]

I saw this a few weeks back and thought must be a mistake- 9,500 ironies for I think it was Visions Eldorado. Haven't worked out the precise amount, but is roughly equivalent to £250.

And then today had a look, and wow- for a whopping 9,500 ironite; equivalent £250 you can get your very own shiny Samuri Eddie or even a mighty Raven witch.

Are you guys serious at this price???

I don't know the figures, but would be intrigued to know how many people purchase these 'bargains'

[Tsuketa]

There's no question that those are expensive prices for the characters, but there's method to the madness. Visions used to be only available for real money. This is the first time they made him available for ingame currency. People who raid regularly tend to have a large amount of ironite and also tend to have most of the characters. It's not unreasonable to think that some of them would drain some ironite to get a rare character early.

These characters will undoubtedly come to some sort of rotation in the future (every other purchase only character has), so this is just a progression.

Personally, I'm one of those people who raid a lot and could afford the ironite cost. But I'm also patient and willing to wait for these characters. It's nice to have choices though.

Also, putting this in perspective, the raw grind cost for the character in the current event is 5000 ironite (4500 if you buy him outright), and a lot of people will do that. It's not unreasonable to think that someone would pay twice that for a character that they previously had to pay real money for.

[Metalsquire]

Understand that Visions of Eldorado was purchase previously. But Samurai Eddie- 9500 ironite. Surely that is pretty indefensible.

And even if you raid a lot and have huge reserves of ironite - the likelihood is that you would have naturally gained Samurai Eddie through sacrifice feature at some stage or other.

I already have both Samurai and raven witch so no sour grapes here, so even if they were a low level token amount of ironite I wouldn't purchase. But 9,500- seriously

[Metalsquire]

This relates to current 'deal' ref UNAWAKENED Samurai/Raven Witch

Just an after thought, I haven't worked out the actual price/cost of what a fully max awakened Samurai/Raven Witch would be.

But would 9,500 ironite be a reasonable asking price for a fully max awakened character?

It's an open question

[Tsuketa]

I agree that Samurai and Raven Witch aren't very compelling at that price. Both have cheaper ways to get them. And, if they were ever rare characters, it's been a long time since that was the case. The idea of having them come awakened (or with the materials required to awaken them) is interesting, though. I suspect it's still too much.

That said, when I started playing the game, I really wanted Raven Witch, and spent a long time gathering Trooper coins to get her. If I had had a shorter way, I might have taken it. But, at that time, I definitely didn't have that much ironite lying around.

Still, offering something that no one buys doesn't hurt us in any way. I support their experimentation. They've got to make a living.

[Csucsu004]

Still, offering something that no one buys doesn't hurt us in any way. I support their experimentation. They've got to make a living.

That's the interesting part of it.
People do vote with their purses. If it's overpriced, no one will buy, no harm done to player base. But it raises the question - why put it in the store in the first place? If I intend to sell something, I'll put a reasonable price tag on it.
New players who could be fooled (can't phrase it any better, sorry... ) usually don't have that amount of ironite, veteran players, who do have multiple dupes already, won't need it.
What's better for the game designers, I mean financially? Trying to sell something ridiculously overpriced at a rate no one sane person would buy, or putting out something of actual value at a reasonable price, that may be purchased by some?
Would that actually hurt the economy of the game, I wonder?

[Tsuketa]

Those are good questions, Csucsu. I think the best way to answer them is to experiment with prices and see what works. I'm guessing that's what they're doing. It's better to start too high and come down than to start too low and then raise the prices.

[Meti]

(...) when I started playing the game, I really wanted Raven Witch, and spent a long time gathering Trooper coins to get her. If I had had a shorter way, I might have taken it. (...).

When I spend a lot of effort and wait a very long time to get a character, it's always a very cool moment to get him. Also i really enjoy playing with this new toon. Happends a lot when I was a rookie player.
I once spend all the 10k ironite I got because I wanted that Odin so much, and it was a great time getting him and playing with him.

Time passes and now that I have lots of ironite and other currencies, I can buy toons in a blink of a eye, and sometime I didn't even enjoy it, nor even really playing with new toons.
Speaking for myself, some things have to be hard to get, and takes time, otherwise they may have less value (to me) and pleasure to get and use.