Heroes for Hire - Price Update (5/19/17)

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Comments

  • Platty616
    Platty616 Posts: 39 Just Dropped In
    edited May 2017
    So you take all the older 3* and 4* characters out, then make command points harder to earn from progression in the story, don't add any considerable amounts of hero points, and increase the cost of the only way of earning most 4* characters nowadays.
     I can't see who would have said 3,600 is the best cost, as with the rewards I find 8/10 elites to be 2* characters, and crystals are useless to me now as all bar star lord of my 3* are championed, and I can't earn any covers for 4* characters, so I've gone from 300,000 ISO-8 to 1.7million as I can't do anything with them, my character progression has ground to a halt, I be have 16 4* characters, 3 of them are in the current store. This all seems to be aimed at benefitting paying players, which I'm not, and that's a shame as I used to really enjoy this game.
  • MissChinch
    MissChinch Posts: 509 Critical Contributor
    Arphaxad said:
    nick_chicane said:
    I think it all comes down to whether its the final cover or not. At 3600HP, I would buy the final cover if it was for a vaulted character that I was desperate to finish. 

    At 2500HP though, I'd have bought a lot more covers, lots more that weren't the final cover. 
    120 command points is easier to come by than 3600HP.

    I think I agree, but I don't think that's a good comparison, and this is why (and fwiw I'm not happy with the 3600 price):

     

    - The acquisition of HP and CP are independent of each other, if you could choose to make more of one at the opportunity of making the other then there would be a choice of whats more efficient to use, but as it stands we accumulate them both independently so the choice isn't about using either HP or CP, you're going to spend both, its whats the most effective thing to spend HP on and whats the most effective thing to spend CP on... 

    Determining if the HfH store is worth the HP has nothing to do with how you spend your CP, its got to do with all the other opportunities we have that cost HP.  Right now theres not a whole lot to be done with HP once you have as many roster slots as you want, you buy tokens or you buy a guaranteed 4* cover and extra ****...


    - Buying a cover from the HfH store is more versatile than spending 120 CP to raise a skill level.   That HfH purchase can be used to acquire the initial level in a color for a hero and it can also be used to level the hero up once theyre a champion.


    Its a ripoff compared to when it was offered for cheaper, but the HfH store is the only way to turn HP into a guaranteed known 4* cover.  The other options for spending HP aren't particularly impressive...  

  • byc
    byc Posts: 297 Mover and Shaker
    I'd never pay for it.

    But I happened to hit 1000 HP reward, along with saving up, I'm at 3600 HP.  Normally I just buy more slots, but that Wasp blue is looking really tempting.  I won't hit 13 covers, but I can't think of another way to get more chances to get a vaulted 4* more easily.
  • DaveR4470
    DaveR4470 Posts: 931 Critical Contributor
    I liked the lower price. 
  • Philly484
    Philly484 Posts: 173 Tile Toppler
    I don't see the benefit in this unless you need to the cover to finish champ, or to get a LT token out of it. The price pt. is too high, and not beneficial for Veteran players. Players can basically get 20cp daily just by playing, so unless it's the last needed cover the 2500 was better.
  • The Viceroy Returns
    The Viceroy Returns Posts: 493 Mover and Shaker
    Just bought the War Machine Blue for my 5 3 4 War Machine today.
    Even though he is now FINALLY cover maxed, don't feel great having to spend 3600 HC to do it.
    And just noticed that Fat Punisher Green is coming up in a week or so, which my 5 2 4 needs...
  • veny
    veny Posts: 834 Critical Contributor
    edited May 2017
    Just finished spending 3600 HP for 100HP Heroic tokens daily offers - Two 4*s, Nine 3*s, Twenty five 2*s - when i promote these, it is much better outcome that buying HfH for 3600HP. I would buy it for 2500, thats for sure... sadly i never got the chance.
    I am sure players prefer 2500 option but DEVs clearly dont want to miss any opportunity to earn more money (plus they repeatedly claim it is OUR choice - same with vaulting, it is also for our good, as they said)- ok, choke on it, i will stay with my regular purchases that at least pays off...
  • nitefox1337
    nitefox1337 Posts: 80 Match Maker
    The Question is:

    Do they raise the price cause there are less customers so they leech on hooked players as much as they can?

    Or is it just bad marketing strategy where lowering prices would make the game way more accessible and spread wider?

    I am wondering this cause all other pay to win games are pushing way more free stuff. But those are PC games, dont know much about how things work in mobile.
  • NewMcG
    NewMcG Posts: 368 Mover and Shaker
    Pogo said:
    This is completely unsurprising, but the reason people in the thread have been crying foul is that the testing was unscientific and the results were presented as if the largely-uninformed players were given any kind of choice.

    Running an A/B test like this with most people NOT knowing there's a second option is the best way to get objective feedback if people deem the price points acceptable. Then, regardless of which price it is, it's a straight-forward "is this value worth it to you or not?" question. If they then buy it, the developers get the confirmation on the value of it.
  • nitefox1337
    nitefox1337 Posts: 80 Match Maker
    Pogo said:
    nitefox1337 said:
    The Question is:

    Do they raise the price cause there are less customers so they leech on hooked players as much as they can?

    Or is it just bad marketing strategy where lowering prices would make the game way more accessible and spread wider?

    I am wondering this cause all other pay to win games are pushing way more free stuff. But those are PC games, dont know much about how things work in mobile.
    As far as "raising the price", it's a little more complicated. What happened was they decided on a price that they seemed like it would be reasonable enough to a good chunk of players (2500), and then a variant package (3600) with a bunch of extra tinykitty thrown in. They wanted to push the more expensive package, but they weren't really sure if players would fall for it. To test it out, each player was assigned either the 2500 or the 3600, and non-forum players probably never realized the the same deal wasn't being offered across the board.

    It turns out enough people (aware or not) were willing to buy the 3600 package that they decided it was safe to take the 2500 option away.

    This is completely unsurprising, but the reason people in the thread have been crying foul is that the testing was unscientific and the results were presented as if the largely-uninformed players were given any kind of choice.

    If players have been given both choices at the same time, then it would be reasonable to declare that the more popular option was what "players decided". If players had been informed at the beginning that other players were given a less-expensive option, they might have refused to buy the more expensive one, hoping that their turn for the less expensive one would come around.

    There's not really a "marketing strategy" in place here (aside from the "player mandate" spin), although I do believe that the lower price would attract wider participation. It's mostly a matter of "can we get away with it?"
    Thank you for the explanation.

    This kind of attitude is typical of developers not being gamers themselves.
  • Pogo
    Pogo Posts: 185 Tile Toppler
    New McG said:
    Running an A/B test like this with most people NOT knowing there's a second option is the best way to get objective feedback if people deem the price points acceptable. Then, regardless of which price it is, it's a straight-forward "is this value worth it to you or not?" question. If they then buy it, the developers get the confirmation on the value of it.
    I agree there is value in keeping the nature of the test hidden, but this application of it (varying price) comes off as dirty. I would have less of an issue with the sneakiness if it involved two packages with different contents at an identical price point.

    They could also have done a couple weeks of A/B and then reversed the offerings to B/A, then even had one of those ubiquitous pop-up surveys to get feedback. The fact that they solidified a price point without actually soliciting player feedback suggests to me that they don't actually believe that the 3600 package is truly a better deal to the player.

    Alternatively, they could've launched it from the get-go by saying "Hey, check out this sweet bundle you can get for 3600HP! We're giving a discount for the first few weeks, and then it'll be up to full price, so early adopters c'mon in!"

    I realize that this isn't the same as offering two different packages at two price points, but this would have set expectations without making players feel screwed-over later. Players who were/are fine paying the 3600 would get a nice little bonus early on and then keep buying at full price later. Players who found the lower price reasonable could've bought early & then dropped off, and the sales metrics would've told them exactly how the price change was affecting participation.
  • Drake
    Drake Posts: 5 Just Dropped In
    My issue here has always been with the "players preferred" part.
    I haven't conducted a poll or anything but I'm pretty sure most players will agree that getting 8 2*, 10k iso-8 and a bunch of CP is not worth the extra 1100 HP.
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards
    Pogo said:
    I agree there is value in keeping the nature of the test hidden, but this application of it (varying price) comes off as dirty. I would have less of an issue with the sneakiness if it involved two packages with different contents at an identical price point.

    They could also have done a couple weeks of A/B and then reversed the offerings to B/A, then even had one of those ubiquitous pop-up surveys to get feedback. The fact that they solidified a price point without actually soliciting player feedback suggests to me that they don't actually believe that the 3600 package is truly a better deal to the player.

    Alternatively, they could've launched it from the get-go by saying "Hey, check out this sweet bundle you can get for 3600HP! We're giving a discount for the first few weeks, and then it'll be up to full price, so early adopters c'mon in!"

    I realize that this isn't the same as offering two different packages at two price points, but this would have set expectations without making players feel screwed-over later. Players who were/are fine paying the 3600 would get a nice little bonus early on and then keep buying at full price later. Players who found the lower price reasonable could've bought early & then dropped off, and the sales metrics would've told them exactly how the price change was affecting participation.
    The problem with making two offers to everyone is that it would answer the wrong question.  I don't think they wanted to know "which of these two prices would you prefer to pay for your 4* covers?".  Rather, the question was "what are you willing to pay for a 4* cover?".

    If it came down to preference, then I'd prefer if they'd sell me 4* covers for 1,000 Iso (the same price they offer to buy them off me for), but I don't see that happening.

    I suppose the end result of the experiment was that enough people were willing to buy at the higher price for them to think it would be the most profitable.  It's worth remembering that by this metric they wouldn't even have needed to get more sales at the high price, since each sale is worth more money.
  • DarthDeVo
    DarthDeVo Posts: 2,178 Chairperson of the Boards
    I had the 2500 offer and bought several different covers for various reasons. If I still had that offer, I would have bought either Star-Lord yellow or Moon Knight purple, maybe would have even considered buying a Logan's Loonies to get both (I lack both covers right now, and am far away from getting either of them from champ rewards).

    I only have about 3700 HP right now, and like to keep 1000 in reserve for new roster slots and PvP shields. So I'm gonna have to pass this time. I'll be using this option much less frequently, that's for sure. Either to get the 13th cover, or to get the first cover in a color I don't have yet, which at this point will pretty much be Spider-Gwen and Drax red.

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