What it means that higher CL bundles cost more money?

Vhailorx
Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
edited March 2019 in MPQ General Discussion
I get that the higher CL bundles contain rarer digital goods, so they theoretically need to be more expensive.

But I think it is also telling that Demi is asking/expecting their most deducted vets to spend the most money.  This seems emblematic of the whale/freemium model. 

Should the hardcore players have to play/pay MORE for the equivalent level of roster progress as they progress through the game?  That seems somehow counterintuitive, and maybe even a little punitive to me.

Maybe don't list the bundles according to CL? Or offer different packs based on a player's individual shield rank?

Comments

  • CNash
    CNash Posts: 952 Critical Contributor
    Why would anyone buy a bundle containing 3-star covers when they could buy 4-stars for the same price?
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2019
    CNash said:
    Why would anyone buy a bundle containing 3-star covers when they could buy 4-stars for the same price?
    Players wouldn't. But demi could lock bundles based on shield ranks.
  • moss04
    moss04 Posts: 147 Tile Toppler
    Vhailorx said:
    CNash said:
    Why would anyone buy a bundle containing 3-star covers when they could buy 4-stars for the same price?
    Players wouldn't. But demi could lock bundles based on shield ranks.
    Absolutely this.  Ideally players should only be offered deals that are tailored to their progress.
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2019
    They already connect these bundles with your highest SCL, which is unlocked by your rank, which relates to your roster progress; so they are tailored to you. Am I missing something?
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2019
    bbigler said:
    They already connect these bundles with your highest SCL, which is unlocked by your rank, which relates to your roster progress; so they are tailored to you. Am I missing something?
    Why does being a veteran in mpq "entitle" vets to pay more for the game? Ideally, I would like to see a game where dedicated play opened up new game play that kept me interested (i.e., spending) at a constant level.  Instead, progressing an mpq roster then requires players to play harder to get the scarcer resources necessary to progress an elder game roster, or pay more (actually, a lot more) to directly purchase those resources.  It's literally a game of diminishing returns.  $20 spent on mpq at the beginning can make a real difference for new players.  $100 spent for a 5* player would likely have little, if any, substantive impact.

    The equivalent for traditional long tail video games would be for destiny or WoW players to spend more money for DLC based on their level.


    (The answer is obviously that doing it this way makes Demi/d3 more money. But that is a weak answer from a player's perspective.)
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    Vhailorx said:
     It's literally a game of diminishing returns.  $20 spent on mpq at the beginning can make a real difference for new players.  $100 spent for a 5* player would likely have little, if any, substantive impact.
    Well, it's always been a game of diminishing returns.  Many games are designed that way to keep you playing forever.  I don't like it, but that's reality.  Will they change their entire model?  Don't bet on it. Last Sunday I tried explaining to my wife the enormous amount of time/money it takes to make 5* progress.  First I explained that it takes 13 covers to fully power up a 5* character.  But you have to pull a slot machine to get those covers, which come out 15% of the time.  And some players will spend $100 to get about 7-8 pulls, which usually nets them 1 x 5* cover.  $100 for one 5* cover, which is 1/13th of what is needed to power up that character.  She immediately said, "that's so stupid".  I didn't even explain how there's 3 characters in Latest and many times you need more than 13 covers to champ them. 
  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,939 Chairperson of the Boards
    This is much ado about nothing. You don’t have to pay more as you progress further. I received all of the SCL bundles twice now and have bought none of them. All the game does, is give you is opportunities to purchase rarer resources as you progress further. And of course those resources cost more money. But no one is forced to buy them. 

    I do agree you get more for your money in the early game than the late game, but also get more for your time/grind in the late game than the early game.

    I feel like F2P players tend to be happier with the game/product than spenders, who seem mostly disgruntled. My perception may be way off, but if I’m right, the above might be why?
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    Daredevil217 said:
    This is much ado about nothing. You don’t have to pay more as you progress further. I received all of the SCL bundles twice now and have bought none of them. All the game does, is give you is opportunities to purchase rarer resources as you progress further. And of course those resources cost more money. But no one is forced to buy them. 

    I do agree you get more for your money in the early game than the late game, but also get more for your time/grind in the late game than the early game.

    I feel like F2P players tend to be happier with the game/product than spenders, who seem mostly disgruntled. My perception may be way off, but if I’m right, the above might be why?
    Cool if you think this is no big deal.  But to me it seems like amother symptom of the problem with microtranactions.  Gamer must now always consider every potential game-related choice in terms of "how much $ is this action worth to me?"

    This is among the most obvious examples of the fact that Demi/d3 is expecting to extract more money from their oldest players.

    To clarify, I don't particularly object to offering bundles at different prices and letting players decide how much they want to spend.  What I don't like is the optics of a CL6 bundle being X dollars, but the only available CL8 bundles is two or three times more expensive.

    Biggest problem in the game?  Nope.  Just something that occured to me as i have watched the bundle prices go up over the past couple weeks.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    The prices of bundles seems to be going up because it's likely you didn't compare the actual contents of what's inside those bundles. Let's take the last 2 SCL bundles in the game and compare whether the increase in price is justified:

    SCL Level 8 Bundle -  SR 47 - 34.99

    62,000 Iso-8
    4,800 Hero Points
    10 Command Points
    500 Red Iso-8
    1 Latest Legends token
    1 Advanced Support token
    8 Heroic tokens
    3 covers of Nico Minoru (1 of each ability)
    3 covers of Nova (1 of each ability)
    3 covers of X-23 (1 of each ability)

    SCL Level 9 Bundle -  SR 65 - 39.99
    64,000 Iso-8
    5,400 Hero Points
    15 Command Points
    1,400 Red Iso-8
    2 Latest Legends token
    1 Advanced Support token
    6 Heroic tokens
    6 covers of Medusa (Inhuman Queen) (2 of each ability)
    6 covers of Carnage (Cletus Kasady) (2 of each ability)

    For an extra 5 dollars, you get 600 more HP, which cost 4.99 in the game.

    You get an extra: LT, 5CP, 3 covers. In a way, you are getting a better deal.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    Hound, did you read the very first sentence of the first post in this thread?
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    Your question was:

    Should the hardcore players have to play/pay MORE for the equivalent level of roster progress as they progress through the game?  

    Whether they have to "pay more" depends on what's inside the content of the bundle, isn't it?

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