The Market. And Why, In Its Current State, Will Be Warframe's Downfall.

[worxe]

 

Tough to say, but markets in games vary so wildly.  One of the reasons I am so inclined to defend DE and Warframes market is simply because from what I've experienced this game has done a GREAT job in catering to the free player.  With the exception of slots, my experience so far is that the market is really only there for those who absolutely need something first, or want to put colors on their frame and dangly bits on their sentinels.  I think there maybe should be more of that.  So from what I see the alternatives are more what and how varied the market items are.  There is a lot of good and bad out there right now as far as these markets go and in my opinion Warframe is far to the good side.

 

 

Yep, I sound like im attacking Warframe/DE for it but i'm trying to not do that and err on the side of caution, but https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/110391-1500-hours-10-months-an-belated-open-letter-of-resignation/'>sometimes it can get to the point where its plainly suspicious behavior, which has the effect of inflating that grind or pay gap to the point more people start to perceive as paying as the less 'losing' option.

Basically if the whole process of Warframe/DE's market means we can move toward things that don't disrupt the progression or the way tangible rewards are received from the game away from outside influences like money, I suspect it would result in a healthier gaming experience for most if not all, and perhaps even reduce the pressure on dev's & community moderators on handling the dicey nature of content pricing and markets that mess with things like in game rewards or progression.

 

 

Two aspects of this.  This model for free2play games has been refined in a way on facebook and social games on phones.  People who don't consider themselves gamers.  My wife has friends who spend upwards of $100 a month on farmville and other zynga games.  People that complain about the cost of the PS4 their kid is asking for for Christmas.  I have an Aunt who drops $5 here $10 there on a variety of different social games, I don't even know how much that adds up to a month.  Not sure how this stuff relates to addiction or if it is just another market, but I don't see WF as much of an abuser of this type of market as social games.

 

Another side is, this sounds very similar to the justification i've heard from script kiddie cheaters in pvp shooters.  That they don't have the time to get good but they have the money to buy hacks and 'even the playing field'.  Some of the conversations i've had with those people made me wonder about mental health issues, makes me wonder, and kinda giggle if there were some way to associate video game cheating as a part of a bigger mental health issue.

 

Really good points, I certainly don't disagree that that social media markets/other markets aren't exempt from this, and to add in terms of expenses I think consoles, video games even with their RMT markets are still much cheaper than many other hobbies or entertainment venues in terms of entertainment gained for value spent.

I've also heard that same justification too about the script kiddies, but It's certainly far from being just isolated to them and doesn't just stem from the act of cheating/buying hacks. A lot of it, especially for kids who haven't matured enough to be critical of it, stems from the lack of ability to express themselves in certain ways whether that's from a result of lack of education or inadequate upbringing (generally speaking), which they use to express instead in other areas such as power or control, and when you have a game that features a hierarchical structure, on the internet where consequences are not immediately felt, and throw money in the pot, its a potent mix and perfect environment for such an individual to capitalize on their emotional needs with.

Given that a kid can grow up to an adult while still harboring these issues its not surprising that mental health is a growing concern, made exponentially worse by the fact that the stigma associated with mental health is that of a perceived 'weakness' (just to clarify, poor mental health isn't a weakness) for being that way, so while it may be 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 people, its quite realistic to expect that its far worse than that because that shaming stigma prohibits a person from willing to acknowledge difficulties from certain areas cognitive functioning or even consider that it is present in their daily lives.

The parts that make up the picture - heirarchy, the internet, accountability, money, a game, and the market within the game - aren't intrinsically bad either and are amazingly sophisticated tools, but it is more that the sum is different from its parts and the relationships and how they mesh with people are important to observe because of that.

Edited November 2, 2013 by worxe

[tegeusCromis]

I think this discussion would be clearer if we separated the issues into two categories:

 

1) Issues to do with absolute pricing

2) Issues to do with relative pricing

 

The complaints about plat prices simply being too high overall fall into category 1. I can see why these are controversial.

 

The complaints about plat prices of items compared to each other fall into category 2. Frankly, I can't see how these complaints are controversial. Can it seriously be argued that e.g. the Vulkar for 225 isn't terribly overpriced compared to the Vectis for 25 more, or (admittedly in a different role) the Miter for the same? How about a replacement Skana costing as much as a Glaive and more than a Fang? It really seems like with the exception of some clearly more desirable weapons/frames, the prices were arrived at by throwing darts at a board. That's a problem.

[ToeSama]

the thread is about market pricing of frames and weapons.  RNG is brought up as a counter to those of us who say the price of every frame and weapon is free/time.

 

I can see the correlation between the two, but only in the vaguest of senses. Truth is, the aspects of the game that RNG affect heaviest are areas that can't really be cured from the cash shop without changing the way something in the cash shop work, which is a different sort of beef altogether. I brought it up more as a matter off fact that it is a large reason that spending time to grind the game for anything is a crapshoot. It would be one thing for the game to reward skill instead of luck...

 

But again, different topic for a different time...

 

You say that like there is anything hard to farm.

 

If you truly believe that, you must either have lady luck super glued to your face, or have never visited the void...

Edited November 2, 2013 by ToeSama

[KvotheTheArcane1]

So... I got incredibly lucky... with every frame?  The only frame I have yet to try for is Frost, the only one that gave me issues even close to the complaints that I hear in the forums that i have a very hard time thinking aren't incredibly exaggerated was Ash.  I know I ran ash a few times to clear the node and then to try and farm resources and didn't get a BP.  Then later went back to farm for it and took me about 10 runs before the 1st BP dropped.  I then got all parts in a fairly reasonable number of runs, I don't recall how many but enough I quit and came back to try another day twice but was only a handful, maybe 5 runs before I gave up for another day each time.

 

Now?  Past U10?  4 or 5 runs.  Took me maybe 12 to get the Seer.

Still not that bad.

Again, you must have never been smacked by RNG before U10, and yes, now frames are much easier to acquire. That's what I'm saying, you never had to run a boss 60+ times for the last BP there's a reason they changed the way boss BPs work.

[Othergrunty]

*snips*

 

Reminds me to how the german video game magazine Computer Bild Spiele recently had a free promotion part for Warframe which gave you a code for 570 platinium. The magazine actualy suggest to spend 325 Platinum on a Rhino or 225 on a Akbolto. I kid you not.

 

So yeah spending 325 platinum on something you could get for 48 (20 potato + 18 for slot), some annoying grinding for parts (pre update 10) and resources, is kind of short sighted.

 

With the money you could instead solve all your limited slots and color restriction issues.

 

I could understand if they suggested buying colors, scarves or even affinity boosters, but anyone who played the game for a few minutes should be aware just how stupid buying the weapons and warframes directly is.

 

So yeah Digital Extremes need to rethink the prices since it really harms the rest of their F2P business model.

Edited November 2, 2013 by Othergrunty