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

[CapricaSix]

Haha I was looking to see if someone would mention APB! Ugh. 

 

But yeah, the prices are a bit too high in general. I bought nekros with leftover plat from founder bundle but other than him I'll never touch another store warframe. Or anything for that matter, besides orokin catalysts/forma. And things like colors and the scarves are just ridiculous also, 50-75 plat for that really? Should all honestly be like 10-15 plat. 

lol APB is like the worst example there is really, from joker boxes to leases and prices in general... what a nightmare that was.

 

Personally I don't mind the 75 plat per scarf thing much, but it could've been better as a pack, like 150p for the whole thing except Nekro's accessory perhaps. It's a bit like the APB's desert scarf and skateboard stunt I guess :P charged extra because of popular demand.

[Luminati07]

I watched this short Video, It says (far better than I ever could) exactly how I feel about the Platinum Issue and what DE should be thinking about....

Great video.

I'll add that to the OP.

[slappy330]

I think they should leave the prices as is, but steadily deflate them to the value of Frames like Excalibur and weapons like Vasto as the items age.

 

And even that's pushing it.

If stuff wasn't so absurdly expensive, people wouldn't feel so reluctant to buy it.

The video game market? 50 dollar game is 30 dollars after 2 months? yes plz..

[Luminati07]

I think this is the crux of the matter. DE can set the going rate for weapons at whatever they need to, but it the current market prices don't show a good understanding of the weapon's true value.

 

That should be the first step in fixing the market.

Pricing weapons on their true value. ($15 is still way too steep for a gun)

 

As people have pointed out, the Miter costs the same as the Vulkar, despite the Miter being infinitely more difficult to obtain.

[VScipii26]

How has nobody mentioned the credit, mod, and resource packs?

15 platinum for a single fieldron sample? 90 platinum for 30k credits? (Which is a single darn T2 void run, which drops like candy out of pinata on low level defense) A potato is 3 rare resources to buid, 20 platinum to buy. Three rare resources cost 30 platinum.

The prices for everything are haphazardly thrown about, most of which are just plain dumb (130 plat for dual Skana...150 for a single Skana.)

Cosmetic items should be somewhat costly and gameplay items should be inexpensive. I probably would buy things like the Kama if they weren't 160 platinum. It comes with a slot and potato! But that would imply the weapon itself is worth 128 platinum. Or that the Soma is worth 232 platinum, or a little more than $15.

[Hoth]

+1.

The current marketplace is way to expensive and most items on it are easy as hell to get so they're not worth the plat.

[Wahooo]

Putting something on the market means you want to sell it.

So you think there would be less complaining if Frames and Weapons were simply removed from the market rather than over-priced?

 

Point is what they WANT to sell is cosmetics and potatoes.  What they MUST OFFER is everything else.  It is quite obvious they would like you to play for this stuff, and therefore is priced the way it is on purpose.  Nothing is overpriced if you can get it simply by playing.

[berrysoda]

I had no problem just buying the ether reaper and soma blueprint and cooking them within minutes of getting them

[slappy330]

I have a 20 dollar UGC and..I want to buy something so that I would have the plat for nekros....but the disciple pack only gives 370 plat...:/

[KvotheTheArcane1]

So you think there would be less complaining if Frames and Weapons were simply removed from the market rather than over-priced?

 

Point is what they WANT to sell is cosmetics and potatoes.  What they MUST OFFER is everything else.  It is quite obvious they would like you to play for this stuff, and therefore is priced the way it is on purpose.  Nothing is overpriced if you can get it simply by playing.

That's not how it works, but good try! Overpriced is overpriced, regardless of anything else.

[Arlayn]

bought the 570... spent it on orokin catalyst, reactors, Nekros, his helmet, his syandana, all the syandana, some forma... and the rest of the weapons well... why buy them? You could easily build them... I built them all, then with the orokin catalyst I bought I just stuffed those in... still have enough plat left over to save for something else, or throw it as some resources...

[eksby]

I agree that the market is ridiculously overpriced. I'm not going to drop $25 on a weapon. Stuff under 100 plat though, those things I'm more interested in. For example, I bought almost all the scarves, because "eh, 50 plat isn't that bad." But adding that up that's already almost $15 that I just spent, without even thinking about it. Microtransactions should not make me stop and think, "that's a lot of money..I don't think I'm going to buy it." Microtransactions are supposed to be items that seem so trivial in price that I buy it without thinking too hard on it. That stuff adds up.

 

Seriously, put more cheap stuff in the store and I'll guarantee you that I'll maybe put down more than a hundred dollars by the end of the year because every item I bought was cheap, "so why not." (Another case in point, I've bought who knows how many forma and potatoes, because they're 20 plat. That's cheap enough for me. But no way am I going to spend 50 plat to speed up something that is building for one hour. If they scaled the plat to how many hours/minutes were left, I'd probably spend a 10 plat on each hour no problem if I'm feeling impatient enough.)

Edited September 15, 2013 by kuliise

[Arlayn]

 

 

Seriously, put more cheap stuff in the store and I'll guarantee you that I'll maybe put down more than a hundred dollars by the end of the year because every item I bought was cheap, "so why not." (Another case in point, I've bought who knows how many forma and potatoes, because they're 20 plat. That's cheap enough for me. But no way am I going to spend 50 plat to speed up something that is building for one hour. If they scaled the plat to how many hours/minutes were left, I'd probably spend a 10 plat on each hour no problem if I'm feeling impatient enough.)

You ever think buying tons of forma, catalyst, and reactors were the point? I build my weapons, then buy the catalyst to stuff in them... I even buy forma to build up my dojo every now and then...

[eksby]

You ever think buying tons of forma, catalyst, and reactors were the point? I build my weapons, then buy the catalyst to stuff in them... I even buy forma to build up my dojo every now and then...

That's what I mean. Forma/potatoes are cheap, so I have no qualms about buying them. If there were more cheap items in the store, I'd be more willing to spend more platinum.

[Arlayn]

That's what I mean. Forma/potatoes are cheap, so I have no qualms about buying them. If there were more cheap items in the store, I'd be more willing to spend more platinum.

Maybe the expensive items are just that option... here is an example on a virtual store social website I made a product and priced it at 15,000 credits which is 15 dollars for a head... a head that doesn't even work with most avatars... however people still bought it regardless of the fact it being overly priced because I put it in the shop for my own personal use, but others could still buy it...

 

Similar issue with warframes, and weapons in the market... your not supposed to buy them... at all.. your supposed to buy the cheap stuff. If your the type with lots of money then you jump the gun and buy a warframe, or weapon... It is pure optional. Your supposed to build everything then just buy catalyst, and reactors... that's the core value of how the market works.

[Ganpot]

That's what I mean. Forma/potatoes are cheap, so I have no qualms about buying them. If there were more cheap items in the store, I'd be more willing to spend more platinum.

 

Exactly.  I would be willing to bet almost anything that DE has made way more money off of potatoes, cosmetics, and forma than they ever have from weapons or warframes. 

[Tei_S]

Do we have proof? I think we do.

 

The average triple A game, i.e. CoD, BL2, etc costs $60.

 

4 weapons or frames in warframe average out to $15, or $60. (this was around 9.6ish, probably higher now by a bit)

 

How is that well priced?

That argument is about as non-coherent as it gets. You didn't really answer his question at all.

[Ganpot]

Similar issue with warframes, and weapons in the market... your not supposed to buy them... at all.. your supposed to buy the cheap stuff. If your the type with lots of money then you jump the gun and buy a warframe, or weapon... It is pure optional. Your supposed to build everything then just buy catalyst, and reactors... that's the core value of how the market works.

 

If a market is created with the intention of driving away customers, then it is a terrible store.  The entire point is to try to get people to buy things, not to shrug and walk away.  If you're not supposed to buy things, then they shouldn't be available on the store in the first place. 

[KvotheTheArcane1]

That argument is about as non-coherent as it gets. You didn't really answer his question at all.

Do we have proof that prices are terrible? Well, if 4 weapons/frames equal the cost of a triple A game, I think we do. That help ya? I was using an example to show how overpriced most items in the market are.

[Mak_Gohae]

Do we have proof that prices are terrible? Well, if 4 weapons/frames equal the cost of a triple A game, I think we do. That help ya? I was using an example to show how overpriced most items in the market are.

 

This is standard for F2P games, man.

And both game models are completely different and offer different stuff, you should not compare them 1:1.

[Workaround]

If you're not willing to spend $2000 on the game, they don't want you buying most of your weapons and frames. That's the point of the pricing. Laugh all you want, people can and do spend that kind of money on F2P games. And if you're not willing to pay that kind of cash? Then it's better to make you grind, to farm, to sink hours into the game - because in a multiplayer game, the players ARE the content. Without you in the game and playing, there's no game for the big spenders to play either - and they won't. 

 

The big score in games like this is twofold: sell minor conveniences cheaply to a large playerbase, but also sell major conveniences at an expensive premium to the kinds of people who can and will pay it - aka the "whales". To keep the whales and to attract new players for the large normal-player playerbase, you need a large game population online and playing all the time. To achieve this, it's far better to have players farming materials and BPs and actually in the game than spending money on frames and weapons to skip the farming.

 

If you're a regular player, willing to spend a few dollars on the game to enhance your experience but can't or won't spend big bucks on it, the business model is for you to buy slots, forma, potatoes and cosmetics - the kinds of things you can't easily get without cash, but don't cost much. Buying weapons and frames is aimed at the big spenders. That's how F2P works.

[KvotheTheArcane1]

This is standard for F2P games, man.

And both game models are completely different and offer different stuff, you should not compare them 1:1.

Alright, again, My point was, 4 weapons/frames in WF are the price of a new triple A game. That's not good pricing for WF.

 

Even compared to other successful F2Ps, the prices are bad. They should be fixed.

[UnbeBleeder]

Funny thing is, I made all the new weps on day one with just blueprints. And necro(Who is currently too expensive and thus Im waiting for a fix) who I don't have yet. Im only going to buy reactors and catalyst and go off happy. You see it's f2p. If you wish to spend masses of dollar bills, go ahead. But you can make everything with a little patience and farming. But people won't listen they want necro for 50 plat.

[UnbeBleeder]

Alright, again, My point was, 4 weapons/frames in WF are the price of a new triple A game. That's not good pricing for WF.

 

Even compared to other successful F2Ps, the prices are bad. They should be fixed.

Don't buy it. Thats like saying a Ferrari cost as much as a mansion so it needs to be lowered in price.. It's not made for you.

[Mythblaze]

tl;dr - Too bad. Read the thread, it's an important issue.

 

Just logged in to update 10 for the first time.

 

This is the first thing that came to mind.

 

Come on, DE!

WTF is going on with your market pricing??

It's getting worse, and worse. There's a reason the business model is called F2P with microtransactions.

 

Let's take a look at the more recent content.

 

Weapons

 

Grakata - 125 Platinum

Hind - 225 Platinum

Soma - 265 Platinum   <---- ARE YOU KIDDING?

Sobek - 225 Platinum

Vulkar - 225 Platinum

Paris - 225 Platinum

Miter - 225 Platinum

 

Vasto - 190 Platinum

Kunai - 175 Platinum

Hikou - 225 Platinum

 

Ether Scythe - 230 Platinum

Glaive - 150 Platinum

Kestrel - 150 Platinum

 

Warframes

 

Ash - 375 Platinum

Vauban - 300 Platinum

Saryn - 225 Platinum

Banshee - 225 Platinum

Nekros - 375 Platinum

Nova - 375 Platinum

Frost - 375 Platinum

 

Now, let's look at some other Warframes.

 

Loki - 75 Platinum

Excalibur - 75 Platinum

Volt - 75 Platinum

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

The market content releases have been increasing steadily.

To buy a weapon that costs 225 platinum, you will need to buy the $30 pack. That is 570 Platinum, leaving you with 345 left over.

To buy a 375 Platinum Warframe, you will need to buy the $30 pack. That is 570 Platinum, leaving you with 195 left over.

 

Going with the usual 75 platinum = $5

That means a weapon can run you $15 or more!

A Warframe can cost up to $25!

 

Do you see the issues with this?

 

If these kinds of prices stay forever, it will not benefit DE at all. It will run this game into the ground.

MICROtransactions need the micro.

Having a weapon cost $3-5 will sell a significant amount more than a weapon that costs $15.

A Warframe that costs $5-10 will sell a significant amount more than a Warframe that costs $25.

 

DE. This is my plea to you.

Please, for the love of God. Sit down at a table, and have a very long talk about the market. Make some drastic changes.

I don't care at all if I don't get refunded plat if you reduce the prices, I paid my $250+ and fully knew what I was getting.

You need to sort this S#&$ out, or the game will inevitably be driven into the ground. Please, DE.

 

Drastic changes must be made to the market, DE.

Weapons should cost a maximum of $5. Waframes, $10.

 

*Edit*

Thankyou to DaveC for showing me this video

Incase embedding doesn't work, here is a direct link - 

Scott and Steve should watch that video.