An Informative Response To All Those Asking For Free Plat

[unmog]

I keep seeing these threads pop up a lot, and most of the time all I see replying to is in all caps NO NO NO NO NO. It kinda makes me laugh, it really should be a drinking game, really! Just take a shot anytime someone says NO :p

 

Anyway, I figured I'd try my hand at a little bit better answer to explain things a little bit more without spewing out a lot of math and economics. But really if you want to learn more do some research online about business models and specifically about Free to Play games. They're actually relatively new to the gaming market [relatively because there's been much older and simpler free games like runecraft etc] and becoming increasingly popular business model. Since there's so many coming out nowadays and many older games turning to the free to play model there's a lot of differences with how they do go about it. The appeal though is being able to try it without having to throw money down on a new game and play whenever you want without monthly subscriptions. But the people hosting the servers, the developers making the game and the companies funding them still need to turn a profit.

 

 

 

The short answer

Well, the short answer is a little longer than NO but it's still rather short compared to the full answer. This is actually their job. The Dev's work for a company same as many of you do. I'm sure many of them actually have little influence over how much money things cost and how much they can hand out for free. It'd be like if they walked into walmart and asked the employee's to give them free things. I'm sure several of them would like to, but walmart wouldn't let them. In fact if they did, I'm sure they'd lose their job over it no? Similar situation here I'd think. They'd probably love to make events or something that could let players earn a bit more plat with no cost, but that sort of decision making is probably above their heads.

 

Now keep in mind I don't work for DE, and I'm only making some logical assumptions here. But now that I've answered the why they can't I hope to more formerly address the problem. I figure there must logically be a problem somewhere since this keeps popping up no?

 

 

 

What I think the problem is

You start up the game for the first time after making an account, log in and see the free 40 plat they give you as a hand out. You probably think "Cool, so okay... what can I get with this?" So you go and check the market and see that the answer is "not much" and get disappointed. Then you look at the prices and think "Wow things are so expensive too..."

 

I know that's what I was thinking when I first started, it's why when I decided I liked the game and wanted to support it that I became a founder really. Woot, more plat to buy stuff with and some free exclusive in game stuff. But that doesn't really address the problem for everyone else now does it?

 

 

 

What I think the solution might be

First off I think they should get rid of the free handout. In fact I think the problem with the free handout is they use it to adjust the prices of everything else in order to "coerce" people into spending money. You just see that free 40 plat there sitting and doing nothing, and you see that warframe for 75 or that color palette and you just keep thinking "If only I had just a little more." And I guess that's like the pringle factor, once ya pop ya just can't stop right? Can't have just one. I think that's what they're counting on actually, but I think thats what most people pick up on and they get upset that they just tease you with stuff you could have instead of actually giving you much you can spend it on.

 

So... like I said, why not just stop giving out the free plat handouts? Cool for everyone else that started in beta I guess, thats what you get for helping out early in development. It's not like you can transfer the plat to other accounts anyway so no real problem with cutting it out. And then they have a reason to lower the prices a little bit overall. Since this is a digital title anyway with no real physical property it makes sense to "sell more at less" even. More people might be more responsive if they were getting more plat for their money to buy stuff with, so the overall cost of things on the market place goes down a little, and hence it'd be easier for those people with money issues to buy.

 

But then you're going to have the people that assume "Free to play" means that they never have to spend a dime and should be able to get everything that you can if they DID pay for it assuming they spent enough time playing to earn it. Sometimes these people are even very negative to anyone that does spend money on the game, which creates unnecessary tension and animosity between players. And are they right or wrong?

 

In my experience, it's not about right or wrong, it's all just opinion. Should they spend money to support the developers? Or does the larger player base attract more people which in turn is good for the game and the profits they make? No one wants to play an online game all by themselves right?

 

So on top of cutting out the free hand outs and increasing how much bang you get for your buck I think they need to make more things achievable in game. Things like Orokin catalyst/reactor blueprints should be more accessible or the price for them in plat should be raised to reflect their rarity and worth. Important things to the game like inventory slots for warframes and weapons need to be able to be earned by progressing through the game, perhaps reflected by your overall level. Other things like colors and other such "non necessary" things should also be able to be earned in game somehow, perhaps purchasable with enough credits, since it doesn't hurt to have regardless. That will make the things you HAVE to buy with plat feel more important and worthwhile.

 

 

 

My Counter Proposal

While I just said earlier they probably won't hand out plat to people for free, and probably should stop with the free handout all new accounts get, that doesn't mean there isn't or shouldn't be a way for people to earn some plat. However don't expect these methods to be achievable in the game. I heard even Blizzard admitted to the idea behind Diablo 3 having many problems afterwards and probably being a mistake. http://techland.time.com/2013/03/28/diablo-3-director-admits-auction-houses-really-hurt-game/

 

However that doesn't mean all hope is lost. There's several free to play games that have methods to earn stuff for money. Perhaps instead of asking for free plat, you should instead be asking for means to earn it. Let me mention companies like Sponsor Pay or Peanut Labs. It's very possible DE could work with them to offer you the chance to do some surveys, watch some videos or advertisements, or special free offers to earn some Plat that way. I know Perfect world does things like this and are rather successful with it.

 

The way it works is the companies get paid by whoever is making these surveys, advertisements etc, and essentially would pay Warframe for some credits for your account. Not really that hard. So even those who refuse to spend money or just don't have much extra could still have a means of obtaining some "free" plat. I say "free" because it really isn't free, DE still needs to make a profit, and someone is still paying for them. But that's just getting into semantics...

 

 

 

So...

If you managed to survive all that, what do you think? Would you be willing to spend a little time to work for your plat? Feel free to comment about any of the other stuff I mentioned too if you want. I'm just hoping this will help those people arguing about free plat or not.

Edited May 13, 2013 by unmog

[MrGrae]

Personally I think that DE has given us the general basis for what is, essentially, an AWESOME AAA quality free game (IN IT'S BETA STAGE AT THE MOMENT) you don't NEED plat unless you don't have the time or patience to put into the grind. If that is the case well, I'm sorry but no game can cater to everybody. And to be perfectly frank I don't think DE are earning enough from warframe BECAUSE they've been so generous, now I don't know what DE's financial state is, but since Warframe has been developed without a publisher at the reigns they're taking more risks than they otherwise would. I can only buy one Grandmaster founders package, and I have more plat than I will spend for a while already, but I STILL want to give DE more money so I can help support this epic game and help them to keep making it more awesome.

[bitlard]

So this is basically your alternative:

 

a) No free starting plat

b) All in-game items purchasable with credits

 

Problem is, if you make in-game items purchasable with credits, how much credits are you going to charge to continue encouraging people to buy plat? If you charge too much, players will continue to be unhappy and think that it's a ploy to get them to buy plat etc. If you charge too little, DE loses money.

 

And if you won't make in-game items purchasable with credits, you'll get a huge problem from players if you withhold free starting plat, since now all the items become even harder to obtain.

 

Maybe sometimes the best answer is still, no. Gotta learn to say no, you know.

[Sagefoxwood]

the 40 plat is for reactors for a weapon and a warframe to get u started

 

atleast thats what i think and theres nothing wrong with it... no need to remove it imo