Why Do I Have To Pay $20-25 For A Warframe?

[Balter]

People here seem to be missing the fact that vauban is pretty much plat only, so the "you can get everything for free" thing doesn't really apply there.

 

Until DE states that Vauban its no longer on the alert systems and becomes platinum only, he is still available for free though alerts. RNG or not, you can get Vauban without paying a dime.

[Pandemia]

It's extremely simple. 

All that matters is having a reason to spend the money. As long as the game gives people that reason, they will spend money and the game will prosper.

 

Works the same way in regard to having a reason to play the game. As long as there is a reason, people will play and the game will live on.

Though it looks like this game might have trouble with giving people that reason for an extended period of time. 

Edited May 19, 2013 by Pandemia

[homiedudemanguy]

And you both seem to miss the fact that you don't have to pay, everything is available for free, and DE still need to pay the bills. Get over it, no one is forcing you to pay.

i think youre missing the point that we dont have the luck, patience, and time either to fulfill getting the items available for "free".

[Urbanspaceman]

I also have to criticize the warframe costs,  but my argumentions goes into a different direction:

 

in 2 hours, i can get all (for expample)  Ash Parts with boss runs,  why would spend ~ 20 euro for that ?  

If I do that my self, it basically grants me 10 Euro per hour, and that is a lot imo.

Not even I, as a Grandmaster with lots of lots of platin, am planing to buy thos

~ 300 platin  warframes... if they were cheaper , saving time and spending platin makes way more sense. 75 platin for every warframe seems fitting for me

[VKhaun]

Forgive me for flaming, but I have to say this is a ridiculous thread.

 

Plat doesn't get you Warframes, it gets you Warframes RIGHT NOW.

You have to pay money for Warframes because you're impatient.

The fact people are paying these prices is testament to just how impatient they are.

The end.

Edited May 19, 2013 by VKhaun

[Loswaith]

Well it does come down to that most of the stuff offered arent "micro" transactions, you would be hard pressed to sell the equivlent $10+ to anyone as a micro ammount, especially given all the indy titles in the game pool for a similar price.  (As a base line we are looking at ~$5 being equivlent to 75 platinum, you can get better conversion but DE considers the extra 'bonus' platinum, so obviously should not be taken as part of the equasion).

 

That aside it's as a few have mentioned its cheaper for most to spend the time farming/playing than actually buying frames with platinum.  I've found it also tend to kill some of the reason to play (in the current incarnation) if you do buy frames, so again impacting and limiting the number of goals to achieve within the game itself.

 

Look at slots, and orokin reactors/catalysts, most people would consider those reasonable value, like wise a 75 plat warframe (taking into account the slot and reactor its realy only 35 plat for the warframe, equivlent of $2-$3), most wouldn't think twice about spending that platinum on it, whether they thought they would like the warframe or not.  Also some people would likely spend that 225 on a warframe (again 185 plat for the frame itself) they really want, but thats a consideration purchase, not typically an impulse one.

 

At the end of the day I've no idea if DE wants the prices as an incentive for people to farm them, or for people to buy them. Given current costs it would seem that they want people to farm them more than buy them (though they still do have the option to buy them).

[Direpenguins]

I have to say I agree that the pricing of the Warframes and weapons being a bit high. I have no problem spending some cash on Plat so I can pick up some new slots for weapons, frames, and to buy some potatoes. I would be fine if the only way to obtain extra slots and potatoes was to spend cash on Plat. They are fairly priced, and they go towards supporting DE and a game I really enjoy. I would love to pick up Vauban right now, he looks like an interesting frame. But the money they are asking for is a bit steep.

 

The thing is, DE has done a pretty good job about making Warframe accessible to those who dont want to spend cash, or those who don't want to spend a whole lot of it. Being able to farm for everything is great, and having the option to outright purchase something if you are impatient is great too.

 

If for example, Vauban was $10 or so bucks right now, I'd buy him and skip dealing with the whole Alert thing. But for me, at $20-$25 it's not about impatience or convenience, it's about the fact that eventually I WILL get him without paying a cent, because I just cant justify spending that much on a frame. It's just a steep amount to pay in my mind, especially when the game is still in BETA. 

 

It's not really an issue since we will all eventually get to play with the things we want, farming for them or otherwise. Beta is a good time to talk about the pricing of thing's. Now's the time to talk about things like having a frame at a cheaper price the first week it's released to get people to consider picking it up, and letting DE know what most of us consider a good price for these things. Again, it's beta and talking about things like this can help out the game.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Direpenguins

[ZWarhammer]

I'm guessing you just got unlucky there, happens..

I myself have't had any trouble farming any frame except volt, volt systems took me 6 days to obtain. Other than that i got all the parts for all frames within a day of farming for each and sometimes even multiple a day.

Regarding materials the most common ones people lack are Rubedos and alloy plates .. you can farm these in a number of different locals for example Sedna/Kappa Ceres/Kiste Venus/killken/Venera/Aphrodite.

it's not that difficult but can get boring after a while, that being said once you have 3 weapons and a frame you like then there is no rush and same goes for build times.

[Tulzscha]

I bought Loki and Volt as they're bargains for 75 plat, coming with their own slots and Orokin Reactors. Every other frame is overpriced IMO, so just farm for them. :)

[Col_Helghan]

Time to buy Vauban, as I don´t have time to wait for " ? " alert missions. Sure it´s overpriced but, what the hell, you only live once.

Farming kills the fun for me, bought few others as well as Warframes are fun to level and makes the game what it is.

 

Farming mats with one charater for a new warframe, not so much fun with a full time job. It´s a F2P model, devs are doing a great job so giving something extra in, not so much of a problem :)

[Venarge]

You are playing a free 2 play game here. Either you get over the waiting times, or you pay for the stuff with real money. Yeah, its bit high, but well. You havent paid for the game in the first place. So dont expect to get even more stuff that easy....

[TheDoctah]

Before I did a reset on my acc, I farmed Rhino in less than a day if you count the total amount of hours. 

It's not incredibly hard to find parts for a warframe, Annoying? It certainly can be but you still don't have to pay. 

[SynthReBorn]

This thread is getting a bit out of hand.  From what I understand it seems like people want things immediately rather than farm for items which takes more time but doesn't cost any amount of real money.  Which is all fine and good, so if you want something right now then pay for it, sure the prices aren't exactly cheap but you are paying for something that normally takes a while to obtain in game depending on the RNG factor.  I don't exactly have the money to throw around to buy everything with Plat, but even if I did I wouldn't.  That defeats the purpose of the game, and I like to feel a sense of accomplishment by working for my items, and occasionally giving in and getting a little Plat for something I get lazy on.  But that's all up to me and my style of play.

 

Bottom line is, if you want something right away then go the fast route and pay for it with Plat, and don't complain about it because the only person that controls whether or not you spend real money on this game is you.  If you can't afford it because you just don't have the income, or feel that the prices are too high and don't want to pay for it then that really sucks but that's that.  Being lazy and/or frugal does not justify being upset over something you can obtain in game for free by putting a little elbow grease into it.

[Kurokazin]

The only thing I personally have a problem with is the time it takes to "build" the stuff you buy. It's such a blatant attempt at trying to get you to spend money on the game. It wouldn't be so bad if I actually considered the option, I would much rather just wait than waste the absurd amount of money it'd take to rush even 1/4th of the things I've built so far.

 

DE should just toss the build time idea, we already spend enough time farming for the Alloy plate that almost every one of their god damn blueprints require, we shouldn't have to wait longer than that.

Edited May 19, 2013 by 223kazin

[SynthReBorn]

It's not an attempt to get you to spend money, it's there as an option for people that have the Plat that essentially aren't patient enough.  Once again you don't have to pay for it, I just don't understand where people are getting this absurd idea that you "have" to pay for something, you don't.  If it takes some extra time to build it then so be it, aside from the frames most of the stuff can be built within the same day granted that you have the materials to do so.

 

I personally don't mind waiting, seeing as how I don't spend my entire day playing.  Heck, most of the time when I build something it's usually when I'm logging out for the day so generally the next time I login, being the next day generally my stuff is done and ready to be added to my inventory.  Is this a ploy to extend game time?  Absolutely, but it could be worse.  On the flip side of that coin it could be better as in faster, but then everyone would have everything and get bored because there's nothing to build, or they'd run out of materials faster and would have to potentially spend more time grinding.  People get bored as is because they've already built/bought everything the game has to offer at the moment with the current system in place.  Waiting for your items to build isn't like some hidden circle of hell from Dante's Inferno, it's just waiting and that isn't so bad.

[OoKeNnEtHoO]

I bought Loki and Volt as they're bargains for 75 plat, coming with their own slots and Orokin Reactors. Every other frame is overpriced IMO, so just farm for them. :)

 

Same. The rest I just farm.

 

300+ Plat for a frame is just too much even though I do have 500 left in my account now.

[Vabla]

Cut the frame price to 50-75 platinum but remove the orokin and the frame slot from the packet and I might even consider buying Vauban.

[Grilleds]

For the price to get one Warframe in this game. I can get every single pro in the game in Super Monday Night Combat, some cosmetics for each of them, and I'll still have $10 left. In the time it takes me to make a Warframe, I could have unlocked 2 pros using ingame currency in SMNC.

 

Comparing it to a game that uses a more similar pricing system. In World of Tanks, the price of one Warframe will get you almost every one of the cheaper premium tanks and one of the more expensive ones, while still having enough premium currency to buy a few other things. No matter how you look at it, this game's premium currency is seriously overpriced compared to other games that use the same business model.

 

I could also buy a whole game for the price of one Warframe, or 2 if they are on sale. (Which I did last time I had some cash to spend).

 

I like this game, but its time to admit that the prices are absurd. Only a seriously rich guy can think that one warframe for $20-$25 is even remotely close to a good deal. With the new market system where everything requires alloy plates, increasing the invconvienience further, I think some complaints are heavily justified regarding how little platinum you get with one purchase, especially since the weapons are also quite overpriced.

 

Its just good business sense to decrease prices to saner levels as they will net a higher overall profit due to increased sales.

[Valiant]

I slightly regret buying some frames with plat as I could've probably just saved the plat and went for the reactors, like I do now. At first I ended up buying the female frame pack and stay frosty (couldn't resist).

 

But as people have mentioned, no one is forcing you to spend the money. If anything just buy the reactors. 

[YourFriendlyNoggin]

For the price to get one Warframe in this game. I can get every single pro in the game in Super Monday Night Combat, some cosmetics for each of them, and I'll still have $10 left. In the time it takes me to make a Warframe, I could have unlocked 2 pros using ingame currency in SMNC.

 

Comparing it to a game that uses a more similar pricing system. In World of Tanks, the price of one Warframe will get you almost every one of the cheaper premium tanks and one of the more expensive ones, while still having enough premium currency to buy a few other things. No matter how you look at it, this game's premium currency is seriously overpriced compared to other games that use the same business model.

 

I could also buy a whole game for the price of one Warframe, or 2 if they are on sale. (Which I did last time I had some cash to spend).

 

I like this game, but its time to admit that the prices are absurd. Only a seriously rich guy can think that one warframe for $20-$25 is even remotely close to a good deal. With the new market system where everything requires alloy plates, increasing the invconvienience further, I think some complaints are heavily justified regarding how little platinum you get with one purchase, especially since the weapons are also quite overpriced.

 

Its just good business sense to decrease prices to saner levels as they will net a higher overall profit due to increased sales.

I hate to say it but those games are bit niche, or at least are a little under the radar, they need to make things easier to obtain because that helps appeal to a wider audience. Warframe is an action shooter in a market full of action shooters, they are a game in such a popular genre that it can afford to make things a bit more expensive or difficult to obtain. Of course you could also argue that the wider appeal means they should be able to afford lower prices but that might not be entirely sensible.

Also consider that while some frames are expensive, some of the older frames are much cheaper because demand is lower, while the demand for vauban is very high right now and making him cheaper would cause an overflow of the frame appearing in game. People would complain that he is everywhere, it's the same reason he is only available through alerts because otherwise people would be rushing to farm the mission/boss.

You can't always match supply with demand or demand might fall due to over saturation.

[ValhaHazred]

Also consider that while some frames are expensive, some of the older frames are much cheaper because demand is lower, while the demand for vauban is very high right now and making him cheaper would cause an overflow of the frame appearing in game.

In my experience this weekend I've seen 1 or 2 Vauban in every game I've played (not counting my own). A ton of people where more than willing to drop 300 plat on him.

[YourFriendlyNoggin]

In my experience this weekend I've seen 1 or 2 Vauban in every game I've played (not counting my own). A ton of people where more than willing to drop 300 plat on him.

Exactly my point, even with the prices so high you've seen loads, imagine how many more there would be. There is a business plan here besides just the most money possible as quickly as possible, unfortunately high prices is just one popular method of reducing over saturation. Which is an issue because in general people like to feel special or powerful, if everyone is doing the same thing then they will get bored quicker and they won't feel as strong. By doing their best to trickle it through it means future players also feel better about obtaining it. It keeps up a more consistent demand rather than just one huge rush.

[Cpl_Facehugger]

And you both seem to miss the fact that you don't have to pay, everything is available for free, and DE still need to pay the bills. Get over it, no one is forcing you to pay.

That being said, the warframe prices are generally too much. Twenty bucks is a fair amount of change for one piece of ingame content. It's not quite EVE's "ninety dollar golden monocle" yet, but it's kind of close. Generally, F2P games make sales based on impulse buys and microtransactions. A player thinks "eh, I can drop 1/3/5 bucks to get this snazzy piece of content, that's just the price of a hamburger." But when you start getting into the $20 or more range, average players are less likely to buy.

[Pixues]

If Vauban would be 75 platinum i would buy it without giving it a second thought.

 

But item/warframe prizes is one thing i don't know what to say about.....Maybe these high prizes work better than low prizes which would stimulate impulse purchases..i don't know.

[OoKeNnEtHoO]

Maybe these high prizes work better than low prizes which would stimulate impulse purchases..i don't know.

 

Very likely.

 

I believe their demand to be price elastic.