The Warframe Market Is A Joke And Actively Discourages Impulse Purchases (Updated, Includes Solution To Installed Catalysts/weapon Slot On Weapons)

[Duelshock]

The only things I would even consider buying the shop are slots, potatoes, and some color packs. These seem to be the only things fairly priced in the shop, and everything else is just a complete waste of money. One thing DE is doing right though is the discount coupons for login rewards. It provides an incentive to people as you mentioned with small amounts of spending money to buy plat since they are getting a better deal.However, I think as DE releases more and more weapons and frames, they will be able to greatly reduce the price of older ones that are easier to get. 

[Arlayn]

A Viper is not worth more than 25 Platinum, it is arguably one of the easiest weapons to construct after the Cronus.

 

Take away the Orokin Catalyst and the slot if needs be, I don't care. Charging any more for that weapon is a complete con and nobody but retards would pay the 75 Plat it costs now.

I think your missing the point slot plus catalyst is more then 25 plat... the Viper which is VERY HARD TO BUILD SO STFU... Which I LITERLLY GAVE UP TRYING TO HARVEST FOR!!! just decided to buy it... BUY!!!! IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because the harvesting for it is difficult and it was just easier to buy it... for its price its definitly worth it considering the bloody harsh conditions you have to go through to collect those materials... I even gave up on harvesting Ash... like screw it... I will buy it!

[Vilemyre]

anyone stop to think the prices are set the way they are because DE would rather you use your plat on slots and potatoes and have you grind your way to the items you want as a way to keep you playing? crazy i know....

That's exactly how I see it. Especially since buying frames and weapons isn't as fun as earning them.

[pdxdubin]

I'm sure everybody by now has noticed how absurdly priced everything is in the Warframe market.

 

DE, why is everything so expensive? I know you're new to the whole F2P scene, but making everything cost an arm and a leg is not how you make a profit. Who are you appealing to with garbage like this?

 

 

125 Platinum (nearly $10) for a Dual Skana? And it's apparently on sale? How does this count as a sale? Last I checked, sales were meant to be enticing to at least somebody.

 

800 Platinum (the price of the average AAA game you can find on Steam) for two poxy reskins and a scythe?

 

Who is going to buy these besides people who have zero sense of what money is worth?

 

When you put things up in the store, you want to appeal to the average Joe. The guy who has $5 left in his account after paying the bills. The kid who got $5 for delivering newspapers and wants to spend it on his favorite game. You appeal to these people because they are your most common customer, the broadest audience that plays your game. You DON'T want to purely appeal to people who apparently S#&$ money and own a Bentley, because that's what it seems you're doing.

 

 

These are your cheapest Platinum packs, these are the most commonly bought packages. Appeal to the people who will only put money down on THESE packages. Take advantage of the rich folk second.

 

Now I know what some of you will be thinking. "DE can price these things however they want, it's their game and they need to eat!" Fair enough, but pricing items so that NOBODY but rich kids will buy them is not how you make a profit. What's more likely to earn the highest amount of dough; a cheap product that sells continuously or a really expensive product that barely sells at all?

 

I personally spent some time altering some market prices as an example and discussed with others what we agreed they should be. This is in by no means a "DO THIS NOW," it's merely a suggestion we feel would help DE earn more profit and make the overall playerbase much happier. That in the end is what matters.

 

 

As you can see for weapons, we agreed upon a $5 limit. After all these weapons can be farmed up with relative ease. So what good is it to make half the weapons cost $15 when somebody will immediately jump back and just say "I can farm these weapons up in like an hour of farming, I'm not paying that much."

 

You want to make the ability to purchase these weapons seem like a service instead of a complete con. If the weapons were priced as they were above, a person would actually think about purchasing some of these weapons. "It would take ages to get those Akboltos if I did it normally. $5 isn't that much after all so I guess it's okay to buy them, and it comes with an Orokin Catalyst and a weapon slot as well."

 

The person wouldn't feel ripped off, unlike the current system, because for all intents and purposes he didn't get ripped off, he got a pretty damn good deal. That's what you want, you want everybody to consider buying weapons from the store first, before they even think of grinding the weapon up in game.

 

Here's another one we did for the actual frames.

 

 

I know I know, we bumped up the price of Loki, Volt and Excalibur. But overall every frame is now in line of $10-$15. That's what we felt would be the best price zone for them and what the average consumer would appreciate more. Instead of crap like Rhino and Ash costing 325 Platinum which is just insane. Did people even buy those? If you did, you got ripped hard.

 

Another thing DE needs to start doing is having sales that matter. Sales are ALWAYS when companies and other businesses earn the biggest profit, people love a good sale and will usually save up some money waiting for one to drop. Look at the above frame prices, they're okay, they'd be purchased a few times, certainly A LOT more than they are now, which is more money in the bank for DE. But what if... ALL FEMALE FRAMES 50% OFF SALE WEEKEND happened.

 

 

"HOLY @(*()$ S#&$" - Everybody looking for a good deal.

 

You have now got everybody who can only afford the small packages SCURRYING to grab these frames while they're discounted. People who would have never bought these frames normally whether it be due to other financial reasons taking precedence or just refusing altogether to drop that kind of money on a F2P game. Look at Steam, look how much profit Valve earns during Steam sales. They earn MILLIONS, their profits skyrocket. People LOVE sales, so take advantage of them.

 

Well, there's my long &#! post about the market. DE, I'm begging you. Make the market prices actually sane. Everybody will benefit from it. You'll earn more money, and the playerbase will be happier and not feel like they walked into a con house.

 

-UPDATED-

After a talk with Cifrer (thanks brah) on Page 5, we quickly came up with a way to balance out the pricing of the weapons in a way that makes them cheap while also taking into account Orokin Catalysts and weapon slots are included. The solution? Make them optional extras.

 

(Excuse the awful obvious Paint edits, I ain't no graphic artist)

 

The person can choose to buy just the weapon, or pay a little extra for an installed Catalyst at a discounted price. And if they want to, even pay a little extra for a weapon slot. This way everybody wins.

 

630 Up-votes.

 

If DE ignores this, then I will be confused.

 

It seems like a logical idea.

 

I would be more inclined to buy a weapon at a lower price instead of farming for it.

 

Because right now its cheaper to just spend a few hours to farm the weapon and wait a day for it.

 

DE this is how you make money,

 

You already have the game funded now lets bring things down a little bit. 

[Hayden11121]

*snip*

Sentinels are well worth the plat cost. Which is why he bought them. He is stingy *No offense I was too* with his plat, evne though he has a ton of it. Yet he bought Sentinels because they are worth it to him.

 

I don't care about anything else, you only proved my point.

 

I think your missing the point slot plus catalyst is more then 25 plat... the Viper which is VERY HARD TO BUILD SO STFU... Which I LITERLLY GAVE UP TRYING TO HARVEST FOR!!! just decided to buy it... BUY!!!! IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because the harvesting for it is difficult and it was just easier to buy it... for its price its definitly worth it considering the bloody harsh conditions you have to go through to collect those materials... I even gave up on harvesting Ash... like screw it... I will buy it!

 

You seem very immature. A slot + catalyst IS more then 25 plat. But it comes discounted if it comes with the weapon. It's a deal, get it?

 

BTW, you bought the viper? And didn't farm for a frame? You seem very waistful.

[fatpig84]

Sentinels are well worth the plat cost. Which is why he bought them. He is stingy *No offense I was too* with his plat, evne though he has a ton of it. Yet he bought Sentinels because they are worth it to him.

 

I don't care about anything else, you only proved my point.

 

Don't assume I bought it cause it was cheap.

 

Make no mistake I can easily build any sentinel, in fact I have in fact built more frames than weapons for them and most of the frames use formaed weapons now. Right now I am using Ember who is tooling around with my Formaed Ogris.  I still have trinity, Banshee and Ash all built and unranked because I farm bosses and build them so fast now even without rushing construction. All this before I even max a frame at 30.

 

Why i paid Sentinels with plat ? Because I am lazy to build them.

I paid for convenience sake. 

Edited July 10, 2013 by fatpig84

[Cao_Pi]

Yeah im going to agree with this, i understand u have this "founders Package" and for grandmaster it would cost $250 US Dollars. Thats a new PS3/360...without the 250gb hard drive...I understand you are trying to make a living*** but you can make awesome living if you properly managed how easyer it would be for us as the consumer to be interested.-----Rather than taking the long way around.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Cao_Pi

[Hayden11121]

Don't assume I bought it cause it was cheap.

 

 

You bought it because you thought it would be convenient.

 

 

I paid for convenience sake. 

 

The same exact reason that anyone would buy anything instead of grinding for it.

 

"Man, five dollars for a viper. I can just farm for it."

Instead of that "I have 300 plat, 25 for a Viper, Slot, and Potato would not be bad.  It'd be more convenient then waiting 12 hours, and building it, blah"

 

You're basically arguing "I DONT CARE IF IT WAS CHEAP I WANT TO PAY MORE MONEY FOR IT" I don't see why you're against my statement. I think Sentinel is one of the most cheap yet unannounced things and buying a Sentinel is most likely more cost efficient then anything else, and I find your investment a great choice.

[RePaused]

They should make everything cost $1. 

 

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[Aspari]

I'm going to occasionally bump this if no one else does. I feel like a #$&(% spending any money on that Stalker set when I don't even use them anymore.

[RePaused]

I'm going to occasionally bump this if no one else does. I feel like a #$&(% spending any money on that Stalker set when I don't even use them anymore.

Well the 50% off PLAT daily log in reward helps a lot. (I bought $20 worth of plat with it) It was a good deal, that's pretty much the only thing they have, plus its so hard to get in daily reward..

[fatpig84]

You bought it because you thought it would be convenient.

 

 

The same exact reason that anyone would buy anything instead of grinding for it.

 

"Man, five dollars for a viper. I can just farm for it."

Instead of that "I have 300 plat, 25 for a Viper, Slot, and Potato would not be bad.  It'd be more convenient then waiting 12 hours, and building it, blah"

 

You're basically arguing "I DONT CARE IF IT WAS CHEAP I WANT TO PAY MORE MONEY FOR IT" I don't see why you're against my statement. I think Sentinel is one of the most cheap yet unannounced things and buying a Sentinel is most likely more cost efficient then anything else, and I find your investment a great choice.

 

Honestly speaking, I would have paid even if they cost 100 or 150. 

Because I was lazy to horde control modules between the Frames, Potato and Dojo research mats. 

 

But yeah, perhaps their cost made it attractive to do so as compared to Hyena Slaughter Round 1001, perhaps.

Edited July 10, 2013 by fatpig84

[Vilemyre]

I'm going to occasionally bump this if no one else does. I feel like a #$&(% spending any money on that Stalker set when I don't even use them anymore.

I ended up buying the stalker set and frost only to sell them because I wanted to earn them instead.

 

And such a coincidence once i sell my high level frame and go back to my excal prime, the stalker shows up.

[SonicDoragon]

Out of curiosity for the viper example, why is it that with a potato and slot it costs slightly less then just buying a double slot?

Viper= 25 (cheap cool.)

Viper+ cat=35(Oh hey a discount on plat neat!)
viper+ cat+ slot= 45 (something looks weird)

viper+ cat+ double slot= 47(I could just spend the 2 extra plat and have an extra slot, that's kinda silly)

viper+ cat+ half of double slot= 41 (I'm saving plat if i just get the double slot and have an extra slot for another weapon down the line)

 

With that you could just save money on two weapons by just buying a double slot for the 12 plat. Otherwise you're saying the slot is free if you pay the full price for the potato, in which case why isn't that just a forced thing? Sorry if it's read confusingly.

[Pearlspade]

Upvoted amazing post I've only spent 10$ on the game for colors and slots. I probably won't ever spend a penny more at the price things currently are, but if they were made around the price range of this post it would most likely sway me to throw down another 5 or 10 on the game for a hard to get weapon or frame instead of trying to farm it for hours upon hours.

[Fate_6]

This is a good thread, and I'm glad it was bumped back to the first page. If prices had been reasonable when I started playing I definitely would have shelled out cash more easily.

[Elibae]

++++ Kepp this thread alive.

[RePaused]

Bump for this great thread.

[Blatantfool]

Wha-HOLY CRAP what a necro.

 

 

 Do me a favor gents - feel free to make posts related to the topic but please don't just empty bump.

[Captain_Seasick]

Well, in our defence(s?), can you really blame us for wanting, if not even NEEDING the market to be changed to a PROPER price-range? So far, the only fairly priced weapon in the entire GAME is the glaive, since that thing can only be otherwise acquired by A) getting really lucky when logging in, or B) getting REALLY lucky by stumbling upon a mystery-alert which gives the glaive BP as a reward.

 

Really. The so-called "market system" in this game is completely FUBAR. As so many other people have said before me: aside from potatoes, there's not a single thing in the shop that's fairly priced (aside from the aforementioned example, i.e. the glaive). The prices NEEDS to be changed, and DE NEEDS to realise that what they're doing is essentially making us choose between making the game an absolute chore for us to "play" with all the mentally desensitizing farming, or paying extortionate prices for mere shortcuts.

 

Not every single WF-player is a spoiled brat with loaded parents. In fact, lots of us are POOR (no offence to anyone or so), being college students or maybe low-wage/part-time workers, and we just can't afford doling out 60€ for a new game every month. At the very least, that's why I started playing WF. But with the insane prices for things, vs the sometimes ludicrous amount of time it takes to "just build them"... well, suffice to say, I'm having some serious doubts about this game altogether!

 

It's great that some of you WF-players actually DOES have money to waste spend on a grandmaster pack, ludicrously priced at - as this other guy in this thread so elegantly said - the same level as a brand spankin' new 360 or PS3. And it's great that some of you have the opposite resource: enough time to spend 8 hours in a day farming, just so you can craft a new forma or two for your clan's dojo. But I think I speak for a lot of us when I say: not everyone in this game actually HAS that kind of time or money to spare on just ONE GAME.

 

So for the last time, Digital Extremes! PLEASE make it either less tedious to farm for things, OR lower the prices to a less extortionate level!

 

Also: I accept full responsibility for the necro-stuff. I honestly thought the thread was more "active" already when I bumped it. So yeah. If anyone's to be blamed, make it me.

 

tl;dr: Sorry for necro-ing, but the thread needs way more attention/acknowledgement imo.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Captain_Seasick

[D3ST]

Still a great ideer, i would personally buy alot more if it was alot cheapere,.. Bump..

[Hayden11121]

Still a great ideer, i would personally buy alot more if it was alot cheapere,.. Bump..

Quit bumping or else the thead will be closed.

 

It's against the rules.

[Troublechutor]

I was thinking about putting up a post on this topic at some point, since 70% of the threads around here are basically back-door appeals to lower prices.

 

Like everything else about this game, the market is in beta too.  DE has to gauge market strength for it's various offerings in real money terms.  This has to be compiled into a business plan and sold to investors at some point, or at the very least it's an asset class that will be leveraged for loans or other forms of income.

 

High prices may seem odd to low income players, but they have a reason for being there, namely that low income players are the ones most likely to just grind for grind's sake because the relative value of their money vs. value of their free time is wildly in favor of grinding out a F2P game for as long as possible while the value to a high income player is the exact opposite.

 

Think about it... a person who's time is valued (per hour) close to the price of farm in the game equal to the plat price for a desired item has no incentive to shortcut the grind.  In fact, the grind is the game, so that player has a greater disincentive to purchase plat as this ratio approaches 1:1, and massive disincentives below that ratio.  The further away from this you go in the other direction, the more obnoxious the grind becomes, and so the relative value of the market price for plat diminishes significantly.

 

To put it in easy to understand terms, Bill Gates income per hour is so massive that the thought of farming a boss for BP drops becomes counterproductive about 0.0000001 seconds after the thought occurs to even do it.  If Mr. Gates wants a Frost, he's just going to drop the money and buy it, because why not?  That McDonalds worker can't afford a frost until it becomes almost free, at which point its relative worth in terms of rarity becomes irrelevant as well, which undermines the grind incentive and thus eliminates any reason to play the game without automatically investing money into it, which makes it de facto not free-2-play.  

 

Some might argue that if warframe has 1 million players, that making the price of a rare item = to $1, DE would instantly print 1 million dollars.  This wildly overestimates the willingness of the player base to pay any money at all for the game.  Were it a normal AAA title costing $50 to play, how many of those million players would not have bothered at all?

 

I'll be the first to agree that the price of items in the game is too high, and I'm what I would consider a high-income player. (probably average for my age group, but you get the idea).  But undercutting the income model for the market vs. grind system by lowering prices to McD's workers price levels ignores the fact that McD's workers are happy grinders at any price.

 

The smartest thing DE did was make slots Plat only... everything else in the game will be farmed by 90% of players, making market purchases only actually attractive to people who either don't understand the value of their time or people who actually DO. ;-)  In essence, its a short cut for players who have disposable income, and that's why the price is high.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Troublechutor

[BraveDude8]

Wha-HOLY CRAP what a necro.

 

 

 Do me a favor gents - feel free to make posts related to the topic but please don't just empty bump.

 

I apologise on that dudes behalf. Should we all make up for it with insightful posts?

 

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE I BELIEVE THIS IS A MOST EXCELLENT IDEA RABBLE RABBLE MORE MONEY FOR DE

[Turtleshellon]

I'm completely confused as to why the prices are an issue. If you feel weapons are too high then why spend your money on them? You can buy weapons with in-game credits then farm the parts. You don't have to buy a new Frame when you can buy the BP for a small amount of credits then farm the parts. I have Rhino, Excalibur, Ash, and making Banshee as we speak. All I need is a frost prime helmet for frost Prime. I have all of the stalkers weapons, the reaper, and Latron prime. All of which I never spent one red cent on the have and I just started playing. Either you have the money and do not care about the price so you support the game, or money is an issue and you take the time to farm what you want. What is the problem? They come out with new weapons all the time that you can just buy the bp with credits so what more do you want? Plus they have events like the one they just had where you can win a really good weapon. They reward those who play the game. Plus they have a 50% off log-in reward where you can get a $50 pack for only $25. Patients is a virtue.