Thinking back to RuneScape, over the 6 years or so I played it and the 5-ish years I was subscribed as a member, the monthly hip fee of $5 would’ve added to $360 or so (with maybe at most one or two months my wasn’t a full member). That’s before the stuff toward the end where they tried microtransaction sh!t like Squeal Spins (And now you’ll get 2 spins when you do a quest! Oh, did you already finish all the quests like the completionist you are? Sorry, we can’t dump spins on everyone who did them because it’d mess up the in-game economy but buying an absurd number of spins is okay provided relatively few will do that), Solomon’s Store, and another Loyalty System that accrued points on each consecutive month you were a member. (As I understand, stockholders that Jagex Ltd. sold into led to these…business decisions.)
That would’ve been an extra $30 or so from me since I succumbing to some of the stuff, before I finally quit in late 2013 when my moral/prestige couldn’t take some of the changes and additions that made various skills easier/faster to level, that people wouldn’t have considered prior. Haven’t checked or logged in back since (except this one time this May when I got an email to reset my PW; logged into the main RS website to check just in case), but I do have one of my friends from high school that occasionally tried to squeeze in something about RS, tag me in a comment on a RS Facebook page post, invite me to a RS Facebook group, and stuff like that as much as I say I’m no longer interested.
Some friends I met in RS I still have added on Skype (and vice versa; they haven’t removed me) since we made a Skype group for the clan I was in after a change to the RuneScape clan/friend chat system…but I haven’t talked to them since I left either, except for one person who still sends a yearly birthday greeting. The rest…I’ve also largely lost with them, except for one other person that tracked me to one of my Pony outlets and sent a hello, but that was it.
Spiral Knights is another freemium-type game that I’ve spent some money into…but probably around $30 at most including the DLC, that I also quit after I finished the main story mode which was pretty much all the content there was at the time (late 2012 or so). I did notice that only last year did they add the next part of the story though, so that’s something.
@chainchomp2
I’m sure my purchase history might show otherwise, but I try not to spend more than $5 on a Steam game if I can help it.
I used to play a “free to play” online game called Perfect World International. When they had 50% off sales you could get more inventory or storage space upgrades for around 5 bucks. I spent around $200 bucks for a relatively tanky battle pet. At a low estimate I spent around 1000 dollars over 5 years.
Whenever I log on for a bit I mostly think about how dumb I was to spend money on the game. What really hurts though was the online friends I had that didn’t try to stay in X3.
@chainchomp2
It makes perfect sense to someone who understand retail.
“On sale” has two common meanings: reduced price or available.
And upping the “unreduced” price used to be a common retail tactic to make the buyer think they’re getting a better deal. These days it’s more commonly called “fraud”.
@McClaw
They always call something a “sale” whenever introduce more ponies for gem sale, especially when it’s more often than not a limited time offer. Because most or every other moment, the character is simply unavailable for purchase, period. Otherwise, they just price fix the “base” price so that the “sale” price ends up being what they actually want, for instance Neon Lights appearing at base price of 180 or 260 gems the two times he appeared.
Also, that time during the Steam Summer Sale when Rockstar increased the price of GTA V so that even with the 20-30% off discount, it would be $60.
In other words, “on sale”, in comparison to…not available, since they disappear after the promotion is over. It’s just another thing with trying to entice a transaction by eliciting a feeling of urgency…which is probably to be expected for a game like this anyway, but I personally them not being this shameless in the past. But I suppose that’s why this game is still successful and high-grossing. Just look at the Loyalty system they just introduced.
For that reason I never take the promotions seriously, and I too simply never make any in-app transactions (or at least I haven’t, since around early 2013 when this game was still on my old phone, whereas on my newer phone I’ve never made a purchase).
I it it was a bit hard to explain, so if it doesn’t make sense to read don’t blame yourself.
@Joshua
I used to play this game, but quit after it running poorly on my phones. I don’t plan to pick it up again, and I don’t want to spend $100s of dollars on a mobile game to beat it before my 35th birthday and get all of the content.
I’ve moved to Fallout Shelter, which is a much better F2P experience IMO.
I disagree with the er description. At the sale prices, all five griffons would cost 1,450 gems, just 10 under two of the $50 gem purchases. (And I’ve got a “special” offer to get Gilda for $20, which is a cheaper rate.)
But then I always try to play the game without making real-money purchases.
@Joshua
It’s not really bad. It’s exploitative. It’s designed to waste your time so you pony up tons of money to finish it before you die of old age. The whole game is designed around sucking on your wallet, like any game in this genre.
Fraud, huh? That’s actually good to know.
@Tragiclady
Thinking back to RuneScape, over the 6 years or so I played it and the 5-ish years I was subscribed as a member, the monthly hip fee of $5 would’ve added to $360 or so (with maybe at most one or two months my wasn’t a full member). That’s before the stuff toward the end where they tried microtransaction sh!t like Squeal Spins (And now you’ll get 2 spins when you do a quest! Oh, did you already finish all the quests like the completionist you are? Sorry, we can’t dump spins on everyone who did them because it’d mess up the in-game economy
but buying an absurd number of spins is okay provided relatively few will do that), Solomon’s Store, and another Loyalty System that accrued points on each consecutive month you were a member. (As I understand, stockholders that Jagex Ltd. sold into led to these…business decisions.)That would’ve been an extra $30 or so from me since I succumbing to some of the stuff, before I finally quit in late 2013 when my moral/prestige couldn’t take some of the changes and additions that made various skills easier/faster to level, that people wouldn’t have considered prior. Haven’t checked or logged in back since (except this one time this May when I got an email to reset my PW; logged into the main RS website to check just in case), but I do have one of my friends from high school that occasionally tried to squeeze in something about RS, tag me in a comment on a RS Facebook page post, invite me to a RS Facebook group, and stuff like that as much as I say I’m no longer interested.
Some friends I met in RS I still have added on Skype (and vice versa; they haven’t removed me) since we made a Skype group for the clan I was in after a change to the RuneScape clan/friend chat system…but I haven’t talked to them since I left either, except for one person who still sends a yearly birthday greeting. The rest…I’ve also largely lost with them, except for one other person that tracked me to one of my Pony outlets and sent a hello, but that was it.
Spiral Knights is another freemium-type game that I’ve spent some money into…but probably around $30 at most including the DLC, that I also quit after I finished the main story mode which was pretty much all the content there was at the time (late 2012 or so). I did notice that only last year did they add the next part of the story though, so that’s something.
I’m sure my purchase history might show otherwise, but I try not to spend more than $5 on a Steam game if I can help it.
I used to play a “free to play” online game called Perfect World International. When they had 50% off sales you could get more inventory or storage space upgrades for around 5 bucks. I spent around $200 bucks for a relatively tanky battle pet. At a low estimate I spent around 1000 dollars over 5 years.
Whenever I log on for a bit I mostly think about how dumb I was to spend money on the game. What really hurts though was the online friends I had that didn’t try to stay in X3.
It makes perfect sense to someone who understand retail.
“On sale” has two common meanings: reduced price or available.
And upping the “unreduced” price used to be a common retail tactic to make the buyer think they’re getting a better deal. These days it’s more commonly called “fraud”.
They always call something a “sale” whenever introduce more ponies for gem sale, especially when it’s more often than not a limited time offer. Because most or every other moment, the character is simply unavailable for purchase, period. Otherwise, they just price fix the “base” price so that the “sale” price ends up being what they actually want, for instance Neon Lights appearing at base price of 180 or 260 gems the two times he appeared.
Also, that time during the Steam Summer Sale when Rockstar increased the price of GTA V so that even with the 20-30% off discount, it would be $60.
In other words, “on sale”, in comparison to…not available, since they disappear after the promotion is over. It’s just another thing with trying to entice a transaction by eliciting a feeling of urgency…which is probably to be expected for a game like this anyway, but I personally them not being this shameless in the past. But I suppose that’s why this game is still successful and high-grossing. Just look at the Loyalty system they just introduced.
For that reason I never take the promotions seriously, and I too simply never make any in-app transactions (or at least I haven’t, since around early 2013 when this game was still on my old phone, whereas on my newer phone I’ve never made a purchase).
I it it was a bit hard to explain, so if it doesn’t make sense to read don’t blame yourself.
I got that too after I got really into the Fallout franchise.
I used to play this game, but quit after it running poorly on my phones. I don’t plan to pick it up again, and I don’t want to spend $100s of dollars on a mobile game to beat it before my 35th birthday and get all of the content.
I’ve moved to Fallout Shelter, which is a much better F2P experience IMO.
But then I always try to play the game without making real-money purchases.
I still like it. :)
Never said it was, but it definitely doesn’t help make the game good.
And who says “exploitative” meant “bad”, am I right?
It’s not really bad. It’s exploitative. It’s designed to waste your time so you pony up tons of money to finish it before you die of old age. The whole game is designed around sucking on your wallet, like any game in this genre.
The 3D ponies in the game save it from being a bad “game”, if you want my opinion.
To be fair, I played this game a bit until I couldn’t finish it without the microtransactions.
But this game is barely a game and more of a patience simulator like other Farmville clones.
Yeah, IDW’s never going to live that down. Everything else they did was fine by comparison.
You risk getting banned from playing by Gameloft doing that. Hacks have had people’s clients suspended before.
Blame its target demo. lol