I know IRE has their reasons for pricing credits the way they are, but I've always felt that they could do better by offering more reasonable prices and deals to the players, which would increase sales volumes, player retention and player interest. I have absolutely no data to base this off of, it's just speculation and feeling. I have purchased credits in the past, not huge amounts, but no matter how much I love a game I could never justify spending hundreds (of dollars) on a single IG item or a perk of limited timespan or usage (you could argue that guild skills are not permanent). Comparing this to another game that I recently joined, which operates on a dual credits/subscription system but is completely free to play as well, I've already purchased the highest level of credits offered and feel very happy (ie not guilty) about it (it was a special package of 500 at $25, with the median 'item' being roughly 50 credits per, min 15 and max 120)

I tried to make the options as representative as possible (I didn't add in a 'Maybe' option otherwise everyone would choose it and it's harder to interpret). Please vote and voice your opinions (in a civil manner)!

PS I know this is far from any kind of professional survey, but if you answered 'No' to purchasing credits if the prices were lowered please briefly say why. Also to make things more standardized, please answer the questions as if you've been playing regularly and/or it was during your peak period of activity and adoration for Lusternia! Someone who just joined the game versus someone who's at the end of their time here will answer the questions quite differently (ie confounding reasons)

I've bought. I'm not sure I would buy at a greater rate if prices were adjusted; it would, however, feel like a massive devaluing of what I've already paid.

I'd much rather see things that feel 'overpriced' adjusted instead of flatly decreasing the value of credits across the board. Make it so that credits give 8 lessons per (or, heck, even 10!), if any artifacts are overpriced then adjust them with a small refund.

So I missed the bit where you said "as if you were still playing at your peak," which totally changes my post (I've adjusted my vote accordingly).

It's hard to argue that prices aren't steep; I can buy an artie backpack for less than a real one, without even the perks of having different art or something to look at. A cubix would run me a bit under half a month's salary. Did that stop me buying thousands of dollars worth of credits over the decade or so I've been playing IRE? No. The subscription helps these days and if I was still playing I'd still have it. The more I've bought, though, the harder I've found it to justify further purchases. I've already got plenty of toys, so the threshold for new ones to meaningfully impact my play is higher.

Lowering the prices wouldn't really devalue what I've spent, to me, it would simply make it more likely that I could justify to myself spending more on the stuff I don't have yet.

Part of the puzzle though is missing for me, since I've never brought in enough gold to even really consider the credit market in game; I'm not sure how that effects people's spending habits.

I would say IRE's policy of monthly deals, with (generally) new discounts every month act as a way to make things cheaper without doing an across-the-board price decrease. Elite membership really makes credits cheaper (though at the expense of taking time) than otherwise they normally are.

I agree (to Xenthos), making a retroactive decision on a scale like this is no small feat and players should definitely be compensated in some way, either with something very unique for them or just more credits (again all purely hypothetical speculation).

I do like your suggestion to make things feel more valuable, which is the other solution (if there's any problem to begin with).

I just want to add one other thing, kind of speaking to myself here - people have bought credits, yes, but if there are potential customers who'd buy at a lower price, is it wise to 'block' those people off for the sake of what's been done in the past? Give your already loyal customers something nice, like mentioned above. Have your cake AND eat it!

(demand and supply curves ftw)

To Sylphas' and Turnus' points: Yes, the IG credit market and the monthly subscription do throw another wrench into the puzzle. But to me, even $25 a month seems an awful lot. If there were different subscription levels then I might really consider it. Right now I'm a broke student, hopefully in a few months I'll have a decent job, but even then I'd hesitate for something at that price point - especially seeing what other options are available in the 'market' these days (e.g. Diablo 3, SWTOR, and the game I was referencing called Glitch - apart from those I think lot of people here play indie games and those are usually either free or very cheap)

By the way, I wasn't referring to the IG credit market (I don't really track it), rather to the monthly promotionals like artifact sales, lesson sales, etc.

Tiers of elite membership actually sounds like a fantastic idea, though as I understand it those sorts of decisions are above Estarra's head, and need to go to the IRE bigwig.

Frankly, I barely have enough money to eat, so I don't even entertain the idea of buying credits.

Besides, I've already gotten where I am today by purely IC means, so I see no reason to stop now, even if it's much more work to get credits ICly rather than OOCly.

I used to be appalled at the credit market prices - and I still don't like paying 12k per - but I manage to get by. .Then again, I'm not aiming for a lot. I transed Ninjakari, like to do the same for Stealth and Psymet, but the vast majority of artifacts have prices I can't justify, so I don't bother.

If they were less expensive, I feel like I'd end up spending MORE. When I've dropped money on the game, it doesn't feel very rewarding... 500 credits for a pyramid puzzle, for instance, is $170. That's ~3 console games for something useful but not really worth the price for what you get out of it.

If I spent $50 and got a pyramid, I'd feel like I used my money on something worthwhile and so I would consider spending more later, but then again, it's almost too late since someone who's already bought credits is going to be upset.

I agree with Xenthos' point that certain artifacts may be a little too pricey, and that an overall reduction in the price of credits is probably not necessary.

Sort of hard to justify a refund. In realization, how far does it go and what sort of refund is fair? I spent somewhere in the range of 8000$ on Achaea, though not nearly as much here. If it became a median in IRE games to shell out refunds for credit price drops then who gets what refund at how much? Who decides what is considered overpriced or what should be a refunded item? That becomes a battle, and given how much some people have put in to this game may do more harm than good. In fact, the very idea of that probably keeps IRE away from doing anything of the sort. I'm sure someone would try a legal battle over it, justified or not. If not justified, then you're not owed any refund to begin with.

Ideally, those of who us have spent thousands or more dollars, Cain - Achaea over 15,000$?, don't really care if the prices drop or not. But should you hand out a refund, you can bet we would line up with our hands out. If it were a feasible thing that credit prices drop, I think people would do best to take the gift and not look the horse in the mouth.

Somewhat related, someone should start a thread on artifacts that need looking at for de-pricing.. Crystal ball, anyone?

Enyalida:

Somewhat related, someone should start a thread on artifacts that need looking at for de-pricing.. Crystal ball, anyone?

That artifact might as well be deleted tbh :P

Most artifact prices look outrageous to me. I probably couldn't justify to myself spending money to get anything even if I had that kind of cash on hand.

I'm no business professional or salesperson, but honestly I'm always annoyed at customers with an entitled attitude. Maybe it is good business practice to do something for past customers if items were devalued, but personally I don't think they're owed anything if there was no kind of promise made about consistent values. It's not like IRE credits are some kind of investment for the future.

Lehki:

Most artifact prices look outrageous to me. I probably couldn't justify to myself spending money to get anything even if I had that kind of cash on hand.

I'm no business professional or salesperson, but honestly I'm always annoyed at customers with an entitled attitude. Maybe it is good business practice to do something for past customers if items were devalued, but personally I don't think they're owed anything if there was no kind of promise made about consistent values. It's not like IRE credits are some kind of investment for the future.

That's fine-- I'm honestly annoyed at people who feel it's fine to dismiss the thoughts and opinions of those who have paid and continue to pay as if they don't matter.

PS: How is it not an investment? You pay to get things in the game, you are investing in the game from that point forward... primarily for more entertainment for yourself and others, obviously.

From what I'm hearing it seems a refund would be out of the question, though I wasn't really trying to suggest that in the first place (my idea of reimbursement would be unique artifacts or perks for previous customers). It sounds like in a perfect world what could be done is make credits worth more lessons and artifacts less insane (as well as have a lower price point subscription). Also we have to keep in mind that the views expressed here are quite biased, in that we are all the people who've kept on playing Lusternia and/or have purchased credits, and we really don't know what those other people who've come and gone think, and if they would've stayed had the costs been different. I was lucky with winning credits on Wuy, but a -huge- deterrent for me to try other IRE games or even to make alts is the high credit wall to get anywhere near decent, without the massive grinds to get gold to buy credits as I simply don't have that kind of time.

Refunds are not out of the question; there is precedent, if they adjust artifact pricing, to do so.

There is also no precedent (nor do I think there would really be any major backlash) if lessons-per-credit were tweaked, as skills are a slightly different thing than artifacts on the whole. I personally don't care if such a change is made.

However, if IRE was to adjust credit quantities for monetary value on a significant level across all their games I would expect a significant backlash from established players from each one; not really a good business decision for a company! The best solution would be to look at what credits can buy and see if adjustments need to be made on a case-by-case basis. Deal with those, keep the customers who have already paid / continue to pay happy, and draw new customers in.

That would be the ideal avenue to pursue.

To be fair, there's a few major factors to consider.

• This is a freemium game--IRE games were this way before this became a norm in the industry. Freemium works by the pockets of the deep spenders to offset the lack of collection fees for others. This is similar to how casinos can have a lot of perks and valued items like buffets and concerts even for the people who don't gamble. It's also kind of how Kickstarter has been successful.
  
• I do not really think a price decrease will change things. Compared to other games, population here is quite small compared to many of these MMOs. This is a text based MUD--there's a limited interest in this came compared to the others. I don't think a sudden decrease in price will add more players to the game. It might get a little more money from the hard-core but it could also cut into the profits.
  
• If you're dealing with a niche market, the tendency is to make it more expensive to keep it alive rather than reduce prices. (American) Comic books have increased in price over the years while other book costs have gone down.
  
• We have to remember that this pays for the server fees, memory, as well as for the paid coders (and producers) who make the game. Less money = less practical incentive.
  

Unless there was a way to get a lot more people here via that method, I don't see it being adopted. Quite frankly, I think one of the biggest battles IRE has right now is the glut of Freemium "Free-to-Play" games out there. With the rise of social media, flash-based games, and even major MMOs going this route--there's a lot more choice for the people playing on a budget, and while I love this place for the RP--I could never play a Tully character on WoW or whatever passes for RP on MMOs--combat is very difficult to get into and not as enjoyable as graphic RPGs.

This is also one of the reasons why I am so "free" with credits I buy or have been rewarded--we aren't really paying for goods, we are paying for a service. I don't buy into that Second Life stuff about "virtual goods". I'd rather spread the wealth around a bit and be remembered for some generosity that hoard everything, nor would I ever want to feel like I lost "goods" in the event the game retires in the near or far future. (Although for everybody reading this please keep in mind nowadays I'm on a strict budget and the Elite system is a bit more financially prudent for me--I sort of wish there was a "Reverse Elite" where you'd get credits you'd HAVE to give or sell to others. LOL.).

I'm the type one might call.. a casual credit buyer, I guess. I buy when I can, I've been saving on the side for specific artifact packages, which is time intensive- and I do get tempted by other artifacts that pop up, but I have to remind myself of what I'm aiming for in the long term. I'd honestly love it if elite membership was lowered.. it's more expensive than WoW and CoH! Don't know if it's feasible to bring it more in line if not slightly cheaper with them, they're what.. $14-15? subscription required for perks. I do like CoH's a la carte perks mall though (CoH is also Freemium), so you can buy the big packages or just mix and match what you want individually like your own custom package. Just my take on things ^^;