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Really 20000 gems for a single building! I can sorta understand this for the gem pit but the endless copper mine is just Insane how much it costs, I was waiting for this building but no way in hell would i ever spend that kind of money on something like that.
Anyone else with me on this?
I was completely ready to blow another 25 - 30 bucks for at least 2 of those copper mines.. After seeing that price though, ha! What a joke! I could see them being like 3000 - 4000 gems per mine even; 20k though? Never gonna happen! Devs need to fire whoever had the wet dream about selling those so they can buy a new chrome moped and cruise around town like a boss with fat stacks in their pockets, while our browser game has increased copper/hr rates while we are at work. I didn't know April fool's day was celebrated twice!
So for a bit of a comparison:I'll just keep buying additional copper on the market at 6-8gc a stack.
- 20 x more gems than a recycling manufactory
- 22 x more gems than a watermill
- 26 x more gems than a silo
hahah I would have totally spent 30 or 40 bucks to get one of each of these, but as it is it's like $200 spend for 2 buildings! It's not justifiable, for those that do buy the gem pit, I'd be mighty p*&^sed if the thing produced gems at the pace other buildings in this game produce....a 100 spend should be the final spend you ever have to do.
Yeah, there's a solid business model for a company. "We'll only ever get $100 from each customer, yet they'll play as long as they want!"Quote:
Originally Posted by aldorains
Awesome fail.
You're inferring that the current model with the price of those buildings is NOT an awesome fail?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hobknocker
That was kind of pointless wasn't it?
well the gem pit takes 6 months to reproduce the 20k in gems you spent, means it produces ~110 gems a day lol and i still haven't heard anyone say how many gems are in the thing either, im assuming it's close to 40k
My point was CLEARLY in reference to the piece of the post that I quoted. Not sure why you're trying to take it in a different direction, but since you did ...Quote:
Originally Posted by aldorains
I don't believe the current pricing of the gem mine is a fail in any way. It's a guaranteed 100% return on your investment within one year, with almost zero chance of any loss, (BB could go out of business, with a resultant risk of being an unsecured creditor and loss of investment). Name me one other area in life where you'll get anything approaching that. If you're a bank, and you make a mortgage loan in the US today, you'll give someone hundreds of thousands of dollars, for 30 YEARS, for ~ 3% return. If you're fortunate enough to work for a company that offers a 401K plan, you might have a "guaranteed" 50% match on a portion of your investment, but you'll have to wait years, or decades, (depending on your age), to get that money w/o penalty. The match can be compounded & boosted by wise investments over the duration, but there's inherent risk in that. At best, you could pick a low risk, low return, fund and boost the match a couple/few points. And obviously, there's the stock market itself, but carries so much risk with it that it fails any effort to compare.
So I don't view the gem mine as a fail. I'm not sure I'll buy any, but that's more about my overall dwindling interest in the game itself, and lack of certainty that I'll be around in six months, let alone 12. However, if they'd rolled this out three or four months ago, I would have purchased several. I'm generally in favor of doubling my investment when I can.
I totally understand how people will view this differently, since it's "just a game" or whatever. But I played Evony for a couple years, I've been here about 9 ~ 10 months, and I've probably spent around $1,000 on the game. The gem mine is an excellent investment, if you're reasonably convinced you'll be here. If you're just starting out, and have the money to invest, I'd highly recommend it. The regular doling out of ~ 110 gems/day would help prevent too many rash purchases, and you'd really get to think about what to buy and when.
@bergluns - read Kate's patch notes, it clearly states there are 40,000 gems in the gem mine. http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...al-Patch-Notes
I really can't believe the copper mines are that much each. It does not even make sense. I am an avid gem buyer but I think I am done after this little stunt of trying to drain the most money they can from us.
@hobknocker thanks for the link
so basically BB is counting on players not having the self discipline to save the gems produced for 6 months til they can afford a second, because if people do you can have purchased all 5 (the current limit on gem pits, not sure if that means 5 at one time or 5 total over the lifetime of an account, i would assume 5 over the life of an account because otherwise gem pits are self sustaining for a disciplined player) gem pits within 13months, 1st to start, 2nd at 6 months in, 3rd at 9 months, 4th at 11 months, and number 5 at ~13months with a surplus of 100k in gems at your disposal over the next year is a great deal if you are gonna play for another 2 years and you have the discipline to save your gems for more pits first and buy extra stuff later
but ya, how lazy do you have to be to drop 100$ worth of gems on an endless copper pit, that is a waste of money as plenty of players will sell their excess copper for less than 9 coins
I'm not sure how five gem pits gets to be "self-sustaining" for anyone. If we can assume that each pit produces 110 gems per day, (40000/365), then based on your purchase timeline, (gem pits purchased in months 1, 6, 9, 11 & 13), you only ever get up to 440 gems/day, (during months 11 through 17). That's not enough gems per day to buy a silo, or a watermills, or a veteran. So I'm lost on the self-sustaining element, unless you're just focused on buying parrots or something like that?
The price on the gem mine is fine if you ask me, it's more targeted towards the big spenders, which is where BB probably makes most of their money from. They need to fix those copper mine prices however so the smaller transaction consumers have something to buy as well. Would I be willing to spend 20 bucks every now and then on this game? Sure! Would I ever drop 100 bucks down all at once for a building I don't even really need? Never.
It's a Fail in the way that it is more than most people are willing to spend for an item in a browser based game, and a reasonably average one at that. Simply, if the items were more reasonably priced there would most likely be more people tempted to buy, resulting in higher profit through sheer number of sales.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hobknocker
When you can purchase an off the shelf new release game for PS3/360 or PC for less than one of these virtual buildings, spending $100 on one seems like a ridiculous thing to do.
It IS a matter of opinion, people have different levels of personal investment in a game. The numbers may look good for the gem pit, but I still maintain, in my opinion, it's a fail.
Time and the response of the players and community will tell I guess.
Comparing a web-based game to an off-the-shelf console game isn't an apples-to-apples thing. Console-based games generally walk you through a path to a limited number of end-game scenarios, (typically 1). Web-based games are open-ended, and as such, the revenue models for each game are completely different. That's what I was trying to address in your original post. You made a comment indicating that each player should only ever spend $100, and if that were true, free-pay games like this one would quickly cease to exist.
I totally get that the value of the gem pit, copper mine, veterans, etc., are all subject to personal opinions and values. That's never been the point for me.
That makes me feel sick :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Hobknocker
I build 6 copper mines, upgrade to level 5, run with basket buffs.
Many of my tools for upgrades are converted in provisions house.
Takes me about 1/2 hour to rebuild every day.
More than meets my copper needs.
Corporate greed is slimy and disgusting.
The business model here is contemptible.
I am not at all surprised, just sorely disappointed at the blatant greed.
Is that really profitable? I can often trade 100 tools for 400 copper ore.
It keeps me in bronze swords.Quote:
Originally Posted by bombcar
self sustaining as in one $100 purchase of a gem pit would enable you eventually to continually have 5 gem pits (if the limit were 5 total and not 5 forever) if you saved for pits first and bought watermills etc after, that would be one heck of an investment which is why the limit has to be purchasing 5 pits total, not 5 at once...still $100 dollars for 100k in gems sounds exactly like one of their mega sale deals and not like that good of an investment considering it'll take you two years to get your "money" backQuote:
Originally Posted by Hobknocker
it would be 300$ to purchase one gem mine and 3 endless copper mine. because you get 27000 gems for 100$ 3 x 2700 = 81000 gems. just saying is all.
Some scary math on how long it will take the endless copper mine to start making a profit (please correct if wrong)
Level 1 Endless(unbuffed) copper mine takes 12.67 years to pay itself off or 6.335 years buffed
Level 5 Endless(unbuffed) copper mine takes 2.5 years to pay itself off or 1.25 years buffed
Gem cost of endless copper mine = 20,000 gems
Coin value of 20,000 gems at 2 coins per gems = 40,000 coins
40,000 coins divided by the value of a stack of copper ore(8 coins) = 5,000 stacks of copper ore to pay off mine
5,000 stacks multiplied by the amount of copper ore in a stack(400) = 2,000,000 units of copper ore
2,000,000 units of copper ore multiplied by the time it takes to produce one copper ore(3 minutes 20 seconds)= 12.67 years for Level 1 unbuffed Endless copper mine to pay itself off
12.67 years divided by 2(double output from buff) = 6.335 years buffed for Level 1 Endless copper mine to pay itself off
12.67 years divided by upgrade level of 5 = 2.5 years for Level 5 unbuffed Endless copper mine to pay itself off
2.5 years divided by 2(double output from buff) = 1.25 years buffed for Level 5 Endless copper mine to pay itself off
My post assumes that the production time is the same as that of a normal copper mine and I did not know the upgrade costs of the mine so they are not included. I also did not include the cost of keeping the building buffed.
I am sickened by the level of greed being exhibited by Blue Byte regarding the prices of these new structures. I have spent $200 on this game in the last 10 months, but I will never spend another cent if BB does not reign in the prices for the cool new stuff.
Hobknocker, do you work for BB or something?!?! How can you defend this blatant and obvious greed?
I have played several pay to play MMOs in my day and the fact that I have spent as much on this browser game in the last 10 months as a year long subscription and the initial purchase of another online game would be is a bit ridiculous already. But if you look at the price of these new structures into account it is taken to a whole new level of moronic.
Hey All,
Closing this thread to consolidate all of the feedback into the official thread.
The official thread can be found here: http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...New-Shop-Items
-Kate