[Ubi Official] New Shop Items

[Wyndywalker]

Gotta agree with most here $100's worth of gems for one mine? A copper one to boot? That is kinda ridiculous considering you have been offering endless building items ie recyclers for 990 gems. 20k is well over 20 times the amount, I could justify maybe a 50 to 100% mark up for this, maybe. In a game with as slow a pace as this one, and with copper mines having little to no cost in materials good luck selling many of either one of those new items. I also play a couple of facebook games and refuse to pay their ridiculous prices, if this is a trend here I will stop buying gems here as well.

[ShuttlePilot]

Why I am done with this game

This game has become a grinding daily chore, not a fun and entertaining activity. The worry of having to run my gold chain buffed 24/7 has become too much grind. We all know running a non-buffed gold chain is a losing business. Unless the devs come up with a 24 hr buff, to me this game has become unplayable. Some may say that I dont have to keep my gold production buffed 24/7, I could just turn it off when not buffed, but that is the same as having to logging to get it buffed, no change.
But the last patch with the 20k gems buildings was the last drop, this is such an insulting offer that I feel talked down to, and taken like a fool.
That’s what I had to say.
A

AetiusWMD has brought up some excellent points (the above is quoted from a thread that was closed and is supposed to be consolidated over to this thread). Personally, I don't care about my gold running unbuffed as I take the game much more lightly these days than when we were all working hard in closed beta to help ensure a good game was rolled out. Those who know me, do know that I lost interest in adventures many months ago as (to me) they all began to feel the same -- I'd like to see other ways/routes for leveling incorporated into the game.

We started seeing a great deal of attrition in long time players (including well established guild leaders) several months ago, and now it appears as if we may begin seeing a new wave of experienced players begin to leave because of the constant grind, the predictability of adventures, and the continued bugginess of the game. Aetius has never been one to whine or complain. It is therefore not unreasonable to posit that if he is speaking up there are many more who feel the same and are simply silently dropping out of the game.

It may be that BlueByte has run the numbers and have determined that the attrition of high level, long term players has little economic impact and is more than made up for by the influx of new players who are willing to drop $$ in the gemshop (and high dollars as evidenced by the cost of the new gem and copper mines) in order to level up quickly. That would be a pity, since the long-term players have contributed so much to both the social and practical aspects of the game.

ShuttlePilot

[Jethro702]

That would be a pity, since the long-term players have contributed so much to both the social and practical aspects of the game.

ShuttlePilot

I completely agree.

[Bordoc]

Wondering if we'll ever hear something from BB about this atrocity.

[Jigsaw]

What do you expect to hear? These games have a shelf life. This is the last ditch effort to make money off of it. All events are the same event with different graphics and 1 extra "shop" and have been since I started in September of last year. When you look at it for what it is the only NEW content introduced has been ...extra daily quests and some new adventures and what maybe 3 new buildings? I hardly count "decorations" as new content. Aside from that....we haven't gotten anything in almost a year's time and now they are going to nerf adventures by making generals take the obvious route of a straight line, because that is what a general would do in real life obviously with no strategy or strategic positioning or anything. He will just walk in a straight line and take out anything in his path. I've been playing this game for a very long time, not as long as a few of you but since the beta days...and I am about done. My next level is going to take me 385,000 xp to level (47) and I have no desire to do Victor the vicious 15 more times. This is most likely it for me. And the prices on the new items is just further reassurance that they are not interested in preserving the life of the game. Don't get me wrong I have no quams with the amount in the mine or the cost, its the fact that some dofus in development slept through marketing 101 and thought making a mine with 40k gems in it costing 100$ would be more profitable than making a mine with 2k gems that sold for 5$. Who knows, regardless the reason, it was nice knowing most of you

I can't say I'm surprised. It was a good run and the clan has been awesome and amazing. But as with all browser games I have played with in the past...this one seems to have runs it's course.

[Maxwellius]

So I think everyone neglects to see that a single purchase of the gem pit can be used to buy the other 4 gems pits... so the 20000 gem purchase ends up making 200000 gems at the cost of 100000 gems in structure, basically... you get 100000 gems over a long period of time, im not sure if you can omni seed the gem pit... but if you can... well... you figure it out...

[Jigsaw]

You can't buff them or add to them and what you fail to understand is that the majority of people cannot afford to dump so much in one instance. Cut the price/quantity by 10x and they would probably sell 50x more of them. Simple math. I can buy 3 games, 1 a month which is what I can afford (example). I can't afford to buy 3 games in 1 month. So if the pack is only offered as a 3 pack for 1 month I guess I just can't buy it. That is what everyone's problem is. Charging a 1 time 100$ fee for a virtual good is just obsurd. Break it up, let us buy 2k mines for 5$ or 4k mines for 10$ It's the same ratio, same deal, but 75% more of the gem buying public can afford to do that 10 times throughout the year than dumping 100$ in one instance. Freemium games run on the nickel and dime purchases that the thousands/millions of users purchase. Throw out a 100$ item and people just laugh at you. Sure some guy with more money than brains will buy it...but all they succeed in doing is upsetting 90% of their gaming population and pushing the dedicated players away.

[YeOldeMan]

You can't buff them or add to them and what you fail to understand is that the majority of people cannot afford to dump so much in one instance. Cut the price/quantity by 10x and they would probably sell 50x more of them. Simple math. I can buy 3 games, 1 a month which is what I can afford (example). I can't afford to buy 3 games in 1 month. So if the pack is only offered as a 3 pack for 1 month I guess I just can't buy it. That is what everyone's problem is. Charging a 1 time 100$ fee for a virtual good is just obsurd. Break it up, let us buy 2k mines for 5$ or 4k mines for 10$ It's the same ratio, same deal, but 75% more of the gem buying public can afford to do that 10 times throughout the year than dumping 100$ in one instance. Freemium games run on the nickel and dime purchases that the thousands/millions of users purchase. Throw out a 100$ item and people just laugh at you. Sure some guy with more money than brains will buy it...but all they succeed in doing is upsetting 90% of their gaming population and pushing the dedicated players away.

How come if you can afford to buy it at $100, you have "more money than brains," but if you can afford to buy it in increments, "... let us buy 2k mines for 5$ ..." it's a good deal? If it's a good deal at 2k for $5 ea, then it's the same deal at 40k for $100. I just don't think you have to slam anyone who can afford to spend it. If Donald Trump was playing this game, you think he'd give a rat's arse about $100? Obviously everyone's not in the same place with respect to discretionary income spending, but that doesn't mean you need to hate on people in a different place than you.

I do agree that they'd probably get more sales with a lower price, and ultimately, more revenue. Seems to be priced unwisely.

[BB_Katealyst]

Hey All,

Just to follow up and reiterate, you do NOT and NEVER will need to purchase these items to progress in the game. We will NEVER force anyone to buy an item to move forward in The Settlers Online: Castle Empire. We do, however, want to offer a variety of items in our in-game item shop to give our players a number of different ways to play and enjoy our game.

That being said, I will most definitely be relaying your feedback and concerns.

I wish I could be more help,

Kate

[BrianM]

Hey All,

Just to follow up and reiterate, you do NOT and NEVER will need to purchase these items to progress in the game. We will NEVER force anyone to buy an item to move forward in The Settlers Online: Castle Empire. We do, however, want to offer a variety of items in our in-game item shop to give our players a number of different ways to play and enjoy our game.

That being said, I will most definitely be relaying your feedback and concerns.

I wish I could be more help,

Kate

We all understand we aren't forced to buy the copper mines. The complaints you're seeing are symptomatic of a larger issue here. I think I speak for everybody when I say we could do without soccer events, gem mines, decorations and other frivolous crap. We wish the developers would instead spend their time on PVP and other real content. You are losing loyal players in droves and your response is a shameless money grab. This is a slap in the face to the people who have supported this "project" for a long time now. People like the game, and they like what it can become, but you can only disrespect your customers so long before they eventually abandon you.

What are the developers working on 8 hours a day, 5 days a week? Are you seriously going to tell me that games like Evony, Travian and the dozens of other Settlers competitors spent YEARS in development before they went live? That's a joke.