Dear CCP re: Omega Prices

[Aqriue]

@Corthian

Please tell me how an alpha player that’s been playing for 3-6 months could possibly grind out 2.1b ISK?
That part of my argument is obviously not being understood the way I meant it so I may remove it for clarity.

Corp theft
Exploration
Buy 1 plex, defeats purpose
Sub for awhile, work market as trader and cancel later

edit: fixed, was on phone at worked and broke quote

[Kezrai_Charzai]

@Anderson_Geten

When you look at MONEY in the REAL WORLD the net cost of the PLEX was 0 : therefore it’s free.

Nah, you’re trying to conflate real world economy and EVE economy, and still getting it wrong.

By your definition, RL money is ‘free’ because I didn’t have to pay cash to get it. Since I only provided labor/skills, and time, and they gave me money for it, and I didn’t actually pay money to get it, then of course my money is ‘free’ and therefore everything is free everywhere.

Seriously, if you cannot clue in that time, labor and skills are a service of value, and that people exchange real money for those services, then there is no point in discussing an issue. You’ve stuck your head in the sand and are hollering “I can’t hear you!” to anything that is different from your position.

[Corthian]

@Paul_Xavis

actually, can we have link for that CCP response on steam prices? Because can’t find it on any “official” site.

I have the text from the email they sent to everyone affected:

I mean it could be Valve pushing blame to CCP but from what I can tell CCP opted out of adjusted regional pricing. Make of it what you will. Either way the adjustment isn’t want I’m trying to change it’s the general price and value of the sub for everyone.

Edit: source image

[Corthian]

@Kezrai_Charzai

As to the OP: You are looking at an overall price reduction in the range of 25-30%. If CCP did that, they would certainly lose about 20% of their overall income (guesstimate based on my notion of how much Sub income they have vs. how much Plex sales). Your premise is based on the assumption that then more people would sign up and pay… but 20% more paying players seems very unlikely, given the nature of EVE.

Also, you mention ‘EVE has multiple income streams that other MMOs do not have’, which IMO is completely backwards. CCP sells subs, and Plex. They sometimes sell starter packages that are Subs and/or Plex with a few cosmetics or an accelerator tossed in. This is by far the least effective cash shop I’ve ever played in any F2P MMO. They have virtually no income streams beyond the subs, the plex and the occasional bundle.

You make a fair point. CCP would have to look at their accounts and weight it up. What I meant is that Eve has a lot of options for what to do with your plex. Skill extraction/injection and the ability to sell premium currency in game to improve your character are not that common. I would not be surprised if the sale of plex makes CCP a whole lot more money than the sub does. Getting more people to sub would in turn also increase the market base for the sale of plex. I do not think there are a lot of Alphas spending money on the Plex currency. Once you’ve incentivised a person to invest money in a game they are more likely to spend more in future. Also an omega has better earing potential so even if they can’t afford extra cash for plex they are more likely to buy some plex for isk to spend in the store. All this translates to increased revenue for CCP.

[ISD_Norros]

Moved from GD to Features and Ideas

[Mayhaw_Morgan]

@Kezrai_Charzai

Without people offering the ISK they earn in their game time for Plex, there would be no Plex market.

In which case, CCP would just sell subscriptions, maybe fewer subscriptions, but actually, maybe more, since the “equation” isn’t x=7. People who farm mercilessly for ISK and other things affect the game. We cannot say what their effect is on the game as a whole, unless we could somehow factor them out and look at the game without their actions.
If CCP didn’t sell PLEX, which is then sold for ISK, then CCP could . . . uhhhh . . . sell ISK. Or, they could sell you a Raven Navy Issue bundle for $5.

The PLEX market does motivate certain gameplay and certain player retention, but it also hinders other kinds of gameplay and player retention. Without looking at all the possibilities, it is easy to say, “Players wouldn’t buy PLEX from CCP if they couldn’t sell PLEX to famers.” Duh. But, LOOK AT THE OTHER POSSIBILITIES. Are they worse, better, different, the same?

[Derath_Ellecon]

To the OP,

Do you not think that CCP looks at their numbers very closely already and tries to balance omega costs between being as affordable as possible while also being profitable?

[Corthian]

@Derath_Ellecon

To the OP,

Do you not think that CCP looks at their numbers very closely already and tries to balance omega costs between being as affordable as possible while also being profitable?

Sometimes people get stuck in the old status quo and a different perspective can spark new ideas. Of course I think they do but does it hurt to add my voice? Perhaps someone had this idea but was afraid to suggest it, maybe I’ve given them the means to do so without letting them take the blame if it’s badly received. I don’t know and neither do you.

[Derath_Ellecon]

@Corthian

Sometimes people get stuck in the old status quo and a different perspective can spark new ideas. Of course I think they do but does it hurt to add my voice? Perhaps someone had this idea but was afraid to suggest it, maybe I’ve given them the means to do so without letting them take the blame if it’s badly received. I don’t know and neither do you.

I didn’t say you shouldn’t add your voice. But I guarantee CCP puts more thought into their pricing than you have.

Let’s look at your idea. $10 monthly sub + 200 “free” plex. Now there is a cost to CCP for giving away plex as this will cause players who otherwise might buy plex to buy less or none. So let’s say 200 plex is worth $8. You can buy 240 plex for $10.

So then that Omega sub is worth about $2 for CCP. I guarantee they’d be bleeding money at that point.

[Corthian]

@Derath_Ellecon

I didn’t say you shouldn’t add your voice. But I guarantee CCP puts more thought into their pricing than you have.

Let’s look at your idea. $10 monthly sub + 200 “free” plex. Now there is a cost to CCP for giving away plex as this will cause players who otherwise might buy plex to buy less or none. So let’s say 200 plex is worth $8. You can buy 240 plex for $10.

So then that Omega sub is worth about $2 for CCP. I guarantee they’d be bleeding money at that point.

Actually I did say alternatively not additionally. Lowering the price and giving away Plex would be too far. They are worded as two different options/ideas.

[Derath_Ellecon]

@Corthian

Actually I did say alternatively not additionally. Lowering the price and giving away Plex would be too far. They are worded as two different options/ideas.

Well bad on my part then. Apologies for misunderstanding.

[Lillith_Sakata]

$15 usd is what I’ve been paying since the beginning. (well, 14.99 but seriously, one penny)
Don’t see a problem with it.
If they reduce the sub price, they’ll just make it up elsewhere, which means subs become useless.
Frankly I like my sub. Not super expensive (especially if you pay for 6 mo or a year at a time).
Costs me 1 bottle of alcohol, or one cheat day meal a month to sub 3 accounts at $15.
If you manage your money correctly, or plex a few months till you can pay for bulk subs, then you save even more.
I actually pay something like 1 bottle of sauce or 1 eat-out meal every 2 months at the yearly price.