Too Many Paragon Points

So we're 3 months into the Paragon Market and I have 3 months worth of Paragon Points laying around unspent. (1660 to be exact)

I've spent nothing since a brief flurry of buying stuff with my banked Summer points in September-October.

I thought briefly about actually spending some of my Christmas money on some Paragon Points. But looking at what I have banked and what I've spent points on, I have to ask: will I actually use them once I've bought them? Given the past 3 months as data, probably not.

This is obviously not the result the devs intended. In my case, the new mini-game is failing somehow. I'm trying to work out why.

I bought one powerset, beam rifle, but haven't been tempted by the new ones. More punching powers? Don't need that. A weapon set with hideously slow animation and huge end/acc slotting requirements? I *really* don't need that. Plus, Beam Rifle just hasn't been that exciting. That little bit of buyer's remorse is making me think several times before getting another one. Staff is now delayed and it already looked like an animation-heavy, underperforming S/L melee power.

Costumes? I got the Halloween pack and was quite happy. It was weird and wonderful but y'know... kinda specialized. The other costume sets strike me the same way, but without the 'wonderful' part. Eminently skippable, specialized things that I just don't need, given the thousands of parts already in the game.

Game bonuses? Extra character slots, enhancement slots, etc. Yeah, those could be interesting. But ye gods, look at the point cost. And hey, they've had sales. I don't think I'm spending 3 months of points on something that might be on sale in 2 weeks.

Consumables? :eyeroll: I haven't used the free ones I got with my new vet rewards. I played for 7 years without them, I expect I can keep going without them in the future.

What's left? The occasional miscellaneous funky thing? I bought the rocket board in September and can't imagine needing another travel power. Little pets? Got plenty already, thanks, and I can't use them all together any more.

And what are we getting in the future? "Collectable!" randomized stuff? Yeesh. That's just pitiful.

Writing this out, I think I see some things that are deterring me from spending points:

1) Buyer's remorse. The stuff I got already just wasn't as wonderful as I thought it would be. That's depressing my desire to get anything else.
2) High point costs/random sales. The costs of the "big-ticket" items feel like a bizarre crapshoot. They're deliberately pegged too high for casual consumption and then randomly lowered for impulse buyers.
3) Old Habits. I've gotten along for years without single-slot unenhancers/boosters, team inspirations, etc. Why would I want them now? They're new, but they're not shiny. I just don't see enough advantage to them to buy them.
4)Poor Salesmanship. I *might* want new stuff if I actually saw someone use them or there was some article explaining how great the new stuff is. Or even, y'know, some basic generation of expectations. Right now, things hit the market and the community reps give us an almost non-descriptive description of the new items *after* they're available. To paraphrase Capote, 'That's not salesmanship- that's typing.'

I *want* to like the new market! I love the old market! But right now, the P.M. is doing absolutely nothing for me. And I'm afraid that if this trend continues for another month or three, I'll end up ignoring it the way I do with the other failed mini-games in CoH.

While we can agree to disagree on the awesomeness of StJ; love the set myself.

Staff looks just as awesome.

Right now I have like 1,330 points...only thing I buy are powersets and the occasional costume piece/set (or aura).


I am with you in some regards as far as powersets go though...I bought Beam Rifle but...after it (and still am a bit) I have a bit of buyer's remorse...just don't care for BR that much.

That's why I'm not buying TW either...sure I'd like the set but...don't want to pay 800 points for it...maybe when it goes on sale or something.


Only thing I'm constantly waiting to go on sale is the extra enhancement slot storage increases. I thought I would have bought them as soon as Freedom launched but...yikes...not at those prices.


Edit:


Maybe there needs to be some sort of "trial period."

Where you can try something (let's say the extra enhancement slot storage) and after x days (a month?) it stops being active and you either have to pay for it or live without it.

That way it would possibly entice people to try things and then once they get "hooked"...well, cha-ching, money for Paragon


Cause like you said (and I agree with somewhat), us long time vets have been used to playing this game with only 10 enhancement slots...if somehow we had 20 or 30 slots and then suddenly that trial period ended...wow...now we want to buy it because we're used to having 20 or 30 slots. *shrugs*

so what you are saying is that CoX gives you so many great things as a subscriber that there is no need for you to spend extra money on the game

that sounds great!

Oh, I should have been clearer. Yes, I haven't spent any actual money beyond the regular subscription, and never really intend to. Paragon Points are just another in-game currency as far as I'm concerned, tradable for the stuff in the Paragon Market.

And I'm quite happy with Freedom as a whole. I'm playing the heck out of the new Sig Story Arc, for example.

I just feel like I should be using the new market/currency more than I am, and I'm trying to figure out why it's not grabbing me.

I'm on the other end of the argument. I can't get enough points!

I'm big on costumes and new powers, and everything they've released so far is so cool. My wallet can't keep up with my spending habits.

almost every addition to the market is available on the beta server for no cost at some point, which is something to be considered before you buy something on live for actual points, provided the beta server is open

and i think the beta server has been open for at least a month or two? something around there

i test drove street justice, titan weapons and beam rifle along with the costume packs and just about everything else and as a result i found out which items i want to buy and which ones i don't.

So far I've bought Street Justice and Beam Weapon. Also bought the Titan Weapon pack for 0.

I bought the Halloween and Barbarian costume bundles.

I bought the Winter Holiday and New Years packs.

I bought the Snow Beast Pet.

I bought the cape and aura unlock.

I think I have 60pts left until near the end of next month. All of the above purchased only using my points stipend.

I've bought the Beam Rifle powerset, and the Halloween and Barbarian costume bundles. I also got the TW weapon skins while it was free. I think that's all I've purchased. Of course, I have no purchase history because the PMarket interface sucks hairy monkey butt (seriously; whoever did that should be ashamed)...so I'm not 100% certain that's all I've gotten.

I'll probably get the New Year's pack before it disappears because I am amused by the aura and costume change emote, and because it's surprisingly well-priced.

I'm sitting on a bunch of earned points, but stuff in the PMarket is simply too expensive or too 'niche' for me to consider purchasing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

I can understand some of the concerns with the market.

Costumes, new powersets, ect. are still being added to the game and by a round about way 'free' if you continue to pay your subscription to play (e.g. VIP). But now, we can have most of what we had before for free without paying at all (e.g. Premium). This is awesome! Wahoo!

Essentially, they are attempting to provide added value to the game purchasable for additional cost above your normal subscription. If you're like me, you can find most/if not all of the value you want out of the game for zero cost as a high level veteran.

I broke down the cost analysis for myself of VIP vs. Premium in another thread and found that I can either 'buy points as needed' for a nice lower cost than what a VIP subscription provides or I can just go full VIP and play incarnate content too.

Now, on to your 'points'. The consumables are indeed lackluster for their point cost, as with many of the other 'added value' items, and I too have continually passed them up as 'too expensive'. But given that they are provided to produce added revenue to the game, I can understand introducing them at a 'high' price point to obtain maximum revenue from impatient and/or high rolling buyers. Then, they can capture the rest of the 'interested market' via sales, which I suspect they are likely doing, either at the slightly discounted prices, or the heavily discounted prices we've seen on various items.

I believe they are and were hoping that the consumables market would pick up the slack in production for what people might spend points on to ensure that VIPs continually have something they 'want to buy'. Obviously, it has not for everyone, myself being one of them. But alas, we are still essentially getting the same game for $15 a month with additions being added, and can play even cheaper than ever now if we decide to go Premium. So, while I would love to see more 'high value' items like costumes, powersets, etc. hit the market faster, harder, better, and stronger, their production schedule has not been able to produce that. So, some points may surplus. But VIP still essentially equates to what subscription used to, with Premium being the extra bonus if someone wants to unsubscribe for awhile.

P.S. Make the market more 'surfable' with knowing what we've purchased and a more usable interface (e.g. I want Paragon Picks -> New to immediately show what just came out, not an entire month of stuff I've already bought on the first page).

I've bougjt BR, TW and StJ but haven't done anything with them yet. I also boight some extra character slots and the Present costume chsnge emote. I would have bought the entire Holiday Pack but I can't easily find out which bits I've already got because

All together now...

The paragon market interface is a horrible piece of bumhole product.

Eco

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

I haven't spent any of my points yet, mainly because I'm a cheapskate. Back when they first started selling costume packs, I made myself a promise that I would only buy them when they got discounted, never at full price. I'm treating the Paragon Store the same way...when the things I'm interested in go on sale (mostly costume pieces and powersets), then I'll buy them.

Given the huge popularity of street justice and the twice-as-huge popularity of titan weapons, it seems like the price point was rather shrewdly chosen. As for salesmanship, well, it's true that there isn't any in-game preview exactly (or can you view the powers at the creation screen before purchasing them?), but it's also very easy to do a quick youtube search to see if anyone has uploaded demonstrations. At this point the answer to that for all paid sets is "they certainly have!"

I bought attuned enhancements. I got like 15 luck of the gambler global recharge io's when they were half off.

I got the enhancement trays because, sure, expensive, but the QoL improvement is huge. Also some but not nearly all of the salvage and recipe storage.

And one costume slot, because having every character able to costume change right away makes life better.