Discussion: Featured Items at the Paragon Market - 1/31/12
By
Agent White,
Posted on: 2012-01-30 18:23 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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If that's the reason, so be it, but I'm gonna hold you to it and scream foul if they come out down the road in a weapons pack... |
Originally Posted by Ghost Falcon
Main reason: They were intentionally left out to maintain some exclusivity to the Imperious Task Force (ITF).
Players can normally obtain/unlock the Roman Costume pieces for free in-game, but this has to be done PER character by completing the ITF. The purchase of this bundle allows players to unlock many of the main costume pieces for all other characters on your account without having to do the Task Force. |
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Greetings Paragon Studios,
My name is @Dark Energon and I'm looking for a job.
I worked as a sales rep for several years, customer service is top of my list.
Got taught how to make in-store presentations, and within weeks I was the go to guy when it came to that.
Always one to try and make the customers happy, and right now, your customers don't seem happy enough, and i feel i can make a positive change for you guys.
Desired salary: I'll take minimum wage as a starter, with VIP status for my account for the duration of my employment.
Availability: Immediate, and willing to move.
What can i offer:
Detailed store information for customer satisfaction. If a customer can not see the product it can buy, chances are that the customer will not buy that product.
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Feel free to send me a private message for further information.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Look, I generally try to maintain more class than to just badmouth a red-name who's just doing his job, but...
So, you were worried that people wouldn't run the ITF if not for the swords? Smooth. You sell experience boosts. You sell Influence boosts. You sell honest-to-God recipes, the exact recipes that used to drop from Task Forces only. But you won't sell the Romulus Sword because it has to be exclusive? I'm joining the others. This is a stupid idea. Costume exclusivity is and always has been. All you're doing is shooting yourself in the foot. People would have paid for this. I would have paid for this. And we would have happily run the ITF like we always have, because it's a decent TF, because it offers good rewards for time, and because everybody's doing it, and will continue to do it. All this accomplishes is stifle creativity and lose you MAJOR good will points for holding back costume items for no real reason other than "marketing." Again. First the Super Packs with random chance for costume drops, and now this. This won't last forever, I can tell you right now. |
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
What ever happened to "give the players what they want"?
Who's been begging you "lock up customizations to late-in-the-game tasks so those tasks can feel *exclusive*!"? "Exclusivity" is now a game mechanic goal? Then what happened to exclusivity of capes at 20 and auras at 30 when there are now two ways to get around that? Not to mention how someone can now buy their way into the fullness of all the Vet Rewards within a few month's time. So much for exclusivity. Now mind you, I'm not arguing for exclusivity. I'm just pointing out how 'exclusivity' as a rationale for doing something is pure nonsense when exclusivity in so many other areas are going by the wayside. And let's also discuss why you wait to now to address this instead of the first week of VIP Beta Server when the same points were brought up. Does Production read player feedback? Is Customer Service bringing to you our concerns when they get posted in Beta? And if they are, do you ignore it until it goes Live when the chances of responding to the players' concerns becomes too problematic? My esteem of Production and how they handle the Market is plummeting as each week goes by. I'm also very unimpressed with the rationales you give as if that simply ends the discussion instead of showing genuine interest or concern that you may have misread what players want and made a mistake. The use of micro-transactions is a huge part of your business model. And I am very unsatisfied with how you've implemented it. And this is from someone who already bought $300 worth of points between two accounts. Production needs to step up and talk to the playerbase instead of implementing things from a meeting by fiat. You did a major player survey for Going Rogue. You did a focus group for the general workings of FREEDOM. You need to do something for the specifics of the Market to make up for all the shortcomings of how you're implementing micro-transactions in such a haphazard way with such a demonstrable misunderstanding of marketing. |
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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You are the master of clarity and wisdom. Clearly the smartest person alive.
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
This. Even someone like ME, way more unlogical than my avatar namesake (sadly) can punch massive holes in the so called 'logic' here. This is farcical and idiotic.
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Good post.|
Originally Posted by Liquid
Well, I was going to buy this pack as soon as it hit live, but with the time limitation, I'm going to have to decline as another vote against the practice. It's not tied to any holiday (sticking a single Valentine's day related item in there that also happens to be Roman doesn't make the rest of the pack Valentine's day related), so I don't see the reason for the artificial scarcity. It's a great convenience buy, and I think new players should have the opportunity to buy it throughout the year.
I also agree with those who are saying that the ITF doesn't need any costume part incentives to get people to run it. Sorry, Ghost Falcon. |
After thinking about it, I will decline buying it as well. No roman axes/swords = not a roman costume bundle.
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Just checking, but you do realise that five out of seven of the Roman weapons not included in the pack aren't actually unlocked by the ITF, right?
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Originally Posted by Ghost Falcon
Main reason: They were intentionally left out to maintain some exclusivity to the Imperious Task Force (ITF).
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Death is part of my attack chain.
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Originally Posted by Grouchybeast
Just checking, but you do realise that five out of seven of the Roman weapons not included in the pack aren't actually unlocked by the ITF, right?
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hehehhehehehhee
No further comment. Good catch!
EDIT: I'm not in game to actually check this but I assume what Grouchy said is true.
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Originally Posted by Grouchybeast
Just checking, but you do realise that five out of seven of the Roman weapons not included in the pack aren't actually unlocked by the ITF, right?
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This a thousand times this. +1
Just adding my voice to the complaints, not that I think it matters since it's been the same complaints ever since micro-transactions started: no pictures, bizzare reasoning on pack contents, and arbitrary sale dates. At this point if I was in charge I'd be seriously tempted to sack everyone currently involved with the market and bring in a whole new team. I'm starting to think none of you have any experience with online retail, not even as a customer.
Many of your problems are so stupidly lazy, like the complete lack of pictures, that I don't get how you expect to sell anything. C'mon guys, screenshots aren't hard to take and the forums already support pictures. I should not need to visit third party sites to tell me what you are trying to sell me. I'm willing to bet that if ParagonWiki stopped translating your sales announcements into actual product descriptions you'd be trouble.
"Mastermind Pets operate...differently, and aren't as easily fixed. Especially the Bruiser. I want to take him out behind the woodshed and pull an "old yeller" on him at times." - Castle
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Thanks for posting that image - that bow design is worth purchasing by itself if it's not pre-tinted. (Please, not another pre-tinted costume piece.)
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Originally Posted by Llydia
Here's a quick picture of Cupid's Bow for those interested:
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I'm glad to get the roman pieces, but I would have liked it with more weapons inside, especially the Romulus sword.
I'm gonna second the people saying you should post pictures in these announcements. It's always much more exciting to see the pieces, than get a vague abstraction of what they are.
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It's not pre-tinted.
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Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
Thanks for posting that image - that bow design is worth purchasing by itself if it's not pre-tinted. (Please, not another pre-tinted costume piece.)
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In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
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(Thank goodness.)
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Originally Posted by MisterMagpie
It's not pre-tinted.
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well I for one find these deals a negitive, I look forward to unlocking parts/etc with all the events,how much fun is Christmas/whatever if you have a almost unlimited credit card at your local store?,no fun waking up on Dec 25 and getting somethings as a "treat".
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It's really nice for those of us who are constantly making new characters and don't want to have to sit on a concept for 10 months or more until the right holiday event rolls around. I had to do that a while back with my Roman Emperor character and had to wait forever (I think I created him in May or June?) to give him a look that was anything close to what I wanted with the toga and laurels from the Valentine's Day event.|
Originally Posted by MadHobbit
well I for one find these deals a negitive, I look forward to unlocking parts/etc with all the events,how much fun is Christmas/whatever if you have a almost unlimited credit card at your local store?,no fun waking up on Dec 25 and getting somethings as a "treat".
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It always seems I come up with a really great idea for a specific costume piece a few days after the event ends and it's too late to make a new character to earn it or even to unlock it on an existing character. Being able to buy an account-wide, level 1 unlock and not worry about it anymore for that stuff is a huge benefit to people like me.
Besides, the option is still there for people to unlock them for free in-game. This is just another option. Money versus time.
FUN FACT: That burst of light when you level up is actually the effectiveness escaping from your enhancements all at once.
400 Paragon Points for the convenience of being able to use Roman costume pieces on your level one characters (or any level characters if you haven't done the ITF...)
Roman Shields thrown in as well...
Plus! The brand new Cupids Bow (which looks really good, by the way... Was that originally in the concept art for the Celestial Set? I seem to recall seeing a bow in those pictures...)
Doesn't seem all that bad a deal to me. A lack of 3 - 4 broadswords and 3 battleaxes (most of which can be gained without ever touching the ITF) is hardly a deal breaker for me.
And for the record, 90% of my characters are weapon-based. So while the missing swords and axes would have been nice, I'm hardly going to jump on the latest bandwagon and crucify the Devs for excluding them.
"The part of me that is leaving... is going to miss the part of me that is staying..."
YA know I always likes the roman armor but not the face on it. It's a shame that they can't remove or change it. Like maybe a lion head.
Skipping except on the bow as a single purchase.
Buying the rest of the pieces would only be for a convenience unlock, which I'm fine with, except I would still need to unlock stuff after buying it so, umm no.
Also not liking the value, or the trend of time limited sales.
Paragon store is training me quite nicely that I don't need to spend points every week, or need everything coming out.
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Bizarre. |
When a Rare IO set is introduced and goes on sale, the 50% discount is applied to the "set", and to the Rare IOs. The Uncommon IO (Decimation 1 of 6) is left at the regular price. |
It's like you want lots of traps for unwary customers.
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Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
The worst part is that you can still obtain the badge for defeating 100 Cims. So why no roman swords or axes?
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I knew that the Romulus Shields were included in the pack, I just feel like, if anything had to remain exclusive to the ITF, it would be the Romulus items instead of the Roman weapons.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
The Romulus Shield is in the pack, as is the Nictus Romulus shield.
This actually brings up a question of logic I want to address to whoever is in charge of deciding what goes into each pack. You claim you want to keep some things exclusive to the ITF, yet you leave out weapons that have nothing in the slightest to do with the ITF. All the Broadsword options aside from Romulus Sword and Nictus Sword are tied to a defeat badge for Cimeroran Traitors which you can earn in two or three missions from Marcus Valerius without ever touching the ITF. All of the Roman axes are tied to the same bade, as are the shields. So to keep ITF-exclusive items ITF-exclusive, you restrict items that are not ITF exclusive, yet include an item which IS ITF-exclusive. Because I can't get the Nictus Shield without running the ITF twice, but I can buy that from the Roman pack, or as a standalone piece. What kind of sense does that make? |
Story-wise, that would make the most sense to me since you defeat him at the end and that would be your opportunity to take them from him.
There's been some great posts here; Zombie Man's stand out to me in particular.
All I can add is that the marketing department seem to be getting increasingly more lazy and greedy as the points system goes on.
I've always bought every costume pack on both of my accounts but even though I'm getting 550 points on one account and 400 on the other, I'm not wasting money on the junk that's been served to us recently. The Carnival pack was laughable and this pack is even worse.
These micro transactions have actually made it less likely I'm going to pay for costume add-ons because there just isn't enough in them. Even when the old packs weren't to my taste I got them because they had a stunningly useful item in there (EG Mission TP in Mac pack, Ninja Run in MA). These bundles are so 'meh' there is no attraction. Not to mention the nightmare of keeping track of what I've purchased/unlocked.
Whoever said fire the marketing department, I concur. Making your customers feel like they're being ripped off is not a good strategy.
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