Booster price decided

[___________Zeroisgod]

eh, i guess your right. I like many others is moving on to swg when it goes live. I mean, i could care about the money, But when a company that your putting your trust into just plain out lies to your face, and expect u to deal with it. Well, this is how i deal with it.

I still don't understand it from an advertising sense. I mean, think about it. your going to push out a game with a booster for christmas, when the booster was suppost to be in the game to begin with....

Call me crazy, but i'd think the people who saw it before are still going to think the same thing...hmm, maybe a tin box.....nah.


Explain how thats suppost to gain a new croud?

[Dharien]

They haven't lied about anything.. you need to comprehend this.

The land contol feature that the booster is toting is/was not part of the original package. It's an extension of an idea that they hoped to include in the original game but didn't make it for whatever reason. That reason is most likely time, but I could be wrong.

In case you don't know, producing any game costs buckets of money.. creating an online game such as this costs even more. The developers go millions in the hole, they hope to cover the costs with the initial release and then they hope the monthlies continue long enough/produce profit to finance the next venture.

This has been and will be the case with EVERY SINGLE game that ever comes out. Eventually someone says, we gotta push this thing out the door NOW!

You have to turn a profit eventually or cut your losses.

Back to the cost thing..

Boxing the booster and putting it on the shelves may give it more exposure or it may not. Stores don't have to stock it and they sure don't have to display it to anyone but their own liking. It costs them so much to do this I can't fathom why they'd want to, especially since they just released the new SE box. Unless they plan on repackaging those and slapping a sticker on it "Booster Pack Included!". Even that would cost alot.

AO has already gotten loads more attention than it has deserved on the shelves since launch for one big reason.. nothing major has been released in the last year. Every store I've been in has been giving 2-3 full-width boxes of shelf space to just about every game that has been out since before Christmas. This is almost unheard of! Best Buy, for example, was so desperate for something to put on the shelves they had a FULL display case just for the PRE-order boxes of WC3 and NWN.

They are taking the concept of say the Gametime Cards, boxing it with the full version of the game and charging twice what they should.

9.95-12.95, downloadable.. tack on 5 bucks if you want the media.. give a discount for people who recently purchased the game in the store... simple, really simple.

[secondkenlon]

I love AO.

I am an admitted fanboy.


But this is just silly.

Let us apply the CD key to an existing account to get a month free, and I can't see any reason for people to complain.

[geal]

hehe anyone up for a boycott on the booster pack (i feel betrayed by funcom..im sure many do too).

[zuby]

Something similar to this happened back in the day with Ultima Online. Mind you, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but when they released the first expansion pack for the game (Second Age? I think) they offered it to their existing customers initially for $19.99. They were simultaneously going to start selling it in stores as a standalone product (full base client with a free month) for the same price. Apparently the community complained enough, because right before release they dropped the price for existing customers to $6.00. Maybe Funcom will make the same call with enough coaxing.

[____________andertec]

Originally posted by Intenseheat
It's their business decision to make. I'd just like to make sure you understand that there is no fraud being committed here. And there are many people that will buy the booster, they are just not being vocal because, hey, they're happy, so why should they say something.

I likewise agree it's stupid to package the booster with the main client, but if you see someone with a shotgun aimed at his foot and say "Hey man, don't do that, or it'll hurt real bad," and he says "I have a toenail infection (lacking sales) I need to get rid of," and fires the gun... well, you tried, that's all we can ask.

I was lead to beleive that I bought a game with all those features, once I was subscibed for 6 months and started wondering where everything was, I was lead to beleive that it was on the horizon.

They even pushed patches back one day after billing for us to hold our breath.

How would you qualify that practice?

[Coldstrike]

Originally posted by Zuby
Something similar to this happened back in the day with Ultima Online. Mind you, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but when they released the first expansion pack for the game (Second Age? I think) they offered it to their existing customers initially for $19.99. They were simultaneously going to start selling it in stores as a standalone product (full base client with a free month) for the same price. Apparently the community complained enough, because right before release they dropped the price for existing customers to $6.00. Maybe Funcom will make the same call with enough coaxing.

Yup. And after about a year they released UO: Renesciance (sp?), a pretty large upgrade with new building types etc. This "patch" was free of charge for existing customers.

And then they produced the 3D client named UO:3D (Third Dawn), existing customers got that one for $6.99 or something, to cover the price of shipping and handling.

.. And then I quit UO and started playing AO, so whatever happened next I do not know..

[_____________Kodiene]

AO SE is 19.99 in the US (most major cities)

The BOOSTER is 19.99?

Thats how much EXPANSIONS sometimes cost!? Which FC said this isn't....

I have been in the software retail industry for over 5 years running a store and this is just a knock at our intelligence.

Yes, they need to make money......but call it an EXPANSION since thats what your charging us!

You should also include an intel buff for all of us since you think we need it...

Looking around the shelves, 9.99 plus tax is what a Booster should cost us.

[_____________Kodiene]

Originally posted by Crin


Maybe the third time is the charm.

Expansion: $29.99
Booster: $19.99 (FYI that is $10 less)

You are just getting caught up on the fact that new customers are getting a great deal. They get the booster and base game for $19.99 while existing customers are only getting the booster plus had to buy the base game seperatly.

As I have already stated that is simply marketing to gain new customers. It's called an introductory offer and happens all the time. If you think hard enough I am pretty sure you can think of other situations where new customers are rewarded. In fact I would almost have to say that you would be hard pressed to find a subscription based service that didn't have some sort of deal like that from time to time.

Crin,

*EQ Velious Expansion launched at the price of $19.99
*AC Dark Majesty Expansion launched at the price of $19.99

How does this 1st charm hit you?

[______________Tinpen]

Big thread, too big to read but I get the idea and just want to add my voice to those that feel scr*wed over. It ISN'T about the money. It's about buying the game on import at launch so I could play a slideshow that dumped me to desktop just when I was getting somewhere, and sticking with it. It's about having my game freeze and not being ABLE to log back in for 20 minutes just so I could look at a reclaim booth. and sticking with it. It's about having faith in Funcom and then they do this. If you're reading this and wondering why I'm so bent outta shape about twenty bucks ($40, I run two accounts) then you're probably also confused by little concepts like honour and fair play. I've been here almost since day 1 and got a pioneer backpack for my trouble. I'm not even saying that original subscribers should get the booster pack free, I'm saying all subscribers should. If Funcom are hurting for money then say so and we'll either understand or cut them loose, cos if they think this booster pack is going to do anything else then they're not as smart as they think they are.

Will I buy the booster (it's really irritating me to call it a booster so often when it isn't a booster, as has been pointed out by several sharp-eyed people earlier) when it's available? My heart wants to but my brain is vetoing the idea. Again, it's not about the money.

Like many people here, I run a business of my own and I know that there are three golden rules

1) Enjoy what you're doing.
2) The customer is king.
3) see 1.

Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather retire happy than rich. In any event, I suspect there are people at Funcom who have lost sight of all three.

[NutsnBolts]

$20 for the booster pack now or when ever they finish it.
BUT lets not forget that not too long (let's hope for thoes of you who WILL stay) YOU will get the privlage of paying for it again when shadowlands comes out.
if they get away with charging $20 for the booster what do you think the'll try to charge for the expantion pack.
$30-40

like it's been said before it's not about the money it's the principal pay pay pay. get an over hyped and half finished product.
pay pay pay get part of what was hyped in the first place as a booster
pay pay pay some more and buy the game again "shadowlands"

Edit BTW as most of you i also look forward to beeing disapointed by VI with SWG.
see you all in a galaxy far far far away from Funcom

[___________Zeroisgod]

yeah i'm alittle iffy on the whole sony and vi or whoever making the swg game. Sony is 50/50 when it comes to giving a good product (stay away from their entertainment systems). That and i didn't really like everquest.



Hopefully i get chosen for one of the later beta's. I'm curious to see how they're going to do the exp system for the crafters, cuz if its anything like what they are explaining, i've already figured potential exploits.

but we'll wait and see.

[_____________DocFunk]

Well, the best thing to do is to leave the game for 6 months or a year. First off, by that time you'll know if the rumors about AO perhaps gong under are true. Secondly, the booster pack, expansion, perhaps a second booster and client all together will be $20 by then.

Makes more sense than wasting your money and playing an incomplete game. You're just funding their next expansion that you have to pay for.

[ValliaTHM]

I have to agree with the majority of the posters in this thread. The price is way too high and it is a bad business decision to make people with existing accounts buy what is basically a new starter kit to get the expansion.

At least either give us the option to download JUST the booster, or let us apply a free month to our existing account.

[Intenseheat]

Hmm... we all seem to be a little short-minded in our views.

- $19.99 for CLIENT AND BOOSTER, not just booster.
- 1 month free game time - ERV - $12.95, included free
- Net price - $7.04 for the booster and the client. Not bad.

I would have no problem buying this IF we could apply the free month game time toward our existing account. But we can't. So I have a problem.

[______________Kradle]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this but let's say we buy the booster/client and out of the goodness of our hearts we give the un-needed client to a friend as Funcom suggest.
Ok we should all be happy now right? We have the new booster and our friend playing with us also but wait....... hmmmm our friend does not have the added content of the booster. Now what does Funcom want him/her to do?
Is it a good marketing strategy to get more new subscribers? You bet because most would give their extra copy to someone since it does them little good.
After christmas though I am willing to bet they will offer the booster seperately to those who are wanting to buy it seperately.
If they do not then how do they suppose to get all these new subscribers that were given the game the booster? Perhaps the expansion? Possibly.
At any rate it is a poor decision on Funcom's part to offer the booster in only a set and not as an individual piece.
Funcom look at Mythic and see what happens when a company totally disregards what their clients are saying. They have resorted to including their European server numbers to their North American numbers to try and make people believe there are more playing their game than there actually are.
Their game is swirling quickly down the toilet don't do as they did and listen to what your clients have to say!

[MrWaddles]

Originally posted by Aqua
well if it makes you sleep better, think of it like this you buy the pack and they will throw a backup copy of the game in for free.
geesh......

Yeesh, indeed.

Folks, it's right there in front your faces, and you either cannot or refuse to see it. The problem is quite apparent:

They aren't charging NEW subscribers for the booster pack, AT ALL.

Essentially, what they're saying is, "You existing customers, who've kept us in business, are worth nothing to us. You pay us money for this thing we're giving to everyone else (new subscribers) for FREE."

And of course, since all new subscribers will be playing with all the benefits of the booster pack, it further FORCES existing players to buy it just to keep up (because of the special bonuses, etc. which we've been told will only be available to owners of the booster pack).

It's not even remotely fair, and damned unethical, to deliberately PENALIZE the loyal customers whose purchases and subscriptions have allowed them to survive at ALL.

Take a long, hard look at how Funcom is handling this, versus how say EQ handles their expansions. In EQ, new subscribers had to buy the game plus expansion for quite a bit after the expansion came out. Only after some time had passed (past the point where they could reasonably expect existing subscribers to purchase the expansion) did they release "combined packs" of the game+expansion allowing new subscribers to get the expansion "for free".

Just to spell this out:

Sony/Verant with EQ gave existing subscribers the expansion at the same cost (actually a bit less, because they usually packaged one-time subscription-extending dealies in the early ones) as they charged new subscribers to the game.

Funcom, on the other hand, is actually charging existing AO subscribers quite a bit MORE (the original AO price PLUS the booster price) than they are charging new subscribers (who pay only the booster price, and also get a free first month, which existing subscribers cannot apparently even use with their accounts).

[ryokucha2]

Well I think they pretty much know, if they dont include the game with the booster, the people they really want to buy into this, new subscribers, will see the game, and then the booster pack, and wonder why they have to buy a game and something that looks more like a patch then a expansion. They already know they are going to get most of us vet players who paid 50 bucks back in the day for the same game, without the booster pack. But instead of rewarding us for sticking with them through all the hard times, they rather just make it harder for us to want to stay, "Make the booster $20 include the game so new subscribers dont have to fork out to much money and well, we know we already are going to get our current user base to buy into it, make it so".

Its very good marketing, funcom does have some brains, probably will build up userbase, but at the cost of unhappy Vet players? Hmmm, thats where I dont see how it works, I guess they just need the money real bad, I wish they would just come out and say they are hurting bad in pocket, Shadowlands is running us dry and we might not be able to put it out, we really need your help here, everyone send us twenty bucks now to help us with shadowlands. I for one would probably do it, no lies, honest truth, I would respect that. But instead they rather just say, "No everythings fine, patch comming out a bit later then we expected, err but one thing since we will have it out a bit later then we expect we want to give you a little peice of it, its a good patch. One slight problem, Its a big patch, modem users complain about big patches to us all the time so instead of making it a download like we normaly do, we are going to package it, and give it a fancy name called Booster pack, Its going to be really good, belive me, but to do this, we are going to have to put a price tag on it, hmm lets say around $20 thats not so bad right, well there you have it, again this will be a great patc.... errr Booster pack!!!!"

I just think current players should get some sorta reward for sticking with them for so long, just putting the client with it proves they are not marketing it to us at all and now we have to get yet another AO client, hmm makes four for me, which will incure some of that $20 buck fee, which we just dont need, am I wrong here or what?

[Dharien]

If the booster was properly priced it wouldn't be an issue for a new person looking at the game on the shelf.

If you are too young to remember let me take you back about 10 years.. Sim City was one of the hottest games going. In an effort to make more money and to keep the original game alive for a couple more years they released graphic packs every few months that ran about $15 (IIRC). To my knowledge these were never included with the base game until quite some time later.

This never discouraged anyone from purchasing the game.

On one hand Funcom is stating that they are using this "new" concept of the 'Booster Pack' to release a small updtate to the game, pre-expansion..

Yet, they turn around, package and price it as an expansion.

Feel free to disagree, but even if I was into PvP I would be very leery about this pack. It's something that is only going to most likely be internally tested and it's probably going to cost big time in terms of the game. Their track record is pitiful at best on doing this.

I really don't think they or this new CEO know what the **** they are doing.

[____________Hitokage]

Originally posted by Starke
At least either give us the option to download JUST the booster, or let us apply a free month to our existing account.

Agreed. The possibility to DL/get only the booster (at a somewhat lower cost) has to be an option.

Btw... from a business PoV, if you're in it for fast profits, forced marketing could be a profitable move. If you're shielded by being in a monopoly situation, it's a potential goldmine.
On the other hand, you could also brand it as unethical, indecent and downright insulting towards the existing playerbase.

Ah... never mind. Why even bother.