June Promo: Build-Your-Own-Artefact package *swoon*

Kuy

ANNOUNCE NEWS #4356                                     (06/01/2015 at 00:03)  

From   : Tecton the Terraformer

To     : Everyone

Subject: June across the Iron Realms!

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We're opening up artefact packages again over the month of June... but with a twist... We know how 

difficult it is to get a package that suits everyone, so we thought: "Why not just let people build 

their own?" So that's just what we did!

Head over to the website and build your own artefact package and get great discounts! You'll get the 

lowest credit prices, as well as a 30% discount (40% with Iron Elite membership) - that's a massive 

discount, and you don't have to make the trip to Delos to buy the artefacts!

If you're just after credits, you're in luck too, we've got a 15% bonus (25% with Iron Elite) sale 

running all month!

So what are you waiting for? Head over to http://www.achaea.com/credits and pick yours up today.

Penned by My hand on the 21st of Aeguary, in the year 685 AF.


THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Aside from just how quickly my wallet is going to deplete because of this, I have a question.  @Sarapis @Tecton : If we want to upgrade an artefact via this promotion, is that possible?

Also, what about the shooting addon for bows?

Tecton

Shooting and upgrades aren't included in this promo, I'm afraid, they'll still need to be done in-game. Maybe in a future iteration of this promotion, but nothing on the cards at the moment.

Skye

...maybe. >_>

Kuy

Tecton said:

Shooting and upgrades aren't included in this promo, I'm afraid, they'll still need to be done in-game. Maybe in a future iteration of this promotion, but nothing on the cards at the moment.

Awwww. That makes this promo just a little bit worse off for me...

...but holy hell thank you guys.

Ahmet

I'm so happy right now, and yet so sad.

Kayeil

   Website isn't loading for me.

Tecton

Kayeil said:

   Website isn't loading for me.

Back up now!

Kasya

The only thing that would make this promo better would be upgrades. And globes. I need globes to happen.

That being said, this is beautiful. 

Jurixe

I thought tradeskill licenses were included for a moment and was super happy, then realised I was just silly and misread it. Also if customisation figurines were a thing sold I would be soooooo all over that.

Having said that, this is an amazing promotion for anyone who wants to buy arties at all and allowing the freedom to pick and choose is great. By far one of the most generous promotions yet, I think!

Austere

So I went ahead and did my wish list, just for curiosity..anyone wanna donate $1200 to the "Artie a Austere" fund?

Zuko

All my artefacts are lvl 1/ lvl 2 and was looking to push most of them up to lvl 3 during the sale. No way to do the 40% in game @Tecton? Appreciate the sale anyway, will be helpful to new players to get them hooked on gleam/artefacts (same thing). 

Zuko

@Tecton what about selling bound credits at 30% (40% for iron elite), then we use them on upgrades? *hope* Did I mention that I love you? 

Tecton

Upgrades/direct bound credits @ 40% aren't something we will be doing during this promo, I'm afraid!

Sarathai

Tecton said:

Upgrades/direct bound credits @ 40% aren't something we will be doing during this promo, I'm afraid!

Looks like no Logosian ring for Sarathai.

On the other hand, I now own wings. No more watching in envy as people duanathar their way around Sapience. Or being left behind when everybody goes up to Clouds to skirmish because I wasn't quick enough to follow, or had to tumble out and couldn't get back.

Tecton

Don't forget that you get 15/25% bonus on credit purchases too, making everything not in the cart system able to be purchased at a pretty nice discount!

Tahquil

I predict many a endurance ring will be purchased.

Amunet

Uuuugh, I wish I had known this was coming when I bought credits two days ago, haha. I guess I will just have to wait until payday.

Katzchen

Do the math before you buy credits to upgrade too. It might be better value to trade in a level one item and buy a new one than buy credits to upgrade!

Gwyneria

Do the bonus lessons from the first 1000 credits apply from getting the artefact package?

Ahmet

Gwyneria said:

Do the bonus lessons from the first 1000 credits apply from getting the artefact package?

Ooh, interesting question. Doubtful though. Very unlikely.

Sena

The bonus lessons are for converting unbound credits to bound credits. So if you buy an artefact directly, there are no credits to bind.

Ruth

There's also a discount for those buying these arties from the website with an elite subscription. I bought a 100cr worth artifact, and it cost me only $23.99.

Szeth

It's a really nice promotion, in terms of this part: "You'll get the lowest credit prices, as well as a 30% discount (40% with Iron Elite membership)"

However, having it so easily shown how much real world money the artefacts cost (even with a steep discount) really just reminds me how incredibly high these prices are. I never used to think about it when I was a teenager playing this game, because I had no money for anything. Even as a student any outgoings beyond food and the occasional cinema trip were basically unaffordable, so any price was effectively infinite and therefore irrelevant.

Now, as an adult who sometimes actually does have disposable income, I look at those prices and think, "What? Are you serious?" I'm not railing against the free-to-play or microtransaction models (although you'd have to have an exceedingly loose frame of reference to consider almost any artefact purchase in Achaea a "microtransaction") - I thought they were smart when Achaea first started doing them years ago, and I've never had a problem with them as they've grown in popularity recently (excepting a few bad apples). I think the principle is sound, I just think the scale here is way off and only seems stranger as more of the mainstream industry adopts a similar model at more reasonable prices.

I'm fully expecting a lot of people to just write off what I'm saying as the complaining of someone who can't afford to buy things - learn 2 capitalism noob, right? Sure, that's partly true - if I had the money to buy all the artefacts I want I probably wouldn't care as much. However, the thing that makes me pretty sure I'm not crazy is that last point I made in the paragraph above - there are a lot of companies making a lot of money charging a lot less these days. 15 or even 10 years ago there wasn't anything to compare Achaea to in terms of investment to reward, but now there is. So when I look at one mid-tier artefact on that list and it's costing upwards of $200 even with a heavy discount (and it is heavy, which is cool) and compare it to spending the same amount of money in Hearthstone, for example, or even more aptly one of the free-to-play MMOs, the difference is striking. 

In one of said free to play MMOs, Star Wars: The Old Republic for instance, that amount of money more or less buys out the game. I can't really think of what I would spend that much on in that game or any similar one, without getting into really bizarre territory. For those of you that play Hearthstone, that's 160 packs, which is a preposterous amount of cards for anyone who has played enough to already have most of them (which most even casual players do, compared to the crazy investment to even get most skills in Achaea, but that's another, if related, issue). Hearthstone is a more generous comparison, because that game is pretty deep investment well itself. 160 packs isn't buying out the game by any stretch, but bear in mind this comparison is to one artefact, and not the most expensive by a wide margin! Not to mention, again, this is at a very nice discount.

This post is already running long, so I won't get into the Iron Elite subscription much except to say that while it is a very good deal by Achaean standards, it's a pretty bad one by any other game's. Almost no similar game has a subscription that costs that much. Iron Elite offers a pretty similar set of rewards to many F2P MMO subscriptions, but at literally twice the price. Now I actually am a subscriber, but if I examine it realistically I didn't actually buy it because I thought it was worth it in terms of cost vs reward - there was some of that, sure, but with a generous helping of affection for the game thrown in.

I'm willing to subsidise out of affection, genuinely I am, but not this much.  As someone without an infinite discretionary budget, when I look around the games industry today and see the general prices and I look back at Achaea, I just can't justify it.

Katzchen

@Szeth Achaea isn't a game on the scale of any of those you've listed. Their paying players are at any point listed in the hundreds, maybe thousands. I doubt they'd be able to make the game as awesome as it has been lately if credits and such cost less. You really cannot compare it to MMOs with hundreds of thousands of players, if not millions.

I think most of us who've bought large numbers of credits see it as an investment and supporting a game we enjoy far more than any mmo. Arties are by no means compulsory or necessary. They're just convenient, and purchasing supports the game. 

Aktillum

Katzchen said:

@Szeth Achaea isn't a game on the scale of any of those you've listed. Their paying players are at any point listed in the hundreds, maybe thousands. I doubt they'd be able to make the game as awesome as it has been lately if credits and such cost less. You really cannot compare it to MMOs with hundreds of thousands of players, if not millions.

I think most of us who've bought large numbers of credits see it as an investment and supporting a game we enjoy far more than any mmo. Arties are by no means compulsory or necessary. They're just convenient, and purchasing supports the game. 

This is true.

Anyone who says credits / artefacts should be cheaper overall is basically saying IRE's paid staff should work for less money. You may not be intentionally saying that or even thinking about that when you wish for cheaper cr, but do realize that Achaea has full-time staff, being paid a competitive salary for the industry.

Everyones like to joke that Sarapis is jet-setting around the world on IRE money but do remember Sarapis has an investment portfolio that contains more than just IRE, including bitcoin and stock in online companies, dudes got his fingers in many pies and I wouldn't be surprised if he paid IRE staff more than he pays himself from IRE profit.

I mean lets say hypothetically Tecton was paid (and I don't know his actual salary) an average of $30,000 a year, or $2500/mo. Achaea would need to sell 100 elite memberships a month, or about 15,000cr a month through the website, to pay Tecton that kind of salary.

Obviously Achaea is capable of selling that much and more, since Tecton isn't the only paid guy in Achaea, but once you put it into perspective, the prices are pretty justified.

Austere

^didn't quote huge block of text,  but Tecton needs a raise. .

Brissan

 Well I agree the prices are to high. I was about to write  but figured what is the point. There will always be someone to bash and agree that the prices are fine. Simply put there are those that will pay it and therefore IRE will keep it as is and then those that cant afford it

Tesha

Personally, I'd spend more money on Achaea if the returns were significantly higher. I've only invested cash into lessons, where the return is higher. I'd love to get artifacts, but not at this price. I can't justify spending $500 for 1 out of 9+ things that I want, let alone $3600 or $15000 for all of them. I could justify spending $100 for all 9, though. So rather than $0 from me, it'll be $100. I'd probably change class a lot more often if it wasn't so costly, too, so maybe another $50 now and then. 

I'm sure there's a few people that spend $5000+, but I think there's at least 200-300 people out there that would spend $100 if they got more than a ring of endurance out of it. If prices were lowered by 90%, I don't think credits would be as intimidating to new players, too, and fresh blood is probably the biggest concern of the game. I think credits would be sold on the market more, and the prices would go down by a lot. So it would be much easier to earn credits in-game, and people who can't buy any would probably be more willing to invest hundreds of hours bashing to get what they want. Which would be higher players.

I'm not an economist so I could be wrong but in the end, I imagine Achaea would make more money if credit prices were lowered by 90% because I think...

1. More people would buy credits, working out so it would be at least even, if not more money.
2. In-game credit costs would go down, so people would be more willing to bash for things. Player retention up.
3. More true newbies would be willing to stay and play, rather than be scared off by credit prices.

Jinsun

I'm under no impression that IRE admin are jet setting or living crazy on these transactions, and I do consider my money an investment in the game. There are times when the game just doesn't justify my investment from an enjoyment standpoint. When that happens, I cancel my membership until it's enjoyable again. But I do see the value of adding into the company. However, I do tend to agree with Sena on the price point.  Here's why: 

The summation that if the credits per artifact or cash value of each artifact is reduced significantly then the cash flow is a bit flawed. It works if you presume that there's a sort of cap in the amount of things that people want to spend credits on. For instance if there's a small maximum number of artefacts that people want , let's say 3 artefacts, then the amount that IRE can make off of a given person is limited by the number of things that the person can spend credits on. They'd get their three Arties and cash out. Currently, IRE has done a great job of continuously cranking out new content. From promotional items to new Arties, the pool of stuff that you couldn't want grows rapidly each month. Couple that with the fact that you can spend credits on things more than artefacrs (more gold, customizations, special auctions, etc.,) and it's impossible to reach a cap or every item that credits could buy in the game. The real ceiling then becomes player interest, that is, how much content/ cost does it take to keep a player interested and returning their investment. There's a somewhat valid argument that a lack of scarcity in these objects reduces their desireability. However, there's a converse argument that the cost prohibitive nature of repeated investment can reduce player interest. Essentially, I want it, but do I want it that bad. Or, when I spent my money on the previous thing did I regret that decision? Given the rants and complaints about the cost and general silliness of veils, I think some veil owners experienced the same disillusionment that I did. Basically, I have a huge wish list of things that I want, but they're so expensive, I can't even justify saving for them. Each exorbitant purchase is chipping away at that. The success of large micro transaction games is balanced partly on the number of players, but also on the premise that, if they did spend a small amount, they could get some of those things they wanted, essentially stringing the player into an eventually expensive cost hole without a large, obvious front end expenditure. Of course, IRE doesn't need to make veils a $20 value, but I do think there's a giant middle ground there that we're ignoring. 

Szeth

Aktillum said:

Anyone who says credits / artefacts should be cheaper overall is basically saying IRE's paid staff should work for less money. You may not be intentionally saying that or even thinking about that when you wish for cheaper cr, but do realize that Achaea has full-time staff, being paid a competitive salary for the industry.

I see what you're getting at, but that's not what I'm saying. I'm not arguing from a place of morality or anything - I'm not saying there is inherent value to artefacts and they're being priced beyond that so that IRE's staff can fly to the corner shop in Learjets. Of course there isn't and of course they aren't - artefacts are digital goods for one, and for another "inherent value" is a dodgy proposition within the system of capitalism which most of Achaea's players live in. What I'm saying is that the relative value of Achaea's digital goods has been thrown into stark relief by the rising popularity of other digital goods of a similar type.

My argument is actually along the lines of what @Tesha and @Jinsun have said. Namely, that the up front prices for anything except lessons (and even lessons are dodgy beyond what you get out of Iron Elite and the no brainer packages) are too high to justify me paying for them when other content exists in the world that I can receive as much value from for much less money. It's not that I'm refusing to pay, it's that my disposable income meets a fork in the road; on the one hand, Achaea offers me artefacts for hundreds of dollars, on the other, Hearthstone offers me packs for single figures. I'm not saying everything in Achaea needs to be $20 or less (although more things at that price point couldn't hurt), but the profound upfront cost of artefacts means that like Tesha, I simply won't ever buy any. Whereas if there were a bunch of artefacts for <$100, I bet I would have bought several by now.

Basically I'm advocating attempting the same method of revenue generation as Steam sales tap into. If you look up results from the seasonal Steam sales, when games have their prices cut by 50%, they don't make 50% of the revenue. They don't even make the same revenue due to twice as many people buying it. They tend to make upwards of four times the revenue, which means eight times as many people are buying!

I'm actually hoping that this month's sale will be a success, even though I can't contribute to that myself, because it will begin to prove out this theory. Hopefully this will lead IRE to experiment with deeper discounts and perhaps cutting general prices, or creating new artefacts/lesson packages/whatever to buy at lower price points, and prove it further. The no brainer packages are already a huge success, from what I've heard, so hopefully everything will continue in this direction and people like me will actually be able to justify spending more money on Achaea. At that point, everyone wins.

Exelethril

Amunet said:

Uuuugh, I wish I had known this was coming when I bought credits two days ago, haha. I guess I will just have to wait until payday.

@Amunet : You could try asking the admins if they'd be willing to do something about your situation. I would wait until a new month if a current promo isn't that good though.