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

Trey

I'm not a huge spender, but I try to do my part by making deals that generate revenue for IRE during opportune promos, and I've gotten pretty good at it. What was April's count again, @Sarapis? I think I crested the 4k USD mark for trade value 

Katzchen

If we buy a pile of the vials, can we issue and have them exchanged for a different artie vial, or is diamond the only option for this sale?

(Yes, yes I know vials aren't worth it, shh.)

Shiro

Is there any chance of adding sinope earrings to this or is the list pretty final.

Tecton

We can't do earrings through the cart, but let me know if you want to get earrings and I'll try and work something out for you.

Ahmet

I just started clicking each of the arties that I wanted cause why the hell not. I was thinking '30% off! It can't be that bad!'

I'm crying:

Kasya

@Ahmet - that made me laugh harder than it should have.

Amunet

Exelethril said:

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.

Nah. I'm not dissatisfied with my purchase from before, and I'll be paid before this promotion is out. All I did was buy a few screw-around credits. The only difference is that I likely would have purchased more had I known about this.

Borran

This sale made me realize I've been walking around with 2 health regen rings for the past 70+ years

Prythe

I have done that more than once @Borran

It is a tad embarrassing, but fixable.

I picture Tecton, and cohorts, laughing, "Yup, she finally noticed she had done it again!" What is the over/under on her noticing the next double purchase?"

Borran

And I just bought a second Ceylonese Ring. SMH when will I ever learn? Hopefully ISSUEME can resolve that for me. And my wife should take away my credit cards if I'm going to buy things I don't need all the time.

Tibitha

I can see both sides of the argument but, from a personal anecdote point of view, I have to agree with @tesha.

I'll never be able to bring myself to actually pay $300 for -an- item (multiply by 12 for my currency) no matter how much disposable income I may or may not have. However I'd probably easily spend $300 (or more) on a bunch of $30 items.

So I look at the artie list with the intention of maybe buying something and there's nothing of worth in the price range of what I'm currently willing to spend, so I end up spending nothing. Which means essentially money was lost there.

Perhaps instead of lowering current artie values if that's not feasible, create some lesser arties of lower values that can be incrementally upgraded to the current ones? 

Kenway

I thought my wishlist would be a lot worse... only two grand.

Antonius

@Kenway What's on your wish list? That seems kind of small.

Ahmet

Antonius said:

@Kenway What's on your wish list? That seems kind of small.

Yeah, I think I hit that with one item.  

Kenway

Lvl 1 gauntlets (19 str with torso + lagul ~100% disembowel)
Lupine
Mana regen ring
Buckawns
Lvl 3 sword
Robes of Magi
Prismatic ring
Bracers of Frost
Lyre

I think that was everything? I may've seen one or two other things that I just thought to myself fuckit might as well.

Vakvyr

Willing to do pregnancy RP as male character in exchange for $140.

If you add $30, I'll even continue to emote the baby's continued existence after birth for a few real life months. I will however ask you to please understand that when the deal is finished, I will likely emote offering the baby as a sacrifice to a God of my choosing or emote giving it to someone else and then immediately qq-ing.

Darktalon

Katzchen said:

If we buy a pile of the vials, can we issue and have them exchanged for a different artie vial, or is diamond the only option for this sale?

(Yes, yes I know vials aren't worth it, shh.)

Actually was hoping this might be the case. I just find it handy to never worry about things decaying, so I like vials. I know one time I accidentally bought the wrong kind (just wanted a different one and read the wrong line for the number) and they wouldn't switch them over for me. So not sure how likely this is.

Tharvis

how long ago was that @Darktalon? I mistakenly purchased buckawn's boots before(during the semi-last giftbag promo), and they had no qualms with changing it into an amulet

Katzchen

Hell I've had them let me return an artie I tried for a day and decided wasn't what I wanted. They're pretty good about that stuff I've found.

Rangor

@sarapis For those big spenders. What if they could design their own unique artefact for an outrageous price that would have to be "approved" for combat imbalances. Sort of like the auctions, only the player gets to design their own unique awesomeness. 8k credits for your very own ship of the dead that also functions as a magic portal that leads to places (new version of clouds, integrated in ship, one of a kind awesome).

Darktalon

Tharvis said:

how long ago was that @Darktalon? I mistakenly purchased buckawn's boots before(during the semi-last giftbag promo), and they had no qualms with changing it into an amulet

Pfffht now I am going to think it was personal. Was Lathis who responded to my issue, was a couple years ago though too, so who knows. Just my only experience and kind of thought it was silly since then.

Vakvyr

meh nvm.

Tael

1. I think any time you go to a forum and advocate for lower prices for something you want to buy by trying to argue "I think you would actually make more money", you should check yoself.
2. The staff are probably not so wildly incompetent that their own profit motive is blinding them to what you think is a potential source of greater profit. They have probably put more thought into their pricing (with more data available to them) than whatever thought went on to generate a random forum post.
3. The relative value of things in Achaea depends on the spender. I haven't spent as much as some people on Achaea, but I love the game deeply, I've spent an outrageous amount of time playing it, and I don't regret any of it for a second. Even the artefacts that, in hindsight, have not proven very useful make me happy knowing that I'm keeping the staff payed and keeping a rare game like Achaea alive.
4. If you don't think the artefacts are worth it for whatever reason, then that's fine! Enough people do think they're worth it (given their interest and their income) that IRE is able to stay afloat. I imagine everyone can agree that that's priority number one.
5. I haven't seen anyone mention in-game org creditsales or mentor credit stuff and they're actually pretty remarkable. The fact that credits purchased generate free credits for orgs and mentors, somewhat leveling the playing field, is pretty unusual for a F2P game and is a pretty neat thing for them to do. The more credits people purchase, the less scarce they are in-game. That's worthy of some recognition.
6. Venturing a little further afield, a couple of people suggested that artefacts and credits don't really have value in a capitalistic sense, for instance because they can be taken away, can't be resold, etc. That could scarcely be more off-base. Probably the defining feature of capitalism as an economic system is that value is not dependent on an item's properties (tangibility, transferability, etc.), but on the subjective value of the item/service to the potential consumer, regardless of what properties it has and how they effect that valuation.

Aktillum

Tael said:

Venturing a little further afield, a couple of people suggested that artefacts and credits don't really have value in a capitalistic sense, for instance because they can be taken away, can't be resold, etc. That could scarcely be more off-base. Probably the defining feature of capitalism as an economic system is that value is not dependent on an item's properties (tangibility, transferability, etc.), but on the subjective value of the item/service to the potential consumer, regardless of what properties it has and how they effect that valuation.

Agree with your post but wanted to highlight this bit particularly. One thing I enjoy about Achaea is that they won't tolerate people who consistently bend the rules, no matter how much money they've spent on the game. Over the years, there have been a handful of people who bend the PK rules, grief or harass others, then claim they're a major customer and deserve special admin treatment. You wouldn't walk into Burger King and order the most expensive thing on the menu, then start flinging feces all over the walls and scream "I'm a paying customer!" when they inevitably call the police on you. But for some reason, a handful of people in Achaea have acted exactly like that.

So yeah, you could lose all your artefacts and monetary investment due to shrubbing / banning, but you'd have to be doing something worth shrubbing / banning for that to happen.

Kuy

@Tecton @Sarapis

Any chance we can get artie pets at the discount?

Katzchen

I think artie pet package would hook me into this sale... @Kuy you're evil. I'm guessing that one won't fly though.

Kuy

Katzchen said:

I think artie pet package would hook me into this sale... @Kuy you're evil. I'm guessing that one won't fly though.

Me too, but I don't think it'll happen, either.

Kasya

Kuy said:

Katzchen said:

I think artie pet package would hook me into this sale... @Kuy you're evil. I'm guessing that one won't fly though.

Me too, but I don't think it'll happen, either.

Gah. About the only way I'd even think about getting a pet. But I think you're right.

Zuko

@Sarapis Have you ever thought about some way for players to try before they buy artefacts?

I suppose you would have to find a way to avoid players abusing it though. Either a credit cost (5 credits to rent it for 30 minutes), or you can only try it out every 5 IG years. 

But I think it could work pretty well... Some serpent comes along and tries out a lvl 3 dirk and bow and says wow, these are amazing! I'd love to have these. Now their want for them increases.

But I suppose most artefacts you can just borrow from another player, but still this makes it easier. Not sure off the top of my head if someone else can use an arte weapon other than the owner?

Zuko

Sarapis said:

Aodfionn said:

Alaskar said:

The bigger question, what can we as players do to really improve the amount of players you get and retain?

Not to steal from Sarapis' incoming (or already being typed) thunder, but I think this one is a lot easier to answer than most people realize.

This is a multiplayer game. Whether it's the RP or the PK, we all want more people to play with. Making this an open and inclusive environment. Going out of one's way to help make interactions with novices a little more eventful or interesting. Finding ways to help keep them and everyone else not only involved, but actively having fun being involved. 

You don't have to be leadership to do this. Hell, you don't even have to be a member of a faction; just do what you can to make our game environment a bit more positive and a bit more enjoyable than it was when you were new. Reach out to new players even if they're outside your usual social circle. The more people feel like this is a game where they not only have fun but actively feel like they have something they want to add to it via their character or participation, the more you will see people sticking around for the decades-long long haul.

At the risk of continuing to derail, yes, that is true.

The #1 thing that help newbies stay is forming friendships/bonds with other players. If you want to help, the single best thing you can do is be aggressively, proactively inclusive with newbies. 

I got @Rohai to stick around, and now he is the Ambassador and IRE is a bit richer!

All I had to do was go out of my way to be personal with him, and just be there to help out. It wasn't very demanding. Anyone can have a Rohai of their own! 

Edit: Point of my comment is go get to know your novices, it means a lot to them and goes further than you think!