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My son is crying and so is my pocket book

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Apr 25, 2010
21
Just did the calculations. Turns out that $1 gets you 500 crowns! Thats a pretty good deal right there. But considering the price of the actual items, its a rip off.

Survivor
Apr 16, 2010
8
Um. Hrm.

For starters, in less than a week I got 15k gold, give or take, and all from Marleybone. Seriously. Everything that drops, I sell on the Bazaar (except for reagents, but I am trying to get the crafting quests done). You'd be shocked at how much money you can get that way.

Second, I played WoW for 4 years and can understand how nice having a mount is, really I can. But the zones here are about 10% of the size of WoW zones, you can teleport anywhere with smart use of marking your location, and you don't run all that slowly to boot. Mounts are nice, but they're not necessary.

Third, I am currently saving up for... something ... expensive. I'm not actually sure what yet. It was going to be gear, but I didn't know you could buy permanent mounts for gold, so maybe that. How will I do this? Patience and self-restraint. And let me add that I learned that as a child, not as an adult.

On a related note, when I started the game I bought crowns to open up areas. Then, when I decided I liked it enough I went and subscribed. With my leftover crowns I bought some awesome shoes and robes. And it sort of felt like cheating, in retrospect.

-Gabriel Firewalker

Survivor
Apr 09, 2010
4
Mount gives you 40% to speed and lets you finish quests alot quicker saving you the tideous ride.
Me personally i bought a chestnut ponny because it was cheapest thing, yet gives you same benefit as most expensive mount.
I payed in gold which was very nice (I wish all items could be purchased with gold). Around lvl 25, wile having the best gear you can find on bazar, i had about 40 000 in gold, it took me about 2-3 hours to gain another 10 000. Few minutes later mount was mine. I think it is a great fiture and price is right for it because it does give you an advantage over other people who dont have mounts. I am surprised at how everyone want a dragon or a lion that cost 90000 gold!!! WHat stops you from buying a ponny that is nearly half the price? It doesnt move any faster!!!
About the gold, i never had a problem with it. I never bought the house and was able to have the best equipment on every level. Why would you spend money on something that doesnt give you any benefits? just to store your junk in it? I just sell all those house items to the store and get extra cash for it. It would make sence in buying a house if there were some benefit to it for instance sideboard card that comes with it or an extra training point or + to HP/MP or something... till then its pointless. idk why you people spend so much gold on useless stuff!
Once again i never had a problem with gold, bought everything with it and never run out. I have three mounts just for the fun of it because i have that much gold wile being lvl 46+ and have the best equipment there is for gold.
If your kid doesnt have controll over spending money, maybe now is the time to teach him.

P.s. if you cant afford a ferrari why not consider to buy a honda, it still geta you from point A to point B.

Illuminator
May 22, 2009
1310
Today, my niece got a pair of ONE DAY seraph wings when she battled Rattlebones in Unicorn Way. This allows younger players (and even non-subscribers) to have the seraph wings without hurting anyone's pocket books. Although the wings were for only a day, nothing states they cannot fight him again to get wings again.

Hannah Lifebringer level 50 Life

Survivor
May 01, 2010
38
Hi - I have not read this entire long thread in detail, so apologies. This is a business perspective. I want to be very clear that I feel KI has created a remarkable playing environment in some very creative ways. This is simply an observation on how even a very benevolently intended business might end up analyzing things.

Here is what I imagine. KI is a business. They are offering a set of values on the market: the game experience, family play, attempts at structural safety for such family play, virtual community, etc. For a long time in MMO's there was (and is) a parallel auction and gold market, dissociated from the game system, where people could buy gear, accounts, gold, etc. with actual money. (I know people who make a good supplemental income on Second Life real estate, programming, etc.) Usually this was considered a TOS violation for MMO's.

KI simply brought all that "in game" as part of their business model. Such a 'market' is more or less regulated by what people will pay, the rarity of some piece of gear, and the buyers time v money evaluations. KI (and other MMO's) have simply recognized and capitalized on this market, making it not only legal, but integral to the game.

My guess is that KI, as a business, has constructed the price base according to historical data of what people have actually spent, possibly pushing that a bit for the sake of their margin (though since we are apparently buying programmed pixels, at a certain point that must be a very good margin indeed.)

The nature of such a business (and consumer businesses in general) is of course, to persuade you that you need something you do not actually need. The latest, greatest gear changes. What is 'fashionable' changes. The gear you had works, but wont this work better? Do I have the coolest, latest look? Add more challenging areas, or ways to get an 'edge' and you have a perfect marketing soup that persuades you that you need something that of course you don't actually need.

Mounts have all this, but of course make you go faster, which in theory reduces your time investment to do the things, get the things, you want (or may feel you need). In my view it is not entirely clear how much functional value pets offer outside of the entertainment of the games, hatching and derby... but ya know, maybe all my friends are doing that right now and it is the thing to do.

How will they know if they got it right? Well our satisfaction as consumers expressed in a forum such as this is one way, but in so far as they are a business not by any means the only or even most important way. At some level they will look and see what the actual profit from the changes is. This includes immediate incremental investment (i.e. Do people actually by the mounts? How much revenue are we bringing in from the pet energy and snack model?, etc.), but of course their financial model is based on their subscriber base. They certainly analyze different market sectors of family, monthly, bi-annual, annual subscriptions and crown players. My guess is that the subscription base is necessary, but not the most profitable part of the business. This likely means that they must maintain satisfaction of a subscriber base, which they can probably model pretty clearly, including some transfer rate of 'free' players to subscribers and revenue from unsubscribed crown players.

The most profitable part of the business, in terms of margin, must be the crown business. If this is true it means they must always do enough to keep and grow the subscriber base and will continually create new ways to spend crowns.

If no one buys their crown products, or sales drop after a time, then they first put them on sale and then phase them out altogether even as they create new products and the marketing to create the artificial sense of needing those products. This is what any 'healthy' business would be doing in some form or another.

I feel it is fair to say that they fairly consistently offer alternative paths to using crowns for the same or similar results. Of course there is a trade off. One either uses one's real life time/value to produce money to buy crowns, or one uses in game time to produce gold/farmed equivalents. For someone who does not have 'disposable' income, or limited ability to generate income and has limited time, then they have limited 'power' in the consumer culture of Wizard101. (It is important to keep in mind how disposable this income really is... running an MMO 'avatar' for a day in the US infrastructure uses roughly the same amount of energy that a family in a Brazilian favela uses in a month... this is before any money has been spent on mounts or pets or subscriptions...) Due to the rather odd condition that many of us now live in a context of a consumer culture and identify our own sense of worth and value based on our ability to participate in that culture, lack of ability to do so, even in a microcosm such as Wizard101, is experienced directly as suffering. The cultural/media sea in which many of us may be immersed teaches all of this directly and at an early age.

KI's model is a very well thought out business model, from my point of view, and as far as I can tell pretty benevolent. Of course children's participation as 'consumer' is probably based on parental support and participation. Any player could spend the immense amount of time required to generate the gold for a mount. (Anybody have an hour figure for 90,000 gold?) Seems like that might take an obsessive amount of play time? If I am involved as a parent, do I want to support that? What choices do I then have?

Honestly, I do not know yet, but my guess is that the most 'prestigious' items are drop only and not available on the crown market, but require long term farming. This is for retention of the subscriber base, rather than the crown market. In behavioral conditioning (shudder) there are basically three types of feedback: negative, positive, random. The pigeon hits the switch and never gets a peanut = negative. (I don't wish to get into zapping pigeons as negative feedback.) The pigeon hits a switch and always gets a peanut = positive. The pigeon hits the switch and sometimes gets a peanut = random. Of the three, random is by far the most effective means of conditioning the pigeon.

What seems to be consistently true to me is the both KI staff, parents and younger players frequently use this medium as a place for 'real life' lessons, where the consequences may not have the sting or risks of learning those lessons elsewhere. Even this thread seems to me such a consideration. I confess I am fascinated by this.

OK... I can't imagine anyone has actually read this long rambling post at the end of a long thread like this. I was simply trying to consider something about the business and cultural dynamics that might leave me crying or suffering as a result of changes a business like KI makes in their service offering, financial model, and products. I can't imagine it has been helpful in any real way, but I remotely hope that it might be.

Sincerely,
Team Tristan
Tristan OwlStone
Tristan HawkStone

Survivor
Nov 09, 2009
24
Did you ever consider NOT getting a mount? I went through the whole game without it, and its still fun...You dont need some animated horse to enjoy gameplay. Use your virtual leg muscles!

Survivor
Oct 01, 2009
15
50,000 gold does not take long to get (you will make much more than that as you level), and once you have a mount you can pass it between all of your characters... so I don't see how the price is unreasonable.

I am confused here? Where are there mounts you can purchase for gold. I see only mounts that cost crowns

Survivor
Jun 06, 2009
49
son needs to learn patience and how to earn. my grand son (now 6) and I have been playing for a year, we have bought with earned gold multiple mounts, houses, pets, equiment, etc for the 2 accounts (started a new one at christmas since I play so much) i put my dollars into the accounts, we paid for a few crowns to stitch with and try at malistaire to get robe if needed (2 tries each lol)
yes grand son is very disappointed we cant have wings since they are crowns - so instead we have lions and dragons and horses and brooms and soon a tiger - to ride
houses? lets see , my life -she the oldest- she has bought - not counting what she helps with or gives to the oethers- she has purchased 2 dragons, over time a total of 5 houses- including the school treehouse
she is trying to decide what to do next- she just helped fire get another house by donating items for fire to sell
EARN people , yes takes time- but that is the point! to teach us all cooperation, patience,etc
wether to earn gold in game or to earr the money for the crowns- EARN IT

parents and grand parents- were'nt you made to earn your rewards? i sure was , I am one of 10, i had to wait till big sis got car license before i got the hand me down bike and i never complained cause that was how we were raised- wait till your turn for something

Survivor
Feb 18, 2009
3
I am just a kid and my oppinnion on this is simple really. Is a mount necessary? No, you have the choice to get one so its not like you have to buy it. Also, there prices are way overprice your all right about that. But, most of you who complained in this post are acting like you have to buy the mount cause your kid is crying or something else. You should take advantage and tell your kid to earn what he want in the game with gold and teach him/her that they cant have what ever they want in life.

Survivor
Feb 18, 2009
3
sgeier wrote:
OK, just so there's not a completely skewed picture out there:

I, for one, find absolutely nothing whatsoever objectionable to the new updates.

Everything that worked before, still works. Noting was removed. If you paid for a subscription, you're still getting every last bit of what you got before the update.

Period.

Who are these people telling us how the mount prices are "unfair"? You don't have to get one. It does not make the game play an iota better or easier . It's pretty eye candy that you can now buy IF YOU WANT in addition to everything you got before. That's all. You make as much gold in-game as the next guy - how is it 'unfair' that he's saving his for a mount where you're frittering yours away?

That said: I've been playing this game since August with my son. Less than three months. In that time, I have received hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of gold, simply by normal game play. You get gold for every quest. You get gold for every battle. You get gold when you sell the items that you got in battle. You get gold for selling reagents you picked up that are available free all over the place. You get gold for wooden chests. You can even try your hand at crafting and selling crafted items. I have now the three most expensive houses one can buy (the large ones from MB, MS and DS) and was pondering posting to these boards asking why there is a limit of three. I have the finest outfit gold can buy at the bazaar. What on earth are you people frittering your gold away on?

Maybe some people need to learn that you either spend your money now, this moment, on the thing you want this second - or you save it for something bigger, better, later. And for those who aren't quite mature enough to learn this, KI even allows you to cheat by getting things completely undeserved by buying-in from the outside with crowns. How much more could they do?

Maybe next time you hit a multiple-of-five level you shouldn't run immediately to the Bazaar and get that shiny new wand (that'll get thrown out immediately when you get to the next multiple-of-five, of course). Maybe you should just hang on to that coat, even though there's one that gives you one percent more defense strength. Maybe if you actually wanted these large items (houses, mounts) you'd simply save for them. Maybe. There's a lot of gold flowing through your hands. It's up to you where it goes.


You have a very valid point and also the Everyone doesnt need to forget you usually get your good Items from bosses not just the Bazaar so while your doing quest in DS or MS or MB your gonna get items better than what you got for you level and just wear them and you dont even need to buy level 45 armor even though I did and also you can even buy level 50 armor you have to earn it by defeating the top bosses like Malistaire for example and also like sg said its not needed which i said this before I even saw his post. Also it make take you a while to save up for a mount which it is helpful and its permanent. So its not like you would ever need one again its not hard to get gold. Especially if your a high level you just defeat a boss in Dragonspyre over and over and keep getting item and when you inv gets full go sell everything but first see if there is anything you could use and life that you got from the boss and which they usually always is. So then you dont have to waste money on clothes.

Survivor
Feb 18, 2009
3
Also, I have 3 mount and 2 of them are Gold and the other one is crown and the crown mount is a Charity Meowmodon.

Survivor
Dec 10, 2009
5
I can't be KingsIsles problem your kid doesn't get you can't get everything in life. You just need to say no, and if he wants it so bad, he can pay with his own money. I think it is fair enough.
Nobody ever got hurt of learning the value of money and saving up for something!

Survivor
Nov 11, 2009
16
I bought my mount(horse) with coins that i saved up on the game. The horse was on sale so it was a little cheaper. To get a lot of coins just verse the hard bosses and save up your coins. The prices are way to high to buy the mounts with crows so this was the only way i could afford a mount. Hope this helps.

Survivor
Dec 17, 2008
47
GirlieMutant wrote:
I can't be KingsIsles problem your kid doesn't get you can't get everything in life. You just need to say no, and if he wants it so bad, he can pay with his own money. I think it is fair enough.
Nobody ever got hurt of learning the value of money and saving up for something!


Well excuse me Mr. Parenting Wizard.

Defender
Mar 01, 2009
145
why are people bumming about mounts prices? as most people noted you dont need one. in fact i dont use one and it dont effect me. as for friends with mounts being faster, there is a thing called porting which i use a lot when using a dungeon with a friend with a mount. plus quests do give more money then a couple hundred gold. i've had some that give me five thousand. YOU DO NOT NEED A MOUNT! you can live with the fact that you are slower then people with mounts. another thing mounts look weird(accept for the brooms and wings)
Scarlet Redthorn grandmaster fire
Chris Deathbringer lvl 33 life

Defender
Feb 22, 2009
123
transmuterwarior wrote:
I agree that the crown price is a bit high, but I think the gold price should stay the same; I know that I'v taken it as a personal challenge to amass enough gold to buy the Balance house (100,000 gold, yeesh).


Well, here's my assurance that it isn't impossible. I've gotten this much before to buy a Storm House. Try farming Viktor Snowcrusher, frequent good drops.

Alex Dragonbreaker
Level 49
Master
Storm

Survivor
May 22, 2010
12

Ok, i know all of you are mad, but dont gang up on kingsisle. They made a few mistakes here and there, but, look at the good side of things. the mounts are expensive, but the game itself is fun. No othr website has such a wicked game, even if it does cost. if you save up, then you will be happy, without spending too much. All it takes is patienc, and time. Dont fret, all will be well. :D

Survivor
May 23, 2009
11
OK people calm down. First and foremost KI is a BUSINESS. Just think about the game you all love and imagine EVERYTHING FREE. No it would not be fun. BECAUSE there would be no WIZARD101. All businesses need money to produce sell and market their games. Not to mention the pay of employees, right now there are over 5 million subscribers. All of those subscribers will get bored and quit if there is no new content for the game. If there is no money that means no employees, if there are no employees that means no new content. See a cycle here. Our world is run by money and greed. Almost all wars are caused by greed. Civil war-people were lazy and wanted slaves. Also, you don't even NEED a mount. What do you think GMs did before mounts were even released, hm. THEY WALKED. Say your at a restaurant and you order a hot dog. When you get the hot dog you ask for ketchup but it's a buck more, you want the ketchup but don't need it. Picture W101 as the hot dog and (generally) Crowns Items as the ketchup. None of that stuff is necessary for the ACTUAL GAME, it just makes it easier.

Defender
Mar 06, 2009
130
Doraslayer wrote:
Man, i know how you guys feel. Me and my brother have to keep pooling our cash to play Wizard101 and the mounts and everything else are expensive enough. You could buy a good Xbox 360 game for a year subsciption that is proabably way better. I also don't know how i'm gonna make 90,000 gold for a supid horse that will just make me go faster. PLEASE either add some more bonuses so the'll be worth my money or at least make them cheaper or i'm done with wizard101.


~ Dolan IceBlade
Lv 46 Ice Wizard

Lol i know how you guys feel but not to brag or anything but my mom pays for my sub. just for good behavior!
But i agree with the message above i not gonna buy mounts if they just make you go fast! Add more features Wizard101 PLEASE!
-Jesse SoulWhisper
lvl48 Life wizard

Survivor
Dec 28, 2009
36
AlicornsPrayer wrote:
XMike551X wrote:
sgeier wrote:
OK, just so there's not a completely skewed picture out there:



Well, some things don't sell.
And people don't always have enough time to get the gold and sell there robes, and shoes and others.
And also the deal with crowns, some people don't want to spend 50$ on a game. Yeah, it's fun. But people have lives, children and they have to feed them. So the next time you want to yell at someone, think before you say anything. Because apparently no one wants to have your input.


1. Everything sells in the game. Just some things can't be sold to the bazaar.

2. Everyone has the time to make gold. The question is, are they willing to give up play time to make that gold. And selling their stuff isn't time consuming. In fact, they have to sell it cause the backpacks, banks, and attics are limited in how much they can hold.

3. And KI isn't making anyone spend a penny on crowns. It's completely an option to purchase crowns. So those not wanting to buy crowns or can't buy crowns, doesn't have to purchase the crowns period.

4. Funny, but the poster isn't yelling. So leave out the over-emotionalism in telling him to do otherwise please.

5. The poster put a lot of thought into their thread. The fact that you don't like what they posted, doesn't deter from the fact that they actually did what you say they didn't. Leave the insulting out of it, because that's all your 'think next time' is...A weak attempt at insulting someone because you didn't like what they had to say.

6. Equally, because you don't like what they said, doesn't equal into the assumption that 'nobody wants to have your input'...Because not have people quoted this member's post in agreeance, but a number of them have added in their own advice supporting the same postition as the poster you're so inadequately trying to slur against...



The simple matter is, people that don't want to put effort into getting the mounts are throwing hissy fits about having to put effort into getting those mounts. They've learned over time, that whining about something enough has dumbed down so much of the game, that they figure doing it with the mounts will result in the same.

Basically, an addition to the game that IS supposed to be a status symbol, has players wanting it dumb down so it's easily accessable. Thus in return, no longer being the 'status symbol' of which they were created as being in the first place.

So far, not one good excuse as been given outside of the excuse that 'I want it, make it so I can get it easily and with no fuss'. WHILE making digs at those that do have the mounts as they're basically being show-offs or some type of 'super person' in game managing to do the 'impossible' simply cause the person crying only wants to put in the minimal effort they want to put into actually getting one.

Because nobody HAS to have a mount. It doesn't add anything to the actual fighting in the game.

Some great suggestions have been given on how to collect the coins faster to get the mounts. Whether or not you or anyone here are willing to do it yourself, is your issues. Not the issue of those giving sound, logical advice.

There's no issues of 'not being able to' in regards to earning the coins. The only thing stopping any player to earn coin, is the willingness of that player to actually go out there and do some farming.

Accessability isn't an issue, as players can access any area in the game through their friends lists. Having things to sell in-game isn't an issue. The majority of time you play, you collect items that are sellable. As well as you have to sell items, because you can't keep each and every item you get in the first place because of holding limitations. Every regeant is available in each world of the spiral except 3 commons that produce their own special rares. But because of friends lists, accessing those areas are as easy as hitting 'talk to friend', then 'teleport to friend', and then setting a marker in the common of that world.

People just need to decide are they going to be go-getters or be the type to sit and cry till hopefully what they want is handed to them on their imaginary silver platters.

Because that's what it's boiled down to. Those actually willing to go do something so they can get their mounts. And those sitting there hoping the mounts will pop up in their backpacks with the least effort on their parts.

Lol i know i'm getting off topic here but you guys right really long blogs! I get bored after two minutes, to be honest, i have no idea what you guys are talking about, lol sry get back to complaining.

Explorer
Mar 28, 2010
53
I bought my tiger with gold. O. o
It's not extremely hard to make that much, it took me about a week of farming Oyotomi the Defiler. Some permanent mounts only cost 50k.

~Allison Dawnblood, level 50 Diviner

Survivor
Aug 07, 2010
8
I would buy crowns but it is kind of pricey. If the crowns weren't so much then the items wouldn't have a bad price. I think all the crowns should be 100 crowns for 1 dollar. Not all of use can shell out $60 just to get our moneys worth. I completely love this game but they are kinda money hungry. I think the subscribers should get some crowns for subscribing or get a free crown item. I really like the mounts because they help me get to the places I need to go faster. What I think is lame is you can't buy the permanent wings with gold. I really want wings but don't have enough money to shell out to get 500 crowns for 1 dollar. I know they need to make money but LISTEN TO YOUR PLAYERS! THEY ARE SAYING IF THEY WERE CHEAPER THEY WOULD BUY MORE WHICH EQUALS MORE MONEY COMING IN! Yes it may take a little longer but you will make a greater profit in the end since there will be more sales.

Explorer
Mar 11, 2010
93
You need real money for a subscription or Crowns for Pay Areas. After that, spending is optional.

I would like to see KI release Wings into the Gold option, though. I was hoping they would after the Unicorn Mount was introduced, being that was the new Crown Mount moneymaker.

I own a broom, a black horse and a Faithful Dragoness, and bought them all with Gold.
There are loads of things to spend your gold on in this game. What you choose to buy is up to you.

Defender
Apr 27, 2009
127
I have trouble believing you are a parent because the way you wrote this letter and your son crying like you mentioned is incredibly ridiculous. I must agree as a player that they can be overpriced however, they are not things you NEED in the game, just accessories. If you dont Wizard101 then leave.

Mastermind
Jun 07, 2010
333
thunderbird120 wrote:
well if you people really want one for gold then unless you have beaten gh you are in bad shape. the all time BEST money makers in the game are the ravens at the end of gh. for each battle you can sell the items you get at the auction for usually around 1500 to 2000 gold. it will still take time but it is a lot faster than any other way.
P.S. works better with grandmasters.


I will agree on some of the things listed in previous posts. I still think the game should be subscription or item mall ONLY there is no reason a Free MMORPG needs that much income just to market the game to players.

There are thousands, upon thousands of successfull MMORPG's that either us an Item mall, or sub only. You rarely ever see Two ways of income for One game. I dunno, to me, it seems like a rip-off for consumers. Less money in players pocket, more money in a game developers pocket.

That said, their are countless ways of getting game gold in the game, as one addressed. "Do not blow it on any piece or pieces of gear every 5 levels." Sure you get tired of looking at the same gear for five long levels, and feel: " If I do not get new equipment, I may die a lot faster 5 levels from Now,"

The easiest way, to me, to make a good amont of gold is, Do the Marleybone tower, if you have access to a grand wizard. Make a group, do a couple of floors, and sell the drops at the Bazaar.

Most crapy wayfinder gear drops in their, and you get a good amont of gold from each piece at the bazaar. I was on my grand one time and me and a few friends finished the tower ONE day. Because we where fueled with boredom. the plan was just doing a couple of floors. I had around 5k gold on my Grand at the start of the tower, and when we completed the final boss battle, and I went to the Bazaar to sell the stuff, that dropped I made close to another 30k just on drops that I sold.

Then on top of that you can also sell reagents that you have collected from leveling. On all my wizards, as I progress I grab reagents on the way, eventuly, selling them to make some extra cash. Although some of the rare reagents should be worth more, then what you get for them. None the less.

Their are many ways to accumulate gold in the game, the top few are just examples. Just because one wants something NOW and doesn't have enough for whatever they want at that time, it does not mean gold is hard to come buy in the game.

I do agree that mounts are a bit expensive, but a wizard does not really need one to get around in the first place. You can mark and teleport to different areas if you want, which is way faster then any mount on W101.