$14.99 for One Loadout Card????

[hawkeyeguy99]

Seriously? I know Dirty Bomb is built upon overvaluing everything in the game, but there is no way I’m ever paying $14.99 for ONE obsidian merc. That’s outrageously overpriced. I know they’ve been expensive in the past but man, I could get 24 cases from Overwatch for just $5 more which each give 4 items and currency toward buying whatever item I could want. From my perspective as a consumer, I either spend $15 on one item that really isn’t that fantastic, or I could even spend just $10 in another game and get nearly 10x the value for my money. SD, you REALLY need to figure out a better way to monetize things because right now, I’m not buying anything from you for the foreseeable future.

[binderr]

Personally i would’ve like to see three variants of each obsidian merc available in the store, as every merc is assigned three primary, this would’'ve allowed players to pick one of specific weapon they preferred to play. The default load-outs are no doubt really good but again wheres the choice, none!
One thing i’ve realized with these obsidian is clearly devs don’t seem so keen on giving us good weapon skin with it; how bout some shiny bling bling with it too but no! dark blue/grey-ish skin with mat finish is hardly anything to look at. imo the ranked obsidian least has some red flare to it.

[Nail]

so don’t buy it, or anything else, then everything you get will be valued perfectly and/or wait for the new system, maybe you’ll like it

[Da_Mummy]

Why isn’t there an extra event currency like Obsidian shards where you get like 10 each match and need 500 for an obsidian card. Everything else in this game was accessible for free up until this point if you put time and effort into playing (Jackals Eve, Nuclear winter, shellshock, etc.).
It would at least be an option for players that want to stay F2P which I can totally respect.

[arharr3]

@Da_Mummy said:
Why isn’t there an extra event currency like Obsidian shards where you get like 10 each match and need 500 for an obsidian card. Everything else in this game was accessible for free up until this point if you put time and effort into playing (Jackals Eve, Nuclear winter, shellshock, etc.).
It would at least be an option for players that want to stay F2P which I can totally respect.

And it would fuck over veterans even more. Obsidians are for those who are going the extra mile when it comes to supporting SD and also want to show that.

[Da_Mummy]

@arharr3
Well how else are they supposed to do it.
If they charge money for it you will complain, if they give a free option in exchange for hours in game you will complain. As far as I understood you dont feel like a veteran anymore because the cards that were advertised as unique and limited ar accesable again and you waisted money on inferior versions of those before. But believe me as a long time obsidian Phoenix user, not the cards give you veteran status your gameplay does and trust me you dont want to be the guy that just looks experienced just because of his equipment.

[STARRYSOCK]

Honestly nothing in this game should be as expensive as it is, and it’s hurting the community. When so many of your top player reported issues are that mercs are overpriced that you start ignoring those issues, you know you have a major problem that can’t be fixed by telling players to just do their missions.

I feel like SD could make a lot more if the price wasn’t scaring people away. Like you said, why buy something so expensive when you could use your money for more somewhere else. It’s not like supply is an issue, so there’s no reason why everything should be as expensive as it is.

[everlovestruck]

@hawkeyeguy99 holy shit another comparison to OW
OW is a PAID game. You’ve already supported the development when you bought it.
DB is F2P. THEY NEED TO MAKE MONEY FFS

[Splicerrr]

Don’t forget the game is still in open beta. Prices might go cheaper or more expensive depending how the game goes. Plus, nobody is forcing you to buy them, if you love the game and want to help DB out, spend some money! If you don’t

[Ptiloui]

Well, you can still buy the obsidian pack priced ~40$ for 5 obsidian cards. That’s about 8$ the skin, pretty cheap.

[STARRYSOCK]

@everlovestruck said:
@hawkeyeguy99 holy @$!# another comparison to OW
OW is a PAID game. You’ve already supported the development when you bought it.
DB is F2P. THEY NEED TO MAKE MONEY FFS

You’re missing the entire point with their comparison to OW. What they mean is, why spend your 15$ on a single card, when you could spend it on something else and get a lot more for your money?
Of course DB needs to make money. But the thing is, a loadout card isn’t a physical product. There is no limited number of loadout cards, and supply is no issue. Because of that, SD can sell as many cards as they want, so there’s no reason to inflate the price to the point that people feel they could find a better use for their money.
The more expensive your product, the more you make per purchase, but the less overall purchases you make. And in a game where the top player reported issue is regularly in game costs, clearly a lot of people are shying away from those purchases, to the point where SD would probably make more money overall with a more reasonable price.

I’ve spent around 100$ in this game now. I’m not rich, so for a game, that’s a lot for me. I didn’t spend it because I wanted some cards, I spent it because I love DB and want it to succeed, as more of a donation. It just annoys me to see SD shooting themselves in the foot. Not allowing people to buy things like reasonable bundles or weapon kits, making everything expensive as hell, not listening to what people want to buy, etc.

Tl;DR yes, SD needs to make money. But the best way to make money is to price your products reasonably, so customers aren’t just taking their money elsewhere. As of yet, there’s not much of a reason to buy anything besides just showing your support for SD, because what your getting doesn’t reflect the cost. Read the rest of their comment instead of flipping out the moment you see OW.

[STARRYSOCK]

@Ptiloui said:
Well, you can still buy the obsidian pack priced ~40$ for 5 obsidian cards. That’s about 8$ the skin, pretty cheap.

The price of an AAA game on a good sale for 5 cards you might not even like. Cheap compared to some of the other overpriced things in this game, but unless you’re just trying to support SD or really really really like the skins, ehhhh…

[JonBongNoJovi]

Last Obsidian batch prior to these I bought Fallout 4 for less than it cost for 1 “loadout” , can’t justify the prices they put on these cards , pure greed if you ask me .

[Ptiloui]

@STARRYSOCK said:

@everlovestruck said:
@hawkeyeguy99 holy @$!# another comparison to OW
OW is a PAID game. You’ve already supported the development when you bought it.
DB is F2P. THEY NEED TO MAKE MONEY FFS

You’re missing the entire point with their comparison to OW. What they mean is, why spend your 15$ on a single card, when you could spend it on something else and get a lot more for your money?

Well, if people want to go that way, with 15$, you could eat for one entire day so… to each his own priority.

What people should get is if they lower the price to let’s say 10$, maybe more people will buy it, but it may not balance the 5$ “loss”. Prices are not fixed randomly, they are calculated.

Although, comparing Slash Damage with a company like Blizzard is pretty dumb. It’s like comparing your corner shop to an international company.

[arharr3]

@Da_Mummy said:
@arharr3
Well how else are they supposed to do it.
If they charge money for it you will complain, if they give a free option in exchange for hours in game you will complain. As far as I understood you dont feel like a veteran anymore because the cards that were advertised as unique and limited ar accesable again and you waisted money on inferior versions of those before. But believe me as a long time obsidian Phoenix user, not the cards give you veteran status your gameplay does and trust me you dont want to be the guy that just looks experienced just because of his equipment.

1.) My initial complaint was about them selling better versions to tempt players to buy the same obsidian operative twice.
2.) My current complaint is about SD promising changes to the rereleases to keep the original stuff identifieable. Turns out, in the end these changes consisted of the minimum effort aka replacing a single symbol on the card.
Basically SD marketed the obsidian operatives as exclusives and limited, then realized they could make a ton of money to sell them again and to prevent backlash promised changes, only for them to turn out as minimum effort.
For me this is an Insult, because SD thinks I forgot that they are selling an “exclusive and limited” obsidian again without making proper changes to it.
3.) Maybe I just like my exclusive stuff to stay exclusive. But you are right, except that we basically might aswell remove all raritys since only gameplay matters.
4.) Looking at they way they rereleased the operatives I wouldnt even be surprised if we get founder card next week, only that they will have a superior gen2 loadout, be called “Veteran operatives” and have a skull symbol instead of the beta fighter.

[Da_Mummy]

@arharr3
Yeah shame that I actually have to try and play the game and not be special because of my cards anymore :3
I have to admit that part of the reason I get obsidians is to stand out from the crowd. Maybe it’s TF2 habit but I always have to be a special snowflake.

[binderr]

@Nail said:
so don’t buy it, or anything else, then everything you get will be valued perfectly and/or wait for the new system, maybe you’ll like it

is this your real job?! defending db/sd on pretty much every thread, keep up the good work!!

[hawkeyeguy99]

A few of you all are missing the point. I’m not saying that SD needs to be Blizzard or that OW is better than DB. All I’m saying is that when one item is priced at $15 that really is not that cool or even useful, why would any consumer in their right mind pay that $15 when another company/service is offering a similar product at about 15x the value for your money? SD seems to think DB exists in a bubble and that competition isn’t a thing for their game, but from my perspective as a consumer, it totally does.

[mooinn]

@hawkeyeguy99 said:
Seriously? I know Dirty Bomb is built upon overvaluing everything in the game, but there is no way I’m ever paying $14.99 for ONE obsidian merc. That’s outrageously overpriced. I know they’ve been expensive in the past but man, I could get 24 cases from Overwatch for just $5 more which each give 4 items and currency toward buying whatever item I could want. From my perspective as a consumer, I either spend $15 on one item that really isn’t that fantastic, or I could even spend just $10 in another game and get nearly 10x the value for my money. SD, you REALLY need to figure out a better way to monetize things because right now, I’m not buying anything from you for the foreseeable future.

AWESOME marketing right …

[Ptiloui]

@hawkeyeguy99 said:
A few of you all are missing the point. I’m not saying that SD needs to be Blizzard or that OW is better than DB. All I’m saying is that when one item is priced at $15 that really is not that cool or even useful, why would any consumer in their right mind pay that $15 when another company/service is offering a similar product at about 15x the value for your money? SD seems to think DB exists in a bubble and that competition isn’t a thing for their game, but from my perspective as a consumer, it totally does.

Another thing that plays a lot is players number : Blizzard can afford to sell their goods cheaper because the large number of possible customer will balance the lower price.
Let’s say one skin for Widowmaker or Aimee cost a month of work for one employee. In France, the average cost for a company to pay this employee salary will be around 2500€. So you can assume the skin will cost at least 2500€ to produce (not counting other more in-depth charges).
If you estimate that 1000 OW players will buy this skin, the minimum selling price for this skin will be 2.5€ to balance cost (without making any margin).
For Dirty Bomb and their way lesser players, the minimum price will be much higher (for 100 players buying, minimum price will be 25€).

Also, know that people paid 320$ for the Founder Pack when DB was as its early alpha stage (https://www.pcgamesn.com/play-splash-damages-dirty-bomb-alpha-now-120). And exclusive founder’s loadout cards wan’t even included in the pack at that time (loadout system wasn’t implemented).