Allods Cash Shop Blunder

This is not how I wanted to wake up.  First the whole Tiger Woods news conference taking precedent over my morning news and now logging on to hear that a patch came overnight opening the cash shop revealing horrendous prices.  None of us are surprised to find that the cash shop was hiding a secret.  Not even those of us who enjoy the game were that blind.  However, I am perturbed to see the type of surprise.

Everything in the cash shop has had a zero added to the end.  Mistake?  I do not know.  It seems like an awfully big mistake to make, especially when you’re open for business.  A medium bag that was $2 is now $20 (that’s $20 for 6 extra slots folks), and a level 10 rune that was $689 is now $6,890.  See what I mean by the possible error with adding a zero?  It doesn’t make any sense that gPotato would be this stupid, but I honestly can’t sit here and believe this wasn’t a mistake. (Update: Russians say our shops prices are 20x higher than theirs.)

No one, out of the 90 members in my guild, will spend a dime on this cash shop in its current state.  Many of us have $50 gamecards that we’re prepared to shred or attempt to return to the vendor before we redeem them.  I have a feeling that the majority feel the same.   The Official Forums are ablaze with ragequits and all the topics trying to speak out on this horrific price gouging are being deleted.  This is unacceptable.

Most of us are planning to continue playing since we enjoy the game for free to make a statement.  At their current prices, no one will be able to continue using the cash shop for long.  The prices are so high that even the potions are ridiculous.  Spend your $13.50 and boost your HP and I will still kill you three times over.  Will you be quick to spend $13.50 again after having your ass handed to you?  I think not.  It made more sense when the cash shop was cheap enough that people would not hesitate.  It was so cheap that I actually saw myself spending $10/month on one item alone.

I advocate the boycott until we find out what’s up.  It doesn’t matter how good the game is (and it is amazing) if the prices are this high.  Everyone will all stop playing and move on to something else.  The NA market doesn’t tolerate this kind of stuff.  This also just validates every concern that myself and others have about microtransaction games.

I’m prepared to strikeout every word in this blog entry and speak favorably about the game again if this is indeed in error.  If this is not a mistake… I hope that I don’t have to write that post.

Note: Due to the importance of this issue I will not be allowing anyone to derail it with trolling posts or comments that have clearly been made without reading the post.   If your comment is deleted then you know why.

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  • Boycott is the right word and that’s what we need to do.

    Keep playing and force them to reconsider their position. Either that, or make an announcement to clarify.

  • I believe in supporting a game I play, but this is too much. I won’t be spending a dime until they charge fair prices.

  • I was hoping to download this game tonight and try it out. I might have to get a second job to pay for items in the cash shop. I can’t imagine this to not be an error.

  • Sneaky sneaky russians…hopefully it’s just an error, but you’d think a shop dealing with real life currency wouldn’t make this simple mistake.

  • Well said. I had no problem with the prices before and was expecting to probably spend ~$10/month or so anyway. However, I won’t be spending a dime unless this is indeed an error.

  • From what I read they had it right before. They need to design the game and shop so that the average gamer will spend around $10-15 a month. The previous iteration of it made me think they had a shot at this, but honestly I’m not surprised.

  • Pricing are seriously ridiculous. If prices remain the same I will NOT be purchasing anything from the CS at all.

  • Le Sigh. If you are going to gouge everyone, you need to do it slowly, not right from the start…

  • Although I might have bought something in the future, this has made me want to just pretend the CS button doesn’t exist! I would rather spend hours grinding than spend $20 for only 6 extra slots! Its a waste! Hopefully, this is an error, if not, gpotato is in a bit of trouble!

  • You guys know I have been one of the greatest defenders of this game against Fear of Death, against the ragequits caused by Perfume, etc… But I have to thrown the towel at this. I was prepared to spend quite a bit, but I will not spend anything until they bring it down to reasonable levels equivalent to the russian version.

  • As much as I am enjoying Allods, I will not be paying for anything in the Cash Shop until the prices come down to more reasonable amounts.

    I realize that this game was funded to the tune of 12 million dollars, but it almost seems like they are trying to recoup all of that once. In today’s MMORPG community word travels quickly. Reasonable cash shop prices plus a great product would garner them many, many more players who, at some point, probably would spend a bit of money in the cash shop.

    Unless they rectify this situation quickly they face a situation where bad word-of-mouth spreads across the MMORPG community and they wind up with players leaving instead of arriving.

    Would they rather have 10,000 people spending $5 a month or 100 people spending $50 a month?

  • @Beau

    I do not see any “cash-shop-hate” here. I have seen some cash shop trepidation but we have all stated we are more than willing to use the cash shop and support the game. More than willing.

    But, these prices are outrageous. It is an insult that we in North America are expected to pay ten times what the Russian players pay. TEN TIMES. What?!?!

    Furthermore, I can promise you that not many people will buy on the cash shop at these prices. They are completely out of whack.

    This is an important moment for Allods and gPotato. They can do the right thing and the game will flourish. Or they can do the wrong thing and Allods will be die and a great game will be gone.

  • I’m thinking it is an error, it seems a bit odd that they moved the decimal over one place on everything on purpose. It happened in Office Space…

  • Im going to continue to play, if the prices stay where they are, well, then I wont be buying anything, its that simple.

    I hope its a mistake with an extra 0 added on, but Im afraid the longer we go with no comment from the company, the less likely it is that its a mistake.

  • Its amazing that they still haven’t corrected their error with some type public statement. Maybe they should look at the Southwest/Kevin Smith situation for guidance about how not to handle public relations. I am going to continue to play for the time being but there is no way I will ever pay those prices.

  • This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen happen in a mmo. I’d rather lop off my left nut than give these greedy bastards a dime.

  • I was willing to spend at least 20 bucks a month. I even bought $100 worth of gpotatos. ( the transacton didnt go through thank god) Now… I could buy a bag and thats it with that. Not gonna happen, like Keen said, im not spending a dime.

  • I’ll continue to play, but will not be spending a dime in the shop until we get some news out of gpotatoe. If prices remain as they are I will spend the money I’ve already sunk into the cash shop (perhaps stupidly pre-purchased gpotatoes), and then never spend another penny in it and bide my time until FFXIV comes out.
    I really hope it’s just a decimel point blunder that someone made, and that it will be fixed soon. I fear that if it is not fixed or at least addressed soon (no excuse to not have some news today in my opinion, especially considering the player reaction) this great game will never live up to it’s potential.

  • Are you kidding me 6890 dollars for a freaking video game item??? I just punched myself in the kidney thinking about spending that much money. Plz anyone who has an account sign the CS boycott thread on the official forums I created right after this whole thing happened.

  • If the prices stay that high then it will probably keep the playing field more level because there won’t be many people buying anything .

  • What’s the big deal? If you don’t like the price, don’t buy anything. The free market will adjust the prices. The game is free to play so keep on playing. If they put prices that are too high, they won’t make very much money. Relax, play and don’t pay. It has not changed my game play at all.

    I am a little shocked to see all the people that pre-paid for gpots. What was the rush there? Wait and see is always the best policy.

  • Dude, ethic… 6890 dollars for a freaking rune… 42000ish for a full set… you REALLY don’t see a problem with this??? Wait a minute… you’re one of THEM aren’t you??? Hurry everyone throw logic and intelligence at him, they can’t stand that!!! Lol, j/p.

  • Looks like it’s the real deal.

    1. They are having a meeting tonight to discuss it. (You don’t have meetings over errors)

    2. It’s a scheduled meeting, not an emergency “How the fark do we fix it?” meeting.

    3. They’re waiting for an announcement, meaning that marketing and PR needs to go over it first.

  • @Ethic: $20 for 6 extra bag slots, $13.50 for a pack of perfume (75c each), $2.50 for lowbie pots. It’s 20x the prices the Russians pay for theirs and 10x the prices we saw in closed beta. The issue here is that the prices are too high, a surprise, and gouged.

    As we stated, we don’t like the price so we’re not paying.

    @Fyzzle: That’s an astral scholar (a volunteer moderator on their forums). They’re nice people, but what they say is meaningless.

  • Maybe Im way off base here, admittedly Ive never played a F2P microtransaction based game before. But, these prices dont seem very “micro” to me.

    I thought these games were all about $2 here $5 there types of purchases, and in the long run many people pay more than the $15 a month they would on a regulr P2P game?

    Am I wrong on this?

  • Actually this could be the greatest thing. Images this: the things you can buy is primarily to get better in PvP, right?

    At this rate noone (sane) will buy anything.

    That makes PvP even, and thus you don’t HAVe to buy anything.

    win!

    Now, the balance they should be looking for – if they are cynical – is where most people can afford to buy, thus forcing everyone to buy! these prices are clearly a blunder of some sort!

  • I agree with the boycot, those prices are indeed higher than i expected, so you have my support. Im enjoying the game a lot, would be sad if this turns out to be intended and not an error

  • @Keen So they don’t even have a bat phone to anyone at Allods? Well that just puts a fly in my waffle.

  • I don’t understand the sputtering rage that some people seem to be infected with, nor the rage quits.

    Like Ethic said, keep playing the game, but vote with your wallets – when they see that stuff isn’t selling the prices WILL come down. That’s how markets work.

  • To me it looks like a mistake. I’m willing to hear them out on it. If this is intentional, well… that really is a blunder of significant proportion.

    Still, that the prices are an order of magnitude off suggests to me that it’s a goof, not a gouge.

  • @Andrew: Indeed. That is why we’re boycotting the cash shop and not spending a dime. We’ll continue to play the game, continue to be a drain on their resources, and continue to speak very highly of the gameplay itself. We’ll even kill the people who do spend money in the shop. The prices will either come down due to supply and demand or because they come to their senses. The question is, will anyone still be around if it doesn’t happen soon?

    Bottom line, they need to say something.

  • Plushenko loses gold to Lysacek in men’s skating and not soon after the Russians retaliate with staggering price gouging in Allods.

    Coincidence? I thinketh not.

  • My first thought was that someone made an error converting Rubles to Dollars. This still may be the case. But… i agree seems odd they’re going to meet tonight to discuss it….?

  • One of the reasons I’m not playing Allods is that gPotato has a TERRIBLE reputation for stuff like this. At least that’s what I read… that in their Russian version of the game, they have a reputation for doing this kind of stuff.

    Who knows. Hopefully this is just an error. If not, maybe some poor suckers just got ripped off.

  • A F2P Russian game with cutthroat price gouging, what a surprise. Didn’t Cold War teach you anything? However, this is nothing comparing to what they do to their own people in games and outside 🙂

  • Did they raise the prices on the “vote for” and “vote against” items for the newbie quest turnin? I hope they’re still free 🙂

    Guess I’ll find out tonight.

  • @Ben: Well, gPotato does not handle the Russian version.

    @Thallis: That “meeting” post on the forums was made by a VOLUNTEER forum moderator. Basically someone who polices the forums with a colored name. Like I said, good people but worthless authority.

  • Heh, accidental or purposeful, this will work out for gPotato if they handle it well.

    What they’ve essentially done is two things: Feel out the price point limits an NA audience is willing to pay (there may be hue and cry outrage on the blogs and forums, but who knows if there are actually people buying?)

    And they’ve created a worse case scenario for comparison to if/when they lower the prices… and they probably will.

    When stuff drops to 10% or 20% or maybe even 50% of the current exorbitant rate, people are going to get the “whoo, what a bargain” feeling from comparison to the old, insane prices and fling money at the company like a Steam sale.

    I exaggerate somewhat for effect, but not by much, knowing human nature.

    Imagine if there was no cash shop and suddenly one day out of the blue, the company decided to start charging a couple cents here and there for this and that. There’ll be protests because it’s a perceived increase in cost.

    Now it’s the opposite scenario, and folks will be throwing grateful relieved thanks at gPotato. Yay, our faith has been restored. We will be happy to pay you the reasonable amount you wanted, instead of complaining it’s still too much!

    (If they don’t change a thing, then the company’s even dumber than Flagship, or they know something we don’t from their cash shop records.)

  • I wouldn’t say that thaco, 2 dollars for 6 slots more in bag doesn’t sound too bad. 1.35 for 10 hours pvp isnt bad either.

  • @Jeromai

    Though I try not to be that cynical, I can not deny that the same thought crossed my mind as well.

    What a cynical world we live in. Hopefully, gPotato proves this cynicism wrong.

  • Thanks for clarifying Keen.

    Here’s what they need to do….
    Avg MMO charges $15/month these days… this is what Americans expect an MMO to cost them regardless of the quality of the game. I’m not saying that’s what they SHOULD pay, just whats expected.

    Now, Allod’s needs to take that number and make it their cap. That’s the max they should expect to earn from anyone/month (some exceptions i know).

    In the spirit of keeping it a F2P MMO, charge for conveniences…. faster travel, respec’s, aesthetic things, temp power ups even…. ? I’d pay a $5 rental fee/month from the stables to have a mount with me at all times…. stuff like that.

  • @Jeromai
    Yeah, I had that fear too, that this was done to see what the player response would be, and to gauge just how much they can charge, rather than low ball themselves right off the bat.

    Now they can make $10 for a 6 slot bag upgrade and everyone will praise them, even though it likely should be only $2.

  • Two things, compared to Russians Americans seem filthy rich. And they actually are.

    It all comes down to disposable income. If you have a salary of $2000 and need to spend $1000 then you have $1000 disposable income. If you make $300 a month and spend $250 to live you got $50 disposable income. Someone at gPotato thinks this way. Of course the problem here is mainly that those who want to play Allods do not have the type of disposable income that gPotato assumes

    The second issue is that I find the sense of entitelment here absurd. They do NOT OWE you anything – be grateful that you can play the game for free. If prices are ridiculous DO NOT buy … in fact that may be better for everyone who is crying out loud …

  • My gf and I were more than prepared to throw some money at mounts and bags right out of the gate. However, with the prices they have up now we both decided to ignore the cash shop all together. If they were to “fix” the prices then we’d both be more than willing to take a look at what they have.

  • I saw myself spending 20-25 dollars a month at the crystal – gpotato price. I see myself spending 0 dollars at these prices. I WILL for SURE 100% buy 10 perfumes for 50 cents or even 75, but I WILL NOT but 1 for 75 cents. They need to learn to price competitively, yes selling one thing expensive can net you money, but selling 1000 of those items for cheaper will tend to get you more. I look at it like this if a bag was 2 dollars that’s just a soda and a candy bar so no biggy, but I can get so much more for 20 dollars. Eventually you would make more money with cheaper prices due to more demand etc. In conclusion I stand with Keen and HFG and will be returning my 50 dollar gpot card to Best Buy soon unless this changes. PS OH I am still gonna burden your servers and have fun on your game, but I’m not paying for ANYTHING at these prices.

  • I believe that this is a mistake from the part of gPotato. But they should fix this as quick as possible.

  • I certainly agree that prices are too high, and if kept in tact, will mean that they will miss a large market potential. I was certainly willing to spend money in the CS, at least equal to what I’d pay for a boxed game and monthly sub. I too will abstain from the CS until we hear something.

  • I’m miffed because I wanted to grab up additional bag and bank slots in the beginning and now it’d be dumb for me to. I love bags because I hate inventory management.

    Plus once I get to end game PVP I don’t want to have to spend that much to do it. So if end game is no longer going to be as fun for me, why even continue playing?

  • The boycott of the CS seems a very valid statement. No one’s getting angry; just being reasonable. My husband and I had talked a bit about what money may or may not be spent in Allods, but since “The Patch” we obviously won’t be spending any.

    That said, I’m having trouble with one phrase: “a level 10 rune that was $689 is now $6,890.” I looked in the CS and didn’t see anything like that. Further more… ONE rune cost nearly $700?!? Seriously?!

    Something else I’ve been assuming but haven’t had any clarification on: The bag upgrade only gives you a bigger bag, but not a bag that you can add to your current bag? I was hoping for, “Oh, now you have a new bag” type thing. The F2P game “Requiem” practically shoved bags at you. Only having one bag EVER seems… strange, for any MMO.

    I appreciate that you state the game is amazing, and again, aren’t acting all n00brage about it.

  • I am in the guild and will participate in the boycott, Morvahna will not be buying anything at these prices as much as I want a bigger bag.

  • @Brianne

    AT around 15 you get your patron quest and they teach you about basic runes. You’ll learn about combining runes. You can do this till a rune reaches level 10. To go from a level 1 rune to a level 10 rune will require a bunch of the same rune(over 500 if my math is right) plus almost 900g worth of gold dust and almost 26k crystal chips which are bought from the CS.

    Considering that 50 crystals go for 1200 potatoes atm if you buy the big packs. And yes they do drop from game but 26k of them would still take a long itme to collect.

  • “Spend your $13.50 and boost your HP and I will still kill you three times over. Will you be quick to spend $13.50 again after having your ass handed to you? I think not.”

    Just a note on this point Keen, I think the more likely answer is that most of those players will just assume you bought HP boost potion as well, or that you’re hacking, or that you had an unfair advantage in some way and make sure to buy even more potion.

    Aside from that note,
    “a level 10 rune that was $689 is now $6,890”
    O.O I completely support this boycott if this isn’t a typo

  • Looks like the cash shop is down from the main website, so you may be right on the error. I get a “coming soon” sign when I access it.

  • […] The hype starts to die Massively has this wonderful article today about Allods Online’s high cash shop prices. $20 bucks to upgrade your bag 6 slots, $13.50 for 20 perfume which gives you roughly 10 hours of freedom from the crippling fear of death debuff. These are high even for cash shop games. Keen rages. […]

  • Tried this game today because of your blog and its not really that good. There´s nothing to draw the player in and well I dont believe in holding out for an endgame if the rest of the game isnt good. Also this whole business model had eastern european scam written all over it from the start.

    Pretty graphics though (not prettier than wow however, which is a letdown) and polished gameplay albeit very slow. All in all even if it had a good business model (subscription or payment per game/expansion) it would be a step in the wrong direction.

    I would rather start a brand new character in cataclysm and level him to 85, than I would level any character to 10 in allods.

  • @Alice

    It’s not a typo. It’s taking the cost of buying the mats to make the level 10 rune “if” the material list is the same as CB/Russian version of the game (which I can’t see it being different).

    Though we do realize that’s for the people that have tonnes of money to burn..

  • The lost a Mars Rover because somebody forgot to convert from English to metric.

    It’s an error. No need to get your panties in a bunch, or boycott anything. They’ll fix it. Companies just don’t work on internet forum time, is all.

  • And if it’s an error, fantastic. Everyone will be overjoyed. If it’s not, I’d rather speak out fast and furious when it comes to a game that I’m potentially investing hundreds of hours into.

  • I’ve read the article and that Russian players are commenting the prices are 20x higher in the US.

    I don’t know how you go about purchasing from the Cash Shop (sounds like there’s an intermediary token system) but I’m 100% sure this is a mistake – and a titanic one.

    Note that 1 USD = 30 Russian Rubles so maybe it’s a currency conversion mistake somewhere behind the scenes.

    Or to reflect the affluence of the USA v Russia they were supposed to be prices 2x higher but indeed a 0 got added.

  • they’re not deleting all the threads in relation to the cash shop there’s about 4 to 5 threads that have been active all day including one with a poll that is up to nearly 400 votes 95% all with a hearty agreement that its outrageous pricing.

    I plan to give them a week or so but after that I won’t be touching this game again. I definitely will not be buying any gpotatos anytime soon.

    I have a pretty big feeling this was all intentional to fleece those that would buy quickly without really looking at the price meanwhile holding out to see how it fairs. If they hold out more than a week they will never recover.

  • I was willing to spend $15 a month for a reasonable amount of competitive pvp gameplay. So, enough for a p2p game, I like the game itself that much, but the prices are just absurd. I don’t even want to play anymore knowing that when I reach cap it will be impossible to play well without a huge cash investment each month.

  • I suspect this is actually just a stunt to raises prices but make it seem like they are doing the players a ‘favor’. Imagine they do this.

    Step 1: Show Cheep prices. Close Beta only. Everyone’s happy.

    Step 2: Raise prices 10x from that value. Mass rage!

    Step 3: Lower prices down 50% from new value. Players seem very happy that ‘they got heard’.

    Step 4: Everyone forgets about the old prices and move on.

    What happened? the prices still got jacked up something like 5x from the old value. But since everyone thinks. “hey we got heard! And these prices aren’t SOO bad in comparison” they get away with doing a 5x price increase, while looking like everything is a-okay.

    All in all, the prices should fit ‘what the market will bear’. So if 10x what the Russians pay sounds okay by our standards. then that’s what we’ll pay.

    Of course, that’s all the theory, the reality is people get manipulated all the time. And they don’t’ know well enough that they are.

  • Oh dear, what a Marketing/PR cock-up!?

    Any official word yet? They’ll have to address this A-SAP else they will kill the game before it’s even started out of OB!? The Internet & forums are ablaze! WoW monster must be chuckling…

    I was excited for a F2P as me and my gf are pretty casual MMO players now-a-days, but I was happy to start a plan to pay for bags and banks slots etc for the both of us (to show our support to the developers). Pay low prices for lots of little things from the shop but keep the cost down compared to a P2P. Now, I’m boycotting the shop, removed Allods from my Facebook fan list and considering not going too much further in game until this is resolved. I also won’t recommend it for my gf & friends until some answers and ‘negotiations’ are reached.

    So sad that they may have shot themselves in the foot :-/ People have to unite and refuse to make purchases like you guys have done until change. I hope it’s a mistake…

    Power to the players!

  • Eddie, I hope so, but I’m not seeing any acknowledgement on either the main page or in the forums. Sounds like the cash shop is down, but would it really be bad for them to say why?

  • Ok, sorry to crush everyone’s hopes but this was NOT a mistake. I have talked to someone in the know who has informed me that it was intentional. I can not say who but, believe me when I say, they would know.

    I had hoped it was a mistake. Now that I know that is was not, I am simply flabbergasted that they could do something like this and think the community would support it.

  • This is really a superb game, I would happily pay $15 a month in the shop, after even more initially to get bags/bank slots (like $50 to gear up).

    I expect it was a mistake too, and they didn’t handle the PR very well.

  • Actually are you sure it’s a mistake? 1000 gpotatoes is $10 right? Here are some costs from other games:

    FlyFF-Ninja (M) costume set 1800 Gpotatoes= $18
    Rappelz-Monarch Cloak 1700 Gpotatoes= $17
    Luna Online- 110k currency coupon for 900 gpotatoes= $9
    Upshift Strikeracer-Dragnet car, unlimited use 3000 gpotatoes- $30

    Looking at some of the consumables for other games, they seem high.

  • Brannagar, it is a mistake. It is simply impossible that they think that anyone, ever, will pay 7000 dollars for a level 10 rune, whatever that is, or that 7000 is a profit maximizing price for it. Hell, 700 sounds ridiculously high too me.

    If they prices are intentional, its still a mistake, but more in the “what kind of idiots did they take us for” vein.

  • “a level 10 rune that was $689 is now $6,890”
    Geez I thought $689 was bad for a piece of video game material. I remember seeing entire accounts on sale for that amount in other games and thinking it was crazy.

    Sentack hit it on the head: 1) Raise the prices to outrageous amounts. 2)Cut it in half (still outrageous) to appease folks. 3) Profit!

    What I really would like to see is how many folks with money to burn ran out and loaded up on stuff today in the CStore at crazy prices. What kind of revenue stream did that create even if they leave it like this for a couple days? Then suddenly prices drop due to outrage. Do folks who pulled the trigger too fast get a partial refund? Yikes! What about the poor shmoes who dont read forums etc which I would guess is at least half of the player base or a majority. Maybe this is how they grab that initial revenue that other games get from selling retail boxes heh.

  • Yeah, you are right, Toxic. It is a mistake in that vein. But it is not a mistake in the “oh, we misplaced a decimal point” vein, which is what we were all hoping to hear.

    They did this intentionally, which does not bode well for the future.

  • I really do think most people don’t look at one simple thing about the CS and it being a “mistake”. We were told after the initial release of the CS that a hiccup had been made that needed to be fixed is why the servers went back down. The prices were the same before and after this statement. So, obviously the pricing was not the hiccup. If you refer to other GP games you’ll see that their history for overpricing items is definitely not new to just Allods.

    I really don’t expect their prices to change. It’s just sad to say that I saw this coming the moment I saw the initial Cash Shop. Games today are far too complacent with the thought that they can continue to price gouge their community and get away with it. We, as gamers, need to be the ones to stop this. It’s because we continue to buy virtual product that they continue to try and sell it.

    As long as we continue to keep the lazy mindset of paying instead of working, we’ll continue to see blunders like this. While it does have to do with the company itself, we, as gamers are also at fault here. When we stop supporting it, they will stop doing it.

  • Heey. you know i remember someone saying that they would happily bend over and take it from Bill Gates if he wanted to spend money on becoming uber.

    Looks like it wasn’t too far from the truth.

  • It’s been released for a little over 12 hours. You would think they wouldn’t be too busy to say: “Don’t buy anything. There’s a mistake with prices.” Or, at the very least, close the CS entirely if it were actually true.

  • Personally I think I’m close to finished with the F2P market. I always come back to it because it’s actually releasing promising games these days. I’m just personally tired of seeing such games with great potential having the makings of being run into the ground so early. I really do hate to be the doomsayer here, I do. It’s just so frustrating to watch such good games continually tank because of greed-ridden choices.

  • […] with question: I keep seeing references to a rune that is supposed to cost anything from $600 to $6000 in the item shop. Where does that comes from? I can’t find anything of the sort in the actual game. Can […]

  • I think I’d rather they just make it a subscription game and avoid all the problems that’ve come up with this and the perfume/FoD incentives. I’d pay $10-$15/month subscription for allods.

  • The pricing error (assuming it was an error) is bad enough.
    The poor-PR management of the error compounds it.
    Silence from the owners is not very sensible, but more so, the silence can be read into.

    The silence implies there is no error in the pricing, and that they’re surprised about the outrage, so are huddling to work out what they do next.

    I really, really like this game and hope they can get the prices into a reasonable range.

  • Official post states that the prices are intentional and that they would e discussing the CS over the next few weeks amongst themselves. So, don’t expect anything to happen.

  • I was giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one, really thought it was a mistake, because no one could look at those prices and think that was a good idea.

    After their official statement though, I can not in good conscience support this game in any way. I wish those of you who continue to play the best of luck.

    Just remember, every time you use the item shop you are telling them what they are doing is acceptable.

    A real shame too, would have been a great game.

  • My biggest worry now is that at these prices, almost every single person will boycott the cash shop and their revenue will be way lower than if the prices were at closed beta level. I’d say this should serve them right, but what does it mean for prolonged game stability? At what point does lack of cash shop revenue require them to turn off the servers? Hopefully they’ll get wise and put the prices back to a reasonable level before then.

  • wow, that’s just silly.

    Those bags are going to be expensive. I won’t buy them til L40, and predict the $ price will have dropped by then.

  • It’s funny Allods Online went from being a F2P CS MMO with a chance to being one with less than 6 months to live with this new CS.

    It’s not that people will stop playing, the core game is still free. It’s that they will get ZERO revenue now.

  • I think you all are acting like jerks! I love this game and love this site but you guys are really really blind to your arrogance.

    Even if this wasn’t a mistake. Who cares! You don’t buy anything for a free game…whoop-dee-do. Some may be willing to pay this…their loss and their choice.

    Let’s Boycott a free game! Great idea! Keen, I expect more from you than this. You are a smart person you could have given them time to post a response to the prices or waited just encase it was an error.

    That site directs traffic right to yours and you trash them like this?

    The game cost 12 million to make. Honestly are you guys that blind? Economics 101 “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. So I guess you also thought a team would make a game at the caliber of WoW for free? Or that the producers would just hand a team 12 million bucks to make a name in the MMO market?

    Wake up guys. It was a mistake and I am sure they will try to come to terms with the community…or what is left with it. Stupid welfare kids wanting everything for free. That is what ruined WoW for me.

    Will I pay them for in game items? Nope. Should you? That is not my call. But this boycotting of a free world, well thought out boss fights, ship combat, and gobinball does not deserve this and if I was the company I would say “fine no soup for you!” and shut down keeping active only in RU.

    No wonder socialist think capitalism is bad.

  • Darkkami, talk about totally missing the point.

    No one will pay these prices and the few who do will not keep the game up for long. Believe me when I say, gPotato does NOT want us playing for free. They want fans like us paying them for their hard work. If not for folks like ourselves, who are actually willing to pay for a F2P game, Allods Online would shut down. They need our revenue to continue as a viable business.

    The prices are too high, so they risk losing their core audience and the only audience that was willing to financially support them.

    We WANT to pay. We WILL pay. Unlike the majority of players in F2P games who do just want the free lunch, we do not.

  • Nice strawman, Darkkami. I guess it’s just more fun to froth at the mouth like that than to actually read what people are saying, and see that many many people were perfectly willing to support the game with a reasonable spend (in the ballpark of what you would pay for a subscription MMO), not that they wanted “a free lunch”.

    They just don’t want to pay full regular subscription prices for 10 hours of PvP or raiding a month. Or to buy bags that cost a week’s subscription per slot.

  • Except WoW wasn’t free. Everyone paid just as much as the other person and were all guaranteed to be on equal footing given time and hard work.

    You’re totally missing the fact that this WAS NOT a mistake on the part of GP. This was an INTENTIONAL release of the CS. Stop making excuses for a game that is clearly making terrible business decisions. However, we can hopefully take solace in the fact that at least (for now), we can do anything we want without spending a dime. I can’t say the same for end-game raiding and the like, however.

  • So 1500 points comes out to about $20US? and that’s how much a 6 slot bag would be?

    Then how much would it be if it was only 150 points? Because that seems remarkably low. It’s not a differences of being charged double, because that’s a very high increase in points.

    So I guess I’m asking, have any of you played a F2P game before? How valuable is bag space, in Allods? Because $20US for a permanent(?) extra 6 slots might be pretty reasonable.

    I think I’m starting to see an imbalance in perceptions here. It makes me think back to RoM’s permanent horse(which I paid 15 for on international servers, plus I’ve since bought lots of mounts).

    Even if I agreed, and felt $20 dollars was too much for that bag, basing it off of overall value of inv. space within the game, I could almost guarantee you that thousands of players will pay that.

    It is only my opinion, but I doubt it’s a mistake.

    I think if you could give a comparison using a very small temporary item like an HP restorer, or some other similarly small and short term item, you may be able to garner whether the price was intended or not.

    For instance, if they had HP pots before that cost .50 cents/each, but now cost 5 dollars each, that is an obvious over-charge for that kind of item.

  • Jeremy, it isn’t reasonable. I could buy a pet in Mabinogi for about 6 bucks with the same amount of added space, and it could fight for you, heal you, and revive you. Looking at the prices listed to me shows that they are on the very high end of the scale, even for consummables.

    Darkkami, they probably will boycott it by default. Those prices are not affordable, even for people inclined to buy things. There’s paying decent fees, and there is paying extortionate one.

  • Allods has already posted that the pricing is not a mistake so we can let that theory go. Buying extra bag space was the first thing I planned to do when the CS finally opened. I almost hit the floor when I saw the prices. I am so thankful that I hadn’t bought any fuk-me-potatoes in advance. I can’t even fathom how they think giving me just 6 extra spaces in a bag is worth $20 US. They have to be smoking something and as bad as my week has been, I need them so send some my way.

    I routinely spend in a CS to support a game I’m playing. I’m not trying to play for free but I won’t be gouged. So now, I won’t buy a single flippin’ item until this gets rectified. Nothing. Nada. I’ll play until I get tired of a) walking back to vendor items more frequently, b) losing the very slow trickle of cash because I must leave items on mobs, c) have to pick up a stupid quest required item but not the vendor-able trash because my bag is full. In a game with no mounts and long distance walking this does in fact, impact your playing experience. So far they’re just too stupid to realize it.

    I wasted no time in spending money in ROM and W101 when I was in the free zones. Allods gets nothing until they gain a sense of reason.

  • How do we know prices’ll go down if no-one’s buying though? Who says it’s not just going to turn into an even less reasonable endavour (with more CS items coming already)? Seems to me that for all their assurances to the contrary, they’re only in it for the quick buck and every player still logging in will only be seen as someone they can potentially squeeze some money out. Which is a shame because they could have really legitimized the f2p model in the west here.

    Regardless I wish those keeping at it the best of luck, but MMOs are about investment (though not quite on this level thanks) and I’m not willing to spend time on one where I’m already required to go in with a “well if they make it worse I’ll quit” mentality.

    Such a shame..

  • The way that microtransactions work is that only a small percentage of players ever spend anything on them. It’s only natural for the company to want to milk those players for all they are worth. Now how much that percentage changes as you lower prices, I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s not linear. There is an optimal equilibrium for maximum profit and gPotato is probably looking for that.

    Now the thinking here seems to be that you are boycotting the cash shop by playing the game but not buying anything, hence only consuming resources. This would be false. Regardless if you buy anything or not, you are still vital to game’s success. The player base that uses the cash shop is not alone enough to form the community that an MMO needs. In other words, no one want’s to play an empty MMO. Or to put it yet another way, those who do not pay are working to provide an enjoyable experience for those that do.

    I’m afraid the only real way to boycott is via the uninstall button.

  • Hi fellows,

    all of this is really ugly. What a shame, I love the game, but this…

    Anyhow, here is what I will do to find a line betweeen loving the game and despising their greed:

    I am gonna spend 12 € (european player) per month in the cash shop. If that’s not enough for single items I want, I am gonna save up for them and spent one or more months nothing at all. If that’s not enough for competitive PvP (which I douubt, for many PvPers won’t spend more either) I am gonna raise twinks, craft or, yes, play something else.

    This way I contribute to the further development of Allods and at the same time keep my expeneses within reasonable limits.

    Cheers (and BIG thanks to Keen for his wonderful and inspiring articles about Allods)

    youngneil

  • @Carson
    [quote]They just don’t want to pay full regular subscription prices for 10 hours of PvP or raiding a month. Or to buy bags that cost a week’s subscription per slot.[/quote]

    You would be better off paying the subscription fee in wow as a casual player. Your subscription hadly goes into supporting the pvp’ers, who are probably the ones getting shafted in that game. It goes into raiding content and casual content.

    The business model these type of games are founded on are important for their development in the long term, and I question wherter a game founded on this can become anything, but frustrating in the long term.

    Also I think I would rather reward a company who is upfront and honest with the deal I am making, than a shady company funded by russian gangster capital trying to milk the latest fix in town.

  • If I’ve to spend that much for a crappy “bigger” bag (I doubt six slots are worth 20$..) I’d more likely move back to WoW, where with 24$ I could actualy play w/o lag and w/o russians spamming the chat with their stupid privet)))9.

    I find this game pretty interesting and like you most of you said is rly worth continueing playing, I could even decide to spend my cash for something usefull (ofc whenever I’m gonna find it necessary), but with this prices I doubt any1 is gonna even spend a single cent.

  • “Everything in the cash shop has had a zero added to the end.”

    Wow! I actually laughed when I read that! Sounds utterly crazy!

    The worrying thing is that the Russian developers may think Americans will be willing to pay high prices due to the differences in their economies and they might see it as an opportuntity to exploit the market.

    It’s also worrying because if the prices are so high that no US players buy anything, the devs may be tempted to start adding more and more powerful and necessary items to the shop.

    The worst case scenario is that we start seeing important items like weapons and armor selling for high prices and totally ruining the game.

  • Apparently theres been a response from gpotato, will be interesting to hear the thoughts on it.

  • It is certainly a bizarre example of inflation.

    Take DDO. It is also free to play, and unlike Allods, you really can have a decent time without paying anything. If you do decide to pay extra, the 20 bucks that will buy you 6 inventory slots (is that per character or account wide?) in Allods would buy three Adventure packs over in DDO.

    5 dollars or so for a bunch of fun adventures is the sort of price I’m happy to pay. 20 dollars to fix deliberately gimped inventory space gives me sticker shock.

  • Greedy fuckin bastards. Charging so much in the cash shop. This is the reason why free to play MMOs in the Western market have such a bad reputation. And when i game with such high quality arrives and has the potential to break those ideas that most MMO players have about those games, gPotato completely destroys the high expectations that everyone had about it.

    I am still waiting for the pricing on the European version but i don’t have much hope. I am a player willing to spend 15 to 20 dollars on an MMO per month and Allods was my choice. I even skipped the Closed Beta because i wanted to enjoy the game as new when it came out.

    And to the people attacking the people outraged by these prices here’s the deal: PEOPLE ARE PISSED OFF BECAUSE THE CS IS EXPENSIVE BUT THEY ARE WILLING TO SPEND MONEY IN THE GAME.

    This just proves that the Free to Play market is just one where people eventually HAVE to spend more money than in a subscription MMO to be competitive. This just shows that this model is rubbish. Yes it allows some players to play for free, but theey do so handicaped. I don’t like handicaps so i will give up Allods.

  • Seven grand for an in game item ROFL. At 700 a few obsessed power gamers might be one or two. At seven grand that item will NEVER sell.

  • I’ve read gpotato’s official response which confirms that the prices are real and that “Some of you think they are not fair and we will evaluate these over the next few weeks” and thus ends any interest at all I had in this game.

    Even if I personally avoided the Cash Shop, knowing it was there sucking obscene amounts from the gullible would hang over me and sour everything else. Not to mention I’d expect it would be a constant and significant part of the game chat as new players “OMG $7000 is this right?” and later “I’m not eating this year, Immma savin’ fer ma Runes”

    I hate all Pay2Win (or at least Pay for an advantage) models but this one is additionally foul for being aimed at the rich and/or stupid.

  • I just the other day was fortunate to be invited by Keen’s guild. However, when I saw that the cash shop prices (i.e., 20$ backpacks, etc) was confirmed as not being a typo I sadly realized taht as much as I liked many aspects of what I have seen thus far of Allods – that as an adult with limited finances I definitely cannot participate in a game run by educated professionals who ignorantly assume N America is paved with riches.

    (coughs) recession ring a bell? Dammit is all I can say – I was really looking forward to this mmorpg ;( dammit ad nasuem.

    /Percival signing off

  • Has anyone considered the possibility that gPotato is preparing for the horrific future state of NA financial markets? Hyper Inflation is only a year or two away where all goods and services in the USA are going to increase dramatically.

    The Dollar is going to tank, prepare. Everyone else in the world is. Learn some economics folks, the sky IS falling and the Obama economic plans are not going to be televised. American reserves of printed cash have increased 120%. Do the math.

  • This seems like a perfect example of bait and switch. Expectations were set both by previous RMT/F2P examples and by the prices in the Russian store. Then they go and put up prices that are completely out of line with those expectations and, in my opinion, fair-market value for virtual “goods”.

    I’m so glad I saw nothing compelling in the game to draw me in to begin with. I would have hated to have invested time in it only to find that it was a good game mismanaged. I would love to know what this is a case of, brain-dead business sense, greed, or incompetence that they are now trying to mask. And here I am a huge supporter of F2P business model and RMT.

    I have to admit I am chuckling slightly over this as it seems every MMO Keen joins in some way disappoints him in the end (don’t get me wrong they do me as well) and slowly I see Keen being turned into the jaded MMO-weary individual that I am. Still though he is holding on bravely and I just wait for him to join me on the dark side. Yes, I sense his anger growing… 😉

  • I quit. Oh wait; I haven’t even started playing yet. I quit before I started. I just broke my own record as to how long an MMORPG kept my attention.

  • It is always interesting to see a company snatch defeat from the maw of victory. So many games lose a large part of their player bases by mismanaged releases; people may say that AoC is now a functional game, but after the big initial disappointment, there is no way I will ever go back. I think that they want people to get invested emotionally so that they will consider paying these prices later, and as such I have to disagree with Keen and say that people should put the game down entirely until the CS is fixed. Almost $7,000 for an in game item is past insane, and I feel insulted that they would think they could get away with this on the US servers; this form of inequity will go down as an epic blunder in gaming history (“That company is trying to pull an Allods!”). Virtually everybody would happily have paid $2-5 for a bag in the cash shop, and many would consider paying $20 for an epic bag. Instead virtually the entire community will unhappily not buy CS item for economic reasons as well as on principle (it is easy to have principles when one is priced out of the alternative option). They had better get their financial plan back on track immediately as everybody will have bad blood over this insulting release, especially the minority of players who have since bought items at grotesquely inflated prices and will demand partial refunds after any CS fix.

    This could have been a competitor to WoW, but ironically it has made me consider going back to it instead. I haven’t played WoW for 3 years after getting end-game raiding burnout and had since gotten that addiction out of my system. Now that Allods has got me back into it even after only a few days I remember how much fun it was, and the prospect of rolling a new class and leveling through all the WoW content that I have missed out on is tempting. Allods is Russian WoW, and right now I am seriously leaning to renewing my WoW sub, where I know what I am getting into, instead of dealing with the Allods Bratva (find pic of Allods founder here: http://russianmafiatattoos.com/category/russian-mafia-tattos-with-skulls/).

  • Hmm maybe I will decide to play now! I hate cash shops and will never buy from them for any game. If these prices stay as is maybe it forces a fair playing field because non one will buy it and hence equal play 🙂

  • I also wonder how much of this heavy-handed approach can be attributed to cultural differences. The suppression of dissenting viewpoint is already legendary on their forums and continues to be reinforced through deletion of non-right thinking threads…

  • Why even bother playing with outrageous prices? You KNOW when you get to end game you WILL have to buy items to be effective. That’s how the other F2P games work.

    I’m not investing a bunch of time into a game made by greedy developers just to find out later I’ll have to quit anyway.

    As far as the game, yeah it’s fun, but it’s nothing special. WoW looks just as good and doesn’t require any of this silly CS. Really stupid part is I would and am able to purchase alot more than 15 bucks a month for items, but 20 bucks for 6 more bag slots is just stupid and I won’t support any game company or publisher that thinks this is reasonable.

  • […] игровой магазин в американской версии Аллодов Онлайн. Цены потрясли игроков на столько, что они сперва подумали, что локализаторы […]

  • You guys shouldn’t mistake the russian developers (Astrum Nival) with the company that got the license for the game in America (Gala Net – japanese in origin).

  • Ohhhh guys u must be prepared to next updates and patchs. Everyone who plays druids/shamans may take another class, cause druids will be nerfed to trash.

  • It’s not a big. It hasn’t been a bug from the start. As has been said several times.. Prices are intentional. They will remain as such until GP decides they’re not worth it to keep that high.

  • Fucking Gpotato ruines the game with their prices politic, lucky guys from RU they have another company and prices are fair enought.
    Get RU client or move to another game

  • I actually was going to play this game, but with this whole cash shop fiasco, pass, thanks.

    I actually considered spending money, f that hehe.

  • What do you guys expect? I tried DDO for a week and felt dirty about this whole microscam scheme. I think this idea of milking players for items that are not cosmetic will die on its own. Thats like playing any game, like poker or whatever, and getting in-game advantages because you pay extra money up front. If this model doesnt die on its own then people are dumber than i thought.

  • The funny part is.. All their items are electronic which means they don’t spend anything to put them in game… So they could sell them for a penny and lose nothing but kilobytes its kinda funny how some people try to take advantage.

  • “was $689 is now $6,890”

    Uh… is that some sort of typo? Wow.. that’s… that’s… R68 900 in my currency – South African rands… that’s like a decent 2nd hand car, or a year’s rent?

    I thought the Sims 3 items were expensive, but they’re dirt cheap compared to this. And I wouldn’t even mind spending a few $10 on Sims 3 loot (At least you get to keep it and reuse it in multiple households!), but $100s??

    I would pay $2 for 6 bag slots, but not $20, for that price I can go and buy myself another PC game.

    Maybe they got their currency conversions all mixed up 😛

  • To reiterate. Stop playing this micro-transaction crap!

    How popular would Mortal Kombat would have been if you could put extra quarters in to have more health? Nobody would play against you. The beauty of competitive gaming is (was) that everyone was on a level playing field once you started playing. Everything you accomplished was done through the game, not by paying extra money.

    They are milking people so bad, and in the process turning the MMO genre into a 2 month unflushed toilet.

    Please do not give your money to these vultures.

  • The prices are stupid compared to what we have in Russia, but after the latest hotfix Russians are simply forced to pay bying perfume from the CS. Though our version of the game operates by another publisher so you’re probably not going to get those awful changes that we Russians got.

  • […] наши не при чем). Ð’ феврале в местном магазине взяли и подняли цены в десять раз. Шестислотовая сумка стала стоить 20 […]

  • I used to by Flyff, a game by Gpotato. And flyff had a terrible cash shop. Inorder to play the game past level 100, you had to spend an average of 30$ a week inorder to keep your equipment as good as everyone elses.
    Once I found out that all of the REALY good players, were spending over 100$ a week in the cash shop… I quit, and went to WoW.
    There will always be people who are willing to fork over hundreds of dollars a month on an MMO, simply so that they can be stronger then everyone else. And Gpotato knows this, and uses it in all their ‘Free to play’ MMos.