Sign in to follow this  
Rolf

Regarding The Price Raise Discussion

Recommended Posts

Like I write in the original post the price increase is mainly to cover the changed way we have to calculate VAT. That the Euro has gone down 20% in value has hurt us a lot as well but the rest of the increase is to help us maintain our financial security and encourage a faster rate of growth in our resources.

We currently invest pretty much every penny we earn back in the game.

We made a small healthy profit last year which we reinvested. It's very good for a company to make at least a small profit because it helps a lot in situations such as if you need loans or investments.

I understand that many of you have solutions and questions regarding this and some of you believe we do this out of some sort of greed. I really wish we didn't have to do this since we managed to avoid increasing the price since we started.

I know some of you are already paying as much as you can for the game and may have to drop some alts. We are discussing what to do about it. There are technical issues as well as possible abusability issues we need to solve and we can't give an ETA.

I want to thank all of you who support this move and hope that everyone else understands that we wouldn't do this if we thought we had better options.

I guess it all comes down to trust, and if you decide that we're trying to somehow cheat you off your money I hope that you take a look at what we've done and delivered all these years given our meagre resources.

Hope it helps,

Rolf

  • Like 35

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Reposting this from the other thread as it would get lost on page 27 anyways :blink:

Have you considered doing it this way

Premium goes up, thats unavoidable

Silver remains at 1 Euro = 1 Silver, the reason for this is we buy the amount of silver we need and changing the exchange rate does not change this.

Deed cost rises, I hate this personally but it would be the main reason for Rolf changing the silver/euro exchange rate. It also means that if players don't like paying out more silver they can resize their deeds.

Trader items, if you feels the need you can juggle with prices for shaker orbs, sleeping powder and such.

The above would hopefully give you roughly what you wants but with a less stressful impact on the in-game economy which is something many are complaining about.

  • Like 6

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Im happy with the premium price increase, i think its a perfectly reasonable move, however i think increasing the silver price is a little steep imo.

Either way, do what you think is best Rolf.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Why is it so hard to believe that now the price of game has increased. Rolf has done as all have compained about and started to hire workers he has to pay. Tax has little to do with things. But he has expenses as we all do. Would you continiue to go to work if it cost more to get there than you actually earned??

This is one of the cheapest games out on the market now.

Play and enjoy the game....or don't.

Edited by Lolabelle
  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

remove traders.

keep everything the same.

wait 2months.

profit.

  • Like 10

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Take a serious look at how much premium is purchased from the store, how much is purchased with silver, how high the circulation of the coin is before it's removed from the pool, how much coin it's possible to drain from a trader and conduct a decision out from that. Right now it seems that you are both scaring paying players away, as well as splitting those who purchase with silver and those who purchase with money, and that is pretty unfair to both sides

And how about a giftstore? Adding a way for players to purchase and gift premium time as well as silver coins to characters they do not have access to would be a good step in the right direction

Edited by san_tropez

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Rolf,

I'm sure we all understood the necessity of increasing the price with around 25% to cover the change in legislation regarding VAT, and this must be done as soon as May 2nd when the new legislation kicks in. No questions here.

However going higher than that (60% on everything), all of a sudden (I know you say this not over night, but after seven years, but for us, newer players, for which the low price was a factor for choosing WURM, it is over night) it's a bit extreme and there may be more looses then you may estimated (people quitting the game all together, people lowering the number of characters / deeds / deed size / etc) and in the end bring lower income than you expect (if not negative results).

But for the rest of the increase you don't have to take a decision before May 2nd. So just don't do it. Take some more time to ponder the possibilities, analyze our ideas (maybe most are trash, but maybe some are good) and take a well analyzed decision and not a rushed one.

So what I would suggest:

- increase price from 10 to 12.5 euros to both premium membership (2 months) and silver coins (10) starting with May 2nd. This should be more than enough to cover the VAT and don't give you troubles on short term and it also makes a round number (for 4 months / 20 silver it would be a round 25 euros) (extra suggestion here: allow an option to transfer premium time between accounts on same email address - same person) - this will not make it unfair to people who bought now to get the old price, since they would still save 25%

- analyze your options for the difference to cover the exchange rate, inflation and increase your profit margin; if after two months you'll still feel that the solution is to increase the price to the values you suggest now then do it at that time - at least we would know that you did analyzed all our suggestions and took an informed decision, not a rushed one

Personally, I still think the best option would be to have:

- silver price of 12.5 euros

- normal premium package of 12.5 euros per two months, but add some limits to it like not being able to use sleep bonus or set a deed or have a trader / merchant (that would pretty much be perfect for the casual player - villager type)

- add a VIP premium package of 25 euros per two months, with all incentives from today and even some extra perks (like the ability to plant not one, but more deeds from a single account) (hich most players looking for serious business would buy)

- add a gift option in shop to be able to gift premium / coins to a friend

- add some cosmetic things to trader without any practical in-game advantage like "gnomes" (which seem to be the newest fashion item on my server) or glowing dye which could allow anyone to dye their items like they're rare

But these are just my suggestions, sure there are better.

But the important part is: raise the price now with what you really have to (20-25%) and take the time to analyze the options for the rest of income source during the next couple of months.

P.S.: As an ultimate idea, if anything we'll say won't make you change your mind - at least make it a 50% increase, not a 60%. It's not only that the 10% percent will make it a bit easier for us to swallow it, but it would also make it somehow easier to calculate / express. It would be 15 euros for two months or 10 silvers (round number); it would be 1.5 euros per silver (again round number). And, as proven on the other thread, a 50% price increase would be more than enough to cover VAT taxes, euro exchange rate differences, inflation (all raising to like 35%-40% at most), and also leave you some extra money (10%-15%) for investments / development or that trip in Hawaii. ;)

Cheers,

Alex

Edited by Kiddo
  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't really see much point in people just repeating their complaints from the other thread. You should just lock it, Rolf, or else we will end up with 25+ pages of the same. Judging by the temperature from in-game most people seem okay with the price raise. Stick by your decision and we will see how it goes, I am sure not anywhere near as bad as the doomsayers from thread 1 says.

  • Like 8

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

as many people said already, raising premuim fee and shop silver prices will not bring more money,

since most of the people who pay rl money to you will cut down their expenses to the amount they paid before, or will leave completely.

the only ones laughing will be the "gifted" long time players. but these players are the ones who pay you no rl money anymore.

so if you need money its better to turn the people off (by cutting trader system for example) who dont pay, but the people who are spending their money in the wurm shop.

being a bit drastic, but i hope you understand what i mean ;)

there were many good suggestions made already in forum how to improve income for the company without increasing premium and silver prices.

Nimdalia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hope it helps,

Rolf

Sorry it dosen't help. What would help your profits is for you to stop giving away your profits to other players who are sophisticated (and even those not so much) in the use of the TRADER DRAINING system that you continue to provide to them at other players expense. The fault here is soley your own and only you can take the steps necessary to eliminate this giveaway that you obviously can not afford to continue, as exemplified by your need to increase prices for all of your playerbase.

As for the price increases, personally they don't faze me a bit and I have no intention to stop playing Wurm because of them. Good progress has been made improving the game over the past year and a half and I have no doubt that this will continue and the game will become more enjoyable to play. Your persistence in the face of various problems and player backlash is admirable, I really just wish you would wake up to the financial drain that this Trader Draining charity giveaway system is putting upon your bottom line profitability.

Ahhh well, hope springs eternal, they say.

*tips hat to ya*

=Ayes=

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Some people and their 'know it all' posts are really getting on my nerves now.

Big support here...do what needs to be done for the game. I'd pay even more than what the new charges are going to be.

For those of you threatening to quit...dont let the Champ spider bite you on the way out.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Rolf, I'm not going to sit here and be an armchair accountant, telling you how to run your business. This is the first price hike you have ever had to do, and to be honest I'm surprised that you did not have to raise rates a long time ago. Don't let the children crying upset you, do what you have to in order to keep the business running. Yes, some will quit, but is there any big change you've made that didn't cause some to ragequit?

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't really see much point in people just repeating their complaints from the other thread. You should just lock it, Rolf, or else we will end up with 25+ pages of the same. Judging by the temperature from in-game most people seem okay with the price raise. Stick by your decision and we will see how it goes, I am sure not anywhere near as bad as the doomsayers from thread 1 says.

Thats very easy to say wen is not your pocket the one will be suffering the concecuences of a good/bad decision.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't have a problem with the increase in price, I completely understand. It is a bit steep considering my wife and I run 6 characters altogether though. If that's abuse (keep in mind that they are ALL prem) well I guess you found a way to combat that abuse. But the game is just not going to be as fun knowing how much more money I'm running considering no other games are that expensive or necessary to have this many characters. I'm sorry but that is my only point of view. Come up with at least a plan with a reasonable ETA on launch that allows us to have multiple characters per account. (I'm ok with even 2 as that's only a net 10% gain in price for me) and I wouldn't have any problem. I understand that 10% may not be a high enough gain, but 60% is too much at this point for that many characters. We have to find a meeting ground.

Anyway, just my two cents as I still await a response as to how to pay for a year on a couple of my characters before the change takes hold.

Edit: I got a response this morning already, didn't check my email. Rolf and staff are of course still trying to figure out exactly what they're doing so just sitting tight for now to see how this goes.

Edited by namalesca

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Remove paying for premium in game with silver and add a gift player premium option this would allow players to trade silver to other players for premium problem on income via premium sorted!

Combine all server king's funds and share out equal agai to spread silver across all servers also garentee and that start deed traders always get a share.

kings to gain a small share as if they where traders to help grow pvp towns and build economy's with in each kingdom. This would also mean they can "pay" there officers and/or give them access to funds to buy supllies such as weapons ect for armours (would really kick start the pvp economey encouraging silver sales).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

remove traders.

keep everything the same.

wait 2months.

profit.

Indeed call the traders bluff that they will all rage quit, and reevaluate CodeAB finances. Because there is no down side to it for any possible choice they have.

1) trader drainers rage quit, no loss to Rolf because they was not paying cash for the game, a win for noobs that now the spawn trader actually has silver for their pelts and furs they managed to kill. There will still be too many people with cash yet little time, willing to hire these noobs with much time yet little cash; just look how many deeds/chars sell for cash there are those willing to pay a lot to play a lot.

2) they continue to play as free players, disavowing the premium server feature they was using. This keeps the player level high which increases the quantity of other players converted to premium. And we all know once your main goes premium it is really hard going back to 20skill which means they will either recategorize as rage quit, or the next category.

3) they start paying for silver and premium using the shop with real cash. Of course win for CodeAB that they have recouped some previously lost income. Even if they cut back their multi-deed/alt playstyles as many have said they do as they are not wiling to pay more than AAA standard subscription for the game, this is is still and increase over zero income from their play.

Simple move to give GM the smash the private trader enclosure hammer. Give the trader owner 10 sleep powder if he is wiling to allow the GM to delete the trader. If the now public trader remains, just like there are time bans on many activities such as breeding and grooming, put a limit on a single persons frequency of use of a public trader, to minimize possibility of draining griefing. The trader just simply lies that they have no silver today.

If this is not sufficient retention profit with trader drainers now paying, then make up the diference with the premium/silver hike. But you have to leave premium/silver purchase in game so the noobs have the opportunity to convert to premium by earning it thru hard wark because that increases player conversion. That small amount of recirculated silver will not be an issue when it is not coming from trader draining, because the path back to original cash for that silver becomes now very short, and creates a functional economy of traders, players and merchants all working together for the good of the kingdom and CodeAB

Edited by yarnevk

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Remove paying for premium in game with silver and add a gift player premium option this would allow players to trade silver to other players for premium problem on income via premium sorted!

Combine all server king's funds and share out equal agai to spread silver across all servers also garentee and that start deed traders always get a share.

kings to gain a small share as if they where traders to help grow pvp towns and build economy's with in each kingdom. This would also mean they can "pay" there officers and/or give them access to funds to buy supllies such as weapons ect for armours (would really kick start the pvp economey encouraging silver sales).

Get rid of kings getting anything all together and make them fight for it by PvPing.

Reduce Trader payouts like they were when it took 10-12 months to get back the money from buying the coin from the shop. Not 1 or 2 months and you can keep buying and planting them endlessly sucking money from all new and old players who buy coin and plant just deeds who do not have Traders.

At least back then there was some benefit to Rolf because the player had actually play awhile and pay some even after the 10-12 months.

I just don't see how the Current system of People cashing in on other peoples deeds upkeep for large sums of coins is helping more people in the end.

That said I have bought traders a long time ago when they were first allowed and bought much coin from the shop to have them. Over time they paid out slowly, but eventually paid me back.

Just recently I move to a new server for the first time ever and I plop down a trader and get 40-50s or more the first month or two and am still getting 30s+ a month.

I just feel this is way to much and its taking advantage of new players and those who are against them who actually buy coin from the shop and make deeds.

These Payouts should be reduced and some of that Coin passed out in other ways to enhance gameplay for all players.

Edited by Protunia
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The "king" is a string of beeps and boops ruling over the spaghetti code, not an actual player

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The issue with raising prices is a matter of economics of a "for profit" company and is fine. However, it does have ramifications within the virtual economy due to how the silver was/is tied to the euro. You could have raised the price 1% and people would have complained.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The "king" is a string of beeps and boops ruling over the spaghetti code, not an actual player

In PvP its a player and they should not get anything at all from the games upkeep.

They should be out there promoting PvP and fighting for Coin not sitting around waiting for a handout.

Edited by Protunia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In PvP its a player and they should not get anything at all from the games upkeep.

N-no? But they don't

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Rolf do what you need to do the core players are not going anywhere and will support you as we grow.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

N-no? But they don't

kings to gain a small share as if they where traders to help grow pvp towns and build economy's with in each kingdom. This would also mean they can "pay" there officers and/or give them access to funds to buy supllies such as weapons ect for armours (would really kick start the pvp economey encouraging silver sales).

Ayhow Good Luck with changes Rolf, I hope you can find other ways to keep more of them happy about it.

Edited by Protunia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
Sign in to follow this