What does the current overprice mean and why do it?

[Protos_Angelus]

With the release of the much hated pre-order (basically giving money for nothing hoping that nothing turns into something), we've seen some steep prices, which can mean two things.
Either SSG is handicapped (slow cause the other word is not PC) or they are doing really badly, having to rely on hardcore fans. I know that nobody in their right mind would buy anything past Base Content for Mordor. Welcome, hardcores, people that will support the game, even if they literally shat, packaged that said poop, and decided to sell it with the bonus of a title "Shat upon". I'm pretty sure people would buy a package of poop + a title just to have that sense of completion (same as why people buy iPhones when they can barely put food on the table). Of course, some people can afford to buy 10x Ultimate Mordor expansions without blinking an eye, they are still a minor minority.
Why on God's green earth would you price an expansion at 40$+ on a game that is unstable, laggy, where frames oscillate from 5-105 not depending on the specification.
Furthermore, based on the experience of the past "Content updates", which had such poorly written quest-lines and animations (let's not forget Pelennor), I question the quality of the new ones.
You've rushed Mordor hoping it would bring in some profit, overpriced it to target diehard fans, but what then?
I really hope you get something out of this cause I would hate to see this game die at the hands of incompetent programmers that are unable to do anything besides glue useless features on top of the engine without reworking the said engine one bit.
I know I won't be buying the expansion, but will wait for the discount and some feedback about it.
P.S. Stop hiring freshmen as your programmers.

[greetingsdownunder]

"‘In this phial,’ she said, ‘is caught the light of Eärendil’s star, set amid the waters of my fountain.
It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. Remember Galadriel and her Mirror!’"

[Silverangel]

[INDENT]"‘In this phial,’ she said, ‘is caught the light of Eärendil’s star, set amid the waters of my fountain.
It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. Remember Galadriel and her Mirror!’"

Thanks, now all I need is a hot shower and a reliable way to induce short term memory loss. So much venom it's painful to even look at.

[Beastnas]

They've priced it as such because they can. There are enough people this far in the game's life who will buy these ludicrous bundles, it would be a bad move to NOT offer them. The reasonable folks are not part of the equation here.

[Onno]

They've priced it as such because they are very, very desperate for cash.
Obviously, they are more or less bankrupt need it to keep their company going.
At least, this is the only explanation I can come up with to justify this insane price-model.

After the first Mordor-beta, I was planning on buying the expansion to support SSG for developing something halfway decent for once, but this is just ridiculous.
Well, maybe they are just milking their cash-cows because they can, but I refuse to believe that they are this mean-spirited.
Desperation seems to be a better explanation.

[ElanorFb]

They've priced it as such because they are very, very desperate for cash.
Obviously, they are more or less bankrupt need it to keep their company going.
At least, this is the only explanation I can come up with to justify this insane price-model.

After the first Mordor-beta, I was planning on buying the expansion to support SSG for developing something halfway decent for once, but this is just ridiculous.
Well, maybe they are just milking their cash-cows because they can, but I refuse to believe that they are this mean-spirited.
Desperation seems to be a better explanation.

The days of decent-hearted companies are long past. They will try to take all they can - nothing more or less. In this case they know they will sell plenty regardless of what they do. The super-deluxe platinum mithril diamond version is just gravy, as is however many subscribers they can trick into paying an extra $40.

[Starina]

Since when is 40 quit a lot of money? Most school kids even when I grew up got more pocket money than that (and we are talking many years ago).
And the two other bundles are for those who wish to support the game further, getting a few extras thrown in, nothing needed to enjoy the new content.

It just mind boggles me to see people complaining about such a low price, basically any one can save up for, and we knew this expansion was coming, had plenty of time to save for it too.

[gorma_eu]

FFXIV Stormblood expansion released 1 month ago and did cost 30 bucks. Here's what you got:

- 2 new raids
- 2 new classes
- several new dungeons
- 2 new world bosses
- 7 new areas with a ton of quests / fates
- underwater combat and quests
- combat revamp
- class revamp of all classes
- new housing area
- new expeditions
- bigger inventory
- new crafting tier
- new gear sets
- level cap increased by ten with new skills for all classes. Also new class quests for all classes
- new story quests
- 1 month subscription(so the actual price tag of the xpac alone would be 15 bucks)
- physical copy of the game

this game is 5 years old. You can buy a colletors edition for 40 bucks which includes all content released so far(base game, old expansions+ the new expansion stormblood) + 1 month subscription.

What do we get with mordor for 40 bucks:

- A part of mordor
- 300 quests
- Deedgrind
- Allegiance system(basically just reputation grind gated quests)
- improved visuals on 2 races
- level cap increased by 10. No new skills so this is pointless

If you spend 80 bucks you also get:

- high elf race



----------------

This is just so silly. There's no rational reasoning for this huge price tag, I mean they should be aware of what their competitors offer for the price. As some people already mentioned this could only be desperation. It's not even the price which is so upsetting. It's that this is simply not an expansion by the standards the competitors set. This is just a questpack which is more expensive than the expansions other companies sell.

[Silverangel]

This is just so silly. There's no rational reasoning for this huge price tag, I mean they should be aware of what their competitors offer for the price. As some people already mentioned this could only be desperation. It's not even the price which is so upsetting. It's that this is simply not an expansion by the standards the competitors set. This is just a questpack which is more expensive than the expansions other companies sell.

FFXIV is a subscription game

$40 isn't a "huge price tag"

you left out several things from the mordor list, conveniently, like the crafting tier and dungeon content covered by the xpack price

Standing Stone is more of an Indie developer now, not Square Enix with ¥214.101 billion in annual revenues ..

[greetingsdownunder]

FFXIV Stormblood expansion released 1 month ago and did cost 30 bucks. Here's what you got:

- 2 new raids
- 2 new classes
- several new dungeons
- 2 new world bosses
- 7 new areas with a ton of quests / fates
- underwater combat and quests
- combat revamp
- class revamp of all classes
- new housing area
- new expeditions
- bigger inventory
- new crafting tier
- new gear sets
- level cap increased by ten with new skills for all classes. Also new class quests for all classes
- new story quests
- 1 month subscription(so the actual price tag of the xpac alone would be 15 bucks)
- physical copy of the game

this game is 5 years old. You can buy a colletors edition for 40 bucks which includes all content released so far(base game, old expansions+ the new expansion stormblood) + 1 month subscription.

What do we get with mordor for 40 bucks:

- A part of mordor
- 300 quests
- Deedgrind
- Allegiance system(basically just reputation grind gated quests)
- improved visuals on 2 races
- level cap increased by 10. No new skills so this is pointless

If you spend 80 bucks you also get:

- high elf race



----------------

This is just so silly. There's no rational reasoning for this huge price tag, I mean they should be aware of what their competitors offer for the price. As some people already mentioned this could only be desperation. It's not even the price which is so upsetting. It's that this is simply not an expansion by the standards the competitors set. This is just a questpack which is more expensive than the expansions other companies sell.

Best analysis I've seen of a AAA MMO vs LOTRO high cost, low value production.

[tixooo]

FFXIV is a subscription game

$40 isn't a "huge price tag"

you left out several things from the mordor list, conveniently, like the crafting tier and dungeon content covered by the xpack price

Standing Stone is more of an Indie developer now, not Square Enix with ¥214.101 billion in annual revenues ..

hard to argue when there is no reason or brain on the other side

[gorma_eu]

FFXIV is a subscription game

$40 isn't a "huge price tag"

you left out several things from the mordor list, conveniently, like the crafting tier and dungeon content covered by the xpack price

Standing Stone is more of an Indie developer now, not Square Enix with ¥214.101 billion in annual revenues ..

Its actually free2play until level 35 without any restrictions other than not being allowed to use the auction house as far as I remember. Comparable to lotro in the sense that you could play it for free but have to invest money if you want to see end game. A free trial so to speak. Regarding the dungeon content, noone knows at this point what this dungeon content will be or when it will be released. Will you enjoy it ? Maybe, maybe not who knows, pretty much a gamble. In other MMO's you actually know what you spend your money on.

I actually didn't know that there will be a new crafting tier so we could add this to mordors tiny feature list. Other than that, did you notice the huge gap in the feature list, not just the actual amount but quality of things? We're not talking about one or two features. And this is okay because SSG is unsuccessful compared to sqaure enix? The thing about indie games and companies is that you mostly get a hell of a lot bang out of your buck and these games rarly cost more than 20 bucks. So this is pretty much the opposite of what we are getting offered here.

When this game was owned by WB(13 billion $ annual revenues vs 1,8 billion $ of square enix), content quality and quantity was exactly the same - nowhere near a stormblood expansion - not even in the same universe

[Gyes]

Since when is 40 quit a lot of money? Most school kids even when I grew up got more pocket money than that (and we are talking many years ago).
And the two other bundles are for those who wish to support the game further, getting a few extras thrown in, nothing needed to enjoy the new content.

It just mind boggles me to see people complaining about such a low price, basically any one can save up for, and we knew this expansion was coming, had plenty of time to save for it too.

The expansion isn't unaffordable. It's not worth the cost to wide swaths of the population. There's a huge difference.

[VixenGirl]

[QUOTE=Gyes;7743110]The expansion isn't unaffordable. It's not worth the cost to wide swaths of the population. There's a huge difference.[/QUOTE}

I agree with this, value vs affordability. However, my thing is about this pre order.....and was changed to PRE-PURCHASE. IF, I would have known I could buy that same day, I would have. But they sorta made it seemed that it was not. Right on the Launcher it clearly says PRE-ORDER but then on the side says PRE-PURCHASE. I'm feeling sorta blah knowing that I could go in and test the area live before buying. (Yes, I went to all three Betas, and tested out a little)

[bovine123]

And the two other bundles are for those who wish to support the game further, getting a few extras thrown in, nothing needed to enjoy the new content.

But don't they contain the High Elf which I think most would agree is new content? Yes it can be bought separately but saying those other 2 contain no new content isn't really 100% accurate.

[Denhith]

The expansion isn't unaffordable. It's not worth the cost to wide swaths of the population. There's a huge difference.

First off, hello Gyes. Secondly, spot on. This is the point those who are defending/excusing SSG for this latest (of many) blunders keep missing. At this point, I'm inclined to believe they are missing it intentionally.

[Protos_Angelus]

FFXIV is a subscription game

$40 isn't a "huge price tag"

you left out several things from the mordor list, conveniently, like the crafting tier and dungeon content covered by the xpack price

Standing Stone is more of an Indie developer now, not Square Enix with ¥214.101 billion in annual revenues ..

So being a non-AAA company excuses them from making good content?
I can list a ton of Indie devs that made brilliant stuff. From Larian to Crate Entertainment.
SSG is just plain lazy.
LOTRO is also subscription based freemium. You pretty much have to pay for every content beyond Bree.
40$ is not a huge price tag if you live in EU West or US, however, in Croatia, it is a pretty high price tag for an expansion. Since the prices do not scale in the digital world, you can't really compare.
SSG is not an indie developer now. They have a AAA game in their hands. Admit it or not, LOTRO is a AAA game. It's huge, got lots of content, and back in the day was played a lot.
Because of poor planning and execution, it's having it's last fart.

[Arnenna]

Since when is 40 quit a lot of money? Most school kids even when I grew up got more pocket money than that (and we are talking many years ago).
And the two other bundles are for those who wish to support the game further, getting a few extras thrown in, nothing needed to enjoy the new content.

It just mind boggles me to see people complaining about such a low price, basically any one can save up for, and we knew this expansion was coming, had plenty of time to save for it too.

It's not about the price of it, it's about the lack of what's in it.

I pay a sub, but to play Mordor I have to now buy an expac that has nothing in it that I will use by pre-purchase. Sure, I can wait til much later and buy it for LP, without the item I will not use, but hey, I pay already, and that means I'm paying to play a game that I cannot play, unless I pay more for an item I do not want.

[Feadel]

But don't they contain the High Elf which I think most would agree is new content? Yes it can be bought separately but saying those other 2 contain no new content isn't really 100% accurate.

Actually, from what I've seen and read, the high elf isn't new content. It is merely a reskin of the elf given a new name and access to the Captain class. There is a short opening area and then you wake up in the regular elf starting area. So, not really new content and not (in my opinion) worth $40 to start at level 1 to grind my way through another 105 levels of a class I have done twice or don't like to play (Captain). And beyond that, so far, your high elf captain doesn't even get an elven herald.

Sure, $40 is affordable, but why should I pay when, as a lifer, I can buy it for points around Winterfest and consider it part of my $200 investment back when the game started?

[Silverangel]

A free trial so to speak...

Regarding the dungeon content, noone knows at this point what this dungeon content will be or when it will be released. Will you enjoy it ? Maybe, maybe not who knows, pretty much a gamble. In other MMO's you actually know what you spend your money on.

I actually didn't know that there will be a new crafting tier so we could add this to mordors tiny feature list.

When this game was owned by WB(13 billion $ annual revenues vs 1,8 billion $ of square enix), content quality and quantity was exactly the same

Right, FFXIV has a free trial to level 35 now - but it's still a subscription MMO.

Yes, I know FFXIV dungeons are boring, and I would not spend any money on them. I couldn't make it past L50 in ARR because it was so boring.

So you haven't really researched Mordor, but you feel qualified to say it has a tiny feature list.

The original launch of FFXIV was the worst pile of MMO garbage I've ever paid for (in advance, of course). Square Enix ripped me off for $60 that I still want back, and then charged me a second time to play their MMO rebooted. So they really shouldn't be held up on a pedestal here.

Let's try a different statistic as far as Square Enix vs. Standing Stone. The dev team for FFXIV is reportedly 264. https://mmoexaminer.com/big-developm...l-fantasy-xiv/

The dev team for LotRO is closer to 26.4.

[Elgrind]

So being a non-AAA company excuses them from making good content?
I can list a ton of Indie devs that made brilliant stuff. From Larian to Crate Entertainment.
SSG is just plain lazy.
LOTRO is also subscription based freemium. You pretty much have to pay for every content beyond Bree.
40$ is not a huge price tag if you live in EU West or US, however, in Croatia, it is a pretty high price tag for an expansion. Since the prices do not scale in the digital world, you can't really compare.
SSG is not an indie developer now. They have a AAA game in their hands. Admit it or not, LOTRO is a AAA game. It's huge, got lots of content, and back in the day was played a lot.
Because of poor planning and execution, it's having it's last fart.

Excuse, everywhere i have read are plenty excuses.
SSG is worse than Turbine...

Turbine released all expansion with group content.
Turbine released ToDT raid as a latest raid.
They maked 3 new classes (warden, rk, beorn)

SSG make the wastes update with REP farm exploit, gold farm spot etc.
SSG release unfinised expansion without any group content.
SSG forced to pay expansion with real money or wait 6MONTHS !!!

Turbine or SSG it is still same ####, but atleast Turbine maked a good SoM,MoM,SoM,ToO,OD ....
SSG do nothing, charge with horrible price tag...

Sometime I wish this LOTRO´s dilema should be ended fastly.
So another good company can take in and make another one f.e. Middle Earth Online or so.

Too bad I chose Lotro over FF XIV few year ago. I should chose FF XIV when it was released.
Nevermind, whatever

[Starina]

To those who say it is not about the price, you are indeed correct - it is about an aging game which does not have the cash flow it once had. We want this game to keep running and to still see new content, we have to reach deeper into our pockets.

As for the High Elves, this really is a pure luxury. No new class, just a new race. I doubt I will even bother, I have enough at cap level, though I will get the race as part of the bundle, same as other stuff I am not as such interested in. For me however it is about supporting the game and new content. A gamble in its own right, for who knows what is waiting, but I am willing to make that gamble for the off chance that there will be something of interest coming. I guess I see it as paying forward, less about paying for something now. Maybe I will end disappointed, but there is heaps I enjoy as is, still after all these years, and so it is worth it for me either way.

[greetingsdownunder]

Sure, $40 is affordable, but why should I pay when, as a lifer, I can buy it for points around Winterfest and consider it part of my $200 investment back when the game started?

If I was a lifer who didn't care about puff cosmetics, this is exactly what I'd do.

The Mordor Expansion and High Elf costs in LOTRO Points are so low, that the $80 is a complete joke.

[gorma_eu]

Right, FFXIV has a free trial to level 35 now - but it's still a subscription MMO.

Yes, I know FFXIV dungeons are boring, and I would not spend any money on them. I couldn't make it past L50 in ARR because it was so boring.

So you haven't really researched Mordor, but you feel qualified to say it has a tiny feature list.

The original launch of FFXIV was the worst pile of MMO garbage I've ever paid for (in advance, of course). Square Enix ripped me off for $60 that I still want back, and then charged me a second time to play their MMO rebooted. So they really shouldn't be held up on a pedestal here.

Let's try a different statistic as far as Square Enix vs. Standing Stone. The dev team for FFXIV is reportedly 264. https://mmoexaminer.com/big-developm...l-fantasy-xiv/

The dev team for LotRO is closer to 26.4.

ARR is a completly new game - apart from that I compare ARR(not ffxiv online) to lotro. You are free to add more features to the mordor list to to make an argument as I'm apparently not qualified to do so. What gamechanging features did I miss? Apart from that you are allowed to like what ever you want but apparently around 1 million people chose ARR over lotro. So what you like more is not really an argument in a fact based comparison, I guess you would agree.

Of course they have more developers because WB weren't crazy enough to burn money on something without hope. ARR have more developers because they are successful, its simple as that.

This is more of a wakeup call for the red pilled people - to think once. If you want to support SSG no matter what, fine. It's actually totally the right thing to do. But just don't argue that silly way.

[Silverangel]

ARR is a completly new game - apart from that I compare ARR(not ffxiv online) to lotro.

It was mostly the same game - same cities, leves, crafting, races, classes, textures, models, except they upgraded things like character creation, UI usability, and added an auction house and a few new classes along with class revamps.