Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium

I’m not buying nothing cause there ain’t nothing I want.

Put some stuff I want in there and I will buy the [mod edit] out of it!

@glannigan said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

I’m not buying nothing cause there ain’t nothing I want.

Put some stuff I want in there and I will buy the [mod edit] out of it!

I have a bit of interest in the pets. but I'm not buying on principle.

@itz-majman said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

ok, thanks for sharing

This took longer than I expected. :D

As an aside, it also just feels weird in a game where all items you collect are cosmetics to have a cash shop, since the entire progression of the game is earning more cosemtics.

It's a pretty standard trick in commerce. You are always going to have some pennies left over from any $50 gift card.

But I see your point in a small closed market like this one. If Rare were being totally honest they would round off their purchase prices and their asking prices.

Purchase 50 coins for $5- / Pets cost 50 coins. = Pet cost $5

But as you have probably noticed, Rare are not very honest. Or maybe they just have to wait for Brexit so they can set their own prices without regulations from Brussels :)

@Tahngarthor I am shocked.

I took the 4250 coins (or whatever they're called) for 35 Euro...bought the emote-pack and one pet...
I've put so many hours into this game it's worth more than the 70 I paid (with sharing for two copies)

@starquest said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@tahngarthor Because it is a legal issue. They allow us to earn ancient coins in game. Rare isnt allowed to let you earn real money.

1. I'm not asking to earn real money? I'm not sure where you got this. There is no legal reason why they have to price content in amounts that are indivisble from any of the currency amounts they're selling.
2. The game and all the media about the emporium says the ancient coins are purchased with real money. I wasn't aware that they were earnable in any way. (i've certainly yet to come across any)

@klutchxking518 said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@jetorchidee97 So your boycotting the emporium because you dont want to pay for something?

No. I'm boycotting the emporium because the items sold within are priced at values which are not divisible by any of the currency amounts for sale. i.e.

You can (example, not actual values) buy a bundle of 500 coins. In the shop you find content priced at 249 coins, or 499 coins. Any of these purchases will leave you with (at least) 1 coin left over. Therefore, you have to buy a minimum of 9 more things from the shop, if you want to spend all of your currency. And that's assuming everything else adds up correctly.

Even Riot Games in League generally sells its content with prices that are divisible by 10 so it's annoying, but not impossible, to spend all your purchased currency.

This is not a problem in games/services which simply charge a real money price. For Example, in Overwatch you can buy a bundle of lootboxes for $9.99. You don't have to buy a special currency, so you simply pay them $9.99- And rather than earning currency to buy the boxes, you can earn the boxes directly instead. Here in Sea of Thieves, if I want anything from the cash shop I will have change left over that I can neither spend, nor get back. This is my problem and why I won't buy on principle. I am left with unspent, unspendable value and thus I don't get the full value of my purchase- Even if it's just a tiny amount, this bothers me. Custom ingame currency is just an infuriating middleman to me.

To be clear: this is an intentional tactic, particularly in mobile games, because it makes it hard to determine the value you're getting for your money, and companies use this tactic because they believe they will make more money this way (and perhaps they do, but probably only by a very modest amount). But some companies, such as blizzard, love them or hate them, they price content in real money so you know exactly what you're getting and exactly how much you're paying for it.

@muzackmann said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

I would have a little more problem with it if not for the ancient skellies. Those could boost you up to still get you something out of your leftover coins without spending more. Its a bit of a shady marketing practice but the ability to still earn in game negates a lot of it even if they are rare finds
Now if I was paying for dlc I would definitely have nothing to do with it, but since thats not the case I just consider it a little added support for a game I love.

I'm not completely against microtransactions. I have paid to support a few favorite games that I truly enjoyed and felt like the developers deserved more for their work. I'm simply against this specific practice of making it difficult to spend your currency.

@klutchxking518 said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@tahngarthor i really dont see the problem. what about gold, it does the same thing? I can see it with doubloons, but with these i really dont see the issue. Cherish every last coin, be happy that you have leftover. Youll have more to spend next time.

Gold is different because you don't buy it with real money; Everything is also priced in nice round numbers for gold, so it makes it easy to determine what you can do with the amount you have.

@viperishemu2992 said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

It's a pretty standard trick in commerce. You are always going to have some pennies left over from any $50 gift card.

But I see your point in a small closed market like this one. If Rare were being totally honest they would round off their purchase prices and their asking prices.

Purchase 50 coins for $5- / Pets cost 50 coins. = Pet cost $5

But as you have probably noticed, Rare are not very honest. Or maybe they just have to wait for Brexit so they can set their own prices without regulations from Brussels :)

The difference with a gift card is you can just pay the difference. And, as I said originally, when you give somebody $50 for a $49.95 purchase, you get the nickel back. When I spend $5 on 150 (made up number, to be clear) virtual coin things, and I buy something that costs 149 of them, I'm left with one that I can't spend, nor get my money back for. I'm now forced to buy much more to ever have the oppertunity to spend my entire balance. In contrast to your example, i've never met a gift card that didn't let me spend the entire remaining balance and pay the rest by another method.

That aside, you understood the point I was trying to make. If you sell 500 ancient coins, then have content that's priced at 500, or some division thereof. Make it easy to understand what I'm getting for my money, and don't leave me with any tiny amounts of unspendable currency.

@tahngarthor I absolutely understand your point and agree with you. Rare could have come with straight up prices 1=1. Instead they played the "left pennies" game.

I am with you. I'm not buying anything from the Emporium either because this type of "trickery" leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

@boxcar-squidy said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

My maths might be wrong here but even going with the smallest and worst value bundle which is $1.99 for 150 coins. That means that 1 ancient coin is worth 1.32 cents.

Are you really making a fuss over less than 2 cents? It's a little bit of a gouge, but we're not exactly accusing Rare of the crime of the centuary here.

I can see your issue in principal. I can also see Rare's desire to continue funding development. If that requires a 1 cent "buying from the Emporium tax" to be levied on all purchases, then I'm happy to pay it, I might even pay your share too.

I enjoy this game, I'm really happy with Rare having stuck with it over the last year and a half and I want to see it continue. My enjoyment of this game is worth giving Rare a less than 10% tip in the store the next time I feel like making a purchase. That's my view.

I mean lets be real here, I tipped my barista more than 2 cents just this morning, and my coffee wasn't even all that good.

It's a matter of principle, not the amount. The point is, it basically skims small amounts of money off every user. a couple cents from one person isn't much but it adds up from every customer. Plus OCD can play in a bit. I want to be able to spend all my currency and get it down to zero. If I'm unable to do that, than the remainder equates to free extra money for the developer with no value provided to the customer for it. There's just no good reason to do this, it's irritating. I want to spend all of the money I paid for the goods, I want to have zero left over when I'm done. It's not the amount, it's the principle.

If I condone these practices by making a purchase, it validates the practice and encourages more companies to do it. And this is how we got the loot box debacle. Every so often somebody has to test the boundaries of what players will consider acceptable.

@klutchxking518 said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@tahngarthor im not even gonna read this post because it wasmt directed to you. It was for @JetOrchidee97

Then remind me not to read your posts because mine weren't specificially directed at you. That's some terrible logic, Don't bother posting if you're not going to read something, simply don't read it. I don't need to know this. I'm not asking for a response from you, I'm simply covering everything t hat's been discussed since I last posted. I don't care who it was "directed at."

@drbullhammer said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@tahngarthor said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@klutchxking518 said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@tahngarthor im not even gonna read this post because it wasmt directed to you. It was for @JetOrchidee97

Then remind me not to read your posts because mine weren't specificially directed at you. That's some terrible logic, Don't bother posting if you're not going to read something, simply don't read it. I don't need to know this. I'm not asking for a response from you, I'm simply covering everything t hat's been discussed since I last posted. I don't care who it was "directed at."

Easy there, no need to get so worked up. You can share your opinion and feedback without getting so worked up over everything and the devs would likely be more receptive to your feedback.

I'm not worked up, I just don't understand why you felt the need to tell me you didn't read something. It honestly suggests to me you did read it, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered. It simply doesn't make sense, no more or less than that.

@drbullhammer said in Why I won't buy anything from the Emporium:

@tahngarthor you quoted the first reply I've made in this thread. I'm not that other person and given how quickly you replied to me, you seem a bit worked up over things.

You can't tell if someone is "worked up" in text, without all caps or other strong language. I'm not upset, I just don't understand why you would tell me you didn't read something (and that makes it kinda seem like you did). I quoted you because your comment was relevant to the discussion and it contained a statement I wanted to address for the thread (and not necessarily you specifically.)

If you're not interested in reading something, just don't read it. Nobody needs to be notified that you didn't.