As it stands, the number of posts so far work out at more than a post a minute. It should be clear from that, that this isn’t a slight disgruntlement. This is a genuine issue Anet should recognise and start working through.
There is a lot of speculation that this is simply a money grab, and while there can be some merit there, simply because just to top up your gem stash to where you want it means either sinking a lot more gold than you need to just to get to your magic number (ok, you end up with more gems, but do you want those at the moment), or, if you haven’t the gold and want something that bad, you then have to buy gems. You pay over the odds for the number of gems you want, or you fork out the RL money.
Microsoft had a similar thing with their MS Points. Perhaps that was what Gaile was referring to as inline with other shopping forms. Perhaps someone should tell Anet how MS points are doing at the moment – they were gotten rid of in favour of a more transparent balance of actual money loaded into the account.
While I imagine the greedy side of Anet had an influence, I can also see that they were trying to solve a problem or confusion with the current system. That of inputting your gold and then coming out with what it will get you rather than inputting a gem number and getting the price back. But the “fix” is typical Anet of late. They start with a decent enough idea and good intentions, and just ride it off the cliff, going so overboard that the result does not really solve the initial problem and introduces new ones.
The idea of having the bulk amounts as options is fine. Nice, and easy for a simple go to in those moments you want to buy big. But why in Grenth’s name did this added functionality (and a very nice addition it would have been too) come at the cost of the present, clunky but otherwise very good current system. Was there seriously no way to incorporate both? Surely in a meeting somewhere the decision was made to remove the old functionality and replace it with this. What was the rationale behind such a decision? And if it was just something that happened without that discussion, that is a very serious failure of quality assurance and basic design. Its easy to jump to conclusions that this was an intentional change to force more gem purchases. A dastardly ploy indeed, and if true very regrettable. But I’m still not convinced it wasn’t just bungling. And that is no less a concern.
And once more, many of these design errors (I still like to believe they were errors, even if I’m less convinced of that) could have been avoided if the feature was discussed in the weeks before the patch. This is why transparency is needed. Oversights and mix ups are fine if you discuss them with us before release, because then they are sorted before they hit live, and we feel great for having helped a little. We still have no real idea of what is coming or the direction the game is taking, except to say from the path it has taken so far, we are not convinced there is a jolly destination at the end. Communication with us, greater transparency with is and a greater respect to your players (that, intentionally or not, is seriously lacking at the moment) would do wonders, would actually create trust in you guys and avoid the negativity, both on this forum and in news reports like tentonhammer an joystiq, both of which have something about the current row. Are you guys so blind to the PR disaster that is being unleashed? Its a pandoras box. Its out there now and its not getting back in the box. The only way to save face and rebuild is to engage. For the sake of the game we love and the members of the company that, despite this still have some respect from the community, be proactive and work with us. Do not ignore us.
There is no confusion and people aren’t speculating. Arenanet saw that other companies were making more money because they force you to buy in blocks and they want to join that crowd. The people making the decisions probably went to a conference or party and someone from one of the other companies told them how much revenue they are missing out on by letting people buy the exact amount they need. There are many extremely easy fixes they could add to fix this that have been suggested in this thread. All of them have one thing in common and that is allow you to convert exactly the amount you need. I’m pretty sure that is the one suggestion they don’t want to hear as it was mentioned a couple times before Gaile came in to the thread.
(edited by Lobo Dela Noche.5127)
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