“Inflation” even in the virtual world? Ridiculous rising “prices” in Tanki

[Opex-Rah 5,381]

Great way to say "thank you" pal. 

[Opex-Rah 5,381]

One thing that makes me upset about this whole topic is a fact that you consider discount kits as an garage item that should justify its pricing.

 

No, it should not. It is a discount. For a huge set of items.

 

Besides, supply kits are not meant for non-buyers. If you never consider donating to the game you should not buying supply kits at all. Not even supplies themselves. It is much wiser to stock everyday supplies presents and carefully spend supplies when absolutely needed. Making small donations to buy new turret or hull is justifiable but expendables? This is just a bad strategy.

[LetErRipTaterChip 1]

I think the prices are ok. I think m's should be cheaper.

[crackgold2 399]

wth u are just crying over 5k crys (bigfacepalm)

[zainslimshady 474]

One thing that makes me upset about this whole topic is a fact that you consider discount kits as an garage item that should justify its pricing.

 

No, it should not. It is a discount. For a huge set of items.

 

Besides, supply kits are not meant for non-buyers. If you never consider donating to the game you should not buying supply kits at all. Not even supplies themselves. It is much wiser to stock everyday supplies presents and carefully spend supplies when absolutely needed. Making small donations to buy new turret or hull is justifiable but expendables? This is just a bad strategy.

http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=244016&p=4338494 

 

25%  sale on 23rd feb.

is it just because TO is waiting for kits in garage to expire thats the reason they are giving discounts on 23rd. awesome  :D

 

first of all you guys made even worse now i dont even see any kits in garage. if you are going to give  stupid reasons like "you already have one item from that kit" "it will not profit you"  etc then please just remove all the kits permanently for everyone. be fair to all.

 

and dont you guys talk about profit cause i know what is going to profit me and what is not.  -_-

[jomama_tanker 117]

Great way to say "thank you" pal. 

 

I already “thank" Tanki enough by supporting it financially. I’m a buyer who has made significant investments into the game.  Or to put it differently, I am not one of the many freeloaders who play the game for free, then have the audacity to complain about “buyers”.  Without the financial support of buyers, Tanki would cease to exist and there would be no game for others to freeload. Developers, documentation writers, graphic artists, marketing, administration and the many dozens of other adults who make Tanki possible aren’t going to work for free, nor should we expect them to. However, it doesn’t justify the pricing strategies currently in use.

 

I’ve run my own successful business for the past 13 years. I support a family (with two kids who also got me into playing Tanki) and still I find time to enjoy this game whenever I am able. So when I complain about something like this, it’s because there’s a real world cost associated with it. I’ve paid my dues…have you?

Edited February 13, 2015 by jomama_tanker

[Promissory 569]

Crimson Saviour is right... you can't expect many Russiansto be playing at 3:00 in the morning (which is around when the server updates go off) but during about 17:00 UTC Russian servers are completely packed. 

You are right, the number of players is definitely declining though. Every one of my real life friends has quit this game.

 

You can technically link the crystal inflation to actual inflation:

Tanki needs money --> Money is decreasing in its worth due to inflation --> they need more money than before --> more players need to buy crystals --> They increase prices.

But I don't think that this is the case.

 

You can tell that everything is becoming more expensive, I mean just look at the Christmas discounts. Yes, it was a 50% off everything, but the double battlefunds were only three days long... it was more than a week last year. And only 2015 crystal goldboxes, I remember a time for the world cup alone when they went up to 8,000 crystals ( I believe). 

Last year, there was like a 70% off sale every month... nothing so far. There may be a miniscule valentines sale. 

Tanki Online is annoying me right now..

Duuude, at those times we EN players go play XP. I used to, now I can't. Before it was full even at those times... things change I guess :/

[r_II.Shoma0 5]

You get a 70% sale for nothing. What more do you want?

That's true everyone.

Stop down-voting things which are actually true. 

[Opex-Rah 5,381]

I already “thank" Tanki enough by supporting it financially. I’m a buyer who has made significant investments into the game.  Or to put it differently, I am not one of the many freeloaders who play the game for free, then have the audacity to complain about “buyers”.  Without the financial support of buyers, Tanki would cease to exist and there would be no game for others to freeload. Developers, documentation writers, graphic artists, marketing, administration and the many dozens of other adults who make Tanki possible aren’t going to work for free, nor should we expect them to. However, it doesn’t justify the pricing strategies currently in use.

 

I’ve run my own successful business for the past 13 years. I support a family (with two kids who also got me into playing Tanki) and still I find time to enjoy this game whenever I am able. So when I complain about something like this, it’s because there’s a real world cost associated with it. I’ve paid my dues…have you?

You have completely ignored my comment about Kits being a special type of discount, not the item itself.

 

Oh well... I got nothing to do neither with items pricing, nor with discounting policy. Therefore, I can't argue with you either pricing is justified or not but... If players do not feel that prices are justified somebody can really consider make them to. And if last year's sales will be considered to be the source of this lack of price meaning I believe this kind of attitude from players may result in removing sales entirely in the long run.

 

I wonder what will be introduced instead.

 

Well, anyway...

 

All I can say is the idea that these virtual goods got no good reason to be changed in price as long as there is no "manufacture" and "distribute" cost, is false. The game's economy runs on TIME and crystals are only a convenient way to evaluate it. Making higher prices makes players give more time to get them (by time itself or donation). Balance of free 2 play game economy is maintained by required time to get what player want. And even if making another 500 billion supplies costs nothing, time balance should be maintained. If maintaining makes Kits offer less discounts Kits will offer less discounts. As they are from now on.

[GG_reg 1,521]

Buying 1000 supplies is sooooo much cheaper than buying 1000 of the supplies separately. It was quite cheap and if it's "only 5%" then surely it doesn't matter too much.

[ELIZABETH1122 337]

Buying 1000 supplies is sooooo much cheaper than buying 1000 of the supplies separately. It was quite cheap and if it's "only 5%" then surely it doesn't matter too much.

Exactly the case

[DonutsForLife 292]

It seems to me, like all this forum is used for is for complaining/whining about the game/updates.. <_<

[Nathan1100 3]

Do you really expect the game to pay for itself? As you can tell this isn't just something they do in their free time.

 

Just saying, their paycheck has to come from somewhere!

Edited February 13, 2015 by Nathan1100

[swede1 1,726]

 I believe this kind of attitude from players may result in removing sales entirely in the long run.

 

I wonder what will be introduced instead.

 

Well, anyway...

 

 time balance should be maintained. 

These are two questions I would love to know more about, especially Time balance, I think it is one question that has been avoided by any type of answer, granted the studio has absolutely no obligation to justify any actions according to the Eula, and it is a volatile topic to bring up, and certainly not a topic that should be open for discussion in open topic, avoiding the question by the studio has created a flaming situation in all the forums in the game, which I believe is becoming detrimental to both the studio and the users of the game.

 

In which case, three possible ways forward arise, moderate with an iron fist, continue to ignore, or the most unlikely, get the honest viewpoint of the studios position on how well balanced the "Time Balance" ratio is in there opinion. end of discussion.  

[potato900 2]

 

I would be completely okay with a nominal price increase with the release of the Unity platform.  From what I have seen it may be a huge advancement in gameplay with improvements across the board. As with any software development there i a great deal of upfront and ongoing investment to create the product, maintain it and incrementally improve it. If Unity devliers in the promises it’ll be worth a bump in cost.

 

What I don’t want to see is a pattern of price increases for existing garage items unless there’s an improvement that justifies the price.

 

As an aside...It’s bad enough when the development team “rebalances” turrets and hulls.  I bought an m3 railgun whose impact force is now dramatically reduced all in the name of “rebalancing”.  Rebalancing is a polite way of saying development might reduce (or increase) the effectiveness of our turrets and hulls but they’re not going to compensate us if there’s a loss. Imagine the amount of crystals and time it would take to microupgrade that turret…..a long time and many tens of thousands of crystals. Players aren’t getting refunds for the reduced functionality of a turret in which they’ve invested a significant amount of crystals. Another example...I paid quite a bit for my m2 shaft…..I didn’t ask for the ridiculous laser to be added months later. Instead, it was forced onto us….and now I have a weapon that I paid for that I would never have bought today knowing that it has a laser. It’s also why I’ve not upgraded to the m3 shaft. Another couple hundred thousand crystals wasted.

 

Anyway, I digress….

 

If there’s a price increase for an existing item, there had better be a corresponding improvement to its effectiveness or functionality. Otherwise, it’s a rip-off know matter how Alternativa marketing spins it.

 

 

 

    Shaft should have more impact :)

[potato900 2]

Shaft should have a lot impact pls :)

[jomama_tanker 117]

You have completely ignored my comment about Kits being a special type of discount, not the item itself.

I haven’t ignored your comments. I simply don’t find them worthy of discussion. Have you ever run a business? I have. Have you ever been responsible for developing and implementing pricing models to support a business? I have. Have you ever been responsible for a business’s P&L? I have, for many years. I also happen to enjoy sneaking a round of Tanki in here and there, especially with my kids.

 

Folks, look….I wrote a simple rant.  I’m not going to debate the behavioral economics with you ad naseum. Believe what you like. I’m going to recommend a couple books by Dan Ariely that you might enjoy:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0061353248

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Upside-Irrationality-Unexpected-Benefits-ebook/dp/B003JBHVZY

 

See you all on the battlefield. 

 

Cheers

Edited February 14, 2015 by jomama_tanker