http://www.containsmoderateperil.com/new-store-item-hobby-horse/

It's interesting, but not really anything more than a pile of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. 

Since Turbine doesn't release definitive numbers, you have to make a lot of guesses and assumptions. 

Like "the top 10 items listed 2 years ago have a lot of 1 time purchase things".  Therefore, revenues must be off today.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Pure conjecture. 

Or "I assume they used their most deflated numbers possible when advertising their growth".  Therefore, it must be not great.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Pure conjecture.  Especially since no numbers have been mentioned in two years.

Or "Because it is rumored they raised 100 milllion in capital, a sale was rumored at 160 million and that would be a shit sandwich for a sale price".  And means that revenue is underwhelming. 

Maybe.  Maybe not.  The writer has no idea what the sale price was, whether it was cash, stock in WB, etc.  What the structure was, were there any looking back periods or trailing revenues?  The writer has no idea what returns, if any, the previous shareholders received over the 16 year period.  You really can't make any informed opinion because you have....no information. 

Sorry, too much if's maybe's, and guesses for me to give it much credibility.  Seems to be more an example of making the "facts" match the pre-conceived hypothesis than looking at the data objectively and forming a conclusion from there.

What the writer does know is that the game bugs in both products have been huge this year and the company seems to be a crossroads from a direction and technology perspective.   I'd agree with that.  It's a shame the writer tried to go off into areas of business and finance, which are clearly not his strong suit.  Stick to development and gaming. 

Eladiun wrote on Dec 4^th, 2012 at 3:49pm:


Which is almost like a 4x increase since they don't seem to do the 50% sales on packs anymore.

I think the store would be better with the more cosmetic stuff like we discussed in another thread.  There is only so much you can do with items that affect abilities and gameplay (tomes, pots, etc) without affecting the game balance or shortening the grind with plat. 

I honestly don't understand why they don't sell other things in the store before they sell +4 tomes.  (Not that I mind the tomes).  Why not sell blue, black, white dragon scales, large shroud ingredients or GS blanks first?  Or DT Runes?  Those quests are not end game anymore.  They are mainly twink items nowdays.  They would shorten the grind for new players to get caught up, but not affect the end game grind at all.

Quote:


They did a good number of 40-50% sales over the past six months, albeit not on the most popular packs. There was a period where there was pretty much no sale past 20%, but they have returned to the bigger discounts of late.

Eladiun wrote on Dec 4^th, 2012 at 3:49pm:


Well we have known for years that DDO and LoTRO uses more or less the same infrastructure and game mechanic.

It started with the Mailboxes and the AH... they came to DDO, and were promptly added to LoTRO.

So it's not surprising to see the same gamebreaking bugs ( as long as they are not involving the specific D&D mechanic ) in both game.

As for the price of Store items... well it became pretty obvious with Yellow Dopant rip off price that Turbine was gone down the road that lead to milking the cash cow as much as possible.

re: pack price for the recent stuff, the increase actually makes sense. fewer people will buy them since its high levels for only - they were the lowest selling types before u4

livefreeordie wrote on Dec 5^th, 2012 at 9:23am:


Based on what happened in Europe, I'd make a WAG that to maintain a server you need about 500 VIPs.
( the maintain term means nothing more and nothing less than covering the expanses created by keeping it running. [ power, maintenance, hosting, network... ] )

Eladiun wrote on Dec 5^th, 2012 at 11:40am:


Puny things that weren't there until some time after release :

Mail :
http://ddowiki.com/page/Module_2:_Twilight_Forge

It was in LoTRO from the start.

AH :
http://ddowiki.com/page/Module_3:_Demon_Sands

This was also added to LoTRO from the start.

And I remember it being more than hinted at that time that DDO was used as a "live test" for both things for LoTRO.

If the system is not the same then they couldn't use DDO to make a live test out of it for LoTRO.

The physics engine might be different, but the rest has probably a lot of common code.

Eladiun wrote on Dec 5^th, 2012 at 4:21pm:


You are like the male Grace, but lazier.

livefreeordie wrote on Dec 5^th, 2012 at 9:23am:


Difference here is that DDO is licensed content, so there's a built-in Intellectual Property cost on top of any infrastructure cost.

Eladiun wrote on Dec 5^th, 2012 at 5:53pm:


You never went outside the Walls.

Trust me ( and those that went outside the Walls ) DDO is an open world ( as long as you're not in a quest instance ) and you can walk from Stormreach to Zawabi ( ok, honestly it's going to take you real time hours to do that, and as you're outside the Walls you can't do crap once oyu reach Zawabi.  )

The loading screens are just there because they didn't want to bother with open world and open doors between public areas. ( and wildernes areas too, though those are instanced so it's a bit more tricky )