I purchase subscriptions for my accounts, then I have to spend even more hard earned money for more crowns in order to do anything else.
Really?
So how much will this cost me by the end of a year? $2000, $3000, $5000 dollars? (Two accounts, 6 wizards each account).
While this may be profitable for some, I suspect that plenty of parents will say "No". And since children are persistent the 'solution' will ultimately be 'Stop the wizards from being played'. Which means the accounts will be closed.
While the game is a good concept, the profit part of it is bad, especially in these economic hard times.
If you wanted to make money off of it, you should have charged a higher subscription rate and have at it. These 'hidden costs' will ultimately be bad for business.
ok.... all the people complaining about this need to step back and think. Yes.. it can get to be very high in price to purchase the monthly fee and get crowns.... but the difference between this game (MMO's) and games you get at the store is..... its constantly being worked on and updated. The extra $$ used to get crowns goes toward the people hired to add new worlds, cards, and other things. If you buy a game at the store... thats it. Only way to update and get new worlds and what not is to buy the part 2 or next version of the game. Look at crowns as a bonus... you dont NEED them to play the game. I could go on but im not. Just set a limit as to what you want to spend and dont go over it. My wife and I have the family account.... 14 $ a month (something like that ) to play and we only purchase the gift cards once... one for her and one for me.... thats it. We set a limit and stuck to it. Easy as that. Dont let this ruin the game for you. Enjoy!!!
Maybe KI should have an Ultra-sub package that comes with a set number of crowns each month (your idea of raising the sub price with crowns included).
Tracking my $ over the past year (well, almost a year) with 3 personal accounts plus crowns comes out to a small amount (~25%) of my gaming budget....and not 1000s of dollars.
This is absurd! I also pay for 2 subscriptions and have been looking forward to the new features, especially the henchmen and the stitching, but now I have to buy crowns to use them. What is the sense of a subscription? Might as well just be a crown player. Also the gold price of the mounts are ridiculous, more than double the price of a mansion! KI you will be sorry when all your subscribers cancel their subscriptions....I know I will be cancelling mine ASAP!
Autumn Mistbreeze Grandmaster Life Ashley Deathblossom Master Death Sabrina Mythblossom lvl 35 Myth Rachel Willowblossom lvl 18 Balance Kayla Winterblossom lvl 15 Ice Taylor Fireblossom lvl 5 Fire
Im glad they allowed this post. I agree. I will NOT in any way spend more than whats needed to play. Insane. EVERY item should be able to be bought with gold OR crowns (for those people that are rich)
Raising the subscription cost means every subscriber has to pay for frills like mounts - even those who don't care about them.
I think the way this is set up is great - you get the whole game play for your subscription, but the "pretty add-ons" cost a little extra. If you cannot go without that bandit suit ensemble then that'll cost you a few extra bucks. I see no problem with that - it's not like it is needed for the game; it's simply cosmetic.
(you could probably get very similar parts and make your own bandit outfit. Just saying)
I purchase subscriptions for my accounts, then I have to spend even more hard earned money for more crowns in order to do anything else.
Really?
So how much will this cost me by the end of a year? $2000, $3000, $5000 dollars? (Two accounts, 6 wizards each account).
While this may be profitable for some, I suspect that plenty of parents will say "No". And since children are persistent the 'solution' will ultimately be 'Stop the wizards from being played'. Which means the accounts will be closed.
While the game is a good concept, the profit part of it is bad, especially in these economic hard times.
If you wanted to make money off of it, you should have charged a higher subscription rate and have at it. These 'hidden costs' will ultimately be bad for business.
Yep, you guessed it. Just like the mounts will cost $50 to get the crowns needed. The base exchange rate is 1.4 crowns to gold. Yet to buy the mount in gold, the exchange rate is 6!!!! If you took that 90,000 gold a mount costs in gold and converted it to crowns at the base exchange rate, you would get 63,829 crowns. So why are we being charged 6 times the cost of a mount in crowns when we are buying in gold? If you used the same rate as the people buying in crowns, it would only cost us 21,150. Talk about outrageous!!!!!
see also the thread of "crowns..." something like to buy or not to buy also under commons like your thread
You don't have to spend any crowns AT ALL in order to complete the game in it's entirety.
If your kids are being persistant, make them purchase the crowns from their allowance ... it will give them the concept that real money has to be spent in order to get that neato outfit (or whatever else they are whining over). Also makes them get their priority straight (if you want to spend your allowance on this, you can't have that music CD, etc).
ok.... all the people complaining about this need to step back and think. Yes.. it can get to be very high in price to purchase the monthly fee and get crowns.... but the difference between this game (MMO's) and games you get at the store is..... its constantly being worked on and updated. The extra $$ used to get crowns goes toward the people hired to add new worlds, cards, and other things. If you buy a game at the store... thats it. Only way to update and get new worlds and what not is to buy the part 2 or next version of the game. Look at crowns as a bonus... you dont NEED them to play the game. I could go on but im not. Just set a limit as to what you want to spend and dont go over it. My wife and I have the family account.... 14 $ a month (something like that ) to play and we only purchase the gift cards once... one for her and one for me.... thats it. We set a limit and stuck to it. Easy as that. Dont let this ruin the game for you. Enjoy!!!
No, you need to step back and think! Not everyone has money to burn like you! Even for a gift card. It immediately skews the game play and rewards to those with money! Plus, many of us purchased a full year's subscription all at once! (which I am now regretting!!) We get no crowns at all with our subscription! Many parents will extend themselves to get the game for their kids, or even some individuals scrapping by on a very small fixed budget may buy this game and use if for their social interaction especially if they are house bound! I have toontown by disney and have done that multi player game for over 6 years now. I get a yearly subscription. And there is no option or pressure or otherwise to buy ANYTHING outside of the game!! If it is not offered in game to all at the same rate (the same number of jellybeans, the same level, etc), it doesn't happen. It too is a kid game and much more kid friendly than nickeling and dime-ing kids to death! AND IT, also an MMO, IS BEING WORKED ON AND UPDATES ALL THE TIME WITHOUT CHARGE!! Unlike Wizard101. And it actually costs LESS than Wizard101 to start with!! AND NO EXTRA FEES.
This one sounded like fun so thought I would try it, seemed to be okay so I bought the year's subscription, and then as I advanced in the game, I saw how much pressure there is to buy things for real money outside the game, how some things are ONLY available to those willing to spend extra money, which immediately shifts the game play to them from the regular players, even other paid players. Now this ridiculous exchange inflation rate for gold payers! I am very disappointed in KI and will not be renewing! This game awards the ones with money, the rich, the powerful, same old story. Not even a break or even level play when you have already spent your hard earned money getting a subscription! It is a rip off. Sorry, KI, but it is. Wake up and smell the coffee. You will be loosing a lot of players and accounts over this issue, and I don't think however much you charge for things in out of game money that you will ever make up that revenue as well as loosing many potential customers who will see the rip off and never subscribe at all and those that hear about how much of a rip off it is and thus never even check out the game! We will see if KI will even post this. They have not posted most things I have written even tho I have stayed in the rules. I was very suprised to see they posted the exchange rate one above!
See also the Crowns thread already in the Commons section.
I purchase subscriptions for my accounts, then I have to spend even more hard earned money for more crowns in order to do anything else.
Really?
So how much will this cost me by the end of a year? $2000, $3000, $5000 dollars? (Two accounts, 6 wizards each account).
While this may be profitable for some, I suspect that plenty of parents will say "No". And since children are persistent the 'solution' will ultimately be 'Stop the wizards from being played'. Which means the accounts will be closed.
While the game is a good concept, the profit part of it is bad, especially in these economic hard times.
If you wanted to make money off of it, you should have charged a higher subscription rate and have at it. These 'hidden costs' will ultimately be bad for business.
Yep, you guessed it. Just like the mounts will cost $50 to get the crowns needed. The base exchange rate is 1.4 crowns to gold. Yet to buy the mount in gold, the exchange rate is 6!!!! If you took that 90,000 gold a mount costs in gold and converted it to crowns at the base exchange rate, you would get 63,829 crowns. So why are we being charged 6 times the cost of a mount in crowns when we are buying in gold? If you used the same rate as the people buying in crowns, it would only cost us 21,150. Talk about outrageous!!!!!
see also the thread of "crowns..." something like to buy or not to buy also under commons like your thread
$50 for a mount?! The four most expensive mounts like the Bengal Tiger would cost $30 each with a $10 and $20 gift card. [And the crown/gold rate inequalities do stink! Thanks for doin' the math!]
And since KI has dropped the "No Trade" limiter once you purchase a permanent mount all your wizards will get to use it! So Wraithwind: that should make it more bearable, right?
No, you need to step back and think! Not everyone has money to burn like you! Even for a gift card.
why so mad!!!! because I can afford $20 for a gift card. CROWNS are not required to play the game. get over it!
It immediately skews the game play and rewards to those with money! Plus, many of us purchased a full year's subscription all at once! (which I am now regretting!!) We get no crowns at all with our subscription! Many parents will extend themselves to get the game for their kids, or even some individuals scrapping by on a very small fixed budget may buy this game and use if for their social interaction especially if they are house bound! I have toontown by disney and have done that multi player game for over 6 years now. I get a yearly subscription. And there is no option or pressure or otherwise to buy ANYTHING outside of the game!! If it is not offered in game to all at the same rate (the same number of jellybeans, the same level, etc), it doesn't happen. It too is a kid game and much more kid friendly than nickeling and dime-ing kids to death! AND IT, also an MMO, IS BEING WORKED ON AND UPDATES ALL THE TIME WITHOUT CHARGE!! Unlike Wizard101. And it actually costs LESS than Wizard101 to start with!! AND NO EXTRA FEES.
This one sounded like fun so thought I would try it, seemed to be okay so I bought the year's subscription, and then as I advanced in the game, I saw how much pressure there is to buy things for real money outside the game, how some things are ONLY available to those willing to spend extra money, which immediately shifts the game play to them from the regular players, even other paid players. Now this ridiculous exchange inflation rate for gold payers! I am very disappointed in KI and will not be renewing! This game awards the ones with money, the rich, the powerful, same old story. Not even a break or even level play when you have already spent your hard earned money getting a subscription! It is a rip off. Sorry, KI, but it is. Wake up and smell the coffee. You will be loosing a lot of players and accounts over this issue, and I don't think however much you charge for things in out of game money that you will ever make up that revenue as well as loosing many potential customers who will see the rip off and never subscribe at all and those that hear about how much of a rip off it is and thus never even check out the game! We will see if KI will even post this. They have not posted most things I have written even tho I have stayed in the rules. I was very suprised to see they posted the exchange rate one above!
See also the Crowns thread already in the Commons section.
you play another game from DISNEY!!! the biggest rip off company today!! I love disney and go to disney world but the amount to get into the parks and to actually purchase food or anything within disney is SOOOOO OVER PRICED its not even funny!!!! Thats how the support the game by ripping you off everywhere else!
$50 for a mount?! The four most expensive mounts like the Bengal Tiger would cost $30 each with a $10 and $20 gift card. [And the crown/gold rate inequalities do stink! Thanks for doin' the math!]
And since KI has dropped the "No Trade" limiter once you purchase a permanent mount all your wizards will get to use it! So Wraithwind: that should make it more bearable, right?
I don't know about cards but to get any price break on crowns at all online, one must buy $25 at a minimum. However, it only gives you 13,750 crowns. The next bracket up is $50. So, whether you purchase two sets of $25 or purchase one $50 (and get a slightly better break on crown cost), it is still $50! That is $50 more than I have to spend, especially after purchasing a full year subscription--and that was before the discount currently offered. In other words, I paid full price for a year's subscription. A virtual anything I have to pay real money for outside of a game I pay to play is a waste! I can't take it with me. I can't use it somewhere else. I can't bring it into my home. What do I have for it? A bunch of dots on a screen that will vanish when the game does or when I quit playing. My money is much more precious than that. It is more important to keep a roof over my head, lights on, gas in the car so I can go to work, etc., than to have a virtual nothing I cannot utilize in anyway outside of the game. I can't take it to Toontown and use it there. No, I will stick with the gold even tho it may take me 40 years to get a mount that way----if I continue to subscribe after the end of this first year already purchased--NOT very likely at all. Hello, Toontown, I am back full time again! BUT I STILL THINK KI IS BEING VERY UNFAIR TO THE SUBSCRIBERS WHO ALREADY PAY GOOD HARD EARNED MONEY TO PLAY THIS GAME!!! And $30 for a virtual nothing above and beyond the cost of the subscription----and this is supposed to be a kids' game???? The kids I know (and mine when they were younger) do not have that kind of moneyand neither do their parents!
How about give all subscribers crowns each month. its not like KI would lose money. subscription costs $10 - so you should get 5000 crowns per month.
Either that or make all items available for gold OR crowns. That way the lazy people can just use cash and the people who want to work for it can also.
Im glad the mounts are available for gold (even thought the price is insane) but I want elixirs and the other goodies for gold as well. Not fair that crown buyers get to boost their stats etc.
Oh, I see where you're confused. You're under the belief that you absolutely must get these new items (mounts, henchman, etc.) to do anything in the game. That's actually not the case. You can play the game, advance your character, and even with the game (beat Malistaire) without having to pay for any of those new features! Isn't that great!
It gets even better. If you want the new features, like a mount, you don't even have to pay any more real life money. They made it so that you can buy one with in game gold. Can you believe that? In game gold!! That's practically free. All it takes is some time and effort.
I'm really glad they didn't charge a higher subscription rate because then, people like me (and maybe you) who don't even want a mount or henchman or or just don't want to pay any more money for an online game don't have to.
Wraithwynd wrote:
I purchase subscriptions for my accounts, then I have to spend even more hard earned money for more crowns in order to do anything else.
Really?
So how much will this cost me by the end of a year? $2000, $3000, $5000 dollars? (Two accounts, 6 wizards each account).
While this may be profitable for some, I suspect that plenty of parents will say "No". And since children are persistent the 'solution' will ultimately be 'Stop the wizards from being played'. Which means the accounts will be closed.
While the game is a good concept, the profit part of it is bad, especially in these economic hard times.
If you wanted to make money off of it, you should have charged a higher subscription rate and have at it. These 'hidden costs' will ultimately be bad for business.
Hold on a minute. First off, if people spent as much time playing the game and farming for in-game gold as they spend on these threads ranting and repeating the same thing over, they probably could have earned their mounts or whatever it is they want.
This is a game. It is supposed to be about having fun and meeting friends. I have an adult friend in real life and she refuses to buy crowns but she enjoys playing the game. She likes it for what it is: a way for us to play a game together so we can have our friendship time since I moved away, a way to relax after a hard day's work, and something for us to laugh about or ooh and aww at when we go to new places.
I don't know about cards but to get any price break on crowns at all online, one must buy $25 at a minimum. However, it only gives you 13,750 crowns. The next bracket up is $50. So, whether you purchase two sets of $25 or purchase one $50 (and get a slightly better break on crown cost), it is still $50
Wizard101 lists places where you can buy gift cards for crowns at right here on their website. I buy them to get the unique pets as well as the crowns. I have bought $10 cards from Wal-Mart that come with a rain colossus pet, $10 from Blockbuster that came with a dragon pet, and $20 from Best Buy that came with a crimsonzilla pet. They advertise for them at 7-11, Rite-Aid, and now Wal-greens. The cards are available in $10 amounts that will get you 5000 crowns or a one month subscription or $20 for 10,000 crowns or a two month supscription. Plus you get a pet!
Yes, this is supposed to be a game geared towards kids but adults have FUN playing it with them. It is not up to KI to teach our kids the value of a dollar. That is our responsibility.
When Nintendo first came out with their video game system back in 1987, did I run screaming and crying to my dad that he had to get me one because "all the other kids have one"? In fact, if I had thrown a fit or tantrum I doubt that the game would have even been allowed in the house.
Now that we are adults and have kids of our own, do we give in to our children's every whim just because they want something? Did I write letters to Sony saying that it is not fair that in order for my son to play Final Fantasy online with his friends, I would have to purchase a new playstation, buy the specific game, make sure I had the ethernet adaptor, internet connection AND pay a monthly subscription? I absolutely did not. I got my son the play station for his Christmas present and he paid for half of the internet bill and his own subscription out of his allowance or by money he earned. If he didn't do the work or spent his allowance elsewhere then he did not get to play that month.
We all have choices and right now from what I see none are life or death. It's really simple: play the game the way it was meant to be played. If you don't like it cancel your subscription or better yet make up your own game then find out how much it costs. Maybe then you will be so lucky to get hate mail because you are not running your company the way someone else thinks you should.
I agree that the game is dynamic and they are doing a really excellent job in adding new features. I love the mounts. But don't we pay for that already by continually renewing our subscritions and making our payments?
In addition, like alot of other subscribers, I added a family account so we could play together. I also bought some crowns for gear and other things, a gift card cause I wanted the firezilla. My daughter talks about it with her friends and I know several who have joined because of that. Their customer base is growing rapidly.
Continually making features which are crown only is getting greedy.
No I guess I don't HAVE to do anything when it comes to the use of the new features.
Except maybe to use the chests to get a second chance (100 Crowns each attempt). That can have an impact on game play. After all I spent many hours farming for my 50 Lvl Wizards outfit, it may not have taken as many hours had I the option to use second chance.
Yeah sure I don't HAVE to use hench(wo)men - however those who do get a little boost toward completing the game a little sooner, with less dying than those who are denied access to this extra.
Those elixirs DO change the way the game plays - 500 hp more would have saved me plenty of pips to actually battle instead of heal, also would have saved my bacon more than once. We are talking 200+ crowns per elixir.
Lets See:
Major Health bonus is 225 crowns. Damage + 15% is 225 Gold boost +10% is 250
These this DO change the way the game is played. If the person playing s on a fixed income then they are pretty much being punished for that.
So over the course of several worlds, 50 levels and hundreds - perhaps thousands of battles how much will it cost?
Someone argues that King's Isle sells crowns to make new worlds, pay staff etc. I say that WOW, ToonTown and other multi-player games have done right well with a flat base rate charge to its players. Wow has expanded a good deal over the years, and ToonTown has nearly completed its game expanding new Headquarters, bringing new things to players like mini-games and all of that.
Neither of my examples have 'hidden' costs or uncertain costs in it. Yeah sure one can buy WOW gold through third parties, this is not the same as the developer of the game charging you.
SorceressMiklai;
Hate mail?
Disappointment mail perhaps, but I do not see anyone being hateful or mean.
There is a difference between having to buy a disk, a computer, a play station what ever and what has happened with lots of 'crowns only' stuff in the game. Back in my youth there were no computer games period.
One difference being you know the cost of the equipment, subscription, disk, blah. When it comes to the clothing, henchmen, and the various helpful potions (turning a person into a mummy isn't too helpful).
Now we are not talking just one character, we have six characters per account. The price goes up and up. This goes well beyond "set" prices on stuff to play saw Wow (CDs plus Subscription).
Another difference is either you played or you didn't. With this current set up some get better 'stuff' have options that are not available to all. It becomes uneven, unfair and a bit 'un-fun'.
Fun: Is it fun for my 7 year old nephew to have to wear Mooshu clothing which he absolutely hates) while others can be his same level and wear Grizleheim clothing with Mooshu stats?
Yeah sure its just 'looks' but to a 7 year old its a big deal.
What makes it worse is there are kids like him (plenty of them) who are denied a lot in real life due to financial burdens way beyond their understanding and definitely beyond their ability to fix. When it comes to an 'unreal' world of fantasy and magic such a burden shouldn't still exist.
I remember four or five months ago when I went item farming in Mooshu for the best swords, rings and armor. While I didn't get what I wanted, I got an equally rare item outside my class whenever I slayed the bosses.
Pretty soon, my chest would be overfilled with items. Each haul amounted to 8-12 thousand gold, and each run would take two or three hours of boss time, but I wasn't farming for gold. Gold was an afterthought back then. No mansions, no bazaar and definitely no mounts. I even kept 20-30k worth of items in my chest because of the 99k gold limit.
That was how I enjoyed Wizard. I teamed up with my buddies to take down bosses, or I went solo with my kick butt Necromancer. It's not that hard, and I didn't need to spend money on crowns to get the gear that I wanted.
It's all perspective. I would find a great guide to learn what bosses would drop a great item for my wizard class and I would get it for that advantage in PvP. Instead of getting disappointed with rare junk I couldn't use, it would be valuable gold once it adds up. With mounts, getting it could be a weekly project to obtain.
If you don't have time for that, then it would make sense to use crowns to get it. But you aren't forced to get it and the pressure isn't from wizard to get it. You want it because it's cool.
Despite all of these "must have" changes and additions, the price to play has been the same. More stuff has been added to keep us entertained. What were seen as afterthoughts before are now valued because wizard took input from fans and they spent time thinking of things that would be fun for their fans.
So when you see a wizard riding a mount, don't automatically assume he/she used crowns to get it. He probably had a great time getting that gold, and he definitely earned it.
Also, I spent $50 on crowns, got two pets (both of whom give me defense and a card) and bought the non-school specific items that I thought were beneficial for levels 5, 15, 25, 35, and 45, as well as a mount. I keep them in my shared bank, and when I log in, the first thing I do is go outfit my wizard. You don't have to buy things for each individual wizard, since you can't play more than one at a time. I have wizards of varying levels, and I just change out their items as I go. $50 was plenty to do all of that, plus buy a Halloween outfit. It was my birthday present this year, and I'm happy with it. I find the system completely reasonable, because while the items may make things a tad more convenient, they are in no way necessary in order to complete any part of the game.
Thats how the support the game by ripping you off everywhere else! 
