Why does Valve charge so much for weapons on the store and why don't they add incentive to buy items - Games

Here's a pretty glaring example: This weapon on the store is almost ten bucks. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/r21R6Gg.jpg[/IMG] This weapon on the marketplace in Professional Killstreak quality ranges from $6 to $7.40 [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/FNBMUfd.png[/IMG] [thumb]http://i.imgur.com/OLsNDd1.jpg[/thumb] This doesn't make a lick of sense at all to me. How many Cow Mangler and Phlogs have they sold for that price? Valve really needs to do something to make buying items from the store more rewarding. Like a 1% chance of being unusual quality (burning weapons since Mann Co products tend to catch flame according to that one comic), add a new "Mann Co" quality to store bought items, perhaps even strange? [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/sdASEbC.jpg[/IMG] I guess you could argue they're more expensive because of convenience, but $10 for a weapon could get you like 15+ hats on the marketplace.

It's because TF2 is their cash cow.

Or 4 keys equal to at least 40 refined equals to 360 scrap - mostly what a weapon costs from sellers. Although I believe those grodbort weapons are infamously expensive, it's still just slightly stupid. Even if they make some sort of new quality for purchasing off of the store - have a neat unique little hex color for the name and everything.

The reason I even thought about this was because of the price of keys and how much metal keys are worth to begin with. According to the wiki, there's 135 weapons in this game, including reskins. A F2P could buy 2 keys with his $5, get all or most of the weapons and still have 5 or so ref left over to buy hats with.

People keep paying it. Valve has openly admitted that TF2 is their testing ground for a lot of things. Like "how much are people willing to pay in our shop for virtual goods that can be obtained for free?" They kept pushing it and pushing it. You can spend hundreds of dollars in the store now. People keep paying it. Other F2P games charge maybe 99 cents for weapons, two bucks to five bucks for cosmetics. Valve unashamedly puts 20 dollar price tags on single hats seemingly at random, just because they can. Because people will pay it.

The weird part is Dota 2 Store links you to the steam market for the items with a price listed right there : [img]http://i.imgur.com/NhTrWdE.jpg?1[/img] Dota 2 makes a shitload more than TF2 which rules out "it'd fucking cost them loads of money", so it's odd that TF2 doesn't list it anywhere on the store page. It's probably just a case of TF2 team lagging behind the sensibilities of normal people (like halloween restricted beards being fucking stupid).

Talking cynically, I'd say it's because TF2 has no direct competitor and thus they feel they can get away with testing/doing stupid shit as the playerbase is already established, whereas DOTA 2 has direct competitors in the form of other MOBAs (at least, for the people who worry about 'brand loyalty' when it comes to games) therefore they have to make it more acceptable to a wider audience.

I never understood that system. The player-made economy makes more sense than that of the store economy. (And to think I nearly bought a cow mangler on the store rather than trading for it). I don't even get anything from the store anymore. Keys are cheaper on the market than the store, saving you almost $0.10 per key, (correct me if I'm wrong) which when buying in bulk really adds up.

[QUOTE=Drsalvador;46471616]Talking cynically, I'd say it's because TF2 has no direct competitor and thus they feel they can get away with testing/doing stupid shit as the playerbase is already established, whereas DOTA 2 has direct competitors in the form of other MOBAs (at least, for the people who worry about 'brand loyalty' when it comes to games) therefore they have to make it more acceptable to a wider audience.[/QUOTE] hopefully overwatch can fix that

I'll post something I said in a different thread here: Why does Valve even sell cosmetics and weapons? They ought to amp up the drop rate instead and make their money from selling keys (which they already make most of their money from doing anyway). Really the only reason they sell those things is to shark 11 year olds. If you buy something from Mann Co, you either want to become premium or are really just stupid with your money.

Because it makes money, and the only reason tf2 exists is to make money

Only reason there are so many (stupid) kids on tf2 is because its free. Im pretty sure when you start the game for the first time and open your inventory it tells you about crafting, but many kids probably disregard it and just pay a shitton for a weapon

[QUOTE=Doctor_Brony;46472115]I never understood that system. The player-made economy makes more sense than that of the store economy. (And to think I nearly bought a cow mangler on the store rather than trading for it). I don't even get anything from the store anymore. Keys are cheaper on the market than the store, saving you almost $0.10 per key, (correct me if I'm wrong) which when buying in bulk really adds up.[/QUOTE] Wait? Keys are cheaper on the marketplace than in the store? And without the 3 day waiting period? THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE, since the only place to get keys ARE the store. I AM SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW

[QUOTE=Juodvarnis;46474206]Wait? Keys are cheaper on the marketplace than in the store? And without the 3 day waiting period? THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE, since the only place to get keys ARE the store. I AM SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW[/QUOTE] People buy them from the store and resell them.

[QUOTE=Juodvarnis;46474206]Wait? Keys are cheaper on the marketplace than in the store? And without the 3 day waiting period? THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE, since the only place to get keys ARE the store. I AM SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW[/QUOTE] Russians buy them cheap and sell under western prices. They still make profit this way.

[QUOTE=Drury;46474376]Russians buy them cheap and sell under western prices. They still make profit this way.[/QUOTE] Now that Valve has converted things to local currency, is this still a thing?

I like the idea of supporting community contributors but the prices on the store are really bullshit. And now that steam auto-converts everything to the local currency the prices look even more ridiculous. wow, $22 SGD for a beep boy, tempting offer volvo but i'll pass. -nvm

if you buy them on the store you get cards with a 1/100 chance at a foil worth a $0.60 rebate

[QUOTE=Drury;46474376]Russians buy them cheap and sell under western prices. They still make profit this way.[/QUOTE] Russian currency is dropping very fast at the moment. So that's to be expected.

[QUOTE=mabi;46469205]Or 4 keys equal to at least 40 refined equals to 360 scrap - mostly what a weapon costs from sellers. Although I believe those grodbort weapons are infamously expensive, it's still just slightly stupid. Even if they make some sort of new quality for purchasing off of the store - have a neat unique little hex color for the name and everything.[/QUOTE] "Store-Bought", with special hot-pants-pink quality color!

Personally I think they should make all the base weapons free in the sense of how all of the Dota 2 heroes are unlocked from the start. Plus having The halloween items work in the same sense as the Pyroland items in having them appear to the player.

all the base/stock weapons are free. most weapons also have a "test run" option that grants you a copy of said weapon for a period of time so you can try it and buy it later if you want.

[QUOTE=Metaru;46476136]all the base/stock weapons are free. most weapons also have a "test run" option that grants you a copy of said weapon for a period of time so you can try it and buy it later if you want.[/QUOTE] Doesn't that give you a pretty considerable discount if you buy the weapon you are testing too? Still a few lightyears above the 1/2 - 1 scrap price you can get it for from another player, but still. The test run feature should really be advertised more. The most amusing example I can think of is a medic who rented a Kritzkrieg during a MVM mission because he didn't have one :v:

I believe the Test Run thingy gives you a 15% discount or something. I only used it to get a free Ap-Sap for a month. It was glorious.

[QUOTE=MrCasual;46469178]according to that one comic[/QUOTE] not canon

[QUOTE=_Pai;46472258]Why does Valve even sell cosmetics and weapons? They ought to amp up the drop rate instead and make their money from selling keys (which they already make most of their money from doing anyway).[/QUOTE] Because fuck contributors of these items, yeah? :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=KKres;46486673]Because fuck contributors of these items, yeah? :rolleyes:[/QUOTE] It's not like Valve can't find a different way to repay contributors. Maybe every time a key is used on a crate that would contain their item (whether the unboxer actually got their item or not) Valve could pay them

[QUOTE=_Pai;46488636]It's not like Valve can't find a different way to repay contributors. Maybe every time a key is used on a crate that would contain their item (whether the unboxer actually got their item or not) Valve could pay them[/QUOTE] Then Valve wouldn't get as much for their keys, which is one of the biggest sources of tf2 income for them. It's a pretty lose-lose situation.