$75 USD New Year's Bundles

[Some Jerk]

Thoughts?

My opinion on this is a bit two-faced. As Cosmic Break has taught me, any option that allows you to subvert the gacha is a viable one. Lots of people have spent more than the bundle's worth of Orbs only to not get the unit they wanted, and I say this as a dolphin who routinely drops $50 a month into the game if said month has nothing else that requires the money. For me this simply means not buying Orbs for February while still getting a unit I really want.

That said, I'm not above calling this what it really is: a desperate and underhanded cash grab that sets a really shitty precedent. If NY!Laevatein wasn't a unit I wanted, I would just forget these bundles existed, even if I was getting my monthly $50 Orb pack while the bundles were available.

[Anacybele]

I think it's an overpriced cashgrab myself. I thought it should've been $50 at the most, personally. I might've bought one of the bundles if that was the case. Not everyone has money lying around that they can just spend freely like this. It feels more like it's only catering to the handful of whales. And most of the playerbase aren't whales, I bet.

[daisy jane]

it sucks. those are 100 dollars each for Canadians. 

I truthfully don't understand why they couldn't be priced as much as the BK package. I would have actually gotten both Lave + Fjorm (and then probably gone a little fishing for Gunnthra (or use those orbs to try for RD etc, perhaps, though my orbs are for Tiki for January's LB). 

I honestly don't mind the fact you can "Buy" characters, there would be some i wouldn't even hesitate to 'buy' (and i do hope those become an option (using orbs, not money ie - this character (RNG boon/bane) is available then it lets you go fishing for others etc) - but this.. this is basically pushing AR into clearly P2W (no big deal for me i truly hate that mode and i only do it for the little grails etc.). 

but i guess if AR is a way for whales (thus IntSys to have a constant money source0 maybe this will impact banners for those how others want it to be (Ie less alts etc). i've always mentioned i'm not anti-alt - but for those who are this could be seen as a goodish alternative?

[redlight]

I think the issue is that they tried appealing to a minority like whales and dolphins causing fishies to be alienated. They'd probably have made more money if it was more reasonably priced as more spenders would be interested.

Edited December 30, 2018 by silveraura25

[Dr. Tarrasque]

The number of Orbs in this bundle is the exact same as the existing $75 purchase option that's always available purchase, it's just there to give the whales more incentive spend money on orbs and possibly hook some of those folks that occasionally spend money.

$10 bundles similar to what they do monthly would've probably gotten more people to spend money on it though...

Edited December 30, 2018 by Dr. Tarrasque

[Alkaid]

16 minutes ago, Some Jerk said:

I say this as a dolphin who routinely drops $50 a month into the game if said month has nothing else that requires the money. For me this simply means not buying Orbs for February while still getting a unit I really want.

I don't like that they they went with the $75 pack price to try and maximize their bait, but otherwise I'm kind of with the same thought here. I spend very infrequently, but when I do it's usually 1-2 of the 75 orb packs. In a sense, if I were to spend on orbs for another banner at any time in the coming 3-4 months(which there's a fair chance I would), it'd be money spent for the same orbs but without the bonus stuff on top of it. If I think I'll buy some anyway in the future, buying one of these bundles now instead isn't a bad deal. (not that orbs are ever a "good" deal, I guess)

What I find funny is that barring favoritism (I do quite like Laevatein and Fjorm's art is really cute), these are the worst units on the banner. Fjorm is a green bow which is a typing seen as meh by most, and Laevatein is invalidated usage-wise by Veronica that most got for free already. Meanwhile Hrid with Hone Atk 4 and Gunnthra with her prf and special Hone Spd skill still need to be pulled for and share a color. They're not giving the ones that are most desirable power-wise, and they force you to pull a shared red focus at on top of it. Pretty devious planning all around.

It's definitely a cash grab, though. They'd have looked a lot better had they priced this at the $40 mark of a 75 orb pack, even if they halved the bonus stuff in the process.

[bottlegnomes]

41 minutes ago, Alkaid said:

What I find funny is that barring favoritism (I do quite like Laevatein and Fjorm's art is really cute), these are the worst units on the banner. Fjorm is a green bow which is a typing seen as meh by most, and Laevatein is invalidated usage-wise by Veronica that most got for free already. Meanwhile Hrid with Hone Atk 4 and Gunnthra with her prf and special Hone Spd skill still need to be pulled for and share a color. They're not giving the ones that are most desirable power-wise, and they force you to pull a shared red focus at on top of it. Pretty devious planning all around.

Well that's just good business sense. Devious, I suppose, but definitely good business sense.

Anyway, as others have said, that the characters are tied to solely the $75 pack is what's most irksome. I would've been fine with doing the 23 orb bundle or possibly even the 35 and sacrificing the other things, though the grails would be nice as well, but as is it seems like it's trying too hard of a sell. It's a shame because I absolutely would've paid for Fjorm, and Laev was a maybe solely by virtue of being a 5* staff unit.

It seems like a decent idea, but maybe do something like scale the packages. Start at like $15 and offer more and more stuff as the price gets higher.

[Mau]

Look, I can buy a brand new game for max 65 euros and have 60-100+ hours of fun with that. With this pack I'd get one (1) unit and a bunch of in-game recourses that are spent within a manner of minutes. And that's all 80 euros would buy me. This is one hell of a terrible deal.

Yes, it's a lot more than the regular 140 orbs pack for the same money would get you but I think that pack is overpriced as hell anyway. The last thing 140 orbs got me was one regular Ryoma while trying to hunt for Winter Fae. That's all I got together with a whole bunch of trash. Imagine me having paid 80 euros for that. Damn.

[Magical Glace]

This kinda defeats the point of bundles in the first place (getting people who don't usually spend to start spending/act as an icebreaker of sorts) by being so expensive.  People who already whale would buy the orbs anyway.  People who don't usually spend will see the price and go "nope."   I just don't see what is motivating IS here.  They probably could have made far more tying it to a smaller pack.  Not that I'd buy it either way, this game does not deserve my money in its current state.

That said, the real disgusting thing about this is the Aether stones in Fjorm's pack.  It's a gameplay advantage for AR that's impossible to make up for without spending and probably the biggest p2w thing the game has ever done.  

[Stroud]

Yeah. now People who spend for Fjorm pack are almost 2 weeks ahead in AR. I won't buy its just too expensive and I don't want to lose my status as F2P. xD
I'd rather use the money to buy three houses with its DLC's. 

[Michelaar]

140 orbs is a lot, its the same price as the normal orb package plus extra stuff, don't know what the drama is about, I don't see anything wrong here.You get your normal amount of orbs plus a bunch of extra stuff.

[Garlyle]

The more I stay around the more the moneygrab the game start to look like, and here I am still playing skipping these bundles and keeping my spending to a minimum in this game - enjoying when my skills shows more than whales can do. Of course if IS is willing to give more non-alt characters from my favourite games, I am willing to support them with some orb purchasing.

Does this mean Heroes is doing this bad financially?

[XRay]

4 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

Does this mean Heroes is doing this bad financially?

We have no clue. They were doing fine before, or at least it seemed financially sustainable. There was an interview with one of the developers I think, and he did say they were making a profit, although no one knows how big that profit is since he did not spill the beans.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

29 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

Does this mean Heroes is doing this bad financially?

If the executives were expecting profits to remain average or bad, then yeah their monthly results are dropping over the past few months due to the recent banners that have been pissing people off.

June: $23m

July & August: $40m combined

September: $16.8m

October: $17m

November: $13.8m

They need to stop with the Fates alts and they pretty much shit on Aether raids when they announced that Mythic hero merges would affect the scores.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Dr. Tarrasque

[redlight]

46 minutes ago, Michelaar said:

140 orbs is a lot, its the same price as the normal orb package plus extra stuff, don't know what the drama is about, I don't see anything wrong here. You get your normal amount of orbs plus a bunch of extra stuff.

Problem lies in the fact that it's attached to the most expensive orb package while the other promos were what many considered to be reasonably priced because they're not big spenders

[Alexmender]

As someone that hasn't spent a dime since the Julia Hero Fest banner this doesn't mean anything to me. 

With that being said, I don't think this is scummy or a cashgrab because the orbs are as overpriced as always with the most expensive package having some bonuses (if you're buying that many orbs getting a neutral +0 unit is peanuts unless your luck sucks). The only reward that I think is a mistake is the aether stones because those can be considered P2W in a sense because it gives you a 2~3 week advantage when it comes to upgrading buildings. 

I can absolutely get that people are annoyed that this bundle doesn't cater to them because this one is aimed at the big spenders but this is easily solved with this phrase: "Don't buy it if you don't think it's worth it".

[Othin]

As a f2p player, I don't see a problem. It's not something I'd ever buy, but experimenting with other ways for players willing to spend money to do so could help support the game in a way less invasive than the main gacha ways.

If they like the way this goes, maybe they'll launch similar bundles in the future for cheaper prices, with other rewards adjusted accordingly. Although not as cheap as people would like, that's kind of the whole premise of a gacha.

[Michelaar]

27 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

Problem lies in the fact that it's attached to the most expensive orb package while the other promos were what many considered to be reasonably priced because they're not big spenders

If you don't want them, don't buy them.

[Azuni]

Might have been tempted by this had they each cost $10-20 max. 75 is a huge nope.
I agree with @Glaceon Mage that the Aether Stones is the most offensive part by far; any f2p player could grab an extra Eir or two from her Herofest/Legend banner (unless their luck was horrendous or their orbs were earmarked for something else) to score 160 per match on Light Season, while no number of orbs can let you make up that 400 Aether Stone gap.

[redlight]

13 minutes ago, Michelaar said:

If you don't want them, don't buy them.

The thing is that people bought the promos because it catered to everyone of different spending habits (everyone that was regularly at least spending money on the game). This alienates fishies. They feel left out bcs the price is ridiculous for something that could've been made for them. It has a ton of stuff with it, but the reason fishies were buying promos was not because of a discount, it was bcs it was a discount of a low price. Also, putting a promo in as the most expensive orb bundle price kinda screams desperate, at least in my opinion considering the game's blatant attempts at cash grabs this year from time to time because of lowering revenue.

I saw an interesting theory as to why it has this price. Just a theory, but they want everyone who was spending money before on only promos to take a step further to spend more. Don't take this as something legitimate

[Baldrick]

I bought Hungry Jack so I can't say the concept doesn't interest me, but 100 dollarydoos is way too much. I don't care about the extras.

23 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

I saw an interesting theory as to why it has this price. Just a theory, but they want everyone who was spending money before on only promos to take a step further to spend more. 

Was it a game theory?

Honestly,  I can't think of a better explanation.

[XRay]

51 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

I saw an interesting theory as to why it has this price. Just a theory, but they want everyone who was spending money before on only promos to take a step further to spend more. Don't take this as something legitimate

Sounds pretty reasonable. I think it would have been better if they released more bundles at different price points, that way, it feels inclusive enough for fishes.

[Baldrick]

21 minutes ago, XRay said:

Sounds pretty reasonable. I think it would have been better if they released more bundles at different price points, that way, it feels inclusive enough for fishes.

Having four different price points, each with a different NY hero, would not only have been less scrooge-like, but probably would have been sold more. Whales would still spend for Gunnthra/Hrid merges, and fishes might choose to buy rather than risk their F2P orb stash on getting the wrong focus unit.

[Nowi's Husband]

I'll be getting both, I know I will spend money on orbs in the future, might as well take the bonuses for the same price.   Same reason I buy all monthly deals. 

[Mackc2]

I would have brought one of these packs a year ago (I did buy an 140 orb pack then) because I was enjoying the game and thought it was fair to pay them back for all the enjoyment I got, but as the game is now I refuse to spend anything so I am just going to skip this