Does anyone else think the LoN booster packs are Ridiculously Overpriced?

[Kaalenarc]

<p><span style="color: #ffff00;">And Im not talking on the broker , either.  Now, I've never played Magic the gathering, Pokemon, or any other tcg before, and I am enjoying LoN quite a bit. But  THREE BUCKS for 15 VIRTUAL cards is just plain gouging.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">I know -the price is comparable to what you pay for a booster pack of Magic cards. But, here, the cards are virtual. There are no printers to pay, no foil manufacturer to wrap them, no trucking company to ship them , and no re-seller to get his cut either. Since, presumably both real cards and virtual have design elements that need to be paid for, I cant imagine the cost of running a virtual web-based sale equals all of the previously stated factors.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">Am I off base here? Seems to be a bit greedy , imho.  Make em .99 cents a pack.</span></p>

[Josgar]

Not really... you dont have to go to the store and get the cards, you can get them instantly, and you dont have to worry about them getting sold out.Plus gouging is in the eye of the buyer I guess.

[Kaalenarc]

<cite>Josgar wrote:</cite><blockquote>Not really... you dont have to go to the store and get the cards, you can get them instantly, and you dont have to worry about them getting sold out.Plus gouging is in the eye of the buyer I guess.</blockquote>Maybe. But I dont think the cost of convienience justifies the markup. If it did, You'd see Amazaon marking things up 50-75%

[Femke]

3 US$ is about 2.5 Euro.... so not even 25 euro cent per card.I think the price is reasonable.Femke.

[novafluxx]

I think its a bit pricey myself...I'd rather see 1.99 or 1.95 or .99 or something.

[tass]

considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.

[liveja]

<cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">But  THREE BUCKS for 15 VIRTUAL cards is just plain gouging</span></p></blockquote><p>Then don't buy them in the LoN, problem solved. That's exactly the path I'm choosing, because I also think they're "over-priced", but in reality, that's only because they're priced higher than I'm willing to pay.</p><p>Others are willing to pay that much for them, ergo, others don't think they're "over-priced". It's all a matter of values & perspective, & there's no truly "right" answer when you're talking about subjective values & perspective.</p>

[Cadori Seraphim]

<cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.</blockquote>While this statement is true, as you can get cards for free as drops in game, they are so super rare that if you indeed DID like the card game and wanted to play it but didnt want to purchase virtual cards - it would take you a LONG time to get decent cards to even compete with others in matches with a decent deck.

[kenm]

<cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Josgar wrote:</cite><blockquote>Not really... you dont have to go to the store and get the cards, you can get them instantly, and you dont have to worry about them getting sold out.Plus gouging is in the eye of the buyer I guess.</blockquote>Maybe. But I dont think the cost of convienience justifies the markup. If it did, You'd see Amazaon marking things up 50-75%</blockquote>This is SOE we're talking about, when haven't they taken every opportunity to rip off their customers?  I seem to recall EQOA losing customers and starting to flop hard.  Instead of doing the logical thing and actually working on the game instead of leaving it completely neglected, they go and raise the subscription fee instead.  Awesome business practice, really.But what's even more pathetic is that some people can seem to justify paying $2.99 for probably no more than 15 bytes being changed in the database for their account, when in all reality SOE would be racking in a profit charging no more than a cent for a booster pack.

[Norrsken]

<cite>Kenman@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Josgar wrote:</cite><blockquote>Not really... you dont have to go to the store and get the cards, you can get them instantly, and you dont have to worry about them getting sold out.Plus gouging is in the eye of the buyer I guess.</blockquote>Maybe. But I dont think the cost of convienience justifies the markup. If it did, You'd see Amazaon marking things up 50-75%</blockquote>This is SOE we're talking about, when haven't they taken every opportunity to rip off their customers?  I seem to recall EQOA losing customers and starting to flop hard.  Instead of doing the logical thing and actually working on the game instead of leaving it completely neglected, they go and raise the subscription fee instead.  Awesome business practice, really.But what's even more pathetic is that some people can seem to justify paying $2.99 for probably no more than 15 bytes being changed in the database for their account, when in all reality SOE would be racking in a profit charging no more than a cent for a booster pack.</blockquote>Hah, 3$. What can 3$ get you really?Wont even get you a decent meal in sweden. Perhaps a coffe on a cheap diner, but thats it. And people pay way more for other digital information. Like TV. Or broadband. Still just 1 and 0. Nothing real or tangible.

[Spyderbite]

<cite>Kenman@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite></cite>This is SOE we're talking about, when haven't they taken every opportunity to rip off their customers? </blockquote>I don't feel ripped off. And, I'm by no means naive. I work in sales.. high pressure sales. I sell things to people that they really don't need, all day long every day and I make fat commission checks each month doing so. ^^$3 isn't even a pack of smokes these days. As a matter of fact, when I quit smoking on the 15th.. my plan is to buy 20 booster packs with the money I would have spent on cigarettes instead. XDI give Sony two thumbs up.. personally, I would have charged $5 per pack.. and I would have offered 3 free packs for a 6 month pre-paid station pass upgrade. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Llwellyn]

<cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">And Im not talking on the broker , either.  Now, I've never played Magic the gathering, Pokemon, or any other tcg before, and I am enjoying LoN quite a bit. But  THREE BUCKS for 15 VIRTUAL cards is just plain gouging.</span> <p><span style="color: #ffff00;">I know -the price is comparable to what you pay for a booster pack of Magic cards. But, here, the cards are virtual. There are no printers to pay, no foil manufacturer to wrap them, no trucking company to ship them , and no re-seller to get his cut either. Since, presumably both real cards and virtual have design elements that need to be paid for, I cant imagine the cost of running a virtual web-based sale equals all of the previously stated factors.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">Am I off base here? Seems to be a bit greedy , imho.  Make em .99 cents a pack.</span></p></blockquote><p>Magic: The Gathering cards at retail are $3.99 per booster pack.  Magic: The Gathering Online virtual booster cards are $3.99 per booster pack.  The online cards also mimic the paper card print runs, so the boosters you pull are identical to what you'd get if you pulled the same paper pack at the same spot in the print run.  There also is no booster box buying in MTGO. </p><p> I think the LON price is very fair; if you don't want to buy the cards, then trade for them or earn them in EQ/EQ2.  The fact that you can even get product without paying for it directly is a huge plus for LON vs. MTGO.</p>

[evhallion]

<cite>Cadori Seraphim wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.</blockquote>While this statement is true, as you can get cards for free as drops in game, they are so super rare that if you indeed DID like the card game and wanted to play it but didnt want to purchase virtual cards - it would take you a LONG time to get decent cards to even compete with others in matches with a decent deck.</blockquote>QFE

[ke'la]

<cite>Llwellyn wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">And Im not talking on the broker , either.  Now, I've never played Magic the gathering, Pokemon, or any other tcg before, and I am enjoying LoN quite a bit. But  THREE BUCKS for 15 VIRTUAL cards is just plain gouging.</span> <p><span style="color: #ffff00;">I know -the price is comparable to what you pay for a booster pack of Magic cards. But, here, the cards are virtual. There are no printers to pay, no foil manufacturer to wrap them, no trucking company to ship them , and no re-seller to get his cut either. Since, presumably both real cards and virtual have design elements that need to be paid for, I cant imagine the cost of running a virtual web-based sale equals all of the previously stated factors.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">Am I off base here? Seems to be a bit greedy , imho.  Make em .99 cents a pack.</span></p></blockquote><p>Magic: The Gathering cards at retail are $3.99 per booster pack.  Magic: The Gathering Online virtual booster cards are $3.99 per booster pack.  The online cards also mimic the paper card print runs, so the boosters you pull are identical to what you'd get if you pulled the same paper pack at the same spot in the print run.  There also is no booster box buying in MTGO. </p><p> I think the LON price is very fair; if you don't want to buy the cards, then trade for them or earn them in EQ/EQ2.  The fact that you can even get product without paying for it directly is a huge plus for LON vs. MTGO.</p></blockquote>Its accually cheaper then the going rate for Online TCGs like this person said MTG is $4 per pack, <a href="http://lotronline.decipher.com/notes/prices.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LotROTCG</a> is between $3.00 and $4.00 a pack if you don't pay $15/month to be a "Fellowship" member. Also LoN is the ONLY TCG that has a way to get FREE Booster Packs and Starter Decks. Also NO online TCG lets you use off-line cards so if you play both with RL cards and play online you have to buy BOTH online and RL booster packs that means for MTG you accually have to spend $8.00/pack if you want the same number of cards(though not the same cards) in both your online and off line collections.

[ke'la]

<cite>Sarafan@The Bazaar wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cadori Seraphim wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.</blockquote>While this statement is true, as you can get cards for free as drops in game, they are so super rare that if you indeed DID like the card game and wanted to play it but didnt want to purchase virtual cards - it would take you a LONG time to get decent cards to even compete with others in matches with a decent deck.</blockquote>QFE</blockquote>Accually there are alot of matches that don't require a "decent deck" infact the cream of the crop turniment type is the Starter Deck Match where you play both players can only play with unopened Starter Decks.

[Miss_Jackie]

As the saying goes, there's a sucker born every minute. So, there's gonna be an idiot that will pay that much.

[Kaalenarc]

<p>Ehh, still seems high to me. I'll buy a couple packs probably, but I dont see myself spending a lot on a regular basis. I presume that means that my deck will fall behind. C'est la vie, i guess.</p>

[denmom]

I checked prices last night on Unrest.The drop in price is rather interesting to read, from about 50p down to 5p in two days.  Two pages of the booster packs.I also noted that the majority of sellers have no boxes, odd names, and are in Freeport or Neriak.  Maybe it's mean of me without checking first, but I'm willing to bet they're Necros. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Belaythien]

<cite>denmom wrote:</cite><blockquote>I also noted that the majority of sellers have no boxes, odd names, and are in Freeport or Neriak.  Maybe it's mean of me without checking first, but I'm willing to bet they're Necros. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>Solo farmers on my server all seem to be necros. At least those selling starter packs *G*As far as the price is concerned I too think it's too high. It's just a virtual number in your station account, nothing more. Sure it costs money to create the cards and the client but after that it's much less expensive than running a full retail infrastructure like real paper trading cards require. As far as the higher price for Magic cards is concerned, you can trade virtual cards for paper versions (with a few restrictions as far as I remember). How many cards are there in Magic booster/starter packs? The same as in LoN (15/55)?

[Lornick]

I think the price is fair.  I've bought like 8 booster packs now.  That's 24 bucks total.  I've paid significantly more for games I've had much less fun playing.  By making some really good trades I've been able to build all four archetype decks that are competitive enough to win more than I lose.  My wife makes fun of me for buying virtual cards but here is how I look at it.  I can play and trade cards with real people any time day or night.  That alone makes the cards more valuable then paper ones imho.  What good are real cards when it's a pita to find people to play with?  And even when I don't feel like playing with another person I can always do the skirmishes or scenerios which are pretty fun too.  So no... I think 3 dollars a pack is quite fair when it's all said and done.

[q149]

<p>It costs 2-4 times this price for a beer, or a sandwich, or a salad etc.. i think it is very reasonable, this is the year 2007 in cause you forgot</p>

[Cuz]

<cite>q149 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>It costs 2-4 times this price for a beer, or a sandwich, or a salad etc.. i think it is very reasonable, this is the year 2007 in cause you forgot</p></blockquote>You sir pay too much for your beer.

[ke'la]

<cite>Belaythien wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>denmom wrote:</cite><blockquote>I also noted that the majority of sellers have no boxes, odd names, and are in Freeport or Neriak.  Maybe it's mean of me without checking first, but I'm willing to bet they're Necros. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>Solo farmers on my server all seem to be necros. At least those selling starter packs *G*As far as the price is concerned I too think it's too high. It's just a virtual number in your station account, nothing more. Sure it costs money to create the cards and the client but after that it's much less expensive than running a full retail infrastructure like real paper trading cards require. As far as the higher price for Magic cards is concerned, you can trade virtual cards for paper versions (with a few restrictions as far as I remember). How many cards are there in Magic booster/starter packs? The same as in LoN (15/55)?</blockquote><p>11 in boosters I am not shure in starter Decks, and while you MAY beable to trade Virtual to Real(and pay to get the card I am shure) you can NOT go real to Virtual.</p><p>Also that discounts all the OTHER games that a)don't allow transitions between the RL cards and the Virtual ones or b) don't have RL cards.</p><p>The going rate for Booster Packs in Online TCGs is OVER 3$ a pack and most of the time for FEWER cards wich means this is accually on the BOTTOM end of the price scale for VTCG packs</p>

[ke'la]

<cite>Cuz wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>q149 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>It costs 2-4 times this price for a beer, or a sandwich, or a salad etc.. i think it is very reasonable, this is the year 2007 in cause you forgot</p></blockquote>You sir pay too much for your beer.</blockquote><p>Or you pay to little its all a matter of perspective. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Paps Blue Ribbon may go for less then 3$ a glass, but high end Micro Brews shure as heck don't. </p>

[tass]

I don't see how people can play that game I tried it once and it was ok, ur standard cards. But it went on and on. Card after card, quest after quest, I finally gave up and shut it off. How long does one of these card games last on average? Cause once uve been sitting there for about 20 min its getting repetitive.

[Cuz]

<cite>ke'la wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cuz wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>q149 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>It costs 2-4 times this price for a beer, or a sandwich, or a salad etc.. i think it is very reasonable, this is the year 2007 in cause you forgot</p></blockquote>You sir pay too much for your beer.</blockquote><p>Or you pay to little its all a matter of perspective. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /></p><p>Paps Blue Ribbon may go for less then 3$ a glass, but high end Micro Brews shure as heck don't. </p></blockquote>You'd pay 6-12$ for beer? Even in a bar I wouldn't...

[Drager]

going back to the original post i play magic and stoped buying cards cause i was spending all of my money so with LoN im just going to do tornoments ands search for cards i guess but im telling u this just because someone has THE greatest cards doesnt mean the person who does will win i countinuely play people who have played Magic for ever with my crappy deck versus thier well balenced deck....and do you know how i win STRATEGY thats it thats all you need with decent cards and the greatest stratagy you will win that is how i can compete with my stater deck <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> versus all those guys who BUY thier cards 

[Desirsar]

Same price for boosters as every other online CCG so far.  Same number of cards per pack, close to the same card distribution.  Greater cost to maintain servers since other CCGs don't need integration with an MMO including a redemption server for loot cards.  Inflation from the time period of the first online CCGs suggests packs should be nearing $4 now.I'm not saying there isn't a better way that could result in cheaper packs, but they're following the standard formula.  If LoN is gouging people on booster prices, so is every other CCG, both online and paper.Now, if you're talking about broker prices, I have to agree - 24 platinum for a booster and 50-some for a starter on my server.  Convert that using the rates of those sites that violate the terms of service, and that's about $24 for a booster?  Yeah, I'm sure those will get bought up in a hurry.Edit - Pabst.  You don't deserve to drink beer if you can't spell the most foul beer ever.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  My dad drank it exclusively until his liver decided it didn't like alcohol anymore.  (It's also the reason I don't drink alcohol ever, now.  That, and my alcoholic father, mother, and at least three of my four sisters at some point.  I prefer to apply my addictive personality to video games and pro wrestling...)

[Cigaran]

I'm not too sure I'd call them over priced compared to CCG's we can buy in the real world but I still question adding a card game into an MMO.  The logic there is still just lost on me.

[Palleon]

<p>Actually, the EQ2 booster packs are the cheapest on the market. Stargate cards for example are $3.99.</p><p>Where I am, $2.50 works out as £1.25, which is less than half the price of any shop bought card booster packs (WoW TCG Cards are £4.00 a pack of 12).</p><p>So its actually very cheap, and after a weekend of trying it out, its very well done and a lot of fun. A lot more professionally put together than I expected.</p>

[Bramwe]

All that defending their pricing is going to get is SOE to raise the prices to equal the other games.

[dhvyse000]

IMO it's extremely overpriced, espiecially considering the quality and depth of the game is no where near what Magic the Gathering or any other real card game is.  I'll play Magic The Gathering Online when I want to play a card game and EQ2 when I want to play a real game, I see no reason why we need a card game INTEGRATED into Everquest 2, completely boggles me to why they wasted recources on this.I'm also getting very irritated that these starter decks etc are replacing my regular loot.  Not cool.

[jarlaxle8]

<cite>dhvyse000 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I'm also getting very irritated that these starter decks etc are replacing my regular loot.  Not cool.</blockquote>They don't replace regular loot. They are on a seperate loot table, so if you get a drop with only a LoN pack, you wouldn't have gotten any regular loot even if LoN wouldn't exist.

[Gnobrin]

<p>Nope all, the cards don't replace regular loot.  Please note as well, it's not necessary that you play LoN to play EQII, it's entirely a choice to do so.  If you wish to play, then have at it and have fun!  If you do not wish to play, then simply give those packs to those that do, and you'll be free of having to deal with them in your inventory.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

[wepps]

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Nope all, the cards don't replace regular loot.  Please note as well, it's not necessary that you play LoN to play EQII, it's entirely a choice to do so.  If you wish to play, then have at it and have fun!  If you do not wish to play, then simply <span style="font-size: xx-large;">give</span> those packs to those that do, and you'll be free of having to deal with them in your inventory.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>Are you a socialist? lol

[Leatherneck]

<cite>wepps wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Nope all, the cards don't replace regular loot.  Please note as well, it's not necessary that you play LoN to play EQII, it's entirely a choice to do so.  If you wish to play, then have at it and have fun!  If you do not wish to play, then simply <span style="font-size: xx-large;">give</span> those packs to those that do, and you'll be free of having to deal with them in your inventory.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>Are you a socialist? lol</blockquote><p>San Diego IS on the LEFT coast in the People's Republic of California...</p><p>KIDDING!  KIDDING!  I live in Oregon, got no room to talk.</p>

[Ogrebe]

<cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>wepps wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Nope all, the cards don't replace regular loot.  Please note as well, it's not necessary that you play LoN to play EQII, it's entirely a choice to do so.  If you wish to play, then have at it and have fun!  If you do not wish to play, then simply <span style="font-size: xx-large;">give</span> those packs to those that do, and you'll be free of having to deal with them in your inventory.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>Are you a socialist? lol</blockquote><p>San Diego IS on the LEFT coast in the People's Republic of California...</p><p>KIDDING!  KIDDING!  I live in Oregon, got no room to talk.</p></blockquote>At least in California you can pump your own gas... hehe

[Leatherneck]

<cite>Ogrebear wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>wepps wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Nope all, the cards don't replace regular loot.  Please note as well, it's not necessary that you play LoN to play EQII, it's entirely a choice to do so.  If you wish to play, then have at it and have fun!  If you do not wish to play, then simply <span style="font-size: xx-large;">give</span> those packs to those that do, and you'll be free of having to deal with them in your inventory.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>Are you a socialist? lol</blockquote><p>San Diego IS on the LEFT coast in the People's Republic of California...</p><p>KIDDING!  KIDDING!  I live in Oregon, got no room to talk.</p></blockquote>At least in California you can pump your own gas... hehe</blockquote>In Oregon, if you have a motorcycle, they have to allow you to pump your own.  Little known fact, but true.

[Pitt Hammerfi]

In Magic the gathering Online, they allow you to trade in your virtual deck for the real version. Would be good if this happened with LoN 

[q149]

<cite>Cuz wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>ke'la wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cuz wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>q149 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>It costs 2-4 times this price for a beer, or a sandwich, or a salad etc.. i think it is very reasonable, this is the year 2007 in cause you forgot</p></blockquote>You sir pay too much for your beer.</blockquote><p>Or you pay to little its all a matter of perspective. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />"></p><p>Paps Blue Ribbon may go for less then 3$ a glass, but high end Micro Brews shure as heck don't. </p></blockquote>You'd pay 6-12$ for beer? Even in a bar I wouldn't...</blockquote><p>Where I live 6$ = not enough for a beer at the bar</p>

[q149]

<p>You can't pump your own gas in Oregon or something?</p><p>I think someone has been watching too much Zoolander</p>

[Xrazor]

<p>Oh my God, you have to pay for that stupid game...llllooollll</p><p>What idiot would give Sony money for a card game.</p><p>I thought they did it for free to try to keep all the people they are loosing and that I thought was stupid.</p><p>Man, [Removed for Content] are greedy.</p>

[wepps]

<cite>Ogrebear wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>wepps wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Nope all, the cards don't replace regular loot.  Please note as well, it's not necessary that you play LoN to play EQII, it's entirely a choice to do so.  If you wish to play, then have at it and have fun!  If you do not wish to play, then simply <span style="font-size: xx-large;">give</span> those packs to those that do, and you'll be free of having to deal with them in your inventory.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>Are you a socialist? lol</blockquote><p>San Diego IS on the LEFT coast in the People's Republic of California...</p><p>KIDDING!  KIDDING!  I live in Oregon, got no room to talk.</p></blockquote>At least in California you can pump your own gas... hehe</blockquote>Aren't there places in California where you can't even bar-b-que or mow your lawn?That's unamerican lol.The point is, anybody giving away cards for LoN doesn't understand the huge value associated with them, especially them being new. Whether or not you appreciate this content is not as important as...how much virtual gold you can make off them.These kind of card games are huge money, and it's a good financial idea to add it to the game. Most people agree with that. Most also agree that the method of delivery has been in question, but that aside there is money to be had everywhere. That's consumerism for you <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Enjoy.

[nia]

      I don't know if they are overpriced or not but why the heck do you even want them?? Its not like they get you into a priveleged zone or rare loot.....If I want an online card game with some real loot I'll go play poker.....

[ke'la]

<cite>Desirsar wrote:</cite><blockquote>Same price for boosters as every other online CCG so far.  Same number of cards per pack, close to the same card distribution.  Greater cost to maintain servers since other CCGs don't need integration with an MMO including a redemption server for loot cards.  Inflation from the time period of the first online CCGs suggests packs should be nearing $4 now.I'm not saying there isn't a better way that could result in cheaper packs, but they're following the standard formula.  If LoN is gouging people on booster prices, so is every other CCG, both online and paper.Now, if you're talking about broker prices, I have to agree - 24 platinum for a booster and 50-some for a starter on my server.  Convert that using the rates of those sites that violate the terms of service, and that's about $24 for a booster?  Yeah, I'm sure those will get bought up in a hurry.<span style="color: #ff0000;">Edit - Pabst.  You don't deserve to drink beer if you can't spell the most foul beer ever.  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" />  My dad drank it exclusively until his liver decided it didn't like alcohol anymore.  (It's also the reason I don't drink alcohol ever, now.  That, and my alcoholic father, mother, and at least three of my four sisters at some point.  I prefer to apply my addictive personality to video games and pro wrestling...)</span></blockquote>Well then its good that I don't drink any kind of Alcohol<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />... if I can avoid it(I'll drink chapain if we are toasting someone but thats it and the minimum amount I can get a way with). Its not for any reason really I just don't like it.

[ke'la]

<cite>q149 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>You can't pump your own gas in Oregon or something?</p><p>I think someone has been watching too much Zoolander</p></blockquote>Nope there accually is a Law in Oregon that prevents you from pumping your own gas, its to keep the gas station attendance employed.

[ke'la]

<cite>Xrazor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Oh my God, you have to pay for that stupid game...llllooollll</p><p>What idiot would give Sony money for a card game.</p><p>I thought they did it for free to try to keep all the people they are loosing and that I thought was stupid.</p><p>Man, [I cannot control my vocabulary] are greedy.</p></blockquote><p>No you CAN pay to get booster packs, or you can get them Free as loot. And aparantly ALOT of people give SoE money for a card game consitering the Large number of card games that <a href="http://www.worlds-apart.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Worlds Apart</a>(now SoE Denver) accually runs.</p><p>Also as the population is GROWING abit very slowly, they are not doing it to "keep the people they are loosing" as they aren't loosing people.</p>

[DCarnage2]

<cite>Llwellyn wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>Magic: The Gathering cards at retail are $3.99 per booster pack.  Magic: The Gathering Online virtual booster cards are $3.99 per booster pack.  The online cards also mimic the paper card print runs, so the boosters you pull are identical to what you'd get if you pulled the same paper pack at the same spot in the print run.  There also is no booster box buying in MTGO. </p></blockquote><p>That's great and all but I play M:TG in RL and Online.  I can understand the Online boosterpacks costing 3.99 a pack because the cards can be "redeemed" for real cards.  Can I redeem LoN cards?!  I thought not.  So yes, a pack of "virtual" cards that cannot be redeemed should not be comparable in price to another RL ccg.</p><p>I'm now waiting for hardcore raid guilds to turn down people because they don't have item X from LoN.  For example the item that gives you 100% power, in or out of combat.  Sure it can only be used once every 21 hours but it's still very very powerful.</p>

[Norrsken]

<cite>DCarnage2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Llwellyn wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>Magic: The Gathering cards at retail are $3.99 per booster pack.  Magic: The Gathering Online virtual booster cards are $3.99 per booster pack.  The online cards also mimic the paper card print runs, so the boosters you pull are identical to what you'd get if you pulled the same paper pack at the same spot in the print run.  There also is no booster box buying in MTGO. </p></blockquote><p>That's great and all but I play M:TG in RL and Online.  I can understand the Online boosterpacks costing 3.99 a pack because the cards can be "redeemed" for real cards.  Can I redeem LoN cards?!  I thought not.  So yes, a pack of "virtual" cards that cannot be redeemed should not be comparable in price to another RL ccg.</p><p>I'm now waiting for hardcore raid guilds to turn down people because they don't have item X from LoN.  For example the item that gives you 100% power, in or out of combat.  Sure it can only be used once every 21 hours but it's still very very powerful.</p></blockquote>That item has been nerfed.

[Kendricke]

<cite>DCarnage2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm now waiting for hardcore raid guilds to turn down people because they don't have item X from LoN.  For example the item that gives you 100% power, in or out of combat.  Sure it can only be used once every 21 hours but it's still very very powerful.</p></blockquote><p> <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=379824" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=379824</a></p>

[Lord Montague]

<cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.</blockquote>The notion of investing time equates to "free" astounds my mind.  Hours upon hours killing things hoping a booster pack will drop is NOT free.

[Norrsken]

<cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.</blockquote>The notion of investing time equates to "free" astounds my mind.  Hours upon hours killing things hoping a booster pack will drop is NOT free.</blockquote>But if you have fun doing it, it may be called free tbh. ;=)

[liveja]

<cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hours upon hours killing things hoping a booster pack will drop is NOT free.</blockquote><p>I'm betting it works a lot better if you don't spend those hours upon hours hoping for a booster pack.</p>

[phoenixshard]

<cite>ke'la wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Llwellyn wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">And Im not talking on the broker , either.  Now, I've never played Magic the gathering, Pokemon, or any other tcg before, and I am enjoying LoN quite a bit. But  THREE BUCKS for 15 VIRTUAL cards is just plain gouging.</span> <p><span style="color: #ffff00;">I know -the price is comparable to what you pay for a booster pack of Magic cards. But, here, the cards are virtual. There are no printers to pay, no foil manufacturer to wrap them, no trucking company to ship them , and no re-seller to get his cut either. Since, presumably both real cards and virtual have design elements that need to be paid for, I cant imagine the cost of running a virtual web-based sale equals all of the previously stated factors.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ffff00;">Am I off base here? Seems to be a bit greedy , imho.  Make em .99 cents a pack.</span></p></blockquote><p>Magic: The Gathering cards at retail are $3.99 per booster pack.  Magic: The Gathering Online virtual booster cards are $3.99 per booster pack.  The online cards also mimic the paper card print runs, so the boosters you pull are identical to what you'd get if you pulled the same paper pack at the same spot in the print run.  There also is no booster box buying in MTGO. </p><p> I think the LON price is very fair; if you don't want to buy the cards, then trade for them or earn them in EQ/EQ2.  The fact that you can even get product without paying for it directly is a huge plus for LON vs. MTGO.</p></blockquote>Its accually cheaper then the going rate for Online TCGs like this person said MTG is $4 per pack, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://lotronline.decipher.com/notes/prices.shtml" target="_blank">LotROTCG</a> is between $3.00 and $4.00 a pack if you don't pay $15/month to be a "Fellowship" member. Also LoN is the ONLY TCG that has a way to get FREE Booster Packs and Starter Decks. Also NO online TCG lets you use off-line cards so if you play both with RL cards and play online you have to buy BOTH online and RL booster packs that means for MTG you accually have to spend $8.00/pack if you want the same number of cards(though not the same cards) in both your online and off line collections.</blockquote>Actually you're wrong on a few things about MTG.   You do get a free starter deck at the time of account activation.  You do have to buy booster packs, but then if you're going to actually play LoN with any chance of actually winning at it, you will need to either buy boosters or get them in game and since the in game drops are so rare, then you will need to buy them.  Again that is if you want any real chance of winning on a consistent basis.  MTG can also have its online cards redeemed through the website for the physical card.  You lose it out of your online, but you do have the physical one and they can be worth quite a bit of money for the rare ones.  You can't do that with LoN.  Just like any business, SOE is trying to make money.  I don't begrudge them that, but to act like they are giving you a great gift and then saying no one else is like it is nothing short of screaming fanboyism.  I'm not singling anyone out with this statement, just making a general statement quoting the first post I saw.  To just simplify it, SOE is out to make money, just like any business, and just like any business, they'll use marketing ploys like the items that can be used in game and the booster packs that drop in game for LoN, all they are doing is marketing within a market they control completely.

[Lord Montague]

<cite>Ulvhamne@Nagafen wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>considering you can get them for free why would you spend your money.</blockquote>The notion of investing time equates to "free" astounds my mind.  Hours upon hours killing things hoping a booster pack will drop is NOT free.</blockquote>But if you have fun doing it, it may be called free tbh. ;=)</blockquote>It comes down to the principle of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">opportunity costs</a>.  It doesn't matter if you had fun doing it or not.  An hour spent going after one thing is an hour you could've spent doing something else.

[liveja]

<cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>It doesn't matter if you had fun doing it or not.  An hour spent going after one thing is an hour you could've spent doing something else.</blockquote><p>It matters a great deal if you had fun doing it, precisely because an hour going after one thing is an hour your could have spent doing something else.</p>

[Leatherneck]

<cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>It doesn't matter if you had fun doing it or not.  An hour spent going after one thing is an hour you could've spent doing something else.</blockquote><p><b>It matters a great deal if you had fun doing it,</b> precisely because an hour going after one thing is an hour your could have spent doing something else.</p></blockquote>Especially since this is a game and games are meant to be fun.  As long as you're having fun in the game, anything else is ancillary.

[Lord Montague]

<cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>It doesn't matter if you had fun doing it or not.  An hour spent going after one thing is an hour you could've spent doing something else.</blockquote><p>It matters a great deal if you had fun doing it, precisely because an hour going after one thing is an hour your could have spent doing something else.</p></blockquote>It's still not "free," though.

[liveja]

<cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>It doesn't matter if you had fun doing it or not.  An hour spent going after one thing is an hour you could've spent doing something else.</blockquote><p>It matters a great deal if you had fun doing it, precisely because an hour going after one thing is an hour your could have spent doing something else.</p></blockquote>It's still not "free," though.</blockquote>Nothing in life is is free. But it does matter whether or not you have fun doing it, as opposed to doing something heinously un-fun for an hour.

[Desirsar]

I've never quite understood how they make money off the card set redemption in MTGO.  You guys did point out for everyone that you have to collect one copy of every card in a set, including rares, in order to redeem it for physical cards, right?  Wait, no.  Nobody did.  It's not like you can simply hand them your crappy collection of commons and a couple expensive physical rares and ask to redeem them for physical cards.  It takes a lot of work and nets them a decent amount of money from someone, if not the person redeeming then the person they traded with to get the cards, in order for anyone to complete that set.  If you can't call it a marketing scheme, then chalk it up to their budget for giving away product as prizes in real life (which they seem to give away a ton of and still manage to sell even more cards.  Giving away too much product seems to be what kills online CCGs unless they can come up with new and large enough sets to offset this effect.)In any case, I'll state it again since I'm sure someone has if I haven't yet - The price you pay for physical cards at $3 or $4 for a pack is the printing, packaging, distribution, and game design.  No one seems to argue much with the price since the same can be said of buying a cup of yogurt at the grocery store, other than game design (unless they put games in yogurt now...)  The problem people have with the capitalism side when you move the concept online seems to lie around the same area where you'll find people illegally downloading music and movies and software, and then thinking that anything distributed online should be as equally cost effective.  (That, or ten years later people still haven't gotten over the one-time-cost console game mentality and still don't understand why they pay a monthly fee for MMOs.)  Getting back to the point, the $3 per pack for your online game booster is game design (the only similar element), and server maintenance and staff.  The cost really is justified at the price point set, and it's up to the individual consumer whether it is worth it to them to buy it.Speaking from an economics standpoint, they are not raking in money hand over fist at that price, but simply making an acceptable accounting profit (go look up the difference between economic profit and accounting profit if that use of the term doesn't make sense to you.)  If the business were really that profitable as to imply they are gouging us on prices, you'd see everyone and their grandmother getting in on the business.

[Firecracker]

<cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Flaye@Mistmoore wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Seirrah@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>It doesn't matter if you had fun doing it or not.  An hour spent going after one thing is an hour you could've spent doing something else.</blockquote><p>It matters a great deal if you had fun doing it, precisely because an hour going after one thing is an hour your could have spent doing something else.</p></blockquote>It's still not "free," though.</blockquote>I know from what I read over and over about LoN being nothing more then soe trying to get more money out of us on these forums and how some kept saying over and over it's FREE FREE FREE! so weather it's fun doing does not matter in my opinion for the drop rate on these cards are very low. Your chance of supposedly getting cards for this game for FREE are very slim (1%) and that is false advertisment. You can't advertise it's <u>free for all those of us</u> who can't afford or won't pay for any additional cards in saying they drop in game for us what at 1/10000 maybe? <i><u>That chances of being free <b>are not free for all who want to play</b>.</u></i> 

[StormCinder]

<cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>I don't see how people can play that game I tried it once and it was ok, ur standard cards. But it went on and on. Card after card, quest after quest, I finally gave up and shut it off. How long does one of these card games last on average? Cause once uve been sitting there for about 20 min its getting repetitive.</blockquote><p>As opposed to say.....running through instance after instance, quest after quest.  How long does a game of EQ2 last on average?  Cause once uve[sic] been sitting there for about 20 min...</p><p>LOL.  The irony astounds me.  It's all a matter of perspective.</p><p>SC</p>

[Leatherneck]

<cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote>I know from what I read over and over about LoN being nothing more then soe trying to get more money out of us on these forums and how some kept saying over and over it's FREE FREE FREE! so weather it's fun doing does not matter in my opinion for the drop rate on these cards are very low. Your chance of supposedly getting cards for this game for FREE are very slim (1%) and that is false advertisment. <b>You can't advertise it's <u>free for all those of us</u> who can't afford or won't pay for any additional cards in saying they drop in game for us what at 1/10000 maybe? <i><u>That chances of being free are not free for all who want to play.</u></i>  </b></blockquote>Considering they gave everyone free cards, yes..they can advertise that.

[Firecracker]

<cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote>I know from what I read over and over about LoN being nothing more then soe trying to get more money out of us on these forums and how some kept saying over and over it's FREE FREE FREE! so weather it's fun doing does not matter in my opinion for the drop rate on these cards are very low. Your chance of supposedly getting cards for this game for FREE are very slim (1%) and that is false advertisment. <b>You can't advertise it's <u>free for all those of us</u> who can't afford or won't pay for any additional cards in saying they drop in game for us what at 1/10000 maybe? <i><u>That chances of being free are not free for all who want to play.</u></i>  </b></blockquote>Considering they gave everyone free cards, yes..they can advertise that.</blockquote><p>'Saying they will drop in EQ2 for us for free is what I meant not getting a starter deck & one or 2 boosters packs to me does not count for that in it's self is ploy to get you buy in hope of getting the cool cards as for your chances of getting them in EQ2 are slim, very slim. </p><p>I for one had hope they would drop at better rate then what it is now and I have not as of date got one. I am not asking for them to drop like flies but when I can spend 4 or more hours of killing mobs as usual before the release of this game and still not got one is a bad rate .........and that by no means is free, for my time playing this game is not free for don't we all pay monthly fees?</p>

[StormCinder]

<p>In response to the OPs title question: No.</p><p>SC</p>

[Kendricke]

<cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote>I know from what I read over and over about LoN being nothing more then soe trying to get more money out of us on these forums and how some kept saying over and over it's FREE FREE FREE! so weather it's fun doing does not matter in my opinion for the drop rate on these cards are very low. Your chance of supposedly getting cards for this game for FREE are very slim (1%) and that is false advertisment. <b>You can't advertise it's <u>free for all those of us</u> who can't afford or won't pay for any additional cards in saying they drop in game for us what at 1/10000 maybe? <i><u>That chances of being free are not free for all who want to play.</u></i>  </b></blockquote>Considering they gave everyone free cards, yes..they can advertise that.</blockquote><p>'Saying they will drop in EQ2 for us for free is what I meant not getting a starter deck & one or 2 boosters packs to me does not count for that in it's self is ploy to get you buy in hope of getting the cool cards as for your chances of getting them in EQ2 are slim, very slim. </p><p>I for one had hope they would drop at better rate then what it is now and I have not as of date got one. I am not asking for them to drop like flies but when I can spend 4 or more hours of killing mobs as usual before the release of this game and still not got one is a bad rate .........and that by no means is free, for my time playing this game is not free for don't we all pay monthly fees?</p></blockquote><p>There's no additional fee required to play Legends of Norrath.  You didn't tack on another $.99 a month to play.  No one requires that you buy booster packs outside of the game.  If you don't ever want to pull out your credit card for Legends of Norrath, you never have to.</p><p>Sure, it's all a matter of perspective.  Some people might say that breathing is still free, but I could pull out data showing all the carcinogens and pollutants in the air which will add up to health care costs down the road and "prove" that breathing costs something like $.00000000012 per inhalation, but that's just picking at nits really.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>So as far as "free" goes, let's agree to disagree regarding the semantics.  We both know that you never have to pay additional fees to play the game if you so choose.  However you wish to label that concept is it up to you.  </p>

[StormCinder]

<cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote>I know from what I read over and over about LoN being nothing more then soe trying to get more money out of us on these forums and how some kept saying over and over it's FREE FREE FREE! so weather it's fun doing does not matter in my opinion for the drop rate on these cards are very low. Your chance of supposedly getting cards for this game for FREE are very slim (1%) and that is false advertisment. <b>You can't advertise it's <u>free for all those of us</u> who can't afford or won't pay for any additional cards in saying they drop in game for us what at 1/10000 maybe? <i><u>That chances of being free are not free for all who want to play.</u></i>  </b></blockquote>Considering they gave everyone free cards, yes..they can advertise that.</blockquote><p>'Saying they will drop in EQ2 for us for free is what I meant not getting a starter deck & one or 2 boosters packs to me does not count for that in it's self is ploy to get you buy in hope of getting the cool cards as for your chances of getting them in EQ2 are slim, very slim. </p><p>I for one had hope they would drop at better rate then what it is now and I have not as of date got one. I am not asking for them to drop like flies but when I can spend 4 or more hours of killing mobs as usual before the release of this game and still not got one is a bad rate .........and that by no means is free, for my time playing this game is not free for don't we all pay monthly fees?</p></blockquote><p>Well, by that logic, every single change that SOE implements should cause an increase in fees, no?  I'm pretty sure when I signed up for EQ2 LoN didn't even exist.  But those dastardly devs have  added content that I can play at no expense!!  Sure, I may not be competitive, but I can play it.  Same goes for your gametime=money theory.  I don't have the gametime/money to spend more than 4-6 hours per week playing.  People who have more gametime/money than me are able to experience more of the game than I am.  I could choose to not go to work and stay home to play EQ2...but that would cost me almost $40 if I put in a full 10 hrs.  </p><p>I'm not sure what I pay these days for my subscription...something like $15 per month.  Sooo...if I play 5 hrs/week...that's 20hrs/month...game costs me 75 cents per hour.  A 2 hour movie costs me $4 per hour.  </p><p>I'd say you're getting your money's worth with the current structure.  You're not entitled to more than you're willing to pay for.</p><p>SC</p>

[Kaalenarc]

<p>My only question when I originally posted this was essntially to note that it costs less to make say, a hundred thousand VIRTUAL cards than it does to create the same number of ACTUAL cards. Since once the art is done, the item can then be replicated 1000's of times for little to no cost, how then, can you jutify charging what others charge for a real world item? I'll probably buy a few packs, I just thought the math seemed a little fuzzy is all.</p><p> To those debating free vs not free, eh, SOE gave us a free starter deck and the game IS playable with no additions whatsoever. So that pretty much covers free. </p><p>Personally, for a virtual item, I think the cost is too high. Seems many disagree, and thats OK too. </p><p><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[Cuz]

<cite>StormCinder wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>I don't see how people can play that game I tried it once and it was ok, ur standard cards. But it went on and on. Card after card, quest after quest, I finally gave up and shut it off. How long does one of these card games last on average? Cause once uve been sitting there for about 20 min its getting repetitive.</blockquote><p>As opposed to say.....running through instance after instance, quest after quest.  How long does a game of EQ2 last on average?  Cause once uve[sic] been sitting there for about 20 min...</p><p>LOL.  The irony astounds me.  It's all a matter of perspective.</p><p>SC</p></blockquote>That's a pretty stupid comparison.

[Desirsar]

I've heard the "free" complaint for every online CCG that advertised that at some point.  They pretty much all give you a demo deck that you can play with in unranked games forever.  If you want to play ranked, build, or trade, they make you pay for the service.  Sounds pretty much like every online game demo, not just CCGs, and something that should be obvious if you read the entire terms and not just stop at the line containing the word "free".  Fine print should be outlawed, but no matter what its size, you still need to read it.

[DCarnage2]

<cite>phoenixshard wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>ke'la wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Llwellyn wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>Magic: The Gathering cards at retail are $3.99 per booster pack.  Magic: The Gathering Online virtual booster cards are $3.99 per booster pack.  The online cards also mimic the paper card print runs, so the boosters you pull are identical to what you'd get if you pulled the same paper pack at the same spot in the print run.  There also is no booster box buying in MTGO. </p><p> I think the LON price is very fair; if you don't want to buy the cards, then trade for them or earn them in EQ/EQ2.  The fact that you can even get product without paying for it directly is a huge plus for LON vs. MTGO.</p></blockquote>Its accually cheaper then the going rate for Online TCGs like this person said MTG is $4 per pack, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://lotronline.decipher.com/notes/prices.shtml" target="_blank">LotROTCG</a> is between $3.00 and $4.00 a pack if you don't pay $15/month to be a "Fellowship" member. Also LoN is the ONLY TCG that has a way to get FREE Booster Packs and Starter Decks. Also NO online TCG lets you use off-line cards so if you play both with RL cards and play online you have to buy BOTH online and RL booster packs that means for MTG you accually have to spend $8.00/pack if you want the same number of cards(though not the same cards) in both your online and off line collections.</blockquote>Actually you're wrong on a few things about MTG.   You do get a free starter deck at the time of account activation.  You do have to buy booster packs, but then if you're going to actually play LoN with any chance of actually winning at it, you will need to either buy boosters or get them in game and since the in game drops are so rare, then you will need to buy them.  Again that is if you want any real chance of winning on a consistent basis.  MTG can also have its online cards redeemed through the website for the physical card.  You lose it out of your online, but you do have the physical one and they can be worth quite a bit of money for the rare ones.  You can't do that with LoN.  Just like any business, SOE is trying to make money.  I don't begrudge them that, but to act like they are giving you a great gift and then saying no one else is like it is nothing short of screaming fanboyism.  I'm not singling anyone out with this statement, just making a general statement quoting the first post I saw.  To just simplify it, SOE is out to make money, just like any business, and just like any business, they'll use marketing ploys like the items that can be used in game and the booster packs that drop in game for LoN, all they are doing is marketing within a market they control completely.</blockquote><p>"Actually" <-- QFE you're wrong lol.  To start a MTGO account it costs you 9.99 but you are given 9.99 credit to buy a preconstructed deck, boosters or tickets.</p><p>I have 2 accounts in MTGO and still have yet to buy a booster pack.  In the past who knows how many years I have bought $20 worth of tickets (MTGO ingame money for card trades and tourneys) With the 20 tix I used a card buying/selling bot.  I would buy 128 uncommons for 1 ticket, then sell 32 uncommons for 1 ticket.  I do this with commons, uncommons and rares.  Once I have a full set, I redeem them and keep them for my personal collection in real life.  </p><p>Yes to redeem a set you have to have one of each card in the set and when they are redeemed they leave your MTGO collection.  This is where I lose you though, Magic the Gathering has a physical product, MTGO cards can be redeemed for a physical product.  LoN CANNOT BET REDEEMED FOR A REAL WORLD PRODUCT!!!</p><p>So Wizards of the coast pays for design, art, physical card stock, so on and so forth... This costs a lot of money.  LoN only has to pay for design, art and implementation into the program.  That's it.  They can copy their cards over and over and over virtually and not spend any more money than they have spent on the first original set.  Wizards of the Coast on the other hand has to print sheets and sheets of the cards to make more which costs money.  This is why it is 3.99 a pack.  LoN on the other hand is selling for 2.99 sure it comes down to supply and demand oh wait, they don't have to worry about supply, all they have to worry about is demand.  In my opinion a booster should be a max of $2 a pack.</p><p> All in all I didn't come here to rant, I came here to say that "2.99 for a pack of virtual cards is not right."</p><p>Doesn't matter I will not be playing this WoW:TCG clone.  Magic:The Gathering is waaaay better =P</p>

[Kendricke]

<cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>My only question when I originally posted this was essntially to note that it costs less to make say, a hundred thousand VIRTUAL cards than it does to create the same number of ACTUAL cards. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote><p>Does your cost analysis take into account only material components?  Or does it take development costs and overhead into account?  If so, I'd love to know where you're hiring your engineers and designers - I've got a project coming up and it's tight on the budget!</p>

[Kaalenarc]

<cite>Kendricke wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>My only question when I originally posted this was essntially to note that it costs less to make say, a hundred thousand VIRTUAL cards than it does to create the same number of ACTUAL cards. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote><p>Does your cost analysis take into account only material components?  Or does it take development costs and overhead into account?  If so, I'd love to know where you're hiring your engineers and designers - I've got a project coming up and it's tight on the budget!</p></blockquote><span style="color: #ffff00;">I did not take into account the costs of anything that was mutual to both.. art, design, development, etc. Yes, there's a programming cost, but ultimately you end up with replicable items over and over.  At some point, some early point , given the number of packs sold, the cost is paid for several times over. Assuming this isnt a limited window of opportunity , and that there will be people buying packs for years to come, then presumably they could make the costs back, and a decent profit and charge less.  Do I have the specific costs? Of course not, but again, given that OTHER tcgs charge similarly AND will give you a real card in addition to the virtual one, and here we get only virtual, seems pretty straightforward to me.  If company A can make an online tcg and provide a real card to go with it for the same price, doesnt it make sense that company B (SOE) not providing that should cost less? Ehh, not worth debating further - so Im gonna bow outta this thread. Good luck.</span>

[Desirsar]

If the boosters were $2 and the starters were $5, assuming those costs would cover development and maintenance in someone's correctly balanced budget for the game, people would still be here complaining about the price.  Someone's research in some office at SOE said they'd make an acceptable profit over a period specified by someone much farther up the ladder, so they set the price this way.  I don't see it changing for quite a while, and if they actually reach their sales goals with it, it definitely never will.  I'm sure they looked hard into keeping the price down, this type of product thrives on as many individuals possessing it as possible, and not so much on units sold.  The more players, the more competition, the more sales by players trying to catch up or keep up.  Someone somewhere will ask for a bottom line number, though, and that's what price we'll be stuck with.Edit - No, it's not worth debating further, it was over before it started.  Bowing out for the correct reason (not what you stated) is still the best idea at this point, however.

[Firecracker]

I suppose boosters pack themselves are on the tad side of expensive if want to call what was given to us to free by some. MtG boosters packs are 2.99 to 3.25 and guess what we get these cards in our possesion unlike LoN cards. I know I can't afford thousands like some and I truely like the game but to compete with big boys I am out of the loop. I was hoping for more affordable or <u><b>FREE</b></u> way to get these cards to compete but it won't happen. I feel that in these booster packs there is cards that shouldn't even be in them when they come with starter decks that everyone gets and that is rip off if you ask ,,,why keep gettting quest's cards or commoms that were in starter decks by 3's. I am sure we have our opinion on this so I leave it at that.

[Cuz]

<cite>Kendricke wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kaalenarc@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>My only question when I originally posted this was essntially to note that it costs less to make say, a hundred thousand VIRTUAL cards than it does to create the same number of ACTUAL cards. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote><p>Does your cost analysis take into account only material components?  Or does it take development costs and overhead into account?  If so, I'd love to know where you're hiring your engineers and designers - I've got a project coming up and it's tight on the budget!</p></blockquote>You really should be able to maintain an online TCG for cheaper than a hard copy one. If not, I'd want to work for you  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Leatherneck]

<cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Leatherneck wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cinnimon wrote:</cite><blockquote>I know from what I read over and over about LoN being nothing more then soe trying to get more money out of us on these forums and how some kept saying over and over it's FREE FREE FREE! so weather it's fun doing does not matter in my opinion for the drop rate on these cards are very low. Your chance of supposedly getting cards for this game for FREE are very slim (1%) and that is false advertisment. <b>You can't advertise it's <u>free for all those of us</u> who can't afford or won't pay for any additional cards in saying they drop in game for us what at 1/10000 maybe? <i><u>That chances of being free are not free for all who want to play.</u></i>  </b></blockquote>Considering they gave everyone free cards, yes..they can advertise that.</blockquote><p>'Saying they will drop in EQ2 for us for free is what I meant not getting a starter deck & one or 2 boosters packs to me does not count for that in it's self is ploy to get you buy in hope of getting the cool cards as for your chances of getting them in EQ2 are slim, very slim. </p><p>I for one had hope they would drop at better rate then what it is now and I have not as of date got one. I am not asking for them to drop like flies but when I can spend 4 or more hours of killing mobs as usual before the release of this game and still not got one is a bad rate .........<b>and that by no means is free, for my time playing this game is not free for don't we all pay monthly fees?</b></p></blockquote><p>You're being charged to play LoN?  I know I'm not.  I got the free cards to play another game that I'm not being charged to play.  I wasn't charged to buy the game.  I wasn't charged for the starter decks.  I wasn't charged for the booster packs.</p><p>Cost so far?  Free.</p><p>Further I played through the first 6 or so scenarios and got....free cards.</p><p>Cost so far?  Free.</p><p>And when I loot a booster pack or two in the future, it will be...free.</p><p>I'm not paying to play LoN.  I'm paying to play EQ2.</p>

[Echgar]

This discussion is one that is better suited to the <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/strategygames/forums/list.m?category_id=7" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Legends of Norrath Forums</a> as it really does not pertain to EverQuest II gameplay.  Closing this thread.