Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

That is your opinion. I think that we have the right to defend our own opinion in this matter.

PS.
The thread should be locked, since this is a pointless and very subjective discussion. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

Sorry, I am not being uncivil, rude more than others. If you had showed some frendly behaviour I woould be also friendly. Why would my opinion stirr such outburst? Do you need machine guns to help you out against me... Jesus Christ, nobody will be harmed in this process of little criticism.

And mind you as I bought the game I have perfectly legal right to say what I don't like here in this case.

I didn't pirate it through torentz or something. I have bought this game just like you. Continue, I know that I will be banned because I can see that tolerance here is also very low. But, if I get banned that will not be just my blame. And you will be happy I think.


Mario

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

Hehe, we don't need to argue. In fact this is great fun, why to close down the thread? lol
After a long and hard work today I can also have some fun lol

I am sorry if I offended anyone, yes my English is not good like yours it was not my intentions. I said my opinion - enough for me. Now we can just talk for fun.


Mario

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

"And mind you as I bought the game I have perfectly legal right to say what I don't like here in this case."

It's a little late for criticism of the price after you bought it though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

It's a rather strange argument. Obviously enough people are willing to pay the current price for the game, hence no reason to drop it. Sure, more people might buy it for a lower price, but unless your desperate to sell more it's not much of an argument. I reckon more people would buy rolex watches if they lowered the price, but I can't see it happening in the future...

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

You are all endangering this thread. Get back to discussing the subject and not discussing each other.

I will point out that it would do no one any good to go to a forum that is 99% one mind, post something counter to that, then complain if its not taken well. Such a battle takes above-average diplomacy if you really think its going to make a dent. I think that the community here has been fairly well mannered compared to most other fan sites.

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

I don't think that you should be banned, however this thread should be locked real fast. This is slowly turning into a flame war because of a pointless argument.
This game is pretty unique, there isn't any game like this on the PC market. It is also extremely addictive. The majority of us are only playing with this game [well I do buy many other games, but I am always focusing on Doms], so 55$ is nothing for it. Please try to understand things like this.

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

I am. I will also play this game so don't want to be banned because where I will ask for advices? lol

I know that this game is great. OK, I have stated my opinion so we can get back to discuss the game.

I will make feedback when my game actually arrive so no more fuss and beating the dead horse anymore. I don't want flame.
It was fun ...


Mario

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

Hi All!

Okay everyone lets take a deep breath.

I hope you are enjoying Dominions 3, regardless of how you feel about the price point we have set.

I have followed this forum topic on and off over the last few days, as well as a similar discussion on another board. I am going to break my own rule and talk a little about why we have priced Dominions 3 the way we did. I usually don't get into these discussions as there is no win here. Some will feel the game is overpriced, and nothing I say will change that. Now having said that...

Dominions II was priced at $49.95, and we had a similar discussion going on at the time we released it with regard to pricing. Some people think that niche products, developed on shoestring budgets should be priced as shareware, even though we have all the costs that a major publisher has - maybe just not on the same scale - and the developer on a per man basis probably puts in more hours than a developer of any major title on a per man basis. Well, Shrapnel and Illwinter survived those discussions, and Dominions II was a success, becoming one of our top three selling games ever.

Now onto Dominions 3. We had a huge decision to make. We could either follow the path of Dominions II and print a manual on par with the Dominions II manual, or take the manual up a notch. Doing a Dominions II style manual would have probably left the price point the same; taking things up a notch would mean a price increase. Due to the overwhelming feedback from the true fans of Dominions and those who didn't buy or didn't enjoy the game (as first timers), we felt a much improved manual would benefit everyone who we considered our target customer. We also hoped that it would lead to additional sales, but that is really something that only time will tell - and it is way too early to make that call.

As some of you are aware, Illwinter hired Bruce Geryk to write the manual, and we supported the decision to make the manual a 200 page 'book'. Due to the quality work Bruce gave us and knowing that we didn't want to cut out anything, we ended up with a manual of almost 300 pages. Then, we decided, due to the large amount of reference materials, to upgrade the manual binding to coil binding, so that it could lay flat. BTW, the price of the last 100 pages and the coil binding doubled the cost of the manual over the 200 page manual we had originally envisioned. Now add to that the cost of the printer shipping to us manuals that are twice the weight of the Dominions II manual and storage costs of manuals that take up twice the space...

Can you see where I am heading? I think that is enough said. Just know, that Shrapnel Games and Illwinter will make less per copy on Dominions 3 than we did on Dominions 2, even with the $5.00 increase. So, to make the same money we have to sell many more copies and as I said earlier, we are way too early into the release to know if this decision will pay divdends.

We didn't set the price of Dominions 3 based on what we thought the market would bear or to make huge profits or to insult potential customers. We set the price based on economics of costs. And if I had known the manual would end up at 300 pages with coil binding I would have set the price at $59.95. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

We appreciate those of you who have bought Dominions 3 and those that have taken the time to try the demo. To those of you who think the price is too high, maybe this isn't the game for you. We don't want anyone leaving our store feeling that we have taken advantage of you.

Thanks for listening.

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

We appreciate those of you who have bought Dominions 3 and those that have taken the time to try the demo. To those of you who think the price is too high, maybe this isn't the game for you. We don't anyone leaving our store feeling that we have taken advantage of you.

Thanks for listening.
OK, thank you. That is nice and clear reasoning. I will aceept your words. I am not entirely convinced and I still support idea of cheaper games - bigger audience but whatever. I will not spoil the party.

Will try to discuss game related thing when I get the game.


Mario

Re: Are we paying more for less?
 

Hm i have not yet gotten my copy, so i cannot yet judge about the quality of the manual.
But because there is the option of a digital manual, best case e.g. as word or html document, and the charts etc. sortable as e.g. excel-files i can state my opinion nontheless i think.

I am sure that Bruce did a fantastic manual. But if it would be digital as i said it would be even a bit better imho.

Dom 2 had after a while excellent fanmade digital documentation.
And my personal opinion for any hardcore strategy game is that the manual is only the basics, but most important for the learning process is nontheless discussion and play with other players and guides by veteran players.

So i personally would be happier with a digital manual if i would have to pay less then.

You just stated that you earn less per sold copy of Dom3 than per sold copy of Dom2 because of the additional costs from the manual.
But imho those 55$ are really a bit too much above the magical 50$/50€ border, so i oracle that Dom3 will bring you less profit than Dom2.

If you had offered 2 versions of Dom3 for purchase though i think every customer would have been content:
First version with a digital manual for e.g. 45$ and the second version as you offer it now with the printed in high quality manual for 60$ for those people who prefer to have a physical manual.

That is just my subjective opinion though and i hope that Dom3 sells better than Dom2 because imho both of you, Illwinter and Shrapnel, deserve success with Dom3 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.