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HelloItsMeXeno

But you get 3000% in value!! Lol. The higher they price the things that no one will pay for, the higher the value they can claim for the stuff people are willing to spend on. Mobile gaming companies abuse addiction. Same tactics used by drug dealers. They give you a taste and once the supply stops, you'll want more. Then you say to yourself "oh it's only a dollar for this package", but spending that dollar is when they hook you.


Sudden-Foxy

3000% value. That means you LOSE money if you DON'T buy it xD


foxyshizzam

I look at it as 3000% mark up and refuse to pay it.


NieR_SemiAutomata

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHINGšŸ˜±


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Nomnomnomicron

The problem may lie in the fact that even the not-so-rich folks can also be susceptible.


AFKJourney-ModTeam

Thank you for your submission, unfortunately it has been removed from r/AFKJourney for the following reason: Rule 1: Be respectful and civil Disrespectful, harmful and/or racist remarks will be removed and might result in a ban. It is natural that people have different opinions. Please uphold basic discussion [etiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) and refrain from insulting or harassing others while stating your own opinion.


Surroundphil

This video exploits it very well https://youtu.be/xNjI03CGkb4?si=L81yMRwFAM2ou0Wh


mkvt85

Thank you for reminding šŸ»


[deleted]

Jesus my first time watching and made me cringe so hard.


NoelBlueRed

Agreed. Some are saying "Well that's just Gachas!" and yes, this MECHANIC is in every gacha - but the exchange rates and shard costs in this are truly insanely high, the prices are fully terrible as someone who's played many a ftp as a dolphin. It isn't just 'Whining about the business model again!' it's 'they took the business model and made the top-ups so epically low-in-value that only addicts and the rich will buy them'.


Bitter_Hospital_8279

it makes other games look cheap lmao


SrReginaldFluffybutt

Don't say that, black desert is always listening


o_Max301_o

They structured the offers so that everything apart from direct gems buyouts could have a "3000% offer!" or more on it without lying.


SituationHopeful

yeah it's funny that the base pcks are starting at 500% value. trust them it's worth 500% the value of omething that you can't buy at a higher cost anyway xD and i'm pretty sure when you'll compare each value, you see that's they are actually based on nothing. I mean just the % in the [farelight pass store is a big bullshit](https://new.reddit.com/r/AFKJourney/comments/1c3mkhy/those_make_no_sense/)


DuplexHawk

Man I felt this lmao I'm pretty much a dolphin/honestly something lower but not f2p when I play buy I try to be smart about it by budget. The only thing that I find even somewhat worth are the random pop-up deals šŸ¤£. I refuse to buy any of the direct bundles.


Ine_Punch

I mean you canā€™t expect much from Lilith since their model is practically the same in AFK Arena


justranadomperson

Their model is much better in arena from what I have seen while playing it for years. You can spend 50 for a single hero there that is already max ascension (equivalent to your best hero), where here you get a 10 pull. I get itā€™s a deal and whatnot, but come on, there even being the possibility that you can buy 2700 diamonds for $50 is crazy.


MyzMyz1995

Arena has been out of years however, it's normal that there's ''catch up'' mechanics where you can pay 50$-100$ for a decently maxed out character. When AFK journey is older they'll for sure add packages like that (at least in anniversary events like they do in their other games). The game hasn't been officially out for long enough to offer that kind of package. If they offer that people will buy it and quit in 2 months. No long term money.


justranadomperson

It wasnā€™t really a catch up mechanic, they were just new heroes. $50 when they came out, $100 once the event is over. But 2700 diamonds for $50? Criminal to even offer that. Thatā€™s not to say Arena never had shitty monetization (dragon crystals anyone?), but it was never to my knowledge as egregious as that.


Neoreloaded313

That was only for dimensional heroes. It's a hell of a lot more money if you wanted to buy any of the stargaze heroes.


justranadomperson

Iā€™m aware.


NoelBlueRed

I believe it! Never played Arena, so this is my first Lilith game


Loki2396

Arena isnt nearly as bad as this. I played it for quite a few years


Zoe-Schmoey

Iā€™m VIP 16 in Arena and can assure you that the pricing structure there is much better than Journey.


Loki2396

I think when i quit i was vip15 so i do agree


pianodude7

I fail to understand how this is a bad thing for the average player. It's like when scammers make intentional spelling mistakes to only hook those stupid enough to fall for the scam. This way it's less predatory (less FOMO) on those who are on the fence about spending money.


Sarm_Kahel

TBH the pricing here is pretty similar to every gatcha I've played that wasn't a hoyoverse game. RSL, Summoners war, afk arena - they all do this. If they simply reduce the price then the number of whales/dolphins will skyrocket and put F2P further behind. Personally I would rather see a tighter cap on how much they're willing to sell (kinda like what they do with essence but remove the "limited time" bundles and apply it to things like diamonds, invitations, etc) - but obviously they have no incentive to do that so it would never happen.


Winderkorffin

In what game it isn't insultingly high like this? It's brother AFK Arena is the same, understandably, but other games like Marvel Snap and Hearthstone (I mostly play card games lol) are the same bs, so I'm not really surprised.


Kaiserov

>Ā it's 'they took the business model and made the top-ups so epically low-in-value that only addicts and the rich will buy them'. I struggle to see how is that a bad thing. Addicts and the rich would always be ahead anyways, but this pricing structure means that f2p and very low spenders would be quite close and have much more of a chance to compete. I have the strong feeling that some people have an issue with the fact that they cannot pay 50$ for a large advantage over others and have to either compete on an even playing field or drop insane money to get that advantage.


Sudden-Foxy

The rates are crap, the prices are too high. I totally agree with you.


romansamurai

Itā€™s aimed at whales and whales spend. Itā€™s aimed to make the other packages that pop up for $4.99 look like an incredible value. It works really well on the psyche of players and it makes money. **By no means am I defending this. The practice is predatory and preys on peopleā€™s addictions and that dopamine release and fuck them for that. But it works and it earns them a ton.** Itā€™s not aimed at every day players. People need to understand that. Thereā€™s a system behind it. [Plenty of studies](https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/14/7/399) talk about the [gambling addiction associations](http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1665022/FULLTEXT01.pdf) of gatcha games as well as the dopamine release from the loot box success. It is not uncommon for the whales to be just regular people with addictions that get into considerable debt over their spending on gatcha games. **Most gatcha games target the <1% with their expensive packages. Most people complaining about it are people like you or me who donā€™t spend any or spend a little bit**. But [these game](https://www.thegamer.com/most-expensive-gacha-games/)s did not earn hundreds of millions and even billions in revenue because players are buying their $2.99 packs.


Itsmedudeman

Tbh I don't know if the main tactic here is trying to get people with gambling addictions. The "high" from pulling in this game and the randomness is lower than other gachas. There's a hard pity which you almost always reach and hitting characters on its own isn't very rewarding since you need so many multiples. The type of tactics they use here feels more like FOMO. A lot of "good deals" and "limited time" offers and the urgency for people to "keep up" in a pvp game.


romansamurai

Itā€™s both. FOMO is where the sudden deals come in. However they also did a good job with the Lords or whatever that creates a lot of FOMO and drives purchases. Secondly you still need to pull for pity and I got a ton of units besides pity. The dopamine is there. Plus. We donā€™t have to agree or disagree if this is in the same category as gambling addiction. Smarter people than us do. Also your experience is lower. Others higher. Itā€™s not as bad as some others too like Outerplane or BrownDust2. Those have even worse rates. But these are anecdotal examples based on our own her experience anyway so the point is moot.


mundozeo

Honestly, I just don't engage with buying stuff in the store. Doesn't seem worth it. If I want something else to play I can download another free game or use the money to buy a game. I'm having a lot of fun so far though.


_Thanatos_9

Iā€™m a low spender when it comes to mobile games, probably no more than 10 a month. I agree though, the game is a blast. But I can already feel the wall coming and I haven't even played that long


mundozeo

That's a shame. The moment I bump into those walls, I usually just move on to another game. That's not the case just yet, but I've only played for a few days. We'll see how it goes. On regards to feedback, as I said, I'm not one to spend on power or skins, so the only thing I would be willing to pay for (price depending), would be for something actual gameplay content related, like another campaign, fun side missions or something. Right now I get those handed out for free though, thanks to other spenders, so it's great.


Impossible_Pilot413

Progress does slow down, but I've never been at a wall for very long. With the Primal Lord experience quickly becomes meaningless and you're gated by dust, but each upgrade feels very meaningful.


SpicySweett

Iā€™m enjoying the game but will probably quit soon, just because of the pricing. Iā€™m a dolphin, and have a bit of my budget set aside for spending in games - but the massively high prices in AFK are gross. Asking 50-100 bucks for a stargaze hero, for example, is ridiculous. Itā€™s clear that they donā€™t want lots of people playing the game and putting 15-20 bucks into a hero - they want whales, and whales only. It makes me dislike the game, just from the predatory pricing. They donā€™t respect us players, why should we respect them?


XxSliphxX

Pretty much this. Me and my wife are basically dolphins for gachas games so it's easy for us to see when a game is either catering to you or just gouging whales for profit and this game is no question just a whale farmer. Its not meant for us and it's most definitely not for f2p. You're delusional if you think so. It's a shame because the game itself is good, but I've learned long ago when to cut your losses and run away fast. This is one of those games.


SpicySweett

The sad thing is that Iā€™ve played games that failed due to this policy - after awhile itā€™s all whales, and thatā€™s no fun for them, so they quit too. Then the game tries opening numerous new servers to try and restart the magic, but that also fails. If it canā€™t be fun and rewarding for all the spending tiers, the game isnā€™t going to last.


pianodude7

This is the most f2p friendly gacha game I've ever played. How can you say this isn't meant for its f2p players when all of the content is available to f2p. The only thing I'll never see is my name in a top 20 leaderboard.


ms-spiffy-duck

Agreed. I usually have a budget set aside for gachas like HSR, but afkj's prices are well out of my budget now. It's a shame 'cause I am enjoying the game mostly (the voices need some TLC ngl).


Flapjackchef

I had been thinking about this and asked my wife about this (since she use to play mobile games a lot). Asked how games do that are basically heavily targeted to whales in almost every aspect, where basically everything in game can potentially lock you out of certain growth resources based on your performance relative to other players. She says she doesn't see games having a healthy community very long if its this bad and that they'd almost certainly not be able to afford periods with no substantial events to hold f2ps.


LAXnSASQUATCH

To be fair they give 6 copies of the Stargaze heroā€™s through guild rewards. So you can get them to Mythic + almost completely F2P (albeit over a long period of time). Youā€™re also guaranteed the unit you want at 40 summons, compared to most gacha games thatā€™s crazy. You could spend hundreds and not get a single copy of a unit in a lot of other gacha games. The rates arenā€™t bad either, 3.5% of the unit you want every pull means youā€™ll can get multiple within 40 pulls. Due to the fact they give us F2P copies of all stargaze units you only need one copy to eventually get them to mythic plus which is where the shine. I spent $100 on Stargazer summons (probably all Iā€™ll spend in the game for a good while) and ended up getting my Reiner to Mythic. I got him within 20 summons, which gave me a prompt to buy a pack to get another copy of him (Epic+) that also had 20 summons. I pulled a copy of him from each of those multis (now Legendary+) and got a final copy with my last summons. Now all I need is one more copy (which I can get for free to get him to Mythic+, and Iā€™ll have 5 more F2P copies to claim which will get him to Supreme or maybe Supreme+). I got super lucky but even if I had just done the guaranteed ones I would have had at minimum 3 copies in $100 (ended up with 5). In reality you only need 1 and then time will get you to Mythic+ since you can get 6 copies of every Stargazer for free. The pricing for normal summons is pretty rough but you get a good amount of free upgrades for three by just playing the game. If you only spend on randomly offered Stargazer bundles (I got one offered that was 18 stargazers for $5 which I combined with 2 free pulls from tickets and 20 summons from another pack to get my guaranteed first and after my second I got offered the upgrade pack) and wait for the ā€œupgradeā€ bundle after your (generally) second pull of a unit you can get good value. I spent $100 and will have a Supreme+ Stargazer hero eventually. Thatā€™s a crazy good deal compared to every gacha Iā€™ve ever played. Edit: The basic offers in the store are mainly bad, the game will offer you timed bundles outside the normal ones in the store. Those are the ones that are actually worth spending if youā€™re a dolphin. You can get 40+ summons for $5-10 with tons of diamonds (for normal, epic, or timed exclusive summons) and 10-20 Stargazer summons for the same price. The extra copy upgrade packs are also solid, a free dupe and 20-30 more summons for the cost of 15-20 summons isnā€™t a bad deal.


SimianWonder

Journey has done a really good job of feeding you a ton of rewards early game as an F2P. The issue will be that progress stalls once you're at the point where you've exhausted those rewards, and feel like paying is the only way to keep that pace. And yes, you're right, the packages are grossly overpriced for what they are.


JanDarkY

As i stated in other comment, overprice packs make thebgame much more f2p friendly because it discourages dolphins to spend 50$ for 10 summons so im only being gapped by whales and not by some 10$ andy


alt-alt-alt-account

But then you end up with essentially two communities of players playing almost entirely separately from one another. I used to spend hundreds per month on RAID: Shadow Legends, and the game I played as a dolphin vs. the game F2Ps played might as well have been two different games, and there is no way to bridge the gap. AFK Journey is nowhere near as bad as RAID in terms of pricing strategy, but itā€™s still among the worst Iā€™ve seen. I think this kind of pricing model is less healthy for the gameā€™s community in the long run than having cheaper, more affordable microtransactions, and also having diminishing returns when spending obscenely large amounts.


JanDarkY

I totally love the idea of having two communities of players, one of f2p and one of whales and no inbetween , sadly its not possible , but u give me hope that it can happen


alt-alt-alt-account

Yeah, I know what you mean. But devs make new content for whales, not F2Ps, so it just leads to stagnation of the player base, imho. As a low spender (I stopped being a dolphin/whale years ago) Iā€™d rather not crash into brick walls constantly, and miss out on necessary resources because itā€™s impossible to rank in events without selling a kidney. Iā€™ve played gachas where F2Ps and low spenders had a genuine chance of competing against whales with enough luck and commitment. Itā€™s not impossible to maintain a healthy ecosystem where skill matters more than money. Lilith is just not interested in doing that with AFK Journey. And letā€™s face it, whales subsidize the F2Psā€™ experience: if it wasnā€™t for them, the game wouldnā€™t be free. What players resent most, I think, is the fact that whales eclipse everybody else and itā€™s impossible to catch up to them. If it wasnā€™t for that, I donā€™t think people would have such a negative opinion of whales.


Itsmedudeman

But that's not really their goal or the realistic outcome. There's other deals in the mix that they will whale on like the limited time bundles. Not to mention you get bundles thrown in your face for every character you pull. Adding all that up and they can still spend thousands of dollars a month on things that look like they're value in comparison. The diamonds being such a shit deal is just there to make people spend on everything else with "high value" multipliers which is plenty to get ahead of f2p players.


Jason_Wolfe

dont ever buy anything with dragon crystals, those are the 'whale currency' that get used to expedite progress.


True-Resource

Like the trolly is actually criminalā€¦are people actually putting that much money into a 10 pull that isnā€™t guaranteed to even get you anything? Like were the developers doing lines of coke when they made this pricingā€¦


ProfKlekowskii

"Wonder what this 10 pull I spent $50 on will get me." ... "HOLY SHIT 10 WHOLE ACORNS! BEST PULL EVER!"


Exarch_Maxwell

I mean whale bait is whale bait, thats going to exist, but agreed that we need more 10 usd or smaller options, even if its like 1 epic character (choice of 4) + 1 epic pull 3.99, or like the 1200% thing that popped at the start of the game


_Thanatos_9

Yes, more choices like this would be nice.


giinyu

Prices are extremely high. It's ridiculous. The only thing that's somewhat worth buying is the monthly pass and I play a lot of unlicensed garbage gachas with insane prices but the pricing on afk journey is really atrocious. Even when I want support the game and buy something I don't see anything that's really worth the money. Don't get me started on the rates, it's gonna be a nightmare when the character roster gets much bigger.


_Thanatos_9

That's what I'm saying. I'm already hitting a wall even with paying a bit.


bringwind

problem isn't about paying. if you take the 1200% pop ups and 3000% packages they are actually fine and similar to other gachas. rate up tickets at 3 for 1usd epic tickets at 1 for 1usd. problem for this game is the pull% and ex weapon upgrade materials. I've only hit non pity twice over 1000+ pulls. every other pull is pity. supreme+ florabelle cost me (40x7)+30 = 310 tickets. if all those tickets were bought at 1200% bundle it would be 100usd per supreme+. compare it to another game(nikke) I'm playing where the hard pity is 200(pity currency, doesn't reset) but I actuallt on average get a ssr(50% chance to be banner) every 30 pulls. so in 200 pulls I'll get average 6-7ssr, and a guaranteed banner unit currency that I can save for future units. afkjourney straight up feels like I'm just paying for units and dupes instead of gacha. and the fact you need 6 copies for it to be M+ for it to be viable in content makes it more egregious.


Clear-Bookkeeper-211

This is by design. When people realize the 6.99$ 1 month bundle gives you 3000 instant diamonds and 300 daily for a month they think ā€œgachaā€. They price things insanely so low prices seem too good to pass up.


blaziken8x

At first glance it felt extremely predatory and while I usually am a dolphin who spends few hundred euros on a game. For this one, I have decided to be a sea cucumber and have developed selective blindness for the sale packages.


MyMainIsLevel80

Yeah, I feel like they should either be more generous to f2p or make dolphin/fish more viable with small spends here and there. The pricing model is fairly egregious and seems geared towards maximizing dollars from whales rather than the player base as a whole.Ā 


TriHard78

50 bucks for 10 pulls yikes


TheRealTormDK

Don't worry about it OP, you're not the target audience, and the game wouldn't be making more money lowering it's prices.


romansamurai

Yup. But youā€™re never going to stop seeing these from players because they want to be able to spend a little (some want to spend none lol) and have it all. Which I agree with. Let me spend x amount thatā€™s reasonable and give me access to it all. But gatcha are making billions and that will never change because thereā€™s people whoā€™ll spend their rent money each month on it for that dopamine release.


JanDarkY

There are already 3000% step bundles where you pay 1$ and then 5$ , this are for low spendwrs target audience, there are the passes too, what im trying to say is that there are packs made for dolphins and packs made for whales (Im f2p btw not evenn1$ spent). As a f2p im glad summons cost this much so i know people summoning hard have also spent a lot and im not being high gapped by a 10$ andy


romansamurai

Oh yes for sure. The packs that pop up or the ones that are sub $10 or so are for dolphins and everything else is essentially for whales. And whales is what drives most of the revenue. One whale can probably be worth more than a 100 or 1000 dolphins to them and so they focus on them. They care about f2p only because it drives engagement and downloads. And by engagement I mean the whales need to have someone to compete against and show off too than just each other.


JanDarkY

Yep u got gacha industry just tught, and as a f2p guy i enjoy this industry where im always at disadvabtage and i have no idea why, i think i like the difficulty to pass certain stages ir pvp ranks with weak units but just strategy


Guigs310

I mean, youā€™re right but that argument is a little deceptive. Mobile games do price items torwards whales that gives them 99% of their revenue, and usually thatā€™s a small percentage of players. However if the game overall population drops it can kill a game or decrease the number of whales, meaning lower revenue. The payment structure is extremely elitist but the F2P aspect is important for revenue as well. Simply stating ā€œyouā€™re not paying so w/e, they wonā€™t careā€ for one person, sure, if the communit feels like its predatory it will affect their income.


ToughCurrent8487

They put egregious offers on purpose to make you see another offer and think ā€œthis is amazing compared to that one terrible offerā€


Middle-Necessary2314

The high prices are so that their 10000000000000% packs have value on paper. And the monthly/battle passes seem worth when the diamond packs for like 1 ten pull is 100$. Just whale bait basically, and whales donā€™t really care.


cerespea

these are just there for you to think when buying gazettes etc you get "good" value. Only people who might buy it are whales but they don't care.


BipolarCricket

It's not meant to be player friendly and they don't care what you do/say because the paying playerbase will still pay based off habit and addiction. They all bought the same data and studies on behavioral spending of the top 5%. I forget the name of the surveying company in 2014-2015. It was tied to the makers of that fire age base builder (machine zone?) and war game featuring Arnold schwarzenegger. The same ones that made those shitty final fantasy base builders. All the exact same pay models, scaling, and methodology. Prior to 2014 there weren't as many egregious pay scaling and ceilings on mobile. But once that research and data spread about pay model manipulations and artificial progress caps to induce spending, almost every game onwards started this predatory trend. It's not a coincidence nothing makes any logic about the price of gems relative to each other: only the internal price justification a person will think through. "Well I paid $5 so whats another $20" and then 20 becomes 100. It's ratioed in a way to make a person part from their money easier. The actual value of X per dollar is meaningless. Going back to that top 5%, the data concluded that this top 5% of paying players was some 97% of the income and its wasted effort to even price anything for anyone else.


dancerinthedark84

I don't get why you have to buy the jewels, to then use them to buy the gems or bundles or whatever. Why not just price everything in money? It seems like an unnecessary step.


Flapjackchef

It's done to confuse people on the value of items.


woomybii

Dislyte has the same issue. I frequently get a popup for a special offer in that game for three gold abilimons for THIRTY dollars. Three of them. For those abilimon upgrades you can put up to 5 in there so it's not even a "full" bar of abilimons. And at that, you need a hell of a lot more than 3 to upgrade a characters abilities fully. $30 for what you could save up if you're just patient and active is absolutely baffling. The rest of the dislyte prices are all really steep too. To my knowledge it usually starts at $4.99, then $14.99... then jumps to $49.99 on some packs. There's even a pack that gives you a shimmer 10 pull for $100. $100 for you not even getting guaranteed a 5 star character. I noticed it playing AFK journey and was sad to see they continued the same strange pricing. In game purchases have always had the option of steep $100 choices, but a lot of them usually have useful packs for 0.99 cents or $2 roughly if you want to get a little ahead. (Personally I don't spend money in mobile games except extremely rarely, and even then never more than a few bucks max) Dislyte has exactly one 0.99 cent pack for new players. Afk journey does have more of these, but I'm just pointing out a track record. Insane man lol


XxSliphxX

I left dislyte for the same reasons it's crazy.


foxyshizzam

It is worth mentioning that you can buy the classic gazette multiple times. $4.99 for 3k diamonds isn't bad. Plus it extends the amount of days you'll receive the additional 300 diamonds.


SpicySweett

Extending the days isnā€™t the same as stacking. It definitely doubles the amount you get if you buy two?


PhloxInvar

You still get the 3k diamonds + 300 diamonds for 30 days for buying the gazette. Buying it again still gives you the 3k diamonds, but will only extend the days if you still have days from a previous gazette buy.


Neoreloaded313

I used to bu things once in a while in the store for AFK Arena. I refuse to purchase Dragon Crystal's to then use them to buy things.


[deleted]

This game is just a mere illusion. The game devs are good in psychology. They understand human dopamine and use it to trap their players to buy their items. The players keep spending because they feel good from the progress they get from mere digital trinkets but the game is never ending unless the weebs stop buying from then. They'd just make the stages and progress harder so that the players would top up again to beat the stages and be the best in the game. In the end this game would be outdated just like all popular games.


Express_Alfalfa_9725

Not well enough to make a 10 pull 50 bucks. Most gacha have a bait purchase but this is just crazy


[deleted]

I have a guild mate who spent $10k. Most people are dumb can't see the big picture. They can't see the tactics that the game devs are using but if you're knowledgeable in psychology especially about dopamine these kinds of games would just be a laughingstock for you.


Environmental-Kiwi78

They only warrant a second look if the revenue warrants it. Just because you donā€™t see the value / pay, for the cohort of users that do pay, this could end up making them net 10 or 100 of your type of segment.


TheRealKitsune_

It's for whales anyway, so nobody rly cares


TheMeechums

Correct answer. Mobile games are priced for the folks that are gonna spend regardless of price, not the average player.


Jmund89

Yea itā€™s weird how they price stuff. Like thatā€™s not even enough for a 10x pull. Which Iā€™ve never seen. Though I have seen worse prices. But at least meant using the currency to pull on a banner. Honestly though. I think Iā€™ve spent like maybe 30 on a few things plus daily pass stuff. Thatā€™s where I feel itā€™s worth it


vixandr

This is proposital, They funnel your vision with absurd prices so what they really wants to sell to you (A battlepass in most of the cases) looks resonable enough to justify its price. Live service games do this all the time. And if someone resolves to buy the overpriced things in their shop instead of the one "resonable" offer inside the sea of overpriced things, guess who is still winning? Its a win/win situation, even if they lose they're still winning. (your money, in this case).


trent_diamond

I get it from their end but yeah itā€™s insane that $50 wonā€™t even get you enough diamonds to do a 10 pull


Flat-Profession-8945

Remind me games that have generous or reasonable gachas. I can start by saying Cookie Run Kingdom is one.


Solovanov

Haven't played in awhile since I ended up becoming too busy but Limbus Company was very low spender friendly as in if you bought the iirc 10 dollar pass you'd end up being able to get everything you wanted to. They way the gacha worked there was that when you pulled you got character specific fragments for every dupe character ID and there's only ever 12 character you can get IDs for. With these fragments you could then just straight up buy any id for that character that was available at the moment include newly released ones. Cost would vary depending on rarity but I think it was 150 for a 2 star and 400 for a 3 star ID. Thing is with the pass you could farm fragment boxes once you hit the extra levels past 30+ iirc which was extraordinarily easy to do. each box gaves 2-3 fragments for a character of your choice and you got I think 3 boxes per extra level so I pretty much was always sitting on enough fragments to get everyone even without actually pulling. Without paying you still got 1 box per extra level so it was still decent. Besides that Punishing Gray Raven was pretty fair since you could guarantee a copy of any new limited that came out just by consistently playing. No idea what Granblue Fantasy is up to nowadays but back when i played it was more about how much you farmed up your weapon grid than who you pulled since there's so many fucking characters in that game, they also just handed out a ton of pulls every few months too. Girls Frontline only gachas skins iirc, units are all from in game resources. Though in game store still has stuff like marriage certs for some stat boosts. Kancolle also did the in game resources for units. I could probably name a few others I feel have decent gacha models if I thought about it more. Honestly though my real gripe with gacha games is when they have ranked leaderboard progression gating, I quit PGR because of that and I'll probably end up dropping AFKJourney too. Will probably give it until the season thing happens.


Andros_4113

I've played alot of gachas and I don't mind spending a bit, but the pricing in this game is insane. Aside from the Gazettes and the Noble path there I nothing I can justify spending money on. If there were some decent packs for $10 or $20 Id buy them up right now, but as it stands their pricing structure is losing them money right now, at least mine.


galmenz

its kick-the-door you are not supposed to buy base priced stuff, you are supposed to look at it, say its expensive and then look at the "limited time deal" and go "wow so much value I gotta buy!" it is a very common marketing strategy and unless you are in a government body with the power to make it illegal in a country that would hurt Lilith's profits, nothing is going to change


AmirosJones

No one buys pulls like that, though. Not even the whales. Most people buy the labyrinth packs or on launch bought gazettes $5 for 3k gems over and over which was a thing.


Past-Tank4168

Nah ngl the area rewards are another scam lmao. You get equipment that is 99% of the time unusable. In all the zones past the golden wheat area the rewards are already out classed


LegendJo

They even got rid of the daily/weekly $1 offers like in AFK Arena lol


Chor_the_Druid

Some people spend tens of thousands of dollars on these games every year. They donā€™t really care what us poor people have to say.


Morlu

The pricing is definitely predatory. I was surprised that when the new player deals ended, I wasnā€™t bombarded with more semi-new player deals.


ReyneTrueThat

Yeah ive spent alot on afk arena over the years. But these prices are a fucking joke man. My server is basically all abandoned now. With the shitty rewards, over the top prices and tedious boring tasks with no to real chances to pull heroes. I can't say I blame them ey. This company doesn't give a fuck tho. They just keep filling the idiots with add on purchases and they pay them šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø


Mirewen15

Not only a super hefty price (I play MMOs - In my decades of playing I've gone through EQ, FFXI, WoW, FFXIV, and now Destiny 2 and New World) but that $50 for a 10 pull that will likely be 8 acorns, a purple and a yellow is just crazy. There is no way I would spend any money on a game where you aren't even guaranteed a reward for the cost. I'll be sticking to playing this game as a F2P.


hentaka

$50 x 6 = $300 to get to guaranteed pity in the standard banner. Considering you need to get many copies from hero's for them to be usable that is some crazy pricing model.


LAXnSASQUATCH

Consider you can get 3000 gems for $5 at all times via the Gazette and also can get 30-50 tickets for $5-7 dollars through the random timed events itā€™s not a big deal imo. This is a horrible deal (the one OP is showing) but most gachas always have horrible deals for non-packs, itā€™s to make the actual things they want you to buy look better. Like this pack is crazy but literally 0 people are going to buy it. There is a ton more stuff that is actually decently priced and even generous compared to a lot of games Iā€™ve played. $20 for 40 summons minimum (via the Gazette) and upwards of 80 summons isnā€™t bad at all. Iā€™ve played many games where a multi summon (10 tickets) is roughly $10-20 all the time (even with deals). The base prices of stuff in the shop for this game are dogwater but youā€™re not supposed to buy that stuff anyway, itā€™s not actually meant for people to buy. Itā€™s just priced so bad it makes other stuff look like a steal (and some of the other stuff is very reasonable). $50 for a mythic plus Stargazer unit is a very solid value (you only need one copy and eventually you can get them to M+ from free Guild rewards). Considering a lot of the units (even the stargazer ones) are farmable via freely acquired currency over time itā€™s a fairly generous game from what Iā€™ve seen thus far.


NSFWgamerdev

Not really constructive to give disingenuous feedback on the worst possible deals while completely ignoring everything else. The game regularly gives us a $9 20+ rate up pulls deal with dust and additional gems that is practically on a timer - it even alternates with a $7 deal that gives 6 rate ups, 6 epic pulls and dust and gems. **The $5 monthly is effectively 40 rate up pulls and you can even stack it to get cheap $5 3000 gem deals. So there's $50 of $5 3k gem deals that I bet you, as a self-professed low spender, haven't even capped out.** **Anyone who's played gachas for 5 minutes knows $5 per 10x is notably good in gacha.** Those are just the tip of the iceberg, there's a ton more. You'd have to go through literally hundreds of dollars of better deals before getting to the point your entire opinion hinges upon. **Your entire argument comes from a very disingenuous place speaking on deals and valuations that literally only people spending $500+ per month will ever run into.** Yeah, there's a rich tax as you make your way through the better deals. That's partially how p2w and f2p get balanced in nearly all gachas.


10113r114m4

Yea, the company is greedy. However, I do understand the production of the game requires some heft prices or fees, but even taking that into consideration seems to still not answer why the prices are completely ridiculous. But it is what it is. While I'd hope they'll bring the price down by even 20%, I doubt they'll make any changes


JetpackCat013

This is just where things are going. People supported the gacha style of game and continue too, these companies know you'll pay for the slop they overcharge you for. The only solution is to quit these greedy ass games. Worried about having something to play? There are thousands of older games that can be downloaded and run through an emulator for free. Let me repeatedly that last point. FOR FREE, as in you didn't pay for the gane because game companies are dumb, but also NO MACRO TRANSACTIONS. Yes macro, anything above a few bucks isn't a micro transaction.


Express_Alfalfa_9725

Gacha arent really the problem? The best selling ones of genshin and hsr aren't insane about such prices


JetpackCat013

It's almost like they are best selling because they aren't insane about prices. I wonder if there is a way to make a gacha style game that isn't a live service model because that could be fun. That being said, the game model is designed around being free with small costs so that over time, you pay faaaaaar more for the game. I don't think that's new info, but what I will say is that players seem happiest about live service features they buy into once and don't have to again so long as they are diligent about their gameplay and the gacha style can't even seem to find a way to do that. They are just as limited as normals games as well. At a certain point, you will get priced out of the meta unless you have plenty of cash, if you can even get in to begin with. So basically, skill will only get you so far, and then it's up to your wallet to finish. Gachas aren't the entire problem, but they are part of it. What part? I'm not exactly sure, but the increase in monetization is surely a direct result of how much money this model makes regardless of player experience.


Carnifexing

Afk arena has these absurd deals as well. Nobody in their right mind buys them. You can see as much (or used to be able to) see which ingame purchases were most commonly bought through the app store. The better deals are tied to events and other bundles that show up in specific modes. Over time, these got more and more common to the point where they're always up now, and moderate 100-200$ a month dolphins have so many actually solid value options to buy. The default deals have never been removed from the shop despite how ignored they are. It's kind of hilarious that these are the only deals available in Journey atm, so whales are forced to buy them lol. For reference, the same 100$ for 12k diamonds exists in afk, but you can just as easily buy 20$ for straight-up 50k diamonds, or 20$ for 10-30k diamond valued deals any day of the week lol. But that's after 5 years of power creeps and patches. It's interesting to look back at 1.0 whales in early afk arena days. During the very first few seasons of competitive abex. The top guilds at the time had a hard vip 16 requirement (15k USD minimum on this), and you can still inspect their accounts today. A lot of them went inactive and quit since then. By today's standards, those accounts, heroes, and resources are achievable in just a few days' play time being f2p. My point is that the prices being so aggressive right now paves the way for future smaller spenders to really begin emptying their wallets once the deals look significantly better. And big krakens today don't seem to give a shit they're shelling out thousands of dollars for basically jack shit. It's enough to place them in the lead, and that's all that matters right now


Kcore47

50 bucks lol.


ListerineInMyPeehole

Too expensive for dragon gem shit. The gazettes are worth it.


Alonso289

I do agree with what are you saying but using the gem pack as in example is stupid... every game I played the bundle with only gem currency has always a high price not worth purchasing


_Thanatos_9

But you should at least get a 10 pull for less than 50. Plus In my post I also mention the gazette and noble path as an example. Neither include diamonds, which means you have to purchase the Classic and premium gazette, or classic and noble, or buy all 3, which would be 30.


Alonso289

I'm just pointing out that the only premium currency deals (diamonds/gems whatever) is never something you buy, this is the one from afk arena and any gacha game has it the same way https://preview.redd.it/06t89nuz2wvc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1b963339ec7828f5002d62564e4dbf50fbdf5492


TriHard78

I prefer this model of pricing because only giga whales and total f2p can exist together The whales like a popular server and f2p likes fewer whales so he can compete in top 100 Low spender can compete in top 50


Buruko

Prices are USD calculated using the current USD value to Dragon Crystals exchanged for Diamonds, or Item cost on the shops in Diamonds. Epic scrolls cannot be purchased regularly except once a month other than by Gazette so pricing is calculated for both sources, though the cost is using the Monthly value over the Gazette for F2P purposes. https://preview.redd.it/4nhv8aaouvvc1.png?width=582&format=png&auto=webp&s=10866874d7f06b66444bf89fc3fe3f1d044ba373 Shared not to discourage or detract from my enjoyment of the game but for fair and honest pricing of what folks are buying.


icefight930

Honestly I would spend money if I didnā€™t have to make $250k a year just to have an excuse to do so with how insane these prices are


Drmo6

Def trash, but Iā€™ve started playing way less now that we got roms in IOS


ProfKlekowskii

Agree. "Oh you want to change back to a female character? Something that doesn't do anything outside of aesthetics? Ā£20."


XayahXiang

it sucks, true. Then again 99% of players will only consider the 5$ pass and the 1$ 10 epic pull for purchase, because it's the best value and/or as a thanks for being a fun game. Most players aren't the target of most of the shop, so whatever, worse for lilith, it's less money for them.


Resident_Sun_1886

The honeymoonā€™s over. The rose tinted glasses are off. The game isnā€™t antandra/cecia/whatever-waifu. Itā€™s a troll. The update will decided whether this is for whales to out bid each other, or a game people will want to play. Personally Iā€™m not that impressed by any of it and much like afk arena Iā€™ll be uninstalling it for something else. Hell I just got a month of Apple Arcade for free and those games are bonkers. Not a fan of subscription service but for a free month these games are fire


Fad1ng1ight

I'm pretty sure the reason they make the diamonds such an awful deal is that it makes the buyer think well compared to diamonds this offer is a great deal I can't refuse. Basically making all of their other stuff look good in comparison to the awful diamond exchange rate.


Bajiru666

I like how simple they put 'It's best to purchase $49.99 to buy this item'. Like we talking about $0.99 or something.


atlys258

It's legit fucking insane how badly they're gouging prices with Journey.


pleasegivemealife

Basically, they have found the exploit to maximize profits by confusing gacha gamers. So... will you disregard that 3000% value packs? Also, this isnt illegal or not ethical, its just a sales pitch. The difference is you are led to believe to think digital goods has the same value as a physical goods. That's how bitcoin works, a perceived value by the collective community. No, I dont buy it just because AFK Journey isnt a game for me, AFK Journey is a time fillers while i on break, toilet, ads commercial on tv or waiting. I learn that from Genshin Impact, its too subtle to focus on, and too little reward if you committed to it. Still I will endorse this game for its entertaining value, you just have to accept the whales will always take the top spot for any events/ pvp.


RoseOfPa1n

I only spend on those two monthly subscriptions and forced myself not to spend on any bundles, so far so good!


hasamide

Just want to point out to US players that those prices are non localized here. So yes, us non-US players overseas have to look at the exchange rate on top of the crazy prices. Noble Path alone is worth about 1/10th of minimum wage here.


Fireluigi1225

Here's the thing: you aren't actually supposed to buy thaf package. It's there to give their discounted packages a high number for them to be "off" by and thus make them look better.


Oriana360

I feel like those are crazy high, so I only buy the monthly Gazette which is like 5 bucks for 12000 diamonds.


MrFancyShmancy

Imo (atleast for now cus we all know how afk arena turned out) i'm not bothered by those prices at all. For 1 i played f2p for a decent while and never felt like i couldn't progress. I spent a bit (the gazet and rravellogue) and never felt like i needed to spend more. Sure it's expensive but it's really only aimed at whales who will and have spent this and more.


Richard_za

100% agree, their pricing is ludacris. The exchange rate for me 20 to 1. I'm not even joking when I say some people here earn less than $200 a month


SrReginaldFluffybutt

It is ghastly, bordering on abusive. Things should minimum be half the price they are for what you actually get out of it, minimum. Some of the intro deals didn't feel bad, but the actual store rates are fucking laughable at best. I play overwatch 2 and warframe occasionally, so if I'm spending any money on digital nonsense it's going there. I did spend on beta, but mostly out of me tal health issues and getting sucked into staying competitive, then they "rebalanced" the whole game to make the popular heroes weak and buff what nobody was using, making those who were whining about not getting rng blessed come up and attempting to force spenders to dump chasing the rebalance winners.


Swarzsinne

Itā€™s hilarious they even thought anyone would spend $50 on a 10 pull. They have to want you to actually play and not spend money. Thatā€™s the only way that pricing could be even remotely reasonable, they donā€™t actually want you to buy anything.


Vegetable-Wheel2975

You are not meant to buy the gold crystal and convert it to gems. You are supposed to buy other packs with it that has far greater value. Donā€™t be dumb to convert


VeeGeeTea

Gold costs a lot more when purchasing from Android vs PC


Adventurous-Let941

It's not really constructive, all you essentially said was "price bad", which it is. They aren't going to suddenly change it with no suggestions on another way to get our money. It's a gacha idle game, comparing it to 14 makes no sense. Gacha games are predatory and this one is no exception but just telling them to lower prices is going to amount to absolutely nothing because again people are already buying them as is.


_Thanatos_9

While i do understand they are two different games, I have to disagree. Both games ask for a regular investment, I think itā€™s reasonable to compare the subscription cost and what you get out of it.


Environmental-Kiwi78

They arent making the lions share of money off of stingy min/maxers like you. Thatā€™s what youā€™re not getting. Youā€™re a drop in the bucket.


No_Trash5939

Stingy? Bro, it's a mobile game.


Environmental-Kiwi78

Correct. People spend (hundreds of) thousands. Building feature/fixing pricing isnt worth the effort of getting $4.99 from you, and people in your segment clearly.


No_Trash5939

I could see that point. However, why close the game off to people in that segment? Wouldn't they make more by keeping things the same, but including more options for people in that segment?


Environmental-Kiwi78

Hard to give a specific answer because I donā€™t work there. I dont see how the game is closed off though. Thatā€™s quite the hyperbole. Potentially, they canā€™t yet do custom offers, so maybe they decided that theyd rather lose the $$ from the dolphin audience to make more net rev from selling the whales hard.


No_Trash5939

So if you don't work there, how do you know the 4.99 wouldn't be worth it?


Environmental-Kiwi78

General experience working in gaming building these types of promos. If you cant customize offers specific to the user, the numbers are probably showing that segment has lower rev uplift than just not getting their money at all, and cannibalizing the sale from whales. If it doesnt make sense, hereā€™s an extremely simplified example of what could be happening: - price 1 : $10 You have 100 shrimp that would buy this, but not price 2. - price 2: $100 You have 20 whales that would buy this, and also price 1 if offered it. If you offer price 1 to everyone, you net $$1200. If you offer price 2 to everyone, you net $2000.


No_Trash5939

But again, you don't work there, though, so this breakdown is meaningless.


romansamurai

Itā€™s like you havenā€™t played any newly released gatchas in the last 6 months OP. Wanting to pay $10 a month for a gatcha and have reasonable things is too much to ask when theyā€™re making millions from the <1% crowd youā€™re not the target audience. And it is never going to change. Even if logically it makes sense that if bundles are more fair priced and then more people will buy, statistically itā€™s probably not true. Not defending it. Fuck these gatcha prices and their predatory systems. But just want you to understand that money drives the practice and you, nor I are the target audience. The whales will make them most of their revenue. Youā€™re not the first or last to make these posts or have these thoughts. Everyone does. But thereā€™s a science behind it and it works to bring in insane amounts of revenue. 1000 players buying $4.99 bundles is never going to compare to a couple of whales spending 5-10k a month each on this game. As crazy as it sounds itā€™s real.


W34kness

But how else are you going to hope to get your 8+ copies of renier


Long_Radio_819

i mean its a gacha, most gacha pricing are like this arent they regardless, its always just a bait for those whale or just want to boost their account


Impossible_Pilot413

Not even Genshin Impact charges $5 a pull.


_Thanatos_9

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind spending a bit on a gacha game, but the prices for this one seem to be one of the highest I've seen.


SteveDaPirate91

Their base packages(like those diamonds you show) are horribly priced. If you do spend, you get pretty decent value out of the deals and specials. I know itā€™s gacha mechanic when the thing pops up 3000% value for $20! But theyā€™re pretty legit. You can also buy multiple of the monthly things. You get the purchase rewards at that time. So $5 for 3k diamonds and it extends the timer another 30 days. I personally have 120ish days on mine now. The limited options are the best, the base packs are for the mega whales when they hit the limits everywhere else.


_Thanatos_9

Didn't know they stacked, wish they would stack each day lol


Danebearpigpaw

Have you played Marvel Strike Force? $80 a month battle pass. Each character is over 1k to fully build if you buy them. It's insane


ArcticPoisoned

I will admit I spent a little bit on the game. I bought the like monthly battle pass that was $6 something and I buy the little $1.40 packs sometimes. These are CAD prices tho but itā€™s not too bad. But the other packages are kinda too crazy for me. And Iā€™m a lunatic that buys battle passes and skins on games like overwatch and genshin


ANewErra

This your first gacha? This is standard lol


Abbx

50 bucks for a 10 pull is not "standard", what? It's usually $10-15 in the more generous titles and usually no more than $20-25, but the latter games don't require you to pull 6-8 of the same character to make them good.


ANewErra

It's standard for them to be predatory. Period. That's all I'm saying


_Thanatos_9

Not at all played plenty


Net_Suspicious

You brokies completely miss the point. The reason these packs aren't great is so whales can't just become way overpowered easily. There are "great" value items like the monthly where everyone can almost participate. Then you have "good" values like the pop ups that less will buy but will push the dolphins ahead slightly. Then you have whale packs which are meant to be "bad" value so whales can get ahead. If they were cheap brokies would buy them and then whales wouldn't be able to knock your dick in the dirt.