TF2 Shop Price Petition

[Omnomnick]

Hello all. You've probably noticed the stupidly expensive prices of almost all the weapons, hats and tools you can now buy in the 'amazing' new Mann Co. Shop.

If we're honest with ourselves, these prices are shocking. Valve are charging £12 for most of the new hats. £12!? That's half the price I bought the Orange Box for 3 years ago. Not to mention how standard downloadable content from other game developers is usually around £7-£8 but they offer new missions, locations, characters and gameplay, hats offer nothing.

Why have Valve decided to charge extreme prices for in-game items now when previously they've adopted a unique "All DLC is free" policy. I don't particularly mind paying a few of my spare pennies on abit of cool extra gear, especially how some of the profit is given to the Community Contributors. I said pennies, not pounds or even more.

I haven't even gotten to the worst part yet. The Polycount Bundle pack, containing all 5 new class packs, costs £30 at nearly a 70% discount. Yes people, that's right! £90 for a bunch of new weapons and a few frilly hats, the Valve bundle pack containing every fantastic Valve game ever made costs £52 or so.

I completely fail to see Valve's business strategy in all of this. Yes, paying for DLC is mostly standard for game developers these days, but how can they hope to make money if they expect people to pay £7 on a hatless Scout! If the prices were a lot lower, more people would be able to purchase the items, therefore significantly increasing revenue in both the short term and long term. I hoped to download this update to find a brand new sparkling shop full of nice items which I could buy for reasonable prices. I was hoping to enter the shop, put £5 in my Steam Wallet and buy the Soldier pack and hopefully have a few pennies left over. I was wrong.

If you agree with anything or all of what I've just said, help save Valve from themselves. Post a reply to this thread with your Steam name, real name and maybe a little sentence explaining your anger. I'm going to gather as many names as possible and send them to Robin to show him that the community aren't at all happy with this new shop.

Everything in the game has been close to perfection. Before this. Why ruin it now? Fix the shop, Valve!


I notice the shop has been closed for now, Valve are most likely lowering the prices to stop their reputation degrading anymore. If the prices are lowered enough soon, close this thread and I'll cancel the petition. Until then, post away!

 

[Okrag]

It's so expensive because they are giving a chunk of it to the creators.

 

[Terwonick]

that's ~$122 for us Americans at full price, and ~$40 at 70% discount

 

[Omnomnick]

Remember to say if you want to sign the petition or not, and give your real name please!

And Okrag, do the math. If you have several million players buying low priced items, it works out a lot more than a few people paying a lot of money for high priced items.

 

[Bermuda Cake]

people who are prepared to pay for hats deserve to lose that much money

edit: and you can still get the hats the same ways you did before, and you can still get the weapons the same way you did before. I was a bit surprised that they introduced this, but I just won't buy anything there. Hats still have to be rare, and VALVe have been supporting tf2 for three years now with free DLC. Lighten up. This doesn't have to affect you.

 

[The Political Gamer]

Because internet petitions always work.

 

[sniprpenguin]

A few Valve weapons are $0.50. If only everything else was on that scale...

 

[Bermuda Cake]

Because internet petitions always work.

or you could post something relevant to the thread

pretty much every 'petition' thread has that post

 

[Omnomnick]

people who are prepared to pay for hats deserve to lose that much money

edit: and you can still get the hats the same ways you did before, and you can still get the weapons the same way you did before. I was a bit surprised that they introduced this, but I just won't buy anything there. Hats still have to be rare, and VALVe have been supporting tf2 for three years now with free DLC. Lighten up. This doesn't have to affect you.

What's the point in having a feature which is almost pointless and doesn't actually benefit players in anyway, unless they pay more than the game's price for a few pixels.

 

[FaTony]

We just need to stop buying Valve games and let them rot in hell.

 

[Icarus]

Did you know?

You can still get the items the normal way :O

OMG

 

[Omnomnick]

I did know. Thanks for pointing it out. ¬.¬

That's not the point. The point is that why include an 'amazing new feature' to the game which will enhance the customization if everything is ridiculously overpriced.

 

[Fruity Snacks]

I don't think that this is worth the issue... as someone pointed out in another thread on either this forum or another site,

THERE IS ALREADY 3 OTHER WAYS TO GET ITEMS

Crafting, Trading, Finding. This is a way to get stuff NOW. Your not paying for the wep, your paying for its immediacy.

EDIT: Dammit, didn't see Icarus' post... (What he said!)

 

[lana]

All Valve items should be $0.50
All custom items should be $1.00, or $2.00 at most.
All misc. item costs should be halved.

 

[Ravidge]

Unless someone is forcing you to buy stuff against your will, I don't see a problem here.
Or are you under the impression that you have to buy from the shop?

As far as I can see, the prices in the shops is the upper-limit, to prevent shifty types on the internet from setting their own prices even higher. In reality, you can probably trade most stuff for free between players in a couple of days/weeks, in other cases buy from other players much cheaper than the store offers.
Store only stuff are extras, you should never feel a urge to have everything just because it's available.
I haven't memorized the whole catalog, but IIRC it was name-tags, paint, duels and gifts and suchlike that are store exclusive? It's junk and fun stuff, that has even less to do with the game than hats.

Stop blowing things out of proportion.

 

[FaTony]

Unless someone is forcing you to buy stuff against your will, I don't see a problem here.
Or are you under the impression that you have to buy from the shop?

As far as I can see, the prices in the shops is the upper-limit, to prevent shifty types on the internet from setting their own prices even higher. In reality, you can probably trade most stuff for free between players in a couple of days/weeks, in other cases buy from other players much cheaper than the store offers.
Store only stuff are extras, you should never feel a urge to have everything just because it's available.
I haven't memorized the whole catalog, but IIRC it was name-tags, paint, duels and gifts and suchlike that are store exclusive? It's junk and fun stuff, that has even less to do with the game than hats.

Stop blowing things out of proportion.

You clearly don't know the human nature. Valve has already suppressed free will of many young players so they will be forced to buy stuff.

It's like saying "oh! drugs are normal, no one is forcing you to do them".

 

[lana]

Also, upper bound sales is a ridiculous idea. I think there are more shifty types that would be selling for less than more.

 

[The Political Gamer]

Also, upper bound sales is a ridiculous idea. I think there are more shifty types that would be selling for less than more.

But whats the point if there is no profit incentive?

I guess you could buy one of the packs and then sell off the parts. But I don't really know if it would be worth the hassle.

 

[Terr]

Guys, guys... It's the first 24 hours. Of COURSE prices will be high. You see that with almost any "new release" product.

Wait a week or two.

If stuff is still stupidly expensive, then petition. Everything (including prices) are still settling. I could be wrong, but I suspect Valve (or some semi-automated repricing process) will be altering prices as demand (and rarity) decreases.

 

[KarmaPolice]

You guys don't get it. The prices are intentionally ridiculously high because Valve wants you to get the items through gameplay, and penalize you for just getting things instantly instead. If hats were a buck or something, they'd suddenly be a lot less rare and everyone would have one, which would defeat the whole point.