[Open Letter to GGG] Steam Winter Sale Imp Masks

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Badaur wrote:

If this is just a Steam Card, i retract the above. Don't care much for the steam "collector`s game". Here's a screen shot

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iamacyborg wrote:

that results in higher prices for these items, and GGG get a cut of any sale made through Steam's marketplace on these items.

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iamacyborg wrote:

That means that people will keep trading these items, and they'll provide a continued revenue stream for GGG, albeit a small one.

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iamacyborg wrote:

which lets players trade those items with one another for real money,

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iamacyborg wrote:

In what way is that artificial scarcity any different to the existing Supporter packs?

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iamacyborg wrote:

The people with Kiwis will always have them, and tough shit if you never put any money into the game at that point in time, you've missed out and, unlike the Steam system, there is literally zero legitimate way to get those items. Charan's going to have a few extremely limited pets that he'll be able to give out, and collectors won't be able to get those. Is that fair? Is that any more unfair than the Steam micros?

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iamacyborg wrote:

I think you're getting a little indignant without considering a lot of the other stuff happening, and a lot of the stuff that has happened. I can understand some of your points, but I think you're fighting against this because it's Steam. Steam's micros and no-more artificially scarce than GGG's.

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ionface wrote:

Ah, I didn't know that, so they get a percentage of the mtx sold, but I still can't use the points I've purchased already.

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ionface wrote:

The effects are bound to the account as soon as you use them right? If the game went on forever I would be just fine with the steam exclusives. You know the sale ends January 1st right?

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ionface wrote:

Then we should start trading non-cosmetic items in the real money auction house too, to eliminate that one step.

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ionface wrote:

There might be limited time for these packs, but there's an infinite amount of them which are freely available to anyone who pays. There have been 63,652 drops so far in the entire Steam sale game, and not 1 of the 9 unparalleled have dropped. The PoE imp mask has at best a 1 in 572,868 droprate, if all the unparalleled are given the same chance.

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ionface wrote:

These pets are like the forum titles, to signify support to GGG at certain times in development. I would not want to "collect" the Garenaman pet, if it were possible, because I didn't participate in the Garena Beta launch (plus it's really unpleasant to look at).

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ionface wrote:

I'm not against Steam, I'm against marketplace, and all the cards bullshit. GGG is hurting their image as an honest and ethical game shop. Not honoring purchased microtransaction points, giving exclusives to the corrupted and cheated Steam marketplace economy, and then allowing this "The Snow Globe badge rewards include new, exclusive in-game items from top Free to Play games. These items are both tradable and marketable." describing PoE like a desperate pay-to-win game.

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ionface wrote:

I'm very upset that you've introduced not only a one-time-only holiday steam exclusive game effect, but that you've made them so extremely hard for anyone to collect.

I'm not a fan of Steam marketplace or steam cards at all. I was planning on buying a PoE Steam Profile Background from someone when it got to a reasonable price (less than the cost of a game), but I have never sold a card or done any of that booster pack bullshit.

A tiered luck-based virtual collectible game traded with real money, I find the whole scam a repulsive front for money laundering and rife with market manipulation. Now you've enticed all of your customers to join in the cards/marketplace pyramid scheme. That's just immoral.

I've already spent hundreds of dollars supporting you, I have the points I want to spend on microtransactions already. Why do I need to put in more money (which wouldn't even benefit development) for these? You can't put these exclusives in the normal mtx shop for sale can you? No, these are Steam event exclusives, available only during the 2013 Winter Sale. You've given Valve a new currency outside of your own GGG points. You've made your customers a captive market to them now. Not only does that hurt your bottom line, that's immoral.

You've wanted me to collect game effects, the whole business model you run your company on relies on people like me. Yet you've not only given me a deadline to pay Steam for these effects, you're letting them control supply of these things. How can anyone collect these item effects if you're letting them release just a few of these steam exclusives? Artificial scarcity like this isn't fun. Being forced into helping the Russian mafia isn't even part of the game anymore. You sold your soul to the devil, GGG. Get it back.