How much would you be willing to pay for a Mount Skin?

I'm curious what others think about Mount Skin pricings.

For me it heavily depends on the Skins, if theres a very simple skin that I like I'd probably be willing to spend 400-600 Gems but on a more fancy Skin I could imagine spending up 1000 Gems.To me, any more than that is just ridiculous, 2000 Gems for a Mount Skin? That's almost as much as the entire PoF Expansion, are you trying to tell me they are worth almost the same? One Skin vs the entire expansion that made Mounts available in the first place?

Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

Same as with character outfits, really.

700 gems. This is the standard price for most outfits. I do not want to pay more for a mount outfit.

2000 is very steep, but I'd be prepared to pay 2000 if it was a skin that I really, really liked, so that's what I've answered in the poll.

But I think 800-1000 would be a much more reasonable price, and that might tempt me to buy some skins which I might only kinda like.

2000 if it's a really cool skin. On the other hand I haven't bought any skin nor plan to yet. I think the model is still figuring itself out.

• Recolor > 400gems
• Slightly reskin > 800gems
• Particulate effects/reskin > 1200gems
• Total reskin > 2000gems
• Different beast ( though i doubt it will ever happens ) > 2000+gems

Though i accept RNG, i doubt i will ever try RNG on mount skins.

I would like to pay up to EUR/USD 62.50 (=5000 gems) for the full MountGate set or up to 800 gems per skin if I can cherrypick.I haven't bought a single skin yet because the current pricing level is way too high and does not fit the term microtransactions. I do like many of the skins tho. It is just the pricing that prevents me from buying. I do not like gambling so for me I have the choice of buying a full set or cherrypick.

1000 is my upper limit, if it’s something I really, really like. Other than that, when I said I’d buy mountfits* from the gemstore I was thinking they’d be in the 500-800 gem range.

*Mount outfits, per Illconcieved Was Na

@pah.4931 said:Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

Yes, but you also have to consider if having "a few" people buy a skin for 2000 is actually better than having "a bunch" of people who would buy the skin for, let's say, 500.I'm sure people are buying the new Raptor Skin for 2000 but what if you could multiply the number of people who would buy the skin by 4 just by decreasing it's price to 800? Then you'd get 1200 Gems more!Honestly I think the real reason behind the huge price tag is that "small" amounts of Gems are easily acquired with spending Gold whereas large amounts of gems are more likely to be purchased with actual money. Which is of course a reasonable consideration. But honestly I think in an MMoRPG the goal should always be to appeal to as many of your players as possible.

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:

@pah.4931 said:Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

I’m pretty sure they ran through the numbers and determined that the current price point was the best.

If the skin is original with unique animations and sounds.

A single skin, 400-800 gems. Mount skin pack, 2000 - 3000 gems. I've said it before, the Adoption Licenses are a great idea, but need to be modified into each mount type. 2000 for a single skin is a bit much.

I think 2000 is egregious, especially since we have 5 different mounts to potentially buy for. The only possible exception would be if it's for a new type of mount altogether with new animations and everything. For anything that's functionally just a skin, it should be 800ish.

Mount skins are something that people really enjoy buying, and they're going to undermine that by charging the same price as an expansion for them while also releasing them very regularly. Really, really stupid if you ask me. This is the kind of thing that just drives people away from the game. I wonder how they capture that in their metrics.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:

@pah.4931 said:Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

What numbers exactly did they run through? I can see the reasoning but I doubt it was the correct, or best, decision. We're running some numbers as well right now and even though we have a very small sample size it seems to me that 2000 might not be the ideal price.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:

@pah.4931 said:Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

I don't know why people always assume that businesses know what they're doing. They don't. CEOs and sales/marketing personnel are no more competent than the average person. Games fail all the time due to poor business and price point decisions. Marvel Heroes shut down this month over bad business decisions, and they had their white knights on the message boards all the time making arguments like this one.

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:

@pah.4931 said:Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

They have access to all transactions and know exactly how many have sold. They can determine how many more they would have to sell if they lower the price point. Just because the price drops, doesn’t mean they’re going to suddenly get enough players to purchase the skins to make up the difference.

Also, be careful about how you’re gathering you’re numbers and make sure you’re not doing it in an echo chamber.

As with many polls, the design on this one leaves me feeling like I need to explain. All things being equal, I'd expect to pay about 1K gems for a mount skin, which is how I voted. For a truly extraordinary, beautiful, couldn't be better skin...maybe 1.2K or even 1.5K. But I have become accustomed (for better or worse) to the glider skin model. With the pricing on them, my default has been to buy them unless I just don't like them. With the mount skin pricing strategy, this switches. Now my default is not to buy unless there is some really, really compelling reason to get it. So as much as I like the war forged hound and the new raptor skin, not enough there to lure me in. But, who knows, perhaps next year I'll feel different.

Generally, I would pay around 800, maybe 1000 at a push if it was really awesome with special animations and skills etc. They just don't seem special enough for the current price! The wedding attire outfit was only 1000 and that's different depending on the race which is cool. For 2000 they could include something extra to make it worth the money, a matching riding outfit or a bundle with a themed glider that already exists. I mean to get 2000 gems I need to get the 2800 package which is around £30 and that's pretty much how much I paid for the base game back in the day. I don't want to basically repay for the game everytime I want a new mount skin. And yes I know the argument is there for using in-game gold which some people are swimming in but it took me three and a half weeks to farm just enough to even own the griffon, enough gold to then wave goodbye to as I exchange it for a cosmetic would take me months.

I chose 1500 for a single mount skin but it really depends. I'm accustomed to having to pay 25 dollars for a warcraft mount for example, the big difference between WoW and GW2 is.. it SEEMS like a mount per month is the idea for GW2.. where a new mount for WoW tends to be once or twice a year average... Yes I pay a sub fee for WoW but I spend FAR more then that on gems with GW2.

To me, as an artist, I see it as investing in fellow artists, but what is cool remains subjective. I've had experience in microtransactions and run a store on Second Life. I've found that the more middle ground you chose for a price the more you sell because you make your product available to a much wider crowd. The first million made on SL was by making quality items for about a quarter of competition and it's STILL successful today.

I know if they lowered prices with the gem store and offered more frequent updates with armor skins and outfits as well as mounts, they would get a lot more per month for the studio once expenses are paid.

That said, I'm not part of their marketing team, nor am I an artist on payroll, I just support my hobbies with my hobby and I come to speak my opinion based on personal experience as both a shop owner/freelance artist as well as a consumer of goods and digital goods.

I just been a tad concerned seeing an awful lot of 2k+ items in the gem shop lately.. I don't consider 25 USD as a microtransaction. 5 bucks? 10? Sure.. but 25 for one skin is extremely expensive for what it is... and the art isn't bad on any level to me. I can respect the art put into these things, but the price point is what I have a beef with.

I'd have to REALLY love it and it would have to be for one of my more used mounts. If it was cheaper I'd be more inclined to buy even if I didn't think it was perfect. I'd also be more inclined to purchase for one of my lesser used mounts. I currently use the springer and raptor. I rarely use the skimmer and almost never use the jackal. Really for anything over 1000 gems I REALLY need to like it before I even consider the purchase.

@Einlanzer.1627 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@TwilightSoul.9048 said:

@pah.4931 said:Just to reiterate...

"Willing to pay" and "is profitable for GW2 to continue developing this game" are two entirely different concepts. They know what they're doing...

That’s your opinion and it’s similar to saying any other profession is no more competent than the average person. CEO’s and sales/marketing require specific skill sets and how well they do can vary with experience. Not a novel concept as this can be said for just about everything.

Bad decisions do happen but this doesn’t mean that they’re unskilled. You can’t predict everything 100% of the time.

Please don’t start with the whole “white knight” thing. It’s just an unnecessary attack on the poster rather on their argument.

I think Mike OBrien's post about this on reddit summarized the issue well. While we, as consumers, look at it from a money for value perspective, Anet has to take a bigger point of view.

They have to find price points that ensure profits while not being so painful that no one ever buys them. They are - rightfully so - going to push the limits of that economic model as far as they can. And the motivation will have to be profitability - to ensure that they can keep pushing out living story and make as much of a profit as possible at the same time (which, despite what you read in most reddit posts, isn't a bad thing).

Now, will I pay 2000 gems for a peacock skin for my raptor? No - absolutely not. But if enough other people do - and it provides the money they need to keep putting out the content I love (and I do love this new map), then I think they should charge whatever they can.

Side note - I am glad to see them move away from gambling boxes though. That is a heinous practice and needs to be shunned by everyone in the gaming world.

a single mount skin is nowhere near worth the same as a package with a glider, an outfit, 5 dye kits, a make-over kit, and a unique weapon skin in my opinion. a package like the halloween skins, sure, 2000 gems is fine for that, but not a single skin. 1000 gems is as high as I'd go for a single skin, but only if it was something really special.