In general unfortunatelly the character and pet graphics are very very boring and cartoonish-like to me + there is no character customisation. This is why I have not bought cosmetics. I cannot say any spesific what kind of cosmetics I would want but I guess the best example is D4 of what kind of grahipcs and cosmetics I like. I buy something new almost every season on D4. Yes I am that person who cares about the looks of my character if its possible 
Hello, i’m really like LE. So it’s sad to hear it was not profitable even Season2.
- I feel good to buy some fancy skins for spells and gears, for some pretty/unusual look.
- Summons and companions skins. You should add ingame inspecting feature, for skills and gear. You should add pets to collect the player’s loot. shards, money, runes, maybe even a separate loot list for him.
- I’m avoiding purchase full pack, because of cost. I would buy your cosmetics more often if there were always small packs for little money. I’m not in favor of buying a game, and then a cosmetic pack for the price of the game, each update, several pieces.
First and foremost - this is PoE vs. LE reply. I know people are tired of it, but it is what it is - arpg fans are keen to spend money on PoE and that says something.
1 - stash tabs is a very good way to monetize a f2p game. Stash tabs is merely an example, in essence its something crucial for the player to properly play the game “deep”, while not blocking it in any way. This is smart. It doesn’t gate any actual game’s mechanics and you can enjoy THE GAME fully without it.
Why does it work? I played the game for 50 hours, barely scratched it, all while free, I feel like I want to keep playing it but I have too much shit chaotically stuffed around my free tabs. Of course I’ll go get those tabs in no time, especially considering there is a sale on them (there is always a sale on tabs in the beginning of the league).
Why is this a number one even tho it’s not their major revenue stream? Because we’re talking about selling a game that is free here. A game sells itself to you when you become ready to play it more than you have to. What stash tabs achieve is they allow you to “play now pay later” the game. And the game being free actually increases that revenue stream. You are a live service game, you want engaged players, which would casually buy a cheap-ass supporter pack every season. Well, you open your game to everybody who’s got the rig to run it, player will get into tabs if they want to play more than they have to, you profit from it.
PAY TO PLAY IS BAD FOR YOUR GAME. Why? Because you need to cycle expansions, which assumes virtually infinite development cycle, which cannot ever be maintained through pay to play. I know it hurts, but this f2p system is very smart and makes a lot of sense. And also, while players call it “a true price to the game”, since the game itself is free. It is not. There is no cap for amount of tabs you can buy. And the deeper you play the game, the more you crave for those tabs. So yeah, being f2p game makes you more money if used properly.
2 - Skill effects. Why skill effects are more value than you think?
If you want a game with virtually infinite life span, you have yo admit, that you will not ever be able to maintain the entirety of the game in a consistently beautiful state. Having skill effects allows you to make “redesigns” paid. Players enjoy a fresh feeling for the skill, developers don’t have to work for free to bump up the skill to newer visual standards you now can achieve with all the more competent talent you’ve hired. Of course, you might as well just make cooler versions of skills because why not.
3 - Themes. Why have I not bought any other cosmetics than the very first pack?
Personally, I bought it ONLY to support the studio. The MTX itself was rather underwhelming, lets agree on that.
But the texture and VFX is alright, you would answer. To which I say I agree. But it’s not the VFX and texture that make MTX desirable, and ultimately - sell the supporter packs. It’s the THEME.
So imagine now. 5 supporter packs. Each have different themes (yep, like PoE does it).
You can cater to different types of players with those. I, personally, like gory themes, I like shit dark and metal (sometimes literally), and I like cosmos stuff. So a shiny trash bin is not my type of a skin for sure.
Now, what are we ultimately trying to sell here in arpg world? Right. It’s power phantasy. What are the attributes of power phantasy? Ahh, themes!
When I go and buy a cosmic armour piece (which is the most expensive part), and I only have a gory weapon trail effect, well do I even have a choice at this point? Hell nah, I’m a cosmic caster and I will buy every single cosmic themed skill skin and armour pieces.
4 - Lingering effects. What are those? In PoE terms, these are weapon effects, literal trail effects, and character effects.
Why are lingering VFX good? Arpgs are fast-paced games. Player character often moves fast. Performes moves that spiral player around, from pack to pack, zip-zap. What is more cool than zapping around? Well, seeing this anime-style lingering effect you’re leaving behind. Reinforces this feeling of the speed, gives a more fun visual feedback on the build and its playstyle.
5 - Whacky shit. Let us know how many mobs we’ve killed. Let us know how many rare runes we’ve found. Give us mimic stash that eats the player when opened and spits back when closed or, for that matter, anything else whacky.
Arpgs are monotonous. And even players that like this aspect get a bit tired of it (in a sense that you can be tired of doing a thing you like, but you are still tired nonetheless, just in a good way). Make the routine a bit more fun.
No one will ever admit this, but I guarantee that the infamous “goblin band” mtx from PoE is the best mtx ever created just because how many memes it gave us.
6 - Flex. There must be more places to flex your shit. When I see those scrubs in default skins, looking like a homeless just went through a set a trash bins, and in contrast here is me - the levitating cosmic being with wings twice my size, weapon looking so powerful I would kill an uber boss right on the spot - I do feel my flex. So do others. They won’t admit it. But they do want it too.
Add more places where skins can be seen.
P. S.
I hope this is useful. I tried to put my thoughts into words as elegantly as I could.
I would like to point out that while I do think PoE is a better game overall, LE has ALL the chances to rival it. LE has flat out better crafting, MUCH better loot system, WAAAAAY better loot filtering too. Which means that LE does have mechanics that are #1 in the world of arpgs, and considering that arpgs are #1 games for looting and crafting, LE has those systems better than everyone in the world. And it’s admirable. The game has a lot of potential. Just go smarter about those.
The more they upgraden graphics the better will be the cosmetics. Also it’s : quality, quantity, the quality of the characters. And personally I… it’s too much shining, brightning things - the other words i don’t like such chinese style. We needen more apocalyptic grim style things, horror, blood, death, etc.
P.s. Also i like minimalistic old school arpg style. From reading above, I realized that people need more- quantity small things, like cosmetics of the skills, more quantity for their sounds and animations, plus a more realistic style.
P.s. 2. I consider the refusal of regional prices by many gaming companies to be a management mistake.
There is the difference between hearing and listening, and Blizzard hath proven it well. Therefore, it would be more correct to write listen to :))))
May just writing that we needen regional prices.
Hello,
I want to start off by saying that the current cosmetic store is just fine, it has solid choices and a decent amount of them, but there’s definite room to improve if you want to bring it to that upper level.
That being said let me just “answer” these questions and I’ll share some thoughts at the end.
I feel that armor sets and weapon sets offer the most value because it’s the thing you see the most on screen and it kinda propels you forward. What I’d like to see more here is more class fantasy or more specifically more specialization fantasy driven sets, perfect example would be how you in-vision a set for spellblade mage as apposed to a runemaster mage? Same for weapons.
As each season has it’s own theme, I’m all for that seasonal bundles feature cosmetics of that theme but also, especially if you are gonna implement the transmog system, so that it picks up the item look and stores it, to have some looks be obtained in some sort of pinnacle content.
I think that’s all actually, TL;DR more specific cosmetics and more of them.
Tnx, cya!
Right now I don’t think there is anything that worth buying from the cosmetic shop but if I’d really have to give one it would be skill MTX because there are at least a couple that aren’t bad looking.
I’d like to see a lot less chunky armor looking things. I’m sorry but that isn’t armor, that are hunks of metal that not only wouldn’t be functional, they actively look horrible to look at.
I’d like to see less chunky wings that don’t look good at all, just go with simpler better looking wings.
I’d like to see proper mages robes and better looking cloaks, again avoid anything that looks chunky, it makes no sense and just looks awful.
I’d like to see you add a cosmetic to change a character’s appearance with another because quite frankly I’d like to have my character all be females and if the issue is the armor/animations, as an MTX that overrides whatever armor you are using anyway so you only need to code the animation for that specific character with that specific appearance (do not forget to also include the female voice pack in it).
Lastly but not least, just up the quality. Any quality in MTX bellow the level of D4 or PoE is just not acceptable and understand this, even they have plenty of undesirable MTX but they also make good looking ones. It may seem like a lot to ask but the fact of the matter is, they are the competition and if you can’t compete you can’t meet sale goals. If this means you got to replace your MTX team for someone with actual experience in the field that can actually deliver the results then that is what it has to happen though hopefully you’d make do with hiring a few specialists in the area (shouldn’t be hard with how many games there are out there especially in the mobile category and they have fantastic MTX so finding talent isn’t hard).
- Which items do you feel offer the best value or appeal, and why?
Best Value are the Supporter Packs each season.
- Are there specific themes, styles, or item types you’d like to see more of? Less of?
More Skill MTX guess that look the best and can be matched with armor, etc.
Also I want to see some higher Supporter Pack Tiers that include some free copies of the game so I can gift some games. Probably would give access game codes to streamers to raffle away. And this makes so much sense.
And me personally I really like Battle Passes. That’s just something I can progress and I like progression.
- Are there any items you’ve avoided purchasing, and what influenced that decision?
In Season 3 I avoided to buy anything. Just wanted to see there the game is heading. Only played about 20 hours in Season 3. Cause it feels kinda bad than not all the classes get something.
I understand Cosmetics are to make you money. I wish I could give you more money. If you need more money, Why cant you make it so I can have two tigers? Not just one. I’m happy to buy two.
Also Im most interested in ability effects, but what you have now just isn’t exciting enough to make me give you money when I dont have too.
Perhaps you could make sure that the skins don’t always look like walking tanks; a little elegance and slimness would be nice.
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Which items do you feel offer the best value or appeal, and why?
Currently: Portals and skill effects. They have the most visual impact and enforce the theme for the character I already have in mind the most.
Armors and weapons should be up here as well, but the current cosmetics look weird to me and don’t fit the visual theme I imagine the character to have. I own a pack but the 300 points I got from it I haven’t used yet because there is nothing that looks good enough. Too shiny, too plastic, the themes itself often don’t fit with what the characters can actually do (like water theme but we don’t have any real water based skills besides a trigger spell on a unique item).
They just don’t look appealing. The MTX for armor I already have I only used once. They are just too much. I currently prefer the base look.
Portals are in a funny spot. I often play with friends. So I see their portals more than I see my own portals. I like them but I wish we would be interacting more with our own portals to increase the actual value for ourselfs.
Are there specific themes, styles, or item types you’d like to see more of? Less of?
More skill effects. I like them the most. More variety. More MTX that really change the feel of the skill, not just a recolor.
More actually decent armor sets/weapons that fit together.
Less footsteps.
Don’t care about pets but I know people like them.
Are there any items you’ve avoided purchasing, and what influenced that decision?
As I already said I have 300 points still and have not used it on any item in the shop because they don’t appear to be worth it.
So before I fork over any more money I would still need to use up my points I already paid for.
The weapons/armors are in my eyes just not good looking. They are not fitting to the themes of the characters I played so far. They look too over the top and plastic at the same time. I don’t mind seriously high-fantasy over the top looks, but not when they look like the cartoon version of what they should look like in my mind.
It would also be awesome if they somehow interact with the environment. Like a fire sword glowing more brightly and having more flames in a fire are, emitting burned leaves in a primal area and creating steam on a lake map.
A necromancer armor could have a talking skull (Murray!) attached to the shoulder that rarely comments on boss fights or something.
Cool and unique effects.
Skill effects are almost there. They should have just a little more “oompfh”. Change the feel of the skill or really erforce the feel of the base skill to make it that much more badass.
Pets I think are fine. But it would be awesome if they also somehow interacted with the environment. To me they drastically increase the visual clutter in the game so I avoid them.
Same goes for footsteps. Too much clutter so I avoid them. To me they are the least important.
I think MTX could be more polished and differentiate a lot more from the base items.
Also, creating skill mtx for popular builds could push me over the edge to buy MTX
I currently didn’t buy any LE MTX because, in my opinion, they don’t feel special, it’s not even about the price tag
Skills, skills and again - skills
Skill MTX, skill MTX, Skill MTX….
Obviously more options are always preferred but that takes time. Many of the weapons are missing or short on options.
It would be nice to see more selling options. For example, the vanquisher set last season was awesome. Would be nice to pick up just that set but maybe at a higher price and then you can get it bundled at a better rate.
Would also love to see cosmetics that don’t always come in sets to encourage mixing and matching aesthetics a bit more instead of just running around in a pre-built armor set.
Lots of good things in the shop but excited to see more. Lean in to more of the game realistic looks and don’t stray too far away from that tone.
Here’s what I feel needs to be done:
You need to get gear updated with visuals that match their icon art, so that there’s something to actually differentiate uniques specifically, but all items in general from one another, instead of having a ‘full set’ of gear based on character level that exists right now.
if that’s not a realistic ask, then each season have a full set of ‘free’ basic cosmetic armour to match the theme of the season earned through gameplay milestones, and have a full ‘upgraded’ version to buy from the shop that adds on to the base version (added particle effects/animations etc), then have a version that is seperate to that and is unique so you can buy that seasons armour set as an indivdual item pack which is also a ‘premium’ purchase.
the issue regarding cosmetics in game, for me, is that there’s not enough choice, the choices that exist are very specific to certain themes and don’t match a lot of other stuff in the game, and that there’s no way to earn some stuff as a baseline so i’m always gonna be walking around with whatever the current ‘baseline’ look is, with some hodgepodge items from twitch rewards etc bolted on that look so out of place, with no way to make them look nice from purchasing items in the store.
probably a huge undertaking, and wish you luck with whatever you choose to do.
I have always purchased your top tier pack. But then that’s it.
As your game matures and you bring more classes/masteries to the game you have a new opportunity for enhancing your cosmetics.
Continue to carry your season specific bundles.
Introduce individual class/mastery/skill themed cosmetics. Season 4 is coming up - major rework to fire aura, as an avid RF player, im excited to try an create a build around it.
Would I buy a flame themed armor set, skill mtx, and weapon skin for that build - ABSOLUTELY !!!
That would be in addition to my typical purchase of the season bundle.
Take advantage of the player’s need to immerse themselves in their build. this could exponentially increase your cosmetic sales, especially with players who create several alts a season and have some disposable income to enhance their immersion in the builds they are making.
• Which items do you feel offer the best value or appeal, and why?
Skills and Portals are appealing.
- Are there specific themes, styles, or item types you’d like to see more of? Less of?
Skill cosmetics especially for skills that can be converted to different elements.
- Are there any items you’ve avoided purchasing, and what influenced that decision?
Pets. If pets had a function in game then I would be more interested in purchasing a pet.
I would like to have had a $19.99 price offering for a Primal supporter pack that included a portal.
- More subtle / elegant styles. I don’t want flashy.
- Make pets collect gold, runes, keys, etc. Pet is another thing on screen that’s already too busy. I’m not even using a free one unless it has utility, let alone paying for extras.
- The helmets seem to make the head seem a little too big for the body. I was going to buy a helmet MTX because the default was ugly, but it made my character look even more like a bobble head, so I didn’t.