The VC issue - perfectly put in words

[Bernte]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dwiddie05

WELL SAID!!! You are exactly right. Why do people have to complain about every single thing!?! Lol. They act like they are being forced into buying the VC. If you play this game for a whole year you will have multiple players maxed out. I think you should have to earn it as well. Now I will say the cosmetic items are ridiculously priced and buying dribble moves is kinda weird but overall this game is amazing.

that's not the point. the point is, that the game design forces you in a very subtle way into buying vc. of course you can reach everything by grinding like an idiot for weeks and months, but hey, only 50$, and you can skip this. c'mon, do it! DO IT! DO IT!

if you know what i mean...

[iam31yearsold]

To say the game is amazing, with the AI defense in its current state shows how much people care about the bells and whistles over core gameplay mechanics.

I'm assuming everyone on this thread defending the VC system, bought VC and its trying to justify it.

[StayPlation82]

it's all funny, sad, i created my MC guy in create-a-player and his OVR rating was like 10 points lower. so even if you "grind" to a 99, you're really a 90. VC or not the best you can be is a 90. then it's almost double the amount of VC to max out this year, bought or not. smoke and mirrors! some people believe in magic and some don't.

[ballin095]

I'll just say this much about the topic. Is there a reason that as soon you select the get upgrades section in the my career menu the "buy" vc option is already highlighted?

[downsouth]

Quote: Originally Posted by Marty Funkhouser

Yes because they aren't consistently one of the best selling games of the year? 2K makes an absolute killing off the game without even factoring in VC. There's a difference "not running a charity" and trying to suck every penny out of your customers. it's greedy. Free 2 Play games use microtransactions as they don't get paid upfront. 2K charges $60+ as an entry fee and makes a killing off VC purchases and after the success of that strategy there's no way that elements of the game have not been designed around encouraging the user to purchase VC. Hell, compare 2K to Battlefield or GTA, two franchises along with 2K, sell copious amounts copies and earn massive revenue off their titles. Both of those games have microtransactions but at the same time they regularly give free content to their customers, GTA V especially. 2K nickel & dimes the customer at every opportunity. And yes, I am perfectly fine comparing the 2K to GTA/BF/etc because they all charge full price, they all are consistently the top selling titles every year and they all are consistently under development. What's even more disgusting to me is how they started selling college teams before even acknowledging the massive amount of bugs in this year's release. It's downright repulsive. But hey, they ain't running a charity but people sure do donate. Who can blame since people are so willing, might as well take advantage of those who have no issue with being taken advantage of.

It would be foolish for a game company to ignore the revenue from the item store model. The cost of the game is peanuts compared to the profit on game currency sales. That genie is out of the bottle. The market was proven when "Free2Play" games and phone app games came on to the market and generated more revenue per player than games selling for $50.

All we can hope for is that they take those profits and improve the game. Or hope enough people dont buy it to where they lose profits. Doesnt look like that is happening anytime soon.

At least in NBA 2K with time and patience you can achieve everything that a VC buyer can. In other games I play, players arent so lucky.

*edit* also wanted to add, it isnt taking advantage of anyone. Its offering goods and services that arent required for a price you can pay or not. Its about personal value to you. For example, i buy too much VC but i wouldnt spend $1.99 on a pack of 100 college teams. Its about what you want to do.

[thexzeno]

I bought 30 dollars worth of VC because I work a full time job and can afford it and also because I enjoy mycareer and mypark

My biggest gripe is that when I buy VC to help make a character to play in park or pro-am and they are terrible I am out 30 dollars and tons of time(practices and grinding badges) and I know for a fact that 2k wont come and try to balance anything. The archetype post scorer is useless because the stats they decided to give him are fundamentally terrible I also feel sorry for slashers. Why is my close shot maxed at 73? sure I can back down but then I just get instantly ripped up by a pg with hall of fame pickpocket who can still shoot threes mid range and dunk.

Now some will say JUST REROLL but i dont want to i dont have the time to play 12 min quarters everyday for 400 VC a game and 1 hour of my life wasted. Im pretty sure it takes over 300,000 VC just to get to 85 you know how ****ing long that takes just playing casually? you'll never be able to compete with anyone in any other game mode.

[iTofu]

I agree with OP for the most part.

Although, you don't need to "shake" anything, it's designed for you to buy VC, if you're serious, a lot of VC. In MyCareer, VC is treated like an entry fee to Park and Pro-Am. Want to try another build? Cool, pony up another entry fee and by the way all those animations you bought? Buy 'em again plz, kthxbye.

On the other hand, I paid it, so how unreasonable is it?

Also, I actually think after the entry fee, the VC is more than sustainable if you play online, so I don't think linking the grind and VC is necessarily valid in terms of MyCareer.

Quote: Originally Posted by iam31yearsold

'Deal with it' mentality is exactly what they want you to think. Nothing you can do...might as well just give them money...

I get what you're saying. However, let's think about what the impact of people's efforts here. Let's say some nice guy at 2K is reading and understands our pain and takes our complaint to the highest level...

2K Meeting:

NiceGuy: "I've been reading some of the feedback, people are really upset about how much Virtual Currency they have to buy..."

Christoph, President: "Interesting, I don't like bad feedback... Hmmmm... Let's get David on phone." *turns on speaker*

David, VP of Finance: "Hello, you've reached is David."

Christoph: "Hey it's Cris and NiceGuy is here. He's done some interesting research on what people think of our game and I'm wondering how much of our revenue comes from VC?"

David: "It makes up XX% (not a small number percentage) of our revenue from NBA 2K17."

Christoph: "hahaha... Oh man. Well... That settles that, VC is in forever, sorry. You know how it is, cash rules everything around me. Thanks David, that's all. Talk to you later."

David: "Cool. Take care." *click*

NiceGuy: "Ugh... What should I tell these angry fans?"

Christoph: "Take it to PR, I'm sure they have a great idea. Maybe another $250K tourney, that seemed to have went well."

NiceGuy: "Not sure about that, most of these people are casuals. You know, soft with the sticks. Plus, the scoring system for entry into the tourney was kind of wack... I mean (trails off)"

Christoph: "I don't know, can we get Rachel DeMita to wear sexier clothes or something?"

NiceGuy: "Seems a little sexist, don't you think?"

Christoph: "You know our user base, right? You ever been on a mic with most of these people. Maybe tell them we'll fix defense. Why are we brainstorming? I'll contact Ryan, the head of communications myself. Take care. Thanks for bringing this to my attention."

NiceGuy: "No problem. Talk to you later."

This is how a market works. There an enormous number of users who love Park and/or Pro-Am and thus are willing to pay. 2K has found an amount that seems unreasonable but a price people are willing to pay, so you better find a way to make a massive dent in that revenue. I suspect that's the only time they'll listen.

[PPerfect_CJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by iam31yearsold

To say the game is amazing, with the AI defense in its current state shows how much people care about the bells and whistles over core gameplay mechanics. I'm assuming everyone on this thread defending the VC system, bought VC and its trying to justify it.

*ding ding ding ding ding*

I don't have a problem with the CONCEPT of VC, but it's done wrong in a lot of ways that have already been covered in this thread.