New Store Item: Hobby Horse

Some of you may have noticed a new item in your store on Bullroarer: the Hobby Horse.

The store wizards would like your feedback (well-thought out, non-crazypants) on this item.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

4. Any rants about how evil Turbine is for making store items, even those that are entirely optional and up simply for the fun of those who are willing to pay for them, will be disregarded. This item is an experiment item. We simply want your feedback on the type of item presented and what might be added to it or done to it to make it a better item. We are not forcing you to buy it. No one is forcing you to buy it. It's something to be there and be fun for those who may want it.

Constructive commenting and questions ONLY


We know store items cause heated discussion. We know some longtime players find them problematic. Please try to be level-headed. We appreciate the passion you all have about LOTRO.

I haven't noticed yet because value cannot be null, parameter name: stream.

If it's a permanent clicky item that applies the Harwick hobby horse effect when used, then it's a nice idea. I would buy it for 50 TP. It's not a joke, that's my proposed price.

I'll come back and edit this with actual feedback after the servers are up again so I can check the real price and the function.

Edit:

FIVE THOUSAND TURBINE POINTS

Feedback time.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

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My offer remains. 50 TP. Take it or leave it.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

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What? No. No no no.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

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Being an expansion?

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Originally Posted by xRaina

4. Any rants about how evil Turbine is for making store items, even those that are entirely optional and up simply for the fun of those who are willing to pay for them, will be disregarded. This item is an experiment item. We simply want your feedback on the type of item presented and what might be added to it or done to it to make it a better item. We are not forcing you to buy it. No one is forcing you to buy it. It's something to be there and be fun for those who may want it.

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For $50 I can think of better ways to have fun. Say, purchasing a video game. One whole, brand new video game.

Turbine is not evil for making store items. Turbine is crazy for expecting people to pay $50 for a pseudo-mount joke item.

Be realistic. No matter what you add to a horse stick, it's not going to be worth $50. That's my feedback to the "store wizards".

When I first spotted it I'd hoped it was a hidden deed for x hobby horse completions. Now that I know its store-acquisition only I'll be looking to see if any tweaks were made and what the prices are when bullroarer comes up.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

Some of you may have noticed a new item in your store on Bullroarer: the Hobby Horse.

The store wizards would like your feedback (well-thought out, non-crazypants) on this item.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

4. Any rants about how evil Turbine is for making store items, even those that are entirely optional and up simply for the fun of those who are willing to pay for them, will be disregarded. This item is an experiment item. We simply want your feedback on the type of item presented and what might be added to it or done to it to make it a better item. We are not forcing you to buy it. No one is forcing you to buy it. It's something to be there and be fun for those who may want it.

Constructive commenting and questions ONLY


We know store items cause heated discussion. We know some longtime players find them problematic. Please try to be level-headed. We appreciate the passion you all have about LOTRO.

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Similar to my feelings about the bare chested dwarf item, I'm not going to pay more than 100 tp (if even) for a joke item. I can't check the price on BR atm (servers down it seems), but if I had to guess I'd say that it's probably 495 (correct me if I'm wrong). Just my opinion, like you were asking for.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

Some of you may have noticed a new item in your store on Bullroarer: the Hobby Horse.

4. Any rants about how evil Turbine is for making store items, even those that are entirely optional and up simply for the fun of those who are willing to pay for them, will be disregarded.

Constructive commenting and questions ONLY

We appreciate the passion you all have about LOTRO.

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Yes I still have a passion about Lotro, I'm not saying Turbine is evil, but still I think that kind of thing is a big waste of time when we are waiting for very important bugs fixes, improvement for our classes, bugs fixes, fix for pvmp, bugs fixes ...

This offer does not appear to be active at the present time.
Yule's running though =)

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Originally Posted by Crell_1

This offer does not appear to be active at the present time.
Yule's running though =)

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Can you possibly get a screenie of the new mount they will have? If it's available that is.

I cannot find this item in the store. I searched "hobby."

This offer is now available:

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Take a ride around Middle-earth the classy way- riding your very own Hobby Horse! Onward, Patsy!

This steed has 250 health and allows you to travel 62% faster than running on foot, making it faster and stronger than many other mounts! Once purchased this skill can be found in the Mounts area of the Skill panel.

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COST: 5000 TP.

For that price, it should be 'account wide' and at LEAST +68%. (Compare to the Account wide cost of the Reviler's Steed.)

I'd also greatly prefer it to come in some kind of war-steed version/rate.

(Horse is currently +40% in actuality.) It uses the existing animations and appearance as the hobby horse quest

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Originally Posted by Piedtendre

Yes I still have a passion about Lotro, I'm not saying Turbine is evil, but still I think that kind of thing is a big waste of time when we are waiting for very important bugs fixes, improvement for our classes, bugs fixes, fix for pvmp, bugs fixes ...

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Except that not every person working for Turbine does the same job. The person making store items is not the same person making bug fixes. The graphics already exist for hobby horse, so turning it into a mount is a relatively simple thing that can be done without taking any time from senior developers.

Now if they only had one person doing all the work, instances and store and pvp and landscape and whatnot, then I would agree with you.

And I can see some people buying it. People bought the bare chested dwarf. And the ones I've seen weren't the sorts to normally buy cosmetic outfits or even the traditional role player type. They seemed to just buy it to garner reactions and laughs from others.

Perhaps the problem is if this gets too silly. The bare chested dwarf at least isn't entirely ridiculous, we already have a lot of ugly dourhands. However I think perhaps that people riding around on hobby horses between towns will break immersion too much. What does it say to the new player who shows expecting to find a strongly middle earth themed world?

Well given I know the price, uh no way would I buy it. Price is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to expensive even if it was account wide. I thought the dwarf cosmetic no shirt was high but this...

With that said I better zip it before I get into trouble.

5000tp?

No. Not even close. At 500, I could understand your reasoning, but no to that as well, incase this was a typo.

50? then yes.

100, probably,

More? no.

OMG lol really 5000 TP to ride a lore breaking ridiculous hobby horse around in Middle-earth??

How long untill Flying Mounts seem like a good idea??

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Originally Posted by xRaina

Some of you may have noticed a new item in your store on Bullroarer: the Hobby Horse.

The store wizards would like your feedback (well-thought out, non-crazypants) on this item.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

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In a hope to provide constructive feedback:

I really like the idea of this item. It's a lot different and more original item than the traditional mounts of late.

However. I consider even 2k tp too much for a standard mount, let alone 5k for a hobby horse. Even account wide, with bells and whistles, I'd probably still consider it too much.

May I suggest perhaps a 'crumbling' verson of the hobby horse, similar to the temporary travel mounts, for a much reduced TP price. As a joke item, it may be a more popular to buy in a 1-2 hour item. I can see it used much more often in kin races, and events in that way.

The Hobby Horse looks like a fun idea especially for role players (and those who want to perform plays on the new stage in bree) but the cost is outlandish. I cant see it b eing no more then 295 TP (or give a crapload of them in lotteries and hope suckers will buy them)

When I first saw the hobby horse quest in the game I was saying I would buy the emote the instant it was added to the store (There is no other emote in the store I would buy). At 5000 TP I am going to pass. I expected the price to be around 500 TP.

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1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

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A joke item more expensive than an entire expansion.

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2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

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If I enjoyed literally setting fire to money in my spare time, probably. If it had 68% speed I think 1000 TP would be a fair price point, though seeing people riding around on it all around Middle Earth at 68% speed would be almost as ridiculous as seeing people riding around on Eagles.

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3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

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To be honest, I'm not sure there's any cosmetic item that I'd be willing to spend 5000 TP on.

I like the idea riding with the hobby-horse and special funitems itself but:

I won't buy a fun item for 5000 TP! (even 1000 Points for the bare chest is too expensive for me. I just bougth it with 50% off and because of no ENDCONTEND and VIP status - no need for points in raids at continuously gain.)

I might buy such fun items for 500 Points (special offer, or normal sale). Then the slow movement-speed will be ok -because of fun...
500 Points is my personal acceptance limit for items, which don't give any benefits for playing instances, raids or solo-playing.

Might be interesting using such item in instances, not during combat for sure, if combat you will be unsaddle immediately. To get rid of the time during waiting for someone or just get someone to laugh starting fight on a hobby-horse :D (maybe skill)

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May I suggest perhaps a 'crumbling' verson of the hobby horse, similar to the temporary travel mounts, for a much reduced TP price. As a joke item, it may be a more popular to buy in a 1-2 hour item. I can see it used much more often in kin races, and events in that way.

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I agree with this. As a temporary item to use during an event or just when you are feeling silly. I don't want to see dozens of people riding around on a hobby horse.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

Would you be willing to purchase this item?

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No.

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What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

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• Account-wide.

• Ability to provide a benefit to other (willing) players.
  For an item like the hobby-horse, this might be the ability to bestow a temporary hobby horse buff (that only works players in the same fellowship or raid) or item. This could lead to fun events.

• Something unique that really stands out.
  A hobby horse is a good start. Adding exceptional emotes like pole-vaulting or doing forward flips would put it near the price range you are seeking.

I suspect this type of toy appeals more to male than female players. It doesn't appeal to me in any case, even though I'm very fond of useless stuff and cosmetics. For roleplaying purposes I could only see my male hobbit using it perhaps, but not for that price. I would think a pricing like the Steed of Bright Days / Minas Ithil etc is more reasonable, considering the speed and its lack of usefulness as a warsteed cosmetic.

for 5000 tp, the hobby horse should be a flying mount.

Would I like one? Yes

Would I buy one from the Store? Yes (see below.)

Would I buy it for the current proposed price? Definitely not. It's a little insulting.

Would I buy it for a much lower price? Yes, depending on the price. 295-495 TP is much more reasonable.

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I am usually fairly supportive of Turbine, but pricing like this for anything will quickly lose my support.

Personally I think this should have been a deed reward in-game, but I'm not opposed to it being a Store item, providing the cost is reasonable. 5,000 TP is roughly $50. That much money for a fluff item is ridiculous, and you (Turbine) know it is, as you had to qualify the initial post to show that it is not a joke.

The problem with pricing like this is not just that you won't get very many sales (I imagine you would get a few from the handful of rich players), but that you are likely to encourage player dissent, tarnishing Turbine's image and leading to losses that far outweigh the gain.

Sufficed to say, if it's anything over 500 TP, you can count me out.

EDIT: At first I thought this was an emote or cosmetic, but now I realise it's an actual mount with morale (how it has morale is anyone's guess). Since it's slower than other mounts it won't get used as often, which I'm glad about, because seeing people riding these everywhere would ruin immersion. They are fun for events and role-playing and messing around, but riding one permanently around Middle-earth would not be good. Considering that, and considering the other Store-only mounts, a price of 1,500-2,000 TP would be acceptable, particularly as it would discourage widespread use of it (as would the 62% speed). Unless these mounts are account-wide, I refuse to buy them at 2,000 TP.

-Bel

Wow. 5000 TP? Ok. Since it's not a joke, and this is being posed as an experimental question "what would a goof-off item need to have associated with it to be honestly valued at a super high price?"

First of all, it's a hobby-horse, not a real horse. So I honestly think being able to travel as fast as being on a real horse would be pretty silly. That doesn't help with the price point, though. While you could make an argument for the "suspension of disbelief" you have to consider other players who would find someone zipping around on a hobby-horse at top speeds ridiculous and utterly immersion-breaking.

All that being said, I personally would only spend a ton on a steed if it was functionally superior to the ones I already have. Sorry, but I'm not a big cosmetics spender, and being a Premium and not a VIP player, I value the points I do have and have worked for too highly to spend them frivolously.

So how could you tempt someone like me to honestly consider purchasing this item? Here are a few off-the wall ideas:

1. When riding the hobby-horse, you are completely immune to aggro (like being in stealth)
- Useful for lower level characters who want to explore middle-earth without fear of being attacked

2. You can sprint on the hobby-horse at speeds up to 17-20m/s, with a cooldown of a couple minutes. Normal speed would be at the 62-68% mark.
- A slight RNG to the top speed of the sprint could offer an exciting opportunity for races between players. (sort of like a carnival race-horse game). Betting on hobby-horse races, anyone?

3. Riding a hobby-horse provides a 30m buff to all nearby friendly players "Hilarity - the joy of laughter relaxes you in the face of danger. +3 hope, +10% outgoing damage/healing, +10% xp/ixp"
- This would be great for people who just want to be helpers. You can't fight, you don't gain xp yourself, but if you want to have some fun being goofy and still help people you can provide a boost for others by prancing around on your hobby-horse.

You could potentially implement all three of these ideas together, but any one of them on their own might be enough to make me think hard about purchasing it.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.
The 5,000 price point is astronomical for what the in-game toy provides. You call it not a joke and you're right. I'm not laughing.

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?
Absolutely without a doubt this is the type of item I would be willing to purchase. I adore these fun fluff character items that allow me to goof around and have fun in Middle-earth.

Would I purchase it for 5,000 Turbine Points? Never. Ever. I'd give up all my ponies and walk to Mordor before paying this much for something I would only use for play.

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?
It appears to have some sort of functional value as a 40% "mount" but unless it was as fast as my other ponies, I would never use it in such a fashion unless as some sort of party or RP function touting a hobby horse race.

At this price point I expect it to all of the following:

• Instantly transport me wherever I wish to go without cooldown
• Enable to turn it into a pink unicorn every 10 minutes that rides on rainbows
• Allow me to travel to toy land and play games with Hobbit children
• Make me peanut butter toast (in real life) on command
• Shoot laser beams from it's eyes

I don't know what Turbine planned for this but in my eyes, this item is a toy. A play thing for my character to pull out like a pretzel, a beer mug, a basket of flowers, etc. At 5,000 TP this costs more than the entire Rohan expansion. This is not the proper pricing for a fun item.

Perhaps I'm missing some super awesome function it has but I don't know if I need a function other than to ride the silly thing for funsies.

In short: 5,000 TP = No Way from Me

It's not for me, but I hope it sells really well. Good luck!

I have no problem with Turbine offering horses for $50 or $80 for that matter.

I'm not forced to purchase them, my own gameplay doesn't suffer from them and it doesn't make those who have it more powerful (which would affect my gameplay).

I would also be OK if they offered the first 200% run speed mount for $50, or $200 or whatever they think. Heck I might even buy it. That's convenience, not advantage. Bring it on.

What I don't like is the pretense that being outraged about some items (not this one) is a sign of crazyness.

I can offer nothing constructive about this topic. I am going to curl up in my hobbit hole with my butter knife and jar of fireflies and pretend that it's 2007 again.

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Originally Posted by Goldenstar

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.
The 5,000 price point is astronomical for what the in-game toy provides. You call it not a joke and you're right. I'm not laughing.

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?
Absolutely without a doubt this is the type of item I would be willing to purchase. I adore these fun fluff character items that allow me to goof around and have fun in Middle-earth.

Would I purchase it for 5,000 Turbine Points? Never. Ever. I'd give up all my ponies and walk to Mordor before paying this much for something I would only use for play.

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?
It appears to have some sort of functional value as a 40% "mount" but unless it was as fast as my other ponies, I would never use it in such a fashion unless as some sort of party or RP function touting a hobby horse race.

At this price point I expect it to all of the following:

• Instantly transport me wherever I wish to go without cooldown
• Enable to turn it into a pink unicorn every 10 minutes that rides on rainbows
• Allow me to travel to toy land and play games with Hobbit children
• Make me peanut butter toast (in real life) on command
• Shoot laser beams from it's eyes

I don't know what Turbine planned for this but in my eyes, this item is a toy. A play thing for my character to pull out like a pretzel, a beer mug, a basket of flowers, etc. At 5,000 TP this costs more than the entire Rohan expansion. This is not the proper pricing for a fun item.

Perhaps I'm missing some super awesome function it has but I don't know if I need a function other than to ride the silly thing for funsies.

In short: 5,000 TP = No Way from Me

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+1 +1 +1

This all of this.

Now that I've seen the Hobby Horse and its pricing, I can actually give feedback.

Yeah, 5k is way too much for a single mount on one character, no matter how 'fun' it is. Account-wide, maybe, and even that is pushing it. 1995 same as the other mounts might get some buyers(not me), but any more than that I doubt you'll get more than a handful in total.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

Oh my, that's more than an expansion!

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

Ha, not at that price point! Neither would anyone I know!

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

While it's a cute idea, I don't think this should be classified as a mount. I would like to see it as a fun item with its current animation without the speed increase and mount classification (maybe make it an emote or a clickable item.) I would then be willing to pay 500 TP at the most for it and I think it would sell much better this way.

Certaintly a cute and funny idea, but I wouldn't spend any more on it than I'd spend on one of the other store-only mounts. Seeing as how it's a toy, I think it ought to be slower and less hearty than one of the store mounts, and probably a quarter of the cost of one. I would say it should be half of the cost, but since it's a cutesy, fun item that is completely different, it has more value than just a standard mount.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at 5000 TP, this would instantly become the most expensive single item in the LOTRO store.

It isn't content. It isn't account-wide. It doesn't even offer appreciable bonuses, as far as I can gather.

So, no I would not consider purchasing this item.

In order to entice me *at this price point*, it would definitely have to be account-wide, and it would have to have some tangible benefit that is lasting and potent. Maybe it could come with a whole cosmetic outfit, or special musical instrument, or a set of emotes.

I would like to ride this through Mordor, though.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.
I do not comment your pricing politics, I understand you will want to make this item very rare. But, anything above 500TP for this kind of item seems too high for me.

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?
Yes, absolutely, but not for that price.

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?
Nothing. I am willing to buy a hobby horse for the hobby horse itself, not for any additional features.

Well, I looked it over on Bullroarer and I have to agree with the above posts. It's not really worth that price point. It's a joke item. And for something that's supposed to be nearly as fast as other premium mounts in the Store, it's really not.

That being said, if there's one thing I've learned from other games is that you can put a bit of in-game fluff in your cash shop and the high price alone will get sales as people who want to set themselves apart will pay for it. Just to be different. (I'm mainly thinking about the $99 engagement ring from Team Fortress 2 and the $80 monocle from Eve Online). The price for those things are outrageous. Yet, people still buy them just to set themselves apart from the crowd.

So, if you really want to sell this item at this price, I don't see why not. It will garner you some money. It just wont be my money.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

Some of you may have noticed a new item in your store on Bullroarer: the Hobby Horse.

The store wizards would like your feedback (well-thought out, non-crazypants) on this item.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

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Wait....so you want "well-thought out, non-crazypants" feedback/discussion after you proposed 5K TP price point?
(Runs to check the calendar....nope, it's not April 1....*scratches head wondering what silly game Turbine is playing*)

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2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

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If players have more $$ than brains to burn, I guess more power to them but to ask this question is a bit rediculous.

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Constructive commenting and questions ONLY

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My constructive question would be,
1a.Who @Turbine/WB actually proposed that price point?
1b. and have they been fired or removed from the item pricing team?

Hate the price.

If, for example, our kin wanted to run a hobby horse race (hey we get good use out of the freeze tag fields. Don't judge. ;) ) it means anyone participating would have to be willing to drop the same amount of TP, including my kinnies who are grinding to be able to afford their next quest pack.

Great idea. Very fun. Price makes it a non starter.

Essentially what this implies to me, is that instead of saying "Hey we have this cool idea, what do you think a good price for it is?" when adding a new item, the mindset is "We want $50 items, what's the bare minimum we have to provide to get them to cough up?"

Is that the experiment?

I have a different idea, bear with me here. Why not surprise us with *lower* prices across the board, and for items such as these? I'll use the horses as an example. For $5 apiece, I'd buy one for each of my 9 characters easily. For $20 apiece I'll buy a mount for precisely none of my characters. Considering there's no material cost in making these items, I don't understand why something like this wasn't investigated.

If your goal is to increase store revenue, raising prices and adding ridiculously priced items doesn't seem like the way to go in my mind.

At any rate... for the original questions, I would not purchase this item. It's kind of insulting that you would even pose the question. And there's nothing that you could do to make that item worth 5000 TP save for including every other store mount in a bundle with it or something along those lines.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

Some of you may have noticed a new item in your store on Bullroarer: the Hobby Horse.

The store wizards would like your feedback (well-thought out, non-crazypants) on this item.

1. The price is not a joke. That is the proposed price for this item.

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I am in shock over the price in all seriousness.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

2. Would you be willing to purchase this item?

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I have wanted to purchase one since I first saw the Hobby Horse, but I would *never* at this price. When I shop for new games I look for deals as paying full price is something I usually can't afford. 5000 TP for an ingame toy? There's no way I'd spend that many TPs on it if I had that many, even if it were account wide.

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Originally Posted by xRaina

3. What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

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I'd want an entire expansion for that price.

Would you be willing to purchase this item?

When I first did the hobby horse quest in Harwick, I laughed and said I'd love to be able to purchase one of these to ride around wherever. At a reasonable price, I would be willing to purchase it. Even if this item were account-wide, +68% speed, I would not ever purchase it at anything even approaching this price point. For account-wide + 68% speed, 1995 TP max; 995 max for a single character, and even then I'd wait for a really good sale.

What sort of features might entice you to purchase an item at this price point?

Aside from an expansion, the only thing I would be willing to spend 5,000 points on in one go would be a cross-server shared storage/premium wallet/wardrobe type upgrade with 500 slots of wardrobe/shared storage space. No fluff item is worth this price. Although, if you want to add a cosmetic outfit store subscription with all new store cosmetics automatically added to my wardrobe with all dye colors pre-applied without taking up more space, I'd be willing to consider 5,000 points.