Why so few good cosmetics?

[Teargiver]

I am fairly sure that there is no way to get the Vampire Hunter’s Outfit without paying $130 dollars, which is ridiculous. Why is it this way tho? I have seen other games provide high quality unique cosmetics and make a tidy profit doing so. And what is the thinking in limiting the Barovian or Vampire hunters gear to pre-orders? Does anyone really think that they make more profit from pre-orders based purely on those compared to possible profit of 3 dollar cosmetics? If Standing Stone were on the ball, they would a person, or two, doing nothing but making high quality themed cosmetics. Things that players would grab for a few dollars as an impulse purchase. I am all for Standing Stone making extra profit on cosmetic outifts, hats, and pets. But for the immense cost of pre-orders, they need way more time saving items, stuff that limits the hamster wheel. I dont think people care about random junk anymore, not really.

I bet your DDO store sales would increase if more reasonable impulse buy cosmetics were available and sales/deals on items that realistically reduce the hamster wheel grind.

[PsychoBlonde]

Given the number of people I've seen running around WEARING the cosmetics, I'd say they sold pretty well.

What sort of "time saving" items do you want? You're not being very specific.

Also, it seems kind of inane to first complain that there aren't enough cosmetics available and THEN say "but I don't want cosmetics in expansion pre-orders and special packs". If you're going to simultaneously complain that there aren't ENOUGH cosmetics AND that there are TOO MANY cosmetics, you might want to at least make different threads.

[SerPounce]

There’s lots of cosmetics in the store that only cost a few dollars worth of points. Obviously a matter of opinion, but I think they have some good ones. And then there’s mirrors...

Also the x-pack bundles aren’t just “pre-orders” they’re still available. Decent chance they’ll be on sale for Black Friday if you don’t want to pay full price.

[Annex]

Only the developers know. Maybe poor sales of Cosmetic Items led to a reluctance to add more. Maybe the game engine could not handle an abundance of Cosmetic Items without significant work. Maybe turnover in the art team limited output. Maybe the transition from Turbine to Warner Brothers to Standing Stone resulted in limited financial resources to hire artists.

It really does not matter. Those of us asking for more and better Cosmetic Outfits have been rewarded with a marked increase in supply over the last year. The developers appear to have received the message, "We want more Cosmetic Outfits!", and we can only hope that appreciation and sales will fuel increased production of such things.

With regards your comments on the Cosmetic Items in Mists of Ravenloft, in essence, they are luxury goods designed to entice wealthy players to spend money on DDO. If a player wants them badly enough he or she will pay, which is rather the point of their inclusion in those high priced packages.

Anyway, yes to more Cosmetic Outfits and yes to improvements in the Cosmetic Outfit system.

[Aelonwy]

Maybe poor sales of Cosmetic Items led to a reluctance to add more.

I suspect this was initially the case. Its important to note however that the original cosmetic armors came in a form (kits that acted like potions?) that made them Bound-to-item one-off cosmetics, which meant that they could not be re-used ever and often made them BTC because the armor was BTC. It did not help in any way that many of the most coveted styles were priced higher than most adventure packs and thus were lower priority purchases than content and likely too over-priced for the impulse-purchase category.

Making the transition to Glamored cosmetics that are BTA and can be re-used at the convenience of the customer has likely encouraged sales but brought up the new issue of cosmetic storage. As long as the cosmetics are BTA, one can always buy a new character slot and have a cosmetic storage mule. The inventory issue is really only a negative disgruntled customer one when the company insists on adding so very many BTC per-character cosmetics. Of course now we know they can change the Binding status of items we have already acquired... the question remains why don't they change the BTC cosmetics into BTA thus reducing our inventory issues and our aggravation?

[janave]

Business: grinds and exp pots is cheap and profitable, unlike cosmetics (artwork).

PS: As an experiment create a cosmetic that grants +5% style bonus to all exp earned, I foresee them to be popular*.

[Annex]

I suspect this was initially the case. Its important to note however that the original cosmetic armors came in a form (kits that acted like potions?) that made them Bound-to-item one-off cosmetics, which meant that they could not be re-used ever and often made them BTC because the armor was BTC. It did not help in any way that many of the most coveted styles were priced higher than most adventure packs and thus were lower priority purchases than content and likely too over-priced for the impulse-purchase category.

You are most certainly correct but I have to laugh. When I decided to buy into DDO, two of my very first purchases were high priced Cosmetic Outfits from the store. I deemed these far more important than Quest Packs, Storage, Races, and Classes.

I would bet Hair Styles sell poorly for the same reason. Every single hair style should exist as a permanent Cosmetic Item that equips into a dedicated slot subject to the Show/Hide Helmet Toggle. Women should have the ability to style their hair differently at will. Men can too, I guess. Whatever.

(Shows Default Hair Style Only / Show Helmet / Show Goggles with Default Hair Style / Show Goggles with Special Hair Style / Show Special Hair Style Only )

Making the transition to Glamored cosmetics that are BTA and can be re-used at the convenience of the customer has likely encouraged sales but brought up the new issue of cosmetic storage. As long as the cosmetics are BTA, one can always buy a new character slot and have a cosmetic storage mule. The inventory issue is really only a negative disgruntled customer one when the company insists on adding so very many BTC per-character cosmetics. Of course now we know they can change the Binding status of items we have already acquired... the question remains why don't they change the BTC cosmetics into BTA thus reducing our inventory issues and our aggravation?

I am hopeful this will change within the next year. The developers clearly understand that many players want a broad array of Cosmetic Outfits and the ability to store them. The upcoming cloak update will generate tons of requests for better Cosmetic Item storage.

Oh. Also, if Glamered items still cannot accept Festival Bonuses, that needs fixing.

[Annex]

Business: grinds and exp pots is cheap and profitable, unlike cosmetics (artwork).

PS: As an experiment create a cosmetic that grants +5% style bonus to all exp earned, I foresee them to be popular*.

I fully agree that sales of Cosmetic Items will never outpace sales of Otto's Boxes but a good Department Store caters to many tastes to reap the maximum number of consumer dollars.

Also, a +395% Style Bonus to Experience as a Festival Upgrade to a Cosmetic Item is a fantastic idea.

Make it so, Number One.

[Aelonwy]

I am hopeful this will change within the next year. The developers clearly understand that many players want a broad array of Cosmetic Outfits and the ability to store them. The upcoming cloak update will generate tons of requests for better Cosmetic Item storage.

I sincerely hope you are correct.

As to cosmetic hairstyle/cosmetic hair dye, yes I certainly would pay more for a permanent cosmetic for style and/or dye. If they made an extra pair of cosmetic slots on the paperdoll screen maybe under the existing ones for cosmetic hair style and hair dye then we could have a cosmetic helm or goggles over our choice of hairstyle and color.

I can still dream that someday we'll get a rainbow dye.

[scipiojedi]

I fully agree that sales of Cosmetic Items will never outpace sales of Otto's Boxes but a good Department Store caters to many tastes to reap the maximum number of consumer dollars.

Also, a +395% Style Bonus to Experience as a Festival Upgrade to a Cosmetic Item is a fantastic idea.

Make it so, Number One.

Yes because I will never buy an Otto's box but I keep buying mirrors of glamouring like candy

[Aelonwy]

Yes because I will never buy an Otto's box but I keep buying mirrors of glamouring like candy

You too? I thought I was the only one with a Mirror problem.

[scipiojedi]

You too? I thought I was the only one with a Mirror problem.

I have lot of alts and when a character doesn't look right I can't play them...so I keep scouring the wiki for cool weapons, armor, and hats. Once cloaks drop I'll be pretty busy trying out every cloak too and then every TR I have to repeat the process, since only certain styles look right with certain weapons and races.