Announcing The Platinum Club Plus [Beta] Program
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I want my OLD PC Club Back!!
25 PC items in my wishlist jumped from a total of $49.75 to over $150.00!!
If this is a sign of things to come, I'd say PC+ is a RIP-O**. If you have not yet converted, DON'T!
Costs have gone up everywhere except IT resources and 3d development- you get faster, bigger,higher quality, more reliable and and more affordable than ever before.
Lets not be duped by the hype. We are talking about digital assets that typically take 8-60 hours of craftsman labor to produce depending on complexity. Compare that to price you paid for the rights to use the last video or music you downloaded, and the cost of that digital asset. A movie may take months to film and millions in cash to produce. These types of digital art sell for a micro-fraction of the cost because of the massive market and efficient distribution system. The reason 3D digital assets are priced high is due to artificial demand, and urgency hype. V6 does not age, so why do we feel the need to procure within 60 days of release? Why would you factor that objective into the business plan? Regarding PC buying assets in advance, cost was incurred the moment the artist picked up his zbrush. The cost was just not shifted to DAZ PC yet.,,, All retail stores have this problem, however DAZ is lucky in thier their assets do not depreciate, expire nor lose value over time and can be resold unlimited times under competing terms (multiple EULA's) So compared to traditional retail, DAZ is in a much less risky position. Lets not get wiped by the hype.
I like the idea that DAZ offered the Beta first, as it gives them an opportunity to get a bit of feedback. On the other hand, there's been quite a bit of pushback (which I think is expected considering the new program). Personally, I think DAZ presented this new program the wrong way. Offering it as a PC+ membership, gives the impression you're getting something better. I think it most cases, PC+ is offering something far less valuable than the current PC membership.
Now that I think about it, I'm not sure what the purpose of the Beta is. Are you searching for ideas of transforming the program? Are you testing new software (rather than changes to the product)? If this pricing model works, while the current model doesn't, it's not brain surgery. Sometimes companies need to make the hard choice of raising prices. Customers saying they don't want to pay more (well, duh), isn't going to change the need to raise prices. Why do you need to test whether or not customers want to pay more for a service they're receiving? haha
So, I understand the need to remain profitable. If DAZ needs to modify it's pricing plan, then so be it. I don't like paying more for stuff, but like I said, I understand.
On the other hand, I don't like the PC+ membership. It's not something I signed up for. I signed up for the PC membership with the goodies that come with it. I still have quite a few months left of my membership, and I don't want to trade it in for the PC+ program. Like others, I signed up for the PC membership because I liked the benefits. It's not right to pull the bait and switch now that you've got our money.
With that in mind... DAZ has the ability to run two different PC programs, since they're doing it right now. For the time being, they should leave the current PC membership as is, but phase it out. Let those who don't want to convert to the PC+ program continue their current membership until it expires. For new sign-ups or renewals, only offer the new plan (whatever that may be).
A business model that isn't profitable, isn't sustainable. HOWEVER, a company owes it to customers to provide what they said they would provide. For the current PC Memberships, that's includes:
*Free releases every Wednesday
*Weekly new releases priced at $1.99 & $2.99
*30% off all DAZ originals
*$6 PC coupon every month
*Vague Membership Perks :)
I'm not asking for anything more than what I signed up for. When my membership ends, then I should be subject to whatever offerings are available at the time.
Oh I place a high value on the PA discounts. After I signed up for the Beta PC I looked at some of the things in my wishlist (PA items) that I had been drooling over and about fell over when I saw many of them had the Beta PC discount. I added several to my cart and got an even bigger discount because they were part of the PA's that are in with the Summer of Savings Sale. Unfortunately I couldn't get them because I'm broke after spending too much earlier this month. Hopefully I will be able to take advantage of the PA discounts in a week or so when I get paid.
I am also anxious to see what PA's are getting involved with the PC+. I have several favorite artists I would love raid their stores when I do get paid.
Your leaving out the largest cost to 3d products, the people who do the work That component is sometimes called human capital. The cost of "human capital" has gone up along with the price of food, clothing and housing. Every product that goes in any store takes someone to create it and as products have grown more complex to move with the times the work that goes into those products goes up requiring more of that "human capital" to be invested. The concept of "human capital" is not based on man hours alone but also factors like knowledge, skill, creativity and so on.
I believe they posted that 117 PA's had already joined. I don't know exact numbers but I suspect that represents around 1/3 of the total PA's and my gut tells me that those are predominantly the more active/involved PA's. I think that they said that 60 of the top PA's had opted in so far and that is a massive chunk of the most popular and productive PA's. I suspect that the people who we won't see turn up are also people who are for the most part inactive.
Well, PC members have been wanting to be able to use coupons on PA items all along - it's one of the most frequent requests any time the structure of the PC is discussed (impression, not fact) so while the structure isn't as simple as the old PC voucher this does seem to be a desired change, and hopefully that means it will be an attractive change for PAs too and we will see many of them continue to participate. But the PAs are the third group that is going to be looking at how this beta programme plays out, along with DAZ itself and the PC membership, so as Jack and Laurie have stressed nothing is yet fixed.
My original point has yet to be addressed. There have been statements made early on that here are "huge environment"product and pose packs offered at the same price. I use the adjective huge because that's how it was described by the person. I would like hard examples no just vague references.
Members we're complaining that they didn't have access to the PA's. What they wanted was a return to the old voucher system. I'll admit, under the old system I'd look at PA products, do a little math to see how much it would be less the DAZ side and go from there. If member asked that they be given a PA coupon with restriction, I'd like to real that thread. Can you provide a link?
Aslan Court 3 - $16.95 base price.
The Dance for Aslan Court - $10.95 base price
Both are selling for $9.99 for Non-PC members. Normal PC price $1.99 for each. PC + price $5.09 for Aslan Court, $3.29 for The Dance.
(Took me more time to write that up than to find it.)
Your leaving out the largest cost to 3d products, the people who do the work That component is sometimes called human capital. The cost of "human capital" has gone up along with the price of food, clothing and housing. Every product that goes in any store takes someone to create it and as products have grown more complex to move with the times the work that goes into those products goes up requiring more of that "human capital" to be invested. The concept of "human capital" is not based on man hours alone but also factors like knowledge, skill, creativity and so on.
That is not the trend over the past 3 years and its not likely in 2014 http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/compensation/articles/pages/2014-salary-increases-flat.aspx http://www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_ut.htm#15-0000
Salaries are flat, while other costs may have increased, but nothing that would have disrupted a plan _IF_ the market was there. The tools have become CHEAPER and BETTER making 3d more efficient to produce the past 5 years. Bandwidth is cheaper & faster. PC's are cheaper & faster so consumers & devs have better access to equipment. Only areas that have caused increased is security but that's because the users have gotten a lot smarter and understanding the x86 architecture ant network protocol layers is basic knowledge by so many.
ITS THE COMPETITION FOR YOUR ATTENTION... And the dude who is not into 3d at the moment that needs to be the focus.
This post needs a flower to pretty it up...
Actually, in the entertainment industry the average price of product has been dropping steadily for years and it is in many ways analogous to the CG content business. A film may have sold for $25 when it was first released, but within a year or two that price will have dropped to about half that and many titles will continue dropping until they hit the $5 bargain bins. The price may be bumped back up periodically by re-releasing an extended version with new extras, remastering to a higher resolution on Blu-ray, etc., but in the end, the product will continue to drop until there's no longer enough market for it for stores to give it shelf space and it goes out of print. TV series box sets follow the same pattern, and over the years the top end price that a new product can command has dropped as the public becomes accustomed to paying lower prices.
The same phenomenon occurs with consumer electronics. When DVD players first came out they cost over $700. Now they sell for under $25. My first VHS machine cost over a grand, today you can't even buy a new one unless it's got a DVD player stuck in it as well. CD players, MP3 players and now Blu-Ray all follow the same path. At some point the product simply isn't worth keeping on the shelf for the amount of potential profit it may make in the future.
And like films and electronics, digital products like CG assets have have a shelf life and dropping value. Products for V3 have come to the end of their cycle on most sites, now V4 and her generation is starting to hit the end of their cycle. NEW products for V4/M4 continue to have some market, and will for some time, but the majority of older products are definitely on their way to the discount section as people move their focus to the newer, flashier products. Needless to say, that's not great news for the PC given that Gen 4 products make up the largest portion of the PC, followed by Gen 3 while Genesis, G2F and G2M COMBINED still have less product than V3 alone. (Of course, the the breakdown of the DAZ product library as a whole isn't much better, but that's a situation that's partially of DAZ's own doing as a result of not making the current generation of tech instantly push-button compatible with Gen 4 product or the latest generations of Poser. Or does anyone think the sudden appearance of the tutorials on how to use Gen 4 product with G2F and G2M is a coincidence?)
In any case, in thinking of how PAs are paid, one needs to realize that they're making individual products that have different life expectancies and shelf lives, which are in turn dependent on the overall state of the platforms that they're built upon. Most artists make the majority of their money in the first few years of a products release, though Artists who build non-gen specific products like environments, like Stonemason, are going to have much longer sales cycles than that of those who do character morph and texture sets. (You'll note, however, that Stonemason recently cleared a bunch of his older product of his own volition.) And the way to make more money is making more products more efficiently and selling more of them, not by raising prices on older products that are already well into their sales cycle. Raise the price on new products? Sure, as long as they're demonstrably better than the older products... or the comparable products your competitor is selling.
Your to late!!!! Thanks!!!!! My PC stuff went from $1.99 to $5.09 - come on DAZ just make $5.99 so I don't see more than $.01 wasted!!!!!
All in all, I like what I see of the PC+ so far. I've been in the PC for just about the six years I've been using DAZ products. I pay for the PC mainly to get discounts on stuff (new figures, PA stuff, and new software releases).
I was not happy when the PC was changed to be as it is now. Before the change, I used my PC voucher every month. With the revised PC for the past couple of years, I have used my coupon only a hand full of times. Except for major figure releases, I really don't buy a lot of DAZ originals. But anything from Stonemason, Howie, or a few others get bought as soon as possible.
I really don't care about the $1.99 items. I have just about all that I want. As time moved along, it looked more like you needed to buy two or three $1.99 items to get a full set. That put the price on par with an non PC item.
I cannot stand the stacking / store games for discounts. If you buy x right now, you get y at a progressive discount depending on your purchase or a,b, and c. Now they all have to be in your cart at checkout.
My spending at other stores went up after the last PC club change. I want to buy good quality items with as high of a discount as is practical. I believe that the PC+ is a step back in the right direction.
ncamp
Come to think of it my spending else where also increased. I'm not sure why - I'll need to think about why I'm buying anything anywhere!!!!
Actually, in the entertainment industry the average price of product has been dropping steadily for years and it is in many ways analogous to the CG content business. A film may have sold for $25 when it was first released, but within a year or two that price will have dropped to about half that and many titles will continue dropping until they hit the $5 bargain bins. The price may be bumped back up periodically by re-releasing an extended version with new extras, remastering to a higher resolution on Blu-ray, etc., but in the end, the product will continue to drop until there's no longer enough market for it for stores to give it shelf space and it goes out of print. TV series box sets follow the same pattern, and over the years the top end price that a new product can command has dropped as the public becomes accustomed to paying lower prices.
The same phenomenon occurs with consumer electronics. When DVD players first came out they cost over $700. Now they sell for under $25. My first VHS machine cost over a grand, today you can't even buy a new one unless it's got a DVD player stuck in it as well. CD players, MP3 players and now Blu-Ray all follow the same path. At some point the product simply isn't worth keeping on the shelf for the amount of potential profit it may make in the future.
And like films and electronics, digital products like CG assets have have a shelf life and dropping value. Products for V3 have come to the end of their cycle on most sites, now V4 and her generation is starting to hit the end of their cycle. NEW products for V4/M4 continue to have some market, and will for some time, but the majority of older products are definitely on their way to the discount section as people move their focus to the newer, flashier products. Needless to say, that's not great news for the PC given that Gen 4 products make up the largest portion of the PC, followed by Gen 3 while Genesis, G2F and G2M COMBINED still have less product than V3 alone. (Of course, the the breakdown of the DAZ product library as a whole isn't much better, but that's a situation that's partially of DAZ's own doing as a result of not making the current generation of tech instantly push-button compatible with Gen 4 product or the latest generations of Poser. Or does anyone think the sudden appearance of the tutorials on how to use Gen 4 product with G2F and G2M is a coincidence?)
In any case, in thinking of how PAs are paid, one needs to realize that they're making individual products that have different life expectancies and shelf lives, which are in turn dependent on the overall state of the platforms that they're built upon. Most artists make the majority of their money in the first few years of a products release, though Artists who build non-gen specific products like environments, like Stonemason, are going to have much longer sales cycles than that of those who do character morph and texture sets. (You'll note, however, that Stonemason recently cleared a bunch of his older product of his own volition.) And the way to make more money is making more products more efficiently and selling more of them, not by raising prices on older products that are already well into their sales cycle. Raise the price on new products? Sure, as long as they're demonstrably better than the older products... or the comparable products your competitor is selling.
A lot of truth and great points here. I do think that creative art digital 3d assets do have an extra property that allows its value to endure more like an original music track. I say this because there are several tiers to leverage the investment. The level of and scope exclusivity, and the range of use is license. Not only the branding/image of the product, its that the tangible geometry can be reapplied. Like a rapper sampling a motown song segment to make a greater work. 3D figures in particular have a very long liufe as generations and types of hardware emerge offering ways to reuse and license. The sales can be perpetuate beyond original objective and be then sold to various platforms and sub-industries. Ultimately royalties could be collected.
I noticed that some of the PC items have sale price of $3.29 - should be $2.99 so I don't waste almost half of my coupon!! It's really a shame to try to get an extra $.58 from us!!!! Come on DAZ start to think about the small stuff in a different light!!
Your to late!!!! Thanks!!!!! My PC stuff went from $1.99 to $5.09 - come on DAZ just make $5.99 so I don't see more than $.01 wasted!!!!!RonS - forgot to say I love your profile pic - something I wish I had thought of!!!!
Ditto. The sales have too many rules and restrictions. Not fun anymore. On the other hand, it's been easy to save money with these sales. Because I don't buy much anymore. EDIT(forgot my point): I don't want to need a calculator and so preadsheet to figure out how much each item is going to cost me, especially if I'm already paying to be in a club for the savings.
I understand the frustration of "too complicated" but I just joined the + to frankly help DAZ out and test it. No skin off my teeth to put things in the cart and see what happens. The past two years, when the store glitched frequently and everyone got great discounts, DAZ honored them and you didn't hear a peep from them- no bitching about the lost revenue. DAZ is testing something and asking for our help- if it's too complicated, so be it, they'll ditch it.
I thought that too- too complicated. Then I joined and tried it. (Note, I bought the PC stuff I wanted for $1.99 first. Used my first $6 coupon, joined, and now I have 2 more for another $12 off. When new PC items come out, I'll get them at the end of July.) So I'm getting $18 off just for opting in for a month and a half. I can always buy the PC products back at the 1.99 price when this test run ends. No big deal about the price increase there because it will revert back- that's been mentioned repeatedly. (But I understand that if you want things now, it would be a bummer.)
While I can see that changes can at first be intimidating, I saw that DAZ had VERY CONVENIENTLY marked every single store that is in the summer promo with the PC+ sign- and I can instantly know which stores will have additional discounts. It's not hard to plop something in the cart and see the price. And if the price isn't right, it will be noted by someone on the forums fairly quickly and taken care of.
I know what roughly 50% of something is and go from there, add on a few bucks and it'll be about right. I know if it's a good price or not. I can see the frustration if you want to be precise, but I'd just jot down a range of them and keep them handy- no need to calculate over and over again. I did that during Snowball Sales and March Madness :)
I tested and put three of the summer promos in my cart so I get 50% off those participating PA stores. Then I put things in the cart from the participating + artists, which as I said, are conveniently marked. (To thank those artists for participating, thought I'd showcase them in this example.) AND THIS IS WITHOUT AN ADDITIONAL $6 OFF USING THE CODE. That whacks all of these down even further.
Seriously- it's quite an eye opener to see these prices. Good grief, a $16.95 character (Paige) to $11.87 to $5.93. I'm not pulling out a calculator or anything else- I'd just be scooping her up if I didn't have her.
For myself, to avoid the "What were the rules?" I just jotted down: (and not worried about GC's or memberships, just products) and lol, I hope this is right, it's working for me anyway!
Original code for DO's: can be used on PC items. No new releases of PC though. New DO releases- Yes
The second one, $18 minimum, also includes DOs (New ones, again), AND PA's-no new releases
If I were to get all this, I'd have to buy 3 things to get that 50% stacking discount with the + discount added, so those three items were
airboat 7.67 + pole dancing 8.37 + enchanted giselle 6.97 total: 23.01 spent to get 3 products at only 30% off, but saved 196.81 (adding the $6 code, purchase is way over $18 and many not-new items)
I tested with just buying one of the summer promos, and two of the summer promos, and if I had the money, of course just adding a third item to raise everything to 50% made sense. Again, this was a test cart. If I were only getting a few things, one or two summer promo items would be fine.
There will be people looking out for you if you have a question- and people noting if they see glitches so they can be fixed. The shoppers aren't diving in and hoping things will right- other shoppers and DAZ are supportive of those taking the plunge. Just remember what everyone else has said- this is probably not for you if you don't have a lot of the PC items already that you want- unless you are going to try this then scoop them up at the end of July or before a change is made permanently.
This program ends in July. The way I look at it, if I don't like the prices (what's not to like with PA prices like this? THANK YOU PA's!) then the stuff will be offered on sale at another time, be out of new status, etc. Those PC items will be back at 1.99 come Aug 1st.
CLICK TO ENLARGE AND CLICK AGAIN.
Unfortunately it was in the old forum, and in the Members Only forum, so it hasn't been accessible for 2 years. My recollection was that there were 3 main questions PA members were asked about ways of changing the PC. The first one was, rate the importance to you of the 3 main PC benefits (30% off DO's, $6 coupon, $1.99 items). $1.99 items were a distant third in the opinions expressed, which may be why for PC+ that was the one benefit which has been lost. The second question was about whether you would prefer the $6 coupon to be for DO's only, or to include PA's but have a minimum amount. As I recall, that was pretty evenly split. I'm rather pleased that instead of doing one or the other, or being able to choose among the two, they decided to make it two coupons. The third was about pricing for PC items. I don't recall any discussion of having different prices for different kinds of products, they discussed raising the price of all PC items, or just new items, or having the $1.99 price only for the first two weeks and then increase. The price points members said they were willing to accept varied, but there were a significant number of people who were willing to have it as high as $4.99.
I know that for those who value the $1.99 catalog above the other PC benefits, PC+ represents a significant negative. However, I don't think it's fair to call the entire package a reduction in benefits -- other than the $1.99 catalog, all the remaining changes are increases from what we have now.
It also seems to me that, in addition to this being a beta of this specific set of changes, it's also a beta of 2 different sets of PC benefits, with members having the choice of opting in or not. This means the infrastructure is in place so that, whether the details of what PC+ offers change from what's being offered for the beta, the capability exists for DAZ to continue to have 2 choices. It also means that for those who have memberships paid in advance, DAZ has the capability of allowing members to complete their term under the old PC, even if DAZ decides to have a different mix of benefits going forward.
And let me add this...
DAZ has ALWAYS made sure there were some stores stacking with others- just look back at the incredible Snowball Savings and March Madness sales. They are making the effort to have the summer promotion and the rotating PC+ stores overlap with many vendors. You're getting the opportunity to try this and get $18 off DO's and some PA stores, and if you can wait on the PC items for about a month and a half, you might want to consider it. Just be sure and use your original June code ($6) before you opt in, so you get $12 MORE in codes.
However, if you are on a limited budget, and these buy this-this-this are the norm, the stacking discounts won't be as beneficial. That seems to be the trend and I'm hoping there are some good flat discounts that stack. (Take note, DAZ) :)
Weeks really. Almost all products a gauged on the intro period sales as to if they are a pass or fail. If the intro sales are low then more often than not content creators will avoid that type of product in the future. Products do sell after intro but never in the same volume. How long or how many sales will be seen over time of course depends on the product and how long it's "legs" are.
Khory- I am PM'ing you.
Cathie
That is not the trend over the past 3 years and its not likely in 2014 http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/compensation/articles/pages/2014-salary-increases-flat.aspx http://www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_ut.htm#15-0000
Salaries are flat, while other costs may have increased, but nothing that would have disrupted a plan _IF_ the market was there. The tools have become CHEAPER and BETTER making 3d more efficient to produce the past 5 years. Bandwidth is cheaper & faster. PC's are cheaper & faster so consumers & devs have better access to equipment. Only areas that have caused increased is security but that's because the users have gotten a lot smarter and understanding the x86 architecture ant network protocol layers is basic knowledge by so many.
ITS THE COMPETITION FOR YOUR ATTENTION... And the dude who is not into 3d at the moment that needs to be the focus.
Exactly. The problem has been that there are more alternatives for 3D out there than ever before, whereas DAZ can't seem to figure out what it's trying to do. On the one hand we have half-hearted support for a program that continues to fall behind it's direct competitors (Carrara) and practical non-support for two other programs (Bryce and Hexagon). On the other hand we have intensive development of DAZ Studio and new technologies like Genesis in a loss leader model that has to be supported by secondary product sales... yet the product mix for that new tech has stubbornly been focused on a very small section of the buying base, and the expansion of that new tech outside the loss-leader model has been agonizingly slow. And on the third hand, the marketing model for everything has gotten increasingly complex and unfriendly to new customers coming in, as has the documentation support. It really feels like someone thinks they can ride the exact same customers forever selling minor variations of the same product, while ignoring the fact that programs like iClone are running wild and grabbing up a huge share of the new potential customer base.
And yet, whenever things hit a speed bump, it seems that it's always the "customer base's" fault. The problem with that line of thinking is that DAZ has the customer base they've specifically groomed. They've made dropping out pants sales the norm rather than the exception, they've tailored their product lines to cater to a certain type of product and customer and they've burned up an awful lot of goodwill via some really bad decisions like the premature implementation of the new store and taking some "our way or the highway" stances that ended up with a lot of people taking the highway. As you sow, so shall ye reap and all that...
Weeks really. Almost all products a gauged on the intro period sales as to if they are a pass or fail. If the intro sales are low then more often than not content creators will avoid that type of product in the future. Products do sell after intro but never in the same volume. How long or how many sales will be seen over time of course depends on the product and how long it's "legs" are.
It would be interesting to see some comparative curves on that. My guess is that it's extremely front-weighted for things like character and texture sets, whereas things like environments have a much longer buy in and tail.
This really is wildly off topic for the thread so after this I will let it go. me tooBut it seems to me your having a hard time recognizing that we function as individuals and not employes. We don't get fast new computers on the companies dime or salaries or any of those things you seem to think are so cheap. We have the same sort of expensive every other person who works has and then on top of that need to find money to fund those "cheap" computers and programs. Having to buy new computers and software to be competitive does not mean that the cost of production has gone down. It means the cost of production is going up. If that did not improve the rate or quality than it may have been a poor decision then.
That is not the trend over the past 3 years and its not likely in 2014 http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/compensation/articles/pages/2014-salary-increases-flat.aspx http://www.bls.gov/oes/2012/may/oes_ut.htm#15-0000
Salaries are flat, while other costs may have increased, but nothing that would have disrupted a plan _IF_ the market was there. The tools have become CHEAPER and BETTER making 3d more efficient to produce the past 5 years. Bandwidth is cheaper & faster. PC's are cheaper & faster so consumers & devs have better access to equipment. Only areas that have caused increased is security but that's because the users have gotten a lot smarter and understanding the x86 architecture ant network protocol layers is basic knowledge by so many.
ITS THE COMPETITION FOR YOUR ATTENTION... And the dude who is not into 3d at the moment that needs to be the focus.
Exactly. The problem has been that there are more alternatives for 3D out there than ever before, whereas DAZ can't seem to figure out what it's trying to do. On the one hand we have half-hearted support for a program that continues to fall behind it's direct competitors (Carrara) and practical non-support for two other programs (Bryce and Hexagon). On the other hand we have intensive development of DAZ Studio and new technologies like Genesis in a loss leader model that has to be supported by secondary product sales... yet the product mix for that new tech has stubbornly been focused on a very small section of the buying base, and the expansion of that new tech outside the loss-leader model has been agonizingly slow. And on the third hand, the marketing model for everything has gotten increasingly complex and unfriendly to new customers coming in, as has the documentation support. It really feels like someone thinks they can ride the exact same customers forever selling minor variations of the same product, while ignoring the fact that programs like iClone are running wild and grabbing up a huge share of the new potential customer base.
And yet, whenever things hit a speed bump, it seems that it's always the "customer base's" fault. The problem with that line of thinking is that DAZ has the customer base they've specifically groomed. They've made dropping out pants sales the norm rather than the exception, they've tailored their product lines to cater to a certain type of product and customer and they've burned up an awful lot of goodwill via some really bad decisions like the premature implementation of the new store and taking some "our way or the highway" stances that ended up with a lot of people taking the highway. As you sow, so shall ye reap and all that...
A lot of good points. I remember thinking with the Gen 2 release, that I just started building my content base for Gen 1. Now am I going to have to start over again, like when Daz Figure 4 fell to the wayside? Now with every Gen 2/1 purchase I make, I have the question in my mind... will my model become obsolete in the next month when Gen 3 comes to the table? Will I know longer see items made for my current figures? Will this item fit with this model has made everything complicated. It's like going to the Big & Tall store when you're Short & Twig. It's frustrating.
And the sales have gone overboard. I love paying less than full price. However, I think DAZ has shot itself in the foot with all the sales. They want to complain about the ever-growing wish lists, but the sales contribute to the wish listing. Why purchase as soon as the product comes out, when you know it's going to be on sale in a few months.
I used to purchase the bundles as soon as they hit the shelf, because I didn't think I could beat 51% off. Over the past year, I've realized that not only do the come back at 51% off, but if I wait, I might even get it in the next sale for free. The excessive sales has created an environment for wish listing items, rather than encouraging early adopters (at least in my opinion).
The last sale is a perfect example for me. I checked in every day to see what was on sale, and everything was set at 30% off. My sale's oriented brain said, 30% off is not a sale, it's the standard price, because that's what I've come to expect.
I'm not seeing a link to the DzFire item. Where is it supposed to be? Its not under My Account>Platinum Club.
It's in the rotating ads.
http://www.daz3d.com/escort-weazel
They may be increases from what we have now but it's not especially beneficial to everyone. You will need a constant influx of new customers who do not yet have a base of content.,
As for the $1.99 price changing, I only object to the variable nature of it. A minimum of three PC items a week at $2.99 and flat $5 and/or $7.50 for another item or two would suit me fine. The 2.99 items could go up to $4.00 after sixty days. No initial discount. Something like that. The point being that there would be some fixed pricing on a minimum number of PC items instead of ALL of them having funny unanticipated prices.
Honestly I don't care for the if you buy this you get this cheaper gimmick it hardly ever works on me. I didn't like the Value Category because they wouldn't tell us what was gonna change to the Value price. Why can't Daz just be upfront. Okay so you have to raise prices fine I get that But I rarely have money for the more expensive priced products anyway so I usually wait until the Annual sales. I don't participate in the buy this you get this amount of a discount and they make me buy more items for a steeper discount But that is mainly because I buy at the big sales The PC and PA in the fall and March Madness I hope we will still get those especially since Daz has started a sale a month.
I will most probably not buy anything in the beta because the prices are out of my reach and I am not going to try and do complicated math and put stuff in and out of my cart, I don't have that kind of time nor the inclination to do so.
But I do understand the increase in price and I do thank Daz for the two new coupons I may or may not get to use it was a nice try from my standpoint.