So, I was bored, I guess. And decided to take a gander at a bit of quest shop data. Background- there are 10 primary quest givers w/ shops, as well as 4 seasonal shops. If you have a Gold account & do all 155 quests each day, you can earn 31 QPs.

Disclaimer- I've only looked at Winter, so you'll have to wait a year for the rest of the data. And while I think I've classified items correctly, there might be an off by one error, nbd.

So.

Why, for Shinwa's sake, do seasonals cost so damn much?

[box=#FBB8FF]The Numbers[/box] Total items across 10 normal shops: 963 Total items in Winter: 80

Total cost across 10 normal shops: 9893 Total cost in Winter: 4170

Days required to buy everything in 10 normal: 319 Days required to buy everything in Winter only: 135

[box=#FBB8FF]The quest givers[/box]

Saggitarius is already a bit of a bastard with his 18, but at least for him, it's in character.

[box=#FBB8FF]The Types[/box]

• Disclaimer: I've only looked at these types, and pretty much ignored food/wearable/toy/etc.

Look, this is terrifying.

Any battler raising multiple battle pets knows this pain. Those 1883 QPs for the normal shop books cost 61 days of questing. And if you want those seasonals, you need to devote another 22 days on top of that.

If you're going for all 4 collections, including winter, get ready for 179 days of questing.

And again, this doesn't even include 3 seasons of the year!!

[box=#FBB8FF]The Final Accusations[/box] I don't know what my goal was when I started looking, to be honest. But god it's kind of silly that it would take 135 days of questing to buy everything in the Winter shop when winter is only ~90 days long.

I don't even have the other seasons, but I imagine they're similarly bloated.

Why does the average cost need to be 50+ QPs?!

Congratulations- you have made a long term goal. Good job. You've also made a seasonal shop take multiple years to complete. Good job? And you've made every battler cry when they need to evaluate "are those 202* books actually worth my time?" (150 normal, plus 52 across 4 seasons.)

I don't expect, nor want, prices to change on existing items. But I would really hope that future items don't just keep increasing in price, as is the trend. QPs don't suffer from inflation- a set amount can go out every day, and that's not changing. So why are the goals getting loftier?

I know not everything on this site is meant to be instantly attainable. And long term goals are good. But at this point, the prices only serve the people who have been here for years.

This is mostly just a shout into the void. A nearly-midnight shout that really only existed to make me sad. But when I see those numbers, it doesn't inspire me to quest. It just makes me give up.

Meanwhile I just keep wondering why they keep putting 5,000 point items in the Blue Building while I'm still trying to save for 3 copies of the 25,000 point ... When you only get like 100 BB points a day that is so harsh.

(Sorry if this is off topic, absurdly expensive items reminded me of this.)

First off, neat analysis! I like seeing the breakdown in average QP price and the total cost between items types.

To respond to your point - I see and understand the frustration of items being pricey, particularly seasonal ones, but I don't really see it as that big of a problem? The shift in seasonal items is something users can anticipate, and nothing's retired from the quest shop (yet). Normal items are available year-round, so someone wanting all the books/food/etc. can prioritize seasonal items if they want them ASAP.

When the seasonal quest shop items were initially put on-site it was a big expense of QP to get all the items I wanted, but in the seasons since, it's been far easier to have a healthy stock of QP to get just the new stuff. Admittedly, I have just one reader and one gourmand, so getting all the items I need is WAY cheaper than someone who trains/battles with multiple pets.

The overall cost difference between different collectables is a bit shocking, and I do hope they get evened out somehow, though.

I'm so glad I only care about stickers. Those numbers are so intimidating.

[edit]

If I had to guess at the reasoning behind the high prices is mainly that they don't intend for people to get one of everything (or multiples in cases of books)

It does drive the economy too *shrug

Selling quest points for seasonal quest items is an awesome way for people to make sP. There’s not a ton of sP making methods, we have questing, restocking, and selling things for half off on the forums.

I like that people can consistently sell their quest points to people like me who need the seasonal books :)

Items in normal quest shops (the ones we get monthly) get more and more expensive too. It's not such a dramatic change, but looking at a set of items from say, 2015, none of the items was more than 15 points. Nowadays, a set has (almost?) always at least one item over 20 points. Like we suddenly get to quest more, right? So yeah, I just gave up and mostly buy QP from others. Long term goals are fine but if those goals here look like they're gonna require same amount of time as say, getting a master's degree, or amount of money it takes to go on a cool holidays... something's just not right shrugs

Thank you for the summary, the Quest Shop has just been overwhelming for me for a number of years, to a point where it has demotivated me from most of my collecting in a completionist way because it's just impossible, even with purchasing QP from other users. I'm not even looking at some of the beautiful wears that go into the quest shop, because I just can't get enough QP.

I can understand having goals on site, and wanting a moving economy between questers and non-questers, but with regular quest shop updates and a seasonal shop, I think someone who does all their quests (minus Sarah or Saggitarius) daily, should be able to get more or less one of everything released. This way questers can still sell excess QP if they don't want everything, but those who want collections especially multiple, have some way to obtain the items.

Cool analysis!

I quest most days (variably with/without a gold account) and read books to 5 pets. I barely break even most of the time - lately (the past few seasons) I've started to pull ahead, and currently have 1100 points! But as a new batch of seasonal items tends to cost me about 1000 total, that's just preparing me for next season.

If I ever stop questing.. I will never pull ahead again. I can't imagine starting fresh.

I do like that the scarcity of QPs creates a decent market for QS items, and that people sell the points frequently. I wish more people sold loyalty points at a per point value. >.>

Also agreed on the Blue Building comment. I still need multiple copies of the 25k book, and 2 doors. D: It will take forever.

I don't resent staff for any of their choices here, mind - I decided I wanted so many books/items. It can be rough trying to keep up, though.

It's neat to see the numbers. I'm not very good at keeping up with quests so I thought it was just me that got overwhelmed while adding things to my wishlist at how long it would take. It might be an interesting compromise to maybe allow some of the seasonal items to go on a little bit of a sale before the season ends, much like how stores discount out-of-season stock. Maybe they could be limited to one of each item for like a day at discount prices. So it won't be too OP but offer people a way to obtain things just a tad bit easier.

I think of QPs like any other currency. Most currencies can be earned in some way, usually a grind of some sorts, and I just decide how much I want to participate in the grind and buy the rest from someone else. The user price of QPs seems inexpensive to me and sellers are always about the forums, so even with higher seasonal prices, quest shop items feel easily obtainable.

If they were putting more items at high prices into the referral shop, I’d probably get a little wound up. But I like the waiting game of seasonal quest items and prioritizing what I want to buy now with the qp I’ve earned and what I’ll wait to find a buyer for.

Good analysis. I quest a lot and still find myself overwhelmed with the QS. It wouldn't be so bad if they stopped upping the damned prices. I don't mind the seasonal items being more expensive, but stop increasing it.

You also only mention the pain of trying to buy multiple books - there are many multiple use items other than books. Wardrobe/food, minion/food, wardrobe/toy are pretty common, there are even some food/book combos. Then there are galleries and TCs if you do that kind of thing.

My main solution is to put the cheaper regular quest shop items on my wishlist and buy the seasonal stuff with my own earned quest points. Its the only way I even come close to keeping up.

I feel like they might still be targeting people who have a lot of QPs and perhaps not thinking about how the price increase affect the people who are constantly spending theirs. I don't really 'struggle' with the seasonal shop, but only because I only get the collectibles and maybe a wearable. I've decided long ago that I wasn't going to complete food or books.

Too bad there can't be a script to read how many QPs accounts have and adjust accordingly.

Ey, I've got nothing to really add I suppose, but I want to say thanks for this analysis - it was really interesting to read.

I also struggle with the seasonal quest shop. It's painful as opposed to fun to see how many items I need from there for collections, etc. knowing I'll likely be paying for the QP on the forums with sP.

Thanks for the analysis, very interesting to see it laid out like that. As long as I remember not to confuse need and want, I have no problem with the seasonal quest shop prices. On nights that I have the time, I try to do all the quests so I can knock another item off the wishlists, but I get that some items have to be a challenge to acquire to keep the game going.

It's screaming into the void, but I absolutely hate having a gold account. It's misery. But books for pets is forcing me to have one just to keep my head above water. Oh look, the repeatable collection that has actual game play use beyond a leader board costs more than twice as much as any other. I wonder why.

Buying all the books was like.. 200? 300? points when I started. The most expensive was 25. Is jacking up the cost accomplishing what it's supposed to? Or are you overwhelming people who aren't doing every quest every day with a gold account? It certainly makes me think a lot more than twice when it comes to taking pets seriously because intelligence is a pretty brutal stat, and QP books can completely wipe out any pooled points even without seasonal items.

For future me. Likely spring me...

[URL]https://subeta.net/news.php?act=comments&newsid=21543[/url]

It's late, so I won't go into detail to explain things right now but I do want to say I've seen this thread and will write something up tomorrow! There are def reasons why I make the seasonal items more expensive vs the monthly themed items & very rare outside of theme items in individual shops.

When I do post tomorrow (it's still Wednesday for me lol), I'll staff post/alert everyone for those curious for the motivations behind everything!

I hope this gets addressed because it is kinda depressing.

Off to do my quests.

oh heck the numbers are honestly astounding to me like DAMN. i knew it was expensive i didn't know it was half ALL OTHER SHOPS COMBINED for ONE season expensive!

i mean for sure it's not the only reason I've tapered off that part of the site but it does play a part by being disheartening, and since i do less quests i have less sp so i can't even buy the stuff i want off of other users. kinda an unfortunate spiral, and even if i was to start immediately again there'd just be more items released immediately when the shop opens again if be behind once more.