Cost Comparison from Korea to NA server (updated)

[gabby]

The average salary in South Korea is around 3,890,000 KRW (South Korean Won) or USD 2,947 per month (as per the current exchange rate)
As of Jun 12, 2023, the average annual pay for an American in the United States is USD 4,880 per month. NC Coin in the NA Server is roughly .0125 cents per coin. That is 100$ = 8000 Nc Coin. 

 

As we dont have the option to buy any things with money, we need to use NC Coin, Korea can simply purchase with Won. 

On the outside, one could understand why our prices are significantly higher, as the claim could be made that people that play on the NA Servers have more money, so NC Soft simply charges them more. Fortunately, the player base of Lineage2 NA can computer and after a bit of research the following comes to light: 

 

The Cost of living in korea is 50% less expensive than in the United States. if you adjust for the avg cost of living the disposable income for each is:  $1830 in Korea versus $2667 in the USA. If you factor in all of the EU players that play on the NA server this number of disposable income would go do drastically. Calculating that out, it would give the average player in the USA a 31% higher disposable income. Mind you this is an average, this takes into account billionaires, people who live in ural Mississippi with significantly lower costs all the way to those that live in NY City with high end cost of living, these are the averages. 

So one would assume, that at the very most, NA players would on average pay 31% more for the same items. Yet, as we see below, server transfer in Korea is: 

19,800 Won or USD $15 for a server transfer. Our Server transfers are as below USD $50. 

 

That is roughly a 70% price mark-up. If NC Soft west was utilizing the business model based on pure cost per customer, our server transfers SHOULD cost, USD $19.65 .. but they don't they cost roughly the price of a new video game at USD $50 

If we continue on well see Name change which is 2400 NC Coin which is .0125 for 1 nc coin x 2400 coins = USD $30 the same price as Gender change. 

In Korea, Name change is 15.45 and gender change is 7.73 cents. 

The price increase for those services, again if using the "we have more disposable income model" SHOULD be USD $20 for a Name change and USD $10.12 for a gender change. As it sits, it is roughly a 100% price increase and 400% price increase.. both a VERY far cry away from 31% difference in regional disposable income. 

So, as players and as a server, the NA Server is paying anywhere between 100% to 400% MORE for the same service as the Official Korean server, when our disposable income is only 31% more. Which means not only do we pay 4x more, we get less. Not only do we pay more, our events are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive, our drop rates are SIGNIFICANTLY lower, we do not have the Einhasad stores to help keep prices on items down. We don't have weekly updates, our forums are not answered in a timely manner and the topics seems very random at which they chose to answer (if at all). 

So in closing, we pay 400% more for services that are wildly less, not only in value, but timeliness, and caring of the customer. I've asked before and I'll ask again, why are NA Players treated like second class citizens? Why are we charged obscene amounts of money and treated so poorly? If we payed 400% more and were treated 400% better, I might understand.. but to pay this  much more and not even have a response in FOUR MONTHS on why the server is starved of Greater Rune Stones ... got an answer for that @GM_EVA? Trust me.. I'm not holding my breath you'll answer.   

 

 

[Meet]

As long as people keep paying for these services, nothing will change. All that matters, is that NC West, makes a huge profit. L2 is a 20 years old game and it doenst have much life left (at least in USA), so why bother with a dying game? Push P2W to the limits until its dead and burried.

[gabby]

1 hour ago, Meet said:

As long as people keep paying for these services, nothing will change. All that matters, is that NC West, makes a huge profit. L2 is a 20 years old game and it doenst have much life left (at least in USA), so why bother with a dying game? Push P2W to the limits until its dead and burried.

World of War Craft still has over 1 million players. The age of the game has nothing to do with it, it is how the game is ran. The game WOULD have plenty of life if NC Soft West had any kind of business savvy at all and treated it's NA players fairly. Which is the point of the post.  NC Soft West could make much much more if they didn't drive their player base away with 400% mark up. 

[Uriel831]

Nice comparison. And imagine that you are from Europe.  See our salaries per month (year 2023, 1st Q).  We have rich contries and also more poorest. If we take average salary about 2000 Euro. We spend on living 2/3 incllude all. So now can calculate how prices based on USA or KOREA salaries are out of reasonable limits. @GM_EVA @GM_dufo @Wissp @Hermes Your majority on Naia is from EU!! Or imagine South America contries. All your promos should be 1/2 of current prices. 

1. Luxembourg: €3,650
2. Denmark: €3,500
3. Netherlands: €3,150
4. Ireland: €3,075
5. Sweden: €3,000
6. Austria: €2,900
7. Finland: €2,850
8. Germany: €2,750
9. France: €2,650 (tie)
10. Belgium: €2,650 (tie)
11. Spain: €1,850
12. Italy: €1,820
13. Cyprus: €1,800
14. Czechia: €1,520
15. Malta: €1,350
16. Slovenia: €1,350
17. Estonia: €1,300
18. Greece: €1,280
19. Portugal: €1,210
20. Lithuania: €1,195
21. Slovakia: €1,130
22. Poland: €1,050
23. Croatia: €1,000
24. Hungary: €930
25. Latvia: €890
26. Romania: €880
27. Bulgaria: €735

[PinkyLoveJugs]

That's why we need Global servers.

But they are struggling to run the L2 Operation, look how they are providing poor support to our community.

L2 still strong and working on Korean servers, but they couldn't make up on NA, why? 

 

The RNG is calculated to Korean servers, where buy 10k ncoins has same financial impact as buy 4k on NA, so we have to push much harder to conquer things (yes, this game is p2w oriented) 

[mixa]

Comparing the average income and cost of living in east Asia vs US is just beyond words.

Lineage 2 is a niche product and running it in your home country, without any overhead is way cheaper. I won't mention localization and ops in another country, staff etc.

If you consider the huge overhead, l2 is actually cheap for the US, there's way more room for improvement.

[McByczek]

You really don't understand this?
You set the rates, you buy, so why are you complaining now.
If I don't like something, I don't buy it, if I like something, I buy it, yes or no?
You're ridiculous, you buy and you complain.
They just give you the bets you pay for, simple right?
You have the right to choose, no one is forcing you to buy, no one is telling you to play, you are free. What you want they are not interested in as simple as building a cap. You have a company, you do it so that it suits you and not others

[gabby]

On 7/13/2023 at 10:28 PM, McByczek said:

You really don't understand this?
You set the rates, you buy, so why are you complaining now.
If I don't like something, I don't buy it, if I like something, I buy it, yes or no?
You're ridiculous, you buy and you complain.
They just give you the bets you pay for, simple right?
You have the right to choose, no one is forcing you to buy, no one is telling you to play, you are free. What you want they are not interested in as simple as building a cap. You have a company, you do it so that it suits you and not others

Just because you like it in the tail pipe, doesn't mean the rest of us do. We don't have high prices simply "because". Our prices and the loot box gambling merry go round exists ONLY because the USA doesn't have laws in place to protect people from predatory marketing and pricing. PERIOD.  Nc Soft COULD treat us like other servers, they COULD treat us and give us the same prices, they CHOOSE not to. 

 

And the more people know, the more they understand how unfair our pricing is, yes, that is the hope, they stop buying things. You coming in here to troll and put people down or talk/act like you only know and everyone else is dumb doesn't help the player base AT ALL. Be proactive, be positive, help inform other players.