For some context, I've played a lot of f2p games, plenty of MMOs, and I'm a lifelong TCG player, so basically I'm no stranger to a somewhat dubious monetization scheme. However looking at the Zen store is EYE-WATERING! $40 for a sword?? Ship bundles for MULTIPLE HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS??? Shit I've only been playing for about a month and I've already put in almost $100 between, starter bundles, Fed Klingon unlock, a captain race change token, a Lexington, and some pack keys.
I know the vets know how to get around most of this stuff between the exchange and ship tokens( i didn't know you could get those from anything but a pack until yesterday), but how do the long time players of this game feel about the prices this game tries to get people to pay, and is there anyway for the prices to simply be less off putting?
EDIT: wow this took off, sorry I made this post on lunch and looked down to 20+ replies, can't get to them all in detail.
Repeated points I've seen generalized
"The player economy is actually super helpful once you know it"
"Devs gotta eat"
"Wait for sales"
I do live by the mentality that I should support the people that make what I consume, so I didn't mind spending the money in the moment, but thinking back on it the price tags were ridiculous. You can pull out examples like star citizen, but this one the highest cost monetization models I've ever seen on the face of it, not knowing about the player economy.
While I respect the position from long time players I do gotta ask, what is a new player, who didn't google anything, supposed to do, Genuinely?