I'm not disagreeing, I've just worded it differently, as you did note. Point is the 50% extra is.. well, 50% better GTA$/real money than normal, whereas the current offer is ~65% better.
Eh, sort of.
Unfortunately, the difference between a 50% increase and a 65% increase isn't 15%. I know, I know. How?
A 50% increase over the in game credits per USD over the regular price brings the 80,000 per USD to 120,000 per USD. Again, that's 12,000,000/100USD that brings the rate to 120,000/USD.
A 40% increase brings the credits you purchase to 11,200,000. A 15% discount brings the price to ~ 85USD. That's 11,200,000/85, which is 131,764.7/USD.
This brings you to a difference of ~11,765 per USD. 11,765/120,000 is an increase of .098 or 9.8% over the 120,000 per USD that you get with the old 50% increase deal.
It's still the best legitimate deal they've had, although it does beg the question as to why they 'play such games' in my mind. The promotion coding was already there for the 50% bonus they've run multiple times, so by reducing this bonus they actually had to pay someone to go in and program an entirely new bonus at 40%, reduced by 800,000. So they actually spent money to make sure the consumer didn't get
too good of a deal. Hahahaha R*. They must plan to sell a fair number for that math to really make an impact, as skimming 800,000(yes, I know it's not truly skimming as the $ wasn't earned...) from just a few players doesn't have ANY impact. Much like when your insurance company, bank, etc increases their monthly fees something like £1; makes little difference to the consumer, it is only when you consider the HUGE numbers they're playing with on the company side does such petty actions make sense.
Why do you drive on the parkway and park on the driveway?
Why is Greenland not green and Iceland not ice?
Why is 150 a 50% increase over 100 but 100 is only a 33.333% decrease from 150?
I wonder what the best 'cheap' build would be, to be fairly competitive in every game mode?
One car in each class for racing (performance parts only)
One gun in each category (RPG + HL)
1 high end apt (for heists) and some cheap $/parking space properties.
A couple of aircraft, a couple of armed ones like the buzzard.
Etc...
For me it would really depend on one's goals.
If for whatever reason I had to start over from scratch, I would likely live a much simpler GTA lifestyle. I thought about making another character from scratch, and keeping it simple to only what I enjoy in the game. Doing so cuts the 'stuff' I 'need' down considerably, and adjusts the $ needed accordingly. If I wanted a simple life for my playing style, once I had the desirable marine vessels and aircraft paid for, there is little I'd want to spend money on further. I'd likely keep an apartment with a 10-car garage, and since I engage in zero racing most of my cars would be cheaper cruise vehicles. The Emperor, Rancher XL, and similar cars would likely be what I keep. Similarly, given I don't shootemup all that much, and rarely do so voluntarily; I could probably cut out most of the armament. I could probably build a character that satisfies 90% of my activity needs for under $10 mil if I had to. The items that would stand to blow that budget would be the Toro, Tug, Miljet etc for me, which likely aren't on most players' radar as essentials.
The best part for me about a simple lifestyle like above, is that it precludes the necessity for things like the Buzzard, Cargobob, Office, Bunker, etc. Those types of things aren't needed if you don't need to generate significant income, which you wouldn't if you don't have those significant expenses that come with desires to purchase the big ticket items.
I know that now I've purchased the limited items that appeal to me from this past update, I'm planning to slow my grinding to a halt. I'm already approaching all time high account balances, and without the prospect of new costs being introduced(aka stuff I want to buy) I'll just shut down operations for a bit until needed again.
A fully built character by my historic standards? Hah. Obscene costs. I recall a few folks posting up their social club stats for credits spent in game and several were well above $250m. That's over $3k USD in shark cards...or well beyond ~1300 hours of grinding for most. As a comparison, a typical 40hr/wk employee only works ~2,000 hours per year. That's over 8 months of grinding 8 hours per day, 5 days a week. It's crazy haha.
The knowledge of what is available in game and the difficulty in attaining that status is very discouraging to new players. In one night myself and another player took a new player friend from under $100k to over $1m in one evening. Seeing that was just a start and that it would take a few more nights of that just to spend it back down to $zero to startup I/E and a bunker, followed by literally days of grinding just to get back to a few million that you can now play with(and still doesn't go far) was enough that the game basically ruined itself from the start in their mind. That was with me running VIP constantly and him keeping the earnings of three players(himself, another player, and myself) along with tagging along on a heist, etc.
This is why I would rather have straight up paid DLC vs the microtransaction business model. At least I have the luxury of looking at this all with a laugh, but it's not that funny for many players. It can be frustrating for them. This is why I try to help anyone I can when I can.
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