Purchasing "Premium Time"

[Kipper]

It's been said a while ago that like with other F2P games that take place in worlds inhabited entirely by tanks, you'll be able to purchase the equivalent of "premium" time which will give you a boost to XP/Resource earnings so that you can advance quicker without breaking the sacred commandment of "Thou shalt not pay to win".

So my question - could (and should) SOE innovate again by offering premium time as actual in-game time?

My problem with "24 hours" or "1 week" of premium is simple - For most of that time, I'm sleeping, working, or doing other stuff - so it's value to me is less than it would be to someone who doesn't need food, sleep etc.

If the average amount of time spent in game over 24 hours is say, 4 hours - would it not make sense to sell "4 hours of in-game premium time" for the same price as what would have been 24 hours of premium account access, so that if I can only play one hour a night for a few nights, I can still use every minute of what I paid for?

There's no reason why it couldn't be offered alongside the more traditional option of buying 'real world' time, and no reason I can think of why it would lose money over that option (in fact, I think it might make more). So what would you go for?

Please... discuss.

[Coreldan]

The original APB had that option. You could just pay for the actual hours you play. For most it wasnt the better option, but for people like you it was.

I guess if there was something good about the original APB, it couldve been that flexibility.

[julfo]

I do hope it counts as in-game time and not real life time. Because what you say is true, over half the time people are working, eating, or sleeping so they cant use the time.

[ExquisitExamplE]

My problem with "24 hours" or "1 week" of premium is simple - For most of that time, I'm sleeping, working, or doing other stuff - so it's value to me is less than it would be to someone who doesn't need food, sleep etc.

Yeah... goddamned game playing androids, they'll be the death of us all!

[Shogun]

xp boosts could be measured by real time, by gametime or by the amount of xp boost you get.

in some other games you don´t buy the xp boost for the next 5 hours, but you buy double xp gathering for the next 5000 xp points.

meaning your next kills will get you more xp until you have gathered 5000 xp. after that you get xp at the normal rate again until you buy another 5000 xp bonus.

it´s the coolest and fairest way because nobody who bought this is forced to play differently to get the most out of the booster.

if you bought xp booster for 1 hour, you will go killwhoring for that hour to get the most xp out of this booster, even if you are a support player or like to do guarding duties or whatever.
if you bought it for your next 5000 gathered xp, time is of no concern and you can play as you like and are used to

[NePaS]

Surely it would depend on what the booster is for.

You still earn resources if you are not logged on right?

[Serotriptomine]

To the average Joe.
"24 hour xp boost"
sounds better than "4 hour xp boost"

People are bound to skip over the fine details.

[wOOtbEEr]

xp boosts could be measured by real time, by gametime or by the amount of xp boost you get.

in some other games you don´t buy the xp boost for the next 5 hours, but you buy double xp gathering for the next 5000 xp points.

meaning your next kills will get you more xp until you have gathered 5000 xp. after that you get xp at the normal rate again until you buy another 5000 xp bonus.

it´s the coolest and fairest way because nobody who bought this is forced to play differently to get the most out of the booster.

if you bought xp booster for 1 hour, you will go killwhoring for that hour to get the most xp out of this booster, even if you are a support player or like to do guarding duties or whatever.
if you bought it for your next 5000 gathered xp, time is of no concern and you can play as you like and are used to

From a guy with 2 kids and 2 jobs this sounds awesome. I never know when my game time will be interupted.

[Mox]

As far as i know, in PS2 you also earn XP while being offline. Perhaps they'll sell offline xp boosts.

[Sturmhardt]

xp boosts could be measured by real time, by gametime or by the amount of xp boost you get.

in some other games you don´t buy the xp boost for the next 5 hours, but you buy double xp gathering for the next 5000 xp points.

meaning your next kills will get you more xp until you have gathered 5000 xp. after that you get xp at the normal rate again until you buy another 5000 xp bonus.

it´s the coolest and fairest way because nobody who bought this is forced to play differently to get the most out of the booster.

if you bought xp booster for 1 hour, you will go killwhoring for that hour to get the most xp out of this booster, even if you are a support player or like to do guarding duties or whatever.
if you bought it for your next 5000 gathered xp, time is of no concern and you can play as you like and are used to

I just want to bump this, great idea!

[basti]

It's been said a while ago that like with other F2P games that take place in worlds inhabited entirely by tanks, you'll be able to purchase the equivalent of "premium" time which will give you a boost to XP/Resource earnings so that you can advance quicker without breaking the sacred commandment of "Thou shalt not pay to win".

So my question - could (and should) SOE innovate again by offering premium time as actual in-game time?

My problem with "24 hours" or "1 week" of premium is simple - For most of that time, I'm sleeping, working, or doing other stuff - so it's value to me is less than it would be to someone who doesn't need food, sleep etc.

If the average amount of time spent in game over 24 hours is say, 4 hours - would it not make sense to sell "4 hours of in-game premium time" for the same price as what would have been 24 hours of premium account access, so that if I can only play one hour a night for a few nights, I can still use every minute of what I paid for?

There's no reason why it couldn't be offered alongside the more traditional option of buying 'real world' time, and no reason I can think of why it would lose money over that option (in fact, I think it might make more). So what would you go for?

Please... discuss.



No, just no.

We had subscriptions for over 10 years now, and they work just fine. If you play only 1 hour each day, and think its not worth it, then dont buy it!

[opticalshadow]

No, just no.

We had subscriptions for over 10 years now, and they work just fine. If you play only 1 hour each day, and think its not worth it, then dont buy it!

id agree here, for ps1, and any other mmo of yore, you paid 15 bucks a month (12 earlier) you didnt get to play 24/7.

if you buy a preimeum account for 3/7/30 days its no different. dont buy teh shorter times if your not devoting large playing time in it, buying longer times is generally mroe cost effective.

[julfo]

Aha, of course. Because PS1 did it one way, so too must PS2 do it the same way. I forgot temporarily about this mentality.

Silly me!

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

As far as i know, in PS2 you also earn XP while being offline. Perhaps they'll sell offline xp boosts.

This was suggested by Higby as an example of what a premium membership COULD get. Regular accounts will not gain any resources or XP offline as of right now, but you can still train your certs while offline at a slower rate (though we have only seen instant unlock certs, but that could just be alpha/beta).

[Rat]

I think everyone is worrying too much....sure the guy that plays more will gain more resources, but he is also spending more. all that really matters is that you gain enough resources for yourself during whatever play time you have...I am sure all of this will be balanced during beta..
As far as cert points, I guess we will just have to see what happens. They did say that there would be boosters for elevated cert point gain during off hours...I am guessing 25 to 30% over non premium/ un boosted players...they also said that a active player would earn some extra cert points just for being active.

After reading the thread again I just wanted to add that we are looking at 3 different point systems, right?

> resources....these will be boosted off line with boosters or possibly premium...up to a hard cap.

> Experience points, used to further your BR, I dont think these will be boosted...would be gay to stay logged off for 3 weeks and come back on as a BR20

> Cert points, used to get certifications/...I see this as the biggest reason for premium/boosters..

[lawnmower]

No, just no.

We had subscriptions for over 10 years now, and they work just fine. If you play only 1 hour each day, and think its not worth it, then dont buy it!
what

[Mox]

This was suggested by Higby as an example of what a premium membership COULD get. Regular accounts will not gain any resources or XP offline as of right now, but you can still train your certs while offline at a slower rate (though we have only seen instant unlock certs, but that could just be alpha/beta).

I thought we'll earn certification points also offline at a slower rate. I never heard that certs need an overtime training. :eek:

Perhaps i was wrong :doh:

[Kipper]

We had subscriptions for over 10 years now, and they work just fine.

What sort of argument is that? The sort of luddite argument that means humanity wouldn't have achieved anything if we'd just settled for what we were doing before imo.

Evidently your opinion is not shared by SOE (and many other companies) given that they are moving into F2P big time, and away from mandatory subscriptions.

If you play only 1 hour each day, and think its not worth it, then dont buy it!

This isn't really very good business sense is it? So if I can't put in the 4 or 5 hours (or whatever) makes a 24 hour premium sub worth it, I should just continue playing the free game for free - when I would willingly buy a 4 or 5 hour game-time booster for the same price that I might use over 2 or 3 days?

EDIT: BTW, since it's a software product, it's not even a question of something instead of something else. There really is no reason why they wouldn't be able to offer a recurring monthly sub, blocks of real-time premium, blocks of game-time premium or even the other intriguing idea about boosters tied to a set number of XP. Everyone would be able to look at what works for them and buy that.

[morf]

The arguments against this (i.e. we've had subscriptions for 10 years) are ludicrous.

Let's look at SoE's previous implementation of exp boosters in EQ:

You chug an exp potion and gain a buff that gives you an extra x% of exp for x hours. It only ticks while online and persists through death.

I would say that in PS2, there is a 99.9999% chance that exp boosters will be measured in online time, rather than real-world time. It creates a better result for both the user, and SoE. The user gets to use 100% of the boost, and SoE gets to sell another potion earlier and easier (user will still be online when the potion runs out in 4 hours vs. 24 hours with user possibly offline - impossible to sell to offline users.) And yes, if the user logs off, the potion countdown will be delayed. This offers more value to the customer. And considering that exp potions don't cost all that much to produce (sarcasm) relative to what people are paying for them, it's okay to make the customer feel like they are getting their money's worth so that they buy more. And if you're worried about them running out of potions, DON'T BE! They'll make more, I promise.

Real-world timers are for stuff that benefit you while offline. For active online benefits, this is the way to go. If SoE implements it any other way, it will be a mistake.

[Masterr]

No, just no.

We had subscriptions for over 10 years now, and they work just fine. If you play only 1 hour each day, and think its not worth it, then dont buy it!

you hate options.

variety is the spice of life, have options to cater to all people = more money. SOE will be hurting themselves if they dont have options for boosters such as in-game time, real-time, offline boosters, ect.

[basti]

What sort of argument is that? The sort of luddite argument that means humanity wouldn't have achieved anything if we'd just settled for what we were doing before imo.

Evidently your opinion is not shared by SOE (and many other companies) given that they are moving into F2P big time, and away from mandatory subscriptions.



This isn't really very good business sense is it? So if I can't put in the 4 or 5 hours (or whatever) makes a 24 hour premium sub worth it, I should just continue playing the free game for free - when I would willingly buy a 4 or 5 hour game-time booster for the same price that I might use over 2 or 3 days?

EDIT: BTW, since it's a software product, it's not even a question of something instead of something else. There really is no reason why they wouldn't be able to offer a recurring monthly sub, blocks of real-time premium, blocks of game-time premium or even the other intriguing idea about boosters tied to a set number of XP. Everyone would be able to look at what works for them and buy that.


The key thing you forget: As far as im aware, every time your hours are being tracked, and you only use them up as you play, those players who spend more than x hours a day in the game got shafted pretty hard, as they ended up paying more than they would have done otherwise.

In fact, this makes it pretty clear that this entire business strategy is utter fail. You actually have to pay more to play more, making you less likley to play more, means you have less opportunity to spend cash for other stuff.

[Kipper]

The key thing you forget: As far as im aware, every time your hours are being tracked, and you only use them up as you play, those players who spend more than x hours a day in the game got shafted pretty hard, as they ended up paying more than they would have done otherwise.

This makes sense if its a pay-to-play game, but we're talking about free to play, with pay-to-boost. You can play as much as you like in any given 24 hours (other time periods are available) and just get the boost for what you paid for.

Additionally, its about flexibility. If the average game session in 24 hours is 4 hours (made up number), then its a benchmark to say that 4 hours game-time boost should be worth the same as 24 hours real-time boost. If you know you're going to spend the whole day playing, you should buy the real time boost - if you know you've got a couple hours, you should buy the game-time boost and use it over a couple of days. The options aren't mutually exclusive, they can exist together.

In fact, this makes it pretty clear that this entire business strategy is utter fail. You actually have to pay more to play more, making you less likley to play more, means you have less opportunity to spend cash for other stuff.

See above.

[Masterr]

This makes sense if its a pay-to-play game, but we're talking about free to play, with pay-to-boost. You can play as much as you like in any given 24 hours (other time periods are available) and just get the boost for what you paid for.

Additionally, its about flexibility. If the average game session in 24 hours is 4 hours (made up number), then its a benchmark to say that 4 hours game-time boost should be worth the same as 24 hours real-time boost. If you know you're going to spend the whole day playing, you should buy the real time boost - if you know you've got a couple hours, you should buy the game-time boost and use it over a couple of days. The options aren't mutually exclusive, they can exist together.



See above.

QFT :groovy:

[Nemises]

father with ...maybe 2 - 3 hours to play a week..

I will buy a play time booster
I will not buy a real time booster