Payment schemes

[Redshift]

i'd be up for an initial purchase price with confirmed hackers having serials banned

[duck]

Originally Posted by Redshift

i'd be up for an initial purchase price with confirmed hackers having serials banned

This.

I can't think of another way of permanently banning hackers. You can IP ban them but a lot of them can just change it. Make the game cost $30-$40, and the serial key will be linked to your SOE account. If you screw around, your serial key will be banned and you can only get a new one if you buy a new game.

[Accuser]

Originally Posted by duck

Quick question regarding F2p scheme. Does this mean you have to purchase the game, and there is no subscription fee? Or is it 100% free, you dont need to spend a cent on it to play it?
I smell an invasion of hackers, spammers, and griefers...

The LoL payment system Smedley referenced is completely free, with optional subscription and/or microtransactions. If they try that in a purely PvP game, I expect a constant stream of hackers one-shotting people, getting caught, making new accounts, and doing it again.

What's sad is that there are a LOT of F2P FPS games out there that make decent money while being a hacker paradise. I truly hope they go for a Buy to Play model, even if it's only a one-time cost of $10 with microtransactions and optional subscription.

[kaffis]

Originally Posted by Bags

Proof? PS1 didn't die because it had subs.
____________________
Wow Leff, I never thought I'd agree with you on anything. That's pretty much exactly what I came up with when I thought about it.

Was PS better populated 1-2 months after release, or a year after release?

That's what I mean. Planetside 2 will sustain players much better without a subscription model. Sustaining players is a big deal in a PvP only game.

[Sirisian]

Updated list of preferences which now includes every forum poster's opinion. (If you feel you were misplaced or misquoted speak up. This isn't set in stone. So if you prefer F2P now or something else just say so). Also if you're curious why I reposted this it's because I still feel strongly about subscription only, but I'll explain that at the bottom.

NlightN ($5), basti, Jennyboo, Huma, Avirau ($10), SavageB ($15), Kouza ($15), Zulthus ($15), Senyu ($15?), Sirisian ($10-$15), PSxCarebear, Nephilimuk, zuesrocks, 321, NCLynx, KornDemon, Nobel, Skorne, Dreamcast, DeeTwoEh, Rarntogo, Aaron, Lokster, Mirror, Aaron, HtSgtMAD ($15) (26 people)
Buy Boxed Copy with 1 month free + Subscription + Microtransaction store for aesthetic items
Leaning toward $10 USD subscription.

Gimpylung, exLupo, kaffis, dachlatte, artifice, Wakken, Volw (though he seems to like pay to win?), Redshift (7 people)
Buy boxed copy, F2P, Microtransactions for aesthetic items. Guild Wars system.

Raymac, Heaven, Logit, bjorntju1, 2coolforu, Lunarchild (6 people)
Buy box copy, F2P BR limit, Subscription also.

Aractain, Krowe
Buy Boxed Copy, free-to-play with support for micros. Pay for content packs (new vehicles, guns etc). New maps are always free to keep people playing together

NewSith
Buy Boxed Copy, Subscription, F2P (2/3 XP), Microtransactions for aesthetic items

EASyEightyEight (Lower queue priority)
Buy Boxed Copy, F2P slow training, Subscription

MasterChief096
Buy Boxed Copy, F2P BR limit, Subscription ($5-$10), Purchaseable time, Microtransaction store for aesthetic items

Accuser
Buy Boxed Copy, F2P or Subscription

Malorn, Chaff
Buy box copy, F2P slow training and experience and low queue priority, "Premium account" for people that have ever purchased aesthetic items and get experience and training bonuses less than subscription accounts and medium queue priority. Subscription account increased resource pool, credits to buy vanity items

FIREk
F2P 1/2 XP, Subscription maybe a discount on vanity items, Microtransaction store for aesthetics and maybe customization items to weapon scopes/silencers, normally unavailable in the game with little benefit

ECM, Uberculosis, moosepoop
F2P or Subscription

BorisBlade
F2P slow XP training, Subscription full speed training/leveling

Hamma
F2P

Crator
F2P, Subscription, Microtransactions for aesthetics

Graywolves
F2P with limitation, less experience, BR cap, or F2P with daily play-time limit

nathanebht
Was subscription ($10-$15), changed his mind to allowing F2P with BR cap

DviddLeff, Bags, Miir
F2P BR limit, Buy box copy higher BR, Subscription, paying for unlimited play-time

SKYeXile
F2P

Bruttal
Purchasing time, Insufficient Input

CutterJohn
F2P or Purchaseable time, Subscription also. Pay to win.

Timmy
Didn't pick a side. Leaning boxed copy + subscription?

Other concepts brought up by the community:
Buying bulk subscriptions for cheaper or paying for unlimited play-time.


p0intman's recent thread about selling power hopefully has enlightened some people about F2P. There's going to be a line that SOE will draw where something is "selling power" and you have to hope you're on the right side of it or you're going to be upset. I won't list off any of the things on his list, but if you really like F2P a lot then you have to realize a lot of those things are going to be purchasable. It's not just going to be limited to aesthetics as much as people that was F2P want to believe.

If anything you'll start seeing subtle things like purchasing resources or increasing experience and then be left behind in the skill-tree. SOE will use these reward models to bait players into paying extra for things. The resources point most of all. As a F2P player you might notice you can't purchase a "sidegrade" for a vehicle when you pull them, but others will be able to every time. SOE will play it off since side-grades don't effect combat. Right? You'll notice odd things like it costs 1000 auraxium for a sidegrade you want but you can only get 200 auraxium an hour. You'll also notice mysterious buffs to hard to get sidegrades if people aren't purchasing them. Maybe I'm being paranoid. I think I'll stop there since the other threads have summed up a lot of benefits and flaws of the system along with the recent AGN discussions.

[NewSith]

It's more like:

Originally Posted by Sirisian

NewSith
1-time purchase, Premium (XP 1.3-1.5x boost), In-game vanity, Bans based on CD-keys, Steam Store

[Redshift]

you can move me down to the guild wars system tbh, i'd be quite happy with that.

I do think you should have to play something for the game to start with though just to limit hackers, if they really don't like that idea, you could still make it "free" by making it a copy cost £10 or something but crediting each account with £10 of store credit when it's activated

[Crator]

I agree about the hacker comment if that's an issue. It has been said however that they have the means to fight the hackers. I believe em until I see it not work.

[Redshift]

Originally Posted by Crator

I agree about the hacker comment if that's an issue. It has been said however that they have the means to fight the hackers. I believe em until I see it not work.

depends if it prevents hacking or detects and bans it.

If it just detects and bans there's no point to it unless there's a way to stop them just making another account and jumping back in

[Crator]

Not sure by Smed did say they are using multiple methods to deal with the issue.

[Sirisian]

Originally Posted by NewSith

It's more like:

I reworded it to F2P 2/3 XP to keep things easier to read. Remember if subscription exists it's ideally in the form of "I have a subscription I can't buy anything but aesthetic items from the cash shop since I already have all the perks".

That's how I've been interpreting it at least when people say it since the alternative would force people to have a subscription and continue to use the cash shop for non-vanity items. That would go against what the subscription stands for essentially. So F2P is usually on the level of BR caps or XP/training disadvantages.

[SgtMAD]

I'd pay the same sub amount as I do now,I think you need a sub to help recoup the initial dev costs which I have heard is quite high but then again who the hell knows

[NewSith]

Originally Posted by HtSgtMAD

I'd pay the same sub amount as I do now,I think you need a sub to help recoup the initial dev costs which I have heard is quite high but then again who the hell knows

That's when xp boosters step in... The game has the most massive numbers at start and most of these "preliminary" people rush off for xp-boosts. Later, amount of these players is slightly reduced, either because pop drops or characters max out, but to that moment what you called "the initial dev costs" are getting fully covered.

[Lonehunter]

I'm fine with buying the game and paying a monthly fee, some F2P games have some kind of VIP subscription, hell if the game meets my expectations I'd pay $20