Referral System?

[NCLynx]

I feel like Planetside 2 would greatly benefit from a Referral system, but I haven't seen any mention of one yet.

I've only ever used 2 Referral systems for games (League of Legends, and WoW) and both of those were pretty different. If PS2 were to follow a system more like League's it'd probably be something like:

1 Referral = 3% EXP Bonus to both the account that did the referring and the account that got recruit

5 Referrals = Your choice of 1 customization that would usually be station cash only (or one that you can get from resources should you choose that one)

Etc etc etc (I know in League the referral isn't 100% complete until the person recruited reaches a certain level so that might tie in somewhere as well)

If the system were to be more like WoW's:

Refer a friend and get a 10% EXP bonus for a month (As long as both of you are in a squad)

I could see both of these working pretty well (maybe even a combo of the two), but also have a risk of being abused if they aren't thought through well enough.

I only used examples of systems I knew, if anyone else has different experiences of input please do so.

[megamold]

Originally Posted by NCLynx

5 Referrals = Your choice of 1 customization that would usually be station cash only (or one that you can get from resources should you choose that one)

that would be selling power, all ingame items from skills to gun can be unlocked trough play.

but the general idea works
i do think this is more of a marketing tool for some time after release, to draw extra people in

edit: or did you mean a visual costumization? in that case ignore the statement

[NCLynx]

If it's station cash only than it's guaranteed to be aesthetic, that's not selling power. Unless you consider a camo skin to be the high point in dangerous weaponry.

[WiteBeam]

I wonder how they would keep people making new accounts just to refer themselves over and over. All it would really take is a BS E-mail to log on to a F2P game and do that.
One thing I can think of is just limit the amount of referrels that people can get to like 5 or something.

[NCLynx]

Originally Posted by WiteBeam

I wonder how they would keep people making new accounts just to refer themselves over and over. All it would really take is a BS E-mail to log on to a F2P game and do that.
One thing I can think of is just limit the amount of referrels that people can get to like 5 or something.

Maximum amount of referrals in a week/month, and the person recruited is required to get to at least BR 6 or something like that. Although that wouldn't cut down on everyone referring themselves it'd probably keep them from getting crazy bonuses 24/7

[Atheosim]

Or 1 referral per IP

[Skitrel]

+1 for referrals, I'm really surprised they haven't got one for beta referrals going. It has a massive impact on talk that goes out all over the web.

Add in get x number of referrals and earn a special referrer visual bonus and you'll get a TONNE of people spreading the word.

[Malorn]

Ya add something like get 5 referrals and get a special 'VIP' title or a unique camo pattern or Sunderer truck nuts or something like that...

[NCLynx]

Originally Posted by Skitrel

you'll get a TONNE of people spreading the word.

Exactly, I feel like League has as many people as it does because it's not only F2P but has little bonuses here and there for referrals. I know myself and the majority of my friends who played LoL signed up through referrals.

Originally Posted by Malorn

Ya add something like get 5 referrals and get a special 'VIP' title or a unique camo pattern or Sunderer truck nuts or something like that...

Sunderer Truck Nuts. I'd be willing to recruit 100+ people to get that. I'd recruit AND pay for something like that.

[Capt Mytre]

It would need to be for paying accounts only, since you could just refer yourself.

[NCLynx]

Originally Posted by Capt Mytre

It would need to be for paying accounts only, since you could just refer yourself.

You're always going to have people recruit themselves even with limiting it to only paying accounts.

I can see restricting it to people who have purchased at least one item from the cash store but even that's pushing it a little bit.

If you limited the people who could recruit to only the people who were paying for it, i'd say it's pointless to even have the system at that point.

[Skitrel]

You just limit it to people needing to get to x level before it counts. This eliminates the vast majority of this kind of problem.