Free to play, pay for perks.

[Sifer2]

Originally Posted by Bags

If you let people buy more cert points, even if only temporary you'll end up with what we have now in PS. Everyone has everything.

At most micro transactions should be limited to cosmetic things.

Well the way it should be done is Subscribers get the normal amount. Reserves get get less but can buy more for a one time fee. But you cannot ever buy more beyond the normal cap.

Subscribers may get additional perks like priority in que an such.

[morf]

Originally Posted by Raymac

the first thing I said was I couldn't think of one off the top of my head.

So right off the bat you are conceding that, to your knowledge, it has never been done before. My point was good. In fact, assuming that no one here can name a game with the criteria specified, my point is irrefutable. So yes I am sticking to this argument.

Originally Posted by Raymac

Does that mean you can just complely ignore my opinion?

No. It just means that I have completely discredited your opinion, which clearly wasn't very well thought out in the first place because if it was, you'd be able to give me an example of how it worked in the past.

Just because it hasn't existed before doesn't mean it can't be done.

You can say the same thing about time travel, but I don't see it on the horizon any time soon.


Look I'm not attacking you here, I am attacking this microtransaction idea. It would be different if this had never been tried before but the internet is littered with f2p games. The thing they have in common is that as time goes on, the rewards for paying become more and more powerful to entice more and more people to pay. There are people sitting at SOE who went to business school and it's only a matter of time before they start doing this to justify their jobs. It's plain business sense. Microtransactions have no place in psn.

Now look I am all for f2p if itf doesn't involve microtransactions if you want to fill out the ranks. You'll need to link it to a credit card though to stop hackers and imo, they should start at BR1 and be unable to level up without subbing. Furthermore, they get last priority on continent lock and are booted if a subscriber wants in. Also they can only pick the empire with the lowest population when they log in. That would ensure plenty of cannon fodder for the subs for years to come.

[Bags]

Free: Max BR6, no priority for queues.
$15/mo, normal.

[Sifer2]

Originally Posted by Bags

Free: Max BR6, no priority for queues.
$15/mo, normal.

What about if its like I said above? Like say pay one time 15 dollar fee to unlock 3 more ranks. So Free player reaches BR6 an decided he wants more. Pays 15 an can now level up to BR9. Can pay again to level up to 12. And again maybe up to 15. An then if he wants more he has to sub.

I think that would be reasonable since SOE could get at least 3 months worth of money out of F2P'ers. An they still would lack priority in que. Maybe no command rank either?

[morf]

So in other words, no point in anyone subbing until BR15? And even then, the benefit of leveling beyond 15 really won't be worth paying a sub for (at the very least) half of the population. Guys I don't mean any offense here but I don't think I would hire any of you with these ideas.

[Bags]

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by morf

Look I'm not attacking you here, I am attacking this microtransaction idea. It would be different if this had never been tried before but the internet is littered with f2p games. The thing they have in common is that as time goes on, the rewards for paying become more and more powerful to entice more and more people to pay. There are people sitting at SOE who went to business school and it's only a matter of time before they start doing this to justify their jobs. It's plain business sense. Microtransactions have no place in psn.

Now look I am all for f2p if itf doesn't involve microtransactions if you want to fill out the ranks. You'll need to link it to a credit card though to stop hackers and imo, they should start at BR1 and be unable to level up without subbing. Furthermore, they get last priority on continent lock and are booted if a subscriber wants in. Also they can only pick the empire with the lowest population when they log in. That would ensure plenty of cannon fodder for the subs for years to come.

I'm pretty much going to just ignore everything you said before where I started the quote, because you were just acting like some total douchebag playing Forumside. I'm too old to be doing that disrespectful bullshit.

Now thats out of the way, I'm glad you finally came around and opened your mind to how a f2p model could work in Planetside. Obviously nobody has it all figured out, but you now finally see that there is room for f2p.

Having alot of players is the very life-blood of Planetside, more so than most other games out there. Right now, the system says either you pay $15 every month, or you don't get to play the game at all. This "all or nothing" line in the sand makes it impossible for players to kinda play it. Giving people options that fall between "all" and "nothing" will mean you gain players that you wouldn't have before.

This isn't reinventing the wheel or "time travel" we are discussing here. All we are doing is looking at the current market, recognizing successful business trends (i.e. free to play), and discussing practical ways in which it could be properly applied to our soon-to-be-favorite game in order to increase the number of people we get to shoot.

[Sifer2]

Originally Posted by morf

So in other words, no point in anyone subbing until BR15? And even then, the benefit of leveling beyond 15 really won't be worth paying a sub for (at the very least) half of the population. Guys I don't mean any offense here but I don't think I would hire any of you with these ideas.

Depends on how long it would take to reach BR15 for the average player. Plus this is just an example since we don't know if BR is even in Planetside Next. I was showing how you could have a pay as you go type method in the game that doesn't put the person at a huge disadvantage for not subbing.

Like others are saying we should not completely wright off the F2P concept since fun in Planetside is very much dependent on having a health large playerbase. The key is to figure out how it should be done without getting in the way of the things that make Planetside worth playing in the first place.

[Traak]

Originally Posted by morf

Look I'm not attacking you here, I am attacking this microtransaction idea. It would be different if this had never been tried before but the internet is littered with f2p games. The thing they have in common is that as time goes on, the rewards for paying become more and more powerful to entice more and more people to pay. There are people sitting at SOE who went to business school and it's only a matter of time before they start doing this to justify their jobs. It's plain business sense. Microtransactions have no place in psn.

Now look I am all for f2p if itf doesn't involve microtransactions if you want to fill out the ranks. You'll need to link it to a credit card though to stop hackers and imo, they should start at BR1 and be unable to level up without subbing. Furthermore, they get last priority on continent lock and are booted if a subscriber wants in. Also they can only pick the empire with the lowest population when they log in. That would ensure plenty of cannon fodder for the subs for years to come.

Nice. Let the beancounters get their feet in the door, and you end up with a game that is to Planetside what the Mustang II was to the Mustang. "Emasculated" is the word that comes to mind.

[CutterJohn]

Originally Posted by morf

Look I'm not attacking you here, I am attacking this microtransaction idea. It would be different if this had never been tried before but the internet is littered with f2p games. The thing they have in common is that as time goes on, the rewards for paying become more and more powerful to entice more and more people to pay. There are people sitting at SOE who went to business school and it's only a matter of time before they start doing this to justify their jobs. It's plain business sense. Microtransactions have no place in psn.

Paying for power is bad. Why should someone get more powerful than me just because they paid?

Originally Posted by morf

Now look I am all for f2p if itf doesn't involve microtransactions if you want to fill out the ranks. You'll need to link it to a credit card though to stop hackers and imo, they should start at BR1 and be unable to level up without subbing. Furthermore, they get last priority on continent lock and are booted if a subscriber wants in. Also they can only pick the empire with the lowest population when they log in. That would ensure plenty of cannon fodder for the subs for years to come.

Except when I do it. Bring me fodder. Those newbs that didn't pay anything don't deserve to fight on an equal footing. Its their own fault anyway, than can just sub.



All I can figure is you've got a pavlovian response to rage when you hear the term microtransaction, since you are, by your own admission, pretty much fine with paying money for perks, benefits, and increased combat power.

[Valverde]

Free to play sounds nice. But the bad part of it is really... Who has the most money has the best equipment. Micro Transactions always leave people without. I far rather pay $14.99 or cheaper a month, to get a even chance to compete then have to spend $5.00 here and another whatever amount there. Micro Transactions rob players of there money because they are based around a continuous I want circle. I use to be a sales man and the way I see it is it is a easy way to get a customer to buy 1 product and stack addons on to it. The truth about Micro Transactions is the customer ends up spending five times the amount they normally would. That 14.99 charge is now 32.99 and you are just a month in.

[Firefly]

One of the core fundamentals of Planetside that made it unlike any other MMO (in addition to being an FPS) was that a BR1 could compete with a BR20. Installing MTX and F2P models would strip that entire mechanic from the game.

[Jonny]

Fair points, maybe a monthly fee is best.

Or Free to play without microtransactions

[morf]

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

Paying for power is bad. Why should someone get more powerful than me just because they paid?



Except when I do it. Bring me fodder. Those newbs that didn't pay anything don't deserve to fight on an equal footing. Its their own fault anyway, than can just sub.



All I can figure is you've got a pavlovian response to rage when you hear the term microtransaction, since you are, by your own admission, pretty much fine with paying money for perks, benefits, and increased combat power.

Look I think my beliefs are pretty consistent here. Your subscription to the game should make you every bit as powerful as anyone else. That's the standard. Microtransactions won't allow for this, eventually you would get to the point where for 2 bucks a day you could have double armor and for another dollar you get +15 percent attack speed and so on and so forth and next thing you know the guy blowing 100 a month rolls over everyone. A subscription model establishes a ceiling and a baseline. And really maybe the f2p should be only a trial. I don't know about it, I was just throwing it out there. But it's interesting how you attack me and don't offer any solution whatsoever.

[Hmr85]

I am going to have to say no to Micro transactions/Free to pay. Keep it as it currently and give me all the extra features in the Sub I am paying. Such as custom outfit decals/armor. This is something that SOE should do anyways to support the community.

As for free to pay...NO, NO, and NO. We saw where trials got us and they just got rid of that crap.