1 empire per account and F2P

Redshift · 2012-03-25, 06:05 AM

I'm making this thread hoping that Higby will drop by and say something but moreover i'd just like to share an issue i forsee

We've been told that you can only have 1 empire on a server from each account.
Higby has also stated he expects people to have more than one account to play all three empires.

To start with this obviously has nothing to do with empire loyalty, PS1 you payed for the game you were locked to one empire, PS2 being F2P it's impossible to force people onto one empire. In actual fact it may hurt PS2 balance trying to force one empire, higby has been talking about empire incentives to balance the numbers, but ultimately if i've payed for gear on one account i'm not likely to swap for a small exp boost.

I can see only one benefit of this idea, and it's SOE hoping that people will pay for cash shop items more than once if they're on different accounts, i don't really have a problem with this as SOE needs to make money, even if this is a bit of a cynical way of doing it.

What i do have a problem with is the inconvenience of having 3 accounts to manage.

I'm pretty sure we could get around this by allowing multiple empire per account and just making some bits of the cash shop empire specific.

What do you lot think about it?

Knocky · 2012-03-25, 06:16 AM

No empire hoppers and damned spies need to be as inconvenience as possible.

Hell, I would lock the MAC address to accounts if there were not ways around it.

IronMole · 2012-03-25, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by Knocky

No empire hoppers and damned spies need to be as inconvenience as possible.

Hell, I would lock the MAC address to accounts if there were not ways around it.

You do know MAC addresses can easily be changed?

Kipper · 2012-03-25, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by Knocky

No empire hoppers and damned spies need to be as inconvenience as possible.

Mere inconvenience isn't going to stop someone determined to "spy" - and these people will be in a minority anyway. It may as well be one account have unlimited characters and any cash shop items you buy are per-character. Most people will have a favourite but will still get the opportunity to try others should they wish.

The best defence against spies is vigilance. On all sides.

Shogun · 2012-03-25, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by IronMole

You do know MAC addresses can easily be changed?

have you read his last 7 words?

i don´t think locking an account to one empire is necessary. just make sure the cash shop is not accountwide, but locked to the char.

so you make 2 chars but have to buy things seperately for each char.

having to create 3 accounts just to try the other empires sucks.
the spys will spy, no matter how inconvenient it will be, so don´t punish the guys who want to test out all 3 empires before they choose for which faction they are going to buy stuff.

after the servermerges of ps1 i was happy to finally being able to try the other factions, but i only tried them for a short time and went back to the real faction and the char with high br/cr. and i guess most people did it that way.

let there be 3 chars per account and set up a timer so you cannot change empires more than 2 times per day. this way the spies would be forced to create fake accounts and have their inconvenience to spy effectively, while the players who just want the option to play the other empire for a day can do it easy.

edit: damn i write too slow ;-) kipper read my mind but typed faster

Dart · 2012-03-25, 06:56 AM

Double post

Dart · 2012-03-25, 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by Shogun

having to create 3 accounts just to try the other empires sucks.
the spys will spy, no matter how inconvenient it will be, so don´t punish the guys who want to test out all 3 empires before they choose for which faction they are going to buy stuff.

So try all three Empires before you buy anything...

IronMole · 2012-03-25, 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by Shogun

edit: damn i write too slow ;-) kipper read my mind but typed faster

He also used correct grammar and spelling...

If all empires are allowed to be created on the same account, then the original 24 hour lockout timer should be used - which would be pointless as it's just far more easier to create a new "free" account and switch that way.

IronMole · 2012-03-25, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by Dart

So try all three Empires before you buy anything...

Stop being simple you!

Shogun · 2012-03-25, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by IronMole

He also used correct grammar and spelling...

maybe he writes in his native language, which is not the case for me...

If all empires are allowed to be created on the same account, then the original 24 hour lockout timer should be used - which would be pointless as it's just far more easier to create a new "free" account and switch that way.

spys will create fake accounts none the less. because they will most likely use 2 or 3 clients at the same time, and i would suppose that´s not possible with one account.

.

Brusi · 2012-03-25, 07:13 AM

Making it slightly more inconvenient (reqiring new email accout, new SOE account) will definitely reduce the amount of griefers/spies...

You will never stamp it out, just the way having hack protection will never stamp out hackers. You just need to manage the problem, not solve it

Redshift · 2012-03-25, 07:31 AM

Originally Posted by Brusi

Making it slightly more inconvenient (reqiring new email accout, new SOE account) will definitely reduce the amount of griefers/spies...

You will never stamp it out, just the way having hack protection will never stamp out hackers. You just need to manage the problem, not solve it

yes but making it slightly more inconvienient for the minority (who will just be running seperate accounts on seperate computers btw so they don't need to log out), will also make it more inconvienit for the majority of non spying players

IronMole · 2012-03-25, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by Redshift

yes but making it slightly more inconvienient for the minority (who will just be running seperate accounts on seperate computers btw so they don't need to log out), will also make it more inconvienit for the majority of non spying players

I don't see how?

Redshift · 2012-03-25, 07:39 AM

how what?

Shogun · 2012-03-25, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by IronMole

I don't see how?

by forcing them to make additional accounts to try out other empires.

the spys will do it anyways.
so why force the other players to do so as well? it has no benefit at all

the 24 hours lockdown will be enough to keep normal players from hopping too much.
spys will use seperate accounts anyway, so restricting the account to 1 faction does no good