Purchasing "Premium Time"

Kipper · 2012-08-06, 06:49 AM

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 · 2012-08-06, 06:57 AM

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 · 2012-08-06, 06:59 AM

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 · 2012-08-06, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by Kipper

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 · 2012-08-06, 07:12 AM

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 · 2012-08-06, 07:16 AM

Surely it would depend on what the booster is for.

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

Serotriptomine · 2012-08-06, 07:29 AM

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 · 2012-08-06, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by 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

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

Mox · 2012-08-06, 07:51 AM

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

Sturmhardt · 2012-08-06, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by 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

I just want to bump this, great idea!

basti · 2012-08-06, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

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 · 2012-08-06, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by basti

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 · 2012-08-06, 08:14 AM

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 · 2012-08-06, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by Mox

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 · 2012-08-06, 08:32 AM

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..