108 replies to this topic

[Frostiken]

This was a major bummer to me in Tribes: Ascend, and someone in the community pointed out a way to handle it fairly. Both T:A and MWO have 'boosting'. You drop some cash, you get a 30-day boost to money and XP or what-have-you.

Something that would really be a nice thing to do for your customers would be to tender the 30/60/90 day "boosts" as a per-day-played system.

I am active duty military. Like many other potential Mechwarriors. The nature of my job means that I sometimes get called away at the last minute for days, if not weeks at a time. I also have a month-long vacation planned in September that will be taking me across Europe. Others have family commitments, job requirements, and maybe can't find the time they used to for video gaming. This doesn't mean that any of us should be marginalized by being your customers, does it?

Here's the facts - the average age of a gamer has been rising, which means that people my age - late-20s / early-30s, are the same nerds who played Mechwarrior back in the day. Our lives are a lot more complicated than they used to be, where we could pitter-patter home from school and jump into a Bushwacker and stomp around Tranquil smoking some Jaguars.

The fact is, these 'monthly subscriptions' are somewhat unfair and severely lacking in value for anyone who can't dedicate a maximum amount of time to the game. In my case, if my boost activates in August, this means I'm going to lose all of September, as I won't be around a computer. These boosts should be an attractive option to people who cannot play as much as others, so that they can sort of 'keep up' with friends who can play more. However, if they do tick off on a day-by-day basis, this means the opposite is true. People who will be away from the computer or otherwise not play MWO for several hours a night will be losing out a huge amount of value, and thus be less inclined to purchase a boost.

I'll be honest, I haven't looked too much at seeing if this is how it already is, but I'm not inclined to think so. If this is already how it is, I'll shut up

Anyway, my suggestion is this: have the 1/2/3 month or 30/60/90 day boosts broken up into individual days.

Let's say I have 22 days of boost. I play on Friday, which uses up a full day of boost (and gives me 24 hours of it). If I don't play until Monday, I still only have used up a single day of boost. If I play every day, for a week straight, I use up all 7 days, and thus get the same value out of it as someone who, well, has the spare time to sit around playing it 7 days for a week straight.

The boost should activate for 24 hours from the hour I log in, or "back-to-back" if I have a boost already active and I roll right into another 24 hours.


This would really make me happy and honestly doesn't sound like a bad setup from a customer loyalty or even a business standpoint.

Thanks.

Edited by Frostiken, 19 June 2012 - 03:16 PM.

[Wolf Hreda]

Agreed. I think that's a pretty well put together idea. I'm also active duty, although I'm getting ready to get out. So needless to say the next few months for me are going to be hectic as well.

[ZnSeventeen]

Sounds like a reasonable request to me. I had the same sort of problem with WOW. It just was not worth it to pay when I was only playing 7 days a month. I loved WOW, but the value was just not there for someone who couldn't play all the time.

Oh, and kudos for a very well put together, respectful and well thought out post.

Edited by ZnSeventeen, 19 June 2012 - 02:55 PM.

[Waverider]

I agree!

Even for future type of payment system. You should have the traditional monthly payment for those who can play everyday and a per day packs!

I can play 4 to five hours a week but not every week. I would like to pay for bonus but not monthly. You can make both type of costumers happy. I also will not be able to play the two months because I will only be able to buy a new computer, as my actual does not reach even close the minimal specs, only the end of November.

Make the monthly payment cheaper and the per day a little higher and would be fare for your revenues.

Edited by Waverider, 19 June 2012 - 03:03 PM.

[Mali ki]

Makes sense too me. Considering I work 12 hour days/nights this would help me out too.

[Tymanthius]

One advantage this game has over models where you MUST pay per month, is that you don't lose your account or any stuff if you don't pay.

But I really do like the idea of the 'Buy 30 days of boost' and it only gets used up on days you log in.

[JP Josh]

HEY DEVS!!!

how bout we only use our boosts when we are logged into the game?

[Frostiken]

Thanks for the support, guys

JP Josh, on 19 June 2012 - 03:02 PM, said:

HEY DEVS!!!

how bout we only use our boosts when we are logged into the game?

If you mean on an hourly basis, I don't think you're understanding just how generous that is.

I have 115 hours or so logged into Battlefield 3. I quit playing for a few months, but ultimately I dedicated quite a lot of time from December to Marchish, and just recently as of a week ago. That 115 hours is a huge amount of playtime, but that only equals less than 5 days.

A 30 day "realtime" boost would last you probably longer than you'd maintain interest in the game, honestly.

Edited by Frostiken, 19 June 2012 - 03:05 PM.

[BlackKnight7891]

Im not active duty nor am i required to be away from home for long periods of time (not that I have anything against the military they simply declined my request to fly hornets)

this sort of subscription plan as detailed by the poster sounds fantastic. Between family 2 jobs and friends i can fit in an all nighter on a weekend and a couple of hours during the week. as i have found in World of Tanks this means i fall way behind my friends. as this is a "Free to Play" game, making the subscription service in this way would bring more value for money to a very large portion of your customer base.

I only pay for World of tanks when i know im going to have a quiet month and even then its almost not worth it because of how often i get to play.

[Vyviel]

I agree 100% too. I can only play on weekends because of similar commitments and have no access to a PC during the week so buying a month pass would only give me 8 days worth of play out of 30.

Very sensible request. If you play a match during a day it should deduct one of your days.

[NeonKnight]

Put me down as someone who likes this idea...a LOT.

I am 45, married, with kids. My Game time is often 11pm till 8 am 4 nights a week (work a graveyard shift where if slow I have down time I use to play).

Otherwise I have family obligations that takes me away. Losing a week, I can pay for it, but I'd rather not

[WardenWolf]

I think that only counting days you log in and play is a neat idea, but I could see doing it a couple of other ways too:

- Offer shorter boosts, for just a single day or like 3 days (perfect for a weekend). WoT does this now, though they severely overcharge for it.

- Offer boosts that trigger on every victory (so you don't waste them on lower-XP losses) until a set number of triggers are reached. This goes even more fine-tuned than your per day used plan, but also would work for folks who can play every day but maybe only one or two rounds.

[CarpeMortis]

Umm Russ has stated that premium accounts (granting a 50% xp and Cbill boost) will cost 10$ a month... Soooo I'm not sure where the problem is. The Founders Packages are not premium accounts, They are one time purchases that include premium accounts. 10$ a month is not exactly high rent, and it's not even necessary.

Edited by CarpeMortis, 19 June 2012 - 03:15 PM.

[Frostiken]

WardenWolf, on 19 June 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

- Offer boosts that trigger on every victory (so you don't waste them on lower-XP losses) until a set number of triggers are reached. This goes even more fine-tuned than your per day used plan, but also would work for folks who can play every day but maybe only one or two rounds.

That's pretty slick too.

[Prophet of Entropy]

i have no problem with the boost being "trigged" by logging in, even is all you do is login accidently and dont do anything, would still use up 1 day. but i could see why they wouldnt want to implement this and simply offered higher priced short term subscriptions like WoT, 1,3,7 and 30 day subs. sucks for people who wont be able to play much when the game comes out but bought founders packs, but no one made you buy them.

personaly i think the money +mechs make the packs more then worth getting, the sub time is just gravey.

Edited by Prohet of Entropy, 19 June 2012 - 03:19 PM.

[ZnSeventeen]

Frostiken, on 19 June 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

Thanks for the support, guys

A 30 day "realtime" boost would last you probably longer than you'd maintain interest in the game, honestly.

Maybe for some people. I have a cousin who logs in over 100 hours a week in Minecraft.
But I think play a match, deducts a day is reasonable. Though it will make for a lot of splurge playing probably. Maybe some sort of compromise can be arranged?

[Livebait]

I agree with this thread. Between school, work, family...I'm gaming online about four hours a week give or take.

[cipher]

OP, this is also a model for World of Tanks which I really dislike because they burn through your Premium days regardless of whether you're playing on any given day.

Frostiken, on 19 June 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

Here's the facts - the average age of a gamer has been rising, which means that people my age - late-20s / early-30s, are the same nerds who played Mechwarrior back in the day. Our lives are a lot more complicated than they used to be, where we could pitter-patter home from school and jump into a Bushwacker and stomp around Tranquil smoking some Jaguars.

Indeed. I'm in my late 30s. I'm part of a gaming community with many in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

Frostiken, on 19 June 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

Anyway, my suggestion is this: have the 1/2/3 month or 30/60/90 day boosts broken up into individual days.

Let's say I have 22 days of boost. I play on Friday, which uses up a full day of boost (and gives me 24 hours of it). If I don't play until Monday, I still only have used up a single day of boost. If I play every day, for a week straight, I use up all 7 days, and thus get the same value out of it as someone who, well, has the spare time to sit around playing it 7 days for a week straight.

The boost should activate for 24 hours from the hour I log in, or "back-to-back" if I have a boost already active and I roll right into another 24 hours.


This would really make me happy and honestly doesn't sound like a bad setup from a customer loyalty or even a business standpoint.

Thanks.

I would really like MWO to offer us what I'd call "active days"...

---- Piranha, I hope you guys are reading this. ----

Example:

Let's say we buy a month (eg: 30 days) of premium at some point in the future. For any day I login, go ahead and ding me for that day. Even if I only play for 30 minutes. Count that login as a day of used premium. Then perhaps tomorrow I don't login at all, so I wouldn't use that day. Then the next day I login again and play two different two hour sessions, so count that day.

So by the time the month is over I might have only played 20 days, which would leave 10 days of premium left.

Now, if Piranha wants to adjust the cost of premium for this sort of implementation, that would be fine. You can up the price a little to account for people using it up a little slower. As long as we have a little control over what's counted as a premium day or not, people like the OP, others in this thread, and myself will be very happy. We won't feel like our premium time is slipping away out of our control and Piranha will still be making its goal for whatever profit it had in mind with the adjusted amounts. Win-win.

And I'm here to support Piranha. I already did that with a Legendary, even though I didn't want all 4 mechs and don't care about my name in some credits (even though it's cool). I did do at least elite because I wanted one Inception mech, but I went beyond elite to support Piranha. And if any employees are reading this, just ask Garth. He knows I want to support and thank Piranha for their hard work in ressurecting one of my old loves.

Edited by cipher, 19 June 2012 - 03:26 PM.

[Latriam]

For $10-20 a month you have to be realistic from a business standpoint. Every other game out there is 15-30 a month.
I think they are being generous if they give us premium for $10 and I only play 2-3 nights a week and then on fri and sat. sometimes for abit longer.
I hear what you are saying but most companies if you tell them I am getting shipped out or even I was shipped out for the last 3 weeks will give you that 3 weeks back. I have actually seen this happen in 2 different MMO's LOTRO and Star Wars. so Just be honest and tell them what happened.

[Frostiken]

Latriam, on 19 June 2012 - 03:24 PM, said:

For $10-20 a month you have to be realistic from a business standpoint. Every other game out there is 15-30 a month.

At the same time, the Free to Play business model is still completely virgin territory and there's really no business metrics at all to suggest what does / doesn't work.

Having an "active days" system to me just seems like it would be a net gain for Piranha, as it would clearly encourage people to buy boosts who otherwise wouldn't, it doesn't affect people who already make the most of the boosts, and it's something no other F2P offers, which is a nice sort of thing from a customer loyalty standpoint.