29 replies to this topic

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

I dont play much anymore, maybe 2 times a week if at all. Ive been accumilating alot of premium time and I want to use it but I am waiting till I get faster internet service in my area. So far that hasnt worked out well and comcast wants to charge me $500,000. to put a Line to my house so I said **** that. I would very much like it if PGI developed a OFF switch for Premium time. Seriously I cant play the game 24/7 and I would really like to be able to use it when I want. I paid for it after all. Why cant I use the feature when I want? Sure PGI needs money but I got over 11,000 hrs of premium time ugh. I think I paid them enough for now. Ive supported the cause. PGI pls PLS put a off switch for Premium Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[627]

[ ] you understand basic rules of the free to play market.

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

627, on 05 October 2014 - 11:04 AM, said:

[ ] you understand basic rules of the free to play market.

Yes I do understand PGI needs money to keep us playing and make us happy. Its a Vicious cycle of pay and play, pay and play, pay and play and on and on. However once you've accumilated enough mechs to keep you going do people really keep buying mechs? What will they do once they run outa storyline mechs?

I sincerely wish though that they would develop some option to shut off premium time. For people who are hurt, become deathly sick, or something they cant control happens, where the game deactivates on its own if you are away from your account for so long. People do have unexpected plans that come up. What if you just activated a 3 month premium time and you end up in the hopsital the next day? Is there a feature that stops your ticker if your account becomes innactive for so long?

Edited by Powder Puff Pew Pew, 05 October 2014 - 11:12 AM.

[Hardin4188]

Piranha is actually generous by giving us an activate button. The problem with a deactivate button is you would have to give limits about how many times you can use it in a certain amount of time. Otherwise 30 days of premium time could be dragged out for a very long time. Think about it. That is 720 hours. Depending on how much you play a day that could take you months or even years to get to 720 hours. So obviously this would hurt pgi far too much.

[Gilgamesh Drakenor]

I understand the frustration. While such an option would be great for players, it wouldn't be so great for PGI.

Personally, I'd prefer if "wasted" premium time gave a token amount of free GXP and/or C-Bills instead, so it feels like less of a waste.
As a bonus for PGI, it might incentivize players who don't play often to get more premium time.

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

lol yes that is true....I only play like 3 or 4 matches a day just because I'm always in severe pain and I cant play long hours like I used to. I'm in constant agony, if I wasnt on my meds. This is why I was asking if somehow PGI could develop an off switch for the premium time. Otherwise I'd be on mwo 15 hrs a day. 11,000 hrs in a sence if I did drag it out would take years. So you are right lol. However that wouldnt stop me from purchasing more Mech Packages.

Also Limiting the use of the Deactivate button would be a positive feature for PGI. Limiting it to like 10 times a month or something, or charging you C-Bills to shut if off.

[Bront]

Deactivate button would have to cost MC (pro-rated based on how many days left, say, 15 MC per day)) or cost you time ("If you bank your remaining time, the amount you bank will be cut in half. Press Yes if you wish to continue.").

Honestly, cutting it in half would prevent a lot abuse, while still being useful to a lot of players ("I activated a month, but I go on vacation a week before it's done, so I'll bank the last 7 days and use the 3.5 days when I get back"), or the MC cost. Heck, offer either as an option (Pay MC or bank at 50% loss).

[RockmachinE]

We need to cut the guys some slack.

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

Bront, on 05 October 2014 - 11:27 AM, said:

Deactivate button would have to cost MC (pro-rated based on how many days left, say, 15 MC per day)) or cost you time ("If you bank your remaining time, the amount you bank will be cut in half. Press Yes if you wish to continue.").

Honestly, cutting it in half would prevent a lot abuse, while still being useful to a lot of players ("I activated a month, but I go on vacation a week before it's done, so I'll bank the last 7 days and use the 3.5 days when I get back"), or the MC cost. Heck, offer either as an option (Pay MC or bank at 50% loss).

That would be terrible, No 1 would want that feature. 50% of your remaining banked premium time just to shut it off? Seriously? lol What if you had 10,000 Premium (((((HOURS))))) dropped down to 5,000 hours? That would be rediculous. I would immidiatly ***** and make a support ticket requesting every Penny ive spent on the game fully refunded and my account destroyed.

Theres gotta be a balance. Ya I agree it should cost the player something but not MC. Cbills would be more like it. Think about it, not everyone has MC, and maybe just wants to buy Premium time. Or there could be players who have a horde of MC but not alot of Cbills and wants to lvl up fast. I cant see spending cash on something you already paid for. Its like a double "give me".

[Remarius]

There is a balance - you can now activate when you want in 30 day segments (basically an old school sub).

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

Remarius, on 05 October 2014 - 11:45 AM, said:

There is a balance - you can now activate when you want in 30 day segments (basically an old school sub).

But that still doesnt help much. Specificly for people like me who are disabled and cant function or do daily needs sometimes on their own. It should be a much more user friendly feature for a wide range of people not just hard core nerds who game every min they are awake.

[Mawai]

They added the ability to activate premium time one month at a time ... and I think that is pretty generous. The cost of premium time is based on continuous use whether you are using it or not. They could charge an hourly rate for premium time that you could use when you are actually playing but the cost would be far far more. So much so that most folks might not pay it. On the other hand, it might be a much more attractive option for those who play casually. They could price hourly premium so that there was a breakeven of some number of hours/week (say 6 or whatever). If you play less than 6 hours a week then the hourly would be the better deal ... otherwise the month of activated premium time would be.

Currenty 30 days of premium costs 2500MC or about $12.50 ... if this purchased 24 hours of premium play time then each hour would be going for about $0.52. This actually puts it into micro-transaction territory. This would correspond to selling an hour of premium for about 100MC.

At the present time I bank all my premium time since I play fairly casually and I don't know when, if or how long I would be playing. On the other hand, if I could purchase premium time that only runs while I play and can be purchased for 100MC/hr ... then I might be tempted ...

Of course, this premium time is NOT the same as the premium time everyone has stored up now. If PGI allowed a 1:1 conversion then they would go out of business since very few people would need to purchase premium time. On the other hand, they could convert a month of premium into 24 hours (or whatever number - maybe 12) of premium on demand that only runs while you are in a match. (If it only runs during a match then 24 hours may be too much since in game time is only a small part of the actual play time).

(They would also have to address things like the premium time running until the match finishes whether you stay watching the match or not ... )

Edited by Mawai, 05 October 2014 - 11:58 AM.

[MisterPlanetarian]

We've got the 30 days at a time activation. thats fine by me. Personallt though I wish they'd decrease the top end premium time costs slightly aswell to encourage bulk buying.

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

Mawai, on 05 October 2014 - 11:55 AM, said:

They added the ability to activate premium time one month at a time ... and I think that is pretty generous. The cost of premium time is based on continuous use whether you are using it or not. They could charge an hourly rate for premium time that you could use when you are actually playing but the cost would be far far more. So much so that most folks might not pay it. On the other hand, it might be a much more attractive option for those who play casually. They could price hourly premium so that there was a breakeven of some number of hours/week (say 6 or whatever). If you play less than 6 hours a week then the hourly would be the better deal ... otherwise the month of activated premium time would be.

Currenty 30 days of premium costs 2500MC or about $12.50 ... if this purchased 24 hours of premium play time then each hour would be going for about $0.52. This actually puts it into micro-transaction territory. This would correspond to selling an hour of premium for about 100MC.

At the present time I bank all my premium time since I play fairly casually and I don't know when, if or how long I would be playing. On the other hand, if I could purchase premium time that only runs while I play and can be purchased for 100MC/hr ... then I might be tempted ...

Of course, this premium time is NOT the same as the premium time everyone has stored up now. If PGI allowed a 1:1 conversion then they would go out of business since very few people would need to purchase premium time. On the other hand, they could convert a month of premium into 24 hours (or whatever number - maybe 12) of premium on demand that only runs while you are in a match. (If it only runs during a match then 24 hours may be too much since in game time is only a small part of the actual play time).

(They would also have to address things like the premium time running until the match finishes whether you stay watching the match or not ... )

I really liked your ideas, you put alot of thought into it. You brought up some very interesting ideas too, things I didnt think of such as minutes or times while ingame and not in the account menu. Premium Game Time is interesting. The Conversion rate would really need some tweeking or idk 1 for 1. Transfering hours into game time hours? That would be pushing PGI but still I would love this feature. Would be much more enjoyable than just [activate] and while you sleep or eat or work the ticker keeps on ticking. Wasted time and money. Im a conservitive and I dont like wasting jack ******* ****. So I'll never use my premium time untill 2 things occur. My internet gets better lol. Or theres an Off Switch for Premium time.

[Bront]

Powder Puff Pew Pew, on 05 October 2014 - 11:35 AM, said:

That would be terrible, No 1 would want that feature. 50% of your remaining banked premium time just to shut it off? Seriously? lol What if you had 10,000 Premium (((((HOURS))))) dropped down to 5,000 hours? That would be rediculous. I would immidiatly ***** and make a support ticket requesting every Penny ive spent on the game fully refunded and my account destroyed.

Theres gotta be a balance. Ya I agree it should cost the player something but not MC. Cbills would be more like it. Think about it, not everyone has MC, and maybe just wants to buy Premium time. Or there could be players who have a horde of MC but not alot of Cbills and wants to lvl up fast. I cant see spending cash on something you already paid for. Its like a double "give me".

No, no no.

50% of your current running time remaining.

Got 22 hours left? Bank 11 hours of it. Got 3 days left? Bank 1.5 of it.

It prevents folks from constantly banking time when they're done playing (the goal, PGI does need you to buy it, otherwise you could milk a month of PT for half a year) while giving players a reasonable option to not lose all their active PT.

Currently banked PT would be uneffected.

[Felbombling]

If we had the ability to shut down premium time, PGI would lose a major revenue stream. Not only that, but they're already being pretty fantastic with the activate button AND the future by monthly blocks feature. I can guarantee this, though... they'll have people bitching why there isn't a week to week feature, then a day to day, hour to hour and minute to minute feature. Some people will never be satisfied. To those people, I say go buy a block of premium time from World of Tanks and then fill us in again on how lame PGI treats its customers.

"Yeah, sure you're giving us our Premium time by the hour, but what if I have to answer the call of nature? My premium time is ticking away while I'm sitting on the throne! Screw you, PGI... you greedy jerks!!1!2!!" /cry

Edited by StaggerCheck, 05 October 2014 - 12:24 PM.

[Taffer]

Anything that benefits the player results in them possibly making less money and that's no good. WHATEVER

I'd like it if premium time counted matches instead of time. You might buy, say, 100 matches worth of premium. It will run out when you have finished your 100th match.

[Peter2k]

While I understand both arguments, I still wish premium time would count down by actively played hour.

After all instead of selling 30 days of premium time you could easily charge for 36 hours instead (fill in any arbitrary number in comparison to a month of premium).

well at least we can activate a month at a time now I guess.

[Tezcatli]

Per battle boosters is a decent compromise. They make more money. Casual players with money get more out of their time.

[Powder Puff Pew Pew]

Peter2k, on 05 October 2014 - 12:45 PM, said:

While I understand both arguments, I still wish premium time would count down by actively played hour.

After all instead of selling 30 days of premium time you could easily charge for 36 hours instead (fill in any arbitrary number in comparison to a month of premium).

well at least we can activate a month at a time now I guess.

Absolutely, awesome idea. Although this presents a difficult desicion and I think game time would be more efficient. It would give a player more time to work on their mechs instead of worrying about time lost. Sure sitting on the can taking a 10 min dump like most guys do -.- (sigh) it wouldnt be much of a waste.

However like I said earlier 2 times now like me, I play 3 maybe 5 matches a day or every other day. It wouldnt be fair to me or someone else who cant get ingame alot. Specialy how dedicated as I am in all. I agree that shutting off PT shouldnt have costs involved. You should NEVER EVER EVER EVER ******* EVER charge someone for something they paid for twice. Costing MC for shutting off Prime Time they already paid cash for, and using cash to shut it off and on again is just insanity. You seriously have to be the biggest Money Whoring Grub there is if you think this is acceptible. There are limites to stupidity and I wouldnt allow this or I'd raise a huge stink, flip tables, and leave a burning pile of poo on ur door step.