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How would you feel if your MMO increased it's sub fee?

RoxtarrRoxtarr Member CommonPosts: 1,122

This is not a Sub fee vs F2P discussion (there is another thread for that)

How would you feel if your MMO announced that the sub fee was going up $1 per month?

Why would this happen?  Well - tell me what's getting cheaper in this world? Utilities, staffing, health care, gas, office supplies - not to mention the changing value of currency.  

If your studio launched a game in 2008 with a $15.00 sub, and you maintain the same 500k subscribers - you are making less money! Why? Because that $15 isn't worth the same in 2012.  

You must make up for that lost revenue somehow?  Why not raise the sub fee to $16.00 per month?

Obviously, sudios won't do that because of the crap-storm that would follow.  Or would players understand?

Just some thoughts I was having and was curious about what people thought about it.

If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
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Comments

  • CaldrinCaldrin Member UncommonPosts: 4,505

    if the game was good enough a small increase would not bother me as long as the devs where actualyl still very active with the game..

     

  • VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908

    If they showed value for money, like Trion, or didn't charge for expacks, like NCSoft didn't used to, then I would be fine with paying a bit more as time goes on.

    I know this is not a vs F2P discussion, and I respect that, but I simply would prefer to pay extra in clear open pricing then see that model rolled in in order to protect things like play to achieve, core game design, and community building.

  • RimmersmanRimmersman Member Posts: 885

    Lol you obviously don't come from europe, the secret world sub is $18.53, at release it was $20.99.

    Not that i think it's alot of money because it's not but it's the comparison to the US that pees people off in europe.

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  • RoxtarrRoxtarr Member CommonPosts: 1,122
    Originally posted by Rimmersman
    Lol you obviously don't come from europe, the secret world sub is $18.53.

    Ouch :P

    If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
    image

  • fivorothfivoroth Member UncommonPosts: 3,916

    I would be ok with it. To be honest I am surprised that no MMO has ever raised their sub fee. $15 in 2004 is clearly not worth as much in 2012. Maybe companies are afraid to raise subs because of the F2P competition nowadays. Most MMos are switching to F2P and pulling in more and more customers. A sub fee increase would make P2P even less competitive.

    Although I can see how WoW would be able to pull this off. It is after all one of the very few (the only one?) successful P2P MMO.

    Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.

  • WhiteLanternWhiteLantern Member RarePosts: 3,306

    If a sub is worth 15$, it is likely worth 16$.

     

    /2cents

    I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil

  • DeivosDeivos Member EpicPosts: 3,692

    Remember that happening with Planetside, they raised the fee on that game to support it's servers and reduced population.

     

    Thought it was a bit annoying but understood the reason for it well enough. Plus I just really liked the game so I got over it.

     

    However, it did cause quite the little shitstorm of it's own among part of it's community.

    "The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay

    "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin

  • Entris38Entris38 Member UncommonPosts: 401

    Hope none of the people setting the sub prices is looking..........

     

    15 dollars a month for 20-30 hours of entertainment is nothing. Heck people are getting 100's of hours of entertainment for that 15 dollars. I always found it funny people will pay 60 for a 10 hour console game , and scream about 50 for an mmo plus sub fee, for potentially months/years of entertainment......thats another discussion though. I honestly feel that if 16 would be no big thing, heck i would probably go as far as 20 before I started questioning my hobby.

  • SimLeeSimLee Member UncommonPosts: 6

    If it kept the cash shop out, I’d gladly pay more. I hate cash shops with a passion. Anyway I wouldn’t mind if it was a game a loved.

  • RimmersmanRimmersman Member Posts: 885
    Originally posted by fivoroth

    I would be ok with it. To be honest I am surprised that no MMO has ever raised their sub fee. $15 in 2004 is clearly not worth as much in 2012. Maybe companies are afraid to raise subs because of the F2P competition nowadays. Most MMos are switching to F2P and pulling in more and more customers. A sub fee increase would make P2P even less competitive.

    Although I can see how WoW would be able to pull this off. It is after all one of the very few (the only one?) successful P2P MMO.

    Again, you obviously don't live in Europe, if  $20.99 is not a raise then i don't know what is in your eyes. As i stated before, the sub price is a drop in the ocean, it really is nothing, it's the comparison to North America that get's under my nose. If i thought a MMO was worth $40 a month i would pay it because it's not alot of money at all.

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  • VolenibbletsVolenibblets Member UncommonPosts: 246
    Subs never been an issue for me as long as the game is delivering and expanding in the right direction...and frankly the price of 2 cheap pints of beer per month is a steal given the amount of entertainment you get out of a GOOD, 'social', immersive game...plus that 2 cheap pints of beer cost keeps me from drinking a few dozen orders of magnitude more actual beer that I likely would be drinking in a pub rather than playing said game so it's a healthy steal to boot ;-D
  • Entris38Entris38 Member UncommonPosts: 401

     

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Well if my mmo EQ2 went up in price me and Sony would probably have a falling out.  They done so many stupid things this past year.  An xpack without content, content added later; then that entire prosieben deal with the Germans having it blow up in their face,   multiple attempts to fix stuff in game but making it worse.

    I would not mind my sub fee go up if they actually added stuff the users wanted instead of trying to strong arm their customers.

    So the answer is no  I would most likely cancel and go back to fps type of games. At some point you have to give the finger to these companies when they pull bonehead stunts, and raising the price of your mmo is a bonehead mistake.

     

     

  • RimmersmanRimmersman Member Posts: 885
    Originally posted by Entris38
    Originally posted by Rimmersman
    Originally posted by fivoroth

    I would be ok with it. To be honest I am surprised that no MMO has ever raised their sub fee. $15 in 2004 is clearly not worth as much in 2012. Maybe companies are afraid to raise subs because of the F2P competition nowadays. Most MMos are switching to F2P and pulling in more and more customers. A sub fee increase would make P2P even less competitive.

    Although I can see how WoW would be able to pull this off. It is after all one of the very few (the only one?) successful P2P MMO.

    Again, you obviously don't live in Europe, if  $20.99 is not a raise then i don't know what is in your eyes. As i stated before, the sub prince is a drop in the ocean, it really is nothing, it's the comparison to North America that get's under my nose. If i thought a MMO was worth $40 a month i would pay it because it's not alot of money at all.

    It's 20.99 in Europe? I guess it's a tad more than here in the U.S. then, isn't the coversion rate at about .75 ,Euro/dollar?

    Had to go check myself, 20.99 for you is 16 for us, so Europeans are already paying more.

    Yup, that's more point. I have no problem paying a sub or how much if the game is worth it but here in Europe we are getting ripped off because Americans pay less. Now taking in tax laws and all we still pay more so it's a bit of a liberty imo.

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  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855
    I'll pay what a game is worth. Of course that is very subjective. But yeah, I'd be fine, If someone weer to release an MMORPG that blew the doors off everything we currently know as an MMORPG and was worth playing, I'd pay more. I tnk most probably would. Problem is, most games releasd now probably aren't worth half what they charge.
  • fenistilfenistil Member Posts: 3,005

    Mmoprg I would like to play?   

     

    No problem.  I am able to pay up to 20 maybe even 25$ as long as this mmoprg does not have ANY kind of cash shop, rmah or gold selling,  game support is actively fighting against bots and game is not just framework to run instances via LFG and is creating virtual world.

     

    Problem is that mmorpg's created nowadays are totally mainstream, shallow almost 100% combat oriented games that offer gameplay more similar to multiplayer instanced games, cause it is fast linear rush to max level and then use automatic matchmaking features to play instances and arenas.   Seriously so called 'end-game' is like playing Call of Duty or MOBA games.   Log in, press a button,auto-find group and auto-teleport,  play instances,  get medals, tokens or points, log-out.    

    Not gonna pay for something like that.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    They have increased the income by selling stuff in cashshops, charging or charging more for character transfers, namechanges and so on.

    I honestly would prefer a $20 monthly fee instead of bullcrap microtransactions but then I want all included. 1 free server transfer a month and all inclusive is no problem then.

    $15 + microtransactions + boxes is however highway robbery no matter if the items they sell have stats or not. Heck $25 monthly is fine as well but then I want expansions included like CoH (and many others) as well.

  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by fenistil

    Mmoprg I would like to play?   

     

    No problem.  I am able to pay up to 20 maybe even 25$ as long as this mmoprg does not have ANY kind of cash shop, rmah or gold selling,  game support is actively fighting against bots and game is not just framework to run instances via LFG and is creating virtual world.

    Not going to happen - all games have gold sellers, bots, etc. It is like computer virus writers, the more you increase security, the more they work to get around it. You can't get away from it. The only game that won't have ANY gold sellers is a single player game on your own PC, not connected to the internet.

     

    I feel that the fees are a crutch for the companies to be inifficient with the game code and also their own resources. I have also heard the argument that Sub fees have always been used, so it is standard - that is a crutch.

     

    With most games, you already pay a box fee, with some can be high, thinkSWTOR and GW2 (although no sub fee), and on top of that you pay a fee to rent the game for a month? it is akin to paying cash to buy a car and then have a monthly fee to actually drive it.


  • fenistilfenistil Member Posts: 3,005
    Originally posted by botrytis
    Originally posted by fenistil

    Mmoprg I would like to play?   

     

    No problem.  I am able to pay up to 20 maybe even 25$ as long as this mmoprg does not have ANY kind of cash shop, rmah or gold selling,  game support is actively fighting against bots and game is not just framework to run instances via LFG and is creating virtual world.

    Not going to happen - all games have gold sellers, bots, etc. It is like computer virus writers, the more you increase security, the more they work to get around it. You can't get away from it. The only game that won't have ANY gold sellers is a single player game on your own PC, not connected to the internet.

     

    I feel that the fees are a crutch for the companies to be inifficient with the game code and also their own resources. I have also heard the argument that Sub fees have always been used, so it is standard - that is a crutch.

     

    With most games, you already pay a box fee, with some can be high, thinkSWTOR and GW2 (although no sub fee), and on top of that you pay a fee to rent the game for a month? it is akin to paying cash to buy a car and then have a monthly fee to actually drive it.

    Where I said that I require that game would not have ANY gold sellers or bots?   Don't know why you imply it?  I know they will. It is normal and it is fight that cannot be won.

    Still diffrent games have difftent amount of them, in some games when you report a bot, it disappear relatively quickjly, in some support does not have resources or don't care and same bot is farming over and over for weeks or months even though reported countless times by multiple people.   I played many mmorpg's and diffrent games and difftent companies spend diffrent kind of resources on fighting a war than cannot be win, but you can see it in game if it is spend or not.

    As for other things.  I am not here for discuss if subs are bad or good. 

    I have my own opinion and my own reasosns for why I don't want cash shops. 

    I played p2p games, f2p ones, freemium ones and lately b2p one. I am not someone who is fanboy and say that subs game is best and rest is crap.  For ME and for my entertaiment I prefer sub only mmorpg.  You might don't agree you may don't understand. That's fine, but let's not have this discussion here it is not topic for that.

    Besides my preference is based on years of experience with various models so you won't convince me. I had those type of conversations years ago already.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441
    Originally posted by fenistil

    Where I said that I require that game would not have ANY gold sellers or bots?   Don't know why you imply it?  I know they will. It is normal and it is fight that cannot be won.

    Still diffrent games have difftent amount of them, in some games when you report a bot, it disappear relatively quickjly, in some support does not have resources or don't care and same bot is farming over and over for weeks or months even though reported countless times by multiple people.   I played many mmorpg's and diffrent games and difftent companies spend diffrent kind of resources on fighting a war than cannot be win, but you can see it in game if it is spend or not.

    As for other things.  I am not here for discuss if subs are bad or good. 

    I have my own opinion and my own reasosns for why I don't want cash shops. 

    I played p2p games, f2p ones, freemium ones and lately b2p one. I am not someone who is fanboy and say that subs game is best and rest is crap.  For ME and for my entertaiment I prefer sub only mmorpg.  You might don't agree you may don't understand. That's fine, but let's not have this discussion here it is not topic for that.

    Besides my preference is based on years of experience with various models so you won't convince me. I had those type of conversations years ago already.

    I have to say that lately P2P games have seems to cut their costs as well and that affects services like this. The question is if companies like EA and Activsion wouldnt cut down people after a while no matter what the fees were. Once they get used to a certain income they tend to want to increase it even if it affects the quality or not.

  • roo67roo67 Member Posts: 402
    Originally posted by Rimmersman

    Lol you obviously don't come from europe, the secret world sub is $18.53, at release it was $20.99.

    Not that i think it's alot of money because it's not but it's the comparison to the US that pees people off in europe.

    The cost of the Secret Worlds sub is the reason I dont play .

    I dont think any game is worth more than 15 dollars (9 pounds a month) . Most arnt even worth that .

  • RimmersmanRimmersman Member Posts: 885
    Originally posted by roo67
    Originally posted by Rimmersman

    Lol you obviously don't come from europe, the secret world sub is $18.53, at release it was $20.99.

    Not that i think it's alot of money because it's not but it's the comparison to the US that pees people off in europe.

    The cost of the Secret Worlds sub is the reason I dont play .

    I dont think any game is worth more than 15 dollars (9 pounds a month) . Most arnt even worth that .

    If i like a game ill pay the sub, i haven't got a problem withn paying $18.45 per month for TSW, i just wish they would treat all parts of the world the same.

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  • ZefireZefire Member Posts: 676

    Do u have any idea whats going on the planet.People are not having money and u are asking about sub fees increasing?

    Companies require pledge in order to complete their projects or they force you to prebuy the game so as to have the funds to complete their project.

    Do you ever think before you post or are u just one more immature boy

  • halflife25halflife25 Member Posts: 737
    Originally posted by Rimmersman

    Lol you obviously don't come from europe, the secret world sub is $18.53, at release it was $20.99.

    Not that i think it's alot of money because it's not but it's the comparison to the US that pees people off in europe.

    AO costs around 20 bucks a month  in europe ;)

  • IstavaanIstavaan Member Posts: 1,350
    My MMO has no sub. :)
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