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What would you pay a sub for?
GrayKodiak
Member CommonPosts: 576
I am not a rabid fan of either Free 2 Play or Pay to Play, I think they both can be done wrong and right. In the last month I have spent most of my time jumping from F2P Lord of the Rings Online and P2P Eve Online, which are about as far apart in so many ways as any two games could be and still be MMORPG's.
I pretty much assumed however that Pay to Play was a dead breed, most of us did I think. Yea a game may come out and be buy to play or Buy to play with sub, be honestly at this point we all know it is going to jump on the free to play bandwagon 6 months to a year down the line. The competition is just overwhelming, Guild Wars 2 has all but crushed the idea that you have to be P2P to get frequent content updates and most of the AAA games that went F2P didn't stop getting updates just because of that. I believe star wars has a patch coming or just released.
However now we have three new titles from AAA companies all going P2P and I look at two of them and think they have lost their mind, and really all three seem to be pushing the limits of what they offer vs the rest of the market. Which had me wondering what exactly I WOULD pay a 10-15 dollar a month fee for with all the other options out right now.
This is what I came up with
Role Playing Enforced Servers-
I would pay 15 dollars a month just to avoid having to listen to a chuck norris joke on global chat, or a political opinion from either side of the debate, I do not give a damn about your mother or care for your opinion on some other mother. I would rather not see H8x0rA$$munch pop up in my line of site.
I would pay 15 dollars a month if someone would come into the game and make people Role Play in the mmoRPG...because even if everyone isn't going to get into it, which I totally understand, it would at least keep the worst people quiet or out of the server. (you can make fun of my mother in private chat if you want)
A Game with a GREAT crafting system/ mining system-
I mean a fantasy or modern game of course, eve already has a pretty good system...it is just I don't want to be a spaceship, I want to see the old SWG/UO model of sandbox crafting that is accompanied by the rather hard but needed mechanic of item decay/destruction that ensures that there is always a demand for your supply...you can make the "crafting minigame" as awesome as you want but if there is no demand it doesn't matter.This means no putting parts needed, or crafting tables needed (I am talking to you SOE) in the bottom of a bloody dungeon, but instead have it made from other crafters.
I would pay 15 dollars a month for the joy that comes from setting up a shop and becoming known for the high quality of my swords or armor or whatever. This is something no game has done since SOE decided to rip the beating heart out of SWG and eat it.
A Well thought out bulletproof PvP system with real consequences-
This can be done, you can have open world faction or FFA PvP and still maintain a civil social word, I see the hints of it coming out of Eastern games already...age of wushu does a better job of it than any Western MMO, ArchAge apparently has a good system, they can be made better
I would pay 15 dollars a month for the thrill of being a part of large group of people who are assaulting our hated enemies that hunted us in our favorite gathering ground two months ago, because revenge is sweet. This would probably work best with the other two though. I would pay 15 dollars for a game that has this and doesn't descend into QUAKE in an MMO.
There may be other things I would pay a sub for, but the old themepark level grind probably isn't going to be it, unless it is one hell of a themepark.
Comments
Right now to me personally only WoW has done enough quality content to justify a subscription and due to its age and repetitive core mechanics its not enough anymore.
I would pay a subscription for an mmo with the mechanics from GW2, The freedom of Skyrim (which seems to be a lot more than ESO can handle), The size and content quality from WoW, and high quality graphics no matter what artstyle they use. No content repetition to prolong game time as the core mechanic, if you want me to subscribe as a long term player then make new and fresh content every time you add content. Thats what i pay for, and thats what you should be paid for as a game creator. I am happy relearning my class with new in game mechanics if i dont have to grind the same content with every content patch just a tier higher.
Do this and you will have more long term subscribers. But if you make excuses to keep chasing the wow numbers then dont complain when your game has to become f2p to survive.
EDIT: i dont think my standards are too high. The technology is there, but the companies prefer the easy way out, giving mediocre games and expect constant money flow. If the game creators cant do it, then they clearly lack knowledge to move the genre forward (which is bad for everyone)
Currently Playing: FFXIV:ARR
Looking Forward to: Wildstar
I would much rather pay a sub then play f2p games.
f2p does not exists, its a myth. cause games need to make money.
I say screw the moochers who dont want to pay a sub, all f2p means is we will rape the folks who are willing to support the game thru cash shops.
I think a better question is 'How much would you pay for a subscription?"
Most of the OP's wishes were essentially niche products; RP-centric, PvP-centric and crafting-centric games. Typically, a niche product serving a niche market (smaller) is priced much higher than the standard fare, frequently by a factor as large as 20 times as expensive or more. High-end cosmetics, super-cars, mink coats, etc. are far more expensive than the more pedestrian fare, with no additional functionality.
When anyone says 'subscription' in reference to MMORPGs, it is assumed that the monthly cost will be $15 US. But if companies are changing their revenue models to a micro-transaction based system because it will generate more revenue. What if the $15 US per account per month charge won't cover the company's investment? What if they need to charge $25 US per account per month in order to meet their financial goals?
But what if a company developed and marketed a niche product for that niche market and wanted to offer a subscription? Since the niche market attracts a smaller market, they might decide they need to charge $150 US a month. Or $350 US a month. Or maybe more.
So, what's an upper limit for spending per account per month?
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
talk about subscription keeping the immaturity out of games.... ignorant comments are ignorant. Accept that subs arent the only viable model or keep your "name-calling" opinions to yourself. We dont care.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
What would you pay a sub for?
This
Really? Tell us more....
Actually, I would not be opposed to this route. It has been done before actually in very very old MUD's
Dragon Realms, an old text based game, has the standard server for 15 dollars a month and then a platinum version (which is a smaller more tight nit community with more GM ran activity) for 50 dollars a month.
I do not think I would be willing to spend 50 dollars a month for an MMO unless is was spectacular...however I would probably be willing to spend more than 15 for those options I want in an MMO. Perhaps in the quest for monetary balance companies should look at servers rules as a marketing tool....and I should have mentioned it but I would probably pay for an MMO that had Dev ran events...real GM's actually in the game...on a regular basis.
I wasn't suggesting it, OP asked what I would pay for. I answered. I played (subbed) Rift all through Vanilla. But SL killed it for me.
Wow people still play rift? I would pay for FFXIV ARR. I just hope it doesn't disappoint me
I really cant either...It jsut seems nowadays that we shouldnt have to pay extra to play a video game....I think the cash shop approach works much better as I am paying for things I want.......p2p games may put in new things each month (though very few do) but they may be things I really dont care about.....In a f2p I have the option to buy things, in a p2p I dont.....This is why the model doesnt work for me anymore.....In 2000 we had no choice: If you wanted to play you paid by the month.....We didn't really get anything extra for our money, just the right to play the game (that we had already paid for mind you).......I also really dont like that the second I stop paying everything I have worked for in that game is gone.....To me this is the greatest reason why f2p works.
I would pay a sub for any good game that does NOT have a cash shop. And by good, I mean one that I have fun playing.
I don't like games with cash shops, at all. Not because I am necessarily opposed to the idea, but because I have not seen a game where it is implemented in a way that won't cost me an arm and a leg for very basic game functionality.
Take Guild Wars 2 for example. I like to play alts, in GW2 I would have to pay for extra character slots and then pay for extra bag slots on every one of those characters. Obviously I could forego the extra bag slots and just have less inventory space...but inventory space is a basic game functionality, as indicated in my point above as to why I don't like cash shops.
I far prefer to pay a flat monthly fee and just get every damn thing the game has to offer. Most of the time, imo, it is cheaper that way. And even if not, I don't feel violated by constant marketing in-game that encourages me to use a cash shop.