How far are you willing to pay for content? [Archive]

Ellyidol

12-15-2011, 02:15 PM

I've been thinking about how far I'm personally willing to pay for good content, and I'm wondering the same for others.

Take this situation. How much would you pay for an AO3 calibre campaign in terms of:

1. One time purchase.

And

2. Subscription purchase.

Personally, I would honestly go as far as 100 plat at one time to experience another AO3. Not to mention the amount I may spend through elixirs.

Subscription, as much as $10 a month just from subs alone. Costs as much as WoW, but hey for something I can play anywhere.

This is just coming from an impression that ever since the main spine became free, content quality had also dwindled down with it. The last decent campaign I would gladly pay for again is Sewers, while AO3 being the prime example.

Curious what you guys have to say.

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 02:22 PM

WOW is actually $15 a month, unless they lowered it.

I ALWAYS opt for one time purchases rather than subs. It may be a lot at once, but considering I have it forever and can come and go as I please it's a no brainer for me. This is the best option for the customer but actually screws over the business in the long-term because they cease to get income from you.

CrimsonTider

12-15-2011, 02:24 PM

To be honest, I am not sure I would pay anything at this point. To say I am highly disappointed in the lack of creativity as well as listening to community concerns turns me off to buying any more plat.

If we compare the amount of plat spent now vs. a year ago and compare to the content: huge lapse in creativity and originality.

So for now, it would have to have an overwelming community approval for me to consider this (especially since the Winter Event seems to have already flopped.)

Ellyidol

12-15-2011, 02:29 PM

Too tedious to double quote on app, so pardon my @s.

@bron

I'll have to recheck. 10-15 sounds about right, I think I opted for long term subs which reduced to 10 though.

I also agree. An F2P business model for a game is always more profitable, given the player base is there, however. I just feel like an F2P has an equally strong quit rate as it does a join rate. In other words, I'd rather pay for something guaranteed than play something mediocre.

@Crim

I see your point. The biggest factor leading me to starting this thread was actually the latest WF. I didn't need to play hours on end to see the possible uproar and dissatisfaction coming.

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 02:37 PM

Sorry, I probably should have added that I own lifetime subs to a couple games, which is where I draw my post from. It's very desirable for me to come and go as I please without worrying about "wasting time I paid for" because unless the game itself gets taken down, I can still play tomorrow. All the benefits of a sub, but without the sub. You paid your months in advance, and you are entitled to good service and good content for as long as the game is up.

But again, this hurts the company and not all do it. Once your advance payment is "paid for" (Say $200 divided by $15 if you had paid monthly), you are playing for free on a subscription model. This hurts the company in the long-run.

Pay to unlock forever though, is different. As PL was originally pay to unlock forever and everybody who stayed past level 15 or so had to do it, STS was making good coin from it. This kind of incremental paily to unlock could potentially have brought them more money in the long run, as more content every 3 or so months means another chunk of coin all people need to sink if they want to keep playing. It's almost like a subscription really, although at a much smaller cost.

Of course in the absence of a lifetime option, like you, I would take a discounted multi-month sub, where each month is cheaper than buying per month.

For mobile games such as PL and SL I don't think they will ever offer a lifetime subscription option.

Elyseon

12-15-2011, 02:40 PM

Yeh i liked the old buy campaigns system

Ellyidol

12-15-2011, 02:41 PM

Sorry, I probably should have added that I own lifetime subs to a couple games, which is where I draw my post from. All the benefits of a sub, but without the sub. You paid your months in advance, and you are entitled to good service and good content for as long as the game is up.

But again, this hurts the company and not all do it. Once your advance payment is "paid for" (Say $200 divided by $15 if you had paid monthly), you are playing for free on a subscription model. This hurts the company in the long-run.

For mobile games such as PL and SL I don't think they will ever offer a lifetime subscription option.

Agreed. A friend actually pointed out that these games actually want you "offline" as much as possible since you've already paid; something that I never actually saw and understood til then.

I do think the sub method works for WoW though, with their massive subscription base. Not sure how an F2P would work out for them.

In that sense, I seem to notice that F2P type games are very short-term in nature too. IIRC, most games I get news of shutting down are F2P.

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 02:44 PM

Please give a full 5 to 10 minutes before quoting me. Now you quoted an old post. :)

I too have heard that WOW institutes a lot of lockout and limits on what you can do per day now, so people aren't getting their money's worth and have nothing to do for whole days or possibly weeks, having to wait for reset. This wastes their money and makes Blizzard fat. This might be why WOW numbers have been dropping. People are catching on and moving to games where they can get their money's worth.

Ellyidol

12-15-2011, 02:49 PM

Lol, I did catch the changes though.

I see what you mean, now that you mention it. I didn't even take into account how much money WoW makes through their bi-annual (I think?) expansion sales.

Something which I could see possibly working for STS. I wouldn't mind paying a small sub fee + a couple of one time amounts for campaigns. Both steady and burst in-flows.

razerfingers

12-15-2011, 02:51 PM

Im about to give up on trying to voice my opinion sts doesnt care it seems just sayin...and i dont like your ideas honestly

Ellyidol

12-15-2011, 02:53 PM

razerfingers

12-15-2011, 02:56 PM

i dont like your ideas honestly

If you misunderstood and somehow got the impression that its an idea or a suggestion to implement (which I don't know how you got), you're wrong.

Read the last line. I'm curious what you have to say.
Sorry, misunderstood and kinda irritated at sts so my bad im just tired of seeing simple designed stuff after lvl 50 its retarded and i dont know why i keep playing this game honestly

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 02:56 PM

Added more to above post.

Honestly, I'm one way or the other usually. Either I lifetime for a game and pay close to zero afterward, or I play a F2P game and give them money on my own terms. If I wanna play a sub-only game, SWTOR being a good example, I would go for the most long-term option to save money. Does that make me cheap? I wanna support games I enjoy, but does putting a limit on how much money I give them really make me cheap?

I have all of WOW sitting in my house as of Black Friday and have yet to touch it. I just got it cause the boxes were on sale cheap in case I wanna play years down the road and it doesn't degenerate to fail by then.

LADYHADASSA

12-15-2011, 04:56 PM

I amwith Elli i would pay a larger amount per map.. The old way of purchasing campaigns worked well, though i realize many young ones do not have parents that will spend money for their games, so some players left after lvl 15. The largest spenders in the game are adult players. If sts allowed gift purchases for game currency threw them and not apple I believe many pl players would have had plat coupons under the tree, great for Christmas and would allow for expanded player compassion giving, If i want to buy plat and gift it why not?

I hope there is a way to feed the mouths of the creativity behind the game and keep player interest

StompArtist

12-15-2011, 05:02 PM

Duped

12-15-2011, 05:06 PM

I guess time will tell if people are willing to pay 2 plat per run, because that apparently is the new goal?

Zeusofire

12-15-2011, 05:48 PM

Conradin

12-15-2011, 06:04 PM

why not make 2 campaigns per lvl cap? I mediocre free one- and a sweet plat one (by mediocre i mean like mt fang or nuris) boom everybodies happy. Btw PL's creativity has dropped imo ever since SL came out

Nick41324

12-15-2011, 06:05 PM

Mt. fang didn't have to be free... I wont minded having to pay a small amount of platinum for each map in the future if it will keep everything else at normal cost.

I will pay 5-10 plat for the new maps when the lvl cap increases.

Conradin

12-15-2011, 06:06 PM

Nick41324

12-15-2011, 06:11 PM

aas Somebody said above- ide pay 100 plat for another AO3
What I'm trying to say is, I don't mind paying a tiny more platinum for other add on content if it will keep other insanely high add on content (like the winter festival) at a minimum.

Zeusofire

12-15-2011, 06:12 PM

aas Somebody said above- ide pay 100 plat for another AO3
me three... or four....

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 06:22 PM

Spacetime Studios is a business people! and from what I can tell they are a pretty new business. They need to charge money for their games. They also have the issue that they allow Tapjoy to advertise so people can buy free Platinum which may not be entirely profitable to them. Think about how this game would be without free plat. You need to understand that STS is doing this to make money, and that is respectable.

HOWEVER. The Quality of the game has deteriorated from when I started playing EXACTLY one year ago. Even the holiday gear looks worse. This game needs something very new and creative. It needs to be something that all players can participate in. The AO trilogy of campaigns was incredible, but STS needs to make a new campaign that is as good as it.

AND THEY REALLY NEED TO START LISTENING TO THEIR CONSUMERS.Just a correction: Tapjoy plat us NOT really free. You get it free, but I'm pretty sure to give it to you Tapjoy "buys" it from STS with advertising revenue generated from you completing an offer. This is like clicking an ad. Tapjoy makes money from exposing you to apps. If the plat was truly free and generated from nothing then STS would be losing money by the bucket loads and wouldn't include Tapjoy in it's games.

On STS being a business, there's being a business and there's going overboard with new ways to make money. Xp anywhere and charging per run are definitely examples of unpopular stuff.

Zeusofire

12-15-2011, 06:25 PM

Just a correction: Tapjoy plat us NOT really free. You get it free, but I'm pretty sure to give it to you Tapjoy "buys" it from STS with advertising revenue generated from you completing an offer. This is like clicking an ad. Tapjoy makes money from exposing you to apps. If the plat was truly free and generated from nothing then STS would be losing money by the bucket loads and wouldn't include Tapjoy in it's games.

On STS being a business, there's being a business and there's going overboard with new ways to make money. Xp anywhere and charging per run are definitely examples of unpopular stuff.
What I meant regarding Tapjoy is that they might make more money from us, that is the consumers, if they removed free plat and thereby forced us to buy large bundles at higher prices.
And honestly, the reason they are so unpopular is because people, not all people, want them but don't want to pay more for them. STS really just needs to restructure their fees for in-game services and items.

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 06:29 PM

Free plat is income on top of the bought plat. Removing it would actually lower their income.

Restructuring would be nice. I like supporting the games, but can't pay so much.

nmyxspaceship

12-15-2011, 06:31 PM

O&C i thought was only less than 10$ to play for 3 months and all their intense game content.

For some reason i still chose to play pl i dont know what it is.

Zeusofire

12-15-2011, 06:33 PM

Well... O&C requires wifi and that is very annoying.

StompArtist

12-15-2011, 06:36 PM

Well... O&C requires wifi and that is very annoying.

But its clear on how much money you should expect to spend. Which is not annoying.

bronislav84

12-15-2011, 06:40 PM

I actually own O&C from when it was 99 cents and haven't touched it cause I'm too busy with Legends. Also didn't they allow playing on phone data? Heard if you turn on WiFi and just not connect to anything that you can play on data.

Carth

12-15-2011, 06:57 PM

I'm pretty sure they added 3G usage for O&C. I remember reading something about that awhile back on DroidGamers.

Artemis

12-15-2011, 07:17 PM

I can't afford to pay anything.

Moogerfooger

12-15-2011, 07:52 PM

aas Somebody said above- ide pay 100 plat for another AO3

As would I, and a lot of other vets and even newer players who are discovering The Joys of AO3 for the first time :) Hell, I'd probably pay more than 100 for something AO3/Cyber Quest=quality.

Just got done playing through the new SL campaign. You can tell there seems to be A LOT MORE time spent on design of the new levels, new tactics required, etc. Is impressive...and although I dug it, it bummed out me out because the new PL campaigns are far behind in innovation compared to this new SL campaign.

wvhills

12-15-2011, 08:04 PM

I'd pay 50 plat per new campaign, however I'd be mad as "all get out" if I played and it was rehashed content like mt fang or required elixir use like nuri's.

Pakax

12-15-2011, 08:07 PM

I dont have a ready made answer for this one. I don't mind paying for content and i have spent a significant amount on this game. I stopped short of buying the 500 vanity that has no stats but i used the reroll elixir, and had quite a few runs in winter festivals. And then i stopped 10 mns ago and i am just thinking this is just stupid. Am actually not satisfied about where this is going and spending that money. From memory, when i start thinking that, i soon start getting into other stuff.
I like this game. I'd love to stick around. I hope sts will listeand find a way to charge that doesnt make you feel like an idiot.
Right now, this isnt working.

cjackyo

12-15-2011, 08:27 PM

What im not willing to pay is 2 plat a run........hehe

RedRyder

12-15-2011, 09:09 PM

Remember when everyone complained about ao3 being 20 plat, instead of the normal 5 plat per campaign? I was one of the few that never complained. Some even quit over that. I have no problem paying for good content campaign wise. I would've payed for mt fang. They can charge 500 plat for a gold goat head, but can't make an ao3 quality campaign and charge for it? For another ao3 I'd pay 500 plat. The community needs a campaign the way STS used to provide in their golden days. I've payed for every campaign before they were free, even the ones I knew I wouldn't play. PLEASE charge us for the campaigns instead of making everything so inconvenient for us. Ok, we don't need to do the events, true, but would we like to? Of course we would. Charge us for subscriptions of something, I'd pay $15 a month. Even though it's a phone mmo, idc.

It's better than teasing me with sweet content and expecting me not to participate if I don't like how it's going. We all want to enjoy the fest. to the fullest. I'd prefer paying for a ticket like last years, having unlimited access till the end of it. Charge us one time fee's for content. We'd all be so much more happy

- <3 your friendly neighborhood RedRyder

Fyrce

12-16-2011, 03:01 AM

I bought the campaigns when we had to buy campaigns. I didn't mind that at all. I was surprised when they made all the main spine free.

I do not like subscriptions or time-based stuff because I have a tendency to take multi-month breaks, which means wasted paid time. So I don't usually do that.

Ellyidol

12-16-2011, 03:17 AM

Awesome perspectives and opinions guys, thanks.

I think a quick sum up of what I'm actually feeling (taken from WF feedback post) is that I would pay for quality, simple as that.

To be honest, if the real AO3 came out now instead of then, I don't think I would have an issue at all spending plat for the campaign + elixirs to use it. The maps were almost perfectly challenging with a good team (non-potted), so the "need" to elixir isn't quite there. Not to mention how effective each class was throughout the entire campaign; bears were worth something and great for clearing, birds were essential for OL and highly effective as usual, and mages almost essential for Gurgox.

Now, although you can technically still play without elixirs, for free, etc, it seems that all focus has gone to exactly those - just playing for free and the quality going to the elixirs. I'm not sure if the game being free did this, but if it did, I would rather pay for the app itself than play a "free" MMO that is as shallow as some of the other bad games.

MightyMicah

12-16-2011, 03:24 AM

Heres the way I see it. Pl is an Xbox game. Xbox games are worth about 50 bucks on average? So I put down 800 platinum max For all the campaigns and such. Anything extra is like downloadable content. Costs extra.

zeusabe

12-16-2011, 04:03 AM

Like I said previously, the moment you inject any form of "subscription" in this game, whether be it optional or not, it will be classified as a pay-to-play game as far as "new" customers are concerned. Now, there's not much to debate on where and how PL will place in that particular market because it doesn't need a pro to tell that PL is nowhere near the quality of the other pay-to-play games. Bad move for STS. People are forgiving PL in a lot of its flaws because of that "mobile-game-shield, and free-to-play-shield", remove one, and it's like removing a support wheel in a bicycle, only problem is, PL is not ready...not even close. It's just a casual game for people who cannot afford WoW both in time and money, that's the only excuse in not playing (choosing) anything else (so many games better), time and money, so...that's PL's leverage, it doesn't take much time to learn and it doesn't require money...if you remove one or at least "make people think" you removed one, then...goodbye PL, hello Rift, that's my opinion. Thanks. XD

Riccits

12-16-2011, 04:16 AM

i would pay 100plat too if:

- all items and bosses map design are completely new!
- mobs dont have big amount of hp and a random group with latest sets can run it smoothly without elix.

Deadsoldiers

12-16-2011, 10:59 AM

Yeah i think 100 plat would be acceptable.

MightyMicah

12-16-2011, 11:08 AM

Ok I misunderstood before, I would be willing to pay 100 max; above that and I would resort to twinking.

WhoIsThis

12-16-2011, 11:25 AM

At this point, I am open to the idea of a mixture of one time payments and subscriptions, but the content has to be good enough to be worth paying for.

CrimsonTider

12-16-2011, 11:35 AM

At this point, I am open to the idea of a mixture of one time payments and subscriptions, but the content has to be good enough to be worth paying for.

Precisely! This scares me as the "unknown" would have a huge cost.

And as Ricci stated, gameplay should be smooth without the need for elixirs to simply play.

Flippys

12-16-2011, 11:52 AM

I am willing to pay $100-$120 a year. I've been thinking about this for awhile now, and I'm basing my decision off of how I handle my pc mmo's, namely DDO. I have been playing DDO since it launched back in 2006. I pay a multi-month subscription, which boils down to $10 a month or $120 for the year. Even though I have taken breaks from DDO, I have always maintained my subscriptions(I have 2 accounts with DDO).

That being said, I had to take a step back and look at how I was spending money on PL. The first 6-7 months, I think I invested $50. Not bad at all since I was enjoying the game. My last 5-6 months of playing, I have invested $180 to keep up a satisfactory enjoyment of the game. After I realized that I had spent $230 for a years time on 1 account(and I only pay $240 a year for both of my DDO accounts combined), I needed to change how I was playing.

I do believe that all game developers/companies do listen to the voices in the community, but unfortunately, money talks louder. Having stated that, I decided to stop letting my money talk for me, and I have stuck it back into MY pocket. If I find that a game can not give me satisfactory enjoyment for $120 a year, it's time to find a new game.

Zerious

12-16-2011, 12:38 PM

I would've gladly paid up to 50 plat for this event once as it is now. I think more people would've too. If the devs thought about it, it might've brought in a bigger revenue since not everyone farms these events. They would've proly cashed out better that way. That's just my take on it.

AbsolutePally

12-16-2011, 02:27 PM

Tbh I would rather prefer to have continued to pay for dungeons than have the main spine free. I used to love paying for the dungeons, it was exciting. Bought em all including the ctf/pvp maps as well before they were free so it is normal to me. Subscription would be cool but 10-20 bucks max.
50 to 75 plat per dungeon would be plausable to many imo. Now the dev team should release pvp n ctf maps for 20/30 plat as well for extra revenue too every time a new dungeon is release. Granted the dungeons are new and intricate