Aura_Familia

Originally Posted by Nethergoat

I keep saying this in these kinds of threads and it keeps getting ignored, but over a six year lifespan not raising the sub fee IS "increased value".

I'm not interested enough to do a detailed survey, but I'll wager there aren't that many entertainment services that haven't hiked prices in the last six years.

$14.95 in 2004 dollars carried more purchasing power than $14.95 today.
The fact that we've ALSO been getting 'increased value' via big changes arriving with the 'free' issues is pretty amazing, and IMHO should earn the devs some credit with any reasonable gamer.

Boosters are a way for them to increase income without increasing sub fees. Players that want to 'opt in' can do so, everyone else can just ignore it. I really don't understand all the complaining.

Originally Posted by UberGuy

I think it's worth noting that at least one game in the industry has gone free to play and increased its revenue. DDO did this, and it now sustains itself wholly on micro transactions for in-game perks (some of which affect character progress). I heard but have done no research to confirm that LotRO is switching to this same model.

I'm not saying that CoH should or even could make the switch to such a model, but it has been done successfully.

Originally Posted by GuyPerfect

Is NCsoft dumb enough to shoot themselves in the foot and make all their customers leave? Certainly not. Are they allowed to be? Absolutely. Our money doesn't dictate that one way or the other.

Originally Posted by GuyPerfect

*Ptoo* I'd rather put words in my own mouth, thank you very much.

To answer the question, I doubt NCsoft could make City of Heroes free and still keep everything floating. Unless I'm mistaken, it's their largest source of revenue and if nothing else, it's what keeps the other games running.

Apply your intuition anywhere you want; in the end it doesn't matter. Our bank statements show a purchased subscription, not paid bills and salaries.

Originally Posted by GuyPerfect

We are not investors: our $15 each month is not for supporting a company or its development efforts; it is for purchasing a service. This is an important distinction, because it defines what we should be expecting in return for our payments. What we should expect is access to the game. What we should not expect is absolutely anything else, including continued development and customer support.

Originally Posted by Golden Girl

You need to look at the bigger picture though - the framework of GR is loyalist = bad, Resistance = good - which is reflected in the new I19 TFs, for example - the meta-story is the Praetorian dictatorship vs Primal Earth, but the micro-stories within it can have shades of gray - so while Tyrant is the meta-story supervillain, a micro-story where you do something morally wrong in the fight against him - like in a lot of the Crusader arcs - is still the wrong thing to do - you're using evil to fight evil, so you're not a hero.

The major reference point for morality in the game is Paragon City - the "City of Heroes" - it's always the good side, and anyone or anything that attacks or threatens it are always the bad side.

So while Crusaders can try and blow up a hospital in an attempt to bring down the evil dictatorship in Praetoria, and Arachnos can fight within itself and against other villain factions, any fight in Paragon City is good vs bad.
The new Tip missions with Longbow are a good example - Longbow is a heroic organization, but when any of their members cross the line and become vigilantes, it's up to Heroes to step in and stop them - for those missions, Longbow becomes "bad", because they're doing the wrong thing, and so they become the enemies of Heroes in those missions.

Originally Posted by Eiko-chan

*facepalm*

You even quoted my caveat refuting this, and yet you still went ahead and said it.

Originally Posted by Eiko-chan

They'd save a bundle on server upkeep outside the two/three months a year when there was a new issue.

But it wouldn't happen, because people like me want to be able to play the game on our schedule, not the release schedule.

Originally Posted by galadiman

I still hold to my argument: If you don't want it, can't afford it, don't think it's worth it, or are totally against the thought of paying extra for some of the content, Don't Buy It.

Originally Posted by Slashman

Anyway, this brings me to my last point. A booster pack is a one time buy. If content delivery is gong to hinge on money made, then getting more customers into(and staying with) the game is worth a whole lot more than good sales on a single booster pack. Those people are going to continue to give you $15 a month for as long as they stay.

Originally Posted by Zyphoid

Costume options will all ways sell. At some point they will realize that Costumes, and power customization are this game's bread and butter.

I also agree that after 12 mo (or so) they should open them up to be purchased with hero/villain merits. This goes for the vet costumes too. A reflection of maturity I guess, because a few years ago I would have been dead set against it.

Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane

-Ninja Run, Self Destruct, Mystic Fortune and Secondary mutation are all highly amusing novelty powers, but that's what they are, novelties. They are the kind of thing that should be in a booster pack.

But...

- Changing height at the tailor, a feature almost everyone had been asking for since forever, should NOT have been sold in a booster pack.

-Open Present, an emote that has been in the game for years and was already animated and done, should NOT have been sold in a booster pack.

-The various sports and dance emotes of the Party Pack, ones Positron himself identified months ago as being part of Going Rogue and were part of the Going Rogue beta until they were pulled at the last minute, should NOT have been sold in a booster pack.

-Any of the repurposed enemy group costume parts David and the art guys are working to adapt to players(but really should always have been available to begin with), should NOT be sold in a booster pack.


Aditionally:

-Any feature sold in a booster pack, after a 12 month period of exclusivity, should also be able to be earned/unlocked in-game via Hero/Villain/Reward Merits.

-Really, that should apply to some Vet Rewards too at this point.



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Originally Posted by Kasoh

Sometimes ideas people have may be good ideas, but aren't in the direction where the Development team wants to allocate resources. By framing the suggestion in the form of a Booster, it provides incentive to the Development team to give the idea a second look. Presumably, some things are issue material and others are Booster material, though that's supposition on my part.

Originally Posted by Angelxman81

Well, I think we can get both. Some Incarnate stuff (1-2 levels per Issue), more power customization, and bits of QoL improvements.
They never focus on just one thing.
I gotta say I rather see Power Pool and APP customization before we get more alternate animations. I got used to animations, and I would love to get new ones, but power pools looks awful, people complains against Speed and Medicine pools since forever. I think power pools deserve some love NAO.

Originally Posted by GMan3

If you go back to the beginning of my posts about this, I think you will find there is very little emotion involved. I did not like the falsehood and said it, then clarified why to another poster. I am not sorry though that being lied to pisses me off. It's a part of life I deal with. Then in stepped GG who, as usual, exaggerated most of the things being said to make it sound like I was being unreasonable. Honestly, I do not understand how wanting to NOT be lied to is unreasonable. If, however, it doesn't bother you (the proverbial you, not you directly) then good for you I guess.

Originally Posted by james_joyce

no, I don't think it should be less ignorable. Ignorable is good. It should be apparent, and easy to figure out, but as non-disruptive as possible.

You could do a lot of things to improve it, like make the compass way points visible everywhere, make the mechanics more obvious, improve the rewards, add a fight gimmick, give a better sense of distributed progress, etc. But making it less ignorable would make it worse.

I wouldn't expect any big improvements on it, though, because I think it works well enough and the devs probably don't want to spend a lot of resources on last year's addition to the event. I'm guessing they're focusing on the new tip mission.

Originally Posted by MadJack

I've never really used Mids, can you import from the game in any way?

Originally Posted by Lothic

I think you basically answered/explained why they are "cutting the event short" this year for yourself.

Originally Posted by Rock_Crag

I don't know about anyone else, but Villains is a bit of a mixed bag for me. They have some of my favorite class types and NPC characters, but the environment is just so.... dull. Combine that with lack of interesting content (Less SFs than TFs, fewer zones, fewer giant monsters, etc) and it's easy to see why people switched.

Originally Posted by Dollymistress

Can we choose at the end whether to help the Praetorian invasion, instead of hinder it?