Great game, with one major drawback...
By
Acyl,
Posted on: 2009-06-05 22:28 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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May I remind the ones who think that the continuous payment is required for the devteam that it's possible without? There are billions, billions of games that do not have continuous fees and that work perfectly well. Such as S4 league, MapleStory, the aforementioned games Age of Conan, GuildWars, Dungeons & Dragons online and Lord of the Rings Online. How can they get by? The same way NCSoft could get by with City of Heroes/Villains.
Sharker Quint: Reword it please. Your comment makes no sense.
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S4 and Maple Story are microtransaction games where they give you in-game benefits (through special one-or-limited use items, or items only useable for a short period) that you purchase with the currency of your country of origin. Some people spend more then $15 a month for these benefits, and I know at least a few people that have and did spend over a hundred dollars a month to play those and similar games.
LotRO and DDO both only offered 'lifetime' subscriptions to those people that had been around at Launch, as a courtesy and a thank-you to those that had been with them since the Beta, while not allowing people that purchased outside of a certain period (I do believe 3 months for LotRO) to have similar benefits.
Guild Wars is a bit unique, though they also have paid expansions coming out like clockwork that they make you pay for, as well.
A grand majority of the 'free to play' games are, in reality, based on a microtransaction pay model.
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It's also the model used by some of the bigger games, because while some of those do offer lifetime subscriptions, I know two of those limit them only to people that went from Beta to Launch or bought the Collector's edition, and put everyone else on a monthly subscription.
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In the case of LOTRO, the "Founders" plan allowed people to get the lifetime subscription for $200. Anyone can get it now for $300.
By way of anecdote, I don't know *anyone* who would pay $300 all at once to play an MMO, even if they knew they'd save money in the long run.
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Ah, that's a huge change from when I was actually playing it, then. My bad thar.
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S4 league
[/ QUOTE ] Not familiar with that game, so I can't comment.
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MapleStory
[/ QUOTE ] Not nearly as deep as CoH, and the game engine is miles behind.
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Age of Conan
[/ QUOTE ] That game is a bust. Bad example.
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Lord of the Rings Online
[/ QUOTE ] They also do monthly subs, which plenty of people use.
So what business model do you think would be better for CoH? How would it provide constant money coming in? Give a suggestion and support it.
reword what? we just had this discussion with a guy who wanted the fee to be lowered to $10/month because he doesn't know how to budget his money. and you comming in here without any valid reasoning behid your rant serves no purpose other then to get yourself some serious well deserved flamming. like i said, if your not going to be around after your yr sub runs out then why bother in the first place? basically what your saying is heres my money, i wont really be playing and after 1 yr i'm gone so you won't see anymore of my money.
this game is one of the few that puts out free issues. in other words you don't have to pay for an expansion like most other games. go enjoy your "free" MMO's and when you have to pay for an expansion, remember what we told you.
Combination. Allow for Monthly Fees, a One Time payment and Continuous Fee Add-ons. That should make enough money, and it would draw more customers.
For your info: S4 league is a more dynamic battle game with a very complex game engine, and is continuously updated. Everything is accesible through normal play, except for the newly released AP+ items, which provide nearly nothing extra.
There are games that have Lifers. There are those which don't. This one doesn't.
It offers a lot, specially if you are entering now. The game is more rounded-up by years of updating, there is a ton of content waiting for you, there's an expansion in the near future, the community is great and it's a very good game.
Comparing "microtransaction X monthly" is comparing two very different things. It's like complaining that company X does not sell cars the the seat the way you like it. Those games are completely different animals. Don't put Maple Story in the same sentence as CoX, LotRO and AoC.
By the way, AoC, AFAIK, does not offer Lifers. I have an account, and it only shows 1, 3 and 6 months. At least for the US servers.
"Getting by" is ok, if your business plan started with a format from the get-go. That's not the case with CoX. So, moot point. $ 15 is not a fortune, and it's a fair amount for a game of this caliber.
MMOs might not be your forté, I think. Games cost a lot of money to make, nowadays. Single Player games might suit your needs better. I like both, and understand that both work in vary different ways, from inception to shelf.
I thought the major drawback was people could post in the forums not related to tech issues while on the free month.
While other MMOs have successfully had lifetime subscriptions in addition to their monthly subscription plans, very few bona fide MMOs have lifetime subscriptions in place of monthly subscription plans, and for good reason.
As for Guild Wars, people have already pointed out why it can get away with this - firstly it is far less of an MMO than most with a 'world' that consists entirely of towns and secondly it offsets the lack of income from subscriptions with regular for-pay updates.
All other MMOs I'm aware of have a monthly subscription plan and that's the bulk of their income. I doubt any MMO is going to do away with that, as it would make no sense. As for "not getting anything" for your monthly sub, you get plenty. You get free updates every few months or so: you get a constantly evolving and improving game. If you're one of those people who just wants to 'own' a game then perhaps MMOs simply aren't for you.
The chances of NCSoft doing away with monthly subscriptions is virtually nil (not to mention unwise). If they were to implement a lifetime subscription program, I'd expect it to cost more than a year of play at the monthly rate (i.e. at least $180, probably significantly more).
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
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It's also the model used by some of the bigger games, because while some of those do offer lifetime subscriptions, I know two of those limit them only to people that went from Beta to Launch or bought the Collector's edition, and put everyone else on a monthly subscription.
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In the case of LOTRO, the "Founders" plan allowed people to get the lifetime subscription for $200. Anyone can get it now for $300.
By way of anecdote, I don't know *anyone* who would pay $300 all at once to play an MMO, even if they knew they'd save money in the long run.
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Ah, that's a huge change from when I was actually playing it, then. My bad thar.
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Yep, it was changed at some point. I got in on one of the "sales" when it was $200.
And I still haven't played enough to cover it. :P
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If they were to implement a lifetime subscription program, I'd expect it to cost more than a year of play at the monthly rate (i.e. at least $180, probably significantly more).
[/ QUOTE ] I would guess $400, solely because plenty of people would be willing to pay it.
A monthly fee is pretty much the standard for Western MMOs with any sort of a budget. It's part of the package deal. It's like asking to pay a monthly fee for Wii games.
Doing a lifetime subscription, period, is a bit of a gamble with your money, and I imagine a lot of MMO companies that don't decide to go with a microtransaction model already know.
Taking the one example we have numbers for, $300 is a bit short of two years paying a standard subscription fee. When you're looking at this sort of thing, you have to wonder if the game servers will be up in a two year period (Tabula Rasa) in the first place, let along long enough after that for you to get a significant savings from it. Then you have to consider whether you, the player, are even going to be that interested in a game long enough to make the most of that time.
That's a bit of a gamble for a game that's already been out for five years, and constantly updated with a fair amount of free content in that time as it is. I mean, statistically, this far out it could potentially close next year, and if you bought a 'lifetime' subscription now you'd actually lose out on the deal. If you even played that long.
I'm sort of glad I never got a lifetime sub to any of the games I'd been considering it, because a quick cost-benefit analysis showed that there were better uses of the time/money then that. There's been two games so far that I wish I had, and neither of them offered the option. I can't say I think this is a bad, long-term choice for the companies in question.
Many, many MMOs operate on the monthly fee model. Go take up the banner for lifetime subscriptions over on the WoW forums; I suspect you'll get about the same reception for your idea that you're getting over here.
Companies lose money on lifetime subscriptions, generally speaking. It's why LiveJournal very rarely sells permanent accounts. Dreamwidth, a similar-in-concept site, just recently wrapped up their sale of permanent accounts, and they'll never be offered again (specifically because they lose money over time because of them). No, those are not MMOs, and they do offer free accounts, but they also don't provide the level of entertainment that CoH does (well, I guess that could be argued 
, but a blogging site is not a videogame, either way). It's just an example of how companies have flat-out admitted that selling permanent subscriptions is not a great business model.
City of Heroes also continually releases free issues every few months with good chunks of added content. In that, compared to games like WoW where every expansion is a paid one, we're pretty lucky.
I'm just a holy fool, oh baby it's so cruel
Thessalia, by Darkchildx2k
I could afford a 300$ lifetime, I just couldn't (wouldn't even try) to justify spending that sum. A monthly fee of 20$ or less is what I'm willing to spend in one transaction, even if I'm saving 20$ a month next year.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
I'd also add that a monthly fee gives us players economic leverage. If the devs let the game get stale or lose quality, we can just cancel and go play something else. If they already HAD our money, they lose nothing if we leave.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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I'd also add that a monthly fee gives us players economic leverage. If the devs let the game get stale or lose quality, we can just cancel and go play something else. If they already HAD our money, they lose nothing if we leave.
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On a tangent, though, would we really want those kind of people to retain forum privledges?
I mean, geez. Can you imagine getting stuck with Johnny_Butane for your entire game's career...? Or worse people.
I'm probably on a few people's lists.
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May I remind the ones who think that the continuous payment is required for the devteam that it's possible without? There are billions, billions of games that do not have continuous fees and that work perfectly well. Such as S4 league, MapleStory, the aforementioned games Age of Conan, GuildWars, Dungeons & Dragons online and Lord of the Rings Online. How can they get by? The same way NCSoft could get by with City of Heroes/Villains.
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You are barking up the wrong tree. You will hear nothing but "get off my lawn".
TBH CoX gets you in every way they can. Monthly fees, micro transactions and paid expansions. I'm surprised they don't offer a direct deposit option for automated banking 
Whatever though, everyone wants to make a buck and thankfully up till now the micro transactions have all been fluff.
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I'd also add that a monthly fee gives us players economic leverage. If the devs let the game get stale or lose quality, we can just cancel and go play something else. If they already HAD our money, they lose nothing if we leave.
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On a tangent, though, would we really want those kind of people to retain forum privledges?
I mean, geez. Can you imagine getting stuck with Johnny_Butane for your entire game's career...? Or worse people.
I'm probably on a few people's lists.
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I'm quite possibly on 97% of people's lists. The other 3% love me to death.
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At heart, all of you agree with me.
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I wholeheartedly disagree with you. I enjoy giving money to this game, since the more I give the more they have to make it better. The only reason I'm currently on a 6-month plan instead of the more expensive month-by-month plan is because the economy in general is bad right now. Once it gets better and I can afford it, I fully intend to go back to the monthly plan just so Paragon gets more money to play with. I also buy all of the add-ons even if I don't like what I get for them, just to give money to the game I love.
I also know for a fact that I'm not the only one that feels this way.
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everyone wants to make a buck
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God forbid.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
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The other 3% love me to death.
[/ QUOTE ] There's just no hope for some people... 
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And that is the fact that you can't buy it. This game is great, dynamic battles, good graphics, vast area, billions of options, but it lacks the opportunity to buy it permanently. I would've bought it if I could, but I'm not going to spend a monthly fee on it. No matter how great the trial may be.
Couldn't you have sold permanent accounts for thrice the money, or something like that?
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if I think CoH is giving me my moneys worth of entertainment then it continues to get my monthly payment
been here three years and still think it's been worth every penny. try another game if you don't think it's worth your time
There is no such thing as an "innocent bystander"
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The other 3% love me to death.
[/ QUOTE ] There's just no hope for some people...
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And oh thank God for them.
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At heart, all of you agree with me. A one time fee would be far better.
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False. Do NOT presume to speak for me.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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It's also the model used by some of the bigger games, because while some of those do offer lifetime subscriptions, I know two of those limit them only to people that went from Beta to Launch or bought the Collector's edition, and put everyone else on a monthly subscription.
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In the case of LOTRO, the "Founders" plan allowed people to get the lifetime subscription for $200. Anyone can get it now for $300.
By way of anecdote, I don't know *anyone* who would pay $300 all at once to play an MMO, even if they knew they'd save money in the long run.