Paragon Points Clarification

DDO changed to that model to earn more revenue, and they did. A lot more.
PS couldn't care less if they have subscribers as long as they're bringing in more capitol consistantly. It is a business after all. Which is why this seems highly questionable to me. I just fail to see how the same carrot they already used, trial accounts, which isn't working according to some, is going to fix everything if they just make points available and remove a couple restrictions.

Harr.

I choose to believe that my wording is a slightly clearer version with the same meaning, but I understand why they chose their phrasing: it is simpler to say "If you give us money, that makes you Premium."

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I just finished my list on the last page (see this post). If you guys could give it a once-over and make sure I didn't miss anything big, I'd appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

I _think_ STO's was limited time only. Don't quote me though.

You are correct in blaming the spammers. Trial accounts used to have much less restrictions than they currently do, and the restrictions on the new Free accounts are for the same reasons.

Also, the Premium is both an incentive for a Free player to make a purchase and a method for (what would currently be) inactive accounts to be able to play their characters and they game they previously played at no cost. Since financial reasons are one of the reasons players cite for canceling their subscription, this seems like a good way to bring back old players and try to get them to once again subscribe. The Reactivation weekends were nice, but this gives a bit of a different take on that.

I can't imagine why this would be remotely a good idea. And I know other games do it. But I'll be 100% frank here: our idea of "balance" in City of Heroes would be laughable bordering on embarrassing everywhere else in the industry. We allow performance ranges that would get people fired and games terminated, because we feel its the price to pay to have the levels of power we want to be able to represent in a superhero game.

Allowing people to earn the functional equivalent of money in this game for doing content would mean, no question, no option, and no discussion, levels of game rebalancing that would be draconian to players familiar with this game. As far as I'm concerned, debating this point is like debating the color of the sky.

I'm sorry I fail to see how this makes sense at all. Giving them 5 points for completing the ITF would wreck the game in what way exactly that you couldn't perhaps say AE already did. What does performance ranges in game have to do with say, buying the Posi TF from the Paragon store with points you earned in game?

*pops a bag of popcorn*

*props feet up on the couch*

*sits back to enjoy the show*

-snicker-

*Does the same.*

I started debating this, but Arcanaville has much more stamina when it comes to debating things like this.

Well since I'm the only one who apparently actually plays another MMO AND an F2P one and have been playing this one easily as long as any of you, I sincerely doubt she can say anything that will _actually_ make any sense. There's nothing she can say that will make me believe letting free players earn some points in game and then buy a double xp potion, or time travel, or a skirt will require even the slightest shred of rebalancing, because quite frankly it won't.

The ITF can be done in under 20 minutes by people who really want to, and the "AE Baby" fiasco didn't supplant anything you could buy with real money*--powerlevelling to 50 didn't get you access to the Magic Booster.

I see where you're coming from, but I'm siding with Arcanaville on this one... it really doesn't make sense given the pace of this game.

*Well, nothing you could pay Paragon Studios for, anyway. It did put a dent in unlicensed RMTers' wallets, so I guess it's got that going for it...

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

No thanks. I don't like mixing Snickers and popcorn.

I don't like popcorn, I'll take the snickers.

-sigh- I knew that ITF reference would bite me on... would say, the original Praetorian arc be a more to your liking point of reference?

This. Basically the entire game would have to rebalanced to take much longer to progress so as to not allow such an allowance for free players to be exploited. In the long run it's not worth the trouble and effort.

How about 1 free point the first time each badge is earned (per account)?

... *casually puts a hand down, covering up his badge total* >_>











Note: This post is facetious, farcical and intended only for funniness.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Well, not exactly.... you can do it so as doing certain missions gives you a kind of karma and once you get a certain amount of karma you get some free points and you set it so you can only earn that set of karma points once per character and.. of course this isn't my idea...

But it really wouldn't be hard to implement at all.

Say.. doing all the your contacts missions in atlas would get you 5 points, or 1 point. Completing the tutorial would give you 5 points, to wet your appetite.. if you don't like that set it to once per server.

Written a lot of MMO code have ya?

While I see where you are coming form with this and I can even see a few places where some 'earned' points now and then might make some sense, it is simply too exploitable.

For example, let's take an RMT spammer. The account gets played 24/7 by slave labor. It earns enough free points in the first few hours to be able to use those points to gain access to global/broadcast channels and POOF! we have a new RMT spambot.

While I can see Paragon, possibly, someday, maybe adding a way to earn points, I doubt it will be anytime soon.

Small nitpick -- it's actually "whet" your appetite, which means "to sharpen."

It doesn't help the above phrasing that when you drink, you "wet your whistle."

Damn you, inventors of popular English sayings!!!

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Try arare (Japanese rice crackers) or peanut M&Ms

Anyhow - there are plenty of other ways to try and seduce free players into paying money. I still like sales, coupons and promotions, myself. They can be regular, time limited, and generous, but Paragon keeps control of everything. Other MMOs do this, as does digital stores like Steam, Impulse, etc. Works great in retail, online and off. Very tried and true.

I personally wouldn't mind some cross promotion between NCSoft titles like what happened between Guild Wars and Aion. "Free GW: Prophecies Mesmer outfit with purchase of $5 or more, this week in the Paragon Shop."

Ah, but it's all a matter of scale. Like I said, let them earn the points once per server. Make it take 200 arcs to earn 400 points. Those arguments are easy to accomodate. And the code? Adding in a switch that makes certain events add a number to a number once should be relatively simple for seasoned developers.

I am so tempted to go change it and act like I don't know what you're talking about...

Obviously, you are determined to somehow make this seem logical and implementable.

Good luck with that.

-shrug- I'm not determined, it is and it is. There really isn't a good argument why this would be game destroying. In my semi-experienced opinion this works, and works well. But hey, I'm just suggesting what I see as a way to better make the game prosper, and I know nobody wants that...