What is the value of the VIP Server?
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-09-10 17:01 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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My sentiments exactly.
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Originally Posted by ShadowWhisper
However what I don't fully understand about that stance is the why a VIP playing on a "standard" server should be treated differently than a VIP on Exalted. I take no issue with there being Exalted-exclusive events mind, I'm just not sure it's logically consistent that two VIPs who pay the same subscription fees might be treated rather differently just because one elected to move/reroll on Exalted.
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Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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I've no intention of switching characters who happen to be ranking members of SGs to some other server, losing all their history of earned prestige and the like. Of course, those characters who I would bother with such minutiae on are the ones I do things like badge with.|
Originally Posted by BrandX
So, you switch to Exalted for the event, and then go back to your regular server for regular game play.
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Now, if I can send any character over, because it's an account-wide reward, then fine. I still won't transfer anyone - I'll just create a disposable character on Exalted.
I've spent seven years on the same server. All my investment in server-specific things is there. I am not going to uproot to avoid the "unwashed masses" of F2P players. (I learned how to avoid the unwashed masses long ago!) As such, I certainly don't expect to be left out of anything VIP-relatd just because of that server loyalty. I am not predicting that outcome from this event, but if that does end up happening, they're going to be getting some nastygrams from me.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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VIP-only zones would do the trick.
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Originally Posted by Sun_Runner
Because, outside of putting in "no free or premium allowed" mechanics that block the free and premium accounts from even seeing the events let alone interacting with them, the only place to give the VIP VIP-only events is the VIP server.
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Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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To me the value of the VIP server is twelve more free character slots. Altitis is a wonderful thing. |
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
The value of the VIP server is the voluntary self-segregation of players who are too good to play with just anyone, and their replacement with scads of new players who have yet to develop such personality defects.
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None of my characters are moving; only new ones will be made.
Exalted is the server I'm going to move all the 50s I don't play anymore. Kind of like a retirement home for super heroes, or a graveyard.
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Because making events that free/premium players can't access or see will motivate them to take part in them how exactly?|
Originally Posted by Sun_Runner
I hope that the VIP server receives more and better than every non-subscriber-accessible server as a means to encourage play on the Exalted server and as a benefit to the "valued subscriber" to reward (read: encourage) their (continued) subscription.
Free Accounts are objectively inferior to a Premium Account. (Free Accounts are more limited than Premium Accounts.) Premium Accounts are objectively inferior to a VIP Account. (Premium Accounts are more limited than VIP Accounts.) Encouraging Free Accounts to become Premium Accounts and Premium Accounts to become VIP Accounts is something that they should be doing (as a corporation that desires to increase its' profits). Making this pointedly clear by emphasizing the benefits of being VIP (over the alternatives) is something to be encouraged. Want the new shiny? Subscribe. This, as well. |
I seriously doubt any free/premium players will even look at the website/forums due to the fact they will be unable to actually do anything there. So how do they find out about how wonderful things are?
The value of the VIP server to me is...
Zortel opens the VIP server and watches a veritable smorgasbord of comedy effect moths flutter away.
Nothing. I don't intend to use it to store characters, I don't intend to play on it, and I shall be rather sad if after the VIP Headstart it becomes a place to be on for hand outs from the devs to all their VIP kiddies.
Union, baby. That's where I made my first character, it's where I'll make my last character. If being a VIP on Union means missing out on random give-aways on Exalted, so be it.
Exalted won't have Forse's plate of bourbon biscuits.
So Neener Neener.
Union will be keeping those. Biscuit Z?
Forse: lvl 22 FF/NRG Defender
Tam Krannock: lvl 37 Shield/Mace Tanker
Toppa Grace: lvl 25 Fire/Ice Blaster
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Red Commissar: I'm in the Queen Mother. Only more awesome. And alive
If this is seen as a some kind of incentive to subscribe, it's not. On the contrary, it's exactly the reverse - it's an inconvenience. It's not enough that I'm a paying subscriber, but now I have to move to a server I never wanted in the first place? Am I not paying enough already? Is one of the perks of Freedom not SPECIFICALLY to pay to remove such inconveniences?
Existing VIPs are already playing on other servers and have both established communities there and more characters than Exalted will hold, let alone more than can be transfered within a reasonable amount of time. Never mind that not everyone WANTS to be on a VIP server. Future Premium and Free players simply don't have characters on Exalted, and even if they subscribed, their paltry one character transfer a month isn't going to mean much for moving there, not to mention I'd bet dollars to doughnuts their names will be taken there.
A publicity stunt to promote the new server for a short while, that I can get. But having the Exalted server be "better" than all the others is a really bad idea and a really unnecessary one, as well. The VIP server's only purpose in existence is to be exclusionary, and it's exclusionary to VIPs pretty much just the same as Premium and Free players, because not every VIP will want to play there. Not every VIP SHOULD want to play there. The game has 15 other servers that VIPs have already been playing on for years.
There is quite literally nothing to be gained by making the VIP server "better" which couldn't be gotten from running mail-in contests where only VIPs apply.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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They're stress-testing the new server for a couple of weeks before the actual release of Freedom. I thought that was obvious.
Winner of Players' Choice Best Villainous Arc 2010: Fear and Loathing on Striga; ID #350522
Now see, I think the new VIP server is a great idea and I fully intend to use it.
One of the biggest perks for me is that I'll get to meet/team with veteran players from other servers that I never knew existed. It'll feel like I'm part of the United Nations of Servers. I also expect that the Dev-related "head start" events don't portend doom for seeing future Dev events on other servers. Its just a bit of promotion and encouraging folks to try something new. When Freedom opens up to the unsubcribed, I fully expect the Devs to run server-wide events to make those new players feel quite at home too.
Sure, Hubby and I may move a couple of 50's to Exalted but we expect to roll some new toons and play there regularly as we do on our home server. And why not? The more we branch out and make new friends, the better our overall gaming experience becomes.
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That is provided there are more than a handful of other VIPs that share that sentiment but more importantly, what is stopping you from doing that now? You can roll a character on any server you like and play with people from there.
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Originally Posted by Rubberlad
Now see, I think the new VIP server is a great idea and I fully intend to use it.
One of the biggest perks for me is that I'll get to meet/team with veteran players from other servers that I never knew existed. |
I view Exalted, the VIP server, and any VIP exclusive event as a carrot to dangle in front of the Premium and Free accounts. How many of us when leaving a team/ league state what we are going to do and/ or why we are leaving? Messages like 'Bedtime. Cya tmw' and 'I'm switching to another toon on server X to do Y' are commonplace. So when we, the VIP's, excise ourselves from a team and state that we are going to Exalted for an event, we are actually encouraging, advertising, and reinforcing the reasons to be VIP.
The VIP server offers the ability to claim names you've never had access to. It offers a server without an an already established community. It offers a server without its own cliques, except those that move there. It offers a server where all players will have the same access level for all content, with all means of communication available to them. It means you get names you may have wanted, and don't have to worry that some of your team can't do such and such.
I do not think even the devs think these are enough to make people game exclusively there. I DO think the server stands as an extra hook: if you make a new character there, you MUST continue to pay to play there. Lose your subscription, lose your access there. Even if you play on various servers, this stuff is guaranteed to go when you stop paying. It's no wonder they're doing low level opening stuff there. They don't necessarily want people to MOVE there, as they want to START there. They have to incentivize people playing there to get things established. Having a server you lose with your subscription is not the easiest of sells, so getting people started there means helps get things established, so that people have that much more reason to keep the sub up. Certainly there are other reasons, but from the business side, that's what I see driving the VIP server. (Yeh, I can be cynical, but tell me it doesn't make sense.)
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By switching to the Exalted server, I meant alt over. Not transfere a character to it.|
Originally Posted by UberGuy
I've no intention of switching characters who happen to be ranking members of SGs to some other server, losing all their history of earned prestige and the like. Of course, those characters who I would bother with such minutiae on are the ones I do things like badge with.
Now, if I can send any character over, because it's an account-wide reward, then fine. I still won't transfer anyone - I'll just create a disposable character on Exalted. I've spent seven years on the same server. All my investment in server-specific things is there. I am not going to uproot to avoid the "unwashed masses" of F2P players. (I learned how to avoid the unwashed masses long ago!) As such, I certainly don't expect to be left out of anything VIP-relatd just because of that server loyalty. I am not predicting that outcome from this event, but if that does end up happening, they're going to be getting some nastygrams from me. |
For this first event, it's a low level event. So you make a character, joint he event, and get the global badges.
If later there is a high level content, you could always transfere (if you have one) an unplayed character there to participate with.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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Let me put it this way - if I refused to make a fake Facebook account just to get the Faceplam emote, I'm not going to go out of my way to make fake characters on a server I have no intention of playing on. I don't react well to coercion and incentive. I play this game how I want, when I want, and this is not going to change any time soon.|
Originally Posted by BrandX
By switching to the Exalted server, I meant alt over. Not transfere a character to it.
For this first event, it's a low level event. So you make a character, joint he event, and get the global badges. If later there is a high level content, you could always transfere (if you have one) an unplayed character there to participate with. |
Luckily, all of this is rhetoric. The developers know better than to turn Exalted into Club Snob by making it "better" than the rest of the game. This is a publicity stunt, a stress test and a way to get at least some population on the server right out the gate so people don't start characters on it and find it's just them and five other people. That much is understandable, and I have no problem with it. After so many years of US-only out-of-game contests, what's a few more I won't participate in?
At the end of the day, I trust the development team will still value and respect their subscribers regardless of where they happen to prefer to play.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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True. That misses the point however that most folks stay rooted to their "home" server and never venture out anywhere else. Ideally, Exalted will draw veteran players from *all* the servers. Makes it a lot easier to play with folks from Virtue, Justice, Victory, Freedom, etc all at the same time instead of having to make the rounds. |
Originally Posted by Giant2005
That is provided there are more than a handful of other VIPs that share that sentiment but more importantly, what is stopping you from doing that now? You can roll a character on any server you like and play with people from there.
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I think folks are being a little too pessimistic about the VIP server. I honestly think its a great thing and won't take away from "home server" gameplay at all.
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Originally Posted by UberGuy
I've no intention of switching characters who happen to be ranking members of SGs to some other server, losing all their history of earned prestige and the like. Of course, those characters who I would bother with such minutiae on are the ones I do things like badge with.
Now, if I can send any character over, because it's an account-wide reward, then fine. I still won't transfer anyone - I'll just create a disposable character on Exalted. I've spent seven years on the same server. All my investment in server-specific things is there. I am not going to uproot to avoid the "unwashed masses" of F2P players. (I learned how to avoid the unwashed masses long ago!) As such, I certainly don't expect to be left out of anything VIP-relatd just because of that server loyalty. I am not predicting that outcome from this event, but if that does end up happening, they're going to be getting some nastygrams from me. |
Yup, this is my boat.
IF they allowed SG bases to be saved like costume slots, and ported over with the SG leader, then I might consider moving to Exalted when I built up enough transfers to move all my characters.
But my characters are all linked, I've spent a TON of time and resources on their bases, they RP, and there's no way I'm going to move any of them off to be a stranger in a strange land with no resources.
And for what? So I can play with a bunch of strangers? I can already do that on Virtue if I want to!
I also have at least 3-4 real life friends who've had a tough time the last year who haven't been able to justify sub money for an MMO in their lives. They're planning on coming back as Premiums, and I'd rather play with them than a bunch of other strangers just because those strangers, like myself, pay a sub.
I really tend to want more in common with folks than that :P
It's value is one server.
As for exclusive events held on Exalted that actually makes sense and I expect that they will likely do 50 - 70 percent of all dev events that award anything only on exalted. Basically they will take the stuff they used to do on the test server and move it over there.
For myself I'll create 1 character to run around over there for events and that will be it.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
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Heh, I think I have a level 15 defender on Freedom from the stress test, I might xfer her over to Exalted to do events. She's not doing anything else!
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Originally Posted by TerraDraconis
It's value is one server.
As for exclusive events held on Exalted that actually makes sense and I expect that they will likely do 50 - 70 percent of all dev events that award anything only on exalted. Basically they will take the stuff they used to do on the test server and move it over there. For myself I'll create 1 character to run around over there for events and that will be it. |
New server? Maybe I'll have a shot at getting some names I want.
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I am concerned by this. I plan to keep my subs active, but...|
Originally Posted by Sun_Runner
Sounds nice, I'll have to add those things to my calendar so I don't forget to show up. They should do stuff like that every week on the VIP server (only).
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Why should I have to roll new alts, or transfer away from my existing community, to participate in this stuff?
I am really happy with the in-game community I've found and gotten to know. I like these people. And... Not all of my friends can afford an MMO subscription. Some of them will be doing really well financially if they can spare the five bucks it takes to become premium players. Some, I'm gonna be chatting with in AIM outside the game because they can't use tells.
But they're good people, they're just, you know. Not rich even by the standards of the rest of the world, where "eating regularly" is considered "rich".
I guess I'm... I dunno. I have never yet found an exclusive club I really wanted to go to. I'm sorta bummed about having to roll an alt and play on a server I don't otherwise like much in order to get access to some of the "VIP content".
It could be a plan to make all these free server transfer tokens all VIP's get useful. Transfer your character to Exalted, participate in the event, then move back to your original server (well, assuming nobody took the name in the meantime; that could be a problem).
Count me out. I'd rather stick on Virtue to help usher in the Freems and make sure they know what they're doing.
@Leetdeth - Virtue | MA Arcs(all challenge arcs): Big Magic Blowout! #369774 | Who Really Cares About This? Z! #509577 | That Meddling King! (teams recommended) #21450
SpittingTrashcan, I have to say that once I saw those announcements, I had the SAME reaction you did. I don't plan to move ANY of my charcters to Exalted. I will make a character or two over there and MAYBE begin to use it as a warehouse for 50s I don't play. I would be very dissapointed if there are no more community events that take place on my home servers (Justice, Infinity and Guardian).