F2P Players need chat love
I've seen it suggested, but not had an opportunity to test it, so query: Can free players (like bottom tier, not premium) /friend someone then talk to them over the friend chat channel?
Yes, they can.
Well I guess that's another workaround, at least for responding to team broadcasts.
For those forming teams that they're happy for free players to join it may be worth adding a bit suggesting that. "Level 15 paper team forming, send tell for invite (free players - /friend me and ask over friend chat)" or something.
I've seen it suggested, but not had an opportunity to test it, so query: Can free players (like bottom tier, not premium) /friend someone then talk to them over the friend chat channel?
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And I wish there was less preforming going on for the iTrials. I much prefer just queuing up and going, as it's highly convenient when it works like that. Players make the LFG system a great deal less useful at 50.
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1. If it really was a friend you were referring you'd buy him a cheap copy of the game off of Amazon so he'd start with a VIP account, and then he could decide if he wanted to drop to Premium.
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2. If they were really friends you wouldn't lie to them and say they could never talk. Instead you'd say for just $5 bucks free accounts cam permanently unlock the chat channels. |
Actually the shining beacon of the game has been the costume creator and it's soloability. |
And yet you aren't willing to tell your friends how easy and cheap it is to unlock the chat channels. Some great community spirit there. |
VIP's can easily include free players in their teams by simply announcing when they are recruiting to come to a specific location if they want to join a team. The problem you are having is one you made for yourself. |
I don't shower my friends with gifts, especially ones I'm not certain they'll enjoy. I could drop $10-15 dollars on a game they've shown a passing interest in or treat them to lunch. While I'd love for some of them to join me in game, I'm afraid they may enjoy the latter more.
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My friends don't want or need me pandering to them to buy more features. |
pan·der
noun /ˈpandər/
panders, plural
A person who assists the baser urges or evil designs of others
- the lowest panders of a venal press
verb /ˈpandər/
pandered, past participle; pandered, past tense; pandering, present participle; panders, 3rd person singular present
Gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire, need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.)
And the team dynamics that break from traditional tank/dps/healer. Maybe it's not number 1 on your list, but it does set CoH apart from other games. |
Given that the problem isn't solely Nyx's alone, I'd wager at least part of it stems from somewhere else. |
Re: F2P Players need chat love |
And I'm =trying= to help.
I can't assign blame to the lack of a chat tutorial, lack of channel access, or lack of basic reading comprehension. I can only report what I've seen. Specifically, that many of the characters I've seen have even skipped the tutorial and are OJTing everything about the game.
<shrug>
--NT
They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!
If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville
I still get chat spam from time to time. Absolutely not. If anything, even VIPs should have to pay extra to use Broadcast, Request, and Local.
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I seriously hope that's not meant to be serious. Because I've already had to fly in extra crates of Crashing Facepalm this month.
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Who said you have to spend $10-$15 on this game? I've been getting copies of CoH to use as gifts for years for $1-$5 in store bargain bins and off of Amazon.
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What exactly is immoral or evil about explaining how a game works and the options they have to unlock features to your friends? pan·der noun /ˈpandər/ panders, plural A person who assists the baser urges or evil designs of others - the lowest panders of a venal press verb /ˈpandər/ pandered, past participle; pandered, past tense; pandering, present participle; panders, 3rd person singular present Gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire, need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.) |
It grows tiring, both to me and the questioner, when the answer to their feature questions is repeatedly "You need to buy access to that", especially to many very basic features. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea that I couldn't pass an awaken to a fallen teammate because they're a free player?
Over the past 7 1/2 years I've seen more people praising the costume creator and soloability even begging for the ability to solo team content than commenting on the ability to team. So I think it's fair to say that teaming isn't the #1 feature in this game. |
No it isn't solely Nyx's problem. All vet players that leave out important information when answering questions share the same problem. |
Heck, I can't even recall what unlocks at each tier with the Paragon Rewards so I just link them to the wiki entry, which does a better job of documenting it than the official site. It's definitely a problem when the best answers to relevant questions comes from a third-party, out of game source.
1) If I reffer a friend to the free to play DEMO, but cannot speak with them properly, it causes them to leave. Many of my gaming buddies were playing other games with sub fees but are growing tired of them. They know I have been playing this for a long time and I suggested trying it. I mean, it's free, and they might like it. "Meet me on Virtue where we can...Oh wait...not talk ever"
(I know my forum account says differently, but I did at one point have an alternate account which was taken in the divorce ![]() 2) In a game that requires teaming, and heavens knows redside is needs the love a ton on Virtue, at least, it's almost strange that the one most important concept of City of Hero's Freedom, feels so limited. Yes I know there are work arounds, and yes I know that we could all move to Exalted to be rushed away from the onslaught of new players and technical issues, but the main concern I have is that the element of team building which has always been the shining gem of CoX has been replaced by clunky work arounds which effect new players and old players alike and create a rift between the two types of players. |
2. "Requires teaming?" What game are you playing?
I stand corrected on this point. The last time I searched Amazon for copies of CoH was near the beginning of the year, hoping to find some cheap ones I could use for additionally time. At that time the average price was $10-15 dollars. Occasionally, I've known others to find it cheaper. I'm sure the recent news of introducing a F2P tier has altered those prices.
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Very well done, going straight to semantics instead of addressing the actual issue. Perhaps you'll care to address it when I ask it directly. Whose responsibility is it to hook a potential customer after they've downloaded and sampled the game? Who is responsible for selling the features of this game? |
It grows tiring, both to me and the questioner, when the answer to their feature questions is repeatedly "You need to buy access to that", especially to many very basic features. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea that I couldn't pass an awaken to a fallen teammate because they're a free player? |
I'm afraid we'll just have to let this issue go because our anecdotal evidence is equivalently worthless. I think we can at least agree that the costume creator is undoubtedly a very attractive feature this game has to offer, especially to someone who comes from an MMO where character customization is significantly limited. |
And we are to fault because there is a wealth of information that we don't recall off the bat? For instance, a friend asks "How to do I use IOs?" There are multiple answers to that: buy a 30-day license, become a VIP, drop enough cash to unlock the unlimited IO license. Of course, that leads to more questions of "Which should I choose?" or "How much will that cost?" Of course, answers to those questions are varying as well. Heck, I can't even recall what unlocks at each tier with the Paragon Rewards so I just link them to the wiki entry, which does a better job of documenting it than the official site. It's definitely a problem when the best answers to relevant questions comes from a third-party, out of game source. |
Kosh: And so it begins.
I logged in today to see spam from people selling infamy/influence in help chat. At this point, I would vote that even free accounts be disabled from talking in any public broadcast. Its 5 dollars is all they have to spend if they want chat privileges, I think its worth it rather then seeing a bunch of spam from these gold sellers.
I'd post a screenshot of the spam but I don't want to advertise for them. Reporting them won't work because they can just make a new free account. |
What I'm getting from this thread is that a very large part of the success of the CoH: Freedom model is falling on the shoulders of the VIP/Premium players.
I have the choice as a VIP to either ignore the FTP players completely or spend at least some minimal amount of my limited play time being a personal mentor to complete strangers. But I need to be standing right next to them to have a conversation. I do have the option of adding them as friends. Let's see, I've got just 8 people on my friends list after 7 years, so sure, I have plenty of room and would love to start adding the names of random strangers so that they can send me messages every time I log into the game--Oh wait!
The FTP people need their own chat channel. I would love to monitor it and help them out when I am in the mood. But I've already had to stop monitoring the Help channel because of the spam. And I miss it. It always felt good to answer questions and give friendly suggestions.
What I'm getting from this thread is that a very large part of the success of the CoH: Freedom model is falling on the shoulders of the VIP/Premium players.
I have the choice as a VIP to either ignore the FTP players completely or spend at least some minimal amount of my limited play time being a personal mentor to complete strangers. But I need to be standing right next to them to have a conversation. I do have the option of adding them as friends. Let's see, I've got just 8 people on my friends list after 7 years, so sure, I have plenty of room and would love to start adding the names of random strangers so that they can send me messages every time I log into the game--Oh wait! The FTP people need their own chat channel. I would love to monitor it and help them out when I am in the mood. But I've already had to stop monitoring the Help channel because of the spam. And I miss it. It always felt good to answer questions and give friendly suggestions. |
Yes, there are complicated systems in the game. It's not an accident that most of them are behind the pay wall. The game is perfectly playable without the additional systems.
Here's the latest word from the devs.
Chat restrictions were placed on Free accounts to protect the game environment from RMT Spam and other such unsavory elements. The investment required for being able to utilize private tells is enough to discourage most.
We've said this before and we'll say it again - We will always err on the side of protecting our Community from the constant harassment of RMT spam. I've worked on games where free trial accounts/endlessly free accounts had unfettered access to PM's and multiple Global channels. The results were disastrous to the in game environment and served as a major drag to developer resources. If City of Heroes Freedom were solely a Free to Play game, relaxing chat restrictions might make more sense, however the cornerstone of our business is, and will remain, our VIP subscribers. -Z |
1) If I reffer a friend to the free to play DEMO, but cannot speak with them properly, it causes them to leave. Many of my gaming buddies were playing other games with sub fees but are growing tired of them. They know I have been playing this for a long time and I suggested trying it. I mean, it's free, and they might like it. "Meet me on Virtue where we can...Oh wait...not talk ever"
2. If they were really friends you wouldn't lie to them and say they could never talk. Instead you'd say for just $5 bucks free accounts cam permanently unlock the chat channels.