Let us use the IO's we already slotted on our free accounts
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-09-28 13:40 in Suggestions and Ideas
While I'm not, nor do I have the intention of going, free-to-play, this seems like something that should be seriously considered. Playing without enhancements is absolutely ineffective, generally, and I've already teamed with a couple folks who realized, all too late, that they were playing without any enhancements at all.
Allowing players to use enhancements they have already slotted, at the very least (if perhaps not the set bonuses they would get from them), would go a long way, I think. Just turn off the ability to craft or equip them.
You have a couple of options:
Buy an Invention License for (I think) $2. It gives 30 day access.
Pay the monthly Subscription Fee.
Use a second build for SOs. (You can have more than 1 build these days in case you weren't aware - and not trying to be snarky, just informative).
If you're planning on using that Premium account sparingly, shelling out $2 every other month may be better than $15/mo consistently.
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/unsigned
If the 160 points ($2 dollars) it costs to unlock IO's for a month is too expensive for a players budget then they can use their characters second, and third builds to slot regular enhancements.
lol at unsigned and snarky response.
I agree that if someone took the time to IO out a toon, then they should be able to use those IOs. Lock the new toons, let the people use the IOs they already have.
/gignore @username is the best feature of this game. It's also probably the least used feature.
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Originally Posted by Nights_Dawn
Hazy is right
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Playing without enhancements can be fixed without spending any real-world cash. |
Originally Posted by Lazarillo
While I'm not, nor do I have the intention of going, free-to-play, this seems like something that should be seriously considered. Playing without enhancements is absolutely ineffective, generally, and I've already teamed with a couple folks who realized, all too late, that they were playing without any enhancements at all.
Allowing players to use enhancements they have already slotted, at the very least (if perhaps not the set bonuses they would get from them), would go a long way, I think. Just turn off the ability to craft or equip them. |
Level 10 - see trainer. Use second build. Slot regular enhancements.
Now, should they get a warning about it? Absolutely. I think that'd be fair. But given the fix(es) are in game (second build, or pay,) I don't think complicating it further ("I can use the IOs I slotted, but can't slot them in new powers" - and what about a respec? Especially if they have more than 30 (two purchased enhancement expansions = 5 sets) to use and can't reslot any after) would help.
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No one has made any snarky responses. There are plenty of players that live on tight budgets and can't afford the $2 bucks the license would cost. I personally know from experience how hard it is to keep an account active while on a fixed income. I've had only my disability to live on for 5 years.|
Originally Posted by Hazygreys
lol at unsigned and snarky response.
I agree that if someone took the time to IO out a toon, then they should be able to use those IOs. Lock the new toons, let the people use the IOs they already have. |
Using the second and third builds for regular enhancements allows players to continue to enjoy the game on characters that have the first build IO'd out.
Allowing players to use the IO's they bought/earned allows players to enjoy the game on characters that have the first build IO'd out.
I wonder if you didn't have the disability if your tune would be different or would you continue to push the 2nd build option? Since free accounts don't get incarnate stuff, do they even get a third build?
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Free, no. But they won't have IO access to begin with.|
Originally Posted by Downtown
Allowing players to use the IO's they bought/earned allows players to enjoy the game on characters that have the first build IO'd out.
I wonder if you didn't have the disability if your tune would be different or would you continue to push the 2nd build option? Since free accounts don't get incarnate stuff, do they even get a third build? |
Premium, maybe - if they had Incarnates unlocked before they dropped the sub. They should still have the build available to use.
I think the vet requirement for io usage should be dropped. As it stands, of the three accounts I've used over the years, only one of them will get any playtime once this account's sub drops. That is two other accounts worth of microtransactions lost because my toons are either unplayable or a shadow of their former selves with just SOs. As it stands now, free to play is only a viable option for the really old school vets.
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No character is "unplayable" or even "gimped" with just SOs.
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Originally Posted by Heated_Bandages
That is two other accounts worth of microtransactions lost because my toons are either unplayable or a shadow of their former selves with just SOs.
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Fixed that for you.|
Originally Posted by Heated_Bandages
As it stands now, free to play in a similar manner to paid accounts is only a viable option for the really old school vets.
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Honestly, folks... First, CoH did NOT go F2P. They've taken a hybrid business model, permitting varying degrees from free to monthly subscribed plans. Really... Read everything Paragon has put out, they don't call it F2P and (subtly) correct it in every interview. Second, for the past 7 years, if you stopped paying a subscription, you got nothing. You couldn't even log into the game. Now, if you stop paying, you receive limited access, increasing if you have stored up veteran time or if you pay a la carte for the features you want. But for some reason everyone seems to think they deserve more for nothing.
Imagine if you ran a coffee shop. Now you really don't like wasting things, so you take your old, slightly burned coffee and the pastries that didn't sell that morning and donated it to a shelter. Now imagine that the people at that shelter threw a fit and called you a greedy basterd because you gave them old coffee and pastries. That's the kind of person the vocal preemies are sounding like.
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They absolutely can use them. Just pay the subscription fee.
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Originally Posted by Hazygreys
I agree that if someone took the time to IO out a toon, then they should be able to use those IOs. Lock the new toons, let the people use the IOs they already have.
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Giving your accounts IOs is a microtransaction. |
Originally Posted by Heated_Bandages
I think the vet requirement for io usage should be dropped. As it stands, of the three accounts I've used over the years, only one of them will get any playtime once this account's sub drops. That is two other accounts worth of microtransactions lost because my toons are either unplayable or a shadow of their former selves with just SOs. As it stands now, free to play is only a viable option for the really old school vets.
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In other words your logic is "I won't be buying any microtransactions on these accounts because I refuse to do a microtransaction to play the characters as I wish".
The game isn't F2P, it's more like those of those Pick and mixes where you decide how much sweets you want and then pay accordingly.
You don't get anything for free, but can you get a lot for a small price.
I don't know what to think about the posts where someone complains about not getting enough with their free account, and there reaction is to say something about how business is being lost because they won't play their free account.
:confused
I dont agree with the OP's idea.
What if a new player pays $2 to unlock the IO system, and then lets their 30 day licence expire? Do they get to keep the IOs they slotted? Or are we working on some other information like the last time the character's build was modified, if its before Freedom Day Zero or not? Is that information in the character database even?
Wouldn't this just turn $2 into an unlimited use of IOs and thus lose Paragon Studios money?
I think it opens up too many problems, and as others have said the solution already exists
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So all of your characters are running around with SOs then? No basic IOs or sets in any of them?
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
No character is "unplayable" or even "gimped" with just SOs.
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This attitude reaks of neener neener neener, I can use my IO's and you can;t
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Originally Posted by all_hell
They absolutely can use them. Just pay the subscription fee.
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It's not F2P but they let you play for free? Call it what you want, but it is F2P.
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Originally Posted by SailorET
First, CoH did NOT go F2P. They've taken a hybrid business model, permitting varying degrees from free to monthly subscribed plans. |
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What if it was a 1 time fee of something like 400 points and then IO's were unlocked on your account for good. It's really the 30 day limit that I have issues with. |
Originally Posted by Dr Harmony
I dont agree with the OP's idea.
What if a new player pays $2 to unlock the IO system, and then lets their 30 day licence expire? Do they get to keep the IOs they slotted? Or are we working on some other information like the last time the character's build was modified, if its before Freedom Day Zero or not? Is that information in the character database even? Wouldn't this just turn $2 into an unlimited use of IOs and thus lose Paragon Studios money? I think it opens up too many problems, and as others have said the solution already exists |
What if you bought a character slot and it went away after 15 days? It only costs $1 every 15 days for you to have the slot open. Would you have an issues?
Yes, I think that idea works, Downtown. Really well in fact.
Sort of a lifetime subscription to the IO system - where you'd pay for maybe a year's worth of IO usage upfront to have the invention system unlocked forever on your account.
From the players point of view, it feels good and secure.
From Paragon's point of view, it's cashflow now, and some players may purchase IO time they don't use to blance the free IO time they'd be giving out in a years' time.
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If that is the necessary and sufficient definition of F2P, fine we're F2P.|
Originally Posted by Downtown
It's not F2P but they let you play for free? Call it what you want, but it is F2P.
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The problem comes when someone says we're F2P, so of course X should happen because all F2P games have X. If you're calling the game F2P because there is a free option to play, fine. If you're calling the game F2P so you can use the term to make demands upon it, its not F2P, because now F2P means there is a free to play option and all this other baggage which City of Heroes Freedom does not have.
You cannot say the only requirement for calling the game F2P is it has a free play option, and then start adding all sorts of other requirements on F2P games that City of Heroes should follow. That's semantic gyration.
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What if it was a 1 time fee of something like 400 points and then IO's were unlocked on your account for good. It's really the 30 day limit that I have issues with. What if you bought a character slot and it went away after 15 days? It only costs $1 every 15 days for you to have the slot open. Would you have an issues? |
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I'm idly curious how well, for example, the gleemail subsystem would cope with mailing IOs and salvage to yourself when not all of your characters are valid to have them.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Too low for too much. However, I've been suggesting that in the same spirit of unlocking individual character slots permanently the devs should probably add a way to unlock inventions on a specific character slot permanently. Something like 300-400 points to permanently unlock a character for invention use might be fair. You'd then have two options to use inventions: a 30 day temp license that would allow you to use them on all characters in your account, and a permanent license that would unlock inventions on a single character forever.
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Bet there's a hilarious minefield of 'Oh. Wait.' for this option.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Softcapping an Invuln is fantastic. Softcapping a Willpower is amazing. Softcapping SR is kissing your sister.
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70% of mine use only TO's, DO's, SO's, and HO's. and of the 30 percent that use IO's only 2 are fully IO'd out with basic IO's and none of them use IO sets. |
Originally Posted by Downtown
So all of your characters are running around with SOs then? No basic IOs or sets in any of them?
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I have 100+ characters (back up to three accounts with I21)
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Not really. Of the three accounts I have 2 won't be using IO's at all. 1 is a Premium the other is an Freeb (one of my two old trial accounts).
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Originally Posted by Downtown
This attitude reaks of neener neener neener, I can use my IO's and you can;t
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I get that micro-transactions are the new hotness, I really do. And a business needs to make money to survive. But please let us use IO's that we already slotted on our toons. Lock new IO's, that's fine and all. Was going to load in some of my pvp toons on a different account but they are useless because the IOs slotted can't be used.
Sadface