The In-Game Dichotomy of VIP vs. Free

Over the past week, I've noticed what I can envision will be an increasing problem: Noncompatible gaming experiences between VIP and Premium/Free players.

Some examples:

• My friend's two accounts (he forgot the password to his original and made the second one at one point) reactivated last week. We celebrated by planning to do an Incarnate Trial, as he had quit during Alpha Strike and wanted to revisit the system now that he was able. However, as I found out by asking the forums throughout the day, he wasn't able, so that plan was shot.
  
  So, instead we rolled up new alts, with the intention being that I'd show him the new Sewer Trial. We get there and I have him check if he can access the LFG tab correctly. He said there was an error about "no available trials," or something, so I assume that Premium players can't use the LFG tab for non-Incarnate content as well (but I need some clarification on this, as I've heard otherwise since). We ended up just playing through the 1-5 content; he was unimpressed, as it's only slightly different from what he's already seen, and he hasn't logged back on since.
  
• I formed a team in Cap doing some missions. It took about 10 minutes to get three people to join (because the Rogue Isles are dead on my server (Infinity)). After a few missions, I propose doing the Signature Story Arc. Everyone agrees, I try to begin it... No dice. Someone asks if there is a Rogue on the team, but I know from experience that Alignment isn't a factor, having done it as a Vigilante already. So I deduce that perhaps someone was Premium or Free, ask as much, to which a level 25 Corruptor said they had just come back to the game. So there's our flaw, and I recognize it and am typing to propose that we just do some papers in St. Martial when he apologizes for being free and quits the team. I felt bad, because from his perspective, I basically forced him off the team because he didn't pay $15/month.
  
• A player is forming up some Incarnate Trials in RWZ. I join the team, and he's talking about how excited he is, because it will be his first time doing any incarnate stuff aside from Alpha (which is just the normal TFs). We all offer friendly advice and pointers while he attempts to scrounge together a League (slightly off-peak time on the server). When we decide to start a Lambda with only 10, he asks where to begin it, to which point we explain the LFG Queue and he says that isn't available to him, and then we discover that he's a free player. So he did all of the work of forming the team, then just had to quit unceremoniously.

• Color-coded players to differentiate VIP, Free, and Premium - I mean within the name/UI, similar to the system used for "Help Me!" and "Helper" currently. In fact, perhaps all Free Players could be permenantly set to Help Me (and the color) by default. VIPs could become the Helper color, and a third could be added for Premiums.
  Pros: Know everyone's gameplay capabilities and limitations just by looking rather than needing trial and error falsestarts or an extensive interview before deciding what the team will do.
  Cons: Odd color-coded segregation fears make me uncomfortable. :/
  
• Make the Tiered/Chart of VIP vs. Premium vs. Free a default in-game Pop-Up - As is, I think only frequent Forum-goers fully understand the capabilities of each playtype, because it isn't made available in-game.
  Pros: KNOWLEDGE!
  Cons: Ya just know that everyone will automatically click it closed after seeing it once.
  
• Better/Updated Mission Description Text that explains what the problem is - If Alastor had said immediately, "Not all players can participate in this content because not all players are VIPs," it would have shaved off a few seconds in my SSA experience enumerated above.

So what you're saying...is that a lot of F2P players are willfully ignorant over the differences between VIP, Preem, and F2P. It's nice of you being "that guy" who goes around explaining to folks everything they've ignored up to this point, but you're not forced to do so.

I like my blue name. Please don't make it purple.

It would be nice if they made the Paragon Rewards window a one time popup.

Incarnate and Signature story arcs are part of the VIP experience.. Lots of other things that can be done in the game besides them tho.

I do kind of like the idea of color coding names so you can see if someone is premium or below

Here's all the content a new F2P player can't access:

• Preatoria
• First ward arcs (seven arcs)
• Signature Story arcs (which is just one blue- and red-side for now)
• Incarnate trials and TFs

1. Before you take Free/Premium friends on that content, check to see if they purchased it first.
2. As you recruit people for that content, remind them it's not for Premium players unless they purchased it or earned it through the Reward Program.

I can say without a doubt that the Sewer Trial is available for Premiums. My brother played it today and he is only Reward Tier 2.

He really liked it. He also said "I didn't know CoH had instanced group missions."

This is why I felt it was better to have a F2P server with VIPs allowed to go there rather than making a VIP only server.

Its going to keep happening and probably come up more often as VIPs take 2nd and 3rd accounts to premium status. Heck even main accounts to premium status. The game is being quite generous for what a F2P gets IMHO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisMoses Over the past week, I've noticed what I can envision will be an increasing problem: Noncompatible gaming experiences between VIP and Premium/Free players. Some examples: My friend's two accounts (he forgot the password to his original and made the second one at one point) reactivated last week. We celebrated by planning to do an Incarnate Trial, as he had quit during Alpha Strike and wanted to revisit the system now that he was able. However, as I found out by asking the forums throughout the day, he wasn't able, so that plan was shot. So, instead we rolled up new alts, with the intention being that I'd show him the new Sewer Trial. We get there and I have him check if he can access the LFG tab correctly. He said there was an error about "no available trials," or something, so I assume that Premium players can't use the LFG tab for non-Incarnate content as well (but I need some clarification on this, as I've heard otherwise since). We ended up just playing through the 1-5 content; he was unimpressed, as it's only slightly different from what he's already seen, and he hasn't logged back on since. I formed a team in Cap doing some missions. It took about 10 minutes to get three people to join (because the Rogue Isles are dead on my server (Infinity)). After a few missions, I propose doing the Signature Story Arc. Everyone agrees, I try to begin it... No dice. Someone asks if there is a Rogue on the team, but I know from experience that Alignment isn't a factor, having done it as a Vigilante already. So I deduce that perhaps someone was Premium or Free, ask as much, to which a level 25 Corruptor said they had just come back to the game. So there's our flaw, and I recognize it and am typing to propose that we just do some papers in St. Martial when he apologizes for being free and quits the team. I felt bad, because from his perspective, I basically forced him off the team because he didn't pay $15/month. A player is forming up some Incarnate Trials in RWZ. I join the team, and he's talking about how excited he is, because it will be his first time doing any incarnate stuff aside from Alpha (which is just the normal TFs). We all offer friendly advice and pointers while he attempts to scrounge together a League (slightly off-peak time on the server). When we decide to start a Lambda with only 10, he asks where to begin it, to which point we explain the LFG Queue and he says that isn't available to him, and then we discover that he's a free player. So he did all of the work of forming the team, then just had to quit unceremoniously. I knew there would be adjustments with this gameplay model, hence why the Exalted server was born - VIPs who didn't want to deal with free player restrictions. However, I think a few things could be done that could make many of these false-starts more avoidable: Color-coded players to differentiate VIP, Free, and Premium - I mean within the name/UI, similar to the system used for "Help Me!" and "Helper" currently. In fact, perhaps all Free Players could be permenantly set to Help Me (and the color) by default. VIPs could become the Helper color, and a third could be added for Premiums. Pros: Know everyone's gameplay capabilities and limitations just by looking rather than needing trial and error falsestarts or an extensive interview before deciding what the team will do. Cons: Odd color-coded segregation fears make me uncomfortable. :/ Make the Tiered/Chart of VIP vs. Premium vs. Free a default in-game Pop-Up - As is, I think only frequent Forum-goers fully understand the capabilities of each playtype, because it isn't made available in-game. Pros: KNOWLEDGE! Cons: Ya just know that everyone will automatically click it closed after seeing it once. Better/Updated Mission Description Text that explains what the problem is - If Alastor had said immediately, "Not all players can participate in this content because not all players are VIPs," it would have shaved off a few seconds in my SSA experience enumerated above. I think that's all I've got for now. What are your thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Have other suggestions or experiences that show that some changes should be implemented?

What probably happened with the LFG is that he selected "First Available Trial" which includes the incarnate trials, and all of them would be unable to be joined, hence the error message. But he should be able to select the Death From Below specifically it should work.

And here we walk a knife edge when it comes to FTP players. We don't want the FTP experience to be so awesome that they never consider going VIP or Premium. But worse still, would be a FTP experience that is so shallow that they leave before giving the game a chance. I think we just need to give it more time the way it is for now.

But definitely, some better way of distinguishing between VIP, Premium, and FTP players would make setting up teams and leagues easier.

As an aside my brother was also able to run Alignment tip missions with me. I'm gonna check this evening and see if he can do the SSA with me too.

Or...allow VIP players to grant a temporary "pass" for the content. It lasts for the single run only, you can only grant one per hour, allows the player to participate.

Perhaps rewards could be restricted. At least they would get to taste the content and get access for that run only.

Returning players should not be relegated to the game they left two or three years ago.

I've come to understand that their approach to Freedom was entirely different from any other MMORPG developer's approach to Free-to-Play. They did not introduce VIP as a way to keep current subscribers happy. The entire system was built around VIPs. The system is built to heavily tip the scales in the favour of subscribers, that is simply the type of system they have created. They want everyone to subscribe. That is the only conclusion that one can make from Paragon VIP Rewards, VIP-Only server, content restricted completely to VIPs. That is their system and personally I like it. It's the least F2P F2P game I have ever played. I don't like F2P games as a rule.

I'm happy with the way things are.