Premium chat: Got to be a compromise

1: All that you listed? Not something Premium players think they'll really need.

2: What free player is going to look at a $45 for chat and think "Hmm, $45 for global chat or should I buy the new game coming out?"

Whether there are lots of crap between the chat level or not, it's still $45, which is not going to rake in a whole lot of people. If it was an item on the shop on the other hand, that would get their attention. "$10 for a spare custom chat channel? Sweet!" 5 times is better than "I'll just save up for Skyrim" will ever be to Paragon. Trust me, the only people right now that will be getting chat as premium are those that will slowly save up for it.

So if you needed the "show me how Paragon gets to milk more" argument, that's it.

3: Blame RMT one more time, come on, at least TRY and make my day. $5 gets mail/tells. RMT is the least of the issues in a custom channel since they can be silenced in seconds. Need I also mention that there is a credit card that need be used for buying said points?

Yeah, but most will want something from that list. That is what Paragon Studios is banking on.

Just because YOU are focused on global chat channels, doesn't mean everyone is. Character slots, archetypes, costume bundles, the alignment system, the various power sets are all attractive to a broad range of players.

Non-subscribers are a loss of revenue for the game. Given that players are dropping multiple-hundreds of dollars already on Paragon Points, I think your opinion is wrong.

Actually if someone is going to leave just because they wont spend $45 to either subscribe to the game for 2-3 months (two if they buy the VIP Starter kit or off the shelf retail package) or up to $45 worth of goodies, then I wish them well in finding a game that suits them better. They are not the players that Paragon Studios wants. They want subscribers who, get this, have access to global channels in addition to a lot of other benefits (extra characters, bonus Paragon Points, a reward token, Signature Story Access, 12 characters per server over 15 servers, all the archetypes, etc). If your friends want global channel access, then you should be persuading them to subscribe.

Because if they aren't willing to spend $45 and want to play for years, then they want something for nothing and shouldn't be upset they are getting exactly what they paid for.

F2P are properly locked out of tells, broadcast, and global channels.

Premium players that haven't invested in the game enough are playing an extended demo and are locked out of many other rewards, not just global channels. The auction house, the invention system, archetypes. The items are locked out because Paragon Studios wants players to subscribe. If a player subscribes, they get all that as long as they are subscribing. As it seems to be something that you care deeply about, I'm GLAD that Paragon Studios have both locked Global Channel access and have set it to a low reward level. That means that they are going to get a minimum amount of money from some accounts while not costing players upwards of $400 to get access to the higher level rewards.

Gift cards works for buying Points. Besides which, what does that have to do with anything being discussed here?

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

No. Absolutely not. The system, as it stands, is fine.

Some of the channels I'm on are open channels where anyone can join. That fosters community. What you have just suggested would disrupt those communities.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

Oh i dont mean invite only for everybody. I meant invite only for premium/free players so its purely up to the mod?

Paypal works as well.

I have no problem with limiting the chat option for free players, expanding them some for premium, then opening fully for VIP.

I'm also not opposed to offering an improved chat functionality for purchase in the market.

I wasn't sure. Thanks for the info.

That is pretty much what we have currently.

See my next point:
No, that would devalue the reward for completing Tier 3.

Yes, people are wanting complete chat access. I get that. However I see no reason strong enough to change the current system to bypass the reward system. I can understand why they did so with Archetypes, but not with chatting.

About the only compromise I'd go for is a 30-day chat to 2 global chat channels access for 200 Paragon Points a month. The tech doesn't exist for that, so it would be 6-12 months out. By which time it would just be easier to subscribe for 3 months. In other words, it is probably not worth their time to change how things work currently for the global chat access.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

Coding something that allows people who were not going to spend money to convince them to spend a little bit? Unheard of.

I disagree; it's just a matter of degree. If it can be done easily, then certainly post haste (within reason). But if as you suggest it would take more than 3 months, then likely not so much.

In my own personal experience lately, trying to help new players, I find it quite frustrating that they cannot respond to Tells.

A tangent, but a related one; might be worth some amount of development time to make it so that F2P and low tier Preems can do that much. It would certainly reduce the strain on the Help channel.

Yes, but is it cost effective when it unlocks anyway at $45? Remember development focus is on subscribers, not free players.

At tier 3 completion, it is a basic readily available tool. It also provides incentive to spend more than $5 on the game. It also offsets server use a bit.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

What do you (and others) think of the ability to purchase 'chat licenses' for $5 per month?

If a problem with RMT spam or the like crops up, just stop selling them.

If it is possible then $5/month would be acceptable. Though it would take 2 years to get it permanently unlocked that way if the player was only buying that.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters