A F2P Success Story

I played for about a year back in 2005 before leaving the game (for various reasons) with the promise to never again pay a monthly fee for a game.

Then Freedom came out.

No big deal. I signed back up, enjoyed playing, and even dropped a little cash here and there. $5 to buy 400pp and open up tells. Another $5 for 400pp more so I could buy 5 character slots on sale. Then, I bought Going Rogue on eBay for $5 delivered, and had VIP access for a month.

And that was the plan. No more money spent on the game. I was good. My annual game budget is about $50, anyway. Couldn't justify more than that for this game.

Some extra cash dropped in my lap this week, and I continued with my decision to not pay a monthly fee for the game.

Instead, I just bought an annual subscription.

Maybe more shocking is the origin of the idea - my wife. She's not a big fan of online games. But, she said that it's obvious I enjoy the game, and insisted I should go VIP for a year.

Well played, COH. Your clever plan worked.

thanks for paying for more development

I do suggest saving up for next December. Once a year in that time frame, for just a few weeks, you can sign up for their bonus plan. Basically, this is how it works.

- First, you sign up for it. If you have time left on your existing plan (for example, you signed up for an annual plan in March), you do not pay anything at the time you do so.
- Once your existing time plan expires (for example, March of next year), you will be charged for another year of subscription. However, because you're on the bonus plan, you get an extra two month added.
- The following year, rinse and repeat if you want.

So for example, say you sign up for the annual plan today (March 9). Then in December they offer the bonus time plan:

- Between now and December, you're on your annual plan that you signed up.
- Let's say you sign up for the bonus time plan on December 9 to make things easy. You still have three months left on the existing plan you paid for, so it doesn't cost you anything. (And incidentally, you can change your mind any time between when you sign up for the bonus time and March 9. Cancel the plan, and you don't get charged, but of course, you don't get a chance to get the bonus time until the following December.)
- On March 9, your plan is up for renewal. Instead of your normal annual plan, you'll get charged for the bonus time plan. It's the same annual subscription fee, but now, instead of expiring the following March 9, it will expire the following May 9, giving you an extra two months.
- If you keep going, the following December, you sign up for the bonus time plan again. Now you won't be billed again until May 9, you'll pay the normal annual fee, but your time will be good through July 9.

If you work out the math, you end up paying just over $10 per month for VIP time, which is a steal. The only down side is that you have to pay it in lump sums every 14 months. Still, for a discount that significant, it's definitely worth saving up for.

Meanwhile, in a bunker beneath Paragon City...

*Lord Nemesis pets a cat on his lap* "Excellent...All goes to plan, as per usual."