Give Premium a much-needed boost...

I found a great post describing what a Premium member gets at the various Tiers, if they decide they never want to spend any more money, either in the store, or on a subscription. I felt myself thinking that eventually a person should be able to achieve Incarnate status as a Premium member, and honestly, that nothing should be encouraging a person to spend money at a certain point except on items from the store. As it stands, a VIP may have no further want or need of tokens, but will remain so for one reason: Incarnate status.

Okay, so devs, ask yourself: Is this model maybe a bit TOO greedy? I'm going to suggest the answer is yes, and explain why. Feel free to offer your counterpoints, if you have any. I'm sure many would be interested in what you have to say. Disclaimer: I was only looking up the Premium rewards for Tier 8, found out it was Large Insp drops (oh boy!) and then started running the numbers. It's come to my attention that your Premium customers are not getting anything close to a full value for their investment, whether they are starting today, or have been subscribing for years. Here's why:

Let's say for a minute that you've been playing since day 1, never let your subscription lapse, have everything you can possibly think of in terms of game items, and still continue to pay for whatever new doodad they come up with in the Store. This person is your cash cow. They aren't going anywhere, and many might feel they have had good reason to leave over the years, but still they remain loyal. Then you tell them that, even though they have what, 40 tokens leftover (I have no idea how many would be left after you fill Tier 9), they still cannot play their Incarnates unless they subscribe, which is a minimum of $12 or so a month, if they pay a year at a time, and $16ish for the "common man" who pays month to month because he/she wants to keep the lights on.

That's not a huge loss for most of us. Incarnate seems almost ridiculous when you consider most of these people are already fully IO'd and godlike without a level shift and insane powers that add interesting pets, procs, buffs, and AoE attacks. To me, you peaked at alpha, and everything else was sort of downhill from there. Eventually there are going to be TFs that will probably vaporize any lowly alpha-only player with his/her measly +1 level shift. Still, it is progress of a sort, and people, myself included, do like to "level up" in some fashion, so I partake in Incarnate level tasks from time to time. I guess what I'm saying is that nothing that you're offering to VIPs is all that special, apart from being an Incarnate, and the rest adds up to far less value than whatever they are paying a month. People are going to realize that, if they haven't already.

A person on day one would be smart to just buy points. For a one-time investment of approximately $500 (according to your numbers), that person would have a huge amount of points to spend in the store, and all the tokens necessary to enjoy almost everything in the game. VIPs currently get signature story arcs and Incarnates as the truly wonderful benefits of being a VIP, but how much is that worth, exactly? Is the cost of producing this new content SO high that you need to milk us twice, firing out new powersets at 800 points a pop, and forcing us to maintain our subscriptions to maintain our Incarnate status that we have earned as a VIP?

I doubt you'll take me seriously when I tell you this, and that's fine. I'm just putting it out there for you to ponder. There's an organic, cooperative way to do business, then there's the wrong way. If you feel like your subscriber base is suddenly slipping, I encourage you to not simply think of the competition out there, because in this particular niche of MMOs, you currently have none, nor of the age of the game, which while valid, because of the new content you inject quite rapidly, again would probably not be your root cause. Symptoms such as these often distract from the core problem, which I think in this case is not realizing that people have already spent quite a bit of time and money on this game, and should, at some magical dollar amount, be able to play their Incarnates at full power. I don't argue that Signature Story Arcs are fine to place in the store, and as I write this, they are on sale (all seven) for 1200 points. This is EXACTLY the way to go about it. $5 is maybe a little high for some, but eventually if a person is patient, they can get it for less than half that.

There absolutely no reason not to implement this strategy, preferably at Tier8, and lump that lame Large Inspiration bonus in at some lower Tier. If a person is at Tier8, they're more than likely not relying heavily on insps anyway unless they're farmers, and nobody with a fully functioning brain is suggesting you ever cater to farmers, as they obviously affect your bottom line.

Thanks for reading, I hope you will give my suggestions some serious consideration!

-sk

PS: Content was slightly edited from my original post, but the core message is the same. Again, I invite someone in a position to debate these arguments to show me why this model would not net you as much or more money than you could ever expect to get with your existing one. Every company, including this one, says they value their long-standing customers, but they never quite implement a model that backs it up. Talk is cheap. Let's see some action.

First of all: TLDR

Second why would the Devs ever want to make it -more- viable than it already is to drop to Premium? If you ask me there should be -less- of a reason to unsubscribe, never more.

Subscribers get 400 points a month, that's a new powerset every two months. Not sure what else you need there. Are you trying to come up with a way for non-subscription to be a valid way to have everything in the game? Because, that doesn't seem to be the intent at all, rather, it's exactly the opposite, that only subscription makes sense. Otherwise you are playing a glorified trial account.

Freemiums are getting some extra access stuff in i23.

The devs have been up front since before Freedom even launched that subs are their main attractions, and the fact that you can play as a freebie/preemie is just their way of giving you an extended trial of the game with the option of unlocking stuff with money.

The Incarnates was very deliberately chosen to remain a sub feature. There are *VERY FEW* things in the game that can only be done if you have a sub. In fact, I think Exalted server, Incarnates, creating/modding global channels, and the SG registrar are the only things in-game that are restricted to subs (and folks who are mods as a VIP and drop to preemie keep their mod status!).

Why do people seem to have this blind spot for the fact that almost nothing in this game is out of reach of preemies?

VIPs needing to pay for some (NOT ALL!) power sets is obviously going to happen since they're putting out power sets about four times as fast as they used to. The only way for them to do that is for some of them to be pay-for-all sets. VIPs get 400-550 points per month to spend as they see fit. That's only two months of saving to get a free power set.

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Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

How is incentivizing your long-term customers to stop being customers a way to display that you value their business?

For another thing, even as a t9 VIP (which I am), Incarnate abilities are not at all the only thing I get from subscribing. A VIP subscription has good value for most players. I broke down the benefits here in a previous thread on the topic. Even counting only the features that I personally care about, and ignoring VIP-only features like Incarnate stuff, a VIP sub was still advantageous. If you find it to not be advantageous, that's what the option to go premium is for.

I wanted to post this separately, because I find this comment slightly hysterical.

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Originally Posted by SortaKinda ... I encourage you to not simply think of the competition out there, because in this particular niche of MMOs, you currently have none ...

We have two direct competitors, actually, and every single video game (both MMO and not, PC and console and handheld) out there is an indirect competitor. If someone is playing a game, they're not going to load up a second game to play it at the same time. At best they will divide their game time between the two (or more) games, which - again - means competition.

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Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Yeah, Premiums already get it pretty good. There's been more than a few T9s that have dropped to Premium because they already had access to everything they wanted without being VIP.

If Premium is too attractive, Paragon will start losing money... depending on how much revenue drops by, they'll either have to scale back their development, or make major changes. Either way, the loss of a healthly VIP base will be quite bad for them (since, as they've said repeatedly, even today at the Pummit, VIPs are their primary source of revenue).

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

I find the logic in this statement fascinating.

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Originally Posted by SortaKinda It's come to my attention that your Premium customers are not getting anything close to a full value for their investment, whether they are starting today, or have been subscribing for years.

Translation: The OP believes that people that are playing for free aren't getting their moneys worth.

I don't care if f2p players are significantly weaker as the game isn't that hard. I do care that I can't play incarnate content with them, as that's becoming the focus of the game. I'm quite certain that will open up in the future, though.

Wow... You need MORE reason to stay Premium?

Listen, I used to be subscribed to *another* Superhero game. I bought it back in '09 and I had some fun, but not nearly enough fun to make it worth my while. So, I cancelled my subscription.

A few years later, the game goes f2p and I say huzzah! I rush to create a few new heroes, but as I'm looking through the available costume pieces and I notice many of them locked. "What is this?" I ask, wondering why I cannot use most of the costume pieces I had used back when I subscribed. "Why are these locked?"

I took a stroll to the website and the forums, only to find a barrage of fans and apologists telling me that "You're just RENTING those costume pieces." and "You want 'em back? Resubscribe!" (I picture those comments being spoken in a snobby, English accent.)

So there I am- unable to play my old (freeform) characters, with a total of 2 slots I can make characters on, unable to select from more than half of the powers that were available when I subscribed, and a plethora of costume pieces I'd enjoyed. I, who had bought the game for $50, was indistinguishable from someone who had downloaded the game on that very day.

And after all that, you're telling me CoH needs MORE benefits to free players? After all the amazing gifts we already have?

No.

As a recent returnee who spent the past month playing for free (albeit as a Tier 9 vet) I don't see much wiggle room for improvements without badly undermining the incentive to re-subscribe.

With subscribers remaining a major part of the revenue stream, I don't see that happening.

So for ZERO dollars a month you already get access to 95% of the game and you want more?

Preemies/Freemies are already getting COH in a very playable state. Wasn't too long ago that none of us had inventions, AE, incarnate.

Seriously if you like the game you have choices to get more options - buy points or sub.

Free is free - and for what you are getting for free - I think the powers that be have been VERY generous.

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Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

As a preemium player I must say...

I agree with all the No responses to this suggestion. It makes absolutely no sense for the developers to give free players access to the incarnate system.

If they were to give access to any portion of the incarnate system to free players it would have to be only the unlock arc in ouroboros and only the alpha slot up to tier 2 (no level shift) to give players a taste of the system without any substantial part.

Psssst, guess what? Premium Players *are* free players! They're not paying a subscription, and thus they are free players. There are two types of free players: free players who have never spent a penny on the market, and free players who have spent money on the market or on the game prior to Freedom or who have subscribed at some point in the past. But they're both playing without a subscription, making them free players. (Don't believe me? Take a look at a Preemie account management screen...what kind of account are they? That's right...Free!)

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Originally Posted by SortaKinda ...not realizing that people have already spent quite a bit of time and money on this game, and should, at some magical dollar amount, be able to play their Incarnates at full power.

Hey! Guess what...every single preemie player can pay a magical $10-15 per month (depending on how much they want to plunk down at a time) to play their Incarnates at full power. Congrats! Your suggestion is already in the game.

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Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Isn't there already a reward system that Premium players benefit from built in the Paragon Rewards? Each tier offering permanent access to various things such as IOs, AE, the Market, exc.

I have to bookmark this thread for the laughs the OP is giving me. He's as funny as the guy that demanded the CoH sub fee get lowered because he couldn't afford this game on top of what he spent each month on (his detailed monthly budget of) booze, gambling, pron, and a dozen other sub based video games.